Chapter 175

Y Province is known for its typical plateau and mountainous climate. Within its jurisdiction live more than twenty ethnic minority groups. The region is dotted with towering mountains, blessed with abundant water resources, and ranks first in the country for its diverse flora and fauna.

Yet despite its wealth of natural and mineral resources, many remote and isolated mountain villages in Y Province remain mired in poverty. One of the real-life inspirations and filming locations for this year’s breakout hit, Jiashangou Poverty Alleviation Record, is none other than Yuan Stream Township—one of the province’s most well-known impoverished areas.

Yuan Stream Township has a unique origin. It’s said that this township didn’t originally exist in Y Province. A hundred years ago, during a time of war and chaos in China, countless civilians fled the flames of battle, leaving the cities behind and journeying across great distances to seek refuge in this remote region. However, the local mountain folk were unaccustomed to dealing with outsiders. To secure a place to settle, several wealthy families who had migrated here pooled their resources and donated a large sum of money to the province. Only then were they granted a piece of land to call home.

At first, the sudden influx of strangers alarmed the locals. They feared the outsiders would be difficult to live with. But when enemy forces invaded, these newcomers—who had brought considerable wealth with them—used every last coin to buy weapons and recruit soldiers, defending the land with their lives.

From that moment on, there was no longer a distinction between locals and outsiders. In the face of danger, they all bore the same name: Children of China.

The TV station dug up several local chronicles from the archives for Wei Sheng and his team. According to the records, the Battle to Defend Yuan Stream was a brutal one. The wealthy families emptied their coffers to procure weapons and supplies. The once pampered ladies of the household traded their silks for coarse homespun, foraged wild vegetables in the mountains, and planted crops in the fields. Young masters who had returned from studying abroad led local militias to the front lines, fighting to protect their homeland, their blood soaking the battlefield.

By the war’s end, not only were the family fortunes gone, but nearly the entire population of the township had been wiped out. When victory finally came, fewer than a thousand people remained alive in Yuan Stream Township.

In the years that followed, peace returned to the country. Yuan Stream Township slowly rebuilt and grew from a tiny village of under a thousand to a township with over forty thousand residents. The nation did not forget the sacrifices of their ancestors. A few years ago, with the help of a coastal city’s targeted assistance program, Yuan Stream Township officially shed its poverty-stricken label.

Unfortunately, in recent years, due to the downturn in the broader economy, the township’s specialty farming and livestock industries—which had always heavily relied on external support—suffered severe setbacks. Not only were the profits from previous years wiped out, but many local farmers and breeders were left drowning in debt.

To make matters worse, many of them are either too old to work or must stay home to care for elderly parents and young children, making it impossible for them to seek jobs in the city. No one dares to say the word “relapse into poverty,” but for Yuan Stream Township at this moment, it’s an unspoken reality.

The reason Y Province TV Station wanted to recommend Yuan Stream Township as the filming location for their new variety show wasn’t just to ride the wave of Jiashangou Poverty Alleviation Record’s popularity. More importantly, this township had once successfully emerged from poverty and had a solid foundation. The local residents were also more receptive to various poverty alleviation and agricultural support policies.

It was clear that Y Province TV Station didn’t just want to bring Wei Sheng on board—they were also aiming to siphon off the popularity of J Province TV Station’s Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation. Just looking at the carefully chosen filming location, it was obvious they were directly modeling their show after Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation.

However, after reading through the local chronicles and conducting a field visit to Yuan Stream Township with his team and the TV station staff, Wei Sheng had a new idea.

Ever since J Province TV Station had produced two back-to-back hits in the poverty alleviation genre, not only had other local stations rushed to imitate them, even some streaming platforms had started producing their own poverty-themed variety shows. If Y Province TV Station were to launch a similar show now, by the time it finished filming and aired, the trend might already be over.

Back when J Province TV Station pressured them into signing a three-year contract for both Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation and The Wage Earners, Wei Sheng had used this exact argument to try to persuade Zhou Mingxing.

Zhou Mingxing had been worried that a three-year contract would tie them down for too long. But Wei Sheng had just laughed and said, “Today’s viewers aren’t as loyal as they were a decade ago. Do you really think a variety show can run for years without people getting bored?”

By the time ratings start to plummet and ad revenue dries up, J Province TV Station might pull the plug on the show themselves before the three years are even up.

Wei Sheng voiced these concerns during the meeting. The leadership of Y Province TV Station fell silent.

After a moment, Station Director Yang Pingzhou cleared his throat and asked, “Since Teacher Wei thinks the poverty alleviation genre might have missed its window, what kind of variety show do you think would catch the next wave?”

What Yang Pingzhou really wanted to ask was: what kind of show could this golden goose, Wei Sheng, help them create that would bring both fame and fortune? Ideally, something that, like J Province TV Station’s past hits, would rake in awards left and right. Ahem.

Wei Sheng asked someone to connect his phone to the conference room projector. Within half a minute, a series of breathtaking landscapes unfolded before everyone’s eyes.

To have been chosen by those aesthetically refined families of a bygone era as the place to rebuild their lives during wartime, Yuan Stream Township had to be beautiful—no doubt about it.

But its beauty wasn’t the dramatic, awe-inspiring kind found in famous scenic spots. It was the gentle beauty of green hills and white clouds, of willows brushing against riverbanks. Wei Sheng was no artsy romantic, but the first time he stepped into Yuan Stream Township, he couldn’t help but slow his pace.

