Chapter 94

The segment “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation: Lotus Pond Village” has recently gone viral, appearing on multiple trending lists. Several major short video platforms show people following the program every day.

There are content creators focusing on historical themes who have helped unpack that darkest period in Chinese civilization.

Others focus on war survivor stories, helping the audience understand what kind of horrific nightmares these survivors endured back then…

The program has not only brought attention to Lotus Pond Village, but also significantly improved the lives of the survivors like He Chunmiao.

Kind-hearted people have donated money to build a nursing home in Lotus Pond Village, so those survivors who have no children or relatives willing to care for them—as well as other elderly villagers who live alone—can now live together in one place.

The daily operations of the nursing home require caregivers and general staff, which has also created some local jobs in the village.

Numerous people from all walks of life have donated money and supplies to Lotus Pond Village through various channels.

With money now in the village’s account, He Ruizhen quickly organized a team to move several elderly grandmothers into the nursing home.

The new nursing home was converted from the village’s former elementary school. The renovation was originally expected to take a long time, but fortunately Wei Sheng stepped in and secured sponsorship for the village. A renovation company from the provincial capital that specializes in refurbishing old buildings completed the renovation for free.

Even the furniture, appliances, and bathroom fixtures inside the nursing home—which normally would cost money—were all sponsored thanks to Wei Sheng’s outreach efforts.

Now, the elderly residents live in rooms equipped with air conditioning and water heaters. They even have shower chairs for bathing. No more eating from household to household; the canteen prepares hot, nutritious meals daily, which are delivered directly to their rooms by caregivers who also collect the dishes afterward.

When they’re free, the elders can watch TV or take a stroll in the courtyard. Their daily lives are now more comfortable than many elders in the village who have children.

After all, there’s no such thing as retirement for rural elders. If their children are unfilial, some are still farming to survive even into their seventies or eighties. And because they technically have children, they don’t qualify for the state-supported “Five Guarantees” welfare program. Truthfully, their lives used to be worse than those of people covered by that welfare.

But now, due to the cold-heartedness of certain so-called relatives, these war survivor grandmothers—who clearly have living family but receive no support—have moved into a nursing home that provides food and shelter, completely free of charge.

Moreover, it’s said the village even gives these elders a monthly allowance of 1,000 yuan in pocket money, so they don’t find themselves penniless when unexpected expenses arise.

At this point, those relatives began to regret it. If they had taken them in at the time, that monthly 1,000 yuan subsidy would’ve gone to them, wouldn’t it?

But now, it’s far too late for regrets…

Wang Qun never expected that this one program episode would attract the attention of a grassroots organization focused on this unique group. They reached out, inviting him to continue filming more episodes around this theme.

Like Jin Yannan, Wang Qun found himself caught in a web of internal conflict.

Reason told him that not only should actors avoid overexposure, but directors also don’t have the bandwidth to run two shows at once.

But something burning in his blood urged him on: film it! If they waited any longer, these elderly survivors—already advanced in age—could pass away quietly in their sleep at any moment, taking with them any chance to testify against those war criminals and their monstrous crimes.

Lost in thought, Wang Qun nearly misstepped and fell into the fountain at the entrance of the TV station.

“Damn! What kind of infinity fountain is this? It’s a safety hazard! Did the designer get their brains chewed out by a dog?”

Looking at his soaked pant legs and water-logged leather shoes, Wang Qun was thoroughly miserable.

The new building at J Province TV Station had been designed with fashion in mind—and reportedly with a bit of feng shui influence—featuring an expansive infinity-pool-style fountain at the entrance. It looked nice, sure, but people frequently misstepped and fell in.

The fountain wasn’t deep—only ankle-deep—but while it wouldn’t drown you, it was certainly annoying!

Now one of his shoes was wet for no reason. Where could he buy a new pair at this hour?

“Director Wang, your shoe’s wet? Hang on! I’ll get you a new pair.” Wei Sheng happened to be driving out of the underground garage and burst out laughing when he saw Wang Qun’s wet foot. He opened the trunk, tore open a box of cloth shoes, asked Wang Qun for his shoe size, and handed him a suitable pair.

