IBO – Chapter 6 In the Morning, He Pickled Pomelo Peel

This novel contains sensitive and taboo content like R*pe, Mu**er etc. Read only if you are comfortable.

Song Yiran got up very early today. He had something he wanted to ask Xiao Zhong’er.

Trying not to wake Song Buli, Song Yiran quietly and carefully left the room.

He went to the kitchen and began preparing breakfast for the day.

After washing the rice and putting it into the pot, Song Yiran sat down on a chair and chatted with Xiao Zhong’er.

Looking outside the door, Song Yiran asked in a seemingly casual tone, “Xiao Zhong’er, I found it strange before—why are all the facilities in this nursery exactly the same as those on Blue Star?

The blackboard, the stove, the refrigerator, the bunk beds the children sleep on, and even the desks in the classroom are all identical to those on Blue Star.

These things would be completely normal if they were on Blue Star—just very ordinary facilities.

But for them to appear in the interstellar era feels a bit unreasonable.

You also mentioned before that even ordinary incubators here are fully automated, so why do these things, which should have been eliminated long ago, still exist?”

Xiao Zhong’er fell silent for a moment before explaining, “Young man, these are facilities belonging to the nursery. In fact, they are simply the things from your Blue Star.”

“I was afraid you’d miss Blue Star too much, so all the facilities in this kindergarten are things from your Blue Star. That way, they’re more convenient for you to use.

And when you miss Blue Star someday, you can look at these objects and think of home.”

Song Yiran neither confirmed nor denied Xiao Zhong’er’s explanation.

The explanation was full of loopholes—but so what?

Perhaps out of a kind of sixth sense, he was certain that Xiao Zhong’er was on his side.

His sixth sense had always been accurate.

No matter what Xiao Zhong’er was hiding, since he was already here, he might as well settle down.

After all, the most important thing was to raise the fluffy little ones.

Song Yiran asked again, “Xiao Zhong’er, judging from the size of this orphanage, there should be more cubs coming later. About when will those cubs arrive?”

Xiao Zhong’er thought seriously for a moment, then said guiltily, “Sorry, young man, I’m not very sure about that either.

The only thing I can confirm is that these cubs will arrive in the days to come.”

Song Yiran didn’t know what expression he should put on.

That was basically saying nothing at all—Xiao Zhong’er had mastered the art of useless talk perfectly.

If they weren’t coming in the days to come, were they supposed to come in the days that had already passed?

And if Xiao Zhong’er didn’t even know this, was he really reliable?!

Oh my god, had he boarded a pirate ship by mistake?

Unwilling to give up, Song Yiran asked, “Xiao Zhong’er, then do you know how many cubs in total will come here?”

Xiao Zhong’er replied weakly, “Sorry, young man, I’m not very sure about that either.”

This time, Song Yiran understood—he really had boarded a pirate ship.

He rubbed his forehead and sighed. How had he ended up with such a system?

After sitting on the chair and sorting out his thoughts, he slowly walked toward the stove.

He’d put the system stuff aside for now—the most important thing was raising the cubs.

Breakfast should be light, so Song Yiran decided to stir-fry some vegetables.

Come to think of it, plain porridge with pickles was the best breakfast. After eating, he could pickle some vegetables.

He put the washed greens into the pan and stir-fried them, adding an appropriate amount of garlic, salt, MSG, and other seasonings, then kept stirring.

Once the vegetables were done, the porridge was ready too. Song Yiran turned around to call Song Buli to get up and eat.

When he pushed open the bedroom door, he found that Song Buli was already up, sitting on the floor opposite the desk.

As soon as Song Buli saw him come in, he shouted excitedly, “Brother! We can cross off two days on the calendar now! Yesterday and today!”

Seeing his expression, Song Yiran immediately knew that Song Buli wanted his birthday to come as soon as possible.

When he was little, he had been the same—counting the days, hoping his birthday would arrive sooner.

Unable to help laughing, Song Yiran picked Song Buli up, freed one hand to grab the marker on the desk, and crossed off yesterday’s and today’s dates on the calendar.

Looking at the crossed-off dates, Song Buli was overjoyed—one more day closer to his birthday!

After helping Song Buli wash up, Song Yiran took him to the kitchen for breakfast.

Once breakfast was done, Song Yiran told Song Buli to go outside and bask in the sun, then started the great dishwashing task.

While washing the dishes, Song Yiran began to feel a bit hot, so he opened the kitchen window.

The gentle breeze that rushed in finally made him feel a little cooler.

The weather had been getting warmer lately—but it was only March.

Was this what the interstellar era was like?

If it got any hotter, he wouldn’t have much of an appetite. When that happened, he’d make more cold dishes—after all, Lili was still growing and couldn’t afford to eat poorly.

Lili was already so cute as a child. He wondered what he’d be like when he grew up—would he be even cuter?

Wait—when Lili grew up, would he be in human form, or would he remain in animal form?

Thinking of this, Song Yiran hurriedly asked Xiao Zhong’er, “Xiao Zhong’er, when Lili grows up, will he be human-shaped, or will he always be in animal form?”

“Young man, children like Lili will take on a human form once they reach adulthood,” Xiao Zhong’er replied.

Song Yiran found himself a little excited about what Song Buli would look like in human form. He was already this cute as a child—his human form would surely be adorable too.

At this moment, Song Yiran still had no idea just how much he was looking forward to Song Buli’s human form, nor how shocked he would be when he finally saw it.

Another thought crossed his mind, and he asked, “Xiao Zhong’er, do you really think I’ll be able to handle everything in the future?

Right now there’s only Lili, so I can manage.

