I Became the Rich Family’s Stepfather and Couldn’t Stop Laughing - Chapter 13

Xi Ling read comments to the cub for over an hour before he pressed the pause button, his throat dry and hoarse.

Because the little cub in his arms had fallen asleep listening, even curling the corners of his mouth in his dreams.

Although Xi Ling was big-hearted and relatively careless, he wasn’t so dense that he couldn’t hear the cub’s “guiding” influence after an hour.

Looking at the cub’s blissful sleeping face, he understood even more: this little guy not only didn’t mind the photos being posted online, but he also really liked hearing the praise in the comment section.

Thinking of this, Xi Ling couldn’t help but chuckle. How could his cub be so cute?

Xi Ling extended his fingertip and lightly poked the cub’s little cheek, which was already a bit rounder than before.

His lip color was still too pale, making him look in poor health, but it didn’t affect the cub’s jade-like cuteness; instead, it added a touch of fragility that made people want to cherish him.

Xi Ling lowered his head to press his forehead against the cub’s. Such a cute, precious cub must be raised to be healthy and strong.

He carried the cub back to the nursery for a short nap and mentally flipped through the plot related to the parenting show.

The childhood segment where the “villain cub” and the “male lead cub” met on the parenting show, even though the book only briefly touched upon it, still featured the original owner’s name.

Xi Ling searched again for the grudge between the original owner and Chu Xinnian, and from the bottom of his heart, he admired the other party’s ability to stir up trouble. To be honest, his death (the original owner’s death) wasn’t an injustice.

Chu Xinnian didn’t have a good background and hadn’t gone to much school. After being spotted by an agency, he was sent abroad for boy group training. When the group made a glorious return to the country, he suddenly disappeared for two years, and when he appeared again, he was a father, a single father at that.

The original group members had either exploded in popularity or were already famous, while he, the single father, lived a miserably wretched life. The trend of the world was to “step on the high and suck up to the low,” but in order to raise his child, Chu Xinnian could only grit his teeth and endure everything.

Chu Xinnian’s return happened to coincide with the original owner’s debut two years prior. The original owner had bought a xianxia IP, preparing to “ascend to immortality on the spot,” only to be pressed to the ground and beaten by Chu Xinnian, who was playing his servant.

The show flopped, but Chu Xinnian gained some traffic. However, because the role was too small, the heat brought was limited, but it was enough for the original owner to hate him to death.

When promoting the show on a variety program, the original owner deliberately used the opportunity of sharing “fun behind-the-scenes stories” to repeatedly insinuate how illiterate Chu Xinnian was. This not only embarrassed Chu Xinnian but also tied him tightly to the “iliterate” (nine-year-compulsory-education-dropout) label.

The original owner had good college entrance exam scores and was in a popular major at a key university in Yunjing City; he could already be considered a “straight-A student” in the entertainment industry. So, he was as smug as could be when stepping on Chu Xinnian. However, when he turned around and said he was “left all alone” (using the wrong word for “alone”), he slapped his own face and attracted a wave of hate.

With the original owner’s temperament and character, he naturally counted the account against Chu Xinnian and spent no small amount of money making things difficult for him later on. Otherwise, Chu Xinnian wouldn’t be doing so miserably now.

Xi Ling didn’t want to think about the mess the original owner had made in the original plot anymore; the evil debts the original owner had already created were enough to give him a headache… He even suspected that if the gloomy villain in the future hadn’t acted quickly, the original owner might have been wiped out by the protagonist’s group personally.

“Fancy torture” of the male lead’s father, bullying the young male lead wasn’t this the standard “thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west” precursor plot?

Xi Ling looked at the new work group the staff had just added him to on his phone. They wanted him to discuss tomorrow’s recording location with Chu Xinnian.

Chu Xinnian’s WeChat profile picture was a Q-version portrait of him and his child. Not only was the art style cute, but it was also incredibly expressive to the extent that one could recognize the people instantly. Xi Ling was instantly hooked.

His fingers, which had been hesitating, sent a friend request with a snap: [Where did you get your profile picture drawn?]

Xi Ling was afraid Chu Xinnian wouldn’t accept it, but unexpectedly, he added him as a friend in less than a minute and replied: [Drawn by a fan.]

Xi Ling: [Can you give me the contact info? I want to commission one.]

Chu Xinnian: […]

Chu Xinnian: [Wait a moment, let me check.]

Seeing there was hope, Xi Ling replied excitedly: [Okay!!!]

