Chapter 8

The production team didn't provide much food, but Qiuqiu and her friends seemed extremely well-off because of the extra gifts from the elderly.

Jiang Xueru picked out two carrots and prepared to stir-fry carrot shreds especially for Qiuqiu.

Qiuqiu looked unhappy when she saw this: "Mom, that's not fair!"

Jiang Xueru: ?

Qiuqiu pouted, "Mom secretly asked Qiuqiu what she likes to eat, but Qiuqiu doesn't know what Mom likes to eat."

Jiang Xueru thought about it carefully, and realized that she didn't seem to have any particular favorite food.

If you were to ask her questions, she would probably answer none, just like little Shen Yi'an.

Qiuqiu became even more unhappy after hearing his thoughts.

She was also planning to cook something delicious for her mother.

Although Qiuqiu is only five years old, she was quite grown-up when she was in the orphanage!

She can take care of other children and help the aunties at the welfare home with a lot of work, including going to the kitchen to taste the dishes.

Jiang Xueru rubbed Qiuqiu's head: "Then Qiuqiu, can you make some scrambled eggs with tomatoes for Mommy?"

Qiuqiu's eyes sparkled when she heard this: "Does Mommy like it?"

Jiang Xueru: "It's alright."

Qiuqiu grabbed Jiang Xueru and immediately ran to the kitchen: "Come on, come on, Qiuqiu knows the kitchen very well!"

Jiang Xueru shook her head helplessly.

In the end, Qiuqiu really did help a lot.

For example, tasting tomatoes to see if they are fresh, and giving mom a back massage while she cooks.

The reason for the back massage was that Qiuqiu remembered the task she had done that afternoon. Qiuqiu had heard that transplanting rice seedlings was very tiring, and while massaging her back, she asked with concern, "Mom, is your task very tiring?"

Jiang Xueru thought about it very carefully.

"I'm not too tired."

[Jiang Xueru's words were incredibly sarcastic, haha! Ye Sisi would be furious if she heard them.]

The key point is that she was telling the truth and didn't mean any harm. After finishing her work in the fields, she went to do a lot of other chores and came back acting like nothing had happened.

Ye Sisi was exhausted and didn't want to move at all after coming back.

......

Ye Sisi really didn't want to move. After making some edible food for Fang Ran, she lay on the bed and browsed the forums away from the camera.

She knew she hadn't performed well today, so she wanted to see what the audience thought of her.

As a result, the forum was filled with discussions about Jiang Xueru.

Having been annoyed by Jiang Xueru all afternoon, she became even angrier upon seeing this name!

But in the end, I suppressed my anger and lit it.

[After watching the live stream all day, I finally understand why Jiang Xueru has so many haters. Her words are inherently sarcastic, and she has a naturally cold expression; if her haters don't criticize her, who else can they criticize?]

"But to be fair, while her words were sarcastic, they were all true and she didn't mean any harm. So why was she vilified like that before?"

"Just watch some of the old variety shows and you'll see; malicious editing is standard practice."

"Given her usual style of speaking and acting, it would be too easy for her to make malicious edits. It's just a good thing that 'Super Cute' is a live broadcast, otherwise she would still have been taken out of context and large sections of videos were cut out to make her look bad."

"I really suspect that she may have offended some big shot in the industry before."

"It's been rumored for a long time that Jiang Xueru couldn't get any normal roles in the years after winning the Best Actress award because someone in the industry was ostracizing her."

"She must have offended someone with what she said. It's just that she has a personality problem."

[A rational discussion: Does Jiang Xueru really have personality problems?]

"The original poster used to be a die-hard hater of Jiang Xueru, but after watching her live stream for a day, she has completely doubted herself. Mom is so cute!"

"Don't doubt yourself, Jiang Jiang's personality is perfectly fine!"

"It's just a bit cold, but she's not cold to everyone. It's not really cold. She's just being a tsundere, saying one thing but meaning another. You can tell from the live stream that she's very caring towards Qiuqiu, and she's also very nice to the two elderly people and the kids on the show."

