【Ah! I’m crying!】
【The “you’ve worked hard” line really broke me. This young man looks like he’s only in his teens, right? He has to do so much work, has an elderly grandmother, yet keeps the house so tidy. There’s a vocabulary notebook in his pocket and books on the table. I couldn’t survive a single day of that life】
【I feel like Zhou Chong was about to cry several times but held it back. Similar age, yet their lives are worlds apart】
【I’m a fan now! Life is hard, but he doesn’t wallow in self-pity. He takes it in stride, unruffled by praise or criticism, tough yet strong. Seeing him like this makes me feel his soul is no less than any of today’s glamorous guests—in fact, it’s even nobler】
【Ah!!! I want to give him money——!!】
【Not only capable, but resilient too. He seems cold on the surface, but he’s actually really kind—he gave him an extra egg! But there wasn’t one in his own bowl!】
【Capable and resilient—someone like this deserves to go viral! I’m a fan!】
【I’m a fan!】
【Fan +1, and I’m also shipping the rich young master X tough, aloof white flower dynamic】
…
Shan Qingshan was dazed for a long moment before finally looking away and turning to pull back the blanket.
“You sleep on the inside.”
Zhou Chong climbed onto the bed, staring at Shan Qingshan’s back like some kind of creep, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
He quietly moved closer, his fingers brushing against Shan Qingshan’s hand.
Shan Qingshan didn’t wake.
Zhou Chong lifted his hand, cradling it in both of his own, and with love and tenderness, pressed a gentle kiss laced with faint bitterness onto the scab on his wrist.
Tears fell there too.
The next morning, the production team delivered a task card.
Harvest napa cabbage.
The harvested cabbages could be exchanged for money, which could then be used to trade with the director’s team for ingredients or prepared meals. A food menu was attached at the back.
The prices looked fairly reasonable.
Probably a trap.
Breakfast was served.
A few sweet potatoes and two bowls of egg custard.
The chicken hadn’t laid eggs yesterday, so there were only two eggs left.
Shan Qingshan set one bowl of egg custard in front of Grandma.
He pushed the other bowl toward Zhou Chong. “You’re the guest. You eat.”
Zhou Chong held a sweet potato and looked at the egg custard. “Is this all you’re eating this morning?”
Shan Qingshan: “If you can’t stomach it, you can leave.”
Zhou Chong pushed the egg custard back to Shan Qingshan. “I can stomach it fine. You’re too skinny. You eat it.”
Shan Qingshan hesitated for a moment, then split the egg custard in half and pushed one portion back to Zhou Chong. He lowered his head and finished his share, then ate two sweet potatoes as well.
Shan Qingshan: “You should change your clothes. Don’t wear that out there. Wear mine.”
The two were similar in build, and winter coats were bulky anyway, so it should be fine.
“Wouldn’t that ruin yours?” Zhou Chong’s mind was already working. “Tell you what—I’ll trade you one of my clothes for one of yours.”
Zhou Chong pulled a down jacket out of his suitcase.
It had been meant for Qingshan’s little treasure all along, but he hadn’t dared to take it out yesterday for fear he wouldn’t accept it.
“No.”
“Then I won’t either.”
Zhou Chong seemed to be throwing a young master’s tantrum.
Shan Qingshan looked at him like he was a spoiled child being difficult, tossed him an old jacket, and walked out.
Zhou Chong, having achieved his goal, quickly changed into it and followed.
When they reached the vegetable field below, someone had arrived first.
Pan Yingzhe was full of energy, radiating confidence.
His aura was two meters tall, but the cabbage only suffered superficial damage.
Shan Qingshan stepped into the field. With a twist of his hand, a large cabbage came loose.
The motion was clean and crisp.
It made Zhou Chong’s neck feel cold just watching.
Pan Yingzhe stared in disbelief. “I bet he’d be just as good at twisting necks.”
Shan Qingshan chopped away with a crisp kacha kacha, and before long, a whole row was done.
Pan Yingzhe felt inspired and mimicked Shan Qingshan’s movements, burying his head in the work.
