At first, Tang Yichen had only thrown away the worthless wild fruit.
But after being soaked by the rain and becoming hypothermic, although he changed into dry, shabby clothes in time, his physical condition declined rapidly. Later he simply could not carry everything anymore, so he had thrown away the remaining schisandra too.
Tang Yichen never dreamed that those several kilograms he discarded were the only things he had gathered all day that could actually be exchanged for money.
For someone who had worked from morning to night, traversing primitive forest at high intensity solely to harvest the most valuable mountain product and crush everyone else, the blow was devastating.
For a moment the world spun and his vision darkened. More than half the stubborn energy that had been supporting his body instantly drained away. But he knew he absolutely could not collapse.
Becoming the only group with zero earnings was embarrassing enough. If he fainted now, viewers would think he could not handle losing… Tang Yichen would not allow his situation to become even worse. Besides, he still had to see the grand spectacle of Tang Can being cursed by the entire internet!
Thinking of Tang Can—the person who had irritated him more than anyone for years—finally suffering a catastrophic downfall, the remaining stubborn energy inside Tang Yichen surged back up.
Although he managed not to faint, the ugly color of his face could no longer be concealed. His fans, who had been celebrating prematurely not long ago, were heartbroken:
【What??? He can’t sell them??? Why not?! Yichen worked so hard to carry those down!!!!】
【Why can’t premium antlers be exchanged for money? I think the production team and this purchasing station are deliberately targeting our Yichen!】
【Oh my god, my heart is breaking. Do you people know how hard Yichen worked for those antlers?!】
【Investigate the guide! I suspect he’s an anti-fan! He knew the antlers couldn’t be sold and still maliciously encouraged Yichen!】
Tang Yichen had been famous for many years. Although his fans were constantly criticized, they truly were a highly professional fan organization by entertainment-fandom standards.
All three groups had been tricked to varying degrees inside the mountain, but Tang Yichen’s fans were the only ones who immediately mobilized.
When Tang Yichen first found the antlers, he had clearly seemed destined to become the biggest winner of the episode. Several major fan accounts had already opened prize giveaways in his fan forum to celebrate.
No one expected the sudden reversal. They had no time to feel embarrassed and immediately threw themselves into a new battle—flooding the production team’s official Weibo, the other two guests’ accounts, Changyun Village tourism pages, and every related space with keyboard “protests,” concentrating their first major attack on the young guide who had accompanied Tang Yichen that day.
Because the action was organized at short notice, there were not enough fans currently online. An indirect result was that the people who had been jumping around the trending-topic plaza insulting Tang Can suddenly disappeared, making neutral gossip-watchers laugh:
【I told you Tang Yichen fans and Tang Can haters had a massive overlap, hahahaha.】
【These seizure-like fans are genuinely exhausting. Being stuck with a piece of sticky dog-skin plaster like this is making me feel a little sorry for Tang Can.】
【Honestly, Tang Yichen is kind of miserable too. He can’t exactly control what kinds of fans he attracts…】
*
At the livestream location.
Although Tang Yichen had managed to stay upright by thinking about Tang Can’s impending disaster, on the way back he inevitably began worrying that his stepson would lose control.
After all, the child had bragged about the antlers throughout the descent. Since Beisheng really had found them while running around, Tang Yichen had cooperated enthusiastically and praised him the whole way.
Although both were second-generation rich children, his stepson had been born into the absolute top tier of elite society and was the sole heir of the person controlling the Gu family. “Everything going smoothly” was not enough to describe his life from birth until now.
Gu Beisheng was extraordinarily proud. Fortunately, he also possessed talent matching that pride. As his stepfather, Tang Yichen only needed to tolerate everything, care for him meticulously at every moment, and offer gentle praise at the right times. That was enough to satisfy the Gu family and win public admiration.
But now the antlers could not be exchanged for money. Father and son had nothing for dinner and had fallen to last place among the guests. This level of blow was fundamentally beyond Gu Beisheng’s ability to accept.
With his physical and mental energy already exhausted, Tang Yichen could only keep his brain turning rapidly by thinking of Tang Can’s misfortune.
