"Since you're off today, we can pick up Tongtong together this afternoon," Su Wanru invited again as she was leaving.
Though she didn't know what had upset him, or if he was simply busy as he'd said, she thought it would be nice to pick up Tongtong together if he was resting.
Liu Yifeng didn't reply, just nodded. He went home and immediately fell asleep on the bed.
When Liu Chunsheng returned home after going out for a game of chess, he was surprised to find his son still at home. This was something that rarely happened. Why was he napping today?
"What's wrong? Do you have a fever?" Liu Chunsheng went to Liu Yifeng and felt his forehead. There was no sign of a fever, which put him at ease.
Perhaps he was just tired lately and wanted to rest, so Liu Chunsheng didn't disturb him further.
"Daddy, wake up, wake up! You've been sleeping all afternoon," Tongtong had returned from school and saw Liu Yifeng still sleeping.
When it was time to pick up Tongtong, Su Wanru had called him repeatedly, but couldn't get through. Eventually, Liu Chunsheng answered the phone and informed Su Wanru.
But when Tongtong arrived home, Liu Yifeng was still asleep. He didn't know what to do, so he asked Tongtong to go wake him.
"Tongtong, I'm sorry. Daddy fell asleep. You're already home from school?" Liu Yifeng finally woke up and looked out the window. It was completely dark outside, indicating he had indeed slept for a long time.
Tongtong pouted his little mouth. "Daddy promised to pick me up, but he just slept here. Daddy, are you too tired?"
When she heard Su Wanru say Liu Yifeng was asleep, Tongtong couldn't believe it. Ever since the organic vegetables started preparing for market, Liu Yifeng had barely slept during the day, which was why he found it so strange.
He couldn't help but worry. When he took leave to see him off this morning, he already felt something was off. He figured there must be some trouble at work.
"Yes, Daddy hasn't rested well lately, so he's a bit tired. I'm really sorry, Tongtong. Daddy didn't keep his promise again."
Liu Yifeng felt very guilty. He had promised Tongtong this morning and wanted to take a day off to spend time with him, but he ended up breaking his promise.
"It's okay, Daddy. Like I said, if Daddy is tired, Tongtong's arms are always open for you." He spread his small arms as wide as he could, inviting Liu Yifeng into his embrace.
Seeing Tongtong's gesture, Liu Yifeng was deeply touched and smiled happily as he hugged the small, warm embrace.
"Alright, Daddy understands. I'll tell Tongtong the first thing next time. But I'm very sorry today for not keeping my promise to pick you up."
Liu Yifeng apologized to Tongtong solemnly again. He had indeed slept a bit too soundly today.
"You know, you've been too tired lately. You should rest tomorrow too," Liu Chunsheng said, seeing Liu Yifeng and Tongtong walking out hand in hand, looking very affectionate.
He also noticed Liu Yifeng's tired appearance and felt he hadn't properly seen his son lately; he even seemed to have lost some weight.
"It's fine, I might have woken up too early today, that's why I was so sleepy. As soon as Tongtong got home from school, I was fully recharged." He struck a superhero pose, showing off his energy.
Liu Chunsheng and Tongtong were relieved to see Liu Yifeng like this.
"I answered your phone. I saw Su Wanru kept calling, and figured it must be important, so I picked up. I only found out it was about picking up Tongtong. It's such a big matter, why didn't you tell me before you slept? I could have helped pick him up."
Liu Chunsheng explained why he answered the phone, with a hint of reproach, but also a trace of concern in his tone.
Liu Yifeng felt like he hadn't eaten at home in ages. This feeling of warmth and togetherness was truly a rare experience.
As Friday was fast approaching, Liu Yifeng didn't seem inclined to go for the recording today.
"It's five o'clock already, aren't you going?" Lu Fei saw that Liu Yifeng didn't seem to be making any move to leave, assuming he might have forgotten.
Lu Fei thought this was the last episode and hoped he would express something to advise those celebrities against being so impulsive, which would save him trouble.
"I'm not going," Liu Yifeng stated directly. It seemed he was still quite bothered by the director's visit earlier.
"What? You're not going? What's going on? Why aren't you going? The show is live today, did you inform them in advance that you wouldn't be there?"
Lu Fei's barrage of questions left Liu Yifeng bewildered.
"Are you a spy sent by the production team? I'm not going, and you're not concerned about me, but you're concerned about the production team?"
Lu Fei wasn't in the mood to chat. "No, you know that's not what I meant. Did you tell the production team? If you didn't, I can go tell them, so they don't accuse us of being prima donnas or something."
Upon hearing Liu Yifeng's words, he immediately checked the news on his phone. There was no announcement about "Chao Youliao" being suspended, which made him anxious.
"No need to say anything. They'll figure it out," Liu Yifeng replied calmly. Lu Fei felt something wasn't quite right.
Frowning, he tilted his head. "They'll figure it out? What's going on? What happened between you two? It looks like the production team forced you to do something you didn't like?"
"You know, so why are you asking?" Liu Yifeng really didn't want to say more. He wanted this matter to pass quietly. He knew that things could change, and the production team would surely have a solution.
"Know what? I don't know anything. What did they make you do? If that's the case, then they've breached the contract, and we must reclaim our rights. I want to see how such a decent show could have such a broken promise incident!"
Lu Fei was furious. If Liu Yifeng hadn't spoken up for them back then, he wouldn't have agreed to it.
But now, it seemed all shows were the same; they resorted to acting first and asking questions later, which made him very angry. It was a far cry from what they had said at the beginning.
"It's a long story. You'd better not know," Liu Yifeng sighed, truly impressed by Lu Fei's incessant chatter.