Chapter 107 – Film Emperor (27)

Tong Jianxu quickly wrapped up his scenes and left the Illusory Pagoda of No Regret crew.

Although the film boasted a fifty-billion investment and a star-studded cast, after filming for several months, Tong Jianxu didn’t have high hopes for it.

While Wang Chenqi’s early films, though often overly cryptic, still had a spark of inspiration, his career had gone downhill in middle age as he recycled old material from his youth. Now that he was older, he was trying to sell nostalgia, but no one was buying it anymore.

He was now relying on a cast full of popular stars as a gimmick to attract viewers. To accommodate certain celebrities who had massive followings but poor acting skills, he even altered the script—ultimately wasting the excellent screenplay by screenwriter Chai Rongjin.

But that had little to do with Tong Jianxu. After all, he was just an actor. He had acted in countless productions, and not every one of them could be high quality.

As long as he portrayed his character well, he had done his part.

Leaving the set, he felt like the air itself had become fresher.

After months of hard work, Tong Jianxu had inevitably lost a bit of weight again. But he was in better shape than last time, since this role hadn’t demanded everything from him.

Plus, during the latter half of this shoot, the two bodyguards had helped take care of the child, burning off her excess energy every day, which made her much less of a handful.

Once their employment ended and the bodyguards left, Tong Jianxu found it hard to adjust for a while.

Qian, on the other hand, adjusted quickly. After all, she was surrounded by adults and could grab anyone to play with her at will.

When Tong Jianxu was “grabbed” to play, he tried lifting her as she requested, and nearly couldn’t raise his arms afterward.

Watching the endlessly energetic child bounce around, Tong Jianxu—rare for him—took the initiative to call Zaiye.

“Boss Zai, are you free these days? Qianbao misses you. Want to come see her sometime?”

After hanging up, he dug out the arm sling he’d used for an old injury and strapped it on.

When Qian once again ran over asking him to play, Tong Jianxu showed her his arm and pitifully said, “Daddy hurt his arm. I can’t move it right now.”

Sure enough, the adorable daughter was successfully tricked. She even hugged his “injured” arm and blew on it to make it better.

Zaiye had said he was busy, but the moment he got the call, he immediately handed off his remaining work to Assistant Zhang and showed up with a big bag of snacks and drinks to visit his daughter.

“I want to play airplane!” Qian was waiting by the door and rushed forward to hug his leg the second she saw him.

Zaiye frowned. “You’re way too young for an airplane. When you grow up and get your license, maybe I’ll buy you one.”

A refusal—but not a total denial.

Tong Jianxu came out and explained, “She wants you to lift her up and run, like she’s riding a toy plane.”

Seeing that Tong Jianxu had one arm in a sling, Zaiye raised an eyebrow. Tong Jianxu lied with a straight face, “I fell during a shoot.”

Zaiye replied, “If it’s hard for you to take care of Qian, I’ll take her home for a while.”

Tong Jianxu: “Heh, it’s fine. I’ll be better soon.”

Dressed in a suit and dress shirt, Zaiye wasn’t exactly dressed for play. But after being pestered by the child, he eventually untucked his shirt, took off his watch, and lifted her up to do a perfunctory “airplane” lap.

“All done,” he said, discreetly stretching his sore arms.

Qian held out her hands. “More!”

Given that Tong Jianxu was watching, Zaiye couldn’t afford to lose face and lifted her up again.

After a few rounds, Zaiye felt like his arms were going to fall off.

This was more exhausting than lifting weights.

How had they been raising this child? She was like a solid lead weight.

He even began to suspect Tong Jianxu had secretly strapped bricks to her.

Finally, after managing to get Qian settled down, Zaiye glanced at Tong Jianxu’s arm and sneered, “Injured from filming? That’s fake, isn’t it.”

Tong Jianxu thought, Pretty sharp—figured it out.

Then he heard Zaiye declare, “You definitely hurt it playing with Qian—crushed under her.”

Tong Jianxu: “…”

The two were friends now, and that night they had dinner together. Assistant Ah Yan had prepared a lavish spread, with a bowl of nourishing soup set before each of them—including Zaiye.

Tong Jianxu and Zaiye used soup in place of wine, drinking and chatting about the child.

Tong Jianxu sighed. “Qian’s getting more and more energetic lately. Sometimes I can’t even manage her.”

Zaiye, with the air of someone who’d been through it, said, “Wait until she’s a couple years older. She’ll be even more of a handful. This is nothing.”

Tong Jianxu grew wistful. “She’s growing up so fast. It’s almost been a year.”

Zaiye: “She’s not getting taller, just rounder. What are you feeding her, pig chow? She wasn’t this chubby when I raised her.”

Tong Jianxu: “Chubby kids are cuter. And anyway, Qian’s not really fat.”

Zaiye couldn’t be bothered to argue—this guy was clearly spoiling the kid. What kind of parenting was this?

They chatted for a while, and eventually Zaiye suggested, “She’s old enough to start school. Once she’s enrolled, the teachers can handle her if you can’t.”

Tong Jianxu had already considered it but had been reluctant to part with her, so he kept putting it off.

Now that Zaiye brought it up again, he asked, “She went to school before, right? Do you have any pictures?”

“She started early. When she first went to preschool, all the other kids were crying, but she walked in on her own without a fuss,” Zaiye said as he pulled out some photos.