Wang Qun braced himself against the car door, changing shoes as he asked, “You’re at least a minor celebrity now—why are you still collecting local goods from rural areas? Where’d these cloth shoes come from? Huh? They’re actually pretty comfortable. Grab me a few more pairs. I’ll transfer you the money later.”

Wang Qun stomped on the ground, pleased. These were way more comfortable than the thousand-yuan leather shoes he usually wore.

“I ordered them from Secretary He of Lotus Pond Village. She said the village women make cloth shoes in their spare time to sell at the market for pocket money. I had her collect a batch for me to try selling at my mom’s shop. If they sell well, I’ll place a bigger order from the village—just a small way to help the ladies earn a little extra.”

Handmade cloth shoes from rural areas are hard to come by these days. Hu Qianqian’s shop is across from a primary school, and lots of elderly folks come to pick up kids there. Wei Sheng figured traditional handcrafts like these might have a market.

Hearing him mention Lotus Pond Village again, Wang Qun felt a pang in his heart and couldn’t help sharing his internal struggle with Wei Sheng.

As the saying goes, when pain weighs heavily on your heart, talking to someone makes it easier to bear.

“Running two shows at once is definitely a heavy load. And this subject matter is quite sensitive—guests might need to be chosen more carefully. Us younger folks probably couldn’t handle the atmosphere…” Wei Sheng gave Wang Qun a sympathetic look.

Of course he knew what Wang Qun wanted to do. In fact, he wanted to do it too: speak for those victims who had no voice, help childless survivors enjoy their twilight years. He used to think there were already people doing this work. He assumed, naturally, that these victims were well protected.

But his trip to Lotus Pond Village shattered that naïve illusion.

In places society hasn’t paid attention to, so many victims are still discriminated against and isolated. Many of them lost the chance to be mothers because of the war. One woman in the village had adopted a child, but when that child grew up, they left to work and never returned—not even once—to see the woman who had raised them and suffered so much.

Wei Sheng knew exactly what kind of program Wang Qun and the grassroots organization wanted to make. But it was beyond the capabilities of a workplace newcomer like him.

Still, he offered some reassurance: “If you really want to do it, just make a proposal. If the station approves it and there’s not enough funding or you need guests—I’m in, no question. I’ll even do it for free.”

“Zhou Mingxing, that stingy miser, would agree to that?” Wang Qun asked in disbelief.

“Can’t you just guilt-trip him into it?” Wei Sheng stared at him, surprised that after all these years in the system, Director Wang was still so innocent and kind-hearted.

Wang Qun: “……”

Young people today really are different. They can talk about “moral blackmail” without batting an eye?

Wei Sheng chuckled. Talk about it? They do it all the time.

What’s the best way to resist moral blackmail? Easy—beat them to it and guilt-trip others first!

Wang Qun nodded, quietly scheming how to morally pressure Zhou Mingxing.

Wei Sheng left the TV station and drove straight to the specialty goods store. He was running a bit late; the first group of students from school had already been dismissed. Hu Qianqian was arranging the shelves. At the cashier’s desk, Zhou Yinuo and Niuniu sat side by side, engrossed in watching Magic Angel.

Xiang Hong had already packed all the day’s outgoing deliveries and was loading them onto the truck. Wei Sheng parked and hurried over to help.

“Why are there so many packages today?”

Seeing the delivery guy drive up in a truck to pick up their packages, Wei Sheng was startled.

“Haven’t you checked the backend lately, boss? Two models of our bamboo lanterns are selling like crazy! Daily sales have peaked at 20,000 orders, and today is already a slower day. We had to hire several extra hands just to help with packing the past few days.”

“Sales are that good? Chairman Hou and the others must be over the moon!”

This batch of bamboo lanterns was designed by Wei Sheng, who commissioned the Houzhai Village bamboo craft factory to manufacture them—an idea inspired by his previous night market experience. With so many cities now developing night market economies, traditional lighting clearly wasn’t cutting it. When he ran his stall, many people had asked how he arranged the lighting.

