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nAlmost everyone who heard this was a little shocked.

n“Kidnapped?” asked Yu Yaoyao, “What do you mean kidnapped? I have to find him?” Yu Yaoyao took the task card and stared at it. Little Bun craned his neck from the ground to see the task card but could not reach it. Yu Yaoyao picked him up.

n“You have forty-eight hours,” said the masked man, looking at his watch, “The countdown starts NOW!” Another member stepped out of the corner wearing a mask, with him was the cameraman who started filming.

nLittle Bun looked at the card, frowning. “Mommy, dad went to another city!” he said, “you will have to take a plane.”

nThe masked man nodded. “The ticket is in the envelope,” he said, “Please pay attention to the departure time.”

nYu Yaoyao opened the envelope and pulled out the ticket to a ‘City B’ nearby. The departure time was 1:50 pm. She had to hurry, but she squealed in excitement and hugged Little Bun.

n“City B is an island, isn’t it?” she said excitedly, “Isn’t it a tourist spot? Forty-Eight hours, so we can spend a night there! Finally, I can travel for free!”

nLittle Bun bounced in her arms. “Mommy take me too! I want to go with you,” he pleaded. This response from mother and son surprised everyone. They hadn’t expected this reaction. It amazed the masked people even more.

nSince New Year was approaching, this episode was to be filmed to mark a special recording for the show ‘My Wife and I’. The filming of the episodes exploring the daily lives of a randomly chosen couple, the show had become a hit. They had come up with a unique idea, which was to select three couples and send the husbands to different cities, to emulate kidnapping. While the wives were given clues to find and rescue their husbands. It made the episode more exciting with the added suspense, while also providing the couples with a trip to a fun city.

nDirector Zhao sat in the car watching the live footage. The crew had notified the agents of both the husband and the wife to relax their respective schedule for the duration of the filming. The wives were kept in the dark, to add an element of surprise and entertainment value for the viewers.

nThe wives of the other two families had portrayed a panicked expression at the news of the kidnapping. They had immediately left for their homes to pack a bag. But Yu Yaoyao and Shen Rui were practically jumping in excitement and daydreaming about a vacation. It amused the director.

nLittle Bun, however, was worried about his father. “Mommy, will daddy be okay?” he asked, “What happens if we can’t find him on time?”

nYu Yaoyao frowned and began thinking for a moment. She glanced at the masked staff. “It will be alright, Little Bun. Your father was ‘kidnapped’ for the show. So, nothing bad will happen. It’s just for filming,” she assured Little Bun, “He might be chilling somewhere on the beach right now. Anyway, he will be much happier than he usually is because of his hectic work schedule.” She smiled at him.

nLittle Bun seemed to relax a little. What his mum said made sense, after all. “If we can’t find dad in the end, we will hunt down Uncle Zhao and settle it,” he said with a determined nod.

n“Yes, my smart baby!” she said, nodding. “Let’s go and play this thing for forty-eight hours, then find the director if we can’t find daddy, okay?”

nMeanwhile, Shen Yichong, who was in the director’s car watching the recording, smiled. Then he frowned, “Yu Yaoyao and my son haven’t been out and about in a long while. They will probably enjoy the first day and only try to find me on the next.” He seemed a little uncomfortable. “They definitely will,” he resolved.

nDirector Zhao didn’t respond. He had thought Yu Yaoyao would work herself in a frenzy when she heard about her husband’s kidnapping. He was, in fact, counting on that because it would have been funny and would add more humor to the episodes. He hadn’t expected her to brush it off so lightly and be more excited than panicky. The mother-son duo was indeed a sight to behold, plotting to hunt down the director and all.

nIt appeared that they were enjoying the disappearance of Shen Yichong. Yu Yaoyao loved Shen Yichong, but he was grumpy sometimes and strict. If he didn’t allow her to do something, Yu Yaoyao was hesitant to overstep. But now that he was gone, Yu Yaoyao felt a freedom she had never felt before. She could do anything she wanted!

n“We will book you a ticket, cub,” she assured Little Bun, “We need to ask your teacher for a few days of leave. I mean, your dad is kidnapped, and we need to save him. So, I don’t think the school will object.”

nLittle Bun nodded with a serious face, “Yes, I want to save dad.” Thus, he took leave of the classes for two days.

nThe mother and son, in their excitement, seemed to have forgotten that they were still being filmed live. On their way back home, they were huddled together discussing how they would spend the next two days. “During the day, we will eat and roam around the beaches. But at night, I want you to walk on my back to massage it. I will be too tired,” she suggested, “I know! Let’s eat lobsters too.”

n“Okay mommy,” obliged Shen Rui, “can we go swimming the next day? And I want coconut milk and barbecue! And Ice Cream!”

n“No problem. We will do everything you want!”

nZhao Yu, in the director’s car, watched the live footage and sighed. The unmovable and aloof Shen Yichong seemed to have been abandoned by the mother-son duo. He hadn’t expected it to go this way at all. He wanted to film the episodes with a bit of suspense, a rushed sense of atmosphere where the wife is anxious to meet her husband again. Sigh.

n“Mr. Shen, we need to set off too,” Zhao said, looking at Shen Yichong. The latter nodded solemnly. “Well then, we need to hurry. We don’t want them to catch us so early.”

nZhao Yu looked at him. There was no way that his wife and son were going to search for him anytime soon. The tickets given to the wives were always scheduled to be a little later, anyway. So Shen Yichong’s flight was earlier than Yu Yaoyao’s. But it seemed like there wasn’t any use for the time gap, as his wife was in no hurry to chase him across cities.

nShe will start searching for me in the final hour, he says… Zhao Yu’s mouth twitched.

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