Chapter 145: Don't Cry, Big Brother Will Teach You a Song

Does the system have the ability to foresee the future?

Wang Mo strongly suspected this. Otherwise, why would it provide him precisely with the items he needed most at every critical moment?

Take this "Child-Rearing Manual," for instance.

It gave him ample reason to suspect that the system had known all along that he would be taking care of Tongtong.

Yet, when he mentally queried the system,

a line of text materialized: [Apologies, this system does not possess the ability to foresee the future. The reason this system is able to provide the Host with the most suitable reward is the result of precise simulation and analysis based on the Host's current situation, events happening to people around you, and so on.]

Really?

Wang Mo pondered this and realized it was actually quite plausible.

Take this time, for example: the system knew in advance that Guo Chen was going to call him, and thus could deduce that he would be going to the capital. It also knew that once in the capital, he would most likely call Elder He. And Elder He happened to need someone to look after Tongtong. Driven by powerful data analysis, it would indeed conclude that he needed something like the "Child-Rearing Manual."

"It seems the system is an intelligent machine far more powerful than I can currently imagine,"

Wang Mo thought to himself.

Pushing aside the distracting thoughts in his mind,

he took a moment to call Yuan Xiong: "Brother Xiong, I won't be coming back tonight. I might stay at Elder He's place for two or three days."

With that, he briefly explained the reason.

Yuan Xiong was more than happy to hear this: "Good! The closer your relationship with Elder He, the more advantageous it is for you. It doesn't matter if you stay a few more days; I'll keep an eye on things outside."

...

On the first evening,

aided by the "Child-Rearing Manual,"

Wang Mo handled a whole series of tasks with the fluidity of flowing water: how to play with Tongtong, how to coax her into eating, how to make her willingly brush her teeth and wash up, and even how to mix her formula, make her bed, and lull her to sleep.

He Zhixing watched with his jaw dropping in utter disbelief.

It was simply incredible—even his own daughter-in-law couldn't match Wang Mo's proficiency.

He Zhixing finally couldn't help asking: "Little Wang, have you really never looked after a child before? Are you truly not a graduate of some parenting training center? Did you really not...?"

A barrage of questions came rattling out.

Here it came again.

So annoying!

Actually, Wang Mo had wanted to act a bit clumsily on purpose, but whenever he performed a child-rearing task, his body and mind naturally executed it with absolute mastery.

Hearing He Zhixing's inquiries, Wang Mo simply chose to remain silent.

Some things only become more complicated the more you try to explain them.

...

The next morning, He Zhixing headed out early to attend a conference.

It wasn't until 8:30 that Wang Mo took Tongtong by the hand and set off for the kindergarten.

The kindergarten Tongtong attended was Tsing-Peking Kindergarten, only a dozen or so minutes' walk away.

Guided by Tongtong, Wang Mo quickly found the location.

Tsing-Peking Kindergarten!

The name sounded prestigious, and naturally, it wasn't a place just anyone could enter.

Looking at the kindergarten before him, and then glancing down at the adorable Tongtong holding his hand, Wang Mo couldn't help fantasizing: "If my future child could study here one day, that wouldn't be half bad... Wait... what? Pah, pah, pah!"

Damn it!

What kind of monster was trying to corrupt his state of mind?

Good grief, he had actually found himself thinking about future children out of nowhere!

At his age, was he anywhere near the stage of contemplating such matters?!

Ridiculous!

At the entrance,

two kindergarten teachers were welcoming the children.

The two teachers glanced at Wang Mo, and immediately, their faces flushed red.

The teacher on the left stammered slightly as she spoke: "Tongtong, who is this?"

Tongtong happily replied, "Teacher Fu, this is my big brother."

Teacher Fu asked, "Didn't your mommy and daddy come?"

Tongtong answered, "Mommy and daddy were busy, so big brother brought me instead."

Teacher Fu smiled. "Well, since mommy and daddy couldn't make it, big brother will do... Why don't you let your big brother accompany you inside for the meeting?"

Tongtong nodded. "Okay, thank you, Teacher Fu."

With that, she tugged on Wang Mo's hand and walked into the kindergarten.

Wang Mo was momentarily stunned.

He quickly asked, "Tongtong, shouldn't I just drop you off at the kindergarten? Why do we need to go in for a meeting?"

Although Tongtong was young, her mind was crystal clear: "That's right, we have a meeting! The teacher said a few days ago that today the little kids have to bring their mommies and daddies to a meeting. Tongtong's mommy and daddy didn't have time, so I brought big brother instead."

"..."

Wang Mo swallowed hard. "What kind of meeting is it?"

Tongtong replied, "It's just a meeting."

Not pressing Tongtong further, Wang Mo asked a nearby parent and finally figured it out.

As it turned out, the semester was drawing to a close, and the kindergarten was about to start its vacation. Before the break, the teachers had assigned the children a task: every child had to prepare a performance to showcase on the final day, serving as a grand finale for the semester.

Today's parent-teacher meeting was held precisely to finalize the children's performances.

Understanding dawned on Wang Mo.

So that was what it was about.

He lowered his head and asked, "Tongtong, what performance have you prepared?"

Tongtong blinked her large eyes and asked, "Big brother, what performance?"

Great!

Seeing Tongtong's expression, he knew instantly that Elder He must have been too busy these past few days and had completely thrown the matter to the back of his mind.

Wang Mo felt a headache coming on. What was he supposed to do during the meeting shortly?

He had only received the "Child-Rearing Manual," not a guide to kindergarten performances!

Oh well.

He would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Promptly at nine in the morning,

all the children and parents in the class were present.

