Chapter 97: The Abandoned Panda Cub..

That night, after it was time to sleep, Xie Hui quietly made his way to the cub’s bedroom, stepped to the bedside, and stared at the glutinous rice ball lying on the big bed for a long while.

When he first started raising this cub, he thought, “Eighteen years is long, but I can handle it.” But now, in the blink of an eye, those eighteen years had passed. After tomorrow, he would never again get to cuddle such a big glutinous rice ball.

Watching your child grow up—it left a father feeling inexplicably sentimental.

Just like he always did, Xie Hui reached out to straighten the cub’s blanket. But the moment his hand touched it, a black paw flipped the blanket back, and a big grinning panda head suddenly popped into view.

“Awoo~”

The sudden appearance of that big head genuinely startled Xie Hui. Once he recovered, he saw two paws beside the fluffy face, still twitching playfully.

“Awoo? Awoo?”

Listening to the cub’s growls, though they had lost the soft, babyish tone of childhood, they still softened Xie Hui’s heart—especially under the filter of “my son.”

“It’s so late, and you’re still not asleep? Hiding under the covers to scare people?”

Not managing to scare anyone had already made the cub unhappy, and after hearing Xie Hui’s scolding, he instinctively pointed a paw at him, then at himself.

“Oooh…”

“I couldn’t sleep, so I came to check on you.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the cub leaned his big head in closer. With his face suddenly enlarged right in front of him, Xie Hui could read the meaning in those clean eyes—he just wanted his dad to take a good look at him.

Holding his neck forward to meet the cub was tiring, so he tilted his head to stretch it out. Once done, the cub reached out with his front paws to hug Xie Hui’s neck.

Xie Hui didn’t resist and let this big glutinous rice ball struggle to stand and wrap his arms around him in a hug.

It was a unique and heartwarming feeling.

The cub seemed to sense that his dad was feeling a bit low and imitated how his father used to comfort him, patting Xie Hui’s back hard with his paw.

“Ooroo-roo, wah!”

The force made Xie Hui cough involuntarily. He rubbed the fluffy fur helplessly—this cub sure didn’t know his own strength.

The cub liked sleeping with the window open. The light breeze rustled through it, making faint sounds that stood out in the quiet night. Their breaths were so soft they were nearly inaudible. Outside, the streetlights and moonlight cast a dim glow into the room.

“Do you know what day it is tomorrow?”

“Hng?”

Xie Hui opened his arms and embraced the large panda cub, breathing in the gentle bamboo scent of his fur, and gradually calmed down.

“Tomorrow is your eighteenth birthday. After tomorrow, you’ll become human—like me and Uncle Li.”

“Wah?”

Seeing the eagerness and excitement in the cub’s eyes, Xie Hui smiled. All those complex emotions—only he bore them. The cub’s joy had already overwhelmed everything else.

“Once you’re human, you’ll have to go to school. After you graduate, come back and take over the family business. Dad’s getting old—it’s time to retire.”

The cub thumped his own chest with his paw, then tapped Xie Hui’s. After rolling twice on the bed, he couldn’t hold back anymore and gave Xie Hui a big bear hug.

Xie Hui was tackled so hard he ended up sitting on the floor. Looking at the excited panda face, he sighed. He couldn’t sleep because of his own anxiety, but now it seemed the cub was too excited to sleep either.

The cub started running around the room, then dug through the cabinets and pulled out a bunch of snacks, enthusiastically pushing them in front of Xie Hui to share.

When Xie Hui saw the cub’s black paws dragging out snacks from every nook and cranny, his face went cold with anger.

For the sake of the cub’s teeth, Xie Hui usually limited his snack intake and kept the rest hidden away. But judging by the pile of snacks now on the floor, the cub had clearly been sneaking and stashing them behind his back for a long time.

The smug cub only realized something was wrong when Xie Hui turned on the lights and his expression turned grim. He quickly hid a packet of candy behind his back and gave Xie Hui a sheepish grin.

Considering tomorrow was his coming-of-age birthday, Xie Hui didn’t scold him. He just confiscated all the snacks.

Xie Jia didn’t mind—he hadn’t dug them out to eat himself, but to give them to Dad and make him happy.

“Alright, it’s getting late. Go back to bed.”

After his fatherly heart had been healed, Xie Hui checked the time and got ready to return to bed. But he’d only taken a couple of steps before a giant glutinous rice ball latched onto his leg.

Back when the cub was small, hugging his leg had been an adorable little accessory. But now, with this hundred-plus-pound panda hanging on, Xie Hui couldn’t move an inch.

