Chapter 214

Li Erni’s parents had no idea they were being torn to shreds online. Upon hearing that Guagua Video intended to sponsor the two girls’ education, Li Erni’s father snapped at his wife after a brief moment of panic.

“What are you panicking for? If someone wants to pay for these two brats to go to school, isn’t that even better?”

“The girls belong to our family regardless. When the time comes, we’ll just bring them home. If she actually gets into a university, we’ll hide the admission notice and find her a husband’s family. A female college student is worth way more than a middle schooler! I’m telling you, if the Bride Price isn’t at least two hundred thousand yuan, I won’t even let the matchmaker through the door!”

“Between Erni and Sanni, if we get two hundred and eighty thousand in Bride Price for each, our family won’t have to worry about food or drink for the rest of our lives.”

Li Erni’s father was still secretly gloating, never imagining that a creature known as a “paparazzo” existed in this world.

This particular paparazzo had originally snuck in planning to catch a certain celebrity on a secret date with a non-celebrity girlfriend. He hadn’t caught the star, but he had accidentally recorded the conversation of this bizarre couple.

Normally, this kind of domestic chatter would be worthless in the eyes of a paparazzo.

The problem was that the show The Way of Shennong had become incredibly popular recently.

The paparazzo, crouching in the corner, caught an earful and realized that the “brats” these middle-aged people were talking about was none other than the breakout star of The Way of Shennong, the “Greatest Brain” Li Erni.

Suddenly, the minor celebrity’s secret tryst wasn’t so interesting anymore.

The paparazzo was ecstatic. After surreptitiously filming the conversation between Li Erni’s parents, he didn’t even wait to get back. He hid in the hotel bathroom right then and there, tapping away at his keyboard in a feverish burst of creativity.

Soon, this explosive footage of the secret recording began to spread like wildfire across the internet.

The protagonists of the video weren’t public figures, but that didn’t matter, as the real shock value lay in the content of their dialogue.

Sure enough, halfway through the video, when the public realized the “brat” the man was referring to was Li Erni, the girl whose “dropout scandal” had nearly forced the hit variety show The Way of Shennong off the air for rectification, the audience was once again in an uproar.

The fans of The Way of Shennong and Li Erni’s personal followers, in particular, felt an urge to humanely eliminate Li Erni’s freakish parents before the video even finished.

How could there be such cold-blooded, heartless parents in this world?

Even if the family was too poor to afford tuition, her homeroom teacher had personally visited their home to say the school could help apply for poverty subsidies. Why wouldn’t they let Li Erni go to school?

Li Erni’s grades were so excellent. According to her elementary school teacher, she had ranked first in the entire school during the middle school entrance exams and had even won a freshman scholarship for the township middle school.

And what about Li Erni’s parents?

Just because there was no one to look after their two young sons, they forced their high-achieving second daughter to drop out of school and stay home to help raise the children?

May we ask, did she give birth to those two sons for you?

What was even more infuriating was that after being forced to drop out, Li Erni didn’t rely on her family. She found a way out for herself. As long as she could successfully advance to the top eight, she would receive a substantial prize. The sponsor, Yuanxi Biotech, had also promised to fund the top eight contestants’ continued education. If they applied to medical school, they would even have the chance to work at Yuanxi Biotech after graduation.

For a girl from a rural village, such an opportunity was not something just anyone could stumble upon.

But what did Li Erni’s parents do?

They nearly destroyed Li Erni with their own hands, ruining the chance she had fought for to change her destiny!

How could there be parents in this world who were worse than beasts? Hmph, even pigs and dogs would feel insulted by the comparison!

The fans were fuming with rage, and by that night, the video had spread across the entire internet!

Now, it wasn’t just Li Erni’s village, the entire township and the whole county felt they had lost face.

Two days later, local government officials, accompanied by village cadres, tracked down Li Erni’s parents. Under their “patient persuasion,” the parents finally withered.

These two were nothing but bullies who feared the strong! In front of their own daughter, they acted as arrogant as the Jade Emperor^[1] himself, but before the county officials, they were as submissive as sycophants.

The Village Party Secretary had made his stance clear. If the two of them continued to ruin the county’s reputation outside, forget about their family’s subsistence allowance^[2], they wouldn’t receive a single cent from any poverty relief policies from the village, township, or county ever again!

The subsistence allowance policy was meant to guarantee the basic livelihood of low-income families. But what about Li Erni’s family? The two sons were plump and sturdy, while the three daughters were as thin as refugees!

In the past, the village found it hard to intervene, as some rural families did have a strong preference for sons over daughters. But for your family to take the subsistence allowance that should have belonged to the daughters and use it to support the sons, that was crossing a line.

