VHBF – Chapter 63 Movie King Daddy (Part 22)

Today, Yinyin was wearing brand-new clothes — a bright yellow cartoon-style one-piece dungaree outfit, along with a matching hat. The hat even had two pointy little ears, the signature look of her current favorite cartoon character.

She was in her daddy’s arms, her little head bobbing up and down as she dozed off.

Because filming was scheduled in the outskirts of Beijing, the program crew had come to pick them up as early as five in the morning, when the sky was just beginning to lighten. Normally, Yinyin slept until eight before waking up fully refreshed, and even then, she had to be dressed by Daddy while still half-asleep in his arms.

When Xie Liu saw Zhu Ji carrying his daughter out of the car, he looked over with eyes full of envy and jealousy. Stretching out his arms, he said, “Come here, little Yinyin, let Uncle hold you too.”

Yinyin instantly recognized this uncle — he was the father of the boy who always fought with her for Daddy’s lap. Yinyin was a thoughtful little one. She didn’t like other kids hugging her daddy, so naturally, Daddy wouldn’t like her being hugged by other daddies either.

So she clung tightly to her father’s neck, refusing to let go, and earnestly explained in her soft, milky voice: “Uncle, being a daddy means you can’t be so fickle. You should only hug Brother An’an. You can’t go hugging other kids, or he’ll get jealous. My daddy also—also doesn’t like it if I get hugged by other daddies. He’ll get jealous too!”

Xie Liu: “……???”

Zhu Ji’s little dumpling had completely stunned him, leaving him utterly bewildered. And this whole scene was faithfully recorded by the cameras that had been rolling since early morning.

Xie Liu turned to look at his son. After a long pause, he saw his son’s equally confused expression staring back at him. Finally, he asked, “Son, do you know what your Sister Yinyin just said?”

Xie An’an scratched his head. “……I don’t really understand.” But as the big brother, how could he admit that?

So he added seriously, “I heard that humans have a special language called ‘baby talk.’ Sister Yinyin is still so little, just a baby. It’s normal that we don’t understand her. Daddy, don’t think too much.”

Xie Liu: “……” Then why does that explanation make me even more confused???

Beside them, the cameraman was desperately trying to stifle his laughter. His shoulders were shaking so hard the camera lens quivered. Quickly forcing himself to straighten up, he hurried to follow after Movie Emperor Zhu and his daughter.

In the previous episode, the movie emperor’s little girl had drawn overwhelming attention — she had practically set the entire show on fire. It was no exaggeration to say that as long as you were on the internet, it was almost impossible not to have heard of this show, or at least of this child.

Because of that, this time the production team showed obvious favoritism. They assigned two extra cameras to Zhu Ji and his daughter, bringing the total to five — one more for backup. Meanwhile, the other father-son duos only got two cameras each. The production team was really pulling out all the stops!

And all thanks to that special two-hour-long edited video clip the production team had released on their official Weibo account during the three-day voting period. While the runtime was identical to the broadcast episodes, the content was completely different — the entire two hours were focused solely on one person: the three-year-old girl whose official name was Zhu Yinyin, nickname “Daddy’s Little Suck-up.” She had now become the nation’s darling little princess.

The moment that video was released, Yinyin’s “Mom-fans” went absolutely crazy. And they stayed crazy for three days and three nights straight. Just look at the record-breaking number of over one hundred million votes the show received on Weibo — all thanks to those devoted moms.

Even Weibo’s official account confirmed that the majority of the votes came from “mom-fans” registering under usernames like “Yinyin’s Real Mom,” “Yinyin’s Godmother,” or “Yinyin’s Aunt.” They rushed through the classic three-step process: voting, following Zhu Ji’s Weibo, and following the program’s official account.

These “moms” even launched a trending hashtag, demanding that Movie Emperor Zhu open a Weibo account for Yinyin. He didn’t need to do anything fancy — just post little updates about her now and then, so they could get their daily fix of cuteness to survive.

Thanks to the power of these mom-fans, the “Baby Daddy” show successfully survived cancellation. After debuting in the spotlight, the next episode would only air the following Saturday. Which meant — rounding up — fans had to endure a whole week without Yinyin. The only thing keeping them going was that two-hour video filled entirely with their little treasure.

The program’s editor was a true professional. With years of experience, his editing skills were sharp and his eye for content was unmatched. When the director asked for the best possible cut, he really delivered.