Before boarding the bus, he went to negotiate privately with Wei Kai.
As expected, Wei Kai had prepared for this long ago. He had simply been waiting for desperate guests to voluntarily ask for loans.
But the terms were vicious—Tang Yichen could borrow one hundred yuan this episode, but he would owe three hundred next episode. If he could not repay it then, the debt would double again, and no one knew what conditions next episode would bring.
Tang Yichen hesitated at first. Then he heard that this “benefit” was available only to the first guest who requested a loan. The second person borrowing one hundred would owe three hundred fifty, and the amount would rise from there.
After weighing everything, Tang Yichen decided it was better to seize the advantage first. Otherwise, Beisheng would lose control and drag him down too, while his own performance this episode had already been terrible…
As for pushing the debt into the next episode, Tang Yichen reasoned that if Cheng Ping had chosen to act, he would definitely beat Tang Can down so completely he could never recover. Perhaps Tang Can would not even appear next episode.
Without Tang Can causing trouble, everything would go smoothly for Tang Yichen, and he was confident he could repay the money.
He had another calculation too. The minimum loan was one hundred, interest increased for later borrowers, and prices in Changyun Village were very low. He could easily share his remaining money with Wen Tong and Cen Jiaojiao at the first borrower’s lower interest rate. That careful planning and consideration for others could help him recover some dignity.
With that thought, Tang Yichen accepted the hundred yuan loan from the production team.
As he walked toward the bus, he was still calculating. His stepson was exhausted and sleepy and must still be asleep. Once they reached Changyun Village, Tang Yichen would first take him to eat. Then, while the child was in his best mood, he would raise the issue gently. When calm and rational, Beisheng should be able to listen…
The moment he opened the bus door, however, he heard Gu Beisheng’s piercing scream of despair. “IMPOSSIBLE!!! You’re talking nonsense!!! The antlers I found are obviously super valuable!!!”
Tang Yichen swayed on his feet and thought, Disaster.
In reality, Gu Beisheng had been thinking about the antlers and never slept deeply. Even his dreams showed them selling for an enormous price and making him the uncrowned champion. So when Cen Jiaojiao and Wen Tong returned to the bus one after another, he woke up.
After waiting for a while without seeing his stepfather, he impatiently questioned Cen Jiaojiao in the front row.
He desperately wanted to know how much the antlers had sold for, but his voice was so loud that it woke the twins.
Cen Jiaojiao was completely drained and could not withstand the two children repeatedly demanding answers, so she finally told the truth. Unsurprisingly, the twins—two enormous firecrackers—immediately exploded with spectacular force.
Gu Beisheng had already cared deeply about losing the ginseng event to Aiai. Now that he heard her ginseng was worth little, he became even more proud of the huge antlers he had found.
Facing Cen Jiaojiao’s resentful gaze, Gu Beisheng became even more pleased and habitually copied Tang Yichen’s manner of speaking. “I’m sorry. I only really wanted to know how much Daddy sold the big antlers for. I didn’t expect your ginseng to be worth so little…”
Tang Yichen’s manipulative sweetness was built on years of carefully maintained public image combined with professional control over voice, speech, posture, and expression. When Gu Beisheng used the tone of an overpowered protagonist to deliver the same sugary words, they sounded purely provocative.
Cen Jiaojiao had not intended to say more, but she could no longer restrain herself. She told him the truth directly—yes, the antlers were good, but they were worth absolutely nothing because they could not be sold! Father and son could drink the northwest wind for dinner too!
At that, Gu Beisheng exploded instead, while the twins who had been wailing as though the sky were collapsing suddenly felt much better.
After all, one’s own failure was certainly painful, but someone else’s tragedy was wonderfully comforting.
Tang Yichen: “…”
For the entire half-hour drive, Tang Yichen did nothing but calm his out-of-control stepson.
Cen Jiaojiao’s twins had apparently never encountered a child capable of screaming even more fiercely than they could. For once, they forgot to fight each other and united against an external target, craning their little heads to watch the drama.
