Chapter 15
After running back and forth, Wei Maomao once again clearly realized that a three-year-old’s legs were truly short.
Just going to the luggage area to get her bunny backpack felt like it took forever, so long that Cheng Tingyan, who had been amicable earlier, seemed to have turned cold again.
Wei Maomao saw this from afar and suddenly felt anxious, but her chubby legs were short and useless, and she stumbled just as she reached Cheng Tingyan. If Wei Chengli hadn’t helped her, she would have almost turned into a bowling ball dumpling.
The startled little dumpling, ignoring her father’s nagging, patted her chest with her chubby paw, not noticing Cheng Tingyan’s hand reaching out a step slower than Wei Chengli, only to be retracted quietly.
By the time Wei Maomao caught her breath and looked up again, all she saw was a little girl with an indifferent expression, her gaze directed elsewhere.
However, Cheng Tingyan’s earlier gesture of wiping the potato chip crumbs with her handkerchief gave Wei Maomao immense confidence. She didn’t even consider that some relationships might be as fragile as bubbles, unable to spark even a fleeting moment of connection.
“Here you go.” Wei Maomao took out a sachet and handed it to Cheng Tingyan, saying with a grin, “It’s jasmine scented, just like the fragrance on me!”
The chubby little bunny’s eyes were still red, but there were no more tears.
She was smiling at her, and she even had dimples… Cheng Tingyan’s pursed lips slowly relaxed, her fingers twitching, resisting the urge to poke them.
“Thank you.” Cheng Tingyan finally softened her expression, took the sachet, then rummaged through her shoulder bag and took out another pale green handkerchief, pressing it against Wei Maomao’s forehead. “You’re sweating.”
She didn’t even mind my sweat! Wei Maomao, already brimming with excitement, felt fireworks explode in her head, completely ignoring Cheng Tingyan’s previous coldness.
However, Cheng Tingyan’s cameraman didn’t.
In Cheng Tingyan’s live broadcast room, from the moment Wei Chengli pushed the little dumpling into her arms, her indifference, confusion, hesitation, nervousness, and then indifference again, to now accepting the gift, and the awkward ice-breaking moment, all were clearly seen by the audience. Prompted by some comments, many viewers had already pulled up Cheng Tingyan’s and Wei Maomao’s live broadcast rooms side by side, “enjoying” them together.
Now, Cheng Tingyan showed the softest expression since the start of the broadcast, prompting a wave of sighs in the live broadcast room.
“Yes! This gentle Yan Yan is the one I liked in the first season!”
“She was probably just nervous at the beginning of filming, so she looked cool, come and feel the warmth of our Maomao!”
“Indeed warm, when she introduced herself, Maomao wanted to show off everything she was wearing, hahaha, it’s like a forced sales pitch.”
“Hahaha, I don’t know about warm, but she must be really fragrant.”
“Speaking of which, I’m curious how Cheng Feiying and the others introduced Yan Yan, is that staff member’s relative, you know, the one who works at the station, still here?”
“Yan Yan seems a bit reserved, she’s two years older than last time, she’s a big girl now, hahaha, unlike some chubby dumplings who are reckless.”
Since the live broadcast of the show began this morning, the comments in Cheng Tingyan’s live broadcast room had been discussing her coldness. Especially when Cheng Feiying and Cheng Rongrong interacted with her and she seemed uninterested, the comments in the live broadcast room became much more heated. But now, seeing that Cheng Tingyan wasn’t always cold, they started to find excuses for her previous behavior.
At the scene, Wei Chengli, looking at the two children interacting in a seemingly serious social exchange, did find it childishly cute.
However, the little one who was beaming after being wiped twice with a handkerchief didn’t make him happy at all.
Hmph, that sachet, Wei Chengli looked at the small sachet embroidered with jasmine flowers in Cheng Tingyan’s hand.
When the family was preparing gifts for each child, Wei Maomao and Zhang Shilan had discussed for a long time before deciding on the color and material of the sachet, and then found a familiar tailor to make it. The dried flowers inside were also bought in bulk from various brands by the mother and daughter, and only the best smelling ones were chosen. When it came to the other children, the biased little dumpling simply picked up three identical Rubik’s cubes, a fountain pen, and a bracelet while shopping for her own toys.
Except for the fountain pen, which she got two extra of, she just took the other things directly… without even choosing.
Wei Chengli had even tried to educate her, saying that although she liked Yan Yan, she should treat all the brothers and sisters equally. But he was immediately refuted by the naughty little dumpling with the story of “the bowl of water can never be balanced” from “Adventures of the Earth Rabbit.”
Thinking about it now was annoying, that cartoon…
Although Wei Chengli wasn’t the one being treated differently, he felt a strange jealousy looking at the sachet.
Hmph! He should be Maomao’s favorite!
Wait, what was he doing here?
He was here because he was so angry at the little one, and seeing her nonchalantly and pretentiously trying to get other people’s attention, he couldn’t help but want to spoil her fun.
Where was the show about improving parent-child relationships… Did this little one even have her father in her eyes…
Looking at the silly dumpling who was smiling at Cheng Tingyan, her eyes crinkling with laughter, Wei Chengli could only let out a dry laugh.
