Chapter 86

A week later, the final episode of this season’s recording in Jiangdong Town officially began.

However, this time, in addition to the original crew, ten fans were randomly invited to the live broadcast to become the first batch of experience officers for the “Jiangdong Town Mining Theme Park.”

Tian Jiajia stepped off the bus arranged by the crew with a blank expression, following the other experience officers.

In fact, she wasn’t supposed to be here.

Just a few days ago, she had planned to end her life.

At 45, Tian Jiajia’s first half of life was enviable—her husband, Sun Peng, was successful in his career, and her daughter, Sun Younong, had been a top student since childhood. To care for her daughter, Tian Jiajia quit her job early to become a full-time mother.

She thought her life would sail smoothly, but not long ago, she stumbled upon something utterly disgusting.

Her husband, who appeared to be a refined, family-oriented gentleman, was secretly keeping a mistress!

Even more unacceptable was that the mistress was her daughter’s college classmate, someone her daughter had brought home to stay for several days during summer vacation, eating and living under their roof…

What truly broke her was that her daughter, whom she had raised with all her heart for over twenty years, not only knew about her husband’s affair but even joked about it with the mistress on the phone, calling Tian Jiajia old, ugly, and nagging, saying she controlled everything and that it’d be better if her father divorced her and married the mistress as a stepmother…

If her husband’s betrayal was a knife stabbed into her heart, her daughter’s words were like an iron hammer, shattering it completely!

Why?

Was it really because she hadn’t raised her daughter well all these years?

Though she couldn’t accept her husband’s betrayal, Tian Jiajia could survive it—divorce was an option!

But her daughter, whom she had painstakingly raised, stood by and watched another woman steal her husband, even saying such things… At that moment, Tian Jiajia felt that her thirty years of selfless devotion to marriage, family, and children had become a cruel joke!

Utterly despairing, Tian Jiajia suddenly lost the will to live, feeling everything was meaningless.

At that moment, she stumbled upon the crew’s live broadcast.

Hearing Wei Sheng repeatedly warn viewers signing up to be cautious, prioritizing safety, as Jiangdong Town was full of sinkholes, and one wrong step without a guide could lead to falling into a bottomless mine pit…

Bottomless?

That should mean a painless death, right?

Tian Jiajia signed up without much hope, thinking that if she wasn’t selected, she’d go to Jiangdong Town herself, find an empty mine pit, jump, and end it all.

But unexpectedly, the crew chose her!

When she received the text notification, Tian Jiajia felt some regret. She truly didn’t want to live, but she also didn’t want to drag the innocent crew into it.

However, the current Tian Jiajia couldn’t stand staying in that house for another minute. Following the crew to Jiangdong Town to scout the area seemed fine—she’d find the deepest mine pit, one where no one could find her body, and after the shoot, she’d sneak back, jump, and trouble no one.

Upon getting off the bus, they were greeted by the welcoming dance of the mining waist drum team.

Devastated by the double betrayal of marriage and family, Tian Jiajia had no desire to live, her spirit shattered, moving like a walking corpse. But when the waist drum team’s suona blared, good lord, it jolted her to life!

In a daze, someone in the crowd shouted, “Keep playing, keep dancing!” and suddenly, Tian Jiajia’s cold hands were grasped by two unfamiliar, warm ones.

Having spent her life serving her husband and child, too busy even for square dancing, Tian Jiajia had never seen such a scene.

But group dancing has that infectious energy. Mixed in the chaotic crowd, unless you pushed to the front to show off, who cared how badly you danced? Just follow the rhythm and keep moving~

An impromptu square dance, unscripted, instantly blended the experience officers into this (wild) crew.

Honestly, before coming to Jiangdong Town, the experience officers had secretly packed stacks of tissues, expecting tear-jerking moments. After all, the previous episodes showed unemployed miners living in abandoned mines, their lives so tough!

But to their surprise, where was the tragedy? Where was the emotion? Where were the tears?

What were they supposed to do with their tissues?

Soon, though, the experience officers found a use for them.

The reason was simple: the local snacks sold by the miners’ families at the stalls were just too delicious! They could barely keep up with wiping their mouths!

The variety of noodle dishes alone was dazzling—roujiamo, donkey meat huoshao, lamb baozi, red sugar sesame cakes, egg-filled pancakes, scallion oil pancakes, multigrain vegetable roll pancakes, steamed glutinous cakes, dried plum vegetable buns…

Then there were all kinds of soups and noodles—chicken broth noodles, fresh meat wontons, spicy soup, sour pulp noodles, spicy and sour noodles, hot dry noodles, snail noodles, cold skin noodles…

On both sides of the narrow, rundown street, there were even traditional snacks—charcoal-grilled live pearls, pan-fried hairy eggs, deep-fried hairy tofu, roasted pears, candied hawthorns, sugar paintings, honey date steamed cakes…

Some larger stalls even set up stoves at the market, serving dishes common at local rural banquets. Three or five friends gathered around a table, ordering a few dishes and a bottle of cheap local liquor, happily eating early in the morning.

