Chapter 29: Fu Chao and Qing Xi

Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Fu Chao and Qing Xi

His T-shirt was soaked in the blink of an eye. Water dripped down his face, and the pungent, fishy smell assaulted him from all sides...

Fu Chao felt like a walking fish tank!

He froze, feeling like he was about to lose his mind.

But his good upbringing prevented him from losing his temper.

So, as the embarrassed shop owner apologized to him, he could only force the two words "I’m fine" through gritted teeth.

A worried, childish voice piped up:

"Little Uncle."

Fu Chao looked down, wanting to comfort his nephew.

But the little guy just gave him a worried glance and sighed.

"Can we still have fish soup?"

Fu Chao: ...couldn’t manage a smile.

"Pfft."

The sound of laughter reached him.

Fu Chao initially thought someone had recognized him, so he put on his perfect, polite smile and turned around—

It was someone he knew, just not who he’d expected.

"Ah, Miss Nan."

Fu Chao’s expression cooled instantly.

The livestream camera to the side captured this small detail in his expression.

Most of the viewers, however, just assumed Fu Chao was unhappy about his clothes getting dirty and didn’t think much of it, too busy getting excited.

The bullet comments in Nan Zhi’s stream were mostly from casual observers enjoying the drama, with messages like, "What a coincidence!", "Is this scripted?", and "Suddenly curious about what happens next..."

Fu Chao’s side, however, was filled with his fans’ defensive and vitriolic comments: "My bro is so unlucky!", "Get lost, don’t leech off him!", "Production team can go to hell!"...

Fortunately, Fu Chao himself was more level-headed.

Although he had an extremely poor impression of Nan Zhi, he wasn’t about to bad-mouth a young woman in public.

Fu Chao quickly composed himself and adopted a polite but distant tone.

"...You’re here at the wet market to shop, too?"

It seemed like an attempt to ease the tension.

But Nan Zhi seemed completely oblivious to his coldness from start to finish.

Leading Nan Yi by the hand, she slowly approached and scanned Fu Chao from top to bottom.

Then, instead of answering, she asked a question of her own:

"Perhaps you need a little help?"

"No, thanks!"

Fu Chao refused without a second thought.

Only after speaking did he feel it was inappropriate, so he quickly added:

"I mean... this is a small matter I can handle myself."

Before Nan Zhi could even react,

his little nephew, Qing Xi, exposed him:

"But Little Uncle, you don’t have any money or clothes... Mmph!"

Qing Xi, his eyes wide, clear, and innocent, looked quizzically at the uncle who had just covered his mouth.

Fu Chao: ...

"Ahem."

He tried to change the subject.

"This is my nephew, Qing Xi. He’s five years old."

Nan Zhi nodded, resting a hand on Nan Yi’s shoulder.

"My son, Nan Yi. He’s four and a half."

Although they had met before in the studio, Nan Zhi had barely interacted with the other guests and wasn’t familiar with their children.

So, strictly speaking, this was the first formal meeting between the two little Cubs.

Nan Yi and Qing Xi stared at each other, one observing with wariness, the other with curiosity.

All told, they were only half a year apart in age.

But Nan Yi had been malnourished since he was little. He was scrawny and much shorter than Qing Xi, looking almost a year or two younger. It was obvious at a glance who was the younger brother.

Qing Xi was delighted.

As the only child of his generation in the family, he had always dreamed of having a younger brother or sister.

So he pushed his uncle’s hand away and stood right in front of Nan Yi.

"Hello, little brother. I’m the big brother."

Nan Yi awkwardly turned his face away and didn’t reply.

Nan Zhi didn’t force him, just smiled and explained to Qing Xi:

"Yiyi is a bit shy around strangers."

Fortunately, Qing Xi wasn’t the type of child to be unreasonable. Instead, he nodded very understandingly.

"That’s okay, pretty auntie. It’s our first day meeting, after all. Oh, is Yiyi his nickname? Can I call him Yiyi, too?"

The smile in Nan Zhi’s eyes grew warmer and more genuine.

"You’ll have to ask him yourself."

"Okay."

It was Nan Yi who spoke, his voice tiny.

Qing Xi was ecstatic and shouted loudly, "Yiyi, little brother!"

Nan Yi was like a little animal, highly attuned to the slightest shift in his surroundings, and could naturally distinguish between goodwill and malice in others.

After realizing that Qing Xi wasn’t one of those older kids who only wanted to bully, hit, or curse at him, Nan Yi’s defensive posture relaxed slightly.

He proactively held out the bag in his hand, which contained the meat buns he and Nan Zhi had just bought.

"Want one?"

Qing Xi’s gaze was completely transfixed.

In truth, as soon as Nan Zhi and Nan Yi had approached, his attention had been captivated by the rich aroma wafting from the meat buns.

It was precisely because Nan Yi had noticed this that he offered the meat bun to share with Qing Xi.

Watching from the side, Nan Zhi felt exceptionally gratified.

At the same time, Fu Chao was also observing her, his expression a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"Little Uncle."

Qing Xi desperately held back his drool, wanting to ask for Fu Chao’s permission first.

He had intended to tug on Fu Chao’s sleeve, and even raised his arm, but stopped midway and put it back down.

"Can I eat it?"

How could Fu Chao not know? Qing Xi was clearly disgusted by the fishy smell all over him!

He was so angry he almost laughed!

But the thought of how much his nephew had suffered with him—a stark contrast to the confident guarantees he’d made to his cousin and cousin-in-law before the show—made his heart soften. Fu Chao could only nod.

"Go on, eat."

Qing Xi let out a cheer and happily prepared to grab a big meat bun with his bare hands.

Nan Yi: "Dirty!"

Fu Chao: "Wash your hands first!"

Nan Zhi: "How about using a napkin?"

—The three of them had spoken in unison.

Qing Xi paused in confusion, looking at his Little Uncle, then at the pretty auntie, then at his little brother Yiyi.

In the end, they went with Nan Zhi’s solution, having Qing Xi hold the bun with a napkin.

Qing Xi didn’t overthink it and began to wolf down the food.

Fu Chao felt an even greater sense of unease.

Perhaps his expression caused Nan Zhi to misunderstand:

"Would you like a couple, too?"

Fu Chao shook his head firmly.

"I’m not hungry."

GRUMBLE.

Nan Zhi and Fu Chao simultaneously looked down at his rumbling stomach.

Qing Xi, truly his uncle’s nephew, piped up:

"Little Uncle’s tummy is thundering!"

Nan Yi also stared at Fu Chao with a look of pure fascination.

In an instant, Fu Chao’s face turned bright red!

Even for someone who had handled all sorts of major events, at this moment, he felt an overwhelming urge to find a hole and crawl into it.

Nan Zhi held back her laughter.

"Go on and eat."

Famished, Fu Chao decided to just throw caution to the wind, grabbing a meat bun with a napkin.

He didn’t forget to add a promise:

"I’ll pay you back!"

「Half an hour later.」

Fu Chao stood in a simple but cozy shack in the shantytown, holding a bag of new clothes, a little confused as to how things had ended up like this.

The bullet comments were already in an uproar:

[Is the production team asking for death? Why do they insist on pairing my Brother Fu with this woman?]

[This is disgusting. If this crappy production team dares to ship them as a CP, I’ll scatter the ashes of every last one of you bastards!]

[So they really plan on bleeding my bro dry! Say no more, I’m now a lifelong Nan Zhi anti!]

[...Wait, maybe this is all just a coincidence?]

[You’re calling it a coincidence on a variety show? Who’s gonna believe that?]