After Transmigrating As The Mother Of The Pitiful Female Supporting Character in a Campus Novel - Chapter 40

The director and the production team didn’t hold much hope for the broadcast of the teaser. While the internal staff laughed quite happily during editing, they started worrying once they finished—”Can a show with absolutely zero trending stars really go viral?”

Both team leaders were high-level executives, so it wasn’t easy to suggest taking money out of the production budget for promotion. After all, any money withdrawn would ultimately have to pass through Sheng Liu and Xia Shibai.

Those two would certainly not agree and would catch them to grill them with questions.

Thinking this way, the directing team calmly accepted the reality of “letting it be.” After using the established official Weibo account to schedule the release of two teasers, they directly @-mentioned every participant.

As for the official announcement photos…

It wasn’t until they were posting on Weibo and couldn’t find any promotional photos with the guests that they remembered they hadn’t taken any.

The promotion team looked at each other, calmly looked away, and @-mentioned every family in the big group chat to send in a photo of themselves and a candid photo of the children. They sugar-coated the request by saying it was for making ID badges—that the program team would customize special badges so the audience would know who was who.

Sheng Liu was busy arguing at home. When she saw the message during a lull in the fighting, she didn’t think twice before sending her employee ID photo.

Sheng Huaixing’s photo was even a school portrait specifically taken for her admission to an elite kindergarten.

Once those two photos were sent, the subsequent group members didn’t look at the context and assumed they were supposed to send ID-style photos. One after another, a pile of blue-background, white-background, and red-background ID photos were sent.

The ID photos for Gu Mingyi, Xia Yaozhou, and the starlet’s second-born sister were all candid shots taken on the spot, with the colored backgrounds P-ed in via one-click software.

Qin Zhijin sat cross-legged on the sofa, hesitantly scrolling through her photo album. Finally, she found the ID photo left over from when she started as an intern at the hospital. Her lips were pressed thin and she wasn’t even smiling; she looked cold and aloof, but her face was undeniably beautiful, with three-dimensional and exquisite features.

Even if her hair was a bit messy in the photo, it was still gorgeous.

Qin Zhijin thought for a moment and finally let go, sending the photo.

The moment Qin Zhijin sent hers, Xia Shibai clicked the photo. Biting into a green jujube, she used one hand to zoom in on the picture. She even looked closely at the stray hairs that hadn’t been smoothed down, as if blinking would mean missing something important.

“Mommy? Are you done yet?”

To take the ID photo, Xia Yaozhou had been told by Xia Shibai to stand against the wall. The white wall and the dark blue sailor dress Xia Yaozhou was wearing provided a clear contrast.

The little child had been standing against the wall for a long time. Impatiently, she tilted her head, trying to get Xia Shibai’s attention, only to find the adult staring at her phone for a long time—even the jujube in her mouth hadn’t moved for ages.

In her helplessness, Xia Yaozhou finally shouted for Xia Shibai, urging her to move faster.

Xia Yaozhou tilted her body slightly, peeking her head out to see the cartoon that had already started playing on the TV. “If you don’t hurry up, I’m not playing with you anymore. I want to watch cartoons!”

“Huh?” Snapping back to her senses, Xia Shibai hurriedly exited the enlarged photo view. She looked up dazed at Xia Yaozhou standing against the wall and froze for a second. “Why are you standing there? Not watching TV and getting ready for bed?”

Xia Yaozhou: “…”

Xia Yaozhou was so angry at these words that she stomped her feet. She said crossly, “Taking the photo, Mommy! Are you going to take it or not? If not, I’m going back to my cartoons!”

“Oh, oh, taking it, taking it. Wait a sec.” Out of a guilty conscience, Xia Shibai silently saved the photo she had just exited to her phone, and then began taking pictures of the sullen Xia Yaozhou. “Aww, come on, smile. The photo won’t look good if you look like this.”

“I’m not smiling! Mommy wasted my cartoon time!”

Xia Yaozhou didn’t resist learning anymore. She already knew Pinyin by heart, and her math had progressed from counting to recognizing shapes—one step further and she’d be learning addition and subtraction. Fortunately, they had abacuses and counting beads at home; she could learn things just by tinkering with them when bored.

Consequently, the amount of study Xia Shibai assigned her was increasing, making cartoon time incredibly precious.

