Ever since Tang Can proposed bartering, the comments in all four livestreams had not stopped.
Most viewers supported Tang Can. It was not as though he were forcing anyone to buy or sell. Trading the product of his own labor for a few Snickers was perfectly reasonable.
Especially since Tang Can had not asked for much at first. Best Actress Wen received it for free, while Cen Jiaojiao paid only one bar. Even the many people who loved being generous with other people’s possessions had nothing to complain about.
Unexpectedly, Tang Can once again launched a point-blank attack on Tang Yichen. Without the slightest courtesy, he openly admitted he was targeting him and immediately demanded more than half of Tang Yichen’s supply.
The spectators who lived for drama were delighted. Tang Yichen’s fans went berserk, escalating Tang Can’s behavior all the way to “threatening the lives and safety of Tang Yichen and his son.” Most neutral onlookers, however, remained sensible.
If Tang Can wanted to give the information away for free, that was generosity. If he did not, that was his right. Asking for three bars seemed a little expensive at the moment, but the fact that Tang Yichen was willing to trade meant the information was worth the price to him.
When Wen Tong’s livestream camera captured the presentation as she flipped through it, everyone felt it was excellent value. At the very least, it told the guests what they could actually collect in the mountains. It was ten thousand times more useful than the production team’s national-treasure booklet.
The debate over trading a presentation for Snickers spread to major media platforms. Screenshots and recorded clips from the livestream were naturally shared everywhere too. As netizens enjoyed the spectacle, many could not help feeling a strange sense of familiarity:
【Wait… Tang Can is way too practiced at this. Isn’t this literally me secretly finishing a presentation during a meeting?!】
【+1. He even knows how to use an AI assistant to generate it with one click. That’s the behavior of a fully seasoned corporate wage slave.】
【That can’t be right. Tang Can married into a wealthy family right after graduation. Where would he get work experience?】
…
【I watched the whole video. Am I the only one who thinks Tang Yichen acts kind of green-tea-ish?】
【Tang Yichen isn’t manipulative like that. I don’t like his fans either, but anyone old enough to remember his child-star years knows he’s been highly sensitive and empathetic since he was little. He always comes across as overly sentimental, but he’s actually a very kind person~】
【Exactly. The director of *Clouds and Waters of the Heart* said twenty years ago that Tang Yichen could act so well and become the nation’s beloved son entirely because he acted on instinct. His character can’t be bad. So I always feel a little sorry for him whenever I see him getting attacked.】
It had to be said that as the most successful ceiling among former child stars, Tang Yichen’s decades of accumulated public recognition were not to be underestimated.
Even though his army of brainless, charging fanatics annoyed plenty of people, his manager Cheng Ping only needed to have paid commenters guide the discussion slightly before many passersby began speaking up for him.
Tang Can now stood completely opposite Tang Yichen. Feeling sorry for Tang Yichen naturally meant disliking Tang Can’s “unrestrained words and conduct.”
Cheng Ping tried steering public opinion toward “Tang Can has no manners” and “Tang Can can’t raise a child.” Unfortunately, because he had already missed the best timing, those two flaws had long since been discussed to death and turned into entertainment. People who lived for chaos quickly jumped out to object: 【Stop talking nonsense. It’s fun to watch and I love it. I’m here precisely for this deranged, unruly energy.】
Besides, today’s netizens had already been trained by years of online warfare. Every one of them was extremely sharp:
【Why are people suddenly bringing this up again? Is Tang Can getting too popular, so some jealous people are trying to mess with him?】
【Tang Can just has a wicked mouth. Dengdeng is doing a perfect job raising his dad. Father and son are my latest source of happiness. Whoever dares mess with them, I’ll come for you!】
Seeing the public-relations department’s test results, Cheng Ping’s brows drew tightly together. He had no choice but to admit that Tang Can had unexpectedly strong audience appeal. Guiding the conversation at this level simply would not work.
Looks like they would have to risk offending the Huo family a little…
*
At the livestream location, the four groups had been walking through the mountain for barely five minutes when they were brought to a ginseng-harvesting area.
Clearly, this section had been prepared specifically for tourists to experience digging ginseng.
The ginseng plants were relatively scattered and therefore somewhat difficult to find, but the setup was not very different from an artificially cultivated field. It simply had more wilderness atmosphere and marketing appeal. For a children’s ginseng-digging competition, however, it was perfect.
The guide first explained how to judge the appearance of ginseng, what preparations were needed before digging, and the proper harvesting technique.
The competition would last half an hour. The children would spread out to search for ginseng. The older the plant they found and the more intact its roots were when dug out, the higher the score.
