Zhong Yuntong had now sniffed her way into the Municipal Public Security Bureau, relying on her father's scent. It was a bit embarrassing, really. As a Heavenly Cloud Demon Dog, Zhong Yuntong should have had an incredibly sharp sense of smell. But this little one had been too busy playing around during her training, which resulted in her sniffing skills being rather hit-or-miss—mostly miss. Even though her father was nearby, it wasn’t until Rao Shishi reminded her that she focused and barely managed to catch his scent.
Following the scent across the street, she didn’t have much trouble entering the Public Security Bureau building. Once inside, the smell of her father grew stronger. Zhong Yuntong, clutching two half-eaten sausages, huffed and puffed her way up to the second floor. The legs of a human child were so short—climbing stairs was a real struggle. Back when she had four legs, stairs like these were nothing.
She spotted a uniformed officer wearing the same kind of hat as Rao Shishi and the others, so she called out to him, “Excuse me, is there a Zhong Jin here?”
The officer hadn’t noticed her at first, but hearing her voice, he turned and saw a little girl standing by the stairs.
“Oh, how did you get in here?”
Zhong Yuntong fixed her big, dark eyes on him. “I’m looking for Zhong Jin.”
“Ah, Zhong Jin? He’s in the third-floor meeting room. Why are you looking for him?”
Zhong Yuntong stretched out her arms. “Carry me there.”
The officer was speechless.
A few minutes later, the officer carried Zhong Yuntong up to the third floor and knocked on the meeting room door.
The door to the small meeting room opened, and the officer walked in with the child in his arms. The three people inside immediately stood up and greeted him respectfully.
“Director Lu.”
Zhu Qun, the head of the propaganda department, glanced at the child in the director’s arms and asked, puzzled, “Director Lu, whose child is this?”
Director Lu bounced the child in his arms and chuckled. “See if the person you’re looking for is here.”
“Put me down,” Zhong Yuntong said.
Director Lu set her on the ground, and the child turned around, handing him her sausages. “Hold these for me. Don’t eat them.”
Director Lu was at a loss for words.
Once the sausages were safely in his hands, Zhong Yuntong turned and walked straight over to Zhong Jin, the director of the Haining District Police Station. She hugged his leg and burst into tears.
“Daddy!”
Everyone in the room was stunned. Zhong Jin, the man in question, looked utterly bewildered. “Wait, who is this?”
Hearing this, Zhong Yuntong realized her worst fear had come true—her father didn’t recognize her. She wailed even louder, her tears soaking Zhong Jin’s uniform pants. She was so distraught that she almost slid to the floor, though her little hands still clung tightly to his leg.
Zhong Jin, annoyed by her crying, barked, “Stop crying! Explain yourself first.” Having no experience with children, he instinctively used the same tone he’d use with a suspect.
Director Lu, still holding the two sausages, interjected, “Why are you yelling at her? She’s at an age where even going to the bathroom deserves praise. Why so harsh?”
Zhong Jin’s arms were stiffly raised. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
Director Lu, being a father himself, had more parenting experience. “First, pick her up and comfort her. Once she’s calmed down, you can ask her what’s going on.”
Zhong Jin wasn’t fond of children. Seeing the little girl with her tear-streaked, snot-covered face, he was repulsed at the thought of holding her. Reluctantly, he placed his hands on her shoulders, gently pushing her back a bit, and crouched down to her eye level.
“Look carefully. I’m not your father.”
The child shouted back, “Yes, you are! You’re Zhong Jin. I’m Zhong Yuntong, your baby!”
Zhong Jin was mortified.
The other city bureau officials watched the scene with amusement.
“I’m really not her father,” Zhong Jin insisted, his ears turning red with embarrassment.
Director Lu chuckled and nodded. “Kids are like this. They mistake people who look similar. Her father must be as handsome as our Director Zhong.”
Zhong Yuntong shouted again, “I didn’t make a mistake. He’s my father!”
It was only then that Zhong Jin remembered the message Rao Shishi had sent earlier—a child had gone to the police station looking for him, insisting he was her father, and even included a photo. Zhong Jin hadn’t even opened the photo, and it hadn’t clicked that this crying mess of a child was the same one from the station. He pulled out his phone and dialed Rao Shishi’s number.
Rao Shishi and Little Wang were currently searching the streets for the missing child. Little Wang was even peering into a storm drain’s grate.
Rao Shishi rolled her eyes. “She couldn’t have gone down there. She’s not a rat.”
Just then, Rao Shishi’s phone rang. Seeing it was Zhong Jin calling, she had a bad feeling. She mouthed to Little Wang, “It’s Director Zhong,” and answered the call.
Before Zhong Jin could say anything, Rao Shishi heard a loud, determined voice from the other end of the line.
“You are my father!”
Rao Shishi was speechless.
*
Rao Shishi and Little Wang waited outside the city bureau for a while before they saw a tall, lean figure striding out with confident steps. It was none other than their Director Zhong, except today, he had a little “attachment” in his arms.
The little attachment grinned at them. “See? My daddy.” She was so proud of herself for finding her father all on her own.
Director Zhong’s face darkened.
Before he could say anything, Little Wang quickly explained, “Director Zhong, we were taking this child for a DNA sample, but she slipped away when we weren’t looking.”
Rao Shishi added with an awkward smile, “Yeah, this kid’s like a dog—let her go for a second, and she’s gone.”
Director Zhong remained silent, his expression grim.
Rao Shishi tried to smooth things over. “Luckily, she ran to you, Director Zhong. If she’d gotten lost, it would’ve been even more troublesome. Haha.”
