To retain viewers who followed the livestream continuously, Shining Little Ones chose a back-to-back broadcast model as well: the moment Episode One’s daily-life segment ended, Episode Two’s forest segment would begin.
Unlike the daily-life episode, which simply recorded the four families’ meals and activities from morning to night, every later episode filmed on location would also record both the journey there and the return trip.
So for viewers, two episodes aired consecutively meant watching more than half a week in one stretch. Not only was it satisfying, it also made it easier to build a viewing habit.
For Tang Can, however, it meant he could collect payment for two episodes at once this week. Another two hundred thousand-plus would soon enter his account. He instantly felt energy surge through his entire body.
Under normal circumstances, taking a child out for an entire day was exhausting no matter what you did, but little Huo Dengdeng was simply too well behaved.
Tell him to eat more slowly and he slowed down. Tell him not to run around and he obediently stayed beside Tang Can. Although he had no opinions when choosing clothes, whatever outfits Tang Can handed him, he obediently tried on.
Never mind screaming and making trouble like other spoiled children. Even when asked questions directly, he usually answered with a nod for yes and a shake for no. Not only did that melt the hearts of countless online aunties, mothers, fathers, and uncles, it gave Tang Can a level of ease he had never experienced while caring for children before.
So Tang Can was not tired at all after the entire day. He had slept exceptionally well the previous night, then slept late that morning, and even breakfast had been ready-made by the child. Add the parenting-show paycheck that would soon arrive, and he felt as though he had endless ox-like strength to burn.
After sending the child into the bathroom, Tang Can began cutting the tags from the new clothes in front of the livestream camera.
Most children’s clothing tags were sewn on the outside, though some were still placed inside for aesthetic reasons. Regardless of location, Tang Can clipped every one of them away cleanly and efficiently.
This was the sort of task anyone with hands could do, but it was also easy to misjudge or let your hand shake and cut crookedly, either leaving too much behind or accidentally cutting into the fabric itself.
Tang Can’s scissors, however, landed with remarkable precision every single time. The entire process was smooth and uninterrupted, and each place where a tag had been removed looked perfectly flush. The sight was strangely satisfying, almost like one of those stress-relief videos.
Especially with Tang Can’s delicate, pale, slightly fragile-looking beautiful face appearing throughout the frame. The mom-fans, dad-fans, auntie-fans, and uncle-fans who had originally come for Dengdeng gradually began to change species:
【Dengdeng’s bath isn’t being livestreamed?! Sob sob sob, I’m not interested in Tang Can, so I’m leaving… not leaving at all!】
【With a face like that, nobody will object if I call him the Goddess of Creation’s graduation project, right? [nosebleed fountain.gif]】
【Question the Golden Toad, understand the Golden Toad, become the Golden Toad. [covers mouth] Holy shit he is genuinely so handsome!!!】
【Feels like I’m watching a master craftsman. Both his movements and his face are extremely pleasing to look at.】
【Not gonna lie, Tang Can’s hands are really beautiful. Even the shape of his nail beds is exactly my aesthetic…】
【His looks are obviously beyond criticism, but I genuinely didn’t expect his hands to be this steady. I always thought he was a useless decorative vase who couldn’t do manual work and didn’t know one grain from another.】
If Tang Can saw those comments, he would definitely put on the expression of a hidden martial-arts master sweeping the temple courtyard and calmly say: Nothing special. Merely practice.
Did they really think all those years of high-intensity classroom decoration had been for nothing?
The subject made him angry just thinking about it. That damn kindergarten director had not only forced them to invent new classroom environments every day, but also used them as free designers, mural painters, house painters…
Apparently afraid that exhausting them to death all at once would be wasteful, the director only built one new teaching building at a time. Yet he was also afraid of failing to squeeze them dry, so every year he built another teaching building and had them run themselves ragged preparing it. He was one step away from training his beast-of-burden employees into a professional renovation crew.
Before entering the profession, who could have imagined that in a career supposedly devoted to teaching and nurturing children, actual teaching would account for only a tiny portion of the beast-of-burden workload?
Fortunately, by dying from overwork, Tang Can had obtained a heavenly job offer paying one hundred thousand a month!
Every time he remembered that, the corners of Tang Can’s mouth were harder to suppress than an assault rifle on full auto.
Hehehe~
Tiny clothing tags, come to Daddy!
Tang Can had bought ten sets of outdoor clothes for the child in one go. Add the little pajamas and underwear, and the quantity piled together was rather startling. He first selected the pieces they would take with them the next day and dealt with those. After cutting off the tags, he put everything into the washing machine together to wash and dry.
Once that was done, Tang Can checked the time. Figuring the child should be nearly finished, he took a large bath towel and knocked on the bathroom door. Completely ignoring the screaming comments, he left the livestream camera firmly outside.
Tang Can knew the child had long been forced to bathe himself while surviving under the original host, so he did not interfere much. When he pushed the door open, he discovered the child had already finished washing but had failed to resist the temptation of the little duck toy Tang Can had bought. He was still soaking in the small tub and playing with the water.
Caught red-handed by Tang Can, the child—who had been squeezing the duck and making it quack—instantly froze.
Tang Can bared his teeth in a grin. “Perfect. Dengdeng wants to keep playing, so you can wait while Daddy takes a quick shower.”
The child hugged the little yellow duck and woodenly nodded his small head.
