The production crew’s car drove out of the city and eventually stopped in a picturesque rural village.
This village is not remote or backward, but it is not particularly famous either. It is just an ordinary little village nestled between two mountains, one high and one low. However, the road connecting it to the outside world is wide and flat, so it is not isolated.
After the production crew’s car drove into the village, villagers peeked out from the fields and outside the houses along the road to watch the spectacle.
This season of “Travel Diary with Parents” features five families as guests. Because each family’s residence is at a different distance from the village, the production team arranged different times to pick them up and start the live broadcast, thus controlling the arrival times of the five groups of guests to be similar.
Xuan Zhixia and his group were the last guests to arrive, but not too late. When their car stopped, some of the guests who had arrived earlier were still getting their luggage.
”Be careful when you get out of the car, watch your step, and don’t bump your head,” the staff member said kindly as he got out of the car and turned back to the people inside.
Despite the long journey, the two children’s excitement and anticipation remained undiminished, and they eagerly got off the bus.
Xuan Zhixia was feeling tired from the car ride, and his knees and neck felt uncomfortable all over. He rubbed his temples and stood up, leaning on the back of the seat in front of him.
After taking a couple of steps, Xuan Zhixia, who was feeling listless, suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and almost fell. Fortunately, he was still holding onto the back of the chair next to him, and his vision returned to normal in the next instant. He stood there for a few seconds to catch his breath, and then calmly continued to get off the bus.
Shang Shuji, who was sitting at the back and was the last to get off the bus, frowned slightly upon seeing Xuan Zhixia.
After getting out of the car, the first thing to do was take the luggage out of the trunk. The crew members were only responsible for filming and not for helping.
The two children were too short and weak to stand at the back of the car, looking out at the open trunk. Xuan Zhixia then arrived at the back of the car and met the children’s gaze.
A few seconds later, Shang Jingqi asked, “Aren’t you taking your suitcase?”
Xuan Zhixia said lazily, his tone helpless, “The box is too heavy, I don’t want to carry it.”
Each of them had a suitcase containing the basic necessities for the 30-day TV show. Each suitcase was quite large and heavy.
Xuan Zhixia is physically weak and cannot lift heavy objects for a long time, but he does have the “explosive power” to take the suitcase out of the trunk and put it on the ground. He just needs to support the suitcase to recover after taking it off.
But he’s listless now, too lazy to even move a box.
”Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Shang.” Xuan Zhixia nodded slightly to Shang Shuji, who had approached, and said it with a sense of self-righteousness.
Shang Shuji’s expression was cold, and his tone was even more indifferent: “What if I don’t help you with your suitcase?”
Xuan Zhixia remained unhurried, saying casually, “Then you guys go first. I’ll rest for a bit, get some fresh air, and then come find you.”
This kind of “good temper”—unyielding and accommodating—often makes people feel like they’ve punched a pillow.
Shang Shuji glanced at the trunk in front of him. The trunk of the production crew’s car wasn’t particularly spacious, and the suitcases of the four of them were quite large, so they were stacked in pairs, with Xuan Zhixia’s suitcase on top of Shang Shuji’s.
Shang Shuji glanced at Xuan Zhixia, who looked listless and pale, and suddenly felt that arguing with Xuan Zhixia about this was pointless.
Helping Xuan Zhixia take his suitcase down was just a simple matter, since his own suitcase was still underneath. But if he didn’t help, he would have to move Xuan Zhixia’s suitcase aside first before taking his own.
In short, he would inevitably have to move Xuan Zhixia’s suitcase, and being petty would make him seem narrow-minded.
In the blink of an eye, Shang Shuji had already taken Xuan Zhixia’s suitcase down and placed it at Xuan Zhixia’s feet.
Xuan Zhixia glanced down and said politely, “Thank you, Mr. Shang.”
Witnessing this, both Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu were somewhat puzzled.
The two children looked at each other, both wondering if their father had forgotten—they had agreed that when they went on the show, they would show that their family didn’t welcome Xuan Zhixia!
In that case, shouldn’t we not help Xuan Zhixia with his suitcase, but leave him here alone and let him catch up with us later?
…Although this doesn’t seem right, shouldn’t we hate Xuan Zhixia?
Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu were completely bewildered.
In the live stream, viewers didn’t seem to care much that Shang Shuji ultimately helped Xuan Zhixia with his suitcase, thinking that since they were both adults, Shang Shuji just didn’t want to make things awkward during the filming. However—
【Ah? Mr. Shang?】
[I was wrong. I thought they just had relationship problems, but it turns out they’re acting like complete strangers!]
[While lovers might use such terms to express affection, it’s clear they’re simply not close.]
[The problem is! Why isn’t Xuan Zhixia trying to hide it at all?! Isn’t he afraid of being talked about?… At this point, even calling him by his full name would be less controversial, right?]
[This proves once again that there’s no such thing as a perfect match. Xuan Zhixia is definitely marrying above his station; otherwise, he would at least call him by his full name and wouldn’t be so polite! If Shang Shuji also calls Xuan Zhixia “Mr. Xuan,” then I’ll just pretend I didn’t say anything!]
The production crew parked the cars that picked up the guests in a spacious open area in the village. The guests got out of the cars with their luggage and were guided by the staff to a meeting point where the cars would not be filmed.
