Chapter 69

To pay off the mortgage and raise her child, Xiang Hong now has to work three jobs a day.

Running delivery orders in the morning wasn’t profitable, so she learned how to make flatbreads from someone. Every morning at 5:30, she sets up her stall near the subway station to sell flatbreads, soy milk, hot milk, tea eggs, and similar breakfast items. If she’s lucky and sells out everything she brought, she can earn at least two hundred yuan in the morning—enough to cover her daughter’s formula for a week.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Xiang Hong usually delivers food. In the beginning, she carried her daughter, Little Crescent, with her while delivering. Later on, the kind-hearted owner of a fast food place she frequented took pity on her and offered to let the baby stay in the staff lounge while Xiang Hong made deliveries.

The owner was usually busy, and the lounge was often unoccupied. As long as the baby was asleep, she wouldn’t disturb anyone. Perhaps the child somehow knew her mother was fighting hard to support her and their little home—sometimes, even when she woke up before her mother returned, she would quietly sit on the bed, hugging the doll her father gave her, waiting patiently for her mother to come pick her up between deliveries.

When she’s not delivering in the afternoon, Xiang Hong roams the wholesale market looking for discounted fruits. If she finds a good deal, she grabs some to sell at the night market from evening until 9 p.m.—sometimes selling snow fungus pear soup, sometimes fruit salads, and in the summer, ice jelly and various chilled juices.

Working three jobs a day, on good months Xiang Hong can bring in over ten thousand yuan. After subtracting over five thousand for the mortgage and covering living expenses for the three of them, she can still manage to save a few thousand yuan.

Yes, three of them.

After her husband died in a construction accident, the news reached their hometown and confirmed the bad reputation she and her brother had gained—that they were “jinxes.”

Her younger brother, Xiang Lei, couldn’t survive back home either and had to drop out of school to join her in the city.

Thankfully, he’d grown up. Although she couldn’t afford to send him to school, Xiang Hong pulled some strings and got him into an auto repair shop as an apprentice. She firmly believed that even without a degree, a boy should at least learn a trade to survive.

Her late husband had done the same—he left school after junior high and became a laborer, but he had followed a veteran electrician and learned the trade. Back when he was working construction, he could still earn over ten thousand a month. Having her younger brother live with them in the city was also a relief—after all, he was still a man, and that mattered.

There was no water or electricity in the unfinished building they lived in, let alone property management or security. At night, a woman alone with her daughter in such a place was in real danger. With her brother around, Xiang Hong could finally close her eyes and sleep a few hours at night.

Unlike before, when she had to sleep with a sharp kitchen knife under her pillow.

When she heard the TV station was recruiting owners of unfinished apartments to film a “day in their life,” Xiang Hong signed up without hesitation.

The reason was simple—the announcement said each participant would receive a 500 yuan inconvenience fee per day. It wouldn’t interfere with her night market stall, and she’d earn an extra 500 yuan a day. Who’d be stupid enough to pass up an opportunity like that?

What Xiang Hong didn’t know was that the 500-yuan fee had been fought for on their behalf by Wei Sheng.

Five hundred per group, four groups—only two thousand in total. To a well-funded television station, that was nothing. They’d spend thousands a day just on lunch boxes and milk tea during filming. But to the owners of these unfinished homes—most of whom had been unemployed and struggling for a long time—500 yuan in cash per day was a dream side hustle.

Nowadays, even after running around all day delivering food or parcels, many people still don’t make 500.

Sure enough, once the news of the payment spread, nearly every homeowner in the unfinished complex signed up.

After careful selection by the production team, the first four featured families were finalized.

The first group was Xiang Hong’s. A young woman raising two children on her own, struggling through hardship, but still with a determined light in her eyes.

The second group was a middle-class family that had fallen into poverty after starting a business. The man, Ma Xiuyuan, was once a mid-level manager at an internet company. His wife, Qiu Qiu, used to be a full-time mom. Before the pandemic hit, Ma Xiuyuan had an annual salary close to half a million yuan—more than enough to support a family. Then he partnered with friends to open a bed-and-breakfast and lost over a million yuan.

After the pandemic, his company downsized and laid off staff. Ma was let go with a severance package. They thought buying a home would at least be a safe move—even if they lost money, a house would still be theirs. Who could’ve guessed that instead of a loss, they’d get an unfinished building? Over 500,000 yuan sunk in, with a monthly mortgage of 8,000 yuan, and they hadn’t even seen the shadow of their home.

From middle-class to impoverished overnight. Faced with the immovable 8,000-yuan mortgage every month, Ma Xiuyuan had contemplated jumping off a building more than once.

Thankfully, he had a strong-willed wife.

