Chapter 46 p2
“Daddy, the brothers and sisters said, Uncle Cheng raised the target fifteen times, and Cheng Rongrong missed seven times. Uncle Cheng wasn’t even angry!” Wei Maomao asked loudly, “Then if I miss, Daddy won’t be angry either, right?”
“No, I won’t…” Even without turning his head, Wei Chengli could sense the death glare from the stationary bike next to him. He said weakly, “No matter how many times you miss, I won’t be angry, okay? As long as you don’t cry when the other families finish the task first.”
Wei Chengli had figured it out, if he didn’t make his stance clear now, this stinky dumpling might deliberately miss seven times later. He didn’t want to work so hard only to become the tragic control group.
This little neurotic three-year-old!
“Why aren’t you going yet?” Wei Chengli shook the little chubby paw on his leg, lowering his voice. “Not in a hurry anymore?”
Wei Maomao saw that Cheng Feiying’s target had risen, and Yan Yan hit it!
“Yan Yan hit one. Daddy, Yan Yan is amazing.” Wei Maomao exclaimed.
Wei Chengli pondered for a moment, then he understood.
“How many has Yan Yan hit?” Wei Chengli tried to follow Wei Maomao’s train of thought.
“One.” Wei Maomao waved to Cheng Tingyan in the gradually dimming center of the flower.
This time, she received a shy, smiling wave back.
“She hit it on the first try, that’s really amazing.” Wei Chengli tried to offer his praise.
Then…
The little chubby dumpling, satisfied, left.
Wei Chengli was speechless.
Attitude determined progress. Since he had finally caught up, he didn’t want to fall behind again and be left alone with a dejected little rascal.
Considering the children’s age, the targets on the petal tips were quite close to the center of the flower, within easy reach even for three-year-old Maomao.
The difficulty of the task lay in two aspects: the dad’s cycling speed and the baby’s reaction speed.
Wei Chengli was still young, after securing first place in the morning, he still had the energy to catch up in the afternoon.
Out of the first three targets, Wei Maomao hit one and missed two.
The first one she missed appeared behind her, she didn’t have time to react.
The second one, she was too busy observing the petals and missed it.
But it was worth it. It seemed the electricity flowed gradually, and the petal whose target would rise would have a faint light extending from its tip before the target actually rose, while all the other petals were fully lit.
Knowing this, Wei Maomao gained a few seconds of advantage, enough to compensate for her lack of agility.
While Wei Chengli pedaled and raised three targets, Cheng Tingyan also hit another target on the first try next door.
Now the score was nine to one.
“Baby, come on!” Wei Chengli encouraged the little dumpling while pedaling hard.
Actually, the tiny little dumpling spinning around foolishly in the lit-up flower was truly, incredibly cute!
“Maomao, come on! It also takes me two tries to hit one.” Cheng Rongrong shouted.
Wei Maomao ignored Cheng Rongrong, staring at the extending light on a petal tip, the moment the target rose, she threw the sandbag.
One point.
Good, her guess was correct.
“Okay. I’ll try my best.” Wei Maomao turned to Cheng Rongrong and said seriously.
Cheng Rongrong smiled, then turned to Cheng Tingyan. “Older sister…”
“Sister Rongrong, come and cheer for me!” Wei Maomao called out. “You’re talking to Yan Yan, your dad is going to be angry if she looks at you.”
Cheng Rongrong: … So annoying!
With the mentality of “one down, one to go,” Cheng Rongrong returned to Wei Maomao’s side.
But when she came back, she saw that Wei Maomao had suddenly run into her own flower, grabbing Cheng Tingyan.
“Maomao! Come back!” Wei Chengli shouted anxiously.
Honestly, even from a distance, Wei Chengli could hear Cheng Feiying’s heavy panting next door, he felt that Cheng Feiying couldn’t hold on much longer. Seeing that only two petals remained unlit on the Cheng family’s side, the target was about to rise, and the little rascal had run over at this moment, if the target rose and Yan Yan missed, wouldn’t she be in trouble?!
Wei Chengli was so anxious that he almost got off the bike, but thankfully, the rascal whispered something to Yan Yan and quickly came back.
“Daddy, come on!” Wei Maomao said seriously, clenching her chubby fists.
Wei Chengli: … Every single day, his blood pressure was skyrocketing from this little one…
Cheng Rongrong didn’t hear what the annoying chubby girl had said to Cheng Tingyan, but that didn’t stop her from staying to cheer for her as the annoying chubby girl had suggested. However, to Cheng Rongrong’s surprise, this three-year-old, while talking to her, actually hit every single target! Cheng Rongrong felt that with her adult reaction speed, hitting one out of two targets was already considered excellent. What kind of luck did this annoying chubby girl have!
