Chapter 109
Their Family was a short-term reality show. Although the title was Their Family, there were actually three families participating.
Director Sun Ming’s main goal was to use this show to give the public a look at how wealthy people spent their free time.
As the head of the Song family empire, Song Fengshi was obviously among the ranks of the rich.
The materials Fang Xinnan had sent over did not reveal who the other two participating families were, and Song Fengshi had no particular interest in finding out.
—No wonder Fang Xinnan had suddenly brought up his parents earlier, Song Fengshi thought.
Since the show was supposed to film the daily life of a family, then aside from himself, the rest of his family would obviously have to appear on camera too.
Ever since Song Fengshi took over the Song Corporation, the previous head of the family—his grandfather, Old Master Song—had stepped into the background, while his parents had never cared much about the company and instead spent their time traveling all over the world. Or rather, not just all over the world—traveling nonstop.
Song Fengshi’s father had married into the Song family, but that did not stop his relationship with Song Fengshi’s mother from being rock-solid. Even now, in middle age, the two of them were still as lovey-dovey as newlyweds.
They had been away for many years, and the number of times they had come home could be counted on one hand. The timing of Sun Ming’s show starting up was, in that sense, oddly convenient.
That afternoon, Song Fengshi drove to the airport.
Convincing his parents to join a reality show should not have been difficult, but the lines he had prepared in advance turned out to be completely unnecessary.
After not seeing her son for such a long time, Mother Song greeted him enthusiastically, “Xiao Shi, after all these years, do you have a partner yet?”
Song Fengshi: “…”
What a familiar question.
In the past, Song Fengshi would have simply ignored it, and Mother Song had already been mentally prepared not to get an answer.
However—
Song Fengshi said, “Not yet.”
Mother Song replied instinctively, “Oh.” Then she paused and immediately reacted. “Not yet?”
Song Fengshi gave a quiet hum and, after choosing his words carefully, said, “If nothing unexpected happens, I should have one soon.”
A dazzling light burst into Mother Song’s eyes.
She clearly wanted to ask more, but Song Fengshi did not give her the chance and directly changed the subject. “I accepted a family reality show. It starts filming in a few days, and I need the two of you to appear with me.”
“A reality show?” Father Song, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke. “You were never interested in that kind of thing before. Why the sudden—”
“I know!” Mother Song narrowed her eyes excitedly. “Is my future daughter-in-law joining too?”
Song Fengshi fell silent for a second, then nodded. “Yes.”
“Let Mommy guess. Is it that Lin Zhiqiao everyone online has been talking about?”
Song Fengshi gave another hum. “It’s him.”
Mother Song turned to Father Song and lifted her chin proudly. “I won. Pay up.”
Father Song sighed helplessly. “I’ll transfer it to your card later.”
For once, Song Fengshi was visibly stunned, and a question mark slowly seemed to rise above his head.
“I made a bet with your mother,” Father Song explained, “about whether the things online were just the media making things up, or whether you were really pursuing someone. Looks like your mother won.”
Mother Song gave a light snort, her voice brimming with delight. “I told you already—if it weren’t true, then with Xiao Shi’s personality, all those media outlets making things up would have gone bankrupt long ago!”
Father Song surrendered at once. “Yes, yes, yes. You know Xiao Shi better.”
Watching his parents bicker like this, Song Fengshi felt himself relax in a rare way.
He had grown up by his grandfather’s side, so he was never especially close with his parents. For a time, he had even thought that his parents had only given birth to him in order to produce an heir for the Song family.
Fortunately, after growing older, Song Fengshi realized that he had misunderstood them.
After realizing that his feelings for Lin Zhiqiao had become different, Song Fengshi had thought about how to tell his parents about it, and had also thought about what he would do if they disapproved.
—Even if they disapproved, it would be useless. Once he set his heart on someone, even if his grandfather interfered, he would not take a single step back.
Luckily, they seemed quite satisfied.