Though Qiu Qiu looked delicate, she had inner strength. When her husband made money, she enjoyed the good life. Now that he didn’t, she didn’t complain.

She sold her luxury handbags—gifts from her husband—and bought a used tricycle and some large cookware, then began selling boxed meals at construction sites and night markets, offering skewers and her own braised duck dishes.

With her encouragement, Ma Xiuyuan picked himself back up. The couple worked even harder than Xiang Hong. Qiu Qiu would send the kids to school in the morning, then head home to crochet hair accessories to sell at the night market.

At 9 a.m., she and her husband would prepare lunch boxes together. She’d go to the construction site to sell, and he’d begin his food delivery shift. In the afternoon, she braised duck dishes while her husband shot and edited videos. In the evening, he worked as a designated driver, and she ran their market stall. Together, they earned nearly 30,000 yuan a month.

Last month, their social media account also started to take off, gaining over 20,000 followers. It wasn’t a lot of money yet, but it was enough to upgrade their meals once a week.

The third group was a pair of elderly parents who had lost their only child. The husband, Wu Ping, was a retired employee from a local theater. His wife, Yuan Fang, had retired from a supply and marketing cooperative. Their only daughter died in a car accident a few years ago, leaving behind no children, and the son-in-law remarried soon after.

With no children to rely on in old age, Wu Ping and Yuan Fang had sold their old home and bought an elevator-access apartment in Mingzhu Garden to retire in comfortably—only for the project to be abandoned.

They were the only couple among the four groups not burdened with a mortgage. Fortunately, they had been too old to qualify for loans, so they had paid in full. But that home had cost nearly all their life savings.

If the house had been delivered on time, they could’ve lived rent-free in their own home, and with a combined pension of nearly 8,000 yuan a month, life in the provincial capital would’ve been more than comfortable.

Now, with all their savings tied up in an unfinished home, renting would mean they’d barely save anything. And with no children to care for them in the future, one serious illness would leave them with nothing but death to wait for.

After some discussion, they decided to move into the unfinished building. As elderly people, they didn’t spend much, and the rent they saved covered their monthly living expenses, letting them save their pensions for emergencies.

What’s more, there was a large open space by the building. Wu Ping and Yuan Fang started a vegetable garden in the complex. They sold their home-grown produce at the market and made a few dozen yuan each day.

Group Four featured a young rural girl named Tian Mi who came to the city to work. Just like her name, she was a sweet girl with an even sweeter smile.

Unfortunately, life hadn’t treated her kindly. She was born into an extremely patriarchal family. Her older brother was lazy and dull, refused to study properly, yet insisted on attending vocational school just to avoid working in the fields. Tian Mi had always excelled academically, but her parents believed that only sons were the pillars of the family and daughters were money pits. They claimed that educating a daughter was just benefiting someone else’s family. So, after she graduated from middle school, they dumped her with a relative who brought her to the city to work and earn money for the family.

Luckily, the aunt who brought her out truly cared for her. While doing clothing business, the aunt helped Tian Mi secretly save money. It just so happened that the clothing export business was booming during those years, and they also caught the early wave of livestream e-commerce. Tian Mi assisted her aunt with the livestreams, sometimes earning tens of thousands each month—and during peak seasons, even over a hundred thousand.

Tian Mi was a sharp girl. She knew she couldn’t count on her family. Her brother could burn through any amount of money. Even though she always told her parents she only earned 3,500 yuan per month, her mother still demanded she send 3,000 home every month!

If that were truly her salary, she’d be left with 500 yuan a month—she’d starve in the city!

That was the moment she realized: the only person she could rely on in this life was herself.

So, she quietly saved over 300,000 yuan, paid a down payment, and bought herself a two-bedroom apartment in the Mingzhu Garden complex.

Her parents had always told her: once she got married, she’d be someone else’s daughter. Tian Mi didn’t want to get married. If her birth family didn’t want her, that was fine. She could give herself a home.

But no one could’ve foreseen the sudden outbreak of the pandemic, which brought society to a standstill.

The clothing business took a nosedive, and her aunt gave up the shop lease and returned to their hometown. Tian Mi, however, couldn’t leave—she still had a monthly mortgage of over 4,000 yuan!

Worse still, she was at the “marriageable age.” Over the past two years, her mother had been calling her more frequently, constantly urging her to return during holidays to go on blind dates while she was still young.

Tian Mi would secretly scoff—blind dates? More like they wanted to sell her off for a big bride price to get her precious brother a wife.

Her brother, three years older, still jobless, living off their parents, hadn’t even managed to get a girlfriend. Her parents were probably losing their minds with worry.

If she went back now, it’d be like a lamb walking into a tiger’s den.

Fortunately, the repeated lockdowns during the pandemic saved her! One moment it was her hometown being locked down, the next it was her city under silent management. Her hometown, full of migrant workers, had minor outbreaks almost every year.