After endless persuasion, Tang Yichen finally stabilized his stepson temporarily with the promise that they had money for food. He was incredibly grateful he had thought of the one-hundred-yuan loan first and secured it.
Because of Gu Beisheng’s breakdown, Tang Yichen had no chance to look at his phone during the ride. He even forgot to mention his plan to share the loan with Cen Jiaojiao and Wen Tong.
Still, there was no hurry. After getting off, they had to assemble at the original location anyway to report each group’s harvest and resolve the lodging issue for Wen Tong and Cen Jiaojiao, who were tied for third.
Obviously, he had lost both the food and lodging categories to Tang Can. Tang Can was already the double champion and biggest winner of this episode—but only within the program.
Thinking of Tang Can’s truly miserable situation in reality, Tang Yichen could hardly wait to reach the meeting point.
His resentment toward Tang Can ran too deep. Looking no further than the present, the true culprit behind his sagging cheek apples and deepening smile lines was Tang Can.
If not for what happened back then… he never would have impulsively undergone cheekbone reduction surgery, which had led to the extremely difficult changes in his face now.
Fixing it required endless additive cosmetic adjustments, trapping him on a road that only became worse and worse. Meanwhile, Tang Can repeatedly went viral simply because of his face, and netizens kept dragging Tang Yichen out to compare him with Tang Can!
He desperately wanted to see Tang Can’s miserable expression. Would that beautiful face finally twist with humiliation?
With these thoughts, Tang Yichen’s steps became lighter as he led his stepson forward. After barely two steps, he encountered another father and son walking back while holding hands.
Tang Can held Dengdeng’s hand and carried two large takeaway portions of grilled cold noodles. Father and son ambled toward them, laughing and joking together.
Even from a distance where their faces could not yet be seen clearly, pure happiness radiated from their figures. The takeaway containers in Tang Can’s hand continuously released a rich sweet-and-sour aroma that made mouths water.
They were happiness written in enormous capital letters!
In stark contrast stood the three groups that had just climbed off the bus. They wore wrinkled shabby clothes provided by the guides, had exhausted themselves all day only to be viciously tricked by the production team, and were now so hungry their stomachs practically touched their backs and their legs trembled…
Comments:
【Miserable. Truly miserable. That old bastard Wei Kai has endless creative methods for trapping people. Incredible!】
【Earlier I thought Tang Can would definitely regret not going deeper into the mountain. Looking now, even if he hadn’t found Ganoderma it still would’ve been worth leaving…】
【+1. After everything those three groups suffered… forget earning nothing. If you don’t make at least a thousand, the trip wasn’t worth it…】
【One side got tired from playing and overate. The other side is… Sure enough, choices matter more than anything. Tang Can really is lucky.】
【You can’t attribute all of it to luck. Tang Can seems genuinely alert. You could tell from when he made the presentation before entering the mountain.】
When father and son finally bounced over, Tang Yichen saw Tang Can’s cheerful smile without the slightest trace of gloom. He froze for a moment, then thought: Could Tang Can still not have seen the trending topics?
Or perhaps he had secretly seen them but was forcing himself to stay calm? Yes. If he refused to respond, he at least retained some room to recover…
Tang Yichen became absorbed in a mental storm of speculation, while Tang Can had already begun being wicked.
He glanced at Cen Jiaojiao, who looked close to collapsing from exhaustion, then walked lightly toward Wen Tong. “Teacher Wen, you must be exhausted. I accidentally bought one extra serving of grilled cold noodles and truly can’t finish it. If you don’t mind, could you help me take care of one?”
Cen Jiaojiao: ???
Cen Jiaojiao genuinely broke down. She stamped her feet in place and went wild. “AAAAAH! Why are you like this?! You bought it just to deliberately make me angry?!”
Tang Can handed one container to Wen Tong and her son, then waved the other one in his hand and smiled sweetly. “Listen to yourself~ Are you imagining you’re some extremely important person again?”
“I’m merely sharing surplus food and, while I’m at it, irritating you a little.”
