"Hey, upstairs, take me with you! Let's go find Zhouzhou together."
Not long ago, he was a trending topic because he was still drinking from a baby bottle at four years old, drawing harsh criticism from anti-fans. Now, because of what he just said, the anti-fans remarked: "That remains to be seen."
The five parents stood in the center of the plaza, surrounded by curious local residents.
The scene brought back nostalgic memories of childhood, when they were pushed out by their parents during the Lunar New Year to showcase their talents and compete against others.
There was a greater or lesser degree of awkwardness on their faces.
Uncle Dajiang asked with a hearty chuckle, "Who's going to be the hawk first?"
The parents looked at each other. Who would go first?
Shen Zhiyu raised her hand. "I'll go first."
Someone had to do it eventually; it didn't really matter who went first or last.
Hearing this, the other parents let out an unspoken sigh of relief.
As long as it wasn't them going first.
Let them buy some time and save a little face.
Shen Zhiyu played the hawk, while Gu Shiyu played the mother hen.
At first, the parents were stiff and held back, unable to let loose. But as the children cheered them on loudly, they began to really get into the spirit of the game.
Xu Anxin was in the last group, and she was still relishing the experience. "It's been so long since I laughed this freely."
To the older generation, their two generations were living in the lap of luxury. But only those living in the present moment knew that each generation had its own unique troubles.
Yet whenever they tried to talk about their stress, the older generation would use the hardships of their own times to lecture them about how fortunate they were.
Over time, they learned to bottle up whatever they were feeling, forgetting what it even meant to be happy.
The classic dilemma: unable to change the status quo and live well, yet too afraid to actually die.
"Alright, the parents all worked hard just now," Uncle Dajiang said, smiling warmly at the children. "Do you all remember how many chicks your mom and dad caught?"
Xu Zijun raised his hand to correct Uncle Dajiang. "Uncle Dajiang, they weren't chicks. They were old hens."
Xu Anxin quickly covered Xu Zijun's small mouth, issuing a subtle warning: "Shut your trap."
He kept going on and on about old hens, practically announcing to everyone that she was an old hen herself. What a wonderful son she had.
Xu Zijun looked blankly at his mother. Though his mouth was blocked, his eyes asked: What's wrong with you, Mom?
Uncle Dajiang repeated the question.
Li Yuqu raised her chubby hand. Her curly hair was tied into two little buns, which, paired with her apple-like face, was irresistibly adorable.
Finally, someone was willing to cooperate. Delighted, Uncle Dajiang told her, "Come on, little Li Yuqu, tell us how many chicks your dad caught."
Li Yuqu shook her head. "I don't know. I just want to ask Uncle Dajiang, can we eat now? Dandandan is so hungry."
Dandandan was Li Yuqu's childhood nickname.
Uncle Dajiang pointed to the food on the table. "You can eat now. Your name is Dandandan, right?"
Hearing that they could finally eat, the children were overjoyed.
After all that running around, they were already starving.
Zhouzhou was staring at the food, drool practically pooling in his mouth.
Hearing that it was time to eat, he was sorely tempted, but he still looked toward his mother first.
Shen Zhiyu used serving chopsticks to place a few of his favorite breakfast items into the empty bowl in front of him, looking at him with a gentle smile. "Eat up."
Adults could hold out until the announcements were over, but little tummies couldn't wait.
Even though the children were ravenous, their table manners were remarkably proper when they finally started eating.
Even the youngest, Li Yuqu, behaved very well.
Gu Shiyu remarked in amazement, "Your daughter is so well-behaved while eating."
Li Yuechuan spooned a mouthful of meat porridge into his daughter's mouth while giving a bitter smile. "She's only this quiet when there's food around."
Remembering how Li Yuqu would wail and make a fuss whenever there was no food, Gu Shiyu shuddered.
