Chapter 29

Wen Cishu thought back carefully. It seemed he really had never come across candied hawthorns before.

"Let's buy a skewer to try."

Bo Yiming took it and bit into one.

With that first bite, he frowned and mumbled around the big hawthorn in his mouth, "Little Dad, it's so, so sour inside!"

Seeing his expression, Wen Cishu laughed. "That's right. The sourness is what makes it good."

Bo Yiming stuck out the tip of his tongue, carefully tucked the candied hawthorns into the paper bag, and said with a perfectly straight face, "Better save these for Big Dad."

He winked at Little Dad and gave a mischievous smile. "Big Dad will definitely love these sour candied hawthorns."

Wen Cishu immediately thought of the lemon that night and couldn't help laughing.

[LMAO, all you think about is setting Big Dad up, huh? You really are your dad's darling son.]

[Mingzai, you're this old and you've never had candied hawthorns? Huh?! Have you never been to a single snack street?]

[Mingzai has it so rough. Let me live this hard life for you, sob...]

[Girls, there's a scoop!! Apparently Mingzai's surname is Bo. That's a really rare surname.]

[Whoa! What about the gorgeous guy? I'm off to get the gossip.]

One stone stirred up a thousand waves. The viewers were already very interested in Mingzai and his dad, and now they happily watched the livestream while digging into the gossip.

On Little Sweet Potato, someone followed the surname "Bo" as a lead and compiled information on all the wealthy Bo families in the country.

Because Yiming was a distinctive mixed-race child, people soon narrowed their target down to the Bo family of Rongcheng.

[The Bo family isn't just rich. They're the richest around, practically rich enough to rival a nation.]

[This family is actually this mysterious? There's so little about them online.]

[Someone in the Bo family is mixed-race? A branch family, not the ones in charge, right?]

[If it's the Bo family, why hasn't anyone spilled anything? So weird. I'm not really buying it. Even if his surname is Bo, he might just be a distant relative.]

[They might not be related at all. Could be the wrong lead.]

[Let the bullets fly a little longer~ Back to the show. Sob, I love my wife~~~~]

[I thought you'd dug up mommy's name! Keep it up, everyone! Find it for me before the show ends.]

In the comments on a very popular post, someone shared a photo.

It showed the side profile of a tall man in a black shirt and black suit, wearing a black mask and glasses, walking briskly.

Although the lower half of his face was hidden, the height of the mask and the position of his glasses revealed a sharply defined face and exceptionally sculpted features.

His figure was particularly tall and straight. Walking alongside the others in the frame, he had an extraordinary presence and stood head and shoulders above the crowd.

momo: [A big shot at an important Chinese-French political and business conference. His surname is Bo too. I snapped this in a hurry as he was leaving that day. He's mixed-race, and he switched effortlessly between Chinese, English, and French during the conference. I was completely floored.]

[Could this side-profile shot be any more side-on?]

[Those legs really are long. They reach higher than the waist of the guy behind him. He must be over 185 centimeters, right?]

momo: [The foreigners around him were about 180 centimeters. Judging in person, he was definitely 190. He had exactly that ice-cold big-shot aura from the movies. When he walked past with his people, our whole row barely dared to breathe. PS: his eyes were a particularly mysterious green.]

[But aren't Mingzai's eyes brown? Amber?]

[Can someone who's half Chinese and half French have green eyes? That must be rare.]

[Have none of you momos noticed? Somehow his black mask looks like a muzzle? Hnnng...]

[Holy shit, girl, you have taste. (Thinking of our gorgeous wife, so gentle when he smiles and so cool when he's quiet... sob, what do I do? I'm about to start shipping indiscriminately.]

[Help, don't just ship anyone!! Mingzai's Big Dad sounds so gentle and so doting on his wife. This handsome muzzle guy feels like he has absolutely nothing to do with doting on a wife, okay?!]

[Handsome muzzle guy? You gave yourself away, hahahaha!]

[Pfft, correction: handsome mask guy.]

Chapter 29

Zhou Xu suggested having dinner in the open courtyard behind the teahouse.

The adults moved the table, while the children worked together to carry the chairs and stools.

By the time the bright moon hung overhead, the eight guests were gathered happily around a square table for dinner, like a family.

Everyone chatted and laughed, and the little ones occasionally chimed in with a childish remark or two. It was especially heartwarming.

[The atmosphere's even better than at the farm~ It's so lovely seeing them become friends and family.]

[I just got my takeout. Eating dinner alone and pretending I'm there, stealing food like crazy from Mingzai's bowl.]

That evening, Wen Cishu washed up early and settled into bed, watching the little monkey snuggle up to him.

"What is it?"

Bo Yiming rolled over on the bed and rested his head on Little Dad's lap. "Little Dad, can I go play with Xingxing for a while before I come back to sleep?"

Wen Cishu slid his palm from the boy's smooth forehead into his hair, brushing his bangs back, then leaned down toward that handsome, adorable face. "Of course."

"Great!"

