Chapter 13
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Bai Qingyu said, “You just take care of it casually, and it’ll grow up.”
Casually? Can it really be raised so easily?
He Renyuan stared at the tea sapling and found himself pondering the matter of nurturing a single tree.
The surrounding tea trees were too tall, blocking the sunlight. Would planting the sapling too close to them affect its growth? The villa’s bright lights at night—could they disrupt its natural rhythm?
Why was he worrying about such things?
A plump little sparrow flew from a large tea tree onto the small sapling. Bai Qingyu’s heart tightened. Tea Bao must resist playing with the sparrow.
He hurried forward in three quick steps, waving the sparrow away and holding down a restless little branch.
Just as He Renyuan was about to approach, Bai Qingyu turned around, expression calm: “Boss, your clothes are dirty. Take them off—I’ll wash them for you.”
He Renyuan was somewhat fastidious but didn’t rush to bathe. Bai Qingyu seemed to be hiding a secret from him.
Eyes wide open, Bai Qingyu said, “I applied homemade fermented fertilizer to the tea tree. You rolled around on the ground earlier—aren’t you bothered?”
He Renyuan’s face darkened as if he could smell the pungent odor of the fertilizer. Disbelieving, he asked, “Where did you get this fertilizer?”
“Bought it online. Boss, since you don’t mind having dirt on your clothes, let me raise chickens. You won’t have to step inside the coop or step on chicken droppings, but you’ll get fresh eggs.”
He Renyuan clenched his fingers, restraining himself: “Online shopping means a salary deduction.”
With a decisive motion, he took off his suit jacket and even threw his tie into the trash bin, left wearing only a thin shirt that perfectly displayed his broad shoulders and narrow waist.
Bai Qingyu watched him enter the house, then hurriedly scooped up the little one from the pit and went through another door to the third floor.
The little one was dirty from the pit and needed a bath.
Bai Xiaocha sat in the tub, his hair lathered with soap, creating a frothy crown of white bubbles.
“Daddy, a sparrow flew onto my head,” Bai Xiaocha said, pointing to the top of his head and touching the foam.
“You did well. Next time, Daddy will take you to the zoo to see ostriches.”
Bai Xiaocha asked, “Daddy, am I a little baby?”
Bai Qingyu thought to himself, Bai Xiaocha really remembers what the boss uncle said. If He Renyuan spoke badly today, he would never let Tea Bao see the bad boss uncle again.
“Yes, you’re a little baby.”
Bai Xiaocha said, “Boss uncle is very tall.”
Bai Qingyu replied, “Mm, when you grow up, you’ll be taller than him.” Growing taller than a human being is easy for a tea tree in its form.
Bai Xiaocha said, “Boss uncle has black hair too.”
Bai Qingyu smiled, “Black is cool.”
Wrapping the washed little one in a bath towel and placing him on the bed, footsteps sounded at the door, followed by a knock.
He Renyuan called, “Bai Qingyu.”
Bai Qingyu loudly replied, “I’m bathing. Do you need something?”
A faint “No” squeezed through the door gap. Both Bai Qingyu and Bai Xiaocha sat alert with ears pricked, until He Renyuan’s footsteps faded away.
*
He Renyuan went downstairs and found the butler in the reception room. It was the end of the month, time to check income and expenses with the accountant.
Hearing them mention wages, He Renyuan said, “The advance doesn’t count; pay Bai Qingyu’s salary as usual at the beginning of next month.”
The butler was delighted. Finally, the young master understood how to retain talent. He smiled, “How much do we raise Bai Qingyu’s salary? We need a competitive wage.”
“Raise?” He Renyuan sneered. An annoying nanny who pestered him daily? Raising her salary would be encouraging bad behavior.
The butler’s expression was indescribable. “Then what’s the reason?”
He Renyuan said, “The advance was a settling-in allowance.”
Good companies gave employees a settling-in allowance, which was reasonable.
The butler was speechless. He had never heard of a live-in nanny getting such a fee. Using fancy terms instead of just raising the salary?
He Renyuan instructed the accountant, “Increase the holiday bonus by two thousand.”
A two-thousand raise meant everyone else’s salary would increase too. The accountant smiled, “Should we retroactively pay for Qingming Festival?”
He Renyuan replied, “Yes.”
The butler’s mood was complicated. Young master, you have plenty of excuses, but the nanny is leaving.
Because Bai Qingyu was moving with the child, the butler agreed to keep it secret from He Renyuan during the departure.
After talking about salary, He Renyuan got to the point: “Tea picking requires two people. No one is allowed to climb the ladder alone.”
He had wanted to say this earlier but Bai Qingyu was showering... and then he couldn’t bring himself to say it face-to-face.
The butler was puzzled at first, then understood: “Okay, I’ll keep an eye on it.”
