Chapter 86 – The Abandoned Panda Cub..

Back when the cub was taken to the hospital for examination, he hadn’t even been willing to let go of that bamboo shoot. Now, as if he’d finally realized he was hungry, he offered it to Xie Hui.

The faint irritation Xie Hui had felt earlier from skipping lunch and rushing to the hospital was completely dispelled by that tiny paw holding out a bamboo shoot.

Raising a cub is probably just like this—being repeatedly healed in the midst of exhaustion.

“It’s dangerous to eat while driving, but thank you.”

Xie Hui accepted the bamboo shoot and set it aside. Surprisingly, the cub didn’t look reluctant at all. In fact, when Xie Hui glanced at him, he thought the little guy was smiling at him.

The cub had been carrying around that peeled bamboo shoot for so long in the hospital, so Xie Hui wasn’t very comfortable letting him eat it now.

Instead of returning to the company, Xie Hui sent a message to his assistant and drove straight home.

Once home, he first turned on the hot water in the bathroom and placed the cub on the sofa, warning him not to get down. Then he went to another room to find the cub’s bath toys.

Even though the cub wasn’t very big and technically didn’t need a change of clothes to take a bath, he cared a lot about the ritual of bathing. He always wanted a few toys to keep him company.

Without toys, he’d just splash around in the water. One time, when Xie Hui forgot to prepare any, they ended up having a full-on water fight in the bathroom.

After putting the bath toys in the large tub, Xie Hui returned to the living room and saw that Xie Jia had already crawled to the edge of the sofa. Upon seeing Xie Hui, the cub’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

Xie Hui walked over and picked him up. At the cub’s size, it would’ve been fine to let him crawl on the floor, but no matter how thoroughly he cleaned the house, Xie Hui just couldn’t bring himself to let the little guy do that.

Not to mention, this soft rice-ball of a cub was incredibly easy to get dirty. If he let him crawl around freely, Xie Hui would probably end up spending most of his day just giving him baths.

He set the cub into the bathtub. Since the water was a bit deep, the moment the cub entered, he sank before floating back up—balanced perfectly, with a little yellow duck perched on his head.

“Splash around by yourself for a bit. Once your fur’s wet, I’ll help you with the body wash.”

Xie Hui took off his suit jacket and tossed it onto the sofa, rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, and returned to the bathroom. Inside the tub, the cub was dutifully spinning in circles, occasionally paddling some water with his paws to get the fur on his head wet.

“Come here, time to soap up.”

Xie Hui pulled up a stool and sat by the bathtub. The tub had been custom-built for the cub, loosely qualifying as dry-wet separated. There was a panel on one side where the cub could sit while being soaped up.

When he grabbed the body wash, he also picked up the bubble-blowing toy.

The cub had just had a bath that morning before they went out, so he was still fairly clean. Xie Hui mostly focused on wiping off the ketchup around his mouth.

In any case, frequent baths don’t hurt young cubs. Studies have shown that only with regular baths followed by sun exposure can they prevent fur loss.

Xie Hui was especially careful while cleaning the ketchup from the cub’s face, afraid of getting any soap in his eyes or nose.

After rinsing thoroughly and drying his fur twice with a towel to remove any leftover body wash, the cub’s head was clean—making the rest of the body easier to wash.

The cub lay against the edge of the tub, gripping the bubble toy in one paw while Xie Hui stood on the other side, scrubbing his back.

Just then, the cub managed to blow a bubble and eagerly turned his head to show Xie Hui. But Xie Hui, focused on scrubbing, didn’t react in time and accidentally smeared some foam on the cub’s face.

“Yah?”

Hearing the innocent squeak, Xie Hui finally realized what happened. He stifled a laugh, rinsed the foam from his hand, and gently wiped the cub’s face clean with a towel.

After the bath, Xie Hui dried the cub’s fur with a towel, then carried him upstairs to the balcony, letting him pick a sunny spot he liked.

