Chapter 5

Tongtong was watching a couple argue. Although she didn’t understand what they were fighting about, she stood on her tiptoes, stretching her neck, and watched intently, awakening the melon-eating [1] spirit engraved in her genes.

Xiao Wang found her among the chaotic crowd and grabbed her, carrying her out.

Tongtong kicked her short legs, “Put me down.”

Xiao Wang carried her forward, “I need to find you for something.”

He brought the child in front of a middle-aged man and asked him, pointing at Zhong Yuntong, “Is this your child?”

The man shook his head honestly, “No.”

“Then why did you make that call? You know that this kind of situation disrupts police operations, right? If it causes any negative impact, you could be detained, do you understand?”

The man hung his head, showing a good attitude of admitting his mistake, “I’m sorry, police comrade. I just thought the child looked cute, and I thought if no one wanted her, I would take her.”

Xiao Wang was incredulous and politely asked, “Do you have any history of mental illness?”

“No, police comrade, what’s wrong?”

Xiao Wang replied, “Sometimes I feel like calling the police myself, you know?”

The legal awareness live stream happened to capture this scene, and the viewers were laughing hysterically in the comments,

【Hahaha, I won’t play abstract anymore; honest people take jokes seriously.】

【No, brother, the country promotes having children, not like this.】

【Upstairs, how do you take one? Please explain.】

【Everyone, be serious; this is about legal awareness, what are you doing?】

The camera moved through the various bizarre cases in the lobby, including a neighbor’s dog mating with their pet dog, with the owner demanding compensation for nutrition costs. There was also someone claiming their house was haunted and asking the police to catch ghosts, while the police shouted, “I’m not a Taoist priest!” Another person insisted that someone had defecated in front of their door and demanded the police investigate who did it.

The daily life of a grassroots police station was chaotic, and the viewers were laughing so hard that they were losing it, with comments like

【WTF.】

【Hahaha.】

【What a mess.】

Many viewers even called for a special live stream, suggesting it could be treated as a comedy show.

At around 7 PM, the legal awareness live stream ended, and the daytime police officers could finally go home.

Rao Shishi changed into casual clothes in the locker room, slung her black bag over her shoulder, and sent a message on her phone while pretending to cough a couple of times to signal Xiao Wang to check his phone.

Xiao Wang picked up the phone on the table, glanced at it, and then typed a reply.

After that, Rao Shishi and Xiao Wang walked out of the police station together. It was already dark outside, and there weren’t many people in the parking lot. The shadows of the trees made it feel a bit lonely, and they stopped in the shade of the parking lot.

Xiao Wang stood under a big tree and said, “You didn’t tell me it was your birthday in advance, so I didn’t prepare any gifts.”

Rao Shishi patted his shoulder like a buddy, “I was afraid you guys would make a fuss, so I didn’t mention it. I don’t know many people here; just having a meal with you all would be nice.”

While they were talking, Mao Feixue approached, the sound of her high heels clicking on the asphalt. She walked straight to where Rao Shishi and Xiao Wang were and said the same thing as Xiao Wang,

“Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday? I know a great hot pot restaurant; I wonder if they can still reserve a table now. I’ll pay tonight; no one is allowed to fight me for the bill.”

Mao Feixue took out her phone, ready to call the restaurant, but suddenly remembered something and asked, “Shishi, did you call Director Zhong?”

Rao Shishi shook her head, “I didn’t know if I should call him. I always feel like Director Zhong is cold and hard to get along with; I’m a bit scared of him. Besides, even if I called him, he might not come. Even if he did, it would be awkward, so let’s forget it.”

“Alright, it’s up to the birthday girl,” Mao Feixue said without pushing further and dialed the restaurant’s number.

At that moment, a clear little voice piped up from behind them, “Where are you going? I want to go too.”

Everyone turned around to see Tongtong quietly appearing behind them. After running around all day at the police station, her hair was half undone, and her sandals didn’t fit properly, causing her toes to poke out. Her little bag was also crooked on her shoulder, making her look like a little ragamuffin, but her big eyes were surprisingly bright.

“I want to go too,” Zhong Yuntong insisted again.

Mao Feixue covered the phone’s microphone with her hand and nodded at her, “Okay, you can come along.”

Rao Shishi pulled Tongtong over to stand in front of her, bent down, and gathered her messy hair, tying it back neatly. “Look at you, you look like a little homeless child. Where are your parents? Why haven’t they come to pick you up?”

Zhong Yuntong immediately shouted, “I have a father! My father is Zhong Jin!”

“Stop talking nonsense. The results of the genetic comparison will come out tomorrow. I want to see which unfortunate family you belong to.”

Rao Shishi finished tying her hair and squatted down to adjust her sandals, which were still a bit too big. She had to tighten the straps a little more.

At this time, Zhong Jin was still in the office reviewing some materials sent from the municipal bureau. He received a message from Mao Feixue on his phone: 【Director Zhong, I’ve taken Tongtong home with me for the night, so you don’t need to worry about her.】

Zhong Jin replied, 【Okay, thank you for your trouble.】 He put down his phone, feeling inexplicably relieved.

