When Shang Yechu was young, he read a story in a book of inspirational literature.
The story is called "The Stone Soup." The gist is that a beggar came to a village and asked the villagers for a pot of hot water, saying he could make soup from a single stone. A pot of hot water was no big deal to the villagers, so they agreed.
After a while, the water boiling over the stones boiled. The beggar scooped up a spoonful of water, took a sip, and said, "Ah! This is truly the most delicious soup I have ever tasted in my life! It would be perfect if there were a little onion in it."
One of the villagers brought an onion.
The beggar put the onion in, took another sip, and exclaimed, "Ah! This soup is wonderful! If I added a little salt, it would be the best soup I've ever tasted in my life!"
Another villager brought over a handful of salt.
The beggar continued using this trick, guiding the villagers to add vegetables, mushrooms, meat, and other ingredients to the pot, eventually turning it into a real soup. Each villager received a bowl, and upon tasting it, exclaimed, "Wow, it's a delicious soup I've never tasted before!"
When Shang Yechu read this story as a child, he didn't understand anything; he was too busy drooling over the pot of soup. Reading it again as an adult, he found it quite remarkable that the entire village was completely at the mercy of a single, mentally sound person, manipulated by a beggar from out of town.
The "Expert Guidance" section below the story patiently explains: The core of this story is "collaboration and sharing"—by pooling our wisdom and efforts, everyone can make a small contribution and create unexpected collective value.
Now, sitting in the car on the way to Xingfu Commercial Street, Shang Yechu recalled this story once again.
Unexpectedly, one day, Shang Yechu would also have to become a beggar who boils stones.
After the director was chosen, the first thing Shang Yechu did was to designate Happiness Commercial Street as the filming location for "Rules Street".
If it's a commercial street operating during peak season, this step can be incredibly arduous. Qingping Entertainment needs to negotiate compensation and closure coordination fees with each business, sign various agreements, set filming times, and discuss whether nighttime filming and outdoor art direction are permitted. There are also traffic management plans, security plans, and opinions from surrounding residents. Just obtaining everyone's consent can cost a fortune and take a lot of time and money—enough to drive someone to depression.
Fortunately, business on Xingfu Commercial Street is now dwindling, and apart from the long-time residents who are unwilling to leave, there are practically no people left. This has greatly reduced the pressure of negotiations.
The meeting was to be held at Uncle Zhao's barbecue restaurant. It was one of the few spacious places on the pedestrian street. Shang Yechu contacted the neighbors through the "Loving and Happy Street" group chat, and also asked Grandma Hu and Aunt Lu to strongly urge everyone to gather together.
Grandma Hu is the most respected elder on Xingfu Commercial Street, and Shop Owner Lu is a representative of the merchants on the pedestrian street; both of them have a strong influence. On the day of the meeting, almost all the elderly people on the pedestrian street attended.
Having spent so much time with Ji Juntao, Shang Yechu had developed the virtue of saying one thing to one person and another to someone else. When facing the neighbors of Xingfu Commercial Street, however, she would give them a completely different story.
"Business has been bad lately, and we have to clear out people at the end of the year. I know everyone is tight on money. Luckily, our company has a movie that's about to start filming. The original filming location was in the film studio, but I saw that the set design for that script was similar to this street, so I persuaded the boss to change the filming location to this street."
“Our boss hasn’t agreed yet. If he does, each household will receive this amount of filming fee,” Shang Yechu said with a smile, gesturing, “every day.”
The longtime neighbors present immediately let out a series of gasps of varying lengths.
Uncle Chen asked in a trembling voice, "How long does it take to make a movie?"
Shang Yechu held up two fingers: "At least two months, at most three months."
So long!
The neighbors stared wide-eyed.
This price is actually much cheaper than renting Hengshi Film City or building an entire street. But in the eyes of the merchants on Xingfu Commercial Street, it's a huge sum of money.
Business on Xingfu Commercial Street is in a slump; most shops earn less than one-fifth of this amount each day!
The neighbors' gazes toward Shang Yechu immediately warmed up.
"I knew from the beginning that Xiao Ye was a good kid!"
"When you drink water, don't forget the well-digger..."
"Old Hu, you've raised a real treasure!"
"Really?"
"Don't try to fool us, Yezi. Your Uncle Fan is getting old and can't handle this!"