He Renyuan frowned: “Hold on tight. Either you pick tea while he supports you, or vice versa.”
Climbing ladders required experience. Butler Qi probably climbed more ladders than Bai Qingyu had stairs.
He Renyuan recalled Bai Qingyu swaying on the ladder. “He’s afraid of heights. Reporting a work injury would be troublesome.”
Bai Qingyu was so poor, probably lived in a single-story house in the countryside and never been to a second floor.
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Butler Qi smiled, “Understood.”
After He Renyuan left, Bai Qingyu continued to pick tea, but the butler forbade him from climbing the ladder.
“Why?” Bai Qingyu asked softly.
“Why?” Bai Xiaocha echoed.
The butler replied, “That’s the young master’s order.”
Bai Qingyu muttered, “How dare they underestimate the Tea God’s abilities.”
Freshly picked tea leaves were first sun-withered, then cooled, oxidized, and pan-fired. Bai Qingyu estimated he could prepare a batch of raw tea before leaving.
On Thursday, Bai Qingyu studied the various tools in He’s tea-frying room.
He had seen villagers pan-frying tea countless times, witnessing the evolution of tools from manual to sophisticated assembly lines. He Renyuan’s setup was quite primitive.
Bai Qingyu poured the tea leaves into the pan and stirred by hand continuously. The heat prickled his palm, but it was bearable. It was his first time frying tea; everything seemed new and exciting.
Sweat drenched his temples and sideburns. Bai Qingyu didn’t mind, but Bai Xiaocha’s cheeks flushed from the heat.
“Tea Bao, go outside and play.”
“I want to help Daddy.”
“What do you want to help with?”
Bai Xiaocha rubbed his plump little hands: “Daddy, I’m not afraid of heat.”
Bai Qingyu pinched his palm: “It hurts. Your skin is too tender.”
Bai Xiaocha withdrew his hand and rubbed the floor with his feet. His bright eyes lit up like little bulbs as he dreamed aloud, “Daddy, I can use my feet.”
In the countryside, he always ran barefoot. Grandpa Deng worried, “Your soles must be thick. Watch out for stones.”
Bai Qingyu thought, “Baby, you’re not afraid of hot feet, but your boss uncle burns his mouth.”
“You should go play.”
The butler entered, “The chairman sent over a fruit platter with watermelon. Want some?”
Eating watermelon wasn’t elegant, so the young master probably wouldn’t eat it.
He Renyuan carved the watermelon to look like it had been bitten by a dog... well, Tea Bao didn’t mind.
The butler fondly rubbed Tea Bao’s head: “Besides you, who else is qualified to be the chairman’s grandson?”
By Friday, Bai Qingyu had prepared a small batch of raw tea. The quantity was small, it would be consumed quickly, no need for refined storage. He sealed it in a bag and placed it in the tea cabinet.
He began packing his things.
The butler sighed, as if his joy at work had vanished.
Bai Qingyu said, “Uncle Qi, just say I had an urgent matter back home and can’t leave the countryside. I won’t be coming back.”
The butler asked, “Have you found a new job?”
Bai Qingyu felt guilty, as if resigning here to be a nanny elsewhere was a betrayal. Facing the butler’s kind attempt to keep him, he hesitated: “It’s a fellow townsman who’s prospered and asked me to help.”
The butler said, “Have you verified it? Your fellow townsman isn’t in Southeast Asia, right?”
“Just in the southern city.” Bai Qingyu showed the last wage envelope the butler gave him. Bai Xiaocha hadn’t attended kindergarten so no expenses were spent. Bai Qingyu had worked less than three months and had just completed probation; he shouldn’t have been paid.
The butler said, “No need to return it. This is the young master’s settling-in allowance to support your new start in the southern city. You get it once you arrive.”
Bai Qingyu: “Settling-in allowance? Isn’t it supposed to be food and lodging?”
The butler smiled. Young master’s lame excuse couldn’t fool Bai Qingyu.
“This is a red envelope from us elders to Xiao Cha as a welcome gift. It’s our family custom: whenever a child visits for the first time, no matter who it is, they get a red envelope. The young master doesn’t know; I gave it for him, to bring good fortune and attract descendants,” the butler fabricated earnestly.
Bai Qingyu: “There’s such a custom?” Well, when young master has children, he’ll return the favor.
While they chatted, He Renyuan suddenly returned, his face dark as he grabbed Bai Qingyu’s arm and dragged him to the garden, pointing at the newly planted tea sapling: “This isn’t the original one.”
Bai Qingyu hesitated, “Uh... the one I replaced is the one bought online.”
He Renyuan had been busy lately, coming home late. Passing the garden, he hadn’t looked closely. Today at noon, he came back for lunch and decided to take a detour to check, only to find the sapling had clearly been swapped.
