Chapter 98: The Abandoned Panda Cub..

The floor was covered in panda fur, black and white mixed together in a chaotic mess. Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought Xie Hui had killed cubs in his home.

Once Xie Hui came back to his senses, he forced himself to calm down and placed the tray aside. He searched the study, finally spotting the person curled up next to the curtains.

The face was undoubtedly somewhat unfamiliar, yet Xie Hui felt an oddly special sense of familiarity.

“Ugh, yiny…”

The familiar tone, when coming from a human’s mouth, sounded different than when it came from a panda’s.

“Wait a moment, I’ll get your clothes.”

Earlier, Xie Hui had seen other parents share their experiences, and he had taken his cub to the mall early to buy clothes. After having the servants wash and dry them, he stored them in the wardrobe.

He randomly pulled out a full set from the wardrobe and placed it on the sofa in the study, glancing over at the cub still huddled in the corner.

“Can you do it yourself?”

“Yiny.”

After setting down the clothes, Xie Hui turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.

Although he had raised the cub himself and had seen him do many things since childhood, now that the cub had grown, Xie Hui felt there should be boundaries.

It wasn’t until the door behind him opened from the inside that Xie Hui turned around.

The cub had been a cute and obedient little rice ball, greedy and prone to pouting, occasionally whining in displeasure.

But now, after maturing, wearing human clothes, his aura was completely different.

The cub was a bit taller than Xie Hui, wearing a simple shirt that looked a bit messy, yet strangely carried a sense of lazy nonchalance.

His appearance resembled Xie Hui to some extent, with deep features and a strong masculine aura, but he was still more youthful than Xie Hui.

“Dad…”

When Xie Hui heard him call, his lips curved slightly as he gave a low “Mmm” in acknowledgment, then helped him straighten his messy clothes.

It was no wonder the king had ordered that parents must take their children to that school once they matured into humans.

Now eighteen, this cub couldn’t even manage to wear his own clothes properly, and his speech was limited to short words. When anxious, he still spoke in a way Xie Hui couldn’t understand, just like a cub.

After helping him organize his clothes, Xie Hui grabbed a bag to clean up the panda fur on the floor. His hard work was not in vain—each piece of fur that fell, even on the ground, had a noticeable softness to it.

Xie Hui carefully gathered all the fur, while Xie Jia, standing nearby, crouched down to help. Seeing how clumsy he was, Xie Hui didn’t stop him.

After all, this cub was only experiencing being human for the first time and needed time to adjust.

Once everything was cleaned up, Xie Jia stood by the door, staring at his father, not sure what to do next.

Xie Hui placed the bag of fur in the cabinet, turned to look at his son standing at the door, and pointed to the late-night snack he’d prepared earlier, softly asking:

“Do you want to eat?”

“Yiny.”

After responding, the 1.8-meter tall cub instinctively covered his mouth, his face turning red, and even his ears started to burn.

Xie Hui wanted to control himself but couldn’t help laughing, handing the two items to Xie Jia and saying with suppressed amusement:

“Take your time, you’ll get used to it.”

Xie Jia sat on the sofa, took the bowl of fruit puree, and held the spoon for a while without eating. He moved his lips as if to speak but didn’t know what to say.

Xie Hui sat next to him on another single sofa. Seeing Xie Jia’s expression, he helplessly rubbed his forehead. He couldn’t help but think that this son of his was wasting his tall figure of over 1.8 meters.

Sitting on the sofa, holding the spoon and looking at him, it was almost like a puppy asking its master for a bone.

The change in the cub from when he was a little rice ball was significant. Aside from the clear eyes, he resembled Xie Hui little in other aspects.

Looking at him like this made the sense of unfamiliarity in Xie Hui’s heart fade away, and he naturally assumed the role of a father to comfort the cub.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be going to school. You haven’t even been to school yet, why are you in such a hurry?”

“Hmm?”

As soon as Xie Hui began to speak, Xie Jia had already started eating the fruit puree, holding the spoon in his hand. After becoming human, this hadn’t changed—he still couldn’t bear to waste even a bit of food, making sure the bowl was scraped clean before setting it down.

“You’ll go to school, and the teachers will teach you how to speak like your dad.”

Although Xie Jia still couldn’t speak fluently, he understood exactly what Xie Hui meant.

“Mm, thank you, Dad.”

“It’s late, go rest in your bedroom.”

“Okay, good… good night…”

Xie Hui stood up and walked over to him, handing him a tissue. After Xie Jia absently took it, Xie Hui pointed to the fruit puree on his lips, smiling as he said:

“Good night.”

When he was still a little rice ball, he would always get food around his mouth, and Xie Hui would have to clean it for a long time.

Now that he had just turned human, he wasn’t quite skilled yet. His wrist trembled slightly when holding the spoon.

