Ever since he became a celebrity, Lian Qing rarely slept early. Sleeping around ten o’clock last night was already considered early for him. Therefore, the next day, he woke up earlier than his biological clock.

When he opened his eyes and saw the little one in his arms and the big one next to him, he was completely confused. He stared blankly at Yu Wenning for a while before he remembered – he slept in his own temple last night, and the one he was holding in his arms was his shidi, while his… older brother was sleeping in front of him.

Hmm, his older brother’s sleeping face was really good-looking, and he was very well-behaved. Unlike his shifu, who snored every now and then. Originally, the two of them slept in the same room, but ever since his master picked up his shidi, the child was always woke up in the middle of the night crying because of the snoring. Therefore, Lian Qing had to share a room shidi. It was not until Lian Qing was about to leave the mountain that he let his shidi sleep with his master again.

He remembered that a few days before leaving the mountain, he specially let his shidi sleep with his master, but the child couldn’t sleep well for those few days, and only adapted somewhat two days before he left. This was also one of the reasons why the child could fall asleep when bidding him farewell on the day he left the mountain.

When Lian Qing was on the set, he occasionally took a nap with his assistant or other actors. Many of the men did not sleep well, snoring, talking in their sleep, or grinding their teeth. In comparison, his older brother had a perfect sleeping posture. Of course, it may also be because his older brother looked better than others?

Half-asleep, Yu Wenning always felt like someone was watching him. Years of vigilance made him quickly wake up and open his eyes suddenly.

In his sight were a pair of hazy black and bright big eyes. The owner of the eyes seemed unprepared for his sudden awakening, and was stunned for a moment before bending his mouth into a beautiful curve. He saw the person grin and sweetly say, “Good morning.”

In that moment, Yu Wenning seemed to hear something warming up. He smiled lightly and responded, “Good morning.”

Both of them were not people who liked to sleep in, so they got up quietly one after the other and changed into the monk robes that Lian Qing had kindly provided. Lian Qing was slightly smaller in size than Yu Wenning, and when Yu Wenning put on the robe, a small section of his wrists and ankles were exposed. Fortunately, Lian Qing liked to wear loose-fitting clothes, and this outfit was specially made slightly larger, so it could fit him.

Lian Qing had not planned on letting Yu Wenning wear monk robes, but his older brother suggested it himself, wanting to experience what it was like to be a monk. Naturally, Lian Qing had no reason to refuse and was happy that the other wanted to understand his past life.

Of course, if he had known his older brother’s true intentions, he might not have been so willing.

Lian Qing changed into his clothes and came over to help Yu Wenning tidy his robes. After finishing, he patted Yu Wenning’s chest and nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad. Let’s go wash up, have breakfast, and then I’ll take you for a walk up the mountain.”

Yu Wenning nodded and thought for a moment before pulling Lian Qing aside and saying, “Let’s take a photo together.”

Lian Qing looked at him in slight surprise. He didn’t think that his “aloof” older brother was someone who liked taking photos…

Nevertheless, he still nodded his head and walked to Yu Wenning’s side. He grinned, showing off his neat, white teeth, and made a scissors hand gesture.

Yu Wenning didn’t mind his awkward pose and made the exact same gesture before pressing the camera button on his phone.

After taking the photo, Lian Qing leaned in to take a look and complained, “Why do I look so silly when I smile?”

“It looks pretty good,” Yu Wenning sincerely complimented him.

Lian Qing pursed his lips in disbelief and turned around to go wash up. He left Yu Wenning alone, staring at the photo on his phone of the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder, making the same hand gesture and wearing matching clothes, with a faint smile on his face.

Couple outfits, *get!

*It was written as ‘get’ in English in the raws.

After the two finished washing up, they were about to go to the kitchen to make breakfast when they suddenly heard the sound of a child crying.

The two looked at each other and immediately rushed towards Lian Qing’s room.

Lian Qing pushed open the door and walked three or two steps to the bed. He saw his shidi holding the blanket, crying bitterly.

“What’s wrong, Xiaosan? Are you feeling unwell or something? Tell your shixiong quickly…” Lian Qing nervously asked as he leaned over the bed.

As soon as Baby Monk Lian Sang saw his senior brother, he let go of the blanket and crawled into his arms with both hands and feet. During the process, he almost tripped over the messy bedding, but his senior brother reached out and picked him up, saving him from being trapped in the messy bedding.

As soon as the child was picked up by his shixiong, he immediately clung to him with his hands and feet, and his little bald head was tightly attached to his shixiong’s neck. He sobbed and said incoherently, “Sh… shixiong… wu… I thought… thought you had left… wu…”

Lian Qing understood immediately from his intermittent words that his junior brother probably thought he had left when he didn’t see him in the morning. Feeling sad and helpless, he cried.

Feeling uncomfortable in his heart, Lian Qing patted the little guy’s back and coaxed him softly, “Shixiong didn’t leave, be good. Didn’t we agree last night that if we leave, we will take you with us? Be good, shixiong won’t leave you behind this time…”

“Rea… really? wu… shixiong…”

“Yes, really. When did shixiong ever lie to you? Be good, don’t cry. Shixiong will take you out to play later. We’ll go climb trees, catch fish, and pick flowers for Shifu with your older brother…”

“B… but, Shifu is bald…”

“That’s right, Shifu is bald and can’t wear flowers. It’s okay, your older brother has hair, and we’ll pick flowers for him to wear, okay?”

