Chapter 7
After He Wangzhong finished listening, he showed a profound smile. This was not only a small step towards family harmony, but also a big step forward in his cooking skills.
If even the picky He Renyuan could eat his cooking, there was no need to say anything about his skills.
“Lao Qi, help me ask Ah Yuan what he likes to eat recently.”
The housekeeper recalled the young master eating tea eggs at breakfast. At this moment, the figures of the young master and the little young master strangely overlapped, “He can eat anything recently.”
He Wangzhong, “I have to think about what to make tomorrow.”
He Wangzhong’s cooking was previously uneaten. He Renyuan’s mother, Shu Mei, privately asked the housekeeper not to report so truthfully every time. Phrases like “took a look, tasted a bite, praised it” were full of emotional value, and that was called a white lie.
The housekeeper thought, the chairman’s current mental state really matched Cha Bao’s. One cooked, one ate. He, the middleman, didn’t make a profit, he just wanted to complete his wife’s task, killing many birds with one stone!
He Wangzhong didn’t do everything himself when cooking. There was a chef directing and taking responsibility, so the taste wouldn’t be too bad. Look, Cha Bao loved it.
After Housekeeper Grandpa finished the call, Bai Xiaocha doubly praised the pumpkin soup, “It’s sweet mushrooms, delicious.”
The housekeeper was full of affection, “Baby deserves the best white truffles in the world.”
When Bai Xiaocha finished scraping the bottom of the bowl clean with a spoon, as clean as his face, the housekeeper smiled even more kindly and said, “Eat your fill and play by yourself for a while, Dad will be up soon.”
After the young master finished dinner, he would go to the study. The day’s work for the housekeepers was considered done.
“Okay, Grandpa.” Bai Xiaocha had a new toy recently – a large trash can, placed flat on the ground. He treated the trash can like a green castle in a shopping mall, crawling in and out, pushing it around.
The housekeeper sighed again. If it weren’t for the high probability of the castle being discovered by the young master if it was placed in the first-floor hall, he would have gotten one.
Downstairs, He Renyuan was sorting out the threads of a project when he saw the housekeeper come down and said, “Take Bai Qingyu to the basement to take an inventory of the tea. Make a list tomorrow.”
The housekeeper was puzzled when he heard He Renyuan say, “Take the opportunity to probe and see how much he really knows about tea.”
The housekeeper, “Okay.”
He Renyuan had unknowingly eaten a whole plate of fried rice tonight. He had eaten too much and planned to swim a thousand meters in the pool on the fourth floor, “I’m going upstairs to swim, everyone else can rest.”
The housekeeper’s heart skipped a beat when he saw He Renyuan take the stairs. Taking the stairs meant passing by the third floor. He watched nervously.
He Renyuan frowned, “Why haven’t you called Bai Qingyu to go and take inventory?”
He Renyuan watched the housekeeper take Bai Qingyu to the basement before going upstairs.
He deliberately sent Bai Qingyu away.
He was going to the third floor to see how much tea Bai Qingyu was hiding.
He was the owner of this house, looking at the guest room on the third floor wasn’t against the law.
A certain guest room door wasn’t closed. It wasn’t against the law for him to stand at the door and look inside.
If Bai Qingyu had deceived him with the bath and was deliberately keeping those twenty catties of tea to string him along, he would be able to smell it from the doorway.
Bai Xiaocha, who was lying on the ground in a spread-eagle position waiting for his father, heard unfamiliar footsteps. It wasn’t Dad, nor was it Housekeeper Grandpa. He propped himself up with his elbows, raised his head like a little carp, pricked up his ears, and then rustled into the trash can, hiding at the bottom.
His bright eyes were wide open, he didn’t even dare to move his eyeballs, like a little mouse in a hole, wary of the patrolling cat outside. He covered his mouth with both hands, so he wouldn’t make a sound!
He Renyuan pretended to knock on the slightly open door.
Uncle Boss was polite to knock, Bai Xiaocha almost politely called out to him, but luckily he kept his mouth covered!
