The village chief drove the group back to the wooden house, where the rain was still drizzling.

Jiang Hexi washed the bamboo tube, filled it with the glutinous rice seasoned by the aunt, and steamed it.

Yan Jie and Shen Yingyu invited the village chief to the living room for tea.

Yu Xiangwan called over Chu Yang and Xie Wanyi, picked out some of the mountain goods from the snakeskin bag, and divided them into ten small gifts.

Each serving contained bamboo shoots, bracken fern, and porcini mushrooms. Seven servings were given to the grandmothers, one to the village chief, one to the program crew, and the other was intended to be sent to Professor Jiang.

Time slipped away smoothly.

Director Chen noticed that the guests were all busy with their own things and showed no sign of stopping.

He glanced at his watch: 7:40, and said impatiently:

"Do they even know that the second episode is going to air on Saturday?"

"have no idea."

The assistant director honestly said, "And judging from their appearance, they're only waiting for dinner to be served and have no intention of watching the show at all."

"They not only don't promote it on Weibo, but they also lead the way in not watching the show. What are netizens supposed to think?"

Director Chen instructed the staff member next to him, "Bring me my microphone."

Ten minutes before the show was scheduled to start, Director Chen interrupted everyone's conversation:

"Just a reminder to the six guests, have you forgotten something you haven't done yet?"

Chu Yang asked directly, "What is it?"

Director Chen: "Today is Saturday, and there are less than ten minutes left until 8 p.m.

Chu Yang was starting to get mischievous. He pretended to be naive and asked, "And then?"

Director Chen wanted to slap him. "Are you guys not planning to watch the second episode?"

Jiang Hexi raised her hand and pointed to the old television on the cabinet, saying:

"Director, how can six people watch this small 32-inch color TV when they're all crammed together? Could you please upgrade it to a large, high-definition LCD TV?"

Director Chen glared angrily at the props crew; they had truly shot themselves in the foot.

"Xu Gong, go get them a projector."

The props team rushed to finish the work and finally set up the projector before the show started, projecting the images onto the screen.

The evening live stream also officially started at the same time.

When netizens rushed into the live stream, they saw six people sitting around a long table, each holding a bamboo tube of rice, eating while watching the variety show "Let's Farm, Rich Second Generation".

[I'm watching a live stream → The people streaming are watching variety shows → I might as well just watch the variety shows directly.]

[Director Chen is truly a genius. I was watching a variety show, and the comments section was flooded with complaints, and he even provided me with real-time feedback from the guests.]

I really want to know how they'll react when the screen is flooded with "hahahahaha" comments!

The second episode has officially premiered.

Yan Jie followed Jiang Hexi up the mountain, but he didn't pick up a single egg. Instead, he took half a basket of eggs from Jiang Hexi.

He then boiled the entire half-basket of eggs and distributed them to the production crew. When he tried to extort money from Director Chen, the live chat was filled with maniacal laughter.

[The way Sister-in-law Zhou gave the King of Hell at the end—she was definitely a shrewd businesswoman!]

[Yan Wang, this middleman, is really good at making a profit. An egg that passes through his hands more than doubles in value. From now on, who dares to call Yan Wang a spendthrift? Sister-in-law Zhou will be the first to stand up and protest!]

The laughs kept coming one after another:

First came Chu Yang's drawn-out snoring, then Jiang Hexi's double entendre, "Heaven has eyes, the old generation dies on the beach," and finally, with Yan Jie's sarcastic "cut out" comment, the ratings soared.

The climax of the second episode came when Director Chen was eating the peaches that Jiang Hexi had given him, and Yan Jie appeared.

When the comments section was filled with jeers that Director Chen was about to die, Chu Yang rattled off a long string of words to keep him quiet, and the last sentence, "Brother—, can we not take the money?" immediately went viral on Weibo.

In stark contrast to the enthusiastic buzz across the internet, the six people in the live stream remained completely unmoved.

They watch this variety show while eating.

Bamboo tube chicken, cold braised fern, braised spring bamboo shoots, braised bluefish, and chicken stew with mushrooms—six people held a section of bamboo tube rice and ate to their hearts' content, completely oblivious to what was playing on the TV show.

After finishing her meal, Jiang Hexi put down her chopsticks and kindly asked a question on behalf of netizens:

"Yan Wang, if Chu Yang hadn't stopped you, would you have asked Director Chen for money?"

"meeting."

Yan Jie smiled and looked at Director Chen off-camera: "Director, when would you like to settle this bill for me?"

Everyone around laughed when they heard this joke.

At the end of the program, the five people sat in the courtyard soaking their feet, gazing at the starry sky and dreaming of an infinitely bright future when Chu Yang's pig-like snoring rang out again.

The scene freezes on the four of them turning to look at Chu Yang, their eyes filled with a hatred that seemed to want to kill him.

Seeing this, Chu Yang irritably ran his fingers through his hair, still unable to believe it, and said:

"Why are you snoring again? I didn't even know!"

"It's because we didn't wake you up."

Shen Yingyu poured him a cup of tea and advised him to calm down, saying, "In the end, this matter is still blamed on Director Chen. It's his fault for not cutting out this part during post-production editing."

Director Chen is not taking the blame for this. "If you had woken him up, I wouldn't have been able to film him snoring."

Chu Yang sat utterly frustrated in his chair, banging his head against the sofa, feeling like he was about to break down.

"It's over, my acting career is completely over."

Xie Wanyi sat beside him, not only not trying to persuade him, but also encouraging him to go all out: "Then let's make it official."

Chu Yang was stunned. "Brother, what's the official announcement?"

Xie Wanyi pointed to the camera in front of her and said, "To the fans in the live broadcast room, announce that you will be retiring from the entertainment industry."

What?! Is Xie, the film emperor, trying to force Xiao Baiyang to retire from the entertainment industry?!

[Don't be like that. Yangyang is just feeling down right now; he doesn't really want to retire from the entertainment industry.]

What's going on here? They completely ruined my sleepiness, and now I'm incredibly excited watching it!

Chu Yang hurriedly explained, "Brother, I didn't retire from the entertainment industry..."

Xie Wanyi coldly asked, "Do you want to be a national idol or a respected actor in the future?"

Chu Yang looked at him firmly and said, "An actor."

"Then start with snoring, and ditch your idol image."

Xie Wanyi, as a senior, advised him:

"This will save you from taking a few detours. And no matter what outsiders say, you must calm down and hone your acting skills. You must have a sense of awe for the acting profession and never say that your acting career is over."

Chu Yang was deeply moved and said, "Brother, I will never say such discouraging things again."

Xie Wanyi nodded at him, instantly curing his gloom.

Jiang Hexi looked at Xie Wanyi with eyes full of admiration, nudged the person next to her, and whispered:

"Wanwan, Actor Xie is so handsome."

Yan Jie suddenly poured cold water on her, saying, "You've poked the wrong arm."

Jiang Hexi turned her head and, to her horror, met a pair of mischievous eyes. She felt completely horrified.