When Xuan Zhixia and his group of four arrived, the other four groups of guests had just met and were exchanging pleasantries.
”Oh, Mr. Shang and the others are here!”
Among the guests, there was a particularly enthusiastic couple who even stepped out of the crowd to greet them.
The husband, beaming, introduced himself: “Hello, Mr. Shang. I’m Gao Feng, a director. I don’t know if you’ve seen any of my films. This is my wife, Shang Bishu. She’s a producer; we both work behind the scenes in the industry. Gao Shang, please say hello. Be polite and call ‘Uncle’!”
Standing between the couple was a little boy, Gao Shang, who had been called out. He seemed a bit unconvinced and mumbled something unclear: “…Uncle.”
Shang Bishu patted Gao Shang on the back to show his displeasure and reprimand, then smiled and said to Shang Shuji, “This is our son, our only son. He’s been spoiled since he was little, so please don’t mind. Oh, these must be Qiqi and Shushu. They look like clever and bright children!”
Shang Shuji hadn’t seen such blatant and low-class attempts at ingratiation and flattery in a long time—after all, people of this caliber rarely dared to approach him.
Without giving the family of three a second glance, Shang Shuji nodded indifferently and then pulled his suitcase past them.
Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu also pushed their respective suitcases. Although the ground was flat and the wheels of the suitcases rolled smoothly, the two children were almost as tall as the suitcases, so they had to concentrate on pushing the suitcases and following behind Shang Shuji to prevent the suitcases from running away or them from going astray.
Shang Shuji bypassed Gao Shang’s family of three, and Shang Jingqi and Shang Jingshu quickly followed, pushing their suitcases. They were too busy being curious about strangers to notice that Gao Shang, who was their age, rolled his eyes at them.
Xuan Zhixia, who was lagging behind and walking slowly, did see them, but he didn’t even glance at them and followed behind the two children, circling around them.
The couple, Gao Feng and Shang Bishu, were somewhat embarrassed by this blatant neglect, while their son, Gao Shang, snorted and was very unhappy.
Shang Bishu quickly patted her son’s back again and warned him in a low voice, “Don’t talk nonsense!”
Gao Shang didn’t understand the adults’ intricacies, and with a fit of temper, he scoffed.
As for the guests from the other three families, they could only watch this scene as if nothing had happened.
The show’s director tapped on a megaphone: “Ahem—”
Gao Feng and Shang Bi Shu suppressed their embarrassment and quickly pulled Gao Shang back to the group of guests, no longer standing awkwardly at the front.
”Okay, now all the guests for this season of ‘Travel Diary with Parents’ are here.” The director pretended that the little incident hadn’t happened and said warmly, “Let’s introduce all the guests again.”
As the director spoke, the live stream camera focused on the corresponding group of guests.
There are five families in total. Besides Xuan Zhixia’s group, the situations of the other four groups are as follows:
Award-winning actor Gu Xie and third-tier entertainer Lin Zhaoshui—a same-sex couple who publicly confirmed their relationship after a hotel video of them surfaced—are participating in a reality show featuring children. The child assigned to them by the production team is Meng Xiang, a shy five-year-old boy.
Actress Yao Qingqian, a single mother, is pictured with her four-year-old daughter, Yao Shuyue. Facing the cameras of a variety show, the notoriously socially awkward Yao Qingqian smiles gently, while Yao Shuyue, more lively, pats her mother’s hand and tilts her head back, saying in a sweet, childlike voice, “Mommy, don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you!”
Next is a family of Yue Opera artists with a distinctly classical air. The parents are named Mu Xi and Fang Yuejun, and their daughter, Mu Zhijun, is six years old. The family of three is gentle and refined, neither overly enthusiastic nor indifferent.
Finally, there’s the Gao family, who were exceptionally warm towards Shang Shuji earlier.
Director Gao Feng and producer Shang Bishu are actually birds of a feather – both are known in the industry for their love of flattering the powerful and belittling the weak, and they seem to enjoy it immensely. Even after several instances where “those who were previously belittled now need to be flattered” or “those who were previously flattered no longer deserve a smile,” they continue to flatter the powerful and belittle the weak, never letting any awkwardness linger.
The program director introduced the five groups of guests in turn.
Xuan Zhixia was not very interested, only glancing at the group when the director introduced the Best Actor Gu Xie and the third-tier entertainer Lin Zhaoshui.
After all, he was the protagonist in the original story, so he was still somewhat interested in him.
In the original novel, Gu Xie is the seme (dominant partner) and Lin Zhaoshui is the uke (submissive partner). The two have a one-night stand due to a drunken incident, which is unexpectedly captured by reporters. After the news breaks, in order to quell public opinion, the two choose to pretend to officially announce their relationship and promote it, and their first promotional appearance is on this children’s reality show.
In short, in the original story, the main characters’ relationship began with a one-night stand and eventually turned into a real-life romance.
Xuan Zhixia wasn’t interested in their relationship development; he just hoped that nothing would go wrong during the variety show and get him involved. After all… Shang Shuji was the number one villain in the original story, and the protagonist, Gu Xie, had hated Shang Shuji and the Shang family for as many years as he had lived. It was uncertain whether he could suppress his hatred on the show.