Xie Hui was very patient with him. Most of the parents who accepted cubs in the empire initially didn’t love their children after they became humans.

This was because, in their traditional thinking, an eighteen-year-old human child shouldn’t be unable to even wear his own clothes properly or express himself with words.

Xie Hui felt that if he treated his newly human cub like a newborn, it would be easier to accept.

After Xie Hui left, Xie Jia stayed on the sofa, subconsciously finishing the late-night snack his dad had prepared.

Actually, Xie Jia no longer found the bamboo shoots that delicious, but still, he ate everything clean, just as his dad had taught him.

After finishing, he stared at the closed door, repeating the words his father had just said in his mind:

“Good night.”

…

That night, before going to bed, Xie Hui glanced at his phone. He had received a new message from the Imperial Academy.

It clearly stated that the day after tomorrow, someone from the Imperial Academy would come to take their child to school. The course would last for two years, with two days of vacation each month for students to return home. Parents were asked to prepare their children’s luggage in advance.

Everything in the academy, including accommodation, classes, and other expenses, would be free, all funded by the royal family.

Parents were also free to visit their children at any time, with no restrictions.

At the academy, both cubs from orphanages and those raised by their parents would be attending classes together.

And the story of this world would begin with the opening of the Imperial Academy.

The original plot of this world was somewhat old-fashioned, with the female lead being a sunny little angel from the orphanage, and the male lead being the sole heir of a prestigious imperial family. Their love was a cross-class romance.

From the perspective of the past, there was nothing wrong with it, but if viewed with current eyes, the female protagonist’s behavior seems inappropriate, commonly referred to as a bit “Green Tea.”

In the original storyline, Xie Jia was the female protagonist’s childhood friend who grew up with her in the orphanage.

The female protagonist enjoyed Xie Jia’s care, but her heart was set only on the male protagonist. Whenever she faced setbacks from the male protagonist or was belittled by people around him, she would subconsciously turn to Xie Jia for comfort.

When everything was fine, the cool, arrogant, and domineering male protagonist was sweet and loving, but when something went wrong, she would seek out the gentle, considerate childhood sweetheart.

Xie Hui’s personality is more indifferent, and in his eyes, as long as things don’t directly involve him or his son, he doesn’t comment on right or wrong.

In this world, he raised his son by his side, and his son had no childhood connections with the female protagonist. However, given the strength of the plot, they were likely to get involved.

Xie Hui didn’t want his son to become the female protagonist’s emotional sounding board, but it was clearly too early to talk to a child who could barely speak properly about love-related matters.

Thinking about it carefully, it really gave him a headache.

Before going to bed, Xie Hui glanced at the time. It was getting late, so he set an alarm on his phone.

Seeing that his son didn’t seem like a fool, Xie Hui thought that the only problem with his clothes was that the buttons weren’t done up, and everything else was neat. There was no need for him to worry about it.

He set the alarm because he wanted to wake up early the next day to make breakfast for his son himself. The chef would probably still prepare the food according to Xie Jia’s previous preferences, and Xie Hui was a little concerned that his son might not like it.

Based on what he had seen from other parents’ daily routines online, he judged that after becoming human, his son’s taste would resemble that of humans, which was completely different from when he was a cub.

The next morning, after Xie Hui finished preparing breakfast and brought it to the dining table, he was thinking about calling Xie Jia to wake up after setting everything on the table, but he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

Today, Xie Jia was wearing a pullover hoodie, and it looked like he had worn it the wrong way around, with the hood in front. It almost resembled the bib Xie Hui used to put on him when he was younger.

Just then, the life assistant he had arranged for his son came over. The assistant had plenty of experience taking care of newly-grown cubs.

Xie Hui stood aside, watching as the assistant went over to teach his son how to wear his clothes properly. He felt satisfied. He liked this kind of assistant who would guide his son on how to wear his clothes properly, rather than just helping him put them on.

“Xie Jia, come eat.”

“Okay, okay.”

At breakfast, Xie Hui considered that his son had trouble holding a spoon properly last night, so he gave him a more suitable fork.

After the meal, Xie Hui helped him pack his luggage. The luggage turned out to be just one suitcase.

The next day, the staff from the Imperial Academy arrived to pick up his son. Xie Hui personally saw his son off and the life assistant went along with them. The Imperial Academy had special dormitories for students from well-off families and allowed them to bring their life assistants.

A month passed in the blink of an eye. One day, while Xie Hui was reading documents in the study, the butler brought him a pot of tea and smilingly reminded him:

“Sir, have you forgotten?”

“Today is the day the Imperial Academy has its monthly break.”

————

—“绿茶” (green tea) in Chinese slang refers to a woman who pretends to be sweet and innocent but is actually manipulative and fake, especially around men.