Chapter 80
After dealing with Cheng Feiying, Shi Dingshan took Qin Sichao for a walk around the village, following routes where no fixed cameras were installed, before returning to the monitoring room.
As he opened the door, he was met with Zeng Huanian’s slightly resentful gaze.
“Ah.” Shi Dingshan was taken aback, he instinctively took out his phone, turned on the screen, and smiled. “Ah, Xiao Zeng, sorry, I didn’t see my phone again. How’s it going? Did our arranged customers go and buy everything? Are the babies buying lunch now?”
Zeng Huanian glanced at Qin Sichao, who had followed Shi Dingshan in, pursed his lips, and swallowed the words he wanted to say, urging Shi Dingshan to take control of the situation, stop disappearing, and stop being so carefree.
“Wei Maomao’s candied tomatoes are selling quite well, Shen Zilin even started selling candied cucumbers, now their stall’s business… is so good that there’s a long line.” Zeng Huanian said, pointing at the monitoring screen with a smile. “Oh, right, because business is so good, they even rented new equipment and hired new staff at the market. If we wait a bit longer, they might even register a company…”
Shi Dingshan: ???
On the monitoring screen, a small business district centered around the tanghulu stall was very prominent.
The outermost circle, on the left and right, were the babies’ vegetable stalls, Wen Jiangyue on the left, Wen Dongyu, Wang Zhizhi, and Cheng Rongrong on the right, quietly waiting for the still absent customers. There was a wide path leading to the candied tomato stall in the middle, where two long lines were currently forming.
Following the lines, the three small basins Shi Dingshan had seen before he left had been replaced with several large basins. Wei Maomao’s chubby paws were now washing the vegetables, and Cheng Tingyan… was sitting next to her, peeling cucumbers with a peeler…
The peeled cucumbers were rinsed in a small basin, then… a grandma in a headscarf picked them up, placed them on a cutting board, and with a few swift cuts, a cucumber was turned into cucumber chunks.
The cucumber chunks were skewered by Shen Zilin and handed to Grandma Zhao, who was making sugar syrup.
Shi Dingshan rubbed his eyes, when he left, wasn’t the sugar syrup being made in a small pot? Now they were using such a large one? Where did it come from?
Clank, clank, clank, the finished candied tomatoes were placed on a board to cool.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, Grandma Zhao spun the candied cucumbers, creating glistening sugar threads.
Shi Dingshan: “… “
Okay, he had only left for a short while to deal with the Cheng family’s matter, and this small workshop had already started mass production with an efficient assembly line…
“I did the math, they should have each earned a few dozen yuan from this stall. If the people still in line have similar spending habits as the previous customers, they should each have over eighty yuan after selling to these people, about the same as our initial estimated income.” Zeng Huanian said, then looked at Shi Dingshan and asked, “So should we still send the people we arranged to buy their vegetables?”
Shi Dingshan, looking at the babies who were engrossed in their business, shook his head with a wry smile. “Forget it, they’re doing better than our arrangements, we won’t interfere. Tell the staff on-site to control the situation, just let the people in line finish buying, don’t let anyone else join the line. Over eighty yuan is about enough for lunch, earning more won’t be good for the later stages.”
Zeng Huanian, finally receiving instructions from the director, breathed a sigh of relief and quickly opened his phone.
The staff at the market, after receiving the message, dispersed around the candied tomato stall, outside the camera’s range, persuading people who wanted to join the line to leave.
The line, which had been growing longer, started to shorten. Shen Zilin, who had been paying attention to the customer situation, noticed this and hurriedly went out to investigate.
But Shen Zilin was a bit late, the people who should have been persuaded had already left, and the news that the program team wasn’t allowing people to join the line anymore had spread among the extras at the market.
Doting on their children was one thing, but the money in their pockets was real, the others who hadn’t bought anything wouldn’t violate the agreement for this. They either persuaded their children to leave or found acquaintances with extra candied tomatoes and got one for their children.
