Chapter 73p2
These words…
Were they something he should be saying…
Were they something the kind of parent he wanted to be should be saying…
No, they weren’t.
“I’m sorry, I’ll rephrase that.” Wang Zhizhi took a deep breath, and when he looked at Wang Qingchuan again, he had calmed down. “Our family, it’s just me, you, and her. I’ll take care of you and her, it’s just you and her. You can play on your own, you don’t have to be together, you don’t have to care about each other. Mmm… As long as you don’t fight, it’s fine.”
Wang Zhizhi had thought that if he ever became a parent, he would definitely only have one child, not a second one!
But the program team had made him a parent ahead of time and even given him a second child. He didn’t know what the best approach was. All he could offer was the kind of life he wished he had.
When Wang Zhizhi apologized, Wang Qingchuan thought he was going to say something else.
“What’s the difference between that and what you said before!” Wang Qingchuan frowned. “I know you’re playing the role of a parent in this pretend game. But what Dad is telling you now is the reality, it’s about you and your sister, don’t pretend you don’t understand.”
“I understand.” Wang Zhizhi tried to be patient. “The uncles from the program team said I’m free now. I can freely choose what to do. I’m the parent, I choose to sell vegetables, to buy food and toys for you and Beibei. My sister is your daughter, when you were the parent, you went to sell vegetables and bought food and toys for her.”
“What I bought was what I bought, I’ve been telling you for so long, you’re the older bro…” Wang Qingchuan knew it, he knew it was hard to change a stubborn person. Now, there was no perspective-taking, only greater rebellion.
“Brother.” Wang Qingbei interrupted Wang Qingchuan, smiling. “Brother, go pick vegetables too, buy me some flowers to wear.”
Wang Qingchuan: ???
Who are you?
Disciplining a child who wouldn’t listen was already annoying enough, and now there was a random person butting in, Wang Qingchuan was fuming.
But before Wang Qingchuan could speak, Wang Zhizhi spoke first.
“Beibei, I’m the parent, I’ll buy them for you. My dad… Mmm, your Brother Chuanchuan, let him do his own thing.” Wang Zhizhi said seriously.
“Hahaha!” Wang Qingchuan chuckled, turning to Wang Qingbei. “You’re even speaking up for him, he doesn’t even understand!”
Wang Qingbei ignored Wang Qingchuan, and when she looked at Wang Zhizhi again, her eyes softened. “Okay, I’ll listen to Zhizhi, I don’t need Brother Chuanchuan to buy them for me, let him do his own thing.”
Wang Zhizhi, feeling he had successfully rebalanced the family with two children, breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at Wang Qingbei, strangely, after just one breakfast, he felt she wasn’t so unfamiliar anymore.
Wang Qingbei felt Wang Zhizhi’s kindness, especially his earlier words, refuting her attempt to help him… Wang Qingbei didn’t think Wang Zhizhi didn’t understand that she was helping him complain about Wang Qingchuan. But regardless of whether he understood or not, he had stuck to his earlier statement, “I’ll take care of you and her, it’s just you and her. You can play on your own, you don’t have to be together, you don’t have to care about each other.”
Before joining the show, Wang Qingbei had heard Director Zeng mention the Wang family’s situation and had even stayed up late to catch up on some of the videos.
A family with two children, the father ignored the older child’s feelings, excessively trying to make him instantly mature and accept the younger sibling, to love and care for her. Honestly, this desire for a harmonious and loving family wasn’t wrong, but in reality, even an older child, even an adult, might not be able to meet Wang Qingchuan’s expectations.
Before becoming Wang Qingbei, she was a very independent person in real life. She believed that people should love and protect themselves first, without harming others, after building a strong and independent core, then they could love and protect others. Obviously, Wang Qingbei didn’t agree with Wang Qingchuan’s high demands on the not-yet-five-year-old Wang Zhizhi.
But… since she had taken this job, she would play the role of Wang Qingbei well.
Wang Qingbei, Wang Zhizhi’s “daughter.”
