Chapter 93
Early morning, at the small square, the babies arrived with their dads one after another, waiting for the unpredictable program team to distribute the free breakfast they could get without doing any tasks.
“Free things are always the most expensive.” Shen Zilin, the first to step onto the square, sat upright and looked at Shen Jianghe next to him.
“… “ Shen Jianghe glanced at his son, who had been talking about business all these days, and slowly nodded.
Although it was comforting that his only heir was so interested in business from a young age, but… he didn’t have to be so serious at such a young age.
Shen Jianghe thought about the children from the village who came to their door last night, holding Baby Coins to exchange for candy, then looked at his son, who had already paid off his pig loan through that temporary hiring scheme, debt-free and carefree. He felt both proud and…
“It’s okay, even if it’s the most expensive, I believe you can handle it.” Shen Jianghe ultimately chose to encourage him.
He brought Shen Zilin to this show, on the one hand, to repair their father-son relationship, which had been strained due to their busy schedules, and on the other hand, to let his son have some happy childhood memories. If Shen Zilin’s happiness was in developing his “business” in this village, then… so be it.
Shen Jianghe thought it was fine, but others might not.
The Wen family also arrived early, they were the second to arrive.
Before sitting down, Wen Xiang couldn’t help but glance at Shen Zilin.
It was this child… It was him who made Wen Dongyu so happy yesterday…
With the problem of food and clothing during his powerless childhood solved, and no longer worried about not being able to repay, Shen Zilin’s abundant funds and the career prospects he offered gave Wen Dongyu hope for stress-free borrowing, his life was bright again.
Yesterday, Wen Dongyu spread this happiness everywhere, not only did the babies know that he already had a future job, even the dads heard about it.
Wen Xiang didn’t know how it had come to this. But the broken father-son relationship from the past few days, and the regained attention and amicable attitude from Wen Dongyu after the role swap, made him hold back for now. He endured until night, when it was just the two of them, even the cameras and microphones were turned off, then he finally had a good talk with Wen Dongyu.
The opening, naturally, was an apology, apology after apology.
The “borrowing” before was just a careless remark, they only had one child, they didn’t lack money at home, how could they possibly care about these living expenses, how could it be considered borrowing? The love parents gave to their children was selfless, he was just a bit sad earlier because Dongdong’s insistence on personal property made him feel like Dongdong didn’t consider them family, so he said those angry words. It was all fake, there was no way Dongdong would need to “borrow”!
These past few days, from anger, to awkwardness, to loneliness, then to confusion and helplessness, Wen Xiang’s emotional journey was complicated. But he also realized that for Wen Dongyu, this incident was different from their usual playful arguments. He was the dad, he should be more mature. Although Wen Xiang still didn’t think a four or five-year-old child needed their own assets, he still felt that a family shouldn’t be divided, he felt Wen Dongyu was overreacting about the toy incident. But… If Wen Dongyu was truly bothered by it, he could compromise. It was just a toy, they wouldn’t give it away anymore. Why let a child go out and find a job because of such a small matter?
Wen Xiang’s apology, after brewing in his heart for a while, was sincere.
He spoke for a long time, repeating himself, breaking down his words, to make his son return to his former self, Wen Xiang’s attitude, although not groveling, was at least humble.
With this kind of attitude, there was naturally no more arguing. In fact, Wen Dongyu was very well-behaved, although he yawned, he still politely listened until the end.
After the conversation, Wen Dongyu also agreed to reconcile with Wen Xiang.
When they hugged, Wen Xiang thought the problem had been solved.
However…
When he relaxed and happily suggested taking Mom on a trip after the show, Wen Dongyu immediately refused.
A trip, no. Amusement park, no. Even Wen Dongyu’s favorite hamburger restaurant was rejected.
Why…
Of course, it was because Wen Dongyu felt these were unnecessary expenses, he didn’t want to increase his debt.
When Wen Dongyu stated his reason matter-of-factly, Wen Xiang’s head almost exploded.
So everything he said earlier was in vain, they had reconciled, but Wen Dongyu still wanted to use Shen Zilin’s money!
Didn’t he say that the “borrowing” was just an angry remark, not to be taken seriously? Didn’t he say that all the money in the family would be his in the future? Didn’t he say that his parents’ love for him was selfless?
Wen Xiang was confused and helpless, he didn’t know what the problem was.
But it was late, Wen Xiang had to let the yawning Wen Dongyu go to sleep.
Wen Dongyu slept, but Wen Xiang stayed awake for most of the night, his confused eyes only closing as dawn approached.
Shen Zilin… After sitting down, Wen Xiang couldn’t help but glance at the Shen family’s table.
Was his child still immersed in the pretend play with his peers, unable to extricate himself, or were the words of a child more trustworthy than his own?
