Chapter 21 Part 1

After more than ten hours of flying, Zhou Yexuan finally returned to the Zhou family’s residence in City A.

He had been thinking a lot during the flight—whether these sudden memories were real, and whether his sudden actions would raise suspicions.

But in the end, he made up his mind. Regardless of whether everything in the dream was true or not, he was going to stop Zhou Jiayan from continuing to film the variety show.

Even though Shen Qingqing had been acting differently than she did in his dreams, adults could take risks—but children couldn’t.

If he had misunderstood Shen Qingqing, then at worst, he could make it up to her by giving her a role in a big-budget film or TV series. She would probably be happy with that.

However, as soon as he stepped inside, he found the entire mansion silent, with only the sounds of the servants cleaning. Where were Shen Qingqing and Zhou Jiayan?

Aunt Chen, the housekeeper, was startled when she saw Zhou Yexuan suddenly return. She quickly asked, “Sir, why did you come back so suddenly? You didn’t inform us beforehand.”

Seeing Aunt Chen, Zhou Yexuan calmed himself and explained, “The work over there wrapped up early, so I got a few days off and wanted to come back to see them.” Then, he got straight to the point. “Aunt Chen, where are Yanyan and Shen Qingqing?”

Aunt Chen was surprised. “Sir, you didn’t know? The young master and your wife left this morning to film a variety show. They went to an ancient town in the northwest called Zhuangyuan Town.”

He was one step too late! At that time, he had still been on the plane, disconnected from the internet, so he had no way of knowing that Shen Qingqing and Zhou Jiayan had already left.

But Zhou Yexuan was always calm and collected. He nodded at the housekeeper and said, “I understand, Aunt Chen.”

Then, he took out his phone, called his assistant Ma Li, and instructed them to book a flight to Zhuangyuan Town.

Since he was too late to stop them before they left, he would have to go there himself to take Zhou Jiayan away from the show. Even though this was more troublesome than expected and would attract attention, Zhou Yexuan felt it was worth it—for Zhou Jiayan’s safety.

“What’s more, he was sure he could fix the mess.”

Shen Qingqing had no idea that the perfect financial backer she had in mind, Zhou Yexuan, was actually on his way to “catch” her.

If she knew, she would have just sighed with regret. What a pity! If he had intercepted them at the Zhou family home earlier, she wouldn’t have needed to join the variety show at all.

Maybe it was the change of environment or the fact that she had gone to bed earlier than usual, but before seven in the morning, Shen Qingqing opened her eyes and found a little boy sleeping in her arms.

The little boy breathed steadily, his cheeks rosy from sleep. He looked adorable and hadn’t woken up yet.

Seeing this, Shen Qingqing didn’t think she had moved around too much in her sleep. She was certain that Zhou Jiayan must have rolled into her arms on his own during the night!

She chuckled to herself. What a tsundere ^[1]phrase used to describe someone who acts cold but secretly cares.. If he wanted to be hugged while sleeping, he should’ve just said so.

She wanted to tease Zhou Jiayan, but then she remembered how easily embarrassed he was. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to let it go.

Well, let him sleep if he wants. After all, as a “good” mother, she should be tolerant.

Zhou Jiayan, still sound asleep: …

Since she was already awake, Shen Qingqing didn’t feel like staying in bed any longer.

As she moved, Zhou Jiayan slowly woke up. He rubbed his eyes and realized that half of his body was still nestled in Shen Qingqing’s arms. His face turned red again.

He had actually spent the whole night sleeping in Shen Qingqing’s arms!

However, after experiencing so many awkward moments with his stepmother, Zhou Jiayan quickly calmed himself down and sweetly said, “Good morning.”

Shen Qingqing saw how cute he looked when he had just woken up and couldn’t help but sigh at how sweet this little boy was. Then, she did something unexpected.

She leaned in and gave Zhou Jiayan a gentle kiss on the cheek.

The blush on Zhou Jiayan’s face, which had started to fade, returned in full force. His whole face turned as red as an apple.

His stepmother had actually kissed him!

How could she be so bold?

She hugged him last night, and now she kissed him too!

And her lips were so soft and warm… It actually felt kind of nice.

Zhou Jiayan was stunned for a moment, until Shen Qingqing suddenly acted surprised and said, “Oh no! I forgot I haven’t brushed my teeth yet. Did I just kiss Yanyan’s little face with my morning breath? Will it stink? Hahaha, but you made me smell your stinky sweat before!”

Zhou Jiayan instantly snapped out of it and quickly wiped his cheek, only to realize that he had been tricked again.

Damn it! She was teasing him again!

The two of them bickered and laughed, shaking off the last bit of sleepiness. Zhou Jiayan even forgot that he originally wanted to complain about how Shen Qingqing slept.

They got out of bed and started washing up.

