When Jin Qiao sat down, she felt the atmosphere in the restaurant was suffocatingly silent.
She didn’t like that, so she spoke up:
“Good morning, little one! Did you sleep well last night?”
Yu Siyu stared at her, a faint blush rising on his cheeks.
Every morning when he woke up, he worried that Mom would turn back into the old version of herself. But seeing her greet him warmly made him truly happy.
He tugged at Dad’s sleeve and looked up at him with a smile.
Yu An immediately understood what his son was trying to say: he was signaling that his decision was the right one.
Jin Qiao couldn’t understand the silent exchange between father and son. Starving, she just buried her head and started eating.
After she finished, the old master returned from his morning exercise. After greeting him, she decisively picked up the little “villain” and headed home.
Yu An went to the company.
As soon as she entered the house, Jin Qiao flopped onto her favorite sofa.
Nothing beat the comfort of home!
Yu Siyu, still clutching his doll, followed her, puffing and scrambling up to snuggle beside her.
Jin Qiao’s heart melted instantly.
She scooped him up and showered him with kisses.
Yu Siyu laughed non-stop.
Just as the mother and son were enjoying their cozy time together, the variety show director called.
“Hello, I’m Zheng, the director of Baby, Go Forward!”
“Hello, I’m Jin Qiao, Yu Siyu’s mom.”
Yu Siyu sat close to her hand, clearly interested. Jin Qiao set the phone on speaker so he could hear.
“Our show starts filming next Monday. The first episode will be recorded at home; the second will be a group recording.”
“I have one concern,” Jin Qiao said. “My son doesn’t like talking. Will that be a problem? You won’t edit it in a misleading way, right?”
She worried that Yu Siyu’s reluctance to speak might be misrepresented, causing unnecessary trouble for him.
“This was mentioned by Mr. Yu. Our program is entirely live-streamed; we never edit at will. Don’t worry.”
Director Zheng wiped sweat from his brow, afraid that one refusal would cost him his expensive investment.
“Then I have no other questions.”
“We’ll arrange for people to come set up equipment in the next few days. Just let us know what time works for you.”
“Any time works—just send me a message.”
After the call, the little villain hung his head, lost in thought.
“If you don’t want to go, you need to tell me.”
Yu Siyu nodded.
Jin Qiao decided to use this opportunity for effective communication with him. He kept nodding or shaking his head, and she still didn’t know what he truly wanted. Since he wouldn’t speak, she figured she’d test if he could write things down.
She picked up Yu Siyu and turned him to face her.
He looked a little confused, nervous.
Jin Qiao didn’t say anything more and went to her room.
Soon she came out with a notebook and pen.
“Can you write?”
Yu Siyu nodded, then shook his head.
Jin Qiao thought, What was I thinking? He’s only five! Even if he’s a genius, he can’t write like an adult. I couldn’t even hold a pen properly at five.
“Your dad got you a teacher before, right? Did you learn pinyin?”
Upon hearing something he was good at, Yu Siyu nodded firmly.
Jin Qiao relaxed.
“Great! Now we’ll play a game. I’ll say a word, and you try to write the pinyin. If you can also write the character, that’s even better. Each correct pinyin gets one point; each correct character gets two points.”
She paused, pretending to be mysterious.
“There are five questions. Answer them all correctly and you’ll get a Mom-brand mystery prize. Deal?”
Yu Siyu’s eyes lit up—he was extremely curious about this “Mom-brand” prize.
“Alright, Yu Siyu, first question: write the pinyin for ‘我, 你, 他’ (I, you, he).”
Start with the easiest one.
Yu Siyu’s little hands struggled a bit to hold the pen, but he carefully wrote not only the pinyin but also the characters.
“Congratulations, Yu Siyu! You even wrote the characters! Two points!”
He high-fived her excitedly.
“Second question: write the pinyin for ‘妈妈, 爸爸, 爷爷’ (Mom, Dad, Grandpa).”
This one was easier for him; he wrote faster than before and again included the characters.
Jin Qiao noticed the “妈妈” characters were neater than the rest, and her heart swelled.
“Congratulations again! Two more points!”
“Third question: write the pinyin for ‘想要, 这个, 那个’ (want, this, that).”
“Fourth question: write the pinyin for ‘好的, 不是, 没有’ (okay, no, none).”
“Fifth and final question: write the pinyin for ‘妈妈，我想要这个’ (Mom, I want this).”
Yu Siyu wrote diligently.
Jin Qiao checked his notebook and saw that not only did he write the pinyin, he wrote the characters too. Some were crooked, but it was perfect.
“Congratulations, Yu Siyu! You get the Mom-brand prize! And because of double points, you get two prizes! Happy?”
Jin Qiao happily hugged Yu Siyu and twirled him around, kissing his soft little cheeks several times.
Yu Siyu, thrilled, hugged her neck tightly and mimicked her, planting a kiss on her cheek.
After some time, Jin Qiao put him down, her expression serious.
“Little one, from now on, whenever you have questions or want to say something to Dad, Mom, or Grandpa, you need to write it down.”
Yu Siyu clutched his doll. Mom wasn’t asking him to speak? Before, when he wanted something, the teacher made him say it aloud—otherwise, he didn’t get it.
“Because in a few days, you’ll be joining Mom on the show. Writing it down lets everyone know what you mean, right?”
Yu Siyu thought and nodded.
Jin Qiao suddenly remembered something and continued:
“Also, we’ll go to the hospital for a throat check. What if you suddenly want to speak on the show and your throat acts up? After that, we’ll pick a nice notebook for you!”
Yu Siyu thought it made sense. He hadn’t had a proper notebook before.
Seeing Yu Siyu’s compliance, Jin Qiao called Yu An.
“I’m taking Yu Siyu for a check-up. Which hospital does he usually go to?”
Yu An probably didn’t expect her to care about their son’s health so quickly and casually said:
“He has a family doctor. I’ll ask them to come to the mansion.”
“Oh, okay, got it.”
Almost forgot—this kid was the son of a domineering CEO! Of course he had a private doctor. Reading all those CEO novels was not in vain!