A Single Father’s Troubles - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Accidental Encounter

Kuang Ye was just about to call the property management to ask if the neighbor’s tenants had children. He hated kids. Small ones cried incessantly, and older ones were annoying too, howling like ghosts when doing homework. If there were kids, he would move.

Before he could make the call, his phone rang first.

“Buddy, you back yet?”

Kuang Ye kicked off his leather shoes, walked into the living room, and flopped onto the sofa. The sofa was soft, steadily supporting his exhausted body. “Just got back.”

“That’s a coincidence. Fan-zi set up a gathering tonight, you coming?”

The window was cracked open, and the aroma of food drifted in, blowing past the solitary Kuang Ye. He got up, closed the window, and picked up his car keys from the entryway.

“Address.”

The sound of the door closing echoed in the quiet hallway. The elevator had just skipped down one floor. In the nearby stairwell, the sound of a child huffing and puffing suddenly emerged.

The chubby kid carrying a backpack was drenched in sweat, his tiny hands gripping the straps on his shoulders tightly as he laboriously moved his legs to climb up.

Guagua was covered in sweat as if he’d been fished out of water; bean-sized droplets rolled onto the cement floor, soaking in.

“Keep going, baby, almost there.” Lin Tingwan secretly switched hands for the boy to hold, while his other hand reached behind the child to lift the backpack strap. “Can you keep going, baby?”

Guagua was too tired to speak. He pursed his lips and gave a small, firm shake of his head. His gaze was incredibly resolute.

When Guagua’s toes touched the fifth-floor step, Lin Tingwan quickly picked the child up and rubbed his knees. “Does it hurt here?”

Guagua panted heavily, his tongue sticking out and moving in and out like a cute Schnauzer.

“No hurt.”

Lin Tingwan felt relieved and carried the child home.

Guagua was exhausted. After Lin Tingwan held him to wash his small hands and clean his face, and fed him a large cup of water, he finally recovered slightly, lying limply on Lin Tingwan’s shoulder.

Lin Tingwan felt bad. Looking down at Guagua’s long, curled black eyelashes, he advised, “Baby, let’s not climb stairs next time. Daddy will take you out to play more, run and jump more, and we’ll get thin soon.”

“No! I won’t be a little fatty!”

Lin Tingwan was helpless, not knowing what to do with this stubborn child.

The matter started two days ago.

The kindergarten organized a trip to a children’s theater. The theater staff invited the children to be small actors. Guagua particularly liked the prince in the play and volunteered to sign up.

The little prince’s costume was handsome and cool; all little boys liked it. A tall, handsome boy from the neighboring class competed with Guagua. His reason for rebuttal was very powerful: “Princes are super handsome. He’s a little fatty, there aren’t princes this fat!”

Guagua was devastated by the phrase “little fatty.” With red eyes, he retorted, “I’m not a little fatty! Daddy says I’m cute!”

“Look in the mirror yourself, you are a little fatty, chubby-wubby!”

Guagua had a sweet tongue and was a good talker, and he was a glutton. Teachers and classmates all liked to feed him. Having just finished lunch, Guagua’s little belly was round, and the buttons on his romper were strained open. Fortunately, the fabric was elastic, so the buttonholes just stretched wide, revealing bits of snowy-white belly; the clothes didn’t tear.

Guagua ran to a gray glass door, looked at the round furball in the romper in the reflection, and burst into tears with a “wah.”

Although later, thanks to Bengbeng speaking up for him, and the boy from the neighboring class seeing he’d made Guagua cry and proactively giving the prince role to Guagua, Guagua was still hit hard. He was listless after coming back, telling Lin Tingwan through sobs that he wanted to lose weight, become a little handsome guy, and not be a little fatty.

Don’t let his young age fool you; he was quite vain.

While the child was crying and watching cartoons that evening, the tablet eavesdropped on their conversation and pushed a weight-loss video—Stair Climbing Weight Loss Method: Lose 10 Pounds in a Month, It Feels Great!

Guagua was only three years old and didn’t know many characters, but he recognized some simple ones and could understand pictures.

Guagua looked at the big belly on the left turning into the thin slip on the right and was incredibly envious. He immediately demanded that Lin Tingwan let him climb stairs to lose weight.

The vlogger climbed 50 floors at a time. Guagua said he wanted to climb 100.

Lin Tingwan was scared out of his wits. If a three-year-old climbed 100 floors, their Guagua would turn into a “dead melon.” The melon would be gone.

Eventually, after much persuasion, the child changed 50 floors to 5.

Though young, the child was sharp as a tack and not easy to fool. He could count to 20 in one breath, so he insisted on seeing the “5th” floor marker before he would stop.

Fortunately, Guagua didn’t have a kindergarten diploma. Lin Tingwan would carry him to the 1st floor first and let him climb from the 1st to the 5th, which was effectively only 4 floors, 36 steps.

The steps in the Luhu compound’s stairwell were quite high, making it very laborious for the child. Every time he reached the 2nd floor, Guagua was already exhausted. But he had a lot of backbone and kept his word. Even if Lin Tingwan offered to carry him midway, he refused. He was incredibly stubborn; one truly wondered who he took after.

