When Fu Yunruo stayed in the village, she didn’t do livestream. This was a habit she maintained since half a year ago. Of course, because the distance between the flower garden and the village was not far, she sometimes went to do livestream in the morning before returned home in time to prepare lunch.
She was not idle here. Sometimes she would take care of the vegetable garden in the yard and then socialized with village neighbors. It was said that distant relatives were not as good as closer neighbors, and relationships with neighbors had to be nurtured frequently so that they wouldn’t get weak.
In addition, she also dealt with other aspects of her career. Nowadays, Fu Yunruo’s reputation was in full swing. After she became a first-liner streamer, Panda Live assigned an assistant for her. With high popularity, many jobs came to follow. Although Panda Live had a dedicated department to assist streamers with third-party contracts and jobs, Chi Weicheng suggested Fu Yunruo open a studio and attach it to Panda Live.
Some people’s fate was different. If they were destined to be famous, they would still be fish in the water regardless of which industry they joined. Chi Weicheng had predicted that Fu Yunruo would be popular, but he never expected that just livestreaming would boost her into such a great achievement. To be honest, it was much harder to get ahead in the livestream industry than in the entertainment circle. The barrier to enter was lower, but the number of first-line figures was small, let alone streamers who achieved the rank of superstars.
In the entertainment industry, it was very common to reach the top-line after one or two years. As for whether they could stabilize their positions after climbing up, the answer was no. At least nine out of ten would eventually fall down, and the remaining one would barely maintain the top-line position. After all, not everyone could be like Si Yue. In the past ten years, Si Yue was truly an unparalleled actor. After his movie hit the top spot, not only his fame faded, but he had even gone higher and higher, beyond the reach of others.
At this time, Chi Weicheng had already given up the idea of scouting Fu Yunruo. It was no longer matter whether she entered the entertainment industry or not. Instead, Chi Weicheng suggested Fu Yunruo set up her own studio to benefit her future career development.
The result of Fu Yunruo’s livestream was very positive, and she had become a renowned orchid artist acknowledged by the Orchid Art Association. People who didn’t understand this circle might not be clear, but tracing back its root, the discovery and conservation of orchids even predated the birth of writing civilization. In the later historical development, orchids became a symbol of literati and spirituality.
The history of orchids could be said to run alongside the history of mankind. Even now, it was still sought after by many. Many orchids were nearly extinct in modern times due to over harvesting and the destruction of their natural habitat. For this reason, many countries put protection of wild orchids in their written law.
Although orchid art was relatively unknown nowadays, it was not impossible to be popular with this niche.
Fu Yunruo seriously considered the idea of opening her own studio. After her popularity soared, there were many things to do, and she needed a professional team to help her deal with the jobs. Chi Weicheng had given her a lot of useful suggestions, which Fu Yunruo adopted. If only the man was willing to change his job, she would definitely scout him for her studio.
Fortunately, the assistant assigned to her by Panda Live, a girl named Tiantian, was very capable. In the past two years, Tiantian had helped her managed the livestream channel in an orderly manner. The girl did an excellent job, so Fu Yunruo never had to hire a dedicated channel manager.
Fu Yunruo finalized the discussion about the studio with Tiantian and ended the video call. Last year, Tiantian specially came to meet her during the holiday. After the meeting, they both had a good impression of each other and instantly clicked, so now they had become good friends and often chat on the video call.
Fu Yunruo turned off the computer, stretched, and walked out. Her son had gone to play. Fu Yunruo took a look around and then went to Auntie Mei’s house.
Mei family’s house was very lively at this time. A bunch of neighboring aunties sat together, chatting and gossiping. Seeing Fu Yunruo, they beckoned her to come over.
Fu Yunruo smiled and said, “Aunties, what are you talking about? So lively?”
“We are talking about the TV station!”
“Yes, our town is within their shooting area. I even heard that they will come to our village!”
“Hey, I don’t know if those big stars are more beautiful than our Ruoruo.”
