Chapter 56 The eldest son is a hidden dragon, the second son is a crouching tiger...
It's no wonder longtime fans missed the details; even the production team was unaware.
The director was cautious. Although he had high hopes for Ji Zhi Qiu after their first meeting, he couldn't afford to invest too many resources in an amateur. The first episode only had two hours of live streaming each day.
After the show started airing, it became clear that the Abstract Family had too much variety show content, and two hours was simply not enough. They had to rack their brains to choose a suitable time to start the show. Segments like cooking were deemed unvaluable by the production team and were not included in the live broadcast.
But the House of Abstraction never disappoints. The cooking process is indeed difficult to create an effect, but the person cooking is surprising.
The entire production team was in chaos backstage because of this change. The assistant director looked at the director with respect and admiration. Not to mention professional competence, he probably could never learn such a discerning eye in his entire life.
As he was thinking this, the director suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
The director's expression was blank, but his mind was racing. He had considered himself very generous when signing the contract, but now he was a little uncertain. "...Do you think it's too late for me to give Ji Zhiqi money now?"
***
Wen Qizheng was numb from beginning to end, letting Ji Zishen do whatever he wanted. He even helped with a few chores before Ji Zishen politely saw him to the door.
Wen Qizheng really didn't know how to face a child carrying a kitchen knife who wasn't even as tall as his legs. He was about to run away in a daze when he suddenly remembered another thing Ji Zhiqi had told him.
Which one is Chengcheng?
Ji Zishen paused for a moment: "Is it Ji Sicheng?"
Wen Qizheng nodded: "Yes, that's the name."
Ji Zishen turned around and called out a few times. The little boy who had been squatting like a mushroom, drawing and writing on the ground, came over, looked him up and down, and asked, "Does Daddy need me?"
"Ah, I don't know either. He just told me to take you there."
Wen Qizheng looked at Ji Sicheng's delicate, jade-like face with her red lips and white teeth, and his expression softened considerably.
Three little children, but not all of them get to do it... This one is just right, squatting on the ground drawing, very innocent and well-behaved, which is the behavior that children of this age should exhibit.
Wen Qizheng looked at his hands. He didn't like close contact with people, and children always touched things randomly, their hands were dirty. But since he had promised Ji Zhiqi, he had to take responsibility. He softened his tone, "Little friend, shall I hold your hand and take you to find your dad?"
Ji Sicheng turned his head and looked at him expressionlessly: "Thank you, but no need. I can walk by myself."
"..."
"You're quite independent and polite," Wen Qizheng said, stunned. "Okay, then you'll have to keep up with me."
The two walked down the road one after the other. Wen Qizheng deliberately slowed down to take care of Ji Sicheng and was prepared to coax the child. However, Ji Sicheng remained silent from beginning to end, and the atmosphere became tense and extremely awkward.
Wen Qizheng was usually a man of few words, but even he couldn't stand it this time. He kept glancing at Ji Sicheng. Although Ji Sicheng was walking, his eyes were vacant and he blinked very slowly, as if he was immersed in his own world and ignoring everything else around him.
Wen Qizheng vaguely felt that his second son was also a bit strange, but his eldest son had left too deep an impression on him, so he felt that this little oddity was nothing.
They walked for about ten minutes and then saw Ji Zhi Qiu's figure in the distance.
Wen Qizheng breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that the task was completed: "I brought the child."
Ji Zhi Qiu smiled and waved to them, "Thank you for making the special trip."
“This is what I should do,” Wen Qizheng paused, then asked curiously, “What’s the use of calling a child here? Can he help you?”
Ji Zhi Qiu smiled without saying a word, ruffled Ji Si Cheng's hair, and said with a smile, "Did you miss your dad?"
Ji Sicheng finally started acting like a child, puffing out his cheeks and complaining that Ji Zhiqi was touching him inappropriately, but his eyes revealed his attachment to his father.
Wen Qizheng thought of his eldest son holding the kitchen knife again. He wanted to say a few words of advice, but then he felt that it was someone else's family matter and he shouldn't say too much. He just pursed his lips and nodded.
Ji Zhi Qiu asked, "What are you going to do next?"
"I've only earned enough to cover the rent; I still need to buy groceries." This is the most basic requirement for them to stay here for a full week.
Ji Zhi Qiu thought Wen Qi Zheng was a decent person, so she politely said, "One silver coin can buy quite a lot of pork. Why don't you come to our house for dinner later?"
