Live Stream: Overly Pampered Education Creates Three Superstars in One Family

The humming of the hairdryer had just stopped, and the faint sweet scent of shampoo still lingered in the air.

Chen Chu was holding a comb, carefully smoothing the stray hairs around Chen Xiayu's ears.

In this quiet and warm moment, the shrill doorbell suddenly rang out in the living room, as if tearing this beautiful picture apart.

Chen Chu frowned almost imperceptibly, put down the comb, patted her daughter's little shoulder to signal her to sit still, and turned to walk towards the entrance.

As soon as the door opened, a scent mixed with the chill of late autumn and the aroma of expensive perfume wafted out.

Chu Qiuyue stood outside the door. She wore a well-tailored khaki trench coat, her makeup was flawless, and she carried a limited-edition designer handbag. However, the expression on her face carried a condescending eagerness.

Before Chen Chu could speak, Chu Qiuyue looked over his shoulder and peered into the house, asking bluntly, "Where's the child?"

Chen Chu's brows furrowed even deeper. His tall frame blocked the doorway, showing no intention of moving aside: "Why are you here now?"

"I am the child's biological mother. It is only natural for me to come and see my child." Chu Qiuyue raised her chin, her tone filled with an undeniable sense of righteousness.

"According to the agreement, the time to pick up the child is tomorrow morning." Chen Chu's voice was indifferent, revealing a businesslike detachment.

Chu Qiuyue's eyes flickered, but she still retorted firmly: "Can't I come now? Don't I even have the right to pick up my daughter the night before? I'm here to take her to buy some new clothes so I can take her to the amusement park tomorrow."

Chen Chu stared at her for two seconds, a hint of helplessness flashing in his deep eyes.

He could have simply closed the door and shut the woman out. But when she came up with excuses like "taking the kids out to play" and "buying clothes," Chen Chu ultimately said nothing, silently stepping aside to make way for her.

No matter what Chu Qiuyue has done, she is still Chen Xiayu's biological mother.

Chen Chu himself might not care about Chu Qiuyue, but he didn't want to deprive his daughter of the opportunity to enjoy her mother's love. Since she was coming to pick him up tonight, it was reasonable to bring him back tomorrow night. There was no need to make a scene over such a trivial matter, as it would only frighten the child in the end.

Hearing the noise in the entryway, Chen Xiayu, who was sitting on the sofa, slid off the sofa like a startled rabbit and ran barefoot to hide behind Chen Chu.

As soon as Chu Qiuyue entered the room, she saw Chen Xiayu hiding behind Chen Chu's thighs, with only half of her fluffy little head showing.

"My little one!" Chu Qiuyue's face immediately lit up with an exaggerated, even cloying, smile. She quickly walked over, squatted down, and stretched out her hands to Chen Xiayu. "Come here, did you miss Mommy? Mommy will take you out to play and eat something delicious, okay?"

However, Chen Xiayu showed no reaction to Chu Qiuyue's "motherly" demeanor.

She ignored Chu Qiuyue, not even glancing at the outstretched hand.

She just gripped Chen Chu's trouser leg tightly, her small body shrinking further behind him, as if the person squatting in front of her wasn't her mother, but a stranger who made her instinctively feel resistant.

Chu Qiuyue's hand froze awkwardly in mid-air. Her smile gradually solidified, then transformed into an uncontrollable surge of anger.

She stood up abruptly, her gaze piercing Chen Chu with hostility, her voice shrill: "Chen Chu! How exactly have you been raising your child? Nannan wasn't like this before, why is she so distant from her own mother now? What bad things have you said about me behind her back?!"

Chen Chu was almost laughing in anger. He looked down at this woman who was still trying to shift the blame at this point, his eyes full of speechlessness and mockery.

"Why did she become like this? Isn't that your problem?" Chen Chu's voice was calm and even, yet it felt like a resounding slap across Chu Qiuyue's face. "She's a living, breathing person. She knows better than anyone who treated her well and who abandoned her. Do you expect her to see you again and rush into your arms as if nothing happened?"

Chu Qiuyue was speechless, her face turning pale and then red. Her lips trembled a few times, but she couldn't find a single word to refute him.

She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her anger, and squatted down again, looking at Chen Xiaoyu with a soft voice: "Nannan, don't be afraid. Mommy will take you to stay at a big hotel tonight, and we'll go to the amusement park together tomorrow, okay? Mommy will buy you your favorite princess dress."

A suffocating silence fell over the air.

After a long while, Chen Xiayu slowly released her grip on Chen Chu's trouser leg. She stepped out from behind Chen Chu, nodded blankly, and agreed to leave with Chu Qiuyue.

She showed no resistance, but she also showed absolutely no happiness.

