Chapter 107
“I want to eat the grapes in Brother’s bowl!”
“So other people’s food always tastes better, huh? These are grapes in my bowl too, what’s in your bowl? Eyeballs?”
“I just want to eat the ones in your bowl, they look tastier! Zhizhi, I want the grapes in Brother’s bowl!”
“Give some to your sister, you’re the older brother, you should give in to your sister, what’s wrong with letting her have some of your grapes?”
“She wanted to eat my potato pancakes, you gave them to her, she wanted to eat my boiled egg, you gave it to her too, now she wants my grapes, is this never going to end? Are you two crazy? Is this the only food left in the world?”
“Brother is stingy!”
“It’s just a few grapes, you’re the older brother, can’t you even share with your sister?”
“I xxxxxx…”
…
Cheng Feiying, hearing the commotion in the courtyard, walked in, confused. From afar, he saw Wang Qingchuan at the stone table, his face flushed red, grabbing handfuls of grapes from his bowl with both hands… and licking them?
Cheng Feiying slammed on the brakes, stopping in shock.
“Eat, eat, eat, take them if you want to eat them!” Wang Qingchuan, about to explode, threw the grapes back into the bowl and said with a sneer.
Jiang Heye: “… “
Wang Zhizhi: “… “
Are… Are they elementary school students? Cheng Feiying’s eyes widened, he silently took half a step back.
At this moment, the staff members following Cheng Feiying also entered the courtyard. The sudden influx of people created some noise.
The three people at the stone table all looked over.
Meeting Wang Qingchuan’s surprised and annoyed gaze, Cheng Feiying regretted it a bit.
But after being rejected by Wen Xiang and Wen Qiming, he didn’t have many other options…
Cheng Feiying, forcing a friendly smile, slowly walked to the table, exchanged a few casual greetings, then got straight to the point.
“What?” Wang Qingchuan, hearing Cheng Feiying say that the children were imitating their dads today, was shocked, he interrupted him and turned to Wang Zhizhi. “You were acting like me just now?”
Wang Zhizhi nodded silently.
“Do you think you were even remotely convincing?” Wang Qingchuan asked, smoke practically coming out of his ears, then looked at Wang Qingbei. “He’s imitating me, then who are you imitating? Wang Zhizhi’s sister?”
Jiang Heye smiled. “I am your sister now, Brother.”
“Don’t call me ‘Brother.’” Wang Qingchuan slammed the table and said angrily, “Is there something wrong with your script? Our Qingqing is only a few months old, would she sit on the ground and falsely accuse Wang Zhizhi of pushing her? Would she want to eat the potato pancakes, eggs, and grapes in his bowl? If you’re going to act, you should just lie in bed and drink milk, you know?”
Jiang Heye: “… “ Her fist clenched.
Some silent tolerance was just to avoid exploding and cursing at him, but in Wang Zhizhi’s eyes, it was silent grievance.
He… He should…
If I were Dad…
“How can you talk to your sister like that! You scared her with your loud voice! Apologize to your sister!” Wang Zhizhi also slammed the table and stood up.
Wang Qingchuan was speechless. “Sister, sister, all you care about is “sister”! I’m telling you, don’t get too carried away with your acting, you’re already off track!”
Oh my god… Cheng Feiying, watching from the side, couldn’t even get a word in.
Looking at this, cilantro didn’t seem so scary anymore.
What kind of role-playing hell was this…
Jiang Heye felt like she was going to break character, she was about to break character, she couldn’t wait to break character, the retort was already on the tip of her tongue!
Suddenly, Li Mu’s voice rang out.
“Teacher Wang, since you’ve found out, let me explain on behalf of the program team. Today, our babies are playing the role of their dads, learning how they think, talk, and act. In other words, Zhizhi’s actions today are not his own intentions, but part of his role-playing. On our live broadcast screens, we’ll also project each baby’s dad’s avatar above their heads to avoid any misunderstanding from the viewers.” Li Mu said quickly, finishing his explanation before Wang Qingchuan could walk away.
Wang Qingchuan laughed in exasperation, was he worried about some misunderstanding?
“Is his acting even remotely convincing? Am I like that? And Qingqing, our Qingqing who’s only a few months old, is she like that?” Wang Qingchuan said angrily, pointing at Wang Qingbei.
Li Mu saw Jiang Heye’s tightly clenched fist from the corner of his eye.