Bo Yiming hugged Little Dad around the waist and nuzzled into his arms, breathing in deeply before looking up with a beaming smile. "Little Dad, you smell so nice today."

Wen Cishu gave him a nudge. At his size, he wasn't exactly light.

"I poured out too much body wash earlier. Go on. Xingxing's waiting to play with you."

Bo Yiming fished out the watch he had taken off for his bath from his pocket and set it beside him, then winked at Little Dad. "Off I go~"

Wen Cishu thought, Is the little monkey hinting that I should contact Big Dad?

In Chu Han and her son's room.

The moment the knock sounded, Xingxing, who had been taking something out of his suitcase, dashed over.

As the door opened, Bo Yiming jumped up. "Your big brother's here!"

Xingxing wasn't outgoing, but his eyes curved into a smile as he invited his big brother inside.

Chu Han said considerately, "Yiming, why don't you and Xingxing get into bed and chat under the covers? I need to read my script anyway."

"Okay." Bo Yiming didn't stand on ceremony, but he was a little curious about the "script." Lying on his stomach in bed, he quietly asked Xingxing, "Do you go visit your mom's film sets a lot?"

"No, I've only been a few times." Xingxing rolled over, resting his head on the pillow as he looked at his big brother Yiming.

In the lamplight, Bo Yiming's eyes were a slightly different color from during the day. Together with his curled lashes, they looked very distinctive as he blinked.

Lying on his stomach, Bo Yiming cupped his face in his hands. "Then I'll go to your mom's film set with you sometime, and you can come skiing with me. How about I get my Big Dad to teach you? My Big Dad is really good at skiing."

Xingxing was always curious about the Big Dad his big brother mentioned. He pointed a finger toward his big brother's eyes. "Are your Big Dad's eyes like yours too?"

"No, my Big Dad's eyes are green. Um... dark green."

Bo Yiming rolled onto his back too, tugged at the covers, and edged over to lie beside Xingxing. "What about your dad?"

[Huh? Dark green? They really are green?]

[Could it really be that big shot surnamed Bo that momo posted?]

[I really want to rush up to Mingzai with the photo of handsome muzzle guy and see how he reacts.]

On the bed, Xingxing instead rolled over, burying half his face in the covers as he mumbled about how busy his dad was and how he barely had any time to play with him.

"My dad's a doctor."

"Wow. Isn't that really impressive?" Bo Yiming immediately thought of the two doctor uncles who often came to his house.

In his eyes, the traditional Chinese medicine doctor who took their pulses was practically a martial arts master.

"Yeah." Xingxing was indeed proud of his dad.

Bo Yiming remembered how, whenever something happened at home, the doctor uncles always came as soon as they were called.

"Then does your dad have to be at the hospital every day?"

Xingxing nodded, but still volunteered a good word for his dad. "But... before Dad comes home, he asks Mom. If I'm still awake, he brings food back for us to eat together."

"Wow. Then your dad's really nice, isn't he?"

At the mention of food, Bo Yiming grew indignant. "My Big Dad even fights me for food."

He suddenly thought of Little Dad and continued, "My Little Dad used to always lie in the bedroom, and Big Dad was worried I'd be noisy, so he wouldn't let me go into the room to see Little Dad. So I just played by myself."

He rolled over happily. "But Little Dad's been feeling better lately. Let me tell you~ After we went home from the last episode, I even slept with Little Dad and told him fairy tales."

He recalled following Little Dad into the bathroom like a little shadow.

While Little Dad brushed his teeth and washed his face, he kept muttering bad things about Big Dad, and Little Dad listened patiently, even asking about some of the details.

Just remembering it made Bo Yiming feel warm and happy.

"Really?"

Xingxing's eyes rested quietly on his big brother, as though he could picture what "playing by himself" looked like from those words.

He rested his chin on his arm and mumbled in a muffled voice, "Why are grown-ups always like that in spells? Can't they stay the same forever and ever?"

"That's just how it is. Sometimes they're nice, and sometimes they aren't."

Bo Yiming reached out, pinched his little brother's cheeks, and tugged them outward, suddenly raising his voice. "But it's okay, because sometimes I'm nice and sometimes I'm not too. Hehe!"

Xingxing didn't dodge having his cheeks pinched. Instead, he looked at his big brother thoughtfully.

He had never looked at these different sides of his parents separately before, nor had he ever turned that observing gaze on himself, and for a moment he couldn't quite process it.

[Wait, Xingxing took that seriously? A nine-year-old dares to say it, and a seven-year-old dares to believe it.]

[Mingzai has a point, though. There are no perfect parents or perfect kids. Everyone has good and bad moments. As long as it doesn't involve things like domestic violence or cheating, maybe we should understand and accept each other?]

[I think Mingzai's amazing. He's the kind of kid who can have a great time all by himself and never be lonely.]

[But he must have felt lonely when he was younger too. Hugs for adorable little Mingzai back then.]

[No wonder Mingzai's clingier with Little Dad in the second episode than in the first, and even calls him mommy. Turns out they slept together after going home.]