Chapter 30

Song Linchuan was certainly not joking about this. He had given it a lot of careful thought.

When Jiang Han had communicated with the show's production team earlier about suspending filming, the director had suggested that Pei Kuang continue filming the show with Song Anan.

First, the two of them were already good friends, and their popularity levels were comparable. It would make sense for Pei Kuang to stand in for Song Linchuan, who was injured and unable to continue filming.

Second, Pei Kuang had already appeared in previous episodes of the show, and he got along well with Song Anan. Viewers were very excited to see them together.

Of course, those were just the production team's ideas.

What Song Linchuan cared about most was his auntie's feelings.

Initially, Song Anan had said she wanted to be on the show because the pressure from school was too great, and she wanted to relax and experience a different kind of life during summer vacation.

At first, Song Linchuan had been skeptical, but later, when he saw how happy Song Anan was on the show, he believed her.

So when the production team made this suggestion, he hesitated.

After hearing the whole story, Pei Kuang paused for a moment.

The little auntie likes it.

He thought for a moment, smiled, and replied, "I have no objections, as long as you're okay with it."

Song Linchuan glanced at him, completely baffled.

What did he have to worry about?

Pei Kuang was meticulous and considerate. Having him accompany Song Anan on the show was perfect.

Furthermore, if he didn't even trust Pei Kuang, there really weren't many people in the world he could trust.

Pei Kuang's eyes brightened slightly as he calmly replied, "I just don't want your auntie to end up liking me even more after we spend time together, since I've always been more likable than you, especially to elders."

The little auntie really likes being an elder, who knows what could happen?

"As if," Song Linchuan scoffed disdainfully. "Dream on."

Putting everything else aside, when it came to being the favorite big nephew, no one could surpass him in his auntie's heart.

To be honest, even if Auntie Zhao and his dad had another son, that kid would still have to be second place.

Song Linchuan was quite confident about this.

With that, the matter was settled, and the two chatted idly for a while.

Song Linchuan seemed to remember something, and his expression suddenly darkened. "Right, Jiang Kai will be coming back to film the show too. Keep an eye on him and make sure that scumbag stays away from my auntie."

The last time there was an uproar about Jiang Yao's antis, it also affected Jiang Kai, leading to the sibling pair's temporary suspension from filming.

Jiang Kai had washed his hands of the whole mess afterwards, but only because someone else had cleaned it up for him.

Song Linchuan wasn't worried about anything else. He just didn't want Jiang Kai causing trouble for Song Anan.

Pei Kuang looked at Song Linchuan and asked, "You still haven't dealt with Jiang Kai?"

Song Linchuan waved his hand. It was a tricky situation.

Jiang Han had dug up dirt on Jiang Kai recently, and had taken advantage of the uproar about Jiang Yao's antis to leak it out. But they didn't expect that the wealthy older woman sponsoring Jiang Kai would step in to smooth things over for him.

That woman did seem rather capable, spending both money and effort. It looked like she was really infatuated with him.

After all, in their circle, capital could allow people to get away with anything to a certain extent.

Song Linchuan said, "Let's wait a little longer. Jiang Han said to wait until his patron abandons him, then look for another chance."

If it came down to it, he could always go to his dad for help.

At least in business and financial circles, Song Zhenhui still had a lot of influence. When the time came, there would be nothing to fear if they really went head to head.

Upon hearing about Jiang Kai, a cold look flashed through Pei Kuang's eyes. "That's not hard to take care of either. Leave it to me and wait for my message."

Song Linchuan was surprised. "What are you going to do?"

Pei Kuang responded nonchalantly, "Just waiting around is passive. We need to take the initiative and do something to make his patron fed up with him." Song Linchuan asked in puzzlement, "How to take the initiative?"

Pei Kuang replied, "For example, expose that he has inappropriate relations with other women. What do you think his backer will feel when she finds out?"

Song Linchuan frowned slightly. "Given his cautious personality, I doubt he'd be that stupid."

Pei Kuang shrugged. "Planting false evidence, understand?"

Song Linchuan: "..."

That could work too.

They knew what kind of person Jiang Kai was. He had quite the colorful history, and his private life was extremely messy.

Back when they were in a band together, Jiang Kai had gotten caught secretly meeting fans. He was scum.

So it wouldn't really be falsely accusing him.

*

Amidst great anticipation from netizens, filming was finally about to begin for the third episode of Season 3 of the popular show "Dear Family."

The filming location this time was a scenic resort island with beautiful views.

Song Anan and Pei Kuang were on a boat headed towards the island.

The sea breeze blew towards them head-on as the two sat side-by-side on the boat.

Song Anan secretly glanced at Pei Kuang, looking rather apprehensive.

The truth was, ever since she found out that Pei Kuang would be joining her for the next part of filming, she had been quite worried.

After all, in retrospect, there had been so many holes in her behavior on the day that Song Linchuan got injured.

She had no way to explain why she had lost her composure upon hearing that Song Linchuan would be filming that extreme sports variety show, and no way to explain why she had insisted that he suspend filming.

Originally, Song Anan had prepared herself to be questioned by Pei Kuang.

But from the time they met this morning until now, Pei Kuang hadn't asked her anything at all, as if he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.

Yet Song Anan was very clear that any normal person would have found her behavior suspicious.

That left only one explanation - he had no intention of asking her anything about it.

