Chapter 51

That night, the live broadcast of Back to Hometown with My Bros lasted from 8 PM to 11 PM.

Holding a selfie stick, Wei Sheng, accompanied by his assistant, strolled through the food section, then the local specialties section, and finally the handicrafts section. By the end of the night, they had nearly sold out all of Houzhai Village’s stock!

Some fans even asked if they were selling the bamboo lamps.

“Bamboo lamps? You mean the ones up there? Hold on! Let me ask for you!”

Wei Sheng immediately turned around and ran back to Hou Pengfei’s bamboo handicrafts stall.

Luckily, Hou Pengfei hadn’t packed up yet.

When he heard that some viewers were interested in the custom-made bamboo lamps for the village, he thought for a moment and nodded. “Our factory can take custom orders. If anyone is interested, they can contact our online store’s customer service.”

“Aren’t custom orders expensive? Pengfei, I think your factory could mass-produce smaller bamboo lamps for home use—like decorative lights, floor lamps, table lamps, or nightlights.”

“If you produce them in bulk, they’d be more affordable than custom orders. That way, fans who love bamboo craft lamps could buy smaller pieces to decorate their homes.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” The comment section instantly lit up with support.

Unless someone was running a guesthouse, living in a mansion, or furnishing a high-end restaurant or hotel, most people wouldn’t need a large custom-made bamboo lamp. Just as Wei Sheng said, regular households would at most buy a few stylish bamboo lamps for decoration.

The more Hou Pengfei listened, the more viable this idea seemed!

Plus, the craftsmanship required for bamboo lamps wasn’t overly complicated. If done well, this could definitely develop into a whole new product line!

“Wei, you’ve done me a huge favor! I won’t say any empty words—when you buy a house and need furniture, I’ll cover all your bamboo furniture and lighting!”

Wei Sheng grinned. “Then hurry up! Once your production line is up and running, I’ll help you sell them again.”

The viewers watching the live stream couldn’t help but cover their faces, while Zhou Mingxing’s face turned dark.

He seriously considered giving Wei Sheng a training session—on how entertainers should abide by their agency’s regulations.

For example, after signing a contract, any commercial collaboration outside of the agency, even hosting a relative’s wedding, had to be reported to the manager!

A Three-Hour “Cloud Market”

In a three-hour virtual night market experience, Wei Sheng led his viewers on a shopping spree, turning the small village of Houzhai into an internet sensation once again!

The county’s Publicity Department and Cultural Bureau immediately contacted the village committee to discuss the possibility of hosting another rural night market.

After all, following the success of the live-streamed night market, numerous local specialty businesses in the county reached out, hoping to collaborate with Houzhai Village. They wanted their products featured in the night market or even considered renting a long-term stall.

After all, the staggering number of online viewers during the live stream represented an invaluable marketing opportunity in the digital age!

Even if they didn’t sell much during the live stream, the brand exposure alone was worth far more than the millions they would otherwise spend on advertising.

Soon after, the county’s Hanfu Culture Association also contacted the Cultural Bureau, proposing a collaboration where they could use the night market venue to promote traditional Hanfu culture. It would be a mutually beneficial arrangement—the night market would gain more visitors, and the Hanfu Association would get a great promotional platform.

Even the Education Bureau got involved, suggesting that the night market could serve as a social practice site for schools across the county.

Of course, none of these collaborations came for free—venue rental fees would be required.

Moreover, with so many people visiting Houzhai Village for various events, local businesses would also see an economic boost.

As for whether some organizations were simply looking to ride the village’s newfound fame and complete their annual publicity targets in one go—well, everyone in the workforce had annual KPIs to hit, right?

Unexpected Developments

Just like that, Wei Sheng’s night market live stream unexpectedly turned Houzhai Village into the county’s hottest destination.

The county’s Education and Sports Bureau went a step further. To facilitate long-term use of the venue, they allocated funds to pave the ground in front of the village committee’s building.

The Cultural Bureau followed suit. An empty lot alone wasn’t impressive enough—how could a cultural department host an event without a proper stage?

Thus, a brand-new Village Grand Stage was built in front of the Houzhai Village Committee’s office!

Seeing this, the Tourism Bureau couldn’t sit still. Rural tourism was their jurisdiction—how could they let other departments take all the credit in their territory?

No way! The Tourism Bureau had to make its presence known!

Soon, Houzhai Village was officially recognized as the county’s newly popular internet-famous tourist destination and added to the county’s rural tourism recommendation list.

Don’t underestimate this list.

