As night falls, a snack street beside the main road of City C gradually becomes lively. Young men and women, as well as gangsters, sit on small tables on the roadside, drinking and eating skewers.
About a dozen young children with QR codes hanging on their chests were wandering back and forth between tables and people.
Lin Momo is one of them.
The difference is that she doesn’t have a QR code tag on her chest.
'Gululu.'
An empty beer can was kicked to Lin Momo's feet.
"Hey! Beggar, get away from me."
"It's smelly and dirty. It's ruined my appetite."
"I'm talking to you! Didn't you hear me?"
Then, another half of the sausage was thrown at Lin Momo's feet.
The young woman who threw the sausage said impatiently: "Okay, I've given you your food, go to another table."
Lin Momo didn't move.
At this moment, a can flew towards Lin Momo, and with a "bang", it hit her head exactly.
The remaining beer in the can flowed down Lin Momo's forehead and into her eyes, stinging her eyes with a burning pain.
Lin Momo didn't say a word. She raised her hand, rubbed her eyes hard with her sleeve, and wiped the beer off her face. She still stayed by the table of the yellow-haired young men, unwilling to leave.
The blond young men were angry.
"Md, are you an idiot? Didn't you understand when I told you to get lost?"
"Go away or not! Go away or not!"
"I told you to get out! Why don't you get out!"
While cursing, several young men took the other empty beer cans on the table and threw them at Lin Momo.
During this time, people occasionally laughed and cursed in a joking manner.
After they had thrown all the empty cans away and were about to pick up the glass wine bottles next to them and throw them at Lin Momo, the two young women at the table spoke up to persuade them to stop, and they gave up.
Seeing that it was almost done, Lin Momo squatted on the ground, flattened all the empty cans scattered around, picked them up, and put them into the woven bag behind her.
After picking up the items, Lin Momo bowed to the yellow-haired young men, said "thank you", and then turned and ran away.
The thin figure and the large woven bag on her back quickly disappeared into the night.
…
On the way back, Lin Momo sold the scraps behind her and bought two buns.
"Your grandma's leg hasn't healed yet?" the bun shop owner asked with concern.
"Not yet." Lin Momo shook her head.
Lin Momo has no parents and grew up with her grandmother. The two of them usually make a living by subsidies from the neighborhood committee and selling waste.
Grandma is not my biological grandma.
Lin Momo was abandoned by her biological parents and thrown into a nearby flea market, where she was found by a scavenger hunt.
Last month, grandma broke her leg and it hasn't healed yet, so the job of picking up and selling waste fell on Lin Momo alone.
—
Back in the dim and narrow old building, just as Lin Momo was about to open the door, the movement in the house aroused her vigilance.
"You old man, you dare to lie to me? Don't think I haven't heard that the community distributed holiday condolence money during the holidays in the past two months!"
"Where did you hide the money? Will you tell me? If not, don't blame me for being rude!"
It was Zhang Xiaoqiang's voice.
Lin Momo carefully withdrew her hand, ran downstairs, hid the 10 yuan left from selling the scrap, and then returned.
When Lin Momo opened the door, the room was in a mess. Her grandmother was lying on the ground, and Zhang Xiaoqiang was standing in front of her.
Zhang Xiaoqiang is Liu Cuifang's biological son. He has no proper job and usually spends his time in some questionable places. When he runs out of money, he comes back to ask Liu Cuifang for it.
—
Liu Cuifang in the room saw Lin Momo coming back and quickly waved at her, signaling her to leave.
Unfortunately, Zhang Xiaoqiang had already discovered Lin Momo at the door.
"You want to run away? Can you run away?" Zhang Xiaoqiang sneered, "You old man are so nervous, you must have put your money on this little bastard."
After saying that, Zhang Xiaoqiang stepped forward and dragged Lin Momo into the house, and started searching her body regardless of her struggles.
In the end, nothing was found except 50 cents.
Zhang Xiaoqiang unwillingly pulled the woven bag behind Lin Momo to see what was inside.
There was still nothing inside.
"Where's the rest of the money? Where is it hidden?!"
"No more, they're all there." Lin Momo said, pointing at the 50 cents in Zhang Xiaoqiang's hand.
"Bullshit! How can it be just this little?"
Lin Momo shook her head and said nothing.
Liu Cuifang lamented, "I only have so little money every month. I only got 50 yuan in holiday condolence money. I broke my leg before and spent money on medical treatment and medicine. How can I have money now?"
Zhang Xiaoqiang seemed to believe this, and he spat and cursed: "You old man, you'd better die. How dare you spend money on medical treatment!"
