That question kept Bai Huan awake all night. It wasn't until dawn the next day that he finally forced himself to close his eyes.
After sleeping for only two hours, Bai Huan got out of bed. From the outdated wardrobe that its previous owner had used for more than a decade, he took out a T-shirt and jeans that had been ironed until not a single wrinkle remained.
Once he was dressed, he took a photograph and sent it to Wang Caiyi.
"Mom takes such good care of my clothes. Thank you, Mom."
When Wang Caiyi saw the WeChat message, she was deeply moved. With a moo-like cry, she added several more lessons to her teaching schedule.
This was precisely Bai Huan's advantage. If he wanted to get someone wrapped around his finger, he could do it effortlessly.
But Bai Huan didn't regard Wang Caiyi as a servant.
He merely hoped she would compare him to Bai Chen less often and stop sighing over how children raised from infancy really did know better how to care for their parents.
If Bai Mushan and Cheng Yueqing refused to accept him, and his biological parents ended up pushing him away too, Bai Huan wouldn't be able to bear it.
After getting himself ready, he called He Youxiang from the fourth floor and invited him downstairs to buy breakfast.
"Where are you going today?" He Youxiang asked while eating soup dumplings.
"To visit my grandpa."
"Can you take me with you?"
"No."
He Youxiang paid for breakfast, so Bai Huan treated him to mint water.
Buying mint water meant taking a detour back to Taohua Lane. The two walked along, stopping here and there.
He Youxiang's fingers itched to pick a flower growing outside someone else's house, and he plucked one to give to Bai Huan.
An elderly woman with wine-red, fleece-like curly hair came out with her hands on her hips.
"Goddammit, He Youxiang, you lunatic! Are your hands itching for trouble?!"
Bai Huan carried the flower over to the drainage ditch and squatted beside it.
He tore off the petals one by one and dropped them into the water, watching them drift farther and farther away like little boats of different colors.
He Youxiang squatted beside him too, bending forward to scoop up water in his hands and play with it.
"They said you used to be rich. Did you used to have three thousand yuan every month?"
Bai Huan pointed at the triangular logo on his shirt.
"This is worth seven thousand yuan. What do you think? Did I have three thousand yuan a month?"
He Youxiang was the only person in Lanshuitang whom Bai Huan could get along with.
Bai Huan had a willful temper and was careless by nature. Other people might not have been able to tolerate him.
He'd never known before that simple-minded people could be so wonderful.
"Do you still have that much now?" He Youxiang was so astonished that he nearly toppled into the ditch.
After pondering for a long moment, Bai Huan answered, "I don't. My brother does."
"My son has it too."
"Like hell he does."
"He has hell too."
"Aren't you going to collect rubbish along the river today?"
"I got sick the day before yesterday, so I took leave."
He Youxiang sighed.
Perhaps because he didn't have to use his brain much and didn't need to worry about making a living, he didn't seem like a man in his thirties at all.
Instead, he resembled an aimless young man who had just graduated from university.
Bai Huan initially thought he was lying.
But He Youxiang grabbed his hand and placed it against his forehead.
Bai Huan jerked back from the heat.
"You have a fever?"
He Youxiang held up eight fingers.
"Thirty-eight degrees. Impressive, right?"
Bai Huan stood up and rolled his eyes.
"Let's go buy mint water. After that, you're going straight home."
He Youxiang obediently followed behind him.
However, it was only with He Youxiang leading the way that Bai Huan finally found the juice shop.
The shop was called Mint Water Juice Shop. It also sold bread freshly baked that day.
A daily menu handwritten in chalk stood beside the entrance.
When they lifted the fabric curtain and entered, there were only two people working inside, a man and a woman.
Bai Huan glanced around.
There were numerous pots of different varieties of mint throughout the shop.
His heart gave a little jump.
For some inexplicable reason, he had a premonition that seemed both possible and impossible.
"Welcome!"
The woman, whose hair was tied into a fluffy bun, put down her cleaning cloth and cup and came forward to greet them.
After taking one look at Bai Huan, her smile widened.
Whenever Bai Huan saw mint, he could hardly tear himself away, so he failed to notice the glance exchanged between the two employees.
"What do you want to drink?" Bai Huan asked He Youxiang.
He Youxiang pointed at the bread.
"It's all freshly made every day," the employee said.
