“I want a fun task.”
Feng Yuan was already daydreaming in advance. He really loved this kind of village.
Here, he could climb trees to watch birds above and swim to catch fish below.
He found it absolutely delightful!
The two little ones walked hand in hand, chatting while calling for their friends.
They first went to wake up Yao Yao.
Yao Yao had been drowsily putting on his clothes, but immediately perked up when he saw them.
“Yuan Yuan.”
Yao Yao called out to Feng Yuan and no longer let An Cheng help him dress. He swiftly pulled on his clothes by himself.
“How come you guys are up so early?”
Yao Yao always considered himself an early riser.
But seeing Feng Yuan and Rong Rong already holding steamed buns in their hands while he was just getting dressed made him feel like he had gotten up a bit late.
On their way to call their friends, Feng Yuan had passed by a villager’s yard.
Both he and Rong Rong were given large steamed buns.
The buns might not look as refined as those from city bakeries, but they were generously filled, made with the most natural and healthy pork and vegetables.
Feng Yuan took bite after bite, unable to stop himself.
His little mouth was glistening with oil. He didn’t even think to wipe it.
Seeing this, Yao Yao took out his own handkerchief and wiped Feng Yuan’s mouth for him.
This scene was captured by the cameraman who had just started filming.
Their broadcast began quite early.
The reason for such an early start was that the director knew Feng Yuan’s habits.
This little one was bursting with energy.
Without adult intervention, he could stay up later than a dog and wake up earlier than a rooster.
And even with such a schedule, it didn’t stop him from running wild all day long.
In short, the early morning livestream focused less on the dads and more on the little ones.
In other words, focusing on Feng Yuan was enough.
This little guy was full of antics and easy to film.
The director’s decision proved wise. Early in the morning, he had already captured such a heartwarming moment of the children caring for each other.
He glanced at the livestream chat.
Viewers had already started tuning in, and comments were rolling in.
“Ah! Waking up to my Yuan Yuan’s livestream. This is pure happiness!”
“My heart is melting from Yuan Yuan’s cuteness. How can he be this adorable even while eating a bun?”
“Hahaha. Yao Yao is so sweet! He and Yuan Yuan are just too perfect together.”
“Let’s not randomly ship kids, okay? Yuan Yuan and Yao Yao are just friends! Yuan Yuan and Rong Rong are the real deal. They’re childhood sweethearts.”
When it came to shipping the kids, everyone was just having fun.
Among the children’s pairings, Feng Yuan was practically a universal match.
He could be paired with anyone.
His pairing with Rong Rong was the most popular. Last year, netizens were already loving their “redemption arc” dynamic.
Then there was Feng Yuan and Yu Qingqing, dubbed the “Little Sun” pairing.
Feng Yuan and Xiao Putao’s interactions were also edited into heartwarming clips.
And now, Yao Yao and Feng Yuan had formed another pairing.
The livestream continued.
Completely oblivious to the camera, Feng Yuan offered his large bun for Yao Yao to take a bite.
Yao Yao was a bit picky with food, but he really liked the taste of this bun.
Seeing that Yao Yao enjoyed it, Feng Yuan even took him to get another one.
Munching on their buns, the little ones wandered through the village.
No dads were accompanying them.
As Yao Yao ate, he became fully awake.
Once alert, his little face looked troubled.
Feng Yuan couldn’t stand seeing him so worried.
“What’s wrong?”
Feng Yuan asked proactively, “Did you not sleep well?”
“No.”
Yao Yao slept cuddled up with An Cheng last night and had a very good rest.
He didn’t have any nightmares either.
His current heavy worries were related to An Cheng.
“Yuan Yuan, I really like my little dad.”
“Mm! I can tell!”
Feng Yuan could see that the relationship between Yao Yao and An Cheng, as father and son, was exceptionally close.
“When I was very little, my little dad came to our home.”
“He treats me so well.”
As Yao Yao spoke about his little dad, his small face was filled with affection.
He recounted every little detail about his little dad. Feng Yuan listened quietly without interrupting him.
As Yao Yao continued, his tone suddenly changed, and his small face grew melancholy.
“Yuan Yuan, my little dad might leave me.”
Feng Yuan: “?”
Feng Yuan: “Why?”
