The wealthy military officer spoils his wife excessively

She asked again, "Why are you sitting here? Where is your mother?"

"Mom went to run some errands and told me to wait for her here," the little girl said earnestly, swaying her feet and pouting.

Suwen was stunned. What kind of mother was this, who would casually leave her child in the bathroom and walk away?

She looked around, called over a waiter, and instructed him in English, "Please look after this child until her mother returns." She then gave him a generous tip.

The other party nodded in agreement.

Suwen returned to the girl's side and asked, "Have you had dinner? Are you hungry?"

The girl shook her head.

Suwen inhaled. He picked up a few small cakes from the dessert table, placed them on a plate, and presented them to the girl.

"Eat something first. If Mom doesn't come back, come find Auntie up ahead."

A slight smile finally appeared on the girl's face. A pair of dimples appeared on her round face. Children of this age should be lively and cheerful, but this child was unusually introverted.

She returned to her seat, and Lu Zheng asked her, "Why did you take so long?"

"Just a little hiccup." She lowered her head and continued eating.

When Suwen was almost finished eating, she heard a commotion at the restaurant entrance. First, the waiters were talking to each other, and then she saw local police officers with guns.

Lu Zheng saw it too, frowned, and pulled her up to leave.

The restaurant manager apologized and explained to them: There had been a slight accident, and the entire street was now under lockdown, with the police checking everyone's identities.

The restaurant was mostly filled with foreign tourists, and Suwen could hear complaints and curses in various languages.

Soon after, armed police officers flooded into the restaurant, strictly demanding that everyone show their identification. Su Wen and Lu Zheng had come down to eat without their passports, so they had to call the hotel front desk to verify them. After a long and complicated process, they were finally allowed to enter.

As they stepped out of the restaurant, the entire street was filled with the sound of police sirens. Lu Zheng tightened his grip on her waist: "Looks like something serious has happened."

Suwen turned around and saw that the restaurant was also in chaos. She suddenly remembered the little girl sitting on the sink and said to Lu Zheng, "Wait a minute, I think I forgot something in the restaurant."

"What? I'll get it for you."

"No need, I'll go by myself, it'll be done in a bit."

Suwen hurried back to the restaurant and, sure enough, saw the girl sitting on the counter with her legs dangling in the restroom corridor. She was still holding the plate Suwen had given her; she had finished all the desserts, and her mouth was still covered in cream and crumbs.

Suwen took the plate from her hand, moistened a tissue to wipe her mouth, and asked, "Hasn't Mommy come back yet?"

The girl shook her head.

"Do you know where you live?"

He still shook his head.

Suwen began to feel overwhelmed. The waiter also told her: There had been a major case on the street tonight, and soon after all the customers had left the restaurant, they would have to close. If no one came to pick up the child, they would have to take him to the police station.

Looking into the girl's dark, grape-like eyes, Suwen couldn't bear to see such a young child spend the night in the police station. He reached out to take her down.

"Will Auntie take you to find your mom?"

The girl wasn't shy at all; she obediently draped her two little arms over her shoulders and clung to her affectionately, and all she could smell was the sweet scent of milk.

The waiter was relieved. Seeing that they were all communicating in Chinese, he had no suspicions and handed the child over to Suwen.

Lu Zheng stood by the roadside, looking at Su Wen and the child in her arms with a questioning gaze: "Is this what you forgot?"

Suwen stuck out her tongue and explained to him. Lu Zheng shrugged: "I don't mind, but what if the child's mother comes back?" He didn't want to become a human trafficker while on vacation.

Suwen hesitated, "Then let's take her in for the night and send her to the police station tomorrow."

Lu Zheng had no choice but to protect the two women, one big and one small, as they walked through the dark streets back to the hotel.

There was only one large bed in the room, so Lu Zheng had no choice but to take off his coat and sleep on the sofa in the outer room. Su Wen gave the little girl a bath and then held her while she slept on the bed.

She woke up in the middle of the night to find the bed next to her empty. Startled, she sat up and saw the little child sitting on the floor under the windowsill, a small, pale face with a beautiful but indifferent expression.

Suwen wiped away his cold sweat, got out of bed, squatted down in front of her, and asked, "It's so late, why aren't you asleep?"

She looked at the child's feet, the white and tender toes sticking out.

Why aren't you wearing shoes?

Her little feet shrank back.

Suwen asked her again, "Aren't you cold?" As she spoke, she reached out her hand, trying to warm the child's soft and tender soles with the warmth of her palm.

The girl finally nodded. Looking into her large, clear eyes, she asked, "What are shoes?"

Suwen fainted: "Have you never worn shoes before?"

The girl didn't speak, she just looked at her.

