Chapter 172

Wei Sheng, that little rascal! His brain works faster than a millstone!

Originally, the plan was to shoot a TV adaptation of New Song of Sending Off the Lover, but since he was the stepson of Liang Yi, the screenwriter, and had access to the script’s progress at any time, he suddenly suggested they abandon the classic IP altogether.

The most important part was—

“Sanchaling’s short video matrix is already up and running, and the industrial development plan is in motion too. Shooting there again won’t add much value anymore. Why not consider another village?”

Deep in the vast mountains, there were plenty of villages with stories to tell, all eagerly hoping to escape poverty and find prosperity. Sanchaling wasn’t the only one!

And then there was Teacher Wang Wu, newly married and possibly love-struck to the point of delirium. His latest script had completely shed the sharp satire and absurdity of his previous work, transforming into something unexpectedly warm and cheerful. No one saw it coming.

Wei Sheng had every reason to suspect that this hilarious, offbeat script was actually written to amuse Wang Wu’s wife.

If he hadn’t come home unexpectedly and caught Hu Qianqian laughing hysterically every night after dinner, rolling on the bed with her phone in hand, he never would’ve realized that Liang Yi, that henpecked husband, had actually turned the script into a rural love story!

(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

With a grim face, he asked Hu Qianqian for the draft script Liang Yi had sent her. But as he read it, even Wei Sheng couldn’t hold back and ended up rolling on the bed laughing too.

Teacher Wang Wu really did have a knack for comedy.

Determined to make his poverty alleviation story less heavy and tragic than the original Song of Sending Off the Lover, Wang Wu boldly revamped the main characters.

The male lead, though the son of a farmer from the mountains, had been helping his uncle sell mountain goods at markets since he was a child. His gift of gab was unmatched. By the time he reached university, he had become president of the debate club and was known far and wide as the “King of Verbal Combat.”

After passing the “Three Supports and One Assistance Program” exam, he returned to his hometown and used his silver tongue to deal with the village’s infamous freeloaders. He talked them into working so hard they were afraid to stay home, lest they get cornered by the male lead for another “heart-to-heart.”

The female lead was no longer the stereotypical pure and pitiful mountain girl beloved by older generations. In the revised version, she was a quirky, extroverted social butterfly—the chief diplomat and intelligence officer of Jiashangou Village, and the first woman to become a roaming street vendor.

When the male lead went off to college, the female lead didn’t wallow in despair or rush into marriage. Instead, with help from the male lead’s aunt, she became a professional vendor. From then on, the surrounding area had a new gossip-loving figure darting through every village.

With her full-blown social skills, she not only bonded with the village aunties over juicy gossip but also leveraged her internet savvy to wholesale hard-to-find rural goods online. Driving her little three-wheeler, she sold these items from village to village, gathering even more gossip along the way. Thanks to her sharp tongue and well-informed nature, she became the village’s “foreign affairs spokesperson”—

Helping locals who couldn’t speak Mandarin communicate with outsiders, including but not limited to newlywed brides from other regions and sons-in-law who couldn’t understand the local dialect. Ahem.

Who would’ve thought that when the male lead returned to the village and tried to present himself as gentle and obedient in front of his crush, the female lead would team up with the village aunties to hide her extroverted nature? Every time he visited, all he saw was the “sweet and demure” mountain girl he remembered.

The funny part? Normally, the village aunties were loud and overbearing when dealing with officials. But this was their first time acting—without a script, all improvised!

Still, they had promised the female lead they’d help her keep up the act. Determined to help her win over the male lead, the aunties suddenly became warm and accommodating, hanging on his every word. They were terrified that if they slipped up, the male lead would spend more time in the village talking to them, and one of them might accidentally spill the truth.

The whole village was on edge.

The “slacker village” transformed into a “hardworking prosperity village.” Every time the male lead visited, he saw villagers toiling in the fields and mountains. Even the mischievous children were told to stay home and do their homework. The villagers seemed so well-mannered—how could this be the same place with such a bad reputation?

Even the township officials were stunned.

Wasn’t Jiashangou Village supposed to be notoriously difficult? Several poverty alleviation cadres had suffered setbacks there. So how come, the moment the male lead returned, everyone suddenly changed?

Who cares! If he can manage this village, then he’s the one for the job. Time to station him there!

The female lead: “…”

The village aunties: “!!!!”

“Hahahahaha~” At this point, Wei Sheng felt like his cheeks were about to fall off. They hurt from laughing so hard—seriously, was this even legal?

If Chen Qingyao ever found out she missed out on playing such a lovable female lead, she’d probably regret it to death.

From an audience perspective, compared to the film version’s fake-pure and bratty female lead with a flat, stereotypical character, Wei Sheng much preferred Liang Yi’s revised version.

As for whether female viewers would like her?

Didn’t you see his mom rolling on the bed laughing?