After all, Xia Yaozhou was a bit of a “social butterfly” (socialite). Ever since she started eating and drinking well, she was the leader of the neighborhood. From big kids in kindergarten like Little Fat and Little Ball, down to toddlers who had just learned to walk and were still shaky, they all couldn’t wait to follow Xia Yaozhou around.

Chasing cats, teasing dogs, and tending flowers—Xia Yaozhou’s life was much richer than Xia Shibai’s.

“Then… I’ll extend your time by twenty minutes tonight?” President Xia was just such a mother without principles.

It’s unclear whether it was the extension of cartoon time or the fact that she was being coaxed by her mother for the photo that pleased Xia Yaozhou.

Her miserable, tense little face finally showed a trace of a smile.

Compared to genuine corporate types like Xia Shibai, the starlet in the entertainment circle had more than enough professionally retouched photos. She spent nearly half an hour picking and choosing before reluctantly selecting the one she thought looked best. She even sent it to her studio to ask the staff and her manager, “Is this one the most beautiful?”

After getting a positive answer, the starlet finally sent her photo to the group.

As for her “incompatible” younger sister from the second child wave…

Who cared?

She just took a photo with greasy hair and messy pajamas, P-ed a white background, and hurriedly sent it to the group to get it over with.

The starlet, Jin Minxi, had specifically warned her little sister: “This photo is going to be seen by the people of the whole country. Are you going to change your clothes?”

“No!” Jin Minna hugged her bottle of lactic acid milk, grunted as she flipped over on the bed, and looked provocatively at Jin Minxi. Clearly, she was relying on the fact that an adult was nearby and her older sister wouldn’t dare hit her.

Jin Minxi rolled her eyes, too lazy to deal with the brat who took an inch when given a mile.

Just you wait. When we get to the show, there’ll be plenty of time for you to cry.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t mentioned the guest composition of this show. A child who was completely spoiled like Jin Minna was not suited for it at all. But as soon as her mother heard there were two big bosses from Lan Sui, she immediately turned and asked Jin Minna if she wanted to be a big star like her sister and earn endless money.

Jin Minna hadn’t even started kindergarten. Every day, she was being “enlightened” by a group of profit-driven adults who couldn’t wait to raise her into a money-making child like Jin Minxi.

Before Jin Minxi could say anything, Jin Minna nodded and said yes, even claiming she would become an actor who surpassed her sister and would earn lots of money.

Hearing this, her mother looked at her even more provocatively.

Jin Minxi’s desire to dissuade them died instantly. She grabbed her bag and walked out. “Fine. I hope things go as you wish. When you get cursed out to the point of being covered in dog blood, it won’t be my problem.”

With Jin Minna’s annoying personality, even her biological sister hated her to death, let alone strangers.

Her mother, however, felt Jin Minxi was being hateful toward her and Jin Minna, and coldly sided with the younger child.

Jin Minxi really had no interest in staying to listen to those repetitive words. She slammed the door and walked out; staying one more second would be an insult to herself.

With the four families in the group, the family relationships and personalities of each group were distinct.

The promotion team looked at the screen full of ID photos. Their eyes went dark. They grit their teeth, wanting to kick out Sheng Liu—the one who started the photo chain—only to realize they weren’t the group owner. They shed the tears of a lowly employee, clicked on the check-in app wanting to apply for resignation, only to find that resignation also required approval from a supervisor who was already off duty.

Tears fell into their mouths; they couldn’t even cry properly.

ID-style things weren’t just for making passes, but also for making promotional videos that followed hot trends.

Thus, a tacky “buddhist lotus” video (style of: “flowers blooming for wealth, Namo Amitabha Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva”) came flooding out. The ID photos of each guest group bloomed from within flowers and then gradually zoomed in to meet the viewers’ eyes.

The family introduction part that followed was even more filled with previews reminiscent of the 8:30 PM melodrama slots on Yellow Fruit Satellite TV.