Whenever her mother called to urge her to come back, Tian Mi would agree sweetly and say she’d return once work settled down—but not long after, there’d be news of another lockdown either back home or where she lived. In the end, she simply couldn’t go back. Don’t ask why—just say the village wouldn’t let her in!

Even though the housing complex she bought into ended up being a stalled project, Tian Mi was resourceful. As someone who had relied on herself from a young age, she was used to getting by. While other girls were putting on face masks and binge-watching dramas after work, she’d hop on her tricycle and scavenge through construction waste at nearby renovation sites. She’d salvage usable wood panels, tiles, wires, nails, pipes—she even once found a nearly full bucket of latex paint!

Bit by bit, like an ant moving house, Tian Mi turned her leaky, unfinished apartment into a warm little home. Other than not having running water or electricity, it was perfectly livable!

As for internet? She just bought one of those plug-and-play wireless cards online—cheaper than getting broadband installed!

Though the clothing business had collapsed, her years of livestreaming with her aunt had left her with tens of thousands of followers. Tian Mi found a new livestream job. With salary and bonuses, she could make between 7,000 to 10,000 yuan a month. On top of that, she filmed videos and took ad gigs. Even though she lived in an unfinished building, her life was far more comfortable than those hometown girls who had already gotten married!

And so, with these four guests who were all brimming with positivity despite adversity, the show was officially titled “Workers, Charge Ahead!”, and its pilot was set to begin filming at J City’s most infamous stalled real estate project—Mingzhu Garden.

What the network hadn’t expected was that this self-produced show, which no one had much faith in, somehow caught the attention of the Provincial Department of Housing and Urban Development. Before filming had even started, rumors were already swirling: a major official from the department was very optimistic about the show and was just waiting to review the first few sample episodes.

If those early episodes impressed the official, the show might even be selected as one of the department’s key support projects for the year… And what did that mean?

It meant that with backing from the Provincial Housing Department, not only would the show face no obstacles during production—as long as the ratings were decent, it was guaranteed to scoop up awards at the end of the year!

More importantly, with their endorsement, it was entirely possible the show could attract a few wealthy developers to revive the Mingzhu Garden project.

Suddenly, this unassuming show, “Workers”, became a hot property.

Everyone with influence at the station wanted a piece of the pie.

Hilarious! As if it were that easy to get in?

Jin Yannan had been in the TV business for over a decade—of course she knew how things worked behind the scenes.

Right after getting off a call from the Housing Department, she keenly sensed the show might just blow up. What was there to wait for? While the gold mine was still undiscovered, she rushed to stuff every possible crew slot with people she trusted.

Especially the four permanent guest hosts assigned to assist the workers—Jin Yannan made sure they were all her people.

Aside from Wei Sheng, the other three were old acquaintances—Zhou Mingxing’s own golden geese: A-list actress Shen Yi, popular young actor Zhang Hanxing, and rising starlet Yang Junyao.

It was basically like dragging the original cast of “Daji Reborn” straight into this show!

“Wait a minute! Old Zhou, didn’t you say you didn’t believe in this show? You didn’t even let me go at first—so how come Shen Yi is here now?” Wei Sheng was practically covered in question marks.

Zhou Mingxing shot him a look. “When it only had Jin Yannan and Wang Yang’s names attached, why would I have faith in it?”

“But now, even the Provincial Housing Department is on board. And I’ve heard the Provincial Broadcasting Bureau is interested in your so-called stalled project renovation show too…”

“Hold on! We’re not a renovation show!” Wei Sheng shouted. “Only the first few episodes are shot in Mingzhu Garden. Later, we’re showcasing portraits of the urban working class in different cities—it’s not just about stalled projects!”

No way Jin-jie was that shameless, right? Did she really change the entire direction of the show just to ride on the Housing Department’s coattails?

Zhou Mingxing gave him a look of pity. “You’re just realizing that now? Jin Yannan—the kind of woman who can’t walk past a trophy without reaching for it—how could she resist the lure of being labeled a ‘key provincial arts project’?”

“If she hadn’t told me that the first season of Workers would be in collaboration with the Housing Department, specifically focusing on housing improvement for the urban poor, you think I’d send all your senior brothers and sisters to join?”

Everyone loves picking peaches off the tree.

Just like with green tea girls—netizens say the reason people don’t like them is simply because the tea isn’t for them.

If a sweet and gentle girl with an innocent face were to dote on you every day, asking if you’re warm enough and have eaten well—honestly, not just men, even women would fall for her!

When watching someone else pick the fruits of success, everyone gritted their teeth in envy.

But when it came time to pick those fruits themselves, they only regretted not running fast enough!