And Liang Yi, that scoundrel! Who knows when he found an illustrator, but now he was planning to turn the script into a comic and get it published—just because Hu Qianqian loved picture books as a child.

So what if he’s rich?

Liang the Lawyer was writing stories and making comics for Madam Hu. Was Wei Sheng, her own son, going to lose to him?

It’s just money, right? Boss Wei immediately threw down fifty million to invest in this unconventional, absurd poverty alleviation drama! Who needs comics? He was going to make it into a TV series for Madam Hu!

Since the story had completely diverged from the original Song of Sending Off the Lover, the team decided to drop the IP altogether and start a brand-new show.

And so, Jiashangou Poverty Alleviation Record was born.

At first glance, it looked like a straightforward, down-to-earth rural development drama. But given Wei Sheng’s impressive track record in poverty alleviation and agricultural support over the past two years, not just fans but even casual viewers were curious enough to click on it—after all, the first few episodes were free. If it wasn’t good, they could always stop watching.

Yes, that’s right! After wrapping up the film version of New Song of Sending Off the Lover, Wei Sheng, the workaholic, somehow found time to shoot this TV series too.

That said, he didn’t have many scenes in this ensemble drama, so filming his part only took about twenty days. The pressure wasn’t too bad.

Just like when Chen Shu had tried to convince Chen Qingyao to revise the script, the updated version didn’t just slap a poverty alleviation label on a romance. Strictly speaking, though the male and female leads had charming personalities and strong presence, their primary role was to serve as connectors—linking together the stories of various impoverished families striving for a better life.

This was the kind of poverty alleviation drama Chen Shu, Wei Sheng, and screenwriter Liang Yi had truly wanted to create—where the love story of young people in the new rural era was just one thread. Beneath the comedic, exaggerated surface lay the real heart of the show: the tireless efforts of young poverty alleviation cadres, and the journey of villagers from resistance to reluctant acceptance, and finally to active participation in rural revitalization.

As much as he hated to admit it, Wei Sheng had to concede that without Liang Yi, this script would never have been so brilliant or so perfectly aligned with the vision he and Chen Shu had originally hoped for.

This wasn’t the China of decades past. In today’s complex rural landscape, family, love, and friendship had all become more nuanced. Just like the male and female leads—their romance, at first glance, might seem like a one-sided deception. To win his love, the extroverted female lead had disguised herself as a sweet and innocent mountain girl.

In truth, in the whole of Jiashangou Village, this girl was like a firecracker—one spark and she’d blow! Anyone who dared to mess with her would be lucky to get off with just a verbal lashing. After all, her father was a butcher known far and wide, famous for his family’s ancestral “one-slice kill” pig-slaughtering technique. Word had it, she’d inherited his skills to perfection.

Just think about that. Really think about it.

But what the female lead never expected was that the male lead’s first flutter of affection for her had come way back in middle school. One time, a younger girl was cornered and bullied in the bathroom by a few girls from their class. Without a word, the female lead grabbed a broom from the corner and started teaching those self-proclaimed queen bees a lesson in manners.

The male lead, who’d been watching the whole thing from the wall of the boys’ bathroom, was absolutely stunned.

This girl had such a strong sense of justice!

In that moment, he heard the sound of his heart skipping a beat.

Yet, despite being quick-witted and silver-tongued, the male lead turned into a stammering mute whenever he was around this bold and carefree girl, barely able to string a sentence together.

To make matters worse, as they grew older—especially after he graduated from university and returned to the village—he thought that with his degree and a stable government job, he finally had the confidence to pursue the girl he’d always liked. But who could’ve predicted that the once loud and brash girl had become quiet and shy?

How was he supposed to confess now? Wouldn’t he scare her off?

And so, these two hopeless romantics—who thought they were brave in love but were actually cowards—embarked on a hilarious countryside love story, aided (and sabotaged) by a group of well-meaning but utterly useless friends.

But this story isn’t just about love. In this drama, Liang Yi devotes just as much attention to several side characters whose stories are nearly as central as the leads’. He paints a vivid picture of life in a rural mountain village undergoing dramatic change, capturing the everyday struggles of the elderly, middle-aged, young adults, and even children.

Yes, you read that right—children.

For the first time, Liang Yi brings to light the issue of rural school dropouts and their struggle to find employment, a problem that’s long been known but remains unresolved, even by law.

Not everyone is cut out for academics, especially in rural areas where educational resources are scarce. The few who manage to escape poverty through education are like rare phoenixes rising from the ashes.

Most, however, are kids who drop out after middle school, unwilling to spend money on vocational schools or technical training.

According to the current nine-year compulsory education system¹, children start primary school at six and finish middle school around fifteen. That leaves a three-year gap before they legally become adults. Some drop out even earlier, in seventh or eighth grade, making them even younger.

These half-grown kids are too young to be legally employed in cities. Many businesses won’t take them for fear of being fined for using underage labor.

