Chapter 145

Word spread that Wei Sheng and his team had finalized the terms of their contract termination with the TV station. In the industry, those who had long disliked them were sharpening their knives, eagerly waiting for the moment they lost the protection of the system. Once Wei Sheng and the others were out in the open, wouldn’t that be the perfect time to swarm in, take down Shen Yi and Wei Sheng, and carve up that massive, deep-pocketed fanbase for themselves?

It was a beautiful dream. But reality had other plans—

Before the termination process was even complete, producers and investors who caught wind of the news were practically blowing up Zhou Mingxing’s phone with calls.

Back when they were affiliated with the TV station—a public institution—many opportunities were off-limits. Some were from rival networks, others carried high reputational risks. It wasn’t that the station refused them outright, but rather that Zhou Mingxing, in order to protect his artists, used the station as a shield to turn them down.

But now? They were no longer under the station’s umbrella. Surely they couldn’t keep rejecting offers, right?

Wei Sheng and Shen Yi’s rivals probably never imagined that all their scheming—throwing money around, hiring trolls to spread rumors, stirring up drama—would, in the end, only strip Wei Sheng’s team of a “TV station contract worker” label that was barely worth anything. It didn’t hurt their careers at all.

Actually, that’s not true. It did have an effect: even more people were now lining up to cast them in dramas, invite them to variety shows, and sign them for endorsements. o(╥﹏╥)o

Unfortunately for those hoping to swoop in and snag a bargain while Wei Sheng’s team was “unprotected,” Zhou Mingxing, a seasoned veteran, saw right through them.

Using the excuse that Wei Sheng was filming a New Year’s special for the TV station, Zhou turned down everything except a few high-quality endorsements and solid film and TV offers.

Looking back, being strong-armed into signing that three-year “indenture” with the TV station didn’t seem so bad after all.

At the very least, if they ran into any tricky offers in the future, they could always use the TV station as a convenient scapegoat again.

At Nine-Bend Slope, Wei Sheng had just received the final confirmation of their contract termination, but there was no time to savor the joy of newfound freedom—because they had finally raised enough money to build the road!

Perhaps even the heavens couldn’t bear to see the elderly and infirm of Nine-Bend Slope continue to brave that treacherous mountain path. Autumn, with its dry air and minimal rainfall, was the perfect season for roadwork. Cement roads poured now would dry quickly and set well.

Wary of anyone trying to get their hands on the funds, Wei Sheng didn’t hand the money over to any organization. Instead, he directly donated a winding mountain road to Nine-Bend Slope, along with two brand-new high-altitude zip-line transport systems.

With a crisp burst of firecrackers, the “Nine-Bend Slope Mountain Road Project” officially broke ground!

The village officials of Nine-Bend Slope had never expected this. Initially, Wei Sheng had told them he wanted to raise some money through livestream sales to help build a footpath up the mountain, so locals wouldn’t have to climb bamboo ladders anymore. But who could have guessed that Wei Sheng and Jiang Xiaoman would be so good at selling goods on stream? In just a few days, they managed to sell out the entire year’s harvest of navel oranges!

Not only that, even the free-range chickens raised in the orchards were completely sold out.

Every household in Nine-Bend Slope made more money than they had in any previous year.

In addition to selling local produce for the villagers, Wei Sheng and Jiang Xiaoman also stocked their livestream with affordable daily necessities—paper towels, toothpaste, laundry detergent, hand soap—all things every household needed. Many of Wei Sheng’s fans were homemakers who managed their family’s day-to-day expenses. When they saw he was running a charity sale to raise money for building a road in a poor mountain area, they jumped at the chance to stock up while supporting a good cause.

All those odds and ends added up, and in the end, the two of them raised over 30 million yuan through livestreaming!

After a quick discussion, they made a decision: don’t touch a cent of it. Instead, they expanded the original plan for the footpath. They brought in a construction crew and widened the half-meter trail into a road over a meter wide—wide enough for motorcycles to travel up and down the mountain.

Of course, to reduce the slope, the road had to wind through many switchbacks. But now, locals could ride their motorcycles, electric scooters, or tricycles up and down the mountain. Even the elderly who didn’t know how to ride could use ox carts to transport goods. Anything was better than walking on foot.

News that Wei Sheng and Jiang Xiaoman had donated a road to Nine-Bend Slope quickly spread, and the entire film crew’s treatment in the village improved drastically.

There was no running water in the mountains. Every household had to fetch water from a nearby spring. But lately, every morning, the kitchen’s water vat was filled to the brim.

Fresh vegetables were often piled at their doorstep, all homegrown by the villagers. Before, the production team had to pay locals for food. But now? These people had donated over 30 million yuan to build them a road!

