In the end, the pair of brothers barely managed to skip twenty times by plastering themselves against the other. Immediately after finishing the task, they proceeded to run towards the gathering place, all to snatch the tastiest lunch.
However, when they reached the gathering location, they were told by Chu Qin that everyone would need to complete their tasks before they could start eating. Zhong Yibin wasn’t anxious and simply sat down to chat with Chu Qin. The two of them sat somewhere not within the camera’s range, the distance between them minuscule.
“Did you suffer from insomnia yesterday without your husband to accompany you?” Zhong Yibin shifted over and bit Chu Qin’s ear.
Chu Qin’s ears reddened instantly, and he pushed Zhong Yibin aside. “I often slept on my own when you didn’t have amnesia.”
Zhong Yibin frowned and pulled Chu Qin into his embrace. “That won’t happen in the future.” He didn’t know what exactly the situation was like before he lost his memories, but he knew that he now couldn’t be apart from Chu Qin for even a day.
“Tired?” Chu Qin passed a towel to Zhong Yibin for him to wipe away his sweat. He had seen the scene of them skipping rope through the camera. Both brothers didn’t know how to skip rope. Even after sticking together, they still continued to stumble. This game required them to restart the counter after breaking the flow midway, so the two of them were stuck there for half an hour before finally completing it.
“I’m not tired. how can I be tired after only half an hour? Don’t you know how long I can go on for?” Zhong Yibin winked at Chu Qin.
The implied meaning in his words was too obvious. Chu Qin coughed dryly and looked down at the screen, ignoring him. Zhong Yibin appeared not to mind, continuing to stick to him.
The screen was displaying Yu Tang carrying his brother and holding the skipping rope as he prepared to jump. However, he was surrounded by Mu Chen and Zhao Xu. Yu Tang nimbly dodged the two of them. Due to Mu Chen and Zhao Xu’s interference, skipping the rope was considerably challenging. In the end, Yu Tang fled while jumping and completed it right before Zhao Xu caught him.
“There won’t be any more chances if you guys don’t continue to search for a target,” Yu Tang raised his chin at the both of them and rushed towards the gathering location with his brother in his arms.
On the other side, Mu Sha had already gone in search of the ‘white wall’. This village had many buildings with white walls. It was said that they were laid by a kind of white stone from the mountain and was one of the village’s distinguishing features.
Mu Sha went in to enquire every time she came across a house with white walls. When she reached the third family, she saw Wen Qing, who had already found it. The house with white walls referred to the village’s ancestral hall. Stuff like clans no longer existed now, but this ancestral hall had been preserved as a place of interest.
Somewhere else, Zhao Yan had already found ‘tobacco’. This village’s elderly people were fond of smoking tobacco and they made pipe tobacco out of bamboo. They would stuff some tobacco strands inside and sit beneath the large tree at the entrance of village to smoke. There were elderly men as well as elderly women. In order to obtain the skipping rope, they would need to complete the task of helping the elderly men fetch tobacco strands from the top of the tree.
Chu Qin picked up a microphone and started speaking, “This is an activity passed down from the ancient times. It was said that there was an elderly man in the village who loved smoking tobacco but was scared of his wife. His wife didn’t like him smoking tobacco and threw away all of his tobacco strands. The elderly man thus hid his tobacco strands at the top of the large tree near the entrance to the village and went there every day to smoke. After a long, long time, the villagers all got used to coming to this place to smoke. The tobacco strands were also hidden at the top of the tree for the brave youngsters to get.”
As a gymnast, Zhao Yan’s arms were fairly strong. She climbed up nimbly by clutching the branches. By the time Zhao Xu arrived, his sister had already reached the top of the tree. Shocked, he hurriedly ran over to stand guard. “Why did you climb up on your own? Don’t you know to wait for me?”
“It’s not like climbing a tree is anything difficult,” Zhao Yan said nonchalantly. She found the pouch dangling from a branch and smoothly obtained the tobacco strands. Both brother and sister were trained in gymnastics, and their bodies pliable and tough, so skipping rope was nothing tough. They passed on their first try
Eventually, everyone reached the gathering spot. Only Mu Chen and Mu Sha were still wandering around the village. There were hints for the first four skipping ropes while there was no hint for the spot where the last skipping rope was hidden. How would they find it then?
