Chapter 85: The Abandoned Panda Cub..

After finishing a task, Xie Hui turned his head and saw a small pile of peeled bamboo shoot skins on the right side of his desk. The cub’s claws weren’t very dexterous, but the tender shoots he gnawed out were impressively clean.

Putting aside his work, Xie Hui scooped up the cub and sat him on the keyboard. Supporting the back of the cub’s head with both hands, he pressed his face against the little panda’s belly and took a deep whiff.

“Yiya?”

The cub had been quietly peeling bamboo shoots, when he was suddenly pulled over and found a head buried in his tummy. Startled and dazed for a moment, he poked Xie Hui with the tender shoot he hadn’t finished peeling yet.

“Hmm? You don’t want to eat this? Or is this one for me?”

Xie Hui reached out as if to take the tender shoot, and the cub quickly hid it behind his back.

“Yaya, wuuya.”

His tender voice sounded much stronger than before, as if he were trying to reason with Xie Hui in his own little language.

“Hmm? Not giving it to me?”

When the cub saw the disappointment on Xie Hui’s face, he hesitated for a while before reluctantly offering the peeled shoot, then flopped down on the keyboard, pressing both paws to his head.

It looked like he was sulking at Xie Hui, or maybe trying to resist temptation—his paws even flattened the fur on the back of his head.

“Too bad I’m not that hungry right now.”

As soon as he heard that, the cub perked up, stepping on the keyboard with his hind paws and pouncing at Xie Hui with his front ones. Happily, he took back the tender shoot and bit off the softest tip with a dramatic “rawr.”

Xie Hui rubbed his ears and held him in his arms while he resumed work.

Halfway through a document, he felt a tug on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw the cub pointing with his paw at the pile of bamboo shoots nearby.

Earlier, when the cub had been sitting on the desk alone, he helped himself whenever he wanted to eat. But now that he was in Xie Hui’s lap, his little paws couldn’t reach.

Xie Hui grabbed a shoot and handed it to him. Before he could pull his hand back, the cub pawed at him and nuzzled his hand.

Xie Hui ruffled his head affectionately and chuckled.

“Good boy.”

…

The client was currently in the early stages of growing his business. The reason he went bankrupt later was because he had unknowingly planted the seeds of ruin during the startup phase—by keeping some rotten apples in the company.

He had thought those were the brothers who had been with him since the beginning and showed them too much leniency. If not for the fact that he had a child to take care of, not only would he have lost the company, but he might’ve ended up in prison too.

Xie Hui had no such hang-ups. To him, running a business was like pruning a tree—cutting off the bad branches so the tree could thrive.

Because he was busy firing the unfit personnel, Xie Hui had his assistant order lunch and deliver it to his office.

As for the cub still sitting on his lap, judging by the way his mouth had been constantly busy all morning, he probably wasn’t hungry.

The assistant knocked on the office door, and after hearing Xie Hui say “Come in,” he entered.

He saw President Xie in a dark navy suit, seated behind his desk. His long, slender fingers were tapping the keyboard—he looked every bit the image of an elite professional. Except there was a serious-faced panda cub on his lap, diligently peeling bamboo shoots on Xie Hui’s pants.

The assistant had heard the rumors: that this was President Xie’s child. When he first found out, he thought President Xie must be incredibly bold.

If it were him, he wouldn’t dare bring home a young non-human cub—no matter how cute it looked.

Young non-human cubs still retained strong animal instincts, and there had been numerous news stories of children around five years old biting their guardians.

But a cub that obediently sat in someone’s lap peeling bamboo shoots with its paws? This was the first time the assistant had seen anything like it.

“President Xie, your lunch has arrived. Also, the milk you asked for—I’ve already warmed it up and put it in the thermos.”

He placed both items on the counter. After Xie Hui nodded, the assistant turned to leave, but before the door closed, he glanced twice more at the cub.

The little guy wasn’t fat, but somehow still looked deceptively heavy with his round and chubby appearance.

After finishing his work, Xie Hui picked up the bamboo-shoot-gnawing cub and went to sit on the couch.

He opened the thermos, poured the milk into a bowl, and placed it in front of the cub.

The cub still had an unfinished bamboo shoot in his paws. The steaming milk with its strong aroma was right under his nose.

Leaning back against the couch, Xie Hui watched the cub stare at the bamboo shoot for a while, then at the milk—back and forth he went, but he didn’t touch either.

“Not in the mood for milk today?”

Just as he finished speaking, the cub hugged the bamboo shoot with one paw and buried his head into the milk bowl.

Xie Hui, already used to him spilling half of everything, turned to open his lunch box.

After a full morning of work, Xie Hui had been only mildly tired. But watching the cub seriously sip milk and nibble bamboo shoots made him oddly hungry too.

After a couple of bites, he heard a loud thump—he turned and saw the cub had suddenly flopped onto the coffee table.

Xie Hui froze for a second, gut instinct telling him something was wrong. He went over, gently poked the cub’s paw. Instead of the usual token protest, the cub curled up into a ball.

“Let me see what mischief you’ve been up to. If you let me check properly, I won’t get mad. Only one chance though.”

The cub was still young, and Xie Hui sometimes worried about unintentionally hurting him. So he spoke gently, trying to coax the little sesame ball into cooperating.

The cub lay there for a while, clearly thinking it over. Then he slowly dragged himself toward Xie Hui, head hanging low.

Even before the cub got to him, Xie Hui caught a strong whiff of ketchup.

He took the cub’s front paws and helped him stand. Seeing the ketchup smeared around his mouth, he wanted to scold him, but remembered his earlier promise. Swallowing the reprimand, he set his lunch aside and grabbed his phone.

He messaged the staff to ask whether a cub eating ketchup would be harmful.