In recent years, counties across the country had been aggressively developing their tourism industries, and local tourism bureaus were willing to invest heavily in promotion. The county’s tourism recommendation list alone was printed in the hundreds of thousands each year!

These brochures were distributed at every scenic area entrance, major hotels, guesthouses, agritourism sites, bus stations, and high-speed rail stations—ensuring that every visitor could grab a copy and easily find places to visit.

Getting on the tourism bureau’s recommendation list was essentially receiving an official endorsement as a “local must-visit attraction.”

Forget just earning venue rental fees—if they ever decided to enclose the area and charge admission, that wouldn’t be out of the question either.

However, inspired by Wei Sheng, the village committee decided not to introduce an entrance fee just yet.

After all, Houzhai Village had neither famous mountains nor rivers, nor any historical celebrity residences. It was just a small village with a river and a few bamboo-covered hills—what right did they have to charge an entrance fee?

Wei Sheng was right—if even Hangzhou’s renowned West Lake didn’t charge admission and still made a fortune from visitor spending, why be so shortsighted? Charging a small entry fee might only deter visitors, limiting the village’s long-term potential.

Hou Tianbao Firmly Believes: “You Must Give to Receive!”

For many years after becoming the village chief, Hou Tianbao stuck to his principles. Even when the number of tourists visiting Houzhai Village surged to the point that reservations were required, he never turned the village into a ticketed tourist attraction.

Strangely enough, the more accessible it was, the more visitors the village attracted!

Over time, young villagers saved up money, renovated their old family homes, and started running guesthouses and farm-stay businesses. Those with culinary skills went a step further and opened rustic home-style restaurants.

During peak tourist seasons, these restaurants had to turn over their tables multiple times per meal service. It was said that their monthly net profits could reach over 100,000 yuan!

The elderly villagers also found ways to earn an income. They would set up small roadside stalls in front of their homes, selling local specialties, beverages, popsicles, and baked goods. Even a tiny stall could bring in 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a month during peak seasons.

As for people like Hou Pengfei, who had been investing in local specialty industries from the start, he had now become a well-known “rural entrepreneur” in the region!

After Back to Hometown with My Bros wrapped up its final episode, Hou Pengfei’s bamboo and wood processing plant took advantage of the program’s live-streaming success. His social media account gradually gained hundreds of thousands of followers, and his online store saw steadily increasing sales in its product category.

Even without Wei Sheng’s live-stream promotions, their own fanbase and their contracts supplying home furnishing retailers already pushed the factory’s production capacity to its limits.

Not to mention, with Houzhai Village now officially recognized as a “popular local tourist destination,” the influx of visitors also boosted the sales of bamboo handicrafts. Many local shop owners were now sourcing their products from him…

Six months ago, Hou Pengfei wouldn’t have dared to expand production so easily—he had suffered enough losses to be cautious.

But now, looking at the mountain of pending orders, Hou Pengfei made a decisive move. He invested a large sum of money to lease a plot of land in a neighboring village, which was also rich in bamboo resources, and set up a branch factory.

This caused quite a stir in the neighboring village!

They never imagined that Houzhai Village’s prosperity would bring them benefits as well!

With Hou Pengfei’s processing plant now in their village, their previously unsellable bamboo was finally in high demand.

Nearly every household in the village had a bamboo grove. Now, just by selling bamboo, each family could earn an extra 10,000 to 20,000 yuan per year.

On top of that, the factory was hiring locally—bamboo harvesters, rough processors, weavers—many young villagers who had been working far from home were now returning to work in their own village.

Although the wages at the village factory were slightly lower than in city factories, the cost of living was low. With free room and board at home and little to spend on entertainment, workers could actually save more money than if they had left to find jobs elsewhere.

No one could have predicted that a nearly-canceled reality show would bring such a dramatic transformation to these once-remote and impoverished villages!

While some were still idly watching the drama unfold, the smart ones had already sprung into action.

Suddenly, the phones of the provincial TV station executives, as well as those of Back to Hometown with My Bros’ producers and directors, were ringing off the hook—practically turning into a rural development hotline!

Many towns and villages in the province, some of which had only recently escaped poverty or had fallen back into hardship due to various reasons, were scrambling to contact J Province TV. They were all eager to sign up for the network’s “poverty alleviation reality show.”

“What poverty alleviation reality show? We don’t have such a program,” one of the station executives responded in confusion.

It wasn’t until a contact name-dropped Wei Sheng that the executive finally understood and laughed in exasperation.

Truth be told, even if no one had reached out, the station had already been planning a second season.

