Chapter 27
In stark contrast to the lively atmosphere in the live broadcast room, a silence began to spread within the convenience store.
Meanwhile, the staff member who had been squatting in a corner of the convenience store for a long time finally received the command “You can start now” through her earpiece.
God knows how long she had been waiting for this moment. According to the original plan, after the children were allowed to look around freely for a minute or two, it would be her turn to appear. To stick to the plan, she had initially refrained from immediately answering when Wen Jiangyue asked her about the price of the lollipops.
But after missing that opportunity, she had no chance to speak.
When Shen Zilin came out to stop Wen Jiangyue and even called the program team profiteers, she received the order through her earpiece to pause the plan and give the children more time to express themselves.
She hadn’t expected them to go this far…
Just as she was immersed in envy for their million-yuan savings and engrossed in the gossip about the Cheng family’s drama, it was finally her turn to proceed.
Yang Ning adjusted her clothes, walked out from the corner, clapped her hands to attract the children’s attention, and said, “Alright, all our little babies are here, now it’s time for our task. You can call me Sister Yang Yang…”
“Roast whole lamb… drool…” Wen Dongyu swallowed softly.
“…” The corner of Yang Ning’s mouth twitched slightly, she decided not to argue with this little guy with a daily wage of five yuan and maintained her smile. “This is the convenience store for the first stop of ‘Where’s Baby Going’ season three. As you can see, there are many delicious and fun things here. Have you noticed that there’s a number in front of each item? These numbers don’t represent money, they represent our Baby Coins for this season. What are Baby Coins? We can tell from the name, they are related to us babies. If you complete the tasks given by the program team well, you can earn a certain number of Baby Coins, and then you can come to this convenience store and exchange them for delicious food and fun things according to the numbers in front of the items. Isn’t it simple?”
The children, who had been discussing their assets for a while: “…”
Except for Wei Maomao, who lowered her eyes, and Cheng Rongrong, who slightly raised her head, the other children all had expressions of sudden realization.
“I knew it, the pricing here was strange.” Shen Zilin straightened his tie, glanced at Wei Maomao, who didn’t look up, he coughed and released his hand from his tie.
“I have one yuan.” Wen Dongyu held up the coin in his hand. “Can I exchange it for Baby Coins? I want to eat teddy bear biscuits!”
“You can’t exchange it.” Yang Ning smiled. “And, you’re not allowed to bring money to the show.”
“Oh. Okay.” Wen Dongyu walked over to Yang Ning and stuffed the coin into her hand. “Here you go.”
“…” Yang Ning’s hand trembled slightly as she was forced to accept the coin. She had personally witnessed Wen Dongyu digging this coin out of his shoe… Little boys were truly terrifying.
Wen Dongyu didn’t notice Yang Ning’s momentary stiffness, after giving her the coin, he immediately asked, “Then I handed this over to you, am I a good boy? Do good boys get rewards? Can you give me Baby Coins?”
“Good boy… but no.” Yang Ning tried hard to keep the corners of her mouth from drooping. “There are only two ways to earn Baby Coins. One is by completing tasks to directly earn Baby Coins, the other is by your dads completing certain tasks, and they can use the Daddy Coins they earn to exchange for Baby Coins.”
“Our dads are already doing their tasks, haven’t they earned Daddy Coins yet? How many Daddy Coins can be exchanged for one Baby Coin?” Shen Zilin asked a series of questions, getting straight to the point.
“The task the dads are doing now is to gather ingredients for dinner, there are no Daddy Coins as a reward. The dads need to do specific tasks to earn Daddy Coins. One Daddy Coin can be exchanged for one Baby Coin, but… Daddy Coins can also be exchanged for things the dads themselves need, they might not use them to exchange for Baby Coins for you. So, if you want to exchange for something, work hard to complete the tasks yourselves!” Yang Ning specifically looked at Wen Dongyu, making sure he understood and wouldn’t give her any more strange things.
“Oh, I understand, Daddy also needs to protect his own property.” Wen Dongyu nodded under Yang Ning’s gaze.
Yang Ning: “…” That wasn’t exactly what she meant.
“Then can Baby Coins also be exchanged for Daddy Coins?” Shen Zilin asked sharply.
Yang Ning nodded. “Yes, one Baby Coin can also be exchanged for one Daddy Coin.”
