"This relationship between you two! It's like it was made for our show! Wonderful, even ordinary people have such selling points. This show would be a crime not to become popular!"
With that, the director instantly pulled out a filming contract from his bag, wanting to sign with the two of them.
However, Nian Suian wasn't in a rush to sign. Contracts are things that need to be approached with caution.
So she said to the director, "We'll take it home and look it over. If there are no problems, we'll sign and courier it back to you."
"No problem! But please be quick about it. We're about to start filming our show." The assistant director had already gone to the filming location to make arrangements, and he was busy coordinating with the guests. The filming was set to start from everyone's homes on October 1st. He was left to arrange things on this end, and it was only by squeezing out some time that he could come out for this meeting. He didn't expect it to be such a pleasant surprise.
The meeting with the director was different from the serious, formal affair they had imagined. On the way home, Nian Suian briefly flipped through the contract and said to Gu Zhijing, "Let's have your dad get a lawyer to look at this when we get home."
Gu Zhijing, however, was fixated on the part of the contract that detailed their compensation for participating in the show.
"No wonder everyone wants to be a celebrity. They're giving us this much even though no one knows who we are."
Nian Suian saw it too. Compared to her previous part-time jobs, it was a lot. But compared to the rumored daily pay of 2.08 million that some stars got, it wasn't even a fraction of that.
So she told Gu Zhijing, "This is nothing in the grand scheme of things. The director probably doesn't even think much of it."
"This is way more generous than my dad," he said. His dad always thought students didn't need too much money, and every semester he would directly load money onto his meal card instead of giving it to him directly. For someone who was supposed to be a rich second-generation kid, he was living quite pitifully.
When they got home, Gu Junxing was downstairs watching the news. Seeing the two return, he asked, "How did the talk go?"
"Here's the contract. We didn't sign it right away. I've looked it over briefly and didn't see any issues, but I thought it might be best to have a professional take a look," Nian Suian said, taking the contract out of her bag and handing it to Gu Junxing.
"No need to find anyone else. I can look at it," he said.
"You know how to review contracts?"
"My second degree is in law. Reviewing a contract isn't difficult," Gu Junxing said casually as he flipped through the contract.
He had long planned to start his own business, so he had pursued a minor in law, focusing on commercial law, to avoid potential pitfalls when starting his business.
"You really are full of hidden talents!" Nian Suian's praise was sincere.
"How come I've never heard about this?" Gu Zhijing hadn't known about his father's second degree.
Gu Junxing, who had been controlling himself to avoid talking about his son, couldn't quite hold back at this question.
"My degree certificate is right there on the shelf in the study. But you never come within ten steps of the study, so of course you wouldn't know." Gu Junxing's busy work had led to poor habit formation in Gu Zhijing from a young age, and now he didn't like reading, which was why his Chinese test scores were always hovering around the pass mark.
Hearing his father say this, Gu Zhijing was left speechless. Who would come home and read books after spending all day studying at school? If he could study that much, he'd be top of his grade by now.
Gu Junxing had already finished reading through the contract clauses. He handed the contract back to Nian Suian, saying, "There are no issues. You can sign it." Then he asked, "Did they tell you about the specific filming arrangements?"
"They didn't go into detail, just said that on October 1st, filming would start from our homes, early in the morning. Do you mind being on camera?" Nian Suian asked Gu Junxing.
"If it's just a brief appearance, it's fine." Although Gu Junxing wasn't interested in participating in variety shows, he didn't mind a short appearance. In fact, it could be an opportunity to increase the company's visibility.
Nian Suian breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. Don't worry, I've already told the director that we'll only film in the downstairs living room. We won't film anywhere else."
Originally, the director had wanted to start filming from when they woke up, but Nian Suian had refused. She and Gu Junxing were still sleeping in separate rooms, and filming the bedrooms would have exposed that. Fortunately, the director thought she was just protective of her privacy and didn't insist on it.
Gu Zhijing was sitting to the side, playing a game on his phone. He rarely had experiences like this before, sitting with his dad, listening to him talk while he played games. Gu Zhijing thought this feeling wasn't bad at all.
"They didn't say where they're filming? It's already the 26th today, they should have arrangements by now."
"Peipei told me the location on WeChat earlier. She said it's not far from our city." But Nian Suian wasn't familiar with the area, so when they mentioned some town and village, she had looked at it and forgotten. So she opened WeChat and sat next to Gu Junxing to show him, "Look, there's even a map."
"Xialin Town, Mofang Village... indeed, it's not far." Gu Junxing remembered that one of his company's managers was from that place. When the manager had brought local specialties to share with everyone at the company, he had mentioned it, and Gu Junxing just happened to remember.
Gu Junxing zoomed in on the map to look at the route. "It's about a two-hour drive from here to the town."
"Hmm, that is quite close. We can treat it like an autumn outing. I haven't been on any trips since coming here," Nian Suian said. Looking at it this way, this show seemed pretty good. It would be like an autumn outing where they could also observe some drama, and they'd even get paid for it. Perfect, perfect.
"It's the show's first time, so of course they wouldn't go too far for the first episode. If the response is good, they might go to more distant places later."
"I'm only doing this once," Nian Suian said. She was just going with the mindset of having some fun this time. She hadn't made plans to bravely venture into the entertainment industry. Going once to experience it would be enough.
Gu Zhijing finished a round of his game and saw the two of them huddled together talking. His internal alarm bells started ringing.
[Guys, I think my dad might be falling in love!] Exiting the game, Gu Zhijing immediately sent this message to his WeChat group (The Four Most Handsome Men of No. 15 Middle School).
Everyone was already online playing games, so Gu Zhijing's sudden message caused quite a stir.
Chu Mingyan: [Your dad is having an affair!]
Qu Zizhou: [Does our little step-mom sis know?]
Qi Anlu: [I never thought Uncle Gu was that kind of person? Is there some misunderstanding?]
Qu Zizhou: [@Qi Anlu Is this the kind of thing you can tell from looking?]
Chu Mingyan: [Are you going to righteously eliminate your father?]
Gu Zhijing: [!!! Your dad is the one having an affair!]
Gu Zhijing: [I'm saying he and my step-mom sis seem to be falling in love!]
Chu Mingyan: [Are you crazy, Gu Zhijing! They're married, what's wrong with them falling in love?!]
Qu Zizhou: [Are you crazy, Gu Zhijing!]
Qi Anlu: [Are you crazy, Gu Zhijing!]
Qu Zizhou: [Wait until they have a second child, then you can be shocked.]
Chu Mingyan: [Wait until they have a second child, then you can be shocked.]
Qi Anlu: [Wait until they have a second child, then you can be serious.]
Gu Zhijing: [None of you understand.]
Putting down his phone, Gu Zhijing felt even more melancholy. No one understood him, and he had nowhere to express his feelings...