Chapter 10: He’s Got a Brainless Wife!
Watching the toddler’s small back running away, Shen Ningqing’s heart sank halfway.
Just when she thought the child wouldn’t turn back—
The little toddler suddenly smiled, grabbed her son’s hand, and the two babies—who could barely walk—held hands and supported each other, toddling forward together with their short legs toward her.
Although they stumbled as they ran, their direction was clear.
Shen Ningqing’s nose suddenly tingled. She stepped forward, crouched down, and gathered the two children into her arms.
[Ding—Achievement “Make the male lead’s mother happy” completed!]
[Host is amazing! The target’s emotional value is extremely high. The main system gave an excellent rating, so the reward includes one additional plot coin!]
Three golden coins fell into the pouch with a clink.
Little money-lover Gu Tang smiled even sweeter.
The obedient child’s big eyes sparkled as he looked up at her with a shy smile, and Shen Ningqing’s heart softened instantly. Then she looked at her son—
Young Master Gu’s dark eyes were fixed only on the obedient child. He didn’t even look at his mother.
Well, she understood.
When the obedient baby smiled, it seemed as if white wings spread out behind him.
Who wouldn’t like such an angelic child?
It was normal that her son wanted to look at him a little longer.
Shen Ningqing hugged both toddlers tightly. Both children were well-behaved; they were both her precious babies.
Young Master Gu—who was actually not very obedient—struggled slightly in defiance, trying to escape his mother’s embrace. Meanwhile, Gu Tang rather liked this elegant but gentle Aunt Shen who had wiped his tears earlier, so he generously wrapped his arms around her neck.
Noticing her son’s discomfort, Shen Ningqing didn’t force him. She simply lifted the obedient child who was willing to be close to her.
Seeing this, Gu Quan eagerly reached out toward his biological son.
“Come on, Daddy will carry you!”
In response, he received a gaze as sharp as a blade.
“Hahaha…”
Gu Quan withdrew his hand and laughed awkwardly.
“This child is afraid I’ll get tired, so he prefers standing by himself. Such a good boy.”
Gu Qinian: expressionless face.jpg
Holding the soft angel-like baby in her arms, Shen Ningqing felt even more like a winner in life than when she had won the Best Actress award. She lifted her chin proudly.
“I told you already—this is my family’s child.”
Movie Queen Li was unconvinced, but she could only hold it in.
After holding it in for a while, she came up with what she thought was a brilliant idea.
“Hey, how about I become his godmother?”
Shamelessly stepping forward, Movie Queen Li stuffed the diamond necklace into Gu Tang’s hand, practically forcing it on him.
“Baby, let Auntie be your godmother. This shiny thing is a meeting gift for you…”
“No.”
The one who spoke wasn’t Gu Tang, but another low, childish voice.
The usually quiet Gu Qinian rejected the offer on behalf of the toddler at the critical moment.
Movie Queen Li immediately became unhappy.
“I didn’t ask you, you little sour-faced brat! What’s the use of being pretty? With that expression, you’ll never find a wife in the future!”
“Being pretty is useful! Lots and lots of people like him! He’ll have a wife!”
Gu Tang waved his tiny fists to defend Young Master Gu, even refusing the diamond necklace.
This auntie was talking nonsense.
How could the male lead not have a romantic storyline?
The future Boss Gu would have plenty of admirers. Although he hadn’t read the novel to the very end and didn’t know who the female lead would be, there would definitely be one!
Movie Queen Li couldn’t bring herself to get angry at Gu Tang. Seeing that the child didn’t like the diamond necklace, she removed a bracelet and handed it to Shen Ningqing instead.
“The baby is still too small. A necklace might strangle him. A bracelet is better—nice and round.”
Shen Ningqing replied coldly, “Do you think my family lacks such things?”
“I’m giving it to our son. Just help keep it safe.”
Movie Queen Li somehow declared them relatives and spoke quite casually.
“Oh right, what’s our son’s name? I still don’t know!”
Shen Ningqing’s mouth twitched slightly.
“…You really have no sense of boundaries.”
Gu Quan’s face was full of horror.
“Who? Whose son with whom?”
Why did it suddenly seem like this had nothing to do with him anymore?
The guests watched the spectacle while munching sunflower seeds.
For some reason, the lilies decorating the hall suddenly smelled especially fragrant…
—
Gu Tang and Young Master Gu still didn’t have names yet, all because they were waiting for the one-year-old catch ceremony.
This was a tradition of the Gu family.
Based on the item the child picked at their first birthday, their name would be decided.
In the hotel lobby, an enormous round table about three meters in diameter had been set up. On top of it were all kinds of little objects—things to eat, play with, and use… everything imaginable.
The two toddlers were placed right in the center of the table.
Gu Tang was very excited. He had never participated in such an activity before and eagerly reached out to grab everything within sight.