Wen Xiang looked at his son next to him, who was sprinkling wheat bran into the pig’s food bowl. He hoped it was the former, after all, if it was the latter, he was truly a failure.
Wen Qiming and Cheng Feiying also arrived with their daughters.
As soon as she arrived, Wen Jiangyue looked around, she didn’t seem to find what she was looking for, she eventually sat back down at their table, looking disappointed.
Shen Jianghe looked at Cheng Feiying, who was carrying Cheng Rongrong, with amusement. He found this Cheng Feiying quite interesting, very individualistic and didn’t seem to care about other people’s opinions. They were live broadcasting, yet his attitude towards his two daughters kept fluctuating. In the first few days, he seemed impartial, but in reality, he was playing favorites, yesterday, he suddenly reversed his attitude, practically ignoring his younger daughter, and today, he was treating her like a treasure again, it was truly strange.
Cheng Rongrong, sitting on Cheng Feiying’s arm, also looked around, she also didn’t find the person she was looking for, but she hid her disappointment more maturely than Wen Jiangyue.
The second to last family to arrive was the Wang family.
The three of them seemed to have caught a yawning contagion, one after another, from the moment they arrived to when they sat down, their yawns never stopped.
Wang Qingchuan was truly annoyed. What was wrong with this woman? He and his son, one stayed up late studying that damn math and didn’t come back to sleep, the other waited for him until late at night, it was understandable for them to yawn. But didn’t she go back to her room early? She didn’t even have a phone to play with, wasn’t she supposed to sleep after going back to her room? She slept for so long and was still yawning! What, even something as small as yawning, she had to synchronize with them, acting like a family?
Jiang Heye was also feeling wronged, she wasn’t trying to act like a family. She was truly sleepy. It was just… there was too much information to catch up on, it was eye-opening, it turned out that someone like Wang Qingchuan was just the tip of the iceberg on this show.
After sitting down at the table, Jiang Heye couldn’t help but glance around, after being bombarded by all that information last night, she looked at these people… Wen Xiang, Wen Qiming, especially this Cheng Feiying, sigh…
Mmm?
Jiang Heye, seeing a small figure running towards her, her yawn was cut short.
“Sister Beibei, look, I’m wearing the hair clips you gave me, are they pretty?” Cheng Rongrong, finally finding the person she was looking for, quickly ran to Jiang Heye before the program team started distributing breakfast.
Jiang Heye, looking at the rapidly shaking head in front of her, leaned back slightly, dodging the two swinging braids. Don’t shake like that, she couldn’t even see the hair clips clearly, wouldn’t the beads hit her head and hurt…
Following the principle of not hurting children, Jiang Heye gave up on the idea of stopping Cheng Rongrong and praised her directly, “They’re pretty! Rongrong looks very pretty like this.”
Hearing Jiang Heye’s words, Cheng Rongrong stopped shaking her head.
“It’s not Rongrong who’s pretty, it’s the hair clips Sister Beibei chose that are pretty.” Cheng Rongrong said with a sweet smile.
The gift she gave, being used so quickly, and so appropriately, didn’t she feel happy? Didn’t she feel special? It was worth her pestering Cheng Feiying to braid her hair before the staff knocked on the door. Mmm… Thankfully, her mom’s note arrived just in time, changing Cheng Feiying’s attitude towards her. Otherwise, with his attitude yesterday, she would have had to do her hair herself.
Everyone loved to hear compliments, although hearing such words from a three-year-old child was a bit… strange? But Jiang Heye still smiled kindly and returned the compliment.
Just as the conversation was about to become an endless exchange of compliments, the last family arrived.
The conversation abruptly stopped, Cheng Rongrong, frowning, followed Jiang Heye’s stunned gaze and turned to look.
Wei Chengli was still the same Wei Chengli, the stinky chubby girl was still the same stinky chubby girl, and Cheng Tingyan…
Cheng Rongrong bit her lip and glared at Cheng Feiying in the distance.
Useless! Only knew how to do simple hairstyles! Asking him to help style her hair, he just braided two pigtails and clipped on the hair clips! Look at the others!
The only small supermarket in the village had a limited and random selection of goods. Yesterday, it took Jiang Heye a long time to exchange all her Daddy Coins for cash, and it took even longer to choose gifts in the supermarket. She spent a long time choosing the scarf for Cheng Tingyan, in the end, she chose it based on the color of Cheng Tingyan’s dress yesterday.
Today, Cheng Tingyan was still wearing a light green dress, but this green was lighter than the one she wore yesterday, very light, with only a few slightly darker green patterns on the skirt and waist. And the light green scarf, almost the same color as the patterns, was braided into her pigtails. The loosely braided pigtails were styled into a wreath on her head, simple yet elegant, with a touch of rustic charm.
It matched so well… How could it match so well?
