Chapter 208

With Guagua Video’s “The Way of Shennong” airing next door to great acclaim, Y Province TV Station was getting so anxious they were practically fuming.

Fortunately, the provincial station had plenty of manpower. After the open audition phase ended, Station Director Yang Pingzhou personally oversaw the project, rushing the editing of the first two episodes of audition content in one go. Once the review process was complete, Yang Pingzhou shamelessly rode the coattails of Guagua Video’s popularity just as the first season’s semi-finals of “The Way of Shennong” were about to begin.

“The Way of Shennong” aired on Friday nights, while Y Province TV Station’s “The Story of a Hundred Herbs” would air on Saturday at noon!

What left Guagua Video speechless was that in the promotional trailers aired by Y Province TV Station, they actually included the line: “A passionate contribution from the original planning team of ‘The Way of Shennong’.” The font was even made extra large and bold!

What was this? Usually, it was Guagua Video riding other people’s hype. It was truly rare to see someone latch onto them so forcefully and openly.

However, considering that the two parties had Wei Sheng as a link between them, Guagua Video knew that Wei Sheng and Y Province were currently in close cooperation. Not only had he registered and established Yuanxi Biotech in their province, but he had also opened two pharmaceutical factories and was on excellent terms with Y Province TV Station. Thinking of this, CEO Yao’s eyes darted around. Since they couldn’t avoid being bundled together, why not just have some long-distance interaction?

Thus, as soon as Y Province TV Station announced the Saturday premiere, Guagua Video forwarded the official announcement on their official microblog. The editor even added a playful remark: “Although both programs are guided and planned by Teacher Wei Sheng’s team, according to the principle of first come, first served, as long as this Empress lives, the rest of you are nothing but concubines^[1]!”

After a brief moment of stunned silence, netizens burst out laughing.

“I’m dying! Please enjoy the daily harem struggles of Empress Guagua.”

“Empress Guagua’s defenses have crumbled, hahaha. Suddenly I’m dreaming of ‘Empresses in the Palace^[2].’ Is this Zhen Huan^[3] returning from Ganlu Temple and driving Empress Guagua crazy with jealousy?”

“Next up is Noble Consort Y’s revenge. Rubbing my hands in anticipation.”

Sure enough, after Guagua Video forwarded Y Province TV Station’s official announcement link, fans happily started playing with old palace intrigue tropes in the comments section. Because “The Story of a Hundred Herbs” was certified by Guagua Video as being produced by the same planning team, people were intrigued. Even though the premiere time was a bit awkward, set for twelve noon on Saturday, the public followed the principle of watching the drama. As long as there was gossip, forget twelve noon, they would stay up for twelve midnight, wouldn’t they?

However, after watching the first episode, the onlookers finally understood why Y Province TV Station had scheduled this program for Saturday at noon.

It turned out their target audience was the vast population of primary and middle school students! That made sense. After all, Saturdays were usually dominated by various interest classes. Students had to rush through homework in the evening and go to bed early, so noon was the only time they could actually watch TV.

Although this program wasn’t as hot-blooded or high-profile as “The Way of Shennong,” as a children’s science popularization program, the production was extremely refined.

Many netizens who followed the link from Guagua Video had seen imported science documentaries like those from the BBC, “The Blue Planet,” or “Planet Earth.” They hadn’t expected that a domestic science program could be so stunning at first glance!

“The Story of a Hundred Herbs” was advertised as a children’s knowledge competition, but perhaps influenced by Wei Sheng or Guagua Video, the actual show produced by Y Province TV Station felt more like a serialized Xianxia^[4] drama!

The “protagonist,” Tan Xiuzhen, was a fifth-grade primary school student. Because of a toothache, his mother didn’t dare let him keep taking painkillers, so she took him to an old practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He was prescribed a few doses of medicine, and to his surprise, the pain really stopped after drinking it, and his gums felt much better.

Seeing that the old doctor had a youthful face and white hair, looking about the same age as his fifty-something grandfather despite being over seventy, Tan Xiuzhen’s quick-witted little mind began to race. He decided to change his dream; he no longer wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. He wanted to become a super powerful TCM doctor so he could keep the people he loved healthy forever!

