Chapter 42

After finishing a scene, Wei Sheng managed to earn a perfect score from Director Li Lei—at the cost of crying his heart out.

“Good! Very good! Keep this state of mind!”

Li Lei was thrilled and immediately had screenwriter Le Ling adjust Wei Sheng’s script, making sure his scenes were structured in a way that allowed him to fully immerse himself in the role.

Although Wei Sheng had overcome the problem of getting into character, his lines remained a major weakness for this newcomer.

Zhou Mingxing hired an acting coach for him and personally supervised his lessons, ensuring the coach provided systematic training—especially in line delivery!

Poor Wei Sheng. He had managed to escape the nine-to-five grind of working at the TV station, only to find himself trapped in the entertainment industry’s relentless work schedule. To avoid dragging down the entire production, he woke up at 5:30 AM every day—first practicing vocal exercises for half an hour, then working on his lines for another half hour, before running four laps along the small creek that ran through Huangjiabao Village.

It was said that regular exercise could improve lung capacity, making line delivery more powerful.

In short, making a living in the entertainment industry wasn’t easy!

That being said, payday made everything feel worth it.

Before he knew it, the beginning of the month had arrived, and Wei Sheng was about to receive three different payments.

The first was his base salary from last month’s internship at the TV station—though not much, only a little over 4,000 yuan.

The second was payment for his participation in a variety show, including labor fees and travel reimbursements. Oh, and ever since two episodes ago, the show had gained several new advertisers, leading to a few product placement ads he and the other guests had to shoot. After taxes, this paycheck amounted to 64,899 yuan.

The third was from his new contract with Zhou Mingxing’s entertainment company—various stipends and bonuses totaling 21,466 yuan.

Adding in the money he had earned from livestreaming, Wei Sheng’s total income for the past month had exceeded 100,000 yuan!

“I’m officially a six-figure earner now!” Wei Sheng grinned, his eyes curling into crescent moons as he looked at his bank balance climbing higher and higher.

“Look at you! Getting cocky over just a hundred grand? Focus on your acting! You’ve got a long way to go before you’re making tens of millions a year,” Shen Yi shot him a sidelong glance.

“Hehe~ Well, it’s almost the end of the year, and there are a lot of expenses coming up. By the way, Senior Sister, I noticed that many families in the village raise sheep. Now that I’ve gotten my paycheck, I was thinking of buying a few from the locals and treating the crew to a lamb hotpot. What do you think?”

“Sounds great. Just inform Director Li and hand the money over to the production team—they’ll take care of the arrangements,” Shen Yi said approvingly.

She knew that Wei Sheng’s family in the provincial capital was, at best, middle-class. After his parents’ divorce, his mother hadn’t found another job, instead helping out at her family’s small supermarket. Money was likely tight for them.

Yet, despite this, Wei Sheng wasn’t stingy at all. The moment he got paid, he wanted to treat the crew to a meal.

Even though it was just a few sheep, a simple gesture of appreciation, it showed his generosity.

This was someone who understood how to navigate the industry!

People often saw the entertainment business as glamorous and lucrative, but in reality, there were countless small social obligations to maintain.

For example, when filming on set, it was common practice to occasionally treat the crew to milk tea, coffee, or small snacks. If you needed to push back a shoot or reschedule a night scene, treating everyone to a late-night meal was just basic courtesy.

Wei Sheng had never asked her for advice on these things, yet he had instinctively picked up on the importance of treating the crew.

Maybe Zhou Mingxing was right—this kid was born for the entertainment industry.

With his emotional intelligence and good looks, even if his acting was subpar, he could make a career out of variety shows alone and still do far better than grinding away in a nine-to-five government job.

Speaking of which, given Wei Sheng’s current fanbase and popularity, if J Province TV wanted to film a second season of Back to Hometown with My Bros, there was no way they’d be able to get him for the same bargain price of 20,000 yuan per episode.

They’d have to add a zero to that figure.

20,000 yuan per episode? Try 200,000.

A full season would mean a two-million-yuan paycheck.

And that didn’t even include potential product placements along the way. Even if Wei Sheng never took on a single acting role and only focused on variety shows, two stable hosting gigs could still bring in several million yuan annually.

How much could he have made working at the TV station for a year?

News of the lamb hotpot spread quickly. Upon hearing that Wei Sheng was treating the entire crew, Director Li Lei immediately beamed and said, “Well then, let’s coincidentally schedule a night shoot! That way, we can wrap up and head straight to the hotpot feast.”

The crew collectively groaned in protest.

Some even joked that Wei Sheng should not save a portion of the hotpot for the director, arguing that food was for humans—not for “dogs.”

“Seriously?! We have to work overtime just to get a late-night snack? Director, are you even human?”

While the Mountain Path crew was enjoying their lighthearted camaraderie, upstairs, the real-life official who had replaced Huang Xiujuan as Huangjiabao’s new poverty alleviation officer—Wei Sizhe—was so furious he nearly smashed his phone.