But…
He couldn’t reach.
His movements were restricted.
Young Master Gu, sitting beside him, showed no interest in grabbing anything. Instead, he grabbed Gu Tang.
Gu Tang: ??
Gu Qinian had no interest in anything and found everything boring.
Compared to the objects on the table, the little milk dumpling’s chubby hands were much more entertaining—soft and bouncy, with a satisfying texture.
Gu Tang shook his arm and whispered, “Let go of me.”
But the other child buried his head in playing with his hand as if he hadn’t heard anything.
Since Young Master Gu refused to let go, Gu Tang couldn’t reach for anything either. He could only sit in the middle of the table in a daze.
The adults around them began to grow anxious.
Su Mei stood up from her seat and tiptoed to look.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t they moving?”
Gu Lin scratched his head.
“I’ve never seen this before. Does this count as grabbing something or not?”
The housekeeper said, “It probably doesn’t count. We can’t possibly say that Young Master grabbed the obedient baby during the one-year-old catch…”
How could they name a child based on that?
The system was also anxious, beeping loudly inside Gu Tang’s mind.
[Host, the name must match the original novel! If the wrong name is chosen, it could cause spatial overlap in the novel world. That would be very dangerous!!!]
Just imagine apocalyptic monsters suddenly appearing inside a modern romance novel—wouldn’t it turn into a horror story instantly?
Gu Tang replied confidently, “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.”
It was just choosing a name. How hard could it be?
Young Master Gu kneaded the toddler’s little hand back and forth, finding it very relaxing. Suddenly, the small hand flipped over and grabbed his instead.
Gu Qinian raised his eyes.
What was he doing?
He didn’t bother pulling away and simply let the toddler hold his hand.
Gu Qinian raised an eyebrow.
Let’s see what the milk dumpling wanted to do.
The toddler first pulled him toward a dictionary. Gu Qinian narrowed his eyes. But halfway there, the toddler suddenly stopped and began shaking his head.
“No, no!”
Gu Tang was thinking about what object could represent the character “Qi”. It couldn’t be a homophone; it had to correspond exactly to the written character.
At first he thought of grabbing the dictionary and flipping through it, but then realized that would be wrong.
If they picked the dictionary, the male lead might end up named Gu Dian instead…
His eyes widened as he searched the table again. Suddenly, Gu Tang’s eyes lit up.
Got it!
Gu Qinian still hadn’t figured out what the toddler was planning when he felt his hand being dragged toward a tablet computer.
This time the toddler seemed determined. His soft little hand gripped Gu Qinian’s finger and pressed it onto the power button—
The tablet powered on.
The screen lit up instantly.
Then the toddler guided his finger to point quickly at the character “year” in the displayed date.
Gu Quan had been watching the entire process and slowly read it aloud:
“…Qi… Nian? That’s a good name!”
Hearing the exact same name he had before his rebirth, Gu Qinian frowned slightly.
He didn’t particularly like that name. It had been given in the orphanage. Although it was said that a kind person had chosen the characters, the painful memories of abuse there made him dislike the name as well.
However…
When the milk dumpling heard the name, he happily clapped his hands, the soft flesh on his cheeks bouncing with each movement.
Gu Tang shouted, “I like it!”
Then let it be this one.
Although it wasn’t particularly original, it didn’t sound so bad after all.
Gu Qinian silently accepted his name and lowered his head again out of boredom, grabbing the toddler’s hand to play with it.
With the male lead’s name settled, the system finally relaxed halfway.
Only halfway, because Gu Tang’s name couldn’t go wrong either.
The problem was that none of the objects on the table represented the character “Tang”.
Gu Tang tried to grab a piece of candy, but the system immediately stopped him.
[No, Host. That’s tang for sugar, not Tang the character.]
Gu Tang asked, “Then what should I do?”
Even the cleverest cook can’t prepare a meal without ingredients.
If there was no “Tang”, he couldn’t create it out of thin air!
Just then, Gu Tang’s sharp eyes noticed a Chinese ink painting hanging on the wall of the hall. With his years of drawing experience, he immediately recognized it as a painting of begonia blossoms.
Gu Tang’s eyes lit up. He stretched out his hand toward the painting and grabbed at the air.
“I want that!”
For some reason, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly fell silent.
“That is…”
After seeing what the toddler pointed at, Su Mei covered her mouth, tears shimmering in her eyes.
Gu Lin, already a grown young man, wrapped an arm around his mother’s slightly trembling shoulders and comforted her softly.
Gu Tang’s finger froze in midair.
Oh no.
He had only chosen a painting—why had he made Grandma cry?!
[Host… based on my experience, I think you may have triggered some kind of hidden side storyline…]
Whether it was a side storyline or not was unclear.
But the atmosphere on site had become extremely strange.