After Guagua showered, Lin Tingwan rubbed his legs and feet for a long while. The chubby kid finally recovered some spirit, lying on Lin Tingwan’s chest, his tiny hands patting his slightly shrunken belly piteously.

“Daddy, tummy hungry. Want to eat skewers, red ones, spicy-spicy skewers.”

Guagua used to eat a large bowl for dinner, but now he’d learned to control his intake. Lin Tingwan’s heart had been aching for a while, so how could he not agree? With a wave of his hand: “Let’s go, let’s eat skewers!”

They had been moved in for nearly half a month. Every evening, Lin Tingwan would take Guagua out for a stroll, becoming familiar with the surroundings. About a kilometer from the compound was a riverside scenic belt. Once it reached six or seven o’clock, the belt was filled with residents taking walks and snack stalls.

Upon reaching the destination, Guagua didn’t run around. He stood in place waiting for Lin Tingwan to lock the bike before grabbing Lin Tingwan’s hand and leading him toward the busiest barbecue stall.

Although young, the child was smart and very good at reading people. Even when he was still an infant, he knew to choose restaurants with many people a born gourmet.

Guagua had observed this stall for a long time; it had the most people!

They had eaten there once last week, and Lin Tingwan also thought the taste was quite good.

Guagua trotted to the stall, took two deep sniffs of the aroma, patted his round little belly with satisfaction, and looked at Lin Tingwan with sparkling eyes. “Daddy, baby order skewers?”

Lin Tingwan took fifty yuan from his wallet and handed it to Guagua. “Go on, buy three skewers. Can’t eat too many, or baby’s throat will hurt.”

“Mhm! Eat three skewers, won’t let baby’s throat be unhappy!”

Guagua gripped the money tightly and walked toward the boss who was busily grilling skewers. He stopped two or three steps away.

“Skewer Uncle!”

Guagua shouted first.

The environment was a bit noisy, and the barbecue stall boss didn’t hear him at first, nor did he notice the child outside the crowd.

Seeing the boss ignore him, Guagua wasn’t discouraged. He shouted again, this time louder than before, using all his strength. It startled a young man ordering nearby.

This time, the barbecue stall boss finally heard.

Guagua met his gaze, first showing him the money he was waving, then pointing at the sizzling oily skewers in the boss’s hand, his eyes brighter than the oil. “Skewer Uncle. I want to buy three skewers!”

The barbecue stall boss saw the child was fair and beautiful and felt fond of him, asking kindly, “Little friend, do you want pork belly skewers or beef skewers?”

“Want pork belly skewers, I like the flowers!” Guagua said without thinking.

Guagua didn’t leave after ordering. He stood there like a little stone pillar, watching the skewers being grilled without blinking. He swallowed hard and even took several deep sniffs of the smoke, looking intoxicated. “Uncle, your skewers smell so good.”

The barbecue stall boss laughed uncontrollably at the way he looked like his drool was about to drip.

When the skewers were finally grilled and no longer splashing oil, Guagua hurried over to hand him the money. “Uncle, three ‘flower’ skewers.”

“Hey, brothers, I’m going to set aside three of these four servings of pork belly for this little kid first, okay?” the barbecue stall boss said to a table of young men sitting with their backs to them not far away.

The group was drinking; in high spirits, they replied casually, “It’s fine, give it to the kid first.”

The barbecue stall boss was quite thoughtful; seeing it was for a child, he didn’t sprinkle chili or cumin powder and specifically snipped off the sharp tips of the wooden skewers. He also carefully wrapped the ends of the skewers with tissue paper before handing them to the child.

Guagua held the three skewers with great satisfaction and trotted toward Lin Tingwan. If it weren’t for his little ears catching them, the corners of his mouth would have split to the back of his head.

“Daddy, skewers, five ‘flower’ skewers, so fragrant, so fragrant.”

“Daddy eat.”

The “filial son,” smelling the scent of the grilled skewers, was drooling, yet he knew to lift them up for Lin Tingwan to eat first.

Lin Tingwan quickly took a tiny bite of the tip and pushed the almost untouched skewers back. “Eat, baby, Daddy already ate.”

“Daddy eat more!”

Lin Tingwan had no choice but to take a larger bite.

Seeing a bit of the skewer gone, Guagua began to eat contentedly. One skewer wasn’t enough; he didn’t let Lin Tingwan hold the remaining two, taking one in each hand and eating happily with both sides.

The father and son walked slowly along the scenic belt. The barbecue stall boss finished preparing the four servings of pork belly and two portions of leeks for the guests and brought them to the table.

“Handsome guys, your food is all here. I’ll grill three more pork belly skewers and bring them over for you in a bit.”

Shen Zhidong waved his hand. “It’s fine, we’ve had enough.”

Kuang Ye had been tired all day and hadn’t eaten much yet, but he had no appetite for greasy barbecue. He pushed away the green leeks in front of him, feeling annoyed just looking at them.

“I’m going for a smoke.”

Kuang Ye ignored the boos of the people behind him, took a cigarette, and went to the side to light it. He cast a casual glance and, by such a coincidence, happened to see the chubby kid holding two skewers, eating while swaying his head.

The chubby kid looked incredibly familiar. His gaze shifted and naturally landed on the slender back that was leading him.

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