Back to Three Years Old: Crushing Scumbags on a Parenting Reality Show 227

Chapter 227

At 9:05 PM, a new live stream window appeared on the “Possible Summer” homepage, the number of guests increasing from six to eight with Wang Zhiqing’s arrival.

Compared to Cheng Tingyan, who hadn’t acted since high school, then went abroad and transitioned to directing, the younger audience was more familiar with Wang Zhiqing, a university student who had already starred in several popular dramas.

But…

“Wang Zhiqing? Wait… isn’t she still in university? Is she even an adult yet?”

“I remember reading an interview where she said she skipped grades like crazy in school, if she hasn’t graduated yet, is she even old enough for a dating show?”

“It’s a dating show, don’t tell me they’re starting with a scandal!”

“You guys, just search online! I, as a fan of ‘Where’s Baby Going’ Season 3, know that eighteen years ago today, Wang Zhiqing was born! And eighteen years ago, on this day, her dad was forcing her brother to buy her hair accessories (wasn’t she still bald back then?).”

“Seriously… you ‘Baby’ fans, first you talked about Maomao wetting the bed, now this ‘buying hair accessories for a bald baby’ story, are you trying to trick everyone into watching that old show so you can hoard all the red strings and tie Yan Yan and Maomao together?! I’m going to watch that ‘buying hair accessories’ scene!”

“As a ‘Baby’ fan, thankfully, Wang Zhiqing clarified in an interview years ago that their sibling relationship had improved after they grew up. Otherwise, no matter how cute she is, I wouldn’t be able to support her. Now, looking back at ‘Where’s Baby Going,’ Wang Qingchuan probably wasn’t trying to make Wang Zhizhi love his sister, it was just his controlling nature. Poor children.”

“The director of ‘Possible Summer,’ Shi Hongxiao, search him online! Shi Dingshan, the director of ‘Where’s Baby Going,’ is his dad! Is this legendary after-sales service?! I’m crying!”

“Speaking of which… Yan Yan, Maomao, and now Wang Zhiqing’s sister, that’s three out of eight!”

“Just a coincidence, the show’s theme is ‘breaking gender boundaries, finding soulmates,’ they invited guests who are single and open to both same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. It’s difficult to find such guests, that’s why they’re all so young. Xie Dongxing, at twenty-eight, and Zhao Can, at twenty-seven, they’re practically ancient.”

“Then Wang Zhiqing, at eighteen, is the youngest, but it makes sense, she’s worked with Wei Maomao twice, Xie Dongxing once, and Zhao Can four times!”

“The youngest is the most popular? This younger generation…”

“I can already smell the drama, and they’re still filling out questionnaires!”

…

In their respective rooms, the eight guests were diligently writing.

Zhao Can felt like she was taking the college entrance exam again.

She slumped back in her chair, her head buzzing, she picked up the show’s rule book.

During the blind selection, no opening the door, no loud noises, no contact with other guests… The announcements from the production team were displayed on the large screen in the room, requests and communications had to be written on the whiteboard next to it. For private requests, they could write them on a piece of paper in the restroom and ask the staff to retrieve it from the slot under the door…

The slot…

Zhao Can looked at the door, the small opening at the bottom.

They were just trying to prevent them from knowing each other’s identities, was this really necessary?!

When Shi Hongxiao first approached her, Zhao Can already felt it would be difficult to find suitable guests.

Having received so much help from Shi Dingshan and others when she and Zhao Tong were younger, and since she met the show’s requirements, she readily agreed.

But… was it really this extreme? No wonder everything was kept secret, it would be even more difficult to find guests if they knew…

Zhao Can sighed, scratched her head with her pen, and continued writing.

She hoped the pairing wasn’t based on their answers, she and Maomao had been friends for so long, their answers would be too similar. And if they were paired up, Yan Yan, watching the live stream…

Zhao Can shuddered, suppressing the image of Cheng Tingyan’s martial arts competitions.

Then… to be safe, should she deliberately answer some questions incorrectly? But what if she missed out on her true love by doing so?

Zhao Can, both cowardly and slightly hopeful, fidgeted with her pen.

While the guests, some casually, some seriously, some strategically, some sincerely, filled out their questionnaires, the program team finally started the next segment.

A small window popped up on all the screens, showing the live broadcast from the control room, where the host, Jian Letian, after over an hour of waiting, was finally starting.

On the table were a lottery machine and eight transparent boxes with the guests’ names.

Jian Letian poured forty small balls with different animal names into the lottery box, then drew twenty-four of them, placing three in each box.

