Chapter Fourteen: The Secret Chamber

About half an hour later, two cars stopped in front of a detached building in a small town.

“We’re here?” Xiao Siqi looked around in puzzlement and asked Chen Min.

“For now, yes,” Chen Min smiled and explained. “The place we’re headed to this time is a mountain village several dozen kilometers away from this town. Since the five families are arriving at different times, we’re resting here temporarily. Once everyone has gathered, we’ll set off together for the destination.”

“Alright,” Xiao Siqi shrugged indifferently. “Should we get our luggage out?”

“No need. We’ll use the same car later, so just leave your luggage in it—can’t lose it there. We’ve arranged rest rooms for you inside. Sitting in the car for so long isn’t comfortable; let’s go in and relax,” Chen Min said, leading Xiao Siqi and his son toward the building’s main entrance.

The house was a common brick-and-tile structure typical of small towns, single-story with high ceilings. It didn’t look large from the outside, but inside it had quite a few rooms.

Chen Min brought them to one of the rooms and pointed at the sofa in the center. “You rest here for now. I still have some preparations to make, so I won’t keep you company. I’ll call you when it’s time to leave.” With that, Chen Min closed the door behind her and left.

Xiao Siqi flopped onto the sofa nonchalantly, stretched comfortably, and beckoned to Xiao Yao. “Ba Yi, come sit here.”

Xiao Yao found the room’s arrangement somewhat odd. It wasn’t strange for a small town to have such a building, but having so many small rooms inside was unusual. The walls were plain white, and the floor was wooden. For a resting room, having decorative paintings on the walls was understandable, but besides the sofa, there were tables, chairs, and a tea table. In one corner, several wooden guitars were displayed. This was clearly a carefully arranged setup. But was this level of detail really necessary for just a resting place?

Curious, Xiao Yao walked around the four walls, tapping each one. He discerned that two walls were brick, while the other two were wooden boards painted white. A theory formed in his mind.

“Ba Yi, what are you doing?” Xiao Siqi looked at him curiously, puzzled by his pacing around the room.

“Nothing,” Xiao Yao replied calmly and sat down on the sofa.

“Well, since we’ve got time, why don’t we chat?” Xiao Siqi suggested.

Xiao Yao nodded, thinking this was probably the production team’s intention—to see what would happen when a father and son were placed alone in a relatively isolated space. Since Xiao Siqi wanted to talk, then so be it.

“Ba Yi, about those two songs signed with XY...” Xiao Siqi began.

“Shh...” Xiao Yao startled and quickly stopped him. “Dad, there are hidden cameras in this room. The production team is watching and listening. We shouldn’t discuss confidential matters here.”

Meanwhile, in another room, the program’s chief producer Wu Zhankui, who was sipping water while monitoring the feed, suddenly spat it out in surprise. Turning to the group behind him, he asked in disbelief, “This kid noticed it as soon as he got in? How is that possible? How did he find out?”

The entire production team stood or sat behind him, exchanging glances. This segment was a new addition to the program this year: tricking guests and their children into a sealed, isolated room to observe how they interact and how long it takes them to suspect something is off. When they realize they were deceived, their reactions are observed. The fathers generally know what’s going on; the point is to see how they explain it to their children and how the children respond, and finally, whether and how they manage to get out on their own.

Due to a delayed flight, Xiao Siqi and his son were actually the last family to arrive. The others had been waiting for over half an hour. Most fathers had just begun to feel suspicious, but this last family saw through it immediately—and surprisingly, it wasn’t the father but the child who saw through the setup.

There was nothing to do but let the situation unfold. Thankfully, it was a recorded show, so they could handle editing later.

In the room, Xiao Siqi was stunned by Xiao Yao’s words. He looked around the room’s layout, then stood and pushed the door. It was indeed locked from the outside.

“We really are locked in,” Xiao Siqi said wryly as he returned to the sofa. “What now?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Xiao Yao shrugged. “The production team won’t lock us in forever. They’ll let us out eventually. If you want to rest, rest. If you want to chat, we can chat—just no secrets. If you get bored and want to get out, there are ways.”

“What ways? Tell me first, even if we can’t leave right now, at least I’ll have an idea,” Xiao Siqi asked curiously.

“Since they locked us in, they must have left a key somewhere inside. It’s definitely hidden. There aren’t many places or things here where they could hide it. We can find it if we look. Even if you don’t want to search, the door and the two wooden walls aren’t very thick. If we’re forceful, a few kicks should break the boards and get us out.”

In the monitoring room, everyone drew a sharp breath. What kind of kid was this? A prodigy?

Wu Zhankui stared seriously at Chen Min. “Xiao Chen, did you leak information to the Xiao family?”

Chen Min was startled and swore, “Absolutely not!”

The crew members, especially the driver Liu Shan who rode with the Xiao family and Chen Min, all vouched that the father and son had mostly been sleeping and they hadn’t spoken much, let alone shared any spoilers.

Xiao Siqi considered Xiao Yao’s reasoning and felt reassured. He then asked curiously, “How did you figure all this out? I didn’t notice a thing earlier. How did you turn into Sherlock Holmes in just half a year?”

Xiao Yao smiled. “I spent a lot of time with Grandpa on various film sets over the past six months and learned quite a bit. This place is quite remote; no one here builds houses with such tiny rooms. Since this isn’t an original structure, it must have been modified by the production team. When I walked around, I noticed two walls were wooden. The decoration is simple—white walls, wooden floor—which fits the show’s style. But why hang paintings? They’re probably covering cameras. This big sofa is enough for us to rest on; why the tables, chairs, tea tables, and instruments? Obviously to hide things.”

Not only the people in the control room but even Xiao Siqi himself widened his eyes and blurted out, “A prodigy! I’ll take you under my wing.”

“Pfft—childish!” Xiao Yao rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“This show is doomed! Where did they find such a prodigy?” Wu Zhankui muttered inside.

Unbothered by the teasing, Xiao Siqi smiled and asked, “Now that their tricks are exposed, why don’t we just get out now?”

“Sure,” Xiao Yao agreed.

Xiao Siqi immediately got up and began removing the paintings from the walls. Sure enough, behind one was a cleverly concealed wireless camera. He mischievously picked it up, made a funny face at it, and said, “Director Wu Zhankui, I know there’s more than one camera here, but I won’t find them all—leave you some face. We’re getting out now. Goodbye, and watch closely.” Then, he put the camera back exactly where it was and hung the painting back over it.

“Should we look for the key or just kick the door down?” Xiao Siqi asked.

“Breaking things might not be good for our image. Let’s try to find the key first,” Xiao Yao suggested.

“Okay, where should we look? The tables, chairs, tea table, or instruments?” Xiao Siqi asked.

Xiao Yao tapped his chin confidently. “The dads in the five families aren’t all musicians, so the instruments in our room must be there for a reason. Other rooms probably don’t have instruments. And the key wouldn’t be hidden somewhere obvious, so I think it’s inside one of the instruments. But which one, I’m not sure.”

“No problem, watch me,” Xiao Siqi said confidently. He picked up a guitar, brought it to his ear, and strummed the strings. Music flowed out. He nodded, set it down, and picked up another, doing the same. When he strummed the third one, his brow furrowed, then he smiled. “This one sounds off.” He flipped it over and finally reached inside the sound hole, feeling around. Sure enough, near the inner wall of the guitar, he found a key stuck there and pulled it out.

Xiao Yao was impressed, silently giving two thumbs up to his dad’s unexpected skill.

Xiao Siqi proudly raised his chin, walked to the door, inserted the key into the lock, and turned it. The door clicked open.