Chapter 44
The scene fell into a deathly silence.
Even Qin Ye’s voice, which had been flowing nonstop from inside the hospital room, abruptly cut off at that exact moment.
Almost like a slow-motion scene, the crowd of gossip-lovers at the door slowly turned their heads and looked toward the four people behind them.
Zhou Zenian instantly withdrew his hand. Seeing him move, Ji Yuan seemed to finally react too and lowered her own arm.
Father Qin and Grandpa Qin looked grim as hell.
Beside them, however, Mother Qin and Grandma Qin wore gentle expressions, and they even gave everyone a warm smile.
Mother Qin spoke with a smile, “Are you all going in?”
The group looked at one another for a moment, unsure whether they should go back in or not, but with remarkable tacit understanding, they all stepped back at once and made way for the four elders.
Mother Qin smiled and nodded to them, then walked gracefully to the hospital room door.
The tension in Lin Zhiqiao’s chest eased a little.
[Thank goodness, thank goodness. Mother Qin looks pretty gentle, so Qin Ye probably won’t have it too rough… ]
Before Mother Qin could raise a hand to push the door open, the door was already opened from inside.
Qin Ye lowered his head slightly, his eyes on the people outside a little timid, his voice also muffled and small, like a child who had done something wrong. He softly called out, “…Mom.”
Gentle Mother Qin looked at Qin Ye.
Gentle Mother Qin smiled and extended her hand.
Gentle Mother Qin grabbed Qin Ye by the ear.
“So you still remember to call me Mom?” Mother Qin said the fiercest words in the gentlest tone. “I was practically about to forget I even had a son this grown!”
Lin Zhiqiao & everyone else: “!!!”
Everyone almost sucked in a sharp breath at the same time and took a synchronized step backward. Even Father Qin and the grandparents kept quiet, yielding the doorway to the mother and son.
Mother Qin launched into a furious scolding. “You haven’t come home in all this time, and you didn’t even bother making one phone call. If I hadn’t seen the news online, your mother here wouldn’t even know my son had become so capable that he managed to produce an entire human life!!!”
Lin Zhiqiao could not help laughing inside. [That really is an actual human life! This wording is way too precise, hahahaha!]
Being publicly scolded by his mother with his ear twisted, Qin Ye did not even dare breathe too loudly. He looked small, pitiful, and helpless.
And also very much deserving of it.
A tiny sound came from the hospital room. Lin Zhiqiao had been listening in every direction and paying attention to every movement the whole time, so he caught it immediately.
He looked into the room toward the source of the sound and saw that, at some unknown moment, Shu Lin had already thrown back the blanket and was groping for the glasses on the cabinet beside the bed.
[Director Shu, don’t move! Leave it to me—]
But faster than Lin Zhiqiao were the Qin family members.
Qin Ye still had his ear being twisted, yet he tried to turn and rush into the room, only to yelp out in pain.
Mother Qin immediately let go, but instead of checking her son’s ear, she lunged into the room in a single step and supported Shu Lin by the shoulder.
“My precious darling! Don’t move around, lie back down quickly!”
Following closely behind Mother Qin were Father Qin, moving just as fast, and the grandparents, who were also surprisingly quick on their feet.
As they passed Qin Ye at the door, Father Qin and Grandpa Qin did not forget to glare at him fiercely with dark faces.
After a burst of chaos, peace finally returned to the hospital room.
The private room was spacious, but no matter how spacious a place was, once more than ten people crowded into it, it still felt packed.
The people who had come to visit Shu Lin did not stay very long. After each of them said a few simple words to him, they got ready to leave and give the Qin family some private time.
Lin Zhiqiao could tell that the Qin family attached great importance to Shu Lin.
At this rate, a wedding for the harp CP was clearly already a foregone conclusion.
Lin Zhiqiao finally relaxed. Before leaving, he looked at Qin Ye, hesitating as if he wanted to say something but could not decide whether to.
