Diva Alpha Meets Her Biological Daughter on a Parenting Variety Show - Chapter 12

A fine, prickling tingle crawled behind the base of her ear, like the gentle brush of a butterfly’s antennae.

Ming Nuo gave a small shiver; a numb sensation spread through her entire body. Realizing that Ning Xueqing had noticed her slight reaction, Ming Nuo let out a loud, performative sneeze to cover it up.

Ning Xueqing pulled out a tissue and handed it to her, speaking softly: “I’m sorry, I was careless just now.”

Since she had already sneezed, she had to commit to the lie. Ming Nuo unfolded the tissue to wipe her nose, cleaning the sweat from the sides of her nostrils while she was at it. “It’s fine. Usually, it’s nothing.”

By “usually,” she meant any time other than her Interaction Period. It was just that being teased—even slightly—by her secret crush made her heart race.

Just distract yourself, she thought.

Ming Nuo moved the bamboo ladder to another peach tree. Looking at the full basket of peaches, Ning Xueqing said to Ming Nuo’s slender back, “One basket should be enough. The sun is so strong; let’s take a rest.”

Earlier, when they gathered at the Town Committee, the guide had rewarded Mengmeng with a Miraculous Voucher because she was the first child to arrive. Mengmeng was thrilled, declaring she wanted to be first every time and win the most vouchers.

Ming Nuo wanted to pick a few more baskets to exchange for as many vouchers as possible from the residents. “I want to get more vouchers for Mengmeng.”

Ning Xueqing furrowed her brows, taking off her hat to fan Ming Nuo. “The vouchers we exchange now are for lunch ingredients. If we’re too slow, all the good food will be taken by the others.”

Mengmeng came running over immediately. “No, no! We have to eat good food! Nuo Nuo Mammy, this basket is enough!”

Just then, a wheelbarrow pushed past on the farm track next to the orchard, piled high with a basket of small watermelons. Chi Shu was leading Little Pea behind the barrow. Seeing the family in the peach grove, Chi Shu took a bite of watermelon and called out: “Hey! You guys aren’t leaving yet? Xing Cai already traded for the pork belly! I just saw them heading back with their groceries.”

Ming Nuo and Ning Xueqing were both stunned for a moment. It was rare to see an Alpha leave all the physical labor to an Omega while they stood there showily eating watermelon…

Mengmeng didn’t care about that; her eyes were fixed on the cart full of sweet-looking watermelons. “Watermelon!”

Chi Shu’s partner smiled and waved at them. “Hello! You’re welcome to come to our place for lunch and watermelon later!”

Mengmeng instantly realized the gravity of the situation. She hopped around in front of Ning Xueqing and Ming Nuo. “The good food is going to be gone! Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

“Alright, don’t worry. Mommy will go find the little pushcart right now.”

Ming Nuo followed Ning Xueqing to find the cart in the yard. “Xueqing, do you know Little Pea’s Trainee Mammy?”

Ning Xueqing shook her head. “Once we finish filming this week, we can check online and find out.”

“Mm.” Ming Nuo lifted the burlap cover on the cart. “The production team wouldn’t hire a complete stranger. Chi Shu’s reputation has been very poor these last two years; anyone willing to partner with her is quite brave.”

Worried about splinters on the wooden handles of the cart, Ning Xueqing found a pair of white cotton gloves. She looked up and smiled at Ming Nuo. “Quite brave. What about you then?”

Looking at her smile was like being dazzled by a sudden burst of sunlight.

“Me? I… what about me?”

“My reputation hasn’t been great these past few months either. Isn’t it ‘super brave’ of you to be willing to partner with me?”

Ming Nuo fell silent.

No, she thought. If I were truly ‘super brave,’ there are words I’ve hidden in my heart year after year that I wouldn’t be too afraid to say to you.

Ming Nuo gripped the handles of the bamboo basket and heaved it up, loading the peaches onto the cart. “The queue of people wanting to partner with Ning Xueqing would stretch from Shanhaiguan to Paris. I’ve hit the jackpot. It’s not bravery; it’s luck.”

Ning Xueqing beamed and placed the straw hat on Ming Nuo’s head. “You… honestly, you shouldn’t bother trading peaches.”

Ming Nuo turned her gaze. “Then what will I use to get vouchers so we can eat?”

“Your mouth. It’s sweeter than the peaches.”

“Well, that’s not for trading.”

You haven’t even tasted my mouth; how would you know if it’s sweet?

As Ming Nuo pushed the peaches onto the path, Ning Xueqing’s smiling eyes met hers, as if saying she just knew.

