Li Yunhua’s eyes fell on the paper packaging box in Xiao Ju’s hand, and a smile appeared on her face. “Really? Then Auntie wants to thank you. Give me the pumpkin pie. I’ll give it to my brother later. He’s doing his homework now.”

　　Xiao Shu thought about it. His mother said that he had to ask other children’s mothers for permission first, so he continued to write on the handwriting board, “Do you agree that my brother can eat it?”

　　”Of course.” Li Yunhua smiled confidently, “Brother Ziheng will definitely like it.”

　　Xiao Shu put down the writing board, took out an individually wrapped pumpkin pie from the box, and handed it to Li Yunhua solemnly.

　　Xiao Ju added sensibly, “Auntie, you must give it to Brother Xiu Ziheng.” Although Xiu Ziheng always snatched Xiao Shu from her, everyone should share the delicious food.

　　After the children left, Li Yunhua turned around and threw the pumpkin pie into the trash can, not even bothering to look at it.

　　She returned to the room, turned on her phone, and started checking the replay of today’s live broadcast.

　　The agent cut out Lin Mingqi’s words and sent them to Li Yunhua, with a note under the video: “You’d better be mentally prepared.”

　　What’s the best thing to be mentally prepared for?

　　Li Yunhua clicked on the video.

　　After watching the video, she stood up, walked to the window irritably and lit a cigarette.

　　In the curling smoke, Li Yunhua’s memory went back to the time when she was in middle school. She attended the best aristocratic middle school in the city. The tuition for one year was so expensive that it could buy a three-bedroom, two-living-room house in the city.

　　But at that time, the Li family had actually fallen on hard times. Her father sent her to such an expensive school in the hope that she could catch a man in school and then rely on the relationship with her in-laws to save her family’s business.

　　Li Yunhua’s father quickly set his sights on Lin Mingqi. At that time, the Lin family’s business was booming, and Lin Mingqi was not like other rich second-generations. He was clean and motivated, and began to participate in the management of the family business at a young age. Li’s father was very satisfied and intended to take Li Yunhua to business gatherings to give her the opportunity to get close to Lin Mingqi.

　　At that time, Li Yunhua was resistant to his father’s idea. Later, after being brainwashed by her father, Li Yunhua thought, if this was her fate, then Lin Mingqi was the best choice, as he was handsome, had a good family background, and was capable.

　　Then, under her father’s arrangement, she confessed her love to Lin Mingqi, but Lin Mingqi rejected Li Yunhua immediately and advised her not to think about it and to study hard.

　　After being rejected by Lin Mingqi, Li Yunhua was humiliated by his parents and brothers for a long time, and she couldn’t hold her head up at home for a long time.

　　During that period, Li Yunhua was even on the verge of suffering from mental illness, but in the end it was the system in her mind that saved her.

　　The system told her that she was living in a book called “The Domineering Boss’s Sadistic Love”. She was the heroine and Lin Mingqi was the hero. Because this was a sadistic book, they had to go through many breakups and reunions before they could be together.

　　But as long as Li Yunhua continues to complete tasks according to the system’s instructions, she will receive ever-increasing rewards. The ultimate achievement is to marry Lin Mingqi, and all the Lin family’s property will belong to her.

　　Li Yunhua, who was skeptical, began to do all kinds of incredible tasks. Relying on the upgrade rewards, her life began to turn around. She went from a middle school student with a bankrupt family to the shining movie queen she is today.

　　After finishing a cigarette, Li Yunhua came out of her memories. Her phone was not turned off, and the video in which Lin Mingqi debunked the rumors was still playing on the screen.

　　She pressed the cigarette butt hard into the ashtray, turned off the video, calmed herself down, and called Huang Wei.

　　”Teacher Li, what can I do for you?” Huang Wei’s smooth voice soon came from the receiver of the mobile phone.

　　Li Yunhua endured the discomfort. This was not the first time she and Huang Wei had worked together, so there was no need to beat around the bush. “Director Huang, I need your help with something.”

　　Huang Wei, “Teacher Li, this is serious. What’s the point of asking for help? Just tell me if you have something to say!”

　　“I want to win first place in this craft competition.”

　　”Teacher Li, this…”

　　How could Li Yunhua not hear the hidden meaning of Huang Wei, the old fox? Of course, she had also thought about the terms of exchange.

　　”Haven’t you always been interested in making a movie? I have ready-made investors and scripts, and I will be the female lead. If you can build this bridge, you will definitely become a hit.”

　　This condition was absolutely tempting to Huang Wei, and letting Li Yunhua win the competition would be a piece of cake. Her performance was the best among the mothers. Huang Wei pretended to be embarrassed for a few times and then agreed reluctantly.

　　The plot has collapsed now, but the situation is not worse than when Li Yunhua’s family went bankrupt and her confession to Lin Mingqi was rejected.

　　She still has a system to rely on. She will work hard to complete the tasks just like she did when she was a teenager. As long as she works hard enough, the plot will return to its original track. It will definitely work.

　　Xiao Shu took the opportunity of delivering the pumpkin pie to stroll outside for a long time. In order to show their importance to the pumpkin pie, the three children even walked into the small garden and begged Uncle Yang to light a candle for them. The preparations were fully prepared with a sense of ceremony.

　　The pumpkin pie was very small, and no matter how ritualistic it was, it couldn’t change the fact that it could be finished in two bites. After each of them ate their pumpkin pie, the children went upstairs together. Xiao Shu sent Xixi and Xiao Ju back to their room before going home.

