Chapter 70

“Growing vegetables doesn’t make money, and it’s not even legal. Sister Jin, just trust me on this! While the provincial leaders are still paying attention to our project, let’s act fast! Get the urban management department to greenlight it, and contact that city-run parking management company. Let’s convert all this empty land around Mingzhu Garden into a temporary parking lot!”

Right after the launch ceremony, Wei Sheng was frantically trying to convince Jin Yannan.

Everyone thought he was out of his mind.

“Wei Sheng, stop coming up with terrible ideas! Haven’t you heard? Many of the owners of these unfinished buildings are unemployed. They’re relying on these small plots to grow vegetables and make ends meet. If you bulldoze their gardens and turn everything into parking lots, how are they supposed to live?” Shen Yi looked like she wanted to sew Wei Sheng’s mouth shut.

Wei Sheng sighed, feeling like none of these celestial beings understood the perspective of a mere mortal.

“Sister Yi, even if this is an unfinished development, reclaiming land for farming still violates urban management regulations.”

“But look, we’re in the city center. There’s a commercial street nearby, and parking spaces are always tight. Here’s what I’m thinking: we bring in a professional parking company to level the ground temporarily and open it up as a parking lot during the day. People shopping nearby can park here. And if we negotiate properly, we could arrange for the residents of these unfinished buildings to get priority for parking attendant jobs. Doesn’t that help solve some employment problems?”

“How many attendants can a parking lot possibly need? What about the rest of the residents?” Jin Yannan asked.

“I’m not done yet. The real kicker is at night! Once the ground is level and utilities are connected, it’ll be a parking lot by day and a night market by night! We won’t even need to mark new spots—each parking space can double as a vendor stall. Think about it: with the current night market stall rates in the provincial capital, each stall rents for 30 yuan a night. Mingzhu Garden has so much space—if we divide it all into stalls and rent them out, we’re talking tens of thousands in rental income every night!”

“We can organize a residents’ committee to negotiate with the parking company. They’ll cover the cost of leveling the land and connecting utilities. Daytime parking revenue goes to them, and nighttime market rent becomes collective income for the Mingzhu Garden residents…”

“I did the math. Even assuming only 80% of the stalls are rented out, that’s 1.44 million yuan in stall rent per month. Divided among the residents, that’s about 1,000 yuan per household monthly. Tell me, what vegetable patch is going to earn you that much in a month? And as long as no one takes over the Mingzhu Garden project, this subsidy can keep going.”

“Wait! Someone bring Mr. Wei a chair—let him sit down and take his time!” Jin Yannan eagerly took hold of Wei Sheng’s arm.

“Xiao Wei, tell us more. I don’t think this night market idea is just about rent, is it?” Shen Yi’s face lit up as she personally opened a bottle of soda water for him.

Yeah, their show was already generating buzz before it aired—even their sponsors had upgraded, switching from some obscure bottled water to a well-known premium soda brand.

Wei Sheng didn’t keep them in suspense and laid out the rest of his idea:

“Actually, I was inspired by the urban management bureau. Have you noticed? In recent years, parking in the provincial capital has become increasingly difficult. So the traffic police and city managers have already started converting vacant lots from demolished but unsold properties into temporary parking lots.”

“This helps ease parking pressure, creates some jobs, and even supplements municipal revenue—a triple win!”

“So I thought, since our project is getting attention from provincial leaders, why not ask them to speak to the traffic and urban management departments and give Mingzhu Garden a makeover too? Parking during the day, night market at night.”

“That way, the night market rent becomes community income. After deducting management costs, it could really ease the financial burden on the unfinished building owners.”

“Running a night market means you need people to collect fees, maintain order, and clean up, right? All those jobs could go to local residents. That’s more employment solved.”

“Plus, if others can set up stalls here, so can Mingzhu Garden residents! Since it’s collective property, we could even offer them discounted rent.”

“This is great! It fits perfectly with the show’s storyline! The production team can even offer support to residents who want to start small businesses. That’ll give us even more content!” Jin Yannan’s eyes sparkled—she practically wanted to kidnap Wei Sheng back to the studio.

This guy was a treasure. How on earth did they let that money-grubber Zhou Mingxing steal him away?

“And,” Wei Sheng pointed to the empty ground floor areas beneath the three completed buildings in Mingzhu Garden, “these were probably meant to be community activity rooms, right? Aren’t we supposed to have four guests helping four families one-on-one?”