The experience officers: ???

Weren’t the people in this mining area supposed to be suffering, waiting for them to save the day?

This kind of life was paradise for foodies!

Save them? No, no, no—if this was hell, they’d willingly fall into eternal damnation, never to rise again!

Rise for what? With a street like this, flipping through a new specialty snack every day, you wouldn’t leave Jiangdong Town in months!

As everyone knows, foodies’ values follow their taste buds. Soon, they forgot the tears and emotions they’d prepared for the crew, their eyes gleaming as they dove into a sea of food, utterly captivated!

In the end, the experience officers, who had come prepared for “bitter reflections,” ended up eating their way through, mouths greasy, running out of tissues.

Wang Qun: “…”

As expected of you, Teacher Wei! Give me back my tear-jerking scenes!

However, the sorrows and joys of people don’t connect.

While Director Wang silently wept over his lost emotional scenes, the live stream audience nearly died laughing, some drooling uncontrollably.

How cunning was Wei Sheng? To raise funds for Jiangdong Town’s transformation, anticipating a flood of foodies, he convinced Wang Qun to turn the live stream into a specialty snack sales event. Sure enough, the live stream’s sales of snail noodles, spicy and sour noodles, duck blood vermicelli soup, and more nearly hit seven million yuan!

Indeed, in the world of foodies, food is the ultimate force of production.

Seeing the live stream sales data, Jiangdong Town’s leaders were green with envy, looking at Wei Sheng like they wanted to kidnap him and worship him on the spot!

What kind of celebrity was this? This was clearly a god of wealth!

Wang Qun was initially resistant to the idea of selling snacks on the live stream, but once the sales data came in, this shameless man stopped resisting and even gleefully declared: “Great job with the sales, let’s do it again next time!”

Damn it, if this weren’t an official live stream but his own, why would he bother working at the TV station? The money from one live stream could match his lifetime salary!

Suppressing his heartache, Wang Qun had to announce on camera, per the script, that to support Jiangdong Town’s old town renovation plan, J Province TV Station would donate all profits from the official live stream during the recording to the Jiangdong Town government as a fund for renovating dangerous buildings.

After all, not every house in Jiangdong Town was suitable for conversion into a murder mystery experience center or a guesthouse. Many collapsing homes needed sufficient funds to help locals repair, relocate, or rebuild.

Jiangdong Town definitely couldn’t afford this, but with this “windfall,” their plan to renovate hazardous buildings could finally begin.

“Director Wang! On behalf of all the people of Jiangdong Town, I thank J Province TV Station! Thank you…” The town leader finally teared up.

The cameraman quickly zoomed in for a close-up, securing the episode’s only tear-jerking moment!

Spending millions just for this one emotional scene left Director Wang with mixed feelings. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated with the experience officers, who had no resistance to food.

You were supposed to deeply experience the “miserable lives” of unemployed miners, not attend a mining food festival!

Just wait, all of you! The next segment will make you cry!

Tian Jiajia, dragged along by fellow experience officers and stuffed with snacks, hadn’t yet rediscovered her sadness and despair when the crew pulled her into the haunted house—er, no, how could a provincial TV station mention something as unscientific as “ghosts” during a shoot?

The official name was the “Jiangdong Town Mining Theme Park Murder Mystery Experience Center.”

This time, the script randomly chosen by the experience officers wasn’t the “Mine Shaft Wife Murder Case” that Wei Sheng’s group had played before, but a new script bought from Qian Lai—“The Vanishing Wives.”

The wife of Y City’s richest man mysteriously disappeared, neither seen alive nor dead. The case went unsolved, and a year later, he married a new wife, who, coincidentally, was his daughter’s college classmate and roommate!

At this point, Tian Jiajia’s pupils shook, unsure if she was living in the script or if the script was simply her story.

But soon, strange things began happening in the rich man’s home.

A vase moved by the maid would inexplicably return to its original spot the next day.

The master’s study would emit odd noises in the middle of the night…

Before long, the rich man’s family was tormented and decided to go abroad to relax, listing their house for sale and moving to a new villa.

But while they left as three, only two returned—the rich man’s new wife had vanished…

The story revolved around the two missing wives. The experience officers, enduring eerie background music and creepy lighting, played a chilling script that had the timid ones on the verge of tears.

Only Tian Jiajia remained expressionless throughout.

Heh, how could a script be scarier than reality?

The experience center was incredibly immersive, especially when they emerged at nightfall. Seeing the brightly lit night market, it felt like stepping from the underworld back to the living world—no, more like a ghostly market at the boundary of yin and yang…

The experience officers finally couldn’t hold back, huddling together, trembling.

So creepy! Way too creepy!

The night market was lively, filled with familiar daytime aromas.

But the abandoned mining dorms, without streetlights, were shrouded in an inky, misty darkness, as if this narrow, rundown street was the only trace of life left in the world.