Even though it was break time, the reply came instantly:

[Ketchup? Is it homemade? If your chef made it, it should be fine. But if it’s store-bought, we recommend bringing him in for a checkup. Store products often contain preservatives.]

Xie Hui glanced at the disposable cup the ketchup had come in—it was branded with the logo of the original host’s favorite restaurant. Then he looked at the cub, who was now lying on his lap, all four paws drooping.

With his earlier promise in mind and unable to bring himself to scold him, Xie Hui picked him up, checked that the wristband was still on, and put a hat on his head for shade.

He hadn’t even taken more than a few bites of his own lunch before rushing to drive them to the hospital.

The staff member was already waiting there, accompanied by two nurses. They took the cub from Xie Hui’s arms.

Xie Hui wasn’t allowed into the examination room. The cub, being held by a stranger for the first time, was noticeably more agitated than when carried by Xie Hui.

All four paws flailed, and he growled fiercely, baring his teeth at the person holding him.

Xie Hui quickly stepped forward, gently rubbing his head to calm him down. Leaning in close, he coaxed softly:

“Be good and go get your check-up. Tonight, I’ll take you to the mall and let you pick out a few of your favorite snacks, okay?”

Under Xie Hui’s patient coaxing, the little one—whose fur had fluffed up from anger—finally began to calm down. But just before the examination room door closed, he still stretched his head as far as he could, trying to get another look at his dad.

“Doctor, is it common for non-human cubs in their juvenile stage to be this attached to their fathers?”

“Most aren’t, actually. This one is indeed a rare case.”

After answering, the doctor began the examination. He ran through all the necessary tests, and then, while waiting for the results, returned the clearly uneasy little one to his father’s arms.

The cub was quite obedient when carried out by the doctor, but the moment he spotted Xie Hui, he practically launched himself like a spring. He flew into a pounce—thankfully, Xie Hui caught him just in time, or else he would have smacked his head on the floor.

Ruffling the cub’s head with one large hand, Xie Hui noticed some dried ketchup still smeared on his little face and sighed helplessly.

Raising a cub was fun, sure—but all these trivial messes could really give one a headache.

He’d only taken two bites of his lunch, and the cub had already sneaked off with some ketchup. Xie Hui had only just opened the packet and placed it nearby—he had no idea how the cub managed to swipe it without him noticing.

There were still about thirty minutes left before the test results would be ready, so Xie Hui patiently sat with the cub on a bench.

The doctor came by and mentioned that they could leave if they wanted—he’d send the results once they were out. But Xie Hui politely declined the offer.

Unless he saw the report with his own eyes, he couldn’t truly feel at ease.

The cub seemed to realize he’d done something wrong, too. He lay quietly in Xie Hui’s arms, barely daring to move, like a docile little sesame glutinous rice ball.

Xie Hui forced himself to detach from the anxious atmosphere. When he looked down, he happened to catch the cub peeking up at him too, those clear, clean eyes holding a hint of guilt.

He ruffled the cub’s head again, then leaned down to kiss him lightly. His magnetic voice was filled with gentleness.

“No need to be scared. As long as Dad’s here, everything will be fine. Just don’t eat random stuff next time, okay? Whether you’re a person or a panda, it’s normal to make mistakes the first time. This isn’t a big deal.”

“No one can go through life without making any mistakes—my little one is no exception, right?”

Whether the cub could fully understand him or not, Xie Hui was doing his best to comfort him.

Maybe raising a cub really was good for the soul—any lingering hostility from his counterattack mission had long since melted away.

Hearing the cub’s soft little whimpers, Xie Hui bent down and kissed his paw, smiling as he went on:

“Next time you want to eat something, just ask me first. If it’s okay, I’ll share it with you—sound good?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to give you things. It’s just that some foods will make your tummy hurt if you eat them, and you don’t want a tummy ache, do you?”

Xie Hui rubbed the soft fur on the cub’s belly, and a furry little paw landed gently on the back of his hand. After a light pat, the cub curled his paw into a tiny fist and gave it a soft bump against Xie Hui’s.

Getting the message, Xie Hui made a fist with the hand that had been rubbing the cub’s belly and bumped it gently against the cub’s.

“Good boy. It’s okay this time—what happened is already in the past. No need to dwell on it.”

After soothing the cub for a while, the test results finally came out. Xie Hui grabbed the report, not even sure which parts to focus on, and rushed into the doctor’s office.

After reviewing the report, the doctor smiled at Xie Hui and said:

“The ketchup he ate was probably homemade by the shop. The hygiene looks good—there’s nothing wrong with the child.”

Their department, which specialized in juvenile non-human cubs, was usually pretty quiet with few patients. The doctor noticed this cub had reached the age for mischief, so he added a few more reminders.

“Mr. Xie, your child isn’t actually a real giant panda. So while some things that real pandas can’t eat are fine for him, you should still avoid heavily processed foods with lots of additives. They could upset his digestion.”

“Your child can eat meat, but until he’s fully transformed into human form, it’s best to focus his diet on fruits and vegetables.”

Xie Hui took every word to heart, thanking the doctor before carrying the now slightly heavy cub out with him.

Once they were in the car, Xie Hui stashed the report away. That was when he realized how hungry he was—he had barely eaten two bites of lunch before rushing the cub to the hospital.

It had been almost 1 p.m. when they arrived, and now it was nearly 2:30.

Just then, sitting in the passenger seat, buckled up in his special cub safety harness, the little one extended the bamboo shoot he’d been holding tightly this whole time toward Xie Hui.

Looking at the tender shoot being offered, Xie Hui turned his head—and met the cub’s reluctant yet hopeful gaze.

“Ya~ woo-yi ya~”