Back home, Wei Sheng thought it over. Since the cost was low, he went ahead and designed two models of atmosphere lighting specifically for night markets. Inside were soft, foldable LED strips, and the exterior was made of interlocking bamboo segments that could be assembled and customized in length and shape for DIY atmospheric effects.

Originally, he didn’t expect to make much money—just wanted to add some unique products to his family’s online store while bringing extra orders to the Houzhai bamboo factory. Who would’ve thought they’d become bestsellers?

“Wait a sec! Xiang Hong, how did you make these lanterns go viral?”

Xiang Hong smiled and pointed at Zhou Yinuo, who was watching TV.

“It’s all thanks to Yinuo. That day I was livestreaming in the shop and promoting our DIY bamboo lanterns. She got curious, took a few segments, and actually assembled a little rabbit and a sunflower. The livestream blew up immediately after that.”

“Later I found out that upper elementary students now have a new science class that includes learning about electricity. Our bamboo lanterns are fun and safe, so tons of parents rushed into our livestream to order them. They even asked us to ship quickly so their kids could use them for their science homework.”

Wei Sheng: “…”

As expected! Kids’ products really are the easiest to sell!

He opened the store’s backend and nearly fainted.

No wonder Xiang Hong said they were exhausted from shipping orders. The biggest single order, even after applying store discounts, totaled over five thousand yuan!

The note on the order explained it: the buyer was a PTA member tasked with placing a group order on behalf of the entire class.

He clicked into the product page and scrolled to the reviews section—dozens of glowing reviews. Parents praised the bamboo lanterns as eco-friendly, safe, fun, and reusable even after class, as the kids could take them home and keep using them.

Looking at the sales revenue this month, Wei Sheng did some mental math. At this rate, Xiang Hong’s commission from sales alone could easily exceed 50,000 yuan.

Good. Wei Sheng thought that if he were in Xiang Hong’s shoes, he’d also want to work harder while still young to earn more. After all, Niuniu’s father was gone, her grandmother clearly didn’t want to raise her, and Xiang Hong was left playing both mother and father. How could she afford not to earn more?

But speaking of their future, Wei Sheng had some good news to share with her.

“Good thing you and Niuniu moved out in advance. I’m guessing in a few days, the residents of Pearl Garden’s unfinished buildings will all be moving too.”

“Really? Someone’s taking over Pearl Garden?” Xiang Hong was overjoyed.

Wei Sheng smiled and nodded.

“Keep this to yourself for now. I just heard it from the station. Apparently, several developers are interested in the land. Since the residents are eager to restart the project, they think the obstacles aren’t too big. So, the Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau plans to host an open bidding this Friday.”

“As long as someone wins the bid, I’m guessing the residents will have to start relocating no later than the end of the month.”

“But I also heard the Bureau is trying to secure rental subsidies for you all. The exact amount isn’t confirmed yet, but keep an eye on your owners’ group chat. If there’s a subsidy available, go and claim it. It’s compensation for you—no reason not to take it.”

Xiang Hong smiled and shook her head. “If the government helps us resolve the unfinished housing issue, we’re already deeply grateful. Whether there’s a subsidy or not doesn’t matter. The key is to get the development completed and those homes delivered to us.”

That was the heartfelt sentiment of all unfinished property owners.

From anger and resentment to despair and numbness, these owners had exhausted every ounce of energy. Now they didn’t care about anything else—they just wanted their homes.

“Don’t worry. As long as the bidding goes smoothly, you’ll get your new house keys.”

“Honestly, the whole internet’s watching your Pearl Garden project now. If it doesn’t get resolved, both the city and provincial governments will lose face, don’t you think?” Wei Sheng winked at her.

Xiang Hong: “…”

Intellectuals really are impressive! She was more determined than ever to work hard and make money, so she could send Niuniu to earn a PhD one day!

(End of Chapter)