“I suggest we fence off this area and divide it into four zones—one per guest. Each of us can run a small business here to support our assigned families.”

“Yes, yes! Let’s not forget our core mission!” Jin Yannan nodded like crazy.

Damn! This poverty-alleviation thing was addictive. They had all just gotten completely sucked into Wei Sheng’s night market proposal and nearly forgot they were here to film a show!

Seeing how Jin Yannan was scribbling furiously in her notebook, Shen Yi couldn’t help but laugh and tease: “Director Jin, if I’m not mistaken, wasn’t Xiao Wei hired as a regular cast member? Why are you making him double as a creative consultant? Paying him one salary for two jobs—that’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

“Raise his salary! Give our little junior brother a raise!” Senior sister Yang Junyao joined in, fanning the flames.

Wei Sheng’s eyes lit up—he immediately leaned into Jin Yannan.

“Sister Jin, if it’s inconvenient to give me a raise, maybe we could at least improve the conditions for all us regulars? For example… could we get a solar water heater installed?”

“Get a few of them. Maybe even set up public showers for men and women separately. When filming wraps up, the facilities could stay for the residents to use. I heard that because of water and power issues, most of them either go to public bathhouses or mooch showers at gyms.”

“Done! We’ll install water heaters!” Jin Yannan thought about it for a moment and agreed readily.

She had him figured out—Wei Sheng was sharp as a tack. Even if she said no now, he’d find a way to get those water heaters installed anyway.

Perfect!

The four guests were moved to tears.

They had no choice. For the sake of the show’s realism, they had to live in the unfinished buildings during filming.

The crew had found them a four-bedroom, two-living-room shell of an apartment—wind howled through every wall, there were no doors or windows, and forget beds—they didn’t even have cardboard to sleep on!

But that delightful surprise was something the guests would have to discover on their own.

For now, the four groups of guests had to draw lots to decide who would pair up with whom.

Usually, variety shows love to stir up drama during this kind of segment. But in this case, all four guests were family.

Following Big Sister Shen Yi’s suggestion, they lined up by age: the youngest, Wei Sheng, drew first, followed by third sibling Zhang Hanxing, second sister Yang Junyao, and finally Shen Yi herself.

If there’s no cheating involved, then it doesn’t really matter who draws first—it’s not like the first person is guaranteed to get “the best group.”

“Well then, I won’t hold back.” Wei Sheng stepped forward and reached into the sealed box. Inside were four smooth ping pong balls, each labeled with a group number. Just by touch, you couldn’t tell anything at all!

He casually pulled one out and looked at the tag. It read “Group 3.”

“Congratulations, Wei Sheng! You’ve drawn Teacher Wu Ping’s group.”

Although all four families were facing difficult situations, Wu Ping and Yuan Fang’s group had the best overall conditions. Both were retired workers, had fully paid off their home, and didn’t have to worry about mortgage payments. Together, they had a combined monthly pension of seven to eight thousand yuan—easily the group with the least financial stress.

“Man, you’re really lucky!” Zhang Hanxing sighed as he stepped forward to draw. He reached in and pulled out a ping pong ball labeled “Group 4.”

“Congrats to Teacher Zhang—teamed up with our very own Sailor Moon—Miss Tian Mi.”

“Sailor Moon” was the nickname the production team had secretly given Tian Mi.

She clearly had the “devoted-to-helping-her-brother” script, but she outright refused to be emotionally manipulated by her original family.

Parental guilt-tripping? Sorry, but as long as I have no moral high ground, nobody can guilt-trip me!

Tian Mi’s most impressive move was her “stalling strategy”—she was practically a grandmaster at resisting family exploitation!

Every time her parents called her about money because of her brother, she always responded positively on the phone, sounding respectful and obedient. Then, a few days later, she’d say she couldn’t borrow the money… After all, she was alone, working hard in the city. Her only relative—her aunt—had already gone back to their hometown, and since Tian Mi “couldn’t afford rent,” she had supposedly ended up living like a beggar in an unfinished, abandoned building.

Sometimes, you really have to admit: the Earth won’t stop spinning without you.

Whenever her parents called, it always sounded like a dire emergency—as if Tian Mi’s brother would be hacked to pieces by debt collectors the very next second if she didn’t send money.

But what actually happened?

A few days passed, and nothing.

Her brother was still the same lazy bum, living off their parents.

