Chapter 11
Shen Tiantian ran very fast. The brown fluffy jacket hung loosely on him, making him look like a silly little brown bear charging headfirst.
A light pink flush spread across his cheeks from the heat as he dashed into Shen Jinfeng’s office on his short little legs.
Like a small cannonball, he couldn’t stop in time and crashed into Shen Jinfeng’s leg.
Shen Jinfeng felt a sharp pain in his knee. His brows knitted together, and his pupils contracted from the pain.
Gritting his teeth, Shen Jinfeng reached out, lifted this clueless little thing up, and flicked his slightly red nose.
“What’s the rush?”
Shen Tiantian was grabbed by the scruff of his neck, the lifeline of his fate. He tucked in his little hands and feet and blinked his eyes, looking at him obediently.
“If I’m slow, I won’t be on TV.”
Suspended in mid-air, Shen Tiantian’s bright, distinct black-and-white eyes were restless. They darted around and quickly locked onto the black machine set up on the floor by the door.
“It’s the camera! Big brother, are you filming me?”
Shen Jinfeng looked at the camera, which already had its lens cap back on. For some reason, he felt a strange sense of guilt.
With a soft cough, Shen Jinfeng put the little thing down, avoiding Shen Tiantian’s direct, expectant gaze, and quickly changed the subject:
“You ran all the way here. Are you thirsty? Should I have Sister Zhao make you a glass of honey water?”
Shen Jinfeng remembered that Shen Tiantian had a sweet tooth and turned his head to instruct another assistant to bring a glass of honey water.
Sister Zhao acknowledged and left.
Shen Tiantian was indeed quite tired. He looked up at the dark, hulking machine, then sat down obediently and demurely on the small sofa in the office, nodding primly.
His legs were held together, his hands rested obediently on his knees, and he didn’t even swing his little feet.
He looked exceptionally well-behaved.
Shen Jinfeng glanced sideways at the little one. Out of his less-than-thirty-jin body weight, a full twenty-nine jin must be his idol’s burden.
This was a completely different image from the little brat at home who would lie on the sofa, swing his short little legs, and even find time to stick his tongue out at him.
Thinking this, Shen Jinfeng folded his arms and couldn’t help but let out an amused sigh.
The assistant director, who had been sitting in his chair all this time, stole a glance at Shen Jinfeng, then turned to look at Shen Tiantian.
He swallowed the water in his mouth, his eyes darted around twice as he understood something, and he quickly stood up, leading several staff members away in a hurry.
The office suddenly became empty.
Only the cameraman was left, still checking his camera, so he couldn’t leave for a while.
Shen Tiantian saw the big brothers and sisters who had been filming leave. Although he was curious, he was young and didn’t think too much about it.
Holding the honey water that Sister Zhao had brought him, Shen Tiantian jumped down from the sofa, walked over to the camera, and waved his small hand in greeting.
“Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Tiantian.”
Afraid the camera wouldn’t be able to see him, Shen Tiantian stood on his tiptoes and held up the glass of honey water for everyone to see.
“I just… ran over. I’m drinking sweet honey water.”
Shen Tiantian loved showing his life in front of the camera. The thought of being on TV made the little cub exceptionally energetic.
He held the honey water and took a few big gulps in front of the camera. He pursed his lips and introduced in his milky little voice:
“The honey water should be warm. This cup… this cup has lots and lots of honey, but it’s still a little bit hot…”
Shen Jinfeng listened to Shen Tiantian’s tender little voice fill the office. His excited little face was flushed red as he held up his honey water and chattered nonstop in front of the camera.
Shen Jinfeng looked up again at the cameraman standing behind the camera, who looked like he wanted to say something but was holding it in.
Pressing the corners of his lips, Shen Jinfeng felt a guilty urge to laugh but didn’t dare.
“Big brother, hurry and hold me.”
Just as Shen Jinfeng was thinking about how to tell the little one that there would be no live broadcast this afternoon, he looked down and saw Shen Tiantian holding up his arms, asking to be picked up.
Shen Tiantian seemed very anxious. He pointed at the camera and tugged on Shen Jinfeng’s pant leg while standing on his tiptoes.
“It can’t see me. You have to hold me up high.”
Shen Jinfeng pressed a fist to his lips, coughed, and squatted down, his clear eyes level with Shen Tiantian’s.
“We’re not going live this afternoon.”
Shen Tiantian clutched the corner of Shen Jinfeng’s shirt and stood there in a daze. His little brain took a long time to process what his brother had just said.
“No wive bwoadcast?”
His excited little milky voice cracked, trembling in the air like a wave.
As if struck by lightning, Shen Tiantian took two steps back. Unable to bear the blow, he plopped down on the floor.
Shen Jinfeng saw his dazed little expression, his small mouth slightly open, his little body trembling as he sat on the floor.
He was clearly furious.
Afraid that he would get sick from anger, Shen Jinfeng went over and picked Shen Tiantian up. He clumsily copied Auntie Mu, gently patting Shen Tiantian’s back.
“Don’t be upset. It’s just that another guest had a small problem today, and since it’s the first day of the live broadcast, there were some network lags, so we had to pause after a while.”
Shen Tiantian didn’t want to listen. He felt like Shen Jinfeng’s words were floating in the air, buzzing, and couldn’t enter his ears.
His round eye sockets quickly turned red, and his nose also flushed pink. He pressed his lips together, and after a long while, he finally threw his head back and wailed.
“Bad guy, you’re a bad-guy bwother.”
When Shen Tiantian started crying, his little body trembled, and he couldn’t speak clearly anymore.
