After Being Blackened All Over the Internet, I Ruled the Military Variety Shows-Chapter 89 Mischievous

Qi Chen and his team caught up again, but the adorable and familiar black-and-white cub was nowhere in sight, and the camera couldn’t move away in time.

Before the audience could express their confusion, they heard about the missing cub. They were too anxious to blame Jiang Lingxi for being cold-hearted and almost couldn’t resist smashing their keyboards in frustration.

It wasn’t until Jiang Lingxi mentioned she could guess where the cub might be that someone questioned her boasting. However, most people were like Qi Chen at that moment.

—"Then what are we waiting for? Go find it quickly!"

—"The cub is still so small, what if it encounters danger again?"

—"Please don’t jinx it; the cub will surely be safe."

—"If I weren’t so far away, I’d go and help search too. God bless, may the cub be alright!"

Jiang Lingxi initially wanted to share her suspected location, but since she wasn’t entirely sure, she decided to turn back and search personally.

So everyone retraced their steps.

No one spoke on the way; they didn’t feel like talking until they could find the missing cub safe and sound.

When they arrived near the river Qi Chen had mentioned earlier, everyone present, along with the livestream viewers, focused their gaze solely on Jiang Lingxi.

If Jiang Lingxi understood the language of the internet, she could describe herself as "the hope of the whole village" right now.

Qi Chen swallowed hard. Throughout the back-and-forth, he hadn’t even taken a sip of water, not wanting to waste even a moment. With a hoarse voice, he asked, "Where?"

Under the gaze of everyone, Jiang Lingxi’s eyes scanned the few hundred-year-old trees not far from the river. Shortly, she locked onto one of them and walked over.

The others quickly followed.

Following, Jiang Kaiyuan noticed some familiar traces—a small area left from when they previously stopped to rest, light a fire, and cook.

Further ahead was a tree so large it would take two people to hug it, with a tree hole at its base, no more than thirty centimeters in diameter.

Upon seeing the tree hole, Jiang Kaiyuan felt a stir in his heart.

Jiang Lingxi had already reached the tree hole.

She reached out, brushing aside the grass and vines covering the opening, and looked inside. Only after seeing the small creature curled up at the bottom, hugging its paws and sleeping soundly, did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, it was here.

Previously, when resting here, the little one had sneaked into the tree hole as if wanting to play hide-and-seek with her.

After Jiang Lingxi found it once, the little one seemed to have gotten addicted and hid in the same place several more times.

After all, one should not expect too much intelligence from a young animal.

So upon learning that the cub had gone missing near the river, Jiang Lingxi first thought of what must be the most familiar tree hole for the little one.

The facts proved her guess correct.

The grass and vines at the tree hole’s entrance were pushed aside, and the uncovered sunlight instantly shone into the hole.

The little one squirmed under the sunlight, opening its eyes to look up.

Seeing the familiar human standing at the tree hole, it immediately got up and grasped the tree hole’s edge to climb up.

When Jiang Kaiyuan leaned over to look into the tree hole beside Jiang Lingxi, he saw the little one just about to crawl out.

Delighted, he exclaimed, "It’s really here!"

This shout immediately drew the others over.

Jiang Lingxi picked up the little one stretching its paws toward her. Matching the pure reliance in the slightly sleepy eyes, a trace of incredible tenderness swept over her heart.

If it were in her previous life, she would have ordered a separate Beast Garden built for such a little one, even sending someone to find its peers to accompany it.

But for now, she could only tug at the little one’s fluffy ears, saying, "Naughty!"

Qi Chen pushed aside Jiang Kaiyuan and squeezed over, still somewhat incredulous until he saw the cub in Jiang Lingxi’s arms.

"Miss Jiang, how did you know the cub would come to this place?"

Jiang Lingxi deftly smoothed the fur of the little one in her arms while answering Qi Chen’s question: "It probably didn’t find me when it woke up, thought I was playing hide-and-seek, and coincidentally, there’s a familiar tree hole here. So I guessed this is the most likely place it would choose."

Qi Chen had watched the livestream while traveling and indeed saw the interaction between Jiang Lingxi and the cub at this tree hole but never thought the cub would stealthily leave and hide itself there.

Now, seeing the little one awake and as dependent and trusting on Miss Jiang as in the livestream, he couldn’t help but blurt out, "How about—"

He stopped himself just in time from continuing.

If it weren’t for this young lady having her work, with such affinity for animals, he would have wanted her to join his department.

However, knowing it wasn’t feasible, he left it at that.

The cub being found successfully, the guests and viewers were ecstatic and relieved but soon shifted to feeling disheartened.

Because what followed was another imminent farewell.

Jiang Lingxi looked over at Xu Zhao standing behind Jiang Kaiyuan.

Xu Zhao quickly understood her implied question.

Is it really not possible to keep the panda cub privately?

Xu Zhao shook his head with a wry smile; this really can’t be done!

"Miss Jiang," noticing the cub clinging tightly to Jiang Lingxi’s arm, Qi Chen felt like a villain forcibly separating a loving mother and child, "please hand the cub back to me. I assure you, we will closely monitor it henceforth. Incidents like today will never happen again."

Jiang Lingxi hadn’t responded when Jiang Kaiyuan couldn’t help but snort: "When we were together with the cub, we never lost it once. Yet, with you, it didn’t take long for the cub to go missing. If Xixi hadn’t known the cub well enough, finding it might still be uncertain."

Qi Chen felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

His student took a step forward to speak in defense, but Qi Chen stopped him and apologized again, "I am very sorry."

Seeing Qi Chen’s disheveled hair and chapped lips, Jiang Kaiyuan thought better of saying anything further.

On learning the cub was missing, Qi Chen was rightly anxious and flustered; the person before him only felt more anxious.

Especially at their age!

He stepped back, indicating he wouldn’t pursue it further.

Probably noticing the surrounding strangers, Jiang Lingxi tried to pry the little one’s paws off her arm, finding it unyielding for the moment. She stroked its fur while suggesting: "Professor Qi, how about this: you can join us while we film the program. When the cub becomes familiar with you, you can take it. Or, since our program is nearing its end, you can take it with you when we conclude."

Before Qi Chen could decide, the livestream viewers, reminded by her, suddenly realized.

—"Is the show ending? No, please!"

—"We haven’t had enough. Don’t end it. Keep filming!"

—"That’s a good suggestion. We can continue watching the cub. Also, strong request for the crew to keep filming!"