With no other choice, he crouched down and rubbed the cub’s head. They sat together on the carpet, eating confiscated snacks. One man and one cub looked out at the moon, and Xie Hui, just like when the cub was little, told him a bedtime story.

Before he could finish, a big panda head flopped into his lap, and soon loud snoring filled the air.

After trying to move him for a while without success, Xie Hui gave up and let him sleep on the carpet. The thick, fluffy rug offered warmth, and with a blanket over him, the cub wouldn’t get cold.

The next morning, Xie Hui was woken by knocking on the door. He had gone to bed late the night before and, for once, felt tempted to sleep in.

The knocking grew louder and louder until Xie Hui had no choice but to toss off the blanket and get up. As soon as he opened the door, the cub—who had been about to knock again—barreled in and faceplanted on the floor.

“Wooo… woooo…”

As Xie Hui walked over to check if he’d hurt himself, he heard the cub’s pitiful whimpering.

The cub pointed to Xie Hui’s face, then patted his own furry head and pounded the floor with his paw.

“Hm, guess it’ll take a little longer? It’s not like you turn into a human instantly at the stroke of eighteen. But it’ll definitely happen today.”

“Woo?”

“I promise, you’ll turn into a human—just like Dad—before today is over.”

Maybe it was because he had a non-human form in childhood, but even in his teens, the cub was still immature. With no way to communicate, Xie Hui couldn’t teach him much, so he planned to do it once the boy became human.

Now that he was up, Xie Hui couldn’t fall back asleep, so he took the cub downstairs.

Yesterday, the cub had been upset because his favorite bamboo shoot had been tied with balloons and streamers. Today, he ran over and playfully pawed at it a few times.

One balloon accidentally popped with a loud bang, and he immediately covered his ears in fright. Then, looking around nervously to see if Dad had noticed—he heard a cough behind him.

“Wooo…”

Xie Hui had long been accustomed to the mischievous behavior of this cub. He walked over, gave its head a light tap, and had the servant place a balloon back on the swing.

On the day of an animal cub’s transformation into a human, other families usually invite many friends and relatives to celebrate the cub becoming a human. However, Xie Hui, who always spoiled his own cub, had no such plans. He even politely declined when Old Li, who had a good relationship with him, and Secretary Qi suggested they come over to see.

At dinner, Xie Hui looked at the cub, who was sitting on the chair without a hint of a panda-like demeanor, and felt that his earlier thoughts were probably correct.

Whether or not the cub’s transformation should happen early was beside the point. The cub would definitely not be accustomed to being human after the transformation. If there were outsiders present, it would be a matter of lifelong embarrassment.

If it were a human cub, like a one- or two-year-old, it would be fine if they grew up without much memory of their animal years. But an eighteen-year-old adult… Xie Hui instinctively wanted to protect his son’s dignity.

He often saw new parents seeking help because their cub looked too much like an animal and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t seem to teach them anything. Xie Hui’s own cub was worry-free, not needing to think about such things. What other family’s panda cub could sit at the table and cross its little legs like this?

After being coaxed by his father, the cub didn’t rush to transform into a human. Instead, it ran to the backyard and started swinging on the swing.

The small swing that Xie Hui had originally made for the cub had long been taken apart. Now, the cub, weighing at least 150 pounds, sat on the swing, happily swinging back and forth, its short rear paws dangling.

Even by nighttime, there were no signs of transformation, and Xie Jia couldn’t help but feel anxious. He nudged his father’s leg with his head and tried to push Xie Hui toward the study, handing him the phone with his paw, the message was clear.

“I asked the doctor before. He said this couldn’t be interfered with by human hands, and it can only depend on you.”

Xie Hui, who had been forced to sit in the study chair, looked at the cub’s hurried demeanor and felt the unease in his own heart, which had previously been calm.

“Woo…”

The cub, after hearing the result, clearly couldn’t accept it. It lay on the carpet, holding its head with both paws.

“How about I make you some snacks?”

“Woo, wow…”

Even though the cub was distressed, when Xie Hui mentioned snacks, it still struggled to gesture with its paws, asking for a serving.

“Two servings?”

“Woo.”

Xie Hui went downstairs to the kitchen, took out some fresh ingredients, and decided to make fruit puree for the cub since it hadn’t eaten much dinner. He also lightly dehydrated some bamboo shoots, which the cub loved without needing any seasoning.

Xie Hui was always patient when cooking. After finishing, he placed the food on a tray and took it upstairs.

The cub didn’t sneak around the kitchen door to watch this time, which was already surprising to Xie Hui. When he reached the second floor and opened the study door, he was shocked by the scene in front of him and instinctively gripped the tray in his hand.