The two tacitly added each other as friends on WeChat, while tacitly maintaining zero communication.
Not long after returning home that day, BaiHuo received an anonymous express package that was 3 inches thick. It was avariety of documents needed to resolve the household registration problem. Italso included a list of all the materials he needed to prepare himself.
The household registration ID card was theeasy part, the troublesome part was having to go to the neighborhood committeeto find someone to write out all the certificates.
Bai Huo went on a work day, deliberately puton a worn-out outfit, and ruffled the little dragon cub’s hair into an unkemptmess before going out, cheerfully carrying the child to the certificationoffice.
The person responsible for receiving guests inthe neighborhood committee office today was a young woman, an obvious freshgraduate. When she saw Bai Huo, her face turned red before he’d even opened hismouth to speak. As soon as she heard that he needed certification to register thechild, she hurriedly asked what was wrong.
”Well…” Bai Huo laid out thetragic backstory that Lin Ke had written out for him. Tears gathered in hiseyes as he spoke, prompting the young woman to weep, nodded repeatedly: “That’sso touching. I’ll write it for you, I’ll definitely write it for you. What’s thischild’s name?”
Bai Huo suddenly froze.
God, he’d actually forgotten about this.
”You haven’t thought about it yet?” Theyoung woman asked, wiping her tears.
”No, I’m just thinking about thepast.” Bai Huo lied without blinking. “Whenever I think about thisname, I remember the moment we first met…”
There was a timely gust of wind outside, the evergreentrees outside the window rustled. Today was a sunny day, the sun was warm and gentle,there were puddles on the pavement, and the clear water rippled, reflecting thebrilliant sunshine.
The moment we first met…
By the creek, under the trees.
”He’s called… Li Lin Xi.” BaiHuo suddenly looked back.
The young woman nodded, still sniffling:“The child won’t take your surname?”
Bai Huo seemed to think of something, hetilted his head and smiled: “No.”
Seeing the young woman’s imagination obviously running wild, Bai Huosaid frankly: “Bai doesn’t have a very good meaning.”
”Okay, I’ll write it up for you rightaway.”
After the certificates were completed, Bai Huodropped off all the materials into the express delivery slot.
By the time he walked out, the little dragon hadalready fallen asleep in his embrace, his thick and curly lashes clearlydefined in the sunlight.
Bai Huo patted his back and happily said:“Let’s go home.”
*
Two months later, the Xi City Daily publisheda complete report on the murder cases. After giving it a cursory glance, BaiHuo laughed, carrying the newspaper directly to the mahjong table.
”Little Bai, you’re not a collegestudent, right? Do you not work every day?” The mahjong parlor’s boss wasin her early thirties and was a successful businesswoman. When there were toomany guests, she wouldn’t sit at the tables, only serving the guests some tea.Seeing Bai Huo running over here every day, she was very curious about this fair-skinnedyoung man.
”Isn’t this work?” Bai Huo playedmahjong while urging the winner to give change. The nimble technique, the slicktone, except for his mahjong skills, he wasn’t inferior to the crafty old foxesat the next table.
Bai Huo was a senior member of the CivilianMahjong Career Development Committee and Director of the Poverty AlleviationOffice. He was a strange man with a combination of messy skills and bad luck. Afterten years of losing money at the mahjong table every day, and using mahjong toactively respond to the nation’s policy of fighting against poverty, he hascontributed to the improvement of the quality of life of many mahjong friends, andhas greatly contributed to the stabilization of relationships between husbandsand wives.
In the old forest district, no matter howirreconcilable the conflicts between family members might seem, as long as theysat down and played a few rounds with Bai Huo, they would smile widely, shakehands, and love each other again. Over time, the neighbors kindly gave him arespectful title: Director Bai.
”Yo, Director Bai’s here,” An oldfriend grinned and came over, switching tables. “How come I haven’t seenyou for a few days ah, where did you go?”
”My kid is too young, I had to stay athome to look after him.” Bai Huo indifferently stacked mahjong tiles.
”A kid?” The proprietress was astonished,she eyed Bai Huo carefully. “Are you married? When did you tie the knot?”
