Chapter 5

Finally, Ji Ruochu's first birthday arrived, and the Ji family was exceptionally lively, with Ji Mochen's parents, Ling Chujin's parents, and some relatives and friends.

In short, little Ji Ruochu, who could barely walk while holding Ling Chujin's finger, once again stood in the center of the stage.

Of course, she wasn't performing this time. What she had to do was...grab the soy sauce bottle.

Yes, grab the soy sauce bottle.

Sitting on the thick soft carpet and looking at the dense toys around her, Ji Ruochu felt her eyes were going to pop out.

This game involves the family members selecting some auspicious items for the child to randomly grab. The first item the child grabs is believed to indicate what kind of personality or career the child will have in the future.

Of course, for Ji Mochen and his wife, whatever career their daughter chose would be fine, as long as she was happy.

However, this custom was still unavoidable, so the couple had prepared handkerchiefs, green onions, books, abacuses, rulers, money, pens and seals.

These were commonly used items for this game, but relatives and friends of both families brought even more outrageous ones.

For example, Ji Mochen’s sister from the jewelry industry brought a 10-carat blue diamond, while his uncle from finance brought a stock equity gift letter, and even his politically involved uncle brought a party membership booklet!

In short, when little Ji Ruochu was placed in the center, the poor thing was dumbfounded by all the items. Her confused baby cuteness made all the relatives and friends want to go up and squeeze her cheeks.

"Ruo Ruo, pick anything you like," Ling Chujin said with a smile as she touched her daughter's forehead. Seeing everyone staring at her intently, Ji Ruochu sucked her thumb, tilted her little head and thought for a bit. Then, under everyone's gaze, she first crawled towards the microphone that Ji Mochen had sneakily placed there.

In that instant, Ji Mochen's eyes lit up. I knew it! How could his daughter not take after him? Wasn't she getting ready to take over his mantle and become the future queen of the entertainment industry?

At that moment, Ji Mochen even began thinking about how to pave the way for his daughter, when to give her vocal training, and when to help her—

Thump.

In the midst of his fantasies, Ji Ruochu decisively slapped the custom microphone onto the floor.

Ji Mochen: ??

Ji Ruochu, turning to crawl in a different direction: No way am I becoming a singer or dancer. I don't want to be worked to death.

Seeing this, many entertainment industry friends couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Meanwhile, Ji Ruochu was already crawling towards her next target, a folder that her uncle had brought, which supposedly contained 1% of his company's shares.

That tiny 1% may not seem like much, but the market value was actually pretty high.

As the little one picked up the share transfer document, everyone's hearts tightened, could it be—

"Ah!"

Before their eyes, the little one stumbled and slapped the documents into the still gloomily shocked Ji Mochen's arms.

Ji Mochen: ???

"Ah!" Take good care of this. I'll come get it when I grow up.

Then, without even glancing back, Ji Ruochu crawled towards the other gifts, leaving everyone to watch as she sorted through all the invaluable items as if they were worthless junk. In the end, after much rummaging, Ji Ruochu fixed her hands on—

"Hmm?" The Ji elders' eyes lit up, "Wow, so our little one wants to study?"

That's right, Ji Ruochu had directly grabbed the only book in the pile, a copy of Tian Qing that had been pressed to the bottom.

"Aiyo, could our little girl be a future female top scorer in the imperial exam?" The Ling elders were also overjoyed.

Seeing this, everyone present couldn't help but reveal smiles, except for Ling Chujin...who felt a little guilty.

Because that copy of Tian Qing was actually a very popular romance novel that was going to be adapted into a TV series soon. She had specially bought it back to collect.

And so, Ji Ruochu's ritual ended, with both families delighted at the prospect of their little one growing up to be a lover of books.

As she looked at the prideful faces around her, Ling Chujin could only silently hide the truth.

That night after coaxing their daughter to sleep, the couple lay in bed chatting. Ji Mochen still felt puzzled:

"Dear, do you think our Ruo Ruo might really grow up to be a studious scholar?"

The guilty Ling Chujin replied: "Well...maybe? The two of us may not have graduated from top universities, but we did get into prestigious ones through our own ability. Ruo Ruo definitely won't be worse than us."

Even if she doesn't do exceptionally well, getting into their alma maters shouldn't be too difficult...right?

[Bonus Skit]

Ji elders & Ling elders: Heavens! Our girl might become a female top scorer! Our Ruo Ruo is sure to grow up loving books!

Ji Mochen: ?? We have those genes in our family?

Ling Chujin: ...I'll hide the book later. As long as I don't say anything, no one will know it's actually a popular novel that's being adapted into a show.

Ji Ruochu: What a great story this is. Too bad I didn't make it to the end in my past life, otherwise the female lead surely would've been mine!