Traveling Through the Book and Becoming a Cub Among the Villains - Chapter 21
After also buying shoes and toys, finally, reluctantly, brought the shopping trip to an end.
He had bought so much that, although some of the items were being shipped directly to their home, there were still heaps of bags. He had to ask the store clerks for help just to load everything into the car.
Once everything was settled, started the car again.
He drove for another ten minutes and then turned into a small alley, finally arriving at the restaurant for tonight’s dinner.
What came into view was an unremarkable little shop, but once inside, , with Ye Qingxi in tow, navigated the space like a regular.
Ye Qingxi looked around at the refined, elegant courtyard décor and couldn’t help but think, This place is unexpectedly charming on the inside.
Mu Shaowu held his hand and led him to the reserved private room, where the other three had already arrived.
“You’re here this early?” Mu Shaowu joked. “I even checked the time, I’m not late.”
“Treating people to dinner—of course, I have to come early,” Qiu Xuan said.
As he spoke, his gaze shifted to Ye Qingxi, curiosity lighting up his face.
Ye Qingxi noticed Qiu Xuan looking at him and cooperatively curled his lips into a smile.
Qiu Xuan felt like he’d just taken a direct hit to the heart. Not to brag, but seriously—his buddy’s kid was too good-looking.
And not just good-looking—adorable.
If there was ever a word made just for someone, “exquisitely adorable” had clearly been coined for this child.
“Hello, Uncle~” Ye Qingxi greeted.
His voice was soft and milky, tender as a cloud.
Qiu Xuan, used to nothing but little rascals running wild in his house, had never encountered a child like Ye Qingxi—one who looked so sweet and well-behaved that even his tone softened a little unconsciously.
“Hello to you too~” he replied. “I’m your dad’s good friend, you can call me Uncle Xuan~”
Mu Shaowu, “????”
Mu Shaowu said in disgust, “Why are you talking all mushy?”
Qiu Xuan, ????”
“What do you mean mushy?”
“Ask Ruan Hao,” Qiu Xuan said, turning his head.
Ruan Hao looked even more disgusted than Mu Shaowu. “Just one step away from squashing a mosquito with all that syrup.”
Qiu Xuan, ….”
Qiu Xuan turned his head away in anger, ignoring him.
The next second, he heard Ruan Hao speaking in a falsetto voice, “Hello, Xi~ I’m also your dad’s friend. You can call me Uncle Hao~”
Qiu Xuan, “!!!!”
“Now that’s what you call a real falsetto!”
“So what if I speak in falsetto?!” Ruan Hao retorted confidently. “I dare to speak like this, and I own it!”
Qiu Xuan, “…..”
Mu Shaowu, “….”
Ye Qingxi, …Well, he really is bold and unapologetic.
Seeing the other two had already introduced themselves, Xi Yao followed suit and said, “I’m also a good friend of your dad’s, you can call me Uncle Xi.”
Very good, this one doesn’t have a nasal falsetto.
Ye Qingxi politely said, “Hello, Uncle Xuan, Uncle Hao, Uncle Xi.”
“Hello~”
—still two falsetto voices and one normal.
Mu Shaowu, “.…”
Mu Shaowu once again cast a disdainful glance at the two “nasal falsetto uncles,” then pulled Ye Qingxi to sit down in the empty seat next to him.
As soon as he sat down, the parent-child matching outfit became even more obvious.
Ruan Hao, curious, said, “That’s a parent-child outfit, right? You’re actually wearing that?!”
“Cute, right~” Mu Shaowu said proudly.
“Xiao Xi is cute, you’re just pretending to be.”
“Tch,” Mu Shaowu scoffed, “you’re just jealous. Jealous, my son is cute. Jealous, I get to wear parent-child outfits with him.”
Ruan Hao said, “I’m clearly just feeling bad for your son—such a cute kid, stuck with an uncute dad like you.”
Mu Shaowu, “.…”
Mu Shaowu smiled. “That’s true, how could I be as cute as you? You’re so adorable, no wonder that little wolfdog keeps chasing after you, right?”
Mu Shaowu stretched out the words, “Little~ cutie~”
Ruan Hao, “!!!”
He never expected this kind of magical attack. Instant defeat.
“I already told you I rejected him!”
“So what? You rejected him, but that didn’t stop him from chasing you.”
“I’m freaking straight!”
“Even the toughest steel bends under enough pressure. What’s a ‘straight guy’ in comparison? Might go crooked any day now.”
