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

210 You’re Too Headstrong

Li Yanchen’s face was filled with killing intent. “Big brother Xiao, you can remove the second half of your sentence. It’s really unnecessary.”

Even though Xiao Tianlin munched on his pastries with his head lowered, he could feel the emanating coldness from Li Yanchen.

He quickly changed the topic. “Brother Li, the age gap is very good. Those who are older can take care of others, just like me. I also take care of Xia Mo.”

“Anyone under forty isn’t that old.”

!!

“You’re too headstrong, Brother Li. It’s good to be older.”

Li Yanchen was speechless.

Xiao Tianlin was still emphasizing his age. If it weren’t for the group of people present there, he would be furious and would snap at him.

Michael could already feel the atmosphere turning icy, so he interjected, “Brother Xiao, how did you raise such an outstanding son like Xiao Yi? He’s the top scorer of the college entrance examination and a pro at games!”

Speaking of his son’s path to success, Xiao Tianlin became even more talkative. Finally, he wasn’t making a fuss about Li Yanchen and his age.

An hour later, Tao Jingyuan was done cooking. She walked into the courtyard and asked everyone to clear the table.

The children had smelled the aroma of the food and popped their heads out from the window of the room to see if the food was ready.

Hearing Tao Jingyuan calling everyone to eat, the children ran out together and gathered by the well, lining up to wash their hands.

There were only simple ingredients in the vegetable patch in the backyard, but in Tao Jingyuan’s hands, they had turned into all kinds of delicious food. Just looking at the presentation was enough to make one’s appetite rise.

In addition to meat and vegetables, Tao Jingyuan had also steamed peanuts, corn, beans, and pumpkin buns.

The two tables were joined, and everyone sat together to eat. Almost everyone praised Tao Jingyuan’s cooking skills.

Hearing this, Zheng Kuo said proudly, “Yuanyuan’s cooking skills are indeed commendable. She is always very busy but when she is at home, she prepares delicious food. She will always include varieties for Feifei’s meals.”

“I just watch some videos and try to follow the recipes,” said Tao Jingyuan. ‘Don’t believe Zheng Kuo’s bragging.” She knew that many guests had hidden talents. If one of them turned out to be a trained chef, she would be embarrassed.

“It’s very delicious.” Lin Wan, who was a failure at cooking anything at all, found anyone’s cooking delicious.

Everyone ate and talked. It was almost ten when they were done and prepared to leave for their respective houses.

Li Zexuan held Li Zekai’s hand and led him home.

Lin Wan touched her bulging belly. “Every time I get delicious food here, I eat as though there is no tomorrow. I am going to put on weight if this goes on, Mr. Li. Let’s go for a walk.”

Li Yanchen had used up too much energy in the afternoon, and his back was already sore. He wanted to go back and lie down, but Lin Wan was so eager that he had no choice but to accompany her.

The night was fresh and crisp in Lan Village. The two of them strolled along the narrow concrete path.

Lin Wan raised her head and looked at the night sky. “There are no stars today. Is it going to rain? Xinxin must be doing his homework right now. I wonder if his English has improved.”

“You also miss Xinxin? He can see the sky from his balcony. Do you think he is thinking about us too?” Li Yanchen did miss his second son. He was just thinking about him at dinner.

“I hope he doesn’t miss us too much and studies hard. Anyway, there are only five days left, and we can see each other again. That child is so noisy that it feels so empty when he isn’t around. But his studies are important.” Lin Wan felt sad when she realized that he wasn’t around.

She had been so immersed in her family life that she had completely forgotten that this was not her world.

“Wanwan, our family will stay together forever.” Li Yanchen wrapped Lin Wan in his jacket.

“Yes.” The woman stuck her head out of the collar.

At Yun Xi Junior High School dormitories, Preserved Egg held a bag of spicy sticks and looked at Li Zexin. “It’s been four hours. Aren’t you tired of studying? Isn’t your throat dry? Do you want to take a break?”

“He spent the whole night reading English,” Chubby Jiang said, with earphones plugged in his ears. “You even changed subjects. Ten students got their answers right and you were one of them. It’s reasonable to take a break. Why are you working so hard?”

Li Zexin took a sip of water. “Ms. Lin is not here for a week. I can’t relax. Otherwise, she will look down on me.”

Preserved Egg took a spicy stick and stuffed it into Li Zexin’s mouth. ‘Studying makes my mother happy. When she is happy, the whole family feels happy. But Ms. Lin isn’t your mother.”

Li Zexin chewed the spicy strips and swallowed. ‘I am almost done. And Ms. Lin is like my second mother.”

His roommate shook his head. “Li Zexin, maybe you are becoming more stupid by studying too much. You can only have one mother. You can’t have a second mother.”

Li Zexin closed his notebook. He wanted to tell his friend that Lin Wan’s father had saved him and his family. However, that would require him to reveal his father’s true identity. The secret was too big to reveal to outsiders.

“Why are you guys not sleeping?” Li Zexin turned off the lamp.

“Can’t you see that you’re still burning the midnight oil to study? The few of us are trying to follow your footsteps. If you get into Yun Xi High School, it will mean we got in too! You can do it!” Chubby Jiang encouraged him.

“You guys should work hard. Ms. Lin said we still have time. There are still twelve months left. It’s enough for us to turn the tables,” said Li Zexin.

Preserved Egg and the others already had calluses in their ears from listening to Li Zexin’s pep talk.

The three of them ran to the washroom to brush their teeth, ready to ignore Li Zexin again. At this time, if anyone dared to talk, Li Zexin would definitely start chanting like a monk.

Sure enough, the boy who had completed the task started to talk about the benefits of studying in the dormitory.

The three children by the sink had their mouths stuffed with toothbrushes. They looked at each other without saying a word.

Three minutes later, they climbed onto bed together.

At Lan Village, Li Zexuan and Li Zekai took turns taking a shower at the Li family house.

After Lin Wan and Li Yanchen returned from their walk, they sat on the stone bench in the courtyard and took turns to wash up.

Lin Wan only realized that she hadn’t looked at her phone the entire day when she finally laid down on her bed.

She opened the chat box to see hundreds of unread messages, all from the Circle of Madams group chat and Yang Ruoxi.

Yang Ruoxi had left a message saying that she was leaving for country Y and would be back for the Spring Festival. She had sent a few more messages telling her that she had watched the live stream and knew how busy Lin Wan was. She told her to rest and not to stay up too late.

Lin Wan replied, “I just saw your message. I am going to sleep now. I will call you tomorrow. Goodnight.”

Next up were the group of ladies. Their topic of conversation was always the same.

However, out of courtesy, Lin Wan still replied. She thought that they would already be asleep at eleven at night and hadn’t expected a few of them to reply fast.

Lin Wan made an excuse about a mission she needed to complete tomorrow. She told them she was too tired but was thankful for their messages. She told them that after returning to Yun City, she would definitely meet everyone.

After successfully getting Lin Wan to agree for a gathering, the ladies finally stopped spamming her with messages.

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