Chapter 9, Chapter 9: I told you he looked particularly stingy...
Su Tangtang stared at the two large aluminum basins, a smile playing on her lips. "These basins are big enough."
Huo Yizhou hummed in agreement, but his gaze lingered on her cat-like cheeks. He paused for a moment, then raised his finger and pointed to his own cheek.
Su Tangtang, whose attention was still on the basin, didn't understand what he meant. Her big eyes were full of doubt. "Why are you pointing at your face? There's nothing dirty on your face."
Huo Yizhou pursed his lips slightly, his expression as calm as ever. "I don't have it on my face, but you do."
Su Tangtang gave an awkward laugh, wiped her face haphazardly a couple of times, and then asked him, "Is there anything else?"
Huo Yizhou's handsome brows furrowed slightly. "It wasn't wiped off."
Su Tangtang wiped it a couple more times, then looked at him.
Huo Yizhou: "Stop wiping, just wash it later."
Su Tangtang let out two loud cries, "I guess it got there while I was cleaning up in the kitchen."
Huo Yizhou walked into the courtyard, put down the aluminum basin, and the basin hit the ground with a piercing sound.
Su Tangtang frowned and exclaimed in surprise towards the courtyard, then whispered, "That sound is making me uncomfortable."
Huo Yizhou looked up towards the door and then moved much more gently when placing the other aluminum basin.
He put the basin down and saw Su Tangtang carrying firewood into the yard from the doorway. He quickly walked up to her and held out his hand, "I'll do it."
Su Tangtang looked at his outstretched hand without thinking too much. Since someone was willing to do the work, she readily handed it over to him.
After Huo Yizhou took it away, Su Tangtang ran to the door and picked up some firewood to start a fire.
Huo Yizhou was diligent and approachable, without any airs. He sat in front of the stove with such dignity, as if a god had descended to earth, completely out of place. It was impossible to imagine that he was a business tycoon who controlled the economic lifeline.
After the water was boiled, Su Tangtang scooped it out and poured it into the two large aluminum basins, then placed them in the yard for use.
Cucumber seeds should be disinfected before soaking to kill surface bacteria; the water temperature should be between 50°C and 55°C.
Su Tangtang and Huo Yizhou poured the seeds into a dish and stirred them.
After stirring for about ten minutes, she found the carbendazim she had bought.
She glanced at the instructions. "This needs to be soaked for 30 minutes."
Huo Yizhou stretched out his long, slender fingers in front of her. "Let me take a look."
Su Tangtang moved closer to him and handed it to him.
Zhou Yan and Wu Xiaojia arrived just in time to witness this scene. They exchanged a glance, and Zhou Yan spoke first, "Tangtang."
Hearing the voice, Su Tangtang looked up and quickly stood up. "Sister Zhou Yan, Xiaojia, what brings you here?"
Wu Xiaojia hesitated, unsure how to speak. She looked at Zhou Yan, then tugged at her sleeve.
Zhou Yan rolled her eyes inwardly. This person had been the most vocal before arriving, and it was even Zhou Yan who suggested it. Why did he become so hesitant now that he was here?
Zhou Yan said cheerfully, "Tangtang, it's like this, we want to borrow some money from you."
Su Tangtang paused, "Borrow money?"
Wu Xiaojia quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, we don't have any money right now. Could you lend us some? The boss came to ask us for the final payment when we were setting up the shed today, but we can't come up with it."
Su Tangtang was taken aback upon hearing this, and subconsciously looked at Huo Yizhou beside her. She carefully said, "The money is jointly owned by the two of us. I need to discuss it with Yizhou."
Zhou Yan nodded in understanding, but Wu Xiaojia's face instantly darkened, though she quickly forced a smile back.
She was secretly wondering: This was originally the production team's budget, and the two of them had borrowed it without saying a word before. What's wrong with her borrowing some money now? Who are they trying to impress with this troublesome act?
“Huo Yizhou,” Wu Xiaojia turned directly to the man squatting on the ground, her tone somewhat aggressive, “What do you say? Are you going to lend it to me or not?” In her opinion, Huo Yizhou was nothing but a gigolo, and Su Tangtang’s claim of discussing it with him was clearly just an excuse.