But if a few more come later, just washing their faces and brushing their teeth one by one would take me an entire hour.”

Xiao Zhong’er explained, “Young man, you actually don’t need to help the cubs brush their teeth.

Their teeth don’t develop stains, nor do food residues remain.

You only need to wash their faces—wipe with a towel and wring it out, it’s very quick.”

Song Yiran was so embarrassed his toes practically dug into the ground.

So he’d been brushing Song Buli’s teeth for nothing all along. Luckily, he’d only done it for two days.

After washing the dishes, Song Yiran began preparing to pickle some vegetables.

He planned to start by pickling pomelo peel to test the waters. He’d never pickled vegetables himself before—his family always did it, and he just helped on the side.

But after watching for so many years, he figured he should have learned it by now.

He asked Xiao Zhong’er to give him two pomelos.

After cutting the pomelos open, Song Yiran called Song Buli—who had been sunbathing in the courtyard—back inside to eat pomelo.

White-fleshed pomelos have a certain chance of being sour, so he specifically asked Xiao Zhong’er for two red-fleshed pomelos.

Song Buli would definitely like them.

When Song Buli came back and saw what Song Yiran was holding, he asked curiously, “Brother, what’s this?”

Song Yiran squatted down and said with a smile, “Lili, this is a kind of fruit called red-fleshed pomelo.

Its flesh is sweet—you’ll definitely like it.

But you have to peel it to eat it. Big brother will peel it for you.”

With that, Song Yiran broke off a segment of pomelo, deftly peeled away the thin membrane around the flesh, and fed it to Song Buli.

Song Buli had never heard of fruit before. Curious, he swallowed the pomelo flesh Song Yiran fed him in one bite.

Delicious!

Song Buli said happily, “Brother, this is so tasty!

Brother, you should eat more too!”

Song Yiran felt completely healed by Song Buli.

So this is the joy of raising a cub!

Although it was such a tiny, insignificant thing, it filled Song Yiran’s heart with contentment.

The child he was raising knew how to care about him now.

At that moment, the soul of an old father within Song Yiran burned at full intensity.

He broke apart all the pomelo flesh, peeled everything clean, and gave two-thirds of it to Song Buli.

Looking at Song Buli with a face full of loving kindness, he said, “Lili, eat more. Big brother can’t eat that much.

Our Lili has grown up—he even knows how to be filial to his brother now.

Lili is such a good child!”

Looking at the pile of pomelo flesh in front of him—like a little mound—Song Buli, in that moment, felt what it meant to say “a brother’s love is as solid as a mountain.”

In the end, Song Buli ate until his belly was completely round and could only sit there without moving, waiting for the pomelo to digest.

And the “culprit,” Song Yiran, showed not the slightest bit of sympathy.

Instead, with no remorse at all, he stroked Song Buli’s head while secretly marveling at how unbearably cute Song Buli looked with his belly all puffed out.

Absolutely outrageous!

Inside the system space, Xiao Zhong’er watched all of this with complicated feelings. After a long while, he let out a sigh.

If only time could slow down a little more—at least then they could enjoy a bit more peace.

The course of history is irreversible. All he could do was let Song Yiran and the children have a few more years of tranquility.

Hopefully, the ending would be a happy one.

Song Yiran knew nothing of Xiao Zhong’er’s worries. At this moment, he was busy slicing the pomelo peels into thick slices.

One pomelo yields four pieces of peel; two pomelos make eight.

After cutting all eight pieces, he rinsed them once, drained the water, and put them into a basin.

He washed a small handful of millet chilies, three heads of garlic, and three chunks of ginger, chopped them up, and mixed them together with the pomelo peels.

Next came the salt.

At this point, Song Yiran felt a little troubled.

He didn’t know how much salt to add. Every time his family pickled pomelo peel, the amount of peel was different, and so was the amount of salt.

He tried hard to recall the pickling secret his mother had taught him.

Then, suddenly, inspiration struck—he remembered!

What his mother had said back then was: “Add an appropriate amount.”

That was basically saying nothing at all. If he knew what “appropriate” meant, he wouldn’t be standing here thinking so hard.

Song Yiran decided not to worry about it and simply poured in an entire bag of salt.

If it turned out bland, he’d just dip it in soy sauce when eating. If it was too salty, that was fine too—pickles are salty anyway.

Song Yiran felt that he was truly an ordinary yet ingenious little genius.

After mixing the salt evenly with the pomelo peels, the rest was left to time.

He needed to wait for the salt to draw all the moisture out of the peels, then wring them dry.

Song Yiran didn’t know how long to wait—he’d just play it by ear, checking the basin from time to time and squeezing them dry when it seemed about right.

By then, Song Buli had mostly digested his food. He walked over curiously and asked, “Brother, what are you making?”

Song Yiran picked Song Buli up so he could see more clearly.

He slowly explained, “Lili, big brother is pickling pomelo peel.

It tastes really good with plain rice porridge!

But I don’t know if it’ll succeed—maybe I’ll fail.

If that happens, will Lili think big brother is stupid?”

Song Yiran deliberately teased Song Buli, wanting to see how he’d react.

He really was a rather “wicked” brother—but teasing kids was so much fun.

Hearing this, Song Buli immediately puffed out his fluffy little chest and promised, “Everything brother makes is delicious!

Brother is the best—he’ll definitely succeed!

Even if brother doesn’t succeed, Lili will still eat all of these pomelo peels!”

Hearing this answer, Song Yiran felt extremely satisfied.

No wonder he’s his little brother—so well-behaved.

At the same time, Xiao Zhong’er heard their conversation in the spatial realm and closed its eyes wearily.

Was history about to repeat itself again?