Thank you, quayA, for the ko-fi~
The two fathers washed their faces, tidied themselves up a bit, and then stepped out of the house again.
They chatted idly as they walked.
After asking a few people, they found their kids.
That morning, Feng Yuan hadn’t just woken up Rong Rong. He had woken up the other children as well.
Huo Ming hadn’t come out with them.
Holding Rong Rong’s hand and leading Yu Qingqing and Xiao Putao, Feng Yuan had gone to the villagers’ homes to ask for food first thing in the morning.
The meals the show provided for them were sometimes cooked by the fathers and other times sponsored by the villagers.
Feng Yuan couldn’t be sure which meals would be good and which wouldn’t.
He wanted to eat delicious food for every single meal.
So, he had gone out early in the morning to ask for food.
The people in the village had to work, so they all got up quite early.
When the children were wandering around the village at just past six, most of the residents had already started their day.
Feng Yuan was a natural at making friends.
He plucked flowers from the roadside. Whenever he saw an open door, he would approach and start a conversation.
“Aunty, these flowers are for you. Could you give Yuan Yuan a little bit of food?”
The villagers ate rice they had milled themselves and vegetables they had grown themselves.
They might be stingy with money, but they wouldn’t be stingy with food.
With his beautiful, soft little face, Feng Yuan called everyone “Uncle” and “Aunty”.
He was a sweet-talker and also knew how to help out.
While asking for food, he would lead the other children in sweeping the courtyards and helping to collect eggs.
What cooking aunty could refuse to spare a breakfast for such a well-behaved little cub?
Feng Yuan didn’t even ask for much.
He knew there were four of them, and they would eat a lot if they ate at just one house.
So, he asked for one bowl from each family.
Based on their appetites, he asked for a total of six bowls.
He and Yu Qingqing both had bigger appetites.
After getting the food, Feng Yuan would offer up a compliment.
“Aunty, you’re so nice! The food you make smells so good!”
A child’s praise is very sincere.
Even the sharp-tongued aunties of the village were coaxed by Feng Yuan until they were grinning from ear to ear.
The children went from house to house, asking for food.
Once they had collected six bowls, they stood in front of the stone mill at the village entrance. They didn’t even ask for chairs, just stood there and ate.
The six bowls of food were placed on the stone mill.
There was rice porridge, egg pancakes, freshly fried dough sticks, fragrant turnip balls, and vegetable pockets.
These foods looked simple, but they tasted truly wonderful.
While eating himself, Feng Yuan also had to feed Rong Rong.
Rong Rong was too slow of an eater.
The scene of the four little ones gathered around the stone mill, eating, was fully recorded by the cameras.
Before long, the adults who had woken up late also arrived one by one.
When they got there, the little ones had even saved a few bites for them.
Rong Rong really couldn’t finish his egg pancake.
He didn’t want to eat it, but Feng Yuan had said they couldn’t waste food.
So, upon seeing his father, Rong Rong’s round, amber eyes lit up.
He trotted over on his short little legs. Clutching the egg pancake in his small hand, he held it up to his father.
Feng Yuan had already helped eat half of this pancake.
Feng Yuan couldn’t eat any more either.
But Bo Han was delighted by the slightly messy, half-eaten pancake.
He squatted down in front of Rong Rong and asked, “Rong Rong, did you save this for Daddy?”
Rong Rong blinked. Then, without nodding, he slowly stuffed the egg pancake into his father’s mouth.
Bo Han was incredibly moved as he ate the pancake.
He finished it in a few large bites and then went to kiss Rong Rong’s cheek.
Rong Rong dodged backward.
Seeing him dodge, Bo Han insisted on the kiss.
Just as Rong Rong was about to dodge again, Feng Yuan covered Bo Han’s mouth with a wet wipe.
“Uncle, you have to wipe your mouth before giving kisses.”
Bo Han: “…”
He had no choice but to wipe his mouth first.
After he finished wiping, Rong Rong indeed let him kiss him.
After kissing his son’s little cheek, Bo Han was still a little heartbroken.
“Rong Rong, were you disgusted with Daddy just now?”
Rong Rong didn’t say anything.
Bo Han wanted to continue the conversation with his son, but Director Li was already calling for them.
The little ones had sorted out their own breakfast.
Now, it was time for the parents to eat.
The breakfast the production team prepared for the parents was relatively simple.
The parents weren’t picky eaters.
After breakfast, Director Li called Feng Yuan over.
Today, the children still had a task to do.
“Yuan Yuan, your task today is to help sell goods.”