"There's no problem at all. Everyone has seen how Jiang Jiang treats Qiu Qiu. Later, she even offered to help with chores because she was worried that the two elderly people might have trouble. Isn't that being kind-hearted?"

"Speak boldly, I think this guest surnamed Ye is much stranger than Jiang Xueru."

"I also want to say that Ye Sisi is really fake. She has no idea about her own son and doesn't understand him at all. She goes to great lengths to show her 'kindness' when it comes to the task."

"What the person upstairs said is correct. I used to think she was genuinely beautiful and kind-hearted, but after comparing her today, I realized that genuine beauty and kindness lie in doing things diligently, while fake beauty and kindness lie in selling a persona."

"This building is enough. Sisi did nothing wrong, so why are you scolding her?"

Ye Sisi's mindset also changed after seeing this.

From childhood to adulthood, she was always compared to Jiang Xueru.

Jiang Xueru is smart and beautiful, and she won the Best Actress award at a young age.

She couldn't catch up with her before, and could only watch Jiang Xueru's back with secret envy.

Later, Jiang Xueru fell from grace and into the mud. She finally won and, incidentally, stomped on Jiang Xueru as she tried to escape the mud.

She thought Jiang Xueru was destined to rot in the mud for the rest of her life, but she never expected that she would be going back to the way things were before.

She didn't want to give up like that!

Ye Sisi had turned off the bedroom camera long ago and then called her agent.

As soon as the call connected, he got straight to the point: "Why has Jiang Xueru's reputation changed so quickly?"

The agent sensed her displeasure and immediately explained, "As you know, since Jiang Xueru got married, your father hasn't restricted her activities in the entertainment industry much. If we hadn't been using your father's name and keeping it a secret from him, we wouldn't have had a chance to get the role in 'Hello, Mom.' She's no longer restricted in terms of resources, let alone public image."

Ye Sisi took a deep breath, "Unlike before, when they tried to smear her. Is it really that hard to smear someone in the industry?"

"Recently, your father has been making frequent attempts to reconcile with Jiang Xueru. Fortunately, he has intentionally let people know that Jiang Xueru is his biological daughter. After some companies found out, they no longer dared to offend Jiang Xueru. It's good enough that they didn't immediately delete the rumors they spread before and apologize to her on the spot. How could they possibly continue to smear her?"

Ye Sisi fell silent.

A voice came from the other end of the phone, "Actually, you don't need to worry too much about Jiang Xueru. You should focus more on yourself..."

He was interrupted before he could finish speaking.

Ye Sisi was in a bad mood. "I know, you don't need to say anything more."

The agent immediately shut up.

After all, no one knew this ancestor's temper better than him.

After the phone call ended, the world fell silent, but Ye Sisi's heart was anything but silent.

......

After having dinner, Qiuqiu and Jiang Xueru were already a little sleepy.

The courtyard house has several rooms, but Qiuqiu is too young and used to sleep with other children, so she is now afraid to sleep alone.

Jiang Xueru couldn't resist Qiuqiu's request to sleep together and eventually gave in.

Qiuqiu was very excited thinking about the first time she slept with Jiang Xueru.

I was so excited that my brain, which was originally so sleepy, became very clear again, so clear that I couldn't fall asleep.

Finally, she leaned close to Jiang Xueru and said, "Mom, tell Qiuqiu a bedtime story."

Jiang Xueru was stunned for a moment, her brows furrowing slightly.

"I'm sorry, Mom doesn't tell bedtime stories."

Qiuqiu didn't care; wanting a bedtime story was just a spur-of-the-moment thing.

"It's okay, Mom. Qiuqiu, can you come a little closer to me?"

Jiang Xueru nodded.

Qiuqiu happily moved even closer to Jiang Xueru, almost touching her. Jiang Xueru thought she would feel uncomfortable, but to her surprise, she felt quite comfortable.

Although there was no bedtime story, Qiuqiu slept very soundly, feeling as if she were floating in the sky.

