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“Where is my sesame candy?” Tang Fan asks with his best glare in Sui Zhou’s direction. Sui Zhou looks up from where he’s scrubbing the counter but doesn’t answer him. “I bought it today, set it aside for a snack after dinner, and now it’s gone.”
“Is there a chance you misplaced it? Maybe you’ve already finished it…” Sui Zhou responds, a joke somewhere in his words.
Very suspicious, Tang Fan thinks. His Guangchuan is not a great secret keeper. “Then why would I remember putting it here?” He preempts Sui Zhou’s inevitable questioning of the thoroughness of his search by dramatically looking again at the spot on the shelf behind the pans where he normally hides food. ”It makes no sense to me! I wouldn’t have bought it if I knew it was going to go missing. Is it like me to forget something like this?”
“No.”
“Then did you take it?” It would not be out of the realm of possibility. Sui Zhou was grumbling about Tang Fan ruining his appetite just last week. As if Tang Fan could ruin his appetite.
Sui Zhou has the gall to scoff at that. “No.”
Tang Fan looks back at the spot. “Then who else could have—”
Now, finally, Sui Zhou catches his eye.
“Dong’er,” Tang Fan concludes. She’s the only one with the guts to pilfer Tang Fan’s stash of sweets. He looks out the door of the kitchen towards her room as if he can summon her with a stare but he has no such luck. “She’s normally not so reckless.”
“She’s been taking extra food for a week. Haven’t you noticed?” Sui Zhou asks.
Tang Fan thinks back. He remembers waking up in the middle of the night, climbing over the restlessly sleeping Sui Zhou, and checking the kitchen for leftovers and finding nothing, but had chalked it up to Sui Zhou sending the food home with Xue Ling or Wu’yun or whoever else came for dinner. So, he decides to sidestep Sui Zhou’s question. “I must confront her. She won’t get away with this. Is she home?”
“I saw her leave after dinner.”
“Then I’m going to find her. She knows better than to steal from me.”
Sui Zhou folds up the rag he was using to clean. “I’ll come with you. I’m curious.”
“There are only a couple of places she could be,” Tang Fan says as they lock up the gates to the house on Revered North Lane. “Normally the first place I’d check is Dong Gu’s, but if she’s already stolen my food then she’s probably not hungry.” He narrows his eyes like she’s standing right in front of him, eating a piece.
“Guangning Gate?” Sui Zhou suggests, already moving, his energy somehow matching Tang Fan’s. Outside the gate is where the street kids normally spend summer nights.
They run into Xiao Niqiu first, which is good for them and unfortunate for the kid. Sui Zhou stands there, feet apart in a strong stance with his hand on the hilt of his sword and leaves it to Tang Fan to talk. “We’re looking for Dong’er. Have you seen her?” he asks.
Xiao Niqiu looks between the two of them. “She was here not long ago.”
Sui Zhou and Tang Fan share a look. Tang Fan gets right to the point. “Did she have any food?”
"Yes,” he answers but raises his hand in a placating gesture. “But we didn’t eat anything. She was saving it for Cai’er.”
“Cai’er?” Sui Zhou answers, surprised.
“Yeah. She’s sick. And Dong’er has been bringing her food.”
“For how long?” Tang Fan asks even though he already knows the answer.
“A week, or so.”
Tang Fan is going to kill Dong’er when they find her. This is no longer about his snack. If she needed food to help someone, especially a little sick girl, she only had to ask. “Take us to her.”
There’s a moment where Tang Fan imagines Xiao Niqiu is questioning whether he should betray Dong’er's confidence, but eventually he agrees with a nod because he must understand that he can help if he’s honest.
They end up in an abandoned home not far from there and find Dong’er in a room lit by only a few candles. In the corner Dong’er sits next to a small girl who is lying curled on the floor, sleeping. The girl cannot be more than five years old. Her face is covered with the shine of fever-sweat that mats her hair to her face.
Dong’er looks up with a guilty expression. “Sui-dage, Tang-dage,” she says, knowing she doesn’t need to give much of an explanation.
Sui Zhou kneels next to the girl and gently checks her temperature by laying hand on her forehead. “This is Cai’er?”
“Yes. She’s sick. I’m trying to help her.”
“Where are her parents?” Tang Fan asks, though he can guess given the current situation.
“They’re gone.”
Sui Zhou and Tang Fan share a look that requires no work to interpret. They both have soft hearts, she should know this. “Why didn’t you tell us? We could have helped.”
“I didn’t want to cause any strain,” she responds with her eyes cast downward.
