He had plenty of toys, and while he certainly craved candy, neither compared to the irresistible pull of his mother.
Having little Zhouzhou cling to her made Shen Zhiyu rather happy, though it also brought a measure of worry.
If he clung to her like this, would the netizens end up cursing her out?
Nowadays, internet users loved to blow the smallest matters completely out of proportion.
Xiao Bai told her, "It's normal for a child to be so attached when he's going far away from home for the first time. As for those voices, I'll keep them under control, so you don't need to carry such a heavy psychological burden."
"Once the timing is right, we can just guide him properly."
Thinking about it, Shen Zhiyu realized Xiao Bai was right. She turned her head and explained to Xiang Xianqi, "Thank you, but the little guy is a bit scared because this is his first time out. Once we've spent more time together and he isn't scared anymore, you can take him to play again, okay?"
Upon learning that the younger boy was afraid of strangers, Xiang Xianqi thought he seemed a bit timid, but since he was the older boy, he felt he should be more accommodating toward his younger peer.
"Okay." Although the little boy was shy and wouldn't play with him, Xiang Xianqi still shoved a piece of candy into Zhouzhou's hand and flashed a grin. "Here, have this, it's sweet."
Xiang Xianqi often went on outdoor excursions with his father, so his skin wasn't as pale as other children's. When he grinned, his row of white teeth was dazzling.
In little Zhouzhou's mind, this older brother had dark skin, white teeth, and looked a bit silly when he smiled.
Of course, little Zhouzhou didn't know all those vocabulary words; his only impressions were that the big brother was dark and had white teeth.
He understood the principle of give-and-take as well. Since the older brother gave him candy, he fished a lollipop out of his little yellow duck backpack and handed it over. "Older brother, for you."
Shen Zhiyu had stuffed these into his bag before they set off, filling his small crossbody pouch entirely with candies meant for sharing with other children.
Xiang Xianqi understood social courtesy and didn't refuse the lollipop offered by the younger boy. "Great. Thanks, little brother."
He then naturally followed up with, "Little brother, want to play with toys? I brought a Transformer."
Little Zhouzhou was a boy, after all, and he liked Transformers too.
He had them at home, but he always had to play alone.
Playing by oneself versus playing with a companion were two different things altogether.
Seeing this, Xiang Xianqi called out to him again, "Little brother, come play!"
A conflicted look appeared on little Zhouzhou's chubby little face.
He wanted to play, but he couldn't bear to leave his mother.
How could Shen Zhiyu not know the little Zaizai's inner struggle? She gently patted his chubby little bottom. "Mom is right here. Go play with big brother."
Unable to resist his childish nature, little Zhouzhou ran over to Xiang Xianqi's side.
Gu Shiyu had been observing Shen Zhiyu and her son all along, and seeing Zhouzhou cling so tightly to Shen Zhiyu, she felt a trace of envy.
"It's still better when they're toddlers," Gu Shiyu said, glancing at her own son. "He was alright back in kindergarten, but ever since he started first grade, the more knowledge he absorbs, the more it's 'the teacher says this' and 'the teacher says that' whenever he opens his mouth. As for what we tell him, he doesn't listen at all."
Watching her son's soft, chubby back, Shen Zhiyu felt a pang of guilt. "I've neglected him too much. I just took advantage of the production team's invitation to turn this into a publicly funded vacation."
Gu Shiyu looked surprised. Is that really how a publicly funded vacation is supposed to work?
The two women watched the children and chatted about amusing anecdotes concerning them, just as the other three guests arrived.
Liang Weiwei was doing fine; her daughter was already eight years old and sensible. Plus, since this was the first time traveling out with her father, aside from throwing a morning temper tantrum over waking up, the little girl currently found everything she saw novel and exciting.
Xu Anxin's son, Xu Zijun, was five years old. He had been fine initially, but after being set off by the crying and screaming of Li Yuechuan's three-year-old daughter, it took Xu Anxin quite a bit of effort to finally haul him into the waiting room.