The original sapling was small and round, missing a layer of leaves, looking pitiful and clumsy. He Renyuan had been planning to watch it grow day by day.
The new sapling’s branches were messy and leaves droopy—utterly ordinary.
Bai Qingyu said, “You said it was too small, so I returned it and got a bigger one sent.”
He Renyuan sneered, “I’ve never seen you so obedient.”
Bai Qingyu was speechless.
He Renyuan: “Is the return package still on the way? Give me the tracking number; I’ll intercept it.”
Bai Qingyu, unfamiliar with such procedures but recently wiser, said, “The seller said it would wilt on the way back, so they just sent a replacement. I gave the original to someone else.”
He Renyuan: “Who told you to give it away?”
Bai Qingyu: “This land is precious; you can’t even grow loofah here, let alone a tea tree meant to spread and flourish.”
He Renyuan was speechless: “Who did you give it to?”
Bai Qingyu freed his arm: “Don’t worry, young master. The sapling’s new home will be happy, with chickens, ducks, and sunshine—”
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That comparison made He Renyuan deeply uncomfortable. Gritting his teeth, he said, “The countryside?”
Bai Qingyu: “Yes. My fellow townsman was just about to return home. I took it back to my uncle, who has lived at the foot of Wuyi Mountain all his life and planted countless tea trees.”
Watching He Renyuan’s expression, his tone unconsciously softened to soothe, gentle: “Wuyi Mountain has good water—much better than planting in a big city, right? My uncle is better at caring for tea trees than I am. When you have time, you can visit.”
He hadn’t lied; Uncle Deng’s cooking was far better than his.
He Renyuan wouldn’t admit any place was better than his home, but tea trees are tea trees, people are people. Perhaps Bai Qingyu was right.
“I can’t just believe you. Evidence.”
Evidence?
Bai Qingyu thought for a moment. He did have a photo of himself and Bai Xiaocha transformed into their true forms on the mountain, taken by Uncle Deng.
He flipped through his album and showed He Renyuan: “Look, it’s planted and looks vigorous.”
He Renyuan glanced down, instantly recognizing the sapling nestled beside a large tea tree...
“Wait!”
But Bai Qingyu hastily slipped his phone back into his pocket before he could see more.
He Renyuan: “Let me see again.” That big tree looked somewhat familiar.
Bai Qingyu: “Haven’t you seen it already?”
He Renyuan was exasperated by the obstinate nanny.
That single photo gave He Renyuan sleepless nights.
He drank a mouthful of iced tea, unsure if it was the photo or Bai Qingyu causing his insomnia.
Which seemed more likely?
He Renyuan got up and went to his study, opened the blank schedule he’d kept these days, and picked up a pen.
“An endless list of grievances.”
Late at night, the sounds upstairs became clear.
Bai Qingyu was still awake?
His mind raced. He left the study and quietly went upstairs. He couldn’t say what he intended, but it was certain Bai Qingyu was hiding something from him.
As a lawyer, he could tell immediately if a client was telling the whole truth or concealing facts.
Bai Qingyu was undoubtedly an uncooperative client.
Upstairs.
Bai Qingyu was packing quietly in the dead of night, preparing to leave early the next morning. He wanted to restore the third floor to its original state so He Renyuan wouldn’t nitpick.
The third floor was Bai Xiaocha’s play area. Other rooms showed signs of activity—when Sister Liu and Mengmeng came up, wherever Bai Xiaocha was, the feeding spots would shift accordingly.
There were also breadcrumbs dropped by Bai Xiaocha in other bedrooms.
“Baby, you’re in the living room. You can’t come in here.”
Bai Qingyu was mopping. If Bai Xiaocha came in, little footprints would mark the floor—obviously from a human child.
“All right, Daddy,” Bai Xiaocha said, sitting on the living room floor, breaking bread.
Grandpa Butler gave him lots of bread today. After eating it, he would become a big baby.
When He Renyuan went upstairs, he saw an utterly impossible scene—a little child eating bread in his home.
It was so absurd He Renyuan suspected he was sleepwalking.
He pinched himself and looked up at the ceiling—did the child fall from above?
Bai Xiaocha happily ate bread, sensing someone behind him, turned his head—
“Boss uncle?”
Oh? The hide-and-seek game was over with the cat boss catching the cub?
The big and small stared at each other, both bewildered, frozen for a full minute.
He Renyuan tried to sound friendly: “Little friend, you are—”
Bai Xiaocha said, “Boss uncle—”
In a flash, Bai Qingyu dashed out, scooped Bai Xiaocha inside, and closed the door.
“Sorry, I have a child.”
“Are you married?” He Renyuan’s voice stiffened, instinctively probing the key point.
Bai Qingyu: “...Yes.”
He Renyuan froze, an indescribable sense of betrayal rising. He had suspected ceiling leaks but never suspected Bai Qingyu had a child!