In fact, even Chen Chu, with his extremely keen observation skills, couldn't discern his daughter's true feelings at this moment. Because Chen Xiayu's innocent little face was completely expressionless.

She neither disliked nor was happy. She was like a delicate, soulless doll, passively accepting the instructions of adults.

Although Chen Chu can perceive people's psychological activities through micro-expressions, this must be based on the premise that there are "expressions". At present, Chen Xiayu's emotions are a dead abyss.

This sight only made Chen Chu feel more sorry for him.

Just as Chu Qiuyue happily took Chen Xiayu's hand, preparing to lead her to change her shoes, a cold voice suddenly came from the side.

"I want to go too."

Chen Ziran had left the room at some point. He crossed his arms, leaned against the wall in the corridor, and stared at Chu Qiuyue warily.

Chu Qiuyue was stunned. She turned her head and looked at her son, who was almost as tall as her. When she heard Chen Ziran ask to come with her, Chu Qiuyue frowned at first, then seemed to have thought of some "touching" logic, and a look of surprise and sudden realization flashed in her eyes.

"Ziran, you..." Chu Qiuyue couldn't help but smile. She thought her son still longed for his mother's love, that the years of cold war had finally made this rebellious boy give in. Her voice trembled slightly with joy, "Okay, okay! You'll come along too! Don't worry, son, Mom will definitely treat you well. Mom will take you out for a big meal..."

"Stop flattering yourself."

Chen Ziran ruthlessly interrupted her incredibly self-indulgent sentimentality. He rolled his eyes, his tone full of exasperation: "What I mean is, I have to stay with my sister. I have to keep an eye on you, lest you do something cruel to her again."

The words "poisonous hand" were like two sharp knives, piercing straight into Chu Qiuyue's ears.

Chu Qiuyue's smile froze instantly. Her eyes widened in disbelief, as if she had heard something utterly unbelievable: "You... what did you say? A poisonous hand?!"

"Although it may sound unpleasant, it is an inevitable choice for me." Chen Ziran straightened up and walked step by step to Chu Qiuyue. In her eyes, which were extremely similar to Chen Chu's, there was no trace of affection for her mother, only cold scrutiny.

"I'm coming along to protect my sister. I don't want you to take advantage of your pathetic desire to control her during this so-called 'growth' weekend and do something bad to her, putting pressure on her that she can't handle."

"Are you crazy?!" Chu Qiuyue was completely enraged. Her voice rose eight octaves with anger. "What do you mean by 'bad things'? What nonsense are you spouting?! I'm your biological mother, your sister's biological mother! How dare you use such words to describe me?!"

She whirled around, glaring fiercely at Chen Chu like a lioness whose tail had been stepped on: "Chen Chu! What exactly did you say to him?! Is this how you incite your son to hate his own mother?!"

Chen Chu shrugged innocently, his tone extremely flat: "What can I say? Do you think your son, with his current level of independent thinking, needs me to teach him how to view you? Don't you have any idea what you've done?"

Chu Qiuyue was driven to the brink of madness by the father and son's attitude. She looked at Chen Ziran again, her eyes reddening, her voice tinged with grievance and despair: "Chen Ziran, am I really that bad in your heart? So bad that you think I would harm my sister if I took her out to play for a day?"

Chen Ziran remained silent for a moment. He looked at the emotionally agitated woman in front of him, his eyes still frighteningly clear.

"You're not bad." Chen Ziran shook his head, his tone surprisingly calm, yet every word was piercing. "You are... well, anyway, I don't believe you. I don't doubt that you intentionally wanted to harm your sister; I even believe you genuinely wanted to be good to her. But I don't believe you have the 'ability' to be good to her."

Chu Qiuyue laughed angrily, tears welling in her eyes: "What kind of nonsense is this? Are you implying that I don't even know how to love a child? Am I an idiot?!"

"Not entirely." Chen Ziran analyzed with extreme objectivity, as if dissecting a completely unrelated case. "No matter what, you're still my mother. To get to where you are today, your IQ must be quite high. But your biggest problem is that your 'goodness' towards your sister isn't what she truly needs!"

Chen Ziran's tone turned sharp: "You are an extremely arrogant and self-centered person! You always like to force what you think is 'good' onto others without considering their feelings, all under the guise of 'for your own good.' You never care what others think, whether they want it or not, or whether they can handle it! Just like how you forced me to attend those tutoring classes that I had absolutely no interest in!"

He took a deep breath and stared intently at Chu Qiuyue: "Now that you've tormented my sister to the point where she can't say a word, how can I entrust her to you alone? So I have to go. I need to supervise you and prevent you from using your 'goodness' to destroy her last bit of security again."

"Chen Ziran!" Chu Qiuyue trembled with rage, pointing her finger at Chen Ziran's nose and shouting, "Is this how you talk to your mother?! Where is your upbringing? Have you lost your conscience?!"