Even without Tian Mi’s money, he hadn’t been dismembered by loan sharks…

A young woman in her early twenties—if she’d been born into a middle-class family in the city, she’d probably still be in college, asking her parents for an allowance every month. But Tian Mi had already taken on the responsibility of supporting her parents.

Even when she lied on the phone and said she was living in an unfinished building because she couldn’t afford rent, her parents never said she should stop sending money home. Sometimes, if she sent a few hundred yuan less, her mom would call to “casually” ask how much she made that month and why she sent back less money…

So really, there’s no such thing as a “natural-born magical girl.” If her parents had even a shred of fairness and genuine care, would they really have driven their daughter to this level of mental combat?

Being teamed up with Tian Mi made Zhang Hanxing feel a bit emotional. He’d grown up in a well-off family, attended international schools since kindergarten, and was always surrounded by girls from wealthy households. Even if their parents were biased, the basics of material life were never lacking. He’d never seen parents like Tian Mi’s.

He thought Tian Mi’s life was just too tough. Barely in her twenties, and already juggling three part-time jobs a day!

After Zhang Hanxing drew, it was Yang Junyao’s turn. She drew the group with Ma Xiuyuan.

Shen Yi went last—she didn’t need to draw and was automatically paired with the only remaining group: Xiang Hong’s.

On the first day of filming, after the groupings were done, the director gave each group two hours to get to know each other.

“Everyone, have a chat. After lunch, Teacher Shen and the rest of you will go check out your dorms… pfft! Okay, I’ll leave you to it!”

With that, Jin Yannian slipped away.

Wei Sheng immediately had a bad feeling.

The other three weren’t feeling much better.

After lunch, the four of them followed the staff to their so-called “dorms” and were immediately stunned at the sight of the empty rooms. The place didn’t even have doors or windows—just a bare concrete shell!

No—this wasn’t even a real unfinished apartment! At least unfinished apartments usually came with security doors, windows, and railings. The “dorm” arranged by the director was so bad that even rats would starve to death living here!

The only shred of decency from the production team was the temporary railing welded onto the outside of the balcony.

Probably to keep them from sleepwalking off the edge at night and falling to their deaths?

“How are we supposed to live in this?” Yang Junyao muttered under her breath. A cameraman was still filming, so she didn’t dare complain too loudly—afraid her haters would accuse her of being a “princess” when the show aired.

Wei Sheng had pretty much guessed Jin Yannian’s intentions after visiting Teacher Wu Ping’s home earlier.

Clearly, the point was to let them personally experience what a real unfinished building was like—and to gather footage for a segment where they’d renovate this “dorm.”

Sure enough, Jin Yannian showed up again, this time holding a thin envelope.

“Thank you all for your hard work. Here’s your renovation fund for staying here these next few days. We surveyed residents already living in Mingzhu Garden and asked in detail how much it cost to fix up a bare apartment. This number is the average cost. It’s not much, so please spend it wisely!”

“It’s best to make a shopping list first and prioritize the essentials.”

Shen Yi narrowed her eyes, glaring murderously at Jin Yannian.

“Don’t look at me like that! These are the show’s official rules! Alright, I’ve delivered the money—good luck, Teacher Shen!”

Several cameras immediately turned to focus on Wei Sheng and the others.

It was obvious—they wanted to catch the guests freaking out on camera.

Too bad for them, these four were actors.

And keeping a straight face? That’s Acting 101!

Once the cameras left, the four of them immediately dropped their facades.

Shen Yi opened the envelope and counted the money three times—there was seriously only 2,000 yuan inside!

This apartment was the largest layout in the Mingzhu Garden high-rises: 144 square meters, four bedrooms, and two living rooms. Even a minimal renovation for a space that size would cost at least 200,000!

What could you even do with 2,000 yuan? It wasn’t even enough to buy a toilet!

“So what now? Should I have someone secretly bring in supplies?” rich-kid Zhang Hanxing suggested. It was the only thing he could think of.

But the show didn’t allow them to use their own money!

“Nope. Sister Jin made it clear—since it’s about renovating an unfinished apartment, every single item in here has to be bought with the show’s budget,” Wei Sheng shook his head.

“Then what’s the point of renovating? Might as well use the 2,000 yuan to rent four sleeping bags and crash on the floor!” Yang Junyao gave up completely.

Shen Yi pointed at a camera in the corner: “Livestream starts tomorrow. You sure you wanna flop like this in front of the whole country?”

“Then what the hell are we supposed to do?” Yang Junyao was so frustrated, she lapsed into her hometown dialect.

