Diva Alpha Meets Her Biological Daughter on a Parenting Variety Show - Chapter 39

The peony painting hung high in the center of the living room of the new apartment. Ming Yan stood back and forth to admire it. “It’s truly beautiful.”

She took a photo to post on her WeChat Moments—a piece personally painted by a famous artist. She even zoomed in on the seal in the corner; none of her friends would recognize it anyway, but a seal and beautiful calligraphy gave it such “poise.”

“Mammy, you—”

Ming Yan turned around, her face beaming with joy. Ming Nuo remembered Ning Xueqing’s advice on how to get along with her mother. She swallowed the words “If you’re angry, take it out on me” and softened her tone: “You worked hard today. Thank you for being willing to play with Mengmeng for so long.”

Ming Yan broke into a smile. “Just playing with a child, what’s there to thank?”

Ming Nuo knew her mother liked children and could see she genuinely liked Mengmeng. She followed the topic: “Mengmeng is very pretty, isn’t she?”

“Yes, those big eyes looking at me all watery… Although her features take after her Mama, that shy look in her eyes is just like yours when you were little.”

Ming Nuo’s hands paused. She blinked and smiled. “You see shadows of my childhood in everyone.”

Ming Yan sighed emotionally. “How well-behaved you were as a kid. You loved following me around, calling me ‘Mammy, Mammy.’ Whenever there was something good to eat or play with, I was the second person you’d think of sharing it with.”

Ming Nuo asked, “You’re this happy even though you weren’t the first?”

Ming Yan patted the sofa. “Heh, the first was your Mama—my wife! If she wasn’t first, who would be? Of course I’m happy.”

“Who’s cuter, me or Mengmeng?”

“You’re nearly thirty; are you really comparing yourself to a five or six-year-old?”

Ming Nuo chuckled. Ming Yan wiggled her eyebrows and eyes. “When you were five or six, I thought you were cute. But now, it’s definitely Mengmeng.”

“When Mengmeng makes cake or eats fruit, she thinks of me first. What about you? Your mind wanders off somewhere else every single day; I don’t even want to talk about you.”

Ming Nuo glanced at the newly hung painting. Instead of bickering like usual, she spoke calmly like a friend. “Who wouldn’t like someone beautiful and gentle? She kept saying my cooking is good and was so admiring when she found out you taught me.”

“Oh, right. This is for you.” Ming Nuo handed Ming Yan two gift cards.

Ming Yan pretended to be uninterested. After taking them, she read the small print card by card and scanned the QR codes.

“Organic pasture, fresh to your door—providing you with quality ingredients for a year.”

“Lisheng Kitchenware, your best help in cooking… a 10,000 yuan gift card.”

Ming Yan placed the cards on the coffee table as if she didn’t plan to take them. But both people in the room knew Ming Nuo wouldn’t take them back; once Ming Nuo left, they would belong to Ming Yan.

Ming Yan looked away and went back to her phone, clicking on a new “like” she received. “She gave these?”

Ming Nuo: “Well, when I buy these for you usually, you refuse them and say they aren’t fresh.”

So, she said they were from Ning Xueqing. In the past, such high-quality items were beyond Ming Yan’s imagination, but now that Ming Nuo was financially independent, getting basic luxuries wasn’t hard. Even if she said she didn’t want them, her heart still craved her daughter’s care.

“If I say I don’t want them, you just don’t give them?”

“Then you have to tell me what you do want.”

Ming Nuo hated guessing riddles. Yet she didn’t realize she was spending a vast amount of energy trying to figure out Ning Xueqing’s thoughts…

“You child, when will you ever be truly considerate?”

Ming Yan tapped her phone for a while, sighed, looked at the peony painting, and then at the gift cards on the table. “If I have to be fair, that ‘Lemon-Snow’ girl is pretty and capable. I just don’t know why she was so foolish as to mess around with someone, leaving Mengmeng without a Mammy at such a young age.”

