Chapter 9
In order to let the little dumpling and her new cameraman get acquainted, Zhang Shilan took Wei Maomao and Shi Hongxiao to the park downstairs to play.
Only Shi Dingshan and Wei Chengli were left in the house.
The relaxed and amiable expression on Shi Dingshan’s face gradually disappeared as the three of them left. He rubbed his face with his chubby hand and pointed at the teacups on the table. “Let’s switch to a bar.”
Wei Chengli frowned, thinking about what happened at the teahouse.
But before he could persuade him, Shi Dingshan shook his head and took a gulp of tea. “Forget it, let’s just drink this.”
There were some things that Shi Dingshan didn’t mention, and Wei Chengli couldn’t pry into his personal matters. Seeing that he was in low spirits, he could only try to distract him with things he knew.
“Why was the decision to do a live broadcast so sudden?” Wei Maomao had been woken up early before, and Wei Chengli only had time to discuss with Shi Dingshan how to coax the little dumpling to eat obediently. He hadn’t had time to ask about the supplementary contract in detail.
“It wasn’t sudden. Someone from the higher-ups wanted to do it, but I was against it at the time because I thought having a live broadcast window during filming wouldn’t help the overall effect of the variety show, it was just a way to make money.” Shi Dingshan’s expression didn’t improve with the new topic, but became even more gloomy. He sneered, “But I understand now. Blocking someone’s way of making money is like killing their parents. Who doesn’t want to make more money and live a better life? Besides, making money openly is better than secretly harming people.”
Wei Chengli: “…” Was this topic unsafe? Why did he feel like he heard a bit of gritted teeth at the end?
Shi Dingshan didn’t need anyone to agree with him. He poured himself a cup of tea and drank it in one gulp. After calming down a bit, he said, “Live broadcast first, then edit and broadcast. The traffic and rewards from the individual live broadcast rooms will be split 50/50 with the station. Both exposure and income will increase, which is also good for you.”
Seeing that Shi Dingshan was drinking tea like it was alcohol, Wei Chengli decided to change the subject again. “Speaking of which, I only knew that you had a seven-year-old son, I didn’t know you had one this old. The young man looks very promising, are you planning to bring him into the industry this time?”
Shi Dingshan held the cup and didn’t speak for a long time.
Wei Chengli started to miss the ice-breaking little dumpling.
“The seven-year-old is the one I had with my second wife, we’re in the process of getting a divorce. This one is from my first wife. Although he’s not my biological son, he’s a good kid. I’m not sure about bringing him into the industry, he’s interested in it himself, and this is a good opportunity.” Shi Dingshan lowered his eyes, turning the empty teacup in his hand. “Actually, I used to think that whether a child was biological or not was very important. But now I’m starting to think that maybe the person themselves is the most important.”
Wei Chengli: “…” So there were no safe topics in this world anymore?
“Speaking of which, I used to neglect him quite a bit, after all, he wasn’t my biological son. After I divorced his mother, I basically didn’t see him a few times. Until a few days ago…” Shi Dingshan paused. “A few days ago, I told him that he wasn’t my biological son, and then I lied to him that I had an incurable disease and was going to die soon, but that I wouldn’t leave him a penny in my will.”
“You… he… he didn’t know he wasn’t…” Wei Chengli struggled to keep up with the plot.
Shi Dingshan shook his head. “He didn’t know before. He was surprised when he heard it, but he quickly expressed his understanding. Not only did he not ask me for any money, he also thanked me for telling him, saying that he wouldn’t be troubled by those ‘whys’ anymore, that he was very grateful for my honesty, and even asked if I needed any help. He didn’t elaborate on what those ‘whys’ were. But I can guess that before he knew we weren’t related by blood, he probably resented me as a father. Actually, it was my fault. A biological father who doesn’t give love and a stepfather who doesn’t give love, the latter should hurt the child less, I should have told him sooner.”
Wei Chengli: “…” He had a lot of questions, like why did he suddenly decide to tell him, and why did he lie, and what exactly happened at the teahouse… But he held back and didn’t ask anything more.
“He’s a good kid. But other people… money, haha, money is a good thing.” Shi Dingshan didn’t elaborate further, just kept turning the cup in his hand. He wasn’t drinking, but he seemed drunk.
Meanwhile, Wei Maomao, who was in the park downstairs, was also about to get drunk.