Ruan Hao, “….”
Qiu Xuan sighed, handed him a cup of tea, and said, “Why’d you even provoke him in the first place?”
Ruan Hao was so pissed he grabbed his teacup and drank aggressively, glaring at Mu Shaowu while chugging.
Mu Shaowu ignored his looks, picked up the menu, and placed it in front of Ye Qingxi. “What do you want to eat?”
Ye Qingxi was still busy eating melon—well, eating melon figuratively as in spectating the drama—and was forced to pause mid-bite to order food.
He glanced at the menu and picked cherry pork and crispy shrimp balls.
Mu Shaowu added a dessert for him on top of that.
Not long after, the dishes started arriving one by one.
While chatting with his friends, Mu Shaowu kept serving Ye Qingxi food. He’d clearly learned from previous mistakes, keeping an eye on Ye Qingxi’s eating speed, and as soon as he noticed the boy slowing down, he stopped piling more food onto his plate.
Xi Yao, watching this, was actually a little surprised.
Mu Shaowu wasn’t someone naturally good at taking care of others.
He came from a privileged family, and with an older brother above him, it had always been his big brother looking after him since they were kids.
But now, here he was, quietly and attentively taking care of the child beside him.
He really was working hard to be a good father.
“How old is Xiao Xi? Is he in kindergarten or elementary school now?” Xi Yao asked.
“5. He’s supposed to start the senior class of kindergarten this September.”
Speaking of which…
Mu Shaowu turned to look at Ye Qingxi. “Baby, when school starts this fall, do you want to go back to your old kindergarten, or skip ahead and go straight to elementary school? If you go to elementary school, you can attend the same one as your cousin, your uncle’s kid. You two could have lunch and naps together at school.”
Mu Shaowu had always kept Ye Qingxi’s schooling in mind, but with so much going on recently, he hadn’t found the right time to bring it up. Now that they were talking about school, it was the perfect moment to ask.
Ye Qingxi only now realized—right, 5-years-old was kindergarten age.
“Elementary school,” he replied without hesitation.
Are you kidding? He wasn’t actually a little kid. He was 18! What would he be doing in kindergarten? Sitting there with a bunch of toddlers learning 1 + 1 = 2, 10 + 10 = 20?
Might as well go with elementary school — at least it’s less childish within the options available.
Sigh. Ye Qingxi quietly sighed in his heart.
He felt like he should be going to high school, first year at the very least.
But a 5-year-old going to high school? That would draw way too much attention.
And Ye Qingxi didn’t want attention.
In his past life, he drew too much of it, leaping far ahead of his peers, which was exactly how things ended up the way they did.
In this life, Ye Qingxi just wanted to be a normal child.
To attend school step by step, to move through the grades at a normal pace, and to walk in sync with others his age, so that maybe, just maybe, his life could turn out a little better.
Mu Shaowu hadn’t expected him to answer so quickly and was a little surprised.
Did he not want to keep playing with his kindergarten friends?
Or… was he afraid of painful memories being stirred up?
Thinking of this, Mu Shaowu didn’t ask further and simply said, “Alright. Elementary school it is. Your cousin will be there too, so he can look after you.”
Ye Qingxi, …Then I’d better be the one to take care of him.
Ye Qingxi tried hard to recall how this cousin was described in the book.
But as he thought back, he realized, the guy basically had the same amount of presence as he did. Just two sentences.
One: [“When Qin Luan married Mu Zheng, it wasn’t just her — she brought along her 6-year-old son.”
And the other: “He walked toward a different future from his wife, not looking back, so he didn’t see the sadness in Qin Luan’s eyes, nor the loneliness in the child beside her.”]
That was it. Just those two lines. Nothing more. Ye Qingxi didn’t even know the kid’s name.
“What’s his name?” Ye Qingxi asked.
“Qin ,” Mu Shaowu replied. “Qin as in , as in to present.”
After saying that, he was worried Ye Qingxi might not have learned those characters yet, so he gently asked,
“Do you know how to write those two characters?”
Ye Qingxi, “….”
Mu Shaowu vaguely felt like he caught a fleeting hint of disdain in his son’s eyes.
It was gone in a flash.
The very next second, his son returned to being all obedient and sweet, “I know. Grandpa taught me.”
“You even know that? Then you really are suited to start first grade,” Mu Shaowu praised.
“Speaking of which, your cousin also started first grade at age 5, so even though he’s only 7 now, he’s already in third grade, two years ahead of you.”
