A Precedent for the Little One

"Oh? You know who I am?" Jing Huaduo asked with a surprised smile.

"You are mommy's grandpa, my great grandpa!" She laughed. "Grandpa really does have a beard! Just like how Baby imagined! This is great! Baby has a great grandpa who looks like Santa Claus!"

Ying Bao clapped her little hands excitedly. "Grandpa, can Baby touch your beard?"

"Okay!"

Jing Huaduo did not expect his great granddaughter to be so clever. She was more talkative than Xu Xiyan was as a child. He sat down by Ying Bao's bed and leaned over to let the little girl touch his beard.

As Ying Bao reached out to touch it, Jing Huaduo eagerly asked "how is it? What does my beard feel like?"

Ying Bao smiled, two lovely little dimples peeking out on her cheeks.

"Grandpa's beard feels like a big tigger's beard!"

Jing Huaduo was puzzled, uncertain of what the word "tigger" meant.

"Grandfather," said Xu Xiyan. "She means that your beard is like a big tiger's whiskers."

Jing Huaduo laughed out loud in hearing Xu Xiyan's explanation. He turned to his great granddaughter again.

"Oh? Have you touched a big tiger's beard before?"

"Of course! Last year Xi Baby gave me a very big tigger as a birthday present, and it has a long beard. It's a pity that Baby couldn't bring it back."

Thinking about her big tiger, Ying Bao felt a little sad and pouted her lips.

Ying Bao was born in the year of the tiger. Last year, on her birthday, Xu Xiyan had bought her an oversized plush tiger. Ying Baol loved it, and would put the big tiger beside her bed every night so it could protect her mommy.

When they were preparing to return from abroad, Ying Bao wanted to bring the tiger back with her. But it was too big, so she couldn't. She cried when they had to leave it behind.

"Since you can't touch the big tiger's beard anymore, then I'll let you touch mine, okay?"

Jing Huaduo's beard was precious to him, and he normally wouldn't let anyone touch it. But now that he'd set a precedent for Ying Bao, and made an exception, it showed that the old man really liked her.

"Yay! Okay! You're too kind great grandpa! Ying Bao is so blessed to have such a good great grandpa like you. It must be my reward for saving the planet in my previous life!" Ying Bao smiled.

"Ha ha ha…"

Ying Bao was still a young child but she talked like an adult. She was so amusing. The three adults in the ward laughed delightfully at her antics.

Jing Huaduo spent a few hours in the hospital. He had a long conversation with Xu Xiyan and played with Ying Bao for a while before leaving with Uncle Li.

Before he left, Jing Huaduo told them that he would get a driver to come pick up Ying Bao on Tuesday morning.

…

On the third day of Ying Bao's hospitalization, she was looking more spirited and could eat normally. The doctor gave her one last examination, then told Xu Xiyan that she could go ahead and settle the discharge procedure.

Fang Xiaocheng and Wang Dazhi came to the hospital to pick up Ying Bao. When no one was looking, Fang Xiaocheng pulled Xu Xiyan aside, a newspaper in hand.

"Yanyan, what's going on?"

"What?" Xu Xiyan took the newspaper from Fang Xiaocheng. When she read it, she realized that when she'd stood up for Huo Yunshen at the hospital entrance, it had quickly become a scandal.

The news reported that Huo Yunshen had married secretly, and that he had accompanied his wife to the hospital for a pregnancy exam. There, in the photo on the page, was Xu Xiyan, facing away from the camera.