Chapter 95 – Extra: Everyday Life with the Kid
The bee clan isn’t very fond of ants. Baby Meng Lingxiao’s duties include not only wiping the floors, but also patrolling every nook and cranny of the house. Whenever he spots an ant, he drives it away—one ant at a time.
He has a specially made tiny dustpan. He places it along the ant’s path, then lies flat on the floor, puffs up his cheeks, and blows with all his might. With hardly any effort at all, he blows the ant right in, then tips the dustpan upright so the ant drops into a little bottle.
When Lu Xiao goes to work the next day, he helps his son take the ants far away and release them, then brings the little bottle back.
Occasionally, Sweet Baby goes to the office with him and does the releasing himself.
There are fewer and fewer people in this family who love working overtime. They really need to start cultivating the third generation’s interest in going to work early on.
“Is going to work fun, Sweet Baby?” Lu Xiao asks.
“Fun!” Meng Lingxiao nods decisively. During the day, the company has grandpa, dad, uncles—much more fun than staying at home. Sometimes Papa Yuan even magically appears at the office.
The floors at home are very clean, but at the company there are so many things to do.
Sweet Baby can wipe the floor-to-ceiling windows, water the plants, wander around with the document-delivery robot, deliver milk tea to the uncles, tea to grandpa and the other uncles, and deliver video calls of Papa Yuan to Dad.
Not only does Lu Xiao harass his wife on WeChat while at work, he also gets his son to video call his wife.
“Sweet Baby cleaned this lucky cat so well. I’ve never seen such a clean kitty.”
“Ow!” Sweet Baby’s eyes curve with pride, his long lashes drooping like little fans. “Then let Papa Yuan see it too!”
Sweet Baby opens his phone watch and presses the hotkey to call Meng Xueyuan. “Papa!”
Lu Xiao takes the opportunity to look at his wife’s high-definition beauty on the external display.
“Wife!”
“Hm?” Meng Xueyuan is marking up a script while looking at his phone. “What are you looking at?”
Lu Xiao thinks: obviously, I’m looking at my wife.
…
Meng Lingxiao likes peaches. With his two-year-old teeth, soft, juicy honey peaches suit him best. He hugs a peach and sits on the sofa eating it, wearing a bib, gnawing it clean.
Lu Xiao wipes his mouth and praises him. “Son, you eat so cleanly. You’re a good baby who doesn’t waste food—nothing left even for the ants. No wonder there are no ants in Daddy’s office; it’s all thanks to you. This is the most perfect peach pit I’ve ever seen.”
Meng Lingxiao can never escape Lu Xiao’s tricks and responds, “Then let Papa Yuan see it too!”
Lu Xiao first contacts Meng Xueyuan’s manager, Lin Mu, to make sure he’s free before harassing him—success rates are always high anyway.
Usually they only say a few words before hanging up, but harassing his wife makes this pervert even more excited.
One day, Meng Lingxiao saw a bug in Shen Ning’s flower garden.
The bug was eating the leaves of the flowers. Bad bug.
The bug was chubby and slow. Cute bug.
The bug was quickly taken away by the gardener, and Meng Lingxiao watched it reluctantly.
Just then, Uncle Xiang Jin called to say he’d gotten paid again and asked what toy he wanted.
Sweet Baby said, “Uncle, I want some bugs.”
The bee clan isn’t afraid of soft-bodied creatures—after all, real bees develop from pupae. At Sweet Baby’s age, he’s even less afraid and actually wants to play. When Meng Xueyuan handles hornet pupae and fries them for Lu Xiao, he doesn’t even change expression.
Xiang Jin said, “No problem. Uncle will buy you some soybean hawk moth larvae.”
Soybean hawk moth larvae—also called big green caterpillars—are plump, non-toxic, non-aggressive, and can even be stir-fried.
However, the flower clan is a bit afraid of live insects. Plants, after all, instinctively dislike being eaten by bugs. Adults can overcome their fear of harmless little creatures, but they won’t find them cute either.
So it’s best if soybean larvae don’t appear at the Lu household.
The next day, when the whole family headed out to work, Meng Lingxiao also brought his little milk bottle and told his dad, “Daddy, today we’re going to Uncle Xiang Jin’s house.”
Lu Xiao thought of how Xiang Jin had practiced mixing formula at home for a whole month—Fu Jin was nearly sick of drinking it. Looking at his son’s empty bottle, this time, the drone bee’s formula-making skills should be trustworthy.
Xiang Jin worried he couldn’t handle babysitting alone, so he also called Lian Qiao over.
With pesticide use, soybean larvae are rare on crops nowadays—at least the fat, green ones—but some breeders raise them specifically for sale.
Xiang Jin bought a whole box—twenty-two of them—and put them in a large basin to wait for Meng Lingxiao to play with.
As soon as Sweet Baby arrived, he stuck his hand in and grabbed five. The larvae, thicker than his fingers, obediently crawled along his sleeves onto his clothes—super cute, like a few little stickers stuck on him.
Looking after Sweet Baby is very easy. He doesn’t demand adults play with him, and he doesn’t shout or scream.
Xiang Jin and Lian Qiao sit off to the side, playing on their phones, watching TV, dozing off.
Lian Qiao yawns. “A few ran out.”
Xiang Jin says, “They won’t go far. We’ll catch them later.”
After playing bare-handed for a while, Sweet Baby grabs a sweet potato leaf and fishes for the larvae like he’s fishing.
Lian Qiao: “The basin seems a bit low.”
Xiang Jin: “It’s fine.”
When the leaves are chewed full of holes, Meng Lingxiao tosses the stem aside, gets up, and pats his hands. “Thank you, Uncle. I’m done playing!”
Xiang Jin: “Alright, I’ll take you home.”