Tang Can demonstrated through direct action that provoking him was equivalent to stepping into a steel animal trap. Once caught, there was no pulling your foot back out.
The comments went mad with laughter:
【Hahahahaha, I knew there was a reason he kept saying he absolutely couldn’t eat another bite but still packed TWO huge portions of grilled cold noodles!】
【Cen Jiaojiao should never have provoked him! Now her ginseng was worthless and she still owes the production team more than a hundred. You fool!】
【Tiny detail: Tang Can spent the entire afternoon taking the child around eating snacks, then deliberately selected the grilled cold noodles with the strongest smell from all the local specialties. [dog-head]】
【Wen Tong: Thank you to my colleague for making me look good.】
【You genuinely bring tears to my eyes. Even your wickedness is this carefully planned. This parenting show is blessed to have you. [thumbs-up]】
Changyun Mountain-style grilled cold noodles used an especially generous amount of sweet-and-sour sauce. Forget the hungry adult and child guests—even the other staff who had worked all day were swallowing hard.
In sharp contrast stood the three-person filming crew behind Tang Can and Dengdeng.
None had originally been overweight, yet each now had a belly protruding as though five months pregnant. One young man had not even cleaned his mouth properly; sesame seeds from grilled skewers still clung around his lips.
There was no helping it. They had been assigned to the right guest. Standing behind Tang Can and his child, every one of them held their backs perfectly straight.
Look!~ Come look!~ Hadn’t some certain person sarcastically said being assigned to Tang Can’s group meant they were doomed?
Yet from the first episode onward, Tang Can’s livestream popularity had only risen. Today, the reversal of the “mistress” scandal had made the room explode completely. Forget the enormous traffic bonuses the filming team would receive—the good fortune they had enjoyed simply by following Tang Can all afternoon already meant they had won beyond measure.
Tang Can had always followed the basic principle: If people do not offend me, I do not offend them; if they do offend me, I’ll twist their heads off. He had also once been a veteran wage slave himself and possessed plenty of empathy. Besides, with several people eating together, he could buy more and taste a little of everything. Why wouldn’t he do it?
It had to be said that prices in Changyun Village were extraordinarily cheap compared with Yun City.
Tang Can had eaten from one end of the street to the other. He ate more of what was delicious and still sampled anything ordinary. He bought a few local specialties in between. After four adults and one child spent an entire afternoon eating their way around, he still had more than a hundred yuan left.
So when he heard Tang Yichen voluntarily offer to share his loan with Cen Jiaojiao, Tang Can could not help remarking, “Borrow one hundred and repay three hundred? That’s way too much.”
Tang Yichen barely maintained his smile. “There’s no other choice… We can’t let the children go hungry with us. If they become sick from hunger, the loss would be even greater.”
Cen Jiaojiao was already tempted by the offer. The moment Tang Can spoke, still furious from his earlier provocation, she snapped back immediately. “What business is it of yours?”
Tang Can smiled pleasantly. “I’ll lend one hundred and you repay two hundred.”
Cen Jiaojiao: “…Sorry. I admit my tone just now was bad. And I was the one who couldn’t control my mouth on the mountain today.”
Tang Can was successfully amused by her and found her somewhat more likable, though only somewhat. He still intended to make money. It could serve as advance preparation for the next episode. Who knew what rotten trick Wei Kai was already saving for them?
In the end, Cen Jiaojiao borrowed fifty yuan from Tang Can, leaving Tang Yichen alone carrying a three-hundred-yuan debt. Under the dim evening light, his face turned bluish.
As for Wen Tong, no matter how poorly the mushroom sale had gone, she still had thirty yuan left from a full day’s gathering. If she spent carefully, it was enough. And now, with the large grilled cold noodles Tang Can had given her, it was even more sufficient.
So when Tang Can offered her a reduced-interest loan, Wen Tong thanked him but politely declined.
Cen Jiaojiao beside them no longer even had the strength to be jealous. Her mind was filled with regret. If she had controlled her mouth and not provoked Tang Can, would the second box of grilled cold noodles have been hers?!