“Definitely not. I have never watched a girl who is more dazzling than Ruoruo. Not even on TV.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“How can I compare with the stars?” Fu Yunruo waved her hand, feeling that these aunties were too biased. She asked again: “They are going to come to our village?”
“Yeah! Everyone in the town is talking about it.”
“I heard that the TV station will donate to the local area…”
“No wonder so many want to grab it…”
“Then can we also get the money?”
“Ah, the donation is to be used for public projects…”
Fu Yunruo listened to their gossips. Hearing the word donation, her mind moved. In the beginning, after she began to earn well from her livestream, she proposed to Uncle Mei couple to donate something for the village, but she was rejected.
Although most people in the village were simple and honest, if it was known that Fu Yunruo had a lot of money in hands, she would inevitably arouse unwanted attention. Fu Yunruo lived alone with a young child, which made her even an easier target. There was nothing wrong with doing a good deed, but one must not put themselves in danger for it. In such a small, remote place, it was hard to hide secrets. Fu Yunruo’s donation would undoubtedly tell others that she was possessing a huge amount of money.
Moreover, the village’s location was too remote and not easy to reach. Even if a road was built, a few million yuan could only build a section. To connect all the nearby villages to the town and added roads leading to other counties was a big project that couldn’t be funded by Fu Yunruo alone.
At that time, Fu Yunruo gave up this idea. But now, she suddenly thought that she might be able to donate under the name of the TV station. This way, Uncle Mei and Auntie Mei also didn’t need to worry about her safety.
Auntie Mei said to Fu Yunruo, “Ruoruo, there will be a village meeting at seven o’clock this evening. The place is the court at the entrance of the village. Don’t forget to come.”
Fu Yunruo nodded, “Okay.”
What kind of topic would be discussed in the meeting? Fu Yunruo was quite curious.
...
When the adults were chatting, the children were playing. Their tender voices and happy laughter reverberated throughout the village.
When others were having fun, a thin child came over with a cry. Behind him, an old woman followed with a helpless look.
Wenwen saw the child crying. He stopped playing and then walked over, asking in a solemn tone:
“Zhuangzhuang, why are you crying?”
He looked at Zhuangzhuang’s grandma with a little suspicion. Could it be that she beat Zhuangzhuang?
Zhuangzhuang’s grandma said helplessly: “His candy was snatched by other children. He has been crying until now, but insists on coming to you.”
Zhuangzhuang said aggrievedly: “I specially brought the candy back for Wenwen.” After speaking, he cried again with his mouth wide open.
“Okay, okay. Don’t cry.” Wenwen frowned.
Zhuangzhuang’s cry suddenly receded.
Seeing this, Zhuangzhuang’s grandma said happily: “I will leave him to you.” Then she left without worry.
Zhuangzhuang was still sobbing, and it took Wenwen a lot of time to ask about what had happened. It turned out that Zhuangzhuang went to town with his grandma today. His grandma bought him two very sweet candies. The candy was very delicious, so he specially saved one to bring back and give to Wenwen. As a result, a small bully from the neighboring village snatched his candy on the road. The bully was very tall and strong, so Zhuangzhuang didn’t dare to resist. He came back crying all the way.
As soon as Wenwen heard it, he said domineeringly: “Wait here, I will get back for you!” He was the leader of these children. How could he sit idly when his underling was bullied?
Zhuangzhuang immediately stopped crying. His bright eyes stared at Wenwen widely. At this moment, Wenwen looked very awesome and majestic in his eyes.
“Are we going to fight?” Upon hearing Wenwen’s words, Dali, who had been watching silently on the side, came over and cracked his knuckles.
Children usually played in groups based on their villages. Although they sometimes fight to occupy a playing site, groups from different villages usually did not interfere with each other. Of course, most of them still played together. After all, once they went to school, they were peers of the same school.
So, most children knew each other either directly or indirectly.
Wenwen said: “We cannot be so barbaric.” They were all good children. How could they just go and fight?
“Then, how do we get back for Zhuangzhuang?”
“We have to send a message first before fighting,” Wenwen said seriously.