Admittedly, this instantly put Song Anan much more at ease.

After all, she still didn't have a reasonable explanation for her abnormal behavior that day, even now.

About half an hour later, the two arrived on the island.

Following the instructions of the show's production staff, they made their way to an open-air seaside restaurant not far away.

The camera crew had already set up their equipment. As soon as Song Anan and Pei Kuang appeared on camera, the livestream chat exploded.

[Waaah, auntie is finally here! I was so worried she wouldn't be able to make it!]

[I know, right? After I saw Song Linchuan was hospitalized, I was afraid auntie would drop out of the show!]

[Holy crap! I really didn't expect it to be Pei Kuang accompanying auntie. It's a bit surprising but also feels right somehow?!]

[Ahhh, Pei Kuang and auntie match so well in their outfits, both wearing white shirts and casual pants. Walking together, they inexplicably look quite compatible!]

[Waaah, what do I do if I start shipping this pair?]

[Poster above, get your brain checked! Let's chant together - auntie is still underage, auntie is still underage!]

After entering the restaurant, the other groups had already arrived.

The four teams of guests met up again.

"Auntie, you're finally here! Is Linchuan bro doing alright?" Qi MuShi pulled Song Anan along and asked concernedly.

Song Anan replied, "Don't worry, Linchuan's surgery was very successful. The doctor said he'll recover after resting for a while."

Hearing this, the others were also much more relieved.

They had all gotten along quite well before. After hearing that something happened to Song Linchuan, they had been rather worried.

Now that Song Anan had confirmed that Song Linchuan was fine, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But next, everyone shifted their gazes to Pei Kuang. The production team were such trolls, not only keeping the viewers in the dark, but also not giving the full picture to the guests.

They only knew that Song Anan would continue to film, and that someone would be accompanying her.

But they didn't say who it was, so everyone had assumed it would be a member of Song Anan's family.

They didn't expect it to turn out to be Pei Kuang.

But upon further thought, it also seemed reasonable.

Li Yu looked at Song Anan, then Pei Kuang, and joked, "So what are you guys now, can you still be called the aunt-nephew pair?"

Pei Kuang shrugged, very nonchalant. "Of course, after all, I've accepted the red packet."

Everyone was surprised.

What red packet?

After a few seconds of silence, Qi MuShi suddenly clapped her hands and said, "I know! It's the red packet with 666 yuan that auntie gave Pei Kuang before as a meeting gift!"

Suddenly everyone understood what red packet they were talking about.

[That's right, he already accepted the red packet, so Pei Kuang's aunt-nephew status is set in stone!]

[Hahaha, this is too funny. It reminds me of when Pei Kuang gave auntie perfume before, honestly, I felt embarrassed for him back then.]

[Tsk tsk, exactly! Not only did auntie not need that perfume, she even gave him a 666 yuan red packet in return. Gotta say, being an aunt-nephew pair doesn't seem too cost-effective for Pei Kuang!]

[What red packet? What perfume? I'm late to the party, what did I miss?]

[Poster above, the whole story about the red packet and perfume can be found in this video, click here →→]

[Speaking of which, how could Song Linchuan let Pei Kuang accompany auntie on the show? With his jealous vinegary attitude, wouldn't he be worried about auntie getting snatched away?]

[Song Linchuan: Just kidding, that's my auntie!]

[If I remember right, Pei Kuang hadn't publicly called Song Anan auntie before. Why did he suddenly acknowledge the relationship now?]

[Hmm...I think I get why Pei Kuang directly accepted being an aunt-nephew pair - probably to avoid unnecessary gossip about his interactions with auntie?]

[Waaah, Pei Kuang's charm is really growing on me, pretty considerate huh.]

[Well...I wouldn't say he's a gentleman, but he does seem quite thoughtful and attentive.]

...

After the four guest pairs met up, the livestream viewers assumed filming would begin properly.

But then the director announced that there was still one pair of guests who hadn't arrived, so everyone needed to wait a little longer.

The netizens were like: ???

They were already on the last episode, and there were suddenly new guests? This was too outrageous.

In contrast to the shock of the livestream audience, the guests on site were very calm.

Not only had Song Linchuan's side gotten word that Jiang Kai would be returning to the show, the other pairs had also been informed.

Jiang Kai's partner this time was not his sister Jiang Yao, but a female celeb he had costarred with in a previous drama, playing his on-screen younger sister.

So their pair was still a sibling pair.

Not long after the director made the announcement, Jiang Kai appeared on camera.

When Song An'an saw Jiang Kai, she was not very surprised. Pei Kuang had already told her on the way here that he was coming on the show.

But when she saw the person who appeared with Jiang Kai, she was stunned.

It was actually the female lead of the original book, Xie Yin!

However, after a brief moment to compose herself, Song An'an also vaguely understood.

In the novel, the male lead Ji Qingbai was supposed to make a guest appearance on an extreme variety show around this time, but because of Song Linchuan's injury, the recording of that show was suspended and they said they were going to make some adjustments.

But the female lead and male lead of the original book were destined to meet, it was just a different show.

Song An'an didn't really mind this at all, she had no conflicts with Xie Yin herself, let alone any hostility towards her.

As long as it didn't involve Song Linchuan it was fine.

Just as Song An'an lowered her head, lost in her own thoughts, Xie Yin's voice suddenly rang out next to her ear.

"Brother Pei Kuang, long time no see."