“Is he good at studying?” Ye Qingxi asked curiously.
“Very good,” Mu Shaowu said, looking at him. “Top of his grade.”
“That’s pretty impressive.”
“Not bad at all. So if you come across something you don’t understand, you can ask him.”
Ye Qingxi, “.…”
There won’t be anything I don’t understand.
But if his conveniently acquired cousin had questions—
He could come ask him instead.
Ye Qingxi felt the warmth of the jade pendant at his neck.
Although he hadn’t met the other boy yet and didn’t know what kind of person he was, probably because he was
Mu Zheng’s child, Ye Qingxi already had a favorable impression of him.
He was very willing to get to know him.
“Sigh,” Qiu Yan sighed, “they’re all kids, but look at the two in your family—so impressive. Unlike my nephews and nieces, started school late, fine, but they’re constantly failing tests, bringing home calls to parents… really almost pissed my dad to death.”
Mu Shaowu said proudly, “Well, look who their dad is.”
Is he really your biological son, though? Qiu Yan couldn’t help thinking, but didn’t say it aloud.
He just chuckled and said to Ye Qingxi, “Xiao Xi, keep it up. The waves behind push the waves in front—try to push your dad up onto the shore and drown him.”
Ye Qingxi, “…..”
Mu Shaowu, “????”
Mu Shaowu smiled, “Whether he drowns me or not, he’ll definitely drown your nephews and nieces first.”
Then he turned to Ye Qingxi and said, “Xiao Xi, don’t listen to him. Don’t worry—Daddy’s not the type who puts too much importance on grades. If you do well, great. If not, that’s okay too. Daddy’s rich. Whatever you want to do, Daddy can support you.”
He gently patted Ye Qingxi’s head—he didn’t want to pressure him too much about academics.
Ye Qingxi, …Just elementary school content—how could he not do well?
He could get first place in the whole school, no, the entire city, with his eyes closed.
“I’ll do well in school,” Ye Qingxi said confidently.
“Of course! Our Xiao Xi is so smart, how could he possibly not do well?” Mu Shaowu immediately switched his tone.
Yuan Hao muttered, “That’s not what you were saying a minute ago.”
“Was it? You must’ve misheard,” Mu Shaowu flatly denied.
Yuan Hao couldn’t be bothered to argue. He lifted his glass and said, “Come on, let’s all celebrate little Ye Qingxi moving up to first grade~”
Mu Shaowu quickly followed suit.
The others also raised their glasses.
Ye Qingxi looked at their raised hands and thought, why are we suddenly celebrating?
“Hurry, Xiao Xi, lift your glass too,” Yuan Hao urged.
Ye Qingxi instinctively looked at Mu Shaowu, only to see him smiling warmly at him.
“Come on, Xiao Xi, let’s clink glasses together, wishing you a happy start to elementary school.”
Ye Qingxi, “.…”
Ye Qingxi looked at the smile on his face, then glanced around at the others at the table.
Each of them had a smile on their face.
As if him starting first grade was something worth celebrating.
As if it were something truly amazing.
But this was clearly just the most ordinary thing.
Not worth mentioning at all.
Ye Qingxi had attended many celebrations—his parents had celebrated for him a few times too.
When he shot to fame.
When he made a comeback.
When he won Best Actor.
Every single time, it had been during the most glorious moments of his life.
Every single time, it had been when he was at his most valuable.
But now, he had no value at all. He couldn’t bring them any benefits, couldn’t earn them any money. Yet they still raised their glasses, wanting to celebrate for him.
Celebrate that he was going to elementary school.
Ye Qingxi suddenly felt very happy.
His eyes curved without him realizing.
He picked up the glass in front of him filled with yogurt and tried hard to lean forward.
Unfortunately, his arms were still too short and couldn’t reach the others’ glasses.
Just as he was about to stand up to clink glasses, he saw that the others had already stretched out their arms and brought their glasses over to meet his.
With a crisp “clink,” five glasses touched.
“Cheers~” Qiu Xuan called out.
Cheers~ Ye Qingxi echoed in his heart.
He lowered his head and took a sip of the yogurt — it was sweet and delicious.
After finishing the meal and chatting for a while longer, Mu Shaowu got ready to take Ye Qingxi home.
Qiu Xuan and the others also took out the red envelopes they had prepared in advance and handed them to Ye Qingxi.
When Ye Qingxi received them, he realized it wasn’t the texture of cash — it was a bank card.
