Chapter 29, exactly twenty-one yuan.
He quickly turned his head!
A tricycle had stopped by the roadside at some point.
An old man wearing a faded yellow undershirt was rummaging through several bamboo baskets on the cart.
Tu Yao walked up to him and gestured with a smile: "They're about the size of coins, and come in four colors: red, yellow, green, and white. There are probably more than two hundred of them."
There are about twenty children, and they can make about ten per hour, which is roughly two hundred.
The old man, speaking with a strong local accent, said, "Okay, young lady, let me check the goods."
Tu Yao immediately led the way: "Grandpa, please come with me!"
The two passed by Ma Zhiyuan, one after the other.
Ma Zhiyuan: ? ? ? ?
"W-what happened?"
What...what did she say? What cream puff?
Ma Zhiyuan quickly followed.
Seeing that the three guests had completed their tasks, the entire production crew simply followed suit.
In front of that old-fashioned school building, the group of children who had just been sitting on the ground borrowed a basket from somewhere and immediately ran over with the basket when they saw Tu Yao!
The oldest girl at the front, seeing so many strangers following Tu Yao, showed a hint of fear in her eyes, but couldn't hide her excitement as she exclaimed, "Sister! We've all finished weaving! A total of 210!"
She handed over the basket, which contained a bunch of colorful cream puffs.
Tu Yao casually grabbed a handful and said, "Please check it."
The old man took it, turned it over and over, and saw that it was all crocheted with five petals. He nodded and said, "Okay, five cents."
After confirming that the quantity was correct, he took out a large wallet and counted out a bunch of loose banknotes in front of Tu Yao.
"You count them."
As Ma Zhiyuan watched Tu Yao accept the thick stack of banknotes, his eyes stung with tears, and he blurted out, "You...you guys are cheating!"
"Director! Isn't this cheating?!"
Tu Yao was already in a bad mood, and she couldn't hold back any longer: "You're so annoying! Don't think I don't know you've been running up debts for the past few days!"
Ma Zhiyuan was momentarily out of breath, then shouted, "There's no rule against buying on credit!"
"Yes, there's no rule against weaving them into flowers and selling them!"
After Tu Yao finished her rant, she called to the group of kids, "Come and line up!"
As soon as he finished speaking, more than twenty children rushed forward and pushed Ma Zhiyuan away.
More than twenty pairs of eyes stared excitedly at the pile of banknotes in Tu Yao's hand, and then they lined up and took turns counting out their numbers.
"Sister...sister, I made eleven!"
"Sister, I made eight!"
"I made fourteen!"
...
Tu Yao distributed the money one by one, according to the price of four cents per flower.
In the end, I had a ten-yuan note, a five-yuan note, and six coins left in my hand.
Add one more.
No more, no less, twenty-one.
Ma Zhiyuan: ...
Twenty-one?
Ma Zhiyuan felt dizzy for a moment.
...It could be ten yuan, fifteen yuan, or even twenty yuan!
But it's exactly twenty-one yuan!
He only paid one dollar more than him!
Wait... no!
He originally... had fifty dollars!
Ma Zhiyuan subconsciously glanced at the few sour-looking oranges and the useless wooden carving in his hand.
She slowly raised her head and looked at Wen Yu and Jiang Ye opposite her.
The two met his stiff gaze, and the next second, they both innocently looked away.
The live stream audience was laughing so hard at this.
Ma Zhiyuan is truly... I'm speechless.
Why did you argue with them? You were being so well-behaved, but today you were the one who earned the most, and now look what happened.
Thank you, Teacher Ma, for the demonstration. I just called my son, who just started kindergarten, over to watch the live stream, and he asked me if this was called "adding legs to a snake" (a Chinese idiom meaning to gild the lily).
Half of the comments were laughing at Ma Zhiyuan, while the other half were drawn to the group of children.
[These cream puffs cost 40 cents each, which means each child can only earn five or six dollars an hour at most. It's a bit disheartening to think about.]
Even if these children only earned a few dollars, they said goodbye to Tu Yao with great excitement and skipped and jumped towards the teaching building.
Young children, scattered banknotes, narrow cobblestone paths, and old-fashioned school buildings.
This scene made the crew members unconsciously sigh.
The atmosphere suddenly became somewhat heavy.
Tu Yao clutched a few banknotes and secretly glanced at Tu Chaoxi.
He was also frowning as he looked at the children.
The unconscious sadness that flickered in her eyes made Tu Yao even more at a loss.
She probably understood that the source of this sadness was still herself.
After a few seconds of silence, Tu Yao turned around and stuffed the money into the hands of the paparazzi.
He said sullenly, "I'll use this to pay for my brother's meals next week."
Even on the way back, Tu Yao didn't dare get too close to Tu Chaoxi. She deliberately sat in the front of the car, listlessly yawning, and slept the whole way in a daze.
