Chapter 4

Mao Feixue herself had a five-year-old son, so she was naturally much better at taking care of children than Zhong Jin.

Using a garment steamer, she first smoothed out the small T-shirt and shorts before putting them on. The sandals, which didn’t fit quite right, were adjusted a bit, making them much more comfortable to wear.

Mao Feixue had short hair herself and couldn’t find anything to tie the child’s hair, so she took her to find Rao Shishi.

With about ten minutes left before officially starting work, Rao Shishi was hiding behind her workstation eating breakfast. After slurping a few bites of noodles, she recognized Zhong Yuntong as Mao Feixue approached with a child.

“Hey, what happened to you?”

Yesterday, she was a distinguished ancient-style little princess, but today her outfit was plain and unremarkable. Fortunately, her looks were still on point; otherwise, she would have looked just like the other kids playing on the slide downstairs.

After Mao Feixue explained a bit, Rao Shishi rummaged through her drawer for a comb and hair ties. She was skilled at styling hair, parting the child’s long hair down the middle and tying it into neat double buns. She then pulled out a pink satin bow hairpin and clipped it onto one side of the bun.

“This child has really nice hair,” Mao Feixue remarked, unable to help but express her admiration.

Rao Shishi exaggeratedly sighed, “She has more hair than I do; it’s unfair.”

With her hair styled, the child looked much more presentable. Rao Shishi then found a small knitted bag that came with a yogurt purchase, adjusted the strap, and slung it over the child’s shoulder, stuffing a handful of strange-flavored peanuts into her little bag.

Dressed up, Zhong Yuntong, carrying her small bag and wearing her clattering plastic sandals, followed the scent to find her father’s office.

She pushed the door open, and Zhong Jin lifted his eyelids from behind the computer screen to glance at her, his tone slightly impatient, “What are you doing here again?”

Zhong Yuntong reached up to touch the bow on her head, “To show you.”

Zhong Jin replied dismissively, “Not bad, looks good.”

Zhong Yuntong, wanting more attention, took a few steps forward and climbed onto his lap, pulling a peanut from her bag, eating one herself and then offering one to Zhong Jin.

“Don’t, eat it yourself,” Zhong Jin hadn’t finished speaking when another peanut was shoved into his mouth.

“I don’t want it.”

Another peanut was offered.

Whatever.

When Mao Feixue knocked and entered, she happened to see her usually aloof boss, holding a little snowball in his arms, typing on the computer while crunching peanuts. She stood by the door, feeling a bit awkward about entering or leaving.

Zhong Jin felt a bit uncomfortable himself; to maintain his dignity, he had to keep a straight face, “What’s the matter?”

“Director Zhong, the city’s publicity department is here to shoot a legal promotion video. Do you want to go out and greet them?”

Zhong Jin withdrew his gaze and continued staring at the screen, “I’m not going. If there’s anything, you can coordinate with them.”

Mao Feixue knew Zhong Jin didn’t like small talk, nodded, and added, “Then I’ll take Xiaotong out. Let her make an appearance in the program; what if someone who knows her sees the live broadcast?”

Zhong Jin immediately lifted Zhong Yuntong off his lap and handed her to Mao Feixue, “Quickly take her away.”

Mao Feixue smiled as she took her into her arms, “Our Xiaotong is so cute. Let’s go play with Auntie, okay?”

Zhong Jin looked at Mao Feixue, whose eyes were almost squinting from her smile, and curiously asked, “Is she really that cute?”

“You’ve never raised a child; you don’t know how wonderful daughters are—soft and sweet, like a little cotton-padded jacket for their parents. I always wanted to have a daughter, but I was unlucky and ended up with a little brat.”

Zhong Jin looked at Mao Feixue, falling into a moment of silence.

Mao Feixue felt that her previous words were somewhat inappropriate in front of Zhong Jin, especially considering he had recently lost a loved one. Though unintentional, it was still a kind of cruelty.

Zhong Jin, maintaining his composure, picked up a evidence bag from the table and handed it to Mao Feixue, “This is her shoe. Have Xiao Wang check to see if he can find the buyer. It’s good to have a backup plan; if the genetic comparison yields no results, we can still have another lead.”

Mao Feixue took the small tiger-head shoe from the evidence bag, looked at it a few times, and was secretly amazed. What kind of family does this child come from? Even the shoes she casually wears are so elegant and luxurious.

The city’s publicity department was conducting legal awareness promotion and recently organized a working team to visit each police station in the jurisdiction. They introduced the conditions of various police stations to the public through live streaming, ultimately editing it into a promotional compilation. Today, they happened to be filming at the He'an District Police Station.

The screen showed the entrance of the He'an District Police Station. As the camera zoomed in, the police officers in the lobby were busily attending to their tasks in an orderly manner.

The comment section of the live stream was peaceful, with a few occasional bubbles appearing.