Jiang Heye looked at Cheng Tingyan in the distance, who was smiling and talking to the little chubby baby next to her, just a six-year-old girl, yet already possessing such beauty.
Truly, very beautiful.
Jiang Heye had always known that for the upcoming film where she would be the female lead, Director Qin had his eyes on Cheng Tingyan for the role of the younger version of the female lead.
Before coming here, she had seen photos of Cheng Tingyan, one was a still from the first season of “Where’s Baby Going,” the four-year-old Cheng Tingyan was still childish, smiling carefree and innocently. The other was a screenshot from the live broadcast of this season, capturing the moment when Cheng Tingyan and Wei Maomao, their cheeks puffed out, were eating something, looking at each other and smiling sweetly. The six-year-old Cheng Tingyan already had the look of a young girl, aloof yet sweet.
But after coming to this village, officially entering her role as an NPC, and being able to see Cheng Tingyan up close for a prolonged period, Jiang Heye realized that the happiness and sweetness were only temporary… Most of the time, Cheng Tingyan was quiet, distant, and even when she was near her family, she would deliberately keep a distance and couldn’t shake off her nervousness.
If she had only seen the photos, Jiang Heye would have thought that Qin Sichao was interested in Cheng Tingyan’s looks. But after seeing her in person, she understood… Perhaps what Qin Sichao was interested in was Cheng Tingyan herself.
Not just her beautiful appearance, but also her state, which was very similar to the younger version of the female lead.
When vigilance, indifference, and distance became the norm, then the occasional moments of relaxation and joy would be like a light in the darkness, incredibly precious.
And Jiang Heye didn’t expect that the stills, the information, or even their brief interaction yesterday, weren’t the complete Cheng Tingyan.
Today’s Cheng Tingyan seemed particularly different.
Was it because of her hairstyle? Or her clothes? Or because it was early morning, and she hadn’t been bothered by the day’s trivialities yet?
The freedom and ease she exuded at this moment were like shackles being removed, a look she didn’t have yesterday.
Jiang Heye couldn’t describe the Cheng Tingyan she was seeing now, she was at a loss for words, but she couldn’t help but think about the script she had read several times. The last scene of the younger version of the female lead, shedding the past, running towards a brighter future, connecting with the grown-up female lead…
It should be… like this…
Jiang Heye stared at Cheng Tingyan, lost in thought, momentarily forgetting to continue the earlier exchange of compliments.
In the monitoring room, Qin Sichao, munching on a fried dough stick, looked at Cheng Rongrong, who seemed to be getting angry on Jiang Heye’s screen, and shook his head, chuckling.
Even without any communication, the cameraman, cleverly following Jiang Heye’s gaze, had already captured Cheng Tingyan in the distance. Qin Sichao could roughly guess what Jiang Heye was thinking. She must be thinking that Cheng Tingyan was truly suitable for the role. He hadn’t expected her to be this suitable.
For Qin Sichao, acting skills could be trained and adjusted, but for child actors, if they relied too heavily on acting skills, he personally felt the performance might come across as a bit artificial. It wasn’t necessarily bad, he just wanted something more natural and pure. Acting, but not acting out of thin air, but truly embodying the character’s state, this was actually quite difficult for children with limited experience.
When casting for the younger version of the female lead, the candidates nominated by the team, in terms of looks and image, the four-year-old Cheng Tingyan in the stills was one of the best. Qin Sichao had thought that if they couldn’t find a more suitable candidate, they would go for that seemingly happy little girl, train her acting skills, and use her if she was good enough.
He never expected that in two years, that little girl would become like this. Even more fitting for the character in his mind, and even more… unhappy.
He also didn’t expect…
Qin Sichao glanced at Shi Dingshan, who was gulping down soy milk next to him. He hadn’t expected that he wanted to use this opportunity to catch up with his old friend, only to find that his old friend was truly not doing well.
“Why are you looking at me? Choking on the fried dough stick? Drink your own soy milk, can you swallow it by watching me drink?” Shi Dingshan said, glancing at Qin Sichao.
Mmm… Since his overly direct questions yesterday, the awkwardness from years of infrequent contact had lessened, but the politeness between old friends also seemed to have disappeared…
Qin Sichao took a sip of his soy milk and looked at the monitoring wall in front of him. “That Wei Chengli, he’s interesting.”
“Mmm?” Shi Dingshan thought Qin Sichao, after watching Cheng Tingyan for so long, would continue talking about her, why did he suddenly switch to Wei Chengli?
“I watched a lot of videos yesterday, I saw the small white flower he asked the cameraman to film. A small white flower growing from a crack in the wall, blooming resiliently in unsuitable soil.” Qin Sichao pointed at the screen. “Look at Cheng Tingyan, isn’t she special today? Like that day when she and the little chubby were eating something, the candied kumquat day. But that time, the light was fleeting, today, she’s been glowing all day.”
