Chapter 44 Part 2

—But we haven't had enough of our wife!

—Stream on another phone, there are so many of you, I don't believe you don't have another phone!

—Don't end it!!!

"Six percent left," Jiang Xun announced. "It could shut down at any moment."

Miao Jiayan was over there watching Brother Di's expression. Feeling that he wasn't very satisfied, he proactively said, "Let's do it again."

Brother Di didn't speak. Jiang Xun took the opportunity to call out, "Miao'er."

Miao Jiayan looked over, asking "What's wrong?" with his eyes.

"Say goodbye to everyone, the battery's almost dead," Jiang Xun said.

Miao Jiayan immediately waved his hand, about to say "bye-bye," but on second thought, he came over. He had been barefoot for the photoshoot, and now he ran over barefoot, took the phone, flipped the camera, and said to everyone, "I've been shooting all day, so I couldn't chat with you all."

The public chat exploded, everyone asking him to talk more.

Miao Jiayan said in a small voice, "Brother Di has a bad temper. I have to focus on the shoot today."

He added, "I'll chat with you all next time."

The chat asked when "next time" would be, since he rarely streamed.

Miao Jiayan did feel a little guilty. He said, "Next week, maybe. I'll definitely stream next week and talk with everyone then."

Miao Jiayan kept talking with them until the phone shut down, saying "goodbye" many times. He always had a good temper, would read whatever was in the chat seriously, and had a very peaceful attitude.

They really hadn't brought a power bank this time. Jiang Xun took a charger from his bag, set the phone aside to charge, and asked Miao Jiayan, "How much longer do we have to shoot?"

Miao Jiayan looked back at Brother Di and said quietly, "I don't know, probably a while longer."

Whether Brother Di was satisfied with the shots depended entirely on his mood. It was possible that one day he'd hate them no matter how he looked at them, and the next day he'd suddenly think they were perfect.

Today was clearly a day Brother Di was dissatisfied. After shooting for a while longer, he said to Miao Jiayan, "No more shooting. Let's go eat."

Miao Jiayan said, "Okay," and then asked, "Are we coming back here tomorrow?"

"We'll see," Brother Di hadn't decided yet. "Get to bed early tonight."

Even if he hadn't said it, Miao Jiayan would have gone to bed early. When shooting for Brother Di, he would never dare to stay up late. If his condition wasn't good, Brother Di would scold him.

Chen Guangda only came back three days later. Chen Chao had already packed his things and planned to leave the day after tomorrow, but Chen Guangda wouldn't let him, saying he missed his son.

"Then you can just come with me," Chen Chao said.

"It's just that I can't leave, otherwise I would go with you." Chen Guangda's company had gotten bigger now, and he had more things to deal with, unlike the freedom he had before.

Chen Chao had already booked his ticket. He said, "I'll be back for winter break."

"Stay two more days!" Chen Guangda lay down on his lap and refused to move. "Keep your dad company!"

Chen Chao could only cancel the ticket. He asked his dad, "Then what day should I book it for?"

"Book it for next week." Chen Guangda wasn't being too unreasonable. "Dad is free all this week, I've cleared my schedule. You can keep me company for a week."

Chen Chao said, "Fine."

Miao Jiayan ended up shooting at Brother Di's place for five days straight. The moment Brother Di gave the word that he could leave, Miao Jiayan immediately booked a ticket for that same night. He wouldn't stay a single night longer, afraid he would change his mind.

Jiang Xun stayed in the city, and Miao Jiayan returned home by himself.

He had thought Chen Chao would surely be gone already, but when he got back, he saw Chen Chao in their yard, holding a basin and washing persimmons with well water.

For a moment, Miao Jiayan stood dazed at the doorway. Chen Chao heard the sound, looked over, and asked, "You're back?"

"Brother Chao, you haven't left yet," Miao Jiayan walked in, took off his backpack, and placed it on the stone table. "I thought you were already gone."

"Not yet." Chen Chao poured out the water in the basin. Miao Jiayan went over to help him pour it, and Chen Chao said, "Leaving next week."

"That's great," Miao Jiayan said with a smile. "Grandma Chen must be very happy."

Chen Chao asked him, "Finished with work?"

"The shoot for Brother Di is done. There are others later, but we haven't scheduled them yet," Miao Jiayan said.

"Is he still so fierce now?" Chen Chao asked again.

Miao Jiayan quickly shook his head and said with a laugh, "Not fierce anymore."

"If he's fierce to you, just go on strike. Stop shooting," Chen Chao told him.

Miao Jiayan didn't dare to say "Okay." It seemed he didn't really know how to get angry, nor could he learn.

It had been a long time since the Miao and Chen families were this lively, with both grandsons at home, and so many young people visiting.

They were in and out every day, filming this and that. Xiao Kai had many ideas and wanted to film everything he saw, planning to edit it all when he got back. His filming was going smoothly, except the sound equipment broke midway through, so he couldn't record audio. He had to wait two days for new equipment to arrive.