Wei Chengli pedaled much faster than Cheng Feiying. By the time Wei Maomao hit the tenth target, Cheng Tingyan had just finished her four consecutive hits, bringing the Cheng family’s score to twelve.
Honestly, Cheng Feiying’s panting next to him was getting louder and louder. At one point, Wei Chengli was even a bit worried and wanted to advise Cheng Feiying to stop if he couldn’t keep up, it was just one stamp, if he really wanted it, he could rest and continue later.
But when Wei Chengli, having prepared his polite suggestion, turned to look, he saw a hint of resentment in the eyes of the man who was sweating profusely and flushed from exhaustion.
It wasn’t blatant, but it was clear, startling Wei Chengli.
It was Yan Yan that Cheng Feiying was looking at like that!
Why… Wei Chengli couldn’t understand. After subconsciously pedaling a few times faster, he even mustered his courage and glanced over again.
Wei Chengli thought his professional skills were still sharp, he wasn’t mistaken, that was resentment…
But…
Wei Chengli mechanically pedaled, but he couldn’t figure it out.
Perhaps because his mind was blank, Wei Chengli’s pedaling speed increased even further, and Wei Maomao quickly hit two more targets.
“Daddy, you worked hard, you’re tired, take a break and have some water.” Wei Maomao called out when the petals dimmed again.
Wei Chengli’s heart warmed, he replied, “Baby, you’re the best! You hit every one! Daddy is not tired! Daddy can do it! Let’s finish this in one go!”
“You’re tired.” Wei Maomao insisted, rubbing her chubby paws.
“I…” Wei Chengli sensed something was off, he paused and turned to look at the score board next door.
Oh… twelve to twelve, both families were tied, he was faster, so he had to wait for the other side, right?
“Daddy is tired, my heart is tired!” Wei Chengli stopped pedaling, exasperated, and thumped his chest at the stinky dumpling.
The stinky dumpling didn’t hold a grudge, she went to get water from the staff, she even stood on tiptoe, trying to feed him…
Wei Chengli’s anger dissipated, he took the water and drank a few mouthfuls.
“Did Daddy ever tell you what ‘flattery for a reason’ means?” Wei Chengli wiped the water from his mouth, chuckling coldly.
Wei Maomao shook her head.
“It’s just like you now, you’re being nice to me not because you want to be nice, but because you have another motive!” Wei Chengli snorted.
Wei Maomao nodded seriously, indicating that she understood.
“…” Wei Chengli, seeing the sudden realization on the little rascal’s face, felt a chill down his spine and instantly gave in. “Baby, forget it… Daddy didn’t say anything just now, okay?”
“The fourth petal is about to light up.” Wei Maomao whispered, pointing at Cheng Rongrong in the distance. “She’s cheering for me, is it also not because… Mmm mmm…”
“Shut up!” Wei Chengli covered her mouth, exasperated. “Let’s both shut up!”
Talking too much would always lead to mutual destruction. Thankfully, the little rascal’s voice was soft, even softer than the panting from the bike next door, otherwise, Wei Chengli was really afraid Cheng Feiying would come down and beat them both up.
Wei Chengli picked up the little rascal and took her aside, lecturing her in a low voice, “Listen, Uncle Cheng is very tired next door, don’t provoke him, and don’t provoke Rongrong, okay? Tired people are very irritable, be good!”
While Wei Chengli sounded righteous, the viewers in the live broadcast room saw right through him.
“CEO Mao is so reckless, Director Wei must be exhausted handling her.”
“Director Wei probably doesn’t want the little chubby bunny to be yelled at by Cheng Feiying, after all, when they arrived, Cheng Feiying was quite harsh towards Yan Yan.”
“Cheng Feiying probably wouldn’t dare to treat someone else’s child like that, he only dares to yell at Yan Yan, he didn’t say anything when Rongrong missed seven times.”
“??? Don’t use the word ‘dare’ here, okay? That’s clearly preferential treatment, tsk tsk tsk.”
“Director Wei is right, people are irritable when they’re tired, and their self-control naturally weakens. Cheng Feiying usually seems nice and caring towards both Yan Yan and Rongrong. He probably doesn’t intentionally yell at Yan Yan, maybe he’s just too tired and can’t control his temper. If Yan Yan was hitting the first fifteen targets, when he wasn’t tired yet, he probably wouldn’t yell at her, it would be Rongrong, who came later, who would get yelled at.”
“Hahaha, how old is the person above, so naive. Rongrong hit fifteen targets, he wasn’t tired, Yan Yan hits the first one and he’s tired? Schrödinger’s tiredness?”