“She was once the sole heir to a family, until she met her, and realized there are shortcuts in life; some people are born in Rome. She, who is unwilling to relinquish power, and she, who doesn’t even want to go to kindergarten—in the end, they were bound together by fate…”

“An acting starlet frequently returns home and doesn’t come out. Paparazzi lying in wait discovered a child who looks extremely similar to her. They come and go together, shrouded in mystery, until the child calls her—Please watch this year’s anticipated variety show, Let’s Survive! Dear Family!“

The promotion staff finished editing the promo with great difficulty. They were so tired that the only word in their brain was “resign.” They didn’t want to spend a single second studying the subsequent data. Closing the computer, they only sought eight words: “A clear conscience, let nature take its course.”

Who knew that what was meant to explode would eventually explode? It was only a matter of time.

Jin Minxi’s fans followed the @-mentions in the square to find the official Weibo. Originally, they wanted to flame the manager—how did they dare take such a messy variety show? Weren’t they afraid of dropping in status? Then they discovered this variety show actually came from Xingkong Pictures—it was their “own pie” (internal resource). They felt okay then, holding back their anger to see what was actually going on.

Why did Xingkong Pictures suddenly give their artist resources?

Carrying these doubts, the fans bravely clicked in, thinking—”No matter how bad it is, it has to be better than that previous one where she talked about life trivialities with greasy men, right?”

Once they clicked in, there was no stopping.

The comment section was full of “Hahahaha” team-building. Even some big fans asked sincerely: “How much do you pay your post-production editors a month? This show can’t be so poor that it hired college interns for 1500 a month to do this, right?”

“Help, I’m literally dying of laughter! Why does President Sheng making breakfast have a split-personality vibe of ‘looking very hurried, but actually I’m at ease’?”

“Probably because she’s blindly rushing. Frying eggs while tying her hair while shouting for Xingxing to eat. She must have been Nezha in her past life and wants three heads and six arms in this one too.”

“Xingxing is so cute! Kiss that baozi face. Waaaah her eyes are so big and beautiful. Under the sun, her pupil color looks very light, like a descendant of an ethnic minority from the Northwest.”

“Minxi really has it hard. I feel like her fist is about to clench, ready to punch the little sister next to her eight meters away at any moment.”

“Dying here. Jin Minxi: Don’t force me to slap you in the face during my happiest moment of a ten-win streak.”

“Huh? Why do the videos of the other two groups feel a bit different? This atmosphere… wait, did I click the wrong video?”

“Wow, do the other two groups live in the same neighborhood? Good grief, is it popular nowadays to bring the whole family on a show?”

“Hahahahahaha so cute, she has a very developed business mind! So good at making money since she was little!”

“LMAO, the two adults’ faces changed the moment they heard it was a ‘Battle Royale.’ Clearly, they weren’t very happy.”

As for that introduction video with everyone’s ID photos, it also went viral overnight. There was no stopping it; it rushed directly into the top ten hot searches late at night.

“I’ve never seen such a perfunctory promotional video in my life. Help, I really can’t believe my eyes…”

“Hahahahahaha dying of laughter. You’ll probably have even more of a breakdown when you click into their Weibo introductions. It seems that except for Qin Zhijin who is a complete civilian, the other two are executives of the Lan Sui Group—the parent company of Xingkong Pictures. Ahhhh why do two CEO beauties have to use ID photos for their debut?”

“Dead. Does the promotion team not want to work anymore? If you don’t want to work, just say so. Why post the boss’s ID photo on the internet?”

“Type ‘1’ if you want Buddha to bless you!”

The complex situation on the internet didn’t affect their rest in reality.

Neither Xia Shibai nor Qin Zhijin were people who liked being on Weibo. They didn’t need to maintain an online presence themselves. When they clicked into Weibo, there was nothing besides automatic messages about real-name verification and the “V” badge.

In order to better cope with the upcoming outing, Xia Shibai and Qin Zhijin discussed it and decided they still needed to buy some things to replenish their supplies, just in case of accidents.

The program team had also sent a list of prohibited items to the group chat long ago.

The four of them sat in the living room thinking about what was not on the list but that they desperately needed or even had to buy.

“Because the whole game is a point-based challenge, we can’t guarantee this game won’t start the moment we begin filming. The requirement for luggage is to lighten the weight—don’t bring what shouldn’t be brought, and what needs to be brought should be folded, shrunk, or divided into smaller portions.”

Xia Shibai analyzed the current situation for the first episode.

“Our idea for the first episode is to stick together to survive. The director has certainly guessed our thoughts; it’s not ruled out that they will set traps to split us up.” Xia Shibai said calmly: “So we should divide the same supplies into two portions as much as possible. Together they are enough, and separately we can still survive.”

