Chapter 135
Outside the aquarium, after Wen Qiming and Zeng Huanian finished their discussion for the time being, Wen Qiming immediately scanned the few groups of people who hadn’t entered yet.
Wen Jiangyue was not far away, Wen Qiming quickly spotted her, but his worry didn’t ease, instead, it intensified.
What was going on! Why were her eyes red! Had she been crying!
What were they talking about? Why were Wei Maomao and Cheng Tingyan both looking at Yueyue with serious expressions! They looked a bit intimidating!
Could they be talking about the slippery floor incident yesterday!
No! He couldn’t wait for the clueless Zeng Huanian to investigate, he had to clarify things with these two little ones!
Wen Qiming frowned, he quickened his pace, anxious.
Wei Maomao, hearing the approaching footsteps, instinctively looked towards the source of the sound, the person was already standing before them.
Killing intent?
Wei Maomao was stunned.
Cheng Tingyan, engrossed in her conversation with Wen Jiangyue, wasn’t as alert as Wei Maomao, she was still lecturing with a stern expression, completely oblivious to the person approaching with a dark expression.
“Maomao already peeled it a bit, it fell on the ground, you can’t eat it anymore!” Cheng Tingyan said seriously, her face stern.
“But I picked it up quickly, they said on TV that it’s fine to eat if you pick it up within five seconds. And it still has the shell, it’s fine.” Wen Jiangyue said softly. “You guys specially saved it for me…” It was still the one she dropped on the floor because of her crying.
“You cried for more than five seconds! It was already a long time when you picked it up, you can’t eat it!” Cheng Tingyan said sternly. “You’ll get a stomachache! I’ll get you another one when we go back, don’t eat this one!”
“But…” Wen Jiangyue said, clutching the quail egg, reluctant. This wasn’t just a snack they saved for her, it was also a symbol of their reconciliation, without this quail egg, they wouldn’t have called her over, she wouldn’t have known they believed her, then she would still be sad for a long time… Wen Jiangyue couldn’t bear to just throw it away.
The approaching tiger, descending the mountain with a fierce expression, hearing what the little ones were talking about, his anger instantly dissipated.
Well scolded, brilliantly scolded, perfectly scolded!
“Ahem… Yan Yan is right. We’ll buy another one next time.” Wen Qiming said, clearing his throat, he reached out and took the quail egg from Wen Jiangyue’s hand.
“Dad!” Wen Jiangyue said, surprised and delighted, she had just noticed Wen Qiming standing behind her.
Wen Qiming, his leg hugged by his soft daughter, his heart also softened, he even couldn’t help but reflect on whether he had entered the “strict father” mode too early, maybe he should wait until she was a bit older before being strict.
Wen Jiangyue didn’t know that Wen Qiming could think about such profound matters in just a second, she tugged at his hand, making him bend down, then whispered in his ear, “Dad, you said you would give me the candy on the bus? Can you give it to me now?”
Just as Wen Qiming was taking out the candy, he heard another even softer voice.
“Dad, they know it wasn’t me!”
Wen Qiming’s hand, reaching for the candy, paused, he looked at his daughter in surprise, he realized that although her eyes were red, she must have cried, but now, her eyes, looking at him, were bright and sparkling, the previous gloominess and dejection gone.
The three little girls happily shared the candies and, hand in hand, followed the guide, who was waving a small flag, into the aquarium.
The tiger, who had been descending the mountain with a fierce expression, now, holding a dirty quail egg, awkwardly became a cat with its tail between its legs.
How should he put it… Was his expression too dark when he came over earlier? Little Maomao seemed to be stunned… Ah, he was so impolite, so ungentlemanly…
Wen Qiming, as he reattached his microphone, reflected on his behavior, feeling ashamed, he followed the little babies.
Giant glass walls reaching the ceiling, a transparent tunnel, a blue ocean, fish and treasures coexisting.
Listening to the guide tell stories about the fish, interacting with them through the glass, racing with them, joy filled the faces of most of the little babies. Each Polaroid photo captured the beauty they wanted to preserve.
Mmm…
Most of the little babies.
Except for Cheng Rongrong.
The trap she had meticulously set, using all her brain cells, was ruined by a certain little chubby menace who was desperate to poop.
