Chapter 170: Not Telling Mom [First Installment]

After finishing the recording of the show, Yu Zhi-le wasted no time and left the television station.

Securing a successful challenge victory as the first-place finisher was pretty much within his expectations.

However, apart from enjoying the stage, the process lacked novelty and excitement. It simply didn't match the heavy anticipation and exhilarating thrill he had experienced back when he participated in "The Masked Singer"!

Still, overall, this challenger's journey had been quite a pleasant way to pass the time and adjust his mood.

Thus, feeling quite satisfied, he drove toward the kindergarten to pick up his daughter.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, when he arrived at the kindergarten entrance, quite a few parents were already waiting to pick up their children.

Yu Zhi-le parked his car and walked over to join the wait.

A relatively young female parent recognized him and exclaimed excitedly, "Yu Zhi-le? Ah! Is it really you?"

Yu Zhi-le smiled and said, "It's me."

This was hardly the first parent to recognize him; on their very first day dropping the little one off at kindergarten, quite a few parents had already recognized the celebrity couple.

The female parent said happily, "Your daughter doesn't go to kindergarten here too, does she?"

Yu Zhi-le nodded. "That's right."

The female parent beamed, "When I watched 'Where Are We Going, Dad?', I was a super fan of your little one! She was so smart and well-behaved even before turning two, unlike my daughter, who is a year older and still so mischievous!"

Yu Zhi-le said with a hint of pride, "Actually, she's not always that well-behaved. When we dropped her off here last week, she cried until her eyes were completely swollen."

The other person replied, "That's normal. When my daughter started kindergarten last year, she cried terribly too, and kept crying for almost a whole week before she got used to it."

Yu Zhi-le proudly boasted, "Well, my daughter had it a bit better. She only cried for a day, stopped the very next day, and now whenever we drop her off at kindergarten, she skips and bounces right in!"

"Your daughter is truly well-behaved!"

The female parent looked extremely envious, then pleaded, "May I take a photo with you?"

Yu Zhi-le said casually, "Sure."

By this time, the parents who didn't know Yu Zhi-le and the elderly grandparents waiting to pick up their grandchildren looked over curiously, wondering who this man could be. From the sound of their conversation, he seemed like some sort of celebrity.

An overweight middle-aged woman asked doubtfully, "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before!"

Yu Zhi-le chuckled awkwardly, "Must have been on TV, right? Do you frequently see that commercial for Baby Jing-Shui?"

"Oh! Right! That's the exact commercial!"

The plump woman began to sing, "'Wash, wash, wash the bath!' My son learned to sing this song the moment he saw the commercial on television, so I bought him that body wash—it actually smells quite nice!"

At this moment, the woman who had taken a photo with Yu Zhi-le chimed in to introduce him, "Not just that! 'Two Tigers', 'Little Rabbit Be Good', 'Counting Ducks', and all those other nursery rhymes were created by him! There are also numerous fables and fairy tales in kindergarten and primary school textbooks written by him! He is the author known as Zi Fei Yu!"

As soon as she said this, the parents gathered at the entrance were utterly stunned!

They never expected that such an impressive and brilliant figure would turn out to be such a young and handsome man!

An elderly gentleman praised, "Young man, you're amazing! I had no idea the nursery rhymes my granddaughter learned were all your creations. That 'Little Rabbit Be Good' of yours is truly educational!

My old partner used that nursery rhyme and story to teach my granddaughter never to open the door for strangers! We even specifically tested her; once she learned to sing that song, when a stranger told her to open the door, she really didn't do it. It was simply brilliant!"

"Thank you."

Yu Zhi-le felt a sense of gratification. Knowing that these nursery rhymes and stories could help parents and educate children brought him genuine peace of mind.

At that moment, the woman continued enthusiastically, "And there's the story of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'—he wrote that too! I told my daughter that story not long ago to teach her that she mustn't lie! By the way, everyone can go to the bookstore or online to buy his children's books and tell these stories to your kids at home. They are truly educational!"