Xie Hui turned on some music and, watching the cub’s little tail swaying as he sunbathed, couldn’t help but smile faintly.

No matter how many times he saw it, that wiggling tail while basking in the sun was endlessly adorable—he’d never get tired of it.

“I’m going to make dinner. Be good and stay in the sun.”

“Eeyah~”

It was already a bit late when they got back, so Xie Hui quickly made himself a bowl of noodles. After finishing, he began preparing the cub’s dinner.

Xie Jia’s diet was mostly vegetarian, so the fridge was stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables.

As for the dried, farm-raised bamboo rat meat, Xie Hui had been slicing it into larger and larger pieces lately, per the caregiver’s instructions—to help train the cub’s chewing ability, though honestly, Xie Hui felt his little guy didn’t really need the help.

Once dinner was ready, Xie Hui glanced at the monitor. The cub was lying on the table, front paws tucked behind his head, hind paws crossed like he was lounging with his legs up.

Xie Hui deliberately made his footsteps louder as he walked upstairs. Sure enough, when he arrived, he saw the cub sprawled out with his limbs spread wide, tail wagging as he seriously sunbathed.

“Come on, time for dinner.”

He placed the cub’s meal on the table and waved him over.

The moment the delicious aroma wafted over, the cub tried to act calm—but his tail betrayed him, wagging furiously. He stared eagerly at the bowl in Xie Hui’s hands and, the second Xie Hui called, darted over in a flash.

Watching the cub eat so seriously reminded Xie Hui of the work he hadn’t finished earlier in the day.

The client later switched to the entertainment industry. His previous near-bankruptcy had stemmed from scandals involving the company’s executives—forcing entertainers to drink with clients, and exploiting them under the table.

Right now, the company was still a small real estate firm. At that stage, the client couldn’t acquire any prime real estate and was already feeling out of place in the field.

A year later, he sold off part of his assets and shifted to the entertainment industry—starting by signing a few internet celebrities as artists. After gradually investing in productions and having two of those influencers rise to fame, the company got back on track.

As the roster grew, the original executives—who considered themselves the client’s old brothers—became increasingly arrogant, until all of them eventually fell from grace.

Xie Hui had already fired those people. As he thought about it, his hand absently ruffled the cub’s fur while asking the client a few questions.

“Do you want me to punish them for you?”

Xie Hui was a highly professional task handler. Everything he did was aimed at fulfilling the client’s wishes.

“No, let them go. I just hope you won’t ever get involved with them again. There’s no need for punishment—they already faced legal consequences in the last life.”

“And besides, if it weren’t for me back then, they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to hurt those innocent people.”

“If possible, I hope you can make amends to the artists my so-called friends harassed in the last life.”

Most clients were silent in the system space, and Xie Hui usually only spoke to them when necessary.

The cub was still focused on eating, with half a bowl left. As Xie Hui rubbed his ears, he continued:

“Hmm?”

“In our last life, my friends and I looked like the ones who suffered, but those who exposed their crimes ended up being ostracized too.”

“Just because I did something doesn’t mean I wasn’t wrong. If it hadn’t been for me, they wouldn’t have had the means to get close to those people, let alone hurt them.”

“Please.”

After entering the system space, he was no longer a player in the game but an observer from the outside, which allowed him to see things more clearly. If this client were truly just an obsessive and hopeless person, he wouldn’t have found the system, let alone had the chance to ask it to fulfill his wishes.

“All right. I’ll help you fulfill all your wishes.”

After finishing his conversation with the client, Xie Hui saw the little one who had just eaten, sprawled out on the table as if ready to take a nap. His whole body practically screamed “lazy.”

“Wanna go out and play?”

Right after Xie Hui said that, he clearly saw the little one’s ear twitch.

“Ying, yi-ya~”

He didn’t understand what Xie Hui meant, but seeing as he didn’t even open his eyes, Xie Hui figured he wasn’t too keen.

Like a little piglet who’d eaten its fill, he was just lying there. Xie Hui poked him, and he only gave a token wag of his little tail in response.

