After dinner, Shang Shuji received the results of his assistant’s survey on the second season of the parent-child variety show “Travel Diary with Parents”.
After reviewing the written materials, Shang Shuji considered for a moment and then asked his assistant for the original schedule for the next period of time.
Then Shang Shuji called over Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu and asked bluntly, “What are your plans for the summer vacation?”
Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu looked at each other in bewilderment.
Xuan Zhixia was also called over at the same time. When he heard the question, he was speechless for a moment. He thought to himself, “President Shang, you should go back to the company. It’s too much of a burden for you to be a father.”
The two children became extremely nervous when they couldn’t answer Shang Shuji’s question.
Shang Shuji’s expression didn’t change much; it remained as cold and indifferent as ever. He didn’t usually directly manage his two children, rarely came home, and saw them very little, but he wouldn’t be cold or harsh to their faces—though he also didn’t offer any warm smiles or words.
“Since you don’t have your own plans, then let’s go with my idea,” Shang Shuji said, then looked at Xuan Zhixia and said to him, “You can take them both with you to that parent-child variety show, and I’ll go too.”
Xuan Zhixia was taken aback, then frowned: “What?”
Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu didn’t know what a parent-child variety show was, but they understood one thing—the two of them were going to do something with Xuan Zhixia and their father.
Although they didn’t understand why they had to go with Xuan Zhixia, the two children looked at Shang Shuji and Xuan Zhixia with bright eyes after they understood.
Shang Shuji said, “I will have someone contact the production team to make arrangements. You don’t need to worry about whether it’s feasible for me to join at the last minute.”
Xuan Zhixia was confused: “…Mr. Shang is overthinking it. I’m not worried about such issues. However, do you know that this program will be filmed for a full month? At your hourly rate, that’s too much of a delay. It would be more worthwhile to just give me 18 million in breach of contract fees.”
Xuan Zhixia didn’t understand why Shang Shuji suddenly had this idea. Even if he wanted to go out and play with the two children and connect with them, there was no need to choose a variety show for children.
Anyway, if Xuan Zhixia had a choice, he himself wouldn’t want to go on this variety show.
Shang Shuji replied calmly and patiently, “There’s still a week before filming starts. I’ll arrange the things I need to handle during this time. The Shang family won’t go bankrupt even if I’m gone for a month, and we’ll still make money. Besides, there’s no need to lose contact during filming, so it won’t cause any problems.”
“I’m not short of money, because I never do business at a loss. You’re generous to give away 18 million without doing anything. But I don’t intend to let you be generous with my money.”
Xuan Zhixia lazily tilted his head.
Shang Shuji glanced at the two somewhat excited children and continued, “Furthermore, I’ve done some careful calculations, and participating in this parent-child variety show allows me to do several things at the same time, which is more convenient.”
”First, it will allow outsiders to see Xuan Zhixia’s true situation and status in the Shangs, and prevent you from using your identity as a Shang to seek profit in the future. Moreover, I really don’t want to hear people say that Shangs owe money and don’t pay it back in the future.”
Xuan Zhixia raised an eyebrow slightly.
Shang Shuji continuied and said, “Secondly, I hope that over the next month, Jingqi and Jingshu will feel more at ease with the Shang family and stop wasting their energy on wild thoughts like they have these past few days, not even knowing whether or how to deal with a nominal stepfather.”
”After this trip, if I feel uneasy again in the future, I can just review the program. It’s a one-time solution, and I hope to achieve this goal.”
Despite being teased, Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu couldn’t help but smile sweetly at the thought of going out and having fun together for a month.
What Shang Shuji didn’t specifically mention at the end was that he hadn’t taken a vacation in many years, and that he didn’t mind being in front of the camera. He had given public interviews with his face shown before, and he didn’t care about being photographed when attending events with the media.
Shang Shuji looked at Xuan Zhixia: “Any more questions?”
Xuan Zhixia shook his head indifferently: “It’s up to you.”
Without participating in the children’s variety show, they are 18 million yuan in debt, which they can’t repay in the short term. Although their agent, Zhen Cheng, says he will try his best to mediate, it seems that the efforts haven’t yielded any good results so far.
Appearing on children’s variety shows means you don’t have to go into debt, and you can even earn money.
Since Shang Shuji is acting so unusually by being willing to bring his two children on the show, Xuan Zhixia will stop struggling. Anyway, he’s been recuperating for years, so he’s fine anywhere as long as it’s not the apocalypse.
Moreover, with Shang Shuji accompanying him, and after appearing on the show, Xuan Zhixia felt it would save him trouble, as he wouldn’t have to worry about taking care of the children. Once the show was over and the payment arrived, with ample savings, he could file for divorce without any worries, which would be a win-win situation.
The “family meeting” reached a consensus, ended, and was dissolved.
Xuan Zhixia went upstairs to his room, rested for a while, and then called his agent, Zhen Cheng, to tell him about Shang Shuji’s plans.
Zhen Cheng was overjoyed!
”Who cares what Shang Shuji is saying now? The result is that the four of you will be going to a children’s variety show together!” Zhen Cheng said firmly.
The words “a family of four” made Xuan Zhixia feel extremely uncomfortable.
Zhen Cheng continued to plan: “As for how Shang Shuji and those two kids will treat you on the show, that’s up to you! Zhixia, you should try your best to influence them! Even if you don’t succeed, it won’t be worse than signing a contract and then having to breach it! When you’re on the show, I’ll get people to do a lot of marketing, and it’ll definitely make you famous!”
