Chapter 108 - Declare Position
“Dad, what is Professor Lin’s family making at home? It smells so delicious.” Chen Lanlan entered through the door, smelled the food coming from next door and gulped.
“How old are you to still envy other people’s food?” Mother Chen pointed at the ground. “Hurry and mop the floor.”
Chen Lanlan, “…”
On the day she came back from winter vacation, her mother was so worried about her that her mother was even reluctant to let her hold a bowl. It was only a few days later and she was like a servant.
Chen Lanlan was mopping the floor when she heard a voice from the corridor outside. She didn’t know if it was her illusion but she felt that this sound was particularly similar to her baby. She couldn’t help opening the door to see the ident.i.ty of the person with a voice similar to her baby.
Hearing the door opening, the two men who just walked upstairs turned around and looked at her. The young man in the front was wearing a black fisherman’s hat, a long down jacket and a mask covering most of his face. The man walking behind him was wearing the same warm scarf.
They were carrying large and small bags in their hands like they were moving. The moment she met the eyes of the opposite people, Chen Lanlan’s eyes widened. Wasn’t this her baby?
Ahhhh! Her baby! Why was Baby here?
Chen Lanlan shouted in her heart. Why was Baby Zhao Zhao here? Calm down Student Chen Lanlan, you need to stay calm and maintain your image in front of Baby.
Li Zhao nodded in a friendly manner to the girl who opened the door. “h.e.l.lo.”
“h.e.l.lo.” Chen Lanlan’s blush was like the sunset and she was almost too embarra.s.sed to look into Li Zhao’s eyes.
The door of Uncle Lin’s house opened and Chen Lanlan saw Uncle Lin and Aunt Dushu welcome the guests. The two of them were particularly warm and cordial to Zhao Zhao, as if he was their son who hadn’t been home in years.
Aunt Du was a big figure in the theater world and many of the big people there were her fans. Many international events and Spring Festival events would invite her to partic.i.p.ate. She might not be as popular with young people as popular celebrities but she had an outstanding position in literary and artistic circles. Was there any cooperation between Baby Zhao Zhao and Aunt Du so he came to visit?
“Lanlan.” Du Yushu ushered the two people into the house and greeted Chen Lanlan with a smile after seeing her at the door. ‘You’re home. Come and sit for a while?”
“No thank you, Aunt Du.” Chen Lanlan might want to talk to her Baby but as a qualified fan, she couldn’t affect the baby’s business.
She closed the door only to have a thought flash through her mind.
Who was the man behind Zhao Zhao? He looked so beautiful and wore the same scarf as Zhao Zhao. He didn’t seem to be a staff member.
Li Zhao stepped through the door and smelled stewed pork trotters. Lin Hong and his wife were also present. The two of them saw Li Zhao and Yan Ting coming and excitedly invited them to sit down.
“Your family should sit and talk for a while.” Lin Hong’s wife told Du Yushu. “I’ll go to the kitchen and watch the fire.”
Lin Shen was wearing new clothes today and his hair was neat. He brought out the cut fruits and placed them in front of Li Zhao and Yan Ting. “I don’t know which fruits you like so I prepared some.”
“I’m not picky over food. I eat anything.” Li Zhao stood up and brought over all their gifts. “These are the gifts that Ting Ting and I picked out for you. I don’t know how many relatives there are so I’ve only bought this for the time being.”
“How can you waste this money?” Lin Shen looked distressed as he held Li Zhao’s hand. “There is no need for you to be tired.”
Even if Li Zhao gave them a stone, they would put it on the shelf.
“I’m not tired.” Li Zhao laughed. “It is just a small distance upstairs and Ting Ting carried the majority of it. I”m not tired.”
“Mr Yan Ting…”
“Just call him Xiao Yan or Yan Ting.” Li Zhao shook Yan Ting’s hands. “Outsiders have to be polite but there is no need to pay much attention to this when it comes to family.”
“Yes, family doesn’t need to be polite.” Lin Shen nodded and glanced at Yan Ting. “Then shall I call you Xiao Yan after this?”
“Yes.” Yan Ting nodded.