Even though that little menace fell, she still felt a bit satisfied.
Even though the program team, as she had expected, couldn’t see through the “Rashomon” situation, they glossed over it, turning it into an accident without any further investigation, she wasn’t implicated at all.
Cheng Rongrong was still… very angry!
Now the program team had separated the families again, Cheng Tingyan was always clinging to the Wei family, she barely had any opportunities. Even if Cheng Tingyan came back to live with them, she couldn’t use the same trick twice. And most importantly, with the families separated, she didn’t have a scapegoat anymore.
Qin Sichao was so close, was she just going to watch as Cheng Tingyan caught his attention again and got that amazing opportunity!
It was all Jin Youliang’s fault.
That plan, after just one failure, he refused to try again, later, he didn’t even bother to pretend, he just used being busy as an excuse and cut off contact. If he had been more capable, if he had succeeded, if he had become the head director, there would be so many more opportunities for her to manipulate things! She wouldn’t be so passive, limited to just a bathroom!
A good hand, played terribly, he deserved to never become a head director.
Hating this, hating that, there were too many people and things she hated, the resentment condensed in her heart, the anger suppressed under her emotionless silence, even the magical underwater world and the beautiful fish couldn’t move Cheng Rongrong.
On the large projection screen, Cheng Rongrong, half-heartedly taking pictures of the fish, didn’t look happy at all.
On the sofa across from the projection, Bai Lei had the same unhappy expression as she sipped her coffee.
In the past few days, Bai Lei had barely watched Cheng Rongrong’s live broadcast, and she only occasionally glanced at the other channels.
But today was different.
Early this morning, the gossip about Shi Dingshan, the show’s head director, exploded on social media.
Even Bai Lei was a bit interested, she browsed through several live broadcasts, wanting to see the director’s current state of mind through the camera.
Of course, initially, it was just out of boredom, pure gossip that she knew was useless.
But as she watched, she noticed something.
What was going on?
It seemed like the families were doing the task individually, the children were running around excitedly in the aquarium, doing their tasks, gathering and dispersing, dispersing and gathering. In each individual live broadcast window, people from other families would often appear.
But!
In Cheng Feiying and Cheng Rongrong’s live broadcast window, it was always just the two of them.
Bai Lei, for comparison, even brought her laptop and tablet, opening several live broadcast windows to watch side by side, in addition to the projection.
Then she watched as Wen Qiming, taking Wen Jiangyue, was walking towards the tunnel ahead, she even saw Cheng Feiying and Cheng Rongrong also walking towards that direction, logically, the two families should have walked together in the tunnel for a while.
But Wen Qiming suddenly stopped and turned around, pulling Wen Jiangyue with him.
He didn’t even turn at a corner, he just turned back directly.
If it were just one family, it could be a coincidence.
But Bai Lei saw that Wei Chengli, taking Cheng Tingyan and Wei Maomao, also encountered Cheng Feiying and the others, and they didn’t even try to join them. Of course, they seemed a bit more polite than Wen Qiming, they didn’t turn around and leave immediately, they just stopped, in an empty spot with no fish, and only continued walking after Cheng Feiying and the others were gone.
As for Shen Jianghe and Wen Xiang, they were even more polite, they would greet and chat for a bit when they encountered them.
But… with so many windows open, the contrast was obvious.
Whether it was Shen Jianghe, Wen Xiang, Shen Zilin, or Wen Dongyu, their attitudes towards the other families and towards their family were completely different. The adults’ enthusiasm and politeness might require closer observation, but the children… Whether they greeted from afar, ran over to join them and look at the fish, or just casually responded when they were right in front of them, it was too obvious.
The most outrageous one was Wang Zhizhi, he just responded with a single sentence, then turned and walked away, his back to them, even his dad couldn’t stop him.
Bai Lei looked at Cheng Rongrong, who didn’t look happy at all in the live broadcast, then at Cheng Tingyan, who was always being held by that stinky Maomao, chatting and laughing with those annoying children wherever she went.
Why!
Why was Liu Qiongfang’s child living so happily, even happier than her child!
At 10:43 AM, Zhang Jin, looking at the tenth missed call on his phone, sighed deeply, he finally answered the call when it rang for the eleventh time. After these past few days, he understood, this person truly didn’t understand what a silent rejection was, as long as he didn’t answer, she would keep calling until his phone died.
