Chapter 90
Stir-fried pork belly with garlic chives, stir-fried beef with green peppers, chicken stewed with mushrooms, stir-fried lamb with onions, shrimp with peas, and the grand combination of eggs, potatoes, and various meats…
A balanced mix of meat and vegetables, nutritionally sound. With the babies’ joint efforts, there were no bland rice bowls for dinner, not even vegetarian rice bowls.
Qin Sichao sat in the monitoring room, watching the babies devour their food on the screens. After working hard on two tasks in the afternoon, the babies were starving, each one eating with gusto. Especially… Qin Sichao’s gaze couldn’t help but drift towards the little chubby baby’s screen. Was that simple stir-fried rice with eggs, potatoes, and minced meat really that delicious? How long had her chubby face been buried in the bowl? Even the pig next to her looked up more often than her while eating, chubby baby, take a breath and then eat!
“Director Qin? Don’t you like the food in the lunchbox?” Shi Dingshan asked, tapping the coffee table between them with his finger.
“Mmm?” Qin Sichao glanced at the lunchbox in his hand. “Oh, it’s quite delicious. I saw in your group chat that the lunchboxes for your program are all made by villagers, with locally sourced ingredients, with different dishes every day. It’s indeed different from lunch.”
Your group chat…
Shi Dingshan rubbed his forehead. When Qin Sichao arrived this morning, he said he was just dropping off Jiang Heye, he would rest for a bit, then continue on to other places. But… after breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and now dinner, he still showed no signs of leaving. Wasn’t this “a bit” a bit too long?
And… It was one thing for him to watch the monitoring screens, but then he started catching up on the backstory through fan-made videos while watching. If it was just that, then… fine… It could be considered Qin Sichao’s recognition of the show’s appeal. But that wasn’t enough, later, Qin Sichao even joined the staff’s group chats, both big and small… Not only did he watch the live broadcast, he even read the gossip behind the scenes, he was more invested in this than he, the director, was.
“Director Qin, your food will get cold if you don’t eat.” Shi Dingshan said helplessly, glancing at Qin Sichao, who had just spoken to him a few words, then returned his full attention to the screen.
“Sigh.” Qin Sichao, snapping out of his trance, looked at the lunchbox in his hand and sighed. “Although this lunchbox is delicious, seeing the babies eating, my interest is all on their food…”
“That’s not a problem, we can ask the kitchen to make you a portion, they’re still preparing late-night snacks for the overtime workers, they haven’t finished yet.” Shi Dingshan said, finishing the last few bites of his lunchbox, taking out his phone, and was about to call someone.
“No, forget it.” Qin Sichao stopped Shi Dingshan. “The point of my earlier statement was the babies, not the lunchbox.”
Shi Dingshan chuckled. “What, the lunchbox isn’t enough for you, you want to eat the babies?”
“I’m being serious.” Qin Sichao put down his half-eaten lunchbox, turned to look at Shi Dingshan, and said seriously, “Your show doesn’t have a script, how did you manage to film this?”
“This what?” Shi Dingshan was also curious, after being engrossed in it for a whole day, what had he observed?
“The dads each have their own flaws, the babies are obedient, sensible, and united. It’s truly amazing.” Qin Sichao rubbed his hands, marveling. “Before inviting the families, did you do very thorough research? Not based on fame, wealth, or even the appearance fee, did you specifically choose families with hidden problems? I heard that you only decided to change it from pre-recorded to live broadcast a few days before filming started, did you foresee this situation? If it wasn’t live broadcast, the families would definitely try to pressure you during editing, the final product would be fragmented, all the brilliance and spontaneity we’re seeing now would be lost. Was all this in your plan?”
“Am I a god? Able to foresee and plan everything…” Shi Dingshan said, speechless, taking a sip of his tea. “The guests were invited based on a combination of fame, appearance fee, recommendations from the industry and the TV station, all the usual factors, we didn’t know it would be like this. If I could have predicted the situation these past few days, why would I even film ‘Where’s Baby Going’ Season 3, wouldn’t it be more fitting to film ‘Dad Transformation’?”
“Brilliant! Transformation! I know that show.” Qin Sichao looked at Shi Dingshan, his eyes shining. “I haven’t really paid attention to reality shows before, they’re so interesting! So besides the task arrangements, there’s no specific script given to them, they created this just by being themselves?”
Shi Dingshan nodded. “Mmm.”
Although he had some ulterior motives in arranging the filming content, he wouldn’t take the blame for everything.
“Then you’re also very lucky.” Qin Sichao said seriously. “Although the dads have some problems, the babies are all basically good.”