The more Cen Jiaojiao thought about it, the more her face twisted. If cameras had not still been pointed at her, she would have grabbed her head, rolled on the ground, and screamed.
But when Tang Can looked over, Cen Jiaojiao instantly produced a textbook eight-tooth smile, almost as if the words “I’ve learned my lesson, please spare me” were written across her forehead.
【Hahahahaha, Cen Jiaojiao’s frantic surrender is actually kind of cute.】
【Best Actress Wen should thank Cen Jiaojiao. If she hadn’t provoked Tang Can, how would Wen Tong be enjoying this much comfort?】
【Not necessarily. Did you see how good Tang Can’s filming crew had it today? I feel like Tang Can treats everyone pretty well—except Tang Yichen and Cen Jiaojiao. [covers mouth laughing]】
*
Tang Can had expected Wei Kai’s scheme to lure them deeper into the mountains would be cruel, but even he had not imagined it would be this cruel.
And it was obvious that every part of the production team’s design linked into the next. Luring them deep into the mountain and letting them find nothing was too brutal, so the show had shown a little mercy by selling vegetarian boxed lunches for only five yuan to soften the blow.
Now that the three groups who went deeper had suffered so badly, the production team graciously announced that Wen Tong and Cen Jiaojiao, tied for third, would not have to stay in the broken wooden hut after all.
Instead, the two groups could share the nearby guesthouse Tang Can had been assigned the previous night. The next morning, they could also continue enjoying the guesthouse’s specialty breakfast for free. The slap-and-sweet-reward routine had been mastered to perfection.
As for the better accommodations assigned to Tang Can and Tang Yichen, both already included free breakfast.
The difference was that Tang Can’s hot-spring villa offered a five-star buffet, while Tang Yichen had only an ordinary hotel breakfast, which might not even be as good as the specialty meal served at the guesthouse.
Tang Can had no interest in Tang Yichen’s miserable situation, but Tang Yichen kept staring at him darkly while the production team announced the final arrangements.
Tang Can assumed the man was begging to be insulted again and had just started turning around to express his opinion when an alarmed cry sounded beside his ear. “Youyou!”
Looking back, he saw Little Youyou, who had barely spoken, already going limp in Wen Tong’s arms.
Only then did Wen Tong notice her son had developed a fever at some unknown point. She picked him up and tried to find the staff, but she was exhausted, hungry, and her blood sugar could no longer support her. The instant she stood, her vision went black.
Fortunately, Tang Can and Cen Jiaojiao on either side reacted quickly. One stabilized the adult while the other caught the child.
Cool little sunglasses-wearing Wen You lay in Tang Can’s arms. Half conscious, he felt his sunglasses tilt and still tried to push them straight. Tang Can, unlike Wen Tong, did not pay attention to such details for him.
While Tang Can carried him running toward the guesthouse, the sunglasses flew straight off.
Youyou abruptly became more awake, but it was already too late. Everyone at the scene and every viewer in the livestream saw the pair of high, swollen eyelids he had gotten from being stung by bees in Hengdian.
Little Youyou’s hand was still stretched in the air, trying desperately to recover something, but the completely unexpected reveal had already made everyone burst out laughing.
Mother and son had worn sunglasses all the way until lights-out every night, stirring endless curiosity. Some people had even suspected the pair had secretly undergone double-eyelid surgery together. No one could possibly have guessed that they had simply both been stung into goldfish eyes.
People did not only laugh at the child. Turning toward Wen Tong, they discovered that although low blood sugar left her body swaying, one hand remained steadily pressed against her own sunglasses.
After making a few simple connections, many people laughed so hard they crouched down clutching their stomachs.
The livestream was even more hysterical:
【There was literally no way to guess this, hahahahaha!】
【I considered double-eyelid surgery. I almost even believed the rumor that Wen Tong’s ex-husband had abused her. Turns out they got stung by bees, hahahahaha!】
【I thought Best Actress Wen was just pretending to be cool, hahahahahaha, I’m sorry!!!】
【Best Actress Wen, why are you still struggling? Take off the sunglasses and let everyone enjoy the sight!】
【The contrast with this mother-and-son pair is incredible. I always thought Wen Tong was cold and arrogant. Turns out she’s a complete lovable idiot, hahaha.】
Wen You already felt miserable. Once he realized all his efforts had failed and everyone was indeed laughing after seeing his goldfish eyes, grief flooded over him like a river. With one wail, two streams of tears shot out.