Grandpa Chen took them out to sea. The small boat couldn't fit too many people, so he could only take a few one day and a few more the next. Among the guys, there were some from coastal provinces who were no strangers to the sea and could even help Grandpa Chen pull in the nets.

Chen Chao and Miao Jiayan sat at the very edge. The pulled-in fishing nets and seafood were tossed over. Although Chen Chao didn't show it on his face, Miao Jiayan still smiled and pushed them forward a bit.

"Have you gotten used to eating seafood over there?" Miao Jiayan asked him.

Chen Chao said with a deadpan expression, "Not at all."

Miao Jiayan watched him disgustedly kick away a flounder that had jumped over to their side. He found it a little funny but didn't dare to laugh out loud.

When they got back to clean the fishing nets, Miao Jiayan even started a short livestream.

He wore a big sun hat and squatted down to show his viewers the catch from the net. People from inland were always curious about going to sea and found it very interesting.

Miao Jiayan squatted by the bucket where Grandpa Chen was putting the catch, scooping out fish to show them and explaining what kind of fish they were and the best way to cook them.

"See how big this shrimp is?" Miao Jiayan lifted a shrimp out of the bucket, holding it by its antennae for them to see. "I'm holding the phone, so I can't show you for comparison, but it's as long as my hand."

"This is a sea bream. It's delicious, very fresh. It's a bit different from freshwater carp."

"This is a needlefish. See how its mouth is like a needle, long and sharp. I was bitten by one when I was little, it hurt a lot."

Miao Jiayan had gone out to sea with Grandpa Chen quite a few times growing up, so he knew a lot about seafood. He could pick up any random fish and talk about it for ages.

Chen Chao came over and handed him a bottle of water. Seeing his hands were full, he opened it for him directly. His hand was captured by the camera as Miao Jiayan took it and had a sip.

"Are you asking about this?" Miao Jiayan picked up a tangled mess of stuff on the rope. "This is what you usually call an oyster. We call it 'hailizi'. It grows attached to things, it doesn't swim in the sea."

He wasn't looking at the chat while he spoke. When he looked again, he saw the chat was filled with "Look at Brother Xun."

Miao Jiayan said blankly, "Brother Xun isn't here."

Chen Chao was sitting under the canopy drinking water, watching his grandpa sort the fishing nets. He heard Miao Jiayan squatting over there and saying in a small voice, "That's Brother Chao, not Brother Xun."

The chat started spamming, "Then let's see Brother Chao."

Miao Jiayan's voice got even smaller. He kept the camera aimed firmly at the bucket and said, "You guys should just look at the fish. You can't look at Brother Chao."

The screen was a flood of "Let's see him." With his back to everyone, Miao Jiayan whispered, "If you don't look at the fish, I'm going to end the stream... Brother Chao won't let you see."

Chen Guangda, having woken up from a nap, stepped out of the small building. He ambled over to Miao Jiayan first and asked, "What are you filming, Miao'er?"

Miao Jiayan looked up at him and said, "Uncle Chen, I'm livestreaming."

"Oh, a livestream?" Chen Guangda also squatted down and looked at his screen. "Let me see."

Miao Jiayan tilted the phone towards him to let him see.

"'Look at Uncle Chen,'" Chen Guangda read aloud, asking with a smile, "Are they asking to see me?"

"Yes, they want to see whoever is around," Miao Jiayan said.

"Uncle Chen is quite handsome," Chen Guangda said to himself. "But Uncle Chen isn't going on camera. You guys should just look at the fish."

After saying that, Chen Guangda stood up, ambled over to his dad to watch the nets for a bit, and finally ambled over to sit next to his son.

"This kind of life is pretty good, isn't it?" Chen Guangda asked his son.

Chen Chao grunted in agreement.

Chen Guangda stretched his arms comfortably and said, "This is how I lived when I was a kid."

"No need to show off," Chen Chao said. "I lived like this in junior high too."

The mention of junior high always made Chen Guangda feel a bit uneasy. He felt he had been truly heartless back then, just dumping his kid here and not caring for him. But at the time, there was really no other way; the pressure had been too great.

While the two of them were chatting here, Miao Jiayan had finished talking about all the fish and was planning to end the stream.

Today's stream was just a short, impromptu one. It didn't count as the one he'd promised where he would chat with them.

"I'm logging off," Miao Jiayan said as he stood up. It was really hot being out in the sun wearing long sleeves and pants. "I'll find time to chat with you guys in the evening these next two days. It's really hot during the day."

The chat was again saying, "Look at Brother Chao."

Miao Jiayan let out a soft "shush," shaking his head and saying, "You can't."

He added, "Let's not disturb him."

As he said this, he glanced back at Chen Chao and found that Chen Chao was looking at him, so he quickly averted his gaze.