Before the rest of the station realized the true value of the Workers program, Zhou Mingxing and Jin Yannan had already teamed up to pluck the biggest, juiciest peach!

Of course, they couldn’t keep all the benefits to themselves. For example, the production team could occasionally squeeze in a few guest appearances; the post-production work would let the tech and production departments get a share of the pie. Jin Yannan even privately negotiated with the news department head to help promote the show. If the show blew up, they’d get dibs on all the juicy exclusives!

As for the fattest slice—commercial sponsorship—Jin Yannan didn’t even dare touch that. That part was left to the higher-ups in the station to fight over.

After all, the bigwigs needed something to do. If they had too much free time and started nitpicking the program, that would be a headache for Jin Yannan… cough.

Once everything was ready, at 8:08 a.m. on Friday, a simple opening ceremony took place at the small plaza—oops, “plaza”—in front of Mingzhu Garden.

The provincial Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department was very satisfied with the revitalization plan Jin Yannan’s team had drafted for the unfinished housing project. The internal approval process was already underway, and the program Workers was set to be submitted as one of the department’s key supported projects for the year. On the day of the launch, top leaders from the Provincial Housing Department, the Provincial Propaganda Department, the Provincial Culture and Tourism Bureau, and other agencies were present.

Dozens of cameras were set up at the scene, and many reporters from newspapers and new media were in attendance.

Wei Sheng had reason to believe that it was precisely because the media and provincial leaders were present that Jin Yannan refrained from throwing a flashy ceremony—and even skipped the usual traditional “superstitious” rituals.

Thankfully, they still kept the crowd-pleasing red envelope tradition for good luck.

After the simple ceremony, everyone toured this locally infamous abandoned property.

To be fair, if it hadn’t been for the sudden collapse of the developer and the sluggish real estate market, Mingzhu Garden, based on its initial design and planning, could have become a very livable community.

The supporting facilities alone showed the original developer’s good intentions. The complex included a kindergarten, a community canteen, an activity center for the elderly, and a home-based senior care center. Even the roads that had already been completed were fully accessible and barrier-free.

No wonder retirees like Wu Ping and Yuan Fang sold their high-floor apartments to buy homes in Mingzhu Garden for their retirement.

Unfortunately, once the developer’s capital chain broke, none of the remaining plans could be realized.

Only a third of the community plaza had been paved with concrete; the rest had been turned into vegetable gardens by desperate residents. At a glance, if you ignored the skyscrapers beyond the walls, the vast garden plots looked exactly like the countryside!

They even had a “pond”—originally the site for Building 5. It had barely been excavated three meters before the developer fled. After a few bouts of heavy rain, the pit filled with water and became a pond. Residents now draw water from it for their vegetables and even released fish into it—hoping to feast on their own home-raised catch for the Lunar New Year!

The provincial leaders felt awkward.

Even though they’d already agreed internally that, no matter how the internet mocked them, the Workers program must push forward and revitalize this project as soon as possible, the reality on-site was hard to stomach. That once-planned “core CBD (Central Business District)” had become a vegetable patch and fishpond. It was so awkward they could barely face the cameras!

To break the dead silence and embarrassment, Wei Sheng sacrificed himself.

He leaned into his youth and “naivety” and stepped forward bravely—

“Leaders, as you can see, even in such difficult conditions, our Mingzhu Garden residents are actively helping themselves. They’d rather cultivate vegetables than default on their mortgages. It’s clear everyone here really wants this project to survive and thrive!”

Jin Yannan gave Wei Sheng an approving glance.

No wonder even the sly old fox Zhou Mingxing treated this kid like a treasure.

Look at that! In just a few sentences, he smoothly shifted the focus from the embarrassment of the abandoned project to the positive narrative of breathing new life into troubled assets.

Sure enough, Wei Sheng’s words successfully redirected the journalists’ attention from awkward reality to hopeful futures.

When the camera finally moved away from the fishpond and onto him, the provincial Housing Department leader let out a discreet sigh of relief. Looking admiringly at Wei Sheng, he faced the cameras and firmly declared their confidence in the Mingzhu Garden revival plan—

“Please rest assured. This time, we’re bringing together the power of all departments. With full support from the provincial, municipal, and district governments, we will spare no effort to help the residents of Mingzhu Garden resolve the crisis of this unfinished project!”

“And we also hope the residents will give us a bit more time. Let’s work together, hand in hand, to bring this project back to life!”

A wave of warm applause swept through the crowd.

Some homeowners even burst into tears.

The reporters, like they were injected with adrenaline, eagerly captured every emotional moment.

The attending leaders from various departments soaked up the media attention.

Wei Sheng quietly backed out of the crowd and stared at the vegetables covering the ground, lost in thought…

(End of Chapter)