Chapter 107

What was the hottest show on J Province TV Station this year?

Without a doubt, it had to be The Wage Earners, a job-seeking reality show full of down-to-earth flavor.

But hilariously, the style of this show was so unpredictable that fellow producers couldn’t even find a way to copy it.

You’d think their focus was on the employment difficulties of ordinary working-class people? Okay, that could be imitated!

But before competitors could even finish writing a similar script, the next episode took a sudden turn—suddenly it became a special on middle-aged and elderly re-employment!

Alright, middle-aged and elderly groups, fine. Given the increasingly severe aging population issue, re-employment for this group was indeed a trending social topic. Let’s imitate that!

Then, just when the new scripts were halfway done, the show suddenly gathered a group of grassroots performers and started livestreaming comedy crosstalk sessions… Seriously? Even folk crosstalk performers need job placement services now?

How many secret scripts are you hiding from us?!

How does that old fox Jin Yannan have so many tricks up her sleeve?

Director Jin, who made a comeback with this grassroots job-seeking variety show, said: This really isn’t my doing, the guests are just too good! There’s simply no room for me as a director to intervene~

Who would’ve thought that Wei Sheng and the others would actually treat this show like their own backyard playground, completely letting loose—script? What script?

Wherever the guests’ imagination went, that’s where the laughs went!

After Jian Ru’s late-night chatroom livestream went viral, everyone thought the show’s style would now focus on heartwarming tearjerkers, right?

Too naive, folks!

Very soon, Guest No. 2, Zhang Jianguo, took the stage—single-handedly holding up an entire lively livestream room with crosstalk, juggling, vocal mimicry, magic tricks, and shadow puppetry… The elderly men who loved crosstalk practically adored him, and even the old ladies enjoyed his mix of speaking, learning, teasing, and singing. Out of the three streamers, Comrade Jianguo’s room received the most viewer donations!

Ironically, Guest No. 1, Teacher Yang Hongyan, whom the production team had pinned high hopes on, while possessing a beautiful voice, struggled at first because there were already so many girls singing online—and Yang didn’t even use a beauty filter. Her stream started off rather quiet.

That was until she began rearranging popular internet songs using bel canto, opera, and pop vocal styles. The unique techniques and her professional-level performance instantly broke through the traffic pool, leaving the other two hosts far behind.

Not only did elderly viewers love her vocals, but young people enjoyed it too. Some parents even brought their kids daily to listen to Teacher Yang sing—getting a free master-level vocal class along the way…

After the livestream room blew up, the entire Haitangyuan Street Senior Arts Troupe also rode the wave, successfully turning their hobbies into a profession—who says livestreaming and e-commerce are just for young people? Back when they were street vendors, these young folks weren’t even born yet.

At this point, the internet tech company that Wei Sheng and the others had previously invested in finally came into play.

Shen Yi and Wei Sheng handled the interviews, Zhang Hanxing and Yang Junyao managed contracts and promotions… As a government office, the street committee couldn’t legally sign livestreamers, but Wei Sheng’s network company totally could!

Logically speaking, with such a lucrative industry, if this were in the hands of some money-hungry officials, they’d be scrambling to get it under their control, or have a relative set up a shell company to sign these streamers and rake in the profits.

But the catch was, this company was born under the scrutiny of a nationwide livestream. Anyone trying to pull tricks didn’t even need Wei Sheng’s group to expose them—just loosening the livestream filter a little would instantly reveal any behind-the-scenes shady business… Ahem! Which just goes to show, the best way to fight corruption is always public transparency.

Lay everything bare, right under the watchful eyes of the people, and let society supervise—who’d still dare make shady moves? Do they really think ordinary citizens are blind and dumb?

However, Wei Sheng and Shen Yi didn’t start this internet company just for money.

Just as some began questioning whether the guests were using the show as a way to profit off their fame, a public announcement stamped with the internet company’s red seal was simultaneously reposted by all four of them—

The announcement made it clear: once the company’s operations stabilized, they would donate 30% of annual profits to establish a dedicated “Assistance Fund for Impoverished and Lonely Elderly,” aimed at helping retired seniors who had fallen back into poverty due to losing their only child, disability, or serious illness.

In other words, from now on, any shopping or tipping viewers did in livestream rooms under this company would automatically contribute to this charity fund, helping poor elderly people with no one to rely on.

The sense of emotional resonance was overwhelming—even some young people who weren’t elderly yet but were already broke felt a huge wave of empathy.

Although many couldn’t afford to donate or spend, they could at least bookmark the stream, give it a like, and support however they could~

Right now, they were helping elderly folks with no support. Someday, when they themselves became lonely and poor in old age, wouldn’t they also be able to turn to this fund for help?

Half a month later, the impoverished and lonely elderly residents assisted by Haitangyuan Street received the first batch of donations and daily supplies jointly contributed by the show and the street committee.

This was also Wei Sheng’s first real step into the true “bottom rung” of this city.

He used to think his own family counted as typical working-class city dwellers. But now he realized—elderly folks with an apartment, stable pensions, and kids supporting them really couldn’t be called the bottom.

