TRSBPASO 7

The group soon arrived at the car.

Lin Yi went to the trunk to load the luggage.

Huo Mianmian stood by the car door waiting for him.

In the meantime, he tried to climb into the car by himself, but the vehicle’s base was too high, and he couldn’t get in.

One of the staff saw this and said, “Mianmian, do you want me to carry you up?”

Huo Mianmian was still not good at interacting with people, and he immediately took a step back.

The staff member didn’t want to scare him, so they didn’t insist.

Huo Mianmian tried again on his own, but still couldn’t get in.

So he turned and looked toward Lin Yi.

By then, Lin Yi had finished loading the suitcase and walked over.

Huo Mianmian immediately stretched out both arms toward him, asking for a hug.

Lin Yi asked, “Mianmian, can’t get into the car on your own?”

Huo Mianmian nodded his little head and kept reaching out for a hug.

Lin Yi raised an eyebrow.

Well, this was rare. It was the first time his little one had ever asked him to pick him up.

With that thought, he bent down and lifted Huo Mianmian into his arms.

To his surprise, holding the kid actually felt kind of novel.

The child’s whole body was soft and squishy, like a sticky rice ball. It made you afraid to hold him too tightly.

And maybe because he’d had milk before they left, there was a faint, sweet milky scent on him—perfectly matching his image as a little milk bun.

Lin Yi carried him into the car and set him into the child seat.

Before leaving, he couldn’t resist giving the chubby cheek a little squeeze and then returned satisfied to his own seat.

【Ahhh I want to hold Mianmian too!】

【Is it too late to steal this baby?】

【Nothing but envy, envy, envy.】

The car drove forward along the road.

Lin Yi played on his phone for a bit, then leaned back and dozed off.

When he opened his eyes again, they had already arrived at the destination.

Their filming location this time was a countryside guesthouse.

It was a two-story Western-style house, neatly cleaned inside and out, surrounded by vegetable gardens full of different crops. There were rivers and small hills not far away.

In short, it looked like an idyllic paradise.

After getting out of the car and looking around, Lin Yi went to pick up Huo Mianmian.

Huo Mianmian had also taken a nap in the car and now looked drowsy, his eyes blinking slowly.

He rubbed his eyes with a tiny hand.

As the saying goes, once familiar, it’s easier. Lin Yi directly carried him out of the car and said, “Mianmian, look, this is where we’ll be staying. Isn’t it pretty?”

Before coming on the show, he had told Huo Mianmian they would get to see beautiful scenery and it looks like he’d made good on that promise.

Huo Mianmian listened to him and looked around with his big round eyes, then smiled with pursed lips.

The dimples at the corners of his cheeks made it clear he liked this place.

Lin Yi smiled and said, “So let’s stay here, okay?”

Huo Mianmian nodded with a smile.

Soon, the father and son walked into the countryside inn together.

At that moment, another guest group had already arrived.

The adult was a popular male celebrity, with harmless looks and a sunny smile. He was the nation’s little prince in many people’s eyes.

The child was a young actor who had appeared in several film and TV productions.

They weren’t biological father and son, just temporarily paired up for the show—the hottest combo so far: a “rookie dad and a cute kid.”

As Lin Yi entered, he immediately noticed the adult and raised his eyebrows subtly.

Wasn’t that the original host’s cousin?

Talk about a narrow road for enemies.

The original host had such a bad reputation in the entertainment industry, and this cousin had played a major role in that.

After all, if the older cousin weren’t such a trainwreck, how would it highlight the younger cousin’s brilliance?

He Nian had always taken the harmless nice-guy route. The moment he saw Lin Yi, he warmly walked over and greeted him, “Cousin, you’re here!”

Anyone who didn’t know better would think they were long-lost brothers.

Lin Yi gave a lukewarm “Mm.”

He was taller than He Nian, and the way he looked down at him had a faintly appraising air.

He Nian looked at his cousin, and for some reason, felt something was off.

The livestream comments were flying by.

【Aren’t these two related? On the same show—are we getting a cousin drama for ratings?】

【Holy crap, this is my favorite part!! Let them fight!】

【One’s a cousin from heaven, the other’s from rock bottom. Their industry status is night and day.】

【Forget personality, Lin Yi’s face is way better-looking than He Nian’s.】

【LOL, Lin Yi only has 3 million Weibo followers, and most of those are probably bots. How can he compare to our He Nian?】

【Fun fact: He Nian has over 20 million Weibo followers.】

【Can Lin Yi leave already? Don’t ruin our Nian Nian’s vibes!!】

【This is hilarious. Lin Yi hasn’t even done anything yet, why’s everyone so worked up?】

【Right? It’s not like Lin Yi committed murder.】

【Anyway, I’m a loyal face-stan for Lin Yi—I don’t care about the rest.】

While the comments were full of attacks, things in real life remained polite on the surface.

After all, it was a filming session. No one was dumb enough to cause drama live on camera.

He Nian, as always, showed his polished image.

