Stop Eyeing My Pretty Caretaker - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jian Chen had no way to escape, so he followed Yesting’s straightforward way of speaking: “They want to see what the ‘Master’s Wife’ looks like.”

“Hmm… Master’s Wife?” Yesting made a thoughtful humming sound, repeating the words as the corners of his mouth twitched upward slightly.

It was that kind of involuntary, half-smiling expression.

Jian Chen felt his face get even hotter.

Unexpectedly, Yesting fell silent for a moment, his thumb slowly stroking his ring finger. His deep voice rang out: “Fine. I will go.”

Jian Chen nodded, then suddenly felt a lick on his fingertip.

Looking down, he found Dun Dun sitting in his lap, curled into a ball. With its head tilted down, it extended its tiny tongue and licked the warm fingers wrapped around its neck, pausing between each lap.

Jian Chen lifted the little fellow up to the level of the screen, letting Dun Dun enter the frame completely.

“Then… Dun Dun, say goodbye to Papa.”

Dun Dun was forced to raise its round head toward the light screen, looking at the “Papa” it had met once before.

Seeming to sense something familiar, Dun Dun let out a soft cry, “Wu-eee—”

Yesting seemed somewhat stunned, his eyelids drooping slightly. He then showed an expression Jian Chen didn’t quite understand as he slowly said: “Goodbye.”

The call ended.

Jian Chen rarely had four days of vacation left. He decided to spend the first three days with Dun Dun, have the wedding on the fourth, and return to work on the fifth.

It was as if getting married was just an incidental task.

The red panda cub still wasn’t walking very smoothly. If Jian Chen clapped and encouraged it appropriately, it could manage about a meter and a half.

But at the same time, Jian Chen discovered that as a red panda, compared to other cubs of the same age, Dun Dun was not only a big eater but also… extremely timid.

When the roommate closed a door, Dun Dun’s legs shook with fear.

When the roommate sang, Dun Dun, who was busy drinking milk, would knock over the milk bowl.

When the roommate argued with Jian Chen, Dun Dun would shrink beside Jian Chen, hugging his calf with both front paws, shivering.

Eventually, it seemed to become a habit. Whenever Jian Chen was cooking in the kitchen, he would look down to see a “tangyuan” (glutinous rice ball) clump attached to his leg.

And at his feet lay its favorite little yellow duck.

Li Jin felt very wronged about this: “I don’t look that scary, do I? It must just be timid. Didn’t you say that the last time it saw Yesting, it didn’t even care about its bamboo cake and just collapsed from fright?”

“Dun Dun probably only clings to you.”

Jian Chen thought about it and realized it made a lot of sense.

So, while Jian Chen lay on the sofa, the round red panda would spread its limbs out, head tilted to one side, sprawled across Jian Chen’s chest. Jian Chen would rest one hand behind his head and use the other to support Dun Dun’s backside.

Thinking about Li Jin’s words, Jian Chen suddenly became curious. Dun Dun really did only cling to him. Was it because it knew he was its guardian?

It was a truly marvelous bond.

Jian Chen looked down, his warm, clean fingers lightly scratching the soft fur on the back of the cub’s neck. He couldn’t help but ask: “Dun Dun, how do you know I’m your… ‘Little Papa’?”

There was nothing wrong with that—Yesting was “Big Papa,” since Yesting was quite large himself.

Hearing Jian Chen’s voice, Dun Dun turned its head, resting its chin on his chest. Its round eyes stared at Jian Chen, cute and dazed, but very focused.

“…” Jian Chen clutched his heart; he was about to die from the cuteness.

His red panda seemed to be filled with love for him.

To prove he was a guardian who kept his word, Jian Chen fulfilled his promise. The next day, he went to the supermarket to restock on the freshest ingredients to make the little bamboo cake the little fellow had been longing for.

The few bamboo leaves from before weren’t enough; the red panda had held them to grind its teeth until almost nothing was left.

Actually, this was also Jian Chen’s first time making panda snacks, so he didn’t have much experience. Before adopting Dun Dun, he had followed some food channels, one of which was labeled “Panda Section.”

Unfortunately, content in the panda section was very scarce. First, ordinary citizens had no chance to raise pandas. Second, professional keepers rarely shared the process of making food for the national treasures; instead, they mostly filmed the silly pandas in the process of “eating.”

Only a handful of chefs who were also panda enthusiasts would share some panda food tutorials.

However, since there were no pandas to taste the food, the dishes just sat there lonely, causing viewers to lose interest and leave the live stream rooms.

Back when Jian Chen didn’t know he could adopt Dun Dun, he loved watching these, so much so that many tutorials were etched into his mind, lacking only practice.

Now… it seemed like a good opportunity.

Inside the channel, he noticed a prominent “Keeper Challenge” button and clicked it.

Then, with a soft click from his watch slot, a small silver ball with mechanical wings flew out from the watch body.

It was small, but its 360-degree surface reflected a sophisticated camera lens.

This was a commonly used livestreaming device of this era. It was very lightweight and could fly flexibly around the host without needing manual operation, capturing the most precious and exciting images.

At the same time, it had the ability to sense smells and textures, processing them to feed back the most realistic sensations to the audience.

Dun Dun didn’t seem afraid of the little ball, which relieved Jian Chen. After all, it was smaller than Dun Dun. When the little panda made a tiny swipe with its paw to show off its strength, the ball quickly dodged and flew above Jian Chen.

Then, the livestream countdown began—3, 2, 1.

Start.

The light screen reflected Jian Chen’s side profile. In front of him was a clean kitchen with all the necessary utensils: a small pot, a cutting board, and first to enter the frame was a pair of long, beautiful hands.

