Are You an Orphan Too A Perfect Answer Little Son: Grandpa, What's Wrong with You

"Here they come, here they come!"

The little nephew ran quickly, pitter-patter, like a moving meatball bouncing on the ground before finally reaching the door.

He stood on his tiptoes and opened the door for Ye Cheng.

"Click!"

"Uncle-in-law, it’s really you!" The little nephew’s eyes lit up.

Ye Cheng nodded. "Yeah, it’s me. Are you all having dinner?"

He spotted the grease on the little nephew’s lips and the chopsticks he hadn’t put down yet—what else could it be other than dinner?

"Yeah, Uncle-in-law, want to come in and eat? I’ll go wake up Little Aunt!"

"Oh, that would be so embarrassing... Wait, do you have any drinks or something?"

The little nephew: "..."

Uncle-in-law, I’ve never met anyone as straightforward as you.

Ye Cheng walked inside and glanced around the courtyard. Hmm... the layout was like those traditional courtyard homes in Dajing City, which was pretty unusual for Dahaishi. It gave off a strong nostalgic vibe, very poetic and picturesque. In the center of the yard was a large pond filled with little fish swimming around...

"Little Aunt, Little Aunt, Uncle-in-law is here! Get up quickly!"

"Xiaobao, I’ll give you three seconds. If you don’t leave, you’ll regret it. Three..."

The little nephew: "???"

Wasn’t it supposed to be three counts? No buffer at all?

The little nephew shuddered in fear and scurried away, stopping his knocking. After he bolted, Tang Yuyao’s annoyed voice came from inside the room.

"Again? Aren’t you ever going to stop?"

It was the modern-day version of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," with "Uncle-in-law is here" as the punchline.

Clearly, the little nephew had lost all credibility with Tang Yuyao. She’d fallen for it once before, and what happened? She’d ended up with nothing at all. After crawling out of her warm bed to change into pajamas, it was all for nothing—zip. She swore she wouldn’t believe him again even if it meant being a dog!

Did she look like a fool?

Hmph... childish. Back to sleep.

Footsteps thumped as the little nephew ran back, pale-faced and sweating, half from exhaustion and half from fear.

"No luck, Uncle-in-law. Little Aunt won’t get up, and she’s going to hit me," the little nephew said, looking helpless.

Ye Cheng: "..."

Was Dr. Tang always this bossy at home?

Ye Cheng’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t think much of it. He was here to lay low, and if his guess was right, he’d need to hide out for a while. At least for today, for sure. On his way over, he’d tried contacting Brother Doudou, but it was already impossible to reach him.

Two possibilities: either he’d already fallen victim to the missus and was being hung up and beaten, or he was trying to trick Ye Cheng into going back for a lighter punishment.

He wasn’t falling for that cheap trick!

Logically, hiding out at President’s place was safer, but not anymore. Now President was after him too, wanting to draw his blood.

Going back would just be walking into a trap.

But when all seemed lost, a sliver of hope appeared. Ye Cheng suddenly remembered his "girlfriend"... and so, here he was.

"You probably haven’t eaten yet, right? Grab a bowl and help yourself. We don’t have many rules in this house," Old Master Tang said, nodding at Ye Cheng as he ate.

No many rules... yeah, right.

The Tang family didn’t have a lot of strict rules. Though they were a big household, there weren’t all those complicated formalities—pretty much like any ordinary family.

For the Tangs, the simpler and humbler someone was, the easier it was to get in. But those high-ranking officials and nobles? They never seemed to step through this door.

Almost as if some invisible force kept them out.

Clearly, Ye Cheng, as an ordinary nobody, had no trouble getting in. He just knocked and walked right in.

Ye Cheng nodded, and the little nephew led him to the cupboard with the bowls.

"Here, Uncle-in-law, the bowls are over here," the little nephew said, handing him one eagerly.

Ye Cheng looked at the palm-sized bowl in the kid’s hand. "I appreciate it, but I’ll pass. I’ll use this instead."

Then Ye Cheng walked over and grabbed a basin, heading to the pot of warm rice to serve himself.

The little nephew: "???"

He could eat more than him?

The little nephew gasped, realizing he’d met his match. Old Master Tang, who was eating nearby, frowned at Ye Cheng’s move.

He hated wasting food.

Back when he was young, plenty of people starved to death, and a single full meal was hard to come by.

If it were anyone else, Old Master Tang would have already stopped them. But Ye Cheng was different—he seemed to be his daughter’s boyfriend.

After a moment’s thought, Old Master Tang decided against scolding him. Otherwise, that girl of his would make a fuss again.

The little nephew noticed his grandfather’s change in expression and quickly ran over, tugging at Ye Cheng’s clothes. He waved secretively, signaling Ye Cheng to bend down a little.

He couldn’t reach otherwise.

Ye Cheng’s head tilted in confusion, but he did it anyway, squatting down.

"Uncle-in-law, my grandpa hates wasting food. Just take as much as you can eat, don’t waste any."

Ye Cheng thought it over. That made some sense. So he poured half the rice from the basin back into the pot.

After all, he was a guest here—he shouldn’t eat too much.

Ye Cheng carried his basin over and sat down at the table. The three of them—Old Master Tang, the little nephew, and Ye Cheng—ate together.

