The President is Being Shameless Again

Yan Ningbai’s holler pierced through from the other side of the phone. “Elder Nephew, quick, come and eat your dumplings!”

“Go. I’m almost done here too. We’re getting ready to eat.” Lin Chu said.

Yan Beicheng hung up.

Lin Chu did not ask about him threatening the Lins. She only thought of him being a little stupid, doing all these without telling her. Who knows what else he had done for her with this intention in mind?

Chu Xi was a little shy at first, but it had the short-term memory which was characteristic of a puppy. After seeing that the people in the house had treated it with kindness for a while, it shed its shyness and started to run around them.

“I ate one with cake filling!” Tiantian said happily, her cheeks squirreled up.

“I ate one with white sugar filling!” Shi Tou said, eyes narrowed from the sweetness.

“I ate one with dates!” Mo Jinxi spat the kernel out.

“Aiyo,” The old principal called in surprise, “I bit on a coin.”

This riled the children up. They started to plow through their bowl of dumplings, eyes fixated on the platter in the middle. They wanted to know if the dumplings in their bowls had coins in them, but they also did not want to puncture them with their chopsticks accidentally. They did not want to miss the elation and surprise from biting on a coin.

Their gazes were adorably anxious.

Tian Tian was the youngest, and so she was not as skilled in using chopsticks. She had picked up a dumpling, but then it slipped to the floor. With an exclamation of surprise, Tian Tian got ready to pick it up, but then Chu Xi dashed toward it and snatched it away with its mouth before she could.

It then swallowed the dumpling without chewing, as if it was afraid of someone snatching the treat and ran away quickly with its tail between its legs. Halfway through, it got scalded on the tongue by the hot dumpling and detoured to its water bowl and drank the water in it with all its might. After that, it stretched its tongue and couldn’t stop panting. It gazed towards the dumplings everyone was eating plaintively.

Lin Chu finished her dumplings and caressed its head lightly. “You can’t eat those. They’re not good for you.”

The children finished their dumplings with much difficulty. There were still three coins left in the other dumplings. They were all filled up with food, but they were still reluctant to give up.

Their radiant eyes were still fixated at the rest of the dumplings.

Worried that the dumpling skins would stick together when cooled, Lin Chu fished out some plates and separated the dumplings before letting them cool and putting them in the fridge.

“Don’t worry. The dumplings are all refrigerated for you. We’ll grill them tomorrow morning and see who’ll get the coins,” assured Lin Chu.

The children really could not stuff any more food inside their bellies. With this goal in their minds, they nodded fervently and started to anticipate the next morning.

Lin Chu looked at the time. It was approaching 1 am, so she sent the children to brush up and sleep.

She hustled all of them to bed and the children fell asleep instantly.

Lin Chu returned to the living room to tidy up. The old principal offered to help, but Lin Chu declined firmly. She almost had to drag the old principal to bed.

Lin Chu tossed the children’s clothes into the washing machine, tidied up the dining table, and started on the dishes. When she was mopping the floor, Chu Xi suddenly barked at the door. Delicate and high-pitched, the little puppy’s bark was naturally unthreatening, but it barked persistently and with all its might.

Lin Chu listened, and it seemed like there was something outside the door.

It was past midnight, and Lin Chu was made nervous. Everyone here was relatively weak; the only adults present in the orphanage were her and the old principal, while the others were all children. If any thieves and burglars knew of the situation and chose to commit a crime during the New Year, they would be in danger.

Lin Chu clutched the mop in her hands while she looked for a torch. She walked towards the door and fastened the safety chain before opening it and extending the torch outside.

There was nothing out of the ordinary in the front yard. When the torchlight illuminated the gates, Lin Chu saw a tall silhouette standing outside. The light was not bright enough, so she could not see its face clearly, only managing to identify it as a man’s.