Chapter 18: The Fallen Child Star (18) part 2

After dinner, while Yao Rong was washing dishes, Xu Weiheng carefully examined the wooden sculpture, clearly enamored with its intricate details despite its small size. Though not his first such gift, each one filled him with genuine admiration.

Carrying the sculpture to his room, Xu Weiheng was closely followed by the eager cameraman. The live stream revealed a modest but neatly arranged space, with a guitar in the corner and a bookshelf housing not just books, but various wooden sculptures.

As the camera panned across the intricate astronautical figurines, viewers commented:

[Does ‘Mom’ need another daughter?]

[I’m calling dibs on calling her ‘Mom’ first!]

[You all want to be her children, but I want to be her daughter-in-law.]

[Shameless! He’s still a minor!]

“She’s given me thirteen gifts this past month,” Xu Weiheng’s voice explained from off-camera. He then stepped into frame, carefully placing the new spaceship in the center of the bookshelf.

There were twelve figurines on the shelf. With this new one, it made thirteen.

Perhaps it was a coincidence.

But Xu Weiheng thought, he and Ms. Yao had been apart for exactly thirteen years.

These thirteen wooden carvings were like the birthday gifts she was making up for. From now on, he wouldn’t accept any more wooden carvings from her casually.

These carvings were enough to make up for those lost years.

Lowering his eyes with a faint smile, Xu Weiheng then turned to face the camera directly for the first time that day. “Let me introduce these sculptures to everyone,” he offered.

Previously, Yao Rong had mentioned to Xu Weiheng that she wanted to use the show’s popularity to promote her science fiction novel.

Ever since she shared this idea, Xu Weiheng had been thinking about how he could help her. Introducing the sculptures on this shelf seemed like the perfect way to do so.

After all, each of these sculptures was connected to the content of her novel, Starry Sky.

With enthusiasm, Xu Weiheng detailed each piece, from the HX rocket with its von Kármán line curve nose cone to the H-8 series spacesuit. His thorough explanations left the viewers impressed:

[Am I learning science from a variety show?]

[His explanations are so comprehensive! Even though some terms went over my head, it was fascinating to listen to.]

[While introducing these sculptures, Xu Weiheng seems to be glowing…]

After finishing the introduction of all the sculptures, Xu Weiheng seemed a little reluctant to stop.

He glanced at his watch and a faint look of apology appeared on his face. “I think I talked for too long.”

Although it didn’t feel like much time had passed, he had actually spoken for almost an hour.

Today’s conversation likely equaled his talking from the past two weeks combined.

“Should I make some mango pudding for a late-night snack?” Yao Rong’s voice floated in through the half-open window.

Scratching his head, Xu Weiheng quickly replied, “I’m coming.”

Given the day’s tiring tasks, the evening was left unscheduled. Mother and son sat quietly under the grapevines, each lost in their own thoughts as they enjoyed the evening breeze.

The comments in the livestream also gradually quieted down.

Only the viewer count continued to rise at a steady pace.

By the end of the first day’s livestream, Xu Weiheng’s channel had reached 830,000 viewers.

Although still at the bottom among the four groups of guests, Xu Weiheng’s group was the only one showing a consistently upward trend in attention. The others had all experienced stagnation or even decreased popularity to varying degrees.

The potential it demonstrated was enough to catch the attention of the show’s production team, as well as alert Xu Yiyuan’s mother.

Xu Yiyuan’s mother wasn’t participating in the variety show’s filming, but she was following the entire process.

After the staff finished work, Xu Yiyuan’s mother gestured to Xu Ji, and they went together to a deserted stairwell corner.

“Can Yao Rong do woodworking?” Xu Yiyuan’s mother asked first.

She had been watching Xu Weiheng’s livestream all day, and when she saw Yao Rong’s face, she nearly lost her composure in front of the production team.

At that time, quite a few busybodies were secretly looking her way, clearly having received some news and wanting to see her reaction.

It was precisely because she noticed these gazes that she managed to control her emotions.

But later, when she saw Yao Rong create such a special wooden carving with exquisite craftsmanship, her rationality had already been half-consumed by anger.

How could such a failure, who had disappeared for so many years, suddenly reappear to irritate her?

It was really, really unbearable.

Even when Yao Rong was still Xu Ji’s legal wife, Xu Yiyuan’s mother hadn’t found her as annoying as she did today.

Xu Ji was bewildered by this sudden question.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Xu Ji uncertainly said, “I think she might. Did something happen in the livestream today?”

Xu Yiyuan’s mother didn’t want Xu Ji to see Yao Rong’s current appearance, so she deliberately glossed over it: “No. Nothing special happened.”

Only then did Xu Ji show a hint of a smile.

He had been forcing smiles in front of the camera all day today, his face was almost stiff from smiling.

“So, are the audience satisfied with my and Yiyuan’s performance?”

At the mention of her son, Xu Yiyuan’s mother also smiled: “Very satisfied.”

“That’s good. It wasn’t in vain that I spent so much money, renting a yacht and buying a horse.”

Xu Yiyuan saw this variety show as his chance for a comeback, so he had begged Xu Ji and his mother to spend a lot of money on it.

To impress people, Xu Ji had given Xu Yiyuan a gift of a foal.

The problem was, how could you buy a foal for twenty yuan?

Of course, this was because a mare at the stables had unexpectedly gone into difficult labor, and Xu Ji had helped deliver the foal. The stable owner, seeing that Xu Ji and this foal had a ‘connection’, simply gave the foal to Xu Ji, who then passed it on to Xu Yiyuan as a gift.

The father and son even asked the livestream viewers to name the foal, which was called Xiao Yuan.

“Alright, you go rest. I’ll keep a close eye on the livestream. You and Yiyuan just need to perform well,” Xu Yiyuan’s mother pushed Xu Ji gently, speaking softly.

“Thank you for your hard work,” Xu Ji stroked Xu Yiyuan’s mother’s hand before turning to leave.

After a busy day, he was indeed too tired to move.

Xu Yiyuan’s mother stood alone in the darkness, slowly tightening her grip on her phone.

After a moment, she transferred 200,000 to an account, with only four words in the note:

「Increase the intensity」

The second day’s livestream was similar to the first day.

Yao Rong and Xu Weiheng’s task was to harvest lotus roots from the pond.

The other groups also received various farm tasks.

However, unlike the other groups who encountered numerous problems, Yao Rong and Xu Weiheng’s group handled the farm work smoothly.

Yao Rong was naturally skilled, and as for Xu Weiheng, after some initial difficulty, he quickly learned from Yao Rong’s guidance and was able to easily harvest lotus roots.

Moreover, with the experience of selling clothes yesterday, when it came time to set up a stall to sell lotus roots, Xu Weiheng’s group was the fastest to sell all their goods.

Throughout this day, except for Xu Weiheng’s livestream which continued to slowly increase in popularity, the other groups all saw a decline in their viewership.

This was normal, as the first day was the season three premiere, and the audience accumulated from the first two seasons of ‘Dear Family’ would pay some attention to the third season at the start of recording.

The strange point was that over the course of this day, the unfriendly comments in Xu Weiheng’s livestream increased rather than decreased, making his livestream increasingly chaotic.

This phenomenon continued into the third day.