A bath was not suitable for soaking too long, though. After Tang Can finished a lightning-fast shower, he scooped the child out of the water and efficiently wrapped the toddler in the large bath towel until he resembled a Russian nesting doll, then temporarily placed him in the sink.
By the time Tang Can dried himself and changed into pajamas, the thick dry towel had absorbed nearly all the moisture from the child from head to toe.
Tang Can was just about to unwrap the towel and dress him when he suddenly felt that the toddler posed in front of him like a decorative doll was simply too beautiful.
Without a second of hesitation, he opened the door and carried the Russian-nesting-doll version of his adorable child in front of the camera, displaying him from several angles.
He did not say a single word the entire time, but the gleaming row of white teeth he showed said everything: Look! My kid is pwetty, right?! He’s mine~ You don’t have one~ Hehehe~
Little Huo Dengdeng, currently in wooden-child mode, was unexpectedly hauled out by Bad Daddy and paraded around for everyone to admire. Before he even had time to manage his expression, his entire little body was carried back inside again.
The child: ???
Wait. It wasn’t enough for this bad guy to go crazy by himself? Why did he have to drag a tiny child into it too?!
Unfortunately, toddlers had no human rights. He could only be toyed with in Bad Daddy’s palm…
Within moments, Tang Can had pulled a cream-colored little pajama set over him. The toddler lowered his eyes, gathering resentment, and had just begun secretly clenching the hem to vent when an unfamiliar silky sensation stunned him. His gray-blue eyes widened slightly.
His small hand pinched the fabric and repeatedly confirmed its soft, smooth feel. So not all new clothes prickled the first time you wore them?
This was one of the pieces Tang Can had bought for him that day. It was made from soft, skin-friendly genuine silk. The cut resembled a romper for a much younger baby, but it had neither sleeves nor trouser legs and only covered his little bottom. It was perfect as a summer sleeping outfit. No matter how wildly he slept at night, his little belly would not end up exposed to the cold.
After returning home, Tang Can had dealt with this piece first. A quick rinse followed by ten or so minutes in the dryer was enough to dry it, so the child could change into the new pajamas immediately after his bath.
The cheap pieces the original host had bought—new but still lousy—were things Tang Can did not want to look at for one extra second.
Although the sleepwear had not been tried on in the store, Tang Can’s eyes were measuring tapes. He had judged the size with impressive accuracy, and the little dumpling in his new pajamas felt even better than he had imagined.
Tang Can was immensely satisfied and once again showed the newly silk-wrapped little dumpling to the livestream camera.
Afraid the audience might not fully understand, he enthusiastically introduced the child like a sales clerk. “I won’t waste too many words on how good-looking he is this time. But the feel of my little pink-and-white, snowy-cute, juicy glutinous-rice dumpling in silk pajamas~ Absolutely incredible~ Slippery-soft, squishy-soft, and he smells delicious too~ Ehehehehehe…”
The child: “…”
Livestream viewers: 【…!!!】
This time, although the child was still a tiny bit unhappy, even he had to admit that the new pajamas were extremely comfortable.
He had just finished soaking in the bath and had his soft hair dried. His body naturally felt lazy at this time, and once he changed into such light, comfortable pajamas, the child could hardly resist. He rubbed his eyes and gave a milky little yawn. His small body tilted sleepily to one side, about to enter automatic sleep mode.
But when Tang Can took out the picture book he had chosen at the bookstore, vigilance immediately rose in the child’s heart: He did not want a bedtime story!
Tang Can climbed under the blanket and smiled. “Come on, baby. It’s egg-laying time now~”
The child pressed his lips tightly together and did not answer. Although he also thought the new pajamas were comfortable, and although he was curious what the picture book he chose was about, instinctive resistance still rose inside him.
It was too much, and too good. This could not be right. Something was wrong! The bad guy had to be plotting something else…
Seeing the child retreat directly to the edge of the bed, Tang Can did not force him into his arms for the story. He merely grabbed his pillow and scooted a little closer in the child’s direction.
Tang Can knew this popular picture book far too well. Once he lay down, he simply stuffed the book into the child’s arms, closed his own eyes, and began reciting from memory. “This is the chickens’ very first time laying eggs. Look, some of them hurt so much they’re crying loudly…”
“Ah~ Such adorable eggs~ The mother hens are overjoyed,” Tang Can’s voice became softer and more soothing, “only… little Carmela…”
“Refu… refuses… to lay…”
“An egg…”
Huo Dengdeng thought Bad Daddy had forgotten the words. His huge eyes stared at the chicken in the illustration for a long while. He was hesitating over whether to look up at the man when Tang Can finally made another sound—but it was a soft, sweet snore.
The child: ???
What happened to reading a bedtime story… That big bad guy!
The child clenched his little fists, but there was nothing he could do. He could only obediently get up, return the picture book to the bedside, and turn off the light. Before doing so, he remembered to maintain his good-child persona for the livestream camera and even tucked the blanket around Bad Daddy.
Huo Dengdeng crawled back under the covers, muttering inside: It’s okay. I didn’t wanna listen anyway. Better if stinky Bad Daddy falls asleep, then everybody will know how bad Daddy is!
Yup. Exactly like that!
Fifteen minutes later—
A pair of blue-glowing eyes suddenly snapped open in the darkness. The child clenched both fists and screamed silently: So why exactly did little Carmela refuse to lay an egg?!
He hated big bad guys who stopped a story halfway through most of all!
