Seeing the child nod, Tang Can was extremely satisfied with his declaration.
It was not that he could not have made the oath sound more beautiful, but across two lifetimes he had thoroughly understood one truth—he could let anyone suffer except himself. The one thing most deserving of kindness was his one and only mouth.
He felt sorry for the little one, but the child ranked second. Rounded up, that meant Tang Can was the best person in the world to everyone except himself. No need to draw a pie in the sky; this one was already perfectly round.
After father and son finished eating, police officers from the nearby station arrived.
The normal process was for the police to verify where the car had gone missing, then take a statement, check surveillance footage, look for clues, and have the owner wait for further developments.
But Tang Can’s case was unusual. He knew exactly who had stolen the car: the driver, who also happened to be a former relative with no blood relation to him.
The book had clearly stated that Tang Can’s adoptive father and eldest uncle were a pair of gambling addicts. His adoptive father had gambled himself to death, while Uncle Tang was still charging bravely ahead.
Later in the plot, the original host repeatedly disgraced himself on the parenting show and was eventually thrown into prison. Uncle Tang and his son then joined forces and swallowed both the car and the house clean.
Combining that with the original host’s memories, Tang Can had not seen the car for at least two months. In all likelihood, Uncle Tang had already used it to settle gambling debts.
The relative was not related by blood, the driver took money without showing up for work, and the Maybach disappeared without warning. Tang Can had every reason in the world to call the police and have the thief arrested.
And Tang Can did not merely want the car thief caught. He wanted back every cent he had transferred over the past three years.
Fortunately, the Tang family had been so confident that the original host was a brainless ATM that, from Grandma Tang to Uncle Tang to the cousin who had only recently started working as his manager, all three had known only how to collect money every month. Not one of them had ever thought to sign an employment contract.
That made the current situation remarkably simple. As long as Tang Can asserted that the money had been loans, those people had an obligation to repay every cent.
The scattered transfers over three years added up to nearly a million. Add the more than five million extracted by mortgaging the villa, and the amount involved was enormous.
However, that was an economic dispute and did not fall under police jurisdiction. The officer told him he could file a civil claim online. Once judgment was entered, the balances in the defendants’ accounts could be frozen and directly deducted. If they still refused to comply, they could face further criminal penalties.
With serious money at stake, Tang Can was almost moved to tears as he saw the police officers out. Then he picked up his phone and began following the steps the officer had explained.
The process was much simpler than he had expected. The troublesome part was that three years had produced far too many old transactions, and the electronic receipt for every single transfer had to be organized and uploaded.
But when he considered that every electronic receipt could bring twenty or thirty thousand back into his pocket, Tang Can was ready to tap the screen until sparks flew from his fingers.
Throughout the entire process, the child remained curled into one corner of the sofa, acting as a breathing ornament while silently watching Bad Daddy’s every move. An occasional dark glint flashed through those large, lifeless eyes.
One moving and one still, father and son passed three remarkably harmonious hours before the production staff finally arrived.
The person who came was none other than the intern who had been communicating with Tang Can online all along—the same intern who had answered his voice call during the trial broadcast.
Director Wei Kai naturally was not going to make this inconvenient trip himself, so he simply sent the tactless intern. If that intern had not allowed Tang Can to introduce the “stolen car” excuse right before the broadcast ended, they could have pushed the scandal they had manufactured for Tang Can even harder.
Of course, Wei Kai did not trust the intern to come alone. He also sent an experienced camera operator with her to control the situation.
Although almost no one online believed Tang Can’s car had truly been stolen, if by some chance it had, that would interfere with their plan to use Tang Can’s negative trending topic to warm up the audience for the show.
So there was no chance they would continue livestreaming. Conveniently, today’s stated reason had only been a temporary trial broadcast, so stopping at any time was perfectly reasonable.
On top of that, Wei Kai deliberately made the two of them arrive late enough to miss the police. Even if they ultimately recorded proof, they would not actually air it. But if, as everyone hoped, Tang Can truly had made a false police report, they would release that immediately and keep stirring the scandal.
Faced with a camera lens overflowing with malicious intent, Tang Can still smiled brilliantly. The seasoned cameraman, seeing him for the first time, actually froze.
The intern walking in front was equally shocked: Hadn’t everyone said Tang Can married some rich old toad?! How could he possibly have produced such a gorgeous child??
What happened to ugly genes breeding true!??