“It’s not like we have no options…” Wei Sheng glanced at the housing complex across the street, a mischievous smile flickering in his eyes.

Jin Yannian only said they couldn’t spend more than 2,000 yuan—she never said they couldn’t go dumpster diving!

That complex across the street? The exterior was still spotless—definitely a brand-new development.

And usually, in the first three years after handover, new developments are filled with renovations happening every day.

When homeowners start renovating, it inevitably generates all sorts of renovation waste.

And among that waste, some leftover scraps become the “renovation materials” they can get for free.

“We’re really going to dig through garbage?” Yang Junyao’s expression was full of inner conflict.

Wei Sheng chuckled. “Not everyone has to go. We should divide up the work. Zhang-ge and I will be in charge of gathering materials. Sister Xiao Yang, could you and Yi-jie stay home? You girls are more detail-oriented—housecleaning is all yours~”

Now that was something she could get behind!

Yang Junyao gave Wei Sheng a grateful look.

As long as she didn’t have to go digging through trash, tidying up the place? Well, she hadn’t done it before either, but she’d seen their housekeeper do it—how hard could it be?

Wei Sheng took fifty yuan from their “renovation budget” to buy two packs of cigarettes. He also borrowed a tricycle from Xiang Hong, who was running a street stall, then headed across the street with Zhang Hanxing. They spoke briefly to the security guard at the other community, slipped him the cigarettes, and rode the tricycle straight to the area where renovation waste was dumped.

“What can you even find in a trash heap… Holy crap! There really is stuff?!” Zhang Hanxing was stunned when he saw two renovation workers tossing large, unused boards into the pile.

Even a pampered young master unfamiliar with the mundane world could see that these boards were still perfectly usable.

Why throw them out?

“Well, it’s all about maximizing waste. These days, when people hire workers to custom-build cabinets, they pay based on how much material gets used. If the workers don’t go through a few extra boards, how are they supposed to make money?” Wei Sheng explained as he unceremoniously hauled all the usable boards into the tricycle.

Then, like a monkey, he started hopping around the pile—grabbing two buckets that had held latex paint, then a bundle of electrical wire, two rolls of network cable, a few pipes, and even a half-used bag of nails…

In no time, the tricycle was packed to the brim.

“Let’s drop this stuff off and come back for another round!” Wei Sheng said, eyeing some remaining pipes on the ground. He commandeered the program crew’s follow-car and stuffed the pipes into the trunk.

“Aren’t these pipes too short? What are we gonna use them for?” Zhang Hanxing couldn’t follow Wei Sheng’s logic. Mingzhu Garden’s unfinished building had no water or electricity—pipes were useless there!

“Two thousand yuan really isn’t enough, and we still have to live off that for the next few days. I’ve got an idea—maybe we can make some money off these pipes. We’ll give it a try when we get back.”

After four trips, Wei Sheng and Zhang Hanxing had pretty much cleared out both renovation waste piles in the neighborhood. Then they spent a bit over a hundred yuan at a nearby hardware store to buy saws, hammers, pliers, and other tools.

Back home, Wei Sheng got straight to work, hammering and sawing away.

He picked out boards of the right size and knocked together two simple “bed platforms” for them. They laid them on the floor and spread the bedding the crew had delivered—it was almost like real bed frames.

He didn’t waste the leftover scraps either—he made four irregularly-shaped “bedside tables,” a few small stools, and even a little dining table!

Of course, given the time constraints and his rough craftsmanship, all he did was saw the boards to the right size, hammer them together with nails, and call it done as long as it didn’t fall apart.

Once nailed together, Wei Sheng used smaller nails to pin pieces of discarded wallpaper onto the surfaces. Wrapped like that, they even looked a bit more interesting than store-bought furniture, giving off a bit of DIY rustic charm.

“You’re something else! You even know carpentry?” Shen Yi was finally completely impressed with Wei Sheng.

Forget the younger generation—even among her peers, unless someone was a professional renovator, few knew how to do woodworking anymore.

“If you’d grown up with an unreliable dad, you’d know how to do everything too…” Wei Sheng joked bitterly, giving a brief explanation of his family situation.

He wasn’t shy about it—this wasn’t some tragic, tortured male lead story where the unlucky childhood turns him into a twisted adult out for revenge against the heroine and society. He was raised by his grandma and grandpa, two social butterflies with unstoppable energy. If nothing else, Wei Sheng grew up with a rock-solid mental state.

