Thank you so much for the big cake, **伊祀月! Hehe, Baozi's girl is so happy! Thank you to Tang Yiyi, by the way, Tang Yiyi is the adorable big steamed bun in the story~~~ Thank you to 凤凰曰, 非你莫有, 小雨贝瑟芬妮, and 月下箯 for the donations! Aside from urging for more updates and votes, Baozi's girl loves everything~~~
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"Stone! Stone, where are you?" A familiar voice reached Stone's ears; it was Steel Hammer!
"Daddy~~~" Touching his ears, which had endured a long period of torment, Stone opened his mouth in grievance and burst into tears: "Waaah..."
"Sweetie, don't cry!"
Stone felt himself being lifted up by a pair of warm, large hands. He wiped away his tears and suddenly felt incredibly wronged: "Daddy, brother threw it away! Stone, throw it away! Brother is mean!"
Steel Hammer Daddy emerged from the mine carrying a stone. The outside was brightly lit by kerosene lamps. Steel Hammer Daddy didn't care about anything else; he just looked the stone up and down and asked anxiously, "Is the stone injured?"
Stone was engrossed in complaining when he heard this and shook his head in dissatisfaction: "Daddy, brother is bad!"
"Yes, yes, brother is bad!" Steel Hammer Dad looked her over and over. His precious daughter didn't look injured at all. Her face was covered in tears, her clothes and pants were dirty, and even her fair little hands were black.
Stone looked pitiful, his lips drooping, about to speak, when he suddenly saw Copperstone and the dwarf girl named Chimei: "Daddy, she! She stole Stone!"
Qi Mei looked at Shi Tou with surprise and doubt: "You, aren't you unable to speak?"
"Daddy, daddy~~~" Stone didn't care about any of that. He pulled hard on Steel Hammer Daddy's long beard with both hands, pulling and pulling: "Bad guy!"
Steel Hammer Daddy gasped repeatedly as Stone pulled at his beard, yet dared not snatch it back from Stone's grasp: "Stone, good boy, hiss! Miss didn't mean it, hiss! She thought Stone was unwanted, hiss! Does Stone even know Uncle Copper Stone? Hiss!"
Stone was now engrossed in playing with his mustache, grinning widely and exclaiming, "Fun! Hahaha, hiss, hiss! Fun!"
Steel Hammer Dad was on the verge of tears, but he secretly made up his mind that he would definitely teach those brats a lesson when he got back!
"Stone, oh dear! Miss is Uncle Copperstone's daughter, oh dear! Stone, stop pulling!" Steel Hammer Papa finally couldn't take it anymore and snatched his beard back from Stone's hand. Whoosh, his beard was almost completely pulled out.
Stone was suddenly unhappy about losing his new toy.
"Waaaaah~~~" Hmph, if you don't let her play, she'll cry!
Steel Hammer Daddy wanted to cry along with him, but in desperation, he could only stuff the beard into Stone's hand and turn to Copper Stone, saying, "Copper Stone, you should go back first! Isn't your little daughter still with the healer? Go back quickly, I'll take care of things here!"
Copperstone bowed gratefully to Steelhammer, saying, "Yes, yes!" He then glanced at his daughter with a complicated expression and nudged her, saying, "Qimei, apologize to Princess Stone!"
Chimei walked awkwardly to the stone and whispered, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were the Stone Princess, I'm so sorry..."
Stone stopped crying, stroking his beard as he looked at her with a depressed expression.
Seeing that Stone remained silent, Steel Hammer Dad quickly tried to smooth things over: "It's not the kids' fault. If anyone's wrong, it's my two rascals! Alright, you go back now. I need to take Stone home right away! Sigh, Hami is going crazy with worry."
After saying that, Steel Hammer Papa waved to Copper Stone and quickly ran towards home.
"Yes, Fat Mom must be frantic with worry," Stone thought sadly. "Being kicked out of home this time is such a huge loss." Then, Stone suddenly released Steel Hammer Daddy's long beard and reached into the front pocket of his shirt.
Hehe, thank goodness we found the big steamed bun this time, otherwise we would have really lost out!
Thinking of the giant steamed bun, Stone couldn't help but feel excited. Although he barely understood the whole story of how the giant steamed bun was made, Stone knew that this giant steamed bun was definitely something special.
A pet with such an extraordinary background as this big steamed bun must be incredibly powerful. Hmm, what can it do?
Space? That's a must!
Farming? That sounds like a good idea!
Treasure? There should be some!
Little Stone squinted, drooling, and fantasized about her wonderful future life when suddenly, a pair of large hands lifted her up into the air.
Shi Tou was startled and instinctively looked up, only to see his plump mother's face filled with tears: "My dear Shi Tou, you scared Mommy to death! Waaah, my Shi Tou! My precious baby!"