Cheng Feiying, that wall between him and the devil, how many more days until he came back!
There was no one else in the room, Zhang Jin placed the phone on the table and turned on the speaker, this was the last bit of distance he could create between himself and evil.
“What’s going on, why do I always have to call so many times before you answer?”
“If your phone is broken, then get a new one, are you out of money?”
“What did she say? Where are we meeting today?”
…
The relentless barrage of questions was followed by increasingly less politeness with each passing day.
Not receiving a response, Bai Lei, who was lying on the sofa, kicked a pillow in frustration and said angrily, “Are you there?”
“Yes… Who are you talking about? Who are we meeting today?” Zhang Jin asked, pretending to be confused.
“Who else could I be talking about, the other agent I called yesterday at noon?” Bai Lei said coldly, sitting up. “What, is Liu Qiongfang afraid to meet me?”
Zhang Jin took a sip of tea and said perfunctorily, “Oh, oh, you mean her. What, you really want to meet her? I thought you were joking.”
“So you didn’t ask her?” Bai Lei asked, after a pause. “What, with Cheng Feiying’s current situation, you, his agent, are just going to watch? Not to mention the future, he’s earned you a lot of money these past few years, right? You’re just going to watch, not even willing to make a phone call?”
“It’s not something Liu Qiongfang can solve…” Zhang Jin said, frowning, his tone less perfunctory, but he was interrupted before he could finish his sentence.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush. Now, the negative comments about Cheng Feiying and Rongrong online, it’s all because of Cheng Tingyan’s portrayal of her unhappy life in our family during the live broadcast. But happy or not, what does a six-year-old child know? Her mom is disabled, she can’t afford to raise her, we took over her custody, we feed her, clothe her, send her to school, isn’t that good enough? We’ve been paying for her mom’s treatment, again and again, there’s no end in sight, isn’t that good enough? Good or not, it’s not up to her, it’s not up to us, let Liu Qiongfang come out and say it.” Bai Lei said patiently, explaining everything to Zhang Jin, then sneered. “If even her own mother, whom she keeps mentioning in the live broadcast, says she’s lying, who would believe her?”
The silence on the other end of the phone lasted for a while before Zhang Jin, startled and holding his breath, finally recovered, he took a few deep breaths, but it couldn’t dispel the chill that had spread throughout his body.
“This… This is useless.” Zhang Jin said, quickly reviewing the things he had seen on the live broadcast. “It’s not just Cheng Tingyan’s portrayal. There’s also Cheng Feiying himself, the mushroom incident, the chicken leg incident, his temper is getting worse, he’s scolding the children, he was clearly biased towards Cheng Rongrong during the grading, and also…”
Zhang Jin tried his best to list examples, proving that the current negative public opinion about the Cheng family wasn’t entirely because of Cheng Tingyan.
But before he could say more, Bai Lei’s cold voice came from the phone again.
“Heh, mushrooms… What’s wrong with mushrooms? Yan Yan loved eating them when she was little, she just became picky when she grew up. What’s wrong with chicken legs? She never liked eating them, she suddenly started liking them and didn’t even tell us, how would we know? Raising children is stressful, it’s normal to have a bad temper, Liu Qiongfang’s temper was even worse when she was raising Yan Yan. Favoritism? We can fabricate a hundred stories about him being better to Cheng Tingyan.”
Initially, when he heard the first part of Bai Lei’s explanation, Zhang Jin was a bit surprised by the truth, but after hearing the end…
“You’re saying… you made all this up? You want me to arrange a meeting with Liu Qiongfang, so she can lie for you? Are you… Are you okay? That’s Cheng Tingyan’s biological mother, not your puppet. How could she possibly listen to you and go against her own daughter? Are you planning to hypnotize her when you meet?” Zhang Jin felt like he was wasting his time answering this call. He didn’t have a solution for this chaotic situation, but what Bai Lei was doing wasn’t even trying to find a solution, it was delusional!
Bai Lei glanced at her newly manicured nails, gently scratching the sofa. “How I’m going to persuade her is none of your business. Call her and arrange a meeting for us. Or give me her number, I’ll contact her myself.”
