That piece-of-junk system got tricked into spending all the experience points it had accumulated from previous worlds on a Dolby movie theater.
Now the program hasn’t had enough experience to upgrade, so it runs as slowly as if it were stuck in the 2G era.
Besides Từ Tri Miểu, Từ Sâm often sat by my bed in a daze when he came home, too.
Từ Sâm’s parents visited from time to time, and several different doctors had examined me by now, but none of them could figure out what was wrong.
My vital signs remained stable, but for some reason, I couldn’t wake up.
One doctor said I might become a vegetable, making Từ Tri Miểu cry angrily and call him a “fraud.”
In just a few short days, exhaustion was clearly etched on Từ Sâm’s face.
Every morning, Từ Tri Miểu kissed my cheek while I lay unconscious.
“Princess Mommy, when are you going to wake up?”
Since the doctors in the real world couldn’t figure out why I was unconscious, she went looking in fairy-tale books instead.
She hoped I would wake up like Sleeping Beauty.
When she saw I still hadn’t woken up, she didn’t lose heart. She dragged a little chair into the kitchen and made breakfast.
Miểu Miểu was usually very clever. She’d watched me cook, so she could already manage simple things like frying eggs or toasting bread.
Từ Sâm and Miểu Miểu made three servings together, and she set mine on the bedside table. “Mommy, if you don’t eat it, it’ll get cold!”
Miểu Miểu ate listlessly, then suddenly seemed to get an idea. Her eyes lit up as she stared at Từ Sâm.
“Miểu Miểu, what is it?” Từ Sâm wasn’t in much better spirits. He’d turned down most of his work lately, spending all day at home with Miểu Miểu, watching over me.
“Daddy, come here.”
At her urging, Từ Sâm knelt beside my bed.
“Daddy, kiss Mommy.”
Từ Sâm’s face turned bright red.
Từ Tri Miểu said with absolute certainty, “Mommy’s a princess, but Miểu Miểu isn’t a prince. A sleeping princess has to be kissed by a prince to wake up.”
“Daddy, just try it.”
“Don’t you want Mommy to wake up?”
In the control room, I grabbed the system by the collar. “If that program doesn’t finish loading, I’m uninstalling you right now!”
The system pointed a cat paw at the progress bar. “Host! Host! It’s done!”
As soon as I opened my eyes, I found myself face-to-face with Từ Sâm’s enlarged face.
Me: ?
Từ Sâm: !
Từ Tri Miểu covered her mouth and cried out joyfully, “The princess is awake!”
Từ Sâm jumped upright, his body stiff. He quickly moved out of my line of sight, nearly hitting his head on the door as he left.
Miểu Miểu threw herself into my arms. “Mommy!!!”
16
After I woke up and spent a few days resting and exercising, my body had almost completely recovered.
When Từ Sâm’s mother came to visit, she looked completely worn out.
They checked the security footage and discovered that Từ Tinh Nhã had pushed Miểu Miểu into the pool.
They’d usually turned a blind eye to Từ Tinh Nhã’s behavior, but this time, she had nearly caused a death.
Từ Sâm took Từ Tinh Nhã to see a psychiatrist, and she was diagnosed with an emotional disorder.
She was now being held in an inpatient treatment ward.
Clearly, Từ Sâm was truly furious this time.
Once I’d fully recovered, I planned to find Từ Sâm and have a serious talk.
But Từ Sâm seemed to be avoiding me, always busy with work.
During the days I was trapped in that space, the system and I went over everything together and concluded that Từ Tri Miểu was too well-behaved.
So well-behaved it was heartbreaking.
At Miểu Miểu’s age, children should be at their most mischievous and energetic, but she was so well-behaved it was almost frightening.
But for a child Miểu Miểu’s age, being too well-behaved isn’t necessarily a compliment.
For days, I couldn’t catch Từ Sâm when he had any free time, so I decided to find him while he was working at home.
There was no end to the work, but something important needed doing.
I pulled up a chair and sat across from Từ Sâm. Maybe I was imagining it, but he gave me the impression of a boy falling in love for the first time.
He had the air of a boy who’d just fallen in love for the first time.
I put on a serious face and got straight to the point. “I think Miểu Miểu is suppressing her emotions.”
For example, when someone treats her unfairly, Miểu Miểu doesn’t stand up for herself. And when Từ Tinh Nhã yells at her, all she dares to do is cry quietly.
Miểu Miểu was so obedient around me that I could only describe it as “trying to please me.”
I understood how Miểu Miểu felt. She longed to have her mother by her side, but after going without that love for so long, she was terrified of losing it.
So in front of me, she tried her hardest to be a good girl, as if being good would keep her mother from leaving.
Ignoring your own feelings to cater to someone else is wrong, whether you’re a child or an adult.
And Miểu Miểu was still a child, not yet emotionally mature. She was suppressing her feelings based on how other people saw her, and sooner or later she would become as warped as she was in the original story.