Each guest now had three animal options.

Then, the large screens in the guests’ rooms lit up, the second task:

Choose one of the three animals displayed on the screen as your codename. This animal icon would be shown to the other guests.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, if I hadn’t seen the whole process, I would have suspected someone was helping Wang Zhiqing cheat.” Hua Lang said, looking at the leopard cat among Wang Zhiqing’s three options.

“Compared to that, the rabbit on Yan Yan’s screen…” Shi Hongxiao said, rubbing his head, distressed. “We tried so hard to show that it’s all random, and now, a rabbit for Cheng Tingyan, a cat for Wang Zhiqing…”

Hua Lang chuckled, patting Shi Hongxiao’s shoulder. “Just accept it, it’s fate. And it’s not like this is some important competition. Look, the viewers are happy. This reveal is quite interesting. Mmm? Hey? Seriously? Hahaha, they chose a bear and a dog, my god, this is a dating show, not a game of Mafia. They’re truly good at hiding.”

Shi Hongxiao, after being shaken by the excited Hua Lang, finally saw the guests’ choices on the monitoring wall.

Yan Yan, the little white rabbit, choosing a black bear, Wang Zhiqing, the little cat, choosing a yellow dog, and Zhao Can, choosing a pika… Okay, he had underestimated them, they were all good at hiding.

His father was right, sometimes, all they had to do was start the show, and the guests would create their own drama.

But Little Maomao was still so cute. Shi Hongxiao, looking at the long-tailed tit Wei Maomao chose, that little white, chubby bird, he had thought it was even cuter than the little white rabbit, more like the soft, chubby little dumpling from back then.

Truly, it was fate.

After the eight guests made their choices, the large animal pictures on their screens disappeared, replaced by eight smaller animal icons representing the guests.

A goldfish, a pika, a long-tailed tit, a Bengal tiger, a lamb, and… a yellow ox, a black bear, and a yellow dog…

Six shocked faces, even Cheng Tingyan was surprised, only Wang Zhiqing remained calm, analyzing.

As if deliberately trying to surprise the guests, the explanations for the two new guests only appeared after a while.

Six guests becoming eight, they hadn’t known about it before entering.

But with such a big change just an hour into the live broadcast, the six original guests were extremely curious.

But before their curiosity could be satisfied, the next task arrived.

[Fate brings people together, how much effort will you put in to connect with your destined one? Side Quest 1: Collect Red Strings. Ten flawless Thousand Paper Cranes can be exchanged for one Red String. (Red String Function 1: Purchase partial information about your chosen guest, excluding their gender. Red String Function 2: Greater advantage in choosing a date.) Other functions to be announced. Duration: Now – 7:00 AM tomorrow.]

Almost simultaneously, large boxes were delivered through the slots under their doors.

Inside each box were instructions for folding Thousand Paper Cranes and stacks of colorful paper.

Shi Hongxiao, seeing the guests opening their boxes, relaxed slightly. This was the last task for today, although they had two unexpected additions, they had still successfully completed the first day.

But… not quite.

“They…” Shi Hongxiao said, then, seeing two guests writing on their whiteboards almost simultaneously, he stood up abruptly.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Hua Lang said, beckoning a staff member. “Give them what they want.”

“No, wait.” Shi Hongxiao said, stopping him, his voice laced with doubt. “Did we give them the usual kind? Fifty sheets per pack, we gave them six packs, three hundred sheets, isn’t that enough for one night? It’s already past 9 PM!”

“Calm down, you’re the director now, not their Xiao Ge.” Hua Lang said, waving the staff member away, he patted Shi Hongxiao’s shoulder. “We have to respect the guests’ wishes, if they want more, then give them more.”

“Wang Zhiqing even asked for a pair of gloves… she even drew the size of her hand, she wants gloves that fit perfectly but won’t affect her folding. Is she planning to finish all of them…?” Shi Hongxiao asked, frowning.

“Even with more, she might not finish, don’t worry about it.” Hua Lang said casually, then changed the subject. “Speaking of which, we should have given everyone gloves, paper cuts can be nasty, we were careless.”

“Right… careless.” Shi Hongxiao said, he immediately called another staff member to arrange for gloves.

Hua Lang, having successfully diverted his attention, looked at Cheng Tingyan’s screen, she had started writing “more paper,” then the first stroke of the character for “hand,” but she stopped and erased it.

Why?

Why…

Because even perfectly fitting gloves would affect her folding speed.

Proper protection enabled one to work longer.

But recklessness could also achieve the same effect.

A walking corpse, she didn’t need gloves.