Tang Fan is angry at the implication that they would do nothing to care for someone, but he can also suppose that Dong’er thinks back to her own upbringing and has learned the wrong lesson. “It’s clear you already thought we had enough food,” he scolds without heat, mostly because he needs to say something. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have stolen from me.”
“I’m sorry, Tang-dage.” She really does sound sorry.
Tang Fan watches Sui Zhou and sees the exact moment he breaks. “We’ll bring her home. Runqing is correct, if we’re already feeding her then housing her is not an extra burden.”
The offer is no more than Tang Fan would suggest.
With the gentleness Tang Fan knows resides in Sui Zhou’s bones, Sui Zhou lifts the girl into his arms as she continues to sleep. Dong’er unnecessarily fusses over her, sliding a hand over her hair and rearranging her clothes to make sure nothing is pulling as she’s carried.
It doesn't surprise Tang Fan to see the care Dong’er shows—but he is still disarmed by it. “You owe me candy,” he tells her, performing his annoyance and the stern look on his face.
“Yes, Tang-dage.”
“Good,” he pauses, thinking through their next steps. “Go on ahead and get a doctor, bring him back home, and prepare the room Jie and Cheng’er shared when they lived with us.”
“Yes. Tang-dage,” she repeats, but this time with confidence.
Tang Fan shoos her away, leaving him alone with Sui Zhou and the small girl. “How old do you think she is?” he asks.
Sui Zhou looks at her as he begins to walk carefully enough to not wake her. “I don’t know, I’m not an expert in little girls,” he says with a determined frown.
“Me neither.” He hopes the girl will recover after being sick for so long.
Sun-daifu is already heating up something on the stove when Tang Fan and Sui Zhou bring Cai’er to her new bed. Dong’er waits impatiently in the peripheral, jumping to fulfill any need of the doctor at barely a word. Tang Fan hovers and second-guesses his approach to Cai’er’s care while Sui Zhou comes in with extra chairs for the rest of them to sit.
It’s in one of these chairs that Tang Fan wakes up with his head on Sui Zhou’s shoulder and Sui Zhou’s arm around his. Dong’er has pulled some chairs together to make a makeshift bed short enough that her feet hang off. Only Sui Zhou is awake. Tang Fan gives a silent, questioning look to Sui Zhou that asks if everything’s fine and gets a nod in response.
Tang Fan pads over to the girl and gently touches her forehead. Her fever seems to have broken—and instead of the restless wrongness of last night—she is sleeping peacefully. He gives Sui Zhou another look, this one confirming that all is well, and Sui Zhou leaves in the direction of the kitchen.
“Tang-dage,” Dong’er says with a sleepy lilt to her voice. “Is Cai’er ok?”
“I’m not a doctor.” But he’s close enough given how much time he spends with Pai Huai. “But it looks good.”
“So she’ll have to leave?” she asks with her eyes cast downward.
Tang Fan scoffs. The thought hadn’t even entered his mind. “She’ll need time to recover. We can’t just let her go back to the streets. She’s skin and bones. Guangchuan is already in the kitchen. He won’t let her leave until she’s too full to move.” That earns him a smile. Playfully, he adds, “Now you are a different story. There’s still the issue of the candy you stole...”
Dong’er rolls her eyes.
The girl wakes up only a little bit after noon. Both Sui Zhou and Tang Fan have decided to take the day off and spend it at home, so they’re quickly by her bedside to watch as she eagerly slurps the soup that Sui Zhou brings her with wide eyes and a big smile. “It’s delicious!” she announces. “Thank you!”
“It’s nothing,” Sui Zhou responds. “How do you feel?”
“I feel good. Much better.” She looks around. Tang Fan is glad to see her so alert and is grateful they could intervene. “Is this your home?”
“Yes.” Sui Zhou gestures to Tang Fan and Dong’er. “This is our home.”
“It’s very big…”
Tang Fan laughs. She hasn’t been outside the room yet, how could she fully appreciate such a fantastic piece of real estate? “Call me Tang-dage and this is Sui-dage. Dong’er is our—” he cuts himself off when he realizes he doesn’t have the right word. It’s a very disorienting feeling.
Sui Zhou finishes. “Our Dong’er.”
Dong’er beams, her smile bright and sweet. “You can trust Sui-dage and Tang-dage. They are very kind men. Well, Sui-dage is. Tang-dage is a little…” Her smile turns playful. Tang Fan sticks his tongue out at her.