Yao Yao lowered his voice and whispered to Feng Yuan, “Because my dad hasn’t woken up, the family wants my little dad to leave.”
“They want to find me a new little dad.”
“I don’t want a new little dad.”
As Yao Yao spoke, he accidentally let slip: “If my little dad leaves, I’ll go find him.”
He had made up his mind. In the future, he would live with his little dad.
He knew that his little dad wanted to take him along, too.
The little ones whispered among themselves. Their conversation wasn’t recorded.
Feng Yuan patted Yao Yao’s shoulder and promised him earnestly, “You don’t have to run away from home.”
“My Uncle Bai Ze is really good at medicine. I’ll ask him to check on your dad.”
“Once he wakes up, your little dad won’t have to leave.”
Feng Yuan was a warm-hearted little one.
Once he learned of Yao Yao’s troubles, he decided to help him to the end.
After being comforted by Feng Yuan, Yao Yao’s small face immediately brightened up.
One by one, they all became cheerful again.
Soon, all the little ones gathered together.
Without realizing it, Feng Yuan once again became the leader of the children.
First, he made sure every child had a full stomach.
Then, with his little hands clasped behind his back, he patrolled around the village.
During the patrol, Feng Yuan encountered the village’s famously aggressive goose.
Yu Qingqing glanced at the goose a couple of times and ended up being chased and pecked by it.
Seeing this, Feng Yuan stepped forward and engaged in a fierce battle with the goose.
In the end, he grabbed the goose by the neck with his chubby little hands and dragged it all the way home.
“Big Dad!”
Feng Yuan called out to his big dad, his chubby face serious: “Cook the goose for Yuan Yuan!”
Li Sheng: “…”
Li Sheng: “This is someone else’s goose. We can’t cook it.”
Feng Yuan argued logically: “Big Dad, buy it!”
If they bought the goose, it would be their goose!
Li Sheng felt a bit helpless. If they weren’t filming a show and his son wanted to eat goose, he would definitely buy it.
But since they were on a show, he couldn’t just buy whatever he wanted.
“Big Dad, Yuan Yuan wants to eat meat!”
Seeing that his big dad had no intention of buying the goose, Feng Yuan sniffled and pretended to be pitiful: “Yuan Yuan has lost weight. He needs to replenish!”
Li Sheng: “Don’t lie with your eyes wide open.”
His chubby little one had never lost any of his baby fat.
While some children were starting to slim down, his little one remained as plump as ever.
Last time, Feng Qi even wanted Bai Ze to come up with a weight-loss diet plan.
Bai Ze didn’t manage to create one.
However, Bai Ze had examined Feng Yuan’s little body.
Feng Yuan’s bone structure was small. Once he grew up, the baby fat would naturally slim down, leaving him with a very attractive figure.
Moreover, once the phoenix clan reached adulthood, every one of them possessed stunning beauty.
As for Feng Yuan’s future development, Bai Ze felt there was absolutely no need to worry.
“I’ll go ask someone if we can buy it.”
Li Sheng was quite indulgent with his son. He pinched the boy’s chubby cheek and told him to go play first.
Upon hearing this, Feng Yuan released his little chubby hand, ready to lead the other children away.
The moment he let go, the goose whose neck he had been clutching all this time gathered its fury and pecked hard at Li Sheng, who happened to be right in front of its beak.
Li Sheng: “!”
Before Li Sheng could react, Feng Yuan reached out with his chubby hand again and grabbed the goose.
Holding the goose in his left hand, he raised his right hand and gave it two smacks.
“Bad goose!”
“How dare you bite my big dad!”
Feng Yuan proceeded to give the goose a thorough beating on the spot.
After finishing his punishment, he authoritatively dragged the goose away.
“Big Dad, let Yuan Yuan take care of this goose for now. Come find Yuan Yuan when you’re ready to cook it!”
Feng Yuan hurried off with the goose in tow.
The children played until around eight or nine in the evening when the director finally came to announce the day’s activity tasks.
Rong Rong had guessed correctly.
Their activity for the day was related to the village.
There were several elderly impoverished households in the village. The guests were to pair up one-on-one with these households and, through completing tasks for rewards, obtain daily necessities for them.
Their tasks were all very down-to-earth.
Every household in this village had their own livelihood to maintain. Some raised pigs.
