Chapter 23

Telling Horror Stories To Each Other

[Are you kidding me? Telling a horror story to a child in the middle of the night?!]

[My husband and I were so scared. We’re huddled together to keep warm.]

[It seems like Li Zexin started it first.]

[The cub is crying from fear. Li Zexin and Lin Wan are also courting death. They’re clearly very afraid, okay?]

[Li Zexin probably didn’t expect Lin Wan to come up with an even scarier story after his.]

[Lin Wan is an adult. She can’t possibly lose to a child.]

[This way of taking revenge on a child is stupid.]

In the courtyard, Li Yanchen and his eldest son heard the cries coming from the bedroom and walked in.

“Daddy!” Li Zekai flew into Li Yanchen ‘s arms, sobbing. “They are telling horror stories. Jiejie was scared to death.”

Li Yanchen looked at the two people, one wrapped in a blanket and the other leaning on a pillow. Both appear scared out of their minds.

“Li Zexin wanted to compete, so I obliged,” said Lin Wan. Li Zexin had started it so she was just giving him a taste of his own medicine. She was quite scared herself.

Li Yanchen lifted his youngest son in his arms. “It’s alright, we will go outside. Let them continue.”

Lin Wan was speechless, as was Li Zexin.

Lin Wan thought that Li Yanchen should have chastised them both for scaring his youngest son. ‘Is he just walking away?’

With that, Li Yanchen walked out with his sons.

“I won’t admit defeat. You’re still too young to fight me.” It would be embarrassing for an adult like her to lose to a child.

“Bring it on, then.” Li Zexin also didn’t back down.

The two of them exchanged more horror stories until those watching the live broadcast were tired.

That night, Lin Wan’s name was on the hot search again because of her horror stories. The comments on other families’ live broadcast room were very positive and appreciative.

[I’m really going to curse them. Other people look at the stars and the moon, but Lin Wan and Li Zexin choose to tell ghost stories on such a pleasant night.]

[We were all scared, silly! Even Li Zexin.]

[I’m really afraid that the child might have a heart attack.]

[Li Yanchen actually did not care much after finding out about it. He took his youngest son away and let them continue.]

[He’s probably annoyed by Lin Wan and his son’s tense relationship and was glad to see them get along finally.]

[It was a wise move for Xuanxuan to propose to talk with his dad. Our Xuanxuan is soft and delicate, he can’t stand scary stories.]

[I’m really desperate for this stepmother to be removed. Crowdfund them and make them divorce each other.]

[This time, Li Yanchen didn’t side with anyone. At the very least, this shows that he’s just tired. Li Zexin was rebellious to begin with.]

[My God, could it be that Lin Wan hired an Internet Army to defend her? Li Zexin is only a 14 or 15-year-old child. He’s in his rebellious stage. All children experience this, okay?]

[That’s right. Lin Wan is a mature adult. Why is she being so calculative with a child?]

…

In Yun City, at Qing Zhi apartments, Assistant Qin felt that his hairline had receded in the past two days because of stress. By dinner time, there was no negative news about Lin Wan. He thought that the day had finally passed peacefully. But just as he was about to rest, he received a call from the Publicity Department.

He watched the video in the news, and his hair stood on end. ‘Is it okay to share horror stories like this in a family event?’

Li Yanchen was clearly present. ‘Couldn’t he have stopped her?’ He gave the person in charge of the PR team a call. That was another 600K for the job to be done. He then sent a message to Li Yanchen.

“Boss, we really can’t keep up. Why don’t we end this? From yesterday till now, we have already spent two million to remove negative comments from the hot search. Your money doesn’t just fall from the sky. You still have three children to raise!”

Assistant Qin wanted Li Yanchen to understand that his assets were his sons’ too. And Lin Wan was a natural at attracting negative criticisms. He wanted to tell him to stop wasting money on her.

Lin Wan didn’t seem to care about the news at all. Assistant Qin thought that they should stop wasting money as it didn’t affect her at all.

“Alright,” came the reply.

This was the answer Assistant Qin had looked forward to. But he was suspicious that Li Yanchen had agreed so easily. He wondered if his sons had typed it instead. So, he called his boss.

“What’s the matter?” came Li Yanchen ‘s deep voice.

“Oh, I was just confirming if it was really you who had replied. Right then, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Li Yanchen hung up. He took the bowl of peeled loquats to give them to Lin Wan.

When Li Zekai saw that the camera had moved outside, he was afraid that his father and stepmother would sleep together in the same room. He took his blanket and climbed into Lin Wan’s bed. “Auntie, if you are scared, I can sleep here tonight.”

Lin Wan grinned. Finally, everything was working the way she wanted it to. She didn’t need any excuse to refuse Li Yanchen if Li Zekai stayed with her. She patted his shoulder. “Alright,” she said. “But you have to go right to sleep. You have to promise you won’t make a fuss.”

Li Zekai rolled onto the bed onto one side and covered himself with the blanket. “But Auntie, after I fall asleep, don’t let daddy take me away from here.”

“Alright,” said Lin Wan. “Good night.”

The little boy’s eyes slowly fluttered close.

When Li Yanchen entered the room, he saw that his youngest son had fallen asleep. He was about to carry him away. He could squeeze in with Li Zekai. He didn’t want to trouble her.

To his surprise, Lin Wan stopped him. “I promised Jiejie that I wouldn’t let you take him away. Leave him here. I’ll take care of him tonight. You can sleep on Jiejie’s bed. Are you done with the loquats?” Lin Wan looked at the bowl in his hands.

“Yes,” he said. “Then I will go to the next room to sleep. Good night. I will wake you tomorrow morning.” He put down the bowl and turned to leave.

Lin Wan heaved a sigh of relief. She put on her slippers and took out a chamomile tea bag and a small bag of goji berries. She carried the peeled loquats into the kitchen.

[Oh my God, Lin Wan came out. Is she going to eat the fruits all by herself in the middle of the night?]

[There’s something else other than loquats. Why is she boiling water?]

[What kind of dark potion are you making in the middle of the night?]

Lin Wan turned her back to the camera. She had specific steps of adding the ingredients in the water. This was her secret recipe that no one knew about.

When she faced the camera again, there were two cups of tea in front of her.

[What’s this? It looks pretty good. Is it loquat tea?]

[Did you put goji berries in for Li Yanchen ?]

[Does Lin Wan think that Li Yanchen needs goji berries to nourish his body?]

[There’s a ten-year difference between their age, after all. Youth is full of energy.]

[But isn’t Li Wan embarrassed to make tea with goji berries for Li Yanchen in front of everyone?]

[I heard that Li Yanchen came here right after he returned from a business trip. There must be an event at night.]

[Lin Wan is too much.]

Lin Wan raised her head and glanced at the bullet screen. She wanted to barf. She was too lazy to explain anyway. These haters were just waiting to be slapped in the face one day.