After finishing the eye compress, Doudou bounced back to his energetic self, starting to act up and stir things up all over Bai Shu. Feeling sorry for the little boy because he had cried two or three times today, Bai Shu showered him with kisses and hugs, and the two of them were as close as could be.
Xie Zhuyi joined in as well.
Xie Xiran wanted to join too, but the moment he moved, Doudou glared at him menacingly, then clung tightly to Bai Shu’s neck like a koala bear, determined to wrap himself around him.
Bai Shu was charmed by the little fellow’s cautious protectiveness, though a trace of underlying worry crept into his heart.
He looked at Xie Xiran with a hint of concern.
Startled by Shushu’s look, Xie Xiran decided to take the initiative to avoid Shushu throwing him out of the house because of Doudou.
“It’s getting late. Zhuyi, let’s head back first,” Xie Xiran said.
As soon as he finished speaking, Doudou snapped to attention, immediately letting go of Xie Zhuyi’s little hand and ruthlessly declaring, “You can leave now.”
Xie Zhuyi looked at Doudou, who just a second before had been affectionately calling him big brother and asking him to help put together toys, only for him to coldly cast his hand aside the very next second.
He was uttering such merciless words.
In total disbelief, Xie Zhuyi asked, “Do you not like this toy anymore? I can finish putting it together for you right now, you know.”
Doudou turned his little face away, his entire body radiating happiness. “I don’t like it anymore right now. Hurry up and go with your big brother.”
With that, he even proactively pushed Xie Zhuyi along, accompanying Bai Shu to see them off at the door.
Holding his little brother’s hand, Bai Shu waved goodbye to them. “Bye-bye.”
Seeing Bai Shu show not a shred of reluctance, coupled with Doudou looking as though he desperately wanted them to vanish from his sight right this instant, Xie Xiran felt a chill run through his heart. It seemed his standing in Shushu’s heart didn’t even measure up to one-tenth of Doudou’s.
Gazing at Doudou’s triumphant smile, Xie Xiran felt a pang of determination a rare surge of the ambitious, high-spirited drive he had possessed when he first broke into the entertainment industry as a youth.
He accepted the challenge. Sooner or later, he would become the most important person in Shushu’s heart.
With that thought, everything clicked into place for him. He was essentially acting as Doudou’s stepfather.
Doudou was guarding against him with the mindset of defending himself against a step-dad. Once he looked at it that way, Xie Xiran understood completely.
Just as Doudou was swaying his little bottom in triumph and sweetly babbling to Shushu about what they should play next, he suddenly caught sight of Xie Xiran’s benevolent smile.
“Be a good boy, Doudou. Tomorrow, Big Brother will prepare a surprise gift for you. I hope you like it, and by the way, I hope you’ll like me as an older brother too.” Shamelessly, Xie Xiran reached out to pinch the child’s cheek.
He squeezed the chubby little cheek, which felt impossibly soft.
The texture was truly exceptional.
Having figured things out, Xie Xiran now looked at Doudou through the lens of viewing his own son. Kids would be kids; which child wasn’t mischievous? He was the “stepfather,” an adult, so he needed to know how to concede. Sooner or later, Doudou would discover a certain truth:
He, Xie Xiran, was the only one who could truly stay by Shushu’s side for a lifetime.
Xie Zhuyi walked away holding his big brother’s hand, still waving back reluctantly. “See you tomorrow, Doudou. Remember to bring your toys, and I’ll finish putting them together for you.”
Doudou averted his little face. He had been startled by Xie Xiran’s kindly smile just moments ago.
That big bad guy Xie Xiran must be plotting some new scheme again. Growing anxious, Doudou scratched his ear.
Then he glanced at the camera and ultimately decided to swallow his innermost thoughts for now.
Right now, he had three goals in mind.
First, make Shushu famous. He wasn’t quite sure how that was progressing since he was practically illiterate and couldn’t use the internet, but he would call his dad tonight to ask.
As for why he wasn’t calling his mom, it was because he was about to embark on a major mission.
He had decided to use money to bribe Xie Xiran.
Xie Xiran couldn’t cook, couldn’t coax Doudou, and was completely useless.
The second task was to keep his big brother’s relationship a secret for now because their fan base was still too small.
