The Cannon Fodder Dad of Three Villainous Cubs - Chapter 9

Thinking of his eldest son, Ji Zhiqiu suddenly felt the nervous anticipation of meeting an internet friend in real life.

After losing his memory, he had inexplicably turned into a total hopeless romantic. He had fallen in love with a man at first sight and tried everything to dig up information about him. After a great deal of effort, he finally discovered that the man had a “white moonlight” a first love who had passed away early and that he apparently bore a striking resemblance to her.

People in love usually lose all common sense. He had actually spun a wild, foolish fantasy: disguising himself as the man’s deceased first love. To make the lie foolproof, he even adopted a child, pretending it was the crystallization of their love.

Such a clumsy lie was naturally bound to be exposed with a single poke. However, the adoption had already become an unalterable fact. Fortunately, although he had been a foolish person, he still maintained a moral baseline; he did not abandon the child or throw him back into the welfare home.

After he ran away while pregnant, he poured all his heart and time into Ji Yanyan. His favoritism was absolutely deafening, causing him to neglect Ji Zishen’s feelings. On top of that, Ji Yanyan had been spoiled rotten by him to the point of being completely lawless. The toddler frequently made trouble for his two older brothers, and because Ji Zhiqiu always took the youngest’s side, it only intensified the friction between the father and sons, as well as among the brothers.

Dealing with Ji Yanyan was still well within his capabilities. A three-year-old child’s personality and worldview were not yet fully formed; as long as he guided him properly, he would eventually be able to straighten out this little sapling that had grown crooked.

However, his eldest son, Ji Zishen, was an exception.

Ji Zishen had grown up in an orphanage from a young age, witnessing the fickleness of human nature and the harshness of the world far too early. Later on, because he was adorable, he was adopted several times. Yet, his luck was exceptionally abysmal; his adoptive parents turned out to be wicked people who abused him behind closed doors.

To survive in such a hostile environment, Ji Zishen had been forced to grow up too quickly. Although he was only nine years old this year, he was naturally brilliant and mentally precocious.

It was as if an adult soul had been stuffed into a child’s physique, creating an eerie mismatch at every turn. He harbored deep hostility toward every adult, yet desperately yearned to stand on his own two feet and master his own destiny. Constrained by his small body, he wished for nothing more than to grow up quickly and become one of those “adults” who made him sick to his stomach a mindset that twisted his psychology further. He would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, playing adults like fools just to fill the void in his heart.

Thinking up to this point, Ji Zhiqiu let out a long sigh.

He himself had experienced smooth sailing from childhood to adulthood without encountering any major crises. He belonged to the demographic possessing the clearest, most innocent and frankly, foolish gaze. He was terrified he wouldn’t be able to outsmart his conniving, old-souled eldest son.

Ji Yanyan was completely oblivious to his father’s inner turmoil; his mind was entirely occupied with playing games. He walked over and tugged at Ji Zhiqiu’s trouser leg. “I want to ride piggyback.”

Ji Zhiqiu patted his head. “Be good, let’s do it another day. Daddy has to go pick up your big brother now.”

Ji Yanyan’s brow furrowed instantly, and he threw a petulant tantrum. “I don’t want him! I don’t like him!”

Parents are a child’s first teachers, and Ji Zhiqiu’s past favoritism had heavily influenced Ji Yanyan.

This sort of influence was subtle and deeply ingrained; it couldn’t be reversed overnight. Ji Zhiqiu knelt down, looking at him earnestly. “Yanyan, why don’t you like big brother?”

Ji Yanyan pouted his little mouth, blowing bubbles continuously, sputtering and stammering without being able to form a complete sentence.

Ji Zhiqiu knew exactly how to handle a child with an inflated ego. He sighed, “Do you think everyone likes Yanyan?”

Ji Yanyan nodded vigorously. He cupped his chubby cheeks with his little hands and wiggled his bottom, speaking with ultimate smugness, “Yanyan is so cute, how could anyone possibly not like me?”

Ji Zhiqiu pinched his nose playfully. “Then do you think big brother likes you?”

Ji Yanyan hesitated at this question. His little face puckered up, looking extremely distressed.

Ji Zhiqiu supplied the answer for him. “Yanyan, if you want everyone to like you, then you have to like them back. Love is mutual; that’s the only way it lasts.”

Ji Yanyan couldn’t comprehend such a complex concept. His large eyes blinked rapidly. “So, I have to like big brother? But didn’t you say, Daddy, that big brother snatched away my things?”

That final sentence made Ji Zhiqiu’s face flush bright red with old shame. A massive wave of guilt washed over him, making him suddenly want to slap himself across the face.

Ji Zhiqiu, what kind of absolute scumbag were you in the past?!

He took a deep breath before finally managing to adjust his expression. His tone became incredibly solemn. “Yanyan, look at me.”

Ji Yanyan’s attention was captured, his watery, large eyes reflecting his father’s figure.

“Yanyan, I am your daddy. Shenshen is your big brother, and Chengcheng is your second brother. We are a family, do you understand?”

Ji Yanyan counted on his fingers, murmuring softly, “There are so many people at home.”

Seeing that the boy didn’t quite grasp the meaning and had entirely missed the point, Ji Zhiqiu squeezed his cheeks gently. “What Daddy can give you is parental love, but what your two brothers can give you is brotherly affection. You are luckier than other children because you have two extra people to dote on you. Isn’t that a good thing?”

Ji Yanyan froze. He possessed a basic sensitivity to numbers and naturally understood the logic that three is greater than one.

Looking at Ji Yanyan’s bewildered yet processing expression, Ji Zhiqiu smiled and stroked his head.

This sort of adjustment couldn’t be rushed. Only by being an exemplary father himself could he properly guide these three children.

