Chapter 33

The carefully “designed” temporary tent was unexpectedly recognized by eagle-eyed netizens as something resembling a rural mourning hall used for wakes?

The three grown men all felt a bit creeped out.

Just imagining the three of them lying inside, lined up in a row, only for the production crew’s cameras to capture it first thing in the morning… Why did this mental image keep getting weirder the more they thought about it?

Three corpses sharing one bed? Even hospital morgues weren’t this stingy!

It was fine during the livestream—netizens could joke about it, and they could just shamelessly ignore the comments as they scrolled by. But if this scene actually made it into the edited broadcast, that would be a real social death moment!

“How about we play some poker? Since we’re not sleepy anyway,” Zhang Zexuan suggested.

“You brought poker cards?” Wei Sheng looked at him in surprise.

Zhang Zexuan was immediately at a loss.

Checking the time, he realized the village’s only small convenience store had probably closed long ago.

Unlike the city, where he could order delivery whenever he felt lazy, Zhang Zexuan used to tip the delivery guys and ask them to pick up small items from convenience stores on their way over. Most of them were happy to help.

But in the village? Where was he supposed to find a delivery guy?

“How about we start a livestream? I’ll set up a hotpot. There should still be plenty of people on their phones at this hour—maybe we can find some fans of our show to chat with,” Wei Sheng suggested.

Great idea!

In the dead of winter, having hotpot at night sounded warm and comforting.

More importantly, the livestream would bring in a crowd—when there were lots of people, they wouldn’t have to worry about… well, certain things.

They planned to kill time until they were truly exhausted. That way, when they finally lay down inside the mourning hall— no, wait, the tent—they would fall asleep right away and not overthink things.

No sooner said than done!

This was the benefit of not being signed to an agency or managed by a handler—they could do whatever they wanted. Their personal social media accounts were fully their own.

Wei Sheng first posted a livestream announcement on Weibo. Acting on impulse, he barely waited five minutes before going live.

He handed the camera and gimbal to Zhang Zexuan, while Ouyang Xia, looking for something to do, helped prepare the ingredients.

Their activity finally woke up Chen Mengjie, who had been sleeping inside the house.

Or maybe she wasn’t woken up by the noise, but by the aroma of the hotpot broth.

“You guys are actually getting up in the middle of the night to eat hotpot? Who brought the hotpot base?!” The stunning Chen Mengjie staggered out in exasperation.

Her two loosely braided pigtails draped over her shoulders. The moment Wei Sheng saw the suspiciously floral-patterned cloth strips securing them, he instinctively lowered his head in guilt.

Zhang Zexuan wasted no time in shifting the blame.

“He did! I just saw his suitcase—he even brought Little Sheep hotpot base, tomato hotpot base, and a sour fish soup base!”

“Sour fish soup?” Chen Mengjie instantly perked up.

“Forget it. I have the base, but where are you going to catch fish in the middle of the night? If you want it, wait until tomorrow.”

Chen Mengjie pouted in disappointment before grudgingly finding a small bamboo recliner to sit in.

No sour fish soup? Well, an old-school spicy butter hotpot wasn’t bad either.

Watching her pitifully eye the bubbling pot, Zhang Zexuan was speechless.

But was she the only one staring at it?

At that moment, Wei Sheng’s livestream chat had already been flooded by over 30,000 “wild mother-in-laws.”

Nobody knew what kind of magical charm he had.

Logically, a guy his age should be attracting girlfriend fans or wife fans, right?

Yet his comment section was dominated by self-proclaimed “mother-in-laws.”

Every now and then, a stray “father-in-law” would even pop up.

Even industry insiders were dumbfounded.

At first, some even mocked Wei Sheng for it. After all, everyone in the entertainment industry knew that among all types of fan groups, “wife fans” and “girlfriend fans” were the most financially valuable—they were famous for being willing to spend big on their “husbands.”

But Wei Sheng’s fans? A bunch of self-proclaimed mother-in-laws?

That meant they were likely older women, the type who were practical and budget-conscious.

Women that age had already seen through men. They firmly believed that spending money on men would bring them bad luck for life. Expecting them to financially support a male celebrity they had never met—one who probably made more in a day than they did in a year?