Chu Xinnian was indeed as easy to get along with as the book said!

Xi Ling instantly felt more confident. As long as he acted like a decent human being, everything would be no problem!

After receiving the Weibo link to the fan’s commission page forwarded by Chu Xinnian, Xi Ling thanked him and immediately got to the point: [I’ve done a lot of terrible things before, I’m really sorry. If possible, I hope I can make compensation…]

Xi Ling’s apology naturally didn’t receive an equally straightforward response from Chu Xinnian.

This was within reason. If he put himself in his shoes, he would find it hard to believe too. But Xi Ling felt that whether he was perceived as crazy or having ulterior motives, he had to make his attitude of cutting ties with the past clear first.

As for the rest, he still had some confidence in his personality charm. Thinking of this, Xi Ling rua-ed (stroked) the cub, who was now content to let him knead him at will.

Huo Xingmian felt a bit sleepy after breakfast. After being rubbed by his stepfather, he simply leaned into his arms.

The little ball was wearing his little tiger onesie today. Because of today’s recording location, Xi Ling finally recommended the Cat Customs Museum to Chu Xinnian and successfully harvested his “six-dot” (speechless) reaction: […]

However, after Chu Xinnian looked at the detailed introduction in the link, he realized that this “customs museum” wasn’t the kind of “customs house” he thought, and quickly agreed.

After all, their superficial relationship wasn’t suitable for visiting each other’s homes. Taking their cubs out together was best if they could find a place where children could play. And since Chu Xinnian had just taken his child to an amusement park last parent-child day, a cat customs museum sounded very attractive to children.

Xi Ling “huffed” his own “little brain-tiger” for a while, went to the cloakroom to pick out a hoodie and sweatpants in the same color tone, and covered it with a long black cashmere coat on the outside.

Dressed in a very warm, mix-and-match style, Xi Ling chose a yellow LaFerrari in the same color scheme.

The live broadcast room was once again overwhelmed by the “tyrant” aura:

[Xi Ling’s black-roofed car is just so-so. Even if it were given to me for free, I wouldn’t want it. I prefer the pure yellow LaFerrari that only the Saudi prince has /lemon/lemon/lemon]

[I don’t want the one the floor above wants, and I don’t want it either. Mass-produced cars are boring /doghead]

[Since you don’t want it, I can’t be the odd one out either. Ferrari, go away!]

[Xi Ling has so many cars, can he give me one?]

[I’m a college student, give it to me first!]

[The cameraman is a real sports car fan. There are close-ups of supercars in every episode, but should you also consider those who aren’t interested in cars? Hurry up and show me the cub!!!]

This newly opened Cat Customs Museum was in a very remote location. Huo Xingmian slept in the car until they arrived.

Xi Ling carried the cub into the shop with one hand while taking out his phone to check the latest Weibo news.

After discussing it with Chu Xinnian last night, he had immediately gone to find an artist to place an order, only to find that his account had been blocked by the other party. Good grief, was this the “self-cultivation” of Chu Xinnian’s fans?

Feeling the artist’s hostility, Xi Ling hesitated. After all, it was drawing a Q-version from photos, so even if he switched to a small alt account, he couldn’t avoid the fact that it was him.

Xi Ling flipped through several top-ranked artists, but he didn’t know if it was a preconceived notion—the harder it was to get, the more agitated he became.

Anyway, he looked back and forth and still felt that the ones drawn by Chu Xinnian’s fans were the most vivid and expressive, and the quality of the work was very stable, perfectly mastering all kinds of art styles.

He registered a small alt account and searched through the artist’s Weibo. Seeing countless portraits of Chu Xinnian, Xi Ling was extremely envious. Why didn’t he have fans of this caliber?

However, the fact was that the original owner had left him with countless anti-fans, and now it was hard work even to buy a painting.

But no matter how much Xi Ling thought about it, he couldn’t just give up. He used his small account to send the photos and specific requirements according to the artist’s ordering needs, wanting to see if he had a chance to use his money/cash power.

After waiting for a night, the other party finally replied.

Years of Years: [?]

Years of Years: [Xi Ling fan??]

Years of Years: [Don’t you know I’m a “Rice Cake” (Chu Xinnian fan)? Or don’t you know what your “main” did to our Nian-Nian???]

Xi Ling was afraid of being blocked directly if he spoke late, so he went straight to the point: [Madam, I can pay extra /tears.jpg]

Years of Years: [???]

