CH 6

Xiaolongbao1 taste very good. 

Mi Xi follows Chen Ying’s example on how to eat using chopsticks and soup spoon, and after eating two little buns, her face lights up. That appearance makes Chen Ying almost believe that the little girl in front of him now, and the one with the cold face he saw before, are two different people. 

Mi Xi sweeps away all the steamed buns in one breath and swallows the last mouthful. The bamboo± steamer in front of her is empty, and she looks at Chen Ying’s steamed buns without thinking. The pitiful eyes cause Chen Ying to instinctively speed up his eating. After protecting his steamed buns and stuffing them into his stomach, he looks at Mi Xi: did she want to have another steamer of buns?

But Mixi lowers her head and eats the porridge politely without making any request. Chen Ying looks at her downcast, little head. Her ponytail was combed by Su Xiao Pei yesterday, it hasn’t changed at all, and the little girl never thought that the ponytail actually betrays the fact that she didn’t sleep at all last night. Fortunately, she looks pretty okay now, because he really doesn’t want to face a crying little girl. Up to now, the only thing about Mi Xi that satisfied him is that she’s well-behaved and doesn’t cause trouble. 

“Another steamer?” That being the case, he decides to reward her. Asking such a question casually causes the little girl to raise her head quickly, her eyes lighting up again. Although she doesn’t nod her head in response, it only makes Chen Ying feel that if he doesn’t buy another steamer, he would feel really sorry for her. 

Miss Mi Xi’s second steamer of small buns arrives at the table; this time she eats slowly. While eating, she begins to relax and chats with Chen Ying. 

“The buns made by my nanny are also delicious.” 

Ah, the nanny. That’s right, she is the daughter of the General’s Mansion; a young lady from a prestigious family. 

“I wanted to be a female general, but my father thinks I’m too delicate to be a great warrior, so he wouldn’t let me join the army.” 

Chen Ying almost swallows a mouthful of porridge the wrong way. She is still considered delicate? Her father’s requirements are really too high. 

“My father took me to the battlefield once, and I… I was so useless that I cried in fright.” When Mi Xi says this, shame appears on her face. “Dear Father was very angry.”

Chen Ying swallows the last mouthful of porridge. After he eats it, he takes a napkin to wipe his mouth and watches Mi Xi eat. Mi Xi recalls the past and eats another bun. Chen Ying feels that for Miss Mi Xi, these steamed soupy buns have the effect of wine.

“After I returned home, I was very sad and kept crying. The nanny steamed my favorite steamed buns, and she coaxed me, saying that eating more would make me stronger and more courageous.” Mi Xi stuffs another steamed bun into her mouth, swallows it, and then says, “But I’m really useless. I couldn’t save them. In the end, no one was saved.” 

Chen Ying is silent. A little girl who would cry when she went to the battlefield, and a girl who wanted to protect her family. The little girl who fought against eighteen people alone; the little girl who eats steamed buns and blames herself for being useless. If he was Yue Lao over there, he would definitely want to help her, too. 

Mi Xi’s nose is red, and her eyes are also a little red, but she doesn’t shed any tears. Chen Ying pretends not to notice and says in a relaxed tone, “You have eaten a lot, and your guts should be quite full. Fortunately, I can afford it, and my heart is healthy.” As soon as he finishes speaking, the alarm bell in his heart rings. Wait a minute! Didn’t he plan to ‘transfer’ her to someone else? 

Mi Xi looks at him, purses her lips, and smiles along with him. There is shyness and embarrassment in her smile, but also some measure of intimacy and trust. 

A child is a child, and two baskets of steamed soupy buns are enough. Chen Ying keeps smiling, and temporarily turns off the alarm in his heart. When the little girl looks at him with this expression, he thinks that it would be too inhumane to still ‘transfer’ her.

After breakfast, Chen Ying takes Mi Xi on a stroll home. Mi Xi’s mood is obviously relaxed, not so serious and cold, and she walks briskly all the way. She dares to run around and look around. She looks at the bus stop sign, and the huge advertising poster behind the stop sign, and stands at the intersection and looks at the various vehicles and pedestrians passing by for a while. 

While she is too distracted to pay attention to him, he looks at the calendar on his mobile phone, and calls his secretary, Lu Ya. “I’ll be there later today. You inform everyone that the nine o’clock meeting will be moved to ten o’clock. Let’s cancel the lunch meeting at noon first. I’ll reschedule the time. Um, um, okay.” 

Mi Xi looks around the side of the road for about 20 minutes. She looks back from time to time and sees that Chen Ying is still talking on the phone and hasn’t left, so she feels that she could continue to stay. For his part, Chen Ying sees that she’s still watching the road after making the call and thinks she still wants to watch more, so he continues to make phone calls. After making several calls to work, he finally remembers that he should call his dear brother. 