In this stage, her persona wasn’t fixed, it should change based on the kind of parent Wang Zhizhi chose to be.
Now, Wang Zhizhi was a fair, just parent who wanted his children to have independent lives, so she could play the role of a cute, considerate daughter.
When she accepted this job, Wang Qingbei had thought it was quite simple, just playing the fake daughter of a child, and changing her persona based on the child’s parenting style.
In reality, after getting started, Wang Zhizhi was a good parent, her role as the daughter wasn’t difficult either.
It’s just that… she couldn’t help but be annoyed by this Wang Qingchuan.
Unable to resist retorting Wang Qingchuan, going out of character once, Wang Qingbei mentally deducted ten points from her performance.
It was truly difficult not to get angry when encountering someone with different values, someone who constantly challenged her.
Wang Qingbei maintained her friendly and well-behaved smile, finished the breakfast on her plate, and thought, just you wait, Wang Qingchuan, this stage will eventually end!
Unlike Wang Qingbei, who knew there would be a time for “revenge” later, the viewers in the live broadcast room were truly angered by Wang Qingchuan, they wished they could whisper in Wang Qingbei’s ear, telling her to be their mouthpiece and retort Wang Qingchuan for them.
Retorting, well, she couldn’t retort anymore for now.
But Wang Qingchuan definitely wouldn’t be happy anymore.
As soon as they finished breakfast, the program team delivered new task cards.
The card for Wang Zhizhi said, “Please arrange the children’s activities for the morning, you can arrange them according to your own ideas (the content needs to be reviewed by the program team for appropriateness), or you can choose from the following options, and the program team will make specific arrangements: a. Free play b. Reading c. Watching cartoons d. Calligraphy practice e. Talent training f. Physical training g…”
Wang Zhizhi’s card was folded several times, the content was several times longer than the usual task cards, it took the program staff a long time to finish reading it.
And the task cards for the other two had much fewer words. They simply said, “Please follow the parent’s arrangements for the morning’s activities.”
“What do you… want to do?” Wang Zhizhi looked at the two and asked.
“I want to lie down and do nothing.” Wang Qingchuan, who had either been ignored or refuted during breakfast, imitated Wang Zhizhi’s laziness from the past two days.
“Free play?” Wang Qingbei, participating in a reality show for the first time, was quite interested.
Wang Zhizhi nodded and looked at the staff, who hadn’t left yet. “I’m arranging ‘lie down and do nothing’ for Dad, is that okay?”
The staff: “… “
Was that okay?
It was here, the bizarre content they couldn’t review, it had arrived…
The staff member signaled Wang Zhizhi to wait, then went back to the group of staff and made a phone call. After a while, he came back and replied, “It’s reasonable, it’s allowed, we’ll make arrangements.”
“Then Beibei can also go for ‘free play,’ right?” Wang Zhizhi asked again.
This time, the staff member could nod. As expected of a fellow professional, less troublesome, a good person.
Wang Qingchuan wasn’t interested in the morning’s activities, but it didn’t matter, his blood pressure would soon rise.
“Why… do we have to take her with us?” Wang Qingchuan stood at the gate of the Wei family’s courtyard, reluctant to enter.
“It’s not us taking her. It’s you going to the activity, and she’s also going.” Wang Zhizhi, who had been asked by the program team to take his “children” to the meeting point, corrected him.
“It’s unnecessary, we’re just playing house at home. You’re going to do tasks this morning, she doesn’t need to continue acting, right?” Wang Qingchuan was speechless… The program team didn’t even explain what the morning’s activity was. It wasn’t until they were brought to the gate of the Wei family’s house that Wang Qingchuan realized that although they had their own activities, the program team was actually treating them as babies, gathering them in one place… Even having the fake parents send them to the door, was this kindergarten! And all the other dads were together, what was he doing with a fake sister?
