Chapter 48 p1
“Yan Yan, who are you moving with?” Wei Maomao asked, feigning innocent curiosity, following Cheng Tingyan’s words.
Beneath her casual tone, her chubby hands, clasped behind her back, were clenching tighter and tighter with nervousness.
Cheng Tingyan regretted her slip of the tongue, but looking at the adorable little chubby bunny tilting her head and asking, she couldn’t bring herself to lie.
The dilemma was so obvious, Wei Maomao saw it in her eyes, felt it in her clenched fists, the torment only fueled her determination.
Wei Maomao felt she was truly being mean. She didn’t dare to directly bring up Cheng Tingyan’s mother, didn’t dare to gamble on Cheng Tingyan’s reaction if she was the one to initiate the topic. She was afraid that Cheng Tingyan was too accustomed to the Cheng family’s unspoken rule of silence, that her reaction would be too strong, which would be detrimental to their current progress. Of course, she was even more afraid of testing their still fragile relationship.
She could only probe, could only endure, could only wait until Cheng Tingyan broke free a little, willingly mentioning her mother. Wei Maomao told herself this, but couldn’t help but feel guilty, all the pressure concentrated on her fingertips digging into her palms.
However, it seemed that Wei Maomao’s judgment of their relationship’s stability wasn’t entirely accurate.
Cheng Tingyan didn’t stay silent for long. She covered the microphone clipped to her collar and whispered, “I moved, with Mom.”
At that moment, Wei Maomao was stunned by Cheng Tingyan’s adorable yet futile attempt at secrecy, and so were the viewers in the live broadcast room.
“Hahaha, Yan Yan, really, you have two hands, why not cover Maomao’s microphone too!”
“Didn’t the staff tell our precious baby that covering the microphone like that is useless? Hahaha, so cute!”
“Children’s intelligence really fluctuates, Yan Yan discovered the secret that Wang Qingchuan, after being here for so long, still hasn’t figured out. Before I could even type my praise, she started being funny, hahaha!”
“Cute! But I can’t laugh… The ‘Mom’ Yan Yan is referring to here is her biological mother, right? Why is she being so secretive? Even in a blended family, you can’t forbid mentioning your biological mother, right?”
“It must be her biological mother, it can’t be Cheng Rongrong’s mother. Didn’t that someone post a video of their home online yesterday? So many of those furniture pieces cost five figures, how could they possibly be repainted and reused after getting old?”
“So is Yan Yan’s biological mother struggling financially? That’s why Yan Yan is embarrassed to mention her and covered the microphone?”
“Then Cheng Tingyan is a bit snobbish, isn’t she? Stuttering when talking about her financially struggling mother, tsk tsk.”
“???”
“What are you ‘tsk tsk’-ing about? Did you even hear what Yan Yan said before she covered the microphone! Even for those broken tables, chairs, and dirty bowls left behind after moving, Yan Yan still felt it was a pity to throw them away and even knew how to refurbish and reuse them, how is she snobbish!”
“She even knows how to refurbish junk so well, it can’t be because she’s embarrassed about her mother’s financial situation. I guess it’s a blended family, two half-sisters on a show, so maybe the family told her not to mention such sensitive topics on the show. Understandable.”
“I checked old news, Cheng Tingyan’s mother should be Cheng Feiying’s assistant back then, right? I looked at the cast lists of Cheng Feiying’s works from those years, he was only playing fourth or fifth male leads then. The exact timeline is unclear, but judging from the children’s ages, he probably got divorced when he was at the peak of his career. Tsk tsk tsk, isn’t this considered abandoning his wife after becoming successful?”
“You guys clearly haven’t watched the first season of ‘Where’s Baby Going,’ all this was already dug up in the first season. She was indeed his assistant for several years, but they seemed to have ended their marriage amicably. When those controversies about ‘abandoning his wife’ and ‘seamless transition’ emerged in the first season, Yan Yan’s mother was interviewed over the phone in a behind-the-scenes segment, saying that after getting married, they realized they were more compatible in their careers and not really suited for a family relationship, so they separated amicably.”