Wen Qizheng: "..."
Don't you think there's anything wrong with that matter-of-fact tone?
He never imagined that the three kids were all little villains, incomparable to ordinary children. He was so shocked that he seemed to float away.
Ji Zhi Qiu was preoccupied with other things and couldn't concentrate on anything else. She didn't notice Wen Qi Zheng's strange behavior and turned to look at Zhou Bapi. "You can announce the last two tasks now."
Zhou Bapi smiled meaningfully. He had been outwitting Ji Zhi Qiu for a long time, losing more often than he had. Finally, he was able to trick Ji Zhi Qiu once, and he felt a sense of triumph for no reason. "I know you have great physical strength. The previous tasks were no challenge for you, but the next two tasks will test your brainpower... Why are you smiling like that?"
Ji Zhi Qiu's smile widened.
Hmph, I predicted your prediction.
Now that someone could back him up, Ji Zhi Qiu became smug. "It's just a test of brainpower, I can handle it with ease. You'd better come up with some difficult questions later, or I'm afraid I'll just blurt out the answers and embarrass you."
"..." Zhou Bapi's gaze changed as he looked Ji Zhi Qiu up and down, his expression filled with fear and confusion. He hadn't expected Ji Zhi Qiu to be not only physically strong but also intelligent, a true all-rounder.
He dared not be impolite to Ji Zhi Qiu any longer, cleared his throat, and went straight to the point: "The person who answers the question, please step forward. The next test is about to begin."
Ji Zhi Qiu remained with his arms crossed, leisurely enjoying the scenery, seemingly unaffected, clearly unprepared.
Zhou Bapi could only repeat himself, glaring intently at Ji Zhiqi, warning him with his eyes, "Please take a step forward and be prepared!"
Ji Zhi Qiu remained in a state of indifference, but a childish voice drifted from below.
"How many more steps? If I go any further, I'm going to bump into your leg."
Zhou Bapi looked down and saw the little boy approaching. He was so charmed by the child that he automatically switched to a slangy tone, "Little boy, Uncle is busy with important business. Your father is about to undergo a test. Why don't you play over there for a while?"
Ji Sicheng had seen many foolish officials like this before, so he wasn't surprised. He said expressionlessly, "It is I who will be tested."
Ji Zhi Qiu finally paid attention to him and urged, "Hurry up, my son can't wait."
Zhou Bapi: ? ? ? ? ? !
He picked at his ear, looking utterly bewildered: "What? I didn't hear you clearly. Who is it that's supposed to accept the mission?!"
"It's me." Ji Sicheng's expression was slightly dissatisfied. "Can you hurry up?"
Zhou Bapi: o_o
He really didn't know how to face Ji Sicheng, so he could only try his best to wink at Ji Zhi Qiu, hoping that he could explain clearly. But Ji Zhi Qiu had a smug look on his face, as if he had someone backing him up, and was still making sarcastic remarks, "I know you don't want me to complete the task, but don't use this kind of method. It's a waste of time."
Zhou Bapi: "..." Fine, I don't care anymore.
The variety show focuses on parent-child relationships, and the tasks are for the whole family. However, the difficulty is too high and it is not suitable for children to participate, so they were not taken into consideration. Now that the children have taken the initiative to ask, Zhou Bapi naturally cannot refuse, so he simply showed the answer board with a blank face.
Ji Sicheng stared blankly, expressionless, without making a move for a long time. Zhou Bapi hadn't had any hope for him anyway, thinking he had gone mad. He sighed inwardly, cleared his mind, and looked ahead, waiting for the question-answering time to end.
But only a third of the time had passed when the child's innocent voice rang out again, "Eight and three-fifths."
Zhou Bapi was stunned for a moment, not quite coming to his senses.
Ji Sicheng frowned. "Eight and three-fifths, isn't that the correct answer?"
Zhou Bapi then hurriedly looked at the answer in his hand, and it was exactly the same.
"You you you you you you you you you!"
Even a stutterer can be an examiner. Ji Sicheng showed him no discrimination whatsoever. After Zhou Bapi caught his breath, he asked, "What's the next question?"
Zhou Bapi was in the exact same state as Wen Qizheng just now: his brain was overloaded, he was in a daze, and although he was still there, his soul was floating in the air.