“How about taking a walk in the courtyard with me?”

“Mm, ya.”

It seemed that the words “with me” finally got this lazy little cub to drag himself upright and leap toward Xie Hui. When Xie Hui held him in his arms, the cub used his paws to pat Xie Hui’s arm, silently urging him to get moving.

The courtyard was planted only with bamboo. The assistant had yet to find a truly suitable housekeeper. One man and one baby panda in a large courtyard, the setting sun casting its light over them.

The little one yawned in Xie Hui’s arms, even remembering to cover his mouth with a paw, tail lazily swaying.

Xie Hui pointed to the area of the courtyard where the bamboo had been planted and said with a smile:

“Next year, you’ll be able to dig up your own bamboo shoots there to eat.”

The phrase “dig up bamboo shoots to eat” managed to chase away some of the little one’s drowsiness. He stretched his head, trying hard to look in the direction Xie Hui was pointing.

“Oooh, yi-ya.”

“Mm, bamboo shoots—your favorite. If you want the tender kind, you’ll have to break them off with your paws. If you want the tougher kind, you’ll have to wait till they grow up.”

This variety of bamboo had been specially developed by experts and was perfect for non-human panda cubs in their early years. The shoots grew abundantly, but most wouldn’t mature into full-grown bamboo, so there was no need to worry about the roots invading the house.

These improved shoots would sprout all year round and didn’t have a hint of bitterness. Even the slightly older shoots remained crisp and sweet.

After Xie Hui explained this, the little one seemed to shake off all remaining sleepiness and wriggled in his arms, eager to go take a look.

Xie Hui carried him over to the bamboo grove. The newly planted stalks were still a bit bare, and the cub looked visibly disappointed.

After staring for a while, Xie Hui tried to convince him that once they grew up, they’d become delicious bamboo shoots. His gaze turned eager again.

“It’s still early. We’ll have to wait until next year.”

As he spoke, Xie Hui gave him a pat on the head.

Looking at the bare bamboo and then at Xie Jia’s lush, healthy fur, Xie Hui lowered his voice and started teasing him.

“Little pandas who don’t sun their fur properly will end up bald like this bamboo.”

“Ying…”

At first, Xie Hui had felt frustrated about not being able to communicate properly with him. But as time went on, maybe he just got used to it—he even began to enjoy this unique, nonverbal bond between them.

That strange but special sense of connection, belonging only to the two of them as father and son, was enough to make up for everything else.

Holding the little one, Xie Hui sat down on a bench in the courtyard to watch the sunset together. When the final glimmer of light disappeared from the sky, he took the cub back into the living room.

As soon as they entered, the cub pointed with his paw at the TV—no longer sleepy and clearly thinking about cartoons.

“How about just one episode today?”

As he spoke, Xie Hui had already sat down on the sofa and picked up the remote to turn on the TV.

The cub responded by placing both paws in front of him.

“You want me to squish them? Such a good boy.”

Xie Hui gently squeezed his soft, pink paw pads, then leaned down to kiss his ear before switching the channel to cartoons.

The cub, who had originally wanted to correct Xie Hui somehow, instantly forgot everything once the cartoon opening played. He sat in Xie Hui’s lap, back resting against Xie Hui’s abs.

When his favorite scenes came on, he proudly crossed his legs. His fluffy hind paw would occasionally make little circles in the air.

“Ying, ya yi-ya~”

Because they’d eaten dinner early and Xie Jia had gotten a bath in the afternoon, by the time they finished the cartoon and played a little more, it was still only 9:30.

After placing the sleeping cub onto his small bed, Xie Hui let out a deep breath, grabbed his pajamas, and went to take a shower. Once he got back and lay down on the big bed, he pulled the covers over himself and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

It had been a long day. Work in the morning, a hospital visit for Xie Jia in the afternoon—not a moment’s rest.

But he didn’t expect that tonight’s sleep would be anything but peaceful. He hadn’t been asleep long when a sudden feeling of suffocation hit him.