Bai Huan raised his eyes.
"What do you do with anything that doesn't sell?"
"Usually, we give it to the neighbors."
Bai Huan pressed further.
"But your shop has only just opened, hasn't it? How can you say 'usually'?"
Bai Huan considered himself extremely precious, so he was exceptionally particular about everything he ate, wore, and used.
Ever since moving to Lanshuitang, he'd been as cautious as a king traveling incognito.
A shiny layer of sweat appeared on the female employee's forehead.
The male employee pulled her toward the back to keep working, then turned to the boy with a beaming smile.
"Other people might not be able to tell whether something was freshly made that day, but someone like you wouldn't even need to taste it. You'd know whether it was fresh just by looking."
"Spare me the flattery."
The corners of Bai Huan's mouth lifted unconsciously, though his voice remained cool.
He Youxiang didn't understand what exchanging pleasantries meant.
He simply selected everything he wanted to eat and drink.
The prices on the menu were much lower than expected.
The shop sold European-style egg tarts and croissants stuffed with fillings as generously as thin-skinned, generously filled steamed buns. More than a dozen pastries together cost less than a hundred yuan.
After ordering several cups of juice and mint water as well, Bai Huan paid.
He took a croissant from He Youxiang's takeaway bag.
He bit into it.
The outside was light, flaky, and crisp, while the inside was as soft as cotton.
The flavor was very familiar.
So he tentatively said to the male employee, "You could put a scoop of ice cream inside and eat it together."
The employee answered enthusiastically, "You really know how to enjoy good food, sir! As it happens, we've just made some mint ice cream."
"..."
Bai Huan raised an eyebrow, imitating Bai Mingzhen.
He tapped the glass display case and asked casually, "Who told you to open a shop in Lanshuitang?"
The male employee froze for a moment.
Then his smile became even brighter.
"Goodness, nothing gets past our extraordinarily clever young master!"
Bai Huan continued chewing his croissant without speaking.
Seeing his reaction, the male employee immediately introduced himself.
"Hello, Young Master. My name is Qin Xian, and she's Tang Jiuyue. We were already planning to open this shop. Originally, we'd chosen a location near your former school, but after you moved to Lanshuitang, we had no choice but to change the location too."
"So this isn't a shop specially prepared for me? Yet everything here is mint?" Bai Huan asked suspiciously.
Qin Xian said, "Although Young Master Bai never explicitly said so, that is indeed the case."
Bai Huan gave him a smile.
"You're very good with words."
Tang Jiuyue scooped a ball of mint ice cream for Bai Huan.
She also gave two scoops to He Youxiang, who had been listening attentively from the side despite understanding absolutely nothing.
Bai Huan asked what they would do if the shop lost money.
Qin Xian said it didn't matter even if the shop made no profit, as long as the young master enjoyed himself.
Bai Huan looked at Tang Jiuyue, who was quietly working, then at the eloquent Qin Xian.
Once again, he asked a perceptive question.
"Your job isn't just selling juice here, is it?"
This time, Qin Xian was genuinely astonished.
If the fact that eighty percent of the shop's products contained mint was practically an open declaration to the young master that this was a place run by his own people and he should come visit, then his ability to deduce that Qin Xian's primary occupation wasn't working in a juice shop could only be attributed to his intelligence.
It reminded Qin Xian of the warning Lawyer Bai had given him before he came to Lanshuitang.
Don't try to act clever in front of Bai Huan.
Doing so would be no different from a pig jumping through a flaming hoop in front of him.
"Miss Bell hired me to come here and work as your assistant. Whatever you need, you can tell me," Qin Xian answered.
Bai Huan didn't ask any more questions.
He was already perfectly comfortable ordering people around.
"Give me your contact information. I'll send you a list of things I need later."
Qin Xian hurriedly took out his phone.
Bai Huan then turned and ordered He Youxiang around.
"Go home and rest."
He Youxiang immediately ran off.
After obtaining the address of the two Chen family elders, Chen Shouxin and Zeng Wenjuan, from Chen Yuanyuan, Bai Huan carried two cups of mint water over to visit them.
The Chen family's old residence was on the other side of Lanshuitang.
As he left the bustling center of Lanshuitang behind, the scenery became increasingly rural toward the outskirts.
Yet it wasn't desolate.
