The Useless Stepmom Brings Her Kids to Reality TV Shows to Photograph Them

111 Be My Real Wife

Li Yanchen switched back to handset mode and gestured for Secretary Han to leave the room.

“Yes, I am at the office. What’s up?”

“Please go and pick up Ms. Lin right now!” said Li Zexuan. He explained the whole situation.

Li Yanchen was still in shock. It was a lot of information for him to process.

!!

“Dad! Say something!”

“I will give Xiao Tianlin a call and ask if he has the number of any of the staff there. They can tell Lin Wan to look at her phone.

I’ll give Xiao Tianlin a call and ask if he has the number of an employee in the store. I’ll remind Lin Wan to look at her phone,” said Li Yanchen. “I will figure out a way to get her.”

Li Yanchen was still stumped. ‘Since when did Lin Wan have this skill?’ Elder Lin had never told him about any of it. Perhaps even he hadn’t known.

He called Xiao Tinalin and briefly explained the situation to him. Xiao Tianlin did not seem to be shocked.

“There’s an emergency exit in the shop which is connected to the neighborhood gate. I will call a staff member and let Xia Mo know about this. I will send you the location of the underground parking,” said Xiao Tianlin, calmly. “Don’t get out of the car when you reach.”

Li Yanchen waited for Xiao Tianlin’s reply, anxiously. It was only when Xiao Tianlin called and told him to go that he felt at ease. He used a different car and sent a photo of it to Lin Wan so she could recognize it later. “Xia Mo will show you the emergency exit. I am taking a different car, so people won’t recognize us. It’s a white BMW. Don’t get it wrong.”

After logging off, Lin Wan and Xia Mo collapsed on the sofa.

“This can’t be hidden anymore?” Lin Wan sighed.

“The hot search has already exploded. Fortunately, they only saw my face.” Xia Mo tried to comfort her. “It’s alright. Why don’t you stop the love stream for a few days?”

“It’s alright. I can bring a change of clothes from tomorrow.” Lin Wan looked at the emergency exit. “Is that way safe?” She knew Li Yanchen was already waiting for her.

“Yes. That’s the staff entrance. I already informed the Security Office. Other than Li Yanchen, nobody will be able to enter without an employee pass. However, you guys be careful just in case.”

Lin Wan wiped off her lipstick and exited through the staff entrance. She reached the underground parking where Li Yanchen was already waiting.

He took off his sunglasses. “Come to the front. I want to talk to you,” he said as he opened the door to the back seats.

Lin Wan obediently sat at the front passenger seat, clutching at her bag. “I didn’t mean to hide it from you…”

He patted her on the head. “That’s alright. You like making desserts?”

“Yes. I am just alright at it. Do you want to ask why I was doing it anonymously?” said Lin Wan. “I didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Xuanxuan figured it out, but we will help you keep it a secret,” he said. “Wanwan, you can always trust me. I promise I won’t betray your trust. In the future, you can tell me anything.”

“I just… you are so busy every day. You work so hard. I didn’t want to add to your troubles,” said Lin Wan. “Although I must thank you for informing me today. I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t made Xiao Tianlin inform the staff.”

He hesitated for a moment. “Do you feel that Xuanxuan and the rest are a burden? It was Xuanxuan who called me first and told me about it, Wanwan. He was insistent that I get to you right at that instant. He told me to protect you.”

Putting aside what happened in Lan Village in the beginning, her three stepsons had done well after that. They didn’t feel like a burden to her. Assistant Qin was in charge of them. Recently, they had started hanging out a lot near her. They were obviously annoying, but they never were a burden on her. They were okay.

“No, they aren’t a burden. I like them being around,” Lin Wan blurted out

With Lin Wan’s words, Li Yanchen’s courage grew. He reached out and held her hand. “Lin Wan, be my real wife.”

“What?” Lin Wan had not expected Li Yanchen to confess to her so suddenly, least of all in such a situation.

She was at a loss for words. She grabbed the seatbelt with her free hand. “I… uh… Xia Mo said to turn left from the parking lot and to take the Green Willow Road. There are fewer people along that way.”

“You still haven’t answered me.”

“Please let’s go home first. We need to leave this place.” Lin Wan’s mind was a mess.

“Alright,” he said. Li Yanchen started the car.

At the Royal Water Bay Villa, Li Zexin was worried about his brother. He had never seen his elder brother this flustered before. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“That cake… Ms. Lin made it herself.” Li Zexuan emphasized every word.

Li Zexin’s book fell from his hand. But he calmed himself. It wasn’t so unusual for Lin Wan to bake a cake. She had been working at a dessert shop for a while now. “So?”

Li Zexuan realized that his brother didn’t get the point. He showed him the headlines. “You don’t understand. See? Ms. Lin is Xiao Huan. The anonymous dessert chef who has been live streaming on the Sweet Little Circle channel.”

“Ms. Lin?!” Li Zexin said in disbelief. “She hid it all this time?”

“Yes. Even father didn’t know,” said Li Zexuan. “It is no wonder her fruit tea was so good.”

“So, Ms. Lin is like Xiao Yi. She doesn’t look like much on the surface but is actually a Big Shot? Oh God! Is Ms. Lin that awesome?!” exclaimed Li Zexin.

“Who’s the Big Shot?” Li Zekai, who was playing with magnetic films, walked to them.

The three brothers discussed the situation.

When Lin Wan and Li Yanchen arrived home, they were sitting cross-legged on the carpet in the living room. When the door opened, they looked over at the same time.

Lin Wan walked in first, followed by Li Yanchen.

“So, you are a Big Boss!” The three of them shouted at the same time.

Lin Wan’s face turned red. ‘What Big Boss? Knowing these things isn’t such a big deal in my world!’

Li Zexin walked to her. “I understand now. It makes sense why Auntie Xia wanted you to join the second episode. She knew you were a dessert chef!” He was worried now. “But now you work with her. She doesn’t need you to join the second episode! And if I can’t get you to attend and if I can’t make it to the top ten, I will never get to join Xiao Yi’s XX Dream Battle Team! Please Ms. Lin! Please help me out.”

Li Zexuan also came to a sudden realization. After scrolling through the hot search, he followed the Sweet Little Circle channel. It wasn’t very difficult to see that the channel was led by Xia Mo and Lin Wan now. This meant that Lin Wan knew more about desserts than Xia Mo. Lin Wan hadn’t been working for Xia Mo, she had been guiding her instead!

“Don’t tell anyone. Otherwise…” Lin Wan made a throat-slitting gesture.

“We promise!” swore the three children.

“I have something to discuss with Lin Wan. We’ll go up first. The three of you stay down here. No one is allowed to come up. I will come down once we are done talking.” Li Yanchen couldn’t wait to talk to Lin Wan about the agreement.

Li Zexin assumed that his father was going to reprimand Lin Wan for keeping this secret. “Dad, you are not allowed to scold Ms. Lin.”

Li Yanchen smiled. “How could I dare? We are just going to talk.”

Li Zekai nodded.

Li Zexuan was still worried. “If no one comes down in half an hour, we will come up.”

...

Lin Wan was touched seeing her stepsons trying to protect her. “It’s alright. Mr. Li is a gentleman. All of you stay down here, alright?” She had many things to say to Li Yanchen as well.

After Lin Wan and Li Yanchen went upstairs, Li Zekai organized a small patrol team. Every five minutes, he would send someone to the door to check on the situation. If they heard some commotion, they decided to barge in. If everything was quiet and nothing was amiss, they would come downstairs again.