Back to Three Years Old: Crushing Scumbags on a Parenting Reality Show 225

Chapter 225

At the “Possible Summer” filming location, Shi Hongxiao was checking the lottery box.

“Stand here, facing that camera with the yellow mark. Don’t shake it too hard… try it…” Shi Hongxiao demonstrated, then gestured for Jian Letian, the on-site host, to try.

As Jian Letian started shaking the box, a head with bleached blonde hair popped up behind Shi Hongxiao.

“Xiao Shi, aren’t you tired of micromanaging everything?” Hua Lang asked, patting Shi Hongxiao’s shoulder, a mischievous smile on his face. “Let him figure it out himself.”

“It’s a live broadcast…” Shi Hongxiao started to explain, but his phone vibrated.

He took it out, saw the name, and froze.

“Holy shit, Cheng Tingyan!” Hua Lang exclaimed, grabbing Shi Hongxiao’s shoulder and shaking him. “Answer it! Answer it!”

In her hotel room, Cheng Tingyan’s TV screen was split, showing Maomao writing and Zhao Can pondering over the questionnaire.

Cheng Tingyan’s finger trembled as she dialed.

The live broadcast had already started; she shouldn’t be calling, she knew, but after seeing that Weibo post, she immediately called Zhao Can.

No answer, as expected, Cheng Tingyan, without hesitation, called Shi Hongxiao.

Her anxiety grew as she waited… Thankfully, he answered.

Shi Hongxiao was surprised by the call, and her request… left him baffled.

“You want to ask Zhao Can something? Is it urgent? Did something happen? Does it have to be now? Oh, nothing happened… you scared me. Zhao Can and Maomao said they just had lunch with you, couldn’t you ask her then? Well, Yan Yan… this show is a bit complicated, now that the live broadcast has started, they can’t just talk to anyone… Yes, even the staff can’t communicate with them about things unrelated to the show. We have a blind selection segment later, so everything has to follow the set procedures.” Shi Hongxiao explained, walking to a corner of the control room, lowering his voice.

Even after moving away, Hua Lang still followed, eavesdropping, Shi Hongxiao had to push him away.

“You’re giving away spoilers!” Hua Lang complained.

Shi Hongxiao ignored him and sighed at Cheng Tingyan’s new suggestion. “Meeting in the restroom won’t work either, they’re all in their separate rooms now, each room has its own restroom and a small kitchen, it’s to prevent them from meeting before the blind selection. Yes… Several of them know each other, some have even worked together, like Maomao and Zhao Can, if we didn’t have the blind selection, they would definitely choose each other. And the theme of this show is ‘possibility,’ so we have to prevent any outside contact, it’s for authenticity… ”

Hua Lang couldn’t hear Cheng Tingyan, but he understood the situation.

“Have Cheng Tingyan come, have her join the show! Then she and Zhao Can can meet after they’re paired up!” Hua Lang said excitedly, grabbing Shi Hongxiao’s arm and shaking him. Seriously, she was in Leyuan City, wanting to talk to their guest, and he wasn’t jumping at this opportunity?! Did he have no directorial instincts?!

Shi Hongxiao glanced at him, speechless. What a ridiculous idea…

“Invite her!” Hua Lang insisted.

“We already invited her; she declined.” Shi Hongxiao said, his head hurting from the shaking, he moved his phone away. “Let me think… We’re filming in the villa and the renovated factory now, the corridors and common areas are being livestreamed, for authenticity… You coming here now wouldn’t be convenient… even if you pretended to be a cleaner, it would be too obvious. Later, depending on the schedule, in a few days, a week at most, we’ll start filming outdoors, then there will be public restrooms, you can meet her there, or we can have a staff member relay your questions.”

Hua Lang rolled his eyes, if he thought of public restrooms, why not think of the common areas in the renovated factory, which they would be using after the blind selection and the initial interactions in the villa, how stupid. But he wouldn’t tell him!

“Oh, no need to wait a week, I just remembered…” Shi Hongxiao said, suddenly realizing something.

Hua Lang quickly covered his mouth and shouted into the phone, “Hello, Ms. Cheng! I’m Hua Lang, the assistant director, we have strict rules here! But the live broadcast just started, we still have a vacant room! If you join now, you can talk to Zhao Can tomorrow, after the blind selection! It’s much better than waiting a week!”

