Meanwhile, on Douyin.
Li Shishi's livestream, which had lasted less than ten minutes, had been edited at lightning speed into a three-minute video.
The title was blunt, straightforward, and packed with clickbait.
"Shocking! Film crew allegedly denied wages-actors so hungry they've collectively lost their minds!"
The footage preserved every detail of the crew wolfing down their food like a swarm of locusts.
Like a pebble dropped into a lake, the video quietly sent ripples spreading across the internet.
Within an hour of being posted, it had surpassed three hundred thousand views and thirty thousand likes, and the comments had completely blown up.
"What's going on? This crew has it rough! How many days have they gone without food?"
"Could it possibly be... that this restaurant's food is just ridiculously good?"
"Just go check it out! The IP location on Li Shishi's last Weibo post was Yicheng. It has to be nearby!"
"Address! I'm begging you, give us the address!"
"@Two Hundred Is Also, Second Brother, you're up! Go review the place!"
"@Real Food Detective Tang Renjie, Brother Tang, go see what's going on!"
Before long, local fans familiar with the crew's schedule posted the approximate location of Chen Family Village in the comments.
Over a thousand likes pushed that comment straight to the top.
Countless curious food lovers who lived nearby were already itching to go.
Chen Lin knew nothing about the commotion online.
Watching his close friends, now thoroughly stuffed and satisfied, he curled his lips into a mischievous grin.
He unlocked his phone and quickly edited the footage he had secretly taken of Wang Ye and the others eating.
He had some sense of fair play: he kept only the shots of the four men-Zhao Jie, Wang Ye, Wang Shuo, and Li Jingwen-and left out every single shot of Su Mei and the other women eating.
Otherwise, he had no doubt the four women would team up and hunt him to the ends of the earth.
Once he finished, he added an even more ruthless title.
"Documenting the last supper of my four starving-ghost brothers."
Then he casually posted it to his Douyin account.
After lunch, they had barely spent any time sprawled on the sofa chatting before Zhao Jie's phone rang.
It was an employee at his shop, saying a big customer had arrived and specifically wanted to see the merchandise.
"Well, business calls. I've got to get going." Zhao Jie hung up, looking utterly defeated.
Su Mei checked the time too and stood up. "My train back to Wucheng leaves at seven tonight. I should start getting ready."
At that, Wang Ye let out an anguished howl.
"Fuck, if you hadn't said anything, I would've almost forgotten! There's a damn weekly meeting at the office this afternoon, and attendance is mandatory!"
Wang Shuo patted his belly, which rose and fell like a mountain range, and said to Yang Ni, "Honey, we should head to your dad's place too. Any later and we'll get nagged to death."
Li Jingwen and Si Qi exchanged a glance, their faces full of the bitterness of overworked office drones.
"We have to head back too. We've got a proposal due tomorrow."
Chen Lin listened in bewilderment.
"Isn't it the weekend? Why are you all running around like wound-up toys? You don't even have time to stay for dinner?"
Wang Ye heaved a long sigh and gave Chen Lin's shoulder a heavy pat, his eyes brimming with envy and resentment.
"Lin, I'm so fucking jealous of the life you've got now! Unlike us-we'll never escape being beasts of burden!"
Li Jingwen and Si Qi immediately rolled their eyes at Wang Ye in unison.
"Oh, shut up!" Si Qi snapped. "The two of us have to work on a proposal at home over the weekend, and we haven't even complained. What are you humblebragging for?"
Wang Shuo laughed at their complaints. "None of you are even married with kids yet, and you're already working yourselves this hard! You'll be the office's champion overachievers someday!"
Seeing that each of his friends really did have things to do, Chen Lin stopped trying to keep them.
He went inside and soon came back carrying several heavy bags stuffed with cherry tomatoes and sweet potatoes freshly picked from the field.
"Take these home and try them fresh."
"Fuck! Lin, you're my real brother!" Wang Ye lunged forward first and snatched the biggest bag.
"Thanks, Brother Lin!" Wang Shuo accepted his without the slightest hesitation too.
They happily took the bags, climbed into their respective cars, and drove off.
As the roar of their engines faded, the courtyard that had been so lively suddenly felt far too quiet.
Chen Lin stood alone at the gate, his waving hand still suspended in midair.
He stared blankly in the direction his friends had gone.
Brother Jie had his phone shop to run, Wang Ye had an office meeting, Li Jingwen and Si Qi had a proposal to finish, and Wang Shuo had to visit his father-in-law.
The buddies who had once been able to gather for all-night gaming sessions were now each rushing around to make a living.
What about me?
Am I just going to scavenge bargains from the Myriad Worlds Garbage Transfer Station, grow vegetables, raise fish, and spend the rest of my life coasting?
The hundred million or so in my account is already enough for me to coast in comfort.
But... is that really the life I want?
While Chen Lin stood at the gate lost in thought, his second uncle, Chen Guofu, wandered over from the fish pond.
Seeing Chen Lin standing there in a daze, he asked in puzzlement, "Xiao Lin, what are you thinking about out here?"
Chen Lin came back to himself. Looking at his uncle's weather-beaten face, he asked a question that even he thought sounded a little melodramatic.
"Uncle, what does it actually mean to succeed in life? Is it making lots of money?"
Chen Guofu smiled, a cigarette between his lips.
He exhaled a murky ring of smoke and looked at Chen Lin as though he were a foolish boy.
"That little bit of nonsense needs thinking about?"
"Money-you don't bring it into the world, and you can't take it with you when you die. What good does earning so much of it do?"
Chen Guofu raised his hand and pointed emphatically toward the eastern end of the village.
That was where Chen Family Village's ancestral hall stood.
"When you've earned a whole page of your own in our Chen family genealogy, boy, then you can say you haven't lived your life for nothing!"
Chen Lin felt as though lightning had struck him.
A whole page... in the family genealogy?
That meant making an earthshaking contribution to the entire clan-the highest honor of bringing glory to one's ancestors!
Seeing his stunned expression, Chen Guofu added another remark.
"What else did you think? No matter how much money you earn, once you die, you're just another name in the genealogy. A few decades later, who'll remember who the hell you were?"
"But if you can get a page of your own, that's a different story."
"Every generation of Chen descendants after you will have to burn incense and bow before your name on holidays. They'll all have to remember what you did for them!"
Every word Chen Guofu spoke landed like a sledgehammer against Chen Lin's chest.
The confusion and loneliness left behind by his friends' departure were smashed to pieces.
In their place, a fierce, burning ambition unlike anything he had ever felt surged up!
A page of my own in the family genealogy!
That goal...
Actually sounded pretty fucking tempting!
Before you continue