Finally, they could go home.
The food and accommodations provided by the Zhen Feng Xiang Dui (Tit for Tat) drama crew were truly mediocre. Nothing can compare to the comfort of one's own home.
Feng Yaoqin returned to the hotel and packed her and her daughter's belongings into a large suitcase. She booked the earliest high-speed train back to the capital, which departed at 6:10 PM, arriving at the Capital West Station in an hour.
"Suisui's mom, let my assistant drive you to the high-speed train station." After learning that little Gu Suisui was leaving that afternoon, Fu Yingyu thought it over and decided to see her one last time.
The acting profession inherently involves separation and limited time together, and the more famous one becomes, the busier they are. Aside from those working on the same production, they barely see their own families a few times a year, let alone others.
After this separation with little Gu Suisui, who knew when they would meet again.
Feng Yaoqin smiled and said, "Ms. Fu, there's no need. We don't have much luggage, and we can take a taxi ourselves."
Gu Suisui was a child who couldn't keep secrets. She would tell her mother everything about the people she met on set, the delicious food she ate, and who was especially kind to her. So, how could Feng Yaoqin not know who Fu Yingyu was.
Suisui had already troubled her enough during the filming so Feng Yaoqin didn’t want to bother her further over such a small matter. Although Feng Yaoqin was vain, she wouldn't take other people's kindness for granted.
Fu Yingyu glanced at her watch and explained, "It's crowded at this time, and it'll be hard for you to hail a taxi on the street. Suisui calls me 'Sister Fu', so don't be so polite with me. If you’re delayed, you might miss the train.”
Feng Yaoqin hesitated for a moment, considering that they couldn't afford to miss their train tickets. If they did, they would have to wait for the one two hours later. She finally agreed.
After thanking Fu Yingyu, she took her daughter into the luxurious nanny van.
The van was fully equipped with a TV, sound system, and refrigerator. It was also the first time for Feng Yaoqin to ride in such a vehicle. As others said, it was indeed convenient. Once the curtains were drawn, nothing could be seen from the outside.
She wondered when her little Suisui would be able to afford such a nanny van for filming.
"Xiao Wu, please make sure they get to the high-speed rail station safely."
Fu Yingyu had a scene with the female lead that evening and needed to return to her hotel room to memorize her lines. So, she could only have her assistant, Xiao Wu, accompany the mother and daughter to the high-speed rail station.
Gu Suisui waved and sweetly said goodbye to her.
"...Goodbye."
Thinking about how the set would be without the little girl by her side, Fu Yingyu, who was already used to being alone, suddenly felt a sense of emptiness in her heart. She wasn’t used to it.
At 7:30 PM, the taxi stopped at the gate of their community.
Having been away from home for a week, Feng Yaoqin wanted to clean the house again. Seeing her mother busy, Gu Suisui insisted on helping. Feng Yaoqin thought for a moment and gave her a small rag.
"Suisui, be careful when wiping. Leave the areas you can't reach for Mom." Feng Yaoqin reminded her worriedly.
“Got it, Mommy!” ( /≧▽≦/ )～
Given this "important task," the little marshmallow grabbed the cloth and mimicked her mother's movements, wiping all the tables in the house.
Looking at the clean and tidy rental apartment, Feng Yaoqin was filled with satisfaction and praised, "Our Suisui is so sensible. She even helps Mommy with chores now.”
The child was becoming more and more sensible, and the family's financial situation was improving. Everything was moving in a better direction.
Looking at her obedient and adorable daughter, Feng Yaoqin suddenly felt a sense of peace and tranquility.
She had even thought this through—if Suisui could be selected for the reality show that Xiao Zhu mentioned, they could receive a one-time appearance fee of 700,000 yuan. If she could raise a bit more from others, they might be able to afford a down payment on a small apartment in a slightly remote area.
That way, she and her daughter could have a home of their own.
==
Due to a last-minute withdrawal from one of the guests, the Traveling with Baby program crew was in a state of chaos.
Especially Yi Zhuo, the chief director and producer of the program, who was racking his brains to confirm the guest list.
Everything had been going smoothly, and they were supposed to sign the contract today. But an hour before the signing, Zhu Rendong's agent suddenly called to say that the artist was no longer available and that the program crew should find someone else.
...At this point, where could the program crew find someone else?!
"Check our backup list for any suitable male celebrities. If not, female celebrities are fine too. As long as we can contact them, quickly call them. I need to see a definite result by noon tomorrow."
The reason they were focusing on finding "intern dads" rather than "intern moms" was that even slightly popular female celebrities wouldn't accept scripts where they play mothers, for fear that they would only be able to play such roles in the future and never be able to play the female lead again. So, how could they actively participate in such parent-child reality shows to take care of a child?
The program crew members sighed upon hearing this shocking news. It looked like another night of working overtime.
