76 Chapter Seventy-Five

◎This Yu Jinyang left her with another string of mysterious numbers. ◎

Before the phone call, You Xiaofan, who had been scouting locations in New York for the past few days, reminded Yu Jinyang that he could contact his family, but only once, to avoid any complications. He also reminded Yu that his cameraman had to accompany him and that he could not reveal any information about the program.

Yu Jinyang is a very reasonable person. He understood what Yu Jinyang meant in just two sentences: "You just don't want me to contact my girlfriend."

You Xiaofan didn't want to explain so much to him. Public opinion had been completely skewed by that sister-in-law from a couple of days ago, and he was still suppressing the news.

He decided to throw caution to the wind and said, "You can treat me like Fahai if you want. I can't stand people dating, okay? I hate couples like you who don't care about anyone's life when you're in love!"

Yu Jinyang laughed and said, "Okay, okay, Li Yingqiao and I aren't that bored. I'll call my mom, alright?"

You Xiaofan knew, of course, that if he simply wanted to make this call to his mother, he wouldn't have made it to him in the middle of the night. "If you're thinking of sending any message to Li Yingqiao, you'd better save your breath."

"Are you crazy?" Yu Jinyang was so angry that he laughed. "What message do I have to pass on?"

"For example, 'I miss you,' 'Do you miss me?' Isn't that what dating is all about—exchanging these kinds of messages?" You Xiaofan truly hated it.

"You can't even say this?"

"Yu Jinyang, if you dare to show affection on my show, I'll skin you alive."

So Yu Jinyang teased her, knowing full well what was going on, by asking, "What are you doing in my house?"

Then he asked, "What are you doing in my house?"

"I stole your potato chips," she said.

"Did you find it?" He realized and laughed.

“Auntie found it,” Li Yingqiao said, glancing at Tang Xiang.

Tang Xiang asked in bewilderment, "What's wrong? Are you hiding things from people so they can't eat them?"

The person on the other end was still laughing: "Ms. Tang, why don't you ask her how many meals she eats a day? What could I possibly be hiding?"

That was the truth; one is obliged to do favors when one has been treated to them. Li Yingqiao smiled apologetically at Tang Xiang and had no choice but to change the subject: "How did the recording go? Are there any handsome guys on the show?"

"Yes, a lot."

The words were concise and to the point, and the tone was indistinguishable; only those close to the person could detect the subtle hint of coldness and jealousy.

This is completely different from his father. Yu Renjie rarely gets jealous like this. He has a strange confidence in himself and always says that he has never seen anyone more handsome than him in Fengtan. He is the most handsome, and Jin Yang is second.

Ice Cream Cone finally managed to squeeze in a moment and shouted into the microphone, "Brother, we all miss you so much! We miss you so much that we've even eaten the moon! What about you? Do you miss us?"

There was no response.

Yu Renjie found it cheesy and got goosebumps. He scratched himself and said, "Where did you learn this from? Don't you watch Peppa Pig? How come you're into Qiong Yao?"

I thought it was just a child's innocent remark about an ice cream cone.

Then the ice cream cone shouted again, "Brother, he said that's what he was thinking in Chicago, thinking about it so much he was watching the moon get eaten piece by piece—"

"Tang Shutian!" The voice on the other end called her full name, cold but urgent.

The ice cream cone said "Oh," and added, "My brother said I can't tell."

Yu Renjie rubbed the ice cream cone's head and said, "Don't be like your brother. His brain was damaged from eating too much jelly when he was a kid."

Tang Xiang delivered a powerful elbow strike to him.

Neither side spoke again, letting the silence spread in the air. Perhaps because he knew there were cameras on his side, Yu Renjie seemed a little reserved. Until Yu Jinyang suddenly spoke up: "Are you still there?"

"Yes." Li Yingqiao reacted quickly, as if she knew he was calling her, and answered. The other three also looked at her at the same time.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Why aren't you saying anything!" On the way back, Yu Renjie mimicked Tang Xiang in a high-pitched voice, adding his own embellishments, saying, "...the moon was eaten up piece by piece! I've never seen him speak to me in this tone before!"

Looking down, I touched a round little head. The ice cream cone was completely unaware and was still making its little train noises. I got even angrier: "I didn't tell the ice cream cone either!"

"Are you jealous of your son? You've never been jealous of me." Tang Xiang decided to use magic to defeat magic.

"..."

Yu Renjie grabbed the ice cream cone and quickened his pace, saying, "We're an old married couple, why are we talking about this?"

Tang Xiang caught up with him in a few steps, looked at his face under the streetlight, and said with a smile, "We're an old married couple, why are you still blushing?"

Yu Renjie quickened his pace, and Tang Xiang, not to be outdone, chased after him. This middle-aged couple were quite playful, chasing each other across two traffic light intersections.

The ice cream cone was dragged along the whole time, stepping on its parents' shadows and laughter.

After the three of them finally got into a taxi, Tang Xiang said, "I already told you to wait until your son comes back. I don't know what got into you, insisting on coming over today. Even if your name is on the property deed, it's still Qiaoqiao and your son living here. If you just show up like this, she'll definitely be nervous. Didn't you see Qiaoqiao's expression just now? She looked so helpless standing at the door. It was heartbreaking to see. She seemed so carefree when she was little."