Good heavens, what kind of mother is this, not teaching her child to wear shoes! The hotel only had adult slippers, which were so big they looked like boats on the child's feet. She shook her head, turned back to her suitcase, found a pair of clean socks, wrapped them around the child's bare little feet, and warmed them with her palms: "Are you still cold?"

"It's not cold anymore," she finally spoke.

Suwen picked her up, though not with much skill. When she took care of Renren, Renren was already grown up and didn't need to be carried anymore, but she couldn't bear to let such a small child walk barefoot on the ground.

The familiar scent of milk wafted from the child, and she pinched her little face: "If you don't sleep, monsters will come out and eat you tonight."

To everyone's surprise, the girl shook her head: "My mother says there are no monsters in this world, only bad people."

"..." Suwen was speechless.

The little girl lay down on the bed and stopped talking, silently keeping her eyes open. Suwen couldn't do anything about it; she couldn't force her to close her eyes. Fortunately, children have limited energy, and she gradually fell asleep in the latter half of the night.

The next morning, Lu Zheng saw Su Wen skillfully holding the baby in her arms, brushing her teeth and washing her face. He was slightly taken aback, a tenderness crossing his expression. Even he could see Su Wen's affection for the child.

The waiter brought the food. Breakfast included cheese and fresh strawberries. The vibrant strawberries were piled up in small mounds, and the girl's large, dark eyes were fixed on the top strawberry, unmoving.

Suwen reached out and picked the strawberry, handed it to her, and asked, "Is it sweet?"

The girl nodded, chewed silently, and then said, "It's a little sour."

After breakfast, they were to take the girl to the police station and then head to Chiang Mai. The streets were still under martial law, and the police station was in complete chaos. They couldn't understand the local morning paper, but from a Chinese resident of Bangkok, they learned that an important politician had been assassinated the previous night, and the assassin was supposedly a woman on the run.

Lu Zheng and Su Wen had also heard about that politician. He secured his position in parliament based on his achievements in sweeping up the Golden Triangle back then.

Lu Zheng and Su Wen exchanged a glance. With the situation so chaotic, if they left the child here, probably no one would bother to take care of her. But they couldn't take the child with them either.

Lu Zheng knew she was reluctant to part with her, so he advised, "Let's hand her over to the police. We can visit her at the police station when we get back from Chiang Mai. If her mother hasn't come to pick her up by then, we can take her out of the police station."

Suwen hesitated for a moment, but this was the only way.

She looked at the child's little feet, still wrapped in her socks, and thought for a moment before saying, "I'd like to take her to buy a pair of shoes first."

Lu Zheng also noticed that the child hadn't been wearing shoes and nodded in agreement.

Suwen carried her to the mall. On the way, the child obediently clung to her neck. Suddenly, her gaze was drawn to a street stall, and she reached out her little hand, saying, "That..."

"Mango pie. You want some?"

The girl remained silent.

Suwen glanced at Lu Zheng, who had already gone to buy it.

The process of making the pancakes on-site took a while, so Suwen took the child with her and waited. The old woman with a headscarf poured golden mango puree onto the pancakes and asked the child which topping they wanted.

The girl looked at Suwen with a blank expression.

Suwen couldn't understand Thai either, so Lu Zheng translated for them: "Milk flavor, or yogurt flavor? You can also add a little salt and yogurt... adding mint is also fine."

"..." She hadn't tried any of them, and frowned, unable to make a decision.

Suwen considerately offered her a solution: "How about this, we'll take one of each. You can try them all, and we'll eat the rest."

She then nodded.

The first one was milk-flavored. When the child took a bite, white milk dripped down her lips. Suwen was holding the child and couldn't free her hands, so Lu Zheng searched his whole body but couldn't find a handkerchief. So he used his index finger to wipe her lips.

She left half, and Lu Zheng held it for her, then brought it to Su Wen's lips, saying, "You should try some too."

She took a bite, and the rich milky aroma was just like the smell of the child.

The second one the child picked up was spicy. After just one bite, her face turned red. She looked up at Suwen without saying a word. Suwen was eating the milk-flavored food in her mouth when she saw her like that and quickly said, "Spit it out."

Only after receiving permission did she spit out the pie she couldn't finish, staring wide-eyed, sniffing, and sticking out her tongue: "This is amazing."

Lu Zheng looked at her curiously. So this is how interesting children can be.

Both of them frowned, and Suwen was surprised to find that "her features look a bit like yours."

Lu Zheng was surprised. Looking at them like this, the shape of their eyes was indeed very similar, especially the dark pupils. When they were looking at someone intently, they looked exactly the same.

He laughed it off and didn't take it seriously.

The girl held out her hand to him, and he was taken aback. She wanted the milk-flavored one he had. She still loved milk flavors the most.

Lu Zheng handed it to her, touching her small hand. It was so soft and tender, like a water droplet, as if it would melt at the slightest touch. He thought, no wonder babies are always held.