Chapter 66

One week later, the fifth episode of the variety show *Dear Mom* aired on schedule on Saturday morning.

The day before, the show's official social media account started pre-release promotions.

@Dear Mom Season 2: The fifth episode is about to begin! The theme of this episode is: Moms and their daughters' friends. Which "good friends" are everyone looking forward to seeing on the show? Feel free to leave a comment in the section below! Let's look forward to meeting the moms and daughters! @Ning Fei @Ning Yuxuan @Qin Man @Jiang Ning'an

During the two-day recording, the production team would invite several friends of the resident guests to participate in the live broadcast.

Of course, the definition of a "friend" was decided by the production team.

The production team informed Ning Fei and Ning Yuxuan that the first day of the new episode would be recorded in their respective homes, and some visiting guest stars would be invited over as guests.

Since the theme of this episode was "Friends," the visiting guests were people Ning Fei and Ning Yuxuan knew, but their exact identities would not be revealed in advance.

Although Ning Fei had retired from acting early on, she had still made quite a few actor friends during her decade-long career in show business. Many of these people were still active in the film and television industry today, and quite a few frequently appeared on various variety shows.

Before joining *Mom*, Ning Yuxuan had very little interaction with the entertainment industry, and her friends were mostly ordinary people.

Since the production team was inviting guests, they would undoubtedly prioritize artists with high popularity, so Ning Yuxuan guessed that the visiting guests this time were probably her mother's friends.

However, she wasn't particularly concerned about who was coming.

Her focus was on the phrase "recorded at home," which meant she could sleep in again.

Receiving no reply after sending that photo to Xie Zhiyan, she tossed her phone onto the bedside table and fell asleep hugging her quilt.

At 9:30 on Saturday morning, Ning Yuxuan was awakened by her alarm clock.

She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face, put on a comfortable dress, and walked out of her bedroom to find that the production crew had already set up the cameras in the living room.

Seeing her daughter come downstairs, Ning Fei handed her a bag of soup dumplings. "Little Wang heard you like these and brought them specially for you."

Little Wang was a fresh graduate working for the director's team, specifically in charge of filming Ning Fei and Ning Yuxuan's segment. Over the past few episodes, she had gotten along quite well with them.

Ning Yuxuan took the bag and thanked Little Wang.

"You're welcome, Sister Yuxuan," Little Wang said with a smile. "Our show starts recording in fifteen minutes, so Sister Yuxuan, you can take your time eating."

Originally, Little Wang's salary as a fresh graduate wasn't high, but thanks to the soaring popularity of *Mom* Season 2, her bonus from last month had already exceeded her base salary.

While the show's massive success couldn't be attributed to any single person, Ning Yuxuan was undoubtedly the one who deserved the most credit.

Right now, the entire production crew practically wanted to treat Ning Fei and Ning Yuxuan like gods of wealth.

Ning Yuxuan ate her dumplings while listening to the staff explain today's recording schedule.

This morning and afternoon, a "guest" would come to the house respectively to participate in the recording, and their identities were temporarily confidential.

The two pairs of resident guests would broadcast separately; Jiang Ning'an and Qin Man were following the same process on their end.

At 10:00 sharp, the live stream officially began.

[It's finally broadcasting! I've waited so long; I rely entirely on this show to keep me going every week!]

[I feel like time is passing so fast, it's already the second-to-last episode. I don't want it to end!]

[Yeah! Six episodes are simply not enough. Since the show is so popular, won't the production team consider adding a few more episodes?]

As the broadcast started, after finishing their opening remarks, the staff brought out two blindfolds and had Ning Fei and Ning Yuxuan put them on.

Then, the first mysterious guest of the episode entered through the front door.

Blindfolded, Ning Yuxuan could only tell from the footsteps that it sounded like a female, or perhaps a very slender man.

"The first guest is already standing in front of both of you," the staff member said. "Next, through a small gaming segment, let's see if Teacher Ning and Yuxuan can guess this guest's identity."

The staff led the guests to Ning Fei first.

"Teacher Ning," the staff member said. "You can now touch this guest's hand and try to guess if it's a friend you know."

Ning Fei nodded, reached out, and made a handshake gesture. "Hello."

The newcomer grasped Ning Fei's hand.

Ning Fei's eyebrows twitched slightly. "A girl?"

According to the rules, the staff did not answer Ning Fei.

However, Ning Fei could feel that this hand was relatively small and the skin was quite delicate, so it should indeed be a female.

If it were a man, Ning Fei would have kept more physical distance, but knowing it was a woman, she felt the skin on the back of the other person's hand a few more times.

"The fifteen seconds are up," the staff member announced. "Teacher Ning, you can give your answer now. Do you think this person is one of the friends you know well?"

After pondering for two seconds, Ning Fei said, "Feels like a younger girl. I think it should be Xuanxuan's friend."

Staff: "Alright, we won't reveal the answer just yet. Please take a rest, Teacher Ning. Next, Yuxuan—"

The guest was led in front of Ning Yuxuan.

Trusting her mother's judgment, since the other person was a girl, Ning Yuxuan unceremoniously reached out and grabbed the person's hand, feeling both the palm and the back of the hand.

After fifteen seconds, the staff spoke up. "Alright, both guests have now touched this guest's hand. Next, each of you can ask the staff one question to further confirm the guest's identity. Teacher Ning, you go first."

