Chapter Fifty-Seven: Deceiving Fools

On the other side, Qin Jingchen, who was watching Su Wannian’s livestream on his phone, suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason.

His expression was dark.

What did she mean by having the confidence to leave him at any time? What exactly was this woman planning?

After pondering for a while, Qin Jingchen abruptly understood.

He took out his phone and transferred five million to Su Wannian.

In the midst of her livestream, Su Wannian noticed the notification pop up at the top of her phone and frowned in confusion.

What’s gotten into him lately?

Every time she streamed, he sent money, and the amounts kept getting more and more astonishing.

But it worked out well; she’d invested almost all her money into opening her store recently, and she’d been worried about not having enough funds to keep things running.

So Su Wannian accepted it without hesitation, then addressed her viewers, “But remember, I’m teaching you how to earn your own money, not how to avoid spending men’s money. What we deserve, we should accept without guilt!”

Meanwhile, Qin Jingchen: “……”

After a full night’s rest, the next morning the director gathered everyone by the village fields.

The cameras panned across the scene. It was harvest season; every household had already collected their crops, and the fields were now in disarray.

“These are Granny Wang’s fields,” Wang Zan said to the camera, spinning a tale with a straight face. “She’s gotten older this year. When she heard our crew was filming in the village, she came to ask us to help tidy up these few acres for her.”

In truth, everyone knew perfectly well that all those so-called grandparents were found by the production team just to create a story.

The viewers weren’t the only ones who believed it; the children present did too.

“That’s so sad for Granny,” Yangyang said, frowning in concern. “So much land—how can she manage it all herself?”

Mingming, puzzled, asked, “Then why doesn’t Granny Wang hire someone to farm it?”

【Mingming really is a young master; his thinking is different.】
【Aren’t all of Granny Wang’s hired fools already here?】

The sun hung in the sky, but the day was gloomy. Though not as hot as before, it was still plenty exhausting.

Su Wannian stood there, paying no attention at all to Wang Zan’s words.

“Alright, I’ll assign everyone their area to plow…”

Wang Zan gave each person a large plot that needed to be worked by hand, then added, “We’ll need oxen for the plowing. Granny Wang doesn’t have enough, so the children from each family will need to borrow an ox from different households in the village.”

After finally finishing the lengthy explanation, Su Wannian couldn’t help herself. Standing on the field’s edge with a hand on her hip, she complained bluntly, “Director, are you serious? It’s the twenty-first century—who still uses manual labor for farming? I doubt the village oxen even know how to plow anymore!”

She voiced what everyone else was thinking. Though they were pampered city girls, they knew well that in such a prosperous village, it was impossible to rely on such primitive methods.

It was practically an insult to policies meant to improve farmers’ lives.

The director was clearly repeating yesterday’s trick; after seeing how the families floundered catching chickens and the attention it attracted, he was trying again today.

The others dared not speak, but Su Wannian was different: “If you want to make things difficult, at least don’t fool idiots. There are plenty of kids watching on camera and here in person. Do you really want them to think our rural development is this backward?”

Her words were sharp and logical; Wang Zan had no retort. At that moment, the assistant director, Chen Rui, stepped in, “Granny Wang really is on her own, but since we’re here filming, she can’t ask others for help. We’re just doing a good deed.”

Su Wannian rolled her eyes and ignored him, though she didn’t storm off as others expected.

The rules were silly, but since she’d agreed to join the show, she would follow them with her child.

The kids were given tasks, each receiving a village map from Wang Zan, marked with the homes where they needed to borrow oxen. When it came to Suisui and Niannian, Wang Zan deliberately handed over a particular slip of paper.

The two children didn’t notice, politely thanked him.

“Be careful, but don’t be too scared. The oxen are gentle. Once you’ve borrowed one, come find me—I’ll be waiting here,” Su Wannian instructed gently, and the children nodded as if they understood.

“Don’t worry, Mom! I’ll bring back a little ox to help you!” Niannian declared earnestly.

“Good, darling.”

Each child set off with their map. The directions were simple—just a main road. Yangyang was the first to find a villager’s home, knocked politely, explained the situation, and brought back an ox.

Meanwhile, Mingming, as expected, got distracted by wildflowers, the village children, and even wandered into a pineapple patch, only to prick his hand and burst into tears.

On the other side, Suisui and Niannian followed the map to the farthest, most remote house. When they knocked, an elderly woman speaking incomprehensible dialect came out.

“Hello, we’d like to borrow your ox to plow the fields, please?” Niannian asked, just as Su Wannian had taught her.

The old woman replied, but Suisui and Niannian couldn’t understand a word.

After a round of confusion, Suisui came up with a clever idea: he drew an ox in the dirt with a stick. The old woman finally understood.

Not long after, she led out an ox. The children were stunned—the ox moved slowly and was nothing like the strong beasts they’d imagined, its body so thin it was almost skin and bones.

Suisui frowned, but the old woman kept pressing the reins into his hand, so he accepted and thanked her, leading the ox back.

Because their home was the most remote, by the time Suisui and Niannian returned, the others had already finished their tasks. Their ox was the smallest and weakest of all.

“Alright, the plowing challenge begins now!” the director announced.

The four mothers started working the fields, but Su Wannian’s ox simply let out a low moo and refused to move, no matter how much she snapped the whip.

“Hello? Big brother ox, could you cooperate just a little?”

Her legs were caked in mud, the farming tools in her hands were shabby, and the ox wouldn’t budge.

Under the blazing sun, Su Wannian felt she might just start swearing aloud.