It would soon be noon. Chu Qin announced, “If the Mu Chen team fails to complete the task before noon, all the ingredients here will be eaten by the staff members. None of you will have lunch.”
“Ah?” All the people who had vigorously snatched the items were stunned. Whether they would be able to eat or not was unexpectedly dependent on the last team. Everyone immediately rushed out and helped to search for the skipping rope.
Zhong Jiabin was silent for a moment before turning to look at his brother. His younger brother was currently chatting happily with Chu Qin without any intention of continuing to participate.
“Aren’t you going?” Chu Qin turned to look at the absent-minded Zhong Yibin, smiling as he asked him.
Zhong Yibin shook his head and scooped out some snacks from Chu Qin’s bag to eat.
“Hey, snatching the host’s items is a breach of the rules,” Chu Qin attempted to snatch back the bag.
“There’ll be a five-star chef cooking for me later, I’ll give you a bowl,” Zhong Yibin took big bites out of the dried beef he had taken out and spoke to him with a face brimming with justice.
The after-effects team added on a bleak background for the Zhong family’s big brother. Zhong Jiabin shook his head and turned around to search for the Mu Chen brother and sister.
Mu Chen was still searching aimlessly and was sitting at the doorstep to the ancestral hall in a daze. Zhong Jiabin walked over and looked down. “I can tell you the location of the fifth skipping rope, what can you give me in return?”
“En?” Mu Chen raised his head and looked at him in astonishment.
Everyone was turning the village inside out, only Zhong Jiabin came to find him in such a calm and collected manner. Just from his attitude, Mu Chen was seventy to eighty parts sure that he was telling the truth. Mu Chen, who didn’t yet know that the success or failure of the game was dependent on himself, thought that he had met a good person. “I don’t have anything to offer you in this mountainous countryside either.”
“You two will form an alliance with us during the afternoon session and help me with something,” The Zhong family’s big brother used his deep and magnetic voice to entice him.
“All right,” Mu Chen agreed without thinking it over. In his heart, Zhong Jiabin was at least several times more reliable than Yu Tang.
The Zhong family’s big brother nodded with satisfaction. “It’s at Seven Stars Pond, the pond in front of the hotel Yu Tang stayed at.”
Mu Chen looked at Zhong Jiabin in amazement. “How did you know that?” There was no hint at all! Chu Qin hadn’t said anything after announcing the four hints, how did this person find out?
Zhong Jiabin paid him no need. After collecting an accessory from him as a symbol of their alliance, he turned and left. Whereas Mu Chen, who would rather believe that it was true than false, quickly grabbed his sister and went towards Seven Stars Pond.
The camera followed them. Upon reaching Seven Stars Pond and seeing the people at the pool pulling up water plants, they recited the secret signal and received the correct answer. Mu Chen was wild with joy and hurriedly dragged his sister over to complete the task.
The rest were extremely curious and asked the Zhong family’s big brother how he had gleaned this information.
Seated in the center and slowly sipping at his water calmly, Zhong Jiabin uttered leisurely, “These five places are the five tourist spots of this village – the ancestral hall, large tree, water mill and the spot for sunning rice straw. The last place of interest is the Seven Stars pond in the center of the village.”
The camera replayed the prediction the Zhong family’s big brother had made at the start of the games. As every scene played out, everyone prostrated in admiration of Zhong Jiabin’s brains.
[Isn’t big brother’s IQ a little too high!]
[He’s practically Sherlock Holmes, he should be called the Master Sleuth Zhong Jiabin!]
[I’ve thoroughly been made a fan of big brother, aoaoao!]
In the end, Zhong Yibin managed to dig into a seafood feast, perfectly contented. On top of that, he received the second red flower. Since two of the three flowers had already been won, the picking fruits competition in the afternoon was no longer necessary. The Zhong family’s big brother arranged for the promise Mu Chen had made to him to be pushed back to the next week.
The first week thus ended in such a fashion. The audience watched it with the desire that it wouldn’t end. This time, the editing expert they had invited was particularly skilled. He cut out the useless parts, only leaving behind the most amusing parts, causing unceasing laughter. The evil-hearted after-effects team even added on a variety of special effects which was deserving of repeated viewing.
