Xiao Youran had already closed her eyes and gently shook one finger.
A slight smile curved her lips, and her expression was simply—the undisputed queen of live streaming, born out of nowhere!
Of course, no one could understand her expression.
At this point, Ms. Yu cautiously asked, "Don't you feel a little humiliated when you receive tips?"
When Yun Tiankuang saw that his fourth aunt had spoken her mind, he nodded frantically.
Jiang Youchen remained silent; he couldn't very well directly slap his sister in the face.
However, everyone else shook their heads in unison and said loudly, "No way!"
Stone became the spokesperson, looking at Yu with clear eyes and asking, "No, why would we feel humiliated? We didn't steal or rob, and we didn't beg. The money came from a legitimate source, so why would we feel humiliated?"
Ms. Yu felt that these were children after all, so she didn't say anything more to avoid hurting their self-esteem.
But Yun Tiankuang was unconvinced. "They gave you the reward money because they were treating you—no, us—like monkeys to be watched. Don't you feel humiliated by being watched?"
Xiao Wu pointed to a spot outside the window where drums and music were coming from and asked, "Look at those people performing on that stage, aren't they being watched? Do they feel humiliated when they're being watched?"
Yun Tiankuang was stumped by the question.
Yu was also stunned.
She suddenly realized that as long as you work hard with your own hands, the harvest is legitimate and there is no such thing as humiliation.
Today, this group of young girls is being watched on the street. Let's just consider it a performance. If the viewers want to give them tips, then what reason do they have not to accept these tips from those who have worked so hard to watch their performance?
Just then, the waiter knocked on the door. The little ones frantically tried to put the money away, and Madam Yu became anxious again. "You don't have anywhere to put the money, so let me put it away for you. We'll distribute it to you when we get back to the cloth shop, and you can carry it on your backs, okay?"
The little ones naturally had no objections and quickly piled all the money together and stuffed it into the big blanket.
Da Shan's lips twitched, and the pile of things together again. How would they be divided then?
The waiter brought in the tea and then left.
The little ones snuggled up on the kang (a heated brick bed) by the window, patting their round bellies, and happily thought, "Today I not only ate delicious food, but I also made money. How wonderful!"
The children gradually grew tired and fell asleep.
Wen Yuanbai quietly drank his tea at the table, with Madam Yu and Dashan keeping him company. Afraid of waking the children from their sweet dreams, no one spoke.
After an unknown amount of time, accompanied by the sound of drums and music outside the window, the children gradually woke up.
As soon as Xiao Youran woke up, she asked, "What time is it?"
Mrs. Yu quickly leaned over and affectionately pinched her nose, saying, "It's not dark yet. The lantern festival will only start when it gets dark, and you can guess the lantern riddles after the parade."
In winter, it gets dark early, usually around 5 PM, when the lantern festival and street parades begin.
Xiao Youran sat up and peered out the window. The sounds of drums and opera singing were still going on from the stage around the corner.
Stone and Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu also leaned over the window to watch.
Xiao Wu suddenly said, "What are they singing? I can barely understand a word of it!"
Yu laughed and said, "Opera singing has its own way of being sung, which is different from our ordinary speech. It's normal that you don't understand it. But you'll understand it if you listen to it more."
Xiao Wu turned to Jiang Youran and said, "Boss, what they sang definitely isn't as good as the story of the peerless hero you told us last time!"
Xiao Youran pondered, "Why not perform the lyrics in a way that ordinary people can understand?"
It was like... a play she heard in the future?
She loved listening to storybooks. Over the course of a thousand years, she had heard countless storybooks and witnessed how actors rose step by step to become superstars and gained the love and recognition of the world.
In this day and age, actors are considered to be of low social status.
Not only is practicing acting and singing arduous and the income meager, but they also do not receive the respect they deserve.
It's better in later generations. Those superstars gained countless fans, and the entire storytelling circle flourished.
She fell into thought.
Seeing that the room had suddenly fallen silent, Madam Yu suggested, "When the lantern festival starts, there will definitely be huge crowds downstairs. Why don't we just watch the excitement from this private room on the second floor? Let's not go downstairs; there are so many of us, and we don't want to get separated."
Dashan also thought it was a good idea.
But Xiao Youran shook her head and said, "You definitely can't see the lanterns from this spot, or you can only see the side and the tail."
Why is that?
"On the main street where the lanterns are paraded, if you don't book well in advance, where can you find such a good spot as a private room on the second floor?"
Yu thought about it and realized it made sense. Back in the capital, during the annual Lantern Festival, the streets were packed with people, and the restaurants with the best views of the lantern parade were booked at least a month in advance.
Just then, Xiao Liu exclaimed, "Hey, why have they stopped singing?"
Xiao Youran looked out the window and, sure enough, saw that the ancient music and opera singing on the stage had stopped, and the actors were filing off the stage to rest.
Xiao Youran's eyes suddenly lit up. She turned around, jumped down, put on her shoes, and rushed outside, shouting, "Kids, come with me!"
Stone Two, Little Mountain, Little Five, and Little Six let out a howl and also put on their shoes and ran out.
Jiang Youchen and Yun Tiankuang looked at each other, wondering if the "children" that Xiao Youran was calling out for did not include them.
Just as they were hesitating, they heard Xiao Youran's voice coming from outside, "Brothers, come quick—"
As if a switch had been flipped, Jiang Youchen immediately jumped to the ground, put on her shoes, and ran out.
She even turned around and gave Wen Yuanbai a smug look.
Wen Yuanbai was puzzled by his gaze. Didn't you know that you were also one of the "children" that Xiao Youran was talking about?
What are you so proud of?
When Yun Tiankuang saw that he was the only one left of the eight uniformed Xiaobaos, he couldn't let himself be a failure, so he followed them out.
Yu didn't even have time to stop them, and could only chase after them while shouting, "Xiao Youran, where are you going? Slow down!"
Da Shan quickly wrapped the silver in the small blanket, carried it on his back, thought for a moment, then turned around, held it to his chest, smiled at Wen Yuanbai and his servant, and chased after them.
As Madam Yu went downstairs, she tossed a piece of silver at the shopkeeper, feeling a pang of regret. However, there was no time to lose, and she couldn't wait for the shopkeeper to give her change.
The mountains followed closely behind.
Wen Yuanbai, along with his wheelchair, was carried by Nan Zhuo and jumped down from the second floor. In the blink of an eye, they were out the door, and then Nan Zhuo leisurely pushed him forward on the flat ground.
He was on this side of the road, and the children were on the other side.
Nan Zhuo pushed him along seemingly leisurely, but the pace was not slow at all, and soon caught up with Xiao Youran who was running in the lead.
He saw Xiao Youran leading a group of little ones straight towards the stage.
Then, the junior sister lightly touched the ground with her toes, braced herself with her hands on the edge of the stage, and leaped directly onto the stage that even adults would find difficult to reach.
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