Chapter 14 Do You Believe in Light?

Chapter 14 Do You Believe in Light?

Wen Yuchen drove the ox cart halfway across the field. Meng Feihang, steering a small green electric scooter, waved breezily to him: "Sis is going on ahead."

Xiao Shiliu mimicked her: "Zheng Zheng, sis is going on ahead!!"

Zheng Zheng watched his sister pull ahead, whining anxiously: "Sister! Sister! Daddy, sister!"

Wen Yuchen remained unruffled: "Dad knows, Zheng Zheng, but an ox's four hooves can't outrun four wheels."

Zheng Zheng seemed to grasp it—he couldn't overtake his sister. The little one sighed helplessly, imitating an adult: "Sigh~, ox, slow."

Wen Yuchen found it amusing, pinched his chubby cheek, and handed him an apple-flavored rice cracker.

As Wen Yuchen's ox cart moved across another section of the field, Gu Jinghe, wearing sunglasses and sporting a wind-swept pompadour, rode past them on a tricycle and nodded at Wen Yuchen.

Xingxing, sitting in the back, opened his mouth wide against the wind, shouting indistinctly: "Little bro, I passed you, hahahaha!"

Jinjin, frowning slightly in the tricycle, saw Zheng Zheng and silently waved.

Seeing the handsome older brother he liked at first sight also pass him, Zheng Zheng suddenly felt the apple-flavored rice cracker lost its taste. He sighed again: "Sigh~, ox, not fast."

Even Fufu and Jiejie, who were taking pictures of Jinjin, overtook Zheng Zheng. Zheng Zheng lowered his head, munching on his rice cracker with a crunch.

Xingxing had just boasted to Zheng Zheng when his dad warned him.

Gu Jinghe cautioned: "Gu Xinye, if your stomach hurts later, don't come crying to me!"

Hearing this, Xingxing closed his gaping mouth.

"Good-natured" laughter came from behind, and Xingxing pouted.

Wen Yuchen drove the ox cart past another half field.

Su Yuecheng rode past them on an electric scooter, grinning playfully: "We're off."

Xiao Moli said obediently: "Bye-bye, Zheng Zheng."

Now Sister Xiao Molly had passed him too. Zheng Zheng was truly disheartened.

He: /_ \, ox, slow.

Seeing Zheng Zheng's little face grow more like a bitter melon, Wen Yuchen chuckled inwardly. He hadn't realized the kid was so competitive.

Halfway through the journey, Zheng Zheng hadn't even finished his rice cracker, looking gloomy: /_ \

Oh man, a sweet, milky-scented baby turning bitter?

Wen Yuchen asked: "Zheng Zheng, are you a little bitter melon?"

Zheng Zheng looked up seriously: "Zheng Zheng, no, I'm Kitty."

Wen Yuchen: "Zheng Zheng, Dad is so bored."

Hearing his dear dad was bored, Zheng Zheng pursed his little lips: "Me, sing, Dad, no bored."

Wen Yuchen smiled. The kid could barely speak clearly—he wondered what he'd sing.

Zheng Zheng: "Two Kitties, two Kitties, run fast, fast, one no tail, one no ear, strange, strange."

Well, the little one was tone-deaf too—a mangled version of "Two Tigers," now "Two Kitties," sung all out of tune.

Wen Yuchen shook with laughter.

"My baby, my Zheng, why are you so tone-deaf?"

"Two Kitties—is Zheng Zheng singing about himself? So cute!"

"Don't even say it, Wen Yuchen's laugh is... slurp slurp."

"Hey, does Zheng Zheng need a mom? I'd be up for it just for Wen Yuchen's face."

"As expected of Wen Yuchen's dog, really desperate."

"Get out!!"

Zheng Zheng, seeing his dad laugh, smiled shyly and pressed his face against his dad's back, murmuring softly: "Dad, sing."

Wen Yuchen cleared his throat: "I'll sing? Dad's not great at singing. How about a song from a cartoon I watched as a kid?"

"I can catch the moon, I'll use countless dreams

To row with countless oars

With courage and wisdom as my boat"

......

"Don't even say it, he doesn't sound bad. Who did Zheng Zheng take after?"

"Wait, this song sounds so familiar, so familiar."

"It's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't name it."

"Ahhh, I know, I know!"

"Goodbye, Mom, tonight I set sail

I have oars of joy and wisdom"

......

"I know, I know—Happy Planet!"

"Lele, Dual Body, Ice Lemon"

"How could someone who sings 'Moon Boat' be bad? I declare, this person, I'm—following—for sure!"

"Really desperate."

"Get out!!"

Wen Yuchen didn't have smartphones as a kid. He’d sit in front of the TV every day at 7:30 sharp to watch the Galaxy Theater. He knew the theme songs of many cartoons by heart.

After he finished singing, Xiao Zhengzheng clapped happily, his little hands turning red.

The old ox also turned its head and lowed: "Moo~"

Old ox: Human, you sing well. The ox approves.

Xiao Lu said cheerfully: "Brother Wen, you actually know how to sing the Happy Planet song."

Wen Yuchen: "Absolutely. When we were kids, we didn't have smartphones; we just had the children's channel on TV every day."

"Exactly! We had such a great selection of cartoons back then. My mom would beat me several times for skipping homework just to watch that show." Da An chuckled.

"Me too!" Wen Yuchen exclaimed, like he'd found his people.

Zheng Zheng had no idea what his dad and Fufu were talking about. He tugged at Wen Yuchen's sleeve and pleaded, "Daddy, sing more, Bao'er wants to hear more."

"Sunny days, rainy days, curtain calls and new acts beginning

Lingering last night, meteors streaking through the mist

Always crossing through dreams, brilliant starlight twinkling

Waking to see before my eyes, vows locked away by time

......