Thirty million! Most of them had never seen that much money in their entire lives. Honestly, the only time they’d ever seen bills of that denomination was when burning paper money during ancestral rites…

After someone spent that much on them, who could still bring themselves to take money from the film crew?

So, some villagers started fetching water and delivering firewood for the crew. Others brought fresh vegetables from their gardens every day. Some even brought their own chickens, eggs, cured meats, and sticky rice cakes. Afraid the crew might refuse, they’d drop off the goods and run, leaving the crew with no idea who to pay.

The director and actors were deeply moved. After discussing it among themselves, they decided to donate a portion of their pay to install one hundred solar-powered streetlights along the mountain road in Nine-Bend Slope.

With those lights, when villagers climb the mountain late at night next year to harvest oranges, they won’t have to stumble around in the dark anymore.

After the road construction arrangements were settled, before leaving, Wei Sheng sought out Village Party Secretary Lei Yang to discuss something important.

“What? You want to register our own brand? But we only have a few orange trees in the village. Is that really necessary?” Lei Yang was a little tempted, but quickly sobered up. Registering a brand and running e-commerce? That was way beyond them.

Wei Sheng had expected this reaction.

Over the past two years, he’d visited quite a few impoverished towns and villages. The reason people in these areas remained poor wasn’t necessarily because they were lazy. On the contrary, most villagers were incredibly hardworking. But in this day and age, hard work alone wasn’t enough to build wealth.

Otherwise, why would people working the land earn far less than those in finance and investment?

“Secretary Lei, the village doesn’t have to handle this on its own. I already have a brand operations and marketing team in place. If the villagers are willing, you can organize a Navel Orange Planting Agricultural Cooperative, just like Xiao Man’s village did.”

“Then, under the cooperative’s name, you can sign an exclusive distribution agreement with our company. From then on, the villagers can focus solely on growing their oranges. As for how to sell them and at what price, the company will handle all of that.”

“Of course, you don’t need to worry about the purchase price. It’ll still be based on the current market rate. Whatever the market price is, that’s what the cooperative will sell to us for. You can check with Xiao Man if you like—their cooperative runs under this exact model.”

As Village Party Secretary, Lei Yang certainly knew what a rural cooperative was.

In fact, the township had even organized trips for them to observe and learn. But the thing was, to get a cooperative off the ground, just the requirement of “scale” alone had already shut out many villages hoping to develop specialty farming or livestock.

Take their own village, Nine-Bend Slope, for example. They had a decent number of navel orange trees and a respectable total yield. But due to the steep terrain, it was nearly impossible to bring in outside labor for harvesting. Relying solely on the villagers, how many oranges could they pick in a day?

With such low volume, even street vendors weren’t interested—let alone forming a cooperative.

But now, Wei Sheng was telling him that their village could form a cooperative too! Just like the beekeeping cooperative in Langshan Village, they could pool together oranges from every household and sell directly to large companies. No more worrying about unsold fruit or being forced to accept rock-bottom prices from fruit vendors.

“Great! I’ll organize a meeting right away. This is a good thing—a huge opportunity! President Wei, I… I don’t even know how to thank you…” Lei Yang was so moved he could barely speak.

“Well, Secretary Lei, if you really want to thank me, I won’t say no.” Before Lei Yang’s tears could fall, Wei Sheng boldly asked for a “favor.”

“Here’s the thing. Xiao Man and I are planning to open a Langshan Local Cuisine Restaurant in J City. We’re hoping to find a couple of good cooks from the village to help out in the kitchen. Could you ask around for us? They don’t need to be banquet-level chefs—just someone who can make tasty home-style dishes.”

Lei Yang had been bracing for some big ask, but after hearing this, he realized it wasn’t a burden at all. In fact, Wei Sheng was still looking out for the villagers, trying to create opportunities for them.

With that thought, Lei Yang’s mind lit up. After seeing Wei Sheng off, he immediately called his cousin.

His cousin, Jiang Xinfeng, had grown up poor and couldn’t afford a bride. He ended up marrying into a female-headed household. But after the woman gave birth to two sons in a row, she blamed Jiang Xinfeng’s “seed” for not producing a daughter and kicked him out. She didn’t even want the kids—both sons were dumped on Jiang Xinfeng.

But Jiang Xinfeng had a surprisingly positive outlook. He hadn’t paid a single cent in bride price, and when he married in, the woman had even given his mother an 8,000 yuan red envelope. Now he had two sons for free—what was there to complain about?

With no money and two kids to feed, Jiang Xinfeng often worked as a kitchen helper for banquet chefs. A day’s work earned him 80 to 100 yuan, plus leftovers from the banquet that could feed his family for days.

Over time, he’d picked up quite a few recipes from the chefs he assisted. Nowadays, when villagers held small banquets but didn’t want to spend on a professional chef, they’d buy the ingredients themselves and pay Jiang Xinfeng two or three hundred yuan to cook a few tables’ worth of dishes.

