Shaking his head, Jiang Bin dared not think further.
He was afraid that if he kept thinking like this, he would be unable to resist investigating how the little girl had managed over the years.
"Then it's settled, exposure, but only partial exposure."
"I'll call the photographer over in a moment to take pictures of us, and then we'll steer the conversation back. Sheng Sheng, you just react accordingly."
He had absolutely no worries about whether the little girl could keep up with his rhythm.
Jiang Bin found a blank piece of paper, wrote a few large characters on it, and held it up for the photographer to see.
-
At the village entrance.
The program team's special car sped over and stopped with a skid on a clearing at the village head.
Hu Guangxu and a few others got out of the car, supporting each other.
His gaze, filled with resentment, swept over the excited driver, remembering that he was the one who ordered the car to be driven to the village as quickly as possible.
All the words of complaint he wanted to utter were choked back into his throat.
However, he couldn't bother with that at the moment.
His eyes were glued to the phone screen, watching the livestream while hurrying towards the small courtyard where Jian Sheng and the others were.
Heaven knows how anxious he had been seeing Jiang Bin and Jian Sheng disappear from the screen for so long.
And because the two had their microphones turned off, Hu Guangxu had no idea what the situation was on their end.
He also couldn't make corresponding countermeasures.
He could only temporarily prepare two possible public relations plans.
Just as Hu Guangxu arrived at the entrance of the small courtyard with his team and was about to enter.
Suddenly, two exclamations from Jiang Bin sounded simultaneously.
One voice came from inside the small courtyard, and the other came from the livestream on his phone.
"Holy cow!"
The photographer, who had already received the notification, quickly pointed the camera at Jiang Bin, who had made the sound.
The others, who had been paying attention to the commotion, crowded around.
Even Yao Yaoyao, who had always seemed somewhat aloof, put down the cabbage she was washing and walked over after wiping the water off her hands.
"Teacher Jiang, what's wrong?" Xiao Yufeng asked.
Jiang Bin pointed at the two pieces of wood on the ground with a look of disbelief. "You guys look."
He had already guessed that the two of them were hiding in the corner, discussing Jian Sheng splitting the wood.
At this point, Jiang Bin calling them over should mean they had already discussed a solution.
But they never expected that the first thing Jiang Bin would ask them to do was to look at the two pieces of wood that Jian Sheng had split.
What were they trying to do?
Let alone them, the viewers in the livestream, who had been waiting for an explanation, also started booing.
—No way, no way, the program team isn't really going to unveil it in public and then shift all the blame onto the little girl, are they?
—No way, no way, no one actually believes that this wood, with its smooth cross-section, was split by a four-year-old girl, right?
—No way, no way, the program team isn't really going to start whitewashing, are they?
—I think the best option now would be to directly ask Jian Sheng to withdraw and find someone to take the blame.
—Agreed, this way they can quickly deflect the blame and also prevent Jian Sheng from being cyberbullied by extreme netizens. I have to say Director Hu's approach this time is really unwise.
—Is Jiang Bin's action intended to directly target Jian Sheng?
—Is there a possibility that this long period of time has been enough to destroy the evidence?
Hu Guangxu had already replaced his phone with a tablet.
Since he could see the situation from the livestream, Hu Guangxu did not go in. Instead, he sat directly on the bluestone at the entrance of the small courtyard.
He asked the assistant director for a cigarette, lit it, and watched quietly.
He also wanted to know how Jiang Bin planned to handle this matter.
In his heart, however, he felt a subtle sense of relief that he hadn't noticed himself.
Jiang Bin's performance should indicate that the little girl hadn't faked anything, right?
At this moment, unexpectedly, yet seemingly logically.
The first person to step forward and inspect was Jian Xiuhuan, Jian Sheng's cousin, who should have avoided involvement due to a potential conflict of interest.
Jian Xiuhuan picked up the wood. The logs, which had just been cut from the mountain and were still damp, clearly weighed down Jian Xiuhuan's arm.
If he wasn't faking it, then it proved that these two pieces of wood were indeed real.
And then, Jian Xiuhuan's careful inspection led to the same conclusion as Jiang Bin's.
"There are no signs of adhesion. Before Sheng Sheng split this piece of wood, it wasn't connected or fixed together with glue or anything similar."
—In this situation, shouldn't Xiuhuan stay out of it? Jian Sheng isn't in the entertainment industry, and her withdrawal hasn't been confirmed. Xiuhuan, don't get yourself involved.
—So, this is telling me that the wood was split by Jian Sheng?
—Are people nowadays so shameless about lying and faking things that they don't even bother with the basic facts?
—I'm putting it out there: if you can find any four-year-old child in this world who can split such thick wood with one axe, I'll chop off my head and give it to you to use as a ball.
Jiang Bin beckoned to the photographer and pointed to the two pieces of wood on the ground.
As the high-resolution lens zoomed in, everyone clearly saw that the cross-section of the wood had natural tree ring patterns.
There wasn't a single trace of any other adhesive!
The smooth surface in the middle, split by the axe, was polished and even, with no signs of multiple chops, proving it was split in a single strike without pauses.
The edges were naturally irregular shapes, caused by the force of the impact, proving it was split by an axe and not other tools.
Many of those who were fervently criticizing were stunned.
—This... did we perhaps accuse them wrongly?
—Not necessarily, maybe they just replaced them just now.
—But, it's not that easy to find someone on the spot who can split such a large piece of wood with one axe, is it?
—Perhaps there are people in the village who can do it, and they had that person split two pieces of wood beforehand, glued one together for Jian Sheng to pose with, and are now presenting the other one as proof.
Even under the direct close-up of the camera, most people couldn't believe that a little girl of just over four years old could possess such strength.
The viewers in the livestream, due to Jiang Bin and Jian Sheng's absence in the middle, were finding all sorts of excuses for disbelief and various conspiracy theories.
But the other guests present had personally witnessed their actions, and there was no possibility of replacement or destruction of evidence.
With Jian Xiuhuan's precedent, others also inspected them one by one.
They all reached the same conclusion.
After confirming that what they saw was the truth and not a staged performance, everyone present turned their gaze towards the little girl, who looked innocently.
Then they looked at Jian Xiuhuan, who did not appear surprised at all.
Xiao Yufeng thought about how he had gone from being half-doubting to being completely disbelieved by others, and was even forced to use his own embarrassing past to cover for the little girl. He felt like running away with the Earth overnight and escaping the solar system.