Serve as Contrast Team in a ‘Dad with Baby’ Show

The day passed quickly.

It was already evening when Lin Cheng finished today’s work and returned to their temporary living quarters.

As soon as he entered the residential area, Lin Cheng saw Lin Momo squatting by the flower bed next to the unit building with her chin in her hand, playing with her fingers, looking bored.

“What are you doing squatting down here?” Lin Cheng asked as he approached.

Hearing Lin Cheng’s voice, Lin Momo looked up and her eyes visibly light up.

Lin Momo looked away and replied in a low, mumbling voice, “Mmm, it’s nothing. I was just bored and casually wandered around.” Right after speaking, her lips even lifted in an uncomfortable smile that painted guilt all over her small face.

The real situation was that when she came out to throw out the garbage, the old lady who lived next door kindly closed the door of their apartment, so Lin Momo got locked out of their temporary house like this.

Lin Momo really felt a little ashamed at this ‘newbie’ mistake, so she didn’t want to tell Lin Cheng the truth.

The little girl’s guilty look, however, couldn’t escape Lin Cheng’s eyes. It took half a second for Lin Cheng to guess the reason why Lin Momo was squatting here instead of inside their house.

Lin Cheng took out the key from his pocket and handed it to Lin Momo. “Don’t lose it.”

Seeing the key in his hand, Lin Momo’s eyes lit up once more.

“Okay!” Lin Momo agreed loudly. She jumped up and bounced along, following beside Lin Cheng.

Lin Cheng didn’t know what Lin Momo was planning, so he couldn’t understand the child’s sudden joy.

Thinking of something, Lin Momo took out three candies from her pocket and handed them to Lin Cheng. “Dad, have some candy.”

Lin Cheng took the candies from Lin Momo’s hand and took a look: Wangzai milk candy? Yu Fook Kee? OO sugar?

“Don’t take things from strangers,” Lin Cheng reminded.

“Not a stranger,” Lin Momo retorted.

She and Mrs. Zhang are, of course, already considered ‘business partners’.

“This is the best, you have to try it.” Lin Momo pointed to the Wangzi milk candy in Lin Cheng’s hand, saying this as if offering a treasure.

Lin Cheng: “…” Google ‘how to refuse a child’s kindness?’ Waiting online, very urgent. “Let’s eat first,” he finally said.

“Okay.”

The two returned to their temporary home. This time, it was Lin Momo who unlocked the door.

The moment she opened the door, Lin Cheng saw that the room was obviously much cleaner than when he left in the morning, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

“Did you clean the house?” Lin Cheng asked.

“Yeah,” Lin Momo nodded.

The audience in the livestream channel thought that Lin Cheng would praise Lin Momo for her efforts, like what the dads in the other teams did to their children. 

Instead Lin Cheng just said, “You don’t need to do this.” 

“But it’s too dirty. You won’t get used to it,” Lin Momo argued.

“It’s only a few days; it’s not a big problem,” Lin Cheng said.

“I’m not used to it either,” Lin Momo whispered in rebuttal.

Lin Cheng: “…” 

A child who was ‘playing’ with empty bottles next to the trash can yesterday will not get used to living in a dirty house?

However, Lin Cheng also noticed that Lin Momo would wash her hands very carefully until nice and clean after packing up things or messing around with the pile of bottles.

“Let’s eat,” Lin Cheng said. He put the bought dinner on the temporary table and called Lin Momo over.

This was a set meal for two, with vegetables and meat.

Lin Momo took the chopsticks, but then she stared at the food in front of her without moving, her face full of pain.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like these dishes?”

“No,” Lin Momo shook her head and asked Lin Cheng, her small voice full of caution, “Is this over our budget?”

Hearing this question, the corners of Lin Cheng’s mouth twitched.

Lin Cheng replied, “Not expensive, 30 yuan for the two sets.”

“30 yuan?!” Lin Momo exclaimed.

Lin Momo’s expression was clearly ‘it’s over, our family is bankrupt!’ Lin Cheng suddenly felt a little funny again.

Lin Cheng handed some money to Lin Momo. “Here, take it.”

“This is…”

“The money I earned today,” Lin Cheng said calmly.

“All of these?!” Lin Momo held the money with surprise clear on her little face.

She counted the money…. It was 183 yuan!

On the other side of the livestream, Lin Momo didn’t know that just an hour ago, when Lin Cheng received the money from the delivery station manager, the comments barrage in the livestream channel was full of ‘beautiful!’ ‘awesome!’ ‘convinced!’

At this moment, looking at Lin Cheng, Lin Momo’s eyes were round with disbelief.

Originally, she didn’t expect this ‘dad’ to make money at all.

Meeting the girl’s eyes full of naked admiration, Lin Cheng didn’t show it on the face, but there was an inexplicable sense of accomplishment in his heart.

However, what was the meaning of the sudden suspicious look in the child’s eyes?

“Eat with peace of mind.”

“Okay!”

……

Since knowing that Lin Cheng can earn money, Lin Momo’s attitude towards him has obviously improved by several levels.

Not only was there an extra bowl of soy milk for breakfast, but two extra tea leaves from Mrs. Zhang downstairs were even added to the boiling water prepared for Lin Cheng.

After watching Lin Cheng leave, Lin Momo also took action and began executing her plans. She took the rather professional equipment sponsored by Mrs. Zhang—a small cart with wheels—and left the residential area with a cart-full of cardboard boxes and empty beverage bottles.