“As long as you like it…” Shi Dingshan looked at Cheng Tingyan on the screen. He just hoped Cheng Tingyan could seize this opportunity given by Qin Sichao and not let her strange family ruin it.
But today’s Cheng Tingyan, she did seem quite happy, a bit like her demeanor in the first season.
Hope was a very important thing.
Even if it stemmed from a late-night fantasy with a three-year-old, even if it was just a faint possibility, even if it couldn’t be pursued immediately due to various reasons, but… it was hope.
Something she had yearned for but never dared to hope for, she could finally allow herself to think about it. This alone was enough for Cheng Tingyan to pull herself out of the endless suffocation and take a deep breath of the fresh air called hope.
Everyone could see the change in Cheng Tingyan, but the only ones who knew the reason behind it, besides Cheng Tingyan herself, were Wei Maomao.
The night before, Wei Maomao and Cheng Tingyan chatted until very late, they even got hungry and sneaked out of bed to eat two candied kumquats they had bought from the market. When they turned on the light to get the kumquats, Wei Maomao noticed the sparkle in Cheng Tingyan’s eyes and the smile on her lips. Just a beginning had already brought Cheng Tingyan some happiness, it was evident how suppressed she had been before.
Wei Maomao wished she could immediately take Cheng Tingyan away from the Cheng family, but… she couldn’t yet.
Taking advantage of the convenience of Cheng Tingyan sleeping at her house, Wei Maomao brought her knowledge into the open and elicited more details. But she couldn’t completely expose the truth just yet. They had to finish filming this variety show, both Cheng Tingyan and she needed the appearance fee from the show to plan for the future.
The Cheng family’s actions were truly appalling. If they exposed them too early, who knew if Cheng Feiying would become angry and even withdraw from the show, even if it meant paying a penalty, that would be troublesome. And based on Cheng Feiying’s personality, it wasn’t impossible. And if Cheng Feiying withdrew early, losing Cheng Tingyan’s share of the money was a small matter. The key was that Wei Maomao was still on the show, she might not be able to gain her freedom at the same time. Then, if Cheng Tingyan was alone outside, and if things didn’t go as planned, Wei Maomao wouldn’t even be able to help.
Now, with Cheng Tingyan’s own words and the program team’s brilliant addition of the live broadcast, they had a good hand, ready to play. Instead of letting them panic and cause trouble now, it was better to wait.
Wei Maomao’s plan was to expose everything during the live broadcast towards the end of the show. She believed that Cheng Tingyan’s mom would definitely be watching the live broadcast, and even if she wasn’t, she would definitely be paying attention to the news about the show. By then, the live broadcast would release two pieces of information, one was that the Cheng family were terrible people, the other… was that they had money.
No need to worry about not having money for treatment, no need to worry about not having money to live and raise her child, as long as Yan Yan’s mom spoke up, asked for Yan Yan back, she would have everything.
By then, they would all be free from the restrictions of the show, she could contact and persuade Yan Yan’s mom. It would be best… if she could persuade Wei Chengli first. It would be more effective if an adult intervened.
And by then, Cheng Feiying’s ruined reputation would become an obstacle in his fight for custody, even if Yan Yan’s mom was sick, even if she couldn’t stand up. But as long as she had money, as long as she had love, even if it went to court, the pressure from public opinion could be a powerful force.
Wei Maomao gave Cheng Tingyan a possibility, but she couldn’t make it happen immediately, she had to tell Cheng Tingyan, while she was eating candied kumquats, that both the calculations and the testing should wait until the last few days of the show.
When she said it, Wei Maomao didn’t dare to look into Cheng Tingyan’s eyes, she was afraid of seeing disappointment and sadness.
But unexpectedly… Yan Yan was always so understanding, like a spring, with an astonishing capacity for tolerance.
Wei Maomao only mentioned her plan, she hadn’t even explained the reasons, and Cheng Tingyan immediately agreed.
Since Cheng Tingyan agreed, Wei Maomao didn’t mention the money issue again, after all, for the six-year-old Yan Yan, it was better not to give her too much pressure.
But Wei Maomao never expected that one of Cheng Tingyan’s reasons for not wanting to do it too early was the same as hers, but the other reason was completely different.
Cheng Tingyan was also afraid that Cheng Feiying would be angry if she revealed their family matters, especially on a live broadcast for everyone to see. She was afraid he would be so angry that he would take her away from the show. But Cheng Tingyan didn’t think about the appearance fee or the penalty for breaking the contract, she was just afraid of not being able to be with the little chubby bunny anymore.
If, in the end, nothing could be changed, then these few days might be her last time with the little chubby bunny. Why shorten it by causing trouble? She didn’t want that.
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