Chapter 134
Qin Sichao stood by the road, watching as the ambulance drove away, until it finally disappeared at the end of the road.
The sun at 8 AM in midsummer was already scorching, Qin Sichao, dressed in black, stood under the sun without any shade, his body hot, but his heart cold.
A perfectly healthy person, how could he just collapse…
After a long while, Qin Sichao finally moved, he returned to the villa.
Squeezing through the half-open door into the monitoring room on the third floor, Qin Sichao glanced at Jin Youliang and Zeng Huanian, who were sitting side by side, facing the wall of monitoring screens, he walked to the corner silently, dragged a stool, and sat down.
Since Lao Shan wouldn’t let him go with them, asking him to stay and watch over things here, then he would stay and watch.
Although Qin Sichao didn’t say anything, the sound of the stool scraping against the floor still startled the two people in the room.
“Director Qin, please sit here.” Jin Youliang said, standing up immediately and offering his seat, which was directly facing the screens, when he saw Qin Sichao.
“No need, you guys focus on your work.” Qin Sichao said, waving his hand, refusing, then took out his phone.
Trending topic #1: [Truth behind ‘Where’s Baby Going’ Season 3 Director Shi Dingshan’s Divorce]
Trending topic #2: [Shi Dingshan’s son is not his biological child]
Trending topic #7: [Variety show director cuckolded, raising someone else’s child]
Trending topic #12…
Earlier, Shi Dingshan, who was happily drinking porridge, his phone in his hand, suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed.
Qin Sichao never expected that the little pill bottle Shi Dingshan had entrusted to him just a couple of days ago would be used today.
After giving him the medicine and calling 120, seeing that Shi Dingshan had recovered, Qin Sichao finally noticed what was playing on his phone, which had fallen to the ground.
An intimate couple…
A happy “family of three”…
It was truly outrageous, it almost cost someone their life!
Qin Sichao scrolled through the trending topics one by one, then switched to his contacts and started sending messages.
The current source seemed to be marketing accounts, he wanted to see what was going on.
Qin Sichao, his head lowered, his phone screen being tapped furiously by his angry fingers, finally stopped typing after a while. He then talked to the staff member who was accompanying Shi Dingshan to the hospital, and when he looked up, he realized only he and Jin Youliang were left in the room.
“Where are they going?” Qin Sichao asked, standing up, walking to Jin Youliang’s side, and looking at the multiple live broadcast windows on the monitoring wall, showing the inside of a vehicle.
The earlier anger had given him a headache, his chest even felt a bit tight. He needed to distract himself, to avoid being the next one to collapse from anger.
“They’re going to the newly built aquarium, which will officially open to the public next week. The task for this morning is for the babies to use Polaroid cameras to find the fish in the picture books we provided, inside the aquarium, and take clear photos of them. Before we come back, we’ll rank the babies based on the number of qualified photos they take, and reward them with vouchers based on their ranking. They can use the vouchers to choose souvenirs they like from the aquarium’s gift shop, and we’ll pay.” Jin Youliang explained the current situation quickly to Qin Sichao, then gestured towards the chair next to him. “Director Qin, please sit here, Xiao Zeng went to the aquarium with them.”
“The advertising fee for Polaroid cameras is well spent, yesterday afternoon and this morning, that’s already a whole day. The babies are taking pictures, what about the dads, are they all with their own babies today?” Qin Sichao asked, sitting down, his eyes sweeping over the tray on the coffee table between them.
“Yes, each dad is with their own baby. Right, I just contacted Xiao Wang, Director Shi is already at the hospital, undergoing further examinations, he’s doing okay. Director Qin, you haven’t eaten much this morning, right? I asked someone to bring some food, you can eat while watching.” Jin Youliang said, casually mentioning the food on the tray, then continued explaining, “We were originally planning to continue the dad swap, but Director Shi sent a message last night saying to let the dads be with their own babies, so this morning’s task is family-based.”
Glutinous rice stuffed with lotus root, mung bean cake, bite-sized baked flatbreads, braised edamame and peanuts, peeled and diced peaches with toothpicks inserted, and a bowl of porridge with ice.
