Chapter 87

The final episode of Jiangdong Town’s Mining Theme Park recording wrapped up successfully.

After returning from Jiangdong Town, Tian Jiajia hired a divorce lawyer and, through special channels, a private investigator to gather evidence of her husband’s infidelity during their marriage.

Then, she calmly proposed divorce to her husband, demanding a split of the couple’s joint assets accumulated over thirty years of marriage.

“Tian Jiajia, are you crazy? You’re just a housewife, washing clothes and cooking at home every day. Do you know anything about business? My company! What does it have to do with you?” Sun Peng glared angrily at his no-longer-young-or-beautiful wife.

He hadn’t even complained about her aging looks and still wanted her to remain Mrs. Sun, while his beloved woman had to stay hidden, without a proper title… Sun Peng thought he’d been more than fair to Tian Jiajia, his original wife, doing everything a husband should. Why was she still unsatisfied?

“Whether I have anything to do with the company or how much of your earnings I can claim isn’t up to you or me. Since you’re unwilling to settle amicably, let the court decide!”

“Oh, and the child is yours. I don’t want her.”

Tian Xin was right—those who betray and hurt her don’t deserve to be her family!

Didn’t Sun Younong dream of having that mistress as her stepmother? Well, her wish would be granted.

Three months later, the wealthy Sun Family lost a hardworking, uncomplaining “yellow-faced hag.”

Meanwhile, Jiangdong Town gained a gentle, refined guesthouse owner.

Tian Jiajia spent 80,000 yuan to buy an idle house, converting it into a family-style guesthouse with just three rooms.

Each room had its own entrance, like a city condo, with compact yet refined apartment-style suites—bedroom, living room, dining area, kitchen, bathroom, all fully equipped, spacious enough for a family of three or four.

She wasn’t short on money anyway; running the guesthouse was just a way to pass the time.

During the divorce, she walked away from the Sun Family with nearly 100 million in stocks and cash, plus three villas, over a dozen storefronts, and various valuable antiques, paintings, jewelry, and accessories.

This was largely thanks to Sun Peng’s contempt for her as a mere housewife.

He thought Tian Jiajia, aged and tied down by a daughter, wouldn’t dare leave the Sun Family or file for divorce?

To hell with that!

Tian Xin was right—no matter when, a woman must love herself first before sparing a little love for others.

If a woman doesn’t even love herself, how can she expect others to cherish her?

Besides, love fades, but money doesn’t.

Hiring a professional agency to manage the massive assets she received post-divorce, Tian Jiajia donned her old clothes and started running a small guesthouse in Jiangdong Town.

Local neighbors, hearing she’d moved out after divorcing her ex-husband, imagined a tragic “abandoned rich wife” story. A group of sentimental aunts and sisters practically treated Tian Jiajia like family.

When someone made good food, they’d bring her a bowl. When there was a celebration, they’d invite her along.

So, the billionaire in the eyes of lawyers happily trailed behind these aunts and sisters, contributing a couple hundred yuan as a gift and eating and drinking all day at festive events, even taking home bags of leftovers.

Tian Jiajia was truly reborn, but the Sun Family’s days took a turn for the worse.

Caught off guard by his ex-wife draining a huge chunk of liquid assets, and with the economy in a slump, Sun Peng’s business gradually faltered.

He had to spend endless hours socializing, smiling, and chasing investments.

But to the mistress, now officially his wife, this looked like Sun Peng was out chasing other women!

After all, she herself had risen through such shady means, so she saw everyone as a potential seductress.

One day, when Sun Peng was entertaining clients at a club, his young wife cornered him in the hallway. Seeing a slender, delicate girl clinging to her husband, then looking at her own swelling pregnant body, the mistress’s eyes turned red with rage.

By now, she was no longer the “self-sacrificing, understanding” sidepiece. Laughably, the legitimized mistress was more paranoid and hostile toward other mistresses than anyone, using her pregnancy as leverage.

She caused a huge scene at the club, thinking her status was secure, only to be slapped hard twice by Sun Peng and dragged home by the driver.

After this humiliation, the mistress didn’t dare confront Sun Peng again, instead venting her fury on her “stepdaughter.”

Sun Younong had gotten her wish, driving out her nagging “yellow-faced hag” mother, thinking she and her best friend—now her father’s wife—would live happily together. But she never expected that, once “legitimized,” her friend’s first target would be her?!

Using the excuse of tight household finances, the mistress cut Sun Younong’s allowance. Seeing Sun Peng didn’t back his daughter, she knew Sun Younong’s place in his heart—nothing special.

The stepmother, once so doting, not only slashed her daily expenses but colluded with the maid to plunder the gold, silver, and jade items Tian Jiajia had once bought for her. Soon, Sun Younong couldn’t stand living in that house and angrily decided to move into the apartment her father had bought for her.

But someone was already living there!

“No way, the owner isn’t named Sun—it’s a lady surnamed Tian. We rented it through an agency. Look at the contract! There’s even a copy of the property deed. Here—the landlord’s name is Tian Jiajia!” The tenant, annoyed, shoved the rental agreement in Sun Younong’s face.

Sun Younong left, utterly devastated.

How had she forgotten? Her parents were divorced, and her mother had taken her share of the marital assets, leaving her behind…

At that moment, Sun Younong didn’t know the misfortunes awaiting her were far from over.

