Chapter 35: A Sudden Change in Attitude?

Inside the luxurious chauffeur-driven van, the expression on the face of top actress Lin Weiwei was ghastly.

She stared intensely at the small screen in front of her, which was split into two sections. On the left was the image of her husband, Zhao Kai, rushing their son to the hospital in a state of chaotic panic. On the right was a dense stream of scrolling comments.

"What a loser! Truly a useless waste of space!"
"My heart aches for Lin Weiwei. Stuck with a husband like that—she’s an A-list star, but in her private life, she’s basically his nanny."
"I take back everything I said about him being an 'all-around super dad.' I feel like throwing up."
"The most ridiculous part is that this guy actually thought he was so amazing, constantly belittling Master Chen. Well, look at him now—his face is swollen from the stinging slaps of reality."

Lin Weiwei took a deep breath, a nameless rage smoldering in her chest, burning through her very core.

Used to this? How could she ever get used to this? As a woman standing at the peak of the entertainment industry, she was accustomed to flowers, applause, the adoration of fans, and the praise of the media. Since when did she need to be the object of such pity and mockery across the internet because of a man?

The root of her fury wasn't just the incompetence and embarrassment caused by her husband, Zhao Kai. It was also a comparison she could not ignore. The name that appeared in the comments even more frequently than her husband was "Chen Yu." He might be disheveled, prone to rambling, and unconventional in his methods, but he always took care of his daughter, Niannian, with impeccable attention.

And what about her own son, Xiaojie? Lin Weiwei’s heart twisted painfully.

Just as her thoughts spiraled, the scene on the screen shifted. The emergency room lights went out, and a doctor emerged to say the child's fever had broken and he was out of danger; he just needed to be observed in a ward for the night before being discharged. Zhao Kai thanked the doctor profusely and carried the newly awakened, still-pale Xiaojie into a private room.

Lin Weiwei breathed a slight sigh of relief. However, before she could even exhale fully, her relief was choked off by Zhao Kai’s next move.

Zhao Kai placed his son on the hospital bed, then slumped into the chair next to it, letting out a long, dramatic sigh as if he had just survived a war and exhausted every ounce of his strength. Then, he pulled out his phone. Lin Weiwei assumed he was about to message her to confirm everything was alright or look up dietary advice for a recovering child. Instead, Zhao Kai swiped open his screen, tapped on a garish, vibrant game interface, and shoved the device directly into his son's hands.

"Be a good boy, Xiaojie. Daddy is exhausted. You play with the phone for a bit, okay?"

He even thoughtfully plugged in a pair of earbuds for his son.

Xiaojie, having just broken his fever, was still lethargic, but his eyes lit up the moment he saw the phone. His small hands grasped it, and he skillfully tapped open a short-video app.

Lin Weiwei’s blood pressure skyrocketed. The child had just been sick! His body was at its weakest and needed rest more than anything! Instead of letting him sleep, he was letting him play on a phone? And with short videos, which were notoriously addictive? Was Zhao Kai’s brain filled with mush?!

The comments section ignited once more.

"Are you kidding me? Is he actually the boy's father? The kid just broke a fever and he’s giving him a phone?"
"Do you even know what 'digital opium' is, Zhao Kai? Could you learn a thing or two from Master Chen? When he watches Niannian, he takes her outdoors to experience nature! All you know how to do is fob your kid off with a screen!"
"Incredible. I dub him the 'King of Parenting with a Phone'."
"Are you seeing this, Lin Weiwei? This is how your husband takes care of your son! I'm numb, I’m just completely numb."

Lin Weiwei was indeed numb. She even began to seriously consider a question: Was it too late to get a divorce and find a new husband?

What broke her further was what came next. When it was time for a meal, Zhao Kai finally remembered that neither he nor his son had eaten. He picked up his phone, scrolled through a food delivery app for a long time, and eventually ordered a bowl of plain porridge and two steamed buns for his son, and a spicy, oily hot-pot dish for himself.

And that was it.

That was it! Giving a five-year-old child who had just suffered a high fever and desperately needed nutrition nothing but plain porridge and buns? Not a single vegetable? Not even a steamed egg custard? Did the concept of balanced nutrition even exist in Zhao Kai’s vocabulary?!

"Help! I’m going to have a heart attack watching this! Please, production team, cut this idiot's feed! I’m afraid I’ll find a way to reach through the internet and beat him!"
"This delivery order... are we back in the sixties during a famine?"
"He’s eating spicy hot-pot while his son gets porridge and buns? I’m going to be sick, man!"
"Lin Weiwei, run! Take your kid and run! This man is not fit to be a father!"

Lin Weiwei closed her eyes, her temples throbbing violently. She picked up her own phone, her fingers already finding the contact information for the show’s chief director. She wanted to tell them that she was quitting. She was going home immediately, going to that hospital, and rescuing her son from that unreliable man.

Contracts, breach-of-contract penalties—she didn't care about any of it anymore!

However, just as she was about to make the call, a clear, childish voice came from the hospital room. Xiaojie, while swiping through his phone, was mimicking the tone of the short videos, shouting loudly:

"Hey, folks! We're doing something hardcore today!!"
"Chopstick concrete!"

The voice wasn't loud, but through the recording equipment, it was broadcast clearly into every corner of the livestream.

Lin Weiwei froze. She slowly turned her head, staring in disbelief at the son on the screen, imitating a crude internet influencer and spouting vulgar slang.

In that instant, she nearly suffocated.

"Boom!"

The livestream’s comments section exploded completely.

"???????????????????"
"What the hell did I just hear? Concrete? Chopsticks? A five-year-old kid?"
"What kind of garbage is he learning? Zhao Kai, is this what you’re letting your son watch?!"
"It’s over. This kid is ruined. He’s just copying what he sees; who knows what he’ll grow up to be."
"A failure of parenting! This is a total, utter failure of family education! Don't you see it, Lin Weiwei?! Look at what your useless husband has turned your son into!"
"Who was it that said Zhao Kai was teaching the boy to be polite? Come out and get slapped! You call this 'polite'? This is just a trainee thug!"
"My god, this is terrifying. If my son ever dared to say something like that, I’d break his legs!"

Lin Weiwei’s body trembled. She spent her days filming on location, three hundred days out of every three hundred and sixty-five. She had thought that by working hard to provide the best material conditions for her child and leaving the education to her seemingly "reliable" husband, she was doing what was best for him.

But reality had slapped her hard in the face.

So-called elite education, the "all-around super dad"—it was all complete nonsense! What she had traded her career for was a son poisoned by electronic devices and internet trash, and a husband who was stupid to the bone and full of lies.