“The password is: 679979,” Qiu Xuan leaned over and whispered in his ear.
Ye Qingxi was a little puzzled. Why that number?
He nodded and replied sweetly, “Thank you, Uncle~”
“You’re welcome,” Qiu Xuan said, taking the opportunity to pinch his soft cheek.
So tender, so soft, so nice to pinch.
Qiu Xuan couldn’t help but pinch it again.
And then… again.
Ye Qingxi, “.…”
Mu Shaowu, “???”
Mu Shaowu patted his buddy. “Feels good to pinch, huh?”
Qiu Xuan nodded honestly. “Way better than the little terrors at my place.”
“You think he’s a stress toy or something?” Mu Shaowu was speechless. “Go home and pinch your nephews and nieces.”
Even he hadn’t gotten to pinch much yet!
Mu Shaowu was not pleased.
Qiu Xuan had no choice but to withdraw his hand.
On the side, Ruan Hao was itching to try, too. After handing over the red envelope and telling the password, he also reached out to pinch.
But, before his hand could even touch Ye Qingxi’s cheek, Mu Shaowu unexpectedly pinched his face instead.
“Didn’t think your skin could be this thick,” Mu Shaowu murmured devilishly. “Little~ cutie~”
Ye Qingxi nearly burst out laughing.
Ruan Hao, on the other hand, was covered in goosebumps. “What’s wrong with you? Cut it out already.”
Mu Shaowu chuckled. “What’s wrong? I was just complimenting you for being cute.”
Ruan Hao, …He was most annoyed by friends who were better looking, richer, and even smoother than him!
After receiving three red envelopes in a row, Ye Qingxi was surprised to discover they all had the same password.
They had definitely coordinated this.
Was there some special meaning behind the number? Ye Qingxi wondered.
He didn’t ask right away.
It wasn’t until they were seated in the car that he curiously asked Mu Shaowu, “Why is their password all 679979?”
Mu Shaowu had had a bit to drink and had called for a designated driver, so he was sitting in the backseat with Ye Qingxi.
He tilted his head, also confused.
“I’ll ask them,” he said.
As he opened WeChat and was about to send a message, he froze just after typing two characters.
He looked at the familiar nine-key keypad and suddenly understood.
“Seriously, who came up with that? Kinda romantic,” Mu Shaowu laughed.
Ye Qingxi, “???”
Romantic? How?
“Look,” Mu Shaowu brought his phone in front of Ye Qingxi and pointed to the numeric keypad. “The abbreviation for Mu Shaowu is MSW — those letters fall on the numbers 6, 7, and 9. Now look where YQX is.”
Ye Qingxi instantly got it. He stared at the keypad and saw that YQX was indeed mapped to 9, 7, and 9.
“So 679979 means Mu Shaowu and Ye Qingxi. Isn’t that kind of romantic?”
It really was.
Ye Qingxi slowly smiled.
He had never imagined that a bank card password could be created like that — but now he’d learned something new.
“Here,” Ye Qingxi took out the red envelope he had just received and handed it to Mu Shaowu.
“What for? That’s their gift to you.”
“But I’m still little,” Ye Qingxi said.
A child’s red envelopes are always handed over to the parents, right?
“You’re not going to stay little forever.” Mu Shaowu wrapped an arm around him. “What’s given to you is yours. Now you know the password, too — when you grow up, you can use that money to buy whatever you want.”
Ye Qingxi hadn’t expected him to say that.
He’d heard the same line for 18 years, “You’re still young. Mom and Dad will keep the money safe for you and give it to you when you grow up.” He knew very well that the first half was true — the second half, not so much. But that’s what his parents always said, and it seemed like that’s what everyone else’s parents said too, so he just accepted it.
But now, Mu Shaowu gave him a different answer.
An answer he had never even considered before.
Ye Qingxi looked at him, then down at the red envelope in his hand.
In his last life, he had already started working at age 5. He filmed three dramas and earned three rounds of payment.
But that money… none of it belonged to him.
Because his parents had to “keep it safe” for him.
But now, he had no job, no income — only three red envelopes gifted by Mu Shaowu’s friends.
This money technically didn’t belong to him.
For any other child, so long as he was Mu Shaowu’s kid, his friends would have given the same.
But Mu Shaowu, his father in name now, refused to keep it on his behalf.
He said, “You’re not going to stay little forever.”
