Breakfast was already on the table.

Lu Jingheng had made congee, steamed egg, pan-fried vegetable cakes, fruit cut into small pieces for the children, and warm milk prepared at three different temperatures. One was for Shen Qingyu, one was for the twins, and one formula bottle was for Xiao Chen.

The twins were already seated. Xiao Heng sat upright with a small tablet beside his bowl, studying the schedule sent by the production team. Xiao Nian sat beside him, apparently obedient, though his spoon had already pushed all visible carrot pieces to the edge of his plate.

Xiao Chen sat in his baby chair, wearing a bib printed with small clouds. The moment he saw Shen Qingyu, his eyes lit up.

“Da!”

He reached both arms forward.

Shen Qingyu walked over and bent down to kiss his forehead. “Good morning, Xiao Chen.”

Xiao Chen grabbed his sleeve and refused to let go.

Lu Jingheng said, “He already ate.”

Xiao Chen made a small sound of protest.

Xiao Heng looked up from the schedule. “Xiao Chen’s protest does not concern hunger. It concerns Dad’s absence.”

Xiao Nian nodded while trying to hide another carrot piece beneath a slice of egg. “Xiao Chen believes Dad leaving his sight is unreasonable.”

Shen Qingyu sat down beside the baby chair and let Xiao Chen hold one finger. Xiao Chen immediately became satisfied, then resumed eating with the solemn expression of a baby who had successfully restored order to the world.

Lu Jingheng placed Shen Qingyu’s milk beside him. “Drink.”

Shen Qingyu looked at him. “Is this an order?”

“A reminder.”

“Your reminders sound like orders.”

Lu Jingheng thought seriously for a second. “Please drink.”

Xiao Nian looked up. “Father’s emotional vocabulary upgraded.”

Xiao Heng added, “Progress is small but observable.”

Lu Jingheng looked at his sons.

Xiao Heng lowered his eyes and returned to the schedule, while Xiao Nian smiled sweetly and finally pushed the carrot piece completely under the egg.

Shen Qingyu saw it. “Lu Yinian.”

Xiao Nian froze.

Shen Qingyu held his milk cup and looked at him calmly. “What are you doing?”

Xiao Nian blinked. “Improving the visual arrangement of breakfast.”

Xiao Heng said without raising his head, “He is hiding carrots.”

Xiao Nian turned to him immediately. “Brother, family members should not betray each other.”

“I support nutritional truth.”

“You only support truth when it does not concern your disliked mushrooms.”

Xiao Heng’s spoon paused.

Shen Qingyu looked at him.

Xiao Heng silently moved a mushroom from the edge of his bowl back into the congee.

Shen Qingyu smiled faintly. “Very good. Both of you, eat.”

Xiao Nian sighed. “Dad, can we discuss carrots?”

“No.”

“Can we negotiate the quantity?”

“One more piece.”

“Half.”

“One and a half.”

Xiao Nian froze, as if he had finally realised he had somehow negotiated upward.

Xiao Heng looked at him. “Your strategy failed.”

Xiao Nian picked up the carrot with grief. “I underestimated Dad.”

Shen Qingyu took a sip of milk. The sweetness was exactly right.

Lu Jingheng’s gaze rested on him for a moment. “Too sweet?”

“No.”

“Temperature?”

“Right.”

Lu Jingheng nodded, and only then did he sit down.

This was how breakfast usually looked in the Lu family. There was no gloom, no neglected children, no cold wealthy husband throwing cheques across the table, and no Omega father sitting silently like a decorative vase. There was only warm food, low voices, children bargaining badly, a baby gripping Shen Qingyu’s finger, and Lu Jingheng quietly watching everyone eat before touching his own chopsticks.

The internet had imagined many versions of Shen Qingyu’s home. None of them looked like this.

After breakfast, Lu Jingheng took out a neatly printed schedule.

Shen Qingyu glanced at it, then at Xiao Heng’s tablet, then at Lu Jingheng.

“Why do both of you have the schedule?”

Lu Jingheng said, “For preparation.”

Xiao Heng said, “For analysis.”

Xiao Nian raised his spoon. “For finding loopholes.”

Shen Qingyu looked at him.

Xiao Nian corrected himself immediately. “For understanding rules.”

Lu Jingheng opened the printed document. “The first filming location is Qinghe Village. Travel time: two hours and forty minutes. The production team requested arrival before two in the afternoon. The first livestream preview begins at three. Full filming starts tomorrow morning.”