Zhou Yan quickly tugged at Wu Xiaojia's sleeve, signaling her to be mindful of her behavior. Su Tangtang took in Wu Xiaojia's changing expression, but only glanced at her indifferently without saying anything more.
Huo Yizhou's cold gaze swept over her like a blade, and his thin lips parted slightly, "Is this your attitude towards lending money?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Xiaojia trembled, her eyes darting around, unable to meet his gaze.
Why does this man exude such a strong sense of pressure?
"I..." she stammered, but ultimately didn't have the courage to say it.
An awkward silence filled the air. Su Tangtang glanced at Huo Yizhou and turned to Zhou Yan, saying, "We also borrowed this money from the production team. We have to pay interest every day. Since you asked, we can lend it to you, but you need to write an IOU and pay 20 yuan interest every day. Alternatively, you can leave your electric bikes with us as collateral. We can use them freely, and you can come to us to pick them up when you need them."
Wu Xiaojia's face immediately turned ugly, and she looked at Su Tangtang and retorted with dissatisfaction, "Why should we? We won't renege on our debts, and besides, electric bikes aren't exclusively owned by our two families."
Su Tangtang merely glanced at her indifferently before her gaze returned to Zhou Yan. "Sister Yan, what do you think?"
Wu Xiaojia grabbed Zhou Yan's arm. "Don't agree, let's borrow from someone else."
Zhou Yan looked at Wu Xiaojia, her tone calm yet firm, "Right now, only Tangtang and the others can lend us money; no one else can."
She thought for a moment, then said, "If you're not willing to lend it, I'll borrow it myself."
Wu Xiaojia stomped her feet in anger, "Sister Yan, you..." Before she could finish speaking, she turned and stormed off, preferring not to lend the money at all.
Watching Wu Xiaojia's angry back, Su Tangtang shook her head helplessly. She really couldn't understand what she had done to offend Wu Xiaojia, and why the other party was so resentful towards her.
Zhou Yan sighed softly, lamenting that Wu Xiaojia was still too young and impatient. She said to Su Tangtang, "The electric bike is for public use, so I can't mortgage it to you individually, but I can accept the interest of 20 yuan per day."
“Okay, Sister Yan,” Su Tangtang nodded and explained, “We borrow money from the program team. We have to pay 15 yuan in interest every day for every 10,000 yuan we lend to you. We can earn a difference of 5 yuan every day by lending you 10,000 yuan.”
Zhou Yan paused for a moment. She thought Su Tangtang was deliberately making things difficult for them by charging such high interest rates every day. It turned out that the production team also charged interest on loans.
The production team is so unfair! They didn't explain the rules clearly beforehand, only revealing them after the fact. It's infuriating!
Zhou Yan smiled and readily said, "No problem, I'll borrow 15,000."
Su Tangtang nodded, "Then I'll go get the money for you."
She gently tugged at Huo Yizhou's sleeve, gesturing with her eyes, "Together?"
Huo Yizhou nodded slightly, and the two of them walked into the inner room one after the other.
Su Tangtang took out two stacks of cash from the wooden box. She carefully counted half of one stack, the banknotes rustling between her fingers. Looking at the rapidly decreasing savings in the box, she couldn't help but frown. "We need to find a way to make money."
Huo Yizhou leaned against the table, tapping the ledger with his long fingers. "Indeed, this amount of money won't last long."
Su Tangtang sighed softly and neatly wrote down in the ledger, "Borrowed: Zhou Yan 15,000 yuan".
Back in the courtyard, Su Tangtang handed the money to Zhou Yan, saying, "Sister Yan, please count the amount."
Zhou Yan put it directly into her pocket, her eyes crinkling with laughter. "No need to count, I trust you. You've really been a great help, Tangtang."
"Of course," Su Tangtang said, her dimples appearing slightly, sunlight dancing on her eyelashes.
After Zhou Yan walked away, the two checked the soaked seeds. After rinsing them twice with clean water, Huo Yizhou scooped up a ladle of well water, and Su Tangtang immersed the thermometer in the water.
“25 to 30 degrees Celsius is just right,” she said, pouring the seeds back into the water. “They’ll just need to soak for another three or four hours.”
By the time I finished all that, the sun was almost high in the sky.
After quickly tidying up, the two headed towards the production crew's location.
