The Useless Stepmom Brings Her Kids to Reality TV Shows to Photograph Them

167 Introverted Enough to Live Broadcast From The Lanshan Sungazing Homestay

“Brother, if you have taken enough pictures, please take more of mine,” said Li Zexin. “Otherwise, my friends won’t believe me that the Festival Group assigned a mission for a birthday party and Ms. Lin filled the rooms with balloons.” Li Zexin pushed Li Zexuan aside.

“I want to take a few more pictures. Ms. Lin, I gave you so many red packets. Did you hide them all for your retirement?” Li Zexuan took a couple of selfies from his phone.

Lin Wan didn’t know what to say.

“Brother, I want to take a picture too. I like this chubby Ultraman.” Li Zekai also ran in front of the camera.

!!

“Ms. Lin, you have to come closer. I want to take a photo with you.”

“Dad, you can take our photos together,” said Li Zexin as he pulled Lin Wan to stand in the middle.

Li Yanchen was speechless. But he did as he was told and took their photos. In the end, Li Zexin and Li Zexuan posted the photos in their WeChat Moments with a caption that was full of disdain.

“My cheeks hurt from all the blowing. But if you really don’t like it, I can tear them down in a second.” Li Yanchen raised his hands toward the balloons.

The three children stood in a row in front of their father. “No!”

Lin Wan was at a loss for words.

[Xuanxuan is clearly thanking his stepmother in his own way.]

[Yes! They say that they don’t like it but they won’t let anyone near the balloons at all.]

[Xuanxuan, do you like balloons that much?]

[I think it’s because of the words Lin Wan wrote on the ribbons. Xuanxuan took a photo of them too.]

[Xuanxuan once mentioned about his childhood. He said his clearest memory was of that cruise ship disaster. His father had told him that he was a man and he should be strong.]

[The person who actually makes them feel at home like a family is Lin Wan.]

Finally, Lin Wan took out the gifts she had chosen for each of them. “I knew that you might hate the balloons. Luckily, I bought toys for all of you,” she said proudly. She took out a small Ultraman toy and another small toy car.

“It’s all plastic.” Li Zexin scowled but he still took the gift and put it safely in his luggage.

That day, Li Zexuan wrote a short essay on Weibo:

[“I wish you all a very happy early birthday, my babies!” was what Ms. Lin wrote on the ribbons. Ms. Lin is only eleven years older than me. Is she trying to act like an adult? Ms. Lin, as expected, will always be Ms. Lin. She is like an annoying elder sister. Only Mr. Li is the adult in our family. She must have been spoiled rotten in her childhood with balloons, so she must have thought we liked them too. She treats us like little children!]

When Li Yanchen saw the news, he started to doubt himself. His son might be seventeen-year-old, but he was just a small child to him, still. He was a child in search of a bit of love and warmth.

Li Zexuan’s words were filled with disdain for the blue balloons and the way Lin Wan had called them “babies”. But, in actuality, he was very grateful to Lin Wan.

Li Yanchen went to the back garden and called his brother’s attending doctor to ask about his health. He decided to take the children to country H and tell them the truth about their biological father after the end of the show.

After the call, he returned to the courtyard. Lin Wan was at a loss after reading her stepson’s post.

After Li Zexuan was done with his post and the comments on the internet, he walked to Lin Wan and thanked her awkwardly. Li Zexin hugged her. “Ms. Lin, I am sorry.”

Lin Wan was scared of the sudden change and ran to her room to hide.

[Lin Wan was scared away by Xuanxuan and Xinxin.]

[Yes, Xinxin hugged Lin Wan and even apologized. Lin Wan ran away…]

[Hahahaha. Sister is so cute. The whole family just pretends to be cold and aloof.]

[Except for Mr. Li. He doesn’t even pretend to be cold. He is as fiery and passionate as a fire.]

[No. Mr. Li is boring.]

[If certain explicit content was allowed, do you think Mr. Li would have really done a live broadcast about it?]

…

Li Yanchen glanced at the bullet screen. “I am very introverted.”

[My god! Mr. Li is replying! He says he is very introverted.]

[This family is full of comedians!]

“I’m not joking,” said Li Yanchen. “I am actually very introverted.”

[Sure, Mr. Li. You are so introverted that you even requested to do a live stream at the Lanshan Sungazing Homestay when you could have chosen not to.]

[Aso, I have a question. Which is better? Black goji berries or the red ones?]

Li Yanchen was stunned. Xiao Tinalin had told him that in secret. ‘How did the viewers know about this?’

“What?” Li Yanchen pretended to be unaware.

[Xiao Tianlin was introducing some goji berries in the live broadcast room. He said that you’re drinking it too. Many people are like you, unable to distinguish between the effects of black and red goji berries.]

Li Yanchen was baffled. “Xiao Tianlin is just trying to promote health care products,” he said. “He was just joking in the live stream.” He regretted checking the comments.

[I checked. Xiao Tianlin is right. There are some things that you shouldn’t drink without knowing the benefits.]

“Lin Wan and I just thought that it tasted good. We have no other reason.”

[Mr. Li sounds like he feels wronged.]

[I understand. Plain water only tastes good when flavored with something else.]

“I just remembered that I boiled some pumpkin stew. I’ll go take a look.”

A series of question marks appeared on the bullet screen.

At Xiao Yi’s house, Xia Mo took out the gifts from her bag and handed it to Xiao Yi. It was a set with a keyboard and a mouse. She gave it to him reluctantly.

Xiao Yi took the gift box wrapped with a big red bow and guessed that it was either a keyboard or a set of books. He opened it. For the sake of his mother, he pretended to be surprised. “Mom, how did you know I needed to change my keyboard and my mouse?”

“Didn’t you scold Xinxin for breaking your mouse yesterday?” Xia Mo wanted her son to use the new keyboard she bought. She wished he would give the old one to Li Zexin so that when they played games together, her son wouldn’t argue with Li Zexin for using too much force.

Xiao Yi was quiet.

“Son, I also prepared the room for the birthday.” Xia Mo covered his eyes with her hands and led him to the door of the room.

...

When his mother’s hand moved away from his eyes, Xiao Yi saw his room. A pink and blue triangular flag was placed above his head, and in the middle was a table covered with a tablecloth of the same color. On the table was a little bear holding a card with the words: Happy Birthday!

It looked like a typical birthday scene. The only difference was that the balloons had been replaced by triangular flags. Xiao Yi hugged his mother. “Thank you, Mom.”

Xia Mo touched her son’s head. “You little brat, at least you still have a conscience.”

For the other three families, besides the color template, which was similar, the house was decorated with colorful lights. Ji Hanzhi gave dancing dolls to her two daughters. Nannan gave Wheatley a Princess Aisha dress, which the child could not wait to try. Feifei was given a large box of clay which he very much liked.

Other than the Li family, all the children expressed their love for the gifts. But in the end, the Li family still remained the most popular.

Lin Wan was a little confused about the netizens’ judging ability. ‘Is it because of Li Zexuan since he is so popular?’ she wondered.

But even if Li Zexuan wasn’t in the show, the Li family would have still been the most popular judging from the number of votes they got.

It was only when the private messages were continuously sent to her that she realized that Li family wasn’t popular because of the gifts she had bought but because of the messages she had written on the blue ribbons.