Chapter 179

On the night Housewives Leaving Home aired, it shot straight into the top three trending topics alongside Y Province TV Station!

Number one in Saturday night variety show ratings by a landslide!

Number one in both search volume and play count on streaming platforms!

Even the phrase “housewife burnout literature” trended all night long!

Because really, who says moms are only meant to be superheroes of the household? Why can’t moms have a little time for themselves, a few hobbies of their own?

If dads can grab a suitcase and head off on a business trip at a moment’s notice, why can’t moms take a week off to film a show, stepping away from the family and kids for once?

After watching the first episode, housewives fell head over heels for the “burnout lifestyle” the show designed for its guests.

At their age, how many still cling to unrealistic dreams?

Most stay-at-home moms have long accepted reality, choosing to give up their dreams for the sake of their children. What they long for now is a life like the one on the show: a few days off, in a peaceful, scenic place where no one knows them, no need to deal with extended family politics. Just lying back, doing nothing, letting the day drift by.

That kind of life is, in fact, the real dream for many housewives.

Because truly leaving their kids behind, divorcing their husbands, and chasing the dreams of their youth? Most stay-at-home moms simply can’t bring themselves to do it.

Their wishes are simple, their dreams modest—just a few days off each year, no kids to care for, no in-laws to serve. Is that really so hard?

The flood of online discussion after the first episode aired made the answer clear: yes, it’s really that hard.

Marriage, like love, is a game where the first to soften loses.

Why do so many women in unhappy marriages ultimately give up on divorce? It’s not that they don’t want to leave the man, it’s that they don’t want their kids to suffer.

Some people online accused Housewives Leaving Home of stirring up gender conflict and breaking up families. At the time, Wei Sheng had his team clap back online:

“If you think Housewives Leaving Home is promoting gender conflict, why don’t you go make a show called ‘Men Leaving Home’ and see what happens to the household once the men are gone?”

When that comment came out, moms everywhere were cheering in the replies: “Go on a business trip all year round, and don’t bother coming back!”

When the husband’s not home, stay-at-home moms only need to look after the kids. They can eat whatever, drink whatever, order takeout if they don’t feel like cooking.

But when the husband is home? That’s one more grown adult to take care of. Meals can’t be thrown together, and takeout is out of the question. The moment they do, they’re labeled “lazy” and “wasteful,” enough to drive anyone mad!

How is ordering takeout wasteful? People who never step foot in a market have no right to complain about takeout prices. These days, a trip to the market costs at least a hundred or two. But when the man’s not around, a simple fried rice or spicy noodles costs less than twenty yuan. What’s the problem?

Wei Sheng never expected that because of this post and its keywords, the algorithm would pick it up.

Housewives Leaving Home was trending on Guagua Video, and when they saw the buzz, they immediately contacted Y Province TV Station, hoping to get licensing rights. They wanted to develop a spin-off show called Men Leaving Home!

Just thinking about it was exciting!

And the best part? They didn’t even need to brainstorm or worry about material. That original post alone—

The Guagua Video team practically wanted to copy and paste every single comment under it. These raw, heartfelt complaints from stay-at-home moms were pure gold for content!

You say this show is anti-men and stirs up gender conflict? Fine. Here’s your chance, dads.

Sign up and prove yourselves!

Think the whole house will fall apart without you?

Sure, sure, we’re worried too. So how about we film from the moment you walk out the door and see just how “miserable” your family becomes without you? Maybe your wife will regret everything and spend every day longing for your return (spoiler: she won’t~).

When Yang Pingzhou, the station director, got that call, he was speechless.

That was the only word to describe how he felt.

He didn’t really want to agree, but damn it, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that if they actually made a spin-off like this, it might be just as popular as Housewives Leaving Home.

How did Guagua Video beat them to such a brilliant idea?

Still, at their level, appearances mattered. Yang Pingzhou couldn’t very well tell Guagua Video’s rep, “I think your idea is great, so we’re denying the license and making the spin-off ourselves…”

Even if that’s what he was thinking, pride wouldn’t let him say it out loud.

After hanging up, the more Yang Pingzhou thought about it, the more frustrated he became. But once he calmed down, he came up with a new plan—if they couldn’t shamelessly steal the idea, maybe they could propose a co-development deal when discussing licensing?

Y Province TV Station wanted to co-produce the spin-off, and Guagua Video had already anticipated this. Still, they made one request: they wanted Wei Sheng to serve as creative consultant for the show.

At this point, who didn’t know that Housewives Leaving Home was entirely Wei Sheng’s brainchild?

Guagua Video could only regret not moving faster. If they’d gotten to him first, would a nearly bankrupt Y Province TV Station have ever stood a chance?