“Ignore her. She’s a silly girl,” Tang Fan says with a fake, haughty air. “Can we get you anything? You’re welcome to stay until you feel better.”
“Oh,” she says with a frown. “Could I have more soup?”
Sui Zhou is already gone before Tang Fan can tell her yes.
Tang Fan wakes up to the sound of something crashing in the courtyard. He blearily forces himself out of the empty bed to investigate despite his inner misgivings. His blankets still hold the imprint of Sui Zhou’s body heat, and the morning has barely begun.
When he steps outside he finds that Dong’er and Sui Zhou are looking out from the kitchen, also curious. The crashing repeats.
At the same time, all three of them turn towards the guest room. Tang Fan remembers that Cheng’er was also an early riser, but he would spend the morning playing quietly until his mother fetched him.
“Cai’er?” Tang Fan gently calls into her room, careful to not surprise her if she’s miraculously still sleeping. The bed and the rest of the room are empty. Confused, he looks towards Sui Zhou and Dong’er—now standing in the doorway—and shrugs in confusion.
Their pet goat bleats, drawing all of their focus. Sui Zhou pivots quicker than the other two and by the time Tang Fan’s there, he’s already taken control of it and holding Cai’er under one arm.
Dong’er runs to them, checking Cai’er over like a concerned older sister.
“She’s fine,” Sui Zhou says, sternly as he hands the goat over to Tang Fan. “They just knocked over the wooden combat dummy”
“They?” Tang Fan asks with a raised eyebrow.
Cai’er reaches out to the goat as if she could stretch long enough to nullify the power of Sui Zhou’s grip. “Maomao is my friend,” she says. “We were playing.”
The earnest way she says it breaks Tang Fan’s resolve. “Is it going to be a lot to repair?” he asks Sui Zhou with his biggest, most pleading eyes that tell him to let it go.
Sui Zhou gently releases her and she runs toward Maomao. “Of course not. But she could have been hurt.”
Cai’er disagrees. “No, I wouldn’t have.” She aggressively pets Maomao, pressing her small hand against its fur.
“I’ll watch her,” Dong’er announces and she takes Cai’er’s other hand. “Come on, we’ll play a game.”
This satisfies Sui Zhou. He leaves with a nod.
“Be careful,” Tang Fan instructs the two girls before following Sui Zhou into the kitchen, where he takes his normal seat at the counter to watch Sui Zhou cook. “I don’t remember Cheng’er being so rambunctious.”
Sui Zhou goes back to chopping mushrooms. “She might calm down. She’s been bedridden for a week; it must be nice to be able to run around and play.”
“Or she might always be this full of energy,” Tang Fan thinks aloud as he listens to the running that’s going on outside. “What should we do?”
“She’s not recovered yet. A day isn’t enough. In the meantime, we feed her, keep her warm, and make sure she doesn’t kill herself.”
Tang Fan hums affirmatively. It’s as good of a plan as any could be.
Sui Zhou stops by Shuntien Prefecture, right as Tang Fan is preparing to leave for the day, holding a bundle of some tightly wrapped meat under one arm and carrying a basket of vegetables with the other. “Oooo, Guangchuan, what’re you making us tonight?” Tang Fan reaches for the basket but Sui Zhou denies him.
“I was thinking shredded pork in a sweet sauce," Sui Zhou responds with a soft smile.
As they walk Tang Fan fills the silence with a funny aside about something Pan Bin had done earlier in the day. “How do you think Dong’er and Cai’er coped without us?” he asks after he finishes and as they begin to unlock the front gate to their home.
“They’re fine,” Sui Zhou says with such confidence that Tang Fan knows he’s going to be proven wrong.
“Tang-dage! Sui-dage!” Tang Fan hears before he sees Dong’er running towards them. Her dress is in shambles, ripped around the knees, and dirty up to her arms. Her hair has been twisted into a style Tang Fan does not recognize while dark makeup has been applied in areas of her face that are technically adjacent to her eyes. Out of breath, she adds, “You’re home.”
“Is this our home?” Tang Fan looks around in an exaggerated fashion which gets more frantic as he actually sees what’s become of their courtyard. There are things everywhere, a chest with clothes hanging out over here and a terrifyingly high stack of books over there. The place looks too chaotic to be ransacked, but it’s concerning.
Sui Zhou steps forward to inspect first. “Is everyone ok?” he asks, peering inside the first room he comes across.
“Cai’er’s taking a nap. I was trying to clean up, but—” she looks around, defeated. “I’m sorry”
Her genuine distress worries Tang Fan. It isn’t like her to be this timid, so he says, “Don’t worry about it.”