Zhang Xiaoqiang was very unhappy because he came here but didn't get paid.
When glancing at Lin Momo, Zhang Xiaoqiang thought of something, his eyes rolled, and suddenly an idea came to his mind.
Seeing Zhang Xiaoqiang walking towards Lin Momo with a strange expression, Liu Cuifang became nervous and a bad premonition came over her.
"Zhang Xiaoqiang, what do you want to do?"
"I didn't do anything, but suddenly thought of a good thing." Zhang Xiaoqiang smiled maliciously.
"I haven't looked closely, but this little bastard is getting more and more beautiful." Zhang Xiaoqiang walked in front of Lin Momo, leaned down deliberately, and smiled obscenely.
As Zhang Xiaoqiang spoke, he raised his hand and slapped Lin Momo on the face.
"How about going out with Brother Qiang? I'll take you to eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks."
"You dare!" Liu Cuifang struggled to crawl over and grabbed Zhang Xiaoqiang's legs: "Zhang Xiaoqiang, you evildoer, if you dare to do anything to her, I will not let you go even if I become a ghost!"
"Old man, I won't tell you how much money you've wasted by keeping a bastard around. Now it's time for her to repay our family. You'd better not stop her."
After saying that, Zhang Xiaoqiang kicked Liu Cuifang away and pretended to drag Lin Momo away.
At this moment, voices of conversation were heard in the corridor outside the house.
"Aunt."
"Who are you calling auntie!"
"Big sister."
"Who is your elder sister!"
"Miss, may I ask if Liu Cuifang lives here?"
"Are you looking for Aunt Liu?"
"yes."
"Here, go to the third room in the middle. It's the one that's making the most noise right now."
"Thanks."
…
Hearing someone looking for Liu Cuifang, Zhang Xiaoqiang stopped and looked alert: Liu Cuifang didn't know many people, and the only people who could come to see her were from the neighborhood committee or the police station.
If it was the police who came, I would be in trouble.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Zhang Xiaoqiang reluctantly threw Lin Momo away.
"I'll come again in two days. If you can't pay by then, don't blame me for being rude!" After saying these harsh words, Zhang Xiaoqiang snatched the bun from Lin Momo's hand and turned to leave.
In the corridor, when passing by the person coming, Zhang Xiaoqiang subconsciously lowered his head and quickened his pace.
—
Here, as soon as Chen Yu walked upstairs, he saw the room with the door wide open.
When I got closer, I saw that there was only one room in the whole house, which was very small. The light in the room was dim, and there was a musty smell that was common in old houses. At this moment, the house looked like it had been looted and was in a dilapidated state.
There were an old man and a young boy in the room. The old man had just been helped to settle down on the door panel that could barely be regarded as a bed, while the young boy was neatly cleaning up the debris of furniture and dishes on the floor.
Chen Yu looked at the girl carefully.
Although the girl's hair was scattered and covered half of her face, and the other half was red and swollen from being beaten, it was still vaguely visible that the girl's facial features were really similar to their Brother Cheng.
Chen Yu's eyes lit up and he knocked on the door: "Excuse me, is this Liu Cuifang's home
"I'm Liu Cuifang. Comrade, are you from the community or the police station?"
"Neither," Chen Yu walked in and handed over his business card. Thinking that Liu Cuifang might not be able to read, he explained, "I'm the agent of Xingshi Entertainment Company. My last name is Chen. Here is my ID."
"What's the matter?" Liu Cuifang looked at Chen Yu in confusion.
"It's like this. Orange TV and iwo Video have jointly created a reality show. Our company is looking for a child to partner with our artist to participate. I came here today to invite your granddaughter on behalf of the company..."
After explaining his purpose, Chen Yu took out an agreement from the document package: "This is a draft agreement. If you don't understand it, I can tell you directly."
Lin Momo shook her head, took the agreement from the other party, and read the contents to Liu Cuifang.
—This is a reality show called "Living with Dad", which mainly shows the daily life of celebrity dads raising their children. The show is broadcast once a week, for a total of eight episodes. According to the different family backgrounds drawn each week, the program team will send the fathers and children to the corresponding residence and arrange corresponding jobs for the fathers. The fathers earn money to support their children by working.
All Lin Momo has to do is to form a "father-daughter combination" with the star named "Lin Cheng" in the agreement to participate in the program recording. During the process, she must keep the content of the program and the content of this agreement confidential.
If everything goes well, she will be paid 20,000 yuan after the filming is completed.
…
"Twenty thousand yuan?!" Liu Cuifang was stunned by the huge reward.
"It's written in black and white."
"But why did you choose our Momo?" Liu Cuifang couldn't believe that such a good thing would fall into their family.