Because parents were not allowed to assist during the children’s competition, although every parent appeared to be listening to the guide explain wild mountain ginseng, forest-grown ginseng, and cultivated garden ginseng, in reality all their attention was focused on searching the surroundings for mountain products they could gather.
Yet throughout the walk into the mountain, the adults had been looking in every direction without spotting the slightest trace of anything useful. It made sense. They were still near the foot of the mountain, on a tourist harvesting route that saw heavy foot traffic.
If even one edible mushroom poked its head up, someone would probably pluck it immediately.
Even so, as soon as the children’s competition began, the parents scattered to search—everyone except Tang Can.
The mountain was full of ticks. Even though their insect repellent was effective against them, there was no guarantee one would not launch a sneak attack.
All three children’s events combined would last only a little over an hour. Rather than searching for mountain products in an area tourists had combed through countless times, Tang Can preferred to stay behind, watch for ticks, and act as a cheerleader while he was at it.
Anyway, they already had nine high-calorie miniature Snickers as a safety net. At the very least, they would not go hungry at lunch.
All five toddlers were excited by the novelty of searching for ginseng. After the three parents left one after another, only Zhengzheng, the younger twin, cried briefly. His attention was quickly diverted by his older sister shouting that she had found ginseng.
Unfortunately, Aiai had found a newly sprouted “baby ginseng” that was still too young to harvest. At that, Zhengzheng completely forgot about looking for his mother and devoted himself wholeheartedly to searching for ginseng. He even made a bold declaration: “Dad says I’m a real man. I’ll definitely find one before you!”
Aiai was too busy hunting for ginseng to hit her little brother. She rolled her eyes and continued searching.
Tang Can followed behind Dengdeng to keep an eye on him, occasionally glancing over at the other children’s antics. He was grinning broadly when he met the toddler’s slightly complicated gaze.
“What’s wrong, Dengdeng?”
“…Nothing.” He’s smiling this happily. Did he already get better? …Forget it. I never expected Bad Dad to find food anyway. If he wants to follow me, he can follow.
Thinking this, little Huo Dengdeng sighed softly, turned around, clasped his tiny hands behind his back the way the experienced guide had, and continued lowering his head to search carefully.
The comments were once again amused by the reversed father-and-son dynamic:
【Raising Dad isn’t easy. The baby sighs. [dog-head]】
【That presentation trade shocked me earlier. I thought this guy was pretending to be useless while secretly being capable, but nope—he still refuses to work hard even a little, hahahahaha!】
【Tang Can represents me! Briefly forcing myself upright only so I can lie flat for longer afterward. [peaceful.jpg]】
Perhaps because it was peak tourist season at Changyun Mountain, by the halfway point of the competition, only Aiai had spotted that one “baby ginseng” at the beginning.
Even when the half hour was nearly over, Dengdeng had burrowed into patch after patch of grass and found only two “baby ginseng” plants that could not be harvested.
Even Tang Can was beginning to suspect this was not a harvesting site at all, but a nursery for forest-grown ginseng seeds that had only recently been planted. Fortunately, he had not spotted any ticks either.
When the competition ended, the still-empty-handed child visibly wilted. His little face, already lacking much baby fat, drooped completely.
Dengdeng was not only deeply disappointed in himself, he was also afraid Bad Dad would be angry. With his head lowered, he tried to peek sideways at Tang Can’s expression by tilting his eyes and head at an awkward angle.
Now that the competition restrictions were over, Tang Can simply scooped the little thing into his arms. “Not happy?”
Dengdeng spoke cautiously. “Dengdeng didn’t find any ginseng…”
“How did you not find any? You discovered two little ones. The timing was just wrong. And Daddy followed you the whole time without seeing either of them. Dengdeng has much better eyes and searches much more carefully!”
The child secretly breathed a sigh of relief and believed he had not revealed a thing.
In reality, every time that little body stiffened, Tang Can understood everything. Smiling, he patted the child’s back twice, then strode rapidly forward on his long legs.
The five little dumplings had spread out in different directions to search, and little Huo Dengdeng had walked the farthest during that half hour. Fortunately, Tang Can carried him on the way back, so father and son still returned quickly.
At first Tang Can thought only they had gone in the wrong direction and accidentally entered the nursery.
But when everyone regrouped, they learned that aside from Aiai, who had dug up an enormous five-pronged ginseng plant, all the other children had found nothing. That made Aiai’s five-pronged plant look even more conspicuously lucky.
Thus, Cen Jiaojiao’s group took first place in this round and earned four points. The other three groups each received one participation point.
And Cen Jiaojiao gained more than those four first-place points.