Forget it, so what if Wang Qingchuan had some connections in the TV station… He could just get fired.
“Hypothetically, if Wang Zhizhi’s sister was sitting on the ground crying, saying that Wang Zhizhi pushed her, what would you say and do? Hypothetically, if Wang Zhizhi’s sister wanted to eat the food in his bowl, what would you do?” Li Mu asked calmly. “You’re so much older than your sister, why aren’t you giving in to her! Your sister is crying, why aren’t you comforting her! You’re the older brother, you have to learn to take care of your sister! Help your sister up! You’re the older brother, can’t you even share a little bit of food with your sister! Wouldn’t you say these things to Zhizhi?”
Wang Qingchuan: “… “
Li Mu, ignoring the voices in his earpiece urging him to stop talking and return to his position, finished his explanation clearly before retreating.
Cheng Feiying, glancing at the suddenly silent Wang Qingchuan, finally found a chance to interject.
“I have to say, this role-swap segment is a bit too long. How would the children know how difficult it is to be a parent? This kind of superficial imitation is truly…” Cheng Feiying said a lot, then placed his hand on the table and flipped it over. “This token… should be flipped back to the right side, don’t you think?”
Wang Qingchuan, looking at Cheng Feiying’s hand flipping on the table, and combining it with his emphasis on the word “token,” even though his head was still spinning with anger, he understood Cheng Feiying’s meaning.
“Yes, you’re right.” Wang Qingchuan said, gritting his teeth.
Cheng Feiying, finally finding an ally, felt much better.
His relief and joy were evident.
Bai Lei, who had been bombarded by that two-minute rant a couple of days ago, couldn’t stand seeing Cheng Feiying like this, she put down her glass, looked at He Lanxi, who was watching with amusement next to her, and said disapprovingly, “Change the channel, don’t watch him anymore, it’s ruining my appetite.”
“Isn’t it interesting? I’m also following the live broadcast at home. Speaking of which, is he planning to go to every dad’s house? Doesn’t he think his intentions are a bit too obvious?” He Lanxi said, taking a bite of bread and chewing slowly.
“Who knows, he’s stupid as hell.” Bai Lei said with disgust. “If I had known it would be like this, we shouldn’t have accepted that variety show!”
“Live broadcasts, they’re just hard to control.” He Lanxi chuckled, looking at Bai Lei. “If he needs work, just tell me, male lead is a bit difficult, but male second, male third, with our relationship, it’s easy. But you refused, in all these years, you only took a male fourth role from me once. No wonder he’s anxious, he even dares to do this on a live broadcast.”
“Why give him so much? He’s greedy and petty, fattening him up would only cause trouble.” Bai Lei said coldly, looking at the large projection on the wall. “I thought he had improved a bit, but he reverted to his true self after just a few days out there, useless.”
“That’s what meal replacements are like, who asked you to eat them?” He Lanxi reached out, took Bai Lei’s glass, glanced at the powdery water inside, and placed it aside with a tsk. She poured Bai Lei a glass of milk and pushed it towards her. “Isn’t real milk better than meal replacement powder?”
“You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, fake is fake.” Bai Lei said, looking at the seemingly happy Cheng Feiying on the screen, annoyed. “That program team must have planned to torture them, otherwise, they wouldn’t have set such a high penalty for breaking the contract. Speaking of which, someone from Wen Xiang’s side contacted me yesterday, saying the program team has made some of the dads look too bad, they asked if I wanted Cheng Feiying to withdraw from the show with them.”
He Lanxi, who was spreading butter on her bread, became interested. “Oh? What did you say?”
“Cheng Feiying can’t even afford the penalty for withdrawing from the show. Would I use my money to clean up his mess?” Bai Lei scoffed, completely tired of him after his rant. “I’ve tried to save him, if I can’t, then so be it. It’s fine if his image is ruined, as long as his face is still presentable.”
“Wen Xiang’s side, do they truly want to withdraw from the show, or are they trying to pressure the program team by joining forces with you?” He Lanxi chuckled. “It seems they’re doing something similar to what your husband is doing now.”
Bai Lei shook her head. “From what I heard yesterday, they truly want to withdraw. It seems Wen Xiang’s wife feels that staying on the show isn’t conducive to repairing their father-son relationship, she’s determined to pay the penalty and have him withdraw. But the program team hasn’t agreed yet, the two sides haven’t contacted each other, Wen Xiang probably doesn’t know yet.”