He hoped that one day, when Ye Qingxi grew up, he could use this money freely to buy whatever he wanted.
He always gave him answers he didn’t expect.
Surprises.
A kind of gentleness that money couldn’t buy.
Ye Qingxi thought for a moment, then picked up one of the red envelopes and stuffed it into Mu Shaowu’s hand.
Mu Shaowu looked confused. “What are you doing? I told you, all three of these are yours.”
Ye Qingxi shook his head.
He said, “This is my payment.”
Huh?
Mu Shaowu didn’t get it. “What do you mean?”
Ye Qingxi smiled, a rare hint of playfulness in his tone. “Not telling you.”
Mu Shaowu, “???”
Not telling him?!
Was there something he, the father, wasn’t allowed to know?!
Mu Shaowu grew even more confused — were all kids’ thoughts this hard to understand?
Well, children did think differently from adults.
So, Mu Shaowu didn’t keep pressing. As long as Ye Qingxi looked happy, that was enough.
“Alright, you’ve already got your own little secrets now. Impressive, Ye Qingxi.”
Ye Qingxi let out a light laugh, tinged with a sense of ease and pride, and carefully tucked away the remaining two red envelopes.
By the time they returned home, it was already 9 o’clock.
Mu Shaoting hadn’t gone to bed yet, she had just come from the kitchen with a bowl of fresh grapes, planning to snack on fruit while catching up on her drama.
She was humming a tune and had just reached the stairs when she heard the sound of the front door opening.
She stopped in her tracks. The next second, Mu Shaowu appeared before her, loaded down with shopping bags.
Right behind him was the designated driver, also carrying a bunch of bags.
Ye Qingxi followed beside them. For once, he wasn’t carrying anything, though his clothes had changed, from the blue T-shirt he’d worn when they went out to a white T-shirt with a little cat on it. Honestly, he looked pretty cute in it.
“You’re still up,” Mu Shaowu said. “Perfect. There are a few more bags in the car. Help me bring them to my room.”
Mu Shaoting, “???”
“Didn’t you already do a whole round of shopping at Fashion Week?”
“These are for Xiao Xi,” Mu Shaowu replied.
“You should’ve said so sooner.”
Mu Shaoting instantly put down the grapes, grabbed the car keys from Mu Shaowu’s pocket, and headed out the door.
Ye Qingxi watched and volunteered, “I’ll go help my aunt.”
“No need, you’re coming back to the room with me,” Mu Shaowu said as he walked, glancing at him. “With those tiny hands of yours, how many bags can you even carry? Don’t go hurting your hands.”
Ye Qingxi, …He wasn’t that delicate.
But Mu Shaowu was just like that. He didn’t let him carry anything at the mall, and now that they were home, he still wouldn’t let him carry anything.
Left with no choice, Ye Qingxi followed him up the stairs.
The designated driver helped drop off the bags and then left.
Mu Shaowu opened up his walk-in closet and began hanging up the clothes they’d bought, one by one, sorting them by category.
He’d purposely chosen lower cabinets so Ye Qingxi could reach them himself.
When came upstairs with the rest of the bags, the sight she saw was just that.
She put the bags down beside Mu Shaowu, leaned back against the cabinet, and looked over the clothes Mu Shaowu had bought for Ye Qingxi.
And only then did she notice, she’d been so distracted by the number of shopping bags earlier that she hadn’t even realized Mu Shaowu and Ye Qingxi were wearing matching outfits.
“You two are… wearing parent-child outfits?”
Ye Qingxi, “….”
Mu Shaoting nodded enthusiastically.
That’s right! It really suited Ye Qingxi!
Their little Qingxi was already adorable, and this outfit came with cat ears—once he put it on, he looked even cuter!
She wanted one too!
However, Mu Shaoting didn’t say that out loud. She planned to secretly buy one herself and surprise both Ye Qingxi and her brother!
She glanced at the brand label on the T-shirt, then opened her phone to search for nearby stores that carried it.
Once back in her room, she contacted the shop and had them deliver a size that would fit her.
The next morning, the store staff delivered it.
Mu Shaoting accepted the package, changed into the outfit, and waited with great interest for Ye Qingxi and Mu Shaowu to wake up.
Most of the time, Ye Qingxi got up fairly late.
Before transmigrating, he actually didn’t sleep in much.
Not because he didn’t like to, but because his sleep quality was terrible.
Insomnia, trouble falling asleep, and constant nightmares.