By the time Shen Zilin noticed the problem and came out to check, everything seemed normal.
Seeing the line getting shorter and shorter, with no new customers arriving, Shen Zilin returned to the working group, dejected.
He looked left and right, then timidly squatted next to Wei Maomao, who was washing tomatoes. “Maomao, no one’s coming to buy anymore…”
Shen Zilin’s words were vague, but Wei Maomao understood immediately.
She had already noticed when the staff around them started whispering and moving around, she hadn’t missed their actions of persuading customers to leave.
Extras, how could they disobey the program team?
Even they, diligently working and earning money, weren’t they also being controlled?
Since Cheng Tingyan’s share had already been earned, Wei Maomao was quite indifferent now, let them control it, it wasn’t real life, it was just a variety show.
But for the little CEO, who had just started his business and earned his first bit of money, it must have been a blow.
Wei Maomao tilted her head and thought for a moment, then comforted him, “This market, there are few people, few buyers. Next time, we’ll go to a bigger market, with lots of people, lots of buyers. Our products are good, people like them, we can go to more markets and sell to more people.”
They were able to sell so much this time mainly because most of the extras hired by the program team had children with them, and it seemed they were confined to this market, they couldn’t persuade their children to leave, they couldn’t drag them home, they couldn’t even run away, which resulted in so many customers for them.
But the product itself wasn’t bad, after all, many people selling tanghulu in her previous life had become internet famous.
Of course, there was no need to explain this to Shen Zilin, what the dejected little CEO needed now was just some affirmation and comfort.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Shen Zilin, he stood up again!
He started skewering the next cucumber!
The viewers in the live broadcast room were truly… impressed…
“Hahaha, Little CEO Shen truly, he devoured the pie CEO Mao painted for him without hesitation.”
“Of course, the pie CEO Mao painted was big and fragrant, it made Little CEO Shen’s eyes light up, when he stood up again, his back was even straighter!”
“What should we do, I’m both scared and excited, after the show ends, will there be a Shen’s Tanghulu chain store, hahaha! CEO Shen probably never imagined that Shen Zilin’s dream would start here.”
“Little CEO Shen is truly amazing, this stringy tanghulu is very popular here! But it’s made with hawthorns, Little CEO Shen thought of using cucumbers, solving the problem of not having tomatoes to earn money together, truly amazing!”
“Now that the babies are all earning money, I don’t know why, but I feel both happy and… hungry… Why am I not there, I also want to join the line, I want to eat the candied cucumbers washed by Maomao, peeled by Yan Yan, skewered by Little CEO Shen, and spun by Grandma Zhao! Sweet, crispy, and juicy, it sounds so delicious!”
“Hahaha, speaking of, Yan Yan truly… It was her who suggested using boiled water to rinse the tomatoes and peeling the cucumbers. This tanghulu is truly, hygienic and delicious.”
“This might be the most hygienic tanghulu stall I’ve ever seen, this stall wouldn’t be the same without Yan Yan, hahaha. And that grandma in the headscarf, hahaha, she told Maomao she had spent twenty yuan and wouldn’t come back after buying the candied tomatoes, but she was dragged back by her grandson to buy candied cucumbers. And after buying them, she even recommended herself for a part-time job, I’m truly impressed!”
“Cutting the cucumbers still needs the grandma in the headscarf, otherwise, Yan Yan is too young to use a knife, and Grandma Zhao is too busy with the sugar syrup. Only two candied cucumbers as payment, what a capable and affordable grandma!”
“Sob, sob, sob… It’s just that there are too few people in this market, they probably won’t be able to sell much more, the market will be saturated. Strongly suggesting the program team let the babies go on a tanghulu selling tour! If only they could sell in every city for two days, my wallet is ready!”
“Hahaha, the person above, that’s enough, a few-year-old babies, starting a 007 street vendor life?”
…
Of course, that was impossible.
