Xu Zijun rubbed his eyes, instantly feeling much more awake.
Seeing the older and younger boys sitting across from him, he called out softly, "Brother Qi, Brother Zhouzhou, good morning."
Xu Anxin turned his face to the side. "There's an older sister here, too."
Xu Zijun called out again, "Good morning, Older Sister."
Just waking up, the little toddler had red, slightly hazy cheeks and long, fluttering eyelashes, making him unbearably adorable.
Liang Mu'ai responded with a smile. If Aunt Xu hadn't been sitting between them, she definitely would have reached out to pinch his cheeks.
The last to arrive were Li Yuechuan and his family of three.
Because they had woken up too early, their children had thrown a tantrum.
Their son was fine—he was reasonable and understood things—but their daughter threw a fit when she didn't get enough sleep.
Li Yuechuan had coaxed her for a long time before finally calming her down.
"I'm sorry to keep everyone waiting so long." After just a day and a night, Li Yuechuan felt as though he had aged several years.
Raising kids at home hadn't been this completely out of control.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, the director signaled for the host to appear.
The host, Dajiang, hosted every single season.
He used to be a host for a certain station's children's channel. Later, when that show declined and he was left wondering what to do next, the director had found him.
"Hello everyone, I am your Uncle Dajiang. Season 12 of Chong ya, Xiao baobei has begun. Welcome everyone to Yucheng."
Dajiang livened up the atmosphere and asked the children, "Kids, are you happy to go out and play with your daddies and mommies this time?"
"Happy." The children were still a bit shy, and their answers came in scattered murmurs.
Dajiang asked again, raising his voice, "Answer Uncle Dajiang louder—are you happy?"
"Happy!" This time the children answered in loud voices. "Uncle Dajiang, we're very happy."
Looking at the children, Dajiang smiled so broadly the wrinkles on his face bunched up completely. "I can hear how happy the children are."
"Then, are the children hungry?"
"Hungry." The children's gazes landed squarely on the breakfast spread across the table.
"Shall we play a game, then? Once we play the game, we can eat breakfast."
"Okay!" Kids loved playing games. Hearing that there were games to play, they eagerly raised their hands.
Xu Zijun raised his hand and asked Uncle Dajiang, "Uncle, what game are we playing?"
Zhouzhou also looked expectantly at Uncle Dajiang.
Shen Zhiyu smiled at him. "What game does Zhouzhou want to play? You can express it bravely, you know."
Zhouzhou shook his head. "I don't know what games there are to play."
Whether at home or in kindergarten, he liked to stay by himself.
At home, Mother Wu often kept him company, but they only ever played with toys and building blocks, so he didn't know what other games existed.
At kindergarten, the teachers were worried about the children getting hurt, so they kept them confined to the classroom playing with toys.
This was his first time traveling with his mother and playing with so many other little children. He simply didn't know what games there were to play.
A wave of intense guilt washed over Shen Zhiyu. "Alright, then once Zhouzhou thinks of what you'd like to play, tell me, and Mommy will play it with you."
"Okay." Zhouzhou nodded with a smile.
While the mother and son whispered to each other, Uncle Dajiang was already asking the other children what games they wanted to play.
Liang Mu'ai said jump rope.
Xiang Xianqi said push-ups.
Xu Zijun said rock-paper-scissors.
Li Yuqi said building blocks.
Three-year-old Li Yuqu said playing house.
Only Zhouzhou hadn't said anything yet.
Staring under everyone's focused gazes, Zhouzhou didn't look cowardly at all; his little face was simply taut, making him look exceptionally serious.
Just when everyone thought he was about to say something extremely profound, they heard him announce, "A milk-drinking competition? I can drink lots and lots of it."
For some reason, as soon as Zhouzhou said this, the atmosphere plunged into an eerie silence.
Zhouzhou looked bewildered. Why had everyone stopped talking?
Did he say something wrong?
Subconsciously, he looked toward Shen Zhiyu. Shen Zhiyu looked at him tenderly, her hand continuously stroking his head.
Mommy was smiling, so he probably hadn't said anything wrong.
Then why was everyone looking at him like this?
Liang Mu'ai's eyes widened in shock. "Little brother, how old are you? Why are you still drinking milk?"
Beside her, Liang Weixia wanted to stop her, but it was already too late—his daughter's words were already out.
Li Yuqu, who hadn't been weaned off formula yet, happily raised his hand. "Older brother, I can do that too."
Zhouzhou pressed his lips together and fell silent.
He vaguely sensed that everyone was shocked by the fact that he was still drinking milk.
But he was still a baby, wasn't he? How could he get proper nutrition without drinking his milk?
Xiang Xianqi looked at Liang Mu'ai. "Little brother is still young. What's so strange about drinking milk?"
"When you were his age, you were definitely still drinking milk, too. If you don't believe me, ask Uncle Liang."
Liang Mu'ai looked toward her father. "Dad?"
Liang Weixia stroked his daughter's head. "When you were as little as your brother, you were still drinking formula, too. It wasn't until you stopped liking it that your mother and I switched you to regular milk."
Only then did Liang Mu'ai realize she had been making a fuss over nothing.
She apologized to Zhouzhou. "I'm sorry, little brother. I shouldn't have made such a big fuss over it."
Zhouzhou shook his head, picked up his baby bottle from his side, took off the lid, and gulped it down noisily.
Drinking as he spoke, he said, "It's okay, Older Sister."
And just like that, the topic passed.
Dajiang smiled brightly and continued, "Uncle has a game here that requires the children to work together as a team. Can our smart children cooperate and play together?"
"Yes!"
Even Zhouzhou, still sucking on his baby bottle, chimed in with a yes.
Dajiang turned his gaze to the parents, who had been watching the show all along. "This game requires the parents to cooperate, too. Will the children cheer for their daddies and mommies?"
"Yes!" The kids grew excited—even more excited than if they were playing the game themselves.
Having been caught red-handed while enjoying the spectacle, the parents didn't have time to wipe the amused expressions off their faces before they were thrust into the spotlight.
Looking at each other in dismay, Xu Anxin asked, "What game?"
"Hawk Catching the Chicks." As a host, Dajiang certainly knew how to win over children's hearts.
As soon as his words fell, the children scrambled to shout out, "Yay! Let's play Hawk Catching the Chicks!"
The children were brimming with enthusiasm; what could the parents do?
Naturally, agree to it.
"There are five parents. Who's going to play the hawk?" Gu Shiyu asked.
Dajiang cheerfully explained the rules.
[Hawk Catching the Chicks: Each person gets one turn. Within the designated time, the more chicks caught, the higher the reward. P.S.: The top three get better rewards.]
Dajiang said, "Parents should hold onto these rewards carefully; they might help you later in the show."
Xu Zijun spoke up, "Uncle Dajiang, they aren't chicks anymore. They're old hens."
Li Yuqi fluffed his naturally curly hair and chimed in with a smile, "Yeah, Dad isn't a chick. Dad is old. He's an old hen."
Zhouzhou inched closer to Shen Zhiyu and whispered to her, "Mommy, a chick is just a title. You're neither a chick nor an old hen; you're my Zhouzhou's pretty mommy."
Zhouzhou's microphone wasn't turned off, and his self-proclaimed quiet whisper was picked up loud and clear by the trailing camera crew.
—Aww, what brand of precious baby is Zhouzhou? Everyone else is calling their moms and dads old hens, but he comforts his mom by saying it's just a game title and she's his pretty mommy.
—Aahh, Zhouzhou, what color of burlap sack do you like? Big sister is going to go buy one right now.