Before leaving, Xiang Jin wants to find a container to keep the bugs. He and Lian Qiao count them—only fifteen left. Seven are missing.
The two drone bees fall silent for a moment. “Did you see which direction they crawled?”
“Don’t remember.”
Xiang Jin looks around at all the undefended areas. Uh… people really shouldn’t be too lazy.
Decisively, Xiang Jin gives the remaining larvae to Lian Qiao. “Take them home. Next time we’ll play at your place.”
Lian Qiao: “Oh.”
Sweet Baby vaguely understands: Ning Ning is afraid of bugs, Yuan Yuan isn’t. You can tell by whether they can eat sweet things—if they like sweets, they aren’t afraid of bugs.
Afraid he might judge wrong, he hugs Uncle Xiang Jin’s neck and asks one by one. “Is Uncle Fu afraid?”
Xiang Jin: “Probably… not.”
Sweet Baby: “What about the forensic uncle?”
Xiang Jin: “He’s not afraid at all.” He’s seen things far scarier than bugs.
Sweet Baby: “Uncle Fang is the bravest.”
After sending Sweet Baby back to the Lu house, Xiang Jin immediately calls Fu Jin. “Darling, how about we stay at a hotel tonight?”
Fu Jin: “What kind of hotel?”
Xiang Jin: “Your choice.”
Fu Jin: “Mm.” That leaves a lot of room for creativity.
…
That evening, when Meng Xueyuan gets home, the filial son mysteriously says to Papa, “Papa, I have a gift for you.”
Meng Xueyuan squats down. “What gift?”
Sweet Baby clasps his hands together. “It’s a gift Ning Ning can’t see.”
“Oh?” Meng Xueyuan opens his palm. “What is it?”
The filial son opens his hands, and a big green caterpillar drops into Meng Xueyuan’s snow-white palm.
“Papa, this one is the biggest! I’ve never seen a bigger bug.”
That line sounds oddly familiar. Meng Xueyuan steadies himself. “Any others?”
Sweet Baby says, “There are two more—one for Uncle Bai He, one for Uncle Xilan.”
If Uncle weren’t afraid of bugs, he could even put it by the bed as a surprise.
Meng Xueyuan: “Are you sure there are only two?”
Sweet Baby answers honestly, “I also have one.”
Meng Xueyuan: “Where is it?”
“In the milk bottle.”
He brought four back in the bottle.
Meng Xueyuan: “Let’s put them back in the bottle, or the bug babies will get hungry.”
He takes his son to wash his hands.
After washing, Sweet Baby pats his belly. “Papa, I’m thirsty. I want honey water.”
Hearing this, Shen Ning happily says, “I’ll make it for baby.”
He takes the milk bottle from the table. Before he can look closely, Meng Xueyuan quickly covers the bottle. “Dad, I’ll wash it.”
Shen Ning lets go. “Why?”
Meng Xueyuan says, “He used it to hold dirt today. We’re throwing this one away.”
Sweet Baby protests in a baby voice, “Papa, there wasn’t dirt, it was—”
He glances at Ning Ning. “It was something very cute.”
Shen Ning: ?
When Lu Xiao gets back, he’s completely innocent yet still gets blamed by his wife and sent to sleep in the study.
“What did I do wrong?”
Meng Xueyuan: “Who told you to encourage our son to show me everything every day? Today he brought bugs back to show me.”
Lu Xiao: “……”
After confirming where the bugs came from, Meng Xueyuan calls Xiang Jin. “Lingxiao brought four soybean larvae home.”
Xiang Jin: “……”
Even through the screen, you can hear him panting.
He’s already found three at home. The remaining four are nowhere to be found. Feeling guilty, he dragged Fu Jin out to stay at a hotel.
Too much exercise looking for bugs. Too much exercise at the hotel.
What a tiring day.
Some victims over-exercised. Some victims lost their wife.
…
Baby Meng Lingxiao developed the habit of eating by himself from a very young age because—because everyone has a partner.
Papa Lu says only people with partners get fed; people without partners can only eat by themselves.
So the only baby in the whole house has to eat on his own.
While eating, Sweet Baby takes big bites of steamed egg and still keeps an eye on every little movement at the table.
For example, Bai He glances at the sweet soup that’s a bit far away.
Sweet Baby quickly swallows his egg custard and reports in real time: “Uncle, Uncle Bai He wants to eat sweet soup.”
“Second Uncle, don’t copy him. Uncle Xilan doesn’t want to drink.”
After the meal, Sweet Baby uses his observational skills again. “Uncle Bai He, Uncle wants to go for a walk with you.”
The usually steady Lu Lou finds a lively mouthpiece for himself in this house.
Bai He says, “But my work isn’t finished yet.” He plans to go to the study to finish the rest first.
Sweet Baby says, “It’s okay! Give it to my daddy!”
Lu Xiao: “Good son, why don’t you arrange something for Second Uncle?”
Sweet Baby: “Second Uncle also wants to go for a walk.”
Lu Yushu touches his face. Was it that obvious?
Lu Xiao: “I also want to go for a walk.”
Sweet Baby: “Papa Yuan isn’t home. Daddy, you don’t want to go for a walk.”
Lu Xiao: “……” So if my wife isn’t home, I deserve to work overtime, huh?
When Lu Xiao goes to work overtime, Sweet Baby sits by his feet playing with building blocks, listening to the sound of Dad typing on the keyboard. After a while, he skillfully opens a video call and says to Meng Xueyuan, “This is the most handsome daddy I’ve ever seen. Papa, you should look too.”
Lu Xiao straightens his back instantly. Overtime is good. He loves overtime.
Meng Xueyuan smiles. “Mm. He really is very handsome.”