Was this what he called “asking someone to bring some random food”? This was catering to his recent preferences!
Qin Sichao picked up the bowl of porridge and took a sip.
As expected, it wasn’t plain porridge, he could taste yam and soy milk, it was cold, refreshing, and slightly sweet, one sip and the anger in his heart subsided.
He was truly thoughtful.
Just like Shi Dingshan said, this Jin Youliang was full of little schemes, but he was also useful.
Qin Sichao slowly drank his porridge, listening to Jin Youliang’s whispered instructions, asking someone to adjust the camera angle, asking someone else to reposition the microphone, asking someone to zoom in the lens.
It was a level of busyness that wasn’t there when Shi Dingshan was here.
Qin Sichao glanced at Jin Youliang, who was busy working, from the corner of his eye. He could see that this young man was trying to show off his abilities.
This kind of ambition, it was normal.
But it was best if it was just ambition.
Qin Sichao couldn’t help but wonder if last night’s conversation had opened his mind too much, it still hadn’t fully closed. Sitting here, he kept thinking about the words they discussed last night.
“Who would do something bad without any benefits? When looking for suspects, start with those who would benefit.”
These were the words they discussed when analyzing the bathroom incident last night.
But Qin Sichao felt that those words might also be applicable to analyzing today’s situation.
Putting aside the thoughts of those in the monitoring room at the villa, Wei Chengli, in the car, was feeling quite tormented.
Live broadcast, live broadcast.
Cameras, cameras.
He had been looking for an opportunity since breakfast, but he couldn’t find one…
Now they were in the car, on their way, it was evident that there was no chance to talk to Shi Dingshan this morning.
The key was, Wei Chengli looked at the little chubby dumpling on his left, then at Yan Yan on his right, he… regretted it!
People should truly learn to be content, contentment brought happiness, greed only led to destruction.
Heaven and earth could bear witness, he just casually poked at his egg at the breakfast table earlier, and the little chubby dumpling offered to help him mix the sauce, then he casually complained, “My baby, she doesn’t love me anymore, she only sat next to me on the first day.”
And then…
Under the little rascal’s enthusiastic invitation, “Dad, I love you, sit next to me,” Wei Chengli had to face the consequences of his own actions.
This wasn’t the kind of “sitting next to” he wanted! Let him be the odd one out in the family!
He wanted to sit in the spacious and comfortable seat in the front, Wei Chengli, squeezed between two child safety seats, silently shed tears, he couldn’t be happy anymore.
On the moving bus, he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t be happy.
Wen Qiming, his face grim, stared out the window. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his expression management in front of the camera, he was just too depressed to manage it.
Last night, because of Wei Maomao’s fall in the bathroom, the program team decided to rearrange the rooms, returning to the one-room-per-family mode.
Wen Qiming received the notification while he was showering, Shen Jianghe was the one who moved out of their room. When he hurriedly finished showering and came out, Yueyue had already been brought over by the staff.
Seeing his daughter sitting by the bed, looking a bit startled, Wen Qiming, who rarely comforted his daughter, even tried to soothe her. But when he asked about Wei Maomao’s fall, Yueyue was very brief, she didn’t seem to want to talk about it. At that time, he even wanted to take Yueyue to the Wei family’s room to check on her, but Yueyue didn’t respond, then the staff also said the doctor said she was fine and it was too late, everyone should rest, so Wen Qiming didn’t insist.
But when Wen Qiming woke up this morning and called Yueyue to get up, he found his daughter hiding under the blanket, secretly crying…
After coaxing and questioning, he finally found out what happened… Wen Qiming was almost angered to death.
No wonder the staff only mentioned it as an accident when they brought Yueyue over last night, no wonder they advised him not to take Yueyue to see Maomao.
So that was it!
Putting aside anything else, Wen Qiming absolutely believed his daughter wouldn’t lie.
She said the floor wasn’t slippery when she left the bathroom, then it wasn’t slippery.
Then who was lying, it was obvious.