Xiao Heng nodded. “Efficient.”

Lu Jingheng continued, “Accommodation is arranged by the production team. Basic supplies are provided, but child-specific items should be brought separately.”

Xiao Heng looked at his tablet. “The village average temperature is eighteen degrees during the day and eleven degrees at night. Rain probability thirty percent.”

Lu Jingheng nodded. “I packed coats.”

Shen Qingyu’s eyelid twitched. “How many?”

Lu Jingheng said, “Enough.”

That word was dangerous.

Shen Qingyu turned to the butler, who happened to pass by. “Uncle Chen, how many suitcases?”

The butler smiled with deep professionalism. “Sir prepared three large suitcases, two children’s suitcases, one baby supply case, and one medical case.”

Shen Qingyu slowly turned back. “Lu Jingheng.”

Lu Jingheng’s expression did not change. “Necessary.”

Xiao Heng looked at the list on his tablet. “According to the duration, this exceeds necessary preparation.”

Xiao Nian’s eyes brightened. He loved this kind of moment.

“Brother, what is it called when preparation exceeds the rational range?”

Xiao Heng answered, “Anxiety.”

Lu Jingheng said, “Preparation.”

Xiao Heng looked at him. “Preparation caused by anxiety.”

Xiao Nian nodded with satisfaction. “I agree with Brother.”

Lu Jingheng’s gaze moved to him.

Xiao Nian smiled sweetly. “Father, I support facts.”

Shen Qingyu laughed.

Lu Jingheng looked at the three of them, then calmly added another item to the list.

“Extra children’s cold medicine.”

Shen Qingyu said, “You are proving their point.”

Lu Jingheng replied, “That does not make the medicine unnecessary.”

Xiao Heng nodded reluctantly. “Correct. Anxiety may produce useful outcomes.”

Xiao Nian leaned toward Shen Qingyu and whispered loudly, “Dad, Father won by technicality.”

Shen Qingyu also whispered loudly, “Noted.”

Lu Jingheng heard every word. He still packed the medicine.

The packing scene lasted two hours. More accurately, Shen Qingyu tried to reduce the luggage for two hours, while Lu Jingheng resisted with the calm determination of a man negotiating a billion-yuan acquisition.

“This coat is too thick,” Shen Qingyu said.

“The village temperature drops at night.”

“There are already two other coats.”

“Different thickness.”

“Lu Jingheng, we are filming a variety show, not relocating.”

Lu Jingheng folded the coat neatly. “Children get cold easily.”

Xiao Heng, sitting beside the suitcase with a checklist, said, “Objectively, Father is correct.”

Shen Qingyu looked at him.

Xiao Heng added, “But the quantity remains excessive.”

Lu Jingheng looked at his eldest son.

Xiao Heng lowered his head and ticked another item, refusing to withdraw the conclusion.

Meanwhile, Xiao Nian had opened the snack bag. Inside were rice crackers, fruit puree, small biscuits, dried fruit, milk powder, emergency glucose tablets, and several sealed boxes of Shen Qingyu’s preferred tea snacks.

Xiao Nian looked impressed. “Father, did you pack snacks for three days or prepare to open a shop?”

Lu Jingheng said, “In case you get hungry.”

Xiao Nian asked innocently, “Can hunger be prevented with chocolate?”

“No.”

“Can emotional hunger be prevented with chocolate?”

Shen Qingyu, who had been checking Xiao Chen’s baby clothes, paused.

Lu Jingheng looked at Xiao Nian. “Define emotional hunger.”

Xiao Nian sighed softly. “Father, your weakness is too obvious.”

Xiao Heng said, “He is attempting to obtain chocolate through vague terminology.”

Lu Jingheng said, “Rejected.”

Xiao Nian looked at Shen Qingyu.

Shen Qingyu did not raise his head. “Also rejected.”

Xiao Nian covered his chest. “Dad and Father are united today.”

Xiao Heng said, “You should have chosen a more precise argument.”

Xiao Nian turned to him. “Then you help me.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“I do not need chocolate.”

Xiao Nian said seriously, “Brother, this is why you cannot become a successful villain.”

Xiao Heng replied calmly, “I do not intend to become one.”

Xiao Nian smiled. “Then I will represent the family.”

Shen Qingyu finally looked up. “Lu Yinian.”

Xiao Nian immediately sat properly. “I am joking.”