And besides, if Wei Zhiyong—his dad—wasn’t embarrassed, why should he be, as the one who got screwed?

In fact, not long ago, Zhou Mingxing had even pulled him aside for a talk about this. He told him to give the fans a heads-up beforehand, in case he got famous and rich and his deadbeat dad popped up with some nonsense. If the fans were caught off guard, how would they know to defend him?

Wei Sheng agreed—Zhou Mingxing had a point. The fact that he wasn’t out for revenge against the Wei family was already the last shred of respect he had for their blood tie.

But honestly, knowing what kind of people his father and the Wei family were, it wasn’t a question of “if” they’d come looking for money—it was “when.” Whether it was old man Wei himself coming to claim elderly support later on, or Granny Wei, who was reportedly bedridden now—if things got tight over there, they’d definitely come knocking…

Give the money he worked so hard for to the Wei family?

He’d rather donate it to buy piglets for kids in remote mountain areas.

Raise the piglets, sell them, and use the money to pay for school or buy textbooks—that was more worthwhile.

Give it to those ingrates in the Wei family? Not only would they never be grateful, they’d think of him as a quick cash grab. The second he gave in once, they’d cling on like leeches, impossible to shake off.

Glancing at the camera in the corner, Wei Sheng kept working as he shared the messy history of Wei Zhiyong’s antics with his senior brothers and sisters, treating it like some juicy old gossip.

Honestly, sometimes Wei Sheng thought his dad only had a working brain when it came to studying—he was completely clueless otherwise.

Wei Zhiyong’s mentality wasn’t rare either—some people just thrived on self-pity and believed the weak were always in the right.

Take their family, for instance. Wei Zhiyong always felt that his wife, Hu Qianqian, had it too easy—her family had property and a shop in the provincial capital, their son went to a public school in the city, spent weekends learning hobbies at the youth center… it all looked like a life of luxury to him.

Then he’d compare them to his mother and younger brother’s family in the countryside—busting their backs farming and making less in a year than Hu Qianqian’s dad did in a month running his little supermarket.

His brother and sister-in-law had no jobs—how pitiful! His nephew didn’t have a city household registration and couldn’t attend public school in a big city—also pitiful… In his mind, the more pitiful someone was, the more he needed to throw himself into helping them, without ever stopping to ask: sometimes, maybe people are pitiful because they’re also kind of awful.

Some people are just hopeless cases. They’ve gotten used to lying flat and don’t want to get up. They’re just waiting for you to spoon-feed them!

“Put it this way. My dad at home was like a hotel guest—he never saw a single chore. If the toilet lid broke, he’d wait for my mom to call someone to fix it. She used to argue with him over stuff like that all the time, until she realized arguing was pointless and started fixing things herself.”

“My mom’s only 1.6 meters tall, but she could change lightbulbs, fix toilets, unclog pipes, repair furniture. I used to squat next to her as a kid and watch, and over time, I learned.”

“When I grew up, I never let her do that stuff anymore when I was home. Oh—and I can fix gas stoves too.” Wei Sheng gave a wry smile and shook his head.

All these years, his mom might as well have been single, and he might as well have grown up without a dad. Only they knew what it took to survive.

The funniest part is, Wei Zhiyong, who wouldn’t even lift a finger to help when a bottle of oil tipped over at home, turned into a completely different person the moment he returned to that countryside house—constantly busy with endless chores!

It’s not that Wei Sheng harbored deep hatred toward Wei Zhiyong or the rest of the Wei family—at least not to that extent. But not hating them doesn’t mean he’s able to forgive and forget everything that happened in the past.

Wei Sheng could leave those toxic people behind in his mind, but to ask him to let bygones be bygones, to turn around and care for them in their old age, to serve them? Sorry! He didn’t have that kind of boundless generosity!

He knew that once these words aired, there would definitely be a few so-called “justice warriors” calling him petty, and plenty more trying to gently persuade him with “you can’t sever the blood ties of family” nonsense. Especially once Wei Zhiyong and that old woman from the Wei family got older—there’d surely be someone trying to push him to “repay evil with kindness” and take financial responsibility for their care.

After all, Wei Sheng was now a public figure, earning a handsome income each year. What harm would it do to fork over a mere few hundred thousand to support the entire Wei family? Why be so calculating?

Well—sorry to disappoint, but that’s exactly who he is: someone who is that calculating!

(End of chapter)