Then Shirley pulled him toward the car.

“Wait till my grandparents see you. They will be so surprised!”

“No,” Weng said. “Stop! What are you doing, I’m a stranger—
you shouldn’t be talking to me, get away!”

But Shirley was already climbing

into the backseat of the Rolls-Royce.

“What’s that smell?” she said.

Weng tapped on the glass. “You have to get out.”

Shirley wrinkled her nose. “Smells like a hutong in here!”

Then people were starting to look

so Weng got in and drove away quickly.

“It’s like you’re kidnapping me!” Shirley said.

“I’m stopping at the next corner and you have to get out!”

But Shirley said if he did that, she would scream.

“Just take me home,” she told him. “You know the way.”

When they were near her apartment Shirley asked if Weng

would drive her to school the next morning.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “No way. Impossible.”

“Aren’t you here to surprise Mom for her birthday?”

Weng looked at Shirley in his mirror. “But her birthday was
eight months ago, and she lives in Beijing.”

Shirley gave a sly smile and leaned back in her seat.

“So you are my missing father.”

“Your father is missing?” Weng said with more hopefulness
than he intended.

“Not anymore,” Shirley said, “Unless you’re trying

to keep your return secret?”

“Yes! Yes! I am trying to keep everything secret.”

“But you’ll still drive me to school tomorrow?”

“No way.”

“If you don’t, I’ll tell my grandparents that you’re back.”

“But I have to be somewhere. I have important business.”

“But you’re rich, Dad! Take the day off—take the year off!”

“How will you explain to your friends and grandparents the
strange man driving you to school?”

“I’ll say that I won a competition.”

“Funny,” Weng said. “That’s what I usually say too.”

“I’ll tell anyone who asks I won Bunny Pops Bingo.”

“What’s Bunny Pops?”

“As my father, you may as well learn that Bunny Pops Bingo
is my favorite app, which is also a candy now. I’ll explain to
everyone that I won a Bunny Pops Bingo prize jackpot of a
Rolls-Royce to drive me to and pick me up from school for as
long as you want to keep everything secret.”

“I don’t know,” Weng said. “Seems too complicated—and how
is it connected to Bunny Pops, exactly?”

“I’ve been playing Bingo since I was three on my phone
and there are prizes—it’s simple. I’ll get you the app if you
want—do you have a phone?”

“Yes,” Weng said. “A very good one, actually.”