“Boss, can I put my Baby Coins with you later? I’ll take them back when I need to use them!” After hearing that, Wen Dongyu immediately went to Wei Maomao’s side. “Boss, please help me protect my property!”
“Wen Dongdong, your dad…” Wei Maomao didn’t think Wen Xiang would go as far as taking away his son’s teddy bear biscuit money on the show.
But before she could finish her sentence, Wen Dongyu turned his head and looked at Cheng Tingyan. “Yan Yan, you should also put your Baby Coins with the powerful Boss! My dad took away my Charizard, your dad took away your house, we’re both weak and can’t protect ourselves!”
“…” Cheng Tingyan glanced at the little chubby bunny who had just cried, her eyes were still slightly red, and the tear stains on her face hadn’t dried yet, she looked weak, innocent, and pitiful. Maomao was also bullied at home by her dad with that terrible mush… How was she powerful? Wen Dongyu didn’t know anything… Maomao was the one who needed protection.
Wei Maomao wanted to take advantage of Wen Dongyu’s words to tell Cheng Tingyan that she would protect her property, and emphasize Cheng Feiying’s untrustworthiness. But just as she was about to speak, she met Cheng Tingyan’s gentle gaze and suddenly realized she was wrong.
Chinese people attached great importance to family ties. Just the house incident this morning and the matter of Cheng Tingyan and Cheng Rongrong’s assets weren’t enough to paint Cheng Feiying as a bad father. Moreover, personal property was a sensitive topic, those previous conversations might not be edited into the main episode. If Cheng Tingyan agreed to give her Baby Coins to her after hearing what Wen Dongyu said, wouldn’t that make the audience think she was a daughter who didn’t trust her father?
Thinking deeper, Wei Maomao broke out in a cold sweat.
“Wen Dongdong, your dad won’t take your Baby Coins. Uncle Cheng won’t take Yan Yan’s Baby Coins either. They are dads, dads love us. They will exchange their Daddy Coins for Baby Coins to buy us delicious food!” Wei Maomao said with certainty. First, put the high hats on them, as for who would throw the hats away later, that was their own business.
Besides, compared to their ultimate goal, it was just some Baby Coins, Cheng Tingyan could afford to lose them.
“Really…” Wen Dongyu looked unconvinced.
“My dad didn’t take away my sister’s house. It was because you were crying, Dongyu, that Dad wanted to swap houses with your family. My dad won’t take away my sister’s Baby Coins.” Cheng Rongrong said aggrievedly. She wanted to gain Wen Dongyu’s favor, but he couldn’t keep badmouthing Cheng Feiying like that, they were live on air. She couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Your dad won’t take your sister’s Baby Coins, he’ll just keep them safe for her in case she loses them, right?” Wang Zhizhi, who was leaning lazily against the cake display, suddenly spoke.
Cheng Rongrong felt a surge of anger when she heard his voice, what was it to him!
And the world… fell silent once again because of Wang Zhizhi.
“Yan Yan, why don’t you… give your Baby Coins to Maomao for safekeeping?” Thinking of Cheng Tingyan’s personal property of thirty-one yuan and seventy-five cents, Shen Zilin couldn’t help but persuade her.
Wen Jiangyue nodded slightly in agreement.
Cheng Rongrong was first enraged by Wang Zhizhi’s voice, then the words and actions of Shen Zilin and Wen Jiangyue doused the flames on her head with a bucket of ice water, almost freezing her.
“Sister, don’t you trust Daddy? He’s your dad.” Cheng Rongrong said with feigned grievance for Cheng Feiying. She didn’t understand what was wrong with these people, what was so powerful about this three-year-old chubby girl? Since they were like this, don’t blame her for using words to trap Cheng Tingyan. As Cheng Feiying’s daughter, not trusting her own father, but trusting other outsiders, it would be Cheng Tingyan who would lose face if this was broadcasted.
Here it comes, Wei Maomao’s eyes darkened.
As expected, the moral kidnapping of family ties had appeared. But she didn’t expect it to appear so early, and from Cheng Rongrong…
“Yan Yan.” Wei Maomao reached out and gently tugged at Cheng Tingyan’s backpack strap. “You just said you wanted to buy me popcorn.”