Yu Zhi-le smiled awkwardly, wondering why this woman sounded so much like a paid plant.

Anyone unaware of the situation might think he had hired someone to promote himself!

Yet, precisely because of her remarks, the other parents finally realized what an extraordinary presence Yu Zhi-le was, and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "So Zi Fei Yu is you! I actually bought that children's storybook of yours! I've told every single story to my son, and we're just waiting for you to release a new book!"

Yu Zhi-le never imagined that coming to the kindergarten to pick up his daughter would result in getting badgered for book updates by a group of parents!

Fortunately, these weren't web novel readers; otherwise, it wouldn't just be urging him to write faster—they'd probably be sending him literal razor blades!

He cleared his throat and said, "As for a new book, I need to accumulate enough stories first, so it will probably take another two or three months before it gets published."

At this point, the enthusiastic female fan chimed in again, "You all might not know this! Teacher Yu's nursery rhymes and books sell exceptionally well! These works could have easily brought him tens of millions or even over a hundred million in profits, but he donated all the money earned from these creations to establish a children's education fund!"

"Remarkable!"

The elderly gentleman gave a thumbs-up and declared, "This is the kind of celebrity worth looking up to! Unlike those stars on TV who only know how to corrupt children!"

The female fan proudly added, "Grandpa, he's a celebrity singer too! Aside from his wildly popular nursery rhymes, he has plenty of hit pop songs as well! But you're right—other celebrities only know how to corrupt kids, and despite earning so much money, you never see them make any contribution to society!"

Yu Zhi-le felt somewhat flattered and embarrassed by the praise. He waved his hand and said, "These are just trivial matters. My wife is kind-hearted, so within our modest capabilities, we simply wanted to do a little good deed to accumulate some blessings."

The female fan immediately agreed, "Right! And his wife is Qin Hai-Yu, my absolute favorite female singer! What a wonderful couple they are! If any of you haven't watched the first season of 'Where Are We Going, Dad?', you should really watch it with your children when you get home. It's a show with profound educational value for kids!"

Yu Zhi-le felt a sudden wave of emotion.

Perhaps this was what people called a true die-hard fan?

To anyone out of the loop, it really did look like he had hired her as a plant!

Just then, a joyful voice rang out.

"Daddy!"

Sporting a pink little backpack, the little one came running over in high spirits, calling out to her father on the other side of the iron gate.

A female teacher opened the gate and gently guided the little girl forward with her right hand. Yu Zhi-le thanked the teacher, nodded slightly to the crowd, and then took his daughter's tiny hand, asking as they walked, "Was our little one a good girl in class today?"

"Yes!"

The little girl replied with a skip and a hop.

Yu Zhi-le asked, "Then what did the teacher teach you today?"

The little girl answered, "The teacher taught us how to write, and I can write numbers from 1 to 10!"

"Wonderful!"

Yu Zhi-le scooped his daughter up into his arms and said, "Seeing as our little one has been such a good girl, Daddy will make an exception today and buy you milk tea!"

"Yay!"

The little one cheered happily.

Yu Zhi-le whispered conspiratorially, "This is our little secret, okay? You mustn't let Mommy find out, otherwise Mommy will scold Daddy, and you won't get to drink it in the future!"

The little girl nodded vigorously and whispered back in a tiny voice, "I won't tell Mommy!"

"Pinky swear!"

"Pinky swear!"

After sealing the promise with his little darling, Yu Zhi-le smiled and asked, "Then shouldn't the little one give Daddy a kiss?"

"Muah~"

"This side too!"

"Muah~"

"Hehe, what a good girl. Let's go!"

Carrying the little munchkin, Yu Zhi-le walked over to his car, placed her in the passenger seat, and fastened her seatbelt. Finally, he started the engine and drove off toward the bubble tea shop.