After thinking for a moment, Ning Fei asked, "Is this guest Xuanxuan's friend?"

The staff gave an affirmative answer.

When it was Ning Yuxuan's turn, she asked, "Is she my college classmate?"

Staff: "Yes."

The answer was already very obvious.

The final step was for the two of them to guess who the guest actually was. Ning Yuxuan blurted out, "Tao You."

After taking off their blindfolds, both of them gave Tao You a hug.

Back in college, Tao You had visited Ning Yuxuan's home a few times, and Ning Fei also knew her daughter's good friend.

After the identity-guessing segment ended, the staff invited the three of them to sit together on the living room sofa.

The staff asked Ning Yuxuan to introduce this newly arrived guest.

"Her name is Tao You," Ning Yuxuan began. "She was my college classmate and roommate, and she's my best friend."

Tao You also greeted the viewers, appearing a bit more shy than usual in front of the camera.

After the introduction, Tao You took out a gift she had prepared in advance.

This was also one of the arrangements made by the production team; every visiting guest had to prepare a gift for the hosts.

Tao You brought a crystal ornament, which she showed to the camera before placing it in the Ning family's living room.

After presenting the gift, the staff announced the next segment.

"As Yuxuan's friend, we hope you can show the audience some of Yuxuan's lesser-known sides by inviting you here today. So the name of the next segment is—"

The staff brought up a board and showed it to the audience. Written on it was: Things Mom Doesn't Know.

The meaning was self-evident.

[I get it, this is actually a gossip/expose segment!]

[Hahahaha, the production team really knows what they're doing. They're about to expose Ning Yuxuan right in front of Teacher Ning!]

The staff explained the rules: Tao You had to share three things related to Ning Yuxuan that Ning Fei did not know about.

Moreover, these three things had to be acknowledged by both Ning Yuxuan herself and Ning Fei to pass the challenge.

Before coming to the recording, the production team had only told Tao You the general process, and she hadn't known about this segment.

Tao You looked at Ning Yuxuan for help. "Xuanxuan..."

Ning Yuxuan curved her lips and gave her an encouraging look. "It's fine, my mom's health is great, no heart condition. Go ahead and say it."

Ning Fei smiled and shook her head from the side. "You child, do you really have some big secrets hiding from me?"

Tao You silently pondered.

If there was something she knew that Ning Yuxuan's mother didn't, it definitely had to be from their college days.

However, coming up with three things all at once was indeed a bit difficult.

After thinking for a long time, Tao You started: Back in college, Xuanxuan and I once... ran off to an internet cafe and played video games for the entire night.

Before she could finish her sentence, the director had already cut the camera angle to Ning Fei and Ning Yuxuan.

Ning Fei's eyebrows raised, clearly finding the first revelation far beyond her expectations.

Meanwhile, Ning Yuxuan blinked and glanced at her mother with a somewhat guilty conscience.

[Hahahaha, Teacher Ning really didn't expect this, her expression completely changed!]

[Hahaha, Ning Yuxuan's reaction is also kind of funny. I'm too familiar with this look: every time my younger brother gets into trouble and gets caught by my mom, he makes that exact same face.]

[Speaking of which, I never thought top students from University A would go to internet cafes!]

Before the staff could push the process forward, Ning Fei couldn't help asking her daughter, "Xuanxuan, when did Youyou say this happened?"

Ning Yuxuan cleared her throat. "Freshman year..."

Back then, Tao You had introduced her to an online game that featured a 2v2 mode.

One night, the two of them were playing in the zone, getting deeply into the groove, and were just a tiny step away from reaching the highest tier of that season.

However, the school dormitories turned off the lights every night at 11:00 PM, so the two of them put their heads together and ran off to an internet cafe near the school.

Ning Yuxuan explained the whole story to Ning Fei.

Ning Fei frowned and asked, "How long is the entire night?"

Ning Yuxuan herself couldn't quite remember clearly, recalling, "It seems... from 10:00 PM until 6:00 AM the next morning."

Ning Fei: "..."

[Hahahaha, Ning Yuxuan, you're way too honest. Couldn't you have understated it a bit?!]

[I'm dying of laughter. This is the first time I've seen the gentle Teacher Ning wear such a solemn expression.]

[Teacher Ning's expression right now looks just like my mom's when she found out about my exam scores, hahaha.]

Ning Yuxuan hurriedly added, "We didn't mean to stay that late. Mostly, the dorm auntie locked the building doors at 11:00, and the two of us were afraid of getting scolded if we went back in the middle of the night, so we simply played at the internet cafe until the next morning."

Tao You chimed in weakly from the side, "And also... overnight packages at the internet cafe until the next morning were way cheaper than paying by the hour, so..."

Seeing Ning Fei's furrowed brows, Tao You quickly tried to make up for it. "But Auntie, we only went that one time, really!"

Ning Yuxuan also nodded. "Yeah, it was our first time going to an internet cafe for both of us. We only realized once we got inside that there was smoke everywhere and it was super noisy, so we never went again after that."

[Hahahaha, although it's kind of uncharitable, watching the two of them desperately explaining is really hilarious.]

[I love watching this expose segment. Keep going, keep going!]

Ning Fei remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, "Xuanxuan, if you wanted to play games, you should have brought Youyou home."