Chapter 90: Beauty 10

In the sudden eerie silence, the Boss Lady’s curiosity got the better of her. She glanced left and right before fixing her gaze on the brown-haired young man in the middle, whose expression had stiffened slightly. Then realization dawned on her. “I get it now! You’re the mixed-race one, aren’t you?”

“No wonder,” she went on. “Your eye color and hair color look so natural—not like colored contacts or dye jobs!”

Grinning from ear to ear, she added, “And you don’t have an accent either. Were you raised around here since you were little?”

Yu Bai, who had felt a strange twinge of embarrassment moments before, could only laugh wryly at her words.

In all his years, no one had ever pegged him for mixed-race.

At least it was better than the folks who immediately assumed he’d dyed his hair.

With a chuckle, Yu Bai shook his head. “We’re both locals. Our hair and eye colors are just naturally unusual, that’s all.”

He recalled that Xie Wufang’s ID listed a local address.

“Wow!” The Boss Lady’s eyes widened in astonishment, and she clucked her tongue in admiration. “Your genes must be something special. I wonder if your kids will inherit them. It’d be such a shame if that trait died out.”

Yu Bai: …

He was he, and Xie Wufang was Xie Wufang.

By any human standard, neither of them had the equipment to have kids.

Why on earth was she lumping them together and daydreaming about children?

It sounded so weird!

No wonder she was that outrageously outgoing woman from the time loop—the one who’d made him bolt in panic.

“…” Yu Bai cleared his throat lightly, changing the subject. “Um, do you still have any chicken-wing buns?”

“Oh, yeah, we do! How many?”

The Boss Lady dropped the chit-chat instantly, grabbing a plastic bag. Without waiting for his answer, she started packing the buns with practiced efficiency.

“No matter how many you want, I’m throwing in a free bag for you guys. Sigh, last time I must’ve cost that handsome guy a ton of oil and chicken. I should’ve given him more detailed instructions…”

Seeing her still hung up on the fried chicken fiasco, Yu Bai paused, then instinctively refused. “It’s fine, really—no need to—”

“Take it, don’t be shy!” She thrust the steaming bag into his hands without another word, her face beaming. “If you like the taste, just come back and buy more anytime!”

Her sincere, down-to-earth enthusiasm was impossible to resist.

Yu Bai thought for a moment and stopped protesting. He thanked her and accepted the bag.

At the same time, something struck him as odd.

They’d already come here two mornings ago for chicken-wing buns. Hadn’t she noticed them then?

Yet she’d recognized Xie Wufang at a glance—the one who’d tried to buy fried chicken from the next-door hardware store over a week ago.

“We’ve actually been here before,” Yu Bai decided to voice his confusion. “They were delicious. Don’t you remember—”

And she hadn’t been nearly this bubbly back then.

Before he could finish, the Boss Lady smoothly cut in. “Really? Aw, I must’ve been in a bad mood that day and didn’t pay attention or greet you properly. Sorry about that.”

She chuckled warmly. “Next time you’re here and I seem off, chat me up if you have time. Who knows—it might cheer me right up!”

Yu Bai was gradually getting used to the Boss Lady’s social-whirlwind personality. With a helpless laugh, he agreed. “Sure, will do.”

Consider it payback for the free buns.

Meanwhile, Xie Wufang, standing beside him, suddenly looked up at her words.

A flicker of faint surprise passed through his gray-blue eyes.

Yu Bai didn’t notice. He handed the gifted buns to He Xi and started ordering the ones he was paying for.

The ever-ravenous Yan Jing bought a huge bag—enough to share with his parents, as he’d planned last time.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, the group finally parted ways. Tian Ge’s men had already delivered Yu Bai’s pile of travel souvenirs upstairs ahead of time, and the luxury car was ready to take Yan Jing straight home.

As they left the bun shop, the self-proclaimed-friend Boss Lady waved them off like old pals. “Come back soon, handsome!”

Master Wang from the next-door hardware store waved excitedly too. “If the soundproofing acts up again, come find me!”