Gu Mingyi nodded and started counting the survival tools she knew on her fingers. “We need to prepare tarps—buy soft, foldable ones to reduce the space in our backpacks.”

“Also windproof lighters, medicated oil, motion sickness medicine, hard candies, and lightweight ropes that can be linked together.” Gu Mingyi gave an example, “Just like that ‘toddler leash’ Godmother bought. This ensures that in special circumstances, everyone won’t get separated.”

“It says we can’t bring convenient fast food or snacks. So, obtaining fire and water will be crucial. For fire, we can bring lighters. For water, they certainly won’t let us bring bottled purified water.” Gu Mingyi recalled the words Xia Shibai had just read. “So we can buy portable water purifiers; they aren’t very heavy. If we encounter seawater, we can desalinate it once, and then use the membrane distillation method to get clean water.”

After finishing her thoughts, Gu Mingyi saw the two adults and one child sitting beside her were expressionless. She couldn’t help but ask in confusion: “Did I say something wrong?”

Qin Zhijin hurriedly waved her hand. “No, no. You said it too well. I think Xiao Yi is exactly right!”

“Is this the brain of a scholar? So smart!” Xia Shibai clapped with tears in her eyes, then looked at her “idiot” daughter who was clapping along in support. She fell into a long silence.

Forget it. Children have their own fortunes. If my child isn’t capable, I’ll just lie flat.

Xia Yaozhou puffed out her cheeks, clapping for Gu Mingyi with all her might. She tilted her head slightly to look at her mother. “Mommy isn’t as amazing as Xiao Yi!”

“What do you know?” Xia Shibai gave her a cross look and lightly flicked the girl’s forehead.

The girl acted as if she had been hit by a heavy blow; she was like a Roly-Poly toy that fell straight to the ground, rolled a couple of times, and wailed a few times (without tears).

As a result, the others were used to it. Not one person came over to comfort her.

Finding no fun in it, Xia Yaozhou patted her pants, stood up, and walked back to the table to continue participating in the discussion.

Calling it a “discussion” was a stretch; Xia Yaozhou’s mind was only on food and nodding in agreement. She was a perfect “hype-man,” never letting anyone’s words fall to the ground.

Finally, Qin Zhijin added emergency medicine to the empty spaces, and the shopping list was finalized.

Xia Shibai took one child in each hand, leaving the easiest job to Qin Zhijin, and said hurriedly: “Let’s go quickly. Go early and come back early. If we feel there’s anything missing from the list, it won’t be too late to add it after we finish the first episode. Let’s go see what the situation is first.”

“Okay,” Qin Zhijin nodded.

On the day of the recording, the program team got up very early.

The families had already been notified in the group chat last night about the arrival time of their respective camera crews. They were told to be prepared—don’t be fast asleep when they arrive, and don’t let any unseemly images appear on the live broadcast lens. This was to avoid the live room being shut down, which would also make the post-production video impossible.

When Xia Shibai saw the message, she was nonchalantly telling the two children the story of the last dynasty entering the pass. She spoke of how, after one year of rule in the final dynasty, the “shaving order” was issued, and the resistance of the Jiangnan people toward this policy and their hatred for the soldiers of the last dynasty.

“In turbulent times, women are always unfortunate. The soldiers of the last dynasty charged into Jiangnan, burning, killing, and looting all the way, not caring about the lives of the people. Women were the first to suffer from the persecution of war; they were treated as toys by the soldiers and locked on water boats. And those local militiamen who rose up from being servants and farmers, under the banner of fighting the invaders and protecting the country, set fire to the boats and watched with their own eyes as the plundered women were buried in the sea of fire.”

“The wealthy families of Jiangnan didn’t care about the life or death of the county’s women either. They fought each other, but the ones injured were the women who couldn’t be recorded in history.”

Xia Shibai saw Xia Yaozhou’s indignant face and reached out to pinch the girl’s puffed-up tender cheek. “You’re almost as angry as a pufferfish.”

“They’re so bad! Fighting back and forth, the ones getting hurt are always innocent people. Every one of them carries a banner of justice while hurting others. They’re wicked!”

