Raising Kids C37

Chapter 37: PUA Guy, Stay Away from My Daughter (4)

“Bro, help, help! She’s crying! Why is she crying? I didn’t do anything to her! Hey, why are you laughing?!”

The moment Xie Lang heard his little niece crying, his scalp nearly exploded. He didn’t dare to let go and turned his head frantically, only to see Xie Hui smirking, which made him shriek again.

“Bro, are you even her real dad?”

Suppressing the urge to smile, Xie Hui cleared his throat and took his daughter back.

Honestly, he hadn’t meant to laugh, but Xie Lang holding his daughter looked way too much like a bear that had stolen honey.

“If you just hold her still without moving, she’ll get bored.”

As soon as An’an was back in Xie Hui’s arms, he took a few steps, and her crying stopped.

Xie Lang cautiously peeked over and saw her smiling again. Inwardly, he cursed her as a ‘toothless little trickster’!

During dinner, An’an was with the nanny. Xie Lang stuffed some food into his mouth and asked, “Bro, are you really not going to throw a big celebration for the full-month banquet? Won’t people think we don’t value An’an?”

Their social circle was full of these annoying formalities—banquets for every little occasion, and if anything wasn’t done properly, people would gossip behind their backs.

When Xie Lang was little, rumors had spread that he was an illegitimate child just because his mother wasn’t present at his one-year-old birthday party, having given birth to him while traveling abroad.

“The doctor said it’s best for An’an not to meet too many people right now. A big banquet means a big crowd. We’ll throw a grand celebration when she turns one, after she’s grown a bit more.”

The Xie family didn’t have a strict rule of silence during meals—at least, not between the two brothers. Their parents rarely came home, and even when they did, they never stayed in this house.

“Ah, that makes sense. Has An’an been naughty lately?”

Drowning in a mountain of work to the point where he barely had time for his girlfriend, Xie Lang tested the waters to see when his brother planned to return to the office.

After asking, he looked up and met his brother’s gaze. Seeing the dark circles under Xie Hui’s eyes, he suddenly felt like he was asking an obvious question.

Back when his brother had first taken over the company, even with the heavy workload, he had never looked this sleep-deprived.

“Bro, you have two nannies, and you’re still this exhausted?”

At this, Xie Hui himself felt a bit helpless.

“Yeah, she sleeps most of the day but gets super energetic at night. She won’t let Zhang Jie hold her—she has to see me, or she’ll cry.”

Seeing the curiosity and eagerness in Xie Lang’s expression, Xie Hui added, “Want to check it out tonight?”

Thinking of how cute and well-behaved his little niece was, Xie Lang agreed without hesitation.

“Sure!”

The entire afternoon, Xie Lang stayed in the study, going over documents he previously didn’t understand and discussing unresolved proposals with his brother.

Watching how his brother effortlessly settled the same files that had been driving him crazy, Xie Lang had a profound realization—no matter how they were born from the same parents, the gap between them was real.

At night, Xie Lang saw his brother heading to bed early and started doubting whether he had been tricked.

He even went to check on his niece next door. She looked perfectly peaceful.

At 8:30, An’an did wake up once. After Zhang Jie prepared some formula, she drank it obediently and fell back asleep.

Xie Lang leaned over the crib, watching his little niece sleep so soundly. His fingers itched—he wanted to poke her chubby cheeks.

After checking on An’an, he went to his brother’s room, only to see Xie Hui already asleep.

So… what exactly does his brother do at night? Why are his dark circles so bad?

Xie Lang grabbed a chair and sat by the bedroom door, opening a mobile game to pass the time. Tonight, he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Just past 10 PM, after losing another round, Xie Lang heard the bedroom door open. Xie Hui stepped out.

Xie Hui glanced at the giant “Defeat” on Xie Lang’s screen and said in a low voice, “Let’s go.”

Go? Go where?

Xie Lang was briefly stunned before standing up and following.

They entered An’an’s room. Before they even reached the crib, they heard a baby crying.

Xie Hui expertly picked her up, checked her diaper, changed it, and then took the prepared milk bottle from Zhang Jie, bringing it to her lips.

Xie Lang had brought his small stool along and sat beside his brother, watching his niece drink her milk.

Maybe it was still the novelty, but right now, Xie Lang felt like he could watch this all day without getting bored.

After feeding, Xie Hui burped her. Seeing Xie Lang’s eager expression, he lowered his voice and said, “Want to try holding her?”

Xie Lang instinctively took the baby.

She was perfectly behaved in his arms. Just as he was about to start feeling proud, she suddenly turned her face toward him, staring.

When An’an fixed her gaze on him, Xie Lang’s heart tightened.

Sure enough, in the next second, her tiny mouth wobbled, and she shut her eyes, crying.

This time, it wasn’t just a couple of whimpers—she squeezed her eyes shut and cried with all her might.

“Bro, help! Help! Take her back!”

It took Xie Hui a long time to calm her down.