Under the program team’s control, the line in front of the tanghulu stall only shortened, it didn’t grow any longer. Soon, the line disappeared.
After waiting for a while, no more customers appeared.
Wei Maomao knew that the program team didn’t want them to earn any more money.
But…
What was going on?
Wei Maomao glanced around, their baskets, they were barely lighter.
They had sold some, but they still had so much left? Could it be that the program team didn’t have any other arrangements today, they really just wanted to give them this much?
Actually, if it weren’t for Wei Maomao’s brilliant idea and Shen Zilin’s enthusiastic participation, the program team would have arranged for people to buy a portion of their vegetables. Although it was just a portion, it definitely wouldn’t have been as much as they had left now.
But now, the amount of money they earned had already reached the program team’s target, there was no need for any haggling or bidding wars.
With no more customers at the tanghulu stall, the program team came over and announced that it was getting late, the babies should go and buy lunch before the market closed, they would stop selling vegetables for today.
Currently, except for Cheng Rongrong and Wang Zhizhi, the other babies still had over half of their vegetables left. When the program team made the announcement, everyone was quite unhappy.
After all, they had worked hard to pick them this morning! Who wouldn’t want to sell more…
But their disappointment was short-lived!
Before the babies could even pout, Liu Ming was pushed forward by Wei Maomao, it was time to divide the money!
Liu Ming, who was originally only responsible for weighing and selling vegetables for Wei Maomao, stood forward, holding a notebook filled with numbers and a bag full of change.
She could only say, it was all thanks to her capable boss, she smiled.
According to Liu Ming’s calculations, they had sold a total of ninety-two tomatoes and forty-two skewers of cucumbers, at five yuan per skewer. Because they rented the grandpa’s stall, they had to give him one yuan per skewer as a stall fee, which amounted to 134 yuan.
Out of the ninety-two tomatoes sold, the first forty-four belonged to Cheng Tingyan. For the remaining forty-eight, two belonged to Wen Dongyu, and Wei Maomao and Cheng Tingyan each contributed eighteen, Wen Jiangyue contributed ten.
For the forty-two skewers of cucumbers sold, Wen Jiangyue contributed eight, Wen Dongyu sixteen, and Shen Zilin eighteen.
So, besides the first forty-four tomatoes, each baby could get eighteen multiplied by four, which was seventy-two yuan.
Liu Ming followed Wei Maomao’s instructions, except for the forty-four tomatoes sold before Wei Maomao went to find the other babies, the rest were considered to be sold in rotation by the other babies. Liu Ming could only say, thankfully, the numbers were all divisible, there were no decimals.
“So, before the babies go and buy lunch, let’s calculate and rank the amount of money each baby earned from selling vegetables.” Without the host, Liu Ming was forced to take on the temporary role, she continued, “First place, with a total of 248 yuan earned, is Cheng Tingyan!”
“It’s not me!” Cheng Tingyan took a step forward, a bit flustered.
Liu Ming had just said a lot, with so many numbers, Cheng Tingyan was a bit dizzy, but she understood the last sentence, “Each baby can get eighteen multiplied by four, which is seventy-two yuan.” She thought everyone got seventy-two yuan, how come the next sentence was that she had earned 248 yuan…
“It’s you, after deducting the stall fee for the grandpa, the first forty-four tomatoes earned 176 yuan, plus the seventy-two yuan each baby got after the other babies’ vegetables were brought over and sold together, it’s 248.” Liu Ming explained, looking at her notebook seriously.
“No.” Cheng Tingyan quickly calculated in her mind, but she couldn’t figure it out.
“Yes.” Wei Maomao confirmed from the side. “It’s you, 248, first place.”
“No!” Cheng Tingyan shook her head firmly, refuting. “Did Sister Mingming say the first forty-four tomatoes were when it was just me and Maomao? Then how come it’s my forty-four tomatoes, shouldn’t it be ours? Forty-four, we split… How much is it for two people… Twenty-two? How much is twenty-two…”
The six-year-old Yan Yan was frantically doing math in her head.
