Chapter 38 Stay-at-Home Dad (2)
Anyone who has watched horror movies knows that the terror of a ghost baby is far greater than that of an adult ghost, whether in terms of voice, appearance, or the specific events that occur.
In the eerie world, there is a difference between "ghost" and "ghost," but both are equally terrifying.
Bai Ye suddenly noticed the room was full of dolls, and every single one of them could move. He immediately thought of:
Damn it! The whole room is eerie.
But no matter how scared you are, the first thing to do is turn on the lights.
Bai Ye recalled the room environment illuminated by the lightning strike and carefully identified possible light switches.
“Generally, there should be a light switch near the window, but that's too far from me. I have no obstructions around me, and the bed isn't on my side, so I should be able to find the door by backing up…”
Bai Ye murmured as she moved backward, each step as slow as a snail's crawl.
There's no way around it; in the pitch black, people are just that timid.
"It should be nearby."
Bai Ye reached out and touched the side of his body, and sure enough, he touched a solid wall.
Continue moving your arm back and forth, and soon you'll find a bump—this is it!
"Thud—"
The lights came on.
Bai Ye subconsciously closed her eyes, and only slowly opened them after her eyes adjusted to the bright light.
It is a children's room.
There was no bed in the middle, only a few straw-woven tatami mattresses, about 2 meters by 2 meters in size.
Apart from this "bed," there was no other furniture in the large room, and all four walls were covered with soft cushions.
Oh, and we also have to count the various dolls piled up everywhere.
Bai Ye was unaware of the situation for the time being, so he could only take advantage of his remaining courage and step forward to observe the dolls.
The dolls are all made of fabric and are very well made. You can tell from their matching outfits that they are quite expensive.
"I clearly saw the eyeballs moving just now, so why aren't they moving anymore?"
Bai Ye reached out and poked one of the dolls' eyeballs, finding that it was fixed in place, and that none of the dolls were shedding blood tears.
But he firmly believed that he couldn't be seeing things.
"Never mind, we can study it later. I need to go out and check out the other rooms first, to see what kind of place this is."
Bai Ye turned and walked towards the door. He had only taken two steps when a sharp cry of a baby rang out.
The sound seemed to come from different directions, sometimes near, sometimes far, making it impossible to tell which direction it was coming from.
Just as he was wondering, a deep female voice came down from the sky, "Wu Neng, the child is crying, and you're still standing here like an idiot. What's wrong with your brain? Hurry up and pick up the child."
Before he could finish speaking, a figure flashed before his eyes.
Just a second ago, there was only an empty corridor in front of me, with not a single person in sight!
Bai Ye was startled and instinctively stepped back. As he did so, the woman's face darkened.
"Wu Neng, why are you hiding? Hurry up and pick up the child."
"ah?"
"What do you mean 'ah'? It's only natural that you'd take care of my baby after I give birth."
"I……"
"I still have work to do, I don't have time to play with you. Oh, is the baby hungry or wet? Take care of it quickly and don't bother me anymore."
After saying that, the woman quickly left, opened a door at the end of the corridor, and went inside.
"Bang--"
The door closed.
But the baby was still crying.
Bai Ye hadn't figured out the specifics yet, but he subconsciously did as the woman said: find the child, and once he found the child, he had to stop the child from crying immediately.
Subconsciously, there seems to be a belief that children shouldn't bother adults, especially women who are working.
Bai Ye searched through the rooms and finally found the child in a bedroom.
It was a baby lying in swaddling clothes, unable to roll over yet, its hands and feet wrapped inside. Its exposed face was streaked with tears, and it was crying its heart out.
Bai Ye felt a pang of sadness at the sight of the crying child, and ran over to pick him up.
The moment he picked her up, a mechanical voice sounded:
[The target customer has been identified. Players are requested to provide careful care until the customer can walk independently, thus completing the full service.]
[Please note that after the service is completed, both the client and the observer must provide a 5-star rating for the service to be considered complete. Otherwise, 3000 will be deducted immediately.]
Another project worth 6,000.
Bai Ye's eyes widened in disbelief, but the next second, she became skeptical.
The last time I ran the dungeon, it also cost 6000, but I ended up spending nearly 2000 during the dungeon quest itself. Given its strange track record, who knows how many traps it might have hidden this time.
However, "It's strange. I know the client is the baby in my arms, but how am I supposed to rate this baby?"
Players need not question anything; everything will make sense.
As soon as the mechanical voice finished speaking, Bai Ye's gaze towards the baby in his arms changed. The seemingly fair and cute little baby might be some strange and eerie creature.
"I have another question: What is an observer? Why are two simultaneous evaluations necessary?"
[Families are a unit; both the person being cared for and the observer can sense the quality of service. Players are advised not to let their guard down and to be prepared at all times.]
A two-dimensional memory followed.
This time it's also a role-playing game. The character is named Wu Neng, 32 years old, who has experienced being laid off and is currently unemployed at home.
Not long ago, Wu Neng's wife, the woman who appeared earlier, became pregnant. In this bizarre world, giving birth is a woman's job, but raising a child is a man's job.
In other words, women are only responsible for giving birth, while men must take on the responsibility of raising children.
Wu Neng thought that was fine too. He decided to not look for a job for now, but instead become a full-time stay-at-home dad after the baby was born and take care of the child until the child started kindergarten.
After all, for dual-income families, hiring a nanny alone can cost tens of thousands of yuan a month.
Wu Neng's previous job involved working himself to the bone and putting in extra hours, yet he only earned a meager thousand a month.
After ten months of pregnancy, his wife gave birth, but immediately after completing her postpartum confinement, she returned to work on company projects. This one-month absence made her feel a sense of crisis in her career.
"I need to earn money to support the family; you're in charge of everything regarding the children." These were his wife's exact words.