The head teacher, Ms. Chen, spoke up: "In three days, we will welcome the end-of-term performance for Class 3 of the Junior Grade. Are the little ones excited?"

"Excited!"

The three- and four-year-olds all chorused in bright, crisp voices.

Ms. Chen continued, "Then let's see what programs everyone has prepared! Children, please work together with your mommies and daddies to write down your performance on the cards on your desks. The teacher will come around to collect them in a moment. Remember, it must be your most wonderful performance, because the first-place winner of this showcase will receive a little white rabbit gift personally bought by Ms. Chen!"

Instantly,

the children became excited.

Some shouted that they would recite a poem.

Some said they would tell a joke.

Some claimed they would sing a song.

Only Tongtong sat alone, looking blankly at the excited expressions of the other children, only realizing what was happening a long time later.

Then, the little girl's mouth drooped, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

Wang Mo quickly coaxed her: "Don't cry, Tongtong. It's fine, we have a performance."

Tongtong wiped her tears and asked expectantly, "Big brother, what is Tongtong's performance?"

"Uh, about that..."

Wang Mo couldn't come up with anything on the spot.

Although Tongtong was young, she was very smart, and seeing his reaction, she understood immediately.

A moment ago, tears had merely been pooling in her eyes; now they instantly broke free like severed pearls, streaming down her face.

"Oh dear, my little ancestor."

Wang Mo was getting anxious too, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what performance they could do.

At this moment, the "Child-Rearing Manual" had failed him completely.

What made it even more frustrating was that

upon seeing Tongtong cry, the other children started chattering noisily.

"He Xintong, didn't you prepare a performance?"

"She definitely didn't."

"Teacher, He Xintong doesn't have a program."

"Shame, shame, you're going to come in last place!"

"He Xintong, why don't you sing with me?"

Hearing this, Tongtong grew even more heartbroken.

Wang Mo had no choice but to comfort her over and over again while a whirlwind of thoughts crossed his mind: What to do? What to do? Are there any good fairy tales or nursery rhymes he could use in an emergency?

He racked his brains, searching his memory.

Throughout both his past and present lives, he had never dealt with early childhood matters. Even if he knew a few classic fairy tales like "Little Rabbits Be Good" or "Snow White," he only remembered vague fragments. Asking him to narrate an entire story was utterly out of the question.

As for nursery rhymes, he knew even less.

"Should I use a Silver Treasure Chest?"

A thought flashed through Wang Mo's mind.

Yet he hesitated. Silver Treasure Chests were far too precious; using one just for Tongtong's kindergarten performance would be like using an anti-aircraft gun to shoot a mosquito—completely overkill.

Time flew by.

Ten minutes later, all the children had filled out their cards.

Ms. Chen collected the cards one by one. Seeing that Tongtong hadn't filled one out, she didn't scold her, but instead offered comfort: "Don't cry, Tongtong. It's fine to hand in your program tomorrow."

Returning to the podium,

Ms. Chen waved the cards in her hand. "The children's programs are all here with the teacher, so we'll look forward to your wonderful performances in three days..."

Wang Mo frowned and asked a parent next to him, "Do the children go home right after their performances? Then how is first place decided? Is there on-site voting, or do the teachers choose the winner?"

The parent glanced at Wang Mo in surprise. "You're a parent, and you don't know?"

Wang Mo gave a dry cough. "I'm her older brother, so I'm not very familiar with this."

Only then did the parent nod. "This is the internet age, so on-site voting methods were phased out long ago. Besides, teachers picking the winner wouldn't convince anyone. So this time, the teachers will record each child's performance and upload the videos to an online platform for netizens to vote on. The voting period lasts for three days. After three days, the child with the most likes wins first place."

"Oh? Is that how it works?"

Wang Mo widened his eyes. "Which platform do the teachers upload the kids' performances to?"

The parent replied, "Douyin, of course."

Hearing this, several of the children started chattering again.

"My daddy said he has several hundred followers on Douyin, so my likes will definitely be the highest this time!"

"Hmph, my aunt has way more followers—she has tens of thousands!"

"I'm going to win first place for sure. My daddy knows lots and lots of pretty big-sisters on Douyin; he can ask those pretty big-sisters to vote for me."

"Huang Zichen, say that again! What's up with your dad?!"

Listening to the conversation of these three- and four-year-olds, Wang Mo shook his head.

So even children in kindergarten had already started internal competition nowadays.

A mere preschool talent show was actually being dragged onto an online platform for a popularity battle.

He couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or a bad one.

Just as he was pondering this,

a sudden jolt ran through Wang Mo's entire body.

Douyin?

Children?

Voting?

An explosion went off in Wang Mo's mind. His heart hammered violently as he picked up Tongtong and declared, "Tongtong, big brother has thought of a performance!"

Tongtong, her face stained with teardrops, asked with a sob, "Really?"

Wang Mo smiled. "Really!"

Tongtong asked, "What kind of performance is it?"

Wang Mo answered, "Big brother is going to teach you a song, okay?"

Tongtong asked, "Is it hard?"

Wang Mo answered, "Very simple."

Tongtong asked, "Will it win first place?"

Wang Mo answered, "Guaranteed first place."

Tongtong said, "But the other kids' daddies have lots of followers, and they have aunts to help, and pretty big-sisters to help. Tongtong doesn't have any of that, how can we win first place?"

Wang Mo smiled. "Trust big brother. No matter how many followers they have, it won't matter."

What was that saying again?

Be low-profile in life, high-profile in your work.

If you're going to be high-profile, you might as well go all out!

With the song he had in mind, forget the parents in this kindergarten—he was certain that even if the heavenly kings themselves descended, they couldn't possibly lose!