The livestream room was silent. The viewer count slowly climbed from 0 to 1.

Jian Chen put on an apron, not paying much attention to the stream because he knew this channel was as cold as the North Pole. Moreover, on a weekday morning, no one would be idle enough to click in and watch.

He poured out a can of milk powder, diluted it with filtered water, stirred it, and then poured it into the small pot to simmer slowly. Before long, the fragrance of milk began to spread through the kitchen.

A comment slowly popped up:

— I’m Crazy for Pandas: What kind of peerless beautiful hands are these?

— I’m Crazy for Pandas: Can the light ball go up a little further? I’m so curious about the host’s face QAQ

The light ball’s filming angle would satisfy viewer requests within certain limits. Thus, the lens slowly moved upward.

Jian Chen’s face appeared in the frame.

The “tangyuan” ball smelled the milk at this moment. Restlessly rubbing against Jian Chen’s pant leg, it let out small cries, as if asking: Is it ready yet?

With an extra leg attachment, Jian Chen changed his walk to a shuffle every time, fearing he would step on the red panda cub. He laid the pre-prepared bamboo leaves on a tray, washing them until the surfaces were only covered in clear dew.

Jian Chen remembered—should he do a self-introduction?

When he looked at the screen, the number of viewers had gone from 1 to 6.

Jian Chen was a bit surprised and suspected the platform was “poverty-alleviating” him by sending bot followers.

Nevertheless, he slowly spoke. His smile carried a hint of shyness, as he wasn’t used to livestreaming. His voice was very gentle, like a contained, soft flow of water: “Hello everyone, I’m trying to make a bowl of bamboo cake that pandas like to eat. I usually just lurk, so this is my first time making it myself.”

“If there are any problems, feel free to correct me. I’ll do my best to improve.”

…

The chat instantly began to refresh.

— Riding a Panda up a Tree: Oh no, it’s the feeling of my heart being struck.

— Stealing the Panda’s Dark Circles: I’ve only been in for two minutes. The host is blushing, and I’m actually blushing too.

— I’m Crazy for Pandas: I declare, this is my wife aaaaaah!

Jian Chen thought there would be fellow enthusiasts, but he didn’t expect the comments on the screen to take this tone. His fingers stiffened slightly, not knowing how to respond, so he looked away and tried to change the subject:

“My little one is called Dun Dun.”

“Age is one month… and two days.”

“Hobbies include hugging my leg and playing with a toy yellow duck.”

Jian Chen didn’t mention that Dun Dun was timid; after all, even a red panda needs a little dignity.

Jian Chen took a rounded bowl from the shelf so that the cub’s overly round head could feast comfortably. He scooped a bowl of steaming milk from the small pot, filling the small bowl halfway.

Dun Dun gave two “ying-ying” cries.

Sensing its grievance and anxiety, Jian Chen comforted it softly: “Wait, it’s a bit hot right now. You can’t drink it yet.”

An unexpected comment popped up in response:

— I Make Pandas Plant Bamboo: Um… who is the host talking to? Is it his own kid? Is he already married??

— Riding a Panda up a Tree: Wooo, my heart is broken.

— Who Wants to be a National Treasure: I just saw the host using panda-specific milk powder, right? Giving it to a human baby? What are you thinking?

A questioning comment jumped out, looking very jarring on the screen.

At this time, the voices that had previously praised the host gradually died down.

This was indeed a very serious question

— Who Wants to be a National Treasure: Host, why aren’t you speaking?

— Who Wants to be a National Treasure: You like pandas too much, don’t you? To this extent, does it count as child abuse? I’m going to call the police.

Meanwhile, Jian Chen, because he was moving while pouring milk, accidentally stepped on Dun Dun’s favorite little yellow duck, which let out a squeaky “zhi-niu” sound.

Dun Dun lay on the ground, looking at the tragic state of the yellow duck. The whole bear was stunned.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Jian Chen bent down, comforting Dun Dun with a bit of guilt.

The viewers on the screen thought the young man was talking to the livestream.

— Who Wants to be a National Treasure: Is ‘sorry’ useful? I’m already on the phone!

“It’s my fault for not paying attention. I’ll help you wipe it later, okay?”

Livestream: ?

The host seemed… not to be talking to them.

The young man’s voice was very gentle, like fingertips lightly falling on piano keys, refreshing and soft, making people involuntarily fall silent and calm down. Even the greatest anger would dissipate on its own.

The light ball was very intelligent. As the host bent down, its camera view also shifted downward. Then, a round “tangyuan” ball entered the frame.

Looking at the silhouette, it didn’t look like a human baby.

First, human babies don’t have such dark circles under their eyes.

Second, human babies aren’t that round, nor do they have that much fur.

Finally…

That was a soft, fluffy panda cub!!!

The chat fell into an unprecedented total frenzy!

— Can Pandas Really do Kung Fu: A real panda cub?!!! I’m stunned. This is the first real panda in the Panda Food Channel!!!

— Stealing the Panda’s Dark Circles: Aaaaaah, host, marry me!

— Who Can Give Me Some Panda Expression Packs: Invest in this now before it goes viral.

— I’m Crazy for my Wife: To adopt a panda cub, you have to be married to a same-sex partner first, right? Does the host really have a lover? Woooo, I don’t believe it, he’s not wearing a ring.

Someone noticed that this was the same “I’m Crazy for Pandas” from earlier.

— Is a Panda’s Tail Black or White?: !! This lineup is amazing. A little beauty paired with a panda cub. Woooo, forget making bamboo cake, I could watch those two crack melon seeds all day!

In the blink of an eye, the number of viewers had jumped from 6 to 392.

And the number was still rising steadily.