Shi Dingshan understood what Qin Sichao meant. The dads were adults, their problematic views and actions, broadcasted live, meant they had to be responsible for their own behavior. But if there were any major problems with the babies, broadcasting it live would be very troublesome, after all, they were still young, their values hadn’t fully formed, their current behavior might not represent their true intentions…
Thinking about this, Shi Dingshan felt he was indeed lucky. Otherwise, they might have had to black out the live broadcast to protect the children.
“That Director Wei, his name sounds familiar, did you mention him to me before?” Qin Sichao asked, looking at Wei Chengli, who was wiping the little chubby baby’s mouth on the screen.
“Maybe.” Shi Dingshan couldn’t remember, he had been busy with variety shows these past few years, Qin Sichao was often abroad, they had less contact, he might have mentioned him in passing.
“Children’s eyes are sharp. Among these dads, the ones the babies trust the most are him and CEO Shen. That’s good, not all the dads can have problems.” Qin Sichao mumbled to himself.
Shi Dingshan glanced at Qin Sichao, but didn’t say anything.
Besides his cooking skills, Wei Chengli should be fine. But Shen Jianghe…
Shi Dingshan thought about the request Shen Jianghe had made when he was invited to the show… Cancel the calls with the moms, don’t invite the moms to the show, and all other mom-related content. Among the invited families, only Shen Zilin’s mom had passed away, Shen Jianghe’s request, out of love for his son, was understandable.
But the program team not arranging such segments didn’t mean the other dads and babies could avoid mentioning “mom” altogether, as if it was a secret. Shen Jianghe had said that Shen Zilin wouldn’t have any particular reaction to this topic. But it was better to be safe than sorry, Shi Dingshan wasn’t sure how they handled this topic within their family, so he was still a bit worried.
Putting this aside, and the almost disastrous conversation on the first night, Shen Jianghe was indeed one of the better-performing dads on the show.
No wonder the babies trusted him.
Speaking of which… Putting aside the dads, these little babies, they were truly smart, united, and generous.
Shi Dingshan looked up at the monitoring screens, each screen showing a little baby happily eating.
Just looking at these tiny little ones, focused on their food, who would have thought that they could immediately break the program team’s rules and turn the task into a game?
In the afternoon, after announcing the “intelligence” and “strength” tasks and giving them a short break, they directly started the “intelligence” task at the small square.
To increase their motivation and competitiveness, before starting, the host presented two boards, each with six ingredients written on them. To make it easier for the illiterate babies, there were even pictures below each ingredient.
The “intelligence” board: Pork, Chicken, Beef, Potato, Pea, Onion
The “strength” board: Lamb, Shrimp, Egg, Mushroom, Green Pepper, Garlic Chives
Shi Dingshan had thought that this arrangement of ingredients was quite friendly, as long as the family who got “onion” in the “intelligence” task wasn’t too weak or unlucky in the “strength” task, not getting the last two spots, they would at least avoid the disastrous combination of onion and green pepper rice bowl or onion and garlic chives rice bowl.
But it was clear that not long after the boards were presented, both Shi Dingshan and the other staff members in charge of this segment realized… they had oversimplified things.
Before the “intelligence” task even started, the babies huddled together and, using their simple and adorable little brains, came up with something even more interesting than the competition arranged by the program team. They decided to cooperate.
Shen Zilin proposed the cooperation, Cheng Tingyan was the main planner, the other babies helped to come up with dish names, Wei Maomao and Wen Jiangyue asked about the babies and dads’ dietary restrictions, then they divided the six pre-determined dish names among themselves and unanimously decided to give Wei Maomao, who chose eggs and potatoes, some meat.
The whole process took less than ten minutes. The time the program team had allocated for the dads and babies to discuss their desired ingredients and motivate each other was used by the babies to reach a cooperation agreement.
And so, how many cards they guessed correctly in the “intelligence” task and how many goals they scored in the “strength” task were no longer important, it was all just a fun game.
Although it violated the program team’s intention of having a competitive task with rankings, the babies’ spontaneous cooperation was truly a sight to behold.
Shi Dingshan, watching at the time, found it quite amusing. It was a reality show, after all, the “reality” part was very important. Real babies, their genuine cuteness and cleverness, the little dumplings huddled together, seriously dividing the dishes like they were planning a spy mission, even remembering to ask about everyone’s dietary restrictions, it was so adorable that even he, with his hardened heart, couldn’t help but clutch his chest.
However, even with the babies’ cuteness, there were still some heartless people.
After over an hour of the “intelligence” task and a short break, the dads and babies were taken to the location for the “strength” task.
To Shi Dingshan’s surprise, there was a new supplementary rule for the “strength” task.