Chen Fei doesn’t answer the phone for a long time. Chen Ying waits patiently, and when the phone stops ringing, he dials it again. This time it rings for a long time before Chen Fei finally answers it. 

“I thought you wouldn’t dare to answer my calls anymore.”  

“I did struggle for a while, but if I don’t answer the phone, it would be more annoying if you run to my front door instead, so I answered.”  

“Our brotherhood really runs deep ah.” 

“Yes.” 

Isn’t it shameless to say ‘yes’ like this? 

“What happened to Yue Lao?” 

“Didn’t you meet last night?” 

“That guy Cheng Jiangyi told you?” 

“I thought you would call and scold me last night, but it dragged on until now, causing me to not sleep well all night.” 

“I won’t even bother to tell you you deserved it.” Chen Ying still wants to vomit when he thinks about it, but he feels much more comfortable thinking about his brother waiting all night for his scolding. 

“Yue Lao was the one who helped connect Cheng Jiangyi and his other half, and so I’m still willing to believe his words.” Chen Fei pauses and asks, “How is the little girl?”

“Crying to death. What a mouth filled with concern you have—how about I send her there?” Chen Ying says intentionally. When he hears Chen Fei’s silence on the other end of the phone, he smiles, imagining that his brother must be frowning very much, wearing a serious expression. 

“How about this, I’ll pay for her living expenses,” Chen Fei quickly offers to forestall being disturbed. 

“T’ch, can’t I afford it?” 

“Then you continue to take care of her,” Chen Fei hurriedly says and changes the subject. “I’m going out, I have a lot of work today. Cheng Jiangyi is on sick leave again, and I’m very busy. ” 

“I just saw him last night. He was so energetic that he could go to catch ghosts. How dare he ask for sick leave.” 

“He said his wife has a very bad cold, and he wanted to accompany her to recuperate.” 

Shameless, how could there be such a shameless person. “Then you drive around to my place first after work and pick up the little girl.” 

“Ah, how are our parents lately?” 

“They’re pretty good, but my brother and I are not doing well. Come and pick her up.” 

“Ah, why don’t you ask a tutor to accompany her or something. It would be better if someone watched her and took care of her. I won’t say anything else. I’m hanging up now, and I’m leaving.” Chen Fei hangs up the phone quickly, and Chen Ying swears audibly. What a despicable man who framed his younger brother and dared not take responsibility.

Turning around, he sees Mi Xi standing not far from him, looking at the roadside flower garden with her back to him. Chen Ying is taken aback. From this distance, she can probably hear him talking on the phone. Did he just say something about her? 

“Let’s go back.” Chen Ying leads Mi Xi home. The more he looks at her, the more he feels that she heard what he said. She was sullen, and the spirits raised by the two baskets of buns are gone. 

Chen Ying takes her back and teaches her to recognize the entrance of the community, recognize the building number. There is a security access panel at the entrance of the building— teach her how to open it, teach her to press the elevator buttons when getting on, then unlock the door lock. 

Mi Xi doesn’t speak the entire time; she just listens to what he says with a straight face.

After entering the house, she lowers her head and walks towards her room, but Chen Ying stops her. It should be explained, but he feels that he doesn’t know where to start, and it’s a bit too deliberate. And he is actually guilty, because he did have the idea of ​​sending her away. 

Mi Xi obediently stops and turns to face him. 

Chen Ying opens his mouth to say, what? That he had the idea of ​​sending her away, but he doesn’t think about it now? 

He looks at her upright little face, sighs inwardly, and takes her to the kitchen instead. 

“This thin faucet, look, it’s this one, turn it on like this—the water coming out of it can be drunk directly. From other faucets, you can’t. If you are thirsty and want to drink water, drink here. This is the refrigerator, open it like this, and there are drinks inside it. These bottles are wine, you don’t want to drink this, but you can drink the rest. Open this here, there are fruits inside. You want to eat, just take whatever you want—wash it under the faucet and eat it.” 

Mi Xi nods. Her expression is a bit like when she first came last night. 

Chen Ying sighs again, leads her to the sofa, finds the TV remote control for her, and teaches her how to turn on the TV. 

Mi Xi is startled when she sees someone talking on the TV. That expression makes Chen Ying want to laugh, but as soon as Mi Xi turns her head back to him, the obvious curiosity in her eyes frightens him immediately. 

“Don’t ask me why there are people in it. Anyway, there are people. All kinds of people. They will not jump out, and they can’t talk to you. They just play their role in it, and you can watch. If you don’t like this, then change it.” 