Before BaiHuo could answer, the wind resistant curtains at the door were lifted open, anda two-year-old child ran in like a whirlwind, holding steamed meat buns in hishands. He glanced at the lady boss vigilantly as he passed by, and hugged BaiHuo’s leg.
”You’re back?” Bai Huo smiled and pulledthe child up onto his lap. “Come and help daddy read the tiles.”
The lady boss looked at the rosy and cute littledragon, her eyeballs almost falling out in alarm: “Is this your son?”
”Yeah.” Bai Huo stacked mahjongtiles and threw her a smug look.
The proprietress wanted to say something buthesitated, leaving with an embarrassed smile.
The little dragon raised the meat buns,pressing one to Bai Huo’s mouth.
”For me?” Bai Huo was happy, helowered his head and took a bite, hurriedly nodding, “Mmhm, delicious – Peng!”
The little dragon sat on Bai Huo’s knees andleisurely rocked his legs back and forth, completely ignoring the indignant shrieksfrom the fat bird outside the door.
In the past two months, the little dragon hadgrown up a lot, it was like the child had been fed fertilizer, changing day byday. The clothes Bai Huo bought him for one week, couldn’t be worn the nextweek. In order to curb suspicion, he couldn’t frequently buy from the samestore. In the past two months, he’d visited almost all the children’s clothingstores in Xi City.
Since the new year had just begun, thekindergartens hadn’t re-opened yet, and some parents brought their children tothe parlor. A little chubby toddler who seemed to be a similar age to the littledragon was eating chocolate at a nearby table. Despite looking occupied witheating, he’d somehow noticed the little dragon and slowly walked over, sittingin the chair next to Bai Huo, he repeatedly glanced at the little dragon.
There has always been a natural attractionbetween children, sometimes comparing themselves with each other, sometimescurious, but most of the time, they just wanted to attract the other party’s attention.
The little chubby child first observed Bai Huo,and, sensing that the adult was completely immersed in the mahjong game, hemustered his courage to lightly kick the little dragon’s shoes.
The little dragon’s tail rolled up in histrousers, but he continued nesting in Bai Huo’s embrace, as if he completely hadn’tnoticed.
The other child wasn’t reconciled, and onceagain kicked him.
This time, the kick was a little heavier, andthe little baby dragon’s leg swayed. He expressionlessly glanced down at thelittle chubby child, paused, then he silently slid a few centimeters down BaiHuo’s knees.
As expected, almost as soon as he moved, BaiHuo pulled a hand off the mahjong table and fished him up into his arms: “Behave,sit straight before you fall off.”
Bai Huo had long legs, after pulling the littledragon up, the little dragon’s whole body was on his lap and out of reach.
The other child’s legs could no longer kickthe little dragon, so he pouted in dissatisfaction. He ran a short distance away,spinning around crazily, sneakily peeking at the little dragon. Seeing that thelatter was truly not paying any attention to him, his face reddened inembarrassment, but he was still unwilling.
The adults were unaware of this two-playerdrama, and were still chatting and playing mahjong.
The little chubby child drooped his head andfinally chose to give up his irritation strategy. He reluctantly took out thelast piece of chocolate in his pocket and walked over, carefully handing it tothe little dragon.
The little dragon cub sized him up at a glance,still indifferent. He gave him a very cold look, the meaning was clear,“We’re different.”
The other child had given it all he got andstill couldn’t get a response. With no other way, he finally cried out.
His parents were immediately attracted to the sound.
Bai Huo, who was the closest adult, extendedhis hand and smiled: “What’s wrong little guy? Why are you crying?”
The child cried even more energetically whenhe saw that the adults were watching him.
”Aiyo,” Bai Huo shifted the littledragon to one arm and crouched down, rubbing the chubby child’s head.“Don’t cry, don’t cry, do you want candy?”
From beginning to end, the little baby dragon neverlooked at the other child, instead, he stared at Bai Huo’s actions, anxious andirritated. Seeing Bai Huo about to pick up the other child, he quicklystraightened his legs and slipped away from Bai Huo, pulling the other child along.
