Chapter Twenty-Seven: Giant Panda! Buy One for Me, Please~

Xiao Qian, grinning, walked ahead, cradling the camera as he recorded the two of them. His filming job was something the other photographers envied. Ji Chen’s cameraman was tolerable, but Chen Weiguo’s reeked of raw meat from the market, and Zhao Funing’s was saturated with greasy fumes that simply couldn’t be washed out. Xiao Qian, on the other hand, spent his days ambling through parks, listening to music, and now, on an expense-paid trip, he’d come to play at the Giant Panda Breeding Base.

“Brother Lin, Brother Lin! Can you see me?”
“Can we see the comments now? Great!”
“Hubby, hubby is scolding me.”

“We can see them now, we can see them,” Lin Ze announced, showing off his new phone to everyone. “Today we’re taking you to have fun at the Giant Panda Breeding Base in the capital!”
“Let’s go!”

It was still a workday, so the breeding base wasn’t crowded. Once inside, Lin Ze and Su Zitan hopped onto the sightseeing shuttle, headed straight for Villa Number One.

Inside, the first room featured a giant panda, its fur a blend of black and brown, sprawled atop a bamboo platform, sleeping soundly. In the adjacent room, another panda was scratching its rump with a tree branch.

Seeing Xiao Qian still aiming the camera at them, Lin Ze grumpily tugged him over to the glass. “We’re here already—why are you filming us instead of the pandas?”

“Haha, silly Xiao Qian.”
“Brother Lin is so fierce.”
“Yes, yes, let’s watch the pandas.”

“They’re so cute, such adorable goofballs.”
Su Zitan pressed her forehead to the glass, gazing intently at the panda inside.

“So adorable,” she said, tugging at Lin Ze’s sleeve. “Look, it’s scratching itself with a branch!”

“It can’t reach, I suppose,” Lin Ze replied instinctively, giving a candid answer.

Su Zitan was silent for a moment. “If you keep talking like that, it’s really no fun.”

Lin Ze pondered. “Maybe it’s because its head is so big—so it’s clever?”

“Your head is much smaller than a panda’s, so you’re the blockhead!”

“Hey.”

Su Zitan took out the phone provided by the production team and snapped a few photos of the giant panda. Her gaze then drifted to Lin Ze, who was staring at the panda’s tail. She dragged him over, stuffed the phone into his hand, and said, “Quick, while there aren’t many people—let’s take a picture together.”

They took off their masks, held their hands over their heads to form a heart, and between their arms, the panda scratching itself with a branch was clearly visible.

Lin Ze looked at the photo in silence for a moment. The camera lens was odd—whoever stood in front had their face distorted. He looked like that little bee-dog.

“No wonder you wanted me to take the picture—it makes my face look huge.”

“Hehe, you earn your living with talent, so it doesn’t matter.”

Lin Ze didn’t mind. An unflattering photo was just that—if Su Zitan was happy, that was enough.

While they were taking pictures, a young man in designer clothes and sunglasses approached. Instantly, the two pulled their masks back up.

“Hey, buddy, you and your girlfriend are out having fun, and you brought a cameraman along?”

“Haha, yes, we’re short video bloggers, here to shoot some footage,” Lin Ze lied without hesitation.

“Short videos, huh…” The man smirked. “Sometimes I browse through them. What’s your account name? I’d like to check it out.”

Lin Ze noticed how the man’s gaze kept drifting toward Su Zitan, and he understood perfectly.

“Just a small account, under twenty thousand followers—we’re just filming for fun.”

Lin Ze squeezed Su Zitan’s hand, prompting her to look up.

The man was startled. That figure, that temperament, those eyes—he hadn’t seen her clearly from afar, but up close she was undeniably a stunning beauty.

“A travel blogger? With Miss’s looks, if you became a beauty influencer, your follower count would multiply by a hundred or two hundred times, easily.”

He drew a business card from his pocket. “Hello, I’m Fang Jing, manager of Little Su’s Shop under the Su Group, here in the capital.”

“Oh, Little Su’s Shop—they have tasty snacks, just a bit pricey.”
“He’s impressive, so young and already in this position.”
“Never mind that—doesn’t he have bad intentions toward our wife?”

Su Zitan nearly burst out laughing when she recognized her own company.

Lin Ze’s expression didn’t change; he saw on the card that Fang Jing was only twenty-six.

“Young and accomplished, truly,” Lin Ze remarked.

Fang Jing’s brow furrowed. Young and accomplished? Who’s pretending to be the elder here?

“I’m not particularly talented—annual salary only around two hundred thousand, and after all these years in the capital, I’ve only managed to buy a house outright.”

“Who asked you?”
“This is getting awkward…”

Lin Ze’s eyes widened in feigned shock, and he clapped loudly, drawing attention from those around them.

“You two don’t come here often, do you? How about this, let me show you around, be your guide?”

“That’s alright…” Su Zitan hesitated.

Fang Jing caught the expression on her face, mistaking her shyness for interest.

“No problem.”
Fang Jing smiled slightly and led them toward Villa Number Two. He walked ahead, Lin Ze and Su Zitan followed behind, but after a long while, neither spoke to him.

“You know, with his age and position, if I weren’t watching from a third-person perspective, I’d already be holding his hand.”
“Well, too bad—he’s not with you, but with my wife.”
“What’s with you all, always ‘wife this, wife that.’ My husband would be upset if he heard!”

Su Zitan was busy flipping through panda photos on her phone, her eyes sparkling.

“Giant pandas are so cute—I wish I could have one.”

She tugged at Lin Ze’s sleeve. “Buy me one…”

“Buy you one? That’s a national first-class protected species! You wouldn’t be buying a panda, you’d be buying trouble—for both of us!”

“Hmph.”

Hearing them, Fang Jing turned back.

“No, you can’t buy one, but you can adopt.”

“Huh?”

“At the Panda Breeding Base, you can adopt a panda, either monthly or for life.”

Fang Jing glanced at Su Zitan, his face once again wearing that Versailles expression.

“It’s just a bit pricey—lifetime adoption costs one million.”

“Heh, my dream is to one day adopt a panda for the woman I love, and name it after our child…”