Liu Ming… seemed to see smoke coming out of Yan Yan’s head, she looked at Wei Maomao helplessly.
“Yes, the forty-four tomatoes sold before everyone came were yours. I took them all from your basket.” Wei Maomao grabbed Cheng Tingyan’s hand with her chubby paw and said sincerely, “I just wanted to see Yan Yan get first place, Yan Yan is the best! Yan Yan, can you get first place for me?”
Liu Ming: ??? Was this her reasoning? Did she think Yan Yan would believe her?
Cheng Tingyan was stunned, she said weakly, “But…”
“Yan Yan~~” Wei Maomao shook Cheng Tingyan’s hand with her chubby paw. “Please~~”
Liu Ming, looking at Cheng Tingyan, who had clearly stopped calculating: “… “
Okay, so even this kind of flimsy reasoning worked? As long as they were happy…
“Then second place, it’s our Wang Zhizhi, with one hundred and five yuan and thirty cents!” Liu Ming, unable to bear watching the master manipulator, Wei Maomao, and the easily persuaded Cheng Tingyan, continued announcing, looking at her notebook.
Cheng Rongrong’s heart sank, why, didn’t she have one hundred and seventy-three yuan and sixty cents? It was fine if she couldn’t get first place, but why wasn’t she even second? Could it be that the hundred yuan wasn’t recognized by the program team? Why… She had earned it too. Didn’t tips count as personal income?
After announcing second place, Liu Ming paused as usual and looked at Wang Zhizhi with a smile. She saw that his face was flushed, but he didn’t seem happy at all. But Cheng Rongrong…
The dissatisfaction on Cheng Rongrong’s face was evident, Liu Ming saw it clearly.
Liu Ming thought for a moment, then decided to explain something she had initially planned to say last. “Because we’re ranking based on the money the babies earned from selling vegetables. The hundred yuan gifted to Cheng Rongrong by the customer can’t be included, only the seventy-three yuan and sixty cents she earned from selling vegetables counts, so she’s in third place today. Of course, although the hundred yuan isn’t included in the ranking, Cheng Rongrong can use it however she likes.”
Cheng Rongrong: “… “ If she had known they would calculate it this way, she would have just raised the prices and included it all in the vegetable prices!
“For the other babies, the amount is the same, seventy-two yuan each, tied for… Eh…” Liu Ming, seeing the last line in her notebook, blushed and quickly corrected herself. “Sorry, sorry, I forgot that Cheng Tingyan and Cheng Rongrong’s earnings should be combined and then divided by two… So together, it should be… one hundred and sixty yuan and eighty cents! Okay, although Cheng Tingyan’s earnings have been slightly reduced, she’s still in first place today, and Cheng Rongrong has also been pulled up to first place. Wang Zhizhi is in second place, and the other babies are tied for third!”
Liu Ming quickly finished her mental calculation and secretly wiped the sweat from her brow. Being pulled onto the stage unprepared was truly tough, she almost messed it up.
Messed it up?
Not really.
Anyway, Wei Maomao, seeing Cheng Rongrong pursing her lips, clearly angry, felt that Liu Ming was amazing.
“It’s okay, Sister Rongrong, don’t be sad, you’re not third, you’re first now.” Wei Maomao walked to Cheng Rongrong, she hadn’t forgotten the things Cheng Rongrong said to Cheng Tingyan after receiving the money earlier. She smiled and added, “You have 248 yuan and 73.6 yuan now.”
It’s 173.6 yuan! Cheng Rongrong screamed inwardly.
But… she didn’t know why, at this moment… she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud.
While Cheng Rongrong couldn’t speak up, the viewers in the live broadcast room were screaming.
“CEO Mao truly just wanted Yan Yan to get first place! CEO Mao truly! Aaaaaaaah!”
“Aaaaaaaah, although Cheng Rongrong is also first now, Yan Yan is the real first place!”