[I have something to say, but I don’t know if I should… asking it feels a little abrupt…]
Qin Ye then said, “Is there still something you want to say?”
Lin Zhiqiao looked at Shu Lin, then at him, and said solemnly, “When your wedding happens in the future, please make sure to invite me.”
Qin Ye replied with equal seriousness, “Don’t worry. I could forget anyone, but I won’t forget you.”
If one really counted it, Lin Zhiqiao could almost be considered the “matchmaker” between him and Shu Lin.
If not for Lin Zhiqiao, then with Shu Lin’s personality—someone who could not squeeze out a sentence for half a day—the misunderstanding between them still had no telling how long it might have dragged on. There was even less chance they would have discovered so quickly that Shu Lin was already pregnant.
Forget about when their relationship might have improved—if they had not known about the pregnancy, then with the way Shu Lin stayed up working as if his life meant nothing, it was questionable whether the child could even have been kept at all, let alone what kind of damage that would have done to his body.
Thinking of that, Qin Ye felt a wave of lingering fear.
Gratitude welled up in his heart. Qin Ye suddenly grabbed both of Lin Zhiqiao’s hands and said, “Thank you.”
Lin Zhiqiao’s head filled with question marks, but he still replied reflexively, “No need to thank me?”
After receiving Qin Ye’s promise, Lin Zhiqiao finally left the hospital room in complete satisfaction.
It was almost lunchtime, but everyone had work of their own, so they did not make plans to eat together. Instead, they split up at the hospital entrance.
Lin Zhiqiao called a car.
While waiting, he suddenly noticed a young boy standing not far away.
The other party was wearing a hospital gown and seemed to be standing at the hospital entrance thinking deeply about life.
Was he a patient staying here? Why had he run out?
Lin Zhiqiao could not help glancing at him a few more times, but the car he had called soon arrived.
After getting into the car, Lin Zhiqiao looked again through the rearview mirror and saw three young men rushing out of the hospital and dragging the boy in the hospital gown back inside.
Only after the figures of the four disappeared into the hospital did he finally look away.
Judging from the way the four of them were tugging and pulling at one another, it felt like there was gossip there too.
Lin Zhiqiao’s heart grew itchy, and he decided that while Shu Lin was staying here to rest and carry the pregnancy, he would come visit a few more times.
A hospital with such a special nature… surely it ought to produce quite a few interesting melons.
*
Three days later, the second episode of Our Life began filming right on schedule.
The same familiar pickup car, and still the same familiar cameraman.
Lin Zhiqiao waved at the camera. “Hi, everyone.”
With the success of the first episode leading the way, the popularity of the second episode of Life spoke for itself. Just a few minutes after going live, the streaming room was already packed to capacity.
‘Hi, I’m back to eat gossip again [dog head.jpg]’
‘Does anyone know whose home turf this episode is?’
‘I’m dying to know whose life they’ll be experiencing next’
‘Why are you all keeping things so secretive and refusing to say anything? Are you here to experience life or to chase after gossip? Do you think we don’t know? [raccoon-dog holding melon.jpg]’
Halfway there, Lin Zhiqiao could not help asking, “Brother, can you reveal whose place we’re going to today?”
The cameraman only lifted the camera in his hands and gave it a little shake, firmly maintaining his calm and dutiful persona.
Lin Zhiqiao sighed regretfully.
In the end, the program car stopped in the underground parking garage of a villa district.
[Are we here to pick up someone else too?]
Lin Zhiqiao looked left and right and followed the directions into the elevator.
The elevator doors opened.
A bunch of confetti exploded with a bang and landed all over Lin Zhiqiao’s head.
“Welcome to Pei Ning’s studio!”
The young female voice was bright and full of energy. Lin Zhiqiao brushed aside one strip of confetti that had fallen directly across his eyes and hesitantly stepped out of the elevator.