Thinking about the dramatic events in the Cheng family these past few days, Wen Qiming couldn’t help but suspect that his daughter was being dragged down.
But they had just figured out the situation when it was 8 AM, the staff came to urge them to go downstairs for the live broadcast.
His last bit of rationality made Wen Qiming suppress his anger, he got his daughter ready and took her downstairs. He planned to talk to the director team after filming the breakfast segment, to ask them what they meant.
But as soon as they went downstairs, Wen Qiming saw the other dads lining up to express their concern for Wei Maomao, they all treated it as an accident, and Wei Maomao didn’t even deny it.
Hearing that, Wen Qiming could guess what the program team was doing, they wanted the person involved to admit it was just an accident.
Rationally speaking, whether it was intentional or an accident, for a live broadcast show, it was definitely more appropriate to handle it as an accident. Having been a host for so many years, Wen Qiming understood this kind of bias.
If it weren’t for Cheng Rongrong’s words, an accident would just be an accident.
But she said it!
Although there was no live broadcast last night for the children, and not many people heard Cheng Rongrong’s words, Wen Qiming couldn’t swallow this injustice.
Not cleaning her own house and throwing dirty water on others, then acting like nothing happened because no one pursued it, how could there be such a good thing?
Looking at that little chubby girl, obediently being comforted by the other dads, even nodding when they told her to be careful next time…
Wen Qiming truly… was about to laugh in exasperation.
Where was her spirit from that day, when he didn’t immediately accept the flowers Yueyue bought him, when she rolled on the ground and made those sarcastic remarks?
Now that she was the one suffering a loss, she just swallowed it silently?
And Wei Chengli, where was his brain? Did he truly think his daughter fell on her own? Didn’t he even suspect anything?
Wen Qiming truly regretted it, he should have asked Yueyue properly last night, he shouldn’t have assumed that his daughter was just startled and let her sleep after comforting her. He should have asked clearly, taken his child upstairs, looked for evidence, then gone to the Wei family, knocked some sense into Wei Chengli, and joined forces to make the program team handle it properly.
But now, the situation was already a mess, if they tried to unravel it, not only would they fail, they would also get dirty themselves.
Truly!
Infuriating!
Wen Qiming stared out the window for a long time, he took many deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, only after a while did he turn back and look at his daughter, who was also looking unhappy.
The most pitiful thing was… during breakfast, he saw Yueyue secretly glancing at Maomao and Yan Yan several times. When Cheng Rongrong said the floor was already slippery when she entered the bathroom, Yan Yan was outside. Yueyue must be afraid that they would believe Cheng Rongrong’s words and think she was the one who made the floor slippery…
It was truly unbelievable.
“Yueyue, look.” Wen Qiming said gently, after calming himself down, he took out a candy from his pocket and handed it to his daughter.
Wen Jiangyue looked down at it and shook her head.
“It’s okay, Dad will give you another one when you want to eat it later. I got a few when I came out, you can have as many as you want.” Wen Qiming said, gently stroking his daughter’s head with one hand, while the other hand tightly clutched the candy.
After breakfast, after announcing the morning’s task, he took advantage of the time when everyone was packing and told the staff he wanted to meet with the director team. But he didn’t see any of them! The staff member who relayed the message only said that the director team had an emergency to deal with, and he could only meet with them after the morning’s task was over.
What emergency!
When their car was leaving, he clearly saw Zeng Huanian at the entrance of the villa next door, about to get into the car with them!
What, were they avoiding him?
When Cheng Rongrong said those words, there were other staff members around, right? Could it be that the program team also knew what the problem was, but they didn’t want to correct it privately?
He wasn’t asking them to publicly contradict their previous statement during the live broadcast.
He just…
Wen Qiming glanced at his daughter, who had leaned against him after he stroked her head.
He just wanted to clear his daughter’s name and shift the blame back to where it belonged!
In the last car of the convoy, Zeng Huanian sneezed again. He had been sneezing since they got into the car, he had a bad feeling about this.
Zeng Huanian, worried, sent another message to Xiao Wang, asking about Director Shi’s situation.
