Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"I really want to see how long Wen Zhi can sleep so peacefully!"

"Heh heh, I want to see the divine sleeping beauty. Does she snore when she sleeps?"

"I'm different. I want to see how far this little stickler can push himself."

The screen was flooded with comments. The blogger 'Ice Beauty's Loyal Fan' timely updated with a GIF, captioned: "Slacker mom tells herself a bedtime story, while her put-upon son studies tirelessly and fans her."

In the picture, Wen Zhi was sound asleep, her half-pressed face still breathtakingly beautiful, while Mu Mu studied without complaint while taking care of his mother.

It made people want to rush into the screen and drag Wen Zhi up for a scolding.

A swarm of haters immediately stormed into the livestream with their keyboards, along with the influx of new viewers. Wen Zhi's livestream blew up in popularity, surpassing the other three celebrities.

"Look at the others—Lin Jiyao is singing his sister to sleep, Liu Yiru is bonding with her son, and Ice Beauty is telling stories so seriously that even the little chubster fell asleep while she was still going."

"But Wen Zhi? Just her? How is this okay?"

"Ffs, are you guys serious? Just to watch Wen Zhi sleep, you’ve crowded the livestream so much that I got kicked out several times."

Occasionally, the sound of flipping pages and the swishing of a ceiling fan could be heard in the livestream. After an hour with millions of viewers, the other livestreams gradually ended—only Wen Zhi's remained open.

Wen Zhi was still asleep, and Mu Mu was still studying.

Some couldn’t take it anymore and started clamoring to call the production team.

"Everyone, let’s all call the production team and make sure Wen Zhi wakes up and goes back to sleep properly!"

"Hahahaha, that's brutal! Wasn't it hard enough for Wen Zhi to get herself to sleep?"

"Hahahaha, I just want the production team to wake Wen Zhi up and make her study the dictionary while Mu Mu sleeps."

The production team’s phone was blowing up. After about ten minutes, Director Fang, who had been sleeping soundly, was woken up by his assistant. Thinking it was urgent, he jumped up quickly—only for the assistant to say, "Director Fang, thousands of viewers are calling, asking us to wake Wen Zhi up?"

Director Fang was confused as hell. "What’s going on?"

The monitoring staff explained the whole situation.

Director Fang cursed angrily, "Are they out of their minds? Waking someone up in the middle of the night for no reason?"

The assistant scratched his head helplessly as Director Fang went back to sleep.

Soon, a line of text appeared in the livestream: "Director Fang says anyone who calls again will have the livestream cut!"

"Hahahaha, I'm dying! Did people actually call?"

"You were supposed to wake Wen Zhi, not disturb Director Fang. Hahahaha!"

After laughing, the viewers didn’t dare call anymore and just stayed in the livestream. Many ended up dozing off without realizing it. Before they fell asleep, Mu Mu was still awake—but by the time they woke up, he was already up.

Many who missed the later part asked in the livestream as soon as they opened their eyes, "Can anyone tell me how long the livestream went last night? Did Wen Zhi wake up at all?"

Someone quickly replied, "Mu Mu didn’t sleep, so I didn’t sleep either. The livestream ended exactly at midnight—almost killed me. That kid is the ultimate grinder."

"Hahahaha, I stayed till the end too. When Mu Mu finished the dictionary, he was so worried about losing his hair that he wore a hat to sleep. Nearly laughed myself awake."

"I saw that too! The little stickler was mumbling to himself, and I thought he was going to do something—turns out he just put on a hat. Turns out he was listening after all."

"Where is Mu Mu now?"

He went to bed at midnight, so he should be sleeping in this morning.

The livestream only shows Wen Zhi puttering around.

"Mu Mu woke up at 5 AM. I was shocked when the livestream started."

The chat blew up instantly.

"Wait, he got up at 5? What for?"

"The outdoor cameras seemed to catch him doing martial arts, and it looked pretty legit. Then he disappeared."

"5 AM? Martial arts? Damn, is this kid serious? What a tryhard!"

