Chapter 148: Filming Begins [Fifth Episode]

Upon receiving the message from Yu Zhi-Le, Yang Bing was quite surprised and asked, "You secured a title sponsor just like that? What is the sponsorship fee?"

Yu Zhi-Le stated concisely and to the point, "Starting at one hundred million. Anyway, we are not short of funding for the show now! You look into which celebrities have children, preferably aged between three and six. Do not consider any celebrity whose appearance fee for the entire season exceeds ten million."

Yang Bing replied, "Alright, leave that arrangement to me!"

Listening to the voice note her husband sent, Qin Hai-Yu curiously asked, "Honey, besides us, how many other parent-child families do we need to invite to participate in this show?"

"Not many. Including us, there will only be four families." Yu Zhi-Le then asked, "Do you have any recommendations? Are there any celebrities you'd like to see bring their children on the show?"

Qin Hai-Yu suggested, "Zhang Qing-Song and Teacher Zhou Jian seem to fit the criteria. Shall we try inviting them? After all, we've recorded shows together before, so it won't feel too awkward."

At this moment, Xu Ling chimed in with a sarcastic remark, "You are way too scheming! Neither Zhang Qing-Song nor Teacher Zhou Jian are particularly good-looking, and their wives are quite average too. If we compare them, won't they just end up acting as mere foil leaves on the show to set you two gorgeous flowers apart?"

Yu Zhi-Le responded, "Wife, your suggestion is brilliant! I'll consider them then! It just so happens that they are both singers, so having them sing a song or two on the show would be quite nice!"

Yu Zhi-Le immediately messaged Yang Bing, asking him to contact the two men. Their appearance fees weren't high, and thanks to *The Masked Singer*, their popularity was decent—not extremely high, but they possessed a certain level of traffic and fan cohesion.

Just like that, within a single afternoon, Yang Bing had finalized the guest lineup for the show!

Hearing that the show was devised by Yu Zhi-Le, and learning that they would be living and recording in the countryside, Zhang Qing-Song and Teacher Zhou Jian readily agreed without hesitation!

Little did they know, despite both being fathers, they were already forty-year-old weathered uncles, whereas Yu Zhi-Le was still a handsome young father in his twenties!

Once the show aired and the comparisons were made, they would likely regret ever participating in Yu Zhi-Le's program!

With the parent-child guests all settled, the next step was to find a suitable location for recording.

One week later.

The recording location was finally selected, and the production team went ahead to arrange and decorate the place where they would live while recording the upcoming episodes.

Yu Zhi-Le showed his wife the videos and pictures sent back by Yang Bing and asked, "How is it? Is this environment okay?"

Qin Hai-Yu said, "The environment is quite beautiful! There's even such a huge banyan tree at the entrance of the village! But why is this village so small? I don't see many houses."

Yu Zhi-Le replied, "It is quite small, but that actually makes recording the show easier. If the village were too large and had too many residents, filming would become inconvenient. The main thing is that the mountains are lush, the waters are clear, and the birds are singing and flowers are fragrant—as long as the environment looks comfortable, that's enough."

Qin Hai-Yu suddenly asked, "Honey, will it have a bad impact if the production crew goes to the village to film? Will the villagers resent us?"

Yu Zhi-Le explained, "Rest assured, they won't. This trip can also be considered a charitable endeavor. The production team will compensate the villagers, so it won't disrupt their lives. Moreover, we can take this opportunity to promote their hometown while showing concern for the current living conditions of the left-behind children and elderly."

"Mm-hmm."

Qin Hai-Yu began to look forward to it. She then asked, "Should we tell Mom and Dad about this now? I'm afraid Mom and Dad will scold us and won't let us travel far!"

Yu Zhi-Le said, "The rice is already cooked into unpolished rice now, so Mom and Dad will just have to let us be. Besides, we'll only be staying for a month or two, it's no big deal!"

"Then you tell Mom!" Qin Hai-Yu didn't dare to do it herself, fearing she would be scolded by her mother-in-law.

When Yu Zhi-Le called his mother to talk about this matter, he indeed received a fierce scolding from her. In the end, it was only after Qin Hai-Yu explained that she wanted to go to the countryside for a while to relax that the crisis was finally averted.

Four days later.

Yu Zhi-Le's family of three, along with Xu Ling, took a high-speed train and then boarded a vehicle arranged in advance by the production team to reach the small village where the show was being recorded.

The journey did not take much time. Because the production team feared the children wouldn't be able to handle a long, exhausting trip, the location chosen couldn't be too far from the city.

From the moment they stepped onto the production team's private van, the filming officially began.

The baby had never seen a camera before, so all the way there, she blinked her big, curious eyes and stared intently at the lens. When the camera panned left, her little head tilted to the left; when it panned right, her little head tilted to the right.

This adorable scene almost melted the cameraman's heart.

As they were about to enter the village, she started talking more. Staring at the yellow cattle outside the car window, she asked in a lisping voice, "Daddy, what's that?"

Yu Zhi-Le explained, "That's a cow-cow, a cow-cow that goes moo-moo!"

"Moo! Moo!"

Staring at the yellow cattle in the fields, the baby suddenly imitated her father and mooed.

Seeing the baby looking so curious and happy, Qin Hai-Yu felt relieved and at ease. However, thinking about the fact that the baby was the youngest child on the show, she began to worry: What if the baby didn't understand the occasional parent-child interaction tasks issued by the production team that her husband mentioned?

Given that the baby had inherited her intelligence...

Qin Hai-Yu couldn't help but worry!

And she wondered what kind of rewards or punishments there would be for succeeding or failing the tasks.

Soon, the camper van carrying them arrived at the village, and not long after, the last family also arrived.

From this moment on, they officially entered the atmosphere of the show.

Although this show was devised by Yu Zhi-Le, he wasn't in charge of how it would be recorded or filmed. After all, he had come here to enjoy rural life together with his wife and daughter.

Ni Qi-Qin was dressed in very plain clothes, wearing a straw hat on her head, looking truly like a village belle. She hosted, "Welcome, babies and parents, to this program. Now, there is a small parent-child interaction game. The parent-child team that completes the game first will have the privilege of choosing their house accommodation first."

Hearing Ni Qi-Qin mention the mini-game, Qin Hai-Yu felt like giving up, because among the four children present, only her baby was not even two years old, while the other children were already three, four, or five years old!

Qin Hai-Yu looked at the daughter her husband was holding in his arms. She saw that although her daughter was listening attentively to Ni Qi-Qin's hosting, those big, curious, and bewildered eyes indicated that she didn't understand a single word Ni Qi-Qin was saying!

However, it wouldn't have been so bad if she just didn't understand, but she actually had the nerve to nod and applaud at the same time, as if Ni Qi-Qin had spoken wonderfully and deserved to be praised!

Soon, once Ni Qi-Qin explained the rules of the game, Qin Hai-Yu realized that this mini-game didn't seem to require much intelligence, which instantly put her mind at ease!

That way, the baby wasn't at a disadvantage anymore!

Therefore, they still had a chance to win this parent-child game!

...

PS: Five chapters completed. I am taking suggestions online for the baby's name—let's see if anyone can come up with a better one than mine.