Xiao Wang, squatting in the hospital corridor, looked at the chat window with Zeng Huanian, just two minutes had passed, and he received the same question again… And Jin Youliang, Director Qin, Xiao Zhao, Xiao Li… they were all doing the same.
Xiao Wang, who had already almost rubbed a hole in his phone screen from replying to messages, took a deep breath.
Enough!
Zeng Huanian, waiting for Xiao Wang’s reply, took a sip of water, then, accidentally glancing at his phone, he…
“Director Zeng, you…” Xiao Zhao, in the passenger seat, turned around with a wronged expression, his shoulder wet.
But Zeng Huanian didn’t have time to apologize, he grabbed his phone and started browsing.
Two seconds later, Zeng Huanian slumped back in his seat, defeated, he threw his phone aside and apologized sincerely to Xiao Zhao.
“It’s okay, I was just startled.” Xiao Zhao said, then looked at Zeng Huanian, confused, holding up his phone. “Director Zeng, this ‘Save Director Shi’ group…”
Zeng Huanian’s lips twitched slightly. “Xiao Wang just created the group, it’s probably for us to discuss Director Shi’s current situation. But with this group name, I think after Director Shi recovers and sees it, we’ll be the ones saving Xiao Wang.” Director Shi wouldn’t beat him, but “he” would, he almost had a heart attack when he first saw the group name, he thought something serious had happened to Director Shi.
With such a talent for naming, it was a waste for him to be a production assistant, he should go and work in post-production!
But Zeng Huanian didn’t expect that just ten minutes later, he himself… wouldn’t want to be a production assistant anymore.
The aquarium they were going to this morning was half an hour’s drive from the villa area. It was newly built and would officially open to the public next week. All the facilities were in place, they could visit and play normally, and there were no other tourists, it was the perfect filming location for their show.
He was the one who contacted this place initially. But at that time… it failed. After all, opening the aquarium exclusively for the program team required a lot of manpower and resources, the aquarium had refused.
But after the show aired, seeing the show’s popularity, the aquarium… not only contacted them proactively, but also offered many favorable terms, even saying that once the program team arrived, their staff would be fully prepared to cooperate.
And so… They were originally going to pay to film here, and now they were being paid to come.
Zeng Huanian, as he got out of the car, was still marveling at the world’s fickleness, then in the next second, he was dragged away by a thug… oh no, by Wen Qiming.
“Teacher Wen, this… your cameraman…” Zeng Huanian said, after being dragged a few steps by Wen Qiming, he looked at the empty space where Wen Qiming came from, bewildered.
“Lost him.” Wen Qiming said, getting straight to the point, annoyed. “Yesterday, Wei Maomao fell, because of who?”
“Who? Didn’t Maomao fall on her own?” Zeng Huanian asked instinctively, then looked at Wen Qiming’s collar and waist. “Teacher Wen, where’s your microphone?”
Wen Qiming, hearing the expected answer, sneered. “I’ve also been in this industry for many years, don’t try to fool me with this kind of nonsense. I’m asking you, our Yueyue said the floor wasn’t slippery when she left the bathroom, but Cheng Rongrong said it was slippery when she went in, what does that mean? Is she implying that our Yueyue made the bathroom floor slippery, causing Wei Maomao to fall? What evidence does she have to say that? Clearly, she came out, and then Wei Maomao went in, wasn’t it her who made the floor slippery, and now that something happened, she’s trying to shift the blame to our Yueyue? I can understand you saying it was an accident to the public, but shouldn’t we clarify it privately? Whoever’s fault it is, should be held accountable, why be so ambiguous, who are you implying?”
“No, no, no… Teacher Wen, wait.” Zeng Huanian said, dumbfounded by Wen Qiming’s barrage of questions. “What are you talking about?”
“What, you still don’t understand?” Wen Qiming asked, adjusting Zeng Huanian’s collar, dissatisfied. “Then let me explain it to you properly…”
…
As Wen Qiming finally found someone to vent to, at the entrance of the aquarium, Wen Jiangyue, clutching her microphone pack, looked worriedly in the direction Wen Qiming had left.