At that moment, even Tian Jiajia, who sought death, felt her heart race.

She thought she feared nothing, not even death, but ghosts?

Turns out, she was scared o(╥﹏╥)o.

The Mine Ghost Market—er, night market—left the experience officers both terrified and relieved.

Meanwhile, watching the experience officers pretend to be fearless despite their obvious terror, the live stream audience roared with laughter.

Was it really that scary? They didn’t believe it! Once the mining theme park opened, maybe they’d try it too?

“Sister Jiajia, do you think there are… ghosts in this world?” Tian Xin, who had been sticking close to Tian Jiajia, whispered.

“Heh, what’s so scary about ghosts? Sometimes, people are far scarier,” Tian Jiajia replied thoughtfully.

That night, the experience officers were split by gender, two to a room, staying in temporary housing borrowed in Jiangdong Town.

The conditions weren’t great but were clean. Tian Jiajia didn’t feel like talking, but Tian Xin, a chatterbox, could ramble on solo for ages.

This girl was born to be a streamer, single-handedly keeping the live stream lively.

But even Tian Jiajia didn’t expect that this seemingly cheerful girl had a far-from-happy past.

Tian Xin was born into a scholarly family—her grandparents were university professors, her father a college instructor, and her mother ran a dance training center. In such a family, Tian Xin should have grown up pampered.

But sometimes, fate defies expectations.

Returning from a business trip, Tian Xin’s mother discovered her husband was cheating with a student, who was even pregnant with his child!

Seeing her husband tenderly escorting the pregnant mistress, Tian Xin’s mother broke down.

After confirming his infidelity and his plan to let the mistress bear him a son, she wrote a will, leaving all her assets to her only daughter, Tian Xin.

Then, when her husband sneaked off to his “love nest” with the mistress, Tian Xin’s mother drove the family’s Mercedes straight into them!

Blood sprayed like crimson fireworks.

Crash! Crush! Reverse! Crush again!

Screams filled the air, but Tian Xin’s mother no longer cared.

This vile couple had destroyed her love and family—she wanted them to pay with their lives!

Unlike Tian Jiajia’s self-destructive tendencies, Tian Xin’s mother had a destructive personality. After ensuring her husband, the mistress, and the unborn child were reduced to unidentifiable pulp, she calmly drove into a river…

When the blood-stained car was pulled from the water, Tian Xin’s mother had ended her despairing life.

“Aren’t you… sad?” Tian Jiajia couldn’t help but ask.

“At first, I was, but then I thought, if I were my mom, facing the same thing, I’d probably make the same choice.”

Lying in the warm bedding, Tian Xin dissected her coldness hidden beneath her cheerful exterior to a stranger—

“For my mom, her love with my dad and our family were everything to her. If someone tried to destroy the most important thing in my life, I probably wouldn’t let them live either, even if it cost me my life.”

“I actually look down on people who kill themselves over love, men or women. Sister Jiajia, think about it—if someone’s not even afraid of death, why not take the enemy they hate to the bone down with them?”

“Since you’ve ruined everything for me and won’t let me live well, let’s all die together! No one gets to live happily!”

“Besides, the mistress my dad was with was already pregnant. Don’t blame me for being too cruel to that innocent life—honestly, I don’t think it was innocent at all.”

“A child born from a relationship that betrays love and marriage carries original sin from birth!”

“Not to mention, the law’s changed now, hasn’t it? Illegitimate children have the same inheritance rights as legitimate ones. Heh—if I had a child, I’d never let an illegitimate kid compete for their inheritance, not even a little!”

“Look, my mom didn’t sacrifice herself for nothing. She used her life to clear the obstacles for my future, making me the sole heir of the Tian family. Heh—my dad wanting a son? He’ll have to wait for the next life.”

Tian Jiajia didn’t know what to say. After a long silence, just when Tian Xin thought she’d fallen asleep, Tian Jiajia softly asked—

“What if… your child betrayed you too?”

“What’s there to agonize over? If a child’s unfilial, it’s probably because they’re spoiled! Toss them out to experience the hardships of the world, and they’ll realize how good their mom was to them,” Tian Xin said with a cold laugh.

“Sister Jiajia, you know what? Before she left, my mom left me a video through her lawyer.”

“She told me not to be sad, that she made this choice because she wasn’t just my mother—she was also herself.”

“I didn’t understand what she meant back then, but now I do.”

“I think my mom was trying to tell me that a girl living in this world, whether she’s a daughter, wife, mother, or something else, should first remember that she is herself.”

“Everyone should live for themselves first, not sacrifice, compromise, or devote themselves to anyone else. You might think I’m selfish for saying this, right?”

In the darkness, Tian Jiajia suddenly smiled.

“No, Tian Xin, I don’t think you’re selfish at all.”

“You’re great, and your mom was great too.” “I should learn from you both…”

(End of Chapter)