Seeing that there was still some time left, he first approached the elderly lady living next door, asking her to look after Ji Yanyan. After settling everything, he left the house early to buy a gift for Ji Zishen.

Placing Ji Zishen’s gift inside a paper bag, he rode his bicycle to the school gates. By now, parents had already surrounded the campus, forming dense layers of crowds.

The school advocated for compulsory education and had sent the students from the third to sixth grades to an experimental base for a week-long military training camp. They were returning today. Having not seen their precious darlings for an entire week, the parents were waiting anxiously.

The buses for the three different grades were parked side-by-side without any clear markings. Ji Zhiqiu genuinely couldn’t tell them apart, so he could only stand on his tiptoes atop the steps, searching frantically.

Meanwhile, Ji Zishen was standing in the very last row of the queue, neatly and meticulously tying his young pioneer red scarf. With his well-behaved demeanor, fair skin, and rosy lips, he was the exact definition of a teacher’s pet.

After helping the teacher call roll, he walked back into the midst of his classmates.

In reality, he looked down on these hothouse flowers who were overly protected by their families, disdaining to make genuine friends with them. However, he maintained excellent popularity in class; everyone liked him, and he almost always came in first place during class votes.

At an age when most children were at their most innocent and naive, Ji Zishen already knew how to cultivate networks. He deliberately ingratiated himself with classmates from wealthy backgrounds, expecting ample returns from them in the future.

A few children walked down from the bus, chatting and laughing. One of the little boys had parents who were incredibly busy with work, yet they had specifically cleared their schedules to pick him up. The mother was gentle and the father was attentive; they stood together, smiling and waving at their child.

Ji Zishen watched as the boy’s eyes lit up. The child ran over joyfully, throwing himself into his parents’ embrace what a heartwarming, picture-perfect scene.

Though a polite smile remained anchored on Ji Zishen’s face, a sneer curved the corners of his lips. His eyes were devoid of any warmth, utterly cold. He had long ceased to yearn for such illusory things.

He walked forward in silence, calculating how to deal with the two idiots the big one and the small one back home. But just as he took a step, a hand patted his shoulder.

One of his close classmates looked at him brightly. “Zishen, your dad is here to pick you up.”

Ji Zishen froze for a few seconds. The title “Dad” was extremely foreign to him, to the point where he didn’t even realize who it referred to at first.

Seeing him dazed, his classmate assumed he simply hadn’t spotted him, and pointed toward a direction with a smile. “Isn’t he right over there?”

Ji Zishen instinctively followed the gaze and caught sight of a figure he never expected to see.

Although Ji Zhiqiu had adopted him, the man only had eyes for that brainless, spoiled brat of a younger brother, never according him the slightest importance. Yet this time, he had actually come of his own accord to pick him up!

Ji Zishen genuinely couldn’t fathom the reason, freezing right on the spot.

He watched as Ji Zhiqiu scanned the crowd aimlessly until his gaze finally locked onto him. The moment their eyes met, for some inexplicable reason, Ji Zishen’s body stiffened, and a flash of awkwardness crossed his face.

However, as if he hadn’t seen him at all, Ji Zhiqiu shifted his gaze away, staring at the other students standing behind him.

Observing this, his classmate asked in bewilderment, “Zishen, why is your dad ignoring you?”

Ji Zishen’s hand hanging by his side clenched tightly into a fist. He hadn’t expected that the very first time Ji Zhiqiu came to pick him up, it would be to humiliate him publicly. “He… he probably…”

The facade he had maintained all along was brutally ripped away, causing his face to burn red. Despite being highly precocious, he was ultimately still a child. Unable to maintain his composure any longer, he blurted out a hasty goodbye and walked briskly toward Ji Zhiqiu.

During this interval, Ji Zhiqiu glanced at him once more, but swiftly looked away again.

It wasn’t until he stood directly in front of Ji Zhiqiu, and the father and son locked eyes for a few seconds, that he saw Ji Zhiqiu’s eyes widen slowly, revealing an expression of utter astonishment.

The father and son hadn’t seen each other for a week, yet the very first sentence out of Ji Zhiqiu’s mouth was: “Why are you so short?!”

Ji Zishen: “……”

Ji Zhiqiu had combed through his phone and photo albums earlier, but his past self-had been too biased, failing to take a single photo of his eldest son. Left with no choice, he could only try to identify him based on the descriptions in the original novel. But just now, after standing on his tiptoes searching for ages as the crowd of children thinned out, he still hadn’t found his eldest son. He had assumed some accident had happened, breaking into an anxious sweat.

He had noticed a tiny figure among the third-graders earlier, looking about the same height as the first-graders next to him. He had assumed it was a younger sibling who had come to find an older brother, so he hadn’t paid it any mind. Who would have thought this was actually his eldest son!

Overcome by sheer shock, he had blurted out his inner thoughts. He even swept his gaze up and down Ji Zishen, his eyes filled with absolute disbelief.

Ji Zishen, however, entirely misinterpreted the gesture. He believed Ji Zhiqiu detested him as an unwanted burden and was publicly mocking him.

Humiliated, he bit his lower lip, habitually forcing a sweet smile onto his face. “Daddy, I want to say goodbye to my friends.”

Ji Zhiqiu nodded. “Then I’ll wait for you over there. If you want to play with your friends for a bit longer, that’s perfectly fine too.”

The moment Ji Zishen turned around, the adorable smile on his face vanished instantly. Expressionless, he went back to his friends, exchanging a few meaningless pleasantries.

He was deliberately dragging his feet, calculating that Ji Zhiqiu’s patience should be running out by now. When he finally lifted his head again, he unexpectedly caught sight of a figure in the corner. The man’s back was turned to him, and he was lifting his hand, swinging it rhythmically.

…That motion looked precisely like someone slapping himself across the face.