“Mmm! I’ll buy it for you as soon as I have 100 Baby Coins!” Cheng Tingyan nodded vigorously and naturally took the little chubby paw on her strap into her hand.
“Then you put your Baby Coins with me, so I can buy you popcorn. And you keep my Baby Coins so you can buy whatever you want.” Wei Maomao tugged at Cheng Tingyan’s hand and smiled sweetly. “Okay?”
You help me protect my property, and I help you protect your property… Is Maomao’s dad like that too…
“Okay.” Cheng Tingyan nodded seriously. “I will protect Maomao, and Maomao’s Baby Coins!”
“…” Wei Maomao paused, something seemed off? But forget it…
In the field not far away, Wei Chengli sneezed several times in a row, feeling like he had been excessively thought about somewhere today.
Back in the convenience store, Shen Zilin pondered, this didn’t seem right. Could it be that everyone’s Baby Coins looked different? What was the point of exchanging them then?
Cheng Rongrong was also confused. But what she didn’t understand was why everyone had become even stranger after she just went to the bathroom, it was inexplicably annoying.
“Alright, babies, it’s time for our task, follow Sister Yang Yang.” Yang Ning suppressed her laughter and waited for the little ones to finish arranging their non-existent money before opening the door of the convenience store and stepping out, waving to them.
Even after they had all gone out, Wen Dongyu was still persistent, squeezing next to Wei Maomao and asking timidly, “Boss… my Baby Coins…”
“I know. Just give them to me when you get them.” Wei Maomao was also speechless, if she didn’t agree, this guy might even whine through the window cracks in the middle of the night!
Wen Dongyu was happy and dashed away like a blur, rushing to the front, next to Yang Ning, urging her, “Hurry, hurry! Let’s go do our task! I’m going to find Baby Coins for Boss!”
Cheng Rongrong watched Wen Dongyu’s retreating figure, utterly speechless. Was he really that childish? How could Cheng Tingyan in the original novel be friends with such a childish creature? It was only the first day, and she already couldn’t control her urge to hit him!
Shen Zilin was a bit more normal…
Cheng Rongrong glanced at Shen Zilin, who was walking not far behind Yang Ning, side by side with Wang Zhizhi, whispering something, and mentally corrected herself, only a tiny bit more normal. Because Wang Zhizhi, who could become sarcastic at any moment, was right there, Cheng Rongrong temporarily gave up on the idea of asking Shen Zilin about the specifics of the investment and turned her attention to Wen Jiangyue.
Slowing down her pace and falling behind a few steps, Cheng Rongrong naturally walked beside Wen Jiangyue, who was at the back, and spoke softly with a hint of grievance, “Wen Jiangyue, I went to the bathroom just now. What were you talking about inside?”
Cheng Rongrong was still curious about what she had missed, so she chose the most approachable Wen Jiangyue.
In the original novel, Wen Jiangyue was a quiet girl from a scholarly family, with some talent and knowledge. Maybe because she was too quiet, she wasn’t mentioned much in the original novel, only appearing briefly in the necessary parts of the show.
Through the limited interaction they had had in the past half day, Cheng Rongrong could sense that Wen Jiangyue was a gentle and compassionate girl, seemingly more normal than the others, so she chose her as the target of her inquiry.
But she didn’t expect that her perfectly normal question would be met with a completely irrelevant answer…
“I seek not the elixir, nor sit in meditation. I toil not for merchants, nor till the land. In leisure, I paint mountains to sell, and use not ill-gotten gains.”
Wen Jiangyue’s gaze was distant, her voice soft, ethereal, but Cheng Rongrong couldn’t appreciate it.
“What are you saying, Wen Jiangyue? I don’t understand…” Cheng Rongrong knew this should be a poem, but she was asking what they had been talking about behind her back, they couldn’t have been reciting poems together, right?
“Nothing.” Wen Jiangyue shook her head, but closed her mouth and didn’t answer any further.
The five-and-a-half-year-old Wen Jiangyue had talent and knowledge, but she was also starting to develop the aloofness of a scholar, which was something Cheng Rongrong would never have expected.
Cheng Rongrong didn’t understand Wen Jiangyue’s words, but the viewers in the live broadcast room were stunned.
“Holy crap, Wen Jiangyue never speaks, and when she does, she drops bombs, so direct?”