“So that’s how it is, as expected, blended families are full of drama, we almost made a wrong judgment again.”
“You believe those interviews in the behind-the-scenes segments? He already brought his child to the show, she couldn’t possibly call him a scumbag over the phone… It’s hard to say what the truth is. And ‘compatible in their careers’? They didn’t continue working together, did they?”
“Let me be honest, I watched the first season, and I saw that behind-the-scenes segment. I believed it at the time because I felt that in the first season, Cheng Feiying was really good to Yan Yan, and Yan Yan was always smiling with him, their father-daughter relationship seemed very good, it gave people the impression of parents separating rationally but still giving their child enough love. But after watching this season, I want to say… Bullshit! Two years ago, I was a fool for believing that!”
“Hahaha, oh my god, the person above doesn’t have to be so angry that they even curse themselves… Speaking of, didn’t they invite the mothers in the second season? We shouldn’t fall behind this season, let’s urge the program team to invite them too!”
“It’s unlikely they’ll invite the mothers this season, with two mothers for the Cheng family… That would be too dramatic to broadcast. And it would be too cruel to Shen Zilin…”
“Right, CEO Shen would never agree to that segment.”
“What a pity, it seems we can only see them in the behind-the-scenes segments!”
…
Unlike the audience in the live broadcast room, who were digging up old news and gossiping, Wei Maomao, after hearing Cheng Tingyan’s soft “I moved, with Mom,” didn’t have a chance to probe further before the topic was abruptly steered back to finding firewood by Cheng Tingyan.
Looking at Cheng Tingyan, who was talking about “firewood” with a nervous yet determined expression, Wei Maomao knew that this was enough for now.
Forget it, whether it was covering her ears while stealing a bell or whispering softly, just uttering the word “Mom” was already a huge step forward.
Don’t be greedy, don’t be greedy, Wei Maomao rubbed her chubby paws, after all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
“We have to wait for Wang Zhizhi and his dad to leave before my dad can come in.” Wei Maomao joined the conversation.
The little chubby bunny wasn’t pressing her anymore…
Cheng Tingyan breathed a small sigh of relief, glancing at the house Cheng Rongrong had entered earlier and whispering, “Wang Zhizhi and his dad are also searching in the storage area. Should we tell Wang Zhizhi first, let them leave, then our two families can go in together?”
“Mmm…” Wei Maomao nodded halfway, then suddenly shook her head. “No. I’ve seen everyone’s maps, we’re all following the numbers, if Wang Zhizhi and his dad leave first, we’ll be separated again at the next location.”
“Following the numbers? We’re at ‘1’ now, the next location is ‘2’ for everyone, right?” Cheng Tingyan hadn’t seen the maps, so she asked for confirmation.
Wei Maomao nodded. “You, me, and Wang Zhizhi, three of us, going to ‘2’ together, one of us will be left behind.”
“We have to be together.” Cheng Tingyan gently patted the little chubby bunny’s soft head.
“Mmm!” Wei Maomao nodded vigorously, pointing at the door. “The staff brother won’t let me wander around, Yan Yan, can you call Wang Zhizhi out for me?”
“Can’t we just tell him directly?” The six-year-old Cheng Tingyan couldn’t understand.
“Just call him for me, Yan Yan.” Wei Maomao tugged at Cheng Tingyan’s skirt.
No one could resist the three-year-old little chubby bunny’s sweet, childish plea, especially not Cheng Tingyan.
Within seconds, a dirty Wang Zhizhi came out, following Cheng Tingyan.
Wei Maomao moved closer to the wall, it seemed it was really dirty inside…
“Were you waiting long? We’re not done yet, but I’ll be quick.” Wang Zhizhi stood next to Wei Maomao, then suddenly looked around furtively like a thief, changing his position to block Wei Maomao and Cheng Tingyan between himself and the wall.
“For you. I found them myself.”
Wang Zhizhi reached into his pockets and extended his hand towards the two girls, mouthing the words without making a sound.
Wei Maomao looked at the dirty little boy, at the small twigs broken into pieces lying on his grimy palms, and thought about what she was about to say. Ah… she suddenly wanted to bang her head against the wall!