It had to be said that Wei Chengli did have some innate sensitivity as a director. Even though Wei Maomao’s soul was now trapped in the body of a three-year-old, he could still sense from her beaming face that kind of fervent devotion that would blossom with the slightest bit of sunshine and willingly sacrifice everything for it.
This was a sensitive but unfounded reality. Wei Chengli couldn’t explore the reasons behind it, so he could only turn it into the frustration of a father whose attention had been stolen.
Wei Maomao was completely oblivious to her father’s dejection and anger. She was completely focused on Cheng Tingyan.
After a lifetime, they had finally met face to face, with their true identities and appearances. The dream was truly intoxicating.
Wei Maomao carefully chose to use the craftsmanship of the sachet as a safe topic, which successfully attracted the six-year-old Cheng Tingyan’s attention.
Choosing the fabric, choosing the flowers, finding someone to make it… Wei Maomao carefully chose her words, trying to make it more interesting while ensuring it was understandable for a six-year-old and within the expressive ability of a three-year-old.
Cheng Tingyan was right there, listening to her quietly and attentively, nodding or responding softly from time to time. Wei Maomao couldn’t stop the smile on her face. At this moment, she felt she could talk to Cheng Tingyan here forever.
Of course, she couldn’t.
Because the official filming of the show was about to begin.
Under the arrangement of the staff, the families quickly lined up separately.
Although she was forced to temporarily separate from Cheng Tingyan, Wei Maomao was still in a good mood. They had just made a promise to continue their unfinished conversation during free time later.
Everything had changed, they still had a lot of time, Wei Maomao quietly pressed her slightly sore chest and secretly glanced towards the Cheng family.
Then her eyes met Cheng Tingyan’s, who was looking over.
Cheng Tingyan was stunned for a moment, looking at the little chubby bunny’s burning gaze, she couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile.
Wei Maomao tried her best to hold back her laughter.
And she did manage to hold back because the next second, her head was knocked.
“We’re going to introduce ourselves starting from the youngest, you go first.” Wei Chengli interrupted sourly.
Although Wei Chengli was being rude and seemed to be using the hand that had touched her feet and hadn’t been washed yet, Wei Maomao still easily forgave him.
Thank you Cheng Rongrong, thank you Daddy, thank you potato chip crumbs~~~ In this beautiful world, everything deserved to be forgiven!
So Wei Chengli watched as his little dumpling, who seemed to have been driven silly with happiness, wasn’t angry at all about being knocked and happily went forward to introduce herself.
He thought back to when he had just received the introduction pages from the families, the Cheng family’s evaluation of Cheng Tingyan was “a bit cold, a bit of a temper, strong and brave.” He had said at the time that Maomao should take it easy and not try to win over someone who was cold. But after analyzing it with his wife that night, he felt something was off.
There were two other families in the information who mentioned their children’s shortcomings, but they only said “strong desire to win” and “loves to eat, a bit lazy.” The first one could even be considered a compliment, and the wording of the second one was quite cute. Unlike the Cheng family’s comments about Cheng Tingyan, which easily gave people a preconceived and not-so-good impression.
Wei Chengli felt that either the Cheng family or Cheng Tingyan was not so good, but he didn’t want to judge other people’s affairs. It was just filming a show, as long as Maomao played with the other children, it would be fine.
But now…
Wei Chengli looked at Cheng Tingyan in the distance, then at the silly, smiling little dumpling in front of him.
Love potion, love potion…
It seemed he was the one who had helped her drink it… Wei Chengli felt suffocated.
The father’s conflicted and contradictory feelings continued throughout the self-introduction session.
It wasn’t until the show progressed to the house selection segment that Wei Chengli realized with astonishment that what he should be worried about wasn’t whether Maomao loved Daddy or Yan Yan more, but…
“Uncle, you can’t be generous with other people’s things.” Wei Maomao stood in front of Cheng Feiying, blocking his attempt to give away the good house.
Not far away, Wei Chengli heard the four-character idiom, which didn’t match the little dumpling’s childish face at all, and suddenly had a bad feeling. Sure enough, the next second, the evil little dumpling pointed her chubby paw in his direction…
“Daddy said so!” Wei Maomao said confidently.
As expected! Wei Chengli’s vision went black.
Within the immediate vicinity, several cameramen and automated cameras adjusted their positions, striving to get Wei Chengli within their respective shooting ranges.
His scalp was tingling!
Under the barrage of cameras, Wei Chengli suddenly realized that who Maomao loved the most at this moment might be Schrödinger’s cat*, but who she loved to mess with the most was already obvious.
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T/N: Schrödinger’s cat: Refers to a famous thought experiment in quantum mechanics. In simple terms, the experiment describes a cat in a box where its state (alive or dead) is unknown and both possibilities exist simultaneously until the box is opened and the cat is observed.
In general the sentence implies:
1. Uncertainty: Just like the cat in Schrödinger’s box, Wei Chengli doesn’t know for sure where his daughter’s affections lie. It’s a mystery until “observed” through her actions.
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