The houses resembled those found in the water towns south of the Yangtze River, with white walls and dark gray roof tiles.
Lush green trees provided shade, and cicadas chirped incessantly among their branches, adding a touch of untamed commotion to an otherwise excessively peaceful place.
Following Chen Yuanyuan's directions, the boy turned into an old alley.
The alley carried the musty scent of age accumulated over many years.
Old doors and windows, old furniture, old clothes.
There were fewer residents than he'd imagined, and every courtyard he passed was spacious.
He continued walking until he reached the largest courtyard of all.
Its entrance looked dilapidated and old-fashioned.
But once he stepped inside, he discovered that it truly lived up to the name of the private dining room at the grand restaurant that day: Small Bridges, Flowing Water, and Homes.
There was a pond in the courtyard.
Lotus flowers, lotus seedpods, and carp filled the water.
Several rows of flowerpots had been deliberately arranged along the bank to bask in the sunlight.
Beside an artificial rockery stood an unusually shaped Buddhist pine that had clearly been growing there for many years.
Its needles gleamed a deep, luminous green.
"Oh my! Why are you standing in the courtyard? Come inside and have some tea!"
A voice called from the main hall.
A woman wearing an apron came out.
She'd never seen Bai Huan before, so she approached and asked whom he was looking for.
Bai Huan explained who he was.
The woman's mouth fell open.
She hurried back inside.
Less than a minute later, Chen Yaoyao came trotting out with Chen Jinbao in her arms and a slice of watermelon in her hand.
"Quick, quick, come inside and sit down!"
Bai Huan followed the fashionable woman into the house.
It felt as though he'd stepped onto the set of a historical television drama.
Except this house was obviously worth considerably more.
Because he hadn't yet developed a deep emotional attachment to Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi, Bai Huan didn't feel particularly indignant upon discovering the enormous disparity between the two households' living conditions.
In fact, he preferred to look at the matter from the perspective of the Chen family elders.
To be so old and still capable of driving one's son to work hard enough to provide a luxurious residence for oneself—how inspiring!
He ought to learn from the old man.
Chen Shouxin and Zeng Wenjuan emerged from the rooms at the back, supporting each other as they walked.
They sat in the seats of honor at the upper end of the main hall.
As both a guest and a junior member of the family, Bai Huan sat below them.
The woman he'd seen earlier was probably a maid.
She brought out tea.
Bai Huan glanced at it.
"Is this tea made from leaves picked before the Qingming Festival? If not, could you give me a can of soda instead?"
Chen Shouxin's expression immediately darkened.
"A child shouldn't despise his mother for being ugly, just as a dog shouldn't despise its home for being poor. Since you've returned to the Chen family, you need to get rid of those extravagant habits you picked up in the Bai family as soon as possible," he said.
Bai Huan wholeheartedly agreed.
He handed the two cups of mint water to the elderly couple.
"Five yuan a cup. I brought them especially for Grandpa and Grandma."
Chen Shouxin scoffed at such childish drinks.
Zeng Wenjuan, however, inserted a straw and took a sip.
After tasting it, she said, "Instead of bringing Grandma this, you'd have been better off buying two cucumbers."
The elderly couple valued practicality.
In their eyes, these two cups of water were such poor value that even fifty cents would have been too much to pay.
Bai Huan didn't care.
He hadn't come today to win their favor anyway.
He moved his chair closer to Chen Shouxin.
"Grandpa, can I keep my name?"
Chen Shouxin raised his eyelids, his voice growing louder.
"What? You still want to be a member of the Bai family?"
Everyone else in the main hall felt their hearts jump at the old man's intimidating tone.
Bai Huan remained unmoved.
He hadn't been raised according to the Chen family's teachings, nor did he have any intention of obeying their rules.
He pressed the mint water into Chen Shouxin's hand.
"I don't want to belong to anyone's family. I want to be myself. Whatever name I was given when I was born is the only name I'll acknowledge until the day I die."
No younger member of the Chen family had ever dared speak to the old man like that.
His chest rose and fell violently, and the traditional knotted buttons on his clothing looked ready to burst apart.
"Grandpa, did you give me a red envelope that day? I forgot," Bai Huan asked in such an innocent tone that it was difficult to get angry with him.
"We did, we did," Zeng Wenjuan answered from beside him. "We put one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight yuan in an envelope for you."
