Spoiled by a paranoid big shot since childhood. - Chapter 3

Xi Bei was small, but he was quick-witted. After wiping away his tears, he pressed his lips together, stood on his tiptoes, and secretly slipped out of the playroom, hugging the wall as he moved.

He had assumed that finding the main entrance of such a massive castle-like estate would be impossible, let alone his parents’ small food cart. However, as he carefully reached the corner of the stairs, he happened to overhear two servants talking and, by chance, the conversation was about him.

“…Hey, that new child who arrived today is so pathetic. He’s so tiny, and his little face was all streaked with tears. His parents… sigh! And he arrived with the Young Master, too. Who knows what he’ll be like in the future?”

“What’s there to pity? He’s become a foster child of the Qin family. I’m actually envious of him. He’s finished all his crying for a lifetime today; he’ll have plenty of reasons to smile from now on!”

“…What kind of talk is that!”

The woman, who was mopping the floor, dragged her mop heavily across the ground, creating a harsh, screeching noise. She clearly disapproved of the young worker’s attitude.

“Don’t you know? Both of his parents are dead. He has no father, no mother he became an orphan at such a tender age! Even if he becomes a foster child of the Qin family, do you really think he’ll be able to smile?”

Xi Bei, listening from the corner, trembled. His eyes snapped open, and hot, crystal-clear tears rolled down his cheeks.

He looked like a soulless doll, blank and lost.

“Sigh, let’s not talk about that anymore. Just regarding his days at the Qin household, I’m afraid it won’t be easy, right? The Young Master—”

“The Young Master! How should I put it… he isn’t exactly easy to get along with, either. When I was pruning the plants here earlier, he walked over and shot me a cold look. When I whispered and asked him what was wrong, do you know what he said?”

The woman made a sound of interest and continued mopping. “What did he say?”

“He said,” the young worker chuckled, “‘If you were given this haircut, would you be happy with it?’”

Qin Yi’an was solitary and indifferent; he rarely cared to speak. And when he did, his words were never pleasant—he possessed a talent for being sharp-tongued and hitting the nail on the head. The things he said on instinct often left people stunned.

“What?” The woman paused, then burst into loud laughter.

“…But if that’s the case,” the woman said, her laughter fading into worry, “wouldn’t the Young Master just end up upsetting that new child? Won’t they end up fighting…?”

“Oh! It’s raining outside! Quick, go close the windows!”

“…”

Xi Bei no longer knew how he had managed it by instinct. While the two servants were distracted by closing the windows, he darted down the stairs like a fish, slipping out the door under the cover of the pouring rain and plunging into the night.

He had no umbrella.

The rain came down heavy and fast, lashing against him. Xi Bei could barely see the road ahead, so he lifted his arms to shield his face, timidly navigating through the path in the flower garden, lost and helpless as he searched for his parents’ cart.

The words of the two adults played on a loop in his mind:

“Dead.”

“No father, no mother—an orphan.”

“Burned to ash; the bodies couldn’t even be recovered—”

He shivered uncontrollably, haunted by the scene of roaring flames he had seen before he fell asleep. It felt as if he, too, had been thrust into that scorching fire along with his parents, the heat nearly suffocating him.

I can’t find it.

I can’t find it!

Xi Bei didn’t know how much time had passed.

He had never run in the rain like this before. He crossed the garden, leaped across a large lawn, and finally caught sight of the Qin estate’s side gate in the distance.

His parents’ cart had been placed by the side gate.

The people there had brought it back following the Young Master’s orders, but they hadn’t known where to put it, so they had simply abandoned it there, all alone.

As if he had finally found his parents, Xi Bei ran toward the cart with a frantic, almost manic energy. He ran too fast, his footing uneven, and he tripped, falling hard onto the ground.

He had left the playroom without his jacket, as Qin Yi’an had taken it off to keep him warm. Lying on the ground, Xi Bei’s sweater became soaked and stained with mud.

He pushed himself up with his blood-stained little hands, and after a moment, he felt the hole that had once again formed in his sweater.

Xi Bei stared down blankly.

But this time, Mom wouldn’t be there to mend it for him.