“Our village has a lot of handicrafts. These handicrafts need to be sold.”
“You all will be in charge of selling them today.”
“For every item you sell, you’ll receive a one-yuan reward.”
“You can exchange these rewards for your and your fathers’ lunch today.”
“Your fathers also have a task this morning. They have to learn how to make these handicrafts.”
“Only after they produce one qualified item can they join you for lunch.”
Director Li had chosen this village for his show precisely to promote these handicrafts.
So his tasks for the day all revolved around them.
Feng Yuan accepted the task and, leading the other children, boarded a tractor to sell the goods.
The village they were staying in was a half-hour drive from the town.
Both the town and the village were in an area classified as impoverished.
Although it was poor, the scenery was beautiful, and there were some local specialty snacks.
Director Li really hoped to boost the local economy.
A deceased good friend of his was from here.
His friend’s former wish was to be able to boost the local economy and help lift the area out of poverty.
The tractor rumbled along. Half an hour later, the children were dropped off in the town.
The town looked old and worn, but it was quite lively.
There were many small stalls and shops, as well as a large supermarket.
Although the largest supermarket here was only two stories high, it was well-stocked with daily necessities.
Director Li set the children up on a street next to the pedestrian walkway.
The adults set up all the goods, then retreated to the side.
To avoid interfering with the little ones’ work, Director Li and the others deliberately moved far away.
They only left behind a cameraman and an assistant.
“Have any of you ever sold anything before?”
Standing in front of their stall, Feng Yuan asked the other three children.
Everyone shook their heads.
They had only ever bought things, never sold them.
Seeing that none of them had any experience, Feng Yuan immediately straightened his little body, a smug look on his face.
“I have!”
“I’ve always been in business. Leave our family business to me today.”
Feng Yuan volunteered to be the shop owner.
He even assigned jobs to everyone.
Huo Ming was in elementary school and was the best at math, so he was in charge of accounting.
Yu Qingqing was in charge of shouting and advertising.
Xiao Putao was cute and wearing a princess dress, so Feng Yuan hung several handicrafts on her, turning her into a living display.
Rong Rong blinked at Feng Yuan, waiting for his assignment.
“Rong Rong, you come with me.”
Feng Yuan took some of the items from the stall.
He was going to do door-to-door sales.
These handicrafts were all very beautiful and could be sold in some of the shops.
If a shop was willing to stock these items, then the villagers wouldn’t have to worry about selling what they made in the future.
Feng Yuan’s business acumen had taken a quantum leap while running the scrap business with Qin Xun.
Right now, the business-minded Feng Yuan was going from shop to shop, trying to make a sale.
His results were not good.
Many shops didn’t want the handicrafts they brought.
They had seen these handicrafts before. To them, they were nothing special.
Feng Yuan hit a wall all morning.
While he and Rong Rong were being rejected by the shops, the three little ones at the stall didn’t attract much business either.
The entire morning passed, and they only sold five items, earning five yuan.
Five yuan wasn’t even enough to buy steamed buns for everyone.
Feng Yuan’s chubby face was taut. He patted his tummy and decided this wouldn’t do.
“We have to sell them online!”
“Yes, that’s right! My mom loves buying things online. We can put these up for sale online.”
Huo Ming was the first to respond to Feng Yuan’s plan.
They went to find Director Li together.
When Director Li heard they wanted to sell online, he raised an eyebrow.
Tasks like having children sell things were common on kid-centric variety shows.
It was very interesting to watch such young children sell things.
Their accounting wasn’t very clear, and their interactions with customers were childish and cute, which was a major selling point for these shows.
If they were to artificially create some accidents while the kids were selling…
The show would be even more interesting.
But after watching the little ones for a moment, Director Li smiled and nodded.
“Okay. Then let’s set up an online store right now.”
“We’ll use this store to help the grandpas and grandmas in the village sell their things, okay?”
“Okay!” the children responded happily.
Soon, Director Li and the little ones were busy setting up the online store.
The little ones all served as models, posing for photos with a series of clicks.
The production team took no commission from this store.
Director Li worked alongside the little ones.
During this time, the little ones borrowed 30 yuan from Director Li.
The sesame seed pancakes were two yuan each. If they bought ten, they got one free.
With eleven pancakes, each adult and child got one. The extra one was given to a grandpa who was scavenging on the street.
With the remaining ten yuan, they bought ten large meat buns.
The large meat buns in town were one yuan each.
Feng Yuan bought all these things. When he and Qin Xun were out collecting scrap, they didn’t go home for meals at first and had lived just as frugally.
This lunch came out to an average of three yuan per person.
