Chapter 6
After the teahouse, Shi Dingshan disappeared without a trace.
But Director Zeng, as he had said, came with the contract the next afternoon.
He also brought along information on the other families participating in the variety show.
“Including our family, there will be a total of six families participating this time.” Zhang Shilan leaned on the sofa, flipped through the information briefly, and then let out a small cry of surprise, “Four girls, three boys, six families with seven children?”
Next to her, Wei Maomao perked up her ears and lowered her head to stuff watermelon into her mouth.
“Yes, Old Shi said before that one family had been on the first season with their eldest daughter, and this time they’ll be going with both their eldest and second daughters. Their eldest daughter is Cheng Tingyan, the older sister that our Maomao likes to watch the most, right Maomao?” As Wei Chengli spoke, he reached out and poked the little dumpling’s waist.
Likes… the… most…
“Pfft… cough cough cough…” The watermelon in Wei Maomao’s mouth sprayed out, and she started coughing violently, her face turning red.
No way? He couldn’t have noticed something, right? Was this a director’s intuition?
“Just talk, why are you poking her!” Zhang Shilan quickly patted her daughter’s back, looking at her pitiful coughing, and couldn’t help but slap the back of Wei Chengli’s hand. “With you like this, how can I trust you to take Maomao out alone?”
?
Going back on her word after just signing the contract?
Wei Maomao tried hard to suppress her cough, looked up, and curved her lips into a smile, “Mommy! Cough, um, I’m okay!”
The little dumpling, her face flushed, pursed her lips tightly, pretending that nothing had happened. The coughing sounds were muffled in her throat, turning into a “kaka” sound.
“…” Zhang Shilan looked at the little dumpling who had coughed so hard that tears were streaming down her face. She was really going to be pissed off by this father and daughter pair. She patted the little dumpling’s back unconsciously with more force. “Go, go, go! I’ll let you go! Cough, cough properly, don’t hold it in!”
Mommy was angry, so the big and small became obedient.
After Wei Chengli poured warm water for the little dumpling and completely soothed her cough, he didn’t dare to continue the previous topic, seeing that his wife’s expression had softened a little.
Wei Maomao, on the other hand, felt a little guilty. She waited and waited, and finally took the initiative to speak, “Daddy, older sister…”
“What about older sister?” Wei Chengli pretended not to know.
“Play… a few older sisters…” Wei Maomao tried hard to think like a child, not daring to ask Wei Chengli logically why he thought she liked Cheng Tingyan the most.
“Four girls, our Maomao is the youngest. Then there’s Cheng Rongrong from the Cheng family, half a year older than our Maomao, three and a half years old this year. Wen Jiangyue from the Wen family, five and a half years old this year. The oldest is Cheng Rongrong’s older sister, six years old, the older sister Cheng Tingyan that our Maomao likes the most.” Wei Chengli smiled. “Every time Cheng Tingyan appears on TV, our Maomao is glued to the screen. We’ll get to play together this time, are you happy?”
Oh, case solved…
Wei Maomao lowered her eyes and stuffed a piece of watermelon into her mouth. Hmm, it seemed that she still had to be careful in the future, Wei Chengli’s observation skills were really good when he was in a normal state.
“There are three boys, all older than our Maomao.” Zhang Shilan picked up another document and pointed to the words on it, asking Wei Chengli, “What are these notes? Are they notes from the program team?”
Notes?
Wei Maomao wiped the watermelon juice from her mouth and leaned closer, pretending to be innocent and curious.
Then… she was pushed away by her dear father.
Wei Chengli took the documents and looked at them with his wife, pressing on Wei Maomao’s head with one hand and laughing, “Silly baby, you can’t even read, what can you understand?”
Wei Maomao looked down at her involuntarily clenched fists, two drops of watermelon juice dripping from them.
Hmm, her fists had become hard again.
Perhaps there was finally a telepathic connection between father and daughter at this critical moment. Although Wei Chengli pushed the little dumpling away, he still dutifully explained, “Those are not notes from the program team, they are simple descriptions of the children’s personalities that we asked the parents for, so that everyone can get to know each other in advance. Like these boys… Shen Zilin, six years old, mature and steady, intelligent, strong desire to win. Wen Dongyu, five years old, innocent and romantic, super heartwarming. Wang Zhizhi, four and a half years old, lively, loves to eat, a bit lazy, aspires to be a good brother. This Wang Zhizhi is the one I mentioned to you before, the one that Old Shi said the station leader strongly recommended. Aspires to be a good brother, hahaha, that’s interesting.”
Wei Chengli and Zhang Shilan laughed at the children’s interesting introductions.
Wei Maomao also laughed, a cold laugh at their naivety.