On many nights, Ye Qingxi either lay awake until dawn with his eyes wide open or shut his eyes and still couldn’t fall asleep.
He’d tried melatonin and sleeping pills, but after taking them, his dreams were always filled with suffering.
Eventually, Ye Qingxi stopped taking them altogether. If he could sleep, he would; if he couldn’t, then so be it.
At the time, he was so resigned that he even thought, “If I suddenly drop dead one day from sleep deprivation, that might not be such a bad thing.”
But ever since he transmigrated—whether it was due to a better mood or simply because a child’s body falls asleep more easily—Ye Qingxi’s sleep quality had significantly improved.
Now he could fall asleep effortlessly, without nightmares. Every time he lay down, he could sleep soundly for hours.
It was as if his body was trying to make up for all the missed sleep.
Ye Qingxi didn’t hate this feeling at all—
After all, who would hate waking up naturally after a full, restful sleep?
And since Mu Shaowu never pressured him to get up early, Ye Qingxi naturally fell into the habit of sleeping in.
Today was no different.
When Ye Qingxi opened his eyes, it was already 11:05 am.
Mu Shaowu had drunk a little the night before and gone to bed late, so he had just woken up as well, lying in bed playing on his phone while waiting for his son to wake up.
Seeing him open his eyes, Mu Shaowu put his phone down. “You’re awake.”
Ye Qingxi nodded.
The next second, Mu Shaowu reached out and pinched Ye Qingxi’s cheek.
Ye Qingxi, “???”
He blinked blankly at him, still not fully awake, and looked absolutely adorable.
Mu Shaowu couldn’t resist. He lowered his head and placed a kiss on Ye Qingxi’s forehead.
Ye Qingxi, ”!!!”
Ye Qingxi was instantly wide awake. He nearly sat straight up.
Wait a minute—
Why did he just kiss him?!
“You…”
Ye Qingxi wanted to say, Why did you kiss me?!
But his clear-headed reasoning reminded him—adults kissing kids, a dad kissing his son, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Still… how could he just kiss him out of nowhere?!
How could he just suddenly kiss him?!
How could he… really kiss him like that?!
“Xiao Xi, your face is red,” Mu Shaowu said curiously.
“I am not!” Ye Qingxi shot back immediately.
He turned around, threw off the blanket, and headed straight for the edge of the bed.
He hadn’t been this physically close to someone in a long time.
When Ye Qingxi was little, he actually loved being kissed.
He liked anything that expressed others’ affection for him—kisses, hugs, or being lifted high into the air.
Every time his parents kissed or hugged him, he was always very happy.
Later, when he started filming, whenever he ran into unpleasant things, people he didn’t like, or scenes he didn’t want to act in, his parents would kiss him and hug him to comfort him, saying, “Xiao Xi, be good, listen.”
Ye Qingxi, feeling their soothing affection, would obediently and quietly keep acting through the next scene.
But gradually, those kisses and hugs became more and more mechanical, more and more infrequent—until finally, they disappeared altogether.
When he was 10, Ye Qingxi didn’t want to keep acting anymore. He watched his friends drift further and further away, becoming friends with others. He watched them plan which middle school to attend and where to go for fun.
Ye Qingxi wanted to join them too, but his parents had accepted a new role for him. He couldn’t go play with them, couldn’t even go to school with them.
Ye Qingxi didn’t want to lose his friends. He didn’t want to become different from everyone else.
He liked lively places, liked school, liked being around kids his own age.
So he refused to go act. He argued with his parents, crying and shouting that he just wanted to be like everyone else—to go to school every morning with a backpack, and come home every afternoon with one too.
He wanted to go to school Monday through Friday, and take extracurriculars or go out to play on weekends, just like them.
He didn’t want to act anymore.
His parents were shocked—and angry.
His mother said, “You think anyone can just act? Do you think your classmates don’t act because they don’t want to? No—it’s because they don’t have the chance, the background, or the talent. And now you want to throw it all away just to be like them? Do you think that’s fair to me and your dad?!”
“Exactly!” his father echoed. “For your role in this drama, I’ve practically drunk myself sick for you! You think I’m doing all this for myself? It’s all for you! Besides, don’t you already have private tutors? You think one-on-one tutoring isn’t better than sitting in a class with fifty students and one teacher?”
“You think we’re doing this for ourselves?” his mother looked at him, her eyes completely devoid of warmth—cold as a blade poised to slit a wrist. “Ye Qingxi, we’re doing this for you. What’s the point of school? There are so many college graduates every year, don’t plenty of them still end up jobless? But you? You’re already making more money than they might in a lifetime, and you don’t even appreciate it. You’ve really, truly disappointed me.”