At the very least, retired seniors in Wei Sheng’s neighborhood, while stingy, didn’t live like these impoverished and lonely elders—crammed into tiny old houses where more than half the space was taken up by piles of collected plastic bottles and cardboard just to survive.

Many of these elders were laid-off workers from that era, who had never contributed to social security their whole lives. Due to financial difficulties, they never managed to make retroactive payments either. After retirement, they survived on a tiny subsistence allowance. With inflation squeezing every penny, where they used to barely manage basic food and clothing, now even that was hard to sustain.

According to the street committee staff, before social aid stepped in, these poor, lonely seniors had been scavenging recyclables to supplement their daily needs, often riding free public buses together to supermarkets to snatch up cheap meat, eggs, and heavily discounted produce sold at mere cents per pound…

Even now, they still didn’t buy cooking oil. Because every year before the Spring Festival, the street committee would raise a donation fund for them, and given their practical needs, the relief packages usually included two bags of rice, two barrels of oil, and two bags of flour.

These elderly folks would carefully ration those twenty kilograms of rapeseed oil to last an entire year. Given their age and health conditions, they couldn’t eat heavily seasoned or oily food anyway. Most days, they survived on leftovers from the day before and wilted vegetable leaves picked up from the market, making a big pot of vegetable porridge with just a few drops of rapeseed oil to flavor it—enough to last them the whole day.

But meals like that were almost entirely devoid of nutrition. Over time, all the money they saved on food ended up going straight to hospitals. Some elders suffered from chronic illnesses for years but were too reluctant to spend money on doctors or medicine. They simply relied on painkillers to get by—surviving for as long as they could. After all, there wasn’t much left in life for them to hold on to.

After conducting in-depth research into the lives of these impoverished and solitary elderly residents, and discussing with the community office, the production team decided to divide the charitable donations into two parts: one portion would be distributed directly as cash for daily expenses, while the other would be converted into community canteen meal cards and prepaid pharmacy cards. These would be allocated to the elderly every year to ensure at least two nutritious meals a day and help them afford basic medication.

After returning from Haitangyuan Street, both Wei Sheng and Shen Yi felt heavy-hearted.

Like many others, including themselves, they had always thought that elderly people living alone in rural areas were the ones facing the worst hardships. But reality had just given them a hard slap in the face.

In this concrete jungle, it was actually the urban elderly—those without children to support them and without pensions—who were truly “left without anyone to rely on.” Many of them had gone bankrupt long before old age caught up with them. The reason they hadn’t sold their only home wasn’t that they didn’t want to use the money for retirement, but because of a crueler reality—

In the city, no one wanted to rent a house to elderly tenants who could drop dead at any moment.

Some were even worse off. In recent years, several had fallen victim to so-called “reverse mortgage” scams. Not only did they lose their money, but even their only shelter was swindled away…

“Looks like we’ll need to put even more thought into running this internet company,” Shen Yi sighed.

Most of these elderly people had already lost their ability to work. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to work—it was that they couldn’t bear the huge risks that came with labor.

Even though nobody cared about them now, if someone actually hired them to do sanitation work or sweep the streets, and they died on the job—do you believe that there wouldn’t instantly be a crowd of ‘relatives’ jumping out, demanding someone take responsibility for the elder’s death? There’s no way the issue would go away without at least a few hundred thousand in compensation.

So now, their only option was to grow and strengthen this “Sunset Red Senior Live Stream Group,” and use the company’s profits to sustain the “Urban Impoverished Elderly Aid Foundation.” This included helping cover part of the elderly’s living and medical expenses alongside government departments, and providing emergency relief funds if any accidents occurred.

At that very moment, the other three heard Wei Sheng muttering nearby—

“We’ll let it slide this year. The Foundation will just have to cover the cost of these relief supplies. But starting next year, we really need to rope in a few more sponsors to fleece…”

Shen Yi and the others: “…”

Seriously?

Why not?

Soon, Wei Sheng proved with his actions that as long as you picked your targets well, there was no shortage of sponsors.

“Victim Number One” was none other than one of Wei Sheng’s earliest sponsors: Li Ji Seasonings.

Ever since the naming rights for “The Wage Earners” had been snatched away by the deep-pocketed He family, President Li of Li Ji had been sulking for quite a while.

After all, they hadn’t expected that Wei Sheng—coming from a state-run, grassroots job-hunting show—would somehow become a breakout star under Zhou Mingxing’s banner… Had they known earlier, they would have thrown money at the He family for a naming rights battle.

But alas, there was no medicine for regret.

After witnessing the massive social impact of “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation,” and hearing that He Yaru had pumped another hundred million into the show this year to support disadvantaged communities, President Li’s heart bled at the thought of how many bottles of soy sauce it would take to earn that kind of money back.

And just at that moment, his loyal user and good friend Wei Sheng gave him a call.

“President Li, interested in sponsoring another show I’ve joined? I really think this one was tailor-made for Li Ji!”

President Li immediately sat up straight. “Tell me more!”