Sui Zhou agrees. “Yes, we’ll get it. Clean yourself up and then you can help me with dinner.”
“Thank you!” Dong’er looks as if she’s about to cry with joy.
Tang Fan surveys the damage with Sui Zhou. He’s innerly pleased to see that little has been harmed, just that a lot has been moved. How a person that small could make this mess eludes him. He had been a playful child, but he doesn’t think he’d ever torture his sister like this. “It could have been worse,” Sui Zhou says with a hand on Tang Fan’s back as Tang Fan organizes the books. At least they seem to still be in good condition.
“We’ll have to think of things to keep her busy.” What those could be Tang Fan has no idea. “I think I should write Jie, ask her for some advice. Maybe she could come down and help?”
Sui Zhou puts down the chest he’s carrying. He glances at the guest room. “We should probably think of where she should go.”
“She seems too small for Xiao Niqiu’s group, and honestly—” he stops, and doesn’t add as an orphan, “—I would want her to have a real family.”
“Me, too.” Sui Zhou says thoughtfully before going back to lifting and cleaning while Tang Fan puts his office back in order. He’s a little scared to look at his bedroom; Dong’er got the makeup from somewhere and he’d prefer it if it wasn’t a part of his Mama Cui disguise.
His concentration breaks when he hears someone shuffle into the room. “Tang-dage?” Cai’er says, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Where did Dong-jie go?”
“She’ll be right back,” Tang Fan tells her, despite not knowing for sure if that’s true. He does observe that she seems to be cleaned and tidied up and reminds himself to thank Dong’er later. “You made quite a mess.” He keeps his admonishment mild.
“Sorry,” she says, voice quiet and perfectly contrite.
Tang Fan can’t help but comfort her against his better judgment. “It’s ok.” They stand there, awkwardly, while Tang Fan thinks of the shredded pork Sui Zhou is cooking and how he can’t just pawn Cai’er’s care off on him. “Do you like to draw?” he asks her once he’s decided he doesn’t have another option but to take responsibility.
Her eyes light up. “Yes,” she responds eagerly without sounding that certain what she actually thinks of drawing.
Tang Fan begins to grind ink with an eye towards Cai’er, who surprisingly is sitting still and watching him with awed eyes. “You have to be careful…”
Tang Fan wakes up the next morning to the sun streaming through the windows. Sui Zhou has long since left the bed and Tang Fan knows he is next; there will be breakfast to eat and then work to do. He hears a noise outside in the courtyard, but he doesn’t hear Maomao or shouting and he takes that as a good sign.
Still, he tentatively steps out of the room he shares with Sui Zhou. He’s greeted by a familiar sight—Sui Zhou going through his morning exercises. Slowly he dips down into a push-up, with the slowness and self-assurance of movement that Tang Fan associates with Sui Zhou’s strength and temperament.
“No, like this,” Sui Zhou says and pushes Tang Fan’s focus to the little girl balancing herself on her tiptoes and hands next to him. When she doesn’t change her position, Sui Zhou jumps into a crouch with one swift movement so he can adjust the position of her hands. “Like this,” he explains while he does it. “Place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders. Now try again.”
She does. “It’s hard,” she complains, but she does it again and again, each time as focused on the activity as Sui Zhou would be.
“Make sure not to arch your back.” He gets back into position to show her. “Try again.”
Tang Fan sympathizes with the look of obvious effort on her face. He would have given up by now. “How many can you do?” she asks as Sui Zhou begins again.
He stops and thinks about it. "A lot," he says.
"I can do a lot, too," she responds and starts again despite the wobbling of her arms.
"You already have." Sui Zhou picks her up and stands her on her feet. "Let's try something else." With hands on his hips he looks around for something and finally sees Tang Fan.
"Tang-dage!" Cai’er says shouts with a big wave. "Sui-dage is teaching me martial arts." She attempts a stance Tang Fan has seen Sui Zhou do many times. It's imperfect but it doesn't get a correction from Sui Zhou, who just looks on with a subtle expression Tang Fan has learned that means fondness.
"Dong'er is preparing breakfast," Sui Zhou announces, answering a question Tang Fan has been too distracted to ask. "We'll be there in a moment."
Tang Fan knows when he is not needed, so he follows his stomach to the kitchen.
“Dong Gu has the best noodles you can buy in the Capital,” Tang Fan whispers to Cai’er. He gives a look that emphasizes the secrecy of what he’s saying, and she smiles back, happy to be his co-conspirator.