“It’s okay, you play, oh, you lie down and do nothing. She’ll play by herself, she won’t ask you to play with her.” Wang Zhizhi, like a mature parent, comforted Wang Qingchuan, who was reluctant to “enter kindergarten,” then turned to Wang Qingbei. “Right, Beibei?”
“Mmm, I’ll play by myself, Brother doesn’t need to worry about me.” Wang Qingbei replied obediently.
Wang Qingchuan: “… “
He was already annoyed, and they were still acting like a loving father and daughter! So infuriating!
“Xiao Wang, why aren’t you going in?”
Just as Wang Qingchuan was about to turn around and go home, Wen Qiming’s voice, filled with amusement, suddenly came from behind him.
Wang Qingchuan: “… “
“Ah, this must be the new member of your family that the program team mentioned. Hello, I’m Wen Qiming, Wen Jiangyue’s dad.” Wen Qiming greeted Wang Qingbei kindly.
“Hello, I’m Wang Qingbei, Wang Qingchuan’s younger sister.” Wang Qingbei smiled, then glanced at Wang Zhizhi. “Now I’m the daughter of Parent Wang Zhizhi.”
“Fake sister, fake daughter.” Wang Qingchuan added.
“Hahaha, good, good, good.” Wen Qiming’s smile widened, he looked at Wang Zhizhi and teased, “You gained a daughter for free, Parent Zhizhi, it’s not easy, good luck!”
“Zhizhi, what activities did you arrange for your… um, them?” Wen Jiangyue peeked out from behind Wen Qiming.
“Lie down and do nothing, free play.” Wang Zhizhi pointed at Wang Qingchuan and Wang Qingbei respectively.
“Look, Zhizhi’s arrangements are so childlike.” Wen Qiming patted his daughter’s head.
“I chose reading for you because I know you like reading.” Wen Jiangyue turned her head away. “Next time I’ll arrange ‘lie down and do nothing’ for you too.”
Wang Qingchuan, who had been annoyed by Wen Qiming’s laughter, which sounded like he was enjoying the show, couldn’t help but retort, “Yueyue is quite good, she didn’t arrange for you to recite poems? Last time, when Yueyue used the ‘Daddy Kiss Card,’ how many poems did you make her recite, ten?”
“Five…” Wen Qiming didn’t understand Wang Qingchuan’s sudden strange tone, he just chuckled. “I can also recite poems. But “our” Parent Yueyue has her own ideas. When we were parents, we arranged things for our children. Now that the children are parents, we should listen to their arrangements.”
Wen Qiming felt that Wen Jiangyue was trying to be a parent who followed her child’s wishes, otherwise, she wouldn’t have chosen reading, which he liked, as the activity. Wen Qiming thought the activity was good, but he couldn’t appear too happy.
After all… The children had only been parents for a short time, if he was too happy, and when their roles were reversed, what if Wen Jiangyue also demanded that he be a parent who followed her wishes, that wouldn’t be good.
Wang Qingchuan, straightforward and clueless about Wen Qiming’s convoluted thoughts, seeing that Wen Qiming seemed fine with reciting poems, felt like his punch had landed on cotton, it was no fun at all.
But now that he was blocked by another dad at the door, Wang Qingchuan… couldn’t just turn around and leave.
In the end, both families entered the Wei family’s courtyard.
In the courtyard, the sunshade cloth had already been hung over half the space. But only Wei Chengli was there, …wiping the bed board?
“Hahaha, Brother Wang, you’re here.” Wei Chengli, hearing the sound, saw Wang Qingchuan entering the courtyard and waved enthusiastically with the rag in his hand.
Wang Qingchuan’s frustration subsided slightly, at least Wei Chengli didn’t immediately ask about that sister…
However, all enthusiasm had a source.
“Brother Wang, come and see, is this board clean enough? The program team just brought it over, they didn’t even clean it.” Wei Chengli said, patting the bed board placed on two stone benches. “Brother Wang, come and try it, see if it’s sturdy, you’ll be lying on it for the whole morning, I specifically chose a shady spot for you.”
Wang Qingchuan: ???
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