It felt as though walking too quickly or too heavily would disturb the peaceful, serene atmosphere. The breeze here was soft, the clouds lazily sprawled across the blue sky. The creek water was crystal clear, with tiny fish no bigger than a baby’s pinky darting playfully between the rocks. They weren’t even afraid of people—some would cheekily bump into visitors’ fingers.

The slideshow ended quickly.

Wei Sheng turned off the projector but didn’t immediately reveal what kind of show he wanted to make. Instead, he took a few sips of tea, then began telling them about the first half of his mother Hu Qianqian’s life.

“My mother, by traditional standards, would be considered a ‘happy housewife.’ She didn’t need to work. Her husband had a stable, well-paying job in the public sector. She hadn’t married far from home and could often take me back to visit her parents, eat their food, and enjoy their company. Sounds pretty ideal, right?”

“But it wasn’t like that at all. I have early memories, and even as a child, I knew my mom wasn’t happy. My dad might’ve had a good salary and benefits, but most of his income went to support his relatives back in his hometown. He gave my mom only a tiny allowance each month and expected her to manage everything for our family of three with it.”

“When the money ran out, she’d lock herself in the bedroom and cry alone. Then she’d wipe her tears, pretend nothing was wrong, go buy groceries, cook meals, and watch over me while I did my homework. Sometimes when things got really tight and she couldn’t afford meat or my favorite fruits, she’d take me to her parents’ house to mooch a meal. But even then, she didn’t dare go too often—she was afraid the neighbors would gossip.”

“I often wondered, if even someone like my mom—who society sees as a ‘happy little woman’—had to endure so much hardship and bitterness, what kind of life must women who married the wrong person be living after they get married and have kids?”

“I know that in recent years, there’s been a big push from all levels of society to encourage marriage and childbirth. But don’t you think we’re going about it the wrong way? If marriage truly brought happiness to women, I don’t believe girls wouldn’t want a loving family, a caring husband, and sweet, well-behaved children. The real question is, will they actually be happy after getting married? Will their families truly be harmonious after having kids?”

“I don’t think I need to answer that question myself. Just open any short video app and do a quick search. You’ll find countless women sharing their own experiences that speak louder than words.”

“I often wonder, why is it that once a woman gets married, she’s expected to sacrifice everything for her family and children? That for the rest of her life, she has to revolve around her husband and kids? Mothers aren’t superheroes! They’re flesh and blood too. They feel pain, they get tired, they get sad and overwhelmed.”

“They have dreams of their own, things they love to do. When they were young, they chased after idols just like anyone else. So why is it that the moment they get married, all of that becomes something they no longer deserve?”

“Just because she becomes someone’s wife, does that mean she has to give up all her hobbies and dreams, return to the home, and devote herself solely to being a good wife and mother?”

“Just because she becomes someone’s mother, does that mean she has to take care of every little thing—feeding, bathing, cleaning, homework, school tasks and check-ins? And when she gets sick or exhausted and asks her husband to take care of the child for a bit, she has to use the word ‘help’? Why? Isn’t the child his too? When the mother takes care of the child, it’s just ‘her duty.’ But when the father does it, it’s ‘helping out’? What kind of ridiculous, twisted logic is that?”

The meeting room was filled mostly with men, many of whom had children at home. As Wei Sheng spoke, several of them looked awkward and uncomfortable, including the station director, Yang Pingzhou.

Wei Sheng took a deep breath, calming himself slightly before steering the conversation back to the variety show.

“So, Director Yang, I was thinking—what if we created a show like this? We open up an online registration channel, and invite housewives who feel suffocated in their marriages to step away for a while. Leave their homes, their husbands, their children. Escape all the chains that bind them. And then, in the beautiful and serene Yuan Stream Township, help them reconnect with their true selves.”

“Of course, the point of this show isn’t to encourage women to get divorced. On the contrary, I believe that only by showing the injustices women face in marriage, and what a truly healthy and balanced family dynamic should look like, can we give more unmarried women the courage to enter marriage.”

“What I want is for the mothers in our show not to be superheroes, not to be someone’s wife, someone’s mom, or someone’s daughter-in-law. I want them to simply be themselves. I want our female guests to have the chance to fulfill the dreams and desires they had to set aside. No grocery shopping, no cooking, no childcare. No dealing with unreasonable demands from their husbands or endless family obligations from both sides.”

“This society is far too harsh on women who are married and have children. Go online and look it up—how many women suffer from depression after marriage and childbirth? I can guarantee there are even more who never went to a doctor, who don’t even realize they’re depressed.”

“Let’s make a healing-style slow variety show. Let’s use our platform to create a world just for these mothers who are on the edge of despair.”

“And most importantly, I believe this show will attract a lot of female-focused brands eager to sponsor us.”

Everything Wei Sheng said before was powerful, but nothing hit harder than that final line.

By the time he finished speaking, the executives at Y Province TV Station were basically already sold on the idea.

Sure, this variety show didn’t sound as grand or politically significant as “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation.” But the way Wei Sheng put it, it kind of made them think—maybe even their own wives would want to sign up for something like this.

And that one line of his really hit home.

A show that focuses on modern women’s mental health, that helps exhausted mothers find their way back to the girls they once were—if nothing else, the female consumer brands would definitely be interested.

It’s profitable, meaningful, and carries a sense of social responsibility. This direction? It could really work.

(End of chapter)