Chapter 16

His words directly hit Shen Qingqing’s sore spot.

Even though she no longer had to maintain the perfect image of a top star, she still didn’t want to let herself go. She had been praised for her beauty since childhood—becoming ugly would be worse than death!

And she was genuinely scared now. She had already suffered from gastroenteritis after eating ice cream the night before. If she kept eating greasy and spicy foods while avoiding vegetables, would she really ruin her looks?

Thinking about it, she quickly surrendered. “Okay, okay, I get it! Stop talking! I’ll eat vegetables!”

Hearing her agreement, Zhou Yexuan finally stopped. His deep, magnetic voice sounded satisfied. “Good. Enjoy your lunch. I won’t bother you anymore.”

After the call ended, Shen Qingqing stared at the plate of vegetables she had reluctantly picked out earlier. A minute passed before she finally picked up her chopsticks. Her expression looked just like Zhou Jiayan’s when he was forced to eat onions.

Seeing his stepmother finally eat her vegetables, Zhou Jiayan’s pout disappeared, and he happily took a big spoonful of green beans.

He sighed in admiration—his dad was truly amazing! He wanted to be just like him when he grew up.

The audience watching the live broadcast couldn’t help but be impressed by Zhou Yexuan.

[Hahaha, I didn’t expect the real boss of the Zhou family to be Mr. Zhou! He handled two “naughty kids” effortlessly.]

[Mr. Zhou’s voice is so pleasant! It’s like honey to my ears. He sounds quite young. Why did people say Shen Qingqing was married to an old, ugly man?]

[The current head of the Zhou family has never made a public appearance, so everyone is just speculating.]

[I looked it up! Mr. Zhou is 58 years old, but he’s definitely older than Shen Qingqing. My guess is he’s around 30.]

[This is unexpectedly sweet! Can we dream of Mr. Zhou making a public appearance? He seems to have a great way of handling troublemakers like Shen Qingqing.]

[Does anyone know why Mr. Zhou never appears in public? Judging from little Zhou Jiayan’s looks, Mr. Zhou must be handsome.]

[I heard he was kidnapped as a teenager, so he avoids public exposure. It might be hard to see him on camera.]

[Oh my gosh, just from this call, I’m picturing a mature, gentle man with a young, beautiful wife!]

[Stop with this nonsense! Mr. Zhou hasn’t been home for a long time, and he’s never been seen publicly with Shen Qingqing. It’s obvious their relationship isn’t great.]

But no one expected that just one phone call would cause Zhou Yexuan and Shen Qingqing’s couple fandom to explode online.

Someone even edited their conversation and posted it on Weibo. The hashtag #PresidentZhouTeachesYouHowToSolveProblems started trending.

Many netizens who didn’t watch the live broadcast were confused, thinking it might be about some serious news.

When they clicked on it, they realized it was about the variety show Almighty Mom. They assumed it was about a father scolding his picky-eating child, but what they actually saw was him lecturing his wife, Shen Qingqing, instead.

The unexpected twist made people laugh, and the hashtag gained even more traction as users spread the video just to trick others into watching it.

Some people even misled others by saying, “Parents, come check this out! There’s only one trick to make sure your kids eat their food!”

As a result, more people clicked on the video hoping to learn a parenting tip—only to be left speechless.

Soon, the trending hashtag’s comment section was flooded with “Hahahaha!” as netizens laughed at Shen Qingqing.

Of course, some viewers also saw the chemistry between Shen Qingqing and Zhou Yexuan and immediately formed a couple fandom. A group of enthusiastic netizens even created a super topic for them, giving them a powerful-sounding couple name—Shi Qing Chao Ye ^[1]which means “Qing who devours the night” or “Shi Qing surpasses the night”..

At first, their fandom was small, only a few hundred fans.

But they were confident. After all, they were supporting a real married couple!

[Guys, we may be small now, but we’ll grow stronger!]

[Shen Qingqing will keep appearing on variety shows with her son. I don’t believe that Mr. Zhou will never show up. We’ll get endless romantic moments!]

[Sisters, trust my CP radar. Every CP I support has had a happy ending and become super popular in the U.S.! We are definitely going to be rich just by supporting this couple!]

[But we don’t even know what Mr. Zhou looks like. What if—just saying—he’s bald and fat?]

[Are you a hater sent by a rival? Just look at Yanyan’s looks and what Mr. Zhou said when he put Shen Qingqing in her place. You can tell his genes are top-notch. Plus, he clearly takes care of himself, so there’s no way he’s out of shape!]

