Seeing that no one believed her, Jiang Hexi rubbed her fingers together and stammered:

"My stomach hurts...you know...it's a special time of year...Yang said honey can relieve pain...so he told me to try it—"

She lowered her head as she spoke, looking ashamed to face anyone.

Yan Jie and Shen Yingyu immediately felt uncomfortable.

Shen Yingyu made an excuse to escape, saying, "Uncle Zhong is waiting for me to come and get the honey, so I'm leaving now."

Yan Jie cleared his throat. "Does your stomach still hurt?"

Jiang Hexi honestly replied, "It doesn't hurt."

“You stay in the car and rest. Chu Yang, come down with me. The two of us will do the work for three people.”

Yan Jie forcibly took Chu Yang away, leaving only Chai Fei and Yu Xiangwan standing there.

Yu Xiangwan deeply understood this, and she said with heartache:

"You rest here, Gossip Girl and I will go clean the beehives."

Jiang Hexi was left in the van, and as she watched the two men leave, her conscience was tormented.

She's incredibly proud and will tell any lie to save face.

This time, however, she managed to save face, and was so ashamed that she couldn't lift her head.

They were busy outside without stopping, while she lazily hid in the car.

Feeling like sitting on pins and needles.

She sat in the van in great agony, but finally couldn't stand it any longer, so she grabbed her helmet and mask and got out of the van.

Yan Jie saw her walking over and thought she wasn't feeling well. "What's wrong?"

Jiang Hexi immediately carried the beehives onto the shelf, asking, "Do I look like someone who's in trouble?"

Yan Jie looked at her with suspicion: "How is it alright?"

Jiang Hexi found the right live-streaming camera and, drawing on her own experience, launched an advertisement:

"I drank honey from Canglang Village, and my back pain is gone, my legs are no longer tired, and I have more energy to walk."

Chu Yang reacted quickly, bringing the whole plate of freshly harvested honey to the front of the camera.

Jiang Hexi explained in a cooperative manner: "The rapeseed honey from Canglang Village is made entirely of natural ingredients. It is not diluted with water or added sugar. It has a clear texture, a light amber color, and is sweet and refreshing. It will never irritate your throat and has a pleasant floral fragrance."

Yan Jie was caught off guard by the sudden commercial break and turned her head away, unable to bear watching.

"Warn Jiang Hexi, do not maliciously advertise in the live broadcast room."

Upon hearing Director Chen's words, the Crouching Dragon and the Phoenix Chick immediately scattered to the sides, each busy collecting honey.

[Xiao Baiyang's reaction was so timely! No matter what Xi Mei said, he responded instantly!]

I never expected her to insert an ad here...

I don't know if Ximei is in pain, but I'm definitely buying this honey.

The rapeseed flowers are almost finished blooming.

Uncle Zhong found Yan Jie and Shen Yingyu and asked them about their next plans.

"The rapeseed flowers planted late can only bloom for another ten days at most. What do you plan to do with all these beehives left here?"

Yan Jie and Shen Yingyu had already made their plans.

“The village has 600 mu of jujube orchards. We had already told the contractors that after the rapeseed flowers were harvested, all the beehives would be moved to the orchards on the mountain.”

Uncle Zhong was relieved. "That's good."

Shen Yingyu did a rough calculation: "On average, each beehive can produce six catties of honey. The price of 100% pure honey is 150 yuan per catty. So, two hundred beehives would cost 180,000 yuan."

Yan Jie asked uncertainly, "Didn't you say before that a pound of local honey would cost fifty?"

"That's the price of watery honey. Ours is 100% pure honey, so the price is naturally twice as high."

Shen Yingyu smiled happily, "After deducting the 30% profit given to the village committee, we made a net profit of 126,000 this time."

Upon hearing the news, everyone was thrilled.

On the way back, Jiang Hexi sat in the passenger seat, humming a tuneless song.

She was holding two jars of honey in her arms, and said smugly:

"Now that I'm rich, I won't add any water to my honey anymore. I'll eat it plain, as much as I want. That's how I'll live my life."

"Don't you find this honey too sweet?" Yan Jie said, looking at the road ahead.

"Beekeeping is a sweet business, and I am willing to drown in its sweetness."

Jiang Hexi's words amused everyone.

The group returned to the wooden building and had just gotten out of the car when Director Chen grabbed the microphone and asked them, "Where did Zhou Gong go?"

The six people, still basking in the joy of "sudden wealth," all froze, looking as if the sky had fallen and they were doomed.

Yan Jie turned around, got back into the car, and drove the van away with a throttle.

Director Chen stood off-camera and started yelling at them:

What can I say about you guys?

"They got carried away after making some money and forgot even the most basic hospitality!"

“You’ll have to explain to the Duke of Zhou yourselves later. If the Duke of Zhou doesn’t forgive you, each of you will be penalized five thousand points.”

[Duke Zhou: You promised to pick me up this morning, it's already noon, why hasn't the car arrived yet?]

[Hahaha, Zhou Gong never imagined he'd be abandoned twice by the five chaebol tycoons!]

[Hugs to the Duke of Zhou, so pitiful. At his age, he still has to participate in variety shows, and he's treated like this by these younger people.]

Yan Jie drove the van and took Zhou Gongqi back to the wooden building.

As soon as the old man got out of the car, everyone in the living room came out to greet him.

Shen Yingyu grasped Zhou Gongqi's hand and kept apologizing, "We didn't come to pick you up when we came back, we're sorry, Zhou Gongqi."

Zhou Gongqi waved his hand, and was then helped into the living room by Chai Fei and Yu Xiangwan, one on each side.

Jiang Hexi pulled out a long chair and invited Zhou Gongqi to sit down.

Chu Yang offered a cup of honey water and respectfully placed it in front of the old man.

"fine!"

Zhou Gongqi smiled nonchalantly, "Everyone has times when they're so busy they forget things. Besides, I'm not in a hurry to come back. I was still painting when Yan Jie came to pick me up."

Shen Yingyu apologized again, saying, "Being busy is no excuse, Director Chen. We still have to deduct the points we should, and we still have to apologize."

"Alright, alright, I forgive you."

Zhou Gongqi beckoned to Yan Jie, signaling him to bring over the canvas and show them the half-finished painting.

The painting depicts an old breakfast shop with wisps of smoke rising from the chimney. An elderly woman stands at the door steaming xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), her elongated shadow creating a dynamic beauty of light and shadow.

Jiang Hexi exclaimed sincerely, "Duke Zhou, you draw so well!"

Zhou Gongqi then took out a stack of sketch papers and handed them all out:

"I passed by these places while taking a walk and designed some sketches. What do you think?"

After the six people looked at the manuscripts, they couldn't believe that these paintings could have come from the hands of an old man.

"Duke Zhou, how did you come up with such a novel way of painting?"

"You shouldn't have such deep-seated stereotypes about the elderly."

Zhou Gongqi said with a gentle laugh, "My mindset is getting younger and younger. Not only do I know the most popular painting techniques, but I've also participated in the hottest variety shows, haven't I?"