Chapter 45.2
Editor: Jodi
The village chief, extremely excited and enthusiastic, led the way while continuously explaining everything, from the village’s legendary connection to Peach Blossom Spring to how many chickens Old Wang’s family had, subtly hinting at the director to make some promises.
The accompanying director was overwhelmed. He just wanted to film a variety show to boost ratings and earn a living. How did he suddenly get saddled with such a grand responsibility of poverty alleviation?
He could only humor the village chief with perfunctory responses, while the chief kept bombarding him with hints.
The village chief took them to several different courtyards, which seemed to belong to the better-off families in the village, where they would stay temporarily.
Shen Ci was assigned to a house at the village entrance and quickly went inside with Brother Zhang to rest.
This house had only the hostess and her young son at home, and the hostess, a woman in her forties, cheerfully told Shen Ci to call her “Aunt Liu”.
After taking a sip of water, Shen Ci said, “Sister Liu, I’ll have to trouble you for a few days.”
Sister Liu laughed in surprise, “What trouble! It’s just an extra pair of chopsticks at the table. You two just make yourselves at home.”
Brother Zhang, satisfied, patted Shen Ci’s head and continued chatting with Sister Liu.
When all of a sudden, faint engine noises rumbled from outside, and Shen Ci, having rested for a while and feeling curious, went out to see.
A rickety tractor spewing black diesel smoke rumbled closer, its engine making a deafening “tut-tut-tut” sound, looking quite unruly.
A dark-skinned villager wearing a straw hat was driving it happily, and behind him sat a fashionably dressed— Wei Shuo?!
Wei Shuo’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. His trendy clothes and designer luggage looked completely out of place on the tractor, as if they had been photoshopped in from another dimension.
The scene was so absurd that Shen Ci laughed until he almost choked.
And Wei Shuo, seeing him, quickly had the uncle stop the tractor then jumped down with his luggage.
“Shen Ci, I dare you to try laughing again!” He shouted angrily.
Shen Ci, clutching his belly, squatted down as he laughed so hard that his face hurt. “Where’s your productivity now? Is this it, is this it?”
Wei Shuo wished he could gouge his eyes out and erase his memory.
“What could I do? This place is so remote!”
“The roads are so bad that no Didi driver would come! I don’t know the roads to rent a car, and they said outsiders wouldn’t dare take this route.”
“I thought about taking a bus, but there’s no service here since the road just opened!”
“If this uncle hadn’t come by to save me… you wouldn’t see me today!”
Shen Ci expressed deep sympathy for Wei Shuo, while still laughing and sharing it in their game group chat, which quickly filled with “teary” emojis.
Nine out of ten were laughing, while the other was laughing hysterically.
Wei Shuo, almost fuming with rage, would’ve started a fight if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t bear to hit Shen Ci who was in front of him.
At noon, the three of them stayed at Sister Liu’s house for lunch, and Sister Liu’s husband, a farmer, also came back.
Sister Liu prepared lunch, and Shen Ci took a bite eagerly, only to almost spit it out.
Then seeing that although Brother Zhang and Wei Shuo had also turned pale, they continued eating calmly, he forced himself to swallow it.
He poked the rock-hard, barely heated steamed bun with hesitation. Was this really edible?
Sister Liu came over with several bowls of soup, smiling brightly. “I heard my husband say that you southerners love to eat with soup! So I especially made seaweed egg drop soup for you guys!”
A large bowl of soup was placed in front of Shen Ci. He looked down and saw a heap of seaweed and scrambled eggs floating in the clear broth.
Shen Ci: “….”
He picked a piece of seaweed up with his chopsticks, and the entire clump rose up, leaving a pile of scrambled eggs floating in the clear broth.
Shen Ci: “…………”
He put the seaweed down, picked the bowl up, then took a sip of the soup, tasting it carefully.
En, it tasted just like plain water.
Meanwhile Sister Liu’s husband took a big gulp then gave her a thumbs up, praising her sincerely, “Sure enough, my wife’s cooking is the best! Those restaurants can’t compare!”
Liu Jie pretended to be annoyed, “What are you saying! Even eating can’t stop your mouth!”
Her husband smiled sheepishly, then began to eat quickly, afraid the guests would take his share.
“….” Shen Ci was completely questioning his life choices.
Anyway he promised himself he would never be picky about food again when he got home…
In the afternoon, all the cast members were taken to the small building where they would run the guesthouse, which was also the main focus of their variety show.
There were four three-story buildings that seemed to have been renovated recently and looked quite new.
And nearly twenty fashionably dressed people standing in front of the buildings, with many cameras set up, making the scene look grand. The villagers gathered around to watch them like they were monkeys.
“Ai, we wanted to build some hotels to develop tourism, but no one came.” The village chief sighed in his half-local, half-standard Mandarin accent.
“Then at the beginning of the year, the county called and said a TV crew was coming, making me very excited!” The village chief’s eyes lit up, then he suddenly grabbed the director’s hand, shedding grateful tears, “You must help our village out of poverty!”
The director could only nod awkwardly, “We will do our best…”
The rest of the time was spent filming the stars meticulously inspecting the guesthouses and proposing renovation plans.
Then discussions and debates ensued, along with inevitable disagreements, meanwhile cameras had been set up everywhere, ready to capture any and all dramatic conflicts.
Shen Ci watched quietly, taking notes in his little notebook, too afraid to join the discussion.
The show had six regular guests, guests that were evenly split between men and women, and besides Shao Jinhuan, there was another guest Shen Ci wanted to avoid—Jiang Shu.
If he joined the discussion, he was afraid she would pick on him again.
What’s more staying away from the discussion seemed to please her, as she didn’t cause any trouble and chatted in the center of attention happily.
Causing Shen Ci to suddenly understand why she had given him a hard time during the filming of the ad—it was because he had stolen her spotlight.
She was also a pitiful person struggling in the pursuit of fame and fortune.
*
That evening, Shen Ci returned to Sister Liu’s house for dinner, however this time, he cleverly ate at another place beforehand to avoid another culinary ordeal.
But when it came time to sleep, he was faced with another dilemma.
The room, though small and old, was clean and simple. The only problem was—the bed was too hard…
Shen Ci glanced at the camera in the corner of the room then joked reluctantly, “I suspect that the program team is doing this on purpose.”
And in the variety show’s WeChat group, many others had the same complaint.
Especially the three girls who sighed and whined in the group, however the staff had no solutions, and so played dead.
Shen Ci agreed, replying, “That’s right! We’ll all definitely be sore tomorrow when we wake up …”
However as soon as he sent this, Jiang Shu posted a selfie, “Girls, I think I’m getting pimples on my face, what should I do?”
The beautiful selfie immediately shifted the topic, with many staff members joining the conversation.
Shen Ci’s message got pushed to the top, only slightly acknowledged by the other two actresses before being overshadowed.
And feeling a bit awkward, he locked his phone and started pondering how to make the bed more comfortable.
Maybe he should lay out some clothes? Sigh, he regretted not bringing an extra blanket.
Then there was a knock on the door, and Shen Ci, surprised, went to open it.
And standing at the door, was Sister Liu who smiled at him brightly, “Xiao Ci, a friend of yours is here to see you and brought you something! So I brought him over!”
Then she stepped aside to reveal Shao Jinhuan who was standing behind her silently.
He lowered his head slightly then entered the room, carrying several layers of bedding. Shen Ci had a sudden bad feeling.
Shao Jinhuan said calmly, “I brought you some thick quilts to lay out.”
Shen Ci: “….”
That is totally not necessary!
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