Chapter 178

While the first female guest was slacking off in the hot spring pit, the second guest was lying flat in the courtyard like a salted fish¹.

And she really was just lying there, completely motionless, like a corpse. Ahem.

Guest Number Two, Tongtong, had been a lively girl before marriage. She loved cycling, hiking, camping—basically all kinds of outdoor activities. But after getting married, it was as if she’d been caught in an invisible spiderweb. The more she struggled, the tighter it bound her.

Tongtong was exactly the kind of superficially happy housewife Wei Sheng had in mind when he first planned this show. She had married well. Her mother-in-law was generous, buying her a car and expensive gifts, and didn’t favor sons over daughters. When Tongtong gave birth to twin girls, her mother-in-law didn’t complain one bit. In fact, she rewarded her with a million yuan on the spot.

And her husband? Not the type to fool around. Aside from being a clean freak and too busy with work to care much about the family, he was basically the kind of man everyone envied.

But ever since she got married, Tongtong had become like a wind-up top—spinning nonstop from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning until she could finally catch her breath late at night.

Every time she was exhausted to the point of collapse, she’d think, If only I had a job. At least with a job, she’d get a few days of annual leave each year. Then she could find a mountain guesthouse, turn off her phone, do absolutely nothing, just lie in the sun all day. Eat when hungry, lie still when not. Ahem.

Now, she could finally live that dream on the show!

Tongtong’s “Dream Ambassador” had prepared a “Lie-Flat Package” that only a stay-at-home mom could truly appreciate—

Wi-Fi covering the entire courtyard, three meals delivered daily (straight to her room if she wanted), someone coming at set times each day to clean, change the flowers, feed the pets, make the bed, and take her laundry to be washed and returned…

Honestly, if it weren’t for the need to use the bathroom herself, Tongtong could lie on the bed, the lounge chair in the yard, or the sofa in the living room forever.

It was bliss. Absolute bliss. She was in love with this thought-free, hands-free lifestyle. After years of marriage, she was just so tired. So very tired.

If this had been her younger self, vacationing in a place as picturesque as Yuan Stream Township, she’d have already gone hiking and camping. But now? All she wanted was to find a cozy courtyard and lie down.

At first, Tongtong was worried. The production team was paying her to be on the show, and she was just lying around doing nothing—was that really okay?

But the director actually encouraged her to do whatever made her comfortable. Not only did they fully support her lying-flat lifestyle, the show’s “Dream Ambassador” was like a real-life Doraemon², bringing her all kinds of gifts perfect for lazing around.

Sometimes it was a hilarious, stress-relieving webnovel. Sometimes a Bluetooth speaker for listening to music while lying down. There were fruits, snacks, sunflower seeds, pastries—and once, they even invited her favorite female stand-up comedian to visit.

That afternoon, Tongtong was just like every fangirl out there. Brewing tea by the hearth, she spent hours chatting and laughing with her idol.

Tongtong swore, if she had to pick a few “unforgettable moments” in her life, that extraordinary afternoon would definitely rank in her top three happiest.

While the other two guests were enjoying life in their own ways, the third guest, Huihui, was wandering around the village looking for “business opportunities.”

The audience: “…”

Girl, are you serious? You finally get a few days off to do whatever you want, and instead of relaxing like Momo and Tongtong, you’re out here trying to start a business?

Although the show wasn’t designed to encourage stay-at-home moms to get divorced, among the three groups of guests in the first episode, one of them had already started seriously considering it.

Huihui had been in a cold war with her husband for nearly a year over whether or not to have a second child.

To be more accurate, it was her husband who had unilaterally launched a campaign of emotional neglect.

Before marriage, Huihui had worked as a model for an online shopping platform. Life was good then. Sure, she often had to work overtime and travel all over the country for shoots, but no matter how tired she was, she could fall asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

After marriage, things were okay at first. But once she got pregnant and her body changed, her modeling gigs dried up—aside from the occasional maternity shoot, she had almost no income.

Gradually, her husband’s pre-marriage tenderness vanished. He began complaining that pregnancy was too much trouble, that all those prenatal checkups were unnecessary and a waste of money. When he heard that formula and diapers alone would cost three to four thousand yuan a month, and that a single baby bottle could cost over a hundred, his face darkened on the spot.

From then on, he only gave her three thousand yuan a month for household expenses—including everything the baby needed. Anyone who’s raised a child knows that formula and diapers are just the basics. When seasons change or the child gets sick, it’s easy to spend a thousand or two in one go. When her husband refused to give more, Huihui had no choice but to dip into her pre-marriage savings.

In less than three years, she had burned through over a hundred thousand yuan of her own money.

She thought if she could just hang in there until her daughter started kindergarten, she could find a job and things would slowly get better.