Yu Bai couldn’t shake the bizarre feeling of being given a hero’s send-off.

Somehow, without realizing it, he’d made familiar neighbors here.

What a strange sensation.

And they’d only moved in a little over a month ago.

On the walk back, Yu Bai felt a quiet emotion, Xie Wufang seemed lost in thought, and He Xi looked a touch uneasy.

At the neighborhood entrance, the golden words “Beautiful Home” gleamed under the sunlight.

A box truck for moving sat in front of the open gates, with movers bustling about, injecting some lively bustle into what should have been a quiet midday.

The Gatekeeper Grandpa, who was helping with the load, turned at the sound of their approach. Spotting the trio, he greeted them warmly and proactively.

“Back already? Head this way, watch out—don’t let the furniture bump you.”

The air was thick with the everyday hum of life.

Yu Bai and the others entered their familiar building and found the elevator lobby stacked with boxes. One elevator was tied up with the move.

Their floor had gotten new neighbors.

No telling which floor they’d be on.

While waiting for the elevator, the little girl who’d been all smiles throughout the trip let a shadow of worry cross her face. After hesitating, she looked up at Yu Bai. “Brother Little Bai, I’m heading home first. I had so much fun on this trip.”

Her voice stayed light and cheerful, laced with a smile.

She was sensible enough to hide her fear of returning to reality now that the dream was over.

Both the timespace jaunt and the North Pole adventure were done. She had to go back to that booze-soaked house.

Yu Bai froze for a second, then ruffled her hair gently. “Did you forget? I promised I’d protect you. We pinkie-swore, remember?”

Back in that other timespace, he’d whisked her away from her scumbag father. But he hadn’t figured out a permanent fix for her real-world plight. All he could promise was that, at least for today, she’d be safe.

He’d kept it in the back of his mind through all the nonstop chaos since.

Even after getting tipsy.

Because yesterday, in a quiet moment at that North Pole town, Yu Bai had called Li Nanxiao to consult the Criminal Investigation Captain about domestic violence. The words had tumbled out, triggering an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

It was like he’d said them before, word for word.

And after the consultation, Li Nanxiao had felt it too, his voice puzzled. “I swear we’ve talked about this before, but we haven’t.”

Since even Uncle Li said so, it must’ve really happened in that other timespace.

After all, when extra timespaces faded, they left fuzzy impressions on this world’s people.

Likely during the one stretch Yu Bai couldn’t remember—his drunken blackout.

In any case, from his chat with Li Nanxiao, Yu Bai learned that He Xi’s family situation was tricky to handle.

Even pursuing legal channels to make her long-term-abusing father pay or get aid for the underage girl required evidence—like legally significant injury reports.

Yu Bai couldn’t stomach letting He Xi, who’d finally had some happy days, take another beating just for proof.

Besides, what seemed like excessive marks on a kid might not even qualify as minor injury under strict legal standards, let alone strip parental custody in practice.

Some things, cold hard law just couldn’t fix.

So even when Li Nanxiao offered to swing by after wrapping his cases, Yu Bai didn’t pin all his hopes on legal routes.

…Not that he planned anything illegal, like having A Qiang’s crew beat up He Xi’s father or whatever.

He was an upstanding law-abiding citizen, after all.

He just resolved to ditch his glasses starting today and take frequent strolls by the 11th floor downstairs.

Since everyone in this world retained vague impressions from those timespaces…

Wouldn’t He Xi’s father—who he’d terrified without restraint back then—still harbor some fear of him?

Worth a shot, anyway.

If that flopped, he could ask Xie Wufang to lend some mysterious mojo.

The little girl could phase through walls ignoring physics—why couldn’t her dad black out cold right when he went to swing?

No sense wasting that magic-like power that’d spook the neighbors.

This world had seen plenty of bizarre happenings already; what was one more?

Yu Bai had always been tolerant of weird events, and his threshold only rose with each time loop ordeal.

The little girl stared at him in stunned surprise. Even after he led her into the elevator, she hadn’t snapped out of it.