"Who asked you to butt in?!" Chen Shouxin snapped at his wife.
Bai Huan's eyes lit up with delight.
"Exactly!"
"Exactly what?" Chen Shouxin was so furious with the little monkey that his head felt hot.
"You're the venerable ancestor who presides over the Chen family. Treating me well will be much more effective than forcing me to change my name and surname. Grandpa, which would you prefer? A beloved grandson who might have the surname Bai but is filial, sensible, obedient, and well-behaved? Or a little hooligan who might have the surname Chen but runs wild and abuses the elderly?"
"If you don't change your name, you're an outsider!"
"I can change my name."
Bai Huan appeared to be taking a step back.
But he wasn't retreating to make room for compromise.
He was retreating to gather strength.
He continued, "But after changing my name, I'll have to move into this old house. You'll need to arrange all three of my meals in advance. I don't eat spices or seasonings, and I don't eat meat, shrimp, or fish left over from the previous day. Hmm... There are too many dietary requirements to list right now. Mom can explain them to you when the time comes.
"The pond will have to be filled in. There are too many mosquitoes and insects, and I don't like them. Besides, I don't like fish.
"The flowers in the garden should be replaced with mint and chamomile.
"I'll need a hundred yuan in pocket money every day, and nobody is allowed to question how I spend it.
"Every adult in the household must know how to cook at least three signature dishes that suit my tastes. That way, I won't go hungry if the maid or whoever usually cooks isn't home. Grandpa, Grandma, you'll have to learn too.
"Pop music isn't allowed to be played in the house. It's bad for my ears.
"My clothes must be dry-cleaned separately or washed by hand, laid flat to dry, and hung according to season, fabric, and color.
"Oh, right. I'll also need someone to drive me to and from school. Grandpa, do you know how to drive?"
"..."
It took Chen Shouxin a very long time to process everything, and even then, he couldn't calm down.
Finally, he could only ask, "Do you still think you're some young master from a wealthy family?"
Bai Huan shook his head.
"Whether my family is wealthy or not, I'm still a young master. If you're going to treat me poorly, how can you have the nerve to demand that I change my name?"
Chen Shouxin slammed his hand on the table and was about to get up and explode in anger.
Bai Huan stood up before he could.
"There's one more thing. My dog. You'll have to make sure he gets walked three times every day—morning, noon, and evening."
Chen Shouxin finally rose to his feet, stamping his cane against the floor.
"Is this how you treat your biological parents at home?!"
"They're more conscientious about it."
"..."
Faced with such a troublesome child who was so skilled at talking back, Chen Shouxin needed to seriously reconsider whether the Chen family should accept him at all.
While he hesitated and pondered, Zeng Wenjuan kept trying to persuade him to let the child do as he pleased.
After all, he'd always had the surname Bai anyway.
She didn't want to be walking dogs at her age!
Eventually, Chen Shouxin relented.
For the sake of appearances, he invited Bai Huan to stay for lunch.
He even remembered to instruct Chen Yaoyao and the maid to prepare two dishes Bai Huan liked.
To ensure that the Chen family would never waver on the matter again, Bai Huan went into the kitchen and thoroughly disgusted his youngest aunt and the maid as well.
After eating his fill, Bai Huan was finally ready to leave.
Before going, he didn't forget to ask Chen Shouxin for two thousand yuan.
Chen Shouxin wasn't a stingy man.
He returned to his room, fetched the money, and handed it over.
"Be careful how you spend your money. Your father doesn't have it easy."
"I know!"
Bai Huan accepted the money and nodded obediently.
"Yesterday, my older cousin came to our house and brought mint water too. She exchanged it for two thousand yuan from my dad. I thought our family had developed a custom of exchanging mint water for large sums of money."
Once he started behaving obediently, Chen Shouxin forgot all about how furious the boy had made him moments earlier.
"Which older cousin?"
"Chen Jinxiao."
An ugly flush spread across Chen Shouxin's thick, tree-bark-like face.
He appeared to be suppressing his anger as he instructed the maid to see Bai Huan out.
Bai Huan hadn't gone far when he heard Chen Shouxin roar,
"That ill-mannered brat! Going to your uncle and asking him for money out of nowhere..."
That's what you get for acknowledging every last relative.
In an excellent mood, Bai Huan left the Chen family's old residence with a satisfied smile.