Chapter 96

To be honest, when they heard about the new challenge from the production team, everyone’s faces couldn’t help but droop.

“Did I hear it wrong?” Bai Jing couldn’t believe it as she touched her ear. “Walking on the streets for two hours… are they trying to kill us?”

Sheng Lanqiu and Le Chuxin’s expressions changed, almost directly refusing the challenge.

Even Sheng Xia, who was always at ease, couldn’t help but gaze at Director Xu with a faintly discernible look of inquiry.

Director Xu felt his scalp go numb and subconsciously took a step back. When he saw her covering her heart, he immediately asked with a cautious tone, “Did you feel it just now?”

Seeing her distressed look, Director Xu’s temple twitched. He quickly responded with a practiced and careful tone, “What?”

“Wu wu, you really didn’t feel it. You cruel executioner!” Sheng Xia immediately accused, covering her chest. “Do you know how sad I am right now? Do you know how much you’re hurting a wounded heart?”

Director Xu: …?

Her dark eyes were misted with tears, and her delicate eyelashes trembled slightly. She seemed melancholic and fragile. “It’s okay I’m not important anyway. I’m just a withered and fallen leaf, drifting with the wind. I often wonder if my withering is my own choice or if the wind doesn’t want to keep me.”

“Like a lonely fish in the vast ocean, sigh, no one cares if we can hold on, if we feel tired or not.”

Production team: … Help.

【… Haha, I was just about to admire Sheng Xia’s beautiful madness, feeling a bit nostalgic for not seeing it for a long time, and then she starts going crazy with such a charming expression!】

【She has mastered the art of going crazy literature, making me laugh so hard.】

【So, she naturally has a face for being a beautiful lunatic, right? It seems unrelated to the wheelchair. Wu wu, my wife, comforting you (??).】

Director Xu’s temple twitched again familiarly. Unable to resist, he also covered his chest carefully and asked, “So what are you trying to express?”

“So—”

Sheng Xia suddenly looked up, gently blinked her eyes, and spoke sincerely, “What made Director Xu think that a lazy person like me could walk on the street with you for two hours?”

“… This is a challenge. If you are not willing to accept it—”

Sheng Xia readily agreed, “Then let’s go?”

“—Of course not!”

Seeing her decisive action without any hesitation, Director Xu blurted out.

Facing the guests’ skeptical glances, he realized his mistake, coughed awkwardly, and tried to persuade them, “Um, this is to double the budget. If you don’t even try, you won’t have a good time tomorrow. Not only will you be disappointed, but the tour guide will also be in a difficult position, right?”

However, Sheng Xia, upon hearing his words, showed consideration, “It’s okay, I’ve already planned tomorrow’s itinerary. Even if it’s not me, I can discuss it with the guide for tomorrow. You don’t need to worry, Director Xu.”

Sensing Director Xu’s urgency, though the guests didn’t know why, out of trust, they nodded in agreement, “I think it’s okay. Even if it’s not Xia Xia as the guide tomorrow, we can still discuss it.”

Bai Jing complained straightforwardly, “These past two days have been exhausting enough. Now we have to find chairs on the street, and the worst part is we need thirty of them! It’s too much, isn’t it?”

“Well, we understand that the production team has a tough job. If we go back to rest now, the recording duration today won’t be enough.”

Seeing Director Xu still struggling, Sheng Xia suddenly softened her tone and smiled warmly, “But I believe the production team should understand that we’re really tired now. If we walk for another two hours, even if we complete the task today, we might collapse tomorrow. It wouldn’t be worth it, right?”

“As the saying goes, cast a long line to catch big fish. You should make long-term plans, broaden your horizons, and expand your thinking!”

At this moment, she seemed to be full of positive energy, speaking in an encouraging and uplifting tone, “Don’t be constrained, confined to narrow perspectives, and only focus on these one or two hours!”

“We should understand and tolerate each other to achieve mutual success. So—”

Director Xu, feeling a bit dizzy from her words, asked subconsciously, “So—?”

“We need more money,” Sheng Xia said decisively.

Director Xu: “……??”

Top of Form

Seeing his bewildered expression, she immediately wore a skeptical look and spoke with a mysterious tone, “Only detestable capitalists would miserly make employees work 24/7 overtime, promising big rewards but not even providing overtime pay. I believe Director Xu, you’re not that kind of person, right?”

Just as Director Xu was about to reject, he swallowed back the words “impossible.” Though he vaguely sensed that something was amiss, he awkwardly denied, “Ha, haha, of course not.”

“Well, that’s great then. Considering our current workload and mental compensation, I think triple the budget wouldn’t be unreasonable, right?” Sheng Xia, who had just condemned him, suddenly changed her expression, revealing a cheerful smile. “Of course, I understand that our production team is quite poor. If you can’t afford it, it’s okay. Halving the workload should be doable, right?”

After saying this, she added with a touch of sweetness, “Director Xu, what do you think is more suitable? We’ll follow your lead.”

Director Xu wondered if he could reject both options.

However, facing Sheng Xia’s devilish smile and the subtle threats from the people behind her, he hesitated.

… his gaze, he opened his mouth but was ultimately forced to shut it in humiliation.

Caught at his weak point, Director Xu couldn’t help but tear up.

Damn it, Sheng Xia truly was a demon, his lifelong nemesis!