Wei Sheng had guessed correctly. Because of Huang Xiujuan’s efforts, Huangjiabao had become a well-known patriotic education base and a training site for party officials. Every year, it hosted countless government officials from across the country. The county would never have assigned an inexperienced young official to take over such an important position.

After multiple rounds of selection, they had finally chosen Wei Sizhe.

On paper, Wei Sizhe was an outstanding candidate among his peers.

He had been a top student since childhood, graduated high school with stellar grades, and was accepted into Renmin University. He then continued his education all the way to a master’s degree.

After graduation, instead of staying in the capital, Wei Sizhe had resolutely returned to his underdeveloped hometown.

Fueled by youthful passion, he was determined to use his abilities to uplift his community, leveraging the momentum of the national rural revitalization movement to eradicate poverty and backwardness from his home.

But what he never expected was that all his efforts and dreams were nothing more than a childish joke in his mother’s eyes!

Wei Sizhe’s father had been a narcotics officer, sacrificing his life heroically when Wei Sizhe was still in elementary school.

At the time, the police force had retired his father’s badge, and Wei Sizhe once dreamed of enrolling in the police academy to reinstate it.

But his mother was terrified—she couldn’t bear the thought of losing her only son. She opposed him with everything she had, even going to his school to cry and make a scene, firmly refusing to let him apply to the police academy.

Taking his mother’s fragile health into account, Wei Sizhe had no choice but to give up on the police academy and chose Renmin University instead.

At the time, he thought that whether through civil service or military service, as long as he could contribute to the country and the people, he wouldn’t bring shame to his heroic father.

But who would have thought that after years of hard work, when he finally returned, he wouldn’t be met with opportunities to serve at the grassroots level and help the people—but instead, with a job that his mother had “arranged” for him, using the lingering influence of his father’s legacy?

Wei Sizhe’s mother, Luo Chunmei, was an extremely strong-willed woman. Of course, it wasn’t entirely her fault that she turned out this way.

Her husband had been too busy with work, unable to help at home, and then he passed away early. Luo Chunmei, as a single mother, had to support three households—taking care of both sets of elderly parents while raising her son. No matter how weak a woman might be, facing such a hellish difficulty level, she would have no choice but to become strong.

However, when a young man full of ideals meets a mother who is even more domineering and controlling, the result is bound to be constant conflict.

Ever since he graduated and returned home, Wei Sizhe had almost yearly arguments with his mother over work.

Luo Chunmei wanted her son to have a stable job at the county committee office, follow the leaders to gain experience, then after a few years, do a short stint at the grassroots level before returning to become a small-time official—slowly accumulating seniority and climbing the ranks. Ideally, she wanted him to have a smooth, trouble-free career all the way up.

But Wei Sizhe felt that such a life was a complete waste of his time.

Fortunately, once he entered the county committee office, Luo Chunmei’s ability to interfere with his career became more limited. After Huang Xiujuan’s sacrifice, the county needed to appoint a new poverty alleviation officer for Huangjiabao, and Wei Sizhe signed up without hesitation.

He had outstanding overall qualifications, was a graduate from a prestigious university, and was even the son of a martyr—a perfect candidate with impeccable credentials.

After multiple rounds of selection, Wei Sizhe finally achieved his wish and became the new poverty alleviation officer stationed in Huangjiabao!

However, what embarrassed him was that when his mother heard the news, she completely misinterpreted his intentions. She thought he was using this opportunity to gain political clout, leveraging Huang Xiujuan’s legacy to build his own reputation. When he left, she earnestly reminded him to make sure to take good care of the visiting officials coming to learn from Huangjiabao.

“You never know,” she said. “One of those big leaders might take a liking to you and decide to promote you!”

Wei Sizhe could still remember the overwhelming shame he felt upon hearing those words—the kind of embarrassment that made him wish he could disappear.

How had his mother become like this?

Since being stationed in the village, Wei Sizhe had rarely gone home. He always used work as an excuse, but in reality, every holiday, he would rather take extra shifts for his colleagues than go back and listen to his mother say things that filled him with shame.

What he didn’t expect was that this time, his mother somehow found out that Wei Sheng—the guy who had been on national television—had come to Huangjiabao to film.

Luo Chunmei immediately called her son, urging him not to let this golden opportunity slip by!

“Wei Sheng has such a good public image and such a big name now,” she said. “Since he’s filming in Huangjiabao, you should try to build a good relationship with him. If you can convince him to do a few live streams promoting Huangjiabao and maybe even appear on camera with him, who knows? You might even make it onto national television!”

“If you can get on national television, it’ll be a huge boost for your career!”

Listening to his mother’s long-winded advice on how to “use” Wei Sheng to boost his own reputation, Wei Sizhe’s pale, handsome face turned beet red. He was so ashamed he wished he could crawl under the table!