“Think about it yourself,” his father said, standing beside his mother. “If you become famous in the future, if you become a big star, the one who gets to enjoy the happiness isn’t me or your mom—it’s you! We’re doing all of this for your sake, don’t you understand?!”
Ye Qingxi didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why his dad had to drink so much, he was nearly sick just for a role.
He didn’t understand how becoming a big star would automatically make him happy.
He didn’t understand why doing all this was supposedly “for his own good.”
Ye Qingxi couldn’t comprehend it, no matter how hard he tried.
But his parents were angry.
They were disappointed in him.
Ye Qingxi didn’t want to disappoint them. He didn’t want to be unfilial.
So he stopped arguing. He gave in. “I’ll act,” he said.
He walked over to his mother, looked into her eyes full of discontent and disappointment, and said, “Mom, don’t be mad. I’ll go act.”
“But kiss me,” he added. “Mom, if you kiss me, I’ll go act.”
His mother sighed, leaned down, and gave him a kiss. Her lips were soft, but the gesture was perfunctory and cold.
She said, “That’s more like it. Now you’re being a good boy.”
Ye Qingxi nodded. He thought, well, he was pretty good at acting anyway—if his parents wanted him to act so badly, then he would act.
As long as his parents didn’t feel disappointed in him, that would be enough.
But as his fame grew, so did his parents’ expectations and demands.
Ye Qingxi, with his little legs, could never seem to keep up with the future his parents envisioned for him.
They wanted him to act in movies, shoot TV dramas, film commercials—his schedule was packed, almost 365 days a year.
Ye Qingxi felt like he couldn’t breathe.
He wanted to rest.
He wanted to go to school.
He wanted to see the friends he used to have.
But he had no time.
He fought with his parents again. His mother, furious, said, “Why are you so immature! So inconsiderate of your parents! Do you have any idea how much we’ve sacrificed for you? You think you’re the only one who’s tired and exhausted?! What about your father and me? Aren’t we tired too?! Do you know how many nights I haven’t slept? And your dad—how long has it been since he’s seen his friends?! You think only you have friends? We don’t?! Everything we do is for you! For your future! Ye Qingxi, can’t you just stop making things so difficult for us?!”
His father sighed again and said, “Xiao Xi, you’ve really disappointed me.”
That mountain called “disappointment” came crashing down once more.
Ye Qingxi, in pain, desperately wanted to overturn it all. So he stubbornly refused to compromise and firmly said, “I want to rest. Rest for half a year.”
His parents didn’t agree.
Thus began the silent war.
His mother was the first to initiate it—ignoring him, treating him with indifference, as if she couldn’t even see him.
As if… he didn’t exist in this home.
His father followed closely behind.
At the round table that once symbolized family reunion, the three of them sat together. His parents would talk to each other, but neither of them would speak to him. As if… he simply didn’t exist.
It was the first time Ye Qingxi had experienced such a cold war, and he was completely at a loss.
He quickly surrendered and admitted defeat to his parents.
He didn’t understand—
Why did they have to treat him like this?
Why wouldn’t they talk to him?
Did they not love him anymore?
Ye Qingxi didn’t believe it.
So he once again turned to his mother and said, “Mommy, kiss me. Will you kiss me, please?”
“If you kiss me, I’ll agree to what you want.”
His eyes were filled with urgency, as if, as long as his mother kissed him, it would prove that she still loved him.
That he was still loved by them.
But his mother didn’t kiss him.
She felt annoyed, felt that Ye Qingxi was being unreasonable, still bargaining with her at a time like this.
She didn’t kiss him.
So what? Would he really refuse just because of that? Didn’t he understand this was all for his own good?!
So she refused him, saying, “You don’t have to feel wronged. You can just say no.”
Ye Qingxi froze for a second.
Then he heard his father say, “Xiao Xi, you’re not a little kid anymore. Stop asking your mom for kisses—it’s embarrassing.”
Ye Qingxi looked at his mother.
His mother sat silently in front of him, showing not even the slightest sign that she would kiss him.
In that moment, a thought suddenly surfaced in Ye Qingxi’s mind, she doesn’t even want to go through the motions anymore.
She used to at least pretend, at least give him a perfunctory kiss.
But now, she wouldn’t even do that.