After he calmed down, Xuan Zhixia replied lazily, “Reform? No need.”
Zhen Cheng was taken aback: “Zhi Xia?”
Zhen Cheng isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue, but he’s not particularly wicked either. He follows the law and is truly loyal to those he befriends, displaying a somewhat unprincipled sense of “brotherhood.”
Talking about interests with someone with this kind of personality is likely to backfire. Xuan Zhixia doesn’t want to turn someone who’s on his side into a bitter enemy, especially since his agency contract hasn’t expired yet.
Therefore, Xuan Zhixia first “feels at ease” before mentioning benefits, saying, “Brother Zhen, as you know, my health has never been very good. After the incident with the child’s comorbidity a few days ago, I stayed at the Shangs and thought a lot. I feel that I am probably not suitable for this industry, so I have never made a splash.”
”Moreover, my body is not suitable for high-intensity work, so I am destined not to go very far or very high. Therefore, I don’t want to compete anymore. After this variety show, I want to retire from the entertainment industry, leave the Shangs, and focus on recuperating.”
”So I don’t care what attitude the Shangs have on the show. It doesn’t matter what the netizens think either. Don’t bother doing marketing for me, Brother Zhen, so you don’t end up wasting your time like this time.”
”Once the payment arrives, Brother Zhen, you’ll receive your share as an agent. After that, take a good rest for a while and see if you can find a new promising talent to rebuild your career.”
To eliminate this potential problem, Xuan Zhixia, who is usually lazy, spoke quite a lot. After he finished speaking, he got up to pour himself some water.
After hearing this, Zhen Cheng remained silent for a long time, then sighed and said, “No wonder, I knew you’d been acting strange these past few days. Sigh, Zhixia, you’ve been so open with yourself, I’m almost embarrassed to give you any more advice. I can tell you’ve really thought this through… Luckily, your management contract is only for three years, so there’s not much time left, and it doesn’t impose many restrictions on you.”
”Don’t think too much about it. This wasn’t a complete waste of time. You’re about to be on a children’s variety show, right? Well, speaking of which, your last gig with me is a big deal. I’ll be proud of you if I tell anyone.”
”But Zhixia, you’re retiring from the entertainment industry, so why are you saying you want to leave Shangjia? Putting everything else aside, Shangjia is at least rich. You can’t live off the money from this variety show forever. Staying with Shangjia is safer, right? After all, your parents have done Shangjia a favor. As long as you don’t cross the line, the people at Shangjia shouldn’t kick you out…”
Xuan Zhixia, holding his water glass, looked a little tired. He just smiled and didn’t explain further: “We’ll talk about it later.”
…
When the production team of “Travel Diary with Parents” first invited Xuan Zhixia and his two stepchildren from wealthy families, they were very excited and felt that this season was going to be a big one.
Soon after, Zhen Cheng, the agent who signed Zhixia on his behalf, came to discuss the breach of contract, leaving the production team extremely disappointed and speechless.
The situation was still unresolved, but unexpectedly, things took a dramatic turn. Not only were Xuan Zhixia and the wealthy family’s child able to appear on the show as usual, but even Xuan Zhixia’s wealthy husband, Shang Shuji, the head of the Shang family, who hadn’t appeared on the show often but was very famous, was also going to appear on the show!
The production team worked tirelessly to revise the contract and increase the pay, then urged the company to sign the contract for fear of them backing out.
With the contract secured, the production team felt relieved and immediately announced the family’s guest lineup—
[Travel Diary with Parents: Trip Ready to Go, 7 Days to Go! A big surprise is coming—this season we’ll be adding a new happy family! Let’s welcome the two parents of this little family, @Xuanzhixia and Mr. Shang Shuji (whose Weibo account is not publicly known), who will be accompanying their two four-year-old children, “Qiqi” and “Shushu,” on their trip in seven days, joining the four happy families we’ve already announced! Hooray!]
This Weibo post caused a huge uproar, with netizens leaving numerous comments and discussions.
[It’s true?! My jaw dropped!!]
[Two days ago, a marketing account broke the news that Xuan Zhixia had married into Shangs. At the time, no one came out to deny it, which already indicated that the marriage was real. But I really didn’t expect him to appear on a children’s variety show. I thought it was just marketing accounts making things up to get traffic…]
[Damn…who suspected that the gossip account’s leak was orchestrated by Xuan Zhixia himself? Doesn’t this count as a denial? After all, if Xuan Zhixia had orchestrated it, why would Shang Shuji have agreed to appear on a variety show together!]
[If a family of four can appear on a children’s reality show together, their relationship must be pretty good, right?]
[Waaaaah, Mr. Shang, how could you get married?! Didn’t you say in the interview that you were a staunch believer in remaining single?!]
[Wow, they really adopted two kids… I’m so envious, they’re from Shangs!]
[Speechless. You’re envious of their luck in being chosen by the Shangs. If you were really an orphan, you’d be crying for your parents. And you’re still envious!]
[Is this really true love? How dramatic! An unknown, nobody from the lowest tier of fame marries into a top-tier wealthy family and rises to stardom overnight. With such powerful backing, is the entertainment industry about to be reshaped?]
[Hilarious! These marketing accounts are full of lies. You actually believe Xuan Zhixia is just an ordinary person? Without a suitable match, would the staunchly single Shang Shuji swallow his words? It’s most likely a business marriage. Appearing on the show is just a task. We’ll see!]