The question-and-answer session continued, and Ji Sicheng not only gave accurate answers but also shortened the time. However, he had obsessive-compulsive disorder and counted down the seconds, insisting on waiting until the same amount of time as the first time before giving his answer.
At this point, the extremely difficult task set by the production team has been completed. Before this, they had not expected which group of guests would be able to accomplish this feat.
The first part is extremely physically demanding; most people are exhausted before they even finish. The latter two tasks are even more outrageously difficult; without years of professional study in the relevant field, one can't even understand the questions.
Zhou Bapi's gaze darted left and right. He still couldn't believe that a child who wasn't even as tall as his leg could solve such a difficult problem. Suddenly, something occurred to him, and he looked at Ji Zhi Qiu with an ambiguous gaze.
This isn't some amateur; it's clearly a newcomer being heavily promoted by a major company!
The production team must have received bribes to give Ji Zhi Qiu such an easy answer and tell him the answer in advance.
Ji Zhi Qiu, standing far away, didn't notice it immediately, but Ji Si Cheng, right at his feet, didn't miss Zhou Bapi's micro-expressions.
"You suspect me of cheating?" he said bluntly. A flash of embarrassment crossed Zhou Bapi's face, but he couldn't say anything else and could only give a dry laugh.
This performance already gave an answer, and Ji Sicheng became even more dissatisfied. He looked at the draft paper prepared by the production team and wrote a lot of things on the paper without saying a word. Zhou Bapi didn't think much of it and assumed that Ji Sicheng was going to draw a circle to curse him.
But the next second Ji Sicheng handed him the draft paper, "This is the solution process. You can check it bit by bit, or you can give me a few more questions to test me."
Zhou Bapi stared at the symbols on the draft paper as if they were gibberish. His originally fierce eyes cleared, and he pointed to his own nose, "Ah, me?"
The most difficult problem he could think of at the moment was a linear equation in two variables; he couldn't come up with a problem of equal difficulty.
Zhou Bapi finally realized his mistake and felt ashamed for underestimating Ji Sicheng. He squatted down and said in a high-pitched voice, "Little friend, can you explain this to me?"
Ji Sicheng glanced at him and said succinctly, "No, your eyes look just like my father's."
Zhou Bapi didn't understand and looked to Ji Zhiqi for help.
"Your eyes haven't been contaminated or poisoned by advanced mathematics." Ji Zhi Qiu said with a smile, "To put it bluntly, even if I explained it to you, you wouldn't understand, and you'd be infuriatingly stupid."
Zhou Bapi: "..."
That's true. If Ji Zhi Qiu didn't get angry even though he insulted his own father, then he didn't feel anything either.
Previously, the production team was too arrogant, assuming that no guest could provide an answer, and naturally did not set up any follow-up plans. Zhou Bapi did not know how to handle it, so he could only ask the director for help privately through the earpiece.
Although the director hadn't personally tested it, he knew better than anyone that it couldn't be faked. He grabbed the assistant director's hand again, his voice trembling, "It's too late to bribe them. Quick, go prepare a new contract!"
Compared to the surprise mixed with the production team's breakdown, the viewers in the live broadcast room had much more mixed feelings.
I still can't believe it, but it not only gave the results, but also the detailed process, and with so many strange symbols, even I would have a hard time remembering them all, let alone a six-year-old.
At first, I suspected it was just randomly written, but surprisingly, there were actually a few formulas in it that I could understand.
[Mathematics majors rushed to join the battle. The good news is I can understand it. The bad news is my pen is almost smoking from writing, and I still haven't been able to get the result. *looks up at the sky*]
[Not only did he do mental arithmetic, but he also provided the answer in such a short time. He's absolutely a genius! I'm so excited for my advisor!]
[The eldest son is a hidden dragon, the second son a crouching tiger; the Abstract House certainly didn't disappoint me.]
New fans habitually rushed into the super topic and carefully watched all the screen recordings, but still couldn't find the relevant footage. They never doubted that it didn't exist, but thought that the old fans must not have posted it yet. They posted or called for it in the comments section, but strangely, the old fans remained silent, just like before, as if they had all disappeared.
[I know you're all watching the live stream intently, but please take a moment to check out the supertopic too. Please, give us some food, we're starving! waaaah!]
[Another day of envying longtime fans; they know everything.]
So where are they?
Longtime fans were speechless with shock in the live stream, and their emotions were even more complex when they opened the super topic.
Stop asking, or I'll start biting my handkerchief.
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