Ming Nuo had the map of the town memorized perfectly. She planned the most time-efficient route in her head, visiting every resident along the way. She traded the basket of peaches for ten vouchers, then exchanged those at the Committee for a bag of old-yeast steamed buns, a bulb of garlic, two cucumbers, a bunch of bok choy, a few red chili peppers, and two chicken breasts.

On the way back, Ming Nuo consulted Mengmeng: “Shall we make smashed cucumbers, stir-fried bok choy, and spicy diced chicken? How does that sound?”

Mengmeng’s thick little eyebrows knitted together as she pouted. “Nuo Nuo Mammy, I can’t eat chili.”

As she spoke, she grabbed Ning Xueqing’s wide-leg trousers and leaned against her mother.

Ming Nuo quickly replied, “Right, right, I remember now. Our Mengmeng can’t eat spicy food. Then we’ll… pan-fry the chicken. How about pan-fried chicken steaks?”

Mengmeng mumbled softly, “I want to eat potato chicken curry.”

Ming Nuo was stumped. “But we don’t have any potatoes.”

By chance, Director Xiao Qian’s family walked past. Mengmeng saw the potatoes in Pineapple Cake’s basket and tugged on Ming Nuo’s hem. “Nuo Nuo Mammy, Pineapple Cake has potatoes.”

Ming Nuo said, “Okay, I’ll go ask if they can trade.”

“Wait,” Ning Xueqing interjected, gently nudging Mengmeng forward from behind. “Baby, you are the one who wants to eat potato chicken curry, right? Didn’t Mommy say that if you want something, you have to find a way to get it yourself? What should you do?”

Mengmeng thought for a moment and took a large step forward. “I should go ask Pineapple Cake for a potato myself!”

Ming Nuo watched as Mengmeng ran over holding a chili pepper, her small body seemingly filled with endless energy. Indeed, though she was only five, Mengmeng already understood how to rely on herself to achieve a goal. Children always have more potential than adults realize.

Mengmeng soon came back with the chili, looking unhappy. “Pineapple Cake won’t trade with me.”

Ning Xueqing stroked her daughter’s hair. “Let’s walk a bit further. When we see Little Pea, we’ll see if she can trade, okay?”

“Mm!”

At the end of the street, they encountered Chi Shu’s family outside a noodle shop. Little Pea was wearing shiny leather shoes; she was tired and her feet hurt, so she was resting on a small stool in the outdoor area.

Mengmeng ran over immediately, pushed a stool over, and sat down to help massage Little Pea’s legs. “Little Pea, Little Pea, I saw your Trainee Mammy has potatoes. I want to trade my chili for one.”

Little Pea huffed and moved her leg away. “I won’t admit that bad woman who hit my Mammy is a Trainee Mammy! Mammy is Mammy, Mommy is Mommy—there’s no ‘Trainee’! That bad woman wants to destroy my home! She’s a homewrecker!”

Chi Shu heard this and poked Little Pea’s top-knot with a green onion. “Don’t talk nonsense. Where did you learn that?”

“Mammy, don’t ruin my hairstyle! My little crown is going to fall off,” Little Pea said righteously. “From your TV dramas! You have two girlfriends in the drama, and the older one calls the younger one a homewrecker!”

Chi Shu clutched her head in despair. “Who let you watch my dramas?!”

Little Pea: “The nanny at Mommy’s house.”

The adults present: “…”

Mengmeng looked at Little Pea with half-understanding, bit her lip, and said, “But, my Trainee Mammy is very good.”

Little Pea hurriedly warned her: “Only real Mommies and Mammies love their babies! Mengmeng, don’t be fooled by that bad woman! My Mommy said there are so many bad women in the world; they either want her body or her money to destroy our home! Mengmeng, you should go find your real Mammy!”

“…”

Both Ming Nuo and Ning Xueqing felt they couldn’t let Mengmeng stay there any longer.

Chi Shu pulled her daughter back. “Don’t talk like that at your age.” She apologized awkwardly to Ming Nuo and the others. “I’m so sorry. Little Pea’s upbringing environment is a bit complex. I’ll teach her properly when we get back.”

Ning Xueqing frowned. After a short silence, she said to Chi Shu, “Xiao Chi, I think you need to have a proper talk with your partner and pay more attention to Little Pea’s emotions.”

Ning Xueqing called Mengmeng over. “Mengmeng, let’s go back. We’ll just have pan-fried chicken, or cold shredded chicken with cucumber.”

Mengmeng hesitated but still asked Little Pea, “Will you trade a potato with me?”