Overtime wasn't the worst part. What program crew members feared most was dealing with the celebrities' agents, each one harder to talk to than the last.
Traveling with Baby was a newly planned reality show. Since it was the first season, they didn’t know how well it would perform, whether it would attract fans, or if audiences would be willing to pay for it. With so much uncertainty, few celebrities were willing to participate.
The program crew had put in a great deal of effort to invite Film Queen Zhang and her daughter to participate. Yi Zhuo had visited Film Queen Zhang's home several times and finally managed to get her old company, Tianhao Entertainment, to act as a bridge to reach an agreement.
Traveling with Baby was different from traditional outdoor reality shows on the market that pursued novelty and threw guests into places like tropical rainforests or deserted islands to survive. They adopted a brand-new model of pairing celebrity dads (moms) with adorable kids, focusing on heartwarming daily life to satisfy the audience's curiosity about the lives of married celebrities and bridging the gap between celebrities and ordinary people.
Of course, to create a contrast effect, they arranged a total of five pairs of guests, one of whom was an unmarried "intern dad." The program crew had already confirmed the four celebrity father-son (mother-daughter) combinations, but the combination of a celebrity and an ordinary child was proving difficult to find.
The one who suddenly backed out was the originally confirmed "intern dad," Zhu Rendong, a popular young actor who had recently become famous with a drama called Xiang Wang Zhuan (The Legend of King Xiang). Everything had been negotiated well with the production team, but overnight, he changed his mind. As for other popular male celebrities of the appropriate age, either their schedules were full, or they no longer needed to participate in reality shows to attract fans, or they simply weren’t interested in taking care of someone else’s child.
"By the way, what are the results of the ordinary child auditions?"
"Producer Yi, we have selected ten children from hundreds of applications who seem suitable in all aspects. As for who will ultimately be selected for the program, you will have to make the decision yourself." Choosing an amateur child to feature on the program was no small matter, and ordinary staff members couldn't make that decision.
Traveling with Baby was the most heavily invested reality show by Fruit Channel this year, and the station’s leaders attached great importance to it so there could be no room for error.
Yi Zhuo looked down at the list. "Find all ten of the selected children and bring them over. I want to meet them in person. Let's schedule it for three days from now."
Since the celebrity guest had changed, the personality of the child also had to change accordingly. The matter of meeting the children would probably have to wait until the guest candidate was finalized before making a choice.
==
"Hello, is this Ms. Feng Yaoqin? We are from the Traveling with Baby program crew."
"Hello, this is Feng Yaoqin. How can I help you?"
“Here’s the thing—your child has passed our program's preliminary screening. We now need your child to come and participate in the next round of auditions. The audition time is tomorrow at 3:00 PM. Can you and your child be able to come on time?”
"Yes, we'll definitely be there on time." Feng Yaoqin said with a surprised tone.
Hearing the child's parent's affirmative response, the staff member on the other end of the phone gave her the program crew's address, which Feng Yaoqin wrote down.
Having passed the preliminary selection, most of the other candidates had likely been filtered out, which meant the chances of being selected were much higher. A smile appeared on Feng Yaoqin’s face.
She found her daughter, who was playing Fruit Match in the living room, and said, "Suisui, Mom has signed you up for a super fun reality show. We're going to an audition tomorrow."
Gu Suisui put down her phone and asked in confusion, "Mom, what's a reality show?"
Feng Yaoqin tried her best to explain the concept in a way that a child of her age could understand: "...This reality show is similar to the variety shows you often see on TV, but the format is more varied, and there are no scripts. The one we're going to participate in involves traveling and filming at the same time. It should be more fun than the variety shows you watch."
Her daughter had recently become obsessed with a variety show called Celebrity's Private Kitchen, a cooking show that invited celebrities to cook together. She would be glued to the TV at the exact time it aired every week, not even blinking while watching. She was absolutely hooked.
Traveling with Baby was even more interesting than Celebrity's Private Kitchen. It would change to a new location every two episodes, which was extremely appealing to children. So, Feng Yaoqin guessed that her daughter would like it.
As expected, upon hearing that this reality show had food, drinks, and fun, Gu Suisui didn't even consider it and cheered, "Mom, I want to go!"
Great! There is actually a show more interesting than Celebrity's Private Kitchen in this world!!
After doing her daughter's "ideological work," Feng Yaoqin couldn't help but worry about the audition.
"Mom, is it okay if I wear this to the audition tomorrow?" Gu Suisui took out a new dress from the closet, the red and white checkered dress they bought at the mall last time.
Looking at her carefree daughter, who wasn't affected by the matter at all, Feng Yaoqin revealed a doting smile and said, "Okay."
Really, why was she worrying so much, unnecessarily putting pressure on her daughter. Besides, her Suisui was so cute. It would be the program crew's loss if she wasn’t selected.