CH 33

Cui Dingchen couldn’t understand a child’s logic, so he simply didn’t try to understand. He reached out his hand to grab the pack of chienmen cigarettes from the center console. He had just started pulling out half a stick to smoke when he saw in his peripheral vision Xu Fan’s watery eyes staring at him. His slender finger paused. He covered the cigarette with the filter, then pushed the entire cigarette back inside the box and put it back on the center console.

“Afterward, he looked at Xu Fan and asked, “Why are you staring at me?”

Xu Fan tightly hugged his toy car and didn’t speak.

Cui Dingchen couldn’t hold it in and said, “Don’t worry. I don’t want your big car.”

“I won’t give it to you. It’s mine,” Xu Fan said in a milky voice.

Cui Dingchen reached out his hand to press his eyebrows. How did this child come to the conclusion that he loved cars? Even if he was almost infatuated with cars before, that was only when he was young. Now that he even has a real car, why would he want to steal a two year old child’s toy car? Did Xu Fan see him as a one year old child?

He realized again that he really couldn’t interact with children. He didn’t like children at all and even felt a bit annoyed by them. He always thought that children were very troublesome. They couldn’t understand other people and loved crying. Since he clearly knew that he liked men, under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have any descendants. Therefore, he never thought of living with children before.

Therefore, he simply didn’t speak. He leaned against the driver’s seat and looked forward. Since it was his responsibility, he would glance at Xu Fan in the passenger seat once in a while to make sure that he didn’t get bumped around and hurt, and he wouldn’t be able to give Xu Zhao an explanation.

At this time, Cui Dingchen realized that Xu Fan, this child, was very pretty. He was very meaty and was exactly like a mini version of Xu Zhao. There were even two dimples beside his lips. When the father and son smiled, they both gave off a particularly healing and warm feeling. Moreover, they were both sensible and well-behaved. He had heard from Cui Qingfeng that Xu Zhao had a child out of wedlock. Moreover, he had a child with a man… He never thought that while Xu Zhao looked refined, he acted very boldly. And he actually had this kind of special ability to have children.

It was true. Xu Zhao was someone who could shock others, that was why having this kind of ability wasn’t surprising at all.

“Xu Fan, how old are you?” Cui Dingchen couldn’t help but ask.

Xu Fan was in the middle of turning the toy car over, his meaty hand pulled a marble from inside the car. When he heard the question, he answered, “I’m t-two years old.”

“You’ve already passed your first birthday?” Cui Dingchen asked.

“What is a birthday?” Xu Fan asked instead.

“…” Cui Dingchen was choked by Xu Fan’s words, but continued to ask, “Where does your family live?”

Xu Fan quickly replied without looking up, “My family lives in West Prefecture City, Jiang Ping County, South Bay Village, No. 88.1 My grandpa is Xu Bangguo. My Grandma is Sun Jinfa (hua)2. And my daddy is Xu Zhao. I’m Xu Fan. I’ll be three years old this year.”

Goodness!

This was the first time Cui Dingchen became so shocked by a two year old child. It was a long string of words and his voice carried a strong milky tone, but his words could be completely comprehended. Cui Dingchen’s view of Xu Fan suddenly changed a bit.

“Who taught you this?” Cui Dingchen asked.

“My Daddy.”

“Why did your daddy teach you this?” How long must he have taught this in order to make a two year old child repeat it so fluently?

“My daddy is scared I’ll get kidnapped. If I’m gone, Daddy will miss me,” Xu Fan replied easily.

Cui Dingchen pressed his forehead and asked, “Why would you get kidnapped?”

“Because I’m the best looking!”

The—best—looking—

He was really confident. Who gave him this confidence?

Cui Dingchen was speechless.

“Second Grandpa Cui,” Xu Fan called again.

“What is it?” Cui Dingchen replied.

“Why hasn’t my daddy come back yet? Where did he go?” Xu Fan asked.

“He’ll be back soon. By the way, Xu Fan,” Cui Dingchen said.

“What?” Xu Fan asked

Cui Dingchen thought for a bit, then said, “Don’t call me Second Grandpa Cui in the future. Call me—”

“Daddy!” Xu Fan suddenly called out.

Cui Dingchen was startled, and lifted his gaze to see Xu Zhao standing outside the door.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Xu Fan was so excited as if he was a fat carp that had just been fished out from water. He was very jubilant.

“Don’t get worked up,” Xu Fan said breathlessly. He opened the passenger seat door and helped Xu Fan down. “Youngest uncle, thank you. Xu Fan must have bothered you,” he said to Cui Dingchen.

Cui Dingchen said with calm and composure, “It’s fine. Did you get the mooncakes?”

“I got them,” Xu Zhao replied.

“How many mooncakes?”

“50 pieces.”

“Didn’t you say you only wanted 20?”

“In any case, 20 pieces can be made and so can 50 pieces. They’re both made from testing the machine anyway. That’s why Manager Xu gave me 50 pieces,” Xu Zhao said with a smile.

Cui Dingchen nodded and said, “Get in.”

“It’s fine. Youngest uncle, you should go do your thing. I also have something else I need to do,” Xu Zhao said.

“What?” Cui Dingchen asked.

“I need to deliver these mooncakes downtown.”

“Get in. I’ll take you.”

“Aren’t you busy?” Xu Zhao asked with doubt. “Didn’t you come to this city because you needed to take care of something? Why aren’t you going to do it?”

Cui Dingchen touched his nose and said, “I am. It just so happens that I need to do something in the city center.”

“So we’re going the same way. I’ll have to trouble you again, Youngest uncle.”

“It’s no problem.”