When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a luxurious house.

Everything in front of me was so clear it looked real.

Qiuqiu quickly realized what was happening.

—She's dreaming.

The ability to listen allows one to hear other people's dreams.

This is something that Qiuqiu only realized after being reincarnated.

Perhaps when she was a Di Ting (a mythical beast), no one slept so close to her, so this had never happened before.

Later, Qiuqiu figured out the pattern: the deeper a person is immersed in their dream, the more likely Qiuqiu is to hear it.

Qiuqiu entered the dreams of the children in the welfare home several times.

However, children's dreams are very simple; they either dream of delicious food or fun activities.

Qiuqiu tilted her little head up and carefully observed her surroundings.

This dream was very different.

This is an extremely luxurious house, so luxurious that Qiuqiu had never seen one before.

Moreover, the dream was very realistic, unlike the dreams Qiuqiu had before, where there were hardly any houses, let alone real objects.

This is Jiang Xueru's dream.

After all, Qiuqiu was sleeping in the same bed with her right now.

Qiuqiu heard a noise behind her, turned around and saw a little girl carrying a book, climbing up the stairs on all fours.

Qiuqiu instinctively tried to dodge, but found that the other person's gaze was not focused on her.

Qiuqiu then realized that she was usually not seen when she entered a dream.

Just as she expected, the girl walked straight past, and Qiuqiu's body turned transparent the instant she was passed through.

In that instant, Qiuqiu also got a clear look at the girl's face.

The girl is Jiang Xueru!

My mom was so cute when I was little!

Even cuter than Qiuqiu!!

After passing Qiuqiu, the girl walked towards the study at the end of the corridor, and Qiuqiu followed behind her.

The study door wasn't closed tightly, and Xiao Jiang Xueru pushed it open, letting Qiuqiu see what was inside.

An antique-style house, understated yet luxurious, with a grown man sitting in the middle of the study in an equally luxurious leather chair.

The man noticed someone coming in and turned his head.

Qiuqiu couldn't see his face clearly.

Before the man spoke, Xiao Jiang Xueru held out the book she was holding in her arms: "Daddy, can you tell me a bedtime story?"

Although Qiuqiu couldn't see what the person looked like, she could sense his surprise and impatience.

"Xueru, what are you doing here?" She then shouted loudly outside, "Where's Aunt Wang? Take Miss to bed."

Xiao Jiang Xueru raised her head stubbornly, "Xueru wants to hear a bedtime story. Grandma used to tell me one."

The man fell silent for a moment, then said, "Dad will tell you next time."

Xiao Jiang Xueru lowered her head upon hearing this.

The nanny who was called quickly went upstairs and pulled the man away. Qiuqiu originally wanted to follow, but then she heard a soft laugh coming from the man's phone.

A woman's voice asked, "Why aren't you with your daughter?"

The man chuckled: "Kids are such a hassle."

Qiuqiu: !

Qiuqiu, who was very angry when she heard the conversation, almost forgot that she was still in a dream. Just as she was about to rush up and reason with them, the scene in front of her suddenly changed.

It was the same luxurious villa. This time, the little girl was sitting on the sofa with a book in her arms. There were sounds of people coming down the stairs, hurrying down.

Xiao Jiang Xueru still held out the storybook in her hand, "A bedtime story, you promised."

The difference this time is that Xiao Jiang Xueru's voice is not as soft and sweet.

The man pushed Xiao Jiang Xueru's hand away, "Don't be silly, Daddy has to hurry out to celebrate your sister's birthday."

The door slammed shut with a bang as soon as he finished speaking.

Qiuqiu felt a tightness in her chest.

Although Qiuqiu is only five years old, Diting is able to hear all kinds of sounds and perceive all kinds of emotions, so he is much clearer about feelings than other children.

She knew that Jiang Xueru was very, very good to her, and of course she also knew that the man whose face she couldn't see was very bad to Jiang Xueru.