The village had already been dissatisfied with the parents’ behavior. Now, with the backing of the higher-ups, what was there to fear? Your three daughters don’t get to enjoy the subsistence allowance, right? Fine, then the whole family won’t enjoy it either. Go ahead and starve along with your daughters!

The Village Party Secretary’s words scared Li Erni’s parents half to death.

They didn’t care at all about the trouble their actions caused others, but they were terrified that the village would actually cut off their allowance and the annual poverty relief gifts. Although it was only some rice, flour, and oil during the holidays, it still saved the family a lot of money.

Before leaving, Li Erni met with the two of them, accompanied by staff from Guagua Video.

“Sanni is coming with me from now on. Didn’t you always curse her for being a money-loser? Fine, you won’t have to lose any money raising her anymore. I’ll earn the money to support her.”

“And as for your sons, stop saying that an older sister is supposed to take care of her younger brothers. The sister needs to go to school. You gave birth to those sons, you raise them! If you can’t, then give them away!”

“You little brat…” Li Erni’s father glared, looking like he wanted to rush forward and hit her.

“What are you doing? Want to hit someone? I’ll call the police.” Guagua Video had brought bodyguards. As soon as Li Erni’s father stood up, the two bodyguards immediately shielded Li Erni and glared back with murderous intent.

Li Erni’s father chickened out instantly.

Li Erni curled her lips into a smile. Thinking of the words Fan Lingling had shared with her, she summoned her courage, raised her head to look at her father, and said coldly-

“The things you and Mom said behind everyone’s backs were all filmed, and Sanni and I heard everything.”

“Don’t even think about secretly arranging marriages for us while Sanni and I aren’t home! Freedom of marriage is a legal right. If you arrange an engagement without my consent, Sanni and I will never acknowledge it. When that happens, forget about having to return whatever money you took from them; you’ll probably end up getting beaten by the other family.”

“Don’t expect me to go soft and come back to save you! When you and Mom get old, we three sisters won’t dodge the child support obligations we’re legally required to provide. As for anything else, don’t even dream about it!”

“Oh, and your two sons. Didn’t you always say you’d rely on your sons for your old age? When the time comes, they have to pay child support too, and they should take the lion’s share. Don’t glare at me. You said it yourselves, daughters can’t be counted on, right?”

“Pfft!” The staff from Guagua Video burst out laughing.

No one expected Li Erni to have such a gritty side. It seemed putting her in a room with Fan Lingling had been the right call. That girl weighed eighty pounds, and seventy-nine of them were pure rebellion. She had certainly “corrupted” the honest and simple Li Erni.

And a good corruption it was!

Li Erni’s parents were led away in disgrace by the village officials. Meanwhile, The Way of Shennong turned a crisis into a blessing, receiving a public commendation from the Department for the Protection of Women and Children’s Rights under the education authorities.

When CEO Yao suggested sponsoring the two Li sisters, Wei Sheng took the opportunity to advise him: Since money was being spent anyway, they might as well go big.

He suggested talking to the sponsors and having each company adopt a few students. The production team could launch a public welfare education program. Moving forward, any contestant who signed up for The Way of Shennong and made it onto the Top 100 List would be eligible. If their families lacked the means to support their continued education, a public welfare fund established by the production team and the sponsors would fund their studies until completion.

“On behalf of Yuanxi Biotech, I’ll claim the first ten sponsorship slots. As for the remaining ninety or so, with your skills, CEO Yao, it shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

Yao Chunming was incredibly shrewd. Before Wei Sheng had even finished speaking, he realized what a terrifyingly powerful boost this public welfare fund would provide for the influence of future seasons of The Way of Shennong.

At the very least, with this education plan in place, no one would ever dare attack them again with the excuse that they were “encouraging students to drop out to compete.”

After all, most of those who signed up for the competition were forced to interrupt their studies due to financial hardship. Think about it: a group of out-of-school youths who yearned to study but lacked the money, signing up for a competition just to break into the Top 100, win a scholarship, and return to school. Wasn’t that incredibly inspirational and passionate?

When that time came, not only would parents stop complaining, they might even watch the show with their children. They would likely take the opportunity to lecture their own kids: Look at them! Their families can’t afford to send them to school, so they have to compete themselves. Only by making the Top 100 do they get a chance at a scholarship. Now look at you! The family spends money on one-on-one tutors for you, and you’re still unhappy?

The more he thought about it, the happier he became. CEO Yao shamelessly plagiarized Wei Sheng’s pitch on the spot and immediately ran off to sweet-talk the other sponsors.

How much could it cost to put a child through school from junior high to university? Maybe a few tens of thousands of yuan? These sponsors were already dropping tens of millions on advertising; would they really fret over a hundred thousand or so for scholarships?