If you ignored the fact that the show was actually supposed to be about multiple guests, the way he cut it made it feel like a one-person showcase. And in that showcase, the star was none other than Yinyin. No matter where you clicked in those two hours, her cuteness would hit you straight in the heart.

Every mom-fan downloaded their own copy, many even paying for premium memberships just to do so. They saved the video religiously, knowing there was still an entire week before the next episode. Since they couldn’t see Yinyin in real time, rewatching the video was the only way to survive.

Thanks to that video, fan goodwill toward the program skyrocketed. They even praised the production team for finally doing something right and not wasting their votes. Since the team knew they owed all their popularity to Yinyin, they had better make sure to give her more screen time in the next episode — or else, they’d face “knife service” from the fans!

Some fans even suggested that the next episode should also release a Yinyin-exclusive cut. They were even willing to crowdfund to make it happen!

The entire production team was ecstatic. With fans this loyal, even if regular viewers dropped out, the show wouldn’t flop!

Cameras? No problem. They’d give as many as needed! One not enough? Take two. Two not enough? Use the backup as well. They would make sure viewers could absorb every single angle of Yinyin’s cuteness.

Zhang Daxi even secretly began to wonder if they should create a solo variety show just for the movie emperor’s little girl — the newly crowned national princess.

After all, everyone only wanted to watch her. Filming the other guests seemed pointless. Not filming them was unfair, but filming them meant audiences wouldn’t care. And that would only make editing a nightmare.

But now that this parent–child show had such a good start, Director Zhang really couldn’t spare the time to prepare a new program. For the time being, he could only focus on making this one shine and turn it into the flagship show of Fruit TV before considering anything else.

What Zhang Daxi didn’t know was that his hesitation today would one day leave him regretting so much that his intestines would turn green with remorse—he had let a golden nugget, a priceless treasure, be snatched away by a rival. The pain would be so great he wouldn’t even be able to breathe!

But that was in the future. For now, Zhang Daxi was still riding high and pleased with himself.

After leading the big and small guests into the villa, he pointed to the four courtyard houses and said: “There are only four courtyards here, but we have five teams of guests. Which means… one family won’t have a house and will have to pitch a tent outside and figure it out themselves.”

The dads raised their brows, exchanging wary glances. Housing was no small matter—it was one of the essentials of food, clothing, shelter, and transport. And since they’d be staying here for several days—Director planned to film multiple episodes in one go, at least four or five days—no one was willing to give in.

And they had kids with them. If they didn’t take good care of their children, the family elders back home would nag them to death.

Director Zhang noticed their reactions and said with a smile: “Don’t worry. Even though this is the countryside, there are no wild beasts—at most, there are more mosquitoes and bugs.”

Hearing that, the dads became even more worried. The kids, however, didn’t care about such things. They were just happy to meet new playmates, holding hands and whispering happily together.

Mo Yang’s face flushed red as he edged closer to little Yinyin, hesitating for a long while but still too shy to hold her hand. Before he could, Zhao Yuanyuan beat him to it. The boy’s eyes shone brightly as he looked at her: “Yinyin, c-can we be friends?”

The little dumpling nodded her head seriously. “As long as you don’t try to steal my daddy like Brother An’an, then we’re good friends!”

Four-year-old Mo Yang quickly promised, “I won’t! I don’t like clinging to people’s legs anyway. Don’t worry, Yinyin!”

Eavesdropping nearby, little Xie An’an: “……”

Can’t we let this go already?!

Zhao Yuanyuan immediately pledged the same and even eagerly sold out his own dad: “Yinyin, I won’t steal your daddy. And my daddy can be yours too! That way you’ll have one and a half daddies!”

Zhao Shunyan: “……???”

Daughter, do you even know what you’re saying????

Yang Li frowned and looked warily at Movie King Zhu. “Director, then how do you plan to assign the houses? We’re not going to do another points PK, are we?”

The director mischievously nodded with mock solemnity.

The dads’ faces instantly fell. Their mental states nearly collapsed. “No way, Director! That’s not fair! Teacher Zhu already got carried all the way by little Yinyin last episode. Totally unfair!!!”

Xie Liu crossed his arms, glancing sideways at the director. “I’m putting this on record—if we do PK again, I’ll take my kid and quit the show!”