At night, the little one was much more energetic than during the day, her round eyes curiously scanning her surroundings.

Xie Hui’s phone vibrated. Just as he unlocked it to check the message, the little girl in his arms reached out and tugged at his ear.

Without even looking at the message, Xie Hui turned off his phone.

At night, she would sleep for a while occasionally, but her naps were much shorter than during the day. Not only that, but whenever she woke up, she insisted that Xie Hui play with her.

If he even looked away for a second, she would start wailing just to pull his attention back.

By the latter half of the night, Xie Lang was already yawning nonstop, feeling like he could fall asleep just sitting there.

At one point, he turned his head and saw his brother still playing that childish finger-holding game with his little niece. He couldn’t help but sigh.

“Bro, what if we just don’t let her sleep during the day? Would that fix her sleep schedule?”

“If she doesn’t sleep during the day, she’ll cry. Taking her out for a walk around five or six in the evening helps a little, but she still wakes up a lot in the middle of the night. I asked the doctor, and they said to try adjusting her schedule gradually—she’ll get better as she grows.”

Xie Lang let out another sigh, suddenly feeling that just being a working man wasn’t so bad after all.

When the sky finally started to brighten, An An, who had been sleeping on and off all night, finally settled into a deep sleep.

Having been forced to stay up all night with his brother, Xie Lang saw that dawn was approaching and that An An was sleeping soundly. He rubbed his eyes, walked over to the crib, and instinctively reached out to poke her.

Earlier, just a little tap would make her pout and cry. But now, even after pushing her a few times, she still slept soundly, making Xie Lang rub his eyes again in disbelief.

“You were so energetic before. If you’ve got the guts, get up and party with me now!”

He kept nudging her gently, complaining in a whisper.

After a while, Xie Lang withdrew his hand and left the room with his brother. Walking down the hallway, he sincerely acknowledged how tough it was for his brother to take care of his little niece.

“Bro, don’t worry. I’ll make sure to handle everything at the company so you won’t have to worry.”

“I shouldn’t have brought all those files over to bother you. That was really inconsiderate of me!”

“As soon as I get back to the company, I’ll go bother Uncle Wang! If he refuses to teach me, I’ll just move into his house!”

Before Xie Hui could say anything, Xie Lang had already laid out his own plans clearly.

Uncle Wang was the company’s vice president and had watched Xie Lang grow up. When Xie Lang was little, he used to go to Uncle Wang’s house all the time to freeload meals.

Although Xie Hui wasn’t sure why his brother’s thoughts had jumped so far ahead, he still reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

“Good luck. I believe in you.”

“Yeah! I’ll definitely do my best!”

Now, just like Xie Hui when he first took over the company, Xie Lang barely had time to rest. He caught up on sleep in the morning, and by the afternoon, he was back at work.

By evening, Xie Hui noticed that the sun wasn’t too harsh. In the crib, the little one was squinting as if she was about to doze off.

He put down the file he was reading, walked over to the crib, and picked her up.

“Come on, Daddy’s taking you out for some sun.”

Although he had handed the company over to Xie Lang, Xie Hui wasn’t completely free. At this age, the original host of his body had been ambitiously expanding their business overseas.

There were many affairs at the international branches that couldn’t just be handed over entirely to the management team or dumped onto the already overwhelmed Xie Lang.

Fortunately, although this little one could be quite mischievous, she also had moments of being calm and sleepy.

Xie Hui carried her downstairs. Aunt Zhang and the others were still doing her laundry, and the tiny clothes hanging on the balcony swayed in the breeze.

It wasn’t the season for flowers in the backyard, but Xie Hui still took her for a walk there.

A butterfly fluttered over from somewhere, immediately catching the attention of the drowsy An An.

She stretched out her tiny hands, waving them in the air as if trying to catch it.

When the butterfly flew away, she wobbled her little head around, looking left and right before finally settling her gaze on Xie Hui. She let out a soft “yia ao,” babbling in her own baby language.

After strolling in the backyard for quite a while, Xie Hui saw that she was no longer sleepy, so he carried her back inside just in time for her feeding.

Raising such a tiny little one mainly involved repeating the same few tasks over and over.

But watching that wrinkly little creature, no bigger than a kitten at birth, slowly grow up—her skin turning from wrinkled to a soft, milky white—brought an inexplicable sense of accomplishment that made all the monotony worthwhile.

At this stage, babies grow quickly. As she got older, she no longer insisted on playing in the middle of the night, but her clinginess only increased.

Xie Hui moved her crib into his bedroom to make it easier to take care of her at night.

Even when he was holding her, she wouldn’t always stay still. Especially after learning to lift her head, she’d wriggle left and right, curiously looking around, and her tiny hands were getting stronger.

One time, when Xie Lang came home and tried to tease her, he accidentally annoyed her. In retaliation, she grabbed his ear with her little hand and pulled—hard.

“Bro, help! Help me!” Xie Lang yelped.