But the small talk Old Master Tang had expected never came. He waited a while, but Ye Cheng didn’t strike up a conversation. Instead, all he heard was Ye Cheng happily chomping away.

Huh?

That wasn’t how he thought this would go.

Just focused on eating?

In many families, talking during meals was forbidden, and even chewing with an open mouth wasn’t allowed. But the Tangs had no such strange rules.

Still, it was the first time Old Master Tang had seen someone like Ye Cheng, who ate noisily and didn’t even say a single word.

Of course, he meant in recent years when times were good. Back in the old, hard days, everyone ate like that—head down, no talking, because every word meant one less bite.

Great spirit!

Seeing Ye Cheng’s hearty appetite, Old Master Tang got hungry too and began eating with gusto. The little nephew noticed them both eating in silence and stopped looking at his smartwatch.

He chowed down too, not wanting to be left out. Eating was his strong suit!

Five minutes later, the little nephew was the first to tap out, flopping back in his chair and lying still.

He’d carb-crashed.

Ye Cheng had finished eating a while ago, still looking like he wanted more, but he didn’t reach for seconds. Old Master Tang was the last to set down his chopsticks. He glanced at the basin Ye Cheng had used.

It was spotless—not a single grain left, polished clean as if it had been buffed.

Old Master Tang frowned. Maybe the guy hadn’t eaten enough?

He had gone hungry before, so how could he not know whether he had eaten his fill? Looking at Ye Cheng’s condition… he was certain—he hadn’t eaten enough.

So, earlier he had been overly suspicious. The truth was, the guy just had a big appetite, not that he was trying to waste food?

Old Master Tang put down his chopsticks: “Young man, if you haven’t eaten enough, go eat more. There’s always plenty of food in this house. I don’t like people who waste food. Take as much as you can eat, fill yourself up, eat well, and don’t waste.”

“Uh… isn’t that a bit forward?”

Ye Cheng looked a little shy, scratching the back of his head.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. Make yourself at home, eat as much as you want!” Old Master Tang said with great boldness. He refused to believe that Ye Cheng could polish off an entire pot of rice!

Ye Cheng’s eyes lit up, and he carried his bowl over…

Ten minutes later.

“This cooking is top-notch, really tasty. Pretty much full now.” Ye Cheng looked completely satisfied, sitting in his seat and patting his stomach.

No, that wasn’t right—it was now a giant food pouch!

Old Master Tang: “…”

After checking several times, he could hardly believe that a whole pot of rice had been finished by Ye Cheng. Ye Cheng’s prominently bulging stomach was a testament to his prowess—standing there, it said everything without words!

“Young man… how long has it been since you last ate?”

If he remembered correctly, they had met just last night. How could he be this hungry?

What had this kid been through?

Ye Cheng blinked, a toothpick dangling from his lips, and thought for a moment: “About nine hundred minutes or so, give or take fourteen and a half hours. Around nine-thirty yesterday…”

Ye Cheng was counting from the time he left Tang’s restaurant and went back to the Shen residence for a midnight snack, which was around nine-thirty. To get down to the seconds would be a bit off—he could only recall a rough time.

Old Master Tang: “???”

“You even remember how many minutes?” Old Master Tang’s eyes widened in shock.

Having been burned before by doubting Ye Cheng and proven wrong, this time Old Master Tang didn’t assume Ye Cheng was bragging. Instead, he started thinking seriously.

He had seen a fair bit of the world, and he had come across one or two people with photographic memories and extraordinary powers of recall.

Those people, too, could clearly remember the details of certain events…

So, was this young man like that too?

Ye Cheng blinked: “Hey, this is just a rough guess. After all, how could anyone forget when they last ate?”

“You learn to remember after going hungry a few times.”

Old Master Tang: “…”

Old Master Tang silently straightened up and adopted a more serious attitude. Yesterday, he had spent the whole time on the sidelines, munching on dry bread, not paying any attention to Ye Cheng’s uniqueness.

When he got back, he heard their Guilan talking about how extraordinary Ye Cheng was, but he hadn’t really listened—he just figured it was the typical filter of a mother-in-law, leading to biased opinions about her daughter’s boyfriend.

Now it seemed… maybe the one being biased was him?

“Did you go hungry a lot before?” Old Master Tang asked, his expression strange.

“Nope, I’m fast. It was other people who went hungry.” Ye Cheng said it with great pride.

Old Master Tang: “???”

“Are you… an orphan?” Old Master Tang asked hesitantly, his tone a bit excited. He… he was one too!

“Yeah.”

Ye Cheng nodded, completely open about it.

That calm reply felt like a perfect answer to Old Master Tang—it struck him right in the heart!

Suddenly, all of Ye Cheng’s previous actions made perfect sense. Eating so much was because he’d often gone hungry. Remembering so precisely was to make sure he never missed another meal.

Even the half bowl of rice Ye Cheng had initially set aside from the pot was now explained—it was his fear of eating too much and being looked down upon.

Now he remembered. He recalled everything!

This was exactly how he had lived once!!!

“Come, child, sit down, sit down…” Old Master Tang grew animated, saying “sit down” twice in a row. The little nephew beside him stared in utter confusion.

What had gotten into Grandpa?