Looking for work

At seven the next morning, with daylight only just breaking, the sound of gongs and drums rang out outside.

The children were woken by the noise and asked their parents what was going on, bewildered.

The parents all knew the production crew was up to something again, but none of them got up. They all told the children to sleep a little longer.

When nobody came out, the crew went into their rooms separately and did their best to coax the four adults outside.

Eventually, the crew managed to get all four of them up. They leaned against their doorways, bleary-eyed, staring resentfully at the director.

The director ignored their looks and said enthusiastically, "Good morning, everyone! A new day has begun. I'm sure you're all curious about today's task."

Zi Yiting spoke up. "No, we're not curious at all. Please stop talking."

The director acted as though he hadn't heard her. "I can feel your enthusiasm! In that case, I'll announce this morning's task."

{"Director, look at them. Do they look happy to you?"}

{"I'm dying. The director's thinking: I don't care how you feel. I'm leaving as soon as I've assigned the task."}

Only a handful of viewers were commenting at the moment. It was still early, after all, and plenty of people hadn't gotten up yet.

The director continued, "Your task this morning is to use the money you currently have to treat the villagers who helped you yesterday, along with the elderly villagers living alone, to a meal."

Chen Ran raised a question. "We only have four hundred yuan between us, and we don't know how many people will come. I'm afraid that won't be enough."

It wasn't that they didn't want to treat everyone. They genuinely might not have enough money, and they already had a rough idea of the village's circumstances.

"That's why you can earn money once you get to town. We'll take you there this morning, but after that, you're on your own," the director said.

"You now have twenty minutes to get ready, and then we'll leave for town." With that, he hurried away. He couldn't take the guests' stares anymore.

Shen Zeyu let out a breath. "Let's go wash up first."

There was nothing else they could do, so the others returned to their rooms to wash up too. Ge Qing was still muttering curses at the director.

People began finishing up before the time was even up. By 7:25, they were in the vehicle and on their way, eating a little breakfast during the ride.

After getting out, they kept walking until they reached the busiest part of town, where the bustling scene caught their attention.

Stalls lined both sides of a fairly wide road, displaying all sorts of goods, with only enough space between each stall for one person to pass through.

Marketgoers streamed along the middle of the road, stopping at stalls for a closer look whenever something caught their eye.

"Wow, it's so lively!" the children exclaimed again and again. They had never seen people shop like this before.

Aside from Shen Zeyu, the parents felt the same way. They had never seen such a lively scene in the city.

"Every place really does have something special about it," Chen Ran remarked.

Seeing that everyone had been captivated by the bustling scene, Shen Zeyu had to remind them, "Do you still remember our task?"

Everyone immediately came back to reality. They had no money, so no matter how much they wanted to browse, they couldn't.

"How about Chen Ran sings and I dance? That should draw a few people over, right?" Ge Qing suggested.

Shen Zeyu thought it over and didn't object. They could give it a try, though he doubted it would earn them much.

Chen Ran and Zi Yiting both agreed to Ge Qing's idea.

The group borrowed a gong from the director, found a relatively open spot, and had the children serve as makeshift hosts.

Shen Zeyu struck the gong. Some people with nothing to do gathered around, along with a few young people who recognized them and others who were drawn over by the children.

"Hello, everyone! Welcome to our show," Tiantian and Feifei said together.

"Our first act is a dance called..." Ge Qing frantically prompted him from below, but Lu Yu didn't notice and simply made up a name. It was a dance, anyway.

Ge Zhou said expressionlessly, "If you have money, please support us with a donation. If you don't, please support us by watching."

Could anything be more embarrassing than saying that?

The little hosts then stepped aside.

Ge Qing came up and performed an explosive opening dance. While dancing, he looked nothing like his usual self. He threw himself wholeheartedly into it, his body moving constantly to the music, brimming with youthful energy.

When the dance ended, Ge Qing was slightly out of breath. The audience applauded, calling out their praise.

Ge Qing gave a bashful grin and bowed. "Thank you. Thank you, everyone."

After Tiantian and Feifei announced the next act, Chen Ran slowly stepped up.

As a singer who was practically a household name, Chen Ran had the audience cheering almost as soon as he appeared.

This was Chen Ran's first time singing again in years. His voice rang out, gentle and soothing yet deeply moving, as though guiding everyone through one scene after another.

{"Sob, thank you, production crew. It's been so long since I heard Chen Ran sing."}

{"Ahhh, he still sounds just as good!"}

When Chen Ran finished the song, everyone felt as though a weight had lifted from their hearts.

After the two wonderful performances, some people gave them a little money, while others simply watched and left.

They counted the scattered donations for a while and found they had a little over fifty yuan.

"Why is it so little?" Ge Qing asked.

"That's normal. The young people here have left to find work, so most of those who remain are elderly. Most of them are used to living through hard times and won't readily spend money on things like this." That was why Shen Zeyu had suspected they might not earn much.

"Then is there anything else we can do?" Zi Yiting asked.

"Let's go farther in and see if anywhere is hiring part-time help," Shen Zeyu suggested.

Worried that the children might get jostled by the crowd, the adults picked them up and carried them as they walked on.

After searching around, they finally found a part-time job handing out flyers. Shen Zeyu worked out that they could put in about three hours.

The boss was a fairly young woman. Knowing they were filming a show, she offered each of them fifty yuan for three hours, and even the children would get twenty yuan each. They were really getting a good deal.

"Thank you so much," Zi Yiting said.

"Could you give me an autograph, Best Actress Zi? I'm a fan of yours," the young woman said, looking a little shy.

"Of course."

Once Zi Yiting finished signing the autograph, they headed off to different spots to hand out flyers. Spreading out would let them distribute them faster.