Industry experts were bewildered.

So, despite Wei Sheng’s rapid rise in popularity as an amateur, few people in the business took him seriously.

Or rather, it wasn’t Wei Sheng they doubted—it was the spending power of his “mother-in-law” fanbase.

These were people who stormed supermarkets for discount eggs. How would they even know how to buy an idol’s sponsored product? Would they ever go all out for limited-edition celebrity merchandise?

To the industry, a massive yet financially incapable fanbase was still worthless and not worth maintaining.

Not worth maintaining?

Ha! Wei Sheng himself thought otherwise.

At the very least, when he was getting spooked by ghost stories from netizens in the middle of the night, those “wild mother-in-laws” in his livestream chat gave him a lot of courage!

To repay them, he put even more effort into stir-frying the hotpot base.

Once the butter-based broth was ready, he poured in clear water and set it on the fire pit to boil.

While waiting for the broth to heat up, everyone squatted on the ground, busy preparing the ingredients.

Ouyang Xia was in charge of washing the various meats, Wei Sheng handled the chopping, Zhang Zexuan arranged the food on plates, and Chen Mengjie carried the prepared ingredients to the small table.

With many hands making light work, the four of them were soon enjoying a steaming hot beef tallow hotpot.

At this moment, the number of viewers in the live stream had exceeded fifty thousand.

A whole crowd of “wild mother-in-laws” was online, concerned about their “son-in-law’s” health—

“Xiao Wei, it’s best not to eat late at night. But if you must, try to keep it light. Of course, if you invite me along, you can eat whatever you want!”

“Late-night hotpot really isn’t healthy, and your beef tallow doesn’t look very authentic. How about this—why don’t you send it to me, and I’ll help you test it?”

“That abacus bead just flew right into my face.”

“Good evening, fellow mother-in-laws! Let’s join this online hotpot party? I’ve already brought out my family’s heirloom self-heating hotpot.”

“Did anyone catch what brand of hotpot base Wei Sheng used? It doesn’t look like any of the big names. Could our son-in-law have eaten some unbranded product? (Shocked face~)”

Wei Sheng glanced at the comment section and noticed that many people were asking about the brand of hotpot base he was using. A thought crossed his mind, and he quickly rummaged through his suitcase, pulling out an unopened bag of beef tallow hotpot base and holding it up to the camera.

“You’re not mistaken—this brand isn’t well-known, but it tastes amazing!”

“You might not find this hotpot base widely available online, but the manufacturer does have its own store. You can try searching for the brand ‘Xiao Bing Family’.”

“This hotpot base factory is in Yingxiang, Sichuan Province—the same city that suffered massive losses in the 2008 earthquake¹. The owner’s hometown is Yingxiang.”

“According to my grandpa, the factory owner used to run a hotpot restaurant in Yingxiang with his wife, and business was booming!”

“Who could have predicted that one earthquake would take everything away—their home, their restaurant…”

“My grandpa told me that the reason the owner started this small factory was because his wife’s hotpot base recipe was famous for its incredible taste. He was afraid that as he got older, he might forget the recipe and never be able to make such a delicious base again, so he simply opened a small factory.”

“This packaging might look a bit old-fashioned, but there’s meaning behind it.”

Wei Sheng pointed to the beef tallow hotpot base’s packaging. “Xiao Bing was the owner’s wife’s nickname. This cartoon character wearing a dress, and this small car—these were the keepsakes left behind by the owner’s eldest daughter and youngest son…”

By this point, Wei Sheng could no longer smile.

The world was filled with heartless men who moved on to new wives before their first ones were even buried.

But there were also men who loved deeply and remained devoted for a lifetime.

Once, there was a happy family of four, but now, only the owner was left—alone, with a life so dark that not a single ray of hope could be seen.

At that moment, the secret recipe for his wife’s hotpot base became the last connection between the two lovers in this world.

Perhaps, back when the man was still poor and struggling, it was this very hotpot base, made by his wife, that helped them start their journey—from a small street-side skewer shop to their very own hotpot restaurant. They built a life together, raised their children, and enjoyed the simple joys of everyday life.

If not for that devastating earthquake, what a happy family they would have been!