He Renyuan stood at the door. The wooden floor was no different from the second floor. The room was about fifty or sixty square meters, connected to a large east-facing balcony. The sliding door was not closed, and he could see clothes hanging on the balcony.
Rags?
Bai Qingyu was still drying rags on the third floor?
Why were those same old clothes still hanging there? Didn’t he tell him to use his salary to buy clothes?
And what kind of sheet was on the bed without a mattress?
There was even an overturned trash can by the bed… He Renyuan never imagined that this kind of trash can used by sanitation workers would appear in a bedroom.
With such a big trash can, was he planning to fill it up before pushing it down to empty it? Wouldn’t it be smelly and full of bugs?
There was no bad smell in the room, but there was a faint tea fragrance, coming from the direction of the trash can. He Renyuan suddenly thought of a possibility. Were the tea leaves used in the bath poured into this trash can?
There were a few scattered tea leaves on the ground, and he had good eyesight, he saw a few on the balcony as well.
The lawyer’s astute mind deduced Bai Qingyu’s series of motives: Bai Qingyu learned of his preference for a certain tea, but it was already done, he couldn’t take it out after using it in the bath. He was reluctant to throw it away, dried it on the balcony during the day, and put it back in the trash can at night, taking out a little from time to time to deceive him.
This explained why there were tea leaves on the balcony, because they fell when he was tidying up. This east-facing balcony had good sunlight in the morning, and the tea leaves would dry in two days.
He Renyuan was 100% sure that Bai Qingyu had dried tea leaves on the balcony.
And keeping it in the trash can was a kind of cunning, so that when he was discovered, he could still argue that he was going to throw it away.
He Renyuan sneered, turned and left. He would find a suitable opportunity to catch Bai Qingyu red-handed taking tea leaves out of the trash can.
He went to the fourth floor to swim. Before throwing his phone on the shore, He Renyuan sent a message to the housekeeper.
[Order work uniforms for everyone in the house.]
The housekeeper was slightly puzzled when he received the message. Why was the young master suddenly concerned about what everyone was wearing? But he would do as he was told. Two styles each for spring, summer, and winter, three sets each, wasn’t that reasonable?
A pair of chubby little hands gripped the edge of the trash can, and then a cautious head popped out diagonally.
Bai Xiaocha covered one eye with one hand, leaving only one eye to look at the door.
Phew – Uncle Boss was gone.
Bai Qingyu could sense Bai Xiaocha’s situation. The moment his son hid, he knew that He Renyuan was launching a sneak attack. But before he could ask the housekeeper for leave, He Renyuan left, as if he had just taken a casual look.
He probably didn’t suspect anything, right?
“Baby, you hid very well.”
Bai Qingyu glanced worriedly at the bedroom door. He Renyuan might launch another surprise attack, but he didn’t want to close the door. It was difficult for Bai Xiaocha to open the door at his size. He wanted to give his son more space to move around. For a sensible Cha Bao, a closed space was more dangerous than an open space. An escape route was necessary.
“Dad, I covered my eyes, Uncle Boss couldn’t see me,” Bai Xiaocha said.
“Baby is so smart.” Come what may, Bai Qingyu was open-minded. If they were caught, they were caught. At worst, he would compensate with some tea.
Bai Qingyu cleaned up the balcony. Bai Xiaocha liked to roll around while sunbathing on the balcony during the day, and the fallen hairs turned into tea leaves and dried in the wind.
He collected them and stored them in a jar.
The next day was Saturday, and all the housekeepers in the mansion had the day off. He Renyuan was also not at home.
The housekeeper and everyone else went out. Bai Qingyu also planned to take Bai Xiaocha to visit the kindergarten.
Just as he was about to go out, a guest arrived.
Bai Qingyu knew very few people in Nancheng. He happened to know the guest, it was He Ying, who had introduced him to the job.
He Ying was always in a business suit, her shoulder-length hair tied up in a bun, no bangs, clean and neat.