"She's not my sister." Xiao Jiang Xueru turned around at some point and stared at Qiuqiu very seriously.

Qiuqiu realized that she could be seen.

This is a normal occurrence that happens occasionally.

But Qiuqiu was very happy!

Qiuqiu immediately rushed over, grabbed the hand that had just been pushed away, and pulled her up the stairs to the bedroom.

Xiao Jiang Xueru just let her pull her along.

People in dreams don't think logically, such as who Qiuqiu is or why she's here.

But the more important reason is that Xiao Jiang Xueru felt that she really liked holding her little hand.

It's soft and tender.

It feels very familiar.

It wasn't until Qiuqiu pinned her down on the bed that Xiao Jiang Xueru realized what was happening.

What are you trying to do?

Qiuqiu didn't say anything, took the storybook from Xiao Jiang Xueru's hand, and covered Jiang Xueru with the blanket.

Fortunately, this little Jiang Xueru is also about four or five years old, similar to the group of unruly children in the orphanage.

When she was at the orphanage, she was the leader of the children and took over the task of getting the children to sleep obediently from the aunties, so it was not difficult for her.

He didn't speak until everything was settled.

Qiuqiu ran all the way, panting heavily, her cheeks heaving with each breath. "I'll tell you a bedtime story!"

Xiao Jiang Xueru suddenly froze.

A wave of grievance and unhappiness welled up inside her, and she quickly pulled the blanket over her head.

Then Qiuqiu pulled it off again.

Qiuqiu puffed out her little cheeks.

Why was Mom so awkward when she was so young!

Mom is so hard to take care of! Harder than the kids in the orphanage!!

"Do you still want to hear a bedtime story? If not, Qiuqiu is leaving."

Xiao Jiang Xueru grabbed her, "I'm listening!"

Qiuqiu proudly raised her chin.

This trick worked the best!

She opened the storybook and discovered a fatal problem—

I can't recognize all the words in the book yet.

Looking up, she saw Xiao Jiang Xueru looking at her expectantly.

Qiuqiu decisively closed the book.

"Let me tell you the story of a stunningly beautiful woman."

Xiao Jiang Xueru asked in confusion, "How beautiful is she? Is she as pretty as me?"

"As beautiful as you."

"Is she as cute as me?"

Qiuqiu: ......

She never imagined that her mother was such a cocky kid!

Qiuqiu thought for a moment and shook her head: "She looks cold, but she's actually very cute."

Xiao Jiang Xueru was very disgusted, "Being cold and aloof is not good at all."

Qiuqiu, displaying the domineering presence of a leader among children, exclaimed, "Do you still want to hear Qiuqiu's story?!"

Xiao Jiang Xueru immediately quieted down.

"Although she may seem cold, she's incredibly kind to children and is the best mother in the world."

"......"

When Qiuqiu woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky.

She quickly got up and saw Jiang Xueru making breakfast.

Qiuqiu leaped into Jiang Xueru's arms, "Mommy, did you have any dreams yesterday?"

Jiang Xueru thought about it carefully, but couldn't remember anything. She only remembered that she was in a strangely good mood when she first woke up, as if a lot of her long-accumulated troubles and depression had disappeared.

"It seems like a very good dream."

After saying that, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up slightly.

[Was it just my imagination? I think I saw Jiang Xueru smile.]

I think I saw it too...

Wow, this is how beautiful a woman looks when she smiles!

This kind of smile is so much better than that awkward, V-sign smile.

So what kind of dream did Jiang Xueru have that made her laugh? It's rare to see her laugh like that.

I'm more curious about what kind of nightmare Qiuqiu had, since she's wearing her slippers on the wrong feet.

[Qiuqiu's way of getting up was pretty normal, except she was wearing her slippers backwards. Her neighbor, Shen Yiyao, almost punched her when she was woken up.]

[The most unusual one had to be Shen Yi'an. I wondered what he was going to do when he woke up this morning, but he actually pulled out a book and started studying!!!]

[They're clearly siblings, but they look so different, hahaha.]