Chapter 39
He Renyuan, wearing his finest suit, endured the harshest scolding, and made the most sincere vow: “There definitely won’t be a next time, thank you.”
Everyone (including his father) beat around the bush, only this lady directly affirmed for ten minutes that he was Cha Bao’s dad.
This was undoubtedly an acknowledgment of his recent work. He felt strangely good after being scolded.
After the well-meaning grandma left, he turned to the honest-looking tea deity and whispered, “Did you hear that?”
Bai Qingyu nodded.
He Renyuan, “This isn’t a deserted area, be careful when showing off your skills. Cha Bao, let’s go dig for clams with Uncle.”
He Renyuan hung Cha Bao’s seafood-filled bag on his arm and carried him over a puddle.
Bai Xiaocha sat in his uncle’s arms, “Uncle Boss, what happened just now?”
He Renyuan, “I was scolded for wearing unsuitable clothes for digging seafood.”
Bai Xiaocha, “Uncle, are you smiling?”
He Renyuan looked at Cha Bao, secretly pleased that even this little one could tell?
“I’m not happy about being scolded, I’m happy because Grandma scolded me out of concern.”
“Oh.”
He Renyuan first helped Cha Bao fill his backpack with seafood, then helped Bai Qingyu fill his large plastic bucket.
Bai Xiaocha, “When will Dad’s be full?”
He Renyuan pretended to put the little one in the bucket, “Full.”
Bai Qingyu, “Baby is the biggest seafood.”
Bai Xiaocha dangled his feet in the air, afraid of stepping on the other seafood, “Yes!”
Gradually, clam digging wasn’t just clam digging. Dad and uncle played treasure hunt with Cha Bao on the beach.
They drew a circle, Cha Bao buried a clam in the sand, and had Dad dig for it.
Bai Qingyu pointed at a bump, “I guess it’s here.”
Bai Xiaocha dug and opened his hand, “No, Dad.”
He Renyuan, “I think it’s here.”
Bai Xiaocha ran over, squatted down, and dug another handful of sand, “No, Uncle.”
After several rounds of guessing, Bai Xiaocha revealed the answer, “Here!”
He dug and dug, but there was nothing. Where did the clam go?
Bai Qingyu, “The clam baby ran away.”
Bai Xiaocha, “The clam baby is so fast.”
Bai Qingyu sat down, not minding the wet sand, and took Cha Bao’s backpack, “Let’s rest for a while and eat some jelly.”
This jelly backpack was such a good buy.
Bai Xiaocha immediately sat next to his dad, waiting expectantly. Jelly was something Cha Bao couldn’t eat by himself because he couldn’t open it.
Bai Qingyu opened a strawberry-flavored jelly and handed it to him, “Strawberry. Young master, what flavor do you want?”
It had been a long time since He Renyuan had eaten these small jellies. He glanced at the bag, “Black tea.”
“Is there black tea flavor?” Bai Qingyu searched through the bag, looking at the colorful jellies one by one, “No.”
He Renyuan, “Then green tea.”
Bai Qingyu poured out the jellies and searched, “Only mango, grape, yogurt, orange, no tea flavors at all, no white tea, no oolong tea.”
Bai Xiaocha, “Baby can help—”
Bai Qingyu covered his mouth, “You can’t help.”
Bai Xiaocha, “Then Dad, help Uncle Boss.”
He Renyuan looked at Bai Qingyu leisurely.
Bai Qingyu took the opportunity to educate his baby, “Uncle is being picky, not a good example.”
Cha Bao, who wasn’t a picky eater, pushed a green jelly over and said helplessly, “Uncle Boss, have the grape flavor.”
He Renyuan calmly picked it up, peeled off the film, and ate it, changing tactics, “Cha Bao seems to like puddles. Tomorrow is Saturday, you can take Cha Bao swimming upstairs. I bought swimsuits, goggles, a kickboard, a swimming ring, and a rubber ducky boat.”
It sounded like he had turned it into a children’s water park.
Bai Qingyu was a little tempted, “Okay.”
Bai Xiaocha, “Dad, what’s swimming?”
Bai Qingyu, “Like little duckies swimming in the water, Dad will teach you, and you’ll learn.”
He Renyuan, “Didn’t you say you and Cha Bao could both swim? Didn’t you say tea deities are born knowing how to swim?”
Bai Qingyu paused, then quickly found a self-consistent logic, “Cha Bao just needs a little guidance from me.”
“Really?” He Renyuan was noncommittal. As long as Cha Bao didn’t start swimming as soon as he was put in the water, it would prove that Bai Qingyu’s swimming was taught by humans. Then he would see how he would argue.
To recover his memory, Bai Qingyu had to admit his amnesia first. The tea deity must have more ways than him.
