Poverty Alleviation C20

Chapter 20

When the episode aired, Wei Sheng was still in Houzhai Village, collecting mountain goods and hadn’t returned yet. He glanced at the time—it was already eleven o’clock—so he could only give up for now.

The next morning, Wei Sheng didn’t even have breakfast before rushing to the village’s bamboo weaving factory.

Hou Pengfei and L Meizhen also hadn’t eaten yet.

Lu Meizhen was in the kitchen making breakfast, while Hou Pengfei stood under the eaves, braiding his daughter’s hair.

With his hands, skilled in bamboo weaving, he deftly tidied up his daughter’s messy hair into two intricate fishtail braids in no time.

The little girl shook her head proudly, delighted beyond words.

This hairstyle took time to braid, and other parents were unwilling to bother with it. Among all the girls at school, she was the only one who got to wear such delicate fishtail braids every day—she was ecstatic.

A child’s happiness can sometimes be that simple.

Something that others don’t have, but only she does—that’s a unique kind of love.

“Wei Sheng, you’re here! Have you eaten yet? If not, just eat with us,” Hou Pengfei greeted warmly, just like everyone else in the village. He casually asked, but before Wei Sheng could respond, he shouted toward the kitchen—

“Meizhen! Wei Sheng is here, make a few more egg pancakes!”

Well, there was no way to refuse now.

Fortunately, Wei Sheng was here to deliver money to the Hou family, so eating a meal at their place didn’t feel too bad.

Lu Meizhen soon brought breakfast to the table.

Since they had a child at home, the couple didn’t slack off when it came to meals.

A big pot of fragrant sweet potato porridge, a few salted duck eggs, two boiled eggs, a plate of golden egg pancakes, and a plate of chive and egg pancakes.

As Wei Sheng ate the chive and egg pancake and drank half a bowl of sweet potato porridge, he explained the netizens’ suggestions and his own thoughts.

“Brother Pengfei, Sister Meizhen, I think although the netizens’ idea sounds a bit ridiculous, if you think about it carefully, there really isn’t much competition for this kind of product online.”

“Also, from what I know, there are a lot of bamboo forests around Houzhai Village. Things like bamboo tips and bamboo planks—these scraps aren’t worth much. You could easily make them a separate product line for your factory and see how it develops.”

“Even if sales don’t go well, the losses won’t be significant, right?”

“That’s right! And if sales go well, it might even make more money than our hard-earned bamboo weaving business,” Hou Pengfei said excitedly.

Wei Sheng was right!

Bamboo tips and bamboo planks—cheap? No, they were practically worthless!

In their area, these were basically waste.

Years ago, people would take them home for firewood, but in recent years, with fewer people in the village, just collecting the fallen branches from the mountains was enough to cook with. Who would bother using bamboo tips and planks?

These things didn’t even burn well—they were worse than pine branches.

If things went as Wei Sheng said, forget selling them for 9.9 yuan with free shipping—even selling them as a “Buy One Get One Free” deal for the same price would be profitable!

Most importantly—

“If our online store has a few of these hot-selling items, wouldn’t that make it take off?”

Hou Pengfei’s eyes lit up.

Wei Sheng nodded in satisfaction.

That was exactly what he was thinking.

Otherwise, why do so many online stores insist on having a loss-making product, even if they sell it at a loss?

Even if it doesn’t make money, selling tens of thousands of units at once can boost the shop’s traffic.

This strategy was much more reliable than paying for ad traffic.

Besides, frequent online shoppers usually have this mindset: since they’ve already bought one item with free shipping, they might as well browse the store for other things they might need—maybe they can add more items to get free shipping on the whole order.

Although the people of Houzhai Village had high hopes for their program and believed that once the episode aired, their village would gain fame and their products would sell—

Wei Sheng wasn’t so sure.

He knew exactly how obscure their show was.

Have you ever seen a provincial TV station’s self-produced variety show get taken down twice in a row for revision because the guests kept messing up?

Honestly, the fact that the show was still airing at all felt like a miracle to Wei Sheng.

He couldn’t guarantee how much traffic they’d actually bring to Houzhai Village…

Since he couldn’t rely on the program team, he had to find another way.

Wei Sheng’s plan was to cover both online and offline channels.

Offline, he could help set up a dedicated shelf for Houzhai Village’s specialty products at his grandfather’s supermarket. He could also reach out to restaurant-owner friends to establish long-term supply deals, which would help move inventory.

Online, he needed a breakout product—just as the netizens suggested—to boost traffic for Houzhai Village’s bamboo weaving factory.

Then, using this hot-selling item, they could steadily build traffic for the online store. By integrating live streaming and storytelling, they could fully establish an online sales channel.

That way, as long as Hou Pengfei’s bamboo weaving factory remained operational, it would provide jobs for many people in the village.

For instance, people could be hired to cut and transport bamboo.

Others could take materials home and weave bamboo products on a per-piece basis.

There would also be jobs for packaging and handling, all of which would require extra hands during busy times.

The more Hou Pengfei thought about it, the more excited he became. He immediately got up, ran to the processing plant, and grabbed a handful of bamboo tips.

“Wei Sheng, look! This is the standard weapon for disciplining kids in our village!”

“If a kid misbehaves, you go to the mountain, cut some bamboo tips, tie them together, and give their calves a few swipes—hurts like hell but doesn’t leave lasting injuries. Works like a charm!”

Next to them, the little girl with two fishtail braids glanced left and right, feeling that both her dad and Wei Sheng were up to no good!

How could they dare sell such a cruel and terrifying corporal punishment tool online?

The kids were definitely going to hate them!!!

But Wei Sheng didn’t care about that.