Look up, see the sky full of wind, flowers, snow, and moon

Turn around, find you right by my side"

"Luo Luo's Adventure!" Xiao Lu shouted. "I loved it as a kid, but back then I didn't like the ending theme—it felt too melancholic. Now it feels like the song was meant for us now."

"Yeah, as kids we preferred more action-packed stuff," Da An sighed nostalgically.

Wen Yuchen reminisced: "'Pilihuo, run! We're enemies in this life, but brothers in the next! Hidden Back Energy, activate!' When Golden Iron Beast died, I was bawling my eyes out. My mom got so annoyed she smacked me with a broom handle, and it hurt so much I couldn't sleep half the night."

Someone in the comments typed: "Wuwuwu, Hidden Back Energy, activate!"

Another comment: "Though I, Fierce Tiger King, am ruthless, I still have one principle—I repay both favors and grudges."

And another: "As a kid, I didn't like Blue Poison Beast; I thought he was really bad. Now I realize he was actually pretty sharp."

"Wait, I don't understand what you're talking about."

"These are 90s and 00s kids' cartoons. You 2010s kids wouldn't understand."

"This cartoon was really good, not worse than the foreign ones."

"Wen Ge, Wen Ge, keep singing!" Xiao Lu was really getting into the nostalgia.

"Forget the chaotic time

Cross the tangled curves

Everything I care about is here

Burn bright, the side of dreams and reality

......

The fight will continue till tomorrow"

"Shenpo! It's definitely Shenpo! Right?" This time it was Da An yelling out excitedly.

Xiao Lu was confused for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Ahhh, Ling Yuxuan! I was completely smitten with him back then."

"Hehe, I was completely smitten with him too."

"Turns out I had a thing for white-haired characters even back then."

"You'll definitely sing along to this last one!"

Xiao Lu grinned. "Let's hear it!"

"Like sunlight breaking through the night

Dawn quietly sweeps across the sky

Whose figure shuttling through the cycles of time

..."

As expected, Da An and Xiao Lu joined in singing.

"A new storm has appeared

How can we stand still

..."

Soon, the livestream comments were flooded with lyrics too.

New viewers thought some kind of ritual was happening.

By the time the song reached the halfway point, the ox-cart had slowly entered the village.

"Smile in the face of danger

Dreams coming true won't be far away

Gather courage, move forward firmly

A miracle will surely appear"

Wen Yuchen drove the ox-cart past the homes of several children.

Kindergarten kids are at the age where they love Ultraman—even little Zheng Zheng enjoys watching monsters being fought.

Wen Yuchen himself is a big Ultraman nerd, and he became absolutely pumped when singing the Ultraman theme song.

Combined with Xiao Lu and Da An's loud voices, the effect was perfect, attracting all the kids outside.

They looked and realized, "Oh look, it's Uncle Wen's slow-moving ox-cart!"

With every line Wen Yuchen sang, another kid would hop on. Lost in the song, Wen Yuchen only felt Zheng Zheng clinging to him and didn't notice the other little ones joining.

The chat was going crazy—no one can escape Ultraman.

After finishing the song, Wen Yuchen shouted, "Do you believe in light?!"

"We believe!" came the thunderous chorus of little voices from behind, giving Wen Yuchen a proper startle.

It also startled Zheng Zheng, who had been happily listening while cuddled up to his dad.

The little one widened his eyes, saw they were his older friends, and gave a sweet smile.

Wen Yuchen looked at the group of children in front of him, equal parts amused and exasperated, and counted—every single one had joined.

He had a bit of a headache because they had followed along just like that. Did their parents even know?

Wen Yuchen lifted them down one by one. The little rascals chirped and chattered as they crowded around him. Wen Yuchen's smile faded, and he said coldly, "Come on, line up in a row."

Seeing that Uncle Wen was unhappy, and since he was so tall and sturdy, the little rascals wilted and obediently lined up in a row.

"When you came out, did you tell your mom and dad?"

The little rascals shook their heads.

"Is the oxcart moving?"

The little rascals nodded.

"You followed a stranger without telling your parents. And you even climbed onto a moving oxcart. That's so dangerous!" Wen Yuchen was furious with the kids, and all his good mood from the journey was gone.

Xiao Zhengzheng gloated on the side, though the little boy spoke very seriously: "Dangerous, oh. Not right."

The little rascals hung their heads. Xiao Shiliu was the first to speak softly: "Uncle Wen, we were wrong. We won’t do it again."

Xiao Moli nodded too.

Jinjin and Xingxing also realized their mistake.

But Tang Zhixiao’s little brat stubbornly held his head high.

This little rascal was about to graduate from kindergarten and enter elementary school—he should have known better. Wen Yuchen didn’t want to deal with this brat who had nearly scared his own baby to tears.

He said seriously to the little rascals, "Next time, don’t follow strangers without permission, understand? You must only go with someone if your mom and dad know and agree. Also, even though the ox moves slowly, the cart is very heavy. If you fall while trying to climb on, the wheels could run you over and hurt you badly. Understand?"

"Understood!" the little rascals shouted loudly, readily admitting their mistake.

Wen Yuchen told them to stay there and wait for their parents to pick them up.

The little rascals nodded and began playing cheerfully with the gentle ox.

Fans who had drifted over from various live streams were having a great time, spamming the chat in Wen Yuchen’s live stream with laughter.

"Still laughing? Just wait till your parents come for you."

"Hahaha, I wonder who’s lucky enough to taste a spanking tonight."

"Hahaha, just say it straight, you’re talking about our little Xingxing."

In no time, Wen Yuchen’s song about childhood memories and the "oxcart full of kids" incident started trending.