Chen Yu hid the embarrassment in his eyes, coughed lightly, and said seriously: "Our company naturally has our own selection methods and standards. We use big data networks, schools, forums... In short, many channels. Finally, after layers of screening, we determined that this child's conditions are the most suitable."
"Participating in this reality show is actually similar to a summer camp at school. The company will cover all the expenses for food, clothing, housing and transportation. During the filming, if you need to hire a caregiver to take care of the elderly, our company can also bear the cost. There is no loss for you."
"And..." Chen Yu looked around the house, found the right entry point, and said to Lin Momo: "If you perform well, we can also pay an extra fee to help you improve your current living environment."
Sure enough, as soon as Chen Yu said this, the eyes of both the grandmother and the grandson lit up.
"Really? Can you hire someone to help us fix the leaks in our house and fix the broken sewers?" Lin Momo asked.
"Okay." Chen Yu nodded.
Lin Momo asked again: "Can you help us get a better door? And a table, two stools, a bed, and a kettle..."
Chen Yu: “…”
—What if their Star Stone Entertainment is a decoration company
Chen Yu complained.
However, Lin Momo's requests were not many and he could solve them all by himself.
"No problem." Chen Yu nodded and asked, "Anything else you want?"
Lin Momo thought about it carefully and shook her head: "No more."
"When will I go to shoot?" Lin Momo asked again.
"The filming will officially start next week. Time is urgent. If there is no problem, you can prepare yourself. I will arrange a company car to pick you up tomorrow and take you to the company for two days of training, and then we will start."
Lin Momo and Liu Cuifang looked at each other, and after some discussion, Lin Momo signed her name on the agreement, along with her and Liu Cuifang's fingerprints.
Until Chen Yu left, both the grandmother and the grandson still felt that the whole thing was not real.
—
On the other hand, as soon as Chen Yu returned to the company, he couldn't wait to contact his own artist and planned to tell him the good news.
Half an hour later, in a private apartment in Binjiang Yipin.
Lin Cheng quickly read through the information brought by his agent.
Unlike his agent's excitement, Lin Cheng frowned deeply after reading the information.
"I remember the variety show you told me about last time seemed to be a temporary mentor on a talent show?"
"Yes, but something unexpected happened. The originally scheduled talent show was cancelled and temporarily changed to the parent-child reality show you have now."
Recently, two contestants on a talent show had a fight that ended with them being hospitalized. Because of the bad influence of the incident, several similar programs were suspended.
This incident has been on the hot search for several days in a row, but Lin Cheng was completely unaware of it
Chen Yu even suspected that his artists were using 2G network.
Lin Cheng threw the information back to Chen Yu and said coldly: "No."
Hearing this, Chen Yu was dumbfounded: "Why?"
He went through a lot of hardships and finally helped Lin Cheng get this resource.
"Do you think it's appropriate for me to participate in a reality show where fathers take care of their children?" Lin Cheng asked with a raised eyebrow.
Chen Yu looked embarrassed and smiled bitterly: "It's not quite appropriate, but... isn't there anything else we can do about it?"
As an out-of-date artist, it is good enough to have resources. I don’t have the qualifications to be picky.
Chen Yu endured the latter part of the sentence.
Ten years ago, Lin Cheng became popular because of a self-composed single. It swept all major charts within half a year and won numerous awards.
However, before Lin Cheng's career could reach a new level, a series of negative information about him soon broke out on the Internet: his parents were suspected to be illegal businessmen, he was a big shot, he did not respect his seniors in the same company, he bullied his juniors, he had a chaotic private life, he dated fans...
Although most of these negative news were later confirmed to be false, the impact Lin Cheng suffered from them was irreversible.
After being hidden by the company for half a year, Lin Cheng was quickly replaced by a newcomer and forgotten by the market. Since then, he has been lukewarm.
…
"The investment in this program is not small, and it is produced by a big company. It will be filmed for two consecutive months, so there will be no worries about exposure and popularity..." Chen Yu tried to persuade Lin Cheng.
"And think about it, even though you don't have any children, isn't it normal for you to have children at your age? Wouldn't it be great to use your identity as a father to establish a new image? Let netizens remember you, and maybe you'll have a chance to become popular again."
After saying that, seeing that Lin Cheng was still unmoved, Chen Yu couldn't help but remind him: "Brother Cheng, you haven't made any announcements for more than half a year..."
Lin Cheng’s last announcement, and also his only announcement this year, was half a year ago, in which he served as a background board for a new generation traffic star on the middle page of a third-rate magazine.
"If you don't announce anything again, I'll be left with nothing."