Seeing that the parents' attention was entirely on their children, Uncle Dajiang gave a dry cough. When everyone looked over at him, he held up the schedule prepared by the staff and asked, "Does everyone still want to know the rankings?"
"Just spit it out," Shen Zhiyu said. "Stop dragging your feet, or the kids are going to finish eating."
Once the children were full and started running around, the parents would have to chase after them. Did they expect the adults to skip breakfast altogether?
"Ahem, in first place is Liang Weixia."
Second place was Li Yuechuan.
Shen Zhiyu came in third.
Gu Shiyu was fourth, and Xu Anxin came in last.
Uncle Dajiang produced a set of sticker emoji rewards. "First place gets five sticker emojis, second place gets four, third place gets three, fourth place gets two, and last place gets one."
"Kids, come on up and help your mom and dad collect your prizes, okay?" Uncle Dajiang called out to the children who were eating breakfast.
"Yay! Okay!" When it came to collecting prizes, no child lagged behind.
Zhouzhou walked back to Shen Zhiyu holding the three sticker emojis his mother had won, and handed them over. "Mom, they're ours."
Shen Zhiyu told him to put them away safely.
Delighted, Zhouzhou tucked them into his small cross-body bag and patted it gently. Then he looked up and flashed a smile at Shen Zhiyu, his two canine teeth and dimples making him heart-meltingly cute.
The viewers in the live stream went wild. Shen Zhiyu cupped his little face in her hands and planted several loud, affectionate kisses on both his cheeks.
Zhouzhou blushed deeply, but he loved it when his mother kissed him.
Far away on a business trip, having just finished working overtime, Lu Yunzhan watched the live stream of his young wife hugging and kissing their son, his face turning as dark as charcoal.
It had been a long time since he had shared such close physical affection with his wife.
Moreover, in public, his interactions with his wife were nowhere near as intimate as the ones between her and their son.
He used to think there was nothing wrong with how he and his wife interacted, but watching the way she interacted with their son now, he suddenly felt that everything about their dynamic was problematic.
Yet, while he knew there was a problem, he had no idea where the problem lay.
Annoyed, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and glanced out the window, only to see Assistant Lin making a phone call.
Making a call was fine, but Assistant Lin's usually expressionless face wore a bizarre look that defied description.
Acting on an inexplicable impulse, Lu Yunzhan took a photo of Assistant Lin's current expression with his phone and sent it to the group chat of three.
L: [Image]
L: Don't you guys think the smile on his face looks a bit weird?
Lu Yunzhan rarely stirred up the group chat. Usually, the other two did the chatting, and he would just glance at it when he had time or ignore it when he didn't.
His sudden appearance dragged the other two out of hiding.
Tang: Is Assistant Lin in love?
Zhou: What's weird about it? Assistant Lin's expression screams "I'm in love." You can smell the cloying scent of romance right through the screen.
Zhou: Can you believe a married man has no idea what the scent of romance smells like?
Tang: His love life has always been a smooth ride, cut him some slack.
With Zhou Xanyan and Tang Jibai echoing each other, Lu Yunzhan realized his previous move had been a bit idiotic.
He changed his chat settings to hide notifications for that group and went back to the live stream.
After Uncle Dajiang announced the rankings, the parents started eating their breakfast as well.
Seeing the breakfast spread on the table, Lu Yunzhan frowned slightly. He remembered investing quite a bit of money; why was the breakfast so shabby?
Right on cue, Assistant Lin walked in. Lu Yunzhan instructed him to call and check with the production team: "Is the funding insufficient? Why is the breakfast so shabby?"
As soon as he stepped inside, Assistant Lin heard the question and guessed that the CEO had been secretly watching the variety show featuring his wife and young master. But he never expected that the CEO's first words upon seeing him wouldn't be about the morning's schedule, but rather asking if the production team was short on funds.
Assistant Lin nodded firmly. "Understood, I'll ask right now."
Right in front of Lu Yunzhan, Assistant Lin called the director of the production team.