He pulled a plush toy out of a tote bag, walked over, and offered it to Huo Mianmian. “Here, Mianmian, a little gift for you. Every other kid got one too.”

【He Nian, I’m crying! This man is always so thoughtful!】

【Seriously, he came all the way here and even brought gifts for every kid. I’m touched.】

Huo Mianmian looked at the toy being handed to him and shook his head—he didn’t want it.

He didn’t understand everything, but he had noticed earlier that his little dad didn’t seem to like this person, so he wouldn’t like him either.

He Nian tried again, moving the gift closer. “Take it, it’s really cute.”

But Huo Mianmian still shook his head seriously.

He wasn’t taking it.

He was on little dad’s team!

Lin Yi didn’t know what was going on in the boy’s head, but he did glance at his kid with a bit of quiet satisfaction.

He Nian looked slightly awkward and had to put the toy away, trying to save face. “Looks like Mianmian doesn’t like this gift. I’ll get you something else next time.”

And just like that, the awkward moment passed.

Lin Yi went to the bathroom to wash his hands after setting the luggage aside.

Unexpectedly, He Nian followed him in.

Lin Yi turned off the faucet and looked up, meeting He Nian’s gaze in the mirror with a cool expression.

He Nian had clearly come in to speak off-camera, knowing the cameraman couldn’t follow them in.

Sure enough, once inside, He Nian didn’t use the bathroom or do anything else. Instead, he smiled and asked, “Cousin, what have you been busy with lately?”

Lin Yi dried his hands with a paper towel and replied with a faint smile, “Just some odds and ends.”

He Nian seemed to sense Lin Yi’s indifferent tone and brought up a past incident. “Cousin, are you still mad at me? About that interview, I didn’t know the organizers would twist things like that to smear you!”

Not long ago, the original owner and He Nian did a joint interview. Despite being the same show, the treatment was drastically different. Dragging the original owner through the mud while praising Lin Yi.

That interview had further destroyed the host’s already bad reputation, while He Nian came out shining.

How much He Nian had manipulated behind the scenes was unknown.

That wasn’t the only thing.

They were relatives, close in age, and had grown up together. It was only natural they’d be compared.

Wherever He Nian appeared, the original host was always made to look worse. People bashed him even if he did nothing at all.

Even so, the original host never suspected anything wrong with his cousin. He actually believed He Nian was kind-hearted and always willing to hang out with him.

Now, He Nian was acting righteously again. “Cousin, you don’t know, I was even planning to send a lawyer’s letter to those guys on your behalf. They were way out of line!”

If it were the original host, he’d probably have said, “Forget it, it’s the thought that counts.”

But Lin Yi raised an eyebrow. “Great. Go ahead, then.”

He Nian: “Ah?”

He was stunned.

Lin Yi looked puzzled. “Didn’t you just say you were going to send a lawyer’s letter?”

He Nian: “……”

He was just bluffing.

Feeling embarrassed, He Nian hesitated, then said, “Cousin, the thing is, I wanted to help you, but you know how complicated things are. I’m just a worker in this industry—I don’t have that kind of power…”

If it were the original host, he would already be comforting He Nian.

That’s what He Nian expected, too. So he kept sighing, waiting for Lin Yi to say something reassuring.

But Lin Yi just tossed the paper towel into the trash and said coolly, “Hasn’t anyone taught you? If you didn’t help someone, don’t act like you did. Much less expect them to thank you for it.”

He Nian was speechless. “……”

So it wasn’t just his imagination—his cousin really had changed.

What exactly happened?

At that moment, Lin Yi was already walking out.

He Nian came back to his senses, forced himself to collect his thoughts, then said, “Oh right, cousin, I never gave you and President Huo a gift when you got together. How about I stop by and offer my congratulations sometime?”

His tone was clearly different now.

This, evidently, was his real reason for coming into the bathroom.

He Nian didn’t dare approach Huo Jihan directly. As someone of his status, he had no access to someone like that.

So he had to go through Lin Yi instead.

Lin Yi paused, then turned to look at him.

He Nian met his eyes and for a moment, he felt like he’d been seen through.

He braced himself and stood his ground.

Lin Yi gave him a faint, unreadable smile.

So He Nian wasn’t here for him at all. What he really had his sights on… was Huo Jihan.

Of course—who wouldn’t be interested in someone like Huo Jihan, the head of the Huo family, a legendary top-tier figure?

Lin Yi just stared at him without speaking.

He Nian instinctively swallowed, his back going a bit cold.

Just as he was about to break, Lin Yi finally said, slowly, “We’ll see.”

He Nian panicked and quickly said, “How can we ‘see’? I haven’t even sent a gift yet!”

Lin Yi replied lightly, “Just send the gift. No need to come in person.”

He Nian: “……”

He forced a laugh. “Cousin, you’re joking, right?”

Lin Yi also smiled. “You tell me.”

He Nian: “……”

So what did Lin Yi really mean? Was he welcome or not?

Why was Lin Yi getting harder and harder to read?