Chapter 8

At dinner, Zhi Jia felt somewhat awkward, and the reason was simple—Mo Yichen was sitting across from her. Mo Yichen ate quietly, even the act of chewing seemed to radiate elegance and nobility. He sat up straight, as if nothing could make him stoop. His gaze slightly lowered, and his long eyelashes cast a shadow under his eyes.

Zhi Jia looked at the table full of delicious food and was enjoying her meal, but when she saw Mo Yichen eating leisurely, she caught herself about to shove a piece of braised pig’s trotter into her mouth. Immediately, she straightened her back and took a small, polite bite from the trotter.

“That dog of a man, even when eating, he’s so pretentious!” Zhi Jia rolled her eyes secretly, then huffed softly. Mo Yichen lifted his eyes and glanced at her. Zhi Jia immediately straightened up and put on a poised demeanor.

The two ate in silence, with only the sound of chopsticks picking up food breaking the quiet. Zhi Jia felt a bit awkward; after all, when she used to have meals with classmates or friends, there would always be a lot of chatting. The quiet, focused eating was a bit uncomfortable for her

.Unexpectedly, Mo Yichen broke the silence first. “Is Xiao Wen mischievous?”

Zhi Jia paused. What a strange question. Xiao Wen wasn’t even a month old yet. All he did was eat, sleep, or poop—how could he be mischievous? It seemed Mo Yichen was completely clueless about his son. Zhi Jia almost suspected that if ten babies were placed in front of him, he wouldn’t even be able to tell which one was Xiao Wen

.Zhi Jia casually responded, “He’s fine, quite well-behaved.”

Mo Yichen, seemingly asking casually, continued, “Why are you the one taking care of him? What about the nannies I arranged?”

Zhi Jia’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t possibly let anyone else take care of Xiao Wen, or else how long would it take her to earn those 3 million points? She felt a sense of urgency. Quickly, she switched to a sweet smile, her dark eyes glancing around, “It’s definitely better to care for him myself. The two nannies who came before, I didn’t think they were suitable, so I sent them back.”

Mo Yichen didn’t reply, sitting there silently, giving off an inexplicable pressure.

Zhi Jia bit her lip and continued, trying to assure him, “It’s true, others won’t care for him as well as I would. Since we’re married, your son is my son… You can trust me, I’ll make sure to take good care of him.”

Mo Yichen raised his eyes to look at her, as though probing the meaning behind her words. His scrutinizing gaze made Zhi Jia feel uneasy and nervous, her hands growing clammy.

After a while, he spoke, “Can you take care of him well?”

Zhi Jia immediately replied, “Of course I can, I will be very careful!” She looked at him earnestly, her eyes full of hope.

Mo Yichen didn’t continue to press the matter, and simply said, “Then try it.”

Zhi Jia let out a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of lightness in her chest. Mo Yichen silently observed the woman in front of him. Why was she so concerned about Xiao Wen? If it was still the same as before, just trying to please him, she wouldn’t need to go this far.

Mo Yichen quietly appraised Zhi Jia but still couldn’t understand her intentions. However, considering the current situation, Xiao Wen was being well taken care of by her, and as long as there were no obvious flaws, he planned to give her some time for now.

“I’m done eating. You can continue.” Mo Yichen elegantly wiped his mouth with a napkin, nodded at Zhi Jia, and left the table without saying another word.

After he left, Zhi Jia finally began to eat heartily. Liu Yi’s cooking was delicious. Zhi Jia’s full lips were slightly glistening with oil as she ate contentedly.

After a satisfying burp, Zhi Jia returned to her room to relieve Liu Yi, who had been helping to look after Xiao Wen while she ate. When Zhi Jia entered the room, she saw Liu Yi cradling Xiao Wen, soothing him. “He cried a bit earlier, so I picked him up.”

Zhi Jia smiled helplessly, taking Xiao Wen into her arms.

She gently tapped Xiao Wen’s little face, “I can’t hold you too much, little one. You need to learn to lie down and play on your own.” She also patted Xiao Wen’s head. His little head was round, with sparse baby hair.

Holding a baby for too long really is addictive. Zhi Jia gently squeezed Xiao Wen’s tiny hand. A baby’s fingers are so small and soft, she didn’t dare squeeze too hard, as if they might break with the slightest pressure. Zhi Jia slipped her finger into Xiao Wen’s palm, and he gripped her finger tightly. Zhi Jia was a little surprised—such a small person, and he had quite a bit of strength.

The system chimed in: “Host, Xiao Wen is in good condition. You can show him the black-and-white cards and do some head-lifting exercises.

“Zhi Jia placed Xiao Wen on her big bed and opened a box of black-and-white cards she had bought earlier that day. Babies’ vision is blurry when they’re born, and by the time they reach a month old, they can only see about 20-30 cm in front of them.

A newborn’s brain is like a blank slate, and black-and-white cards can stimulate the baby’s vision and promote brain development. At this age, babies can look at black-and-white cards, and around three months old, they can start looking at colored cards.

Zhi Jia noticed that each square black-and-white card had different patterns. She decided to start with the simplest ones for Xiao Wen. She picked up a few cards with basic shapes like circles, triangles, squares, and diamonds.

