Auntie Zhou had gotten her way.
After hearing about that part of the past, Ding Ding was so distressed that he could not say a word.
A great hole had opened in his chest. Though he was indoors, he kept feeling a bitter wind sweeping through it.
Ding Ding could hardly bear to imagine that scene: a cold night, a cemetery, a frail boy, and a headstone.
All his heartache turned to tenderness. Ding Ding thought he should treat Little Bai a little better, better still. He could not make up for the past, but he could give him a more fulfilling future.
So those words about living in the bougainvillea had not been a mother's kindly lie, but a fool's way of saving himself.
He had known everything.
After leaving Auntie Zhou's home, Ding Ding took Bai Congming to the supermarket and bought the most expensive candy for the Kitchen God.
If possible, may the gods grant their blessing and keep his Little Bai healthy, safe, and free of hardship.
On the way back, they passed a cake shop. Bai Congming's gaze lingered for just one extra second, and Ding Ding walked in without a second thought.
He did not go overboard, either. He came out with a cake small enough for the two of them to finish without wasting any.
"A birthday!"
Ding Ding paused. "Whose?"
Bai Congming grinned as he looked at what Ding Ding was holding. "Brother Ding's!"
"No," Ding Ding said, understanding. "We can have cake even when it isn't a birthday."
"Oh..."
"Have you had cake before, Little Bai?" Ding Ding asked him.
Bai Congming nodded emphatically. "On birthdays! Pretty cake!"
Because he was a child she had found, Bai Fang had not known his actual date of birth, so when she registered him,