【What kind of live stream is this? Why is no one talking?】

【This is a legal promotion video made by the municipal police department, live streaming the case handling situations of various police stations. Today, it’s broadcasting from our He'an District Police Station, which is right across from my house.】

【This kind of live stream is pretty boring.】

【Then don’t watch it.】

Once again, no one was speaking in the live stream, and the camera steadily moved forward.

Suddenly, a child with double buns appeared on the screen. She was carrying a knitted bag with the words "berry yogurt" printed on it and held out a strange-flavored peanut to the camera, asking, “Want some?”

The camera shook left and right, indicating that it didn’t want any.

The child tossed the peanut into her mouth, crunching on the crispy peanut while staring intently at the camera, “What kind of monster are you?”

The camera, “......”

Rao Shishi ran into the frame, grabbing Zhong Yuntong and tucking her under her arm, “Sorry, this is a lost child. We are currently looking for her parents. Please, everyone, take a look; if you recognize her, please contact the He'an District Police Station in Haishi City.”

Zhong Yuntong, being carried horizontally, clung to Rao Shishi’s waist to maintain her balance, and tried to lift her head to shout, “Don’t contact anyone!”

【Hahaha, what a cute little sister! How did she get lost? Her parents must be so worried!】

【Can I have this child? Isn’t the country promoting having children now? I want this one.】

【Hahaha, stop joking around, everyone screenshot and share this to find her family quickly.】

Rao Shishi carried Zhong Yuntong away, and the phone rang. She walked over to answer it. Since it was a live stream, the phone was on speaker, but the caller's voice was altered.

As soon as the call connected, a man’s voice came through, “Police comrade, my child is lost.”

Rao Shishi instinctively glanced at Zhong Yuntong. What a coincidence! The program had just aired, and her parents were calling already?

“When did she go missing? How did she get lost? Please describe the child’s features.”

“I don’t know how she ran out; I just found out she wasn’t at home. She’s a little girl, wearing a green T-shirt on top and matching shorts on the bottom, carrying a small bag. She has very fair skin, black hair, and two little pigtails.”

Hearing this description, Rao Shishi almost laughed. A scammer calling the police station? They really had guts. But this scammer was also a bit too foolish; they didn’t know that Zhong Yuntong’s outfit was hastily put together by Rao Shishi and the others, and this first sentence already gave them away.

“There happens to be a lost child here that matches your description. Please come to the station,” Rao Shishi said.

Perhaps things were going too smoothly, making the scammer feel guilty, or maybe they were simply too scared to come to the police station. After a moment of silence, the caller suddenly hung up.

Rao Shishi shook the phone in her hand towards Xiao Wang, “Xiao Wang, check the incoming number.”

“Okay.” Xiao Wang remembered the foolish scammer and chuckled to himself.

At that moment, Rao Shishi’s phone on the desk rang. She picked it up and saw it was a message from Zhong Jin:

【Do not reveal Tongtong’s real name or any other information during the live stream.】

Zhong Jin was always cautious in his work; even in messages, he only referred to her as 【Tongtong】, not using Zhong Yuntong’s full name, fearing the camera might catch the phone screen.

Rao Shishi placed Zhong Yuntong on a chair in the lobby, borrowed a tablet from a colleague for her to watch cartoons, and reminded her not to run around. After settling Tongtong, she hurried off with her colleagues to respond to the call.

Tongtong was indeed very well-behaved, sitting there with the tablet watching cartoons, occasionally tossing a few peanuts into her mouth. Engrossed in the cartoons, she leaned forward, her eyes almost touching the screen.

Zhong Jin stood at the door talking to someone. Noticing what was happening, he greeted the person next to him and strode over to Zhong Yuntong, reaching out to grab the back of her collar and lifting her head away from the screen.

“No more watching; you’ll go blind,” Zhong Jin confiscated her tablet.

After her tablet was taken away, Zhong Yuntong felt a bit bored. She slid off the chair, put on her small bag, chewed on peanuts, and wandered around to see what was happening.

She came across a police officer mediating a family dispute. A couple was fighting, and the mother-in-law was not only not helping but also handing a knife to her son, while the woman had directly called the police. Now the whole family was at the police station. The adults were arguing, and a child under one year old was crying nearby.

Little Tongtong took a peanut from her bag, ready to feed it to the baby, but a quick-witted female officer blocked her hand, “Babies can’t eat peanuts.”

Zhong Yuntong put the peanut back in her mouth and chewed, “Then what can the baby eat?”

“The baby can only drink milk.”

Zhong Yuntong turned and ran away, crossing the hallway and pushing open the door to the director’s office, poking her head in, “Excuse me, Dad, do you have any milk? I need some.”

“...... No, go out.”

“Okay, okay.”

Zhong Yuntong ran back to the dispute scene, spreading her hands, “There’s no way; I can’t get any milk.”