“Then they must be quite wealthy. That penalty amount, it’s clearly to prevent early withdrawal.” He Lanxi thought for a moment, then said, “That’s true love. Compared to you, you’re instantly overshadowed.”
“I’m not some ‘true love.’ I don’t even care about him anymore, it’s just annoying, Rongrong is also being dragged down.” Bai Lei said, changing the channel, she looked at Cheng Tingyan, who was standing in the bedroom with a little chubby menace on the screen, and said hatefully, “She’s truly good at pretending, just like her mom. Who would have thought that after being so quiet at home all these years, she would be so talkative and articulate on the show, Rongrong is truly going to be dragged down by her. I told Wen Xiang’s side, I don’t care about Cheng Feiying, but I can spend money to get Rongrong back.”
“Right, what’s the point of staying there? She can come back, wait until she grows up, then directly star in the dramas our company produces, becoming famous would be easy.” He Lanxi took a sip of milk. “It’s also your fault, always pretending to be distant from me. Otherwise, you could have just brought her to me to play some child roles, it would be better than being on a live broadcast.”
“Who knew it would turn out like this?” Bai Lei sighed. “If I were close to you, Cheng Feiying would be pestering me every day to find him work. Men, you can’t let them have too much power.”
…
Cheng Feiying, who hadn’t eaten breakfast and had already visited several houses, was very hungry.
But at this moment, proud of having found an ally, he didn’t know that there were many more people in this world who wanted him to starve than he imagined.
After receiving confirmation from Wang Qingchuan, Cheng Feiying didn’t plan on going to Shen Jianghe and Wei Chengli’s houses, he was going to head back, thinking that if those who shouldn’t be at home were gone, maybe he could still eat those two potato pancakes…
But after walking just two alleys, he bumped into Shen Jianghe.
Alone, he didn’t see Shen Zilin.
Cheng Feiying thought that Shen Jianghe seemed to have a good relationship with Shen Zilin, even if Shen Zilin was imitating him, it shouldn’t be too bad. But everyone was curious, even if he wasn’t going to look for him, since they had bumped into each other, they had to chat a bit to satisfy his curiosity, right?
Unlike Wen Xiang, who was also missing a child but didn’t say anything, Shen Jianghe readily shared what had happened this morning and said he was on his way to complete the program team’s special task. As long as he completed the task, he would have a chance to get his child back.
Cheng Feiying expressed… admiration. His child had run away, that wasn’t good, he couldn’t help but try to hint at it.
Sadly, Shen Jianghe wasn’t interested in approaching the program team.
They exchanged a few hurried words, then went their separate ways.
Among the dads, the only one Cheng Feiying hadn’t seen was Wei Chengli.
But, whatever!
Just as Cheng Feiying was thinking about the two potato pancakes at home and finally managed to get back, only to be assaulted by the lingering smell of cilantro, a staff member held up a sign for him.
Earlier, after escaping the terrifying house and the terrifying little menace by using the excuse of going to the bathroom, Cheng Feiying had gone to a public restroom on his way to Wen Xiang’s house and flipped the conversation token inside.
After making his rounds, the program team finally responded.
Cheng Feiying, not even bothering to look for food at home, immediately left the courtyard and headed straight for the designated meeting place… the public restroom.
He walked in respectfully and discovered that it was Zeng Huanian, not Shi Dingshan, who was waiting for him. His back instantly straightened.
Meanwhile, Wang Qingchuan had also flipped the token at another public restroom.
Qin Sichao had temporarily left the village, leaving Shi Dingshan alone in the monitoring room. Looking at Wang Qingchuan’s actions on the monitor, Shi Dingshan sent a message to Jin Youliang, uninterested.
One after another, they were all delusional.
The meetings at the public restrooms were a huge blow to Cheng Feiying and Wang Qingchuan.
Before coming to the show, Cheng Feiying had mostly interacted with Jin Youliang and Shi Dingshan, this was his first time having a face-to-face conversation with Zeng Huanian, the assistant director.
He wasn’t an assistant director, he was a Tang Monk!
How could he have so much to say, so much reasoning and persuasion?
Cheng Feiying was dizzy, almost suffocating, it could all be summarized in two words: “No way.”