After all, while some industry peers mocked the show for being outdated and overly rustic, the reality was—it was incredibly profitable!

Despite the overall decline in TV advertising revenue in recent years, Bros had become one of the most lucrative programs for the station ever since Wei Sheng “revived” it.

Take “Li Ji,” the leading domestic condiment brand, for example. Not only had they invested over six million yuan to become the season’s exclusive title sponsor, but they also capitalized on the “affordable bulk soy sauce and vinegar” controversy to stir up a wave of patriotic sentiment in their marketing campaign.

Whether or not their sales actually increased, no one knew—but their stock price had soared! Just the market value increase alone was an absolute win.

Spending six million to generate six hundred million worth of publicity—what a steal!

The station’s executives had already discussed this in private. The first season’s success had been an unexpected stroke of luck. No one had anticipated that a show that was nearly scrapped would, after a full team overhaul, emerge as the biggest dark horse among all provincial-level self-produced reality shows in Q4!

Just thinking about how each episode dominated trending searches without costing a cent, yet they had only charged six million for the title sponsorship—it was a massive loss!

Looking at the Q4 provincial TV reality show rankings, a certain rural tourism show that ranked below them had far less online traction, yet its ad revenue exceeded 300 million yuan!

Word had it that the exclusive title sponsorship alone sold for 70 million yuan! Then there were the exclusive partners, designated vehicles, official beverages, special recommendations… A dozen or so corporate sponsors lined up, bringing in additional millions.

By comparison, Bros had an even higher level of engagement, but by the time advertisers caught on, the show was already in its final stretch. Despite a late surge in deals, the total ad revenue for the season still hadn’t surpassed 50 million yuan. Just thinking about it was enough to make them sick with regret.

No way—Season 2’s title sponsorship must start at no less than 80 million!

And now, seeing a flood of applications from various towns and villages eager to be the next filming location, the station executives were grinning from ear to ear.

More applicants meant more competition! The fiercer the bidding war, the better their leverage in negotiations. Who knew? They might even get the production costs covered entirely!

Most importantly, their guests were all employees of the station, which was much cheaper than hiring big-name celebrities! Thinking about it this way, if the show’s ad revenue could surpass a billion per season, the actual net profit would be equivalent to what other shows needed five billion to achieve!

After all, everyone in the industry knew that the biggest expense for variety shows nowadays was celebrity appearance fees.

But did the station executives really think their plans were foolproof? Did they think Zhou Mingxing wouldn’t see through their calculations?

Just as the last episode wrapped up on Wei Sheng’s end, Zhou Mingxing immediately secured two new opportunities for him:

One was a resource gifted by the wealthy woman He Yaru—a survival reality show on a deserted island, with filming locations mostly set near luxury island resorts that He’s family had invested in.

The other was a brand endorsement deal arranged through Chen Mengjie’s connections. It was for a high-end resort under the Chen family’s name.

The Chen family had previously made their fortune in coal mining, but after depleting the mines, they were left with numerous abandoned mining pits.

Some genius, in an unexpected stroke of inspiration, came up with the idea of transforming those open-pit mines into luxury resorts. The Chen family had invested a portion in the project back then. However, another investor later failed and backed out, leaving their shares to be acquired by the Chen family.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the tourism industry had been sluggish, and the resort was struggling to stay afloat. But Chen Mengjie was now a die-hard fan of Wei Sheng! She was convinced that her idol had some kind of protagonist halo—hadn’t he even managed to revive a show that was considered “cursed” at their station?

Besides, the resort’s downturn was only due to economic circumstances. Back in the day, it had been a local landmark and was even named one of China’s top ten architectural wonders.

If Wei Sheng could help rejuvenate the resort’s business, she’d be able to convince her older brother to arrange even more endorsement deals for him.

Helping her idol earn more money while getting to see his massive endorsement posters displayed all over her family’s property—was there any collaboration more perfect than this?

With these two deals lined up, Zhou Mingxing decided to wait things out a little longer. That way, when the station came back with an offer, he could negotiate a much better deal for Wei Sheng.

After all, expecting Wei Sheng to continue working for just 20,000 yuan per episode like before? That wasn’t just an insult to Wei Sheng—it was an insult to Zhou Mingxing himself.

What? Since when did one of his top artists have such a low asking price?

Besides, if the artist earned less, his manager’s commission would shrink too… and without money, how was he supposed to support his child?

Thinking of his beloved daughter at home, Zhou Mingxing quickened his pace, clutching the custom-made Peppa Pig family-themed cream cake he had specially ordered.

(End of Chapter)

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