As soon as they entered, the waiting room became much livelier.
It was mainly because of Li Yuechuan's daughter. Despite looking milky and adorable, her explosive vocal power was extraordinary.
She wailed at the top of her lungs, her voice even louder than an adult's.
The child kept crying, and no matter how Li Yuechuan tried to coax her, he couldn't calm her down, so everyone else pitched in to help soothe the little dumpling.
By the time they finally settled the toddler, the older children had already paired up across age groups and started playing together.
"You've got some nerve," Liang Weiwei remarked.
As fellow celebrity dads and Best Actor winners, Liang Weiwei and Li Yuechuan had collaborated before.
Sometimes chemistry mattered a great deal, and after working together several times, the two gradually became friends.
However, outsiders had no idea they were actually close in private, because both of their agencies had deliberately crafted rival personas for them on the outside.
Seeing Li Yuechuan's name among the program's tagged guests, Liang Weiwei had assumed the other man was only bringing his five-year-old son—after all, at five, a child was sensible and much easier to manage.
His younger daughter was only three by nominal age, and barely two in reality—an age where children simply couldn't bear to be separated from their mothers.
Wiping the sweat from his brow after finally placating his child, Li Yuechuan said, "This trip is purely to spend more time with the kids and bond with them. Since I'm bringing the older boy, I couldn't just leave the little girl behind, could I?"
"Besides, my daughter is usually very well-behaved; it's probably because she's in an unfamiliar environment."
Li Yuechuan offered everyone an apologetic smile. "Sorry for holding everyone up."
The others understandingly indicated it was no problem.
Being parents themselves, they naturally understood the desire to accompany one's children.
Moreover, once the child stopped crying and looked all soft and squishy, she was heart-meltingly cute.
With all the guests finally gathered, the director's team gave a sweeping wave and called everyone to board the plane.
Having summed up the experiences of season after season, the director's team had anticipated such emergencies. The actual boarding time they had set had built-in leeway, so there was still plenty of time to board now.
Once on board, live streaming was no longer permitted.
Amid the fans' reluctant farewells, the production team decisively cut the livestream.
After boarding the plane, Zhouzhou returned to his mother's side, hugging her arm and refusing to let go, even feeling remorseful for having abandoned his mother just for a toy a moment ago.
"Mom."
"Hmm?"
"Mom."
"Hmm."
"Mom."
"Hmm~"
To soothe his lingering regret, little Zhouzhou kept calling out softly to his mother.
At first, Shen Zhiyu answered gently, but as she realized Zhouzhou didn't actually have anything important to say, her responses grew a bit lazy, and she instructed him to keep his voice down so as not to disturb the others.
Before long, however, competing cries of "Dad" and "Mom" began popping up all over the cabin.
Aside from Shen Zhiyu, who found the whole thing novel, the other guests—who were constantly subjected to being called "Mom" and "Dad"—only felt a buzzing in their ears, their happiness giving them a headache.
They cast resentful glances toward Shen Zhiyu.
Embarrassed, Shen Zhiyu put a stop to Zhouzhou's noise. "Shh, be quiet. You can't disturb other people."
Zhouzhou nodded obediently, hugged his mother's arm, rubbed his eyes, and whined sleepily, "Mom, I'm sleepy."
He had woken up far too early that day and stayed energized for so long, so it was only natural that he felt sleepy now.
Shen Zhiyu fished a blanket out of her carry-on backpack and tucked it over him. "Sleep if you're tired. When you wake up, we'll have arrived."
"Okay!" Zhouzhou muttered sleepily, tilting his head and drifting off to sleep.
When Zhouzhou was finally woken up, his mother told him they had arrived.
Zhouzhou opened his eyes and looked out the window. Seeing a torrential downpour, he shouted excitedly, "Wow, Mom, such heavy rain! And there's a rainbow!"
His voice instantly drew the attention of several other little ones who had just woken up and were still inclined to make a fuss.
Looking out the window, they saw not only heavy rain, but also the sun and a rainbow.