“But Tang-daren is not the best customer,” Dong Gu says from right behind him. He turns around startled to find her staring him down. Dong’er and Cai’er laugh, and even Sui Zhou smiles from across the table. “Now who’s this?” She gives Cai’er a look that startles her into silence.
“This is Cai’er,” Dong’er announces, proudly.
“Hmmm…” Dong Gu hums under her breath. It looks like there are more questions circling her mind, but instead all she asks is, “does Cai’er like noodles?”
“Yes,” the little girl responds with big eyes. “Noodles are my favorite.”
Tang Fan catches Sui Zhou’s eye instead of mentioning that she had declared youtiao her favorite just this morning.
“Good. Noodles are my specialty,” Dong Gu tells her with her hands on her hips and a smile on her lips.
Tang Fan’s stomach rumbles. “Let’s have four bowls,” he says and gets a glare from Dong Gu for his demand.
Cai’er bounces in her seat. Tang Fan guesses she must be as hungry as he is, based on how much fidgeting around she’s been doing. “She’s nice.”
“Sui-dage and Tang-dage met here,” Dong’er discloses. “They were working on a case and Sui-dage actually arrested Tang-dage!”
Tang Fan is about to take offense but Sui Zhou speaks first. “It was to protect him. It was a complicated and dangerous situation.”
Cai’er nods her head like she understands completely. “Sui-dage is good at protecting,” she says, completely serious.
“Yes, but Tang-dage once went to break Sui-dage out of prison except Sui-dage broke out first but Tang-dage still helped.” Dong’er is so proud as she says it.
“That was also very complicated.”
“And…” Dong’er jumps to another story about Tang Fan being captured.
“That’s not fair! I did a lot of the work getting out of that one.” Tang Fan pouts, but mostly because he knows it will earn him a giggle. She’s calmed down significantly since she arrived. He attributes it to Sui Zhou’s demanding morning workout routine that she has immediately declared as her own. Tang Fan has been drawing with her in the afternoons after he returns from work, and this also seems to placate her. He’s attempted to begin teaching her the Hundred Surnames, but it hasn't captured her attention in quite the same way.
Dong Gu breaks up the storytelling when she arrives carrying a tray of steaming bowls. “Is Cai’er staying long?” she asks as she sets them down, serving Tang Fan last.
“She’s recovering from an illness. She’ll stay with us until she feels better,” Sui Zhou responds.
“She looks like she’s doing well. How do you feel?” She directs the question at Cai’er wearing the patient look of a person waiting for a child to answer.
Cai’er looks between Tang Fan and Sui Zhou like they would be better judges of her health than she is. If her energy levels are anything to go by, Tang Fan thinks she’s recovered. But, still…you never know. The last time he had brought up the subject with Sui Zhou they had both agreed she still needed time.
It’s Dong’er who saves Cai’er from her surprising reticence. “Recovery is a long process. Cai’er didn’t have a lot to eat before she came to live with us, and she didn’t know how to draw, or read, and she didn’t have a warm place to sleep, so we’re going to help her as long as she needs it,” she explains, proudly, not saying anything that isn’t true, but also getting very close to promising something she shouldn’t.
“Yes,” Cai’er agrees. “I need time to get better.” She leans down and takes a big bite of noodles. “These are good,” she tells Dong Gu, quieter than before. “Tang-dage was right.”
That earns Tang Fan a rare smile from Dong Gu. “It doesn’t happen very often,” she says.
Tang Fan stumbles into the kitchen, chasing the smell of whatever’s cooking.
“Cai’er isn’t feeling good,” Sui Zhou says as he stirs a pot of congee. There’s a note of concern in his voice that alerts Tang Fan to the fact that something is off.
Tang Fan casts a look across the courtyard to the guest room. “What’s wrong?” he asks, sharing Sui Zhou’s concern. He thought she was doing so much better.
Sui Zhou hands him a warm bowl. “When I woke her up she said she felt too sick to exercise and that she had to stay in bed.”
“What do you mean, ‘too sick’?”
“She was coughing and said she was tired,” Sui Zhou explains as he takes his own bowl and leans against the counter.
“Do you think her illness came back?” Tang Fan explains. “It’s been a week and a half. That seems like a long time, right?”
“It’s possible.” Sui Zhou pauses eating and grimaces in thought.
“Say it,” Tang Fan needles him, knowing when he is being thrifty with his words.
Sui Zhou puts down his bowl, crosses his arms, and says, “I don’t think she’s really sick right now.”
