Chapter 78
“Director Shi, why aren’t you replying to my messages? You’re not answering your phone either…” Zeng Huanian rushed into the monitoring room, flustered.
“Xiao Zeng, what’s the matter?” Shi Dingshan turned his head and glanced at his phone. “Oh, I accidentally muted it.”
“I want to ask, now that Cheng Rongrong and Wang Zhizhi’s vegetables have been bought out by someone from outside, shouldn’t we move up our arrangements? The other babies can’t keep their stalls open forever, right?” Zeng Huanian asked quickly.
“Who said their stalls haven’t opened? I think they’re doing quite well.” Qin Sichao turned to look at Zeng Huanian, his eyes still filled with amusement from watching the live broadcast.
“Director Qin, you’re also here, hello…” Zeng Huanian straightened up, his demeanor becoming more restrained.
Jin Youliang, still standing in the corner, rolled his eyes. This Zeng Huanian was truly single-minded, he rushed in and started talking without even noticing the big director sitting there. What a waste of an opportunity to interact with an internationally renowned director up close.
“We can move it up a bit, but not too much. Let Maomao sell for a while longer, keep an eye on her, when her sales slow down, we can send our arranged customers over.” Shi Dingshan glanced at Wei Maomao’s live stream, the small, chubby dumpling was sitting in front of her stall, munching on a candied tomato, her face covered in juice, while occasionally patting the pillowcase stall next to her and shouting a few slogans.
He was speechless… Even if he didn’t have OCD, Shi Dingshan really wanted to grab a pillowcase and wipe the juice off her face!
Wiping was impossible, even if Cheng Tingyan came, Wei Maomao wouldn’t let her wipe it.
“Tanghulu, delicious tanghulu! Every child loves tanghulu!”
Wei Maomao, seeing people with children walking towards her, started shouting at the top of her lungs.
Her soft, childish hawking voice was incredibly loud!
The extras arranged by the program team to wander around couldn’t move on after reaching Wei Maomao’s stall.
A grandma in a headscarf pulled the little boy she was holding, but he wouldn’t budge… She used more force, managing to move him a tiny step…
“Little brother, do you want to buy tanghulu? It’s delicious!” Wei Maomao said, picking up a candied tomato and taking a big bite.
The thin sugar coating cracked crisply, and the tomato inside burst with juice.
Wei Maomao munched on the candied tomato, the rock sugar crunching in her mouth. After finishing, she even slurped up the overflowing tomato juice.
“Grandma!” The little boy hugged the grandma’s leg, looking up at her with longing in his eyes.
“Aiyo…” The grandma glanced at the tomato on the skewer. “What kind of tanghulu is this? What’s so good about tomatoes? Aren’t they usually made with hawthorns?”
“Tomatoes are delicious, they’re sweet, freshly picked this morning.” Wei Maomao showed the boy the tomato with several bites taken out of it.
“Grandma! I want to eat it!” The little boy shook the grandma’s leg.
“Aiyo… How much is it?” The grandma, feeling dizzy from being shaken, looked at Wei Maomao.
“Five yuan.” Wei Maomao held out her open paw.
“Five yuan? You might as well rob me! Your tomatoes are 2.5 yuan per kilogram, and one kilogram has three or four, you’re selling one for five yuan?” The grandma was shocked, her grip on the little boy’s hand tightened due to the outrageous price. She not only tore the child off her leg, but also successfully dragged him away. “What tanghulu, it’s just tomatoes with sugar, Grandma will make you sugar-coated tomatoes at home, it’s the same sweet and sour taste, five yuan is enough to make a whole bowl, you can eat it for a whole day.”
A whole day?
The little boy, who had been dragged away, hesitated.
At this moment, a familiar yet strange slurping sound came from behind him.
The little boy turned around and looked.
He saw the chubby little girl biting into the red tomato, sucking out a mouthful of juice.
Looking at the little girl’s happy expression, the little boy swallowed, reaching out to grab his grandma’s pants again.
