Back to Three Years Old: Crushing Scumbags on a Parenting Reality Show 220

Chapter 220

Life, after rebirth, had changed drastically.

These changes ranged from life and death to… the number of Weibo accounts.

In her previous life, Cheng Tingyan only had one alt account on Weibo, but in this life… she had five: [Moderate rain turning to heavy rain_], [Moderate rain turning to heavy rain-], [Moderate rain turning to heavy rain%], [Moderate rain turning to heavy rain*], and [Moderate rain turning to heavy rain~].

Cheng Tingyan had no other choice.

Before going abroad, she couldn’t remember the exact date she registered her account in her previous life, and since the owner of the original [Moderate rain turning to heavy rain] account hadn’t changed their username even as the New Year approached, she sent them a private message.

But her message, like a stone thrown into the sea, disappeared without a trace.

In her previous life, when she and Little Cookie officially started talking, they were already mutual followers. But she couldn’t remember when they followed each other, or who followed whom first. Although as long as she remembered Little Cookie’s username, not having the exact same username wasn’t a matter of life and death, but… Cheng Tingyan didn’t want too many deviations, she still wanted that specific ID.

Unable to get the original username, Cheng Tingyan registered these five similar ones as backups before going abroad. Even if she couldn’t get the original, she could at least use a similar username when Little Cookie registered her account.

Years passed, and the [Moderate rain turning to heavy rain] account remained inactive, occasionally gaining spam followers, like an abandoned account.

Cheng Tingyan knew she probably wouldn’t get the original username. But she couldn’t shake the feeling of unease, the deviation from her previous life bothered her.

And as they say, what you fear most will eventually happen.

A year and two months after Zhang Shilan’s supposed death date…

December 15th of this year, Little Cookie’s Weibo registration date in her previous life, it was also the second day of Cheng Tingyan’s winter break.

To avoid any time zone miscalculations, Cheng Tingyan flew back as soon as her break started, she was now at home, waiting.

This year, Cheng Tingyan was seventeen, and based on her previous life, Little Cookie should be fourteen now. They only started talking on Weibo four years later in her previous life, but Cheng Tingyan had waited too long; she couldn’t wait any longer.

Eleven years.

Countless days and nights, years of waiting, the reunion was within reach, Cheng Tingyan clutched her fully charged phone.

From the quiet of midnight to the first light of dawn.

From the morning mist to the evening snow.

From dusk to the darkness outside her window.

From the excitement that made her heart race to the anxiety that gnawed at her, until finally… despair.

Years of unease, a nightmare coming true, her hopes shattered in an instant.

But she was unwilling to give up.

Her trembling fingers wiped the tears from her phone screen, she desperately searched for accounts with keywords like “one bite” or “little cookie.”

Did this profile picture look like something Little Cookie would use?

Did the tone of this Weibo post resemble Little Cookie’s?

Did the background of this photo look familiar?

Was this account followed by someone Little Cookie followed in her previous life?

Like a madwoman, she searched and searched, but found nothing.

In the cold, silent night, her fingers red and raw from scrolling, tears blurring her phone screen, she buried her face in her pillow, her sobs muffled.

It wasn’t a possibility she hadn’t considered.

But it was a possibility she hadn’t dared to face.

Why live?

Perhaps… because there was still hope.

Or perhaps… because choosing death wasn’t easy.

She didn’t die, so she lived.

And as she lived, time passed.

The older she got, the faster time flew.

In the blink of an eye, or perhaps those unwilling eyes never closed after that night… regardless, time, relentless, brought Cheng Tingyan to her twenty-fourth year.

In her previous life, it was the autumn of this year that took her away.

And in this life…

The short drive, interrupted by three red lights, the cicadas chirping outside, Liu Ming, in the car, sighed deeply.

“Yan Yan, they’re probably almost done by the time we get there, why don’t we just go to the hotel?” Liu Ming asked, turning to Cheng Tingyan in the back seat. “The film is almost over, and the Q&A session won’t be long, it’ll take us almost half an hour to get there, you won’t see much.”