Cui Dingchen drove Xu Zhao and Xu Fan downtown. After Xu Zhao and Xu Fan got out of the car, Xu Zhao turned to thank Cui Dingchen and told Cui Dingchen to go handle his business. Cui Dingchen expressionlessly nodded, and had no choice but to drive the car away. Through his car’s mirror, he saw Xu Zhao pull Xu Fan into a small shop.

Was Xu Zhao going inside to buy something? Cui Dingchen was in doubt, but he really did in fact have something he needed to take care of. Therefore, he turned the car to leave. He glanced at the shop as he left, preparing to come back as soon as he could to pick up Xu Zhao and Xu Fan.

At this moment, Xu Zhao and Xu Fan were standing in front of the sales counter, chatting with the curly-haired female boss. He said that he came six days ago to ask if she sold mooncakes. He had also bought the red bus for Xu Fan from here.

The curly-haired woman looked at the red bus in Xu Fan’s arms and smiled. She remembered Xu Zhao and said so, “Of course I remember. I haven’t seen anyone as handsome as you all year. How could I forget?”

Xu Zhao was a bit embarrassed by the compliment.

The curly-haired woman laughed and asked, “You aren’t here today to buy mooncakes again, right?”

“No, I’m here to sell mooncakes,” Xu Zhao said.

“Sell mooncakes?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of mooncakes?”

“Mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival. I’ll take them out for you to see,” Xu Zhao said.

“Sure.” In any case, the curly-haired woman didn’t have any customers right now. Since she was free, she might as well take a look at the mooncakes. If he happens to like them, then she won’t have to go far to get stock and can just have them deliver it here.

Xu Zhao was afraid that Xu Fan would run around, so he used one end of a piece of rope and wrapped it around Xu Fan’s meaty arm while the other end was wrapped around his own wrist. It was only after that he took out a paper package of mooncakes from his bag. The paper bag was tied with a piece of rope, making a cross at the top and a piece of red paper was pressed under the rope. On the red paper were inscribed two gold words that said “Mid-Autumn” with some cloud drawings. It could be said to be very festive, and was full of characteristics from this era.

“The packaging looks very good,” the curly-haired woman said.

“It’s the West Prefecture Food Factory packaging,” Xu Zhao said with a smile.

“This mooncake was made by the West Prefecture Food Factory?” the curly-haired woman asked in surprise.

“Yes,” Xu Zhao nodded and said. “The West Prefecture Food Factory produced it.”

“Then I don’t want it,” the curly-haired woman resolutely said.

Xu Zhao was shocked and asked, “Why not?”

“It’s too expensive! I would make a loss if I bought it. I don’t want it. Those of us here all won’t use West Prefecture Food Factory’s mooncakes. You can’t make money from them.”

“But it’s very delicious. Besides, foods from a state enterprise are guaranteed to be safe.”

“Will people die from eating mooncakes? Besides, don’t all mooncakes taste the same? What’s delicious about them?” the curly-haired woman said.

“They don’t all taste the same. Besides, I’m not charging you for this mooncake. You’ll only be profiting, and won’t make a loss,” Xu Zhao said.

How could one only make profit and no loss in this world!

The curly-haired female boss looked at Xu Zhao with doubt and subconsciously felt that Xu Zhao could be a cheater. However, seeing how refined and handsome Xu Zhao was… Bad people couldn’t be this handsome, right? That was why the curly-haired woman was willing to listen and said, “Let’s hear it.”

Xu Zhao smiled and said, “Try the mooncake first.”

“Sure,” the curly-haired woman said.

Xu Zhao opened the mooncake package. Inside a rectangular kraft paper box laid four mooncakes. They were pale yellow, blooming like flowers inside the box. Although their shapes were basically similar to last year’s, they looked especially pretty.

Xu Zhao pushed the box towards the curly-haired woman and said, “Boss, have a taste.”

“How much does one piece cost?” the curly-haired woman asked. If it was too expensive, she wouldn’t try it. In any case, she didn’t really like mooncakes. It was only because of the significant meaning it held for the Mid-Autumn Festival, so she had to eat it.

“No cost,” Xu Zhao said. “Try it first.”

“Daddy, I also want to try one.” Xu Fan stood in front of the sales counter, his small hands hanging off the sales counter as he stood on his tiptoes. In fact, he couldn’t see anything, but since he heard something about eating and mooncake, how could a huge foodie like him stay calm?

Xu Zhao lowered his head to look at Xu Fan and said, “Don’t be anxious. In a bit. I’ll let you try one in a bit, okay?”

“Okay.” Xu Fan immediately stood obediently, leaned against Xu Zhao’s legs, and began looking at the items in the store instead.

Xu Zhao looked at the curly-haired female boss again and said, “Try it. It’s free.”

“I really won’t have to pay to try it?” the curly-haired woman asked.

“It’s really free. Try it,” Xu Zhao stressed again that it was free.

“Then I’ll try it.”

“Go ahead.” Xu Zhao nodded.

The curly-haired female boss picked up a piece that had been divided into two and immediately saw the soft, glutinous filling inside. It was a light brick brown and looked especially good against the pale yellow. A sweet fragrance also came from it. The curly-haired woman was immediately lured by it, but due to her instinctive vigilance, she didn’t eat it right away. Instead, she placed the half piece down and had an internal struggle. Should she eat it or not? Could he be a cheater?

At this moment, Xu Zhao reached into the box for the other half, broke off a piece, and handed it to Xu Fan and said, “Here.”

Xu Fan immediately took it happily and bit into it, his small mouth munching on it.

Seeing this, the curly-haired woman smiled a bit and ate the mooncake in her hand without worry. Just as she bit into it, she could taste the flavor of the mooncake, and immediately looked at Xu Zhao in surprise.