"I'm just fulfilling my responsibility as an older brother; I want to protect my sister!" Chen Ziran met her gaze without backing down. "Is that wrong?!"

"I absolutely disagree with you going with us!" Chu Qiuyue completely lost her temper, issuing orders like a dictator. "I'm taking my daughter out for the weekend, not to be subjected to your labor camp supervision! I am Nannan's mother, I have the obligation and the absolute right to take care of her and treat her well, not to be treated like a thief and monitored by my own son!"

"You disagree?" Chen Ziran sneered. "What makes you think you disagree?"

"Just because I'm her mother! Isn't that enough?!" Chu Qiuyue roared hysterically.

"Who gave you the misconception that the title of 'mother' allows you to disregard your daughter's own thoughts?" Chen Ziran pressed on.

"Can you speak for Nannan's thoughts?!" Chu Qiuyue retorted sarcastically.

"I can't fully represent her." Chen Ziran pulled Chen Xiayu behind him, his eyes sharp as knives. "But at least, I understand what she wants better than you, and I'm more qualified than you to stand here and represent her!"

A heated argument broke out between the two in the entryway, and the atmosphere reached a freezing point. No matter what Chen Ziran said, Chu Qiuyue stubbornly refused to budge and resolutely forbade Chen Ziran from following her.

Ultimately, the argument ended in an extremely awkward and unpleasant manner.

With red eyes and a cold face, Chu Qiuyue grabbed the silent Chen Xiayu and, as if in a fit of pique, completely ignored Chen Ziran beside her. Without even saying hello, she opened the door and walked out.

Chen Ziran was so angry that his face turned ashen. He wanted to chase after her, but Chen Chu held his shoulder down.

"Alright." Chen Chu shook his head. "The more you do this, the more she'll take her anger out on the children. I'll go see them off."

Chen Chu patted his son on the shoulder, changed his shoes, and followed Chu Qiuyue out.

In the hallway, motion-sensor lights emitted a dim, yellowish glow.

Chu Qiuyue led Chen Xiayu to the elevator and pressed the down button. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned around and looked at Chen Chu, who had followed her out.

At this moment, Chu Qiuyue's arrogance and anger when she faced Chen Ziran in the room had completely vanished. In its place was a chilling, mournful expression, as if she had suffered a great injustice.

She looked at Chen Chu, tears streaming down her face, her voice filled with a sickly pleading: "Chen Chu, are you satisfied now? Are you really going to take everything away from me, bit by bit?"

He looked at the woman, her face streaked with tears, as if she were playing the lead role in a melodramatic soap opera, and felt a sense of absurdity. He stopped, his brow furrowed, his eyes filled with incomprehensible speechlessness: "What's wrong with you? What do you mean by telling me to take your things away? What exactly do you mean?"

"Isn't that right?!" Chu Qiuyue's voice suddenly turned shrill. She pointed towards the house, tears streaming down her face. "Chen Ziran now treats me like an enemy, he won't even call me 'Mom.' Isn't that what you've been instigating behind the scenes? Now, Nannan is my only hope, my only solace in this life! Are you going to take her away too? You won't even talk to her! Can't you leave me a child? How can you be so heartless, so vicious?!"

Chen Chu stared at her perfectly natural victim-like demeanor and remained silent for a full ten seconds.

"Chu Qiuyue." Chen Chu took a deep breath, his tone icy cold, devoid of any warmth. "Are you delusional? Didn't you cause all of this yourself?"

"Yes! It was my choice!" Chu Qiuyue retorted sharply, as if her sore spot had been hit, her eyes twisted with madness. "But wasn't I forced into this choice by you?!"

A question mark slowly appeared on Chen Chu's forehead: "I forced you?"

"Yes! You forced me into this!" Chu Qiuyue seemed to have found an outlet, unleashing all the frustrations of the past few months onto Chen Chu. "If you were even slightly useful, if you could earn money and have status, would I have been forced into this state? Would I have fallen to the point where even my own son doesn't want me?!"

Chen Chu: "???"

He had heard countless absurd excuses in his life, but Chu Qiuyue's words still left him feeling suffocated by disbelief.

"No..." Chen Chu couldn't hold back any longer and interrupted her spellcasting. "What do you mean if I'm of any use? Your father's company went bankrupt due to poor management and he's drowning in debt. That's his own business failure! It's not my fault. I'm just a wage earner, what am I supposed to do?"

"You're utterly useless!" Chu Qiuyue wouldn't listen to any rational rebuttal. She roared defiantly, "If you were even a little more capable! If you were even a little more hardworking! When my family was in trouble back then, would I, a woman, have needed to go around smiling and keeping up the mess? If it weren't for paying off debts, would I have left this family? Ultimately, it's because of your incompetence that you ruined our lives and our family!"