“Waaah, sunglasses, waaah, I—I waaah, want my sunglasses!!!”
It was Tang Can’s first time seeing someone cry like a pair of water pistols and he laughed helplessly. Turning around, he saw the sunglasses had landed beside Dengdeng’s feet. “Dengdeng, hurry and pick up big brother’s sunglasses for him!”
The child picked them up and immediately followed. But watching Bad Dad walk away carrying big brother Youyou, he suddenly found it strangely difficult to smile…
Everyone first helped mother and son into a room. When the guesthouse owner heard Wen Tong had nearly fainted from low blood sugar caused by hunger, she immediately brought two large bowls of dough-drop soup from the kitchen, while staff delivered medicine.
Wen Tong’s low-blood-sugar symptoms were not severe. She had simply stood up too quickly while anxious, causing the dizziness. After drinking a few mouthfuls of soup, she went to the bedside to check on her son.
Little Wen You remained in a trembling “waaah waaah” mode. His tears were no longer shooting out as dramatically as before, but he was still heartbroken. Seeing his biological mother still wearing sunglasses made him even more aggrieved.
He had been stung because of Mom in the first place! Why was he the only one who ended up embarrassed?! Children had dignity too!
If his classmates saw him like this, how was he supposed to go back to kindergarten?!
Yet no matter how painfully he cried, when dough-drop soup was brought to his mouth he obediently ate it. He even cooperated perfectly with taking medicine.
Actually, Youyou had refused at first too, but Tang Can was simply too skilled at praise. “Youyou is amazing! The other children definitely can’t out-eat you. You must be the best eater in your whole class, right?”
Youyou paused his crying and proudly answered between hiccupping sobs, “Yes! I’m the class—the class leader of eating!”
Everyone else nearly burst out laughing again. Only Tang Can’s eyes lit up as he enthusiastically played along. “Wow! That really is impressive. Hurry and take a few more bites. Show Uncle what you can do.”
Wen You’s head was too dizzy to think properly. He picked up the bowl and slurped down the entire thing.
By the time it came to medicine, Tang Can’s praise had already gone completely to his head. The instant he heard that children who drank medicine quickly could be crowned the Medicine-Drinking Raptor, he seized the medicine and gulped it down in one go.
Most of the surrounding staff were young and could not yet appreciate the true value of Tang Can’s technique. They only thought Best Actress Wen’s Little Youyou was silly and amusing, instantly becoming dazzled whenever an adult praised him twice.
Only the child’s actual mother, Wen Tong, stared from behind her sunglasses with her swollen goldfish eyes full of disbelief.
After Tang Can’s series of maneuvers, Wen You not only finished his meal and medicine, he had forgotten the sorrow caused by exposing his goldfish eyes. He was completely immersed in the twin halos of “Class Leader of Eating” and “Medicine-Drinking Raptor.”
Tang Can prepared to leave after feeding him the medicine. Looking at Youyou’s bee-swollen eyes suddenly reminded him that ticks in the mountain could also cause low fever. He warned, “Teacher Wen, once no one else is around, it would be best to take off the child’s clothes and carefully check his whole body for signs of tick bites.”
Remembering this, Tang Can also worried that after carrying and coaxing Youyou, a tick from the child’s body might have transferred onto him.
So when Dengdeng puffed his cheeks and came pattering toward him, Tang Can immediately performed three rapid backward steps. “Dengdeng, Daddy can’t hug you right now!”
Dengdeng froze for an instant. The expectation in his eyes vanished immediately. His cheeks stopped puffing, and he transformed once more into an expressionless little wooden child.
At that moment, an exclamation suddenly came from outside the door. “What?! Tang Yichen looked at his phone and fainted?!”
