Chapter 8: Baobao, Are You Not Human?

Dongri wasn’t sure if “Baobao” had any other meaning.

After all, he wasn’t a real human child, nor had he ever been raised by humans.

He only knew that Dong Mian called him that, so that was his name.

Therefore, not only did he dare to call himself that directly, but he could also introduce himself to others very generously.

The boy was stunned for a few seconds after hearing this, still somewhat doubtful about such a name, and asked him, “…Is your name really Baobao?”

“Yes, I’m Baobao!”

The little glutinous rice ball was full of confidence, and then held up the Little Penguin in his hand.

“He’s called Qieqieli, we’re good friends!”

“…”

Last night, he finally watched the Little Penguin cartoon, and the little guy recognized his Little Penguin toy at a glance and seriously remembered its name.

Although he didn’t pronounce it correctly.

The Little Penguin’s name was “Quan Quan Li,” but he couldn’t pronounce it well, and didn’t realize he was mispronouncing it, so he said “Qie Qie Li.”

The boy looked at Dongri several more times.

Seeing him barefoot, the front of his clothes stained with blood, and holding a “battle-damaged” toy in his arms.

He spoke with confused logic and unclear meaning—if this wasn’t the best private hospital in the city, he might have suspected that the person before him was a street urchin.

But it was fascinating.

Both this child and the matter itself.

“My name is Pei Qinglu,” the boy said with a smile. “Now we can say we know each other.”

Hearing it just once, Dongri couldn’t remember the other person’s name at all.

But he wouldn’t say it, staring at the other person with a solemn expression, and replied as if he knew what was going on, “…Okay, okay!”

“Why did you come here?”

“…”

Finally getting to the point.

With that fall when he came in, it felt like all of Dongri’s memories had been knocked out.

Now that the boy asked, Dongri remembered that the smell of food had lured him over.

However, being a little gluttonous cub inevitably induces a deep sense of shame. Dongri held the Little Penguin closely and spoke softly in response.

“I, I smelled… a fragrant smell, here… so I came over…”

His stomach answered the rest of the words.

Grumble, grumble, grumble—

He was so hungry, really hungry.

He needed food.

The boy also heard the sound from his stomach, but there was no disgust on his face, and his smile deepened even more.

“I was just about to eat. Why don’t you eat with me?”

Dongri’s eyes widened instantly, as if hearing celestial music.

But before he could answer, a middle-aged man’s voice rang out first: “Young Master!”

His tone disapproved of the boy’s suggestion.

“How can you just eat with someone of unknown origin—”

He couldn’t finish his words because the boy’s sharp gaze killed him again.

The middle-aged man had to change his words: “…How can you just eat with a strange child…”

The boy said calmly, “He’s not a strange child, I already know his name, he’s called Baobao.”

Little Dongri stood beside them, looking at the boy, then at the middle-aged man.

Instinct told him that the middle-aged man didn’t welcome his staying here—adults always created a stronger sense of oppression for children, yet strangely, it was clear that the boy was making the decisions between this adult and child.

This made baby Dongri less nervous.

Especially since the boy didn’t care what the middle-aged man said at all, and naturally took Dongri’s hand, leading him to the coffee table: “Let’s have lunch together.”

After seeing the food, Dongri became even less nervous.

Because his eyes and heart were only filled with food.

The dishes on the coffee table were simple, nutritious, and plentiful.

Diced carrot and egg rolls, stir-fried beef slices, shrimp and broccoli, crucian carp tofu soup, and mushroom chicken.

All were still steaming hot, and the aroma wafted upwards.

Dongri had already smelled the aroma outside, and now that he was so close, his saliva was about to drip out.

Although his stomach no longer made embarrassing noises, the feeling of hunger intensified infinitely at that moment, and he could only swallow hard.

Seeing his appearance, the boy didn’t waste words or be polite; he directly pressed him down onto a small stool and handed him a bowl of white rice and chopsticks that had already been filled: “Eat, I hope it suits your taste.”

“…”

What else could Dongri say?

The food had already been handed to him, and the chopsticks were placed in his hand, so was he supposed to refuse?

The little gluttonous baby couldn’t bring himself to go against his conscience and instinct to say no, because he felt like he was about to starve to death, and he could eat a cow’s head weighing more than ten pounds right now.

The only polite thing he could do was to thank the boy first.

“…Thank you, big brother!”

Then he took the bowl and chopsticks and shoveled rice into his mouth.

Too! Delicious!

Too! Fragrant!

With one mouthful of white rice, Dongri’s eyes widened, unable to believe that white rice could be so delicious.

Without exaggeration, this was the most delicious white rice he had ever eaten in the human world.

After tasting the mushroom chicken and stir-fried beef slices in front of him, it was so delicious that he was almost moved to tears on the spot.

Previously, he mainly ate the food from Dong Mian’s shop. At home, his Papa and Daddy cooked for themselves—if it were truly delicious, the business of Dong Mian’s restaurant wouldn’t be mediocre.