The neighbors started chattering away, and soon it was a complete mess. Shop owner Lu, in a shrill voice, shouted, "Quiet down! Quiet down! Let's hear what Ye Zi has to say!"
The neighbors all fell silent again.
Shang Yechu looked embarrassed: "Everyone, don't be so happy yet. Our boss hasn't agreed. Judging from her expression, I think she's a little reluctant."
The neighbors immediately became anxious:
"No, why?!"
"Ye Zi, can you try to persuade your boss?"
"If all else fails, let's go talk to her face to face!"
Shang Yechu made a pressing gesture, and the commotion on the field subsided somewhat.
Shang Yechu feigned helplessness, saying, "Our boss's point is that while using this street is cheaper than the film studio, communicating with so many people is too troublesome and not worthwhile. What if one of your neighbors suddenly becomes unhappy, or something unexpected happens? The production team would suffer more losses than gains..."
Before Shang Yechu could finish speaking, Shop Owner Lu immediately volunteered, "Leave it to me! I have some influence on this street, I'll take care of this, and I definitely won't cause any trouble for President Ji!"
The neighbors, fearing the cooked duck might fly away, all chimed in:
"Old Lu is right. She was originally a representative of the merchants on the street. She was the one who went to talk to General Manager Xu and the others before!"
"Oh, Yezi, why don't you go and try to persuade President Ji..."
"Why would we be unhappy? If money is left on the street, only a fool wouldn't pick it up!"
"Fine, we'll sign a contract! If anyone dares to cause trouble, we'll all deal with them together!"
Shang Yechu secretly smiled to herself.
The so-called "scenery fee" should actually be called "business closure compensation fee." However, after consideration, Ji Juntao insisted that Shang Yechu use the term "scenery fee" during negotiations.
In this way, the status of Qingping Entertainment and its merchants was subtly reversed.
It wasn't that Qingping Entertainment begged the merchants to use this street, nor was it that Qingping Entertainment owed the merchants so much that it gave them compensation; rather, it was that the merchants begged Qingping Entertainment to film on this street, so that they could squeeze out a little bit of filming fee from their fingers to subsidize them.
Qingping Entertainment became the dominant party, and the compensation that the merchants were entitled to became a handout from the dominant party. In order not to offend this big spender, the merchants would spontaneously protect the interests of the film crew and jointly resist anyone who might cause trouble for the crew.
Shang Yechu felt terrible about using such methods on the neighbors who had once helped her. But she didn't regret it.
Human hearts are too fragile to withstand any test. Shang Yechu trusts Grandma Hu, Shang Yechu trusts Aunt Lu, but Shang Yechu cannot trust all the neighbors.
Compared to the character and personal relationships of his neighbors, Shang Yechu had more faith in a firm hand and a cold contract.
Shang Yechu looked troubled: "Uncles and aunts, you know what I'm thinking. But I'm just an employee. You know how powerful my boss is... Although I also want to help everyone out—"
Shang Yechu twirled her fingers, making a money-counting gesture: "But our boss is always shrewd. Let's not get our hopes up too high."
Shang Yechu is an excellent actress. With her acting skills, fooling this group of uncles, aunts, old men and women is as easy as eating and drinking.
The neighbors were indeed fooled, and they were all extremely anxious. They discussed all sorts of ways to convince President Ji. Some begged Shang Yechu, some said they would go to talk to President Ji in person, and some even swore oaths. The scene was noisy and chaotic. Shop owner Lu shouted several times, but he couldn't quiet everyone down.
Finally, Shang Yechu "reluctantly" agreed to the neighbors' request, promising to try her best to talk to the boss. The neighbors also promised Shang Yechu that they would hold a meeting together to finalize a contract that would satisfy Boss Ji and would not cause any trouble for the production crew.
As she was leaving, the neighbors swarmed around her, showering Shang Yechu with gifts. Colorful phone cases, roast duck, cooked food, cute toys, trendy clothes, expensive chocolates… bags and packages filled Shang Yechu’s car seat. Everyone begged her to talk to her boss and make sure the filming location was on Happiness Commercial Street.
Shang Yechu agreed to them one by one.
The nanny van drove away, and Shang Yechu sat alone amidst a pile of gifts, so crowded that there was almost no room to move.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