She came to her nephew’s house, not with a gift, but with a bag of children’s snacks that He Renyuan would definitely not eat.
“Snacks for Cha Bao.”
“You’re too kind.” Bai Qingyu was flattered, “The young master is not at home today, should I call him, uh, call the housekeeper?”
Oh, he didn’t have He Renyuan’s contact information.
“No need.” He Ying played with little Cha Bao and took out a lollipop, “Call me Great-Aunt.”
Bai Xiaocha said obediently, “Great-Aunt Sister, hello.”
He didn’t understand the meaning of Great-Aunt and automatically added “Sister” at the end.
He Ying was amused by Bai Xiaocha and said to Bai Qingyu, “I came to see you today. You’ve been working for a week. I’m here to do a follow-up and see if you’re satisfied with your work. If you’re not satisfied, we can make adjustments.”
The two sat on the sofa, and He Ying took out a form for Bai Qingyu to fill out, mostly about job satisfaction.
Bai Qingyu filled it out truthfully and gave He Ying’s poverty alleviation work a ten-star rating.
Of course, if the tea deity knew more about the human world, he would know that a follow-up didn’t require District Mayor He to come in person.
Bai Xiaocha stood up, holding onto the coffee table, watching his father write, looking like he was eager to learn.
He Ying couldn’t help but think of many years ago, when she was doing her homework and was watched by three-year-old He Renyuan, who insisted that she had made a mistake somewhere.
She looked down at the place of origin Bai Qingyu had filled in. He Renyuan had been to that place. She asked casually, “How many months old is Cha Bao?”
Bai Qingyu felt guilty, “Fourteen months.” That’s what was on the household register.
“Four-teen-months!” Bai Xiaocha completely ignored his father’s guilt and repeated it with emphasis, looking like he was very suitable for language class.
He Ying mentally calculated the time of conception. It was mid-March now, so it was January of the previous year.
He Renyuan seemed to have found a psychiatrist abroad in January of the previous year and stayed there for a month before returning?
He Ying pursed her lips and looked at Bai Xiaocha. Although the father and son didn’t look alike overall, the color of their eyes was exactly the same. How could a child have two fathers? She couldn’t let go of the doubt in her heart and came here, but she should give up.
But the world was big, what if? He Renyuan was still adamant that he was missing a piece of memory that theoretically couldn’t exist.
He Ying, “Are you married? If you have a spouse, I can arrange work for them too. It’s common for couples to work in the same place.”
Bai Qingyu shook his head, “No, I’m a single father.”
Single? There was a little hope again.
He Ying liked him more and more. She reached out and rubbed Bai Xiaocha’s head, trying to pick up a couple of naturally fallen hairs for a paternity test.
If Bai Xiaocha was related to He Renyuan by blood, she wouldn’t separate Bai Qingyu and Bai Xiaocha. She would provide Bai Xiaocha with better living conditions, such as attending the best kindergarten.
Bai Xiaocha’s hair was a little shorter than when she first saw him, revealing a full forehead, and his eyes were even brighter.
How could He Ying know that the poor little one’s naturally fallen hairs had long been plucked by Bai Qingyu to make tea for people? She touched and touched, but the little guy’s hair was very resistant to touching. She could only withdraw her hand without making a sound.
Although Bai Qingyu was poor, he was very good at raising children. He was well-nourished and had healthy hair.
He Ying said, “I’m going to the study upstairs.”
She directly entered the password and entered He Renyuan’s second-floor study. The study had a row of file cabinets, numbered in chronological order, which were He Renyuan’s own records of his life. He Ying quickly pulled out a file.
The time was January of the previous year.
She quickly opened it and browsed through it. Unfortunately, according to the records above, He Renyuan had no time for a romantic encounter. Among the new faces he met every day recorded by him, none of them matched Bai Qingyu.
She looked at the two months before and after, and it was densely packed with work.
Alright, she completely gave up. How could this kind of arrogant workaholic have a child?
He Ying put the file back.