As soon as they arrived, they saw staff distributing boxed meals. Su Tangtang took one, opened the lid, and her face immediately fell. "Why are there these same dishes again?!"
The photographer following the shoot couldn't help but interject, "This is already pretty good. At least there's a chicken leg. When I was with Director Han's crew before, we didn't even get a chicken leg."
Su Tangtang's eyes lit up, and she leaned closer to the photographer, "Really? Han Yang is so stingy?"
The photographer pursed his lips and didn't reply, but his expression clearly indicated his agreement.
"I told you he looked like a real cheapskate," Su Tangtang said, getting even more excited when no one objected. "Look at that shabby apartment they gave us, the rent must be super cheap..."
She was speaking enthusiastically when the photographer suddenly started frantically making eye contact.
Unfortunately, Su Tangtang completely missed the point and continued, "You know, he's so rich, how come he's so stingy..."
"Me, stingy?"
A deep male voice suddenly sounded from behind.
Su Tangtang froze, slowly turning her head to see Han Yang standing behind her with his arms crossed and a blank expression.
She immediately feigned ignorance, "Huh? You must have misheard me."
Han Yang raised an eyebrow. "I heard it perfectly clearly."
Su Tangtang: "..."
The air suddenly became eerily quiet.
The photographer turned his head to the side, and it felt like every pore on his body was saying, "It has nothing to do with me; it was her who said it."
Su Tangtang blinked, trying to get away with her cuteness, "Director Han, today's lunchbox smells especially good!" After saying that, she quickly shoveled down a few bites.
Han Yang snorted coldly, his gaze sweeping between her and the photographer. "Since you don't like the boxed lunches, you'll have to take care of your own meals starting tomorrow."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Su Tangtang wailed and looked pitifully at Huo Yizhou, "It's over, I've offended him. How can he be so petty?"
Huo Yizhou glanced at her calmly and said, "Eat more and talk less, especially don't talk badly about people behind their backs."
Su Tangtang: "..."
Su Tangtang pouted and quickly finished her boxed lunch, as if to prove that the lunch prepared by Han Yang was delicious.
Just before one o'clock, Gu Qingke and his group returned, covered in mud. They were farmers, so they didn't care.
Wu Xiaojia saw that Su Tangtang's nose and eyes were all messed up and she was incredibly rude.
Su Tangtang was too lazy to pay attention to her.
At this moment, Zhao Zhiyi walked over with a boxed lunch and squatted down next to Su Tangtang. "Tangtang, I apologize to you on behalf of Xiaojia."
Su Tangtang paused, then looked up at him. "Apologize?"
Zhao Zhiyi scratched his head. "It's about the money we borrowed today. She was a bit harsh with her words."
“Oh,” Su Tangtang said, “It’s okay, I didn’t lend it to her anyway.”
They originally thought Wu Xiaojia would be able to borrow the money, and they wouldn't have to argue with the seller anymore. Unexpectedly, she came back and said that she hadn't been able to borrow the money, and kept saying that Su Tangtang was unwilling to lend her the money and was charging high interest rates.
He was furious when he heard this, but when he saw that Zhou Yan and her team had successfully paid for the arched tent and the seller had agreed not to take back the materials, he asked Wu Xiaojia and learned that she disliked Su Tangtang and had spoken rudely when borrowing money. He left in a huff.
Zhao Zhiyi was heartbroken. He just couldn't understand why Wu Xiaojia couldn't be more patient, especially since this was on a TV show.
He had no money and had no choice but to tell the seller he would pay in a couple of days. But the seller immediately turned hostile, not only refusing to let him continue construction but also dismantling the parts that had already been built.
Zhao Zhiyi argued with the seller for over an hour and then sought help from the program team, but ended up pleasing neither side.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhiyi's face turned even uglier. He was a rich second-generation, after all. When had he ever been so humiliated? Now, they couldn't even set up a tent. Where was he supposed to put his face?
“Actually, Xiaojia is a good person, it’s just that sometimes…” Zhao Zhiyi was still trying to make amends.
Huo Yizhou suddenly spoke up, "One should not speak while eating."
Zhao Zhiyi choked for a moment, but then he said, "You've already finished eating."
Su Tangtang looked at him, "Didn't you not finish eating?"
Zhao Zhiyi: "..."
In the end, he sheepishly took his lunchbox and left.
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