“…I’m sorry, Mom,” Xi Bei whispered, murmuring to himself as he stumbled toward the cart. “Tuantuan was wrong. Tuantuan will never tear his clothes again.”

Xi Bei let out a sob.

“Mom, please don’t be angry…” he said. “Dad, are you angry with Tuantuan too?”

Shivering from the cold, he finally managed to drag himself underneath the food cart.

The panel here had been violently pried off during the day, so the wind and rain blew in almost unimpeded. The patchwork quilt that his dad had carried on his back and his mom had sewn together was already soaked through.

Xi Bei climbed up and curled himself into a ball, like a young animal that had finally found its family, clinging tightly to the quilt that had long since lost all its warmth.

When Qin Yi’an returned, he discovered that the person in the playroom was gone.

He pressed his lips together. The towel in his hand was now the perfect temperature, but it had scalded his own hand red in the process.

“Xi Bei,” he asked, “where are you?”

No answer.

Outside, the wind and rain raged. The warm, cozy room was empty of the doll he had hoped to find. The young owner glanced at the new clothes that hadn’t been touched, then at the door that was left slightly ajar. He realized immediately that something was wrong.

Clutching the towel, he hurried out, his leather shoes clacking urgently. He reached the living room, scanned the area, and grabbed a servant.

“Xi Bei,” he demanded. “Where is he?”

The mopping woman didn’t hear him clearly and quickly crouched down. “What? The Young Master’s treasure? Which treasure?”

“…”

Qin Yi’an frowned for only a moment before he seemed to accept the term.

“He isn’t in the room,” Qin Yi’an said calmly. “He is outside. I need to find him.”

The woman froze, and the next moment she saw the eight-year-old “young master” grab a large umbrella from the doorway and push the door open, ready to charge out.

“Hey! Wait—!”

The Qin household was plunged into chaos.

Almost every servant was mobilized at once. Footsteps thundered, voices grew loud and frantic, and at the Young Master’s single command, the entire house was turned upside down.

Large raindrops thundered against the umbrellas. If they fell on a seven-year-old boy, what would happen? If a seven-year-old child without a jacket was exposed to the rain for nearly an hour, what then?

“Xi Bei—”

“Little one—are you there?”

“…”

After half an hour of searching, they still hadn’t covered the entire vast Qin estate, and Qin Yi’an’s face was chillingly cold.

Xi Bei was unfamiliar with this place; where could he go? Why would he leave?

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Qin Yi’an.

Xi Bei was unfamiliar with the estate, but he was familiar with certain things. For instance, his parents’ food cart.

Qin Yi’an gripped the umbrella tighter.

He knew where the servants would have put the items. Holding his large umbrella aloft, he hurried through the mist and rain toward the side gate.

“Little one, where are you—”

The woman’s voice grew weary. She was just about to tell the Young Master to take a break when she realized the little boy who should have been in front of her had “disappeared” as well.

The group felt a sense of impending doom. They grew even louder and more frantic, scurrying about like ants on a hot pan.

“Young Master—”

“Xi Bei—”

“…Xi Bei.”

Qin Yi’an’s voice was light and slow.

As he called out to Xi Bei, it sounded like a murmur in a dream low and gentle.

He had found him.

A small, curled-up Xi Bei opened his eyes in a daze, seemingly unable to distinguish between dream and reality. Thinking perhaps his parents had come to see him, Xi Bei’s face, still stained with tears, bloomed into a smile such as Qin Yi’an had never seen before.

Bright, ardent, and sun-like. His baby fat made him look soft and well-behaved.

“Mom… Dad,” Xi Bei murmured, his focus drifting. “You came to find Tuantuan.”

Qin Yi’an held the umbrella over him.

He couldn’t describe what he was feeling. The sensation was too foreign for an eight-year-old.

“Tantuan is very well-behaved,” Xi Bei said, patting the patchwork quilt beside him, looking distressed. “Ah… I’m sorry, Tuantuan made it dirty…”

Under the dim night sky, the cart looked incredibly old, though the exterior had been polished clean. If one looked closely, however, one could see the care put into the setup inside: the patchwork quilt covered the entire bed, and on the soft pillow was a cartoon character handkerchief the child loved. Xi Bei’s mother had been very skillful, sewing several dolls herself to keep the child company.