“This… Forget it, I’ll ask for you.” Zhang Jin said, giving up on arguing with this person with a shocking thought process, he decided to pretend to be rejected later and end this ridiculous situation.
“Don’t mention what I want her to do. Just tell Liu Qiongfang that Cheng Feiying’s online reputation is very bad now, you need me and her to work together to change the public opinion, so you want to meet and discuss the details. She helped Cheng Feiying this time, he will definitely be grateful, after he comes back from that damn show, he’ll definitely thank her properly.” Bai Lei said patiently, instructing him.
Zhang Jin: “… “ Thank her properly? By remarrying her?
Zhang Jin couldn’t help but feel that Bai Lei’s tone, when she said those last few sentences, was a bit… mocking? As if she was talking about a plaything… a toy… a sense of control…
The meaning behind her words also sounded strange, as if Bai Lei knew… that Liu Qiongfang still cared about Cheng Feiying.
What was going on?
He was the one who handled all the contact between the Cheng family and Liu Qiongfang these past two years, and he had only found out about it recently, how did Bai Lei… Was this a woman’s intuition?
Zhang Jin suddenly felt that Bai Lei might not be as brainless as he thought.
If…
If Liu Qiongfang was truly fooled, then indeed… Cheng Feiying’s almost ruined reputation could still be salvaged.
But…
Cheng Tingyan would…
Zhang Jin clenched his phone, which had dimmed, he was once again standing at a crossroads of human nature.
Bai Lei had no idea what kind of dilemma she had created for Zhang Jin.
After the phone call, Bai Lei finally felt a bit relieved, looking at Cheng Tingyan, who was being amused by the little chubby menace imitating a fish on the live broadcast screen, it didn’t sting as much anymore.
Keep smiling, let’s see if you can still smile after I meet your mom.
A six-year-old child, unhappy with her dad and stepmother, lied about her life at home. Her biological mom, unable to stand it, would expose her lies. She wanted to see how many people would still like this lying child, how happy she could still be.
Bai Lei looked at Wei Maomao, who was circling around Cheng Tingyan, her mouth wide open like a shark, making “aww, aww” sounds. Heh, even this little chubby menace, who was always clinging to Cheng Tingyan, wouldn’t like her anymore. Even if that little chubby menace was brainless, would that Director Wei allow his own child to be friends with a liar?
By then, outside the live broadcast, Liu Qiongfang’s words would be spread, while inside the live broadcast, Cheng Tingyan, still oblivious, would continue walking on her lonely but strong path.
That would be truly interesting.
Bai Lei, as she thought about it, chuckled.
After the meat was gone, the bones could still be used to lure the dog.
“See, this is also my miracle.” Bai Lei said, looking at the French windows not far away, the blue sky and white clouds outside, distant, like another life.
Her words of triumph echoed in the empty room, the person who should have seen and heard them was already gone.
Bai Lei suddenly felt a bit bored.
This wasn’t a good sign, the show was about to begin, how could she feel bored already?
People needed to eat when they were hungry, take medicine when they were sick.
When they felt life was meaningless, when they didn’t want to live anymore, they had to find something interesting to do, to be able to continue living.
She had already tried the substitutes, the person who should be stepped into the mud was about to be stepped on, what else…
Bai Lei paced around the room aimlessly, then finally stopped in front of Cheng Rongrong’s bedroom door.
The heart of a watermelon, the yolk of a salted duck egg, the meat inside a zongzi…
The most delicious part was saved for last.
Let her see, this little cupcake she had been saving for so long, what did it taste like?
The little miracle she brought into this world, it should bring her a bit more amusement, right?
Life always brought unexpected little surprises.
Some people, unable to hold back anymore, opened the door to peek at the secret they had been suppressing their curiosity about.
Some people, torn between their conscience and money, once again “struggled” to choose the path of money.
And some people…
“Yueyue, why don’t you get a sea otter plush too? We can connect them!” Wen Dongyu said in the aquarium’s cafeteria, while waiting for their food, he held up his sea otter plush and approached the other little babies who were playing with theirs, adding one more to the sea otter squad.
