Chapter 46 – Ah Bai’s Fish

There were three stars attending this episode of “Embracing Love with Nature”. They were Ruan Ying, Li YouFeng and Chen Xun. All of them came with their families so there were nine people altogether.

There were two male stars and one female star, and they had two daughters and one son.

The only female star was Ruan Ying.

Ruan Ying had been in the singing world for seven to eight years. In a time were newcomers were changed often, she can be considered a singer with a lot of experience. Prior to debuting she had been a guzhen {T/N: Chinese zither} teacher. Her debut song was suitably had an ancient Chinese theme with a guzhen playing. Paired with her delicate features and warm and gentle voice, it pushed Ruan Ying to the heights of popularity. After that she had gone down this warm and romantic singer image for many years. Her audience also didn’t get sick of her and so she got the title of Popular Goddess. It was unknown if this title meant Ruan Ying was unable to change her image for so many years, however actually Ruan Ying quite liked it herself.

Of the other two stars, Li YouFeng originally started off as a folk singer. His uncle appearance was popular with university students. Chen Xun was a talk show host from a variety program, he was comedic and fast-witted. Every episode “Embracing Love with Nature” would invite at least one star with a fun-loving personality to make the atmosphere very lively and in this episode this was Chen Xun’s hidden job.

However they didn’t expect that on the way to the campground when Chen Xun cracked a couple of jokes and made a bit of noise on the bus, he was actually rudely reprimanded by a frowning Ruan Ying. She said that her daughter got car sick and couldn’t he please be a bit quieter? Saying this was like pouring icy water on Chen Xun’s head.

Chen Xun was professional and usually he would have been able to smile and simply let it go. However right now his wife and son were both sitting by his side, watching, and so it was much harder to swallow than usual. So everyone on the crew could tell that from the beginning, Chen Xun didn’t seem to want to talk to Ruan Ying. This really was an unfortunate beginning.

Not unexpectedly, in the following interactions, without Chen Xun’s lively and slapstick humor to liven the atmosphere, everything became much more cold and stilted. And Li YouFeng’s family had his wife has the figurehead. This meant that Li YouFeng didn’t talk but was only responsible for following her orders. This sharp-mouthed auntie really was a matching pair with this big uncle, however although they were very harmonious it wasn’t cute at all ah. So the filming crew really felt worried. In this entire group of people, probably only the kids were worth filming.

So when they heard Ruan Ying’s daughter Zhao YingZheng speak up in a milky voice, everyone jolted to attention. Although according to the schedule, after delegating the tasks of setting up camp, it was time to go into the forest to find forage some wild vegetables and fruit, however natural interaction was the most important. So the production crew naturally brought out pre-prepared fishing rods.

Li YouFeng and Chen Xun had also been watching how the neighbouring group seemed to be catching fish left and right and so their heart was also moved. Thus a few people enthusiastically got into this originally should have been quite boring fishing activity.

However after more than ten minutes passed, the water in the lake was still calm and un-moving. By this time the pink-faced Zhao YingZheng had already started making an impatient tantrum.

Where was the fish?! How come there was no fish ah? Daddy, I want fish, I want fish.....

Of course screaming like this probably made the fish scatter even more. There was even less movement on everyone’s fishing rods. Ruan Ying’s husband Zhao QiPring, who was a small boss of a car dealer, usually acted like a big lord in this family. He had never been tortured like this before. In addition the cameras kept filming from the side so he irritably told his daughter to be quiet.

This made it even worse. Zhao YingZheng’s temper tantrum immediately became more explosive. Her high-pitched crying was so piercing that it pretty much scared away all the living animals by the lake.

And she wouldn’t even stop after a few minutes. For an entire half an hour, all anyone by the lake could hear was Zhao YingZheng’s crying sounds.