Little Pea had just been scolded by her Mammy and she wanted to eat the potato too. Feeling both aggrieved and anxious, she burst into tears. “Waaaah! Sob—”

Frightened by the crying, Mengmeng’s own eyes welled up with frustrated tears. “If you won’t trade, then don’t! Little Pea, you’re being very weird today. I don’t want to play with you anymore!”

Mengmeng buried her face in Ning Xueqing’s arms, gave her a rub, then grabbed her mother’s hand and charged forward.

At that moment, a four-hour-long friendship between two children was shattered.

“Mengmeng, how about I pick more peaches to see if I can trade with the residents for a potato?” Ming Nuo caught up and tried to take Mengmeng’s hand, but this time, Mengmeng didn’t take it. Instead, she gently pulled away and hugged Ning Xueqing tighter.

Ming Nuo froze in place.

In that instant, she felt a subtle sense of hurt. Mengmeng was pushing her away.

The chirping of insects outside was particularly loud. There was no water heater in the tile-roofed house, so Ming Nuo boiled several pots of water in the kitchen, mixing it with warm water and floral water for Mengmeng’s bath.

Ning Xueqing adjusted the temperature in a large red basin and wiped Mengmeng down in the bedroom. Separated only by a door curtain, Ming Nuo could hear the conversation between mother and daughter from the kitchen.

“Mommy, why can’t my real Mammy come?”

“Because we have Nuo Nuo Mammy now.”

“But she’s not my Mammy. She’s just a Guest Auntie. I should be like Little Pea and call her Auntie instead.”

Then came the sound of water dripping from a wrung towel. Ning Xueqing was quiet for a moment before saying, “Do you remember Mommy telling you that you’re a gift sent to Mommy by the gods?”

“I remember!”

“The gods said you are the most precious treasure, and you can choose the Mammy you love. Mengmeng, do you think Little Pea’s Mammy is better to her, or is Nuo Nuo Mammy better to you?”

“I like Nuo Nuo Mammy!”

“Mm, exactly. Baby, it’s not that someone loves you because they are your ‘Mammy’; rather, the person who loves you is the one qualified to be your Mammy. We shouldn’t let down those who love us.”

“Mommy, I understand!”

Ming Nuo lit the stove. Her eyes couldn’t help but grow moist. The flames jumped high; she turned them down and boiled hot water for Ning Xueqing. Once the water was ready, she said she was going out for a walk to give Ning Xueqing private space to bathe.

Ming Nuo sat on a ridge between the fields, swaying a cattail fan and looking up at the night sky. The rural sky was always clearer than the city’s—cloudless and filled with stars.

Long ago, when Ming Nuo’s mother was still alive, their family had sat in the fields looking at the stars just like this. Ming Nuo wondered which star was her mother’s light. She missed her.

That was why she understood Mengmeng’s longing for a biological parent. The more she understood, the more a faint sorrow tangled around her, refusing to dissipate.

To be blunt, she loved Ning Xueqing. For Ning Xueqing’s sake, she could cherish a child with whom she had no blood relation—love them and protect them for a lifetime. Ming Nuo didn’t care if she and Ning Xueqing ever had children of their own, as long as Ning Xueqing and Mengmeng were healthy and happy.

At first, she thought that since Ning Xueqing was a single parent, if she just stayed by her side silently, perhaps one day she could finally step into the light. But she was wrong. She could accept a child without a blood relation, but could that child accept a stepmother without one?

Clearly, Mengmeng couldn’t accept her.

The heat had risen since May. Even after nightfall, the wind carried a trace of dry warmth. Ming Nuo lay on the hard wooden sofa, sleeping fitfully. She had a series of muddled dreams—not exactly nightmares, but filled with anxiety and panic.

She didn’t remember what she dreamed of, only that she felt hot. Her chest felt stifled and uncomfortable. Her undershirt was soaked through, and even the towel-blanket had damp patches.

In her haze, a cool breeze brushed against her burning skin. Ming Nuo parted her dry lips and forced her heavy eyelids open. In the bright moonlight, the slender Omega was sitting on the edge of the sofa. Her long hair was loosely pinned up, her skin glowing like white jade. Her graceful arm moved slightly, fanning Ming Nuo with steady strokes. The strap of her nightgown had slipped down with her movements, revealing a rounded shoulder, and the fair skin within the low-cut neckline was faintly visible.

Ming Nuo squinted, the alluring scene under the moonlight fully entering her vision. It felt like… the bamboo forest under the bright moon so many years ago…

“Ning Xueqing,” she whispered.