”Hey, where are you going?”
Bai Huo followed two paces, seeing that thetwo children had merely ran outside to play, he smiled and teased: “Little imp.”
The fat bird looked at the little dragon’s tensed gloomy face, and gloatingly hopped around on the building’s roof beams, thinking to himself, serves you right child.
Suddenly feeling eyes on him, the fat birdshook its feathers and saw Bai Huo gesturing to him with a wide smile, mouthingout: “Watch him.” Then he turned around, returning to play mahjong.
Humph, this father and son, there’s not onegood thing about them! The fat bird thought resentfully.
Remembering that the little dragon cub had to goto bed early, Bai Huo didn’t dare stay too late. After a few rounds, he tookthe child home.
On the way back, Bai Huo continuously feltthat the little guy in his arms seemed a little upset, neither nuzzling hisface with his hair, nor poking him with his horns like usual.
”Are you still hungry?” Bai Huoasked, baffled.
The little dragon didn’t answer, only reachingout to hug Bai Huo’s neck tightly, looking aggrieved.
Bai Huo was at a loss, thinking for a longtime, he suddenly frowned: “Did someone bully you?”
The little dragon slowly let go of his neckand turned to look Bai Huo in the eyes, opening his mouth, he spit out a singlesyllable.
Bai Huo froze, staring blankly.
The little dragon’s first word, the sound wasn’tmuch louder than a sound a fish would make. The pronunciation wasn’t clean, itsounded a bit like “Peng”, and a bit like “Pang”.Although it wasn’t very clear, this short word gave Bai Huo a feeling farbeyond shock.
He also felt moved, finally understanding thementality of parents who spent all day sharenting on social media.
”My child ah,” Bai Huo faced thenight wind, almost in tears, “I can’t take you to play mahjong with me anymore.If your first word is “Peng”, just what kind of man will you be when you growup ah.”
The small dragon cub heard this and immediatelyhugged Bai Huo tightly, saying softly: “No.”
This time, the word was very clear, Bai Huopaused his footsteps, realizing that the child could really speak.
Bai Huo finally couldn’t bear it; he ran to HeLing’s bar and drove the guests away. On his way over, he’d kidnapped Lin Kefrom his girlfriend’s house, now he was opening several bottles of valuablewine and making a toast.
Lin Ke and He Ling were resting their chins onthe marble countertop, two pairs of eyes staring at the little dragon cub ontop of the bar counter: “So that’s why you had us make up thatstory…”
A faintchild-like excitement appeared on He Ling’s immortally frozen face, she gentlypoked the little dragon’s horns with her fingertips, briefly commenting:“It’s so small.”
Lin Ke’s brain was already facing an incomingstorm. He looked at Bai Huo, who was wandering about with a bottle of wine, hisface glowing with happiness, and thought to himself: Director Bai’s dominatrixmust be f#cking amazing. Forget about the chain play and vampire play, in justa few days, there’s suddenly a child!
Bai Huo turned around and grinned: “Isit surprising, unexpected?”
He Ling and Lin Ke both nodded vigorously.
He Ling: How fun!
Lin Ke: How perverted!
”Cute and smart,” Bai Huo smiled andraised his chin, his amber eyes were shining bright like a diamond. “Myson I mean, not you two, bahahaha…”
He Ling: “….”
Lin Ke: “…”
By the time Bai Huo calmed down, the littledragon had already fallen into a deep sleep on the counter top. Because of hisunreliable dad, the child had already developed a skill called “Sleeping wherever,as long as my dad is there.”
”Right, Director Bai,” Lin Keremembered to get down to business. “Someone from the association cameover, they said that they needed to find you for something.”
”Don’t care.” Bai Huo waved his handlazily, turning away.
”It was Chong Wen-dage.”
Bai Huo nearly tripped, he spun around, hisface revealing a rare splash of panic: “Zhou Chong Wen?”
Lin Ke looked down at his watch: “Oh, heshould be here in about two minutes.”
”Just say I’m not here!” Bai Huo movedas quick as lightning, he grabbed his coat and threw it over the little dragon,then climbed out the window.
