Chapter 24

When the commercial break ended, Ning Shiyue returned to the living room carrying a plate of sliced fruit.

He sat down next to Ning Yuxuan and placed the fruit plate in front of her. "The fruit is ready. Eat it; I'll finish whatever you can't."

He didn't even notice that his tone was much gentler than usual.

Ning Yuxuan paused the TV show and glanced at the fruit.

Since childhood, she had never liked eating apples with the skin on. Ning Shiyue was the exact opposite; he believed that apples were only delicious if washed thoroughly and bitten into directly. They had even argued about it once when they were young, neither able to convince the other.

This time, however, the apples in the plate were all peeled, cut into small cubes, and served with toothpicks. In addition, there were slices of Ning Yuxuan’s favorite kiwifruit, and the nectarines had been washed until they glistened.

It was meticulously prepared to an absurd degree.

Ning Yuxuan’s gaze lingered on the fruit for a moment before she looked up at Ning Shiyue.

Ning Shiyue felt a bit uncomfortable under her stare. "What?"

Ning Yuxuan blinked at him. "Ning Shiyue, did you do something you feel guilty about? Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?"

Ning Shiyue laughed in annoyance. "Ning Yuxuan, I shouldn't have been nice to you at all. It's like throwing pearls before swine."

Ning Yuxuan rolled her eyes, her gaze drifting to the phone on the coffee table. The only thing that had happened in the last few minutes was that she had asked Ning Shiyue to check a text message for her.

After thinking for two seconds, she picked up her phone and checked the "Recently Deleted" folder in her message list. On her phone, deleted messages were cached for thirty days before being permanently erased.

Ning Shiyue, sitting right next to her, reached out to stop her as soon as he saw her movement.

Ning Yuxuan nimbly dodged his arm and tapped the screen rapidly.

Cen Meng’s text message popped up.

Ning Shiyue tried to block her view, but Ning Yuxuan turned away, shielding the screen. A few seconds were enough for her to read the gist of the message.

Ning Shiyue had to give up his interference, a look of regret appearing on his face. If he had known Ning Yuxuan would guess it so easily, he should have tapped a few more times to delete the message permanently.

Unable to stop her, Ning Shiyue could only watch her expression silently from the side. He hadn't forgotten how Ning Yuxuan had hidden in her room crying over Gu Yunhao last time, and he remembered that he had even spoken harshly to her then. If she cried again this time, he would... well, to make up for the last time, he would patiently comfort her.

Thinking this, he began to mentally rehearse words of comfort.

However, after scanning the message, the corners of Ning Yuxuan’s mouth curved upward slightly.

Ning Shiyue, who had been closely monitoring her every expression, was dumbfounded. No matter how he looked at it, there was nothing funny about that message.

"You..." Ning Shiyue began cautiously, "If you're sad, you don't have to force yourself to hold it in."

"Sad?" Ning Yuxuan raised her eyebrows. "Why would I be? I actually want to thank her."

Ning Shiyue looked at her in confusion.

Ning Yuxuan said lightly, "Thank her for her well wishes. I truly hope that I never have to be involved with the Gu family ever again."

The text message from Cen Meng really made her want to laugh.

***

At this point, Cen Meng’s way of threatening her was still to claim she would never win Gu Yunhao’s heart or marry into the Gu family. It was as if someone were eating rancid food while constantly worrying that others would try to snatch it away from them.

Ning Shiyue stared at Ning Yuxuan’s expression, carefully confirming, "Are you really not upset?"

Ning Yuxuan: "Really, I'm not. And—"

Ning Shiyue: "And what?"

Ning Yuxuan smiled, speared a piece of apple, and popped it into her mouth. "I'm very satisfied that a single text message could earn me such attentive fruit-slicing service."

Ning Shiyue froze for a second and looked away. "Who said I did it for that... I was just worried the fruit would go bad, so I processed it while I was at it. It's not like it was any trouble."

Ning Yuxuan: "No trouble? Then how about you prepare a plate like this for me every night?"

Ning Shiyue: "Ning! Yu! Xuan!"

...

The rest of the episode soon finished. Although today's live stream ended early, the production team sent a message saying that tomorrow’s broadcast would proceed as scheduled.

They had to wake up early tomorrow to head to the filming location, and after watching the episode, it was time to rest.

Ning Yuxuan finished more than half of the fruit, leaving the rest to Ning Shiyue. Before heading to her room, Ning Shiyue called out to her. "Oh, right."

Ning Yuxuan stopped. "What is it?"

Ning Shiyue kept a straight face. "You still need to be wary of that Cen Meng. She said she wanted to make you..."

Repeating Cen Meng’s words felt too unlucky, so Ning Shiyue thought for a moment and changed his phrasing. "In any case, be careful."

Ning Yuxuan nodded. "I will."

"However..." Ning Shiyue hesitated, then added, "You don't need to worry too much. If she really tries to pull any stunts, I... Mom and I will protect you."