Considerate and cute, and she even calls her ‘Lemon-Snow’ behind her back.

Ming Nuo felt helpless, but Ming Yan had just gotten used to the name and thought “Little Lemon, Little Snow” sounded cute.

“Mammy, maybe she has her own difficulties.”

“Oh…” Ming Yan became thoughtful. A sweet Omega girl struggling in the entertainment industry for years likely suffered some bullying.

Suddenly, she asked sharply, “Where is Ning Xueqing’s Mammy? I didn’t see her at the house, and I didn’t hear the mother or daughter mention her.”

Ming Nuo fell silent. She hadn’t met Ning Xueqing’s Mammy either. she could only describe the fragments she’d heard to Ming Yan as objectively as possible.

“That’s roughly it. By the time Auntie Ning found out she was cheating, it was too late. She had swindled Auntie Ning out of the family assets and forced the mother and daughter out with nothing.”

Ming Yan grew furious hearing this, tapping the coffee table with disdain. “No wonder! No wonder. See how accurate my intuition was?”

“If a daughter is bullied and there’s someone at home who can stand up for her, who would settle? Who would endure?!”

“Don’t talk to me about ‘concerns.’ For the child’s mental health, you should show some backbone even more in front of them. As long as your fists are hard, even the Jade Emperor has to listen to you. Isn’t that how the Monkey King was?”

Ming Nuo wanted to say it wasn’t necessarily like that—different people have different styles, and not everyone rushes in like Ming Yan…

Ming Yan asked her, “What’s that scumbag Mammy doing now?”

Ming Nuo thought for a moment. “She should be doing very well. Her current partner is very wealthy, and they have an Alpha daughter.”

Ming Yan slapped her hand down. “Look! Sister Ning’s exhibition was ruined, and she didn’t even dare make a sound, let alone with a powerful scumbag Mammy suppressing them from above.”

“You said Ning Xueqing signed with a scout in her teens to earn money and lighten her mother’s burden? That’s it then. She hasn’t had it easy—entering that big melting pot at such a young age, heaven knows how much she suffered with no one to back her up. If her powerful Mammy had even a shred of care for her, she wouldn’t have kept the identity of her child’s parent a secret out of fear.”

This made Ming Nuo think of Ning Xueqing’s fear of Alphas. If her Mammy had loved her—or even if she were just fiery and nagging like Ming Yan but always stood up for her family in critical moments—Ning Xueqing wouldn’t be living in constant fear and compromise.

Ming Yan’s chatterbox opened, and she began reminiscing about the old days again. “There was a girl in our residential compound called Xiao Fan. She had a Mammy who didn’t care about anything, and her mother was also soft and weak. This neighbor of mine was very quiet and sensible. Her Mammy didn’t do anything to her, just ignored her, but she became extremely cautious in making friends and choosing a partner. Some say it’s just her personality, but I don’t think so. In the end, a hesitant personality is cultivated by the family.”

“Because her feelings didn’t have the support of someone willing to go all out or help regardless of the consequences.”

Especially the “regardless of the consequences” part. If it were for you, would your closest relatives hesitate if they had to offend a boss or even someone powerful?

The only thing Ming Nuo was certain of was that Ming Yan would not hesitate. Ming Yan was the person who would challenge the impossible for her wife. Regardless of the scene she had to cause, if her wife suffered an injustice, she would throw her own pride to the ground to vent that anger for her.

“But regardless, keeping it from the family isn’t right. And she even wants to drag you into the water.” Ming Yan’s opinion swung back. “The Ning family is better off than us commoners, but a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. The parent Ning Xueqing is hiding from her mother must be someone not to be trifled with. Who knows how many disputes will be involved in the future—property, inheritance… I think that mother and daughter want to drag you in to get the child a ‘household status’… Although I admit Mengmeng is very cute, I still want you to find an ordinary, ‘clean’ girl to build a family and have your own children.”