"Hahahaha, with a deadbeat mom like that, he has no choice but to grind. Look at what Wen Zhi’s doing!"

The audience’s attention instantly shifted to Wen Zhi.

In the room, Wen Zhi was dressed simply, shuffling in her slippers with her hair disheveled, holding her stomach while rummaging around and muttering, "Where did Mu Mu hide the snacks?"

"Under the blanket?"

"Nightstand?"

"Safe?"

Holding her stomach, she blanked out at the camera for a moment before mumbling, "Could it be under the bed?" She then actually crouched down and peeked under the bed.

Audience: Damn, no wonder he’s so hardworking. If he weren’t, his mom would probably starve to death!

"Hahahaha, I’m dead! A ditzy, no-filter beauty!"

"Wen Zhi’s head must be full of air except when it comes to food!"

"How does she seem like a bottomless pit? She’s barely been here and already wants to eat. Didn’t she notice her son’s missing? Still searching?"

Unable to find any food in the room, she didn’t even close the door and headed downstairs with a glass in hand, shuffling in her slippers. Soon, she appeared in the first-floor lobby, scanned the empty table, and went to the kitchen.

The entire first-floor common area had cameras. Though the crew wasn’t following her at this time, the livestream was still viewable.

Wen Zhi reached the kitchen and found Lin Jiyao frozen like a deer in headlights, holding a can of milk powder. Wen Zhi pointed at the kettle with her glass and hesitantly asked, "Is it ready?" Maybe drinking water would ease the hunger.

Lin Jiyao finally came to and awkwardly replied, "You know how to mix formula? Is it for Xiao Xiao?" His usually cool expression looked flustered.

The audience lost it.

"Hahahaha, I thought Lin Jiyao was having an existential crisis, but he’s been defeated by baby formula!"

"Hahahaha, turns out Jiyao’s kinda dumb. His phone hasn’t been confiscated—he could’ve just Googled it!"

"Wen Zhi’s kid is so old, she’s gotta know how."

Wen Zhi’s face lit up, and she declared without shame, "Of course I can. Watch and learn."

Lin Jiyao set the milk powder aside and stepped back. Wen Zhi walked over, scooped eight overflowing scoops of powder, poured in a full cup of water, stirred it, took a sip, and calmly declared, "Tastes perfect."

Lin Jiyao, unsuspecting, also scooped eight overflowing scoops, poured in a large bottle of warm water, and gave it a hard shake.

The live chat was flooded with "LOLs" as the pre-show audience was completely thrown for a loop by the two of them.

"LOL, one dares to teach, the other dares to learn!"

"Wen Zhi only said she knew how to make milk because she wanted to drink it herself, LOL. So savage!"

"OMG, useless is useless—can't even make milk properly and still tries to fool Brother Jiyao!"

The click-clack of footsteps echoed in the hall as Wen Zhi, holding her milk, tilted her head slightly to see Liu Yiru leading sleepy Sen Sen out.

To her surprise, Wen Bingchun and the chubby kid were already sitting on the living room sofa, engrossed in a book.

Liu Yiru was also taken aback and asked, "Bingchun, why are you up so early?"

Wen Bingchun put down her book and smiled. "Xiao Wen and I have a morning reading habit. We wake up early every day."

The chubby kid also set his book aside, plopped onto the sofa eagerly. "I love reading at home—I've read all kinds of classics, both Chinese and foreign, and I know them by heart. My teachers always praise me for being smart." He pointed to a stack of books on the sofa for Liang Sensen to see. "It was pitch black last night, so I didn’t recognize that character. I definitely know it!"

Was this an attempt at a desperate save after last night’s embarrassment by flaunting books this morning?

"DYING laughing—is the chubby kid trying too hard to save face?"

"Wen Bingchun said they have a reading habit and even brought so many books on the trip. The kid probably knows a lot of characters. It’s just that yesterday’s character was too hard, LOL."

"Scratching my head? How did Wen Bingchun and the chubby kid end up in the living room so fast?"

