Chapter 16

Just like that, while several little ones were sound asleep, the five dads quietly left home. Among them, Ji Mochen was the most worried. The 6'9" tall guy would turn back to take a look after taking just a couple of steps. The way he was acting, if any of the babies in the house so much as whined, he would probably rush back in, regardless of the show's arrangements.

Unfortunately, the babies in the house were still sleeping soundly. In order to allow the audience to more directly see the babies' reactions when they woke up to find no one else in the house, the show's crew had withdrawn all the cameramen from the house. They had even camouflaged the cameras in the house. In the babies' bedroom, several cameras were mounted on the corners of the desks and bedside tables.

The few dads, on the other hand, were invited to the monitoring room, and Live Stream #6 was opened again to broadcast the dads' authentic reactions.

"Dads, do you still remember the question the show's crew asked you at the very beginning?" A staff member asked.

Question?

"Which one are you referring to?"

"The one about the babies' dependence on you. You each gave a rating in terms of stars."

Reminded by the director, everyone instantly recalled it.

The pianist Mao Zhu thought for a while. He remembered he had said earlier that because he had quite high expectations for his daughter, his daughter was actually more afraid of him than loving him, so her dependence was quite low, around two stars.

The movie star Fan Hongru had waved his hand at the time and said his naughty son could stir up a storm without him there, definitely making a scene. One star was giving too much credit.

There was no need to even mention the actor Geng Ming. He seldom spent time with his daughter, let alone having her dependence. He just perfunctorily gave two stars.

The only two with different answers were Lin Yan and Ji Mochen. These two were daddy attributes. Lin Yan had a son, so in terms of dependence he had given four stars.

"My son Xin Di is quite timid, but if I'm not around, he would probably make himself be brave."

"When my daughter was just born, I turned down a lot of work and was often at home accompanying her. She would often wake up halfway through her sleep and crawl up to see if her mom and I were still beside her. Only after confirming would she continue sleeping."

When saying this, Ji Mochen had a face full of "I'm a daddy and I'm proud" smugness, and he readily gave five stars. ...

"The show's crew arranged this segment to allow the dads to clearly feel the babies' dependence on you."

Just as the voice fell, the few dads invariably frowned, apparently quite unhappy with the show's arrangement.

After all, since the children had just arrived in a new place, such an arrangement was more to make the show more dramatic, but...would it be psychologically damaging to the children?

"Of course, there is another purpose for this test. Next, not only do the dads have tasks they need to complete, but the babies have some too. So the show's crew will decide on the final team leader based on their observations during this. The team leader will shoulder the heavy responsibility of leading their little companions to complete missions."

After this reason was given, the few dads accepted it a little, except...

"My daughter Ruo Ruo withdraws." Ji Mochen did not have a shred of competitive spirit and readily chose to give up early.

Show's crew: ......

"There is no option to quit. Of course, after the selection, the elected team leader can choose for themselves whether to give up the position."

After saying so, fearing that other dads would also come to make trouble, the show's crew swiftly announced the start of "Team Leader Selection".

With no other option, Ji Mochen could only frown as he sat down, with each daddy closely watching their darling's monitor.

Ten minutes later.

Family #2. Geng Ming's 7-year-old daughter Geng Zhenzhen was the first to wake up. The little girl rubbed her eyes as she crawled out of bed.

"Daddy?"

Listening to his daughter's call, Geng Ming's heart softened and he wished he could immediately rush back.

"Daddy?" Geng Zhenzhen put on her shoes and shuttled between the rooms, then discovered that not only was her daddy gone, those uncles with cameras were gone too.

In that instant, Geng Zhenzhen's face was filled with panic. She started shouting loudly for her daddy while crying at the same time. It was truly heartbreaking to watch.

Fortunately, just as Geng Ming could not stand it any longer and was about to go find his daughter, the Village Chief appeared.

"Student Zhenzhen!" The Village Chief Xu Chuan waved a candy in his hand towards the little one whose nose was red from crying.

"Village Chief!!"

Seeing the savior instantly, Geng Zhenzhen ran swiftly to the Village Chief.

"Oh dear, don't cry, don't cry." Village Chief Xu Chuan handed the candy to the little girl. "Your daddy went to do a very important mission and can only come back later." With the candy in her mouth, Geng Zhenzhen sniffled and nodded her head, asking: "Daddy can come back right?"

"Of course he can! But, before daddy comes back, Village Chief has a mission to assign to Zhenzhen. Does Zhenzhen have confidence in completing it?"

Mission?

The seven-year-old bean blinked her eyes, then asked: "Village Chief uncle, can I wait until daddy comes back before doing the mission?"

Village Chief: ......

"Can't do that! Also, if Zhenzhen finishes the mission early, your daddy can come back early too. Does Zhenzhen want to try?"

In the end, under a screen full of "condemnation", the Village Chief succeeded in assigning a mission to Geng Zhenzhen.

"The daddies of the other children also went to do missions. To prevent the other children from waking up afraid, Village Chief now assigns Zhenzhen a mission. Go find little brother Xin Di and comfort him."

"But..." Geng Zhenzhen looked like she would cry again. "But I don't know which house little brother Xin Di is at..."

"Little brother Xin Di is right there. See the house with the tall chimney? He's inside. Can Zhenzhen go over by herself?"

"Zhenzhen can't." The little girl had great self awareness.

Village Chief: ......

"Then does Zhenzhen want daddy to come home quicker?" The Village Chief was extremely patient. "Only by completing the mission can daddy return earlier. As long as Zhenzhen meets up with Xin Di, it counts as completing the mission!"

Just like that, under the Village Chief's coaxing, the seven-year-old Geng Zhenzhen set off wiping her nose and tears to find little brother Xin Di.

The second to wake up was Fan Jin. As Fan Hongru had guessed, not only was this child not afraid, he was extremely delighted.

Without even needing the Village Chief to step in, he spontaneously ran to Mao Ziqing's house not far away.

As such, upon waking up to discover her dad gone, little Mao Ziqing did not even have time to be sad before her house's small wooden door was being knocked on excitedly by Fan Jin.

"Sister Ziqing!! Open the door quick!! My dad's not home! Let's go together to find Sister Ruo Ruo to play!"

Listening to this excited tone, the elegant Fan Hongru for half a lifetime simply could not bear to watch any longer: Calamities descend upon my household, calamities descend upon my household!

On the side, both Ji Mochen and Mao Zhu were staring at him with intent gazes.

For a time, not only was the bullet screen laughing wildly, the naughty monkey Fan Jin directly shot to the top of trending searches on social media.