Wei Sheng’s proposal, in fact, was far more cost-effective for Li Ji than splurging on naming rights.

Given the current popularity of “The Wage Earners,” an exclusive naming deal would easily cost at least a small fortune. Wei Sheng’s suggestion was: instead of spending that hundred million just for a title and logo, why not allocate a few million worth of products each year and join the production team in supporting the city’s impoverished elderly?

“These elderly folks live incredibly frugally, President Li—would you believe they survive an entire year on just two ten-kilo barrels of rapeseed oil?”

“They only buy the cheapest 1.5-yuan-per-bag coarse salt for seasoning. Even during supermarket discounts, they won’t splurge on soy sauce or vinegar costing a few yuan per bottle.”

“So you’re suggesting…?” President Li unwittingly stepped right into Wei Sheng’s carefully dug trap—willingly, at that!

“I think you’ve already guessed it! That’s right! Li Ji doesn’t need to give cash—just donate a few million worth of cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar each year. Doesn’t even need to be your high-end lines—mid- or low-end inventory products are totally fine.”

“This way, you get to demonstrate Li Ji’s social responsibility and boost your brand’s positive public image.”

“Plus, donating actual goods gets you some screen time during the donation events. And think about it—these seasonings will be in these elderly folks’ kitchens every single day. When the production team does follow-up filming, your products will get free exposure…”

“Teacher Wei! You really are Li Ji’s best business partner!” Without hesitation, President Li agreed to Wei Sheng’s proposal.

For a billion-yuan seasoning company like Li Ji, a few million in inventory was nothing. They discarded more than that in expired stock every year.

Instead of letting it sit in the warehouse waiting to go bad, why not, as Wei Sheng said, take the stock and donate it to elderly folks who couldn’t afford seasoning? This would show off Li Ji’s social responsibility, clear out warehouse space, and save the group millions in brand marketing costs. It was a win-win-win—he’d be a fool to say no!

After successfully persuading President Li and securing millions worth of cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar every year, Wei Sheng used the same tactic on other sponsors, managing to obtain urgently needed rice, flour, grains, bedding, and warm clothing for the elderly living alone.

Amazingly, he even solved the issue of fruit, something the elderly rarely bought for themselves because they couldn’t afford it!

It was all thanks to that earlier “Old Cadres’ Dinner.” Among the contacts Wei Sheng had added that night, there happened to be a big boss who had previously overseen J Province’s agricultural wholesale market—the founder of the province’s first large-scale farmers’ wholesale hub!

Besides, Wei Sheng wasn’t asking for much—just for the market to set aside some of the defective produce eliminated during daily sorting and donate it to their foundation. The foundation would then distribute it as relief supplies to the elderly in need.

It wouldn’t cost the market a cent. They’d get free advertising and a good reputation for charity and poverty alleviation work. Plus, with the big boss making a call, Wei Sheng easily secured the deal with the wholesale market.

What he hadn’t expected was that, in addition to fruit, the market also promised to donate a batch of New Year’s goods every year—like seeds, snacks, and candy.

Wei Sheng didn’t dare to make that decision on his own. He had a feeling that such a generous sponsorship from the wholesale market—especially during the pricey New Year season—wasn’t something he could casually agree to. So he called the big boss for guidance.

The boss had said: for newcomers like him, the most important rule was to ask for instructions more often and make fewer independent decisions!

Sure enough, after receiving Wei Sheng’s call, the big boss told him to hold on, then called the wholesale market to ask what was going on.

Not long after, Wei Sheng got a return call from the boss—

“Just take what they’re giving you! This has nothing to do with you. The wholesale market feels guilty and wants to use your show to clean up their reputation, hmph~”

Only then did Wei Sheng learn the full story: just last year, an elderly man who couldn’t afford New Year’s goods had heard that during truck unloading at the wholesale market, there were often bits and pieces that fell to the ground. Hoping to have a decent New Year with his wife, the old man went to the unloading area around 3 a.m., waiting to pick up leftovers.

But with poor lighting and limited visibility for the truck drivers, one reversing truck accidentally ran over and killed him… Although the elderly man bore some responsibility, his tragic background moved many people. When the media reported the incident, the wholesale market faced a huge public backlash.

Many online commenters didn’t care about the market’s rules prohibiting unauthorized people from entering the unloading area. All they saw was a poor elderly man, dying under the wheels of a truck just for the chance to pick up a few stray candies.

The wholesale market was slammed by public criticism for a long time because of it. So when they heard about Wei Sheng’s foundation helping impoverished and solitary elderly residents, and realized the sponsorship wouldn’t cost much, they agreed on the spot.

Wei Sheng: “…”

Oh well! The wholesale market had had its share of bad luck. Whether or not they were using the show to clean up their image didn’t matter—so long as the elderly could benefit, it was fine by him.

(End of chapter)

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—In China, reverse mortgage scams target the elderly by tricking them into signing over property or taking risky loans, often with promises of lifelong payments or care. Victims lose their homes through fake contracts or predatory loans. These scams exploit seniors’ lack of financial knowledge and weak legal protections.