“But you’ve already protected me for so long.” Of course, He Xi remembered that unforgettable pinky promise. She murmured hesitantly, “You only said it was for that one day… but it’s already been so many more days. I’m already more than satisfied—truly satisfied.”

She had never fantasized about fully escaping her father’s shadow before she became a true adult.

She knew how difficult that would be.

So, possessing those beautiful memories—enough to blanket over the moments of pain—made her profoundly happy.

Living had finally become something worth anticipating.

She had never looked forward to growing up quite like this.

The future was gradually becoming as beautiful as the poem Grandpa Yuan had recited.

—You’ll see a beautiful, vast world… as long as you follow your heart and keep moving forward.

The Big Brother towering over her said, “Then let me revise our promise.”

“From every day onward, I’ll do my utmost to protect you.” Starlight flickered in his pale brown eyes. “Shall we pinky promise again?”

As the gleaming golden elevator doors slid open on the 11th floor, the little girl with reddened eyes stepped out of the car. She etched the lingering warmth from her childish palm deep into her heart.

With two big brothers at her side, the fear of her father that had swirled in her chest began to fade away.

However, surprise soon flickered across all three of their faces.

A voice utterly familiar to He Xi echoed down the hallway.

Along with it came an elderly voice—not entirely unfamiliar, yet its cadence inexplicably tugged at her memory.

“What exactly do you want—”

That was the middle-aged man’s impatient tone.

“Aiya, what’s with that attitude? Don’t you know the saying—close neighbors are better than a distant relative? I just moved in. Gotta get to know the folks next door, right? Just saying hello!”

That was the old man’s somewhat overbearing drawl.

Their footsteps halted abruptly toward the elevator, and the two men locked in confrontation at the door to Room 1104 both turned to look.

He Wentao froze for a moment. When he spotted the little girl at the end of the hall, malice twisted across his face. “You finally bothered to come back? Running off to stay at someone else’s place without a word—you’ve gotten bold, haven’t you—”

But before he could finish, a chill ran through him at the sight of the stern young man beside He Xi in his periphery. He instinctively stepped back.

At the same time, the chatty stranger old man paused briefly in surprise, then dramatically slapped his chest and turned back to the middle-aged man.

“Why are you shouting like that all of a sudden!” The old man feigned shock, clutching the medicine bottle in his shirt pocket. “I told you—I’ve got a heart condition!”

“This place doesn’t soundproof worth a damn. You’ve gotta watch yourself no matter what you’re doing. Can’t have you scaring me into a flare-up—you’d be legally liable, you know that?”

He Wentao was beyond irritated, shrouded in an inexplicable dread. All he wanted was to spin around, slam the door shut behind him, and bellow at the little girl frozen in place: “He Xi, get home—now!”

Yet the peculiar old man who had just moved into Room 1105 next door kept prattling on.

“Yo, is this your daughter? Why so harsh? Aren’t you worried about scaring the kid? Talk about a rotten temper!”

The slightly stooped old man turned toward the teary-eyed little girl. He smiled, bent at the waist, beckoned her over, and secretly winked—an unspoken bond forged in another timespace.

“You’re He Xi, right? Pretty name. Which ‘Xi’ is it? Aw, you even look a bit like my granddaughter. Feels like family already.”

“Come over to Grandpa’s place to play anytime. I’m right next door—so close we can wave to each other from the kitchen windows!”

The loquacious old man introduced himself. “The surname’s Yuan. Just call me Grandpa Yuan.”

The new neighbor in the building was Yuan Yuxing.

The little girl, still clinging to an adult’s hand, blinked dazedly. The moment felt utterly dreamlike.

Yu Bai, standing beside her, recovered first. He gazed at the old man feigning their first encounter, shock giving way to a tender warmth in his eyes—overflowing with faded, sepia-toned memories.

Big Brother’s words whispered gently in her ear.

“Grandpa Yuan is working hard to protect you, too.” His voice was clear and soft. “You’re not all alone.”

“So there’s no need to grow up so fast.”