“Speaking of, other families are fine, they only have one child. The Cheng family has two babies, the task arrangement is actually a bit unfair. From the two tasks we’ve seen so far, at the ‘Housing’ stage, Rongrong also went in first for two rounds, Yan Yan went in for the third. And now at the ‘Transportation’ stage, Rongrong hit eight targets first, Yan Yan is hitting the remaining seven… Tsk tsk.”
“Isn’t it fair? Each of them gets half, Rongrong even did more to be considerate of her sister.”
“The person above clearly doesn’t play puzzle games. Like at the ‘Housing’ stage, it’s definitely easier at the beginning, the pressure is all on the last few rounds, filling in the gaps. It’s the same here at the ‘Transportation’ stage, like Director Wei said, the more tired you are, the more irritable you become. With Cheng Feiying’s physique, it’s hard to say if he can even hit the remaining seven targets. But if he keeps missing, and he can’t pedal the bike anymore, if the task fails… whose fault is it?”
“Holy crap, is that so? My simple brain didn’t even think of that!”
“That can’t be right… Rongrong is only three and a half, she’s just being considerate, right? Okay… At most, she just wants to show off, that’s why she volunteered to go first and do more?”
“Tsk tsk, hard to say, hard to say. After Director Wei’s analysis, I feel like Cheng Feiying’s temper isn’t as good as he usually appears. A three-and-a-half-year-old child also has some awareness, maybe she has already learned to avoid danger and complete her share during the safe period.”
“How much trauma does it take to learn such self-preservation at that age, poor Rongrong…”
“The person above, go get your eyes checked, friend, is Rongrong the one who’s pitiful? Is Rongrong, who always volunteers to do the tasks first, the pitiful one? The pitiful one is Yan Yan, who’s always quietly assigned tasks, taking on the leftover work without protest! If it’s self-preservation, a three-and-a-half-year-old Rongrong can figure it out, wouldn’t the six-year-old Yan Yan also know?”
“Wow, thank goodness CEO Mao arrived in time, she told Yan Yan how to predict the target, now Yan Yan’s success rate has increased, she won’t get yelled at anymore!”
“That’s not for sure… I think Cheng Feiying, right now, might not even care about the success rate anymore.”
…
While the live broadcast room was bustling with discussion, the people in the village were oblivious.
But some things could be observed, and the analysis drawn was similar.
Wei Maomao, pulled aside for a lecture by Wei Chengli, glanced at Cheng Feiying in the distance.
When it came to understanding, Wei Maomao knew more about Cheng Feiying than the viewers in the live broadcast room.
His bad temper, hidden under the mask of a loving father, wasn’t without clues.
Yes, tired people were irritable, especially when they wanted to escape the exhaustion but had no way out.
Earlier, standing in the center of the flower, Wei Maomao saw more clearly than Wei Chengli.
Logically speaking, the charging speed was related to the cycling speed. To give the target hitter time to react, Wei Chengli would always slow down a bit when charging the last petal. Although Wei Maomao didn’t need it, it was the normal approach.
Cheng Feiying was different. After Yan Yan hit the target twice, he would speed up every time they reached the last bit of charge. He would tire himself out, slowing down for a long time, then suddenly get a burst of energy at the end… Wasn’t it just to catch Yan Yan off guard?
Truly living and dying for the sake of face. Was he too embarrassed to admit he was tired and wanted to stop, hoping to use Yan Yan’s mistake as an excuse to quit?
He wouldn’t even allow her to be distracted at the beginning, but now he was waiting for her to make a mistake, everything had to go according to his wishes.
Dream on.
Wei Maomao curled her lip disdainfully.
“What’s with that look?” Wei Chengli pinched her chubby cheeks. “I told you to be good.”
“Hmph.” The pinched little dumpling wriggled and turned her back to him angrily.
“Baby…” Wei Chengli poked her chubby waist.
The rascal remained unresponsive.
“There are still three targets left…” Wei Chengli said slowly.
The rascal instantly turned around.
He had figured out how to handle her, but Wei Chengli couldn’t bring himself to smile.
It was infuriating!
This little rascal, for a while, didn’t want to be close to him anymore, acting all grumpy. Today she was being quite well-behaved at times, choosing delicious plates for him, even bringing him water.
But Wei Chengli realized once again, it was all for Yan Yan!
“Tell me, who do you love more, Daddy or Yan Yan!” Wei Chengli pinched her cheeks, exasperated.
“Baby, of course I love Daddy more than Rongrong!” Wei Maomao replied sweetly.
Wei Chengli: “… “ He exploded.
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