None of the dads agreed. Last time, the director had said the first episode would be easy, just simple games. Yet they had lost miserably, losing face completely, trounced by a three-year-old. Absolutely not again!

And no way were they going to sleep out on the street!

After enjoying their reactions enough, the director finally said reluctantly: “Then how about drawing lots? It’ll be all up to luck.”

Apart from Zhu Ji, who didn’t care either way, the dads all agreed unanimously. They asked if it would be the dads or the kids drawing.

Xie Liu cast a wary glance at the little dumpling in Movie King Zhu’s arms. She blinked her big, cute eyes right back at him. He immediately declared: “Of course the dads draw! Kids listen to their dads!”

No way could they let Zhu Ji’s daughter draw—this little one was way too lucky. She won at everything!

But to be fair, they proposed that Teacher Zhu should draw first.

Zhu Ji reached into the box, pulled out a slip, glanced at it silently, and then tossed it into the trash can.

“What did Teacher Zhu draw? At least let us see!”

The director cut him off: “Stop talking. Draw your lots. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Xie Liu drew second. He shouted in delight, jumped three times in excitement, and slapped the slip in front of the director. “Yes! A courtyard house for me!”

Yang Li: “Courtyard, thank you.”

Zhao Shunyan: “Courtyard, thank you.”

Mo Qi: “Courtyard, thank you.”

Everyone turned to look at Movie King Zhu. He held the dumpling calmly, as if he wasn’t the unlucky one who had drawn nothing at all.

Everyone: “……”

lmost fooled us!

The little dumpling frowned a bit. Since her daddy hadn’t drawn a house, Uncle Director gave them a tent. They’d have to sleep outside tonight.

Carrying her little backpack while her daddy dragged two big suitcases, the father and daughter watched as the other dads led their kids and luggage into the big houses. Yinyin felt a little envious, but after a moment she thought—so long as she had Daddy with her, it didn’t matter if they didn’t have a house!

She tugged on Daddy’s clothes with her chubby little paw and comforted him: “Daddy, don’t be sad. Yinyin will definitely earn you a big house to live in someday!”

Later, during editing, the post-production team even added a meme caption for her: “Boss Yin: Set a small goal first—earn Daddy a big house!”

When she really did earn a super luxurious villa later, the audience went: “666666!!!!”

But for now, the father and daughter were pitiful little things with nowhere to live, dragging their luggage along until the show gave them an open space to pitch their tent.

Fortunately, Zhu Ji was very capable. In no time, he had set up the tent—a pink one, no less, printed all over with colorful candies. The little dumpling loved it instantly.

It was her first time seeing such a thing. Once it was set up, she moved their stuff inside—it was just like a little house. The sheltered little dumpling cupped her chubby cheeks, gazing up in awe: “Daddy is amazing! He built a whole house all by himself!”

When the other dads saw this scene on the director’s monitor, they couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. Sure, it was decided by drawing lots, but somehow it felt like they had stolen the child’s house from her.

After the house came food. The director had arranged for them to stay here five days, giving each team only 100 yuan. No food, no supplies—everything had to be figured out themselves.

They could cooperate or sabotage each other as they liked. But the moment they accepted help from another, it counted as forfeiting—no ranking at the end, no rewards. The prize would instead go to the guest who performed the best at survival.

The benefit of having a house was that each courtyard provided one meal a day. Only one, but at least enough so no one would starve completely. But since Zhu Ji and his daughter were outside with no house, they didn’t even get that—they were on their own, basically free-range.

The guests all returned to their territories, while the director led the crew back to the control area.

An assistant, staring nervously at the live feed on the computer, said: “Director, isn’t this too cruel? Aren’t you worried that once this episode airs, little Yinyin’s army of mama-fans will tear you to shreds?”

After all, the Movie King’s daughter was so sweet and adorable. She called everyone she met “Brother” or “Sister,” and if they were older, “Uncle” or “Auntie.” She melted hearts everywhere she went. By the end of the first episode, the entire production team was calling her affectionately “Little Yin” or “Yinyin” online.

Zhang Daxi only smiled mysteriously. “One must endure hardship to rise above others. If it’s too easy, how can it be called a reality show?”

Later, the assistant would finally understand exactly what the director had meant by that phrase— The Movie King’s little girl was absolutely extraordinary!