“Wen Qiming is truly a man of culture, the child he raised is different, even when scolding someone, it’s like reciting a poem…”
“Wait, I just went to the bathroom, what did I miss? Who’s scolding who?”
“Classmate in the front row, let me tell you, don’t go to the bathroom so often, the fact is, going to the bathroom means missing out on big things!”
“You missed Wen Jiangyue reciting a poem, Tang Yin’s ‘Expressing My Ambition.’ Hahaha, I had almost forgotten it, I only remembered the last line ‘and use not ill-gotten gains.’ I had to search it up to remember the author.”
“Someone please translate it for me!”
“It basically means ‘I don’t refine elixirs like a Taoist, I don’t sit in meditation like a monk, I’m not a merchant or a farmer, in my spare time, I paint mountains and sell them, I don’t use money obtained through immoral means.’ Hahaha!”
“The essence is in the last line, those who are cultured are truly different!”
“It’s a pity, Cheng Rongrong is only three and a half years old, she doesn’t understand.”
“She doesn’t need to understand… Even if Cheng Feiying really took Cheng Tingyan’s money, it has nothing to do with Cheng Rongrong. If Wen Jiangyue wants to recite poems, she should recite them to Cheng Feiying!”
“Tsk, tsk, hard to say, hard to say. Who knows if that two million three hundred thousand includes our Yan Yan’s money. Once the meat is rotten in the pot, can you tell which piece is which after it’s scooped out and divided?”
“Wen Jiangyue, such a quiet and gentle little girl, never saying a word, even went to comfort Cheng Rongrong when she was crying earlier, who would have thought she had such integrity. Interesting.”
…
The comments in the live broadcast room couldn’t reach Cheng Rongrong’s ears, but Wen Jiangyue’s sudden aloofness was enough to irritate her.
Just a small supporting character who wasn’t even worth a few lines in the original novel, actually trying to act mysterious with her, as if she really cared to know.
Cheng Rongrong had her pride, she didn’t pester Wen Jiangyue any further and instead turned her attention to the fool who was jumping around in the distance… Wen Dongyu.
But before she could do anything, they reached their destination.
“Alright, babies, we’re at the task location for today.” Yang Ning stopped by a field and gestured with her hand. “This area circled by colorful ribbons is where we’ll complete our task today.”
Looking at the approximately one hundred square meters of land circled by purple ribbons, Wei Maomao had a bad feeling.
As expected, Yang Ning continued, “In this field, we have buried a total of two hundred Baby Coins. The task for today is called… Treasure Hunt!”
“Two hundred Baby Coins… How many teddy bear biscuits is that…” Wen Dongyu counted on his fingers.
Digging up two hundred Baby Coins in such a large field, even if they could find them all and luck was even, that would be 28-29 coins per person… Just enough to exchange for one lollipop. Moreover, in such a large area, it was impossible to dig them all up, right! Wei Maomao quickly finished her calculation and, looking at the “vast” field, felt an urge to just lie down and give up.
“Maomao, I’ll work hard.”
The clear voice beside her revived Wei Maomao’s spirit.
Oh, she almost forgot, she had exchanged Baby Coins with Cheng Tingyan!
She had to dig up Baby Coins to buy snacks for Cheng Tingyan!
She couldn’t just lie down and give up now.
Wei Maomao looked down at her chubby feet, feeling like she had just set a stone to drop on her own foot.
“Yan Yan, I’ll work hard too!” Wei Maomao raised her chubby face and gave Cheng Tingyan her cutest and most determined smile, hiding the tears of her failed attempt to give up in her heart.
Little chubby bunny… Cheng Tingyan couldn’t help but reach out and poke the dimple that was particularly prominent on Wei Maomao’s face because she was holding back a smile, then her finger subtly shifted and brushed against the little chubby bunny’s hair as she retracted it.
It really was! So soft! Even softer than the fur of the chubby bunny she had raised!
The question that had been lingering in her mind for over an hour was finally answered, Cheng Tingyan smiled contentedly.
“Boss, I’ll work hard too!” Wen Dongyu ran over, loudly breaking the warm and friendly atmosphere between the two.
Wei Maomao: “…” That wasn’t necessary, they were competitors now.