Chen Yu felt that he was definitely the most miserable agent in the entire company.
When he joined the company two years ago, the company threw Lin Cheng to him.
Because the artists under him are not good enough, he, as an agent, can't hold his head up in the company.
The key point is that Lin Cheng is difficult to lead. He has a bad temper and is difficult to communicate with. He refuses to perform and often disappears and cannot be found for months at a time.
After complaining in his heart, seeing that Lin Cheng's expression seemed to have relaxed, Chen Yu quickly took advantage of the situation and said pitifully: "Brother, you are my only artist. I have parents and children to take care of, and I also have a mortgage and car loan in between. I..."
"Stop." Lin Cheng glanced at Chen Yu indifferently.
"Is the announcement fee for this variety show enough to pay off your mortgage and car loan?"
Chen Yu: "This..."
"No more announcement fees..."
—According to Lin Cheng’s current situation, 100,000 yuan is the maximum he can get for the announcement fee. In order to get this resource, he had invited the program team, company executives, and sponsors to dinner for more than this amount.
Hearing Chen Yu counting out the numbers one by one, Lin Cheng's brows gradually furrowed.
"I'll call you how much it cost in total."
"No, no," Chen Yu waved his hand quickly and said, "This money was paid by Brother Sun."
Sun Yanzhou is Lin Cheng's former agent.
Because after Lin Cheng, Sun Yanzhou brought out a movie emperor and several top stars in succession, and his status rose with the tide. Now Sun Yanzhou has become the company's ace agent and small shareholder.
Chen Yu suspected that if Sun Yanzhou had not helped Lin Cheng from time to time over the years out of consideration for their old friendship, Lin Cheng might not have received a single notice.
Lin Cheng said no more, and transferred 500,000 to Chen Yu, saying, "Handle it yourself."
"Where is the agreement?" Lin Cheng asked again.
"Well, I've already signed the agreement on your behalf in the name of the company."
Lin Cheng: “…” So what is this, just to inform him
But since he has decided to participate, Lin Cheng will not dwell on such matters.
"script?"
"I haven't got the script yet." Chen Yu said awkwardly.
The program team originally planned to select the fifth group of candidates, namely the well-known comedian Wang Jun and his daughter. However, due to a conflict in shooting schedules, the other party temporarily turned down the invitation.
If not for this, such a good thing would not have fallen into Lin Cheng's hands.
The original scripts were written based on the characteristics of Wang Jun and his daughter, so they were naturally not suitable for Lin Cheng.
"So what about the children?" Lin Cheng asked again.
"Don't worry about this, brother. I have found the child." Chen Yu said with a little pride.
"And that child looks a lot like you. I guarantee you'll be shocked when you see him."
Over the years, there have been old rumors circulating on the Internet that "Lin Cheng has problems with his sexual orientation" and "has problems with sexual function". If you just pick a child who doesn't look like Lin Cheng at all, it would be hard to convince netizens.
—A lot like his child
"Where did you find it?" Lin Cheng asked casually.
"It's in City C. Brother Sun also helped provide the clues."
Chen Yu didn't know how Sun Yanzhou found such a child who looked so much like Lin Cheng. But thinking about it, Sun Yanzhou was already a senior executive of the company, with a wide network of contacts and many ways, so it wouldn't be easy for him to find someone, so he calmed down immediately.
"It will be even more troublesome if it is discovered that the child's identity is fake." Lin Cheng said calmly and pertinently, as if the person involved was not himself.
“No, I’ve investigated. The child has only one grandmother. She lives in a resettlement house in an old residential area and has relatively simple social relationships.” It doesn’t matter even if a few people who know them recognize Lin Momo after the show is broadcast. The comments of a few passers-by on the Internet will not produce much public opinion effect, and no one will believe them.
"I will arrange for someone to pick up the child tomorrow and settle her in the company for some training. Brother, come and see her when you are free." Cultivate the father-daughter relationship.
Chen Yu proposed to Lin Cheng.
Lin Cheng just waved his hand and said, "No need."
Then he said coldly: "When the shooting starts, send me a message after it is confirmed, and I will be there on time. As for the rest, you and the company will handle it."
Chen Yu: “…”
He felt that the reason why Lin Cheng had been so confused over the years had a lot to do with his attitude of not striving for progress and not caring about other people's affairs.
Chen Yu once thought about talking to Lin Cheng in his capacity as an agent, but every time he faced Lin Cheng, he became inexplicably timid.
"Okay then, I'll go back and prepare first and won't disturb your rest."
"Well, brother, you should also prepare yourself well. If you have time, you can watch some other parent-child reality shows, just... get a feel for it."
…