As soon as CEO Yao made his pitch, nearly every sponsor he lobbied agreed.

A few of the wealthier ones felt ten slots weren’t enough and wanted to take more.

CEO Yao “reluctantly refused” them.

Wei Sheng was right. The more sponsors involved in this matter, the greater the influence. After all, the sponsors had their own promotional channels. When they all promoted it together, wouldn’t the spectacle be even grander?

Furthermore, speaking privately, this public welfare plan tied the sponsors and the production team to the same vine. Having tasted the sweetness this season, would they really decline to sponsor the next?

Oh, looking at it this way, Boss Wei was truly a marketing genius. With one education plan, he had tied all the sponsors together. The recruitment task for next season’s sponsors was essentially half-finished in advance. Perfect!

While the Li Erni incident was still settling, Guagua Video quickly launched an “event marketing plan.” Striking while the iron was hot, they released a public statement.

Li Erni’s situation was merely the catalyst. Most importantly, through this incident, Guagua Video had decided to help more contestants like Li Erni complete their education.

Therefore, Guagua Video, in conjunction with the ten major sponsors of The Way of Shennong, jointly provided one hundred scholarship slots. Henceforth, any contestant who made the Top 100 List would be included in the “Shennong Way Public Welfare Education Plan.” As long as the contestant wished to continue their schooling, the production team would sponsor them until they graduated from university or vocational college.

The phenomenon of students dropping out of junior high and high school had always been serious in rural areas, and it was a major headache for the education department. Especially in some impoverished and remote regions, many children dropped out at fifteen or sixteen. They either stayed home to farm or help raise younger siblings, or they went to the city as apprentices to learn a trade until they were old enough to enter a factory.

When more young people went to the cities to work, the bosses were naturally happy, but the education department was not.

After all, among them were many students with excellent grades and character like Li Erni, Fan Lingling, and Wen Zhuangcai. They should have had the chance to step onto a university campus and receive higher education, potentially making greater contributions to society in the future. Instead, because their families lacked those few tens of thousands of yuan, such promising students were wasted. It was truly a pity.

When The Way of Shennong first became a hit, the education department had actually been observing from the sidelines, worried that the sudden emergence of this show would make more children of this age lose interest in studying, focusing only on becoming famous through the show to earn money in the entertainment industry.

As it turned out, their fears were unfounded.

Not only did the production team not encourage children to drop out, they were actively raising funds for a public welfare education plan to help these children who were forced out of school return to the classroom. What they needed was exactly this kind of positive-energy variety show!

It wasn’t just the education department; the Women’s Federation also publicly voiced their support for the actions taken by The Way of Shennong.

Whether it was the program crew’s act of “rescuing” Li Sanni from the Li family or their initiative to fund out-of-school girls so they could return to the classroom, these were the very things the Women’s Federation had always been working toward.

They hadn’t expected a variety show like The Way of Shennong to be doing the same work. The Women’s Federation felt they had to vigorously promote such a positive program. Not only did they single it out for praise, but they also planned to award Guagua Video a commemorative plaque.

This news sent the team at Guagua Video over the moon.

It hadn’t been easy! After producing variety shows for so many years, this was the first time they had ever been publicly commended by an official government department.

The other brand sponsors who had participated in this public welfare scholarship program were also ecstatic.

In reality, they participated in countless poverty alleviation activities for students every year, but none had ever achieved such a massive promotional effect.

This was especially true after the targeted scholarship list was released. When the fans of these contestants saw that a certain brand was actually sponsoring their little idols to continue their education, they were incredibly moved. When they went to the supermarket to buy groceries, if there were similar products, they would inevitably prioritize the brand that supported their idol.

One particular brand of freshly squeezed fruit juice had the good fortune of being assigned to the popular contestant Fan Lingling. As a result, their monthly sales volume doubled compared to the same period last year!

It was no exaggeration to say that the money they earned was more than enough to sponsor ten students returning to school; it was enough to build several entire schools.

Wei Sheng had guessed correctly. Before the first season had even ended, CEO Yao had already received inquiries from no fewer than ten potential sponsors. Everyone expressed that there was no need to wait for the second season’s investment drive; they wanted to pre-order advertising slots for the second season immediately!

There were even several powerful brands that came by to ask about the approximate cost for the title sponsorship of the second season. If the price was right, they wanted to compete for it.

CEO Yao wished he could enshrine Wei Sheng, his great God of Wealth, in his office, offering three sticks of incense every morning and evening while kneeling in devout prayer, begging the God of Wealth to stay at Guagua Video forever.

He hoped for a blessing to become the next chairman and reach the pinnacle of his life!

Wei Sheng: “…”

Get lost! I want to be the CEO myself.

(End of Chapter)