“I… I used my vouchers for something else.” Wen Jiangyue said, glancing at the five connected sea otter plushes with envy, one’s left paw holding another’s right paw, it was like they were holding hands, so cute…
“What did you get?” Shen Zilin asked, looking at the shopping bag in Wen Jiangyue’s hand. It was the smallest size, about the size of their palms, it looked very light.
“I got…” Wen Jiangyue said, about to take it out.
“I need to go to the bathroom.” Wei Maomao said, getting up and running off.
“Maomao! Don’t run!” Cheng Tingyan said, chasing after her, worried.
Wen Jiangyue also stood up anxiously. “Don’t run, be careful, it’s slippery!”
In a flash, Wei Chengli, who was waiting for food at the dads’ table, also rushed out.
“Don’t chase after her, Uncle Wei is already going. If you keep chasing each other, you’ll get lost.” Wang Zhizhi said, stopping Wen Jiangyue, then asked curiously, “What did you say you got earlier?”
Wen Jiangyue: “… “
The three, Wei Maomao, Cheng Tingyan, and Wei Chengli, left quickly and came back quickly.
Wen Jiangyue, looking at the brand new sea otter plush held up by the little chubby paw, blushed and stood up, flustered.
“Now you can connect yours with ours!” Wei Maomao said, stuffing the sea otter into Wen Jiangyue’s hand, she then took Wen Jiangyue’s hand and connected her sea otter to the squad, six little sea otters on the table, their paws linked together.
Mmm… Actually, Wei Maomao didn’t know how it had come to this. Initially, it was just her and Cheng Tingyan buying the same one and having the two little sea otters hold hands. Then Wen Dongyu saw it… He bought the same one to join the chain, then Shen Zilin… Wang Zhizhi…
Wen Jiangyue, who had run off somewhere, didn’t see it and didn’t get one. But seeing the little girl’s envious gaze earlier, and thinking about her being wrongly blamed and sad last night, Wei Maomao had to get her one.
She used up a small keychain she had redeemed before, it didn’t matter, she could buy those again later.
A little girl’s childhood, it only happened once.
Wei Maomao, satisfied, watched as Wen Jiangyue happily hugged the sea otter plush.
Then, in the next second, she was confused by what happened next.
“What did you say you got?” Wei Maomao asked, staring at the two cards Wen Jiangyue took out, shocked.
“Yours, and Yan Yan’s.” Wen Jiangyue said, pushing the cards towards them. “Little Mermaid dress-up photos, they’ll provide the clothes and makeup, we can take pictures after lunch!”
“Boss, isn’t it amazing! You guys ran off too quickly, you didn’t see Shen Zilin’s shocked expression when he heard Yueyue got these for you!” Wen Dongyu said excitedly.
“I wasn’t shocked!” Shen Zilin said, his face flushed red. “And call me Boss! Employees can’t badmouth their boss!”
“That wasn’t badmouthing.” Wen Dongyu said, raising his chin stubbornly. “It was honesty.”
“You… don’t like them?” Wen Jiangyue asked weakly, noticing that neither of them reached for the cards, her initial excitement vanished.
“I like it.” Cheng Tingyan said, taking the card.
“I like it…” Wei Maomao said, forcing a smile, she reached out her chubby paw and pressed it on the card. “Yueyue, aren’t you taking pictures? You and Yan Yan should take pictures together.”
“I’m not taking pictures.” Wen Jiangyue shook her head. Some of the photos she took were incorrect, she only had enough vouchers for two.
“Yueyue, take pictures with Maomao and Yan Yan. I have two program vouchers left.” Shen Zilin said, glancing at the food tray that had just been brought over by the staff. “I want to eat shrimp rolls, Yueyue, I’ll use my voucher for the photoshoot, you give me your shrimp rolls, how about that?”
Of course… It was a great deal!
Wen Jiangyue swiftly pushed all the shrimp rolls, pork ribs, and diced chicken from her plate to Shen Zilin, she only stopped after Shen Zilin took away his tray, scared.
“We can take Little Mermaid photos together now.” Wen Jiangyue said with a beaming smile.
“… “ Wei Maomao looked down at the Little Mermaid photo in her hand, a mermaid tail skirt, fins, and it was all sparkly. She had opened that box of bunny pajamas to make Yan Yan happy. So now, to make Yueyue happy, she… had to become a sparkly fish?
Leave a Reply