23
I Just Like You
Lin Yuxi completed her tasks for the day with twice her usual efficiency and glanced at the clock—it was exactly time to leave work.
On her first day as director, she had gained a lot: she had established her authority and earned the goodwill of two colleagues.
As for Qin Ruoshi and Zheng Zhiwei, she had no desire to interact with them, nor did she care to.
Lin Yuxi couldn’t wait to share the good news with Haohao. After packing her things and clocking out, she headed straight to the kindergarten.
This time, a different little girl ran out after Haohao. She had an oval face, large round eyes, and a head of curly black hair—whether natural or styled, it was glossy and striking. Even at such a young age, she already had the look of an actress.
“Mommy, how come you have time to pick me up today?” Lin Chenghao walked over with his backpack and reached out to take Lin Yuxi’s bag.
“If you’d like, Mommy can pick you up every day from now on,” Lin Yuxi said cheerfully. “After my promotion to director, my salary has increased fivefold!”
With that extra income, she could afford to take a taxi or drive every day instead of relying on the bus, saving a lot of time.
Hearing that his mother had become a wealthy woman, Lin Chenghao’s eyes lit up. “Great! Then we won’t have to pay for the school bus anymore.”
“Exactly,” Lin Yuxi confirmed with certainty.
The little girl’s eyes darted back and forth between the mother and son. “Auntie, are you Haohao’s mom? Can you let Haohao stay at my house and play with me?”
Lin Yuxi was taken aback—the request seemed a bit bold for a child.
“No,” Lin Chenghao refused bluntly. “I want to live with Mommy. There’s no way I’m moving to your house.”
Such sharp words were rare from him, and Lin Yuxi immediately guessed that this little girl might have some unresolved issues with Haohao.
“But I like you, and I want you to live with me!” The little girl stepped forward, grabbed Lin Chenghao’s sleeve, and tried to drag him toward the parking lot.
Lin Chenghao pulled his sleeve free with a firm tug, quickly moved to Lin Yuxi’s side, and took her hand. “Mommy, let’s go.”
Publicly rejected, the little girl burst into tears. Crystal teardrops rolled down her cheeks, and the surrounding crowd, thinking someone might be trying to abduct a child, quickly gathered around.
“What’s going on?” one of the onlookers demanded of Lin Yuxi.
“Sorry, it’s just a small disagreement between the children,” Lin Yuxi explained before stepping forward to comfort the little girl, only to be pushed away by the child’s hands.
The little girl cried even louder, plopping down on the ground and throwing a full-blown tantrum. Her wails echoed through the air, her face streaked with tears as she sobbed uncontrollably.
Lin Yuxi felt at a loss. Haohao had been well-behaved since birth and had rarely ever cried or caused a scene, leaving her with no experience in handling such situations.
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before Haohao’s homeroom teacher came out, took the little girl back inside, and waited for her parents to pick her up.
Lin Yuxi breathed a sigh of relief and said to Lin Chenghao, “Sweetie, Mommy is grateful that you showed restraint—or rather, verbal restraint.”
Lin Chenghao paused for a moment. “Throwing a tantrum to solve problems isn’t my style.”
Lin Yuxi knew that well. She gently touched his cool, handsome face and asked, “Now, can you tell Mommy why you don’t like that little girl?”
Lin Chenghao held her hand as they walked, saying, “She ate all the candy Mom gave me last time.”
“But candy is meant to be eaten,” Lin Yuxi didn’t see any problem with that.
“She stole it.”
“…”
Well, she’d spoken too soon.
Lin Chenghao’s cheeks stiffened slightly. Having something stolen right under his nose felt humiliating. “And I don’t like her name.”
If Lin Yuxi had a mouthful of water just then, she would have spat it out. “No baby gets to choose their surname. We shouldn’t discriminate against others for that.”
“Her surname is Fu.”
“…”
Well, she’d spoken too soon again.
If the surname had been something like “Shi” or “Niao,” Lin Yuxi might have found it cute, but “Fu” just didn’t sit right with her.
“What’s her full name?”
Lin Chenghao blinked, recalling, “Fu Xinyue.”
The name was actually quite adorable. Lin Yuxi smiled and hailed a taxi by the roadside. “Mom will put two more bags of candy in your backpack, so you won’t have to worry about it running out next time.”
Lin Chenghao was skeptical. Fu Xinyue devoured candy as if she had no teeth to worry about—those two bags would probably be gone in no time.
“Did Duoduo not come to school today?” Lin Yuxi asked.
“Duoduo’s parents took her on a trip to Europe. She’ll be absent for a long time.”
“Oh.” Lin Yuxi patted Hao Hao’s head. “When winter break comes, Mom will have time to take you on a trip too. You can pick any country you want. How does that sound?”
Lin Chenghao shrugged. “I’m not interested in traveling.”
What child isn’t interested in traveling? Lin Yuxi often suspected her son was telling white lies. “It’s fine. Mom has money now, remember?”
“Really, I don’t like it,” Lin Chenghao insisted again. “If Mom wants to spend time with me, let’s play with LEGO instead.”
That hit right at Lin Yuxi’s heart. She had loved playing with LEGO as a child too, though back then, she could only afford knockoff versions due to financial constraints.
“Then it’s settled.” Lin Yuxi opened her phone and added the plan to her memo.
…
After arriving home, Lin Chenghao quickly fried some rice. When he came out, he found Lin Yuxi buried in algorithms in the study again, so he brought the food in with a sigh.
“Mom, have you ever considered developing a smart robot?”
Lin Yuxi was so engrossed in her studies she didn’t even look up. “Why do you ask?”
Lin Chenghao paused, as if weighing whether to say it, but finally spoke up: “I’m afraid you’ll starve to death when I’m not home.”
“…”
Once again, Lin Chenghao ended up feeding her dinner bite by bite. Halfway through, Lin Yuxi’s phone suddenly rang. She quickly chewed a few mouthfuls and went to answer it.
Child model agent Bai Shuang: “Yuxi, there’s a shoot this weekend at the water park in the southern suburbs. Can you ask Hao Hao if he’s interested?”
Lin Yuxi relayed the message, and after a moment’s thought, Lin Chenghao nodded.
“Sure,” Lin Yuxi told Bai Shuang. “Is there anything we need to prepare?”
“Nothing at all. Just show up. Oh, and the payment for this shoot is this amount.”
Lin Yuxi exited the call screen and glanced at the message. The next second, she nearly fell off her chair.
Lin Chenghao caught a glimpse too and was the first to respond: “Aunt Bai Shuang, I’m definitely taking this job.”
An hourly rate of ten thousand—it was the best pay he had ever seen.
“As long as you agree, this gig is definitely yours, rest assured.” Bai Shuang had full confidence in Lin Chenghao’s abilities. “This is a duo shoot, and there’s another girl who attends the same kindergarten as Haohao. You might even know each other.”
Neither mother nor son showed much curiosity, as Wheatfield Kindergarten was simply too large, with a student population of over a thousand. The chances of randomly picking someone they knew were extremely slim.
“Bai Shuang, thank you so much for securing such a great opportunity for us.” Lin Yuxi expressed her gratitude sincerely.
“Don’t mention it.” Sixty percent of Bai Shuang’s achievements were also thanks to Haohao’s contributions. “Alright then, it’s settled. See you this weekend.”
In unison, mother and son replied, “See you this weekend.”