Yu Renjie silently held the ice cream cone, quietly looking out the window, only sighing repeatedly.

Tang Xiang was puzzled. She took her daughter from him and turned to stare at him: "Yu Renjie, you've been acting really strange these past two days."

“Zong Xie asked me to dinner a couple of days ago,” he said after a long pause, slowly turning his head. Tang Xiang noticed tears in his eyes, perhaps due to the collision of car headlights and streetlights. “That certificate was obtained by Qiao Qiao. She’s a girl, and she dared to block the leader’s door with a box of counterfeit money. Her methods were so extreme. Just think about how much she has suffered and how she has been forced into this situation to take such a path.”

Tang Xiang was suddenly stunned. "Are you serious? My God, this is amazing!"

He nodded. "Yes, I asked Zongxie why he didn't tell me sooner. He said he was still planning to take Qiaoqiao back to Beijing at that time, and he knew that if he told her, Jin Yang would only be more devoted to her. Zongxie said that if he hadn't told her, Qiaoqiao definitely wouldn't have said anything."

Yu Renjie lowered his head and wiped his eyes, but the more he wiped, the more tears flowed. Although he was middle-aged and no longer had the delicate fragility of his youth, Tang Xiang was momentarily at a loss for who to feel sorry for. She pulled Yu Renjie close and pressed him against her shoulder. This was how it was in the family; there were no men or women, only shoulders to lean on for each other.

"Your son doesn't know yet, does he?"

“Why didn’t he tell me sooner? Why wait until now?” Yu Renjie sniffed and said, “Actually, I just didn’t expect that she would be on my side in this matter between me and her uncle. I’m not going to talk about it anymore. I cried all night, and you even told me to move aside so you wouldn’t block my view of the TV…” He looked up and said.

"...Who knew it was because of this?" Tang Xiang pressed his head back onto her shoulder.

The ice cream cone followed suit, stretching out its little arms to hug its father. "It's okay, Daddy, you can give my playground to Sister Qiaoqiao! She'll forgive you!"

***

However, Yu Jinyang left her with a mysterious string of numbers. Just before hanging up, he suddenly said, "Do you remember the two sets of numbers I sent you before the high school entrance exam?"

Li Yingqiao will never forget it, she said of course.

He said goodnight and hung up, but then quickly rattled off a set of numbers and said, "Okay, don't sleep tonight, solve it."

Of course, nobody paid him any attention. Tang Xiang said he was childish, and Yu Renjie said, "This is your son." Tang Xiang denied it, "Your son, Ice Cream Cone, is driving his little train, eager to go home and watch Peppa Pig."

Only Li Yingqiao, in the middle of the night, threw off the covers, stared at the ceiling with a look of utter despair, and gritted her teeth: "Damn Yu Jinyang!"

She reached for her phone on the bedside table again, glanced at the numbers, and exclaimed, "678, 999, 8212... What does this mean?!"

Could she have been kidnapped again? It's quite possible. Who confiscates phones and forbids calling home during a TV show recording? Could it be that Yu Jinyang is sending her a coded message? And considering how tense they were in the provincial capital at the beginning—

Thinking of this, she immediately called You Xiaofan.

Producer You was in New York adjusting to the time difference. He was scouting locations on the streets of New York with another street dance team, preparing to use them for a promotional video for the show. When he received a WeChat message from Li Yingqiao, he was taken aback: "It should be past midnight in China, why are you calling me instead of sleeping?"

"Did you kidnap Yu Jinyang?" Li Yingqiao asked bluntly.

You Xiaofan was truly stunned by this blow: "..."

Li Yingqiao quickly sensed his genuine speechlessness and said, "Okay, it's nothing, I was just asking."

After hanging up the phone, Li Yingqiao's phone suddenly received a pop-up message on a social media app. Ai Dingliu had shared a playlist of songs for the finals, including a cross-genre choreography for Yu Jinyang's team. It combined popping and breaking, and featured a variety of musical styles. Li Yingqiao downloaded the playlist, intending to listen and analyze the numbers as she went, and then quickly fell asleep…

Li Yingqiao woke up abruptly in the middle of the night to find the music still playing in her earphones. The Bluetooth earpiece was tingling in her ear, but she was truly exhausted; she hadn't rested all morning. She decided to give herself a break and wait for Yu Jinyang to come back so she could give him a good whack on the back of the head. Just as she reached to turn off the player, she vaguely heard a few numbers, jolting her awake. She flipped the lyrics over to look—

——"six seven eight triple nine eight two one two"

(678 999 8212)

——"baby you know I miss you"

(You know how much I miss you)

——“i wanna get with you tonight”

(I want to stay by your side tonight)

——"so baby kiss me through the phone"

(Can you kiss me over the phone?)

——"see you when I get home"

(See you when I get home)

——"i love it public love it"

(I'm ready to love you publicly.)

[Author's Note]

This song is from "Kiss Me Thru The Phone".

I'll take a short break tomorrow, and then I'll update every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

This is for giving out red envelopes!