“Because the new parents exploited a bug in the ‘intelligence’ task, the ‘strength’ task will now be adjusted to fix the bug. In the ‘strength’ task, the new baby soccer players will first play against the program team’s goalkeepers. Once the total number of goals scored by the new baby soccer players reaches sixty, the second part of the task will begin, with the new parent soccer players playing against the new baby goalkeepers, with a time limit of half an hour. The number of goals scored by the new babies isn’t based on their own goals, but on the name tags attached to their backs. In other words, if A scores five goals, but the name tag on A’s back is B, then it counts as B scoring five goals. A’s goals depend on whose name is on his back. The final ranking is based on families, which means the new baby’s goals (based on whose name is on the person’s back) plus the new parent’s goals will be added together for the ranking. The ranking directly corresponds to the ingredients: Lamb, Shrimp, Egg, Mushroom, Green Pepper, Garlic Chives.”
Shi Dingshan, looking at the board with the supplementary rule next to the “strength” task location on the screen, was speechless.
Honestly, he could guess where this came from. The “intelligence” and “strength” tasks were arranged by Jin Youliang. Before the tasks even started, the little babies joined forces and turned them from competitive tasks into casual games. Based on Jin Youliang’s personality, he must have been very unhappy about it. He didn’t have time to adjust the “intelligence” task, so he wanted to make up for it in the “strength” task, trying to get things back on track, it was understandable.
But the problem was… this supplementary rule, it was useless…
Jin Youliang entered the monitoring room just as Shi Dingshan was looking at the supplementary rule, speechless, while Qin Sichao was munching on watermelon and chuckling next to him.
Anyway… Jin Youliang’s expression, seeking praise, was something Shi Dingshan didn’t want to recall.
Some people looked stupid and were actually stupid. How come some people looked smart but were also actually stupid?
It had to be said that Jin Youliang did try to muddy the waters and get things back on track.
The goalkeepers from the program team were very strong, the dads had to focus and play seriously to score. And the staff only announced the cumulative number of goals, not who scored them. The babies were taken to a spot far away from the field, there were six goals on the field, the dads were running around, three balls were flying back and forth, it was indeed difficult to see clearly who scored.
If they only relied on their own memory, it was normal for the dads to misremember a few goals. Plus, the goals they remembered scoring weren’t actually theirs, they belonged to the name on their backs, and no one knew whose name it was… It was even more confusing.
After the dads finally finished playing against the program team’s goalkeepers, scoring a total of sixty goals, before they could even talk to each other, they were grabbed by the baby goalkeepers and dragged to their respective goals.
Shi Dingshan, watching at the time, was truly speechless.
The babies wanted to cooperate, let them cooperate. It wasn’t like they had to strictly follow the task… Shi Dingshan truly didn’t understand why Jin Youliang, usually a flexible person, had to do this. It wasn’t a life-or-death situation, why did he have to fix a bug…
The dads were dragged to the goals and were told by the staff that they couldn’t communicate with each other, nor could they tell or hint to the babies their number of goals. The name tags on their backs wouldn’t be revealed until after the babies finished playing and the scores were tallied.
It could be said that Jin Youliang had gone to great lengths to muddy the waters and regain control of the task.
Shi Dingshan truly… didn’t know what to say. If he had this much energy, why didn’t he use it earlier, why didn’t he make the task foolproof from the beginning? And… It was truly pointless, if the little babies were determined, couldn’t they just switch ingredients when cooking? Couldn’t they swap their food after it was cooked? It wasn’t like he could control and restrict everything just to make them eat what he had arranged, how would that look on the live broadcast?
And putting aside what would happen later, just this supplementary rule, it was still flawed, let’s see if the babies could figure it out…
Shi Dingshan thought of it at the time, but he didn’t remind Jin Youliang.
The babies entered the field, half an hour of playing time, but no one was in a hurry to kick the ball, they all ran off to find their respective dads, who were now the goalkeepers.
In stark contrast to the silenced dads and the disappointed babies was the triumphant Jin Youliang in the monitoring room.
He had said, “It’s useless for them to ask, have they forgotten that the dads have other people’s names on their backs? No one knows whose name it is until they’re revealed.”
Perhaps because he was too smug, Shi Dingshan realized why Jin Youliang insisted on adding the supplementary rule and pulling the babies back into his game. His frequent glances at Qin Sichao, ah, it was all for show, his true target was someone else.
Sadly, that sword was still broken by the little babies.
The babies, who couldn’t get the numbers from their dads, were a bit dejected, but they didn’t rush to start playing, instead, they gathered together again.
Then… Wang Zhizhi ran off and dragged an adult onto the field.