　　Gu Qianjing was still struggling with the silver threads under the lamp. If she wasn’t careful, the hair-thin silver threads would break. She didn’t dare to be distracted. Her hands and eyes stayed on the pattern, and she said, “Xiao Shu, ask Dad to help you brush your teeth and wash your hands.”

　　Xiao Shu had brushed his teeth while taking a shower, but then he remembered that he had just eaten pumpkin pie, so he went to the bedside to ask his father for help.

　　Lin Mingqi put down the thick book “Micro Theory” in his hand, resigned himself to his fate, got out of bed and took Xiaoshu to brush his teeth.

　　After brushing his teeth, Xiao Shu climbed onto the bed and lay down obediently, staring with big eyes waiting for his father to tell him a story.

　　Lin Mingqi lifted the quilt and lay down in the still warm bed. He subconsciously picked up “Micro Theory” and put it down again, then picked up “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” next to it.

　　”What story do you want to hear today?” Lin Mingqi asked.

　　Xiao Shu raised his hand and pointed to the page about the Frog Prince. The voice of his father telling a story rang out in the small room. Xiao Shu’s eyelids became heavier and heavier. The last picture that froze in his mind was his mother working under the desk lamp and his father telling a story.

　　Today is the last day of learning and the mothers will take part in a competition tomorrow. The atmosphere has been a bit tense since we woke up in the morning.

　　Gu Qianjing packed up the tools she brought back yesterday and said to Xiaoshu, who had just washed and was still getting dressed, “Xiaoshu, Dad will take you to school later. Mom will leave first…”

　　Before she could finish her words, Gu Qianjing found that she couldn’t leave…

　　The corner of my clothes seemed to be caught by something.

　　She looked down and saw Xiao Shu holding the corner of her clothes tightly with one hand, pulling up her overalls with one hand, quickly putting on his clothes, and then glaring at his father with big eyes.

　　Hurry up and get dressed, or you won’t be able to go with mom!

　　Lin Mingqi pulled up his trousers and jacket in almost three seconds, then took the white canvas bag containing tools from Gu Qianjing.

　　”Come on, I’ll drive you there!”

　　Gu Qianjing blinked. “So you can get dressed so quickly ? Then what were you hesitating about before?”

　　After eating chicken noodle soup in town, Gu Qianjing rubbed Xiao Shu’s head affectionately before parting, then turned to Lin Mingqi in the cab and said,

　　”Pick up Xiaoshu at noon, and I’ll take you to a stir-fry restaurant. It’s super delicious.”

　　”Aren’t you going to cook lunch?” Lin Mingqi asked.

　　”If you have money, of course you choose to eat out.”

　　The weather is very good today. Unlike the past few days when it was either extremely hot or rainy, the sun was blocked by clouds today and even the wind blowing on the face was cool.

　　Teacher Guo saw that the weather was good, so she let the children play freely outdoors. Somehow, a few children found an ant nest under a big tree. The four children squatted in a small circle around it, watching the ants move curiously.

　　There were some biscuit crumbs not far from the ant nest. The little ants lined up in a long queue and moved all the biscuit crumbs into their small holes in a short time.

　　”Wow, that’s great! The little ants must like pumpkin pie too.” Xiao Ju’s pigtails dangled next to her head. For some reason, when she saw the cookies, she would unconsciously think of the pumpkin pie she had eaten last night.

　　”Yeah.” Xixi agreed, “Pumpkin pie is delicious.”

　　Xiu Ziheng picked up a small branch from somewhere and poked it at the muddy ground under the big tree. When he heard them talking about pumpkin pie, he looked up in surprise.

　　”Why are you all talking about pumpkin pie? What pumpkin pie?”

　　Xiao Ju tilted her head and said, “We all ate yesterday’s pumpkin pie.”

　　”Then why is mine missing?” Xiu Ziheng was a little sad. The children were eating pumpkin pie secretly behind his back. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie, just hearing the name you know it must be delicious.

　　”I gave it to you.” Xiao Ju stood up blankly and defended herself with a red face, “We shared it.”

　　Xiao Shu quickly grasped the key point of the problem and wrote on the writing board, “Didn’t your mother give it to you?”

　　”Yes.” Xiao Ju clenched her fists and hurriedly defended herself as a child who knew how to share. “We asked your mother yesterday if you could have it, and she said yes, so we gave her the pumpkin pie.”

　　”You were doing your homework at the time, and your mother promised to pass it on.” Xixi added logically.

　　Xiu Ziheng understood what the children said. He looked up and poked the ground unconsciously with the branch in his hand. Then he suddenly buried his head in his knees, and began to cry with his wooly curly hair trembling.

　　Li Yunhua inlaid an artificial gem into the plum blossom, breathed a sigh of satisfaction, and looked around. She was the only mother who had completed a work completely. Li Yunhua enjoyed the feeling of standing out.

　　The phone on the workbench rang, and Li Yunhua reached out to take it.

　　The photography assistant’s panicked voice came from inside, “Teacher Li, please come to school now, something happened to Ziheng.”

　　When Li Yunhua rushed to the school, Xiu Ziheng was still squatting on the ground, hugging his knees and crying for a long time. Teacher Guo and the photography assistant were anxiously persuading him. When they saw Li Yunhua, they quickly made way for her.

　　”Ziheng, what’s wrong with you?” Li Yunhua walked forward.

　　Hearing Li Yunhua’s voice, Xiu Ziheng raised his head and cried out the question that had been choking in his heart, “Is it because I am not your biological child that you treat me like that? Are all stepmothers really bad people?”