Just imagining it made him feel dirty…

But what he hadn’t expected was that while he was trying to avoid Wei Sheng out of embarrassment, Wei Sheng actually came looking for him.

“Secretary Wei, we’re revising the script, and there are some details we’re unsure about. We’d like to check with you to make sure they align with reality. Would you be able to guide us?”

The moment Wei Sizhe saw Wei Sheng’s face, he felt a pang of guilt. He had always been proud and principled, yet his own mother had turned him into someone who seemed like an opportunist chasing after connections. He opened his mouth, hesitating. He didn’t really want to go—after all, script revisions didn’t have much to do with Huangjiabao’s development.

But then he saw Wei Sheng’s clear, star-filled eyes, and suddenly, he just couldn’t bring himself to say no.

Director Li Lei had a playful personality. He had joked with the crew that if they wanted to eat late-night snacks, they had to shoot a night scene first. But in reality, the so-called “night scene” was just a sunset shot.

By the time they finished filming, it was only a little past 7 PM—perfect dinnertime.

“I think the director just wanted to save money on one meal!” someone in the crew muttered under their breath.

And wasn’t that the truth?

After all, tonight’s meal was entirely on Wei Sheng.

Director Li had them shoot a scene at sunset, conveniently making them miss dinner. So after filming, they went straight to “late-night snacks.” What a move!

No wonder successful people always have a hundred tricks up their sleeves!

But in reality, organizing a rural night snack wasn’t that expensive. The biggest cost was the meat.

Wei Sheng had bought two fat sheep from the villagers, along with some vegetables, rice, and noodles. Altogether, he had spent less than 4,000 yuan to set up an outdoor hotpot feast right in the courtyard where the crew was filming.

A group of people clinked their glasses and drank, enjoying steaming hot lamb hotpot in the cold season. Taking advantage of the moment, Wei Sheng pulled out the revised script that Le Ling had adjusted based on his ideas.

“Secretary Wei, take a look. This is what we’re thinking. According to the timeline of the show, although Secretary Huang sacrificed herself, her efforts laid the foundation for poverty alleviation and prosperity in Huangjiabao. So, the new secretary wouldn’t be starting from scratch but rather facing the challenge of expanding on Secretary Huang Xiujuan’s foundation, further strengthening and growing the local industries.”

“With that in mind, we’ve designed a few details in the later parts of the script. Could you help us see if these align with the actual situation in Huangjiabao?”

“First, there’s the vast kiwi and yellow peach orchards all over Huangjiabao. Aside from developing agri-tourism and fruit-picking experiences, we believe Huangjiabao could also establish a youth patriotic education base.”

“We already have one,” Wei Sizhe responded, momentarily stunned.

Wei Sheng gave him a speechless look. “I know you have a plaque for a patriotic education base. But that’s it? Does the village really think a single plaque is enough to build an entire industry around it?”

Wei Sizhe: “…”

Wei Sheng was really at a loss with these academic types.

“What we mean is that the village could leverage this plaque—more importantly, Secretary Huang Xiujuan’s social influence—alongside the kiwi plantation to develop themed patriotic education tourism packages specifically targeting school-aged children.”

“For example, when the kiwi harvest season comes, the village often lacks enough pickers, right? So why not collaborate with elementary and middle schools in nearby cities to organize batches of students for patriotic education trips? They could come learn from a model figure like Secretary Huang, experience the struggles of rural labor, and help the local farmers with the harvest.”

“And think about the rugged mountain roads that Secretary Huang once walked, those impoverished households hidden deep in the mountains. They need more than just specialty crops to escape poverty.”

“Take kiwi farming, for example. Not everyone in the remote mountains is suited to growing economic crops like kiwis. Even if they are, consider the nationwide surge in red-heart kiwi cultivation in recent years. I remember these kiwis used to sell for over twenty yuan per jin (500 grams) at their peak. But now?”

That question struck a nerve.

Now?

Last year, the best-quality red-heart kiwis in their village sold for fifteen yuan per jin at the tourist-picking price, while fruit wholesalers bought them for just eight yuan per jin.

And that’s not even mentioning the lower-quality or undersized fruits.

Second-tier kiwis were wholesaled at four or five yuan per jin, and mini kiwis that didn’t meet retail standards weren’t even weighed individually—buyers took them by the crate, paying just a dozen yuan per crate, if they even wanted them at all.

Red-heart kiwis were indeed a great economic crop, but with so many farmers nationwide growing them, Huangjiabao’s villagers might rely on Secretary Huang’s reputation to sell fruit for three or five years.

But what about eight or ten years down the line?

There would always be a newer, more popular fruit replacing kiwis.

Who would they rely on then?

(End of Chapter)

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#Notes

—Renmin University of China (RUC) is a top research university in Beijing, known for its strengths in humanities, social sciences, law, and economics. Founded in 1937, it is part of China’s elite Double First-Class Initiative.