Still, such opportunities were rare in the countryside, so Jiang Xinfeng’s life remained a constant struggle.

When he heard from his cousin that Wei Sheng was opening a restaurant and looking for cooks, Jiang Xinfeng jumped three feet in the air. “I’ll go! Of course I’ll go! Don’t worry, cousin. I might not know fancy dishes, but I can fill two whole pages with all the local Langshan recipes I know!”

Besides Jiang Xinfeng, Lei Yang also found a woman named Lang Caihua for Wei Sheng. She was skilled at making all kinds of traditional snacks like rice cakes and dumplings. Lang Caihua had also led a hard life. She couldn’t have children, and after getting married, her in-laws kicked her out. The husband made a huge scene, even blocking her family’s doorway and demanding the return of the bride price they had paid years ago.

Lang Caihua had served that family for three years and ended up with nothing—not even a penny of the bride price. Her own parents saw her as a disgrace and refused to let her stay at home.

Right now, Lang Caihua lives alone. She moved into an old house that belonged to a lonely elderly person who passed away, and no one else wanted it. She makes a living by preparing sticky rice cakes and other local snacks, which she carries down the mountain to sell at the market. She doesn’t have any farmland in the village, so during harvest season, when the orchards get busy, people hire her to pick oranges. She can earn about fifty yuan a day that way.

“Sister Caihua’s glutinous rice balls are absolutely delicious! The only problem is, she can’t speak Mandarin, only the local dialect. President Wei, what do you think? Could you let her give it a try? Little Feng can work with her in the kitchen and help translate for her!”

Lei Yang knew that someone like Lang Caihua—illiterate and unable to speak Mandarin—would have a hard time finding even a nanny job in the city. She simply couldn’t communicate with people.

But he also knew that Lang Caihua had no house, no land, and no children. If she didn’t take the chance to earn some money while she was still young, she’d have no one to rely on in old age. That would be a tragic fate.

Wei Sheng didn’t agree right away. He happened to be planning a farewell dinner for the film crew before leaving, so he thought it over and gave Lei Yang three thousand yuan to pass on to Jiang Xinfeng and Lang Caihua, asking them to prepare three banquet tables. It would also serve as a trial run for their cooking.

To his surprise, the banquet Jiang Xinfeng and Lang Caihua prepared far exceeded his expectations. Each table had ten hot dishes and six cold ones, plus staple foods, drinks, and a sweet soup for dessert. Altogether, the three tables only cost 2,100 yuan—well under budget.

Wei Sheng didn’t take back the remaining 900 yuan. Instead, he told Jiang Xinfeng to split it with Lang Caihua.

Originally, Wei Sheng had planned to wait until the restaurant was ready before bringing them over. But after that meal, he changed his mind. On the spot, he asked Jiang Xinfeng and Lang Caihua if they could come with him to J City right away.

Of course, their salaries would start from that month.

Jiang Xinfeng and Lang Caihua thought Wei Sheng was taking them early so they could learn how city folks cook. But as soon as they arrived in J City, Wei Sheng had them start working immediately.

“The restaurant probably won’t open for another two months. In the meantime, you two can cook for the company and get used to the environment here.”

When Zhou Mingxing heard that Wei Sheng had brought two cooks back from Langshan, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Even if the new company doesn’t have a cafeteria as big as the TV station’s, I could’ve just had someone order us boxed lunches. Did you really need to bring cooks to work? President Wei, did you strike it rich somewhere recently? You’re getting a little carried away.”

Wei Sheng shot him a cold look. “Then don’t eat Brother Xiaofeng and Sister Caihua’s food if you’ve got the guts!”

He was only doing this for the good of the company.

Back when they were under contract with the TV station, the company provided meal cards. Each month, a few hundred yuan in meal subsidies were loaded onto the card, and they just swiped it at the cafeteria.

Now that they were “going independent,” even buying a roll of toilet paper came out of their own pockets. There were all kinds of hidden expenses, and money was flowing out like water. Worst of all, eating takeout every day? Zhou Mingxing, you’d penny-pinch yourself to death!

Wei Sheng wasn’t about to mistreat his own stomach. Since he already needed to rent a place for Jiang Xinfeng and Lang Caihua, he simply found a nicely furnished two-bedroom apartment near the company.

The new company didn’t have many people, and there was no separate cafeteria. So each day, they’d tally up how many people would be eating, and Jiang Xinfeng and Lang Caihua would prepare lunch and dinner at the apartment. After work, everyone could just walk over to eat, then head back afterward.

“You really don’t mind all that extra trouble?”

The very next day after saying that, Zhou Mingxing was completely won over.

(End of Chapter)