"He told us stories!"
"Yes, and Little Fish put nice-smelling lotion on us!"
"And chocolate! It was sweet and really yummy."
"His stories were really interesting. We'd never heard any of them before."
A large group had gathered in the little courtyard. Even after everyone had sat down at the dinner table, the children were still chattering nonstop about their big brother, praising one thing after another about him.
The elderly people who usually looked after the children: "..."
╭(°A°`)╮
┴─┴︵╰(‵□′╰) Our base got stolen!!!
Jiang Keyan: (･⊝･∞)
Coming out of the kitchen, Jiang Wanrou saw this and pressed her lips together, using the motion of tying up her hair to hide her expression. She very nearly laughed out loud.
"Auntie."
Something gently tugged at the hem of her clothes.
Jiang Wanrou turned around.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Jiang Wanrou crouched down and met the little girl's eyes.
The girl, who looked no older than five, tilted her head up and gazed at the woman expectantly. "Auntie, can you let Little Fish stay? I don't want him to leave."
"Little Fish?" Jiang Wanrou suddenly froze at the name. "Who... is Little Fish?"
"He's the big brother! The one who came with you, with the long hair. The really pretty one."
"He told us to call him Little Fish."
Little Fish.
Jiang Wanrou's expression went blank for a moment. Something flashed through her mind, but she had no time to grasp it.
Before she could even taste that bitterness, it was gone.
It left no trace.
Coming back to herself, Jiang Wanrou shook her head and stroked the child's head helplessly. "You mean Wen, right? I'm afraid that won't work. He has to work."
Wen Yanyu and Duan Mufeng had not returned yet.
"But didn't he come back with you to eat?" Jiang Wanrou asked again.
The children exchanged looks, then glanced at Little Tiger, who had remained silent all this time, and quietly shook their heads.
"He stayed behind with Little Flower."
"Little Flower?" Jiang Wanrou asked in confusion.
Lu Mingxu and Sang Yu came over from the courtyard on the other side, ready to eat together.
Just then, several figures appeared at the courtyard gate.
Jiang Wanrou looked up to see Wen Yanyu walking in, holding a child's hand in one hand and a large bag of something in the other.
Duan Mufeng looked constipated, all his earlier cheerfulness gone as he followed behind the young man at an unhurried pace.
"Big brother!"
"Big brother! Come eat!"
At the sight of Wen Yanyu, the children immediately broke into smiles and skipped over to him.
"What's in your bag?" a little girl asked curiously.
Wen Yanyu opened the bag, revealing a whole bag of little toys, and the children's eyes instantly lit up.
"The bubbles I've always wanted!"
"And puzzles!"
"Can I play with it? I'll give it back as soon as I'm done?"
Looking at the children with stars in their eyes, Wen Yanyu took Li Qianhua's hand.
"I was comforting Little Hua just now and took her to the village shop. I asked her what she wanted, and she said she wanted to get you little presents."
The children all froze at his words and turned to look at Li Qianhua.
"So I asked her, 'Do you know what the other children like?' Little Hua said she remembered."
As he spoke, Wen Yanyu took the puzzle out of the bag and placed it in front of the girl who had been holding Li Qianhua's hand that morning.
"Little Hua said she used to do puzzles with Yaya, and you promised to finish a whole series together. But now that she has trouble seeing, she's afraid of causing you trouble, so she hasn't really dared to play with you."
"She told me she was afraid Yaya and the other boys and girls were angry with her. I said you wouldn't be angry with her. If Yaya were angry, she wouldn't keep holding her hand."
It took the little girl a long moment to react. She looked at Li Qianhua, who was clinging tightly to the young man's clothes in embarrassment, not daring to let go.
The girl lightly rubbed her nose, then grinned. "I'd never be angry with Little Flower. We promised to finish them together, so we're going to finish them together."
The other children seemed to have only just caught on as well and gathered around Li Qianhua.
"We'd never be angry with Little Flower."
"Yeah, yeah! We just thought Little Flower didn't want to play with us."
"Exactly! I've really wanted to play with Little Flower all this time, but she didn't answer me. I thought she didn't want to play."
At a loss, Li Qianhua turned back to "look" at the young man.
Wen Yanyu stroked her head and nudged her toward the children.
The children immediately followed, leading Li Qianhua to the table. As they all chimed in, the conflict born of misunderstanding and pride gently dissolved.
Under the onslaught of toys, the children were soon playing together again.
Wen Yanyu lowered his eyes and let out a soft breath of relief.
Duan Mufeng walked around him and headed for the table in the courtyard.
This guy?
Was he done causing trouble?
Under Lu Mingxu's strange gaze, Duan Mufeng sat down to eat in silence, without so much as looking at Wen Yanyu.
Throughout dinner, the children crowded around Wen Yanyu, chattering nonstop. One wanted a story, while another wanted to take him around the village after they finished eating.
Watching Wen Yanyu get along so well with the children, the others at the table silently cast awed looks his way.
[Wen Yanyu: a male mom who really knows how to handle kids.]
[Suddenly I feel like Wen Yanyu has a bit of a housewife vibe. Am I allowed to say that?]
[Timidly raises hand. When he was telling the kids stories earlier, I was already seeing an unmarried male mom.]
[Baby, sob sob sob. I feel like my baby's back to normal. Baby, stop clinging to people who don't like you. As long as you don't harass that man or threaten to kill yourself, Mommy still loves you.]
[Gotta say, this guy's pretty mentally tough. After getting dragged online for six months and attempting suicide, he can still come on a show and play happily with kids. Impressive, impressive. He's earned that money.]
[I think maybe dying once helped him let everything go.]
[Hope he keeps it up.]
That night, everyone sat in a circle in the courtyard.
Cups filled with beer covered the space in front of them.
The host held a tablet, his smile a little wicked.
"Truth or dare. I'm sure you're all familiar with this little game."
"Next, I'll use the machine prepared by the production team to randomly select guests and challenges. If you want to refuse a challenge, you'll have to complete the corresponding penalty."
"Completing a challenge will earn fifty yuan toward the team's shopping trip."
The others exchanged glances.
The production team's challenges probably wouldn't go too far.
So they all nodded in agreement.
"Then let's begin."
Before you continue