Outside, Pei Ning was standing there in casual loungewear, holding a hot Americano. On the counter beside her was a steaming sandwich that had clearly just come out not long ago, and a sense of total ease practically overflowed from her.
Pei Ning raised a hand and greeted him. “Morning, Xiao Qiao.”
Lin Zhiqiao’s eyes lit up immediately.
So this episode’s main stage was really Pei Ning!
“Morning, Sister Pei,” Lin Zhiqiao said obediently, his eyes slightly shining. “I can’t believe Sister Pei’s studio is actually in a villa district. I thought the program team was here to pick someone up.”
Pei Ning smiled and said, “It’s close to my home. Convenient.”
The young girl beside her added, “Yeah, yeah. It’s only a three-minute walk home. How could it not be close?”
Lin Zhiqiao knew her—she was Pei Ning’s manager, and also her best friend, named Gong Tiantian.
Three minutes?
Wouldn’t that mean the studio and home were in the same villa district?
Pei Ning did not explain further. Instead, she pointed to the long table beside her and said, “I prepared a little food for you all. Don’t be shy.”
Lin Zhiqiao had already eaten breakfast, but that certainly did not stop him from eating a few extra pastries to fill the cracks.
The others arrived one after another as well.
Seeing that everyone’s heads were covered in colorful confetti, Lin Zhiqiao revealed a deeply satisfied smile.
Once everyone had arrived, Director Fang, as usual appearing late, finally stepped in to announce the task for this episode.
“Congratulations, everyone, on unlocking your new identity—pop singer!” Director Fang said with a smile. “For the coming period, I hope everyone will work hard and, at the upcoming concert, bring the audience a brand new song!”
This time, the featured guest was Pei Ning.
As a new-generation all-round singer, Pei Ning not only sang, but also wrote lyrics and composed music with ease. Several of the songs that exploded all over the internet had been entirely written, composed, and performed by her.
It could be said she was a completely all-round, fully developed, blind-spot-free powerhouse singer.
After announcing the mission, Director Fang retreated.
At some unknown point, Pei Ning had already changed clothes. “Let’s go. We’re setting out.”
Ji Ran looked surprised. “Isn’t your studio right here? Where else are we going?”
“To find inspiration.” Pei Ning did not even turn her head. “Inspiration isn’t something that can just pop out by itself if you stay cooped up in the studio. Just follow me.”
So everyone followed behind Pei Ning.
The entire afternoon passed with eating, drinking, and playing. Everything had been included—except for anything remotely resembling “work.”
Tang Zhou looked utterly incredulous. “Sister Pei… this is how you usually work?”
“Not entirely,” Pei Ning said. “It’s just that I’ve been short on inspiration lately and urgently need to replenish it. That also counts as part of work.”
Our Life’s whole selling point was authenticity, and given the special nature of Pei Ning’s working style, Director Fang had given her a great deal of freedom.
It was not until after dark that Pei Ning finally brought everyone back to the villa district where her studio was located.
But this time, Pei Ning did not bring them to the studio. Instead, she led them to another villa.
“Everyone will be staying here for this period,” Pei Ning said. “The luggage has already been moved upstairs for you. One room per person, and your names are posted on the doors.”
After wandering around all afternoon, Lin Zhiqiao was already completely exhausted. Forget inspiration—right now he just wanted to get to his room and sleep early.
At that very moment, a beam of headlights shone onto the group before they even entered the house.
The light dazzled Lin Zhiqiao’s eyes, and he instinctively turned his head away.
Then a somewhat unfamiliar male voice sounded. “A-Ning? Did I come back at a bad time?”
Lin Zhiqiao’s eyes widened slightly.
That form of address, that tone, that kind of question—
Could it be President Jiang?
Ignoring the blinding headlights, Lin Zhiqiao turned his head back and saw Jiang Ling’s face in the bright light.
[Ahhh—]
[Is my CP about to feed us sugar live on the spot!!!]