As for his grandfather… Song Fengshi was even less worried.
Perhaps because his own love life had been too rough when he was young, Old Master Song was now very open-minded and strongly believed in freedom in love. He would not interfere in the emotional matters of the younger generation.
Song Fengshi lowered his gaze and thought to himself—
So now there was only one direction in which he needed to put in effort.
*
Besides the three wealthy families, Their Family had also invited three special guest participants.
Lin Zhiqiao was one of them.
On the day filming began, the production team sent someone to pick him up.
“The program is divided into three parts, each arranged by one family for a two-day itinerary. Right now we’re heading to the first stop: Mount Wuming.”
As the car drove on, the surroundings became more and more remote, and there was more and more greenery outside the window.
Mount Wuming was a small scenic area. It usually did not get many visitors, but people said the scenery on the mountain was quite beautiful—especially the sunrise, which was worth seeing at least once.
Lin Zhiqiao found himself looking forward to the upcoming schedule.
Quite a few people were already gathered at the destination. Besides the production staff, Lin Zhiqiao also spotted several familiar faces.
The most eye-catching was Lin Mubai, who stood in the middle of the group. Then there was Lin Chen, Lin Juezhou, and Father Lin and Mother Lin standing around him.
There were a little too many members of the Lin family here.
Lin Zhiqiao’s vision darkened.
Help!
Was it still too late to apply to quit filming now!?
When Lin Zhiqiao saw Lin Mubai and the others, they naturally saw him too.
Father Lin frowned. “Why is he here too?”
Mother Lin looked equally displeased. “He’s like a ghost that won’t go away… Why is he still trying to cling to us even now?”
Lin Chen had long since started avoiding Lin Zhiqiao as if he were a plague. The moment he saw him, he instinctively looked away, as though even one extra glance might infect him with bad luck.
Lin Juezhou’s reaction was about the same as Lin Chen’s.
Lin Mubai, however, spoke in a soothing tone, “After all, he still… maybe he still has feelings for Mom and Dad.”
The rest of the Lin family clearly did not buy that explanation. Lin Chen reached out and ruffled his younger brother’s hair, sighing, “You’re just too kind. How could someone like him have any real feelings? He’s obviously after our family’s assets.”
The others all deeply agreed.
Father Lin’s brows remained tightly knit. After standing there and thinking for a moment, he started walking toward Lin Zhiqiao.
Mother Lin pulled at him and asked, “What are you going over there for?”
“To make things clear to him,” Father Lin said. “To make him understand his place and not start saying nonsense in front of the cameras later.”
Hearing that, Mother Lin immediately let go. “Then hurry up.”
Their Family was a fully live-streamed variety show. Since filming had not officially started yet, the cameras connected to the livestream had not been switched on.
Right now was the best time to talk. Any later and there would be no chance.
Father Lin had barely taken two steps forward when Lin Zhiqiao seemed to sense something and glanced at him.
Father Lin opened his mouth to call him, but saw Lin Zhiqiao take two steps back instead, widening the distance between them, before immediately moving his gaze away again.
As if he wanted nothing to do with him.
That reaction was completely different from what Father Lin had expected, and it brought his footsteps to an abrupt halt.
At that exact moment, two more cars from the production team arrived.
The door of one van opened, and a head of fiery red hair popped out excitedly. “Xiao Qiao!”
It was Ji Ran’s voice.
Before Lin Zhiqiao could turn around, another familiar voice came from the other car. “Zhiqiao.”
The second van was facing Lin Zhiqiao directly, so at a glance he saw Song Fengshi stepping out.
Even though it was just an ordinary van, Song Fengshi carried himself as if he were getting out of a luxury car, every movement graceful and steady.
Lin Zhiqiao smiled and greeted them both.
Behind him, Father Lin’s face was filled with shock and suspicion, mixed with lingering disgust, making his expression look especially ridiculous.
—How could Lin Zhiqiao be on such good terms with the head of the Song family?!