However you also couldn’t really blame the kid. She was the youngest child on the set, only a little bit over four years old. She couldn’t really differentiate right from wrong. She only knew that usually as long as she wanted something, daddy and mommy would immediately bring it over. Today she cried for so long, her voice was already hoarse and painful, however nothing appeared. Zhao YingZheng really felt heartbroken and bullied. She completely couldn’t stop crying.

At this time, the production had no choice but to pause filming for a while in order to pacify this little ancestor. And the other two kids, seeing how Zhao YingZheng was crying so fiercely, got scared and hid behind their parents and wouldn’t come out. From the very beginning Ruan Ying was very protective of her daughter and wouldn’t let her have much interaction with the other kids. So the “kids group”, which would usually naturally and very quickly form, this time became quite distant.

Just as everyone was wringing their hands in despair, a clear and crisp voice floated over.

“Little sister don’t cry ah, I’ll give you Ah Bai’s fish.”

Everyone looked towards the voice. It was the Qiu XiaoHai who had just been playing happily. Right now he was holding the other little boy’s hand and with his other hand he held a bucket and placed it by the shore. After talking, Qiu XiaoHai reached into the bucket, felt around and took out a fish that was still linked up to a hook and handed it over.

“Here. For you.”

Zhao YingZheng cried so much she was already tired. She hiccuped and stared at the thick-browed and big-eyed Qiu XiaoHai then looked at the fish in his hands. In a tearful voice she clumsily accepted the fish. The fish was very slippery and so Ruan Ying who was standing nearby took the fish for her. She said in an awkward voice, “Thanks ah.”

Qiu XiaoHai liked to smile. He turned around to look and then ran towards the little boy who was standing behind Chen Xun’s legs.

“I have one for everyone. Do you want a fish ah?”

Chen Xun’s son slightly widened his eyes. Then he looked at Chen Xun who gave a slight nod. “... okay.”

This time it was Rong Zan who reached into the bucket and took out a fish. “Here.”

The almost six year old Chen Zhao blinked and then actually started blushing. “Thank, thank, thank you.”

Then they gave another fish to Li YouFeng’s daughter. After Li YouFeng’s wife the big auntie Zhang Que gave them an affectionate rub on the head, Qiu XiaoHai and Rong Zan ran back to their camp hand-in-hand.

Aiya! Did you get that on film ah!? One cameraman suddenly knocked himself on the head and yelled out in a tragic voice.

“Even if we film we can’t use it anyway, right?” Another person replied in a gloomy tone.

***

As it got late, the sun went down in the horizon and the crew had also finished the “eating dinner” activity. Only after that did Bai Lang and Qiu Qian bring over a pot of deliciously fragrant fish soup to give to Chen DongLi. This heavy soup pot was held by Qiu Qian and placed onto the crew’s stove. By this time everyone had gotten more used to it.

Because they had spied on them for the entire afternoon, everyone had already somewhat changed their minds about Bai Lang and Qiu Qian.

Right now there had been a lot of fuss on the media regarding Qiu Qian lending money to the Bai family. Also the Bai family seemed to want to swallow this money but refused to say they borrowed it. So many people suspected in their hearts that Qiu Qian had used money to keep Bai Lang, it was only on the surface that they said they were in a romantic relationship to make things sound better.

However after spying on them for the day, this big boss Qiu Qian was like a workhorse. All the hard labor was done by him, from getting water to carrying the water buckets. If he really was just a patron he wouldn’t behave like that. Also the most important point was Qiu XiaoHai. He always liked to cling to Bai Lang’s body every time he had a chance. He looked even closer to him than his own father. This was completely the happy image of a real family.

And it wasn’t only the crew members taking spying on them. After they were given fish, the three little kids being filmed also couldn’t help looking towards the two little boys from the neighbouring campground. They were both curious and envious. Their whole faces showed how much they wanted to run over and play.

So when Bai Lang came to give supper to him, Chen DongLi couldn’t help opening his mouth to make a request.

“Ai, although we’re already indebted to this afternoon, but tomorrow can you lend Xiao Hai to us again for a while ah?”