“Yueyue, we should go in. Your dad said he had something to do, he’ll join us later.” Shen Jianghe said with a smile, holding Wen Jiangyue’s left hand, his right hand holding Shen Zilin’s.
Wen Jiangyue glanced at Shen Jianghe, then at Shen Zilin, who was already excitedly walking ahead, she finally followed the group.
As soon as they entered the aquarium, the host announced the start of the task, the families could start taking pictures of the fish based on the clues in their booklets.
Wen Jiangyue looked back at the entrance, no Dad.
“Yueyue, why don’t you walk with us first? Your dad can ask the staff and find us.” Shen Jianghe said, squatting down with a smile. “Uncle Shen will teach you how to use the Polaroid camera…”
“Right, Yan Yan, come with us. Today’s task is for each baby to exchange their photos for vouchers individually, she can also take pictures with us.”
Shen Jianghe, entrusted with comforting Little Yueyue, hadn’t even finished speaking when her attention was drawn by Wei Chengli’s loud voice.
Shen Jianghe swallowed his words and looked over as well.
He saw the two little ones, always inseparable, standing hand in hand behind Wei Chengli.
And Cheng Feiying, holding Cheng Rongrong, his face grim, muttered a few words, then turned and left.
Shen Jianghe looked at Wei Chengli’s straight and tense back, he sensed something different.
Yesterday, Shen Jianghe had walked with them for the entire afternoon, watching Wei Chengli diligently take pictures of Wei Maomao, Cheng Tingyan, and Cheng Rongrong. How should he put it, whether it was taking pictures or showing concern, he was quite fair. But people had different levels of closeness, Shen Jianghe could still tell that for Wei Chengli, it was… his own daughter, Yan Yan, the accessory to his daughter, and Rongrong, the stranger he had to take care of for the task.
But how come today…
It wasn’t “Yan Yan and Maomao together,” but “Yan Yan and us together,” and that protective stance…
Just as Shen Jianghe was lost in thought, the small hand in his left hand started to wiggle.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Jianghe asked, turning to look at Wen Jiangyue.
Wen Jiangyue, her lips pursed, looked at the Wei family.
Shen Jianghe followed her gaze and saw Little Maomao beckoning them.
“You go, you can either follow Maomao’s dad or me, but you can’t run around the aquarium alone.” Shen Jianghe said, releasing her hand.
He released her hand, but the little girl hesitated, not leaving.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Jianghe asked, tugging at his son’s hand. “Stop thinking about fish, be considerate of your sister.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the little girl, who had been lingering, ran off.
Shen Jianghe: “… “
Just as she was about to reach Maomao and Yan Yan, Wen Jiangyue stopped, lowered her head, and started shuffling forward…
“Is there gold on the floor?” Wei Maomao asked, unable to hold back, she went to meet her, then looked at the aquarium entrance. “Yueyue, where’s your dad?”
“He… has… something… to do…” Wen Jiangyue said softly.
“What? Oh… He has something to do. Are you okay? You’re speaking so softly today. You didn’t even look at me when I waved at you when we got off the bus.” Wei Maomao said, rummaging through her pocket, she pulled out a vacuum-packed braised quail egg. “Here, for you.”
“I didn’t see you.” Wen Jiangyue said, looking at the quail egg in the little chubby paw, she nervously clenched her hand around her pants, she didn’t take it.
“Eat it. You don’t know how to open it? It’s like jelly. Should I open it for you?” Wei Maomao said, her chubby paw searching for the opening on the quail egg.
But before she could even exert any force, her arm was gently pulled by Cheng Tingyan next to her.
Wei Maomao turned to her, confused.
“Yueyue, I know… It wasn’t you. Maomao also knows.” Cheng Tingyan said, her words vague, but her tone gentle and firm.
What wasn’t? Wei Maomao, still struggling to open the quail egg, didn’t understand what Cheng Tingyan meant.
Then, in the next second, Wei Maomao heard Wen Jiangyue burst into tears, then, like a swift leopard cat, she rushed past her and hugged Cheng Tingyan.
Wei Maomao: “… “
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