Looking at this now-shattered cart, one could easily imagine what Xi Bei had been like before. A soft, clean little bun who, despite simple clothing, always wore a smile. Everyone who saw him would call him a well-behaved, adorable, porcelain-like baby.

Though his parents were poor, they had treated Xi Bei with such love. If they couldn’t afford expensive toys, Mom would sew them. If they didn’t have a permanent place to live, Dad would build one. The couple had kept their home and their food cart organized, never losing their tempers with the child, only guiding him with gentleness and love.

They had no other family, but it didn’t matter; they were each other’s family, and together, they had the fruit of their love.

As long as he could be with Mom and Dad, Xi Bei had felt happy enough.

But now, it was all gone. Everything was gone.

Qin Yi’an pressed his lips tight. He positioned the umbrella to block the wind and rain, shielding the little bun so he wouldn’t shiver quite as much.

The next moment, he climbed into the cart himself, neatly removed his own dry little suit jacket, and carefully draped it over Xi Bei.

He suddenly realized that Xi Bei was not a doll. He was a person.

The feeling was miraculous, and Qin Yi’an didn’t hate it. He felt Xi Bei was different from anyone or anything he had ever seen. Dolls didn’t “cry,” and his peers didn’t “laugh.”

But Xi Bei could do both.

“Tantuan.”

Qin Yi’an said.

Xi Bei froze. Tears surged forth, and he suddenly hugged Qin Yi’an, sobbing, “Tantuan misses you…”

Qin Yi’an clumsily patted Xi Bei’s back, repeating, “Tantuan.”

His own hands weren’t very large.

The two little boys huddled together. Both were soaked and covered in dirt, but Qin Yi’an, who usually cared deeply about being clean, didn’t seem to notice. He only knew to share his body heat to warm Xi Bei, helping him finally emerge from his sobbing state, though he still stared up at him blankly.

“…Brother Yi’an?”

Xi Bei finally saw clearly who was in front of him. Reality collided with his dream, and he was momentarily overwhelmed and panicky.

“Where are my mom and dad?”

Meanwhile, ten minutes after losing the Young Master, the servants’ anxious cries could be heard in the distance, and they began heading toward their location.

Qin Yi’an was cold and solitary. As a “special” child, his words made Xi Bei’s eyes widen.

“They have passed away.”

Xi Bei’s curled lashes were heavy with tears; he pressed his lips together, struggling not to cry.

“But they will come back, and they will come to find you.” Qin Yi’an comforted him with some awkwardness. “I am not lying to you. Besides, my mother has passed away, too.”

“But…” Xi Bei’s soft, sweet voice was thick with tears. “Death… death means going away forever. They, they won’t come back to find me.”

“No.”

Qin Yi’an was certain. “They will.”

Xi Bei, who was about to cry, froze. His face, tinged with a flush against his fair skin, tilted blankly. “W-why?”

“My mother told me that even if you die, you will come back. As long as you remember them. As long as you don’t forget.”

Qin Yi’an was a remarkably intelligent child. According to the concepts in his books, he knew clearly what “life” and “death” were, yet he seemed not to understand them at all. Because he stubbornly believed in his mother’s words.

“…” Xi Bei murmured blankly. “As long as I don’t forget…”

“Even if you can’t see them, your mom and dad will be able to see you,” Qin Yi’an said. “If you are unhappy, your mom and dad will be unhappy. If you are happy, your mom and dad will be happy.”

He rarely went to such lengths to explain anything to anyone. But coming from him, it was profoundly convincing.

“Then, I—I will—”

Suddenly, Xi Bei felt himself pulled into a warm embrace. A warm, wet little hand gripped his own blood-stained palm, but it didn’t hurt at all.

As the servants came rushing over in a panic in the distance, the large umbrella wrapping the two of them made everything look hazy yet profound.

The harbor of shelter that had belonged to Xi Bei had been destroyed; his world had collapsed.

However, someone had rebuilt it for him. Though this harbor was still small, it was warm enough.

“I am here,” Qin Yi’an said, very earnestly. “From now on, whenever you miss them, I will be by your side, okay?”