He didn’t know what “a whole day” meant, he wanted to eat it now!
As the saying goes, grandparents dote on their grandchildren.
Faced with a child’s plea, sometimes the older generation was even less resistant than parents.
The grandma was eventually dragged back by the little boy, she looked at Wei Maomao with a helpless expression. “Five yuan is too expensive, how about this, I’ll buy two kilograms of tomatoes for five yuan, and you make one like this for me.”
“Five kilograms.” Wei Maomao still held out her paw.
The grandma: “… “
Although they also grew some tomatoes in their own field, compared to spending five yuan on one tomato, it was definitely more cost-effective to buy five kilograms for twelve yuan and fifty cents…
But!
The agreement she signed stated that she could only buy up to two kilograms of vegetables from these babies at the market, and only after thirty minutes of them entering the market.
It said she could buy two kilograms, it didn’t say she had to buy two kilograms. Originally, the grandma hadn’t planned on buying any. They grew all these vegetables at home, although not much, it was enough for their family. She was here to earn some pocket money, and… she heard this program was quite popular, she brought her grandson out to see the world, maybe they could even appear on TV.
Her earlier offer of two kilograms was already pushing the limits of the agreement.
But five kilograms… was too much. If she was held accountable by the program team for this, the trouble she would get into for five yuan would be too great.
This program team was quite strict, not only did they have rules for buying vegetables from the babies, they also had restrictions on what they could buy from the other stalls. The stalls they could freely shop at had empty wooden signs next to them as a secret code, it was all noted in the agreement.
“Forget it, forget it, I’ll just buy one.” The grandma touched the hundred yuan in her pocket, she would just consider it earning ninety-five yuan for coming here today, that was enough.
“Okay! Freshly made, it’s delicious!” Wei Maomao said happily, gesturing with her paw for them to come closer, then said to the little boy, “Little brother, your grandma is so good to you! You have to buy her tanghulu when you grow up!”
The little boy nodded vigorously. “My grandma is the best!”
The grandma: “… “ Alright, five yuan didn’t seem that expensive anymore.
Behind Wei Maomao, Cheng Tingyan, having received the signal, took a tomato from the basket, washed it carefully in a basin, inserted a skewer, then rinsed it in two other basins. She looked up at the grandma and grandson with a faint smile. “The other two basins have boiled water, it’s hygienic.”
The grandma: “… “ This was making her feel a bit embarrassed about spending five yuan.
“Sister, is this your grandson? He’s quite handsome, strong and sturdy.” Zhao Lanhua took the washed tomato with the skewer from Cheng Tingyan and put it into the pot of heated sugar syrup. “Come on, eat the tanghulu your grandma bought for you, grow tall and strong!”
“Hahaha, that’s how children are these days, they just grow tall.” The grandma said, but the smile on her face wouldn’t fade.
A few minutes later, the transaction was complete.
The grandma, holding her grandson’s hand, walked past the little chubby girl who was still sitting there.
“Grandma, our tomatoes are good, right! Eat well, come again next time!” Wei Maomao greeted them enthusiastically.
The grandma, holding a candied tomato in each hand, turned back helplessly. “I’m not coming back! I already spent twenty yuan in one visit!”
The grandma was speechless.
She had initially thought the little chubby girl in front of the stall was quite good at talking and attracting customers, but she didn’t expect the older lady and the little girl inside the stall to be even better.
The older lady, while making tanghulu, chatted with her about family matters, about the hardships of being a mother and a grandmother, about how women should treat themselves better even when they’re old. And so, she ended up not wanting the sugar-coated tomatoes and bought a candied tomato to treat herself…
The little one was even more impressive, although she wasn’t very enthusiastic, she washed and rinsed the tomato very carefully, then smiled sweetly at her and said, “Grandma, it’s all clean, don’t worry,” it made her heart melt. As expected, she had never had a daughter, and her son didn’t have a granddaughter, seeing such a well-behaved little girl made her heart ache.
