VFGRC Chapter 44

“I would like to ask about your child… and you, are you interested in joining our ‘Canxing’ Entertainment family?” the talent scout asked with a smile.

Originally, his boss only asked him to sign up the young child who appeared on Qian Kangkang’s live broadcast, but when the talent scout saw Yu Bai, he changed his mind.

That little child was pure and adorable, with a very audience-friendly appearance.

Based on the talent scout’s years of experience in judging people, he could tell that this child would definitely grow up to be handsome, a promising talent worth nurturing.

But what the talent scout didn’t expect was that the child might be cute, but his father’s appearance was even more outstanding!

Yu Bai had a youthful face. Although he was actually in his twenties, he still looked like a high school student.

Yu Bai and Xing Xing looked like they were carved from the same mold, both having similar moist, round eyes, delicate noses, and cherry-colored lips.

When they smiled, both father and son had beautiful dimples on their cheeks, giving them a gentle temperament that easily made people feel close.

Next to the hotplate, the talent scout saw Yu Bai, who not only had a gentle temperament but also could cook delicious teppanyaki, making the talent scout salivate.

If he could sign both father and son and market them as “Contemporary Teppanyaki Master” and “Foodie Child Star,” the company would have nothing to worry about for at least the next ten years!

To be honest, Yu Bai’s clean appearance and jade-like temperament successfully fooled the talent scout, making him believe he was a sure catch.

But that wasn’t the case at all.

The talent scout forgot that Yu Bai, who managed to carve out a path in the fiercely competitive Sanjiaokou, would not be easily manipulated or blindly believe in others like an inexperienced student.

Moreover, with Yu Bai’s food stall business doing well, he didn’t need to suddenly switch to a field he had never been involved in.

“I don’t need it,” Yu Bai refused decisively. “If there’s nothing else, please leave and don’t disturb the queue of my customers behind.”

The smile on the talent scout’s face froze.

What? Yu Bai rejected him so quickly! He hadn’t even had a chance to talk about the salary and benefits!

“Mr. Yu, our company is a leading domestic internet celebrity incubation company. If you both join us, we will offer you very favorable benefits and treatment… at least better than running a stall outside…”

“I said, I don’t need it,” Yu Bai said coldly. “I’m not interested in internet celebrity stuff, and I won’t let my child become an internet celebrity either.”

Nowadays, Yu Bai could support himself and Xing Xing with his own two hands, and they were not lacking money.

Furthermore, there were numerous examples online of child stars being exploited by talent agencies and facing health issues. Yu Bai would never sacrifice his son’s free childhood time for a meager profit.

The talent scout wanted to say something more, but when he saw the frown on Yu Bai’s face, the customers queuing behind him voluntarily stepped forward and pulled the talent scout aside.

“Hey, hey, hey, young man. If you don’t want to buy teppanyaki, don’t block us… There’s a long line behind us!”

“Yeah, that’s right. Besides, the stall owner already rejected you. Be sensible and leave on your own…”

“Stall owner! I’ll have the usual, a serving of grilled cold noodles and a portion of teppanyaki tofu. Skewers, I’ll have these…”

Before the talent scout could say anything, several impatient customers from the back handed over their selected skewers to Yu Bai.

Whether intentional or not, these customers deliberately stood in front of the talent scout, preventing him from approaching Yu Bai.

This left the talent scout no choice but to tiptoe and glance in Yu Bai’s direction without the chance to talk to him.

The talent scout left in frustration.

Other internet celebrity scouts who were mingling in the teppanyaki queue took notice of the scene and started thinking about other strategies. They realized that the teppanyaki stall owner wasn’t that easy to deal with and they needed to come up with different approaches.

—

At the Qiao Group.

“President Qiao, here are the hot search rankings up to tonight.” The head of the marketing department placed a document on Qiao Chao’s desk.

Qiao Chao picked up the folder and flipped through a few pages. His eyebrows slightly rose, “Teppanyaki? How did he get on the hot search?”

“I heard that this afternoon, several internet celebrity scouts from different companies wanted to sign this father and son for internet fame. Today’s hot search is probably the result of the efforts made by those companies. However, their ideas were similar, and they sent out too many related press releases, so Yu Bai ended up on the hot search by accident.”

The origin of the incident could be traced back to the evening when various marketing accounts unexpectedly released a video. The content of the videos was similar, but they were shot from different angles.

However, any resident near Sanjiaokou could easily recognize that the young man in the video, bowing his head and skillfully cooking teppanyaki with a spatula in hand, was none other than Yu Bai.

Running a small food stall, enduring the cold wind in winter and scorching sun in summer, and living a hard and tough life, very few young people who had just entered society wouldn’t be willing to run a small food stall.

In the eyes of most people, those who ran food stalls were middle-aged or elderly people who couldn’t find a decent job and had heavy burdens to bear.

Now, suddenly appearing among a group of ordinary-looking middle-aged people, a young stall owner with handsome features and a gentle temperament attracted the attention of netizens.

With Yu Bai’s current appearance, if he were still in college, he would easily be known as the “campus prince.”

As a result, having such a handsome Yu Bai among a group of ordinary-looking seniors made him stand out like a crane among chickens!

Guided by various marketing accounts, the handsome Yu Bai became a dark horse and easily made it to the fiercely competitive hot search list in Douyin through those few videos.