At 11-years-old, Ye Qingxi had, for the first time, the thought that maybe, his parents didn’t love him anymore.
He didn’t dare believe it.
He didn’t want to believe it.
So he grabbed his mother’s hand and said he wouldn’t take a break.
He said he’d be good, he’d be obedient, he’d go to the set on time.
All he wanted was for his mother to kiss him, just one kiss, to let him know she still loved him.
But she still refused.
She wanted to teach him a lesson.
A harsh, unforgettable lesson.
One that would stop her son from being rebellious, from being so thoughtless, so ungrateful for everything his parents did.
So no matter how much Ye Qingxi begged, she never lowered her head to kiss him.
Ye Qingxi turned his eyes toward his father.
His father smiled and said to him, “You’re this big now, you should start being independent. Don’t act like a little kid. Be good.”
Ye Qingxi looked at him quietly, painfully.
He hadn’t gotten the comfort he wanted.
It felt like his parents were using their actions to tell him plainly, they truly didn’t love him anymore.
Ye Qingxi wondered, why?
Was it because he argued with them?
Because he didn’t obediently go act?
Because he wasn’t well-behaved?
Then… if he behaved from now on, would his parents love him again?
Would they, when he was upset, kiss him again?
When people can’t accept something, they’ll always try to find a reason for it—searching for excuses, clinging to hope, anything to ease the pain a little.
Ye Qingxi was the same.
He did as his parents wished and went to act—acted in show after show, burning through his fame, squandering his talent.
He was like a marionette, pulled across stage after stage, dressed up by others, as if he had no soul of his own.
His parents were very pleased.
His mother hugged him and praised him for being such a good boy.
She kissed him hard on the cheek.
But Ye Qingxi realized, he no longer felt happy from her kisses.
Somewhere in those soulless days, he really had lost his soul.
He no longer felt joy in things that once brought him joy.
Ye Qingxi thought, maybe he didn’t love his parents anymore either.
…Did he?
Ye Qingxi didn’t know for sure.
He just knew—he never again said to his mother, “Kiss me. Will you kiss me, please?”
And naturally, his mother never kissed him again.
Those kisses, those hugs, drifted away with his growing up, vanished into the wilderness of time, without a trace.
Ye Qingxi stopped thinking about it.
His mother never thought about it to begin with.
And so, those kisses and hugs might as well have never existed.
But now, Ye Qingxi thought of them again.
Because Mu Shaowu kissed him.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, he kissed him on the forehead.
Those things Ye Qingxi once had to beg for had now landed in his arms, unasked, unexpected.
Warmth. Scorching warmth.
Carrying the joy and delight of the one who gave it, without a trace of perfunctoriness.
Ye Qingxi thought, Indeed, what’s begged for will always be just that—begged for.
It’s not something the other party gave sincerely, cheap and meaningless.
Back then, he was so pathetic.
So pitiful.
But what could he do?
He was only 11.
He had already lost his friends, lost his freedom, lost his space.
He lived only within the circle his parents drew for him.
Opening his eyes, closing his eyes—it was all about them.
What could he do?
He could only cling to them desperately, terrified of losing them.
What child doesn’t love their parents?
What child doesn’t wish to never disappoint them, to always be their pride, to always make them love them, forever?
All he ever wanted was simply for his parents to like him.
Ye Qingxi sighed and slowly walked toward the sink.
He looked at himself in the mirror. 5-years-old, tender, cute, beautiful, so small.
He raised his hand and drew a smiling face on the mirror.
It was a mental cue, one he’d drawn countless times before his death—a reminder to himself to stay happy.
It’s all in the past, Ye Qingxi thought.
Everything has started over.
As long as he’s willing, he can grow up again, can have a new family all over again.
At the very least, right now, Mu Shaowu is willing to kiss him.
Willing to kiss him with love, without him having to beg.
He smiled into the mirror, just like he had done countless times before his rebirth.
Then, Ye Qingxi picked up his toothbrush cup, filled it with water, and began to brush his teeth.
Author’s Note:
Hug the baby~ Mu Shaowu, give him a big kiss!
Mu Shaowu: There is such a good thing!
Xiaoxi: ???
Mu Shaowu: Come on, baby, give me a kiss~
Xiaoxi: Don’t come over here!
Mu Shaowu hugged and kissed fiercely.
Xiaoxi: ….
Storyteller CloudyPastels's Words
Translator’s Note:nNext one is also a big one and will have to wait~ n