Chapter 19: Too Late for Regret Now

[The director definitely has learned his lesson and is now wary of the little lady and her group.]
[Just looking at such a large crowd of children, the director has to be on guard; otherwise, these kids might help the little lady and her team complete their tasks.]
[I have a feeling the director is about to suffer another setback.]
[I agree with you; I have the same feeling.]

Yu Danxue was happy to take on the task, though she couldn’t play with her friends. “We have to do the task now.”
“How about we finish the task first, then play together?”
Xiao Ping patted his chest and said, “We’ll help you with the task.”
“No help allowed!” the director shouted through the megaphone. “Asking for help is against the rules.”
“But the reward for completing the task is a big feast.”
“If you don’t complete the task, there will be no feast tonight.”
Xiao Ping argued confidently, “Sir, you said the little girls can’t ask us for help, but you never said we can’t offer to help them.”
The children nodded vigorously.
“Exactly, we’re helping them voluntarily, so it’s not against the rules.”
“Sir, everyone in the village knows each other. Helping one another is normal; it doesn’t count as assistance.”

The director clutched his aching chest and leaned back in his chair, looking completely defeated.
The camera zoomed in on him.
[Ha ha, I knew the director was about to face another Waterloo.]
[The new kid really is clever—I never thought of that trick.]
[I’m just curious about what the director meant by helping the villagers with farm work.]

At that moment, a crew member brought over some photos.
The pictures showed similar plots of land, but there were no crops growing on them.
“Guests, please choose a plot of land. The first-place winner chooses first. Once you pick a plot, it’s yours, and no swapping between guests.” The director perked up again.

Before Yu Danxue and the other four children could choose, Xiao Ping and the others began helping with the selections.
“Little sister, choose this plot. It belongs to Grandpa Zhang, and they grow lettuce—very easy to pick.”
“This one belongs to Grandma Liu. They grow corn, but the cornfields make me itchy. I really hate picking corn.”
“Oh, isn’t this Brother Zhu’s plot? They grow potatoes there—you have to dig them up.”
“This is my family’s plot. We grow sweet potatoes. Grandma said the harvest is good this year, with lots of sweet potatoes in the field.”

Yu Danxue looked amazed and admired them, “You can recognize the land just by looking?”

The group of kids were very proud.
“We’ve lived here all year round. We know exactly what each family’s land looks like and what they grow.”
“Sometimes we ask permission to dig up some edible plants or wash some by the river, and then we can eat them.”

Yu Danxue clapped her hands. “Wow, you’re all amazing!”
The little friends beamed with pride.

[I’m dying laughing; the director looks utterly defeated again.]
[I bet the director never expected these village kids to be so knowledgeable—just a glance at the photos and they know whose land it is and what’s planted there.]
[These kids are just adorable.]
[They’re all left-behind children. I was a left-behind child too, back in the day.]
[Usually left-behind kids have no choice—their parents have to work to earn money to support the family. Otherwise, how could they survive?]
[Don’t say parents don’t want to bring their kids with them—no family wants to leave their children behind. It’s just unavoidable.]

Yu Danxue and the other three were selecting their plots.
“An Ning, you and Duan Lele choose first,” Luo Jian said. “Yu Zhisheng is too delicate, and Duan Lele is a girl.”
Yu Zhisheng was speechless.
This joke wasn’t going away, was it?

[Our brother is being repeatedly whipped.]
[I guess Zhisheng is regretting ever speaking so carelessly to the little lady.]
[Even Luo Jian knows Yu Zhisheng is fragile and has to be treated gently. Now he’s even weaker than a kid.]

Yu Danxue nodded and took Feng Doudou’s hand. “Doudou, how about you choose the lettuce plot? It’s easier to pick.”
Feng Doudou obediently agreed, though she felt a little uneasy, unsure if her sister would be satisfied.
Even if she looked pleased on the surface, her sister might still be unhappy and find ways to hassle her.

“Xiao Yun, you’re next to choose,” Yu Danxue looked at Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun didn’t expect to be second and hurriedly said, “An Ning, you’re a girl; you should choose first.”
Yu Danxue said, “You choose quickly.”
She didn’t want Xiao Yun to be troubled by Gao Pengfei.
“Xiao Yun, just choose,” Luo Jian said.

Xiao Yun finally chose the sweet potato plot. His eyes were slightly red. “An Ning, Luo Jian, thank you.”
Yu Danxue and Luo Jian replied, “You’re welcome.”

“An Ning, you take the potato plot. I want the cornfield.”
“Alright. With friends here, we should be able to finish the task quickly.”

Feng Doudou and Xiao Yun went to call two guests.
Yu Danxue and Luo Jian were consulting the other kids about what to watch out for when doing farm work.
One was a young lady from a prominent family, and the other a city kid; neither had experience with such labor.
Yu Zhisheng and Qi Kang listened attentively as well.

Midway through, Yu Zhisheng stepped aside to take a phone call.
It was Brother Liu calling: “Zhisheng, have you heard what happened to the crew?”
He didn’t hide his schadenfreude.

Yu Zhisheng asked, “What happened?”
He wasn’t really interested; it wasn’t worth wasting energy on unrelated people.

Brother Liu laughed heartily. “You had your lawyers sue them, right?”
“It wasn’t a big deal at first, but since you and the little lady cleared your names, the director released a statement that got blasted by netizens and your fans on his official website.”
“The worst part? The investors pulled out!”
“They had insisted you be the male lead. Now, with the director’s behavior, the investors are so angry they withdrew funding.”

For the investors, the money lost wasn’t much, but the disobedient director was the real issue.
Yu Zhisheng wasn’t surprised. His family had business dealings with the investors, which was why they insisted he be the lead.

“Isn’t that good?”
He sneered, “The director was always complaining on set about investors meddling in his crew.”
Back then, the director used that to mock him covertly, but after Yu Zhisheng confronted him several times, the director stopped openly sniping and started secretly sabotaging him.
But not too blatantly.

Brother Liu patted his thigh in delight. “Also, the director’s reputation in the industry is ruined now. He’s become a laughingstock. No one will want to work with him again.”

This director was truly foolish—knowing Zhisheng’s background and that he was the investors’ choice, yet still daring to cause trouble.

Yu Zhisheng thought this was just fine.

“Oh, and,” Brother Liu recalled something, mocking, “as soon as the investors pulled out, the director contacted me, begging me to plead for you to return as the male lead.”