The old doctor didn’t agree, but he didn’t refuse either. He simply told the boy to buy a copy of the “Huaxia Illustrated Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine” and made a pact with him: if he could memorize the contents of the handbook perfectly within a year without affecting his schoolwork, then he would take Tan Xiuzhen as his apprentice.

From that day on, a copy of the “Huaxia Illustrated Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine” appeared in Tan Xiuzhen’s schoolbag.

There are no secrets among elementary schoolers. Soon, the whole class knew about the bet between Tan Xiuzhen and the old doctor.

Now, his friends began to worry on Tan Xiuzhen’s behalf.

Although Tan Xiuzhen was the most popular little “male god” in class, the problem was… the male god was a total academic failure!

Back when he vowed to be an astronaut, his friends could comfort themselves by thinking that maybe space needed police too? Although Tan Xiuzhen’s grades were poor, his sports performance was excellent, and his physical fitness was the best in class. Maybe he really could get a job as a “Space Policeman” or something in the future?

But memorizing such a thick “Huaxia Illustrated Handbook of Chinese Herbal Medicine” in one year? Male god, wake up! This really won’t work, you can’t do it!

Although Tan Xiuzhen’s grades were average, his popularity in class was truly great. Soon, to help Tan Xiuzhen memorize the book, his classmates began to take action.

The girls who were good at making journals spontaneously turned those obscure, difficult-to-understand herbs with numerous medicinal effects into “portable journals” so that Tan Xiuzhen could review and memorize them at any time. Even time spent in the bathroom couldn’t be wasted!

Students who were good at memorizing full texts privately shared their little memorization tips with Tan Xiuzhen and taught him how to circle keywords in a paragraph.

There were even top students who “guessed the questions” based on the book’s table of contents, circling the most important “test points” for Tan Xiuzhen to focus his memorization on.

Just then, Tan Xiuzhen’s classmate, Bi Yuanying^[5], found him while sniffing his nose and asked if he could also participate in this “exam.”

It wasn’t because he wanted to steal his best friend’s thunder, but because his father was sick.

They say a mother’s love is as steady as a mountain, but for Bi Yuanying, his mother’s love was like a landslide, making him feel the harshness of the world at a very young age.

Bi Yuanying’s mother ran away with another man when he was only two years old. It would have been one thing if it were truly “eloping for love,” but what made her the ultimate bane to her husband and child was her extreme vanity. To purchase luxury goods, expensive cosmetics, skincare products, and jewelry, she had buried herself in a mountain of online debt.

At first, the amounts weren’t massive, and she dared to ask her husband for help with the repayments. Bi Yuanying’s father was a mid-level department manager with an annual salary of over three hundred thousand yuan. If Mrs. Bi hadn’t squandered money so recklessly, the family of three could have lived quite comfortably on that income, even with her staying at home as a full-time mother.

Unfortunately, everything changed after a friend dragged her into a local “rich wives” social media group.

Watching other wealthy wives post pictures of luxury cars, villas, and designer bags on their social feeds, Mrs. Bi’s mindset gradually warped. She couldn’t afford the cars or the houses, but she could buy basic luxury bags, small accessories, and expensive skincare products to show off. These items gave her a shred of status within that social circle.

However, even the most basic and “affordable” luxury items were beyond the means of a small family earning three hundred thousand yuan a year.

After racking up a massive amount of online debt and realizing she could never pay it back, Mrs. Bi made a jaw-dropping decision.

Following the advice of her “good friend,” she planned to become a “mistress” for a wealthy businessman. The man promised that if she could bear him a son, he would reward her with one million yuan for each boy.

Partly to escape her debts and partly because she envied the pampered lifestyle promised by the businessman, Mrs. Bi actually abandoned her husband and son and vanished.

It was hard to tell if the woman was truly stupid or just playing dumb, but she didn’t even bother to divorce her husband before leaving.

In her plan, being a mistress was likely just a temporary, albeit undignified, job. She figured that after a few years, once she had made enough money and wanted to “return to shore,” she could come back to her husband and son with her pockets full.