“Put! Me! Down!” Wei Maomao, whose face was parallel to the ground, clenched her fists, her face red with anger.
After “flying” a few more steps, Wei Maomao was put down, into the arms of Zhang Shilan, who had rushed over.
“Mommy!” Maomao was furious.
Zhang Shilan hugged the little dumpling and soothed her, looking at Shi Hongxiao helplessly. “Weren’t you going to play on the seesaw? Why did you carry her over…”
“She didn’t want to play on the seesaw… she wanted to go on the slide… she’s too small.” Shi Hongxiao blushed slightly in embarrassment.
“Then you could have carried her over, it’s not safe to carry her like that.” Zhang Shilan said, seeing the young man’s face getting redder and redder. She coughed and explained, “Look how chubby she is, if her clothes aren’t strong enough and can’t hold her weight, she’ll fall face first.”
Wei Maomao: Weight? What happened to being “chubby and cute”?
“I…” Shi Hongxiao stammered, unable to speak.
Zhang Shilan didn’t really want to say these things to her friend’s child. But Shi Hongxiao would be filming Maomao later on the show, so she had to consider Maomao’s safety in advance.
“Look, this is how you hold a child. One hand supports her bottom, the other hand supports her back…” Zhang Shilan adjusted the little dumpling in her arms and demonstrated for him, then handed her over to Shi Hongxiao, gesturing for him to try.
Wei Maomao and Shi Hongxiao both leaned back at the same time, as if they were two magnets of the same polarity repelling each other.
“No, no, no…” Shi Hongxiao not only leaned back, but also waved his hands and quickly retreated a few steps. He blushed and pointed at Wei Maomao’s arm, saying, “The baby is too soft, like tofu, I don’t dare, I’m afraid I’ll break her.”
Zhang Shilan: ??? Afraid of breaking her but not afraid of strangling her?
Wei Maomao: ??? What happened to the dark and ruthless gambler and blackmailer?
The butterfly’s wings had created a different future. Wei Maomao didn’t know when Shi Hongxiao had fallen into the abyss of gambling in her previous life, or how he had sunk so deep. Even though the young man in front of her looked very normal, even shy and friendly, Wei Maomao still couldn’t look at him with the same eyes she used to look at ordinary people.
However, he was just a cameraman for the show, and Shi Dingshan was still alive, so he couldn’t possibly steal her from the show and sell her for gambling money, right?
Shi Dingshan’s visit made Wei Maomao realize that she had indeed changed some things.
Although she couldn’t be sure whether it was good or bad, at least it proved that everything could be changed.
So, Wei Maomao worked overtime even later that night.
Her overtime tools were an old tablet she had secretly found in the storage room and her chubby fingers.
The circles weren’t round enough, the squares weren’t square enough. She reset them again and again, her chubby fingers rubbed red, much worse than when she was twisting the toothpaste tube and the necklace.
The day after Shi Dingshan’s visit, after filming a promotional video with the program team, Wei Maomao “forgave” Wei Chengli and invited him to watch the latest cartoon she had discovered, “The Adventures of the Clay Rabbit.”
To be honest, Wei Chengli could understand why Wei Maomao was obsessed with “Where’s Baby Going” before, and he could also understand why she later worked hard to learn how to dress, eat, and even bathe herself in order to participate in the show. He was even supportive of her wanting to watch documentaries to gain knowledge and moving around, saying she wanted to exercise…
But he really couldn’t understand why she wanted to drag him along to watch this crudely made cartoon, which was just a bunch of simple lines put together, obviously just a few pictures flashing back and forth for a few seconds, and dared to call itself a “cartoon.”
As a director, he sincerely felt that this thing was hurting his eyes. He didn’t know where Maomao had dug up this terrible video with only three views.
The most terrifying thing was that Maomao not only demanded that he watch it with her, but after watching it, she also forced him to retell the story, and then demanded that they discuss and analyze the simple and childish plot together.
After just two days, Wei Chengli couldn’t help but want to use overtime as an excuse to skip the remaining three days and go straight to the filming location.
Then, he was forced back by his daughter’s tears.
So, before the show officially started, they happily lived a happy life, one working hard to produce and upload at night, the other watching with tears during the day.
This kind of life continued until the night before the official filming of the show.
At the dinner table, Wei Chengli couldn’t help but plead, “We’re going to officially start filming tomorrow, you’ll be able to play with your brothers and sisters soon, can we not watch this ugly rabbit today?”
