Chapter 23: 20

Chapter 20

Steal Not My Meal

Translated by boilpoil
Edited by boilpoil

 

Bai Yao can see the little sea otter distracted, and really wants to wave his hand in front of the boy’s eyes to see if the little food bucket can see anything but his fried rice.

It would appear teaching the use of chopsticks is going to be a long road ahead, so Bai Yao head to the kitchen to get a spoon for him. He’ll teach him again in the future.

Mu Mu’er has failed to eat any of the seafood fried rice for a while, and it’s cooling. Bai Yao gives him the spoon, then tries to reheat the rice. Yet the moment he touches the dish, Mu Mu’er immediately stops the dish with his other hand, looking up at Bai Yao with widened and wary eyes.

He is not fluent enough to speak when so distressed, but his eyes say it all.

Steal not my meal!

Bai Yao explains, sighing, “I’m heating it back up for you.”

Mu Mu’er still shakes his head, though, hugging the plate with both hands now.

He’s not cold. He does not need heat. He wants to eat.

The little sea otter sure is protective of his food, like his zodiac sign is actually the mouse.

The determination means Bai Yao can only crouch and tell Mu Mu’er patiently, “if it is cold, your tummy will hurt. Mu’er, you don’t want your tummy to hurt, do you? It only takes 20 seconds in the microwave, not even a minute.”

After that, he even pokes Mu Mu’er in his soft tummy with his finger. There isn’t even a single drab of extra fat there. He is thin, so thin it is almost painful to feel.

Mu Mu’er didn’t understand, but the soft and low tone is soothing enough to him. Something possesses him and he releases the dish.

Bai Yao waits in the kitchen for the meal to heat up while thinking over the boy’s actions. It feels less like the little sea otter is a glutton, but he feels more like he is used to starving conditions instead.

And his small frame suggests he hasn’t been nutritionally sated in quite a while.

Before Bai Yao can draw any conclusions, the microwave makes a ‘ding,’ and it’s done.

He takes the dish of steaming fried rice back outside, returning it to Mu Mu’er, currently busy stretching his neck towards the kitchen on his seat.

Dinner finally being served, Mu Mu’er is so excited his eyes are practically glowing. The scalding heat doesn’t seem to bother him, as he continuously stuffs the rice in, not even hearing Bai Yao telling him to slow down.

Bai Yao can see that Mu Mu’er is leaning quite forward, with one arm seemingly surrounding his plate all by reflex, like he’s worried Bai Yao would go back on his word and rob him of his fried rice.

The poor little thing.

After dinner, it’s getting late. Bai Yao quickly gets the kitchen and restaurant cleaned up and takes Mu’er with him upstairs. He has the boy go shower while he prepares to sleep.

There are no pyjamas the boy’s size, however. Still, pyjamas can be looser than usual, but he should really try not to subject Mu’er to clothes several sizes larger during the day.

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He’ll have to buy new clothes for him.

Bai Yao picks a dark blue jersey, and compares it to Mu’er who’s standing there daydreaming. Looks like the size works and he nods and throws it onto Mu Mu’er’s head.

“Go shower.”

Inside the bathroom, the bathtub is on the left side, while the shower area is on the right. Bai Yao goes to get a new towel, while teaching Mu Mu’er how to turn the faucet for hot and cold water. He cautions him to be careful of hot water before turning around to leave.

However, when he looks back one last time, Mu Mu’er looks lost in the shower area, so he adds, “do you need help?”

He simply asked the question thoughtlessly as Mu Mu’er looks like he doesn’t know how to use the shower area, but Mu Mu’er then shakes his head rather dramatically back and forth.

“No!” Then, perhaps not wanting to make Bai Yao unhappy, he quietly adds, “… it is not good.”

Bai Yao teases him, “but I gave Mu’er a shower a few days ago. Why was it ok back then?”

Mu Mu’er mumbles, “no, it, it is different.”

Bai Yao persists, “why is it different?”

Mu Mu’er also doesn’t know why, but, he just knows he cannot do the same as a sea otter now that he is in a human form. He remembers. Someone has told him he cannot show his naked form to people. That is wrong.

Seeing the sea otter’s brain fried, Bai Yao finally stops pushing the question, and closes the bathroom door behind him to let him shower by himself.

While Mu Mu’er is showering, Bai Yao lies on the bed and browses online for clothes for the boy. Mu Mu’er has told him he finds the clothes uncomfortable, so after some time, he settles on a few sets of loose and thin shirts and pants, plus denim overalls and white T-shirts.

He’s not too sure about the boy’s size, so he simply picks ones a few sizes smaller than his own.

It takes almost a quarter hour before the sound of water stops and Mu Mu’er walks outside. An extremely dense smell of citrus and lemon emerges from the bathroom, completely engulfing Bai Yao even halfway across the room on the bed, like he fell into a basket of fruit.

… Did he empty an entire bottle?

Bai Yao’s brows furrow. He was going to say something about it, but seeing Mu Mu’er looking quite content and happy after the shower, the words he speak ends up something different, “did you clean yourself fully?”

Mu Mu’er hears the question, and heads for the bed, showing Bai Yao both his palms wide, almost pushing himself right onto his nose, “clean!”

He didn’t even dry his hair at all. His slightly overlong hair is still dripping with water, colouring parts of the jersey with dark droplets.

Bai Yao sighs, and takes the towel, turning him around, sitting on the floor, brushing his hair casually like drying a puppy.

Mu Mu’er just sits there without much strength, and wobbles in place as Bai Yao dries him from whichever direction.

He can also consider giving Mu Mu’er a haircut, or perhaps tying his hair in a bun just like him. As Bai Yao thinks about it, his movements become more gentle and thorough going through the hair follicles.

When he’s finally done, Bai Yao also has to go shower. He tells Mu Mu’er to sit on the bed for a while, or he can go to sleep before him if he’s tired.

A restaurant chef is often unfortunately embroiled in the smells of smoke and condiments. Bai Yao himself is quite the stickler for cleanliness, meanwhile, so he often showers himself thrice with the body wash, stopping only when his skin is reddened and he is as clean as can be.

This also takes a bit of time, so when he’s finally done, the person outside is already gone. Instead, on the ground right outside the bathroom lies a soft little sea otter, inside a blue jersey, close to nodding off.

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