"Replying to the above: They came out while Wen Zhi was aggressively scooping milk powder."

Liang Sensen, still half-asleep, ignored him. The chubby kid's eyes were scanning the room before he burst out, "Where are Xiao Xiao and Mu Mu? I want to read to them."

Liu Yiru shook her head, indicating she hadn’t seen them. Wen Bingchun tugged at her brother and said with a smile, "Not everyone has your early-rising habit. Xiao Xiao is probably still asleep, and Mu Mu stayed up late stargazing last night—he’s definitely not up yet."

The chubby kid grew anxious. "Then I’ll go wake Mu Mu up." He couldn’t let Mu Mu look down on him.

Wen Bingchun held her brother back. "Auntie Xiao Zhi isn’t up yet. What if she gets cranky if woken up?"

The mentioned Wen Zhi stood at the kitchen door, took a small sip of her milk. Lin Jiyao walked past her calmly, heading through the living room back to his room.

Silence fell over the living room for a few seconds.

The two adults and the kid in the living room glanced at Lin Jiyao, then turned their gaze toward the kitchen.

"..."

Wen Zhi, holding her glass, met their eyes and greeted them naturally. "Morning..."

Wen Bingchun: [silent stare]

"This is next-level awkward! Thought I was the early riser, but turns out I'm the fool here."

"LOL, wait till she finds out Mu Mu was up at 5 AM—she’ll want to disappear."

"Gross, Wen Bingchun is such a fake nice girl. ‘Probably not up yet,’ ‘cranky if woken up’—like she's the only one who reads at dawn?"

Wen Bingchun was momentarily speechless. Liu Yiru smiled and greeted Wen Zhi, "Morning. Just you? Where’s Mu Mu?"

Before Wen Zhi could answer, Director Fang arrived with the crew members.

Lin Jiyao heard the commotion and came out of his room, with Xiao Xiao closely following behind him, clutching her milk bottle. Director Fang smiled and said, "Look who's all awake! Now, let me announce the first task: each parent must find a way to get breakfast from the villagers."

Everyone looked completely lost.

Wen Bingchun anxiously asked, "Are we just supposed to go hungry?"

Director Fang continued with a grin, "There's an old saying among farmers: as long as you have hands and feet, you won't starve. Parents, give it your all! The kids are counting on you for breakfast! Now, hand over your phones."

Xiao Xiao raised her pink milk bottle and said in a sweet voice, "Milk fills me up."

The staff laughed at her remark, and Director Fang added, "Xiao Xiao may be full, but your brother still needs breakfast, right?"

Xiao Xiao thought for a moment: "Oh...yeah, I guess so."

Everyone took out their phones and handed them to the assistants. Wen Zhi was surprised to find that Liu Yiru's phone was the exact same model and color as hers.

"Hey..." Wen Zhi suddenly spoke up.

Director Fang: "Wen Zhi, do you have a question?"

Wen Zhi: "I just wanted to ask, have any of you seen Mu Mu?"

Director Fang glanced around and asked, "Is Mu Mu awake yet?"

One of the crew members nodded: "Yes, he appeared on camera at dawn. Looks like he went out to exercise."

Five o'clock? Out exercising?

Wen Bingchun's face flushed with embarrassment.

Director Fang: "So where is he now?"

Just then, footsteps were heard at the door. Everyone turned to look, and there stood little Mu Mu at the entrance, holding a plate of steaming hot buns.

The buns were plump, soft, and fresh out of the steamer.

The crew: "...Did he really have to show us up like this?"

The other three parents: Wen Zhi's team flipped the script!

Wen Zhi (sniffling): So sweet—did my son hide snacks just to fetch buns for his dear mother?

"Is Mu Mu clairvoyant? Letting his mom cheat at the starting line!"

"Hahaha, Where did Mu Mu even get those buns?"

"Holy crap, even Director Fang's shocked. How are we supposed to run this task now? This mom and kid are in a league of their own!"

Author's Note:

Hey lovelies, Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best in the new year—may all your dreams come true and your health be strong!