She held the cards about 30 cm above Xiao Wen’s head. He quickly became interested, staring at the card for a few seconds, moving his little arms excitedly. Zhi Jia spoke gently to him, “Xiao Wen, this is a triangle. A triangle has three sharp corners.”

She slowly moved the triangle card to the left, and Xiao Wen’s face turned with it. Then she moved the card to the right, and his face followed the movement.

“Good job, Xiao Wen! You’re such a smart baby! Now, let’s try another pattern.” Zhi Jia took out a circle card. “This is a circle. Unlike the triangle, it doesn’t have any corners. Do you know what a circle is? Our baby’s head is round too.”

Zhi Jia continued showing Xiao Wen more black-and-white cards, completely unaware that a tall, dark figure stood quietly by the door. The figure remained there for a long time, said nothing, and eventually turned to leave.

After watching the black-and-white cards, Xiao Wen still looked energetic. Zhu Jia planned to give him some head-lifting exercises. Head-lifting exercises were about the most intense activity a baby of this age could do! They helped strengthen the baby’s neck muscles and overall body strength, and increase lung capacity.

Following the system’s diagram, Zhu Jia gently turned Xiao Wen over. Xiao Wen went from lying on his back to being on his stomach, and his little head straightened up. However, he couldn’t hold it up for more than two seconds before it drooped again.

“Xiao Wen, come on, try lifting your head again.”

Xiao Wen seemed to understand and made another effort to lift his head. Though his little face was red with exhaustion, he looked very excited. Was it because his view had changed? Could he see more interesting things now that he was lifting his head?

“Yes, Host. Lifting the head while lying on the stomach does expand the baby’s field of vision. They can observe the world from different angles.”

No wonder Xiao Wen was so happy, but this joy didn’t last long. Xiao Wen soon got tired, and Zhu Jia gently turned him back onto his back, soothing him with a gentle pat.

It wasn’t long before Xiao Wen fell asleep. Taking advantage of the quiet time, Zhu Jia decided to install the baby monitor. The baby monitor was quite useful; it not only recorded live video but also triggered an alarm sound on her phone whenever Xiao Wen cried. This way, even if Zhu Jia had to step away for a short time, she could check on Xiao Wen through her phone. If he moved or cried, the phone would alert her with a ringing sound.

Zhu Jia installed the monitor beside the crib, downloaded the app to her phone, connected it successfully, and it was all set up!

It was getting late, so after feeding Xiao Wen again, she went to shower and then to bed. She lay quietly on the soft, large bed, which made her look especially small. Her bright, clear eyes shone as she checked her points in the system’s panel.

Things were better than she expected. In just one and a half days, her points had already reached 17,300! At this rate, she could easily earn 3 million in less than a year, and her destiny would soon change.

“System, if I earn 3 million, will it still be useful to keep earning points?”

The system replied, “Yes, Host. After reaching 3 million, any extra points can be exchanged for beauty points and luck points, and a certain proportion can be converted into cash!”

This was fantastic! Zhu Jia felt immense joy. The future was so clear and bright, and all the fatigue and gloominess seemed to disappear. Hugging a large pillow, she fell into a deep sleep.

For the next two days, Zhu Jia didn’t see Mo Yichen. Mo Yichen was truly a workaholic—he left early in the morning, and by the time Zhu Jia went downstairs to have breakfast after feeding Xiao Wen, he had already gone to work. At night, when Xiao Wen was sound asleep, Mo Yichen still hadn’t returned. One night, when she was feeding Xiao Wen around 1 or 2 AM, she only heard the sound of a car engine downstairs.

Zhu Jia shook her head. Being a domineering CEO like Mo Yichen must be exhausting—work all day long, without any fun at all!

During her free time, Zhu Jia learned a set of passive exercises for babies of Xiao Wen’s age from the system. Passive exercises helped babies develop their large motor skills, and promoted bone and muscle growth.

That evening, Zhu Jia decided to try the set of exercises with Xiao Wen. After Xiao Wen had rested for about an hour after his milk, Zhu Jia placed him on her large bed, took out a new educational speaker, and played a rhythmic children’s song.

Xiao Wen lay on his back while Zhu Jia bent over in front of him. She took his little hands, placed her thumb in his palm, and encouraged him to grip her hand tightly.

Following the rhythm of the song, they began the first exercise—crossing the hands in front of the chest. Xiao Wen was initially reluctant and didn’t want Zhu Jia to move his little hands. But as they progressed to the fourth exercise—stretching the upper limbs—he became less resistant.

After finishing the upper body exercises, it was time for the lower body. The last step was to flip Xiao Wen onto his stomach and then back onto his back again.

Despite his initial reluctance, the entire set of exercises went smoothly. By the end, Xiao Wen seemed to enjoy himself. Listening to the song, his face was flushed, and his overall mood was calm and happy.

“Xiao Wen is so good! We’ve completed today’s exercise. Now, let’s keep exercising every day.” Zhu Jia couldn’t help but rub his head. Xiao Wen seemed to understand, gazing at her with focused eyes.

Just then, there was a light knock on the door. Zhu Jia looked up to see that it was Mo Yichen, who had returned home at some point. He was still wearing a formal dark gray suit, looking sharp and aloof.

“Zhu Jia, I need to talk to you about something.”