Mao Feixue drove everyone toward the hot pot restaurant. As night fell, the city lights lit up, and Tongtong sat in the child’s seat in the car, pressing her face against the window, her big eyes wide open as she gazed outside, marveling at the many lights.

It was dinner time, and the hot pot restaurant was quite busy. The floor-to-ceiling windows were filled with people, and even the plastic stools at the entrance had many people waiting for a table. Fortunately, Mao Feixue had made a reservation in advance, and the waiter led them to a table by the window.

Seeing there was a child, the waiter quickly went to get a child’s chair. Xiao Wang kindly picked Tongtong up and placed her in the child’s seat. In just one day, Xiao Wang had accepted his role as the designated child-carrier and was taking care of her with great ease.

Mao Feixue and the others loved spicy food, and every time they came for hot pot, they ordered the spicy red oil broth. Today, with a little one joining them, they decided to get a yin-yang pot and added a new mushroom soup base that the restaurant had recently introduced.

Tongtong sat in the child’s chair, unable to reach the dishes on the table. Xiao Wang transformed into her little kitchen helper, responsible for serving her food from the mushroom soup pot.

He picked up a slice of white jade mushroom, and Tongtong shook her head, “No.”

He picked up a piece of crunchy asparagus, and Tongtong shook her head again, “No.”

When he picked up a slice of beef, Tongtong immediately held out her bowl, “Put it in here.”

After a few rounds, Xiao Wang gradually figured out her preferences and immediately reported to Mao Feixue, “Sister, this child is too picky; she only eats meat.”

Tongtong was busy gnawing on a chicken foot, her mouth greasy, her eyes half-closed, looking relaxed. Hearing Xiao Wang complain about her, she lifted her eyelids to glance at him, then nonchalantly lowered her eyes and continued munching on the chicken foot.

Mao Feixue, seeing her enjoy herself, took a spoon and placed a piece of beef roll in it, holding it out to Tongtong, “Come on, Tongbao, open your mouth, eat some meat.”

Tongtong didn’t need to look; she could tell by the smell that it was meat. With her eyes closed, she opened her mouth wide, ready to be fed. Just as she was about to be fed, Mao Feixue quickly placed a piece of cooled vegetable on the spoon and sent it into the unfortunate child’s mouth.

Zhong Yuntong opened her eyes, realizing she had been tricked. But her father had taught her before that if she didn’t like something, she could refuse to eat it, but once it was in her mouth, she couldn’t spit it out. So, Tongtong chewed hard and swallowed the vegetable.

Rao Shishi gave Mao Feixue a thumbs up, “Sister, you really know how to handle her.”

Mao Feixue smiled dismissively, “She looks like she’s only three or four years old. I’ve been a mom for five years; my experience is definitely richer.”

However, this trick only worked once. After that, Zhong Yuntong became clever and refused to be fed, insisting that food could only be placed in her small bowl and had to pass her inspection before entering her mouth.

Mao Feixue shook her head with a smile, “This child is harder to fool than my son.”

Halfway through the hot pot, they were served a plate of brown sugar glutinous rice balls. The rice balls were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, drizzled with brown sugar syrup and sprinkled with a layer of bean flour. It was Tongtong’s first time eating brown sugar glutinous rice balls, and when she took a bite, her eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically, “Delicious.”

Seeing that she liked it, Xiao Wang quickly picked up a piece of glutinous rice ball and placed it in her bowl.

Mao Feixue saw this and immediately stopped him, “You can only eat two pieces; too much glutinous food is hard to digest.”

While the adults chatted and ate, Tongtong, taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, picked up the piece of brown sugar glutinous rice ball and stuffed it into her little bag.

Dinner was on Mao Feixue, and Xiao Wang had originally wanted to order a cake, but time was too tight. He secretly contacted several cake shops on his phone, but none could make it in time. He had to suggest, “How about we go play an escape room? I’ll treat.”

There was a large escape room club in Haishi, well-equipped with props and strong storylines. Several colleagues from the station were regulars there, and both Xiao Wang and Rao Shishi had been there twice before. They had never fully enjoyed it, so when Xiao Wang suggested it, Rao Shishi immediately agreed.

Although Mao Feixue was a few years older than them, she wasn’t the type to spoil the fun and immediately agreed, “Let’s go.”

The three of them walked toward the parking lot, with Mao Feixue going to get the car first. Xiao Wang and Rao Shishi took out their phones to check the scripts and made a reservation for the script they wanted to play, so they could start right away when they arrived.

When Mao Feixue drove out and saw Xiao Wang and Rao Shishi standing by the roadside without any sign of the child, she asked, “Where’s Tongtong?”

Rao Shishi and Xiao Wang were both confused, “Wasn’t she with you?”

Mao Feixue cursed under her breath and turned on the hazard lights to pull over, “Quick, find her.”

At that moment, Zhong Yuntong had already walked to the corner of the street, her little bag filled with delicious snacks, her sandals exposing half of her toes, happily on her way to find her dad. She was sure that when her dad saw the snacks she brought home, he would definitely praise her for being a good baby.

Notes:

[1] 吃瓜 (chī guā) - Literally "eating melon," a slang term meaning to watch a drama or gossip about a situation without being involved.