Rubbing his little eyes, from which tears were streaming out, Shen Tiantian sobbed for a good while. Overcome with anger, he lifted his fluffy little head and rammed it into Shen Jinfeng’s chin.
Shen Jinfeng was frantically looking for a tissue to wipe the little cub’s tears when a sharp pain shot through his chin, and his jaw went numb for a moment.
Hissing in pain, Shen Jinfeng narrowed his eyes and looked at the little culprit.
Shen Tiantian’s little chest heaved. Large, crystalline tears rolled down his face. Although he was the one who had done the hitting, he looked more wronged than anyone.
He looked pitiful, but he held his neck stubbornly, his temper quite large.
Shen Jinfeng was about to laugh out of anger.
He placed the little brat on the sofa, sneered, and turned to leave.
By now, Shen Tiantian had already wiped his tears with his fluffy sleeve, and along with it came a wave of guilt.
He watched his second brother’s back through a frosted glass door, not knowing what Shen Jinfeng was doing outside.
Shen Tiantian felt a little regretful.
Although his second brother was bad and annoying, good babies don’t hit people. They would get their little red flowers taken away.
He had apparently forgotten about the time he had kicked Shen Jinfeng in the stomach.
Huddled in a corner of the sofa, Shen Tiantian perked up his little ears like a small animal on high alert in the face of danger, eavesdropping on Shen Jinfeng’s voice and assuming a defensive posture.
A few minutes later, Shen Jinfeng came back in.
He looked at the little one huddled on the sofa, his eye sockets and nose red. He was hugging his little knees and looking at him with watery eyes veiled by a layer of tears.
In an instant, Shen Jinfeng’s anger dissipated.
For the little one, it was indeed a great injustice.
He had rushed over in a car, skipping his afternoon nap, full of excitement for the filming, only to find that the live broadcast had been unexpectedly canceled.
Before Shen Jinfeng got involved, this show was just an ordinary variety show with a B-level investment.
Live variety shows can easily expose a celebrity’s true personality. The director had to plead repeatedly before finally getting the top celebrity and the film empress to agree.
Naturally, they didn’t have the resources to find better non-celebrity guests, nor could those guests bring in their own traffic, which led to a severe polarization in the live stream viewership.
The live streams of the top celebrity and the film empress had high traffic, and several trending topics appeared as soon as they went live. In contrast, the non-celebrity guests barely made a ripple.
The director’s connections were also average, and the show’s investment wasn’t large, which led to various small problems on the first day of broadcast.
One of the non-celebrity guest families was an ordinary working-class family. Their child, who was six or seven years old, had gotten so nervous during the live broadcast that they started vomiting and had diarrhea, forcing a temporary suspension of filming.
Pausing one family’s live stream would have been one thing, but the top celebrity’s fans felt that this non-celebrity guest was dragging everyone down, a hopeless case who was affecting their idol’s live stream traffic.
The official Weibo account was instantly flooded with all sorts of abusive comments. The director’s vision went black when he saw it, and he almost needed an oxygen mask to survive.
After nearly an hour of chaos, they could only use the excuse of equipment failure to suspend all live streams and temporarily suppress the matter.
This led to Shen Tiantian rushing over excitedly to film, only to find nothing.
Shen Jinfeng had just gone out to understand the whole story. His chin still ached faintly, but he had already dialed a number.
When the top celebrity Qi Nanhuai received Shen Jinfeng’s call, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
“Young Master Shen?”
Qi Nanhuai had attended a banquet before and had heard others call Shen Jinfeng “Young Master.” Although it was just a teasing form of address, Qi Nanhuai didn’t dare to take it lightly.
Shen Jinfeng acknowledged and spoke in a tone like the wind of early March. Although it sounded warm and pleasant, it actually carried the chill of a late spring frost.
“Why hasn’t your team come forward yet? Such a big incident happened today, and you’re just going to let your fans cyberbully a non-celebrity?”
A drop of cold sweat slid down Qi Nanhuai’s temple. He hadn’t expected Shen Jinfeng to be displeased about this matter. He gave a dry laugh and quickly said:
“I haven’t had a chance to deal with it yet. I’ll have my manager post on Weibo later and will definitely guide the fans properly.”
Only then did Shen Jinfeng hum in acknowledgment. His voice was still gentle, but the end of his words was pressed down, filled with pressure.
“Don’t pull any of that nonsense. Just film the variety show properly.”
Shen Jinfeng had seen plenty of people like Qi Nanhuai who tried to use shady tactics to get on trending topics and attract traffic, thus indulging their fans’ behavior.
But of all things, he shouldn’t have caused the live broadcast to be suspended.
Filming was already annoying enough, and it had caused Shen Jinfeng to be rammed hard in the head by that little brat Shen Tiantian. Shen Jinfeng was not going to suffer this loss in silence.
Turning his head, Shen Jinfeng contacted his assistant and asked him to make a budget.
“I’ll invest a sum of money into the show. Don’t let that top celebrity lead you by the nose anymore.”
The assistant director cursed holy crap twice in his mind. He looked at Shen Jinfeng as if he were looking at the God of Wealth, his eyes sparkling.
“Yes, yes, yes, this will absolutely not happen again!”
After the assistant director made his promise, he heard Shen Jinfeng continue:
“Let’s do an interactive live stream tonight to make up for the missing broadcast time this afternoon.”
This God of Wealth is also a workaholic, the assistant director thought.
The money hasn’t even been invested yet, and he’s already worrying about the live broadcast!
But then he thought again of the little young master in the room who was crying because the live broadcast was suspended, and the assistant director instantly understood.
Oh, he’s here to stand up for his little brother.