Wei Maomao didn’t say anything, she just scooped a spoonful of tasteless stew into her mouth with one hand and clicked on the next episode with the other.
“Bad baby, tell me the truth, are you deliberately making me watch such an ugly video because you dislike the food I cook!” Wei Chengli paused the video, trying to resist.
Of course not.
Wei Maomao lowered her eyes and pushed the phone playing the video a little closer to Wei Chengli.
She was staying up all night, working like a thief until dawn, just to get revenge on him? He was giving his cooking too much credit.
Under the little dumpling’s silent gaze, Wei Chengli gave in once again.
“Fine, fine, fine. I really don’t understand, no one else is watching this, how can they maintain this update speed…” Wei Chengli sighed and clicked play. “Okay, what’s the first one about today… oh, today the clay rabbit met a puppy. It gave the puppy something to eat, and the puppy played with it. Oh, the next day, it met the puppy again, and another puppy, it gave them both something to eat. But neither puppy played with it, the rabbit cried…”
Wei Chengli habitually explained as he watched. After a few pictures flashed by, he quickly finished watching and met the little dumpling’s expectant gaze. He sighed and started the next part, “This story tells us that not every time you eat together, you will play together. Making friends is not just about eating and drinking together.”
This “cartoon” was really strange. It covered everything from simple everyday etiquette to complex astronomy, geography, poetry, and even legal subjects like anti-gambling. At first, Wei Chengli was afraid that Wei Maomao wouldn’t understand, so he just explained it from a child’s perspective. But later he discovered that his baby was really smart, and after a few back-and-forth discussions, they could actually discuss deeper things in a decent manner. If it weren’t for the crude production of this video, he thought it would be good for early childhood education.
It was a pity that Maomao only recognized this one and ignored other educational videos for children.
Wei Chengli felt that his explanation was quite profound, but Wei Maomao felt that he was being a bit perfunctory tonight. She pointed at the bag in the clay rabbit’s hand in the video and said, “The rabbit gave the puppy a bag of cookies, and they played together. The rabbit gave the puppy half a bag, and the puppy didn’t play with it.”
Wei Chengli replayed the few seconds of animation, and it was indeed true. But how could she tell that those oddly shaped fragments were cookies…
“Hmm… so this story means that you have to give enough cookies to play together? Just like when we go to the store, we have to pay enough money to buy things. It’s a kind of exchange.” Wei Chengli thought for a moment and explained again.
Father and daughter were once again out of sync. Wei Maomao hated these correction moments the most these days.
“The first puppy ate all the cookies. The rabbit’s cookies were only enough for one puppy. It shouldn’t have given any to the second puppy.” Wei Maomao said, finishing the last bit of stew.
“Then… what if the second puppy was hungry?” Wei Chengli felt that today’s cartoon was a bit difficult, or maybe he couldn’t keep up with his daughter’s thinking.
“If there aren’t enough cookies, don’t give any to the second dog.” Wei Maomao was a little tired.
Wei Chengli frowned and thought for a moment. “If the rabbit doesn’t have more cookies, it shouldn’t care about the second dog?”
“If it cares, it shouldn’t cry.” Wei Maomao said coldly.
“You mean, either the rabbit only gives cookies to the first puppy, and they can play together. Or the rabbit shares the cookies with both puppies, and they don’t play with it because they didn’t get enough, and it shouldn’t cry?” Wei Chengli tried to understand.
Wei Maomao nodded perfunctorily, that was good enough.
Anyway, whether it was a documentary or a cartoon, it was just to give her a basis for the things she would say on the show later. She needed a reason to “evolve.”
After all, she was only three years old, she couldn’t say that she had learned this knowledge in her dreams.
Being a cub was really too difficult.
Wei Chengli looked at the distorted rabbit and dog in the picture, feeling like something was wrong. But since Wei Maomao was finally letting him off the hook, he didn’t discuss it further and quickly clicked on today’s second animation. He had to finish watching today’s quota, and he still had to pack his luggage.
Of course, if he could foresee that one day, Wei Maomao would say loudly on the show, “Daddy said, if the rabbit doesn’t have enough cookies to share, it shouldn’t look for a second puppy. If Mommy and Daddy don’t have enough love to share, they shouldn’t have a second baby.”
Perhaps, he wouldn’t be in such a hurry to pack his luggage today.
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