Moreover, if she succeeded, the over one million yuan in debt she owed across various platforms would no longer be an issue. She could clear it all just by giving birth to a son.

With his mother running off to be a mistress, it was fortunate that Bi Yuanying had a reliable father. Mr. Bi was truly a good man. Even though his wife had left him with a mountain of debt and fled, he did not take his anger out on his son. Debt collectors blocked their front door demanding money, and he worried about his son’s safety. After all, what wouldn’t professional debt collectors do to get paid? Left with no choice, Mr. Bi gritted his teeth and sold their house to scrape together enough money to pay off a portion of his wife’s debts.

However, he wasn’t a fool. Regarding those “bridge loans” that were clearly predatory, Mr. Bi hired a lawyer to sue and handle them. At the same time, he moved to terminate his marriage.

While it is generally true that marital assets and debts are shared, the law dictated that Mr. Bi was not responsible for debts incurred by one party without the other’s knowledge. Furthermore, Mr. Bi was not a “Love Brain.” From the moment his wife incurred massive debts and left him and their son without a word, their relationship had reached its end.

However, what truly solidified Mr. Bi’s resolve to file for divorce was his son’s situation.

Logically, since the boy had been raised by his mother since infancy, her sudden disappearance should have left him struggling to adjust. But after taking over the childcare duties for a while, Mr. Bi was shocked to discover that his wife had barely looked after their son for the past two years.

After school, Bi Yuanying stayed for an after-school program. Once that ended, his wife had enrolled him in a private meal service where he ate dinner and continued his studies. His mother wouldn’t pick him up until eight o’clock in the evening.

In other words, from seven-thirty in the morning until eight at night, his wife didn’t have to watch the child at all. They hired a part-time cleaner once a week, so she didn’t even have to do the housework.

So, what exactly was she doing during those ten-plus hours every day and night when she wasn’t working or at home? Mr. Bi had no idea.

After his wife disappeared, Mr. Bi had seriously reflected on whether he had shown her too little care over the years. But after that reflection, all that remained was a heavy sigh.

His current job was high-pressure, requiring him to work overtime until after ten o’clock almost every night. Many times, he had considered transferring to a less demanding position, but the thought of his wife being unable to work while caring for the child stopped him. He didn’t want his family to suffer, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

Mr. Bi trusted his wife implicitly. Out of a sense of guilt, he gave her over twenty thousand yuan of his nearly thirty thousand yuan monthly salary. He never expected that after she vanished, the bank cards she left behind would contain not a single cent of savings, but instead over a million yuan in debt.

Why is it that good men always seem to encounter such terrible women?

After his wife left, Mr. Bi felt he could never trust another woman again for the rest of his life. At least he still had his son.

But as the saying goes, “The rope breaks at its thinnest point, and misfortune finds the miserable^[6].” Just as their lives were finally getting back on track after selling the house and paying the debts, Mr. Bi was suddenly diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Bi Yuanying was no longer a small child. He had seen the people blocking their door every day to collect debts, shouting through megaphones all over the neighborhood. He knew his mother had bought many things online with borrowed money, and now she had run away, leaving him and his father behind while his father had to borrow even more to pay her back.

After going through all this, Bi Yuanying seemed to grow up overnight.

He stopped clamoring to eat out at restaurants and learned how to cook rice and simple dishes himself when his father was overwhelmed with stress.

He thought he was strong enough, but then, through a closed door, he heard the doctor say that his father had cancer. That night, Bi Yuanying hid under his covers and cried for a long time.

Trading a big house for a rental and a car for an electric scooter were things he had forced himself to adapt to quickly. He was even trying his best to learn how to take care of himself and his father.

But that was cancer.

He had heard that everyone who gets cancer dies.

This was the real reason Bi Yuanying had asked Tan Xiuzhen for help.

He also wanted to become the old Chinese medicine doctor’s apprentice.

It was not for the sake of vanity, but to save a life.

His father could not die.

His father was the only person he had left.

(End of Chapter)