After the first broadcast, the click count online increased bit by bit. The viewers had strongly requested for a re-broadcast on television so Shengshi simply replayed it once every day at noon. The ratings of the re-broadcast alone were higher than the other programs in the same slots.
The station chief was unable to conceal his happiness as he watched the ratings chart and vigorously praised Chu Qin’s accomplishments during their meeting. “Sure enough, little Chu is a man of talent. As a host, he was already so impressive. Even after switching over to doing programs, nobody can measure up to him, hahaha!”
In the past, station chief Zhang had felt that Chen Feng was a talent that could not be replaced. Chen Feng had managed Shengshi’s entertainment programs very well for many years, so he was slightly biased towards Chen Feng on many accounts. Originally, he had been somewhat dissatisfied with the switch of personnel this time. He thought that Chu Qin had relied on his relationship with Zhong Yibin to squeeze out Chen Feng, and was filled with worry over the station’s future development. However, when the results came out, the originally apprehensive station chief Zhang was completely put at ease.
Chen Feng was already past his time. It was still someone like Chu Qin, who was at the front lines of the entertainment industry, who best understood what the viewers needed.
The Chen family’s father and son were filled so much hatred that their teeth hurt, yet they were powerless. Not only did the program not fail, its popularity had even reached unthinkable heights. Countless sponsors had flocked over wishing to insert advertisements in the next few weeks. A film company had even gotten in touch with them, hoping that they could produce a <Bun, Quickly Run> film during the Spring Festival.
This sort of film naturally wasn’t anything substantial, but the viewers who couldn’t be held back would love to watch it. Having the audience meant having money to earn; Zhong Yibin naturally wouldn’t refuse such a proposal. As the investor, Yu Tang didn’t have any objections either.
The program was on the right track. Chu Qin finally heaved a sigh of relief and moved on to participate in the awards ceremony for dramas. Chu Qin had not been invited to host the ceremony the previous year. Instead, a host from Hong Kong had been invited. However, the jokes were different, and the host’s level of Standard Mandarin wasn’t high enough, so it became a bit awkward. This year, the organizing party had said to invite Chu Qin at all costs and their starting price was set very high. Chu Qin thus cheerfully agreed.
For this year’s drama awards ceremony, Shengshi had two dramas that had made it to the finals. As the boss, Zhong Yibin also needed to participate.
Zhong Yibin had arranged for someone to custom-make two suits – the silver suit embellished with small diamonds was for Chu Qin while the black-colored matte suit was for himself. However, upon closer inspection, one would realize that the design of the two suits were completely identical. Their colors were the only differing point.
Zhong Yibin personally folded the decorative handkerchief on Chu Qin’s chest nicely and pecked him on the back of his hand. “Go on, baobei.”
As the host, Chu Qin would need to make an appearance during the opening of the ceremony. He stood at the end of the red carpet, the female host clasping his arm. The two people nodded to send their greetings and maintained their smiles as they moved forward. This time, the female co-host invited was a popular host from Taiwan called Ah Yue. Ah Yue was beautiful, her personality was good, and she was very humorous. When paired with Chu Qin, she was even more fitting than Lin Xiaoxiao.
“It feels like we’re going to a wedding!” One of Ah Yue’s arms held onto Chu Qin while her other arm held the microphone.
“It really does, but doesn’t the daughter lead her father by the arm to meet her fiancé during a wedding? Are you saying I’m the father?” Chu Qin replied with swift reaction speed. He received Ah Yue’s words and also cleanly pushed aside the possibility of a scandal.
“Yup yup. Papa, what present will you be giving me?’ Ah Yue smiled happily as she walked along the railings.
“The present…” The two people had already reached the autograph platform. Chu Qin passed an autograph pen to Ah Yue. “I’ll gift this pen to you. Later, when the guests arrive, you’ll be in charge of handing them pens to sign.”
Ah Yue instantly made a pained face. “What kind of present is that!”
Walking the red carpet took place before the start of the awards ceremony. The actors and actresses were arranged according to their status – the closer they were to the front, the greater their status. The person in first place was naturally Mu Chen, who had participated in dramas this year.