Not far away, Shen Zilin nudged Wang Zhizhi with his elbow. “I want to eat beef jerky, it costs forty coins, do you want some? We can dig together and then share the beef jerky. That bag of beef jerky looks much bigger than two lollipops!”
Wang Zhizhi thought about it and nodded. “Okay!”
“Eat what, eat what? I want to eat beef jerky too, can I dig with you guys?” Wen Dongyu didn’t mind that Wei Maomao had ignored him and happily squeezed towards Shen Zilin.
“More people, more power.” Shen Zilin looked at Wang Zhizhi.
“Okay.” Wang Zhizhi nodded again.
After agreeing, Wang Zhizhi looked towards Wei Maomao and Cheng Tingyan.
“Yan Yan is going to buy popcorn, they don’t want beef jerky.” Wen Dongyu, being a qualified spokesperson, pulled the two towards the field.
They had already run several meters when Yang Ning, who had gotten tools from another staff member, called them back.
“These shovels and buckets are your tools. By the way, besides the two hundred Baby Coins, there are also many mystery treasures hidden in small wooden boxes in the field. We’ll have one hour to dig for treasure, then we’ll go back for dinner, I’ll announce the time every ten minutes.” Yang Ning handed each child a set of tools, completing the final procedure.
Wen Dongyu went up to Yang Ning and looked up. “What are mystery treasures?”
“Mystery treasures, of course, have to remain mysterious. You’ll know when you find one.” Yang Ning smiled. “They are even better rewards than Baby Coins~~”
Alright…
Wei Maomao, determined to get Cheng Tingyan at least one bag of teddy bear biscuits, charged into the field, then after digging for a dozen times, she sat down on the ground.
Why!
Why bury things in the ground!
Couldn’t they bury them in sand or something?
The children’s play areas in shopping malls were all sandpits, who would dig in such hard and thick soil!
Wei Maomao sat on the ground and caught her breath, looking up to see Cheng Tingyan not far away, digging diligently without stopping.
“…” Wei Maomao, holding back tears, got up, leaning on her shovel.
Holding the shovel with both hands, she pressed it down with her belly, then stepped on the edge with her foot, and finally lifted it with force.
Soil…
Soil…
More soil…
Wei Maomao puffed out her cheeks and spat out the dirt that had gotten into her mouth.
Was it Shi Dingshan? It had to be him! This segment didn’t appear in the show in her previous life!
Bad uncle! You’re about to surpass Cheng Feiying and become the number one bad uncle, you know!
Wei Maomao dug two more shovels full of tears, then couldn’t help but run to Cheng Tingyan and watch her.
“I found one!” Cheng Tingyan stopped digging when she heard the little bunny’s footsteps, turned around, and opened her palm towards Wei Maomao.
A bronze coin about the size of a one-yuan coin, with a raised character “Bao” on it. Wei Maomao turned it over, the back was a relief of a cartoon baby’s face.
Alright, quite well-made, if it wasn’t buried in the ground.
“Yan Yan, you’re so awesome!” Wei Maomao, who hadn’t found anything, praised her sincerely. Then she looked down at the spot where Cheng Tingyan had dug, it didn’t seem to be buried very deep, she should be able to reach that depth if she continued digging where she was.
Just then, Yang Ning’s voice came from afar.
“Congratulations to our Rongrong, you found the first mystery treasure!”
Wei Maomao abruptly looked up, what? It hadn’t even been ten minutes, was she that lucky?
She saw Yang Ning in the distance holding a small wooden box the size of a palm, but she couldn’t see what was inside.
“I’m going back to dig.” Wei Maomao didn’t rest anymore, dragging her little shovel back to her spot and started digging furiously.
Cheng Tingyan looked at her dirt-covered hands and smiled helplessly. That dusty little chubby bunny, she really wanted to wipe her clean, but her hands were too dirty to take out a handkerchief from her bag…
By the time Yang Ning announced that twenty minutes had passed, Wei Maomao had finally dug up her first Baby Coin. She was now covered in dirt and could only lean on her shovel, panting.
She really doubted if the program team actually intended for them to eat those snacks.
Dig, pant, shovel, sit… Wei Maomao huffed and puffed, managing to dig up two more coins.
But before the thirty-minute announcement, the announcement of Cheng Rongrong finding another mystery treasure came.
Wei Maomao got up from the ground, she suddenly felt like something was… not quite right…
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