Without anyone to help them argue online, winning an internet fight was nearly impossible.
The third task was to get Shushu to voluntarily break up with Xie Xiran.
The very thing he was about to do right now was task number three: making Shushu realize that Xie Xiran was not a good life partner.
Supporting his chubby face with his hands, the little fellow sat on the sofa and finally brought his left fist down into his palm with a firm thud.
Mm, the goal is clear. Go for it, Doudou!
After Xie Xiran left, the villa grew quiet once more, and the cameraman finally caught a rare moment to relax.
Previously, with Xie Xiran around, the fans were numerous and the directors kept pushing them, so the crew hadn’t dared to slack off for even a second.
Even though Bai Shu had urged him to rest for a bit at noon, he had only dared to rest for ten minutes or so.
Crouching down in the sofa to observe the situation, Doudou waved at his big brother. “Shushu~”
Summoning Bai Shu like someone calling over a cat, the little fellow had a milk bottle in hand.
Recently, the child tended to startle easily during sleep, so they had bought some milk powder supplemented with zinc and calcium, which he needed to drink once or twice a day.
Testing the temperature, Bai Shu shoved the baby bottle into the little fellow’s arms, straightened his clothes, and then asked, “What is it?”
Doudou took a sip from the bottle first, let out a comfortable sigh of satisfaction, and happily wagged his little feet. “Shushu~”
Wriggling his chubby little body like a little water sprite, the little fellow wormed his way right into Bai Shu’s embrace, wrapping his lotus-root-like arms around Bai Shu’s neck.
He was acting overly clingy.
Bai Shu pressed a hand over his face, a wave of goosebumps rising from his honeyed tone.
“Speak properly.” Bai Shu tried to push the child away, but who knew the little guy would just hug him tighter?
Chuckling, Bai Shu gave his little bottom a pat, then kissed the spot on his forehead where a band-aid was stuck. He whispered, “Doudou will always be the most important person in Big Brother’s heart. You don’t have to worry that Big Brother won’t like you anymore just because he fell in love.”
With that, he kissed the child once more.
Doudou gave his big brother a long, deep look, then turned his head away to take a massive gulp of milk. With a slightly tipsy sway of his head, he sighed, “Shushu, you don’t understand Sigh “
If he weren’t currently nestled right in Bai Shu’s arms, Bai Shu would have suspected Doudou was about to recite a classical poem.
Doudou indeed had that intention, but since he hadn’t learned Tang poetry yet, he could only express his emotional turmoil with a long sigh.
His big brother liked him so much, yet was so naïve just like that, he had gone and gotten tricked by a big bad guy, hadn’t he?
Even though he was only three years old, Doudou declared that this household still depended on him to hold it together.
At that exact moment, Bai Yishan, who was traveling on vacation but still working overtime with his laptop, let out a sneeze.
Qin Yue asked in silent mouth-movements, “What’s wrong?”
Muting his mic, Bai Yishan replied, “I keep feeling like someone is talking about me, my ears are burning.”
“Probably those two back home. I’m watching the live stream right now, the two of them are huddled together whispering about something,” Qin Yue said with a smile.
Bai Shu was amused by his little brother’s dramatics.
“Alright, hurry up and get off Big Brother. You’re heavy as lead. Why don’t you drop the name Doudou and rename yourself Little Piggy instead?”
As he spoke, Bai Shu pinched his little brother’s tummy, which was plump, round, and remarkably soft.
Holding his milk bottle in shock, Doudou’s fingers trembled slightly. “Y-you actually started嫌棄 [disliking] Doudou for being fat! Men really are fickle!”
Loving the new and forgetting the old!
As soon as the cameraman stepped closer, he captured those exact words on audio.
What what what? What’s fickle? Doudou saying ‘men are fickle’ has such a hilarious tone, it’s like Shushu is some kind of heartless scumbag. Hahaha, Shushu has been a perpetual single guy for ages with zero scandals. Shushu hasn’t even started dating yet and Doudou is already saying men are fickle. If he actually starts dating, Doudou’s going to die of jealousy! Heeheehee, looking forward to the day Shushu falls in love. I think Xie Xiran is pretty good Heehee. The person above can chat about that in the live stream, but keep it off Weibo. The two of them just participated in a parenting show together as colleagues. ??? What parenting show? Isn’t this a child-rearing variety show? Oh my god, I exposed it, cough cough, I mean ship them if you want, but don’t take it directly to the real people’s faces.
