Chapter 15

Wei Zhiyong had personally invited a little ancestor into his life, and now that he wanted Wei Mian to return to their hometown, how could Wei Mian possibly agree after experiencing the neon lights and indulgence of the big city?

Besides, his scandal in the provincial capital had somehow been picked up by an unscrupulous journalist and even made it onto television!

Although his face had been blurred out, anyone familiar with him would immediately recognize him.

If he went back to his hometown now and was recognized, wouldn’t that be utterly humiliating?

Wei Mian refused to leave and had no income. While Wei Zhiyong’s salary was decent, he had to repay credit card debts, support both himself and his nephew, and constantly deal with calls from home asking for money. The burden left him utterly exhausted, and he seemed to have aged ten years overnight.

In contrast, after the divorce, Hu Qianqian was practically glowing!

And why was that?

Because her son was making her incredibly proud!

Here’s what happened—

After the second guest scandal on Back to Hometown with My Bros, someone unexpectedly posted a set of photos in the show’s official forum.

Curious netizens clicked on them, and—oh wow!

Wasn’t that the handsome young man who could do mental abacus calculations with one hand?

Honestly, the production team had it coming. Just as the show started gaining traction, they hastily inserted a nepotism hire and kicked out the well-loved abacus prodigy.

But who would’ve thought that this young man was actually so inspiring?

According to the netizen who posted the photos, she had returned to her hometown for a visit and coincidentally ran into the abacus prodigy while he was out in the countryside buying mountain goods.

After asking around, she learned that after filming in Wutong Town, he couldn’t bear to see the locals living in such difficult conditions (Wei Sheng himself: ??). So, after being pushed out of the show, he had turned into a middleman trader and gone back to Wutong Town to buy and resell local goods!

“You guys have no idea—around here, the elderly folks are looking forward to seeing the abacus prodigy more than their own children!” the netizen excitedly shared.

Immediately, a cheeky commenter chimed in: Of course! When their own kids come home, nine times out of ten, it’s to ask for money. But the abacus prodigy? He’s the one bringing them money! Hahaha~

Other netizens: …

So, does J Province TV suffer from severe cataracts?

Why would they discard such an upright, kind-hearted young man, only to force-feed viewers a nepotism hire with a shady history?

In no time, the entire forum was flooded with angry posts condemning the production team’s incompetence.

The show’s official discussion forum, which had nearly fallen into obscurity, was suddenly revived, with a hint of negative popularity is still popularity!

The producer and director were beyond thrilled!

Getting criticized?

Fantastic!!!

In this industry, they weren’t afraid of criticism—quite the opposite!

Being criticized meant the show was getting attention. Otherwise, why would people bother cursing them out?

And after venting their anger, wouldn’t those same people still come back to watch?

With that in mind, the abacus prod—no, Wei Sheng—had to be brought back to the show immediately!

Wang Yang was even considering personally making a trip to Wei Sheng’s house to persuade him, just like the famous “Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage” story.

As a director, he had no problem swallowing his pride when necessary.

But to his great surprise, before he could make his Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage, Wei Sheng voluntarily returned from leave and reported for work!

What an honest kid!

If it had been anyone else in the company, they would have seized the opportunity to negotiate better terms. Voluntarily ending a leave of absence?

Dream on! Just a few years ago, an old employee had “fallen ill” and stayed in the hospital for several days, pressuring the company to hire his daughter before miraculously “recovering” and returning to work.

Since Wei Sheng was so responsible, Wang Yang felt he couldn’t let him down.

Before the deputy station chief could talk to Wei Sheng, Wang Yang called him into his office.

“Xiao Wei, I heard that next year, our station will release four permanent staff positions through a province-wide exam. I also heard that you had excellent grades in university. You should prepare well! The station leadership is currently very attentive to online public opinion. Today, Director Pu will definitely have a talk with you. You know how to handle that conversation, right?”

Wang Yang’s message was crystal clear.

He was essentially saying: Just pacify the higher-ups! As long as the public opinion issue is settled, whether the show is actually good or not doesn’t matter. If you make the leaders feel like you’ve done your best, one of those four positions will definitely be yours!

Of course, that was assuming his written test scores weren’t too terrible. Given how transparent recruitment processes were these days, even having a station chief as a father wouldn’t help if he failed miserably.

“Thank you, Director Wang. I’ll follow the station’s arrangements. However…” Wei Sheng hesitated for a moment.

“If you have any requests, just tell me. If it’s something the production team can handle internally, let’s not escalate it to the higher-ups.” Wang Yang gestured for him to sit down and talk.

“It’s nothing major. It’s just that I’ve recently helped my mom set up a business selling local specialties. So besides filming, I’d like to take a few days off each month to go to the countryside and help her with sourcing goods…”

“Pfft—so you really want to be a middleman trader, huh?” Wang Yang had been expecting some outrageous request and was prepared to push back, but when he heard this, he couldn’t help but laugh.

Was this even a request?

Their TV station already had weekends off!

Wait, no—if he continued filming the show, weekends might not always be free.

Not necessarily! If they continue filming the show, weekends might not be guaranteed off.

After a moment of contemplation, Wang Yang said, “The issue of adjusting your days off can be handled internally by the production team. There’s no need to bring it up to the higher-ups. I’ll talk to Director Jiang and see if we can arrange compensatory rest days for you if you have to work on weekends or holidays during filming.”

