Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Where Did She Go? Where Did That Big Person Go?

“Brother Yang, who is this…?” Du An Rao glanced at the young man standing beside Yang Xiao Xiao and asked carefully.

After finally dealing with the mess at home and returning to the crew, Yang Jian Tao was in high spirits. He had been smiling nonstop.

“This is a student I taught before. He doesn’t talk much, but he is honest and kind. When he heard about what was happening in my family from another crew, he specially took leave to come visit me in the hospital and helped take care of me for several days. If it hadn’t been for him, things would have been really hard for just me and Xiao Xiao in the hospital.”

“So when I got better and came back to the crew, I brought him and Xiao Xiao along. First, to thank you and the director for all your help lately, and second, to let the two of them come and see more of the world.”

He said it was to let them see more of the world, but in truth, he wanted the director to see if there were any roles that suited this young man.

The young man had helped him so much and even taken special leave. Yang Jian Tao wanted to get him a chance in return. It was his way of paying him back.

After listening to Yang Jian Tao’s explanation, Du An Rao pressed her lips together, feeling very torn.

[Help. Does this count as bringing a wolf into the house? How am I supposed to tell Brother Yang that there is a wild boar here ready to steal his cabbage?]

But when she looked down and saw the Red Thread of Fate tied firmly between the two of them, and the big, almost heart-shaped pink candy floating above their heads, she gave up.

Forget it. They were a true fated match. The feelings had only just started, and there was still a long way to go before they could get their happy ending.

Since it was not something bad, she might as well let Brother Yang worry about it himself.

Standing to the side, Du He Xuan swept his gaze across Yang Jian Tao, his daughter, and the young actor, raising his eyebrows slightly.

What he was thinking of, though, were the two pigs who clearly had their eyes on his own family’s cabbage. One of them might even end up engaged to his cabbage.

Could one of those pigs actually be his sister’s true fated match?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible. He found both pigs annoying just by looking at them. If he ever caught them getting close to his cabbage again, he would definitely “slaughter” them all.

“Second brother, what is it? Does your tooth hurt?” When Du An Rao suddenly heard her second brother grinding his teeth, she turned to him with a shocked face.

“…No. I just suddenly feel my teeth itching. Maybe someone is talking about me.”

“Oh.” Du An Rao nodded like she kind of understood.

[If someone is talking about you, shouldn’t your ears itch? Why would your teeth itch?]

Du He Xuan: “…”

Luckily, Du An Rao did not keep chasing the question.

Yang Xiao Xiao knew it was thanks to Du An Rao’s warning that she and her father had avoided being tricked and left on the streets with no money. This time she brought a small gift for Du An Rao, a piece of clothing she had designed and made herself.

The style was simple, the fabric comfortable. The design and cut were a bit immature, but her talent still showed. At least, Du An Rao liked the clothes a lot.

The day Yang Jian Tao returned to the crew also happened to be Du He Xuan’s last day of reshoots. Du An Rao stayed in the crew with him for half a day and ended up hearing several times more gossip than before.

For example, there was a young male idol who had a pure, innocent public image. But the light above his head, which showed his love life, flashed with so many colors that Du An Rao could not even figure out how many girlfriends he had.

Du An Rao: “…” If he went to a bar at night to dance with this light on, the effect would be… amazing.

Then there were two actors, a man and a woman, who publicly had a “sworn enemies” relationship. They fought whenever they met in front of the camera. But in reality they were a couple. The problem was, each of them also had another lover, and those two lovers were actually the same person.

Du An Rao: “!!!” Oh my, you three should just focus on living your lives well. That is more important than anything.

Then there was a female star so skinny she looked like a bag of bones, but she had a “big eater” public image. In truth, her body was already in a sub-healthy state. Forget being a big eater, she was lucky if she was not dealing with an eating disorder.

Du An Rao: “???” Am I the only one who cares where all the food used for her public image actually went?

And there was an investor from the crew next door who came over just to watch the fun. His Career Line was tied to his wife, but his love line was tied to his secretary.

Du An Rao: “…” This was completely upside down. They were not afraid of tying themselves into a knot.

After picking up bits and pieces of gossip all day, Du An Rao could not help letting out a small burp. In the end, she could only sum it up with one sentence: [The entertainment industry is really messy.]

Having eaten just as much gossip, Du He Xuan had nothing to say at all.

By this time, two days had passed since they had gone to the Li family’s banquet. The Li family still had not made any move.

This made Father Du, Mother Du, and the others feel uneasy. Before coming, they were afraid the Li family would try to take their child away. Now they were worried that the Li family did not want their child, which would make the child sad.

But Du Yu Xi, the person actually involved, was the calmest one.

“Chasing someone is not like buying and selling. If they really want to recognize me, they will come find me no matter where I am. But if I am the only one who cares, then it is better not to recognize each other at all.”

The Du family felt like cold water had been poured on their heads and they suddenly understood.

Right. Their baby girl was not without a family. If the Li family really came chasing after them, they could treat it as getting one more set of relatives. If they did not come, they could just treat them as strangers and stop contact. There was no need to lower themselves and act like they were desperate.

So, early the next morning, Li Zhao Yang went home with a freshly printed Paternity Test and proof that Li Qian Xi had panicked, contacted her birth father, and tried to destroy the evidence. He happily went with his parents to the hotel to pick up their youngest child.

What they found were a few empty rooms.

The Li family members: “?!!!”

Where was she? Their child was such a big person. Where could she have gone?

The little drama in City J was something Du An Rao and the others did not know about yet.

As soon as Father Du arrived home, Du Jun Yan dragged him straight back to the company to cover his work.

As for Mother Du, she had something important to do too.

“You all come look at this.”

“What is this?” Du An Rao looked at the small booklet handed to her and stared in confusion.

“Next weekend is your eighteenth birthday, both of you. It is the day you two officially become adults. Your dad and I talked it over with your two brothers and we want to hold a small birthday party for you. This is the guest list we plan to invite.”

“So many?” Du An Rao looked at the booklet, which had at least ten pages, and was shocked.

“It is not that many. This one is only our relatives and friends. The company partners are in another booklet.”

“What? This one is just… relatives?” The expression on Du An Rao’s face completely froze.

[Oh my gosh. This whole thick booklet is just relatives? Do we really have that many relatives? Do we secretly have a throne waiting for us or something? Otherwise, why would we have so many relatives? If this were ancient times and someone tried to wipe out nine generations of our family, it would take forever just to finish the job.]

Du Yu Xi almost burst out laughing.

Mother Du’s face also stiffened. Their relatives really were a bit on the many side, but “nine generations wiped out” was a pretty unlucky comparison.