Bai Qingyu, completely unaware of Young Master He’s deep scheming, happily imagined tomorrow’s swimming.
He would let his hair down.
The persimmon-red sunset gradually sank into the sea, the afterglow spreading, casting a soft halo on everyone’s faces.
Two adults and a child sitting between them, suddenly and tacitly watched the sunset, no one spoke for a while.
Bai Xiaocha wanted some orange jelly to go with the sunset. He licked the smooth surface of the jelly and was about to put it in his mouth when he was suddenly recognized.
“Baby, are you the super popular foodie baby?” A couple passed by and shouted excitedly. Then they saw the two incredibly handsome adults next to him, and their voices lowered.
“Your whole family is so good-looking?”
From the netizens’ perspective, Cha Bao’s parents weren’t in the videos, mostly because their looks weren’t as good as Cha Bao’s.
The fans stared at Bai Qingyu, open-mouthed. It was good that he wasn’t in the videos, otherwise, he would attract not only food fans, but also a bunch of fans calling him “gege.”
Bai Qingyu and Cha Bao looked at each other, both a little dumbfounded.
Hearing the word “popular,” He Renyuan realized that Cha Bao’s videos must have been uploaded online, and the word “super” meant that it wasn’t just a casual upload, but a managed account.
He stood up and apologized to the fans who wanted to take pictures, saying it wasn’t convenient.
The couple didn’t insist, looking at Cha Bao reluctantly, “So cute, so cute! His eyes are even more beautiful than in the videos, can I watch Baby eat the jelly to satisfy my craving?”
Cha Bao put the jelly in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed, incredibly smoothly.
“I’m satisfied, thank you, Baby.”
Bai Xiaocha scratched his cheek and leaned against his dad. The pretty sister had such strange requests.
“Goodbye, sister.”
“Bye-bye, Auntie will be waiting for your eating broadcast tomorrow.”
He Renyuan frowned, took out his phone, and searched “super popular foodie baby” online. Several videos of cute babies eating appeared, one of the thumbnails was Cha Bao.
He followed the link and found a Douyin account with millions of followers, called @Principal Mom. It started posting videos on Cha Bao’s first day of kindergarten, occasionally including other children, but mainly Cha Bao, posting all three meals a day.
He clicked on one of the videos and his face darkened when he saw a long list of baby products being promoted in the shopping cart.
He knew who the account owner was.
He Renyuan immediately called an intellectual property lawyer to contact the kindergarten principal.
He showed the account to Bai Qingyu, “The principal filmed Cha Bao’s eating videos to attract traffic and sell products.”
Bai Qingyu didn’t quite understand, “What do you mean?”
He Renyuan didn’t know how to explain the globally popular live streaming e-commerce model to the tea deity, “It means that netizens like Cha Bao after watching him eat and want the same food and tools. As the number of fans increases, and their purchasing power grows stronger, any product can be sold.”
Bai Qingyu, “Just like me seeing the principal’s electric scooter and wanting to buy one.”
The principal’s electric scooter was decorated and very cute.
He Renyuan, “Yes, not to mention the copyright infringement, if the product selection is not good, fans who buy inferior products will come back and scold Cha Bao.”
He didn’t believe that the principal had the ability to choose good products, it would backfire sooner or later.
He cared more about this than the money.
Bai Qingyu frowned, “You mean Cha Bao will be scolded online for no reason? Can you ask the principal to delete the account?”
Cha Bao had mentioned being filmed while eating, but Bai Qingyu thought it was the videos sent to his phone, he didn’t expect them to be posted online.
He Renyuan, “Deleting it is his basic obligation, he also has to apologize and compensate.”
Bai Qingyu was relieved, “It’s great to have you as my lawyer.”
He Renyuan’s eyes darkened, could he change the word “lawyer” to something else next time?
“Let’s go back, I drove here.”
They quickly went back, washed Cha Bao, tucked him into bed, and then rushed to Cha Bao’s kindergarten.
By this time, the principal had already apologized profusely, even Lawyer Li, whom He Renyuan hired, was surprised.
“He apologized as soon as I spoke, saying he knew it was copyright infringement, he just wanted to keep the kindergarten running. The kindergarten has a large space, and the rent is too expensive.”
Bai Qingyu nodded, “It has the largest outdoor space nearby.” When he was choosing a kindergarten for Cha Bao, the space was the first consideration. The food wasn’t this good back then.
He Renyuan sneered, “I think he’s both bad and greedy. He wanted to use Cha Bao to attract traffic on the first day you brought him for the interview.”
Bai Qingyu thought for a moment, “Oh, right, they only agreed to accept Cha Bao after seeing him eat.”