The thin man was Li Mu, who had acted as Wang Zhizhi’s human calculator this morning and later reported a long list of expenses to Wang Qingchuan.
Jin Youliang’s face immediately darkened, but his phone-pressing speed was no match for the calculator.
Before Li Mu received the order to leave, he had already solved the math problem given by the babies.
They had the answer, now, before submitting their answer sheet, all the babies needed was a pen, oh, no, two pens.
These two pens were Wei Chengli and Shen Jianghe, the ones Qin Sichao mentioned earlier, who had earned the babies’ trust.
The dishes they had carefully planned earlier had become the outcome they desired the most. This was no longer the “strength” task, nor was it just a soccer game, it was a war to defend their achievements.
Wang Zhizhi, who was assigned lamb earlier, needed to score 306 goals. Even if his dad had scored all sixty goals in the previous round, it wouldn’t affect his first-place position.
And for the babies assigned other dishes, the number of goals required decreased by 61 for each subsequent ranking. In other words, Wang Zhizhi, who needed lamb, the first-place ingredient, had to score the most goals, 306, the baby who needed shrimp had to score 245, eggs 184, mushrooms 123, green peppers 62, and the one who needed garlic chives only needed to score one goal.
This way, regardless of how many goals the dads had scored earlier, or whose name was on their backs, as long as the babies kicked the ball into the right goals, they could ensure that the final ranking of the dishes they received, based on the families’ total points, would still be the order they had initially planned.
Li Mu, forced off the field by the other staff, thought for a moment, this might not be the optimal solution, but it was the fastest answer he could come up with.
Two goals that were guaranteed to be scored, two goalkeepers forced to pretend to block the ball, and a line of babies waiting to score.
Within half an hour, everyone worked hard, and the final result was as the babies had initially planned.
And Jin Youliang…
From the moment the babies got the answer, when Wang Zhizhi started preparing to score his 306 goals, Jin Youliang quietly left the monitoring room. Anyway, even until dinner time, Jin Youliang didn’t return.
Later, Shi Dingshan thought about it, Jin Youliang had indeed tried his best, he did manage to muddy the waters. Sadly, he underestimated the pure babies’ determination to achieve their goals, and their persistence in sticking to their agreements.
In the end, Jin Youliang’s efforts did create another highlight, but that highlight still fell on the babies, it had nothing to do with him.
Oh, there were also some scattered rays of light, falling on Wei Chengli and Shen Jianghe.
Shi Dingshan looked at the two, also diligently eating on the screen, pretending to not be able to catch those hundreds of goals, it must have been tiring too.
But that was the trust of the adorable babies.
Back then, after Li Mu calculated the numbers for the babies, since they just had to avoid kicking the ball into their own goals, and there were three balls, at least three babies could have started working simultaneously.
But they didn’t, they chose two.
Hahaha, thinking about this, it was quite cruel to the other dads.
Especially when Wang Qingchuan went to the bathroom later, and Jiang Heye, according to the rules, went to guard the Wang family’s goal, Cheng Rongrong took the third ball and went to…
It seemed like Cheng Feiying was quite nice to Cheng Rongrong before, at least compared to his attitude towards Cheng Tingyan. But today, his attitude wasn’t very good, after deciding to use Shen Jianghe and Wei Chengli, Cheng Rongrong didn’t even suggest using her own dad.
If it was just that, it would have been fine. But why was she so obsessed with Jiang Heye…
Shi Dingshan couldn’t understand it.
But… Cheng Feiying, he was truly, very petty.
Shi Dingshan had only asked Cheng Feiying to call Bai Lei and warn her because he didn’t want her to interfere with the live broadcast again. But he didn’t expect Cheng Feiying to be so furious, and that anger even spread to Cheng Rongrong… He felt a bit bad about it. But the video Qin Sichao filmed might be quite good. If someone was this harsh and unreasonable towards his own family, he wouldn’t be any better to outsiders.
Just as Shi Dingshan was immersed in analyzing other people’s family relationships, Qin Sichao, who had put down his lunchbox and had been staring at the screen silently for a while, suddenly spoke.
“Lao Shan, be honest with me, how are you doing?” Qin Sichao’s voice was low, his expression more serious than before.
“What?” Shi Dingshan didn’t understand, he turned to look at him.
Qin Sichao lowered his eyes, his finger tapping the coffee table gently. “You suddenly want a divorce, you suddenly changed the show from pre-recorded to live broadcast. And the cameraman following that little chubby girl, he seems to be your former stepson, right? Didn’t you say he went to live with his mother, you have nothing to do with him anymore? Why suddenly… You… Are you okay recently?”
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