Of the three adults who had gone out foraging, only Wen Tong had gotten lucky enough to bring back a small amount of fresh wood ear mushroom. But Cen Jiaojiao’s guide casually let slip some information.
Even forest-grown ginseng artificially seeded by hand could easily sell for three or four hundred yuan if it had five prongs like this one. Here, tourists paid 198 yuan per ginseng plant they harvested, and whatever grade they happened to find depended entirely on luck. If they were not filming a show, she would already have made money.
Cen Jiaojiao immediately became excited. She went straight to negotiate with the production team, insisting they advance her two hundred yuan so she could buy the ginseng first. She would sell it after returning to the village and pay them back.
That way, even if she sold it cheaply for only three hundred, she would still earn a hundred yuan profit. Then the three of them would have lunch and dinner secured for the day!
The director refused at first, but could not withstand one adult and two children pestering him in perfect synchronization. Before they even reached the stream-fishing competition site, he finally relented.
Cen Jiaojiao was ecstatic. She picked up her daughter and smothered her with kisses. Zhengzheng had initially been happy too, but once he realized his older sister had outdone him again, he immediately refused to accept it.
Ignoring the slippery mud beside the mountain stream, he dropped to the ground and began rolling around in a tantrum, shouting nonsense. “I found the ginseng first!”
Before Cen Jiaojiao even had time to show off that the three of them no longer had to worry about food that day, she had to put her daughter down and coax the son who had rolled himself into a muddy little loach.
Tang Can had originally just been holding Dengdeng and watching coldly from the side. The moment Zhengzheng started causing trouble again, he immediately carried the child and ran to the fishing spot farthest away.
Although all the fry in the mountain stream had been released there in advance by the production team, perhaps because Tang Can’s location was farthest from the source of the noise, there were noticeably more little fish and they were easier to scoop up.
Little Huo Dengdeng wore a one-piece fishing suit and caught fifteen fish in twenty minutes, successfully taking first place and earning four points.
The child’s gray-blue eyes sparkled. His little chest puffed high with pride. He could not have looked more pleased with himself!
Tang Can was nearly overwhelmed by the cuteness. In his excitement, he copied Cen Jiaojiao and cupped the child’s little face before planting a kiss full of affection directly on him, leaving the toddler completely stunned.
“My precious Dengdeng, you were amazing!” After saying that, he even copied *The Lion King*, lifting the child high and slowly turning in a circle to display him to everyone around them.
He did not say a word, but the smug expression on his face said everything—Look! Behold the ultimate fishing champion baby!
The little bit of vanity in the child’s heart, which had never before been given any attention, was enormously satisfied. In an instant he completely forgot the grave incident of Bad Dad ambushing his cheek with a kiss.
He! Really was the bestest!
Being number one felt so good. He wanted to be number one forever!
At the same time, another child afflicted with a terminal need to be first, Gu Beisheng, was nearly grinding his baby teeth to dust. Competitions that relied on luck were fundamentally unfair!
Tang Yichen was dissatisfied too, but he still smiled and applauded while quietly soothing his stepson.
Only when Gu Beisheng remembered that the final event, tree climbing, would truly test ability did he calm down enough not to openly sulk in front of everyone.
On Cen Jiaojiao’s side, she had been too busy coaxing her son earlier to show off. Seeing Tang Can attract so much attention made her jealous too, so she tried to praise Dengdeng while subtly putting him down in order to regain the upper hand. “Dengdeng caught so many. That’s amazing. Can those be sold for money at the foot of the mountain too?”
Anyone who was not blind could see that the stream was full of fish fry. Even if they had been wild, they still would have been useless. Who could fail to hear the little scheme behind her words?
Sure enough, the guide soon cooperated by answering, “These little things aren’t worth money. Your five-pronged ginseng is the valuable one.”
Seeing the little face in his arms visibly collapse, Tang Can immediately shot Cen Jiaojiao a murderous glare.
“Oh, why are you glaring at me? I only asked out of kindness…” Cen Jiaojiao immediately covered her mouth and apologized.
Her acting was excellent when she performed professionally, but at moments like this she came across as painfully affected.
Tang Can knew this woman was simply brainless rather than truly malicious. She could not even manage to be subtly manipulative without exposing herself. Repaying kindness with hostility like this would inevitably get her scolded by viewers, which saved him the trouble of maintaining surface-level politeness with her in the future.
Still, even if the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, that did not stop Tang Can from coating his mouth in metaphorical honey. “Ha! Which village raised a pig swollen this big? You dare provoke me just like Tang Yichen?”
One sentence insulted two people at once. Tang Yichen’s fans were the first to explode: 【You’re the pig!!