But a large sesame seed pancake, a large meat bun, and free plain water were enough to fill their stomachs.
Except for Feng Yuan, this was the first time the other children had eaten such a cheap lunch.
They didn’t complain in the slightest.
Yu Qingqing even praised Feng Yuan, “Yuan Yuan, you’re really amazing!”
He had managed to feed everyone with so little money.
If this task had been given to Yu Qingqing, she definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it.
In the afternoon, the adults and children continued to work on the online store.
There wasn’t much footage that could be cut from this day.
After all, the little ones hadn’t caused any trouble.
But Director Li felt that this day was just as meaningful.
He was certain that this store he had set up for the villagers would become a hit.
This village, where an intangible cultural heritage was on the verge of being lost, because of his show, because of this store…
He was confident it could be revitalized!
Time ticked by.
At dusk, Director Li looked at the kids, who had been unbelievably well-behaved all day. His heart softened.
He personally drew water for them.
He chose a very simple parent-child game, allowing the kids to pay off the debt they had incurred during the day and also win a lot of fresh farm ingredients.
It was time for dinner.
The parents and children could cook together.
The children could wash and prepare the vegetables, while the parents could do the cooking.
Given that some parents couldn’t cook and some children could handle a wok, the roles of cooking and washing vegetables were not fixed.
Feng Yuan volunteered to make stewed chicken for everyone.
“Yuan Yuan is really good at making this!”
Feng Yuan proudly announced to the crowd, his chubby face beaming, “Yuan Yuan has made it before.”
Feng Qi also nodded in confirmation. “He really does know how to make it.”
Seeing that even Feng Qi had spoken, everyone unanimously agreed to let Feng Yuan stew a chicken.
While Feng Yuan was stewing the chicken, Rong Rong brought out his family’s mushrooms.
His father hadn’t had a chance to eat the mushrooms he gave him yesterday.
Feng Yuan looked at the mushrooms, then at the chicken.
He said happily, “Tonight we’re having chicken and mushroom stew!”
This dish was delicious.
Since there were many people, Feng Yuan decided to stew two chickens.
He also took the time to lead the children to pick some more mushrooms.
While picking mushrooms, Feng Yuan passed by the grave he had seen yesterday.
A large funeral wreath was still placed on the grave mound.
But the child buried in the grave, and his grandmother, were no longer there.
They had been personally guided by the Phoenix. In their next lives, they would have a very happy and peaceful existence.
Feng Yuan smelled his father’s scent here.
As if he had guessed something, his eyes curved into crescents.
“Goodbye,” he whispered in farewell.
Feng Yuan hoped that this little friend, who liked flowers as much as he did, would be happy in his next life.
Feng Yuan walked past the grave and, on a slope outside the village, discovered a huge patch of mushrooms.
When Yu Qingqing saw so many mushrooms, she didn’t waste any words and was about to take off her clothes to use as a basket.
Fortunately, Feng Yuan was quick-witted and pressed her down.
“Qingqing, girls can’t take off their clothes.”
Feng Yuan patted his own backpack. “I brought my backpack. We can put them in here.”
Feng Yuan’s backpack could hold quite a lot.
Yesterday, it had held peanuts, corn, earthworms, and toads.
Today, it was filled with a whole backpack of mushrooms.
Although the little backpack had gotten a bit dirty from carrying all sorts of things, Feng Yuan didn’t mind.
Sometimes, he was indeed a slightly grimy little cub.
The little ones were all very interested in Feng Yuan’s stewed chicken.
They helped prepare the vegetables and also helped tend the fire.
The adults who tried to help were shooed away.
By the time the sky was completely dark, all the dishes were almost ready.
Just before dinner began, Director Li announced a piece of exciting good news to the parents.
“Everyone, our production team has already started promotions.”
“Currently, the results of our promotions have far exceeded expectations!”
“To maintain the hype, we’ve also edited and released some behind-the-scenes clips.”
“The view count for these clips surpassed ten million in just one day.”
“Tonight, everyone can use their phones for a little while.”
The comment sections and bullet comments for the clips released by the production team had been completely flooded.
Looking at this level of popularity, Director Li had a bold idea—
He wanted to break away from the traditional recording format of variety shows.
He wanted to do a live-streamed variety show.
Live-streamed variety shows weren’t unheard of.
But a live-streamed kid-centric variety show had never been done before.
In a kid-centric show, the main attraction was the adorable children.
And these adorable children were too young. They were uncontrollable.
If they rashly adopted a live-streaming format, the footage of these children would be shown to the public directly, without any editing.