For a long time, due to various conflicts and misunderstandings, Ning Shiyue and Ning Yuxuan hadn't really spoken to each other. Although their relationship had slowly recovered, most of their interactions were still banter and bickering. Rarely having said something so "warm," Ning Shiyue felt awkward all over, and his ears were burning.

Having finally said his piece, he prepared to return to his room immediately.

Seeing him so flustered, Ning Yuxuan deliberately stopped him to ask, "How are you going to protect me?"

Ning Shiyue became even more uncomfortable. He managed to say, "...Anyway, just like when we were kids, I won't let you be wronged for no reason."

After saying this, he couldn't help but leave quickly; such mushy words were definitely not his forte.

Watching Ning Shiyue essentially flee in a panic, Ning Yuxuan smiled silently.

Yes, in the past, no matter what grievances she suffered, her mother and brother would protect her without a second thought.

In middle school, two boys had fought over her. She knew nothing about it, yet her homeroom teacher had called her into the office to scold her and even summoned her parents. It was the first time Ning Yuxuan had encountered such a situation, and she had cried uncontrollably from fear. Ning Fei had taken leave from the set and rushed over, but instead of blaming her, she had stood firmly by her side and argued with the teacher. And after that, Ning Shiyue had shadowed her to and from school for an entire month, making sure no other boys bullied her.

Recalling the past, Ning Yuxuan’s gaze gradually became firm.

According to the novel's plot, not only was her own ending as a supporting character tragic, but her mother and brother were also implicated. This time, those things would never happen again. Since Ning Fei and Ning Shiyue had protected her so well in the past, she would protect her family this time.

***

On Sunday morning, the production team of *Dear Mom* released a statement.

@Dear Mom Season 2: Thank you to all the netizens for your concern for the show. Due to some uncontrollable factors, Cen Meng and her daughter will temporarily withdraw from the show's recording. Sunday's live broadcast will proceed as scheduled, with @Ning Fei, @Ning Yuxuan, @Qin Man, and @Jiang Ning'an accompanying you through a wonderful time. Starting next week, new guests will be joining us.

This was the result of an emergency meeting held by the production team overnight. The director's team was already working tirelessly to contact suitable artists and coordinate schedules. Fortunately, the show’s popularity was high enough that many artists were interested in participating, and a week should be enough time to find a set of guests to fill the gap.

Seeing the statement, the show's fans breathed a sigh of relief.

[Great! I thought I wouldn't be able to see my Ning'an today! Thank you, production team!]

[The production team is great; decisively replacing guests with bad track records to give us back a clean and pleasant atmosphere.]

[Ahhh, finally don't have to see that annoying person anymore. This is so friendly to my mental health!]

At 10:00 AM, the live stream started on time. The two pairs of mothers and daughters had gathered at the villa from the previous episode.

According to the original plan, today's content was for the mothers and daughters to swap roles for a day—mothers who had always taken care of their daughters would do no work today and instead fully enjoy a day of being served by their daughters.

Although one pair of guests was missing, most of the procedures could still proceed as planned, with only minor adjustments to the specific segments.

After the broadcast started, the staff released the first task: Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an were to prepare lunch for everyone.

In the previous episode, everyone's cooking skills had been completely exposed. While Ning Fei and Qin Man weren't exactly master chefs, they could manage basic home-cooked meals. Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an, however, were complete kitchen novices who could barely help out.

Originally, everyone had been relaxed, but after the rules were announced, the scene became unprecedentedly quiet. The four of them looked at each other.

A second later, Ning Yuxuan sighed. "Mom, are you prepared to go hungry at noon?"

Ning Fei couldn't help but laugh, patting her daughter's shoulder. "It’s okay, Mom isn't very hungry. Anything will do."

Jiang Ning'an was also filled with worry. Seeing this, Qin Man comforted her, "I'm often too busy to eat when I'm filming, so I'm used to it."

Seeing their reactions, the audience went crazy with laughter.

[Hahaha, so the two teachers have already resigned themselves to starving today? That's so tragic.]

[The production team is something else, putting the two worst cooks in charge of lunch. Won't they blow up the kitchen?]

[Is this really letting the moms enjoy their daughters' care? Why does it feel more like punishing Teacher Qin and Teacher Ning? Hahaha!]

[Production team, you're heartless! Can you bear to see two goddesses go without lunch?]

The production team, knowing the two girls' lack of cooking skills, had prepared all the ingredients needed for lunch in advance, so they didn't need to go grocery shopping themselves. The two just had to make a four-person lunch within the next two hours.

With things as they were, Ning Yuxuan and Jiang Ning'an had no choice but to put on their aprons and enter the kitchen. Ning Fei and Qin Man were arranged to sit in the living room, trying out neck massagers while drinking tea and chatting. The massagers were from a show sponsor—a bit of product placement.

Neither Ning Fei nor Qin Man looked very relaxed. Ning Fei asked the staff, still hoping for a loophole, "If we can't help with the cooking, can we go into the kitchen to guide them?"