Seeing this, Xi Ling’s heart skipped a beat. Would the other party think he was using money to insult someone or something? Artists seemed to be quite sensitive, and his words were also prone to ambiguity… Help, he didn’t mean that!

Just as Xi Ling wanted to elaborate, he was asked by the staff to change his shoes.

Xi Ling had no choice but to put the cub down, change into indoor slippers separately, and when he looked at the chat bar again, the other party had already sent a new reply.

Years of Years: [Nian-Nian is my decade-long favorite! All of us Rice Cakes are at odds with Xi Ling! Pay extra?]

Seeing this, Xi Ling quickly typed an apology.

However, before he could send it, a new reply came from the other side: [At least double!]

Xi Ling: …

A moment later, Xi Ling paid the deposit as requested. As he turned off his phone, he happened to bump into Chu Xinnian, who was walking over with the cub outside the shop door. His mood suddenly became a bit complicated.

As the two groups of guests met, the two live broadcast rooms also had shots of each other. The audience finally confirmed that the production team had really put these two together.

Xi Ling’s live broadcast room immediately became agitated.

How Xi Ling had committed evil deeds before could be said to be known to all; Chu Xinnian’s lack of education was indeed criticized, but “Xi Ling” had repeatedly belittled and mocked him on the show in an unrefined and brainless way, not to mention “Xi Ling” also had that scene of crashing on the spot and claiming he was “left all alone” (using the wrong word).

Originally, the impressions in the live room had changed due to the interaction between the father and cub and Xi Ling’s outstanding appearance; it was no longer the one-sided cursing from the beginning.

But after Chu Xinnian entered the frame from afar with his child, the old detestable Xi Ling jumped out from the audience’s memories again:

[Damn, the program team really is inhuman. Isn’t this sending Chu Xinnian over to suffer?]

[Don’t! Chu Xinnian is already miserable enough. He’s been debuted for so many years and still lives in a broken-down rental house with his child.]

[Don’t start brain-supplementing right off the bat, okay? Xi Ling hasn’t done anything yet…]

[Are there already brain-dead fans defending Xi Ling now???]

[(Let’s go to the dance studio if you want to fight.jpg) The parenting show is for watching cubs. I only noticed that Mianmian and Mingming both look so obedient and cute~/snuggle]

Chu Xinnian had a clean, refined temperament and was the “face” of his group back then. Although he was a father now, his face was still quite stunning.

As for the male lead cub, Chu Fangming, he was currently still a four-year-old toddler. One couldn’t tell how he would become a master of the world in the future, but one could see that Chu Xinnian was skilled at raising children.

The male lead cub’s body looked very sturdy, and he was clearly much bigger; he looked like a five- or six-year-old, which made the “little ball” Mianmian look even smaller.

Xi Ling was very envious and hoped his Mianmian would become sturdy soon, so he looked at the male lead cub a few more times.

Huo Xingmian had heard Xi Ling mumbling on the way that they were going to meet a very cute little older brother today, and he hoped they could play happily together.

Huo Xingmian curled his lip, unconcerned. But after they met, the stinky stepfather’s eyes had snap-ed and stuck onto the other side.

Ever since Mingming and Mingming’s father entered the door, the stinky stepfather hadn’t looked at him once, which caused a subtle change in his mood.

He reached out his little paw and patted Xi Ling’s shoulder, pointing at the cats on the other side of the glass wall and pretending to be surprised: “Is, kitt-y!”

Xi Ling withdrew his gaze and responded with a smile: “That’s right, there are so many little kitties here. Does Mianmian like them?”

Seeing that Xi Ling’s attention had returned to him, the cub immediately lifted the corners of his mouth, nodded, and answered in a milky voice: “Like!”

Xi Ling carried the cub inside and stood by the glass wall waiting for the shop owner’s explanation, introducing the breeds of the cats to the cub: “This is an orange cat, prone to becoming a piggie; this is a tuxedo cat, prone to being neurotic…”

The cameraman beside them couldn’t help but twitch his eyelids listening.

However, before he could say much, Chu Xinnian and his son had also finished changing their shoes.

Chu Xinnian wanted to hug his child like Xi Ling, which would be easier to film.

But Mingming was dying to see the cats. As soon as he changed his shoes, he rushed over like a gust of wind, excitedly meowing at the little kittens behind the glass wall.

Xi Ling listened to Mingming’s loud voice and then looked at the vigorous footsteps of the child running, feeling incredibly envious.

He didn’t notice the cub in his arms, whose little face had been smiling like a flower a second ago, instantly slump to his chin.