Chapter 48

For several consecutive days, Zhang Tan followed the news about *Unlucky Bear* online.

In summary, after a bit of a stir, it was over.

For an animated series with no celebrity involvement, it was too difficult to maintain news热度 (heat).

Instead, he unintentionally saw a soft article for a bank's "entrepreneurial loan" advertisement.

Yes, it was the one he had written before.

According to Luo Ming, this soft article was posted on various major online forums, and relying on netizens' self-dissemination, the effect was quite good, with many people criticizing it.

Zhang Tan logged into a commonly used forum, and indeed, there were many people criticizing it.

"A vulgar person, tainting a beautiful love story with the stench of money."

Zhang Tan pretended not to see it, closed the forum, and thought, "Criticism is also a kind of achievement."

---

The *Unlucky Bear* project was in full swing. The project team held short meetings every morning, with each subgroup reporting their progress. Zhang Tan led the scriptwriting team, working intensively on the script, and the progress was smooth. In just three days, they had already written half of it.

The *Unlucky Bear* script was relatively easy to write. Each episode did not exceed 3 minutes, and the stories were independent. If you were good at making jokes, it would be twice as effective with half the effort.

Zhang Tan's career was officially on track, starting to show signs of improvement.

Aunt Huang heard that he was working on a big project and specially prepared a sumptuous dinner to celebrate for him.

After work, Zhang Tan bought some not-so-expensive gifts and walked to Aunt Huang's house under the night sky.

Uncle Huang was playing chess with Huang Meimei. Huang Meimei slammed the chess pieces onto the wooden board, making a loud noise, with a very strong momentum. Uncle Huang, sitting opposite her, was deep in thought.

From this, it was clear who had the upper hand.

"Zhang Tan is here, come quickly, I'll get you a cup of tea."

Uncle Huang hurriedly got up, but Huang Meimei grabbed him and said with great momentum, "Finish this game first!"

Uncle Huang tried to educate her, "Zhang Tan is here."

Huang Meimei waved at Zhang Tan, "If he's here, he's here. He's not a stranger, Zhang Tan, treat this place like your home, do as you please, don't be拘束 (restrained)."

Then she said to Uncle Huang, "Don't think of running, or admit defeat and settle the money you owe."

The two of them argued, almost damaging their father-daughter relationship over 1000 yuan.

Aunt Huang, who was cooking in the kitchen, came out with a spatula and scolded, "Are you bored? Come in and wash the vegetables!"

"Go, Dad."

Huang Meimei made Uncle Huang go.

Uncle Huang refused, with a very good reason.

"I'm sweating from the heat, I need to rest, you go."

Indeed, it made sense.

"If you don't pay, then go help Mom cook." Huang Meimei said.

That also made sense. If you don't pay, then you should put in the effort, it was reasonable.

"Our Mom?"

Uncle Huang was furious.

Huang Meimei quickly avoided him.

"My Mom, my Mom, hehehe."

Neither of them was willing to help in the kitchen. Seeing this, Zhang Tan rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen. Just as he reached the door, a loud voice came from inside, "Where is everyone?"

Then Aunt Huang came out with a spatula, scaring Zhang Tan. The greasy spatula almost touched his face, making him think of ancient torture, where a red-hot iron was pressed onto the face to brand it.

Aunt Huang was embarrassed, quickly changing her stern face to a smile, trying to be the kind and gentle Huang Principal again.

"Zhang Tan, go sit down, you don't need to help here, Old Huang, come over."

Uncle Huang: "What for?"

"Wash the vegetables! What for! Are you coming or not?!!!"

Seeing his wife about to get angry, Uncle Huang didn't dare to refuse. If he had a falling out with his daughter and then his wife, he would have no place in the family.

"Coming, coming."

Huang Meimei said to his back, "You owe me 1000 yuan, remember to write it down."

Uncle Huang muttered, "Unfilial daughter," shaking his head and sighing. With two women in the house, his status was declining.

"Zhang Tan is here?"

Huang Meimei had an idea.

"Chess?"

"Sure, do you know how to play? Want to play a game?"

"Sure." Zhang Tan said.

Huang Meimei immediately smiled and made him sit down, arranging the chess pieces for him without him having to do anything.

"Guests first, you go first." Huang Meimei said.

Zhang Tan didn't hesitate and moved a pawn forward.

"A small step forward, a big step for civilization."

Huang Meimei: →_→

She suddenly got up and left.

"Wait a moment, I need to go to the bathroom."

After coming back from the bathroom, Huang Meimei said casually, "It would be more interesting with a bet, 100 yuan per game, how about it? I heard you got a big project, you won't lose, right?"

Since she put it that way, how could Zhang Tan refuse? He agreed readily.

Two minutes later, Zhang Tan was defeated.

This was not scientific, Zhang Tan was puzzled. Although he wasn't particularly strong at chess, he wasn't bad either. But... he lost too quickly.

Huang Meimei added salt to the wound, "My dad's worst game lasted more than three minutes, you... "

Zhang Tan looked at Huang Meimei's round face and noticed that she had become even rounder since her business trip, definitely gaining weight.

Her round face reminded him of some buried memories. The girl in front of him, her greatest strength was not eating, but playing chess!

He remembered that when she was young, she had attended a special training class and was unbeatable in her school from elementary to high school.

Realizing this, Zhang Tan no longer doubted himself, regained his confidence, and took out his wallet, placing a 100-yuan note on the table, just as Huang Meimei had checkmated him, with great momentum.

Huang Meimei smiled and said, "So quick? Here, keep it, maybe you'll win the next game."

Uncle Huang happened to come out with the dishes, seeing Huang Meimei causing trouble for him and now for Zhang Tan, he exposed her sinister intentions, "Zhang Tan, don't fall for it, this girl tricked me, and I ended up losing 10 games without realizing it."

Huang Meimei was furious, "What did I trick you with? Did I trick you into losing? Isn't it just that you're not as good? We're adults, don't we have our own judgment?"

Uncle Huang was speechless and silently returned to the kitchen to continue helping, where he belonged.

"Zhang Tan, let's play again."

Zhang Tan was already on guard.

"No, no, I'm not your match, I won't play."

No matter what, Zhang Tan refused to sit down. Losing money was a small matter, but losing confidence was a big deal. Knowing he would lose, he didn't want to keep playing, as he didn't have a masochistic tendency.

Fortunately, dinner was ready, and everyone washed their hands and ate, listening to Zhang Tan introduce the *Unlucky Bear* project.

Aunt Huang was very happy for him, constantly serving him dishes.

After dinner, the task of washing dishes fell to the triumphant Huang Meimei.

Aunt Huang and Zhang Tan returned to the kindergarten. Seeing this, Uncle Huang, worried about being oppressed at home, also went for a walk in the village, leaving Huang Meimei to sigh.

At the kindergarten, as they passed through the courtyard, Zhang Tan suddenly stopped and asked Aunt Huang to go back first, saying he would take a walk in the courtyard.

Watching Aunt Huang leave, Zhang Tan wandered under a row of sycamore trees by the wall and said to a dim corner, "Come out, I've seen you."

The cicadas on the tree were chirping, and the little bugs in the corner hummed along. After a few seconds of silence, a child's voice sounded.

"Which one did you see?"

Her Sichuan accent was a real test of Zhang Tan's intelligence.

"I saw you, Bai Chunhua, what are you doing here again?"

"Go, go, go~~~"

Little Bai laughed like a goose, emerging from under the sycamore tree, and asked curiously, "Uncle, how did you know I was here?"

"Tell me what you're doing here first."

Little Bai looked up, examining the large mulberry tree beside her, and said hopefully, "I want to climb the tree."