"You'd better stay in my bedroom." The first floor wasn't safe; it would be dangerous if Hah'Er made some noise and attracted attention. So Shen Yibin carried Hah'Er to his bedroom on the second floor. He set him down on the floor, took his iPad from beside his pillow, opened the video app, found *Kung Fu Panda*, and placed it in front of him.
"Look at that. You're both pandas, so how come there's such a big difference?" Shen Yibin ruffled his fluffy head. "You just watch this. I'll be back in a bit."
"Mhm! Mhm!" Hah'Er picked up the throw pillow Shen Yibin had tossed under the bed, placed it against the wall, then leaned back against it in a perfect slouch. He held the iPad with both paws, his round belly propping up the bottom edge as he watched with relish.
'Holy crap, does he have to be so comfortable? Seeing this little guy so relaxed is making me not want to move either. But he looks so damn cute. No, I have to take a picture and save it on my phone.'
Shen Yibin pulled out his phone, opened a camera app, and started snapping pictures of Hah'Er. After he was done, he didn't forget to adjust the lighting, add a watermark, and so on. Only after finishing all that did he reluctantly leave Hah'Er, heading downstairs and out the door to buy things for him.
'Huh, I feel like I forgot something important. What was it?' Shen Yibin scratched his head as he locked the door, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what it was. Plus, the delivery truck arranged by Bao was about to arrive, so he could only put it out of his mind, hail a cab, and head to the supermarket.
What he didn't notice was that a picture of Hah'Er in his slouch, holding the iPad, had suddenly appeared on his Weibo page. Recently, to promote his pet store, Shen Yibin often had to take pictures, edit them, and then upload them to Weibo. Later, finding it a hassle to open the Weibo app every time, he had simply set it to auto-upload after taking a picture. This was the important thing he had just forgotten.
'Let's see, what do I need to buy? Three outfits for Hah'Er, a bib for eating, cooking utensils and seasonings... oh, right, I also need to buy a Sichuan cookbook that teaches you how to make twice-cooked pork... That's actually quite a lot.'
At the supermarket, Shen Yibin checked his list and bought the kitchen utensils, seasonings, and other items. Then he went to the bookstore next door and bought a few cookbooks. Finally, loaded down with bags big and small, he arrived at a children's clothing store.
"Hello, sir! Are you here to buy clothes for your little one? How old is he? What colors does he like?" The sales assistant at this store had good customer service. Seeing Shen Yibin enter, she greeted him enthusiastically and even helped him put the things he was carrying by the checkout counter.
'Little one?' Shen Yibin felt awkward. 'I'm still single, what kid?' But he couldn't very well say he was buying clothes for the panda at home, could he? As for the age, he had no answer at all, so he could only say vaguely, "The, uh, little one is a bit chubby, so I probably need a larger size. Oh, right, I saw a pretty nice set on your official website with a panda chewing on bamboo leaves. Where is that?"
"This set is one of our bestsellers this season. It's made from fabric woven with all-natural plant fibers, contains absolutely no harmful chemicals, and is gentle on a baby's skin..." The sales assistant rattled off a bunch of technical terms that made Shen Yibin's head spin, then presented a sample to him. "Sir, this is a medium-large size. Do you think it will fit?"
"Um, the length is about right, but the waist seems a bit too small." Shen Yibin recalled Hah'Er's build. "Do you have anything... wider? The waist needs to be twice this size."
"Twice the size! I'll go see if our largest size will work." The sales assistant was shocked. 'Just how chubby is this kid?' When she brought it back, she didn't forget to offer a few words of well-intentioned advice. "Sir, everyone dotes on their children these days, but you have to do it scientifically. It's not good for a child's health to let them get that overweight."
"Sigh, it's not like I want to, but it's a matter of genetics. Nothing to be done." 'Please stop talking,' Shen Yibin thought. 'With Hah'Er's appetite, I'll probably be eating dirt in a few days.'
'Genetics?' The sales assistant looked suspiciously at the slightly thin Shen Yibin. 'Does he have a plus-sized wife, or is the kid from the guy next door? You don't look like you could father such a chubby kid.'
"Yeah, he should just about be able to squeeze into this. Can you also get me the one with the red stars and the blue plaid one from your website, both in this size?" Shen Yibin sized it up; it looked like Hah'Er could fit.
Paying the bill was another pang of pain. 'Children's clothes are so damn expensive these days. My wallet is getting thinner and thinner. I need to figure out a way to make money, and fast! Otherwise, Hah'Er and I are going to starve to death together.'
"Taxi!" Coming out of the store, he happened to see an empty cab. Shen Yibin quickly flagged it down, jumped in, and zipped back to the pet store, completely oblivious to the person behind him who was actually trying to greet him.
"Hey! Why is Bin running off so fast? I just happened to run into him and was going to ask for directions to his store!" Shen Yibin's college classmate, Qiao Wenqi, stomped her foot in frustration.
"Qiqi, look!" Qiao Wenqi's college roommate, Mo Xiaomo, who was also a classmate of Shen Yibin's, had her attention fixed elsewhere. She pointed at the children's clothing store sign and said excitedly, as if she'd just discovered a huge piece of gossip, "Bin just bought children's clothes! Did he have a baby? I think he'd be the first in our class, right?"
"No way, right? I never heard anything about him getting married." Qiao Wenqi was a little skeptical, but after thinking for a moment, Shen Yibin had indeed just come out of that children's clothing store, and he was even carrying one of their shopping bags.
"I'm gonna check his Weibo. I'll see if I can find any wedding photos or anything. I refuse to believe he could hide it this well." The Weibo aficionado, Mo Xiaomo, immediately whipped out her phone and found Shen Yibin's homepage.
"Ah! Qiqi, Qiqi! Come look, quick! This is so adorable!" The moment she saw Shen Yibin's Weibo page, she was completely blown away by the cuteness of the top post: the picture of Hah'Er slouching and watching the iPad.
Meanwhile, in the taxi, Shen Yibin had also habitually pulled out his phone to kill some time. 'Huh? Why are there so many Weibo notifications?' After opening the app, Shen Yibin was baffled by a series of alerts: 233 reposts, 188 comments, and 366 likes. 'What the heck is going on?'
'Holy crap, I knew I forgot something. Dammit, I forgot to turn off the camera app's auto-post to Weibo feature!' Shen Yibin slapped a hand to his forehead, staring dumbfounded at the ridiculously cute picture of Hah'Er. 'Now I'm in big trouble!'