Waaaaah, you fat mom, you're suffocating your precious baby!
"Honey, it's alright. Look, we found the stone, didn't we?" Steel Hammer Dad comforted his beloved wife while gesturing for everyone to come inside.
"Dad, where did you find Stone?" Second Brother Fire Tongue was always clever. Unlike his brothers, he didn't breathe a sigh of relief as soon as he saw Stone return and immediately ran back to the kitchen to find something to eat. "Was Stone deliberately taken away?"
Steel Hammer Daddy patted Flame Tongue's head: "Of course not. Why would anyone deliberately take the stone away?"
"So what exactly happened?" Fire Tongue pressed on.
Stone was finally freed from the suffocating gentleness of her fat mother and looked up at Steel Hammer Daddy. She was also curious about how Steel Hammer Daddy had found her.
"Sweetie, you must be hungry, right?" The chubby mom placed Stone in his special high chair and turned to go to the kitchen. Stone was left staring at himself, looking rather depressed. Hey, chubby mom, don't you think you should give me a bath first?
Steel Hammer Daddy looked at the flames, then at the stone, and sighed helplessly, "It really isn't. Stone, do you remember the copper ore we saw when Daddy took you to the mine last time?"
Of course she remembers!
"The one who took Stone away was Tongshi's daughter. That child is only 12 years old this year and doesn't quite understand things yet. According to her, her mother and sister both have babies, so she also wanted a baby. Coincidentally, that day on the street, she saw Stone alone and thought he was an unwanted baby, so she took him." Steel Hammer Dad was helpless. Although Tongshi's daughter was a bit unreliable, his two silly sons were the most unreliable.
"Brother! Brother, throw it away!" Stone reached out to grab the hand of his second brother, Fire Tongue, who was standing next to him: "Throw it away!"
Flame Tongue turned to look at Stone, its face full of heartache: "Stone, are you trying to say that it was the fire hammer and fire tongs that threw Stone away?"
Stone tilted her head and thought for a moment. She felt that Seventh Brother Huoqian had been driven away by Sixth Brother. Strictly speaking, the most unreliable one should be Fire Hammer. Just then, Fire Hammer came out of the kitchen carrying a large plate of roasted meat. Stone pointed her chubby finger at Fire Hammer without hesitation: "Him!"
Firehammer was taken aback, clearly not understanding his sister's meaning. But Firetongue understood, snatching the barbecue plate from Firehammer's hand and declaring righteously, "Firehammer threw away the stone! Firehammer will go hungry tonight!"
Huochui stared at his second brother in disbelief, then his mouth twisted into a grimace as he wiped away tears and ran to the kitchen to complain to his mother.
Stone watched with pity as Fire Hammer ran towards the kitchen, and unsurprisingly heard the fat mother's loud shout from inside: "Fire Hammer, you'll go hungry again tomorrow!"
Tsk tsk, how pitiful...
"Giggle, Master, you're so childish!"
Chapter 018: Steamed Buns Turn into Roujiamo (Chinese Hamburger)
The familiar voice of the big steamed bun reached Stone's ears, startling him so much that he almost fell off his chair.
"Stone!" Steel Hammer Papa steadied Stone. "What's wrong? Did Stone faint from hunger?"
Just then, the chubby mother came out of the kitchen with a baby bottle. Upon hearing this, she became extremely anxious. Without saying a word, she shoved the baby bottle into Shitou's mouth, then picked him up and carried him into the bedroom.
Shi Tou nervously looked around, and only after seeing that everyone's eyes were filled with worry rather than surprise did he breathe a long sigh of relief.
Resigned to his fate, Shi Tou was taken to the bedroom by the fat mother. First, he was forced to drink a bellyful of milk, then he was thrown into the bathtub and thoroughly scrubbed. Finally, under the fat mother's guilty expression, Shi Tou was dressed in clean clothes and tucked into a warm bed.
Well, fine, she'll just sleep then. It's pretty much the same routine of eating and sleeping, almost like... well, you know. But what can she do? She's still just a little kid who can't take care of herself.
Stone closed his eyes tightly, praying incessantly: "Fat Mama, you are Stone's real mother! Please, please go quickly!"
As if hearing Stone's thoughts, the plump mother looked down at him, saw that he seemed to be asleep, and then closed the door and left. As soon as Stone heard the door close, he immediately jumped out of bed.
"You damned brat! Get out here right now!" Stone opened her palm and roared through gritted teeth at the black diamond inside. Luckily, she was clever; while her chubby mother was undressing her, she had secretly slipped the black diamond from her pocket into her hand. Otherwise…
"Giggle, that was close! Baozi almost got thrown into the rat pile by that fat old woman again! Maybe she'd get eaten by the rats, then those two brats would throw her into the stove and burn her alive! And then she'd have to go back to that dark mine! Poor Baozi~~~"
Stone's lips twitched as he watched the black diamond transform into a plump, white steamed bun in the blink of an eye, then burst into tears and screams.