[“Damn! Do you have to be this handsome to sell teppanyaki now? My looks don’t even qualify for sweeping the streets…”]

[“Does anyone know where this guy sells food? I’m online waiting, kind of urgent!”]

[“If the elders who run food stalls near my house had looks like the guy in the video… my mom, who usually forbids me from eating street food, would probably visit that food stall more frequently than me!”]

Under the enthusiasm of netizens, someone quickly found out that Yu Bai was the small food stall owner in Sanjiaokou, J city. This discovery led to the exposure of his son, Xing Xing, who had become a cute child star in various circles such as the Douyin food and parenting communities a couple of days ago.

[The father is handsome, the son is adorable… the mom hit the jackpot.]

[My mom lives in the same community as this family. I heard my mom say that the wife of the teppanyaki stall owner passed away while giving birth…]

[So… is this stall owner single? Is he raising the cute kid all by himself?]

[Oh my goodness, what kind of perfect man is this! I can’t even get my husband to help with household chores…]

[Am I the only one who caught the fact that the stall owner is “single”? No beating around the bush, I want to be the kid’s stepmom!!]

[I’ve already booked the flight to J City tonight! Kid, your mom is coming!!]

“I understand.” When Qiao Chao closed the document, his eyes revealed a hint of shrewdness. “I remember, isn’t the new product we developed somewhat related to this teppanyaki stall owner?”

Qiao Chao emphasized the word “related,” his words ambiguous, but the head of the marketing department immediately understood what he meant.

“President Qiao, I got it.” The head of the marketing department said, “Our marketing department will follow your idea and connect us with him…”

Halfway through, the head of the marketing department showed a hesitant expression.

“What’s wrong?”

The internet celebrity incubation companies approached Yu Bai to demonstrate their sincerity in wanting to sign him.

However, their sincerity was limited and short-lived.

The head of the marketing department worried that once a few hours or even less than a day had passed, these companies would retract their sincerity, and Yu Bai would fall from the spotlight…

Then, what they prepared and the hype they created would be all in vain.

But Qiao Chao’s expression showed an intriguing smile.

“You, your vision is still not enough,” Qiao Chao took a sip of tea from his cup, “In this circle, excessive flattery is commonplace. So anyone who can be flattered proves that they have some real talent, can maintain popularity, and attract netizens…”

Moreover, the “gift” they prepared to ride the wave of popularity was eye-catching enough…

Qiao Chao, who relied on his masterful marketing skills, would never miss any opportunity to ride the wave of popularity.

—

During this period, when Yu Bai was selling teppanyaki in Sanjiaokou, he encountered several passersby or bloggers who liked to shoot videos or take photos in front of his food stall with their phones or cameras.

Yu Bai did not refuse their filming, and when facing them, he treated them with a calm demeanor.

To him, it was just an ordinary recording.

After returning home, Yu Bai had to take care of Xing Xing, clean the house, and prepare the ingredients for the stall the next afternoon. The chaotic tasks kept Yu Bai busy, and he only had time to play games on his phone or browse Douyin and Xinglang on weekends and Friday nights to pass the time.

These two days were midweek, and Yu Bai, who didn’t usually spend much time online, naturally had no idea about the online frenzy that had started tonight and was related to him.

Xing Xing had developed a habit of sleeping and waking up on time in recent days.

Every afternoon, around one or two o’clock, after finishing lunch and resting for a while, Xing Xing would take a nap on time.

And two hours later, before the alarm rang, Xing Xing would wake up on his own.

Taking care of a child alone was more tiring than having two people share the responsibility.

So when Yu Bai accompanied Xing Xing for a nap, he fell asleep as well.

When Xing Xing woke up, Yu Bai was still lying on the bed, eyes closed, having sweet dreams.

Xing Xing blinked his watery round eyes and extended his hot little hand from under the quilt.

Xing Xing gently touched Yu Bai’s face with his small hand, then pressed his little head on the hand.

With his head tilted, Xing Xing stared at Yu Bai’s sleeping face, waiting for him to wake up.

Just as Xing Xing was getting tired and about to yawn and sleep again, Yu Bai finally woke up.

Xing Xing adorably rubbed his little head against Yu Bai’s chest, “Daddy, you finally woke up! I’ve been waiting for you for ages!”

As he said this, Xing Xing pointed to the clock hanging on the wall with his chubby little hand.

“The clock has been ticking for a long time, let’s hurry and go set up the stall!”

“Alright, alright, after changing clothes, we’ll go out…”

A moment later, Yu Bai pushed the snack cart and left with Xing Xing.

They walked towards Sanjiaokou, chatting and laughing. On their faces, smiles appeared one after another.

They seemed like they were carved from the same mold, both with crescent-shaped eyes, fair cheeks showing dimples, and clean smiles.

The warmth between father and son flowed gently in the sunset.

At this moment, not far from them, a low-key black car followed in the direction of Yu Bai and Xing Xing.

Keeping pace with them.

Inside the car, Ji Rongyu looked outside through the window.

His originally cold and indifferent narrow phoenix eyes gradually showed a hint of warmth.

Separation for three days feels like three autumns.

 

Author’s Note:

PS: Forget it, let’s merge the missing chapter into the weekend. I might not be able to do an extra update on Saturday if I have something to do, but I’ll do my best to update on Sunday.