Afterward, Shen Qingqing brought out the matching parent-child outfits she had prepared earlier. It was a set of yellow outdoor sportswear, one for her and one for him, both featuring monster patterns.

Once Zhou Jiayan finished washing up, Shen Qingqing dressed him in the new clothes. At first, he resisted a little, but when he thought about how people would see them and assume they were mother and son, he suddenly felt a little shy.

So in the end, little Zhou Jiayan reluctantly put on the matching outfit.

Shen Qingqing then lifted the black cloth covering the live camera. By this time, many loyal fans were already waiting in the live broadcast room.

[Wow! They’re wearing matching outfits today!]

[One is beautiful, the other is adorable.]

[Even though they’re not related by blood, they really look like mother and son.]

[Maybe beautiful people all have similar features, while ugly ones look unique.]

The program had a breakfast rule—everyone had to eat between seven and eight o’clock. When Shen Qingqing left the bedroom, it was only 7:15.

She thought she was early, but as soon as she stepped into the yard, she saw Shen Linyan and her son, Liang Tianyi, returning from outside. They were wearing sportswear, a light layer of sweat on their foreheads.

It was obvious they had just finished their morning run.

Shen Qingqing sighed in relief. Thankfully, she hadn’t listened to the system’s nonsense about competing with Shen Linyan to be a “good wife and mother.” Waking up early and exercising? That would have been torture.

A so-called “lady’s” life seemed even worse than the grueling 996 work schedule ^[2]which refers to working from 9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week..

She then looked down at Zhou Jiayan with a “You got lucky” expression.

Boy, do you realize that you almost had to work harder than Brother Tianyi?

Zhou Jiayan had no idea what his stepmother was thinking. When he saw his little friend, he happily ran over to greet him. The two kids held hands and went into the living room for breakfast.

This left only Shen Qingqing and Shen Linyan in the yard.

After suffering a setback yesterday, Shen Linyan was determined to regain the upper hand.

She smiled and said, “Qingqing, I just got back from running with Xiaoyi. I feel refreshed, and the scenery along the way was beautiful. I think you should also take Yanyan for a morning run. I’ve watched your live broadcast before, and you usually sleep until almost nine. While that must be comfortable, it’s not good for your health in the long run. I struggled with morning runs at first too, but over time, I started to enjoy them…”

As soon as Shen Linyan said this, many viewers in the live chat began to agree with her.

[I really admire Lin Yan for waking up at six every day. If I had that self-discipline, I wouldn’t be overweight.]

[Yeah, her self-control is amazing. Shen Linyan really deserves her reputation.]

[I woke up late and only caught the second half of their run. The scenery was really nice.]

[Lin Yan is so kind. But would Shen Qingqing even go jogging? She’s barely managing to wake up on time.]

[Lin Yan, stop meddling in other people’s business. Shen Qingqing isn’t going to listen to you anyway.]

Shen Linyan looked at Shen Qingqing with a satisfied expression, already planning her next move.

Didn’t Shen Qingqing want to maintain a “free-spirited” image? If she rejected the idea, Shen Linyan could take the moral high ground and say she wasn’t setting a good example for her child.

If Shen Qingqing agreed, she would have to go jogging with Shen Linyan the next morning. Based on what she knew about Shen Linyan, a rich girl who rarely exercised, she would probably complain and give up halfway. This gave Shen Qingqing some room to maneuver.

But of course, Shen Qingqing had no intention of jogging. She already understood Shen Linyan’s tricks too well. It was amusing how naive her past self had been, which gave Shen Linyan the confidence to use such petty schemes over and over again.

She casually ran her fingers through her hair, looking relaxed, and said, “I think getting enough sleep is more important than exercise, especially for children who are still growing. Eight hours is just right. Since we all went to bed close to eleven last night, waking up at seven in the morning gives exactly eight hours of sleep, no more, no less. Of course, Sister Linyan, some people naturally have more energy and need less sleep. You must be one of them. But Yanyan and I are just normal people, so we still need our eight hours.”

Shen Linyan was caught off guard. Shen Qingqing had used sleep duration to counter her argument!

She and Liang Tianyi hadn’t gone to bed until almost midnight. This morning, when she woke Liang Tianyi up for a run, he had looked exhausted.

Initially, she had considered letting him sleep in, but then she thought that going for a run on the first day would showcase their self-discipline, so she forced him to wake up.

Shen Qingqing’s words made her feel uneasy. Smiling awkwardly, she said, “It’s not that I have extra energy. I just believe that small things shouldn’t ruin the habits we’ve built.”

Knowing she couldn’t argue further, Shen Linyan quickly changed the subject. “It’s getting late. Let’s go in and have breakfast. The director said we’ll gather at 8:30.”

With that, she walked ahead towards the central hall.

Shen Qingqing found it amusing to see Shen Linyan retreat so quickly. She had been expecting a bigger confrontation.

Of course, she wanted breakfast too, so she followed along to the main hall.