Then the little girl softly asked, “Our tomatoes are very delicious, do you want to take some home for your family?”
And so…
The grandma glanced at the two candied tomatoes in her hands, then at the two in her grandson’s hands. She didn’t really regret it, but… she had to get out of there.
“Grandma, don’t go yet, take a look at our pillowcases, they’re handmade by the grandma making tanghulu. The best quality cotton, they cost six yuan to make, we’re selling them for eight yuan, only earning two yuan for the labor! Two yuan, not even enough for half a tanghulu!” Wei Maomao started her next round of promotion.
Two yuan?
Half a tanghulu…
A cotton pillowcase…
The grandma, who had taken two steps away, slid back.
As the saying goes, easy come, easy go.
Anyway… The grandma, who had arrived with a hundred yuan pocket money from the program team, only had forty-eight left when she left.
She didn’t dare to browse anymore, she had to get out of there. The grandma decided to find a corner to hide with her grandson until the designated time was up.
If every baby was like the ones at this stall, she would be broke if she continued shopping.
The grandma, with her grandson, fled. Wei Maomao thought, let them run, it was just a one-time deal anyway, otherwise, she wouldn’t have used half a candied tomato to boost the value of the pillowcases.
This skinny group ran off, the next one was even chubbier.
One child, consuming four candied tomatoes, twenty yuan profit, Wei Maomao was quite satisfied.
Oh, right, it wasn’t twenty, it was sixteen.
They had agreed earlier that for every candied tomato sold, they would give the grandpa, whose stall and sugar they were using, one yuan.
Thinking of this, Wei Maomao held out her chubby paw, spread her five fingers, then folded her thumb, making a “four” sign and waving it at the grandpa sitting across from the stall, out of the camera’s range.
The socially anxious grandpa, being called out, forced a smile at Wei Maomao, then looked around nervously and retreated further into his corner.
Wei Maomao retracted her hand, she wouldn’t tease the grandpa anymore.
Social anxiety was truly tough. If the grandpa wasn’t socially anxious, he could have bought three tomatoes from them for 2.5 yuan each, then sold them for 15 yuan, instead of just receiving one yuan per tomato as a stall fee.
But speaking of which, when they first found this stall, the grandpa refused to make the candied tomatoes for them, after asking a few questions, he looked like he wanted to pack up and leave. If Cheng Tingyan hadn’t directly asked if they could rent his stall, he would have probably run off.
In fact, after Cheng Tingyan asked, the grandpa didn’t even want to discuss the rent, he stood up and was about to give them the stall.
Although he was probably hired by the program team, he left without hesitation.
Not using the grandpa and just using the stall was actually better. No middleman taking a cut, they could earn more from each candied tomato. It’s just… the difficult part about tanghulu was getting the sugar syrup right, it determined whether the coating would be crispy or sticky.
The six-year-old Yan Yan probably didn’t understand the intricacies, she probably thought they could do it after seeing the grandpa coat the last hawthorn with sugar.
And they actually could.
Although it was a one-time deal, Wei Maomao wasn’t a black-hearted merchant.
Wei Maomao had made similar sugar-coated fruits in her previous life, as decorations for pastries. The size of the fruit might be different from tomatoes, but the skill of making sugar syrup should be transferable. But the problem was, how could she, a three-year-old, know how to make sugar syrup?
Just as Wei Maomao was hesitating whether to try a few times first, then pretend to be naturally gifted and luckily make perfect sugar syrup, Grandma Zhao, worried that they had been wandering for too long, arrived.
It turned out that Grandma Zhao, who could embroider such cute patterns, also had skillful hands for making sugar syrup.
According to her… when she was younger, she even sold sugar paintings at the market.
Two days ago, Cheng Tingyan exposed the scammer on the other end of Grandma Zhao’s phone call. Today, Grandma Zhao was helping Cheng Tingyan earn money without being dragged down by Cheng Rongrong.