Shen Zilin, his father was a domineering president, and he was a mini version of his father. She didn’t know if he was smart or steady, but he was very competitive and had always been the number one loyal supporter of Cheng Rongrong.
Wen Dongyu, his father was a singer, and like his father, he was a romantic. He was warm, but only to Cheng Rongrong. He was considered the second most loyal supporter of Cheng Rongrong.
Wang Zhizhi, in her previous life, he had participated in the fourth season of “Where’s Baby Going,” and the chief director was still Jin Youliang. Wei Maomao hadn’t watched it, but in the occasional clips she had seen, Wang Zhizhi hated his younger sister, who hadn’t appeared on the show, and by extension, all little girls. So on the show, he was constantly subjected to “loving education” by his athlete father. The “aspiring to be a good brother” in this introduction seemed more like his parents’ wishful thinking.
Speaking of which, was Wang Zhizhi’s sister born yet? Wei Maomao frowned, trying to remember.
“Maomao? Maomao? Baby, don’t get distracted, listen carefully. We need to know a little about our older brothers and sisters so that we can be friends with them. Do you remember the mature brother, the heartwarming brother, and the lively brother?” Wei Chengli patted Wei Maomao’s little head.
Wei Maomao curled her lips.
Someone save the child.
She wasn’t going to make friends with them.
She was going to slay monsters, okay?
“Alright, let’s take a look at the introductions of the older sisters. Who should we look at first, let’s look at Cheng Ting… oh, let’s look at older sister Wen Jiangyue first.” Wei Chengli deliberately changed his words and, as expected, received an eye roll from his daughter. He chuckled in satisfaction. “Wen Jiangyue, oh, the introduction is very simple, she’s a studious older sister.”
Wei Maomao grabbed a piece of watermelon and sighed inwardly.
Wen Jiangyue wasn’t just studious, she was a study machine… Who could memorize the Three Hundred Tang Poems at the age of five and a half? Anyway, she couldn’t even recite them all when she was in her twenties in her previous life. Come to think of it, Wen Jiangyue should have already learned addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and was starting to tackle word problems…
It was a pity that she was still stepped on by Cheng Rongrong on the show and became a stepping stone.
“Then there’s Cheng…” Wei Chengli drew out his words and peeked at the little dumpling. The latter took a bite of the watermelon without even looking up. “Alright, it’s older sister Cheng Rongrong, Maomao, don’t just eat watermelon, listen carefully. Cheng Rongrong, understanding, humble, kind. Not bad, first there’s the studious older sister Wen Jiangyue, now there’s the easygoing older sister Cheng Rongrong. Next is… hmm…”
Wei Maomao nibbled on the watermelon, but the rest of the sentence didn’t come for a long time.
Was he trying to keep her in suspense again? How old was he…
Wei Maomao looked up and saw that Wei Chengli was frowning, holding the paper, not looking like he was trying to tease her.
Oh, right, it was Cheng Tingyan’s turn, what good words could the Cheng family write?
“Cheng Tingyan, a bit cold, a bit of a temper, strong and brave.” Zhang Shilan read out the words on the paper, but looked at Wei Chengli with some confusion. “Is this the girl from the first season? I thought she was quite well-behaved in the first season?”
“I looked into it before, they’re a blended family, there might be reasons in that regard, the child might be affected. But that being said, when she was four years old and participated in the first season, her father and stepmother’s child should have been one and a half years old, she didn’t seem to be affected at that time.” Wei Chengli leaned closer to his wife’s ear and lowered his voice.
The watermelon in Wei Maomao’s hand had been squeezed into a pulp, the juice dripping into the plate.
That’s right.
The information age.
Everyone knew that the Cheng family was already a blended family when they participated in the first season of “Where’s Baby Going,” so they all thought that the difference in Cheng Tingyan’s behavior between the first and third seasons was her own problem.
In the third season, her younger sister was well-behaved and humble, trying to please her. Her father clearly favored her between the two children. But Cheng Tingyan was always cold and indifferent to them. So even though it was a blended family, everyone still thought that she didn’t know what was good for her, that she was a stubborn element who was destroying the harmony and beauty of the family.
Those people, they… knew nothing…
“Maomao?”
“Baby?”
Her parents’ overlapping calls pulled Wei Maomao back from her increasingly deep memories.
The little dumpling looked up and saw her parents looking at her with worry and caution.
“Baby, if that older sister Cheng Tingyan… um, doesn’t want to play with you, don’t provoke her. If she bullies you, you must tell me, okay?” Wei Chengli said cautiously, then pulled out a handful of photos from the document bag and persuaded, “Why don’t we look at the photos of the other brothers and sisters first, maybe there are others that our Maomao will like more?”
Wei Maomao clenched her fists. Okay, now she was a single child.
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