On closer inspection, the child’s good looks had not come entirely from Tang Can. Those huge, round gray-blue eyes were obviously the result of mixed ancestry…
The intern had actually met Tang Can once before. At the time, she had thought he was certainly good-looking, but his whole manner had been like some tacky delinquent youth: he could neither stand nor sit properly, and the way he looked at people, combined with his undisguised expressions, might as well have had “You’re just an intern and you think you’re worthy of interviewing me?” carved across his face.
The intern had been angry but unable to say anything. Inwardly, though, she had cursed him plenty, convinced that appearing on a reality show would be a dead end for Tang Can and sincerely looking forward to watching him crash and burn.
But this time, Tang Can’s entire energy was visibly different. It was as though his whole person had lit up. With the little wooden-doll toddler sitting beside him, the contrast made Tang Can’s shifting gaze and every small movement seem especially vivid and alive.
In reality, Tang Can had just finished dealing with the money-recovery procedures. Excitement had sent his blood circulating faster, adding a little color to his pale face. Even though he was excessively thin, merely revealing seventy or eighty percent of his extraordinary beauty was enough to make him dazzling.
The intern’s eyes could barely keep up. She looked at the mixed-race child’s exquisitely carved little face, then at Tang Can’s top-tier divine features. Forget her earlier resentment—she nearly forgot the interview questions she had spent the entire journey memorizing.
It was not until they walked out of the villa that the intern finally seemed to wake from a dream and exclaimed, “He’s so fucking good-looking…”
After recovering for a moment, the intern looked at the frowning man beside her. “Brother Guo, can we really not air the pre-interview footage?”
The man silently shook his head. The trending topic accusing Tang Can of being late to the pre-interview and then lying about it, amplified by Tang Yichen’s enormous popularity with the general public, had already climbed to number one on the entertainment chart.
There was no way the director would give up free traffic from that much attention. At most, Brother Guo could suggest adding this perfectly ordinary but shockingly beautiful pre-interview footage to the edited episode.
But by the time the edited version went online, the moment would be long gone. Rumors took one sentence to spread and a marathon to correct. Even if the final edit proved Tang Can really had missed the trial pre-interview because his car was stolen, the label of arrogant diva would already have been cemented onto him. Removing it afterward would be anything but easy.
Hearing even a veteran like Brother Guo say that, the intern knew she had even less authority to object. Still, she had studied journalism. Before all her sharp edges had been worn smooth, she had already come face-to-face with an industry where profit came first and black could be turned into white. It was hard not to feel depressed.
Especially when she opened the trending topic and saw the foul comment section underneath:
【If you ask me, Wei Kai should stop serving this living ancestor. The number-one point of a parenting show is cute kids. Who wants to scorch their eyes watching Tang Can drag around some hideous little toad?】
【Didn’t he say his car was stolen? Why has there been zero follow-up even now? Don’t tell me it really was just an excuse. The production team is seriously letting him skip work whenever he feels like it?】
【Tang Can is incredible. As expected of a man who latched onto some rich old toad. [covers mouth] Even going on a variety show, he dares be this casual~】
【How dare you! What rich old toad? That’s a powerful golden toad! [dog head]】
【I’m dying. Can the Madam of the Golden Toad even be called a liar? That’s called acting under imperial decree! Otherwise why hasn’t the production team dared let out so much as a fart even now?】
At the same time, Tang Can logged into Weibo and posted the notice from Yun City police confirming that an administrative case had been opened.
The instant he hit send, his phone popped up with a notification: one hundred thousand had been deposited into his account.
Before Tang Can could erupt with joy, his ringtone went off. It was the steward responsible for transferring his monthly allowance—
“Mr. Tang, you must understand your own worth. Do not imagine that taking the child onto a television program entitles you to seek more. Remember every relevant clause in the agreement. While appearing on the program, you absolutely must not do anything that involves the Huo family or damages its reputation…”
The middle-aged man’s voice was cold and deep. Read on paper, it would have been merely a stern warning, but his tone overflowed with undisguised arrogance and contempt.
Tang Can was so delighted by receiving his hundred-thousand salary ahead of time that every sneer and insult sounded as melodious as a nightingale. That did not mean he would let someone use the opportunity to launch a personal attack straight into his face.
Holding down the corners of his mouth before they could fly all the way to his ears, Tang Can asked with complete sincerity, “Did you drink an enema? Why does shit come out the second you open your mouth?”
