Serve as Contrast Team in a ‘Dad with Baby’ Show

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere on the scene suddenly changed.

“The program team never advised there would be such problematic questions,” Chen Yu said through gritted teeth, his face turning dark.

Typically, interviews such as this avoided sensitive issues.

Why did the director ask such a sharp question during recording? What did they want to do? Expose the artist’s shortcomings? Tear off the last fig leaf of an older artist?

Not only Chen Yu, but even Lin Cheng frowned indiscernibly.

……

In fact, the director herself also felt pressured at this time. If possible, she didn’t want to mess with this team.

But the script for the interview was given by the program group, and it clearly marked that this question must be asked.

She could probably guess the purpose of the program group: the program needs some controversial topics to attract attention. Undoubtedly, Lin Cheng and his daughter—who have no background and no fan base—are the best choice as sacrificial lambs.

No matter how Lin Momo answered during the recording, it will definitely be used by the program team for special editing to create public attention.

She even thought of the headline that might appear in the later stage: #Outdated singer can’t get a job and can only take care of his child at home? #He used to be a top tier singer, but now he has become an 18th tier singer. #Even his biological daughter despises the heartbreak of a past celebrity. #He dare not tell his children that he was a star, and a past male artist has done such a thing without telling their children

……

Lin Momo’s mind went blank in the face of this obviously S-class question.

This question was not in the ‘Exam Bank’, nor did they talk about anything similar.

She didn’t know if Lin Cheng was okay…

Lin Momo subconsciously shook her head.

“Don’t you know?” the director asked.

 Lin Momo shook her head again.

“Don’t you think Dad is bad?” Seeing Lin Momo shaking her head, the director guessed what she meant.

“No…” Lin Momo whispered.

Wang Xi and the others said before that during the interview, if you encounter a question that you don’t know how to answer, you can’t just say ‘don’t know’—you need to find a way to substitute your true feelings.

After thinking about it, Lin Momo tried to answer this problem as herself, and said slowly, “Our family may not be as good as other families, but we are also living very hard, doing our best.” Speaking of this, Lin Momo thought of her grandma, Liu Cuifang, and she said seriously, “she’s not bad, she’s just powerless.”1

Outside the bedroom, Chen Yu’s face tightened when he heard Lin Momo begin to answer the director’s question.

“I can’t let her continue talking.”

This was clearly a trap deliberately set up by the program crew, but Lin Momo jumped into it. Chen Yu wanted to step forward to interrupt the recording.

However, before Chen Yu could rush over, he was stopped by Lin Cheng. “Brother Cheng?”

“Let her talk,” Lin Cheng said.

“But this may have a bad effect?” According to Lin Momo’s words, wasn’t it a disguised admission that Lin Cheng has no ability and can’t make money?

Lin Cheng didn’t speak any more, but there was an expression of indifference on his face.

… …

Lin Momo didn’t notice their movements; she lowered her eyes, and continued, “Maybe she is not good enough in the eyes of others, but what she gives me is already the best she can give…

“She would save up her monthly money to send me to school; fearing that I will be laughed at by my classmates, she will secretly sell her things to save money to buy me a new school uniform; and she will queue up for a very long time when there are activities in the mall where they give away things just so she can give me a new desk lamp, a new alarm clock…

“She taught me to be polite, be clean, and…”

…

The ‘she’ that Lin Momo said was naturally understood by the director team as ‘he’.

They had thought that when faced with this question, Lin Momo’s answer might be ‘don’t know’, or maybe ‘my father is fine’, or even refuse to answer this question, but they never expected that Lin Momo’s answer would be like this.

Outside the camera, the director and the assistant director looked at each other, and they both saw the same shock in each other’s eyes.

Is it true that former stars are so miserable? They still have to work hard to save money to afford their child’s tuition? To get a new table lamp, you have to go to the supermarket to queue up to get a free one?!

Why do they suddenly feel that their life was worse than ordinary people like them?

……

Originally after this question, the program team also prepared a second question: [Do you wish your father wasn’t a star?]

However, facing the sincere girl in front of her, the director couldn’t ask the next question.

With the director yelling ‘Cut!’, Lin Momo’s interview ended.

Putting away the script, the director walked up to Lin Cheng and Chen Yu in embarrassment. Meeting Chen Yu’s slightly dissatisfied eyes, the director grit his teeth and smiled at the two of them pretending to have nothing to do with what just happened, and said, “That’s all for the interview part. Now, we will start recording the next part.” 

They all returned to the living room.

The director asked the staff to hand over a lottery box to Lin Cheng and Lin Momo. He then explained, “The days of [Living with Dad] are about to begin, and in this coming week, Dad and Baby will experience a ‘life’ that is different from your current life.”

“There are five cards in the box in front of you, which correspond to five different ‘family backgrounds’. These are real family situations, voted on by netizens. The program group selected the ‘lives’ with the highest number of votes garnered. Let Dad draw lots, and the information on the drawn card is the life that Dad and the baby will experience in the next week.”

T/N: ‘she’s not bad; she’s just powerless—jc this line just about killed me. What an insight into the impact of poverty on a person—from a 9yr old. Lin Momo is a good kid, and it’s all due to the kindness of an old, illiterate woman who had zero blood relations with her.

Footnotes

The Chinese characters for ‘he’ and ‘she’ are written differently but are pronounced the same—which is why the others didn’t realize anything odd when Lin Momo changed pronouns.