The longed-for village system

Chapter 417 Pengpeng's Suspicion

"Brother Chen, I'm even older than you. The only one here who's a little younger than you is your sister."

Seeing Chen Qing's depressed expression, Reba didn't care about her age. To her, she was still naturally beautiful, and besides, it was worth it to make Chen Qing depressed.

Chen Qing naturally wouldn't let himself be taken advantage of like that. After a brief moment of frustration, he started making excuses: "I'm not from your film and television industry. You're all younger than Xiao Gu, right? So according to the rules of your film and television industry, you still have to call me brother or brother-in-law. You can choose for yourselves."

Seeing how serious Chen Qing was about this, everyone clapped and laughed again. He was still young! Those of them who were middle-aged wished they could be younger.

Despite all the playful banter, the show still had to go on. But after all that commotion, Yangyang was completely relaxed, and he would occasionally come up to Chen Qing to ask if he needed any help.

Yangyang's agent outside was overjoyed to see this. She had thought that as long as her artist did not offend Chen Qing, it would be fine. She did not expect Chen Qing to be so considerate. Indeed, the more capable a person is, the better their temper is!
If things continue like this, Yangyang might be able to get Chen Qing's private number when she leaves. If they can become friends, it will be of great help to Yangyang's future career development.

Seeing Yangyang come to Chen Qing's side from time to time, she applauded in her heart. If it weren't for the fact that the live stream was being broadcast, she would have gone up to remind Yangyang to stay by Chen Qing's side for the whole time.

After the recording ended that evening, Chen Qing was about to return to his old house when Teacher He called out to him, "Little Chen, wait a minute, I have something to ask you. Our station would like to invite you to participate in the New Year's Eve Gala. I wonder if you have time?"

The people around also turned to look at Chen Qing after hearing what Teacher He said, all wanting to see if Chen Qing would accept Teacher He's invitation. However, Huang Sanshi basically had the answer in his heart: the chances of Chen Qing accepting the invitation were less than one in ten.

Chen Qing wasn't surprised to hear He Jiong's invitation. There had been a lot of news about him lately, and his popularity and buzz were quite high. If CCTV wanted to invite him, other TV stations would naturally want to invite him to their New Year's Eve galas as well.

Teacher He is his friend, and it's understandable that Hunan TV wants to take advantage of this, but he still has to refuse.

"I'm sorry, Teacher He, I can't leave during this period. A group of patients just arrived at the hospital, and more will arrive in the next few days. You know their situation. I can't leave the village until things stabilize."

Upon hearing Chen Qing's words, Teacher He knew he didn't need to say anything more, nor could he bring himself to tell Chen Qing to ignore the patients.

"Okay! That's a pity. Saving lives is more important."

"Don't feel bad. Your Hunan TV gala will still be great even without me. Xiao Gu and I will definitely watch it on time."

He can't go, but he can watch it online on his phone at home. As for whether CCTV or Hunan TV will choose him, they will choose the latter, given his relationship with Teacher He.

"Old He, don't be disappointed. Although Xiao Chen can't go to the party in person because of medical treatment, you can still have him send a few words of blessing via video link."

When Teacher Huang saw this, he proposed a compromise, which made Teacher He's eyes light up. It was indeed a good idea, or at least a way to cut costs.

“Sure, Teacher He can contact me anytime if needed.” Chen Qing nodded in agreement. “Okay, then it’s settled. We’ll contact you via video call during the event, and you and Xiao Gu can send a few words of blessing to everyone.”

Chen Qing nodded in agreement again, then told everyone once more that he was leaving the Mushroom House and returning to the old house. After washing up, he hugged Zhao Xiaogu and her husband from behind and they drifted off to sleep.

The next day, the show continued to be filmed. Dilraba took the opportunity of everyone going out to visit Zhao Xiaogu at the old house. The two chatted for a long time until the purchasing team returned before they parted ways.

After lunch, Yangyang and Reba left the Mushroom House. Although their main focus for promoting the TV series was the Mushroom House, they also had many interviews with other TV stations and short video platforms, so their schedule was still very busy for the next week or so.

Teacher He didn't stay long because of the party arrangements. He packed his luggage in the evening, said goodbye to the others, and left first. However, Teacher Huang, Peng Peng, and his sister stayed for another day and planned to go back tomorrow.

Of course, as the production crew left, Zhao Xiaogu returned to the Mushroom House from the old house. Although Sister Chen's cooking was also good, it was still a bit inferior to Teacher Huang's. The main reason was that Teacher Huang's dishes had a stronger flavor, which suited her taste as a girl from Hebei.

Sister Chen knew what Zhao Xiaogu was thinking, but now she basically didn't care about Zhao Xiaogu anymore. If Xiao Chen, with his incredible medical skills and being the child's father, thought everything was fine, then she, an outsider, wouldn't say much. Of course, if she were cooking, she would still make something light.

"Brother Chen, I heard that Teacher He invited you to participate in Hunan TV's New Year's Eve Gala? Didn't you accept?" Zhao Xiaogu asked Chen Qing while eating the food made by Teacher Huang.

"Yes! Actually, besides Teacher He's invitation, Director Chen Yimou also called me, but I declined."

The group was speechless upon hearing Chen Qing's words; they hadn't expected him to refuse the invitation from the central government.

Hunan TV is very powerful, and its ratings are much better than other local TV stations. Sometimes it can even surpass CCTV's ratings. But these two things are completely different.

CCTV is a state-owned television station, and countless celebrities in the industry would do anything to appear on such a stage. Unexpectedly, Chen Qing didn't refuse at all. If those people knew, they would be so jealous they would be devastated.

"Brother Chen, that's CCTV's stage! And it's such a grand stage like the New Year's Eve Gala, how could you refuse?" Peng Peng said, her jealousy about to explode.

Chen Qing naturally knew what they were thinking, and said with a smile, "There's no way around it, we can't leave! Since the reservation system has been opened, I have to take responsibility for it. Of course, I don't deny that part of it is because I don't want to leave the village."

"Why?"

He might have believed before that Brother Chen was hurt by a woman or stayed in the village for the sake of the villagers, but now he no longer believes those reasons.

If Xiao Chen had Xiao Gu Jie, his heartbreak would have been healed long ago. But for the sake of the villagers, he couldn't leave. Everyone can see how the village has developed now. Even if Xiao Chen frequently leaves the village, as long as he remains here, it won't have any impact. So there must be other reasons why Xiao Chen is unwilling to leave the village.

(End of this chapter)