“Okay…”

………..

After coaxing the child, his mood improved and only then did Lian Qing prepare to leave while carrying him. As he approached the door, he suddenly remembered something. He turned around and saw Yu Wenning standing in the corner, looking lost, lonely, and somewhat distant. Seeing Yu Wenning’s downcast expression, Liang Qing’s heart ached and he couldn’t help but ask, “Big Brother, what’s wrong?”

Yu Wenning quickly regained his composure and forced a slightly stiff smile, shaking his head and saying, “It’s nothing.”

Liang Qing pursed his lips, knowing that something was off. If someone didn’t want to talk about it, he wouldn’t force them. But for some reason, seeing Yu Wenning’s unwillingness to speak, he felt a bit stifled.

He let out a silent sigh and said, “Then you go to the kitchen first, and I’ll wash Xiao San’er’s face before we go.”

Yu Wenning nodded, watching as Liang Qing and the little one left. He wiped his face with one hand and walked out of the room.

That day, Liang Qing took Xiao San’er and Yu Wenning up the mountain and played around.

They climbed trees to pick wild fruit, went into the water to catch small fish, and teased wild monkeys…

The whole mountain was filled with their laughter and joy. Even the master in the temple occasionally heard their laughter in the distance, and couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction before returning to watching the melodramatic TV series that Liang Qing had downloaded for him before leaving.

The old man, who was addicted to his phone, couldn’t help but sigh from time to time, thinking that his good disciple had truly given him a great gift!

Initially, Liang Qing had agreed with Sister Cheng that their vacation would last for four days, fearing that there would be no signal on the mountain and she wouldn’t be able to contact him. As a result, on the fourth day, Liang Qing held his little shidi and led his big brother, bidding a fond farewell to his shifu.

He had experienced farewell before, so he was fine and not too sad. But his shidi couldn’t hold back his tears and kept repeating “take care” to their shifu, making their elderly master’s eyes red. The master hugged his little bald head tightly and gave him a big kiss before turning and walking back to the temple.

When they came, they were filled with joy at the thought of their reunion, but now they were filled with sorrow at their departure. They spoke less along the way, with some sadness between their brows.

Yu Wenning couldn’t bear to see him looking sad and worried, so he looked at the tiny monk sleeping soundly in his arms and whispered to him: “Don’t be sad. Farewell is always short. You can keep in touch with your shifu every day. If you miss him, you can always go and see him. Nowadays transportation is convenient, and it only takes a few hours to meet.”

Lian Qing looked at him in surprise and said with a smile and tears: “I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about Xiaosan…I told Sister Cheng before that when it’s time for my shidi go to kindergarten, I’ll bring him here. But now it’s earlier, and he can’t go to school until next year…I don’t know if I can convince Sister Cheng to let me bring Xiaosan to work.”

So that was the reason. After thinking for a moment, Yu Wenning said: “Why not hire a nanny to take care of him at home?”

“No,” Lian Qing said frankly, “It’s better for him to follow his relative around than to have a nanny at home. Children need their parents’ companionship, even if it’s just a glance and a bit of concern during work breaks.”

“I want to apply to the company to hire another assistant specifically to take care of my shidi, and the money will be deducted from my income. But I don’t know if Sister Cheng will agree. She said before that bringing my shidi to school is okay, but don’t let it interfere with work. But my shidi is smart and sensible. As long as he doesn’t get sick, he won’t interfere with my work…”

This was true. In the few days they had been together, Yu Wenning had already realized that this baby monk, Lian Sang, was different from ordinary children his age. He was well-behaved and sensible. When the adults were busy cooking and doing other things, he would find a corner to play by himself.

Yesterday morning, the child woke up early, but he didn’t make a sound. He just sat up quietly and played with his hands and feet, waiting for the adults around him to wake up naturally.

A well-behaved child who rarely cries and can articulate many things clearly, does not seem like he would affect Lian Qing’s work.

He watched as Lian Qing fell silent for a while before asking, “Do you have any work arrangements in the near future?”

Lian Qing shook his head. “I’m not sure. It depends on how Sister Cheng arranges it. But she’ll let me know before taking on any new jobs.”

“So, currently you don’t have any fixed schedule or work, right?”

“You could say that.”

Yu Wenning smiled lightly. “Then, would you be interested in taking Xiao San’er to a highly-rated parent-child program? It would allow you to both work and take care of your child at the same time. Plus, it would also let your agent see how well-behaved and sensible Xiao San’er is, so that she and others will understand that your child will not hinder your work.”

Lian Qing’s heart moved. This was a good way to kill two birds with one stone. Xiao Shidi had just come down from the mountain, so it would be great if he could accompany him for a few days. However, he rubbed his head and asked, “Isn’t a parent-child program meant for parents and children to participate in?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Yu Wenning said with a light laugh. “That program is produced by a company under my umbrella. As long as you’re interested, I’m willing to open doors of convenience for you.”

Lian Qing’s eyes lit up. “So, this is what they mean by going through the backdoor?”

Yu Wenning: “…” It seems like something is not quite right here.

TN:

I’m still on the fence about how to refer to Xiao San’er.