After getting out of the car, she glanced at the back of the car out of the corner of her eye, thought for a moment, and then deliberately raised her voice.
"I'm going to deliver candy to Big Fatty!"
After saying that, he ran away quickly.
Tu Chaoxi remained silent the whole way, unable to calm down for a long time because of the sight and smiles of those children.
He couldn't help but think of Tu Yao and the hardships she might have endured in the past two years, so he decided to have a good talk with her as soon as he got out of the car.
He thought he had to come up with at least a legitimate reason to get her to accept his help.
But just as they were about to call for help, the person had vanished without a trace.
Tu Chaoxi grabbed a staff member in disbelief: "Is she avoiding me?!"
Staff member: "I...I don't know either..."
Tu Chaoxi let go of her hand in annoyance. "You brat, you have such a temper!"
It's strange, but after this girl lost her memory, her personality became exactly like his—stubborn and obstinate.
She's stubborn, and he's stubborn too. Whatever, let them do what they want!
Tu Chaoxi also turned around and left.
Seeing that things were going wrong, the staff quickly sought help from the director, but the director was actually quite pleased with the situation.
Although he hasn't produced any good programs, he's still seen pigs run even if he hasn't eaten pork.
The sibling relationship has been pretty much exhausted; according to the plot's rhythm, it's time for some conflict to erupt.
He waved his hand, signaling everyone to mind their own business.
"If you have nothing else to do, please clean up the room where Gu Feihong stayed. The new guest will arrive tomorrow at noon."
"Oh, there are two this time, it seems to be a combination."
As expected, just as the director predicted, this scene was like a pebble thrown into a lake, immediately causing ripples.
The next morning, seeing Tu Chaoxi pacing around the room alone, the heat that had been easing in the past few days immediately surged again.
Where is my sister?
The screen was filled with comments asking where Tu Yao had gone.
The photographer quickly poked at Tu Chaoxi.
Tu Chaoxi yawned and slumped listlessly in her chair: "Didn't you see yesterday? You two had a fight."
【Wait, a whole night has passed, and you still haven't apologized?】
Tu Chaoxi scoffed: "Why isn't she the one apologizing to me?"
How big is your face?
[You throw money at someone, they refuse, and you threaten to break their leg—do you think you're in the right?]
Tu Chaoxi: ...
Tu Chaoxi seemed to ponder for a moment: "...That's fine too."
He got up and went out the door, but after taking a few steps, he turned back and emphasized, "It was you guys who persuaded me that made me apologize!"
[...]
How did I end up following this thing?
[He said he was reluctant, but walked as if he were flying.]
But as she walked, Tu Chaoxi suddenly stopped and looked ahead.
[Wow, isn't that my little sister?!]
In the village's large threshing ground, Tu Yao was sweating profusely as she pushed her wheat stalks. The plastic film she had bought yesterday was also weighed down with stones and placed in a semi-shaded area to dry.
Judging by this workload, I had to get up at least two hours earlier.
Tu Chaoxi felt a pang of sadness and was about to go over to help when Tu Yao suddenly put down the rake and turned to walk towards the village entrance.
Tu Chaoxi frowned, then simply followed.
Then I saw her stop in front of the house where the crew was staying.
After hesitating for a while, I went in anyway.
The show's ratings have been soaring lately, attracting many advertisers. The director felt his career was taking off, so he decided to treat himself and bought a chicken from the villagers early in the morning to stew.
Turning around, I saw Tu Yao standing at the door.
He waved quickly, "Little sister, what brings you here?"
"You didn't come with your brother?"
Tu Yao sat down at the table, propped her chin up, and shook her head: "I didn't dare to go."
"I'm afraid he'll break my legs."
Director & Tu Chaoxi who followed: ...
The director chuckled, "Aren't you a fan of Teacher Tu? Don't you know he's all talk and no action? He can't actually break your legs, can he? Don't be afraid."
Tu Yao didn't say anything. It wasn't that she was afraid Tu Chaoxi would hit her; she knew Tu Chaoxi wouldn't be willing to hit "her".
However... she had been an orphan for eighteen years, experiencing both malice and kindness, which she cherished.
For example, the grandmothers in the welfare home would teach her to identify and use herbs, and teach her to appreciate the value of every meal.
She was also taught to be "not to be trifled with," but also to be grateful and kind to those who treated her kindly in return.
Knowing and being grateful...
So she naturally understood that Tu Chaoxi wanted to give her money because she felt sorry for her.
Even if the essence of this affection was treating her as a real younger sister, it still genuinely touched her heart.
She shouldn't and can't throw a tantrum without reason.
Tu Yao sighed, and after a long while, finally managed to utter her second sentence:
"Uncle, how should I apologize?"
The director was suddenly stunned.
Looking into her confused yet bright eyes, I was speechless.
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