Mu Chen’s partner was unquestionably Mu Sha. This year, Mu Sha had not played the main lead in a drama and had only acted as the empress in <The Golden Age of the Great Jing>. Her coming to this place was purely to accompany her brother in basking in the excitement.
Mu Chen had been in show business for so many years and yet didn’t have a single whiff of a sex scandal purely because he had an elder sister in the industry. For the majority of red carpets, it was his sister who accompanied him. Many female celebrities who had hoped to walk down the red carpet with him had wrung their hands over this situation, and the media who acted on groundless accusations were also unable to set their hands on him.
With regards to walking on the red carpet, the two people were already extremely practiced. Their grasp of rhythm was superb, not too tense nor too slow, it was just nice.
“Welcome,” Chu Qin invited the two of them on-stage and let them sign their names before urging them over to his side to speak.
“Long time no see, Chen-ge,” Chu Qin smiled and greeted.
“Didn’t we just record a reality show last week?” Mu Chen ruthlessly undermined him. The surrounding fans and media all erupted into laughter. <Bun, Quickly Run> was currently very famous, almost everyone had watched it before.
Off stage were various reporters from large media companies. At this point, they could raise two questions.
“The screams for <The Golden Age of the Great Jing> this time are very loud; do you have any confidence of once again clinching ‘Best Male Lead'?” Facing the film emperor, the reporters below the stage were relatively more polite. The questions asked were also not too pointed.
“This isn’t good to comment on, the number of outstanding works are too many,” Mu Chen smiled and said.
“Did young miss Mu Sha receive a nomination for ‘Best Female Supporting Role’?” The reporter turned to ask Mu Sha beside him.
“I only played a character with several more scenes than a passerby, how am I fit for that award?” Mu Sha laughed. “I’m here today to accompany Chenchen.”
“Aoaoao!” The fans screeched loudly upon hearing Mu Sha say ‘Chenchen’. Since Mu Chen was her blood younger brother, there was no possibility of a sex scandal. Mu Chen’s fans had also never once attacked Mu Sha and in fact, fawned over her in all ways possible. Every day, there would be someone calling her ‘elder sister-in-law’ on Weibo.
Mu Sha even specially sent out a post on Weibo for today’s awards ceremony: [sister-in-laws, cheer for my younger brother!]
The interview ended after two statements, coming to the celebrities behind.
Originally, Qiao Su’s position was not high enough but after the drama, he rose to fame and was also assigned a spot close to the front. Now that his career was taking off, Qiao Su could not be involved in a sex scandal with any female figure. The company had originally arranged for him to walk with Wen Qing to attract attention but had been forcefully rejected by his manager. In the end, they chose the girl who had acted as Princess Anyuan in <The Golden Age of the Great Jing>. The girl was only five years old and it was safe for them to walk together.
“Why didn’t you walk the red carpet with Chen-ge?” A reporter asked Qiao Su this question when he reached the autograph platform.
Qiao Su was already no longer so clueless and he replied smilingly, “I also want to walk with Chen-ge but that will require Shasha-jie’s agreement, no?”
The way this statement was spoken was both quick-witted yet vague. He first established his wish of getting closer to Mu Chen and also made a not-too-large-nor-too-small joke, placing himself in the position of a ‘sister-in-law fan’.
“Turns out you’re also a ‘sister-in-law fan’!” Chu Qin had a sudden realization.
“What, you have objections?” Qiao Su was already very good friends with Chu Qin and could joke around casually.
“Of course!” Chu Qin gave a cold laugh. “Because I am too.” This dialog was meant to increase the spotlight as well as discussion about Qiao Su. The media could tell that Chu Qin was protecting Qiao Su and thus gave them face, no longer asking questions that were tough to answer.
The fans and media laughed joyously and harmoniously while Zhong Yibin, who wasn’t standing too far off, had a dark expression on his face. Sure enough, he should have gotten rid of Mu Chen early on.
The author has something to say:
Small theater:
Qiao Su: Qin-ge is my best friend
Mu Chen: Chu Qin is a good brother
Mu Sha: Suitable partner? Someone like Chu Qin
Er Bing: Eliminate, eliminate, eliminate them all
Qinqin: Stop being so noisy, I’ll give you a kiss of love
Er Bing: Oh…then I’ll let them off for a day, hmph hmph hmph!