The room was silent, especially on the other end of the phone where Ren's mother was even more so.
Initially worried about her son suddenly transferring such a large sum of money, she had immediately called to inquire.
To her utter surprise, she heard what seemed to be a little girl calling her son 'Daddy!'
Ren's mother was both thrilled and angry.
Thrilled to be a grandmother, but furious that her son had gotten married without telling her! In her generation, not informing one's parents about marriage was enough to make her chase him around the yard with a feather duster.
"Spill it! What's going on!" Ren's mother's tone was furious.
If she could crawl through the phone, she would have already gone to bash Ren's head in!
"Well... my daughter, your granddaughter," Ren decided it was best to be honest.
The situation being as it was, there was no continuing to hide it.
"When did this happen?" she asked sharply.
The child was already calling someone 'Daddy' fluently, clearly not a newborn. She must be three to five years old at least?
So, had this scoundrel gotten married right after graduating from university without telling her?
But that didn't make sense. The household registration book was at home. How could he have gotten married?
"About five years ago..." Ren said softly, glancing at his daughter. "Go play, baby. Daddy needs to speak with Grandma."
"Grandma?" Yueyue blinked her large eyes and then suddenly clung to Ren, tugging at his clothes: "Yueyue wants to see Grandma! I want to video call with Grandma!"
For Yueyue, she was curious about what her grandmother looked like. She had always heard her friends talk about their own grandparents.
Yet she hadn't even met her father until recently!
Ren's mother, still fuming, melted a bit when she heard Yueyue's milky voice crying out to see her grandmother.
Which grandparent wouldn't look forward to their children settling down or to cuddling their grandchildren?
However, being sweet to her granddaughter didn't mean she was soft on her scoundrel son.
"Give your phone to my granddaughter! I want to talk to her!" she demanded.
It was all his fault she hadn't enjoyed the pleasures of being with her granddaughter! Thank goodness her husband wasn't around, or he would've blasted this scoundrel too.
"Okay," Ren sighed, handing the phone to Yueyue.
Yueyue, beaming, took the phone and sweetly called out, "Grandma~~~"
"Ah!" Although Ren's mother couldn't see what Yueyue looked like, she could imagine a cute little girl holding the phone.
At that moment, she regretted not having a smartphone like her husband, which she remembered might have a video call function.
But hearing Yueyue's voice was still wonderful. "You're called Yueyue, what a lovely name. Do Mommy and Daddy treat you well? If anyone bullies you, you must tell Grandma."
Upon hearing this, Yueyue's lips pouted immediately: "Grandma, Grandma, let me tell you! Daddy ran away from home for several years and only came back recently. Yueyue missed him so much!"
"And Daddy is so naughty! He always messes up Yueyue's hair and pinches my cheeks until they're round. He even steals my snacks..."
Hearing this, Ren's eyes widened in shock, and he quickly tried to take the phone back.
However, Yueyue was quicker and screamed, "Grandma!! Daddy's taking my phone!!"
"Scoundrel!"
With that shout from the other end of the phone, Ren immediately clammed up.
Seeing this, Yueyue's eyes sparkled.
She felt her moment had come! From now on, if Daddy dared to steal her snacks, she would tell Grandma!
"Humph~~" Seeing Ren's sheepish look, Yueyue's face lit up with joy, and she stuck out her tongue and blinked mischievously at him.
Watching Yueyue's antics, Ren was irked.
But what could he do? The hierarchy at home was clear: Mom > Dad > Himself. Even his own father was afraid of his mom, let alone him.
However, he decided once Yueyue hung up, he'd teach her a lesson by eating all her snacks right in front of her, to teach her the harshness of the real world.
Unaware of Ren's thoughts, Yueyue, seeing that he hadn't approached, became even more cheerful and confidently sat in a chair, her little feet swinging as she chattered away.
Every so often, she made Ren's mother laugh.
After a while, Ren's mother's voice
came through the phone: "Alright, Yueyue, Grandma needs to speak with your daddy. You can go now, and I'll make sure your daddy doesn't bully you anymore."
"Really?" Yueyue was initially delighted but glanced at Ren with a trace of concern, then whispered, "Grandma, don't scold Daddy all the time. He's actually quite pitiful. Mommy is very fierce, and Daddy often sleeps on the floor."
"Ah-choo!" Jada, sitting in the living room, sneezed suddenly, looked around, and rubbed her nose: "Who's talking bad about me?"
"Alright, Grandma understands."
Relieved by her grandmother's response, Yueyue hopped off the chair, handed the phone back to Ren, and quickly scampered away, as if afraid he'd keep her there.
"Hello, Mom?" Ren glared at Yueyue and reluctantly picked up the phone.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on?" His mother's voice came through, filled with suspicion. "Did you and Yueyue's mother have a child out of wedlock? And you two still haven't settled things?"
"Huh? Mom?" Ren was startled by her words.
How did his mother know all this?
"Heh." His mother scoffed, "You don't have a marriage certificate, you only met Yueyue recently, and she said you always sleep on the floor. It's just like that TV drama I watched recently."
"There's only one truth! That is, you didn't even know you had a daughter before this!"
Great, his mother had turned into Detective Hao Mom.
So Ren could only hum in response.