It was simply that the little gluttonous baby hadn’t tasted authentic delicacies before, and without comparison, he was easy to feed, so he didn’t know that home-cooked dishes outside could be made so delicious.

He didn’t expect to eat it by accident today.

His little mouth immediately turned into a perpetual motion machine, taking bites here and there, and quickly emptied a bowl of rice.

“Have another bowl.”

The boy didn’t ask him if he wanted more, but added another bowl for him directly, perfectly saving Dongri from any possible embarrassment.

So Dongri looked at the boy, his eyes already no different from those of a devotee looking at an idol and benefactor, and started shoveling rice again.

The boy also seemed to like watching Dongri eat, and always had a smile on his face.

Only the middle-aged man was very dissatisfied.

Seeing that this little thing almost ate up the rice and side dishes, and the boy was smiling indulgently the whole time, he really couldn’t bear it anymore, and opened his mouth in a suppressed voice: “Young Master, you haven’t even—”

The boy coldly interrupted for the third time: “Uncle Yang, you’ve been contradicting me all day today.”

“…”

“You should go out; your presence in the ward is affecting my mood.”

A few traces of disbelief and hurt immediately appeared on the middle-aged man’s face, and his footsteps didn’t move: “…The master asked me to take care of you here, I must ensure your safety at all times.”

“Don’t use my parents to pressure me, since you call me Young Master, I think I at least have the right to make this decision.”

“…”

“Go out, looking at you now, it’s hard for me to be safe and sound.”

“…”

The middle-aged man stood silently and stubbornly for a while, but in the end, he obeyed the boy’s order.

“…Yes, I understand.”

After answering, he walked towards the door with heavy steps.

The little gluttonous baby, immersed in food, heard them talking, but didn’t have the extra attention to pay to what they were saying, focusing only on enjoying the delicious food.

“Hiccup—”

After eating all the food on the table, the little gluttonous baby even let out an earth-shattering hiccup—but not because he was full, but because he was too hungry and ate too fast, and accidentally swallowed too much air.

There was no way; it was really too delicious.

Now he was a little gluttonous baby who had tasted how delicious home-cooked food was.

With five or six portions of food in his stomach, his body gradually felt solid, and his mood became much lighter and brighter.

But after carefully seeing the mess he had swept away, Dongri belatedly began to feel embarrassed.

“…Um, I, I ate… all of it, I ate it all…”

He knew he could eat a lot.

It was his nature, and he had experienced a long period of hunger, so every time he faced food, he couldn’t restrain the desire from the depths of his heart.

And his Papa and Daddy always said that he ate a lot.

Every time he felt like he could have a few more bites, his Papa would start to panic and stop him, saying that he had eaten enough, and eating more would make him sick.

He was too hungry just now and couldn’t restrain himself.

He actually ate all of a stranger’s food.

But it was truly delicious.

If all the food came in two portions, he could eat it all.

The little gluttonous baby licked his lips, carefully savoring the deliciousness from just now. He blinked his eyes, secretly glancing at the boy, afraid of witnessing the boy’s disgust and worried about missing the other person’s true emotions.

Fortunately, the boy wasn’t disgusted, and always had a smile on his face. Seeing that Dongri had eaten everything, he even praised him: “You ate it all, that’s amazing.”

“…”

The boy’s image in Dongri’s heart instantly became even greater.

Just now, he was a kind and good-hearted big brother, but now he has been upgraded to the kindest and most good-hearted big brother in the world.

The boy asked him, “Was it delicious?”

Dongri nodded quickly, then nodded vigorously, using his body language to express his approval of the meal.

“…It was delicious! Very delicious! Too delicious!”

But no matter how delicious it was, it wasn’t a reason for him to eat it all. Dongri bit his lip and said very embarrassedly: “But, I ate it all… I’m sorry…”

He should have at least left half for the big brother.

“It’s okay, I’m happy to see that you liked it.” The boy asked, “Are you full? I have some fruit here, would you like to try some?”

There were several fruit baskets on the ground, and the boy took out a large pomelo from one of them.

“This one is a little more delicious. Do you like pomelos?”

“I like them!”

Except for smelly and rotten spoiled food, there was nothing that the little gluttonous baby dared not try.

Besides, he had eaten pomelos before.

When he was still a stray, there was a pomelo season, and many ripe pomelos fell on the ground.

Although some were so sour that he couldn’t stand it, he still ate a lot and filled his stomach with them.

“Then I…”

The boy wanted to say that he would ask someone to peel the pomelo skin first, but he had only uttered two words when Dongri took the pomelo from his hand.

“Thank you, big brother!”

After politely thanking him, he opened his mouth and bit into the thick pomelo skin.

Although his spiritual power recovery progress was currently zero, and whether in appearance or internally, he looked like an ordinary human cub, a mouthful of sharp teeth instantly exposed his extraordinary characteristics.

Pomelo skin that adults couldn’t even peel open with tools, he could easily tear and bite open with his teeth, and he chewed the pomelo skin and swallowed it.

“…”

But there wasn’t much surprise in the boy’s eyes, and after a moment of silence, he directly asked: “Baobao, are you not human?”