“It was like that before, and it’s like that now. It has never changed.” Xia Shibai said: “If you want to survive, you must become strong yourself. Strong enough to make others fear you, and then they won’t dare move against you.”

“Don’t give a pleasant face to people you don’t like. After all, after one fight, you won’t have any more interaction with them anyway.”

Xia Yaozhou grunted and punched the air twice. Her hair, scattered behind her shoulders, was soft and shiny. Compared to when Xia Shibai first saw her upon crossing over, she was now noticeably rounder and more beautiful, and one could gradually see the resemblance to Xia Shibai.

“I know! It has to be like dealing with Auntie Lin. Because I was too weak, she kept bullying me, bullying Big… Zhou. If I could be as tough as Big Zhou was that day, then I’d be the one bullying the bad guys!” At this thought, Xia Yaozhou’s mood dipped slightly. Her beautiful eyes shifted, and her gaze landed on Qin Zhijin.

The next second, she bounced twice off the sofa, ran to find Qin Zhijin, and buried herself in Qin Zhijin’s arms, rubbing against her gently.

“What’s this about?”

Qin Zhijin hugged Xia Yaozhou, worried she might roll out of her arms. She turned to look at Xia Shibai and Xiao Yi, her eyes full of confusion. How did the story end with her being hugged?

“Nothing, I just missed Auntie Qin!” Xia Yaozhou’s eyelashes fluttered as she said seriously: “Auntie Qin, when I grow up a bit more, I’ll go learn super powerful self-defense, and then come back to protect everyone! That way we won’t have to worry about bad guys finding us!”

Although Qin Zhijin didn’t understand how the subject went from soldiers entering the pass to this, she didn’t fail to appreciate the child’s kind intention. She reached out and hugged Xia Yaozhou, smiling: “Okay, then I’ll ask Zhouzhou to protect me. I’ll walk in front and Zhouzhou will walk behind. Our appearance will be like a ‘First Young Miss’ hitting the streets! Just thinking about the scene is already great!”

Gu Mingyi sat to the side. She didn’t move at first because she remembered what her father had told her—”Your Auntie Qin is on suspended leave and was even transferred departments because of the malice of others.”

“If a person isn’t strong enough to make others fear them, then at some point in the future, you will become a resource to be exploited and harmed, rather than a human being.”

Previously, through a computer screen, she only treated these words as Gu Chen fulfilling his “parental duty” by instilling values, and incidentally explaining why Qin Zhijin was taking care of her at home instead of going to work.

“We must respect every labor contribution. Money is one of the standards, but not the only one.”

Gu Chen told her to remember to respect Qin Zhijin.

Song Ling said the same.

Gu Mingyi listened, nodded, didn’t fully understand, but did as told. Moreover, compared to her mean grandmother and her aunt who smelled of cigarettes, alcohol, and perfume all day, Auntie Qin was much better.

She liked her Godmother very much and didn’t want her to leave.

Only today, combined with the story of the soldiers entering the pass and recalling her father’s words, did she realize the sentences she saw in science books weren’t just “junk talk” composed of Pinyin and characters.

They were warning aphorisms—”Natural selection, survival of the fittest.”

Gu Mingyi bit her lip, stepped off the sofa, and walked toward Qin Zhijin. Like Xia Yaozhou, she threw herself into Qin Zhijin’s arms and said seriously: “Godmother, I will also grow up quickly and protect you well! And protect Mommy, Daddy, Zhouzhou, um… and others.”

Xia Yaozhou even obediently moved to the side, making space for Gu Mingyi to snuggle.

For a moment, the entire sofa was divided into two distinct camps.

Qin Zhijin, Gu Mingyi, and Xia Yaozhou were hugged together; on the other side was Xia Shibai, “isolated” and left out.

Xia Shibai: “…”

It seems I can’t cut into the hug, and saying ‘I want to protect you’ feels like a case of senior-year chuunibyou.

And…

“Do I look like I don’t need protection?” Xia Shibai issued a sincere question.

Please, I’m very fragile too!

Author’s Note:

Xia Yaozhou: I will protect Auntie Qin (snuggles).

Gu Mingyi: I will protect everyone (excluding Little President Xia version).

Xia Shibai: I will protect…

Qin Zhijin: (Stares intently).

Xia Shibai: …I also need protection! (Save the child!)