“Lend?” Bai Lang blinked.

“Your three fish has completely stolen away all the interest of the kids over here ah. Every second minute there will be someone looking over at you guys. So I was thinking, tomorrow we should let the five kids play together for a bit. We will only film the kids and not film you guys. So if it goes on television there would be any trouble of their identities. What do you guys think? Can we do it?”

Bai Lang looked at Qiu Qian. Qiu Qian shrugged. “It isn’t a problem to just let them play together.”

“Boss Qiu is really generous!” Chen DongLi’s eyes lit up. “Good, good. Then let me arrange it. I definitely won’t let any adults enter the shots!”

After talking, Chen DongLi called over a few crew members and swiftly made the arrangements for the next day’s schedule.

The next day, the five kids played hide and seek together. They laughed joyfully as they played and the filming crew was extremely satisfied. They were so many meng scenes that they couldn’t figure out which ones to use.

And because the kids were happy and having a good time, the atmosphere between the adults also became much more warm. Also last night Ruan Ying had been scolded by her manager (because someone had complained), and the next day she lowered her attitude and went to apologize to Chen Xun. She said that she was only overly anxious about her daughter on the bus and didn’t have any ill intent. By saying this, Chen Xun was able to recover some face. He also didn’t give her a hard time and so very quickly the conversation went back on it’s natural track.

So the next day the originally stilted and awkward atmosphere underwent an 180 degree change. The following two days of camping wasn’t so heavy and uncomfortable. The origin of all this change seemed to be Qiu XiaoHai. Behind there was also Bai Lang and Qiu Qian helping. This was all remembered by the crew members in their hearts.

Afterwards anytime when this group of people encountered people talking bad about Bai Lang or Qiu Qian’s relationship, they would be unable help speaking up for them. This was something they personally witnessed with their own eyes, it was rational and they even had evidence. These words were quickly spread and soon everyone in the entertainment circle knew that Bai Lang and Boss Qiu were conducting a proper and real romantic relationship.

Look, right now the five kids were playing happily and many people’s eyes couldn’t help going towards Bai Lang.

They saw him strolling by the lakeside hand-in-hand with Qiu Qian. The image was extremely sweet and beautiful.

***

Of course after this episode was aired, the addition of Qiu XiaoHai and Rong Zan’s appearances on the screen caused enthusiastic discussion. Some sharp-eyed viewers found out that he looked a lot like the photos of Qiu XiaoHai that had been posted onto the internet a while ago however the production crew sternly denied these claims. In the world there would always be people who looked alike. Please don’t randomly make up things and cause misunderstandings.

Rong Zan’s appearance also split a lot of the attention. Because this little boy was too startlingly beautiful. He really caught the attention of many grandmothers and mothers. However after all they were only two small children, you couldn’t make too many enquiries about them. After a period of time things naturally died down.

Around this time, all the controversy surrounding Bai Lang’s coming out of the closet also finally disappeared.

However for those who wanted to keep thinking about it, of course they would continue thinking about it.

***

In front of the TV, Kang Jian was accompanying his pregnant girlfriend Li Sha to watch a broadcast about a big new building unveiled by Rong Air. When Bai Lang and Qiu Qian appeared on the screen, his stomach flip-flopped madly.

Because Kang Jian originally had always thought that homosexuality was something that could never be exposed to the light.

That’s why he had found Li Sha who could help him with his career. Right now his path as an actor really became much smoother and when he looked down at the small life that was growing inside Li Sha’s stomach, the son who would even more firmly affix his fortunes, Kang Jian originally felt that he was already very lucky.

But as soon as he saw Bai Lang on the screen, Kang Jian couldn’t help feeling uncontrollable emotions.

Envy. Jealousy. Unfairness. And also an admiration that had never faded....

Now when he looked at Li Sha’s stomach, he couldn’t summon up the same kind of anticipation as before.