“CEO Mao, quickly earn money, aaaaaaaah! These past two days, thinking about Yan Yan only having thirty-something yuan, and then thinking about Cheng Rongrong’s millions, my heart aches!”
“CEO Mao, hahaha, did CEO Mao deliberately not mention the hundred yuan earlier? I’m dying of laughter, she directly said 248 yuan and 73.6 yuan!”
“Our CEO Mao, our three-year-old CEO Mao, diligently selling tomatoes, just to let Yan Yan stand tall in front of Cheng Rongrong! Ah, god, I also want a friend like this! A three-year-old one is even better!”
“Why isn’t Cheng Rongrong mentioning the hundred yuan anymore? Finally realized that money wasn’t earned legitimately? Thankfully, Yan Yan earned money, otherwise, having to pool their money with Cheng Rongrong, how frustrating.”
“They all have so much money now, they don’t need to pool their money anymore, they can buy separately, they can still eat together for lunch. Speaking of which… Having a child (Cheng Feiying) at home is truly a burden. It seems Yan Yan and Cheng Rongrong don’t get along, they’re like a couple who have to buy groceries and go home to have dinner with their child…”
“Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter, just divorce already, I still want to see Yan Yan eating at CEO Mao’s house! Eating, then taking out a handkerchief to wipe CEO Mao’s mouth, wiping again and again, hahaha, CEO Mao’s chubby double chin!”
…
Just like the viewers said, whether they earned money or not, whether they got along or not, when it was time, they still had to… bring the food back and eat together.
The babies’ vegetable stalls were temporarily packed up, the vegetables would be taken back to the village with them and purchased by the program team for zero yuan, becoming the staff’s lunch or dinner.
And what the babies had to do now was to browse the market and buy ingredients for lunch.
Soon, the babies, clutching their money, set off with their human calculators. Only Wang Zhizhi, still holding onto his “calculator,” remained in place.
“Your earnings, during the ranking, were calculated as 105.3 yuan. When shopping, considering that your family has an extra member, it’s multiplied by two-thirds, which is 157.95 yuan, rounding up, it’s 158 yuan.” Li Mu, squatting next to Wang Zhizhi, explained as detailed as possible.
Wang Zhizhi nodded and pointed at the money in Li Mu’s hand. “Divide it into three piles.”
“Evenly? You mean, each pile the same amount?” Li Mu confirmed.
Wang Zhizhi nodded again.
Li Mu counted the money, even went to exchange for change, then returned, holding three stacks of money, and said to Wang Zhizhi, “Then each pile, rounding up, is fifty-three yuan, is that okay?”
“Hold one pile in your left hand, that’s my dad’s. Hold one pile in your right hand, that’s Beibei’s.” Wang Zhizhi said, taking one stack from Li Mu’s hand, then continued, “I’ll take one pile, that’s mine.”
Wang Zhizhi, from an anti-second-child specialist to a fairness advocate, all it took was one morning.
But soon, a new problem arose.
“Roast duck, half a duck… thirty-six yuan?”
“Boiled mutton, just a few slices, forty yuan?”
“Beef, such a small piece, fifty yuan?”
After walking around, Wang Zhizhi found all the things Wang Qingchuan had requested, but when he asked about the prices, he was dumbfounded.
“Zhizhi, beef and mutton are quite expensive. How about just buying some roast duck?” Li Mu, who had been following him, suggested kindly, seeing Wang Zhizhi empty-handed and a bit lost.
Wang Zhizhi shook his head. “No, my dad wants to eat them all.”
“Eh… How about combining the three piles of money to buy them? You’re all eating together anyway, right? After buying the meat, you just need to buy some vegetables, vegetables are cheap, you won’t need all fifty-something yuan.” Li Mu said softly, glancing at the other groups, who were already carrying several bags.
Wang Zhizhi was stunned for a moment, then shook his head even more firmly.
Li Mu: “… “ He had a bad feeling about this.
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