This Little Xie Really Was Rebellious

The fans in the livestream stared with eyes as wide as saucers.

They watched without blinking as several of the top oddballs voted into place all bent their heads and got to work.

Not a single complaint escaped them.

They competed with each other as if they had returned to the Great Leap Forward of the eighties.

Some people were dumbfounded.

[Wait, are these really the most bizarre and annoying celebrities I personally voted for?! Why do they suddenly feel a little unfamiliar?!]

[Hahahahaha fuck, didn't you hear the Best Actress shout, "Follow Xie Chen and you'll have meat to eat"?! She didn't eat last night or this morning. Compared to Xie Ran's table at lunch, she clearly knows that a wise man submits to circumstances!]

[Honestly, the weird guests on this variety show aren't actually that fussy. Other than being hot-tempered and picking fights, someone else is the real troublemaker.]

[Exactly, exactly! First it was a stomachache, then an ass ache, and now there's hand pain too! Why don't you just hurt all over?!]

[Xie Ran: Don't talk about them like that. They're just a little white flower who's suffered so much too!]

[Fuck! I love crushing flowers with a ruthless hand!]

At that moment, the paid commenters were a little worn out, wondering whether they should contact their boss to discuss raising the price.

They had thought Xie Jinran's arrival would make things easier, that they could at least leverage his celebrity appeal to draw in some popularity.

Instead, these two idiots had tied themselves together and started pulling all sorts of stunts.

Just look at that performance in front of the cameras!

"Third Brother, my hand hurts!"

"It's okay, let me blow on it for you!"

"Third Brother, my leg hurts!"

"It's okay, let me rub it for you!"

"Third Brother, I..."

I, I, I, I—fuck me!

Even I, a paid commenter, couldn't stand watching anymore, okay?!

Sorry, I'm going on strike!

As the sky grew darker and darker, they had completed only one-third of their assigned tasks.

Xie Jinran felt as though his fingers were about to blister, and what little patience he had left gradually disappeared. Hearing Xie Ran complain made him uncontrollably irritated.

He secretly glanced at Xie Chen ahead of him and couldn't help thinking that, in the past, his adopted younger brother would have treasured his hands dearly. He would have rushed over at once to fuss over him and snatched away all the heavy farm work,

while undoubtedly muttering that Third Brother's fingers were meant for playing the piano,

for performing the most beautiful music in the world,

so leave this dirty, exhausting work to me.

But now,

so much time had passed, yet Xie Chen could actually hold himself back from even turning around to look?!

What exactly was he thinking?!

Xie Chen neither cared about nor noticed Xie Jinran's furtive glances.

Before the sun had set, he straightened his back, the corners of his lips lifting in a proud curve. "I've finished my task! Is anyone coming to inspect it?"

This was only the preparation stage for farming, so the individual tasks were not particularly demanding. It was mainly to give them some practice so they would not be left flustered when it came time to actually farm.

The village chief hurried over, originally worried that these city guests would ruin the land. Yet he had never expected that the first kid to finish would do farm work so beautifully, even better than farmers who had worked the fields in the village for over a decade.

"Oh my, not bad, not bad! We'll add a chicken drumstick to your dinner tonight!" The village chief beamed with honest delight, grabbing Xie Chen's hand as he kept asking, "Kid, have you practiced this before? How did you do such a good job?!"

Embarrassed by the praise, Xie Chen swung the pear knife onto his shoulder. "This is nothing. Back when I worked a whole experimental field by myself, I was faster than this!"

"Experimental field?" the village chief repeated doubtfully, seemingly still pondering the unfamiliar term, when someone hooked an arm around his neck the next second.

"We're stewing chicken tonight?" Xie Chen asked, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

The village chief nodded. "Of course! It's to reward you kids!"

Director Li, who heard this in front of the monitors, leaped to his feet in excitement. "Hey, hey! You came here to be transformed, not to enjoy yourselves! Who allowed you to stew chicken?!"

According to his plan, dinner had to be simple.

Those who completed their tasks would get two dishes and a soup.

Those who did not would get noodles boiled in plain water.

He had intended to starve the guests until they were pale and gaunt, so that when it was time to leave, they would squat at the village entrance like in The Dream Factory, desperately waiting for the production crew to come pick them up.

Only then could they understand how hard farmers had it, and how difficult it was to obtain food...

But why would the village chief not follow directions?!

Director Li was beside himself with rage and quickly sent his assistant to the kitchen, only to learn that the free-range chicken had already been stewing and was still giving off hot steam.

"Free-range chicken?" Director Li swallowed. "That sounds pretty tasty, right?"

"How about adding a talent performance tonight?"

If he set a hurdle for them, he would feel a little better about it.

"No problem. I'll arrange it."

When the news reached Xie Chen, he glanced at the guests still working behind him, then complained to the camera, "We have to add a performance just to eat a chicken drumstick? Has Director Li gone broke from poverty?"

Blatantly provoking him by name, Xie Chen nearly made Director Li flip over the monitors. Catching sight of Huo Wenye still sitting calmly beside him from the corner of his eye, he could only give an awkward laugh to conceal his anger. "This Little Xie really is rebellious."

"I think it's quite good," Huo Wenye suddenly said, his voice low, cool, and unhurried. "He's much more sincere than before."

Director Li abruptly turned his head. "????"

What was the relationship between those two?

Why did that sound so ambiguous?!