Just as it seemed they might get away with it, Director Lu came jogging out of the building, holding two half-eaten sausages.
Zhong Yuntong’s bright eyes lit up, and she reached out for them. “My meat!”
Rao Shishi’s eyes darted, and she quickly said, “Oh, right. This troublemaker was begging for sausages earlier, so Little Wang bought her two.”
Little Wang shot her a look. Traitor.
Their little exchange didn’t escape Zhong Jin’s notice, but he wasn’t in the mood to deal with their nonsense. He handed the child to Rao Shishi. “Take her back.”
Zhong Yuntong, who had been happily munching on her sausage, suddenly panicked at the thought of being abandoned again. She immediately tightened her arms around Zhong Jin’s neck. To make matters worse, she was still clutching the sausage, and the grease was about to smear on Zhong Jin’s clothes.
Zhong Jin, who had a strong aversion to mess, quickly relented. “Alright, alright, you can come with me.”
Zhong Yuntong happily climbed into Zhong Jin’s SUV, still nibbling on her sausage. She kindly offered, “Do you want some?”
Zhong Jin glared at her. “Finish it quickly.”
Once she was done, Zhong Jin disposed of the skewer in a trash can and wiped her hands clean with a wet wipe from the car. Then he started driving.
Zhong Yuntong’s big, round eyes scanned the interior of the car. “New ride?”
“No talking to the driver,” Zhong Jin said.
Zhong Yuntong fell silent. She was getting sleepy but didn’t dare close her eyes, afraid that her father would disappear if she fell asleep. She propped her eyelids open with her tiny hands.
Following the address Rao Shishi had sent him, Zhong Jin drove to the Little Sun Daycare Center on Coastal West Road. Fortunately, the daycare was open 24 hours. The teacher, startled at first by Zhong Jin’s uniform, warmly welcomed them after hearing the situation.
Zhong Yuntong listened intently to their conversation and realized her father was about to leave her again. She immediately launched into another crying fit, which set off the dozens of other children in the daycare. The noise was deafening, and Zhong Jin felt like his eardrums were about to burst.
After a tense standoff that lasted over ten minutes, Zhong Jin finally gave up and took the child back with him.
*
Zhong Jin lived in the Fuding Residential Complex, a high-rise building in the city center. His apartment was on the top floor, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with the developer’s standard modern finishings. The place looked new but was sparsely furnished, with only a few pieces of furniture.
Zhong Yuntong walked around with her hands behind her back, thinking to herself, “This palace is so bare. My daddy’s life is so sad.”
Zhong Jin sat on the sofa, lost in thought for a while, then called over the barefoot little girl. "What's your name?"
"Zhong Yuntong."
"What's your dad's name?"
"Zhong Jin."
"...And your mom's name?"
"Madam."
Zhong Jin, "......Do you know where you live?"
"Demon God Palace."
Zhong Jin waved his hand dismissively, "Go play."
Zhong Yuntong, with her hands behind her back and still barefoot, wandered around. She peeked into the kitchen, found nothing interesting, and then walked into the bedroom. She turned around and asked,
"Can I sleep?"
Zhong Jin glanced at her weakly, "No, you need to take a bath first."
Zhong Yuntong tilted her head and said seriously, "I don't take baths."
Zhong Jin stared at her blankly and sighed. Things were getting out of hand. He had somehow ended up bringing this troublesome child home, and now he was stuck with her.
The troublesome child, completely oblivious to her father's predicament, added, "I'm hungry." She didn't smell any food in the house, which made Zhong Yuntong feel a bit insecure. She was worried that her dad was so poor he couldn't afford to eat.
Zhong Jin stared at her for a few seconds, then stood up and walked into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
Zhong Yuntong trotted over and tried to push the door open, but it was locked. She pressed her face against the door, catching a faint whiff of her dad's scent from the crack. Feeling reassured, she quietly waited by the door.
Zhong Jin emerged a while later, now in casual clothes, and took Zhong Yuntong out with him.
At a small diner near the entrance of the Fuding Residential Complex, Zhong Jin ordered a few home-style dishes. Zhong Yuntong buried her face in her food as she ate. Her eating habits were a bit peculiar—she would sniff the food first. If it was meat, she'd scoop it up with a spoon and eat it, but if it was vegetables, she'd scoop them up and toss them aside.
Zhong Jin didn't have the energy to correct her picky eating. After all, he only planned to keep her for a couple of days, just until the DNA test results came back. Or maybe it wouldn't even take that long—perhaps someone would report a missing child by tomorrow.
Still, it was strange. The way Zhong Yuntong looked and dressed clearly suggested she came from a wealthy family. You'd think her parents would be frantic by now, but it had been hours, and there wasn't even a single missing child report. Something felt off.
After dinner, Zhong Jin took Zhong Yuntong to a nearby public bathhouse. He couldn't bathe the little girl himself, so he had no choice but to take her there.
The bathhouse offered scrubbing services, and Zhong Jin paid for one. He hired an older woman to bathe Zhong Yuntong. "Don't scrub too hard, just wash her with soap," he instructed, remembering an incident where a bathhouse attendant had scrubbed a customer so hard that their skin broke, leading to a fight and even a police report.
Zhong Jin sat on a wooden bench outside the bathhouse, arms crossed, as he heard Zhong Yuntong's howls and wails from inside. He thought to himself, that kid's skin is so delicate—she's really going to suffer this time.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the older woman came running out of the women's bath area, calling for help. "I need someone else to help me hold her down! That kid's as strong as an ox, and she's trying to bite me!"