Doudou looked at Bai Shu with the accusing gaze of a faithless cad, angering Bai Shu into smacking his bottom a few times.
That only made Doudou feel even more aggrieved. Not only was Big Brother starting to dislike him for being chubby now, but he even dared to keep spanking his little bottom!
True to the saying: close to vermilion one gets stained red, close to ink one gets stained black!
Having spent time with the big bad guy, Shushu had turned bad.
“Wuwuwu “
Doudou was so pitiful.
Bai Shu: (⊙_⊙)???
He could swear on his life that his force had merely been a gentle tap against the child, not even kicking up a breeze.
Helplessly, Bai Shu looked at Doudou. “Are you still drinking your milk or not? If not, I’ll drink it. Big Brother was so stressed out by you that he even got leg cramps in his sleep.”
Hearing this, Doudou immediately choked off his crying and buried his head back into drinking his milk. As he drank, he remembered the lunchtime incident where Xie Xiran and Shushu had shared a bed.
Doudou let out a burp. “After you finish, come to my room for a bit. Doudou has something to say.”
With that, puffed up with a round belly and his little hands clasped behind his back, he waddled toward the stairs.
For a split second, Bai Shu felt a sense of disorientation; he felt as though he was looking at his father’s silhouette.
Over at the hotel, Qin Yue spat out a mouthful of water.
“Cough, cough, cough!”
She was laughing so hard she was losing it. Doudou’s imitation was so spot on! She glanced at the video, then at Bai Yishan sitting beside her with a furrowed brow, finding it more and more amusing the more she looked.
Bai Yishan had been stuck in meetings all morning and had long since lost patience. He tossed out a final remark: “Alright, submit the reports to me later and draft a summary. Let’s call it a day for now.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Bai Yishan snapped his laptop shut. “What’s going on? What are Doudou and Shushu up to?”
Pointing at the screen, Qin Yue laughed so hard she couldn’t make a sound. After catching her breath, she said, “Hahaha, Doudou was just imitating you and acting like he’s going to lecture Shushu.”
Bai Yishan’s face darkened with black lines. That Doudou he never learns anything good, always playing these little tricks.
The cameraman wanted to follow them upstairs as well, but Doudou whispered secretively, “Doudou is going to discuss some major matters with Big Brother concerning the future of Doudou and Shushu, so please, Uncle Cameraman, wait outside for a little bit, just a tiny, teeny bit~”
The little fellow pinched his little fingers together to demonstrate a very short duration of time.
Upstairs, the two of them sat down one on a small chair, the other on a small bed.
Doudou still felt unsafe because there was a camera right here in the room.
“Come on, let’s go to the bathroom,” Doudou said, hands clasped behind his back as he marched step-by-step.
Lifting him up by his waist, Bai Shu carried him along. “You better have a major matter, or else I’m calling Dad directly.”
“Wuwuwu, no, don’t “
He still had important things to report to Dad, so he couldn’t afford to make Dad angry right now.
Setting Doudou down on the bathroom sink and holding him steady, Bai Shu prompted, “Speak. I’m not letting you down until you tell me.”
With his legs dangling in mid-air, Doudou’s two little hands gripped tightly onto his big brother’s arms. He bit his lower lip, then suddenly changed expression, looking at Bai Shu with utmost solemnity.
“Since it’s come to this, Doudou will just say it.”
“Speak.”
“Big Brother, let’s break up.”
Bai Shu: (;-_-)…
He knew it.
“You don’t know how useless that bad guy is! He can’t cook, he can’t ride a bike as coolly as Big Brother, and he even tricks people into sleeping together!” Lowering his voice to a whisper, Doudou delivered his vicious complaints.
Veins bulged on Bai Shu’s forehead as he raised his voice a notch. “Oh really? Can you cook? Can you ride a bike? Well, you can do the last one wonder who wet the bed in the middle of the night and sneaked into my room to frame Big Brother for it?”
Doudou: ⊙_⊙！！！
The audience who could faintly catch the audio: ⊙_⊙！！！
You’re actually this kind of Doudou?