“Great! Then I have no other issues. I’m ready to get back to work anytime!” Wei Sheng playfully saluted Wang Yang.

“Good! Head back for now. Once the production team has everything set, just help us by sharing the official announcement of our comeback.”

This time, Wang Yang was no longer worried about anyone parachuting in as a nepotism hire.

After all, in other shows, even if a parachuted-in guest didn’t generate any buzz, at least they were still around.

But in their show, every single nepotism hire had flopped—without exception.

Some of them had even ended up behind bars, eating government-provided meals.

For a moment, even Wang Yang, the director, couldn’t help but feel a chill down his spine.

Was their show… cursed?

Deputy Station Chief’s Office

Pu Xiangdong originally planned to put some pressure on Wei Sheng, a newcomer, to make sure he didn’t get too full of himself. Just because the station needed him now didn’t mean he could start making unreasonable demands.

But to his surprise, when he called the kid into his office, Wei Sheng didn’t make a single request. He just nodded along to whatever the leader said.

Even Pu Xiangdong, known for his ruthless and calculating ways, felt a bit sorry for the kid.

He had heard that Wei Sheng’s parents had recently divorced. Could it be that his rough upbringing had made him so passive that he didn’t even know how to fight for himself?

With that thought, Pu Xiangdong’s expression softened, and his tone grew gentler—

“All right, just focus on your work. What’s meant to be yours, no one can take away.”

Holy crap!

Wei Sheng was stunned.

When did the infamous “ruthless and cunning” Deputy Station Chief Pu become so kind and fatherly?

Back at the Production Department

Wei Sheng was met with an outpouring of warmth from his colleagues.

Jiang Fei, the post-production director, personally reassured him, patting her chest, “No one’s going to shove you out with a nepotism hire this time. If the station tries to pull that move again, our entire production team will strike!”

“This crappy show? We’re done with it!”

“If they want to make it, let them! We’re not doing it anymore.”

“No staff? Well, they can always outsource it, can’t they?”

“We’re not going to keep getting bullied!”

“If we let this slide, how am I supposed to maintain authority as the department head?”

After receiving Jiang Fei’s heartfelt guarantee, Wei Sheng returned to his workstation—only to find his desk buried under a mountain of snacks, milk tea, and coffee.

“Brother Wei , we’ve got your back this time!”

“Yeah! If anyone dares to mess with our production team, we won’t let it slide!”

“Screw it! We’re done slaving away, pulling all-nighters to edit footage, only to get cursed out by netizens. Whoever wants to make this show can do it themselves!”

Ahem… Government employees really do have fiery tempers.

After all, as long as they didn’t break any major rules or end up in the hands of the disciplinary committee, even the station higher-ups couldn’t fire them on a whim. At worst, they’d just be sidelined for a few years—honestly, a more relaxing gig.

For those who just wanted to coast, avoiding the busiest, most exhausting departments while still collecting the same paycheck? That was the dream!

8 PM—Prime Time Online

A show that had been all but buried by its own fans suddenly made a dramatic comeback:

“The original team is back! This Friday, Back to Hometown with My Bros heads to the scenic bamboo forests of Y County—stay tuned!”

At the end of this simple announcement, the show’s official account tagged all the original cast members—every single one of them, non-celebrities.

Holy crap! Did the production team just defeat capital?

This was some next-level drama!

The moment fans saw it, they rallied behind the show.

Some of Wei Sheng’s casual fans even flocked to his social media to comfort him, promising that even if the show had no sponsors, they, as the audience, would support “Abacus Bro” through sheer viewership.

Wei Sheng: “…”

Who the hell came up with this ridiculous nickname?

Why did it make him sound so stingy?

Filming Location: Y County

Because the filming schedule was tight, the show didn’t go out of province this time. Instead, they headed to Y County, a recently lifted-out-of-poverty mountainous region known as the “Land of Bamboo.”

The scenery was breathtaking. In autumn, the rolling hills were covered in lush green bamboo, with the occasional persimmon tree by the roadside, its branches laden with bright red fruit. The little persimmons looked like tiny lanterns, round and adorable.

“Can’t we stop and pick a few to taste? We’ll pay for them!” Chen Mengjie leaned against the window, drooling over the ripe persimmons outside.

“No! From now on, those aren’t food; they’re props for the show!” Director Wang declared mercilessly.

“What? Are we really so broke now that we can’t even afford props?” The guests were horrified.

“Exactly! So starting this episode, you’ll have to fend for yourselves and find your own food.” Wang Yang sighed dramatically.

The four guests: “…”

Stop the bus!

This isn’t the show we signed up for!

We want off!!!

Too bad. They were deep in the mountains, where even taxis were scarce. Even if they got off, did they dare walk back?

With faces full of despair, the guests were unceremoniously dumped at the village entrance by a big tour bus.

And then… they were on their own.

There was no other choice—the village roads were too narrow for the bus to go any further.

But the locals here were truly kind. The village chief, along with some villagers, arrived with several ox carts to help transport their luggage.

“Wow~ People still use ox carts these days? I thought those only existed in period dramas,” Zhang Zexuan couldn’t help but exclaim.

In that instant, the guests suddenly felt the weight of responsibility settle heavily on their shoulders.

Maybe… they could actually do something to help these villagers?

(End of Chapter)