This… could be considered karma, right?
Anyway, now it was Wei Maomao’s job to lure, oh no, persuade people to buy, the other two were making the product and trying to sell more, then Wei Maomao would sell another round of pillowcases, the three of them worked together quite well.
And for some reason, the target customer group of grandparents with grandchildren in this market was truly huge.
After finishing teasing the grandpa, Wei Maomao spotted her next target.
“Tanghulu, delicious tanghulu! Every child loves tanghulu!”
Wei Maomao straightened her clothes, rubbed some fresh tomato juice on the corner of her mouth, and shouted at the grandma holding her granddaughter’s hand.
In the monitoring room, Qin Sichao, seeing Wei Maomao’s sly little move, choked on his tea, making strange coughing and spluttering sounds.
“Just let it out, I’ve spat it out a couple of times, it’ll choke you if you try to hold it back.” Shi Dingshan, also watching the little chubby selling tomatoes, chuckled.
“Hahaha, what’s wrong with this Wei Maomao? How can she be so…” Qin Sichao wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes.
“Dramatic, right?” Shi Dingshan, who had been surprised multiple times, accurately summarized.
Qin Sichao nodded. “Yes, she’s very dramatic. But it’s quite effective, she has already tricked several people in such a short time.”
“She has tricked four families and sold twelve candied tomatoes.” Shi Dingshan, who had been silently counting, chuckled. “What, you’re interested in Maomao now?”
“I am a bit interested, but unfortunately, I don’t have a use for this cute, chubby image in my next film.” Qin Sichao said, looking at another monitor. “But this trip wasn’t in vain, she’s even better than I thought.”
Shi Dingshan followed Qin Sichao’s gaze, on the screen, Cheng Tingyan was squatting, carefully washing tomatoes.
“You’ve decided on her?” Shi Dingshan asked curiously.
“I’ll observe a bit more. She’s good, but her family seems quite troublesome.” Qin Sichao said, frowning slightly. But soon, his frown eased. “But if her family was perfect, she probably wouldn’t be like this. If I do decide on her, dealing with her troublesome family wouldn’t be a big issue.”
Shi Dingshan didn’t have time to fully understand Qin Sichao’s thoughts.
He glanced at his phone and stood up. “You can watch here by yourself, I’ll go deal with that matter from earlier.”
“The matter with Cheng Rongrong’s mom hiring someone to buy out the vegetables?” Qin Sichao also stood up and asked curiously, “Can I go with you?”
Shi Dingshan: “… “
He really wanted to show the entire village this internationally renowned director’s gossipy side.
In the Wei family’s courtyard, the dads were all diligently participating in their activities.
The three at the wooden table had already moved to the projector, Shen Jianghe, who had said he wouldn’t play with the dance mat, was now being instructed by Wen Xiang on how to position his feet correctly. It had to be said, Shen Zilin was right, wearing socks properly was truly important for this activity.
Wen Qiming was enjoying his book, the recliner was also quite comfortable, and Wei Chengli, occasionally bringing over iced water and fruits, was even better.
And Wang Qingchuan on the bed board… He was indeed frustrated and angry at first, but the blackout cloth the program team hung above the courtyard was of excellent quality, and the morning breeze in the courtyard was quite refreshing… As he enjoyed the coolness, the person on the bed board gradually fell silent.
Cheng Feiying was initially doing okay.
The fish tank the program team brought for him was quite interesting, besides the goldfish, there were also water plants and miniature buildings. After observing for a while, he even discovered some tiny, transparent shrimp and snails clinging to the walls of the tank.
Although he did get bored after watching for a while, after the trio turned on the projector, he could still watch some other things with his good eyesight.
But good eyesight had its advantages and… disadvantages.
Of course, Cheng Feiying didn’t know yet that the sign he saw in the distance, held up by the program team outside the camera’s range, which said [Teacher Cheng, please come to the public restroom outside], was a disadvantage.
