Chapter 0308: Sisters

On the morning of Little New Year, Zhao Fusheng received a call from his mother.

“Bring Beibei to your place,” Mother Zhao ordered her son matter-of-factly. After all, she had carried him for ten months and given birth to him, so in her eyes, she could use him however she pleased.

“What’s wrong?” Zhao Fusheng was a bit puzzled when he got the call. Although he didn’t mind looking after the child, he wondered why Fan Beibei suddenly had to stay with them.

“It’s almost Spring Festival, you see. Your dad said the supermarket is doing some promotion, so your Aunt Li and I have to help out. Beibei has no one to watch her, so you and Baobao will take care of her,” Mother Zhao said.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. “Got it.”

It was a perfectly normal conversation, but at the very end, his mother suddenly added, “Well, consider it practice in advance. After all, you and Baobao will have your own kids someday…”

Zhao Fusheng suddenly felt a sense of impending doom.

After hanging up, Zhao Fusheng told Fan Baobao about picking up Fan Beibei. Fan Baobao was overjoyed; she was actually quite close to her sister, and having been away from home for so long, she missed her dearly.

“Let’s go after breakfast,” Fan Baobao said with a smile to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. “Sure. Wait here, I’ll cook.”

“Let me do it,” Fan Baobao suddenly spoke up.

Blinking, Zhao Fusheng thought he had misheard. But when he saw what Fan Baobao had taken out, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he wished he could smash those packets of instant noodles right in her face.

This feeling was understandable. It was like seeing a friend eating garbage as food—wouldn’t you stop them? Would you eat it along with them?

In Zhao Fusheng’s eyes, instant noodles were junk food. So he sighed and began a comprehensive analysis of its fatal flaws, covering everything from composition to production to packaging.

At first, Fan Baobao was a bit dazed. Mainly because he seemed well-intentioned; as long as it was advice meant for her good, even if she didn’t agree, she didn’t want to discourage him, or else who would care about her in the future?

After rattling on for a while, Zhao Fusheng finally looked seriously at Fan Baobao. “Eating this stuff is only acceptable when there’s no other choice. How can you treat it as a staple?”

Fan Baobao looked helpless. She knew eating instant noodles all the time wasn’t good, but the problem was, she couldn’t cook anything else.

“Forget it, I’ll do it,” Zhao Fusheng shook his head, adopting an air of “the unteachable.”

In his eyes, Fan Baobao was like a child. After all, with a psychological age of a man in his forties facing a young girl just over twenty, his instinct was to treat her as a kid.

Fan Baobao grinned at Zhao Fusheng. “If you’d said that earlier, it would have been fine. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely learn someday.”

Zhao Fusheng rolled his eyes, too lazy to respond, and waved his hand. “Go tidy up the house.”

“Got it,” Fan Baobao agreed and started cleaning while Zhao Fusheng went to cook.

Zhao Fusheng had to admit that although Fan Baobao couldn’t cook, she was quite good at housework. At the very least, she was more meticulous than him, cleaning many spots he would overlook.

After breakfast, instead of taking the bus, they hailed a taxi and drove straight to the doorstep.

Upstairs, Mother Zhao wasn’t home; only Li Yuan was there, watching cartoons with Fan Beibei.

Seeing Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao, the little girl let out a cheer: “Sis…!”

Then she broke free from her mother’s embrace and wobbled over to them.

Fan Baobao was secretly pleased. Sure enough, this was her own sister—she called out to her first, not to that guy Zhao Fusheng.

With that thought, she crouched down, reached out her hands, and smiled, “Beibei, be good…”

But before she could finish, Fan Beibei naturally bypassed her and threw herself into Zhao Fusheng’s arms, hugging him tightly. “Brother, Beibei missed you so much!”

“Beibei, be good. Isn’t brother here to pick you up? From now on, Beibei will live with brother and sister, okay?” Zhao Fusheng picked up the little girl and said softly.

“Okay, okay!” Little Fan Beibei completely ignored her own sister’s expression, grinning as she planted a kiss on Zhao Fusheng’s cheek with a smack.

Clearly, she was overjoyed at the prospect of living with Zhao Fusheng.

She was happy, but someone else wasn’t.

Fan Baobao watched her sister and Zhao Fusheng messing around together, ignoring her, and immediately fumed. She shot Zhao Fusheng a fierce glare—it was all his fault for stealing her sister while she was away.

“You two take Beibei. I have to get to the supermarket,” Li Yuan said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

Then he added with a smile, “Please take care of yourself. Just handle the money, don’t go helping people pack things.”

Li Yuan waved her hand. “You little brat, I know what I’m doing. Alright, you all sit tight. I’m off.”

Watching her leave, Zhao Fusheng glanced at the TV for a moment, then said to Fan Beibei, “We should head home too.”

He still had things to do, so he couldn’t stay here forever.

Fan Baobao nodded and said to Fan Beibei, “Beibei, come here. Let your sister hold you.”

But Fan Beibei shook her head vigorously, clinging tightly to Zhao Fusheng’s neck. “Don’t want sister to hold me. Brother holds me.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled, then cheerfully carried Fan Beibei out the door. Before leaving, he said to Fan Baobao, “Hey, you, grab the stuff.”

Since Fan Beibei was going to stay at Zhao Fusheng’s place, they needed to bring her change of clothes.

Fan Baobao was fuming. Staring at Zhao Fusheng’s back, she nearly ground her teeth in anger. Huffing indignantly, she picked up the bags and followed him downstairs.

They took a taxi home. As soon as they entered, Fan Beibei was startled by the spacious living room, then let out a cheer: “So big!”

She had never lived in such a roomy house. Zhao Fusheng watched the little girl rolling on the sofa and said with a smile, “Beibei, be good. Let your sister watch TV with you. Brother has to go work, okay?”

Fan Beibei nodded obediently. “Go ahead, brother. I’ll wait for you.”

Then, like a little adult, she climbed onto the sofa, sat facing the TV, and looked at Fan Baobao with a sweet smile. “Sister, I want to watch cartoons.”

Fan Baobao glared at her. “So now you remember I’m your sister, huh, you little rascal!”

The little girl looked at her sister suspiciously. “Mom says good kids don’t curse. You cursed, so you’re not a good kid.”

Fan Baobao was speechless. “Fine, fine, fine. I’m not a good kid. Only your brother is a good kid, okay.”

“Brother is a good kid anyway.” Fan Beibei gave her sister a strange look and pointed at the TV. “Cartoons.”

Taking a deep breath, Fan Baobao decided that over this winter break, she would make her sister realize who her real sister was!