Soon, the field echoed with the sound of cabbages hitting the ground—kacha kacha kacha. If you only listened without watching, it sounded like a mass neck-snapping scene.
Eerily terrifying.
Shan Qingshan and Zhou Chong had just finished loading the first cart of cabbages when the last guest, Zhuozhuo, finally arrived in a leisurely fashion. She wore a beautiful, bright down jacket, and the moment she stepped onto the field, she started squealing. She even squealed at a giant cabbage, face-to-face with it.
The cabbage didn’t move; she did.
The netizens in the livestream were cracking up.
Half a morning passed, and Shan Qingshan and Zhou Chong had loaded three carts of cabbages.
The other guests had at most half a cart.
Zhuozhuo had six.
The production team opened the shop.
Cabbages: three cents per jin.
Zhuozhuo shrieked, “What? Why so cheap? I pay several yuan for a cabbage at the supermarket!”
The director’s team said, “That’s the supermarket. This is the farm-gate purchase price.”
Zhuozhuo slumped in defeat. “Farmers work so hard… but what about my lunch?”
The director’s team gave her five yuan for her six cabbages—only two yuan total.
She immediately turned her gaze to Shan Qingshan, who had the most today.
They had only exchanged two carts of cabbages.
They still had one cart left.
Shan Qingshan split out Zhou Chong’s share of the money. “This is yours.”
“I don’t want it. You keep it.”
Shan Qingshan handed him all the money instead. “Then exchange it for something you want to eat.”
Zhou Chong was about to say he could eat anything, but then he thought about how skinny his little Qingshan treasure was, so he went to the director’s team and exchanged it for a fresh fish.
“We’ll make soup.”
“Okay.”
Zhuozhuo sidled up. “Little bro~ Can you lend me a bit of money?”
Zhou Chong cut in, “You’ve got some nerve. No.”
This was hard-earned money. Blood and sweat money.
Not lending!
“I’ll pay you back.”
Shan Qingshan glanced at her.
There was hope!
Zhuozhuo’s voice went all syrupy. “Little bro~ If you won’t lend me money, then just give me this cart of cabbages, that works too.”
Zhou Chong let out a “What the hell” and stepped right in front of her. “Who let a grown adult make that kind of noise? What are you, a baby-voice demon? And a whole cart of cabbages—where were you when we were working? You’ve got the nerve to ask with that shameless face. You really don’t know shame.”
Zhuozhuo’s face flushed red. “Why do you have to talk so harshly?”
“Don’t like it? Then leave.”
He and his little Qingshan treasure had worked so hard to harvest those cabbages, and she just opens her mouth and asks for them.
“We need them. We’re keeping them to feed the pigs.” Zhou Chong turned to Shan Qingshan and said, “Don’t worry about offending her. Her family can’t afford to mess with mine.”
Zhuozhuo was even angrier.
He’d rather feed them to pigs than give them to her?
[Zhuozhuo baby, don’t be upset]
[These two guys are way too much. It’s not like she wouldn’t pay them back. Why refuse?]
[Not gentlemanly! Toxic men!]
[The people above are hilarious, right? The cabbages were in the field. If she’d worked properly, she’d have money too. She didn’t work, and now she wants to borrow? And if they lend to her, would she even pay it back?]
…
Zhuozhuo’s fans flooded into Shan Qingshan and Zhou Chong’s livestream, ready to launch a one-sided flame war. They’d just typed their first line, not yet hit send, when—
Zhou Chong said, “And don’t worry about getting cyberbullied. Before I came, I specifically arranged for people to monitor. Whoever dares to trash-talk you in the livestream, I’ll sue them!”
His little Qingshan treasure couldn’t suffer even the slightest grievance!
Zhuozhuo’s fans were collectively speechless.
But Zhou Chong and Shan Qingshan’s fans were thrilled.
[Good, good, that’s exactly how it should be!]
[Sending a rocket to help the young master recoup his losses]
[Young master: Thanks to the netizens for the paltry gifts]
[Wuwuwu, this is so great. Someone actually cares about the treasure I just set my eyes on…]
【A Bit of a Ship, I Have No Morals, I’ll Ship It First】
…