The others were confused. They didn’t understand, but they were in awe. Wenwen really knew a lot!
“We will write a letter of challenge, make an appointment, and try reason with them first. If they pay back the candy and then apologize to Zhuangzhuang, we will let the matter pass. If they refuse, we will fight!” Wenwen said domineeringly.
Other kids nodded their heads over and over again. So they would wait until the other side to pay the candy first before going to fight. Wenwen was amazing!
In the past, they would fight directly. Who would ever think to send a letter of challenge? Thinking about it now, whenever children from other villages dared to make trouble with them, the best they could do was to get back the snatched things. If they couldn’t get it back, they would fight, so others wouldn’t dare to rob them again in the future. How could they think of letting the other party pay?
Dali volunteered to write the letter of challenge. He was the oldest among this group of children and was already in the sixth grade of elementary school. He was the most literate among them.
Dali wrote the letter of challenge and handed it to Wenwen for review. The characters were crookedly written, and some words that Dali didn’t know how to write were written in pinyin, but it was a barely qualified letter of challenge, so Wenwen nodded in approval. They dispatched a vanguard to send the letter of challenge and then arrived at the meeting place on time.
Wenwen looked at the number of people on his side. They forbade the girls from participating in the fight and had sent them home. Their main fighting force was a group of boys ranged from age eight to ten.
Not long afterward, more than a dozen children arrived.
At first glance, the fighting power of the two sides was equal. The only and biggest difference was the appearance of the ‘boss.’
Two opposing sides faced each other, and the distinction was very clear. On one side, the children surrounded a small, white, and tender little dumpling as their center. On the other side, the enemies were lead by a strong and tall 1.6 m big boy.
“Are you the one who bullied our Zhuangzhuang?” Wenwen tried his best to make himself taller and more imposing, as to not lose the momentum: “As long as you apologize to Zhuangzhuang and pay his candy back, we will end this matter peacefully!”
Dashan was the boss of next door village. He was a twelve-year-old boy who inherited the boss’s position when the previous boss entered junior high school. Dashan didn’t understand the meaning of the last sentence. But hearing the words ‘pay his candy back,’ he remembered that he did snatch candy from a kid today.
Dashan lowered his head to look at the little dumpling, who was so short and small, white, tender, and lovely.
Those big round eyes glared at him fiercely.
Oh, what a cute little baby!
At this moment, Dashan felt his heart pounded so fast. Using an idiom to express, this must be what they called a critical blow.’
“Are you the village’s boss?” Was this the ‘boss’ who send the letter of challenge to him?
Wenwen puffed his small chest proudly: “Yes, that’s me!”
Dashan looked at the beautiful little dumpling on the opposing side, and then looked at his own fat little brother by his feet. The kid was as short as the dumpling, but he had a runny nose and dirty nails, not cute at all.
After a while, Dashan bent down and lifted his fat brother. He then walked to Wenwen and put the fatty in front of Wenwen.
Wenwen: “???” Did this guy feel that it was shameful to fight a small child, so he brought a kid of the same height to fight him?
The next moment, Dashan lifted Wenwen up. Hugging Wenwen in his arms, he turned and left. “Let’s swap. This kid is for you, and I am taking your boss.”
Wenwen, who was lifted with his face down: “???”
Children: “???”
One, two, three….all the children were totally dumbfounded. Seeing their baby Wenwen was held hostage by the enemies’ boss, the children suddenly chased after him furiously.
“Aaaaaaaah!!! Return Wenwen back!”
“Put Wenwen down!”
Dashan hugged Wenwen and ran fast. This was the little brother he wanted. He must take him home and hid him quickly.
Meanwhile, the children from the other side saw their boss took away the enemy’s little boss and ran away. They also ran after their boss in confusion.
The children clamored to catch up and take back their Wenwen.
The kid who was taken as the exchange item, Dashan’s younger brother Xiaoshan, was left behind. He dumbly watched all the children whizzed away, totally forgetting him behind.
After a while, a loud cry rang, “Whaaaaaa!”