“Huh?” Lin Ke was dumbfounded.
It was currently 4:30 in the morning, exceptfor the bar, the rest of the building was closed, and inside was pitch-black. Therewas a shop upstairs, Bai jumped in and hid by a window, looking down.
A black car slowly emerged from the darknessand stopped by the bar, a single man got out.
The moment he saw that figure, Bai Huo reflexivelylooked away and stood against the wall.
Step by step, the man approached downstairs.
Underneath him, in front of him.
Open the bar door, close the bar door.
The screeching sound the door made soundedlike a hacksaw, cutting at Bai Huo’s nerves. When he heard the door close, hesighed heavily and leaned against the wall, the constant buzzing in his mindgradually dissipating.
In the sudden quiet, it was much easier tohear some strange, almost inaudible sounds.
In the darkness, a few lights flickered, BaiHuo held his breath and looked over. He saw three middle school-age looking childrensitting side by side on the ground, staring unblinkingly at the small TV infront of them. The strange sound was coming from this TV set. Bai Huo glancedat the screen, and immediately understood why these three students had sneaked outhere in the middle of the night.
But that aesthetic, those scenes… even if itwas censored, it still stirred people up.
As evidenced when one of the students couldn’tbear it anymore. He frantically ran to the bathroom, covering his crotch. Hedidn’t come out for a long time.
Bai Huo’s mischievous heart suddenly awakened.While the other two were still captivated, he silently walked over and sat cross-leggedwhere the previous student sat, sighing.
”What’s with the sigh?” One student asked,not looking away from the screen. Red-faced, he was very engrossed, he didn’t evennotice that a third person had come in.
”It’s nothing, I just feel like donatingsome money to the actors.”
”What do you mean?”
”Can’t you see? They haven’t made eyecontact since the beginning. There are even a few shots of them frowning. In myopinion, their faces are saying three words.”
”What words?”
”Bow to necessity.”
After looking at an AV, he could immediatelytell that the actors wanted nothing to do with it, he really was worthy of beingthe great Director of the Poverty Alleviation Office.
The completely unappealing video on the TV cameto an end with a scream from the female actress. The two students were still keyedup, lying on the ground, their bodies felt hollowed out. They looked to theside and jumped up in fright, discovering that the spot was empty.
“Who was talking just now?” The two boyslooked at each other in horror.
Outside the window, the black car had alreadyleft. Bai Huo’s heart calmed down, he jumped out the window, landing lightly.
After picking up his son, he’ll head home, sleeppeacefully, and when he woke up, he could listen to his son’s tender voicespeak again. Thinking of this, Bai Huo smiled faintly, a bounce in his steps.
”Bai Huo.” Someone called out from behindhim.
Bai Huo trembled.
”It’s you.” The man’s voice was deep.
Bai Huo paused, reluctantly turning to look atthe gentle and refined man behind him, his smile waning: “…Shige.”
——————————————————————————————————-
T/N:
Li Lin Xi: Li- genericsurname, Lin – to be near, Xi- creek. His name means near the creek
Bai: Meanswhite, and white dragons are taboo
Peng”, and a bit like “Pang”:LLX says ‘Pang’ which means fat, as in, the fat child was bullying me. But BHthinks he said ‘Peng’, which is a move in mahjong. BH is worried about LLXgrowing up to be a wastrel, so he says he won’t take him to the parlor anymore,but LLX says ‘No’, as in, you ain’t going anywhere without me b#tch.
Is it surprising, unexpected? – a meme phrase, usually said sarcastically when a show has too manymelodramatic plot twists
How perverted: 牛屄-niubi can mean awesome /capable (vulgar) / arrogant / cocky / bastard. Perverted seemed like the bestfit, especially since LK thinks BH is some super masochist
Dage: Eldestbrother
Bow to necessity: forcedby life’s circumstances
Shige: Senior martialbrother, they have the same master
If you guys don’t get the whole DirectorBai joke, he sucks at mahjong so much, that he helps ‘alleviate the poverty’ ofthe other gamblers. If you feel depressed, come to Director Bai to win somefree cash.