The chances of her being paired with Zhao Can on the first try were slim… Shi Hongxiao pushed Hua Lang away and took back his phone. But before he could speak, Hua Lang shouted into the phone again, “What, why not let her join? What if she’s worried about Zhao Can being pursued by someone else on the show? How rude of you to break them up!”

Shi Hongxiao twitched his lips, break them up? He was the rude one! Yan Yan and Zhao Can had known each other for years, Zhao Can joined the show months ago, if Yan Yan wanted to pursue her, she would have done it already.

While they were fighting over the phone, Cheng Tingyan, who had been trying to figure out how to contact Zhao Can, was stunned by Hua Lang’s words.

Cheng Tingyan remembered that conversation with Little Cookie in her previous life, about acting, while she was on the set of a period drama, a bag of sugar cookies, square with scalloped edges, next to her. It was a snowy winter day.

She had talked about the loneliness and bitterness of life, about the human need for warmth and love, about the audience’s love, how even a small amount from each person, like a grain of sugar, could add up to a sweet cookie, like the snowflakes falling from the sky.

Square sugar cookies with scalloped edges weren’t uncommon nowadays. And comparing love to grains of sugar, it wasn’t a unique metaphor.

But Zhao Can’s Weibo post, too many coincidences.

The actor-audience relationship, the sentiment, the cookies, the love, the sugar grains, the snowflakes…

Especially, equating love, sugar grains, and snowflakes… Cheng Tingyan had just casually mentioned the cookies and the snowflakes, and the cookies… it was also partly because she was talking to Little Cookie. It was difficult to dismiss Zhao Can’s post as a mere coincidence, a strange, out-of-season coincidence.

Intuitively, Cheng Tingyan didn’t think Zhao Can was Little Cookie.

But… what if…?

Little Cookie said she was three years younger and worked in baking.

But… for online strangers, lies and omissions were common.

Cheng Tingyan herself… had also lied.

Some things, initially hidden, became more difficult to reveal as they grew closer.

Like how she casually mentioned being a junior staff member at an entertainment company, and then she couldn’t find the right time to correct it. And when she was still deceiving herself about her mother’s love, she had praised her to Little Cookie. Later, facing reality… she couldn’t bring herself to tell Little Cookie the truth.

Okay, Cheng Tingyan knew, it wasn’t about the timing, or the inability to speak, it was because she… had already fallen for her. She preferred to tell her in person. After all… first impressions mattered…

She had lied, Little Cookie could also have lied.

Three years younger becoming three years older wasn’t impossible.

Although Zhao Can’s personality didn’t seem like Little Cookie’s.

But if Zhao Can was Little Cookie, and she wrote that post, she must have memories of her previous life.

Cheng Tingyan herself was reborn, she had changed so much.

If Zhao Can was also reborn and had changed, it was also possible.

Of course, there was another possibility, Zhao Can heard those words from someone else.

Whether it was Zhao Can or someone else, if they knew those words, it had to be Little Cookie.

And if Little Cookie had kept their appointment that day, the day Cheng Tingyan died, she would have known… that the person behind “Moderate rain turning to heavy rain” was her.

Then Cheng Tingyan didn’t understand, in this life, why hadn’t Little Cookie come looking for her?

No… perhaps she had.

Cheng Tingyan remembered Zhao Can, still in elementary school, appearing at her school gate with her sister. And at Director Fang’s film set, Zhao Can suddenly appearing with her aunt. Zhao Tong, a child actress in her previous life, had retired in this life, thanks to Zhao Can, both of them were now in boarding school, away from their parents, was this also a change caused by rebirth?

Zhao Can not only changed her own family, but also… That time, when Cheng Tingyan returned for Zhang Shilan’s supposed death date, Zhao Can was also at the Wei family’s! She even spent the day teaching Zhang Shilan about writing! Had Zhao Can ever mentioned writing since then…?

And Zhao Can, going to university in Luhai City, how did she “coincidentally” meet Wang Zhiqing, who had skipped school and fallen in with a bad crowd, exposing Wang Zhiqing’s seemingly perfect life, revealing the pressure and burden she carried…?

So many inconsistencies…

The possibility was becoming more and more likely, it made Cheng Tingyan uneasy.