“It’s fine, let’s go, maybe we can still catch the end.” Cheng Tingyan said, gently patting the bouquet in her lap. “My flight was delayed; I missed the movie, but I promised them I would be there.”

“Right, this is Little Maomao’s first film, you definitely want to be there, Maomao will be so happy to see you.” Liu Ming said with a smile, then continued, “Speaking of which, Maomao suddenly wanted to act again during her final year of high school, we were all curious, but she wouldn’t tell us why. You didn’t seem to know either, right? Did she tell you later?”

Cheng Tingyan, looking out the window, shook her head slightly. “I asked, she just said it was a misunderstanding and didn’t want to elaborate.”

“Right, she told us the same thing.” Liu Ming said, leaning back in her seat. “Maomao didn’t even tell you, it must be a big secret.”

Not telling her didn’t mean it was a secret, it just meant they weren’t as close as before. Cheng Tingyan pursed her lips and looked down, she didn’t explain.

After graduating and returning to China, Cheng Tingyan, now a director, no longer worked with Liu Ming. Liu Ming was now Maomao’s agent, still the closest staff member to them. But even she couldn’t see that they were no longer the same as before. Perhaps… it was just childhood nostalgia…

The journey was long; Cheng Tingyan started to feel anxious.

The filming of her last project had been problematic, although resolved in the end, she was originally planning to arrive two days early for Maomao’s film premiere, but her flight was delayed…

She missed the film, but she could still catch the end.

After all, this film, it had a special meaning for her.

Cheng Tingyan opened her phone, scrolling through the news about the film, wanting to distract herself from her anxiety, but she frowned after reading a few posts.

“Sister Ming, I remember, because of the sensitive theme, we screened the media invited to the premiere, some with questionable reputations weren’t invited, right?” Cheng Tingyan asked, opening a photo and zooming in.

“Yes, we screened them, we even specifically requested that they send reporters who were more supportive of women, after all, the ending of this film is… controversial…” Liu Ming said, turning around, confused. “We discussed this in the group chat, what’s wrong?”

“Do you remember which media outlet we invited for these seats?” Cheng Tingyan asked, showing Liu Ming the zoomed-in photo.

The photo, taken by an audience member or a staff member and posted online, showed the first five rows of the auditorium almost full, her finger pointing at the two seats on the far right of the fourth row.

“Let me see.” Liu Ming said, taking out her phone and scrolling through it, she quickly answered, “Those two seats were for Zhenhe Media, they often publish content about women in the workplace, their followers are mostly female. What’s wrong? They have a good reputation.”

“Can you find out who they sent?” Cheng Tingyan asked.

“…For company invitations, we only have the company name, they choose who to send, and they use the invitation letter we sent to the company, we only have names for individual invitations.” Liu Ming said, a bit worried. “What’s wrong? Ah… the film should be over by now, they must be starting the Q&A session!”

“Call one of our staff members there, then give me the phone.” Cheng Tingyan said, also glancing at the time, she sat up straight.

Liu Ming, without asking further, started dialing, then she suddenly realized, “The Q&A is being livestreamed, you’re going to…”

“I know.” Cheng Tingyan said, also remembering, she was scrolling through her phone. “Hurry up and call someone there.”

Liu Ming tried calling several people, but no one answered.

“Even Little CEO Shen isn’t answering… and Huo Zhang isn’t either…” Liu Ming said, exasperated.

“Huo Zhang is also at the premiere?” Cheng Tingyan asked, surprised, hearing the screenwriter’s name.

“Yes, she used a staff pass, no one knows it’s her.” Liu Ming said quickly, then turned to Cheng Tingyan. “What should we do? Is it serious? Should I call Zhao Can or Maomao?”

Cheng Tingyan, glancing at the two people on stage, standing close together, shook her head. “Zhao Can and Maomao are already on stage, Sister Ming, keep trying, can you drive faster, please, driver?”

They had to hurry, she was worried that with Zhao Can’s temper, if that person on stage said something… she might just jump down and beat them up…