“Your father and son should talk slowly. I’ll go to the kitchen to check.” Du Yushu saw Li Zhao and was reminded of the video she saw this morning. She was afraid of crying in front of her son and had to go to the kitchen.
Lin Hong’s wife was a university teacher called Meng Ling. She always had a good relationship with Du Yushu. Once she saw Du Yushu walk into the kitchen with red eyes, she comforted Du Yushu. “You should be happy after finding your child. Why are you crying?”
“I just feel distressed.” Du Yushu closed the kitchen door. She didn’t dare to cry out because she was afraid the child would find out. “Sister-in-law, seeing the child’s previous experience was like cutting my flesh with a knife. I want all child traffickers in the world to die badly.”
“You are young and your child is still young.” Meng Ling patted Du Yushu’s back. “You still have a chance to make up for it. Today is a happy day for you.”
“Yes.” Du Yushu wiped the tears on her face. “The days to come are long.”
“That’s right.” Meng Ling was afraid that Li Zhao would see something. “Wipe your tears. I’ll open the kitchen door lest the child thinks too much.”
A child who was just found would worry that his parents wouldn’t like him and his mind would be extremely sensitive. Any action from his family would make him think more.
Du Yushu quickly wiped away her tears. “Sister-in-law, thank you.”
“Why thank you?” Meng Ling smiled. “If you really want to thank me then prepare two tickets for this year’s Spring Festival Evening. I want to go to the scene with Lin Hong to watch you and the show.”
“Okay.” Du Yushu smiled and leaned out the kitchen door. “Old Lin, take Zhao Zhao and Xiao Yan to their bedroom to see if there is anything they don’t like. Then we can invite someone to come and decorate it.”
“Okay.” Lin Shen got up from the sofa and said, “Since knowing that you are back, all our relatives are very happy. They wanted to come and see you but I was afraid that too many would scare you and didn’t allow it. Wait for the future and we will get together when you’re free, okay?”
“Okay.” Li Zhao nodded.
Lin Shen smiled. He opened the door of a room and led Li Zhao and Yan Ting into it. “These are two houses under your mother’s name. This is the one you lived in as a child and we haven’t moved in all these years.”
This room had a large window, was well-lit and was very clean. There was a newly purchased double bed and the sheets and bed exuded the smell of a new object.
“If you and Xiao Yan are free then come back here to stay.” Lin Shen was a bit embarra.s.sed. “Regarding the other house, I’ve discussed it with your mother and have put it under the names of the two of you.”
Li Zhao wanted to refuse. Then he saw Li Shen’s eyes that were eager for compensation and had to swallow back his words. “Dad, thank you.”
“This is what I should give you. It should be yours.” Hearing Li Zhao call him ‘Dad’, Lin Shen took off his gla.s.ses and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. “I know that you aren’t lacking houses with your skills. Just… Mom and Dad want to give it to you.”
“I’m lacking it.” Li Zhao’s eyes were hot as he reached out for Lin Shen’s shoulders. “Dad, I don’t have a car or a house. My place, food and clothing are provided by Ting Ting. You gave me a house and I’m considered a wealthy person.”
“It isn’t for you. It is for you and Xiao Yan.” Lin Shen’s shoulders were trembling. The child was willing to be close to him and get along with him as an ordinary father and son. He was very satisfied.
He knew that the gene bank project was successful due to Yan Ting’s sincerity to his son and he didn’t want to affect the feelings between the two people.
“Thank you, Uncle.” Yan Ting hadn’t expected Li Zhao’s parents to be so close to him and was a bit unprepared.
“Don’t…” Li Zhao gently scratched Yan Ting’s palm with his finger. “Call him Dad like me.”
Yan Ting’s ears were red and he was silent for a few seconds. “Dad.”
“Ah!” Lin Shen agreed with a loud voice. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a thick red envelope and placed it in Yan Ting’s hands. “Come on, take it. It is a gift for my new son-in-law.”
Yan Ting glanced at this red envelope and remembered the first time he met Li Zhao’s friends. Zhu Xia had also given him a big red envelope.
“This is for you.” Lin Shen placed another big red envelope in Li Zhao’s hands. He had a thousand words in his heart but once he saw the child standing in front of him, he couldn’t say anything.