But just when she was about to see the light at the end of the tunnel, her long-absent mother-in-law and emotionally absent husband suddenly came to her with a request—for a second child!

She was so furious she nearly passed out.

Do they think I’m a doormat? When she had her first child, they all played dead. No one cared if she or the baby lived or died. Even formula money had to come out of her own pocket. With a family like that, she’d have to be out of her mind to give them another child. They can all go to hell!

If she had her own place and her child wasn’t so young, Huihui would’ve divorced him long ago.

But she was almost there.

Her daughter would start kindergarten next fall. Huihui had already found out that a local preschool was hiring childcare workers. She planned to apply. That way, she could get a discount on tuition, bring her daughter to and from school, and even though the salary was just over two thousand yuan a month, it would be enough to rent a small studio.

Unlike the other two guests, Huihui didn’t join the show for a vacation. She came for Wei Sheng.

Huihui was a fan of Wei Sheng. Their connection was almost fated. Back when she was so broke she couldn’t even afford name-brand sanitary pads, it was Wei Sheng’s livestream selling affordable pads that helped her preserve her last shred of dignity. She didn’t have to beg that man for money just to buy a few packs of pads.

When she saw Wei Sheng promoting rural e-commerce, Huihui had wanted to reach out and pitch herself.

She never expected to get so lucky. Out of over twenty thousand applicants, only three were chosen for the first episode—and she was one of them!

Huihui felt like her post-marriage bad luck was finally turning around.

The internet had it right: stay away from men, or your life really will go downhill…

What she didn’t expect was that the show actually had no script! They told her she could move freely around the village, and they meant it. If it weren’t for the “Dream Gift Boxes” that showed up at her door every morning, she would’ve thought she was just on a solo vacation.

After two days without seeing Wei Sheng, Huihui got bored and started wandering around the village.

And that’s when she discovered a business opportunity!

She noticed that despite being in the mountains, none of the local kids had mosquito bites. Curious, she asked around and found out that the villagers used to make a living by foraging herbs in the mountains. Over time, they learned some traditional remedies from herbalists and Chinese medicine practitioners.

For example, many villagers made their own mosquito-repellent and anti-itch balm using traditional Chinese medicinal herbs they gathered themselves. Huihui bought a jar from a local. When she opened it, the pale green balm gave off a strong herbal scent. It was a little intense at first, but once it faded, it left behind a light, grassy fragrance.

Even more amazing, after applying the balm, she really didn’t get bitten anymore. And the bites she already had? They shrank down quickly after a single application.

This stuff was incredible!

If there’s one thing stay-at-home moms hate most, it’s taking their kids out in summer only to have them come back covered in bites. Kids have delicate skin, and you can’t use steroid-heavy creams on them. Ever since she had her daughter, Huihui had been asking friends abroad to send her imported mosquito repellents and anti-itch balms. She herself made do with cheap lotion, but for her daughter, she used products that cost dozens or even hundreds of yuan per tube.

But over in Yuan Stream Township, this mosquito-repellent and anti-swelling balm—about 30 grams per jar—was selling for only ten yuan!

At first, Huihui couldn’t believe it. She asked around a few more shops and finally learned that the herbs used to make the balm weren’t expensive at all. In fact, most of them could be foraged from the nearby mountains. Sometimes, to save trouble, the villagers would gather extra herbs, pool them together, and find someone to make a large batch. Then they’d divide it up among themselves, enough to last the whole year.

The ten-yuan price tag? That was mostly because of the jar. If you bought a jar the size of a snow cream container in town, it would cost four yuan—more than the cost of the balm ingredients themselves.

By this point, Huihui was already brimming with excitement.

This mosquito-repellent balm didn’t contain any hormones or additives. It was made entirely from pure Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs. Everyone in the village, from children to the elderly, used it. And according to them, their ancestors had been using it for generations. What did that mean? It meant the balm’s safety had been tested and proven over the course of several lifetimes!

If she could develop this mosquito-repellent balm into a product, she wouldn’t even need to fight the villagers over patent rights. As long as they gave her permission to act as a distributor, she was confident that with just this one product, she could earn enough each year to support herself and her daughter.

Wei Sheng never expected this. The whole point of this show had been to give housewives a break. The other two guests had indeed taken the opportunity to relax, but this one? She was actually trying to start a business on his show?

Had she caught it from him?

After all, when it came to making money through the production team, he had been the first to set the trend.

(End of Chapter)

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Translator’s Notes

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1. salted fish: In Chinese internet slang, a ‘salted fish’ (xiányú) refers to a person who is lazy, unmotivated, or has given up on life’s pressures, much like a fish dried and left to lie flat. ↩
2. Doraemon: Doraemon is the titular character of a famous Japanese manga and anime series, a blue robotic cat from the 22nd century who travels back in time to help a young boy with magical gadgets from his four-dimensional pocket. ↩