“Miểu Miểu has been suppressing her emotions for too long because she’s so often been neglected.”
“Even though she’s only a child, she has a rich emotional life. Miểu Miểu can feel happy, angry, and helpless.”
“Every emotion is important to her development. Happiness doesn’t mean she’s spoiled, anger doesn’t mean she’s out of control, and helplessness doesn’t mean she’s weak. Each emotional experience gives her a different perspective.”
“But in this house, no one listens to her. Her feelings go unacknowledged, and little by little, she’ll struggle to express them—or even feel unsafe showing them to other people.”
Từ Sâm had never thought about any of this. Only after I pointed it out did he feel regret and fall silent in thought.
I got straight to the point. “You’re Miểu Miểu’s father, and you hold an important place in her heart. Listen to her more. Maybe you don’t realize it, but your indifference toward her is a form of disrespect. No emotion is wrong; it’s only wrong when that emotion isn’t respected.”
Từ Sâm smoked one cigarette after another.
He stood up, went to the liquor cabinet, and picked out a bottle of tequila. Maybe this was how a tycoon began questioning his life.
As he rinsed out a glass, he looked at me. “Want a drink?”
I nodded.
Từ Sâm downed three glasses in a row before stopping, then turned his computer screen toward me.
It turned out he hadn’t been working at all. He’d been making a family plan.
“You gave me a family plan before. I’ve fleshed it out a bit more. Take a look and see if there’s anything else we should add.” Từ Sâm turned his computer screen toward me.
My eyes fixed on the screen, and a question mark popped up over my head.
This was what he called fleshing it out?
Từ Sâm said gravely, “With weekends as the main focus, we’ll guide Miểu Miểu toward all-around physical and mental development through family activities and extracurricular interests. We’ll adjust her activities and interests based on her current health and academic progress, and optimize the activities…”
Me: “…”
So I’d misunderstood Từ Sâm.
At first, I’d thought Từ Sâm had adopted Miểu Miểu out of a sense of duty, and didn’t actually feel like her father.
Now, looking at the plan crammed full of items, all I could feel was that a father’s love was as steady as a mountain.
What family raises a kid using OKRs?
There was even a performance review section. One of the goals was to train Miểu Miểu to run 800 meters in three and a half minutes.
Whether Miểu Miểu, with her short little legs, could meet that goal was anyone’s guess.
Before I could complete this terrifying mission, I was afraid I’d be kicked out of this world because Miểu Miểu’s “villainy” value suddenly shot up.
I closed the laptop without a word.
Từ Sâm had been talking enthusiastically. “?”
In a daze, I clinked glasses with him, then flat-out rejected his plan.
Từ Sâm: “???”
I sighed. “Tomorrow morning at 9:30, meet in the living room. We’re going camping in the mountains.”
“Get to bed early. See you tomorrow.”
As I reached the door, I suddenly turned back and reminded Từ Sâm, who was always dressed in expensive suits, “Oh, and don’t wear a suit tomorrow. Wear athletic clothes, got it?”
17
The next day, before 9:30, Từ Tri Miểu had finished breakfast and was sitting obediently in the living room, waiting for me.
Từ Sâm sat beside the little girl, watching “Paw Patrol” with her.
The father and daughter were so close. It was a beautiful sight.
Từ Sâm was wearing a tracksuit. I almost didn’t recognize him.
A black windbreaker really was the best way for a man to look good. Từ Sâm looked younger, like an innocent college student still in school.
He really looked fresh and clean-cut.
It was just that beneath his beautiful, flirtatious eyes, there were faint dark circles, as if he hadn’t gotten enough sleep.
[Master, I suspect Từ Sâm spent all night thinking about why you rejected his plan.]
Because I don’t like forcing life into rigid rules.
We didn’t have a strict plan, and that was how we could find surprises everywhere.
We watched fireworks, trampled through grass, and looked out at the sea.
The sun shone across the sky, and we watched the endless sunset.
We watched dandelions drift freely on the breeze and darkness give way to dawn.
Từ Tri Miểu rolled around in the hay, and Từ Sâm’s eyes lit up too.
He said, “I admit it—your plan really is better than mine.”
Over the course of it all, Từ Tri Miểu gradually opened up.
She got excited when she saw squirrels darting through the woods, chased after an unfamiliar child to “teach him a lesson” when he threw mud at her, and smiled happily when she ate her favorite condensed-milk bread.
Thanks to a rich life and positive emotional feedback, Từ Tri Miểu began making new friends and discovered what she liked.
Everything was going well.
Until Từ Tri Miểu introduced me to her new friend, and the corner of my mouth twitched.
Từ Tri Miểu nudged the boy standing beside her. He obeyed her without question, clearly playing the part of a little underling.
The only bad thing was that the boy’s name was Bùi Minh—the male lead in the story.
According to the plot, Từ Tri Miểu wasn’t supposed to meet Bùi Minh until she started elementary school.
But who could have guessed that, on our previous outing, we’d happen to run into Bùi Minh’s family?