Extreme Pampering
Chapter 106: Everyone is Indispensable.

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Everyone is Indispensable.

After bathing the child, Shen Zhiyi wrapped Duan Jiaze in a large towel. Since he had been scared, he became a bit dazed and wasn’t as lively as before, clingier than usual, standing in the bathtub reaching out to be hugged.

Shen Zhiyi bent down to pick him up, but failed on the first try. As she was about to make a second attempt, there was a light knock on the bathroom door, and Pei Yu walked over, looking down at the little chub, "Can’t you walk by yourself?"

A four-year-old child, all flesh, how could she carry him?

Since Duan Jiaze was frightened, he had received a lot of careful pampering, knowing he was a child cherished by someone, becoming particularly spoiled, pouting, "I just want to be held."

Pei Yu, with a cold face, disliking the child’s fuss, was about to scold him again when Shen Zhiyi disapprovingly stepped in front of him, "Are you going to scare him again?"

"...I’m not."

Pei Yu changed his words on the spot, bent down and picked up Duan Jiaze, "I mean, I’ll hold you."

Pressed against his stiff chest, Duan Jiaze wriggled uncomfortably and whispered, "I want Zhiyi to hold me~"

After a couple of pats on the rear, Pei Yu said indifferently, "Do you think you’re light?"

Duan Jiaze felt guilty: "...I don’t think I’m that heavy."

Tossing him onto the bed, the towel that held him was loose and hanging down, revealing a large expanse of pudgy flesh, chubby arms and legs. Pei Yu’s brows twitched, and he grabbed the pajamas nearby, "Dress yourself."

"Hmph," Duan Jiaze was not pleased and sat still, "I’m waiting for Zhiyi to dress me."

Pei Yu was about to leave, but upon hearing this, he stopped in his tracks and emotionlessly picked up the pajamas printed with Minions, "Duan Jiaze, don’t flaunt it to me."

Putting up with it, he dressed the child in pajamas. Not needing Shen Zhiyi’s directive, Pei Yu naturally headed towards the sofa in the living room, benefitting from the child’s presence for this treatment.

"Zhiyi," seeing Shen Zhiyi turning on the bedside lamp, looking as if she was about to sleep, Duan Jiaze lay under the covers and asked in confusion, "Why isn’t Uncle coming over?"

"He’s sleeping on the sofa," Shen Zhiyi pulled back the covers, a thought suddenly popping up—what about cleaning up the spare bedroom?

This thought startled her, and she quickly shook it off.

"Ah~" Duan Jiaze drew out a long "ah" in a roundabout way, his tone soft and sweet, "But I want to sleep with Uncle."

His chubby little face buried in the covers, only his large fluttering eyes visible, he said with residual fear, "I’m scared; I want Uncle to protect me."

When they went to see the doctor, the doctor had mentioned that the child might have nightmares after being scared, and Shen Zhiyi had been quite worried. Hearing him say this, she didn’t hesitate much, "Then let Uncle sleep with you."

After all, the sofa was big enough; she could sleep there, too.

Just as she was about to call Pei Yu over, Duan Jiaze added quickly, "I also want to sleep with Zhiyi; I want you both with me, just like Mommy and Daddy."

Shen Zhiyi: "...Does it have to be like this?"

She touched Duan Jiaze’s little face, "That’s not very good; you sleep with Uncle, he will protect you."

Grasping her hand, Duan Jiaze sniffled with a cry in his voice, "No, no, I want you both with me; it won’t do without either of you."

So good at acting spoiled and looking pitiable, Shen Zhiyi’s heart softened unconsciously, but she found it difficult to accept, and finally she covered herself with the comforter, defeated, "You call Uncle over yourself."

A little chub popped out from the comforter beside her, and Duan Jiaze scampered off to the living room.

"Uncle!"

Having heard his words, Pei Yu sat on the sofa, half-dazed for a long while, "Are you sure she agreed?"

The child nodded vigorously, "Mhm, mhm!"

Pei Yu felt a complex mix of emotions. Why was she only tender-hearted towards Duan Jiaze?

Following the child back to the bedroom, Shen Zhiyi was still buried under the covers, clearly indicating that even though she had agreed, it was reluctant.

"Uncle, you sleep here," Duan Jiaze, sleeping in the middle, had Pei Yu sleep on the other side of him so he could have both Zhizhi and his uncle at the same time, and he was quite pleased with this arrangement.

After the bedside lamp was turned off, there was only a faint light and shadow in the bedroom. After a moment of silence, Duan Jiaze turned over to hug Pei Yu’s hand and asked softly, "Uncle, why are you so mean to me?"

He didn’t think he was that annoying, but Pei Yu’s icy demeanor left him puzzled. The education he had received from childhood told him that if you like someone, you wouldn’t treat them like that.

After a long silence, Pei Yu reached out and touched his smooth cheek. His voice, low in the quiet night and inexplicably gentle, said, "I’m sorry."

He said, "That’s just how my dad was with me."

So, he was sorry, but he wasn’t quite sure how to teach a child.

It was rare for him to be so candid, openly admitting his shortcomings and inadequacies, and fortunately, no one here would blame him.

Shen Zhiyi, with her eyes closed, listened to his voice softened by the night, and felt a sour and swelling emotion rise from her chest to her eyes. She didn’t know much about his past, not fully understanding what his childhood had been like. But that one sentence was enough to make her empathize.

Sometimes, when she saw the resemblance between Duan Jiaze’s brows and eyes and Pei Yu’s, she would briefly lose focus, unable to stop imagining what Pei Yu was like as a child. In those few years when his parents were still loving, did he have the same happiness and affection as ordinary people? During the time after losing his mother, was he bewildered and scared? How did he view his former self after he no longer craved love and care from his parents?

Duan Jiaze and Pei Yu were nothing alike, possessing the liveliness and innocence typical of his age. Looking at him, Shen Zhiyi couldn’t help but wonder, if he had grown up in a healthy, normal family, would he have become a smiling adult?

"Uncle," Duan Jiaze shifted and planted a loud kiss on Pei Yu’s face, covering it with saliva, generously and magnanimously signifying forgiveness, "I don’t blame you, and I don’t think you’re that bad."

Pei Yu’s brow twitched, and his tone turned icy again, as if that last phrase had been an illusion, he flatly said, "Thank you."

Then he flipped the covers and sat up.

"Uncle," Duan Jiaze asked in confusion, "are you going to the bathroom?"

Pei Yu had already stood up, "Going to wash my face."

Soon, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

Duan Jiaze: "...I take back what I just said."

Uncle is truly the biggest villain in the world!

The child was irresistibly adorable. Shen Zhiyi was amused into laughter, chuckling muffledly under the covers, which Duan Jiaze caught, and he squeezed over to tickle her in annoyance.

"Don’t laugh at me!"

These adults were so irritating.

"Stop," Shen Zhiyi, who was ticklish, moved towards the edge of the bed, "I was wrong. You go settle the score with your uncle."

"I can’t beat him."

No sooner had he spoken than Duan Jiaze was scooped up by the returning Pei Yu.