Some of these dropouts stay in the village to help on the farm and care for younger siblings. Others follow relatives or fellow villagers to the city, working in small workshops or on construction sites, starting as apprentices.

But because they’re underage, they can’t sign legal labor contracts or earn fair wages. Some don’t get paid at all, surviving on a few hundred yuan a month from their “masters.” If they get injured or disabled, seeking justice is nearly impossible.

Liang Yi, who once worked in legal aid, had helped many such rural apprentices fight for their rights. He knew better than anyone how hard it was for these young teens to survive in society. So in this drama, he created several characters with similar backgrounds—school dropouts who, with the help of the male and female leads, start growing medicinal herbs in the mountains, raising meat donkeys, and even set up a mobile shop. They go door to door selling goods, fixing phones and appliances for villagers. Since these were all basic needs, they ended up earning just as much—if not more—than those who left home to work.

More importantly, because these kids stayed in the village and lived at home, their lives were far safer than those of apprentices in the city. They didn’t have to worry about being busted for illegal child labor or getting stiffed on wages—because now, they were their own bosses.

Wei Sheng felt like one of those netizens who preferred stories without romance. Just the thought of sticky-sweet love made his head ache, but when the leads ignored love and focused on making money, he was fired up, ready to binge-read a million words in one night. Teacher Wang Wu really nailed the viewing preferences of today’s youth!

The plot of this drama was just too satisfying. So much so that once the final script was released, the artists under Zhou Mingxing’s entertainment company were practically fighting each other for the main roles.

With such lovable and entertaining characters, who cared if the screen time was short? They were willing to act for free! Haven’t we all seen dramas where the leads are heavily promoted, but it’s the side characters who end up stealing the show?

Well, the male lead role was already out of reach. The script was written by none other than Teacher Wang Wu, Wei Sheng’s stepfather, and of course, he’d reserved the role for his stepson. Otherwise, how would he face his wife?

But it didn’t matter. This was an ensemble cast, and the leads didn’t even have that much screen time. There were plenty of great roles to go around.

After a fierce round of internal “palace intrigue,” the female lead role went to the company’s only young actress who fit the age and had the acting chops—Yang Junyao.

Zhang Hanxing was cast as the village chief’s dim-witted son, a middle school classmate of the male lead and one of their bumbling sidekicks. He desperately tried to play matchmaker for the leads, but his parents mistakenly thought he liked the female lead himself, setting off a chain of hilarious misunderstandings.

He also had another identity: the manager of Jiashangou Village’s donkey farm. He led a group of school dropouts and turned meat donkey breeding into a booming local industry. Because donkey hide could be used to make ejiao², when slaughter season came around, he was constantly hounded by buyers from all over.

Even the company’s biggest star, Shen Yi, snagged a role—she played the female lead’s mother, a seemingly frail rural housewife who, despite her delicate appearance, had her butcher husband and social-butterfly daughter wrapped around her finger.

The rest of the supporting roles were quickly scooped up by other company artists. After leaving the TV station, Zhou Mingxing had brought along a team of loyal talents he’d nurtured over the years. They were practically family. No one cared whether this drama would make them famous. They treated it like helping out at a family wedding—everyone pitched in. Even Zhou Mingxing himself made a cameo as the town mayor.

When director Chen Shu saw the cast list, his face turned green.

He’d known Zhou Mingxing for years. Looking at the list, then at Zhou’s slightly outdated suit jacket, he hesitated before gently offering, “Old Zhou, if money’s tight, I can help you pull in more investment. You don’t have to cut corners like this. You used all your company’s people because… they’re cheaper?”

That was the only explanation.

Why else would Zhou Mingxing play a random town mayor himself? Was he really trying to save a few thousand yuan on extras?

Zhou Mingxing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He wasn’t that broke. The reason everyone in the company was fighting to be in this drama was simple—

“The script is just that good!”

“Old Chen, you don’t get it. At least half the company has become fans of Lawyer Liang’s writing after reading the script. Think about it—getting to step into your favorite book and play a character you love? What fan could resist that?”

Chen Shu: “…”

Well, damn. Why didn’t he think of that? He loved the script too! Maybe he should grab a small role himself, just for fun?

Teacher Wang Wu probably never imagined that the silly script he wrote to make his wife laugh would end up gaining so many fans.

Even more unexpected, those fans didn’t just want to read his work—they wanted to act in it. Were readers really this intense now? Give them an inch and they’d want to invest in the show too?

Sure enough, after the drama aired, some eagle-eyed viewers spotted something unusual in the end credits.

“Holy crap! Did they run out of money halfway through filming? Even the director and investors are acting in it?”

This joke quickly went viral online.

But by then, this unconventional drama called Jiashangou Poverty Alleviation Record had already become a massive hit.

(End of this chapter)

Translator’s Notes