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

118 Ugly and Childish

Li Zexin pinched the swaying green foxtail grass. He wasn’t even interested in the small toy cars that Li Zekai played with. “Is it really that fun?”

“Then give it back to me.” Lin Wan reached out to take the little rabbit, but Li Zexin turned around and dodged her.

“Everyone has one. Why should I give it back?”

“Brother, let’s put the bunnies together and take a picture,” Li Zekai suggested.

“Tutu, wait,” said Li Zekai. “Let’s take a family picture together. Mother Bunny, Little Bunny, Big Bunny, Middle Bunny… but where is the Father Bunny?” Li Yanchen’s bunny was missing.

Lin Wan had just randomly made up a few bunnies ‘How had it become a family?’

Tutu raised his little foxtail bunny. “Uncle can have mine for the photo.

“Uncle!” Tutu ran to Li Yanchen and pulled him to the others. Li Yanchen was still confused. He looked at the small grass rabbits in his sons’ hands.

“Dad, you can borrow Tutu’s bunny for the photo.” Li Zexuan realized that there was no one to take a picture. “Uncle Su Wei, could you please take a picture for us?”

“Sure,” said Su Wei. He took a few pictures from Li Zexuan’s phone.

“Thank you, Uncle,” said Li Zexuan, taking his phone back. “Dad, you can go back to roasting the meat.”

Li Zexin leaned toward Li Zexuan to look at the photos. “Brother, don’t forget to send the photos in the Four Lucky Treasures group chat.”

If Li Zexin hadn’t mentioned the group chat, Li Yanchen would have forgotten all about it. He recalled that he wasn’t a member of the group chat his sons had created in anger.

“Put me into the group, too,” said Li Yanchen firmly.

Li Zexin pretended not to hear him.

“Why am I not in the group?” asked Li Yanchen. “Add me. I want to see the photos, too.”

“I will send you the photos in your DM,” said Li Zexuan indifferently.

Li Yanchen was speechless.

Li Zekai touched Li Yanchen’s face softly. “Daddy, you are always so busy. You don’t even have time so you cannot join the group. We don’t welcome members who have no time to chat.”

Li Yanchen sighed sadly. “How can a family group just exclude the father?”

Lin Wan tried hard not to laugh.

“I swear I will cut off your allowance if you don’t add me.” Li Yanchen pretended to threaten them.

“Big brother is very rich.” Li Zexin grinned. “He can give us an allowance.”

Li Yanchen was baffled.

Lin Wan laughed. “Don’t tease him. He is old. He can’t take it anymore. Just add him to the group.”

‘Old?’ Li Yanchen was even more depressed when he heard that. ‘Was my… performance not up to the expectation last night?’ He wondered. He could swear Lin Wan had begged for more.

“Tonight again?” he whispered to her and smirked.

Lin Wan pushed him away. “Just up. Stop with the nonsense.”

“If you stand us up again, I’ll kick you out of the group chat.” Li Zexin pretended to be annoyed. But he added his father to the group chat.

“Alright,” he said.

Li Zexin changed the name of the group chat from Four Lucky Treasures to Five Lucky Treasures.

Li Yanchen checked his phone to make sure his name was listed. He finally felt at ease and went back to roasting the meat.

Li Zexin and Li Zexuan were complaining about the little rabbits. Sometimes they whined about the rabbit’s ears not being the same length, or that the limbs were too thin. The next moment, they said that the tail was very loose. Their voices were full of disdain. Lin Wan tried to take the rabbits back from them but they always dodged her.

That night, when they returned to the treehouse, Tutu insisted on staying with Li Zekai. Li Zexuan and Li Zexin stayed in the room on the north side, while Li Yanchen and Lin Wan shared a room on the south side with the best view

While Li Yanchen took a shower, Lin Wan scrolled through her moments and saw the photo that Li Zexuan sent.

In one photo, five pairs of hands held five little foxtail bunnies. There were a few words below the picture: Ms. Lin made the bunnies. A family of ugly rabbits.

Li Zexin sent a message in the group chat. “Ms. Lin’s handiwork is terrible.”

Lin Wan’s nose twitched. ‘Did they think she didn’t know what they were trying to do?’

In the north room, Li Zexuan looked at the picture over and over again.

“Brother, is this a family photo?” Li Zexin’s eyes welled up. Although they had taken a family photo at the Lan Mountain, it had been because of the show. Today was different.

“You can say that. The celebrities in our group like to take pictures showing their hands or feet especially if there is a newborn baby.” Li Zexuan’s manager had told him that celebrities were strict about their privacy so when they had a baby, they only took photos of their hands.

“Oh…,” Li Zexin mumbled. He added the photo in the encrypted album of his WeChat account with the words: “Thank you, Auntie Lin.”

Li Zexin felt complicated. Ever since they were young, he never recalled his parents ever initiating something like this. The fourteen-year-old couldn’t hold back his tears. “You are so annoying, brother,” sobbed Li Zexin. “Why did you even suggest taking a photo like this?”

Li Zexuan’s eyes also turned red. “It’s Jiejie’s fault. I will get him good for this tomorrow. He is the one who suggested it.”

In the south room, Li Yanchen looked down at his abs in the shower. He was still brooding over the fact that Lin Wan had called him old.

He felt that he had a good physique, and his stamina was not bad. ‘Is my endurance not enough?’

After thinking for a while, he walked out of the washroom.

Lin Wan was still staring at the posts In Li Zexuan’s Moments in WeChat. Li Yanchen was wearing pajamas and the water dripped down from his hair.

He took a towel and dried his wet hair. He placed his other hand on Lin Wan’s shoulders.

Lin Wan jumped and locked her phone. “Why didn’t you say anything? You started me!”

“You were looking at Xuanxuan’s Moments? You were so serious.”

Li Yanchen had called her name softly when he came out of the washroom, but she hadn’t heard him. He then walked over to her out of curiosity.

Lin Wan nodded and then shook her head. Her eyes showed confusion and conflict.

Her three stepsons lacked the warmth of an affectionate family. She was no different. However, fate had other plans. Her greatest regret had been soothed in this world.

...

After Xia Mo returned home, she lay on the massage chair, scrolling through her phone. After scrolling for a while, she saw articles on Li family.

There was a screenshot of Li Zexuan’s post with the words:

[Lin Wan’s crippled hand]

[Another day of despising stepmothers]

The words didn’t sound friendly but the comments underneath were completely different.

[Xuanxuan says he dislikes this and despises her. But it’s obvious he likes this. This is the first time he had ever taken a screenshot of his WeChat Moments and posted it on Weibo.]

Xuanxuan’s post specifically mentioned Lin Wan. He had never sent any photos of his family members, not even of himself.

[This is the first post after Xuanxuan returned home from the variety show. They seem to be getting along quite well. Did they go on a trip together? The background is full of stars.]