If they had secured exclusive streaming rights, the show would be a hundred times more popular! Ad revenue would have multiplied tenfold. But now? Y Province TV Station sold the naming rights for just a few million yuan. Ridiculous!

With over a hundred million views per episode, exclusive naming rights should start at one hundred million! Anything less, and you can take your business elsewhere.

Yang Pingzhou didn’t dare make decisions for Wei Sheng, so he immediately passed the message along.

Wei Sheng thought it over and agreed, but only to serve as creative consultant. He had no intention of investing, because he had discovered something even more profitable than variety shows.

It was the mosquito repellent and anti-itch balm that Huihui had found in Yuan Stream Township!

Back when they decided to film in Yuan Stream Township, they had considered that if the show gained traction, they could explore local specialties and help boost the regional economy. But who would’ve thought the most impressive local product wouldn’t be smoked meats, dried bamboo shoots, or wild mushrooms—but a homemade mosquito repellent?

Wei Sheng, like Huihui, saw huge market potential in the balm.

And Huihui was right: many stay-at-home moms would rather skip buying clothes or makeup for themselves, but wouldn’t hesitate to buy the most expensive mosquito spray or anti-itch balm for their kids. After all, children have delicate skin. One mosquito bite, if not treated quickly, could lead to nonstop scratching, broken skin, bleeding, even infection and scarring. What mother wouldn’t feel heartache?

Forget kids—even a grown-up like him, whenever he went on a work trip to the mountains, his mom would stuff his suitcase with all kinds of mosquito sprays and itch creams, terrified the mountain bugs would eat him alive.

As someone with O-type blood—mosquitoes’ favorite—Wei Sheng spent a fortune every summer on anti-mosquito products. And when he accidentally bought ineffective ones, he’d end up covered in bites. Just thinking about it made him want to cry.

A few days ago, Huihui came to him, saying she’d found a miraculous local balm. Not only did it repel mosquitoes effectively, but even if you got bitten, applying it would quickly reduce swelling and relieve the itch.

Most importantly, according to the local villagers, this mosquito repellent ointment contains no added hormones. It’s made entirely from Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs handpicked by locals from the surrounding mountains and slow-cooked into a paste. Everyone in the area, from the elderly to young children, uses it regularly. You could say it’s an exceptionally safe mosquito repellent.

Wei Sheng picked up a bottle and gave it a try. Sure enough, after applying it, not a single mosquito dared come near him for at least half a day. When the effect started to wear off, all he had to do was reapply a bit to the exposed skin, just like putting on sunscreen.

This stuff is amazing!

And when you think about it, products like cured meats, dried bamboo shoots, and wild mushrooms—similar local specialties can be found all over the country. Even if they developed those further, it wouldn’t be anything groundbreaking. It would just be another bundle of Yuan Stream Township specialties, sold through their livestreams like the other products they’ve promoted before. Sure, it would still help the locals earn a bit more, but the growth potential is limited.

But if they could develop this mosquito repellent ointment into a signature product unique to Yuan Stream Township, that would be a whole different story. They could invest in building a specialized sterile factory right in the area, creating jobs for the local community.

The Traditional Chinese Medicinal Herbs used in the ointment could also be cultivated on a large scale locally. Villagers could earn a steady income from growing these herbs, and as long as the ointment sells well, there would be no worry about unsold crops piling up.

As this industry grows, it could also boost related sectors like logistics, food services, and tourism. Large-scale herb farming would require a significant labor force every year for planting and harvesting.

A brand-new industry like this could generate a huge number of jobs!

However, Wei Sheng had never ventured into the pharmaceutical field before, and from what he’d heard, it was a complex and tricky business. So, he decided to hold onto all his available funds and go all-in on developing this mosquito repellent ointment.

Just like Huihui-jie said, every stay-at-home mom needs mosquito repellent. Once this ointment hits the market, not only can Wei Sheng sell it through his own livestreams, but other stay-at-home moms working in social media could also earn money by promoting it. Some of the more capable ones might even secure exclusive distribution rights in their regions and make money by building offline sales channels.

Back when Wei Sheng first came up with the idea for this show, he had wondered if it could help struggling stay-at-home moms turn their lives around.

As a child, he had watched Hu Qianqian suffocate under the weight of a hopeless marriage. He had felt helpless, heartbroken for his mother, but could do nothing.

Because he and his mother had both been caught in the rain, once he became a celebrity with a bit of social influence, he wanted to hold up an umbrella for others like Hu Qianqian—stay-at-home moms trapped in the same kind of fate.

What he hadn’t expected was that the one who would help him fulfill this dream would be another stay-at-home mom suffering through an unhappy marriage.

So in the end, was it that he hadn’t managed to help someone in need, but got helped by them instead?

Heh… not gonna lie, that actually feels pretty great.

(End of Chapter)