A gift from her eldest uncle

Fu Yunting took off his sunglasses and casually hooked them onto the breast pocket of his shirt, furrowing his straight brows as he tilted his head slightly.

He immediately spotted the pretty little girl hiding behind Old Master Fu, sneakily poking out a small part of her fuzzy head.

The instant their eyes met, Qin Yan whipped her head back and hid herself away like a little turtle.

Old Master Fu's voice softened again.

"Come out and have a look, sweetheart. Didn't you want to meet your eldest uncle?"

Fu Yunting promptly dug at his ear.

"Good grief, so that weird voice I heard over the phone really was yours."

"Old man, what kind of ghost possessed you?"

Old Master Fu's face immediately fell.

"Shut your mouth, you little brat. What the hell do you know?"

Holding his hand, Qin Yan cautiously stepped out.

She moved like a kitten entering a new place, tentatively testing the ground with her little feet, curious but a little scared, as though exploring unfamiliar territory.

Fu Yunting took in her movements with his deep, dark eyes.

Tsk, this little squirt was kind of cute.

That little face...

He suddenly crouched down, startling little kitten Qin Yan so badly that she practically bristled and shrank behind her grandfather again.

"Come out. Let your eldest uncle have a look."

"Don't scare her," Old Master Fu said. "We've only just managed to make her a little braver. Why did you have to grow so big, anyway? And with that bandit face of yours, what child wouldn't be scared of you?"

Fu Yunting was speechless for a moment.

"Are you feeling all right, old man? Since when was being tall a crime? Besides, didn't I get this face from you and Mom? Now you're complaining about it?"

While they were talking, Qin Yan peeked out again.

She stared curiously at her eldest uncle in front of her.

It wasn't really fear. She was genuinely nervous.

The next second, an iron grip caught her little arm and pulled her out.

Qin Yan: !!!

"What are you hiding for? I'm your eldest uncle. Your actual uncle."

Someone had completely forgotten his earlier conspiracy theories about Qin Yan coming to swindle his old man.

Now there was no hiding.

Qin Yan's little face was flushed, and even her eyelashes trembled slightly as her moist eyes stole a glance at the man crouching before her.

He's so big.

Those words popped into her mind.

Fu Yunting was six foot three, and he worked out regularly. Even in a black suit, his muscular build was apparent.

But he was well proportioned.

Combined with his bearing, he was like a fierce, imposing Siberian tiger.

"That little face really does look like my little sister's."

Without standing on ceremony, he scooped up the timid little girl with a Slime perched on her head as he stood.

Qin Yan jumped in fright, panic crossing her little face as her fingers hurriedly clutched his clothes.

Seeing that she was startled but not afraid, Old Master Fu relaxed.

Sitting on her eldest uncle's sturdy arm, Qin Yan initially held her little body rigid, but gradually relaxed.

Once inside, she was put down and ran to her grandfather on her short little legs.

But she stole several glances at Fu Yunting.

Fu Yunting noticed, of course, but didn't call her out.

"Come here. I have a present for you."

He took out a black box.

Qin Yan glanced at her grandfather.

Old Master Fu gave his eldest son a slightly smug look.

See how attached his granddaughter was to him.

"Go on. Didn't you want to meet your uncles?"

Holding Slime Tuantuan, Qin Yan kept giving herself little pep talks.

"Eldest Uncle."

It was their first meeting, after all, and Fu Yunting looked very unapproachable. Qin Yan was a little afraid.

But she felt more curiosity and longing.

Having grown up without her parents by her side, she longed for familial affection.

The little girl's voice was soft, sweet, and babyish.

Their whole family came from the north. They were all tall, like a pack of wild beasts.

And now, strangely enough, a soft, squishy little kitten had appeared among those beasts.

Still, how should he put it? She was kind of adorable.

Fu Yunting placed the box in front of her and opened it.

Qin Yan was momentarily dazzled by what was inside.

It was golden and gleaming, and so big.

Yes, inside was a Pixiu made of gold.

Old Master Fu smacked his eldest son again.

"This stuff again? Can you stop showing off that gold of yours everywhere?"

Fu Yunting immediately took exception.

"How am I showing off? That gleaming golden color is gorgeous. You just don't appreciate it. Besides, I wouldn't bother giving most people a Pixiu this big. Those people get toads."

Fu Yunting was notoriously stingy in their circle, but some occasions required gifts.

And this cheapskate wasn't willing to spend money on fancy, useless things that cost a fortune, so he liked giving gold.

Gold was great. He liked it himself, and it wasn't wasteful.

But most people received toads-Golden Toads, that was.

Only a select few whom he admired received a Golden Pixiu.

His gifts were arguably the most predictable and least thoughtful in their entire circle.

"Thank you, Uncle."

Qin Yan, however, liked it very much.

It wasn't that she liked gold. She was still little and had no clear understanding of money.

What she liked was receiving gifts from others.

Like the bar of soap from the Slime that she had discovered when she woke up that morning.

"This little thing is pretty lovable." He couldn't resist pinching her chubby little cheek.

So soft. Was he really not going to break her by pinching her?

He had barely touched her before he was smacked again.

"What do you mean, little thing? Her name is Qin Yan. She has a name. You're the thing."

"You great big oaf! Look, you've pinched the sweetheart's cheek red!"

Though father and son bickered and scuffled, they had a good relationship.

Qin Yan obediently kept Fu Yunting company for a while, but soon grew sleepy and yawned several times.

Old Master Fu's heart ached for her.

"If you're sleepy, go to bed."

Qin Yan slowly nodded her little head.

"Okay. Bye-bye, Grandpa. Bye-bye, Eldest Uncle."

Then the butler took her off to bed.

Once she was upstairs, Fu Yunting's expression turned serious.

"Old man, what exactly happened?"

Hadn't Qing Huan given birth to a stillborn baby?

But now even a fool could see that they had been deceived!

With his expression serious, Fu Yunting looked even more like a beast poised to strike.

"You know what happened when Qing Huan gave birth. She went into labor prematurely, and none of us were with her. By the time we got the news and rushed over, the baby had already been born. What we saw was a stillborn baby!"

"Now it looks like there might have been something fishy about that operation."

Fu Yunting's eyes turned cold. "Shen Fu performed the operation back then, didn't she?"

Shen Fu was Fu Qinghuan's younger sister-in-law, and also Qin Yan's paternal aunt.

But when Fu Qinghuan was with the Shen family, she and Shen Fu had been very close-best friends who could tell each other anything.

That was also one of the reasons they had never questioned the stillborn baby.