Chapter 21

The first match was between Fan Hongru and Ji Mochen. After an intense keyboard battle, the final winner was — Ji Mochen.

"Ruochu, wasn't Daddy awesome?" Ji Mochen was as happy as a three-year-old child.

Ji Ruochu's reaction was...

"Clap clap clap." The little one clapped three times with her hands. "Daddy is really great!"

Ji Mochen: Proud.JPG

At this moment, the bullet screen comments were:

["Hahaha, oh my god, who's the child here?"]

["Ruochu is shouldering the burden of appeasing her dad at such a young age."]

And because Ji Mochen had a bye in the previous round, to keep things fair, Ji Mochen went on stage again in the second match, battling Mao Zhu.

Since winning two matches would determine the champion, this match between Mao Zhu and Ji Mochen could very well be the last one.

But if Mao Zhu won, then he would have to face Fan Hongru in another match. Of course, there would be a bug here —

If Mao Zhu lost to Fan Hongru again, then everyone would have one win and one loss each, and the program team would have to use other means to determine the champion.

To be honest, Ji Ruochu had already drafted her consolation words, because in her eyes, how could her dad Ji Mochen possibly...

"Alright! Congratulations to Ruochu's dad for successfully clinching the championship!"

Ji Ruochu: ???

"Wow!!" The little ones around her were shocked in an instant. "Ruochu little sister, your dad is so awesome!"

At this moment, in the eyes of the little ones, Ji Mochen was like Ultraman with a halo shining behind him. "Ruochu!" Ji Mochen waved his big hand majestically like an emperor overseeing his kingdom. "Pick whatever dish you like!"

Clearly, with the dark horse Ji Mochen's appearance, the "Power" competition ended prematurely. The other two families could only pick a vegetable dish.

Finally, from the many vegetable dishes, Ji Ruochu chose lettuce and potatoes. She had already decided to make garlic lettuce and spicy potato shreds — one refreshing and the other appetizing, perfect for wolfing down rice.

What the crowd didn't know was that at the moment Ji Mochen won, the bullet screen comments surged instantly. While the audience was extremely shocked, they couldn't help but wonder, how did the married Ji Mochen still have such fast hand speed?

["Firstly, I'm a hardcore fan. Secondly, I'm only speaking for myself, but isn't our male lead already married? It's not like he's been single all this while, so how can he still have such fast hand speed?"]

["+1, Ji Mochen is abnormal. How can a married man have such fast hand speed? Could he be..."]

["Oh my god, isn't this a parenting show? Why are you guys bringing your cars into the kindergarten?"]

["Indeed, I also find it strange. Could Teacher Mao have gone easy on our cute Ruochu?"]

["Very likely! Let's just say, Teacher Mao is such a nice guy!"]

["...I don't know whether I should feel sorry for Ji Mochen, or feel sorry for Ji Mochen, or feel sorry for Ji Mochen."]

"Alright, that was our battle for vegetable dishes just now. Next up is the main event for today that the winning families have a chance to snag the only two meat dishes!"

As the village chief finished speaking, the staff instantly lifted the bowl covers on the table.

"Wow—" The little ones' eyes lit up. In the two bowls in the middle were braised pork elbow and chicken stewed with mushrooms.

"Daddy, I want to eat elbows!"

"Daddy, I want to drink the soup!"

"Daddy, I want to eat them both!"

"Daddy, you need to lose weight."

"Daddy, you have to win this time, I want meat!"

Bullet screen comments: ...Wait, didn't one of the children's exhortations sound a little different?

"Alright, Daddy won't eat. If Daddy wins he'll give everything delicious to Ruochu." Ji Mochen's face was full of determination. "Our Ruochu is growing, so Daddy will definitely win all the yummy food for Ruochu!"

Upon hearing this, the fans in the bullet screen comments were all comforted in their hearts, with the loyal fans feeling gratified that their male lead was still being a responsible dad.

However, the fans were quickly disillusioned just minutes later. "It looks like the darlings are pretty taken with our meat dishes!" The village chief smiled. "So daddies, do your best!"

Next, the village chief announced the next competition event.

"Catching chickens?!"

The daddies were flabbergasted.

"That's right. Right in front of you is the chicken coop that the program team specially prepared for the daddies. There are already five free-range roosters inside.

Friendly reminder: These chickens are usually free-range so they're quite agile. Daddies will have to be careful when catching them."

"The rules are simple. Each daddy has one minute to enter the chicken coop. The daddy who catches the most chickens within the time limit wins.

The winning family of this round gets to choose one meat dish and one non-veg dish. The second place automatically gets the remaining meat dish, while the third to fifth place daddies get to choose from the remaining non-veg dishes." After the rules were announced, the other daddies were still alright, but Geng Ming and Lin Yan were already unable to hold themselves back. As the only two daddies who had only gotten one staple dish so far, they knew they had to step up. Fortunately Ji Ruochu's earlier reminder to take the staple dishes meant that at least they had more than just one ingredient on hand now.

And now was the time for them to showcase their skills!

Next, the program team had the daddies play rock paper scissors to determine the order.

Needless to say, Ji Mochen the unlucky one lost all the way until he got the last spot. The livestream bullet screen was filled with "Hahaha" and "Tell us about the years Ji Mochen has never won at rock paper scissors".

The first to go was full-time dad Lin Yan. Catching chickens was clearly a piece of cake for the family's house-husband. In the end, he successfully caught three chickens within a minute, with an exceptionally fast speed.

The second up was Geng Ming. Having observed Lin Yan's chicken catching technique earlier, he had picked up some skills too. Ultimately he managed to catch two chickens as well.

The third up was Fan Hongru. As an actor, Fan Hongru had never handled live poultry before, so his results were not fantastic. If he hadn't gotten lucky holding down one chicken, he might not have caught any at all.

As he exited the coop, he couldn't help but brush the chicken feathers off himself, telling Mao Zhu and Ji Mochen: "Be careful, the chickens seem to be getting more spirited. Jeez, they have pretty good stamina?"

The bullet screen instantly roared with laughter, saying he was trying to make excuses for himself while the screen filled up with "The idol burden of an actor".

The fourth challenger was Mao Zhu. Even though the artist was already doing his best to be fast, accurate and ruthless, at the end, his record was still a "0".

As he exited, the pianist looked apologetically at his daughter.

"Daddy, it's okay! We won't be going hungry today!" Mao Ziqing immediately comforted.

The bullet screen comments were also filled with words of comfort and praise for how sensible Mao Ziqing was, making for a heartwarming scene.

"Alright, next up we have Ruochu's daddy entering the arena. As the biggest winner of the previous game, does Ruochu's daddy have the confidence to defend his championship title this round?" The village chief asked with a smile.

"Of course!" Ji Mochen looked totally unperturbed standing at the entrance of the chicken coop. "My target is to catch all five chickens!"

Hearing his ambitious words, all the daddies gave him ample face and cheered him on, with the children shouting encouragement as well.