"Is that so?" After hearing Ren's response, his mother seemed to understand and then said, "Then tell me some things about that girl."
"It's like this..."
After a moment, having heard all about Jada, Ren's mother couldn't help but exclaim, "A flower stuck in cow dung."
"No, Mom, I think Jada is quite nice. Why call someone cow dung?" Ren protested.
"Heh, I'm calling you cow dung," his mother retorted, rolling her eyes. "She's a company boss, good-looking, and she had a child with you? Our family must be blessed."
"Wait, Mom, am I really your son?"
Ren's eyes widened. Did having a wife make him forget his son?
When did he become cow dung? Was cow dung ever this handsome?
"Picked up!" His mother replied without hesitation. "Bring your wife home sometime soon! I need to talk to her. You already have a child and haven't made her your wife yet, it's shameful! Such a nice girl, with plenty of suitors. If someone else sweeps her off her feet, you'll be too late even if you cry!"
Ren opened his mouth, recalling a previous incident with Warren, and was speechless for a long time.
...
"Meet your parents?" Jada pointed at herself, incredulous at the returning Ren.
"Yeah." Ren scratched his head awkwardly.
Originally, he had planned to pursue Jada before introducing her to his parents.
But his little traitor of a daughter had sold him out during the phone call.
There's a traitor among us!
Thinking this, Ren flicked Yueyue's head with his finger.
"This girl sold me out. No choice, we'll have to visit my hometown soon."
No sooner had he spoken than Yueyue began punching his stomach with her tiny fists, her tone urgent: "No way! Yueyue is not a human trafficker!"
Though Yueyue was clever and quirky, her understanding of some things was still limited.
In her mind, selling people meant being a trafficker, and she didn't want to be taken away by the police!
(>﹏<.)
The more Yueyue thought about it, the more urgent she felt, her little eyes turning red.
"Right, right, Yueyue isn't a trafficker." Seeing this, Ren quickly picked her up, soothing her by patting her back, then turned to Jada: "So... are we going?"
Jada's expression held a hint of hesitation.
It was one thing to pretend in front of others, and they hadn't done it often. She usually worked at the office while Ren was a complete homebody.
But meeting parents was different.
It was no lie to say she felt an attraction to Ren. He was handsome, and from their recent interactions, quite gentle and good-natured. He had even helped resolve some company issues, and they had a child together.
All of these were pluses, but ultimately, they hadn't been together long—a little over a month could be considered a whirlwind romance.
"..." After a moment's hesitation,
Jada nodded in agreement.
There was no helping it now; it was all out in the open.
But...
"I'll go, but you have to tell me, what kind of new work are you talking about?"
"A culinary type."
"Culinary?"
Hearing Ren's words, Jada instinctively furrowed her brow.
To be honest, it was quite niche.
While there were indeed culinary manga in this world, they didn't sell very well.
"Why not continue with the youth romance manga? Take advantage of the popularity of 'Your Name' while it's still hot."
Of course, because the system didn't provide that manga.
Although he could recall some plots from his past life and could draw some of the characters, those things weren't enough to form a complete story.
Of course, Ren wouldn't say this.
"I want to try something new." Ren said matter-of-factly, "I'm not relying on this to make a living, so I might as well draw whatever I want. If it doesn't work out, you can just cancel the manga."
"Alright then." Jada looked at Ren's confident demeanor, and somehow felt confident in him, nodding in agreement.
After all, being able to handle a story like 'Your Name' with such style, the quality certainly wouldn't be low.
Jada reassured herself internally but then asked, "Do you need any assistants?"
She was concerned Ren might overwork himself drawing manga and taking care of their child.
"No need." Ren waved his hand.
For him, drawing manga was just a side job. He was only drawing again because the neighbor Wang had tried to poach him, and on top of that, had bullied his future wife!
"That's fine then." Jada nodded and didn't press further.
But she planned to keep a closer eye on him, lest he suddenly keel over.
"Since that's the case, I'll push back the release date of the 'Your Name' volume and wait until your new work is ready. It'll make a better promotional impact that way."
By then, she could leverage the heat from the 'Your Name' volume to launch Ren's new work, a perfect cross-promotion strategy.
...
Time flew by, and the day when Warren would release his new work was fast approaching.
Ren also handed his new work over to Jada: "Here, the manga is done."
Looking at the thick stack of papers, Jada took them.
She was inevitably curious about the quality of this work.
After all, culinary manga and youth romance manga were quite different genres.
She wondered how Ren's transformation would turn out.
With a touch of expectation, Jada looked at Ren's new work—'Cooking Master Boy.'
The title itself didn't reveal much.
Just like in his past life, this world also had names like Zhongyuan, Zhonghua, and Huaxia for China.
Initially, Ren wanted to continue using 'Chūka Ichiban!' but later thought the term might be too obscure, so he switched to the title from his previous life, 'Cooking Master Boy,' which was simple and easy to understand.
Jada opened the manga and started reading panel by panel.
As she read, she couldn't help but feel impressed.
Like his previous works, the layout was clean and powerful, looking almost like an artwork at first glance.
However, now wasn't the time to marvel at Ren's artistic skills; it was the story that mattered.
Mangaka always needed to win with their story.
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