Lawyer Li said, “Indeed, he now says he can give up the profits, give up the kindergarten, and just continue running the account, sharing the profits with Bai Qingyu.”
Live streaming e-commerce was the ultimate goal. The principal had also found his new path.
“In his dreams.” He Renyuan looked at the principal coldly, “My demand is to delete the account.”
The principal thought Bai Qingyu was easy to talk to, “There are already millions of followers, they all sincerely like Cha Bao, it’s a pity to delete it.”
He Renyuan, “There’s no room for negotiation.”
Lawyer Li, “I’ll reiterate Cha Bao’s uncle’s demands. First, post a statement on the account for one day, and delete the account after one day. Second, donate all the profits. These two points are considering that you did improve the kindergarten food. Otherwise, we should be meeting in court.”
The principal had always been afraid of He Renyuan. He was trying his luck to make money and knew he should delete the account before He Renyuan found out, but he couldn’t resist greed, and it was all for nothing. He felt a sense of relief, like a heavy burden lifted. He should be down-to-earth and not greedy.
Lawyer Li, “If there are no problems, let’s sign.”
The principal hesitated and said softly, “But I used the money to buy an Audi, I only drove it for one day.”
Lawyer Li, “Sell it, and you make up the difference.”
As everyone knew, the value of a car depreciated as soon as it was driven off the lot. He had to make up tens of thousands of yuan at least. The principal’s face turned pale. He didn’t have any cash flow, only a bunch of negative assets from the kindergarten, “I really can’t afford the difference now, can I use furniture and appliances to offset it? I also have an electric scooter…”
Before He Renyuan could object, Bai Qingyu, a lover of second-hand goods, agreed, “Okay.”
He Renyuan: “…”
He Renyuan, “Fine, Cha Bao won’t be coming to school anymore, return all his information.”
The principal immediately went to the office gratefully to get Cha Bao’s enrollment information, “Here, here, I promise I’ll run the kindergarten honestly in the future, and find another way out after these children graduate, no more crooked ideas.”
He Renyuan glanced and saw that Bai Qingyu had filled in “illiterate” and “housekeeper” for his family situation.
So honest, who wouldn’t bully you?
Bai Qingyu was very satisfied with this outcome. He asked, “Can the profits be donated to the rural primary school in my hometown to buy nutritious lunches?”
He Renyuan, “Of course.”
Bai Qingyu smiled, “Cha Bao inadvertently helped more children eat better food. Even if he was scolded a couple of times, heaven will forgive him. I’m very satisfied with your handling of this.”
Lawyer Li looked at He Renyuan in surprise. This wasn’t He Renyuan’s usual aggressive style.
He Renyuan said, “This kindergarten is still operating, and many children nearby need to go to school close to home.”
Lawyer Li understood. The children in the kindergarten were a vulnerable group. Forcing the principal into a corner would have unpredictable consequences. Even if he couldn’t hurt Cha Bao, he had to consider other children.
That’s why even when the principal offered to use the electric scooter to offset the Audi’s depreciation, He Renyuan agreed.
Lawyer Li glanced at the handsome man beside He Renyuan. Of course, he thought the more important reason was – Bai Qingyu liked that electric scooter, he probably found it more appealing than all of President He’s cars.
The next day, Bai Qingyu really took Cha Bao to the swimming pool on the fourth floor.
As soon as he entered, he saw the swimsuits He Renyuan prepared and changed into them with Cha Bao.
He let his hair down, got into the water first, floated, then took Cha Bao from the shore and placed him on the water.
“Baby, don’t be afraid, count to three and you’ll float.”
Bai Xiaocha held his breath, and after a while, he floated just like his dad, floating on his stomach, floating on his back.
“Baby is floating!”
Bai Qingyu smiled, “Great, I told you tea deities are born knowing how to swim.”
“Come, move forward like Dad.”
Cha Bao, “Okay—huh?”
Bai Qingyu, “Huh?”
Ten minutes later, Bai Qingyu poked the little one’s waist, pushing him back and forth like a small boat. He wouldn’t move if he wasn’t pushed. He scratched the back of his head helplessly and said worriedly, “Baby, why don’t you know how to do it yet?”
He remembered the commercial for a children’s nutritional supplement he saw on TV. Was Bai Xiaocha lacking the elements to make the little boat go further? Did he need zinc, iron, or vitamin C?
He Renyuan stood by the pool, looking at the worried tea deity, and sneered. The evidence was conclusive, what else could Bai Qingyu argue?
“Is this how you teach someone to swim?”
Bai Qingyu looked up, saw He Renyuan on the shore, and said confidently, “Otherwise?”
Bai Qingyu found a solution and said excitedly, “Baby, you need some children’s nutritional supplements.”
He Renyuan: “…”
“Buy some brain supplements for adults.”