Tang Fan takes a second before responding and uses the time to collect what he knows and arrange it in a way that makes sense. “She seemed quieter last night after we spoke with Dong Gu.”
Sui Zhou nods in agreement.
“The conversation had a big focus on when she would leave.”
Sui Zhou nods again.
Tang Fan closes his eyes. “She doesn’t want to go.”
“That’s what I’m thinking as well,” Sui Zhou takes a deep breath, and his gaze is also directed to the guest room.
“She has nowhere to live,” Tang Fan says.
“If she leaves she goes back to Xiao Niqiu’s group,” Sui Zhou continues, picking up on Tang Fan’s thought like it’s second nature to him.
Tang Fan considers this. It’s a point he has been mulling over and then avoiding thinking about for much of the week. “Even though he isn’t here, Wang Zhi keeps them fed and gives them places to sleep. It wouldn’t be as bad as it sounds.” Sui Zhou looks at him so sharply that Tang Fan continues to speak on instinct. “But I don’t want to do that.”
“I don’t, either.” Sui Zhou is clear and committed.
“We don’t have to,” Tang Fan considers aloud, and once the door to the idea is opened, it will not close. They could take her in, bring her up.
“We don’t know about her family, They could be alive, searching frantically for their daughter, and confused why she hasn’t returned home,” Sui Zhou points out with a frown.
Tang Fan doesn’t think that’s very likely. “Then we’ll look for them. Looking for people is something we do, from time to time, isn’t it?” He can’t help the smile on his face. “We’ve been known to investigate the rare mystery.”
Sui Zhou scoffs, but in the way that Tang Fan knows means that he’s charmed. “And until we find them she will have a safe place to sleep and food in her stomach.”
“And if we don’t find them, she’ll have those things until she’s old enough to live her own life.” It’s a semblance of a plan, at least. He can’t imagine doing anything else.
“Yes.” Sui Zhou nods, decisive and Tang Fan’s heart could burst with how fond of him he is right now. They stand there and Tang Fan finishes breakfast lingering in that fondness until Sui Zhou adds, “She’s probably hungry.”
Tang Fan hears rustling on the other side of door before Dong’er’s familiar face peaks around it. “I can bring her breakfast,” she says with a smile.
“You heard all of that?” Sui Zhou asks in a tone that suggests he already knows the answer.
“Do you mean it? Cai’er can stay?” Dong’er asks, sidestepping Sui Zhou’s question entirely.
“Yes, we mean it,” Tang Fan. “Jie, Pei Huai, and Cheng’er will just have to use your room the next time they’re in town.”
This doesn’t deter her. “That’s fine!” she says before launching forward and capturing the two of them in a hug far fiercer than a teenager should be able to give.
It’s Tang Fan who breaks first under the weight of all the sincerity. “Come on, we’ve got a sick little girl who needs breakfast.”
Sui Zhou fills a bowl and brings a piece of youtiao with him as they enter Cai’er’s room. She starts coughing, loudly, and what sounds like rather painfully. “Go away,” she says. “I’m sick.” She coughs again, as if the point wasn’t clear before.
“We brought breakfast,” Dong’er announces enthusiastically. “Sui-dage made congee.”
Cai’er slowly opens one eye and peaks at Sui Zhou. “Here, have some,” he says as Dong’er lifts her up so that she can sit and eat.
“Cai’er, we have something we want to talk to you about,” Tang Fan says. He takes the bowl from Sui Zhou and hands it to her. She eyes it wearily, and Tang Fan can see her hunger at war with her anxiety. “Guangchuan and I are going to do what we can to find your family.”
She looks between the two of them, her eyes glassy as if she’s on the verge of tears. “But they’re not—”
“We’re going to look anyway, just to know for sure.” Tang Fan doesn’t think he will be able to find them, but he does think he can figure out how Cai’er ended up here. “But you’re going to need somewhere to live while we look, and if we don’t find them…”
“I’ll stay here?” she asks, sounding like she’s tiptoeing over a threshold.
“Yes, you’ll stay here,” Sui Zhou repeats, making himself very clear.
“For as long as you need to,” Tang Fan adds, mostly because he can feel Dong’er vibrating next to him, wanting to say it herself.
Dong’er rushes to her side and hugs her tight. “I always wanted a sister.”
Sui Zhou and Tang Fan share A Look.
And with the same enthusiasm she brings to calling every food Sui Zhou puts in front of her her ‘favorite’, Cai’er responds, “Me, too.”