“Household status?” Ming Nuo gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Mammy, they just invited me for Children’s Day to see the kid, plus you said you wanted to eat my cooking, so that’s why I went. Your daughter isn’t that capable.”

“Tsk! I don’t know if you’re capable? You’re my daughter, plenty of girls are fighting for you. Do you even know your own value, Ming Nuo?”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

In the end, it always turned into a compliment for herself.

A few days later, Ming Yan registered the organic pasture card, asked what Ning Xueqing liked to eat, bought some groceries, and intended to make something for Ming Nuo to bring for the start of the third filming session.

Ming Nuo was amazed by Ning Xueqing’s brilliance—had two cards and a few sweet words really won over Ming Yan?

“Sweet, right? Let’s look at the taro and make a purple taro milk bowl.”

“Mammy, look—you accepted the painting and the card. After the way you treated them at the Ning house like a machine gun… shouldn’t you…” Ming Nuo hinted at whether she could offer an apology.

Ming Yan shouted from the kitchen while she worked, “Aren’t I making this now! I’m making it!”

When the third episode began filming and the program’s “Miraculous Bus” came to pick them up, Ming Nuo gave an exquisite food container to Ning Xueqing—standard home-cooked Cantonese dishes, light and pleasant.

There was also a portion for Ning Zhixuan, which Ming Nuo’s assistant, Xiao Zhu, delivered.

Inside the bus, Ning Xueqing opened the container and fed Mengmeng a taro ball. “Is it good?”

“Wow! So yummy! Better than the ones in the dessert shop! Did Grandma Ming make this?”

“Yes.” Ning Xueqing scooped another spoonful of soup to feed her. “Next time, let’s make something yummy for Grandma Ming too.” She smiled at Ming Nuo in the front seat, and Ming Nuo returned a gentle smile through the rearview mirror.

Mengmeng pursed her lips around the spoon and her mouth twitched. Ming Nuo, still watching Ning Xueqing’s eyes in the mirror, noticed Mengmeng’s micro-expression.

“What is it, Mengmeng? Did you bite something hard?” Ming Nuo asked.

Mengmeng shook her head and scooped a spoonful of taro herself. Ming Nuo froze; this didn’t look like “nothing.” Mengmeng usually wore her heart on her sleeve; why was she being so quiet today?

Ming Nuo looked back at Ning Xueqing. Ning Xueqing gave the child a look, stroked her ponytail, and turned to Ming Nuo. “At home, she has air conditioning and snacks. She doesn’t know where we’re going next or if the place will be good, so she’s a bit apprehensive.”

“Oh, that’s normal. As summer gets hotter, even adults want to soak in air-conditioned rooms, let alone children.”

A staff member in the passenger seat heard and laughed. “Don’t worry, our travel destination this time is very cool!”

Ming Nuo quickly comforted Mengmeng: “Did you hear that, Mengmeng? Auntie says we’re going somewhere very cool to play.”

Mengmeng gave a soft “mm,” but her spirits weren’t very high. She probably just wants to stay home with her family, Ming Nuo thought.

At a rest stop on the way to the airport, Ming Nuo went to the convenience store with the staff. Mengmeng sat by the window, watching her walk through the automatic doors into the colorful aisles.

“Mengmeng, come drink some water.”

“Mommy.” Mengmeng turned around, her watery big eyes bright.

Ning Xueqing opened the water bottle and pointed the straw toward her. “Hmm?”

“Why did Grandma say I shouldn’t play with Nuo Nuo Mammy for too long, and not to play with Grandma Ming either?”

Ning Xueqing’s movement to pack the bag stopped. She quickly made a “shh” gesture and lowered her head to whisper: “When did Grandma tell you that? You can’t tell Nuo Nuo Mammy, okay?”

Mengmeng lowered her thin lashes. “I know.”

That was why she hadn’t said anything just now.

Outside the car door, Ming Nuo, who was gripping the handle, silently let go.