There weren’t many saved from that time—he’d still been in school himself and felt too awkward to take pictures specifically of the child. Most of them were enrollment photos or group shots taken by teachers during school activities and sent to the parents.

Looking at the photos, Tong Jianxu made up his mind.

It was almost September—just the right time to start school.

Since Zaiye had said Qian had been well-behaved in school, Tong Jianxu figured enrolling her would be a smooth process.

But he never expected her reaction when he finally told her she was going to school.

She suddenly flopped down on the floor and refused to get up no matter what.

“I’m not going to school.”

“I’m not going to school!”

She pouted and shouted.

Tong Jianxu hadn’t anticipated this at all. He coaxed her for ages, but she just kept repeating that she wasn’t going.

“Daddy picked a really nice kindergarten for you. There’ll be lots of other kids to play with, and fun things to do. The lunch there is really tasty, too.” Naturally, Tong Jianxu had picked the best school for his daughter.

But Qian stayed sprawled on the floor, her round belly sticking out, radiating displeasure from head to toe.

Just as he was about to try persuading her again, she rolled herself up in a blanket from the couch and kept grumbling nonsense under it.

Tong Jianxu figured his usually sweet and obedient daughter was just being momentarily rebellious. Maybe she’d change her mind the next day.

So the next morning, under the pretense of taking her out to play, he brought her near the kindergarten again, planning to try once more.

“Look, Qian, there are lots of little friends over there. Want to go play with them?”

Watching the children being sent through the gate by their parents, crying and whining, Qian realized she had been tricked.

The moment a teacher came over to greet them, Qian twisted her body and wrapped her arms around the pillar at the kindergarten entrance, crying until her cheeks flushed red—perfectly blending in with the rest of the kids.

There were too many people and too much noise at the entrance, so no one noticed Tong Jianxu, who was wearing a hat and a mask.

Tong Jianxu had asked his assistant to bring a video camera to capture Qian’s first day of school for keepsake purposes. Quietly, he dialed a video call to Zaiye, the previous caretaker of his daughter, to ask for help with the current situation.

“I brought Qian here to enroll, and she started crying like this. She refuses to go in.”

Zaiye replied, “That’s impossible. She used to go to school on her own… Maybe she doesn’t like this school?”

Tong Jianxu crouched beside the child. “Qian, do you not like this school? Daddy can find you another one you’ll like, okay?”

Qian cried so hard the baby fat on her cheeks trembled. “I don’t want to go to school again, I don’t want to go to school again!”

Then Zaiye suddenly realized something.

“She already went to kindergarten before. She’s supposed to be in primary school now,” Zaiye said.

Tong Jianxu suddenly understood. “So the reason Qian won’t go to kindergarten is because she wants to go to primary school!”

As soon as he said that, Qian’s already fading cries pitched up again. She was practically furious with these two dads and kept repeating, “I don’t want to go to school!”

She was so upset she started banging her forehead against the metal railing.

Seeing how emotional she was, Tong Jianxu didn’t dare push any further. He had no choice but to give up and take her home again.

He went online to ask other parents what it meant when a child refused to go to school, and found that most three- or four-year-olds didn’t want to go either.

It might just be because she was too young. A lot of parents suggested ignoring the tantrums and sending the kid to school anyway—after a few days of crying, they’d get used to it.

When they got home, Qian ran into the bedroom and click—locked the door.

Tong Jianxu called her name from outside, and when he didn’t hear a response, he got a little worried and unlocked it with a key.

“Qian, Daddy’s coming in.”

As he opened the door, there was a rustling sound—she darted from one side of the room to the other and dove under the covers.

Tong Jianxu walked over to the bed and said gently, “Daddy’s not saying you have to go to school now. If Qian really doesn’t want to, then it’s okay. We can wait until next year.”

“Next year I don’t want to go either!” came her voice, muffled under the blanket.

“Alright, alright, not next year either. It’s okay to start school a little later…” Tong Jianxu tried to pat her back, and as he patted the lump under the blanket, he heard the crinkling sound of plastic packaging.

Everything went quiet under the covers.

Tong Jianxu lifted the blanket and found Qian curled up underneath, holding two big bags of snacks—both already torn open. There were crumbs around her mouth and a bottle of yogurt by her side.

Tong Jianxu: “…Qian, don’t eat snacks in bed.”

Qian jumped off the bed with her snacks and yogurt and zipped over to the sofa, putting her food down and crossing her little arms in a huff.

Tong Jianxu followed. He felt like it was time to have a serious talk with his daughter and figure out why she refused to go to school.

He put an arm around her small shoulder and spoke gently. “Qian, Daddy doesn’t expect you to grow up into someone amazing, but you have to go to school. If you don’t, what will you do when you grow up?”

Qian tilted her head up. “I won’t grow up.”

Tong Jianxu froze. “Qian will stay looking like a little kid forever?”

Qian shook her head, her innocent expression paired with a sentence that was impossible to accept: “I’ll die before I grow up.”

Tong Jianxu was shaken to his core by those words. He quickly pulled her onto his lap and held her tight.

“No, you won’t die. Daddy will protect you, okay?”

“Qian, listen to me. Don’t be afraid. Daddy won’t let anything bad happen to you. Me and your other Daddy Zaiye, we’ll both protect you. You’ll grow up safe and sound this time.”

“I’m not scared,” Qian’s eyes were big and round, locked on him. “But I’ll be gone soon.”

“So I don’t want to go to school, and I don’t want to do homework either!”