So some guests had to cut pigweed to feed the pigs and then help sell them.
Others were assigned to plant medicinal herbs.
Some tended to fish ponds…
The guests only needed to help with the work. Their tasks were very simple, but the simpler the task, the more challenging it was to carry out.
Yu Qingqing’s dad had just entered the pigpen when a pig charged and knocked him out.
Xiao Putao’s dad went to the fishpond, slipped on the bank, and fell right in.
While the guests had their tasks to complete, the children had their own assignment.
The children were to swap dads.
After exchanging dads, they were to live with their new dad and work together.
Upon hearing this task, Rong Rong instinctively looked at his own dad.
He didn’t want to swap dads.
The other children were also reluctant to switch.
Only Feng Yuan blinked and asked the director, “Uncle, how are we going to swap dads?”
“By drawing lots.”
Drawing lots was the fairest method. The director had already prepared small slips of paper for the draw.
Soon enough, the children finished drawing their lots.
Feng Yuan drew An Cheng.
Rong Rong drew Li Sheng.
Yao Yao drew Yu Qingqing’s dad.
Yu Qingqing drew Xiao Putao’s dad.
Xiao Putao drew Chi Shui.
After the children confirmed their new dads, they looked somewhat upset.
Just as the children were about to start fussing, Feng Yuan was the first to wave his chubby hand at his biological father.
“Goodbye, Uncle Li!”
After calling his own dad “uncle”, Feng Yuan turned to his new dad: “Hello, Dad! I’m Yuan Yuan!”
An Cheng scratched his head, surprised at how quickly Feng Yuan had gotten into character.
With Feng Yuan taking the lead in cooperating, the other children suppressed their urge to make a scene.
The guests weren’t assigned tasks too far apart.
So even though the children were working with their new dads, they weren’t too distant from each other.
Feng Yuan was to go with An Cheng to check on the medicinal herb field.
They needed to pull weeds and remove pests.
“Yuan Yuan, do you want me to carry you? The path here isn’t easy to walk.”
“No, I’ll walk by myself.”
Ever since turning four, Feng Yuan had always claimed to be a big kid.
When outside, he was quite independent and self-reliant.
No sooner had he finished saying not to let An Cheng hold him than he promptly tumbled headfirst into the grass ditch.
An Cheng watched him with his head down and two chubby little legs sticking up in the air, both amused and worried. He pulled Feng Yuan out.
“Yuan Yuan, be careful.”
After the fall, Feng Yuan noticeably became a bit more subdued.
He let An Cheng hold his chubby little hand as the two of them, one big and one small, walked together to the ridge of the field.
Both the adults and the children had dedicated cameramen filming their tasks.
Neither the adults nor the children had an easy time.
Feng Yuan had been busy in the fields all morning. It wasn’t until after lunch that he and the other kids finally had time to play together.
They went to an empty lot behind the village to dig a pit for roasting sweet potatoes and frogs.
Feng Yuan had caught the frogs himself. He’d grabbed a few while visiting the fishpond.
After catching the frogs, he also caught a toad for Yu Qingqing to play with.
Yu Qingqing seemed quite happy with it.
The kids’ afternoon gathering was free from adult interruptions.
Even the cameramen didn’t follow them.
Once the kids confirmed no adults were around, they started a fire.
Yao Yao looked at the lit fire and timidly said, “My dad says kids shouldn’t play with fire, or they’ll wet the bed.”
Feng Yuan retorted, “No, we won’t.”
This wasn’t Feng Yuan’s first time playing with fire. He’d even cooked over a fire before.
Feng Yuan kept the fire going and roasted snacks for the kids.
They had also brought some rice wine with them.
The rice wine was brewed by the villagers. Kids weren’t allowed to drink much, but the adults had let them have a little taste yesterday.
After tasting it, Feng Yuan had been craving more ever since.
Now, with food and drinks in hand, the kids were all set.
Feng Yuan, holding his rice wine, was the first to make a toast.
After the toast, they clinked their cups together, imitating the adults.
Feng Yuan remembered that kids weren’t supposed to drink alcohol.
So, he took more than half of the other kids’ rice wine for himself.
He ended up gulping down quite a lot.
“I’m not a kid.”
Feng Yuan thought proudly to himself as he drank. “I’m a little phoenix!”
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152