But she couldn’t hesitate.

A dying person in the desert, seeing an oasis, would they question its reality? Cheng Tingyan couldn’t, she just wanted to get there, to see it clearly.

Whether it was Zhao Can or not, that dating show had already started… If it was Zhao Can, could she just stand by and watch…? She had to find out, before she lost her mind.

She couldn’t wait, not even a day, let alone a week.

“Director Xiao, can I still join?” Cheng Tingyan asked, as soon as Shi Hongxiao answered the phone.

Shi Hongxiao, after wrestling the phone back from Hua Lang: “…“

“Yes, yes, yes! We’ll prepare a room, draw up a contract! Ms. Cheng, do you know where we are? Should I send you the address? When will you arrive?!” Hua Lang shouted into the phone, pushing the stunned Shi Hongxiao aside.

“I know the address, I’ll pack my things, I should be there in half an hour.” Cheng Tingyan said, her resolve giving her a sense of control, she started packing with one hand.

“Great! We’ll be waiting!” Hua Lang said, beaming, having accidentally landed a big fish with his random suggestion, he reached for the “end call” button.

But Shi Hongxiao, snapping out of his daze, pushed him away again.

“If you just want to ask Zhao Can a few questions, there’s no need to join the show…” Shi Hongxiao said, his face red from Hua Lang’s antics. “I’m not trying to trick you… let me think… After the pairing, in a few days, they’ll have activities in the common areas, you can hide in the restroom. According to the schedule… Hua Lang, go away! No, it’s fine, it’s my assistant director, he’s trying to grab the phone again. Where were we… right, after the pairing, in three days, four days at most, they’ll be in the common areas. Mmm? Are you sure? Hua Lang, are you a director or a monkey? Go away! No, not you, Yan Yan… Okay, okay, fine… if you’re sure. I’ll send you the information, you can read it on your way here. Okay, okay.”

Shi Hongxiao hung up and glared at Hua Lang, whose bleached hair was a mess.

“She’s coming, right?” Hua Lang asked, smoothing his hair.

“She is…” Shi Hongxiao said, rubbing his temples. “You shouldn’t have done that, we should have found another way…”

“Xiao Shi… Remember why Director Shi asked me to work with you?” Hua Lang chuckled, patting Shi Hongxiao’s shoulder, mimicking his father’s voice. “Xiao Hua, my son is steady but lacks flexibility, for reality shows, you need to be quick-witted and adaptable, he needs you.”

Shi Hongxiao: “…“

“Then do you know why I gave up a major production to work on this small, sensitive show with you?” Hua Lang asked, patting his shoulder again. “Because it’s so hard to find guests! And you said you were going to ask Yan Yan and Maomao, the little babies I’ve been watching since they were young! I’m their fan, I watched them when they were cute little babies, and now… I get to film them falling in love~~~ Oh my god, although it was a bit… but my dream has finally come true!”

Shi Hongxiao: “…“ Wait, what kind of strange dream was that?!

Seriously? He wanted to film Yan Yan and Maomao, and now Yan Yan was interested in Zhao Can! Wake up!

Watching Hua Lang skip away to prepare a room, Shi Hongxiao felt like his brain was about to explode.

Wait… an odd number of guests, how would they pair them up later?

Shi Hongxiao, his head throbbing, grabbed Hua Lang.

Shi Hongxiao’s big problem, Hua Lang just blinked.

“That girl from Zhixing Entertainment, the one they kept trying to push onto us, you can invite her. We already have one late arrival, one more won’t make a difference. We just have to postpone the anonymous pairing segment.” Hua Lang said, taking out his phone. “Look, her location two hours ago was still within the province.”

Shi Hongxiao looked at Wang Zhiqing’s Weibo on Hua Lang’s phone, her latest post was indeed within the province, then his gaze moved down and saw that she had reposted Zhao Can’s Weibo: “…“

“Trust me, this is perfect. Think about Wang Zhiqing’s traffic, and Cheng Tingyan’s… and Yan Yan’s Maomao squared!” Hua Lang said, patting Shi Hongxiao. “We’re going to be famous! Let those idiots at the station who dumped this on you see what they missed!”

Shi Hongxiao: “…“

He felt like his brain had already melted.