[ Hahaha, Sheng Xia truly lives up to her reputation! Just now, she was full of righteousness, as if delivering a speech at the United Nations. ]

[ Director Xu, wake up! You’ve been tricked by KTV (loudspeaker). ]

[ Serves him right to be CPU’d (humiliated), making Director Xu act like this every day, always messing with the guests! Everyone is so tired, and now they have to find thirty illustrated chairs in two hours. I don’t know what she’s thinking. ]

[ Although I really enjoy watching celebrities being put through tough scenes, this feels a bit too much. ]

[ I can understand to some extent. After all, they clearly had no activities in the afternoon. If they didn’t accept the challenge, they could only watch them go back to sleep (facepalm). ]

[ Rare sight of Director Xu being fooled, tsk tsk, it’s really satisfying! ]

As the audience speculated, Director Xu was well aware that the guests were exhausted. However, allowing them to just go back would undoubtedly lead to a live broadcast disaster.

Therefore, upon hearing Sheng Xia’s proposal, even if unwilling, after some negotiation, he reluctantly chose to grant triple the budget as a reward.

With the temptation of triple the budget, the guests managed to summon some energy.

After discussing, they split into five teams, each searching for six chairs on different streets. After finding one, they would take a photo and check-in in the group, specifying the location, to ensure they didn’t find duplicates.

The search process was quite lengthy, especially in tourist spots where various types of chairs were already placed. After finding them, they still needed to confirm whether these were the fairy-tale chairs they were looking for.

Half an hour had passed, and Sheng Xia, not wanting to continue, simply sprawled on the whale-shaped chair, stubbornly holding onto the tail, refusing to budge no matter what.

Seeing her in this unusual state, Feng Jingxu couldn’t resist mocking her with a touch of schadenfreude. However, seeing her completely indifferent, he cleared his throat, “We’ve only found two chairs so far, and there are still four missing. Is this not working for you?”

Originally ahead, checking the chairs like a twin pair, they noticed they fell behind and quickly ran back.

Seeing his mom burying her face in the whale, obviously feeling teased by her brother, they showed a disapproving expression towards Feng Jingxu, “Brother, don’t say that. Mom is already very tired.”

“Xia Xia, you can stand up and endure a bit longer!”

Feng Xuchen crouched in front of her, tightly clenching his fists to cheer her on, “We only need four more chairs to complete the task! We can’t give up now. Chen Chen is with Xia Xia!”

“Mom, you’ve worked hard. Just endure a bit longer, okay?” Feng Xuran gently touched her hair, earnestly comforting her, “We found two chairs in half an hour. If we keep it up, we can finish the task ahead of time in just another hour and a half.”

“Do you know? There’s nothing difficult in the world if you’re willing to give up.” Sheng Xia finally lifted her head, speaking with a deep and profound tone, “So, as long as I give up, I can harvest unexpected happiness, bid farewell to troubles and exhaustion.”

Feng Jingxu: “…”

“What kind of twisted logic is that? Don’t corrupt Chenchen and Ranran.” He rolled his eyes in disdain, but seeing her sweating and looking pale, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

At this point, he had long forgotten how crazy Sheng Xia could be during thrilling activities. Now he was only thinking that maybe she felt uncomfortable due to fatigue.

Subconsciously, he softened his tone, saying casually, “There are only four left, and we still have an hour and a half. It’s enough for me to find them myself. Let Chen Chen and Ran Ran stay here to rest with you.”

[ Hahaha, I might be laughed to death by Sheng Xia. Is this the so-called “playing poorly” wisdom? I’ve enlightened myself (with a serious face). ]

[ It’s rare to see a trickster being messed with like this. I don’t know why, but I feel a strange kind of joy (?) ]

[ Sob sob, truly our good elder brother, so reliable in crucial moments!! ]

“—Really?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Sheng Xia instantly lifted her head with sparkling eyes, as if the fatigue from moments ago had vanished in an instant.

Then, she looked at him with shining eyes, full of emotion, “Oh my god, what an earth-shattering mother-son bond is this?”

“Sob sob, Xiaoxu has learned to feel for his mom now. I knew Xiaoxu loves his mom, and mom loves you too!!”

Who’s feeling for her?!

Feng Jingxu almost jumped up, his expression twisted for a while. His face turned red, and he gritted his teeth, word by word, “Shut up!”

—Who voluntarily says such things? Can’t she have a bit of shame!

So, even as Feng Jingxu set off alone to find the chairs, his ears were still filled with Sheng Xia’s voice, sounding like a farewell of life and death, full of reluctance—

“Xiaoxu, rest assured. Mom will never abandon you and make you search on your own! You must wait for Mom. Wait for me to figure out a solution, and then I’ll come get you!!”

“…” He rubbed his ears in silence, recalling her resolute expression. He suddenly quickened his pace.

Well, he knew exactly how persuasive Sheng Xia’s words could be. He wasn’t someone who didn’t understand. Thus, he absolutely didn’t believe in the hard-to-come-by lying flat salted fish that could suddenly become vigorous.

However, half an hour later, Feng Jingxu had no choice but to believe.

He watched in astonishment as a Thomas the Tank Engine appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by

The cheerful theme music gradually came to a stop in front of Feng Jingxu.

Just as he had a bad premonition, a head suddenly popped out of the train, and Sheng Xia waved at him with joy, “Hi, Xiaoxu! Mom is here to pick you up. Now we have a car, isn’t it cool?”

As she spoke, three more little heads popped out from the train cars behind her, “Xiaoxu big brother, we’re here to pick you up!”

Feng Jingxu: “…”

His expression changed several times, silently circling around with his hands in his pockets for a long time. Finally, he stared at the four heads expressionlessly and slowly said, “How did you manage to kidnap other people’s kids?”

“Ah.” Yue, who was kidnapped, suddenly showed a guilty expression, “Sorry, Xiaoxu big brother, I took up your train car.”

Feng Jingxu: Even if he’s exhausted, he absolutely won’t sit in there! Forget about it!!