[Don’t worry about his looks. I have a friend at Zhou’s company who told me he’s super handsome. Every time he walks by, the female employees can’t help but stare. It’s just a pity that his photos can’t be made public.]

N City, Country A.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yexuan stood in his luxurious high-rise apartment in downtown N City. He had just finished a shower, his slightly damp hair sticking to his forehead, and was dressed in gray silk pajamas. Staring at his phone screen, he seemed lost in thought.

He then made a call, and a younger male voice answered, “Mr. Zhou, what can I do for you?”

Zhou Yexuan’s tone was now colder and unreadable, completely different from when he spoke to Zhou Jiayan. “Get me some clips from Shen Qingqing and Yanyan’s recent variety show appearances. Send them to me by tomorrow.”

The man on the other end, Ma Li, was Zhou Yexuan’s personal assistant. He showed no sign of frustration at being assigned work so late at night. After all, Mr. Zhou paid him very well—so well that he was happy to work for him for the rest of his life.

“Understood, Mr. Zhou. I’ll compile them and send them to you tomorrow.”

After ending the call, Zhou Yexuan gazed out at the neon-lit city below. He hadn’t expected such a drastic change in the relationship between Shen Qingqing and Zhou Jiayan while he was away. Was it all because of the variety show?

He recalled what Shen Qingqing had said when she asked to take the child on the show: “Yanyan and I have always been distant. Maybe it’s because I don’t spend enough time with him. I want to take this opportunity to bond with him. Yexuan, please give me this chance.”

Zhou Yexuan hadn’t believed her. He knew Shen Qingqing too well. She just wanted to compete with her sister. If Shen Linyan took her stepson on a hit variety show, Shen Qingqing couldn’t afford to lag behind.

He understood why Shen Qingqing resented Shen Linyan, her half-sister ^[2]born from an extramarital affair.. He even understood her desire to outshine her. But wanting to win wasn’t enough—she had to be capable of it.

Shen Qingqing had been pampered by Lin Chuyin and the Shen family all her life. She never learned how to hide her emotions or control her temper. That’s why she never matched up to Shen Linyan in the entertainment industry.

Shen Linyan wasn’t exactly a good person, but she was shrewd enough to deal with someone as impulsive as Shen Qingqing. For instance, when Shen Linyan landed a role as the popular second female lead in a major production, Shen Qingqing insisted on playing the lead in another big drama, even signing a top actor as her male lead. But her poor acting skills made her a laughingstock when the show aired.

Zhou Yexuan had helped Shen Qingqing multiple times, but she kept falling into Shen Linyan’s traps. Eventually, he stopped interfering as long as she didn’t cause any major disasters.

At first, he had opposed the idea of Shen Qingqing bringing Zhou Jiayan onto the show. He didn’t want his five-year-old son to be caught in the middle of a fight between his stepmother and her sister.

But then Shen Qingqing played her trump card—Lin Chuyin. “Zhou Yexuan, please help me. Just this once. If I fail again, I’ll quit the entertainment industry for good.”

After some thought, Zhou Yexuan agreed. Since she called it her “last chance,” he would make sure it really was the last.

Besides, while Shen Qingqing wasn’t close to Zhou Jiayan, she never mistreated him. Nothing too serious would happen if they did the show together.

More importantly, Yanyan was lonely. Maybe this experience would be good for him.

So he agreed.

Back then, he hadn’t believed that Shen Qingqing would truly bond with Zhou Jiayan. But now, it seemed like she actually had?

This realization genuinely surprised him.

No matter how much Shen Qingqing had pretended to be a loving mother before, he could always see through her. She didn’t like Zhou Jiayan—or children in general.

As for Zhou Jiayan, though he was young, he had a mind of his own. He had always disliked his stepmother and found her attempts to please him annoying.

But just now, Zhou Jiayan had called Shen Qingqing to complain that she was being picky with food. In the past, he wouldn’t have cared about anything she did.

Zhou Yexuan was genuinely curious about what had changed.

The three-day pilot episode filming wrapped up, with each group of guests packing their things. Director Xu Xiang, watching the footage, was pleased. He was confident this season would be even more popular than the last.

After analyzing the data, he finally understood why Shen Qingqing’s segment was such a hit. People had seen too many ideal mother-child relationships. They wanted something different—something more chaotic and unexpected.

That didn’t mean Xu Xiang was going to make things easy for Shen Qingqing. On the contrary, for the full-length recordings, he planned to give her even more “tasks” and “challenges”—all for the audience’s entertainment.

Thinking about her inevitable frustration, Xu Xiang smiled. He could already picture her exasperated expression in the upcoming episodes.