Lu Jingheng asked, “Are you?”

Xiao Nian looked at him with clear eyes. “Father, children need imagination.”

Lu Jingheng stared at him for two seconds, then said, “No chocolate.”

Xiao Nian lowered his head. “Adults are difficult.”

Xiao Chen, sitting in the middle of the carpet, had no interest in adult difficulty. He had found one of Lu Jingheng’s neatly packed pairs of socks and was chewing the edge with great seriousness.

Shen Qingyu noticed first. “Xiao Chen.”

The baby looked up with his mouth still on the sock. He blinked.

The whole room froze.

Xiao Heng said, “Evidence is clear.”

Xiao Nian leaned closer. “Xiao Chen, if you let go now, Dad may reduce the punishment.”

Xiao Chen stared at him. Then he slowly removed the sock from his mouth and held it toward Shen Qingyu.

“Da.”

His expression was pure, soft, innocent, and completely different from his Alpha brothers, who both watched the scene as if observing a legal case.

Shen Qingyu accepted the damp sock with two fingers.

Lu Jingheng silently took it from him and placed it aside for washing.

Xiao Chen reached toward Shen Qingyu. “Da!”

Shen Qingyu picked him up. “You ate Father’s sock.”

Xiao Chen babbled happily.

Lu Jingheng said, “He did not eat it.”

Xiao Heng added, “Only tested texture.”

Xiao Nian nodded. “Xiao Chen’s research spirit is strong.”

Shen Qingyu looked at all three Alphas in the room, then at the soft Omega baby in his arms.

“You are all spoiling him.”

Lu Jingheng said, “He is one.”

Xiao Heng said, “His cognitive system is incomplete.”

Xiao Nian said, “Also, he is cute.”

Xiao Chen placed his small hand on Shen Qingyu’s cheek and smiled.

Shen Qingyu: “…”

Fine. The court ruled in Xiao Chen’s favour.

While the Lu family prepared for the trip with military-level precision and occasional carrot-related crime, the internet continued preparing for judgment.

By noon, several “preview analysis” posts had gone viral. One entertainment blogger wrote:

【Prediction: Shen Qingyu’s parenting-show comeback will fail within three episodes. Reasons:

1. His personality is too cold for family variety.
2. His children already seem sharp and aggressive from the school video.
3. His hidden marriage is suspicious. If the husband does not appear, the public will assume the marriage is fake or miserable.
4. If the husband appears and is old/ugly/cold, the public will laugh.
5. If the husband appears and is powerful, people will say Shen Qingyu used capital to wash his image.
6. Shen Jianing may also be connected to this show. If they meet, old grievances will explode.
   Conclusion: high traffic, high risk, likely crash.】

This post received over one hundred thousand likes, and the comment section became lively.

【Accurate. He can’t win no matter what.】
【He deserves it. Character matters.】
【His children are innocent, though.】
【Are they? Did you see how that little one tripped the classmate?】
【The classmate pushed first.】
【Still scary.】
【Honestly, the twins are more interesting than most celebrity kids already.】
【The cold one asking for evidence made me laugh.】
【The smiling one is terrifying.】
【If Shen Qingyu’s parenting is bad, we’ll see it tomorrow.】
【I already reserved the livestream. I’m going to watch him collapse.】

The phrase “watch him collapse” was reposted repeatedly. Some people used it mockingly, some used it with anticipation, and some used it uneasily, as if even they felt the cruelty but did not know how to step away from the crowd.

Fang Yao saw the posts and almost threw her tablet. She called Shen Qingyu immediately.

When the call connected, the background was noisy.

A child’s voice said, “Father, this suitcase is overweight.”

Another child said, “Can we remove carrots?”

Then Shen Qingyu’s voice sounded. “Teacher Fang.”

Fang Yao was silent for two seconds. “What are you doing?”

“Packing.”

“Are you packing children or a legal department?”

Shen Qingyu looked toward the hallway, where Lu Jingheng’s assistant was placing the medical case into the car.

“Both, perhaps.”

Fang Yao took a deep breath. “Have you seen the preview posts?”

“No.”

“Good. Don’t.”

“Are they bad?”

“They are predictable.”

Shen Qingyu smiled faintly. “Then let them predict.”

Fang Yao frowned. “Qingyu.”

“Teacher Fang, people have predicted my collapse many times.” His voice was calm. “This time, let them watch carefully.”

Fang Yao held the phone and suddenly could not speak.