Wu patted his chest and guaranteed that he would take good care of the child. He said, "I'm just a stay-at-home dad. What's so difficult about taking care of a child?"
But ideals are often grand, while reality is often cruel.
The baby is only a month old. The nanny has been taking care of the baby, and she is very experienced and can handle the baby with ease.
Now it's the turn of new dads. They have no experience whatsoever, and the little bit they learned before is completely useless.
Today, Wu Neng has been taking care of the child all day and has just put the child to sleep. He took the opportunity to slip out of the room to rest for a while.
He didn't even have time to take out his phone to play with it before the child started crying again.
On the weekend, my wife was working from home when she heard our child crying, and she became very irritable.
Bai Ye snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the baby crying softly in her arms, feeling utterly overwhelmed.
Wu Neng had some basic knowledge of childcare, but he was a single man who was too busy working to even date, so how could he possibly know how to take care of a child?
Oh no, not a child, but a baby who is just one month old.
"That's weird. Is there any way to instantly max out the baby care skill?"
For the first time, Bai Ye wanted to spend money. "I still have Ghost Coins. Is there a skill I can buy? I can pay right now."
[Please be mindful of your wording. Caring for a baby is a learning and growth process with no shortcuts. If you approach this with a lazy or negligent attitude, your customer rating will definitely be unsatisfactory.]
Undeterred, Bai Ye asked again, "Is there a dynamic spreadsheet like the one used for taking care of fruits and vegetables? You mean, one that can accurately measure the numerical value of why a baby is crying?"
Players, please note: do not take shortcuts, and please pay attention to customer service.
Bai Ye's last struggle was in vain, and she could only take the baby to bed.
The baby in his arms was so soft that he didn't dare to use too much force when holding him.
The simple act of putting it down took a lot of effort, and sweat even started to bead on my forehead.
However, as soon as the baby was put on the bed, the soft sobbing immediately turned into loud wailing.
The crying was so loud it seemed to shake the entire building.
Bai Ye was attacked by the sonic wave, and his brain suddenly felt like it was exploding with pain. He leaned against the wall, his body trembling.
Before he could recover, a volatile female voice appeared like a ghost, right next to his ear.
"Wu Neng, you are utterly incompetent! The child has been crying for so long and you still haven't soothed him. How can you be a qualified father if you're so stupid? There's no father in the whole world as foolish as you. You're a disgrace."
"I'm giving you five minutes to get the child sorted out right now, or you can forget about your living expenses for this month."
After the woman finished speaking, she glanced indifferently at the baby on the bed and left without looking back.
They arrive in a second, and leave in even less.
Bai Ye's head throbbed with pain, and he was terrified. Looking down at the wailing infant crying its heart out, he felt as if the sky was about to collapse.
If I had known it would be this kind of copy, I would have preferred to study it instead.
How long is the service time again?
Oh, I remember now, we have to wait until the customer can walk independently.
Bai Ye thought and thought, and finally remembered that she was a little over one year old when she was able to walk independently.
"So I have to stay in this instance for a whole year?!"
Bai Ye's pupils widened in shock, and he stood there dumbfounded.
"Young man, just became a new dad?" a voice came from outside the window.
Bai Ye turned his head and screamed, "Ah—!" startled, pressing himself tightly against the wall.
There was nothing unusual about it; a middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties was climbing outside the window like a spider.
The other person had no protective measures on them; they were just hanging there in mid-air, and within a few seconds, they quickly changed various window-hugging positions.
"Young man, your baby is crying loudly, keeping me from sleeping, so I came downstairs to check on him," the middle-aged man explained.
white night:"……"
Hey, come downstairs and see for yourself! Who goes downstairs like that?!
However, everything is eerie, and after a while, you become numb to it.
The other person was a middle-aged man, so he should be experienced, right?
Ignoring his fear, Bai Ye immediately ran to the window, opened it, and then dragged the person inside without saying a word.
"Uncle, please help me. My baby is crying so hard, and I don't know what's wrong."
The middle-aged man landed lightly, walked a few steps to the bedside, pulled the baby to look at it from left to right, and then reached under the baby's bottom to feel it.
Finally, she said with certainty, "The baby must be hungry. Quickly make her some milk."
"Making milk?"
"Yes, I'm making formula. Don't you have any formula?"
"There should be some, let me look."
Bai Ye, relying on her two-dimensional memory, finally found the milk powder.
Then she picked it up and ran to the bedroom, handing it to the middle-aged man.
The other person took the formula and reached out, "Where's the bottle?"
"Oh, right!"
Bai Ye went out again.
This time, I was finally careful and brought the thermos flask in as well.
As a result, he got a scolding: "Are you trying to scald the baby to death? How can you make milk with boiling water? What kind of father are you? You can't even do this simple thing right. Do you even have a brain?"
Bai Ye stood by the window, listening to the middle-aged man's incessant cursing and the baby's wailing. His head throbbed and ached more and more.
I don't know! I don't know anything!
I'm just a regular working person; I've never been a father!
Good heavens, help! What kind of job is this? Why is there a job in this world that is more terrifying than being a beast of burden?
"Uncle, I can't." Bai Ye said, feeling wronged.
The middle-aged man glared at him and said, "Everyone's a first time, why are you acting like you're so wronged? If you don't want to take care of the baby, then don't let your wife give birth!"
"I……"
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean'? Go find some cooled boiled water, cooled boiled water, remember, it has to be boiled water that has cooled down, don't give me tap water."
Bai Ye: "Uncle, I know this basic common sense: tap water is not safe to drink directly."
Middle-aged man: "Ha! Now you know."
Bai Ye didn't dare to reply and silently took the baby bottle to go find some cool boiled water.
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