They might not be very well-received.
In their daily lives, the cute kids might be willful. They might cry and throw tantrums. They might do things that weren’t so great.
If the audience saw these scenes in full detail…
The audience would get annoyed.
But based on his observations over the past two days, Director Li had a premonition that even if he did a live-streamed kid-centric show, it absolutely would not be a disaster!
Among these five kids, it was obvious that Feng Yuan was their core.
Director Li had great confidence in Feng Yuan!
Seeing the fathers happy about being able to use their phones, Director Li’s heart pounded like a drum. He swallowed hard and, in front of them, boldly proposed his idea to live-stream.
After proposing it, he even thumped his chest and guaranteed—
“If we switch to a live-stream format, our level of popularity will be absolutely unmatched!”
Director Li truly had a feeling that every single one of their guest families would become famous along with the show.
Director Li’s words were delivered with a persuasive cadence that was quite brainwashing.
Bo Han’s lips curved up. He cast a vote of approval.
“Sure. I think your idea is quite novel.”
Bo Han had come on this show precisely to make Rong Rong famous and gain attention and affection.
His desire for the show to blow up was the same as Director Li’s.
Not only did Bo Han agree, but he also made a direct suggestion: “We can try it out first.”
“The kids cooked for us tonight. It just so happens that while the food is not quite ready, Director Li, you can start a live stream and test the waters.”
Director Li was stunned.
Director Li wanted to live-stream, but he hadn’t thought it would be so soon!
He looked at Bo Han excitedly, his voice trembling.
“Brother Bo, you… you really agree to me live-streaming?!”
“I agree. You can stream right now.”
Bo Han wanted to stream tonight because he was in the mood to show off his kid.
His Rong Rong was helping with the cooking right now.
He wanted all the netizens to see his Rong Rong cooking for him.
Director Li had countless ideas about live-streaming in his mind and heart.
For example, how to promote and warm up the live stream.
And for another, they had actually already finished editing the footage from the past few days and could release it at any time.
Should they release a pilot episode before live-streaming, or—
Wait until the next recording session to live-stream.
Director Li had far too many ideas.
But at this moment, at Bo Han’s suggestion, he resolutely overturned all his own plans.
His gaze shifted to Feng Qi and the others.
Feng Qi and the others had no objections either.
“Okay! We’ll live-stream tonight! We’ll release the pilot episode tonight.”
It was currently winter break. It’s the best time for online traffic.
Every day they delayed broadcasting their show was a loss.
Now, with the guests’ approval, Director Li took a deep breath and immediately switched to the live-streaming equipment.
Director Li didn’t even think twice about the platform. He directly arranged it on the most popular one, Redbird Video.
Redbird Video was a subsidiary of the Li Group.
It was Li Sheng’s enterprise.
Director Li did no warm-up at all. He only posted a notice on their official Weibo account announcing a live stream in ten minutes, then returned the guests’ phones.
The guests all reposted his status update.
Bo Han didn’t have a Weibo account, so he registered one on the spot.
While registering, Bo Han, who didn’t use the internet much, nudged Feng Qi’s arm and asked—
“I have so few activities now, have I already become less popular?”
Bo Han hoped he was now less popular.
He was working very hard to hide from a certain someone.
He didn’t want to be discovered.
Of course, he could be less popular, but his Rong Rong had to become famous this time!
Feng Qi was looking down at his phone and didn’t even raise his head.
“How could you possibly be less popular? Your fans are still going crazy for you, going wild for you, and banging their heads against the wall for you.”
Feng Qi saw a new meme on Weibo and used it without thinking.
After saying that, he scrolled past another fan war.
It was his fans battling Bo Han’s fans.
Feng Qi was now known as the “Godly Face” of the entertainment industry, a title that used to belong to Bo Han.
The two sides were tearing each other apart over this “Godly Face” title.
Feng Qi glanced at it a few times but couldn’t stand to look anymore. So, he switched pages and took the opportunity to chat with Li Sheng for a bit on WeChat.
Soon.
Ten minutes passed. The guests put away their phones, and the live-streaming equipment began to work.
On the homepage recommendation of Redbird Video, in the very best spot, 《Baby’s Journey》 began a small nighttime live stream.
The live camera was aimed at the children, who were in the final stages of cooking.
Feng Yuan was sticking his butt out, blowing on the chicken soup.
He wanted to blow away the steam from the soup so he could see the meat and broth inside.
Rong Rong and Xiao Putao copied him, puckering their lips and blowing.
Yu Qingqing, holding a spoon, could no longer wait.
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152