Seriously, Who Is the Biological Child

Chen Zhi was currently standing at his front door.

The husky next to him was probably tired from running just now. It was lying on the doormat, tongue hanging out, panting heavily, looking half-dead.

Chen Zhi raised his hand and knocked on the security door with his knuckles.

"Mom, I'm back, open the door."

It was completely quiet inside. The only sound was the clanking of a spatula against a wok from some unknown neighbor downstairs, drifting up through the ventilation shaft.

Chen Zhi frowned slightly.

He knocked twice more, hitting the door a bit harder.

"Ms. Zhang? Open the door, your own flesh and blood is locked out."

Still no answer.

Chen Zhi had a bad feeling about this.

He pulled out his phone and opened the pinned WeChat conversation.

His fingers typed rapidly across the screen.

[Mom, where are you?]

The reply came quickly; obviously, her phone was right at hand.

[I went out to play mahjong. Sort out your own lunch.]

Immediately following was an orange transfer bubble.

[WeChat Transfer: 100.00 Yuan]

Chen Zhi stared at the "100" on the screen, the corner of his mouth twitching.

As if he was short on this little bit of money.

[??? Dad took my keys, how am I supposed to get inside?]

The message was sent.

A minute passed.

The chat remained dead silent. Not even a "typing..." indicator popped up.

Ms. Zhang Shufang had clearly already devoted herself to the great cause of mahjong and unilaterally blocked her own son's messages.

"Unbelievable."

Chen Zhi shoved his phone back into his pocket and let out a long sigh at the tightly shut door.

That's his biological mother for you.

Between mahjong and her son, she chose the former without hesitation.

"What are you doing standing at the door? Aren't you going in?"

A young girl's crisp voice came from behind him.

Chen Zhi turned around.

Lin Wanwan was holding a half-empty bottle of mineral water, tilting her head as she looked at him. A few stray strands of hair stuck to her cheek, making her look rather adorkable.

"Can't get in."

Chen Zhi pointed at the door, his tone utterly devoid of the will to live.

"Comrade Lao Chen swiped my keys, and Ms. Zhang went to play mahjong. I am now a homeless orphan."

Lin Wanwan blinked, as if she had just heard a funny joke.

"Why are you always so forgetful?"

She sighed and reached into her pocket, digging around.

A set of keys with a pink bunny keychain appeared in the palm of her hand.

Chen Zhi hadn't even processed what she was about to do.

He watched as the girl took a step forward, skillfully picked out one of the keys, inserted it into the keyhole, and gave it a gentle twist.

Click.

The crisp sound of the mechanical lock engaging rang out.

The security door swung open.

Chen Zhi froze in place, as if struck by lightning.

He looked at the open door, then at Lin Wanwan who was pulling the key out, his brain short-circuiting for a moment.

"???"

"Where did you get the key to my house?"

Lin Wanwan spun the keyring around her finger, the pink bunny charm flipping up and down with her movements.

"Your mom gave it to me."

She answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Chen Zhi felt his entire worldview being reconstructed.

"No, wait..."

He pointed at himself, then at the door.

"My dad lost his keys today and took mine to get copies made. He'd rather leave his own flesh and blood locked out of the house than take yours?"

What kind of family status is this?

Who exactly is the outsider in this family?

If he had only been suspicious before, Chen Zhi was practically certain now.

He was most likely a free gift that came with a phone plan recharge.

Or maybe Ms. Zhang Shufang just picked him up on a whim while buying green onions at the wet market.

And Lin Wanwan was actually their long-lost biological daughter.

A wave of inexplicable grief and indignation welled up in his heart.

Chen Zhi held out his hand, palm facing up.

"Give me the keys, I don't even have any to use."

Lin Wanwan looked at the hand extended in front of her, her eyes darting around.

The girl suddenly hid the hand holding the keys behind her back and made a face at Chen Zhi.

"Blegh, no."

After saying that, she darted under his arm like an agile little deer before he could react, scurrying straight into the house.

Chen Zhi laughed out of sheer exasperation and followed her inside.

The house looked exactly as it had when he left this morning.

Except that his territory had now been occupied by a certain someone.

Lin Wanwan familiarly changed into her own pair of pink slippers.

Zhang Shufang had bought them specifically for her, and they were even softer than Chen Zhi's slippers.

She threw herself onto the soft sofa in the living room, letting out a comfortable sigh.

"Lying down after a walk is the best."

Chen Zhi shut the door behind him, locking out Xiaobai, who was poking its head around the doorway trying to follow them in.

"Woof!"

Xiaobai's protesting bark came from outside the door.

"Stop barking, go home and eat your own food."

Chen Zhi shouted through the door, then turned to look at the girl sprawled on the sofa.

She was hugging a throw pillow with zero regard for her image, her legs swinging back and forth, one hand still tightly clutching the set of keys.

"Hand them over."

Chen Zhi walked over to the sofa, looking down at her.

"No."

Lin Wanwan shook her head like a rattle drum and vigilantly tucked the keys into her arms.

"Auntie gave these to me. She said it's so I can come over anytime to supervise your studies."

Chen Zhi: "..."

"I literally can't get in the door now."

Chen Zhi tried to reason with her.

"Then you can just call me every time you come back."

Lin Wanwan peeked half her face out from behind the pillow, smiling like a little fox.

"I'll be on call, guaranteed to open the door for you."

"Thanks a lot."

Chen Zhi rolled his eyes and plopped down on the sofa next to her.

His stomach let out a timely rumble of protest.

After running around all morning and wasting his breath talking to that idiot talent scout in the park, his stomach was already touching his back from hunger.

Chen Zhi glanced at the time on his phone.

Twelve thirty.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

Lin Wanwan rubbed her stomach and nodded honestly.

"Yeah."

"What do you want to eat? Ms. Zhang sponsored a massive sum of one hundred yuan."

Chen Zhi waved his phone.

Lin Wanwan immediately perked up, springing up from the sofa.

"I want Pizza Hut! I want that Super Supreme Pizza!"

"Pizza Hut is too far. It'll take half an hour just to get there by taxi. By the time we arrive, I'll have starved into a mummy."

Chen Zhi ruthlessly rejected her proposal.

"Then KFC?"

"That's all deep-fried food. It'll give you acne."

"Then what do you suggest we eat?!"

Lin Wanwan puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at Chen Zhi.

"We have some dried noodles at home, along with two eggs and a few tomatoes."

He glanced toward the kitchen.

"Should I cook you a bowl of noodles?"

Lin Wanwan's eyes instantly lit up.

Although a big meal outside was tempting, the noodles Chen Zhi cooked had a special appeal to her.

Chen Zhi was usually lazy to death. If he could lie down, he would never sit; he was the type to open his mouth to be fed and stretch out his arms to be dressed.

But his cooking skills were surprisingly good.

Especially that seemingly ordinary bowl of plain noodles. The noodles were chewy, the broth was bright and savory, and topped off with a spoonful of sizzling scallion oil, the aroma was out of this world.

"I want fried eggs! Two of them!"

Lin Wanwan held up two fingers, pushing her luck with the demands.

"And put in some sausages too!"

"You're so demanding."

Chen Zhi complained verbally, but his body honestly stood up, slowly ambling into the kitchen.

Before long, the sound of water splashing as vegetables were washed and the crisp crack of eggs breaking drifted from the kitchen.