A few days later, during a massive rainstorm, the Sun Family’s driver was stuck in traffic. After school, Sun Younong vanished in the downpour, never to be found again…

Her disappearance seemed to mark the start of a curse. Soon, the Sun Family, unable to hold on, declared bankruptcy. Sun Peng tried to sell valuables to stage a comeback, only to discover his new wife had been secretly transferring the family’s prized possessions…

Furious, Sun Peng blamed his new wife, a “jinx,” for the Sun Family’s downfall. She was nothing like his prosperous ex-wife! If Tian Jiajia were still running the household, they’d have stayed harmonious, and the company wouldn’t have been gutted by the divorce. He blamed everything on this cursed woman!

The more he thought, the angrier he became. In a heated argument, Sun Peng grabbed his mistress by the neck and threw her from the third floor, where she landed hard on the garden’s stone steps.

She died instantly, and the unborn child, less than five months along, didn’t survive.

Sun Peng was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison…

Tian Jiajia, living quietly in Jiangdong Town, knew nothing of the Sun Family’s collapse. Even if she did, she had no time to care.

She’d opened the guesthouse just to pass the time, with her billions making it unnecessary to earn a living from it. But, unbelievably, without any ads or promotions on booking sites, her business exploded, with rooms nearly impossible to book!

As baffled as she was, so were the other locals running guesthouses and farm stays in Jiangdong Town.

Who could’ve imagined that a makeshift murder mystery game, set in abandoned mining dorms without a proper venue, would blow up online?

The murder mystery and escape room experiences were booked solid for two months, even locals had to wait that long to play.

Alongside the experience centers, the “Jiangdong Town Mining Theme Park Phase One Project” broke ground.

No wonder they say the fastest way to boost a local economy is through infrastructure.

Once the theme park construction began, it instantly revitalized Jiangdong Town’s stagnant job market.

Wei Sheng was right—turning abandoned mines into a tourist attraction required major work, like reinforcing underground tunnels.

So, the unemployed miners who’d dug out Jiangdong Town’s coal decades ago found their first reemployment job was… filling in the pits they’d dug?

This ironic twist had onlookers laughing.

Dig your own pit, fill it with tears—makes perfect sense!

Beyond underground reinforcement, projects like demolishing and renovating hazardous buildings, landscaping, environmental upgrades, and water and power grid overhauls needed tons of workers!

With droves of workers on-site, their food, lodging, and daily needs had to be met, right? Leisure, entertainment, and shopping too.

So, street vendors selling boxed lunches, shops for daily goods, restaurants, pharmacies, clinics, and phone stores… Jiangdong Town was packed!

Who’d risk their life picking coal scraps in dangerous mines now?

With that time, selling boxed lunches at the construction site could earn 100-200 yuan a day!

Plus, with new guesthouses, farm stays, and restaurants hiring, even cleaning at a farm stay paid 100 yuan a day, with lunch included.

As the local economy grew, young people who’d left for work elsewhere started returning.

Unexpectedly, inspired by the show’s live streams, these internet-savvy youngsters began creating content.

Now, Jiangdong Town birthed a wave of “new professions”—

Some filmed videos and live streamed, taking netizens on “virtual tours” of the abandoned mines and night markets.

Others sold Jiangdong Town’s local specialties online via live streams.

There were even new photography studios taking online bookings, offering full services for customers wanting mine-themed photoshoots.

These jobs, unimaginable to the older generation, pulled the once-forgotten Jiangdong coal mine back onto the era’s tracks.

Did an abandoned mine, stripped of its coal, have no value?

Not at all—with big ideas, mines could bloom.

Building on Wei Sheng’s vision, the young “third-generation miners” used robust internet and social media networks to turn Jiangdong Town into a viral hotspot, even trending overseas, in just a few years.

Outsiders might think the striking abandoned mines were purpose-built for tourism—how else could they feel so authentic?

With the attraction booming, locals were both thrilled and overwhelmed.

The pain was that there were just too many tourists. With bookings stretching six months out, they couldn’t open the second or third phases of the theme park due to ongoing mine subsidence issues, driving them nearly mad with frustration.

The joy was that a group of unemployed old miners, who thought their lives were over—living on a few hundred yuan in monthly pensions, plagued by occupational diseases, destined to either starve or die of illness—were now thriving. Those with houses opened farm stays or small eateries, and with a bit of hard work, an elderly couple could earn at least ten or twenty thousand yuan a month!

That was nearly their entire yearly income from before.

But what truly made the people of Jiangdong Town grateful was that the show’s resourceful Director Wang somehow brought in soilless cultivation experts from the agricultural university.

Now, the agricultural eco-park, co-invested by Jiangdong Town and J Province Agricultural University, supplied the town’s tables with fresh vegetables—cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, peppers… Who could’ve imagined that such fresh produce could grow without soil?!

The older generation of miners never dreamed that this barren land, littered with slag and devoid of grass, would one day yield such vibrant vegetables and fruits.

Not only that, but the town was planning “vertical planting” on the streets. Jiangdong Town’s soil wasn’t suitable for greenery? No problem—agricultural experts had a solution!

Turn streetlights into vertical planting columns, hang self-irrigating pots, and grow flowers and plants in the air… My goodness! Just thinking about it, the old miners felt like they were living in paradise.

The “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation” crew received yet another bright red banner and a thick thank-you letter!

To express gratitude for the crew’s immense contributions to Jiangdong Town, the town government attached a long list to the letter, with every literate miner and family member solemnly signing their name, and those who couldn’t write leaving a fingerprint.

Upon receiving the letter, Wang Qun and Wang Yang, the veteran duo, locked themselves in a room and wept bitterly together.

After crying, they wiped their tears, had the letter framed in a massive frame, and proudly hung it on the company wall.

Looking at the three banners on the wall, Wang Qun frowned, suddenly finding the empty spots glaring.

Speaking of which, which town were they helping next?

(End of Chapter)