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

Chapter 253: Self-Entertainment

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Even though Li Yanchen had a lot of money and was the largest shareholder in the school, Li Zexuan always kept a low profile. He had never told anyone that his father had invested in this school.

Lu Wenqian’s family had only donated a single library building, and yet Lu Wenqian acted as though she owned the school. It was one of the reasons Li Zexuan disliked her.

Xie Wanyu knew that the Lu family was wealthy. She had heard Luan Rongrong talk about it. She had also heard her talk about the Li family. Li Zexuan seemed indifferent to Lu Wenqian’s attitude. Hearing him talk about his father, Xie Wanyu realized that the Li family was really wealthy, too.

Xie Wanyu felt even more inferior than before. She took a deep breath.

“No one will mistreat me,” she said. “Lu Wenqian just misunderstood when she saw us together. If we don’t meet, she won’t come after me.” Xie Wanyu hurriedly walked away.

“Wanyu…” called Li Zexuan, but she was already gone.

Li Zexuan was dejected. He wondered if he could ever muster the courage to ask her out after the incident today. She didn’t seem to believe him when he said that Lu Wenqian wouldn’t dare hurt her.

Lu Wenqian walked out of the library and sat alone in the garden for a long time. She thought about Li Zexuan and Xie Wanyu. They were definitely not related. Did that mean Li Zexuan fancied her?

Lu Wenqian decided to investigate further about Xie Wanyu and her family background.

She gave her brother a call.

Lu Wenwu was ten years older than Lu Wenqian. Although they were not biological siblings, Lu Wenqian was the only daughter in the family, so everybody doted on her.

Lu Wenwu agreed to his sister’s request without hesitation.

The next few days, Lu Wenqian left Xie Wanyu alone. She wanted to teach Xie Wanyu a lesson, but she was reminded of Li Zexuan’s words. She didn’t really want to offend him.

On the last day of September, Assistant Qin and Secretary Han went to the schools to pick up Li Zexuan and Li Zexin and took them to Chenxin directly as instructed by their boss.

In the office, Li Yanchen was going through the final round of preparations with the planning manager.

He had everything planned. At midnight, they would arrive home and give Lin Wan her birthday gifts that they had prepared.

The next day, they would head to the hotel at ten in the morning for a birthday party. Li Yanchen had already booked the whole hotel for that purpose. The main hall on the first floor was decorated with the motif of a maple forest. Above the “maple forest” would be blue balloons with the words: Baby, Happy Birthday!

He had already invited all of Lin Wan’s friends present in Yun City, including Luo Xi. He invited the senior executives of Chenxin along with all of his sons’ friends.

He wanted to make her birthday more extravagant than their wedding.

He had invited Luo Xi mostly because of Li Zekai. His youngest son insisted that he wanted Jian Jia at the party.

Li Yanchen wasn’t worried about Luo Xi and Lin Wan anymore. He knew that the person Luo Xi liked in high school wasn’t the current Lin Wan at all. His insecurities had disappeared. He wanted to invite Luo Xi to clear all misunderstandings.

The three children arrived at the office and sat on the sofa, waiting for Li

Yanchen to be done.

“Dad, Uncle Qin told us that you want to give Auntie Lin a surprise, so we can only go home at midnight. Is that true?” asked Li Zekai.

“Brother, let’s compare our gifts,” said Li Zexin.

“Mr. Li first,” said Li Zexuan, placing a protective hand on his bag.

Li Yanchen raised his head to look at his sons. “I will show mine last, ” he said. “Let’s see what you all have prepared.”

“Tsk.” Li Zexin rolled his eyes. “Then, let’s begin with you since you are the eldest.” He looked at Li Zexuan.

Li Zexuan leaned back on the sofa. “We should begin with Li Zekai. Good gifts should always be shown last. The feeling of getting better gifts as time goes by is different from receiving the best gifts first and bad ones later.” “You haven’t even seen my gift. How can you assume it’s not good?” Li Zekai was offended.

“Let me guess… when it comes to you, it will be some form of candy or morther”

Every year, Li Zekai always gave them chocolates and candies on their birthdays as gifts.

Li Zekai looked shocked. “How did you know?! Auntie Lin doesn’t know, does she? If she does, she won’t be surprised!”

Without warning, tears streamed down his face. He had bought a lot of his favorite candies for Lin Wan. He had even asked He Shuting and his other friends for their favorites so that he could buy a variety of candies.

“Why are you crying? Don’t cry. Candy is good. I love candy,” said Li Zexin as he tried to comfort his little brother.

Li Zekai stopped crying. “Brother, you can’t steal them! It’s all for Auntie Lin.”

Li Zexuan sighed. “Alright. We will do this. On the count of three, all of us will reveal our gifts together.”

“Alright,” said Li Zexin.

“One… two…”

They counted together.

“Three!”

Li Zexuan, Li Zexin, and Li Zekai took out their gifts at the same time.

Li Zexuan had a blue box in his hands. There were flower designs on the lid. The box was tied with a sleek ribbon. The packaging looked exquisite.

Li Zexin had a huge paper bag in his hands. The mouth of the bag was taped shut.

“It’s not easy to open this. It will damage the packaging. Tell me what’s in the box,” said Li Zexin.

“A necklace,” said Li Zexuan. He had bought a diamond-studded necklace from a luxurious brand.

When he heard his brother mention a necklace, Li Zexin let out a sigh of relief.

“I bought a bag. I wanted to buy it from Louis Vuitton. But I didn’t have enough money, so I chose another brand.” Li Zexin smiled proudly. “It’s custom-made. I, personally, engraved Ms. Lin’s name on it.”

“Your handwriting is so ugly,” said Li Zexuan. “Are you sure you didn’t ruin the whole bag?”

“Don’t worry. I practiced a hundred times before I wrote it down. It’s more beautiful than anything printed.”

“All your gifts are beautiful,” said Li Yanchen.

It was rare for their father to praise them. They felt happy. They gathered around him. “So, where’s your gift?”

Li Yanchen opened the cabinet behind him. The whole space was filled with gift boxes.

“Are these all for Ms. Lin?!” asked Li Zexuan. “Oh my god! You really outdid yourself.”

Li Zexin put away his paper bag. “This is not fair. If I had as much money as you, I would have given her a huge house as a gift.”

“Me too,” said Li Zekai. “I would have given her a Porsche.”

Li Yanchen chuckled. “All the best, you guys!”

At the Li family house, Lin Wan got a call from Chenxin informing her that her stepsons had all gone to the office and would be back home very late with Li Yanchen.

It was already ten at night. She was a little disappointed. Not only did they forget that her birthday was coming up but they also decided to come home late today! Thankfully, she had made a small cake for herself in the afternoon.

Lin Wan leaned back on her bed, put a “Happy Birthday” song on her phone, and enjoyed her cake. She was turning 29 this birthday. One step closer to 30.

“Happy Birthday to me!” she muttered.

She decided to make the most of it by herself. She tied a towel into a makeshift dress, tied her hair up, jumped on the bed, and sang a birthday song.

“Everyone, give it up for the one and only! Happy Birthday to me!” She pretended her phone was a microphone and jumped around in bed as she sang.

After jumping and dancing for almost half an hour, she collapsed on the bed in exhaustion. “Even self-entertainment doesn’t help me feel better…”

‘I could have endured the darkness if only I had never seen the light.’ Lin Wan’s expectations had been high. That was why she was so disappointed..