"Be gentle! Don't let my mom hear you!" Shi Tou reached out his right hand and pressed down on the big bun, then used his left hand to pull up the blanket and smother the big bun under the blanket.
Unexpectedly, the big bun struggled fiercely, refusing to be wrapped in the blanket: "Giggle, Master is going to suffocate the big bun!"
"Baozi can suffocate?" Shi Tou was dumbfounded, then she suddenly realized what she had said and yanked the blanket off: "Wait, Baozi, what did you just say? What old woman?"
"Giggle, Baozi said the fat old lady threw Baozi to the meat rat! Poor Baozi!" Baozi, whose sad story was brought up, immediately stopped struggling and started a new round of howling.
Stone glanced nervously at the door, silently praying, "Please, please don't come in, Fat Mama!"
"That's my mom! Not the fat old lady!" Stone stretched out his chubby little paw and slapped the big bun hard.
The big steamed bun burst open in disbelief: "Giggle, the master is packing up the bun! The bun is going to die! The bun is going to die! The bun is going to die! Waaaaah!"
Then you can die, this princess!
Stone was so angry he almost fainted. What kind of dumpling was this? He was a shameless, brazen little bastard!
"Alright, alright, stop howling, it sounds awful!" Stone released the big bun impatiently, pursed his lips, and threatened with a stern face, "If you really attract my mother, I won't take responsibility for you!"
Big Bun shook its body, seemingly frightened by the stone's threat: "Giggle, Bun, don't cry! Master, please don't tell the fat old woman to throw Bun away! Meat rat, you stinky thing!"
"Hmph!" Stone poked the big bun: "You just said you were eaten by a rat? No way? That's filthy!" Stone withdrew his hand with a "whoosh" and then kicked the big bun to the ground.
"Ouch, it hurts so much! Master is so mean!" Big Bun cried loudly. It never imagined that its master, who always regarded it as his lifeline, would treat it like this.
Shi Tou couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead: "Then tell me properly, where have you been these past few days?"
After listening to Baozi's tearful account of its ordeal, even the usually hard-hearted Stone couldn't help but shed a tear of sympathy for it. There was no way around it; Baozi was truly pitiful!
It turns out that after the fat mother took Baozi from the stone's room that day, she threw it directly into the rat enclosure. Immediately afterward, the largest rat ate Baozi in just a few bites. Inside the rat's belly, Baozi turned into a black diamond, thus escaping its fate of becoming rat poop.
But that wasn't the end of it. The next day, the twin brother roasted and ate the largest rat, while the bun that had turned into a black diamond was thrown into the furnace to suffer the horrific torture of being burned alive.
"Baozi, you're still alive after all this?" Shi Tou leaned out of the bed to talk to the big steamed bun lying on the ground. In fact, she was very curious about the big steamed bun. Wasn't this steamed bun incredibly resilient? It hadn't even been burned to death.
"Gaga, how could a steamed bun be burned to death by such a small flame! When the steamed bun wasn't a steamed bun yet, it was burned in the Burning Soul Cave for a full three hundred and sixty-six days! How could a small flame burn a steamed bun to death!" The big steamed bun smugly twisted its chubby body.
Stone grinned dismissively: "Then what are you complaining about?"
Little did he know that these words would trigger something painful for Da Baozi. Even though Shi Tou was desperately covering his ears, he could still hear Da Baozi's terrifying cries. Helpless, Shi Tou had no choice but to apologize to Da Baozi.
"Gaga, Master is bullying Baozi! What's the point of Baozi living?!"
With a mouthful of blood, Shi Tou knelt down before Baozi: "I was wrong, I really know I was wrong, Baozi! Shi Tou is so sorry!"
After Shi Tou sincerely apologized to Bao Zi nearly a thousand times, Bao Zi finally forgave her. However, Shi Tou finally understood why Bao Zi had been so angry.
After the poor steamed bun stayed in the furnace for almost a month, it was dumped into an abandoned mine by Steel Hammer Baba along with the ashes from the furnace.
"Giggle, the mine is so scary! It's so dark! Baozi is afraid of the dark! So scared!"
Stone stared at the giant bun, who supposedly had claustrophobia, with a bloodshot face. Finally, unable to hold back any longer, he grabbed a pillow from the side and smashed it down on the giant bun with all his might.
The world is finally quiet~~~
After a long while, just as Stone was about to fall asleep, Big Bun finally spoke up: "Giggle, Master flattened the bun! The bun has turned into a roujiamo (Chinese hamburger)!"
Pfft~~~