Holding up a sign indicating that a dad needed to use the restroom was a secret code agreed upon by the program team and the dads, used when it wasn’t the designated time to turn off the microphones and cameras at night, but the program team had something urgent to discuss with the dad privately.
As far as Cheng Feiying knew, he hadn’t seen the program team hold up the sign for any other dad these past few days.
Honestly, Cheng Feiying felt a bit apprehensive when he went outside.
Then he quickly realized that his apprehension was justified, he should have been even more apprehensive.
“Director Shi.” Cheng Feiying removed his microphone and entered the restroom, only to see Shi Dingshan waiting for him in the empty restroom.
Instantly, many thoughts raced through Cheng Feiying’s mind, the most crucial one being that he had been behaving well in the courtyard, so if there was a problem, it must be…
The image of Shi Dingshan, always standing at a distance, cold and silent, hadn’t fully formed in Cheng Feiying’s mind when he saw him bring his hand, which was originally behind his back, to the front.
In Shi Dingshan’s hand was a small, coded suitcase.
This suitcase looked familiar to Cheng Feiying, it was the one the program team used to store his valuables and phone before they entered the village.
What was it for?
Cheng Feiying looked at the suitcase, a sense of foreboding washing over him.
“Teacher Cheng, call your wife. Although she cares about her daughter, having someone interfere with our filming directly is making things very difficult for us.” Shi Dingshan said slowly.
Cheng Feiying: “… “
Shi Dingshan didn’t hide anything about what happened at the market this morning and the subsequent investigation. After briefly explaining everything to Cheng Feiying, Shi Dingshan emphasized that, in principle, the dads shouldn’t have any contact with the outside world during the live broadcast, but to prevent such incidents from happening again, they were making an exception for him. He hoped Cheng Feiying could keep his phone call within two minutes, a quick call to resolve the issue.
Originally, Cheng Feiying wanted to defend Bai Lei, but Shi Dingshan even showed him a short video of the staff confronting the strange customer. In the first half of the video, before the man’s face was shown, the voice repeatedly calling “Sister Lei” could still be explained away. But later, when his face was shown, that man, Cheng Feiying had actually met him at Bai Lei’s parents’ house. With all this… what else was there for Cheng Feiying to misunderstand?
Of course, he couldn’t defend her, but he could still try to make excuses.
However, before Cheng Feiying could even start his performance, Shi Dingshan said to him ominously, “Technically, your family violated the rules. This time, we won’t make it public. From now on, you have to handle it yourselves, if it happens again, the program team won’t cover for you.”
What else could Cheng Feiying say? With Shi Dingshan being so “polite” and making his stance so clear, he could only swallow his anger and open the coded suitcase.
Two minutes, two minutes it was.
Shi Dingshan watched as Cheng Feiying made the call, counting the time.
As he listened, he was a bit shocked.
He could only say… Okay, it seemed the phone call didn’t involve any information leaks from the outside world as he had worried… This man, he didn’t stop talking, his words were packed tightly together, he was purely outputting, there was no way any information could be inputted.
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Feiying put his phone back in the coded suitcase, locked it, and when he returned it to Shi Dingshan, he apologized profusely and reflected deeply on his actions today.
After Cheng Feiying left, Shi Dingshan smacked his lips and turned around. “Come out.”
From the last stall, Qin Sichao pushed open the door and came out, smiling, holding his phone.
“You even filmed it?” Shi Dingshan was shocked. “Was that necessary? What kind of hobby is this?”
“It’s not a hobby, it’s gathering evidence for you. In case there are any disputes in the future, this kind of thing might not be useful legally, but it’s enough for self-protection in terms of public opinion.” Qin Sichao swiped on his phone. “I sent it to you, no need to thank me.”
Shi Dingshan: “So that’s why you asked me to change it from sending a text message to making a phone call?”
“Otherwise?” Qin Sichao asked innocently. “Is it because his voice is pleasant?”
Shi Dingshan: “… “
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