Seeing the two staring blankly, Wang Zhizhi directly placed the twigs in their hands.
Firewood… was really hard to find, he had to crawl on the dirty ground, and he still had to find four kilograms himself… These two were even wearing skirts…
“I’ll give you more if I find any.” Wang Zhizhi whispered, then sighed deeply.
Wei Maomao bumped into Cheng Tingyan, groaning, “I’m dead…”
“Maomao!” Cheng Tingyan, hearing her groan, hurriedly pushed the little dumpling’s face away from her arm, checked her over, and said with certainty, “Maomao, you’re not dead.”
Wei Maomao: “… “ Not yet, but soon.
“You’re not dead.” Wang Zhizhi agreed with Cheng Tingyan seriously, then looked at Wei Maomao. “Why did you call me out? If you’re done, I’ll go back and look for firewood.”
Okay… she was really going to die…
Wei Maomao wiped her chubby face, thankfully, she had decided to call him out and say it herself instead of asking Yan Yan to relay the message.
“I can tell you, how to find a lot of firewood quickly…” Wei Maomao said weakly.
“You’re saying you can find a lot of firewood quickly?” Wang Zhizhi, who had had enough of being ordered to crawl through narrow, dusty spaces, interrupted excitedly.
“Mmm… Let’s make a deal. I’ll tell you how to find it, can you… um, after I tell you, the three of us will be able to leave this place quickly. The three of us will be together for the next task too, but each location can only accommodate two families, can you let me and Yan Yan be together…” Wei Maomao had initially thought that since the Wang family seemed to be struggling to find enough firewood, this exchange would be mutually beneficial. The Wang family could quickly escape this frustrating task, and she and Yan Yan could continue to stay together. But some children didn’t play by the rules! Wei Maomao, holding the twigs, felt extremely guilty, her face burning, her words stammering.
“So at the next location, instead of your dad waiting, it’ll be me and my dad?” Wang Zhizhi confirmed. “As long as we agree, you’ll take us out of here?”
“Ah… Yes… Yes…” That was what Wei Maomao meant, but when Wang Zhizhi repeated it, it didn’t sound like an exchange, but a rescue mission.
“I agree!” Wang Zhizhi pointed at the room and complained, “There’s so much stuff piled up inside, Dad is too big, he can’t squeeze in, I had to crawl and climb in, it’s all dusty and there are little bugs, ugh… Take me away!”
Cheng Tingyan, hearing the word “bugs,” couldn’t help but shiver, reminding Wang Zhizhi, “Wait, ask your dad first.”
“Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.” Wang Zhizhi dashed into the room, repeating the word “okay” incessantly.
“Yan Yan, you shivered just now, are you afraid of bugs?” Wei Maomao seized the opportunity and checked off one item from her list of things to share.
Cheng Tingyan nodded.
“The bike task earlier, there were so many fried bugs, but don’t worry, you don’t have to eat them, they’re for Daddy. If you don’t look, you won’t be scared, you can stay away from the table, just ask the staff brother to get them for you.” Wei Maomao held Cheng Tingyan’s hand and said softly.
Just then, a thud came from the room where Wang Zhizhi had gone in, and within two seconds, Wang Qingchuan emerged.
“Maomao? You said you know where the firewood is!” Wang Qingchuan approached, dusting off his hands after moving a water jar.
“Uncle Wang, promise me? At the next location, Yan Yan and I will be together!” Facing Wang Qingchuan, Wei Maomao was much more confident in making the deal.
“Alright, alright, no problem, I’ve had enough of this place, I was about to start digging.” Wang Qingchuan agreed readily, then paused. “What if the next location is, uh, ‘Rice’? And there’s already someone there? Then our family will go in first, and you and Yan Yan will wait?”
Wei Maomao and Cheng Tingyan both nodded in unison.
Just then, Cheng Feiying also came out from behind.
“Then tell me quietly, otherwise, Yan Yan’s family will run off and join another family for the task.” Wang Qingchuan squatted down, his ear close to Wei Maomao.
Wei Maomao: “… “
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