He teaches her to choose a channel and how to control the volume. She plays for a while and seems to feel better. Just as Chen Ying breathes a sigh of relief, Mi Xi turns around and asks, “Why is there someone inside?”

Chen Ying showed her face down: “We agreed not to ask this.” 

“How did that sound come out?” 

“Don’t ask this either.” 

“Then will they be hungry inside?” 

“No.” 

“Are they suffering?” 

“No.” If she continues to think like this, what if she sees a plot where some characters are abused. “It’s all from a show, and it’s all fake. It’s just to give you entertainment, just like when they would sing big dramas for you back then, but this is how they sing here.” 

Mi Xi doesn’t quite understand…

“Anyway, you just watch it. By the way, it happens that you are learning to speak this era’s language. The people inside talk, so you listen more, and practice what it’s like to speak normally.” 

Mi Xi’s attention is turned to the TV, and the news is currently commenting on economic phenomena. Mi Xi frowns and listens carefully with a dazed look on her face. 

Chen Ying can’t help but sigh, “If you don’t understand, you can change the channel. Come on, operate it yourself. This is called a remote control. Just follow what I just taught you. Change it yourself.” 

Mi Xi looks at it for a long time. Biting her lips, she presses the button with a very careful and heroic expression, and successfully changes the channel. She is nervous for a moment, then relaxes, and continues to frown and watch seriously. After watching for a while, she looks at Chen Ying again; Chen Ying nods to her. She picks up the remote control and changes the station again. 

Chen Ying watches TV with her for a while. He confirms that she has no adverse reactions, and then tells her to drink water, eat fruit, and go to the toilet as needed, then informs her that he has to go out for work. 

When Mi Xi hears that he is going out, she nods, looking a little pitiful. 

Chen Ying feels soft again, and finally can’t help but say, “Since I took you in, I won’t abandon you.” 

Mi Xi blinks. 

When Chen Ying spoke out, he felt that it was nothing, why not just raise a little girl, he can afford it! So he goes on to say, “Did you hear me talking on the phone? That’s my brother, I asked him to come pick you up, but no matter what I said, it was just a joke. I knew he wouldn’t really come.”

Mi Xi doesn’t reply, simply purses the corner of her mouth.

“I promise, I won’t abandon you,” Chen Ying says it again, and then he sees Mi Xi pursing her lips, a little happier now. The corners of her mouth are curved, very cute. 

He also laughs, and unthinkingly reaches out to touch her head as a gesture of friendliness. He has just stretched out his hand, and even before he could touch her, he sees her eyes turn serious, staring at his hand. 

Chen Ying comes to his senses immediately, and takes his hand back. “Anyway, you have fun at home, eat when you’re hungry, and sleep when you’re tired. I’ll go to work and come back at noon to bring you lunch.” 

Mi Xi nods. Chen Ying goes to his room, takes his suit jacket, takes his computer bag, and goes out. 

Mi Xi obediently sends him to the door, and he explains “I have a key and I can open the door myself. If other people knock on the door, you don’t need to answer it. Don’t open the door.” Although the community has good public security and private guards both, and there are no idle people who can come in, he can’t feel relieved if he doesn’t explain.

Mi Xi nods again. Chen Ying locks the door and finally leaves in peace. 

Going down to the underground garage, he hands over the keys of the car that Mi Xi smashed last night to the security guard, and then calls the property manager. His property provides butler service. He first asks the property manager to send the car for repair, and then asks the property manager to find him a housekeeper, who can cook lunch every day, and provide half-day tutoring and escort. The property manager readily agrees, saying that they would call Chen Ying after the arrangements are made. 

Chen Ying drives the old car again, and his heart hurts while sitting inside. His precious new car! He’s so aggrieved! Being an uncle is expensive! 

In Chen Ying’s big house, Mi Xi is sitting upright on the sofa watching TV, and a comedy period drama is playing in it. 

Mi Xi watches and sheds tears silently. They don’t dress like this in their hometown, and people don’t talk like this. She misses her home and her family. 

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FOOTNOTE:

1 These are steamed little dumplings made with very thin wrappings, filled with meaty goodness and with a bit of broth inside. They’re small, about the size of a golf ball, and are served several pieces inside a bamboo steamer. The way to eat it is to (1) prepare a dipping sauce made of a mixture of vinegar, some ginger, and possibly soy sauce or chili oil; (2) very gently pick up a bun using the edge of the chopsticks, dip it in the sauce, then place the bun on a soup spoon; (3) pierce the thin dumpling skin with the tip of the chopsticks (or nibble on the wrapping!) so the broth will seep out onto the spoon; (4) sip and enjoy the soupy baos