A devoted husband, a kind and capable wife, and two bright, adorable children. Their life should have been filled with laughter and hope.

But now, everything was gone.

“I heard that later on, the owner took in many orphans who had lost their parents in the earthquake.”

“His factory is still in Yingxiang, and almost all of his employees are survivors of that disaster.”

“I suppose… in a way, this is also a form of redemption.”

Under the dim light, Wei Sheng recounted this sad yet deeply moving story in a quiet, solemn voice.

Beside him, Chen Mengjie, who had just been about to take a bite, had already turned into a tearful mess.

Ouyang Xia’s tiger-like eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

Zhang Zexuan tilted his head back, trying his best to hold in his tears, looking like a stubborn, grief-stricken frog against the wind…

The comment section of the live stream fell into a brief silence before exploding with messages.

“I can’t stop crying. My family is from Yingxiang.”

“I’ve been to the Yingxiang earthquake memorial site. It was devastating—I couldn’t even bear to look.”

“Back then, I cried every day while watching the news.”

“My mom was a doctor who participated in the post-quake rescue efforts. She used to scold me all the time, but after returning from Yingxiang, she couldn’t sleep without hugging me. If she lost sight of me for even a moment, she’d call me right away.”

“Thank you, streamer, for speaking up for Yingxiang’s disaster survivors! They’ve had such a tough road, truly starting over from nothing.”

Meanwhile, more and more viewers began searching for the brand Wei Sheng had mentioned.

The store was easy to find.

With live-stream shopping becoming so popular in recent years, many companies had opened their own online stores and live-stream channels—including “Xiao Bing Family.”

But when netizens saw the store’s profile, they fell into a stunned silence.

The company’s official account had only about a thousand followers.

Entering their live-stream, they saw that there were only 18 viewers online. The number itself was auspicious, but it was a mere fraction of what even minor influencers typically had.

And the store’s sales numbers?

The very beef tallow hotpot base that Wei Sheng had shown them—its total orders were under 500.

This wouldn’t do! Their overwhelming urge to support had become impossible to suppress!

Within just ten minutes, the originally quiet “Xiao Bing Family” live-stream—where the factory employees had been preparing to wrap things up for the night—suddenly saw their online viewer count skyrocketing!

A hundred, a thousand, ten thousand…

In less than half an hour, over forty thousand people had flooded into the factory’s livestream room!

And they weren’t just there for the spectacle.

These new fans had a clear goal. As soon as they entered, they didn’t even wait for the host’s introduction—they went straight to the little shopping cart and started a wild shopping spree!

The so-called “industry insiders” of the entertainment circle had miscalculated.

Wei Sheng’s mother-in-law fans weren’t stingy housewives reluctant to spend money on their idol’s endorsements.

It was just that no one had ever hit their soft spot before.

The unwavering love of the “Xiao Bing Family” owner for his late wife, the tragic fate of a once-happy family of four torn apart by the earthquake—these sentimental women were practically sobbing their hearts out!

What’s that? The factory workers are all survivors of that earthquake?

And the boss even adopted many orphans who lost their parents in the disaster?

If a kindhearted boss like this doesn’t become rich, every single Chinese person watching would feel responsible!

If this store had been selling something else, they might have hesitated, wondering whether they really needed it.

But hot pot base and Sichuan seasoning?

Plus local specialties like dried chili peppers, chopped chili, chili oil, and chili powder—every single one a kitchen essential!

Buy! Buy! Buy!

In no time, the sales numbers in “Xiao Bing Family’s” shop skyrocketed.

The surge was so shocking that the livestream host, a bright and cheerful young lady, completely snapped out of her drowsiness. Grabbing a crutch beside her, she rushed next door to find the boss.

Only then did the viewers realize—

The cheerful, sweet-smiling livestream host had only one leg…

So, she had lost her leg in that earthquake too?

Sniffling, the fans gripped their phones tightly and placed their orders even faster.

(End of Chapter)

Notes:

1. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake (Wenchuan earthquake) struck China on May 12, 2008, with a magnitude of 7.9–8.0. It killed nearly 70,000 people, injured over 374,000, and left 4.8 million homeless. The disaster caused massive destruction, especially to schools and buildings, leading to policy changes in disaster preparedness. ↩︎