Originally, Cheng Feiying, after being lectured by Shi Dingshan a couple of days ago, didn’t think he could do it alone. After being force-fed a large pot of chicken soup by Zeng Huanian, he finally found an opportunity to mention that the other dads were also unhappy with this segment, that Wang Qingchuan would probably also come to the program team to complain, trying to increase his bargaining power.
But Zeng Huanian held up his phone and said that while they were talking, Wang Qingchuan had already voiced his complaints, and after the program team’s explanation, he had agreed to cooperate with the arrangement, he had no objections.
Cheng Feiying was speechless, was that a conversation? That was Zeng Huanian’s one-sided, lengthy monologue! And that Wang Qingchuan, he was so loud when yelling at the two at home, how come he was defeated in such a short time?
Defeated.
How could he not be defeated…
Jin Youliang didn’t even say much to Wang Qingchuan, he just handed him his phone with a call connected.
On the other end of the phone was the backdoor that Wang Qingchuan used to get into the show…
The constantly rising number of viewers watching the live broadcast, the increasing amount of advertising revenue, the social impact of the upcoming anti-fraud gala… A leader was a leader, in just a few words, all facts and righteousness, he left Wang Qingchuan speechless.
What could he say? Could he say that the achievements of the entire program team were less important than the issues of his little family?
Naturally, he was defeated in less than two minutes.
Shi Dingshan was mentally strong, no one could sway his decisions, except himself.
And currently in the village, the only other person as mentally strong as Shi Dingshan was Cheng Tingyan.
The six-year-old Yan Yan didn’t have enough experience to handle such complex matters.
So she learned to give up.
Give up on hoping for the future, learn to accept fate, then hesitation, pain, and struggle would be reduced.
Do your best and leave the rest to fate, this was a human’s instinct for survival.
And then she could enjoy this small indulgence in the present.
Cheng Tingyan followed Wei Maomao home and entered the bedroom.
While Wei Maomao was looking for hair clips, Cheng Tingyan glanced at the two beds in the room, she pursed her lips and said softly, “Your dad moved back in?”
“Yes. Otherwise, how could I chat with him last night?” Wei Maomao found the hair clips, walked to Cheng Tingyan, and gestured for her to lower her head.
“If… If we ask him to move out again today, will he be angry?” Cheng Tingyan asked, lowering her head, using the excuse of looking at the floor to hide her embarrassment.
“Ah?” Wei Maomao, who was just clipping a strand of Cheng Tingyan’s hair that had been blown loose by the wind, didn’t understand.
“Can I… stay here tonight?” Cheng Tingyan asked directly, wanting to hold onto more memories.
Wei Chengli, standing at the door, about to ask the two little ones if they wanted some fruit, glanced at the bed he had just moved back to last night… Sob~~~
Some people cried because they had to leave their beloved child.
And some people… cried because they wanted their beloved child back.
Shen Jianghe, to get Shen Zilin back, accepted the program team’s first task, which was to help Grandpa Wang, who lived alone in the village, clean his house.
With all due respect, this was the second time in his life that he had personally cleaned a house! The last time was on the first day they arrived in the village, when he had to clean the house they were staying in…
Compared to their house, which, although it had a pigsty, had already been cleaned by the program team, Grandpa Wang’s house, where he lived alone, had a lot more things that needed cleaning.
Climbing ladders to sweep the eaves, getting down to wipe the dust… Shen Jianghe was busy, his body hot, sweat dripping onto the ground.
Then, he heard a knock on the door and saw… Wen Xiang, also covered in dust and sweat, coming to borrow a ladder.
Two fathers, both searching for their children, had been working in their respective courtyards for almost half an hour before realizing that their neighbor was in the same boat…
What else could they say? Compared to Cheng Feiying and Wang Qingchuan, who were trying to overturn the entire segment, Shen Jianghe and Wen Xiang had already proven their stance with their actions.
Just work, that was all.
Sweat mixed with dust left black streaks on their faces, their clothes were drenched…
The house they were cleaning was finally presentable, barely meeting the program team’s requirements.
Their children, unlike gifts, didn’t appear before them immediately.
Shen Jianghe received a small box.
Wen Xiang received an envelope.
Inside the box was a set of colored pens and a stack of… cardboard?
Inside the envelope was…
Wen Xiang looked at the photo, a chubby child with messy hair, smiling like a little fool, Wei Maomao, he fell silent.
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