Since when did capitalists have a conscience?

After discussing for a bit, they decided not to wait. The show had just aired last night and still had a little bit of heat—better to act fast!

Hou Pengfei immediately gathered some bamboo tips and bamboo strips, processed them on the spot, and made a few spanking bamboo whips and bamboo paddles.

Wei Sheng helped take photos and put up the listing, then used his own social media account, which had recently gained a few followers, to give it a push.

He even tagged the official account of the show.

He stated that the villagers of Houzhai Village were extremely grateful for the suggestions from netizens and had decided to immediately list the much-requested punishment tools for sale.

The pre-order price was only one cent, allowing customers to reserve a set of spanking tools for just 9.9 yuan, with free shipping and a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

Hou Pengfei was an honest man. He thought that bamboo tips were so abundant in the mountains that selling two for 9.9 yuan was a bit of a rip-off, so he simply set it as a buy-one-get-two deal!

Wei Sheng was speechless as he stared at him.

My dear brother, is your brain made of elm wood?

If someone buys three bamboo whips in one go, the city kids are going to absolutely hate you!

Buy one, get two?

The little brats are really going to thank you!!!

While Wei Sheng was busy helping Hou Pengfei develop new products and listing links, he also suggested making adult-use punishment tools, such as bamboo washboards.

He had no idea that he had already been trending all night—and was only getting popular.

It all started with last night’s re-aired episode, where he showed off his impressive skill of cooking with two stoves at the same time.

These days, a guy who can cook is already a major plus.

If he’s good-looking and can cook? Even better.

But Wei Sheng wasn’t trying to show off—he had simply been forced to cook more dishes at the last minute because the producer and director shamelessly invited themselves over for a meal.

To save time, he had Director Ouyang stoke the fire while he used both stoves at once—one big pot to make braised chicken with potato slices, and the other to stir-fry dishes that didn’t require long cooking, like scrambled eggs with tomatoes, shredded pork with dried green beans, stir-fried Chinese amaranth, and diced cured meat with konjac tofu.

To Wei Sheng, this was completely normal.

The braised chicken in the big pot didn’t need constant attention, so he was essentially just stir-frying as usual.

But thanks to the post-production team’s clever editing, what the audience saw was Wei Sheng going full throttle on both burners!

Wielding two spatulas at once, flipping and frying like a master chef!

Single-handedly whipping up a massive feast of mouthwatering farmhouse dishes!

The female netizens were easily swayed, and the “cloud-marriage” girls—who were always discovering new online husbands—were in awe.

They watched Wei Sheng handle a full table’s worth of dishes all by himself.

Then they took a closer look—handsome face, great physique, and a stable job at a TV station?

AAAAAHHH!!! Wasn’t this their long-lost, wild husband from the internet?

“Husband! Hungry! Feed me…!”

Meanwhile, as Wei Sheng and Hou Pengfei debated whether to make the bamboo washboards thinner for single-use or thicker for repeated use, a swarm of female fans from the show descended upon him!

In less than 24 hours, his social media followers skyrocketed from under 30,000 to over 300,000!

Seeing this insane growth rate, Zhou Mingxing fell into deep thought.

It seemed that the next time they filmed in Houzhai Village, he definitely needed to go and observe up close.

This Wei Sheng… was showing signs of becoming the “lucky star of Chinese entertainment.”

By the time Wei Sheng returned to the provincial capital with two truckloads of local specialties and bamboo crafts, his social media followers had already surpassed 500,000.

“You brat, forget selling local products! Hurry up and cancel your leave—report back to work! Our variety show has finally turned things around, hahaha~!”

“Wei Sheng! We got a sponsor! Hahahaha!”

Director Wang Qun personally called Wei Sheng, demanding that he immediately return, as the sponsor specifically requested to meet him.

“Uh… Director Wang, can I ask—this sponsor… they don’t have any special hobbies, do they? Like… keeping young male entertainers or something?” Wei Sheng suddenly became wary.

After all, the last time, the guy who got parachuted into the show and pushed him out was rumored to be some female boss’s boy toy.

He wanted that stable TV station job.

But he had never considered sacrificing his dignity for it.

In this day and age, as long as you have hands and feet, you won’t starve!

Even if he lost his job at the station, he could still work for his grandpa or open his own online shop selling local specialties.

He wanted to get into the TV station and secure a permanent position mainly to make his mom happy.

But if keeping this job meant bowing to a female boss as old as his mom… Wei Sheng figured his mom probably wouldn’t be too thrilled about that.

(End of Chapter)

—

—bamboo paddles were traditionally used in some cultures, including China and other East Asian countries, for corporal punishment in schools or households. They were often flat, sturdy, and used to discipline children by striking the hands or buttocks. While historically common, such practices are now largely discouraged or banned in modern education and parenting.

—Bamboo washboards are traditional laundry tools made of bamboo, featuring a ridged surface for scrubbing clothes by hand. They were commonly used in China and other regions before modern washing machines became widespread. Some also associate them with corporal punishment, where people were made to kneel on them as a form of discipline.

—Chinese amaranth (苋菜, xiàn cài) is a leafy green vegetable commonly used in Chinese cuisine. It has tender leaves and stems, with a slightly sweet and earthy flavor. It comes in green or red-purple varieties and is often stir-fried with garlic, added to soups, or blanched as a side dish. It is nutritious, rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

—Konjac tofu (魔芋豆腐) is a plant-based jelly-like food made from konjac (a starchy root) rather than soybeans. Despite its name, it’s not real tofu but has a similar soft, bouncy texture. It is low in calories, high in fiber, and often used in Chinese and Japanese cuisine, especially in hot pots, stir-fries, or health-conscious diets.