His child had grown up well despite the suffering.
As Li Zhao and his family had a warm lunch, Zhao Junnan’s work team was stunned by the online public opinion. Fortunately, Zhou Mei couldn’t provide any proof for her words or things would become more troublesome.
“Li Zhao’s studio is reluctant to let go. No matter what conditions we put forward, they just say that they will consider it.” Zhao Junnan’s publicity agent was almost out of breath. “Junnan, I’m afraid that if things continue to go wrong, the Spring Festival Gala will delete your show.”
The Spring Festival Gala was the most-watched program on New Year’s Eve. Being able to partic.i.p.ate in the Spring Festival Gala represented the mainstream recognition of artists. Although it wasn’t known outside that Zhao Junnan had received an invitation from the Spring Festival Gala, everyone in the industry knew it.
If the Spring Festival Gala canceled Junnan’s contract then the industry would definitely re-evaluate Junnan’s cooperation value and it was unknown how many projects would be dropped next year.
This year, Zhao Junnan’s luck wasn’t very good and some important resources were inexplicably lost. If he fell like this next year then at his current age, it would be difficult for him to climb up again.
“Didn’t you contact the director of the Spring Festival evening and say that the problem wasn’t serious?” Zhao Junnan looked haggard. He had been in many scandals recently and wasn’t in the mood to take care of himself.
“I said it but things are too big…”
Then the problem would get bigger.
The most troublesome thing was that Li Zhao was unwilling to express his opinion. In the midst of such a big event, if the party involved didn’t stand up then it was equivalent to confirming it.
Li Zhao was very popular and was one of the young actors with acting skills and the ability to connect to the audience. The most important thing was that Strawberry Entertainment treated him as an adoptive son. The situation was so troublesome that Zhao Junnan’s side was very pa.s.sive.
The even worse thing was that Li Zhao was a Beijing University student. This level of ident.i.ty brought him a lot of goodwill as well as alumni with extraordinary positions.
In this public opinion war, Li Zhao didn’t even need to say anything and they had suffered a defeat.
“Now we have only one solution left.” The agent looked at Zhao Junnan. “Openly apologize to obtain the public and Li Zhao’s forgiveness. For the follow-up, we’ll do PR and try to set up an image of someone who knows they did something wrong and is correcting it. Then at the very least, we will be able to keep the Spring Festival gala show.”
Zhao Junnan was silent. He didn’t want to apologize.
“The apology letter will be written by us but to show sincerity, I hope you can copy it by hand. Then we will send the photo to Weibo and strive to gain the greatest forgiveness from the audience.” The agent persuaded Zhao Junnan. “Junnan, currently your resources have already fallen behind Lu Hao. Do you want to be completely stepped on by Lu Hao next year?”
“Okay!” Zhao Junnan’s expression was ugly. “I’ll copy it!”
Today, he would temporarily give up. However, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Li Zhao, he would never let go.
“It isn’t good!” Zhao Junnan’s a.s.sistant walked in while holding his phone. “Brother Zhao, an opera master has publicly condemned you for having no artistic virtue on Weibo. She said that as a public figure, you…”
“What was said about me?”
“As a public figure, you are full of lies, don’t work hard, are dishonest and that you are the industry’s shame.”
What d.a.m.n opera master? Adding insult to injury when he was already so lucky? Zhao Junnan impatiently said, “Leave him alone!”
“Master Du Yushu is a big person in the opera world. She was born in an art family and has been received by the leaders of many countries. She has a very high status in the literary and artistic circles.” The a.s.sistant was sweating. “Brother Zhao, we are in serious trouble.”
“Du Yushu?” The agent had naturally heard the name Du Yushu. She was a famous opera singer. Her parents and husband occupied great positions in the literary and artistic circles. “How come she suddenly denounced Junnan?”
Since when did this type of master care about the entertainment industry?
If an ordinary person scolded Junnan then the problem wasn’t big. However, if this person stood up and declared her position then the trouble would become much bigger.
The author has something to say:
Baby Zhao Zhao took Baby Ting Ting’s hand and went to the kindergarten door to see his mother. He pointed to the naughty child from the cla.s.s next door: Mama, the child in the next cla.s.s bullied me!