Everyone looked at him as if they were seeing someone else through him…
Gu Tang felt a little frightened and instinctively moved closer to Young Master Gu.
Gu Qinian also seemed to sense something. He stopped playing with the toddler’s hand and instead held it tightly, not moving at all.
On the huge round table, the two toddlers clung tightly to each other.
“This child…”
After a long silence, Gu Quan suddenly stood up and said excitedly,
“This child truly has a connection with our Gu family. That painting… was left behind by my late father.”
Ah—so it was the old Master Gu’s final work.
Everyone suddenly understood. The media, however, were full of regret that they hadn’t managed to capture the moment when the toddler raised his hand toward the painting. Now they could only frantically photograph the child and the begonia painting separately, hoping to combine the two with editing later.
Only Young Master Gu glanced at the frightened little milk dumpling, then turned his eyes toward his own father.
Gu Qinian: Can’t you just say things normally without taking dramatic pauses?
The head of the Gu family was still immersed in memories of his father. The Gu family’s guiding principle had always been “Filial piety comes before all virtues.” Thinking about his father moved Gu Quan deeply.
But as he reminisced, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, as if someone had stabbed him.
Gu Quan turned around in confusion and met his biological son’s murderous gaze.
Gu Quan: ?
He was a little worried.
Would the Gu family’s tradition end with his generation?!
Because the toddler had chosen the begonia painting, although he hadn’t physically grabbed it, that was only because it was too far away. In a one-year-old catch ceremony, the object that first attracted the child’s attention counted.
Gu Quan therefore announced that the obedient child would receive the single-character name Tang (?). Since the child’s biological parents could not be found, he would temporarily take the Gu family surname.
Gu Tang slowly let out a breath.
That scared him to death.
He thought he had triggered some irreversible plot event.
[Host! Hidden side storyline “Gu Family Heirloom” activated. Progress: 50%. Reward: ???]
Gu Tang: “What kind of reward is a question mark?”
[I don’t know.]
Gu Tang: …
Alright then, that was indeed very mysterious.
—
After the one-year-old catch ceremony ended successfully, the next event was Young Master Gu’s first birthday banquet.
Gu Tang was already a few months older than the proper age, but he still joined in.
The birthday cake was brought out.
Written on it were the children’s newly chosen names—
Happy Birthday Gu Qinian & Gu Tang!
How nice.
From now on, your birthday is my birthday.
Gu Tang stared at the small candle flame flickering on top of the cake. He puffed out his cheeks excitedly. Before blowing it out, he turned back and looked at Young Master Gu, keeping his cheeks puffed like a little fish while silently asking with his eyes:
Want to blow it together?
Looking at the milk dumpling with his cheeks puffed up like a goldfish and those hopeful eyes, Young Master Gu slowly shook his head.
Sure enough, after realizing that he didn’t intend to blow the candle with him, the toddler seemed even happier.
Taking a deep breath—
“Whooo—”
They were only one year old.
The single candle on the cake was blown out by Gu Tang.
At the same time, the system notification sounded.
[Host completed achievement “Celebrate the male lead’s first birthday in his place”! Reward: 10 life points, Plot Coins ×5.]
The system was stunned.
How many missions had the host completed today?
Should it occasionally work overtime and write a work summary?
Sigh… when you follow someone so outstanding, you inevitably start becoming competitive yourself…
—
At some point, snow began falling outside the hotel windows.
Gu Qinian stared at the drifting snowflakes, lost in thought.
This was the first birthday he had ever celebrated in two lifetimes.
Originally, it was during this same winter that he had been abandoned—left in the freezing snow and almost frozen to death.
But now…
“Little brother! Eat!”
A sticky-sweet childish voice sounded beside him.
As soon as he turned his head, his cheek suddenly felt cold—someone had smeared a bit of cream onto it.
The culprit of the prank lay on the ground laughing with his hands clutching his belly, kicking his legs in delight.
Tsk. A brat was still a brat.
Didn’t know any better.
Young Master Gu was too lazy to argue with the toddler and casually muttered,
“What a waste.”
Unexpectedly, the clueless toddler seemed to understand. He froze for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully and leaned closer—
“Chomp!”
“Eat it!”
Gu Tang licked the cream from the corner of his mouth.
Young Master Gu was handsome, so even the cream on his face tasted sweeter!
Gu Qinian stared at the toddler in disbelief, unable to comprehend what had just happened. He raised his hand and wiped his cheek.
After a long moment, he forced out three words—
“So dirty…”
Even though he said that, the tips of Young Master Gu’s ears had inexplicably turned red.
***
Author’s Note:
Gu Qinian (out loud): So dirty!
Gu Qinian (inside): So cute!
Tang Tang: A man’s words can’t be trusted—even from childhood. Tsk tsk.
