AITFYMIBP Chapter 60

TL: Hua

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Helping children with their homework is a universal problem faced by many people.

Helping children catch up on missed knowledge is an even bigger, more difficult problem.

Grandma Sun found someone to help solve both major problems today and felt much more relaxed. Her walking pace even became lighter and more energetic.

Auntie Wang, who was also tutoring her grandson in the village, saw Grandma Sun out for a walk at this time and called out to her.

“Grandma Sun, why are you out for a walk? Aren’t you tutoring Xiaoming with his homework?”

Grandma Sun has a loud voice. Every time she got so angry tutoring An Xiaoming that her blood pressure spiked, most of the village could hear her anxious voice.

Auntie Wang was incredibly surprised to see that she was not angry today but instead looked rosy-cheeked and in good spirits.

Grandma Sun, in a super good mood, proudly told Auntie Wang, “No need to worry. There are celebrities who come to our village to film a show, right? There’s a handsome guy who is very knowledgeable and good-looking helping Xiaoming with his lessons. He’s a great teacher.”

“Oh, really? I’m going to take a look.”

Auntie Wang was immediately interested. She stopped tutoring her own grandkid and quickly went with Grandma Sun to the entrance of her yard.

The wall around Grandma Sun’s yard was made of decorative latticework. Auntie Wang could see clearly as Lin Yanran tutored An Xiaoming in the yard.

She then noticed that An Xiaoming, who usually paid no attention to his homework, was seriously relearning Pinyin with Lin Yanran.

This surprised her greatly.

“He looks focused! Your Xiaoming is actually so obedient!”

Seeing An Xiaoming’s serious study, Auntie Wang immediately pulled Grandma Sun to the corner of the wall and quietly asked her, “I think this handsome young man teaches quite well. My Niu Niu is in the same class as your Xiaoming. Can this handsome guy help tutor her on how to review? The finals are coming up soon, and I don’t know how to teach these things.”

“Sure, as long as he agrees,” Grandma Sun nodded. “But he’s filming a show. He’s doing that thing Secretary Ji told us about yesterday—working to earn living expenses. You have to pay him, or he won’t complete his task and won’t have dinner tonight.”

Auntie Wang gave a soft tsk. “I understand, I understand. Besides, we shouldn’t let someone help us for free, right?”

Afterward, Auntie Wang went to call her grandson. A few other villagers also heard about it and wanted Lin Yanran to help tutor their children.

So, half an hour later, Grandma Sun brought three children over and happily asked Lin Yanran if he could tutor these children’s homework as well.

Lin Yanran was a little stunned by the sudden addition of three children in front of him.

Not only was Lin Yanran stunned, but the audience without the villagers’ perspective was also baffled.

[????]

[Why are there suddenly so many children??]

[Do they all want Yanran to tutor them??]

Lin Yanran looked at the three children standing before him with large school bags, exercise books, and pens in their hands, and then at the expectant expressions on the faces of the grandpas and grandmas. He decided not to refuse.

“Sure, are they all first graders?”

“Yes, yes, they are all first graders.”

Lin Yanran quickly made a plan in his mind and nodded. “Okay.”

As soon as he agreed, the elders quickly brought out tables and chairs, telling the children to sit properly.

Auntie Wang, whose family was well-equipped, even brought over the small blackboard and chalk her daughter-in-law bought for her child.

“Teacher, write on this, write on this.”

With everything set up, Grandma Sun’s courtyard instantly became a small classroom.

The elders helped arrange the tables, chairs, and benches and prepared to leave.

Before leaving, Grandma Sun pulled Lin Yanran aside and quietly told him, “I’ve told them all; they’ll pay you double wages.”

Lin Yanran: ??

Lin Yanran shook his head. “It’s fine. You don’t need to pay.”

Grandma Sun also shook her head. “No, no. This is related to your show’s filming. You must be paid; you must be paid. They said you had nothing last night, not even food to eat. You can’t go hungry again tonight.”

Lin Yanran: ?

The camera was aimed at Lin Yanran in real time. After hearing this, the comments section went crazy with laughter.

[Hahaha Grandma Sun, where did you hear that gossip? I’m dying of laughter]

[Are you worried that Yanran won’t have food, so you found him so many jobs?]

[So, is Yanran’s wealth secret actually children?]

[Last time selling drawings to children, this time teaching extra classes to children. He really is getting rich by relying on children]

[Be precise, sister. The country now prohibits extra classes. This is called tutoring!]

[Am I the only one who feels a headache? Tutoring my one darling is exhausting enough. Yanran now has four in total!]

[I wonder if Yanran can handle it]

While the comments section was full of teasing, it was all good-natured.

However, those with malicious intent, seeing a viewer express concern that Lin Yanran might not be able to handle it, immediately started to stir up trouble.

[Yanran is really greedy, completely ignoring everything for money]

[Exactly, can he really tutor so many children well?]

[Tsk tsk, using children as a gimmick just to boost viewership ratings]

[The haters are here again. When he agreed to tutor them, he didn’t know there was money involved, okay?]

[Ugh, it was the grandpas and grandmas who asked Yanran for help, okay? They make it sound like he deliberately sought out so many people]

While the comments section was in a frenzy, Lin Yanran started chatting with the children.

Through chatting and reviewing their previous homework, he briefly understood the situations of the children, finding that most of them needed remedial instruction and review.

Seeing that all of them had some issues with Pinyin, Lin Yanran combined the textbook and his own simple, easy-to-understand methods to re-teach Pinyin to the four children together.

Lin Yanran stood at the small blackboard, like a teacher, teaching in a simple and clear manner.

The children below listened with extra seriousness because the teacher was a new face.

At first, the comments section was chaotic with dark and messy arguments.

Gradually, however, the content of the comments changed direction.

[First-grade Pinyin is really super difficult. Yanran explains it so simply and clearly. My son says he’s as good as his own teacher]

[As clever as I am, I already brought my daughter over to listen. She couldn’t understand the vowels before, but she actually learned them after listening]

[Pinyin is truly the eternal enemy of first-grade parents. My child’s foundation wasn’t laid well; he still has gaps in fifth grade. Today, they’re being covered together. Thank you, Yanran]

After Lin Yanran finished teaching the first graders section by section, he gave the children time for a toilet break and rest. A third-grader timidly brought her homework into the yard and asked Lin Yanran if he could quickly teach her.

Lin Yanran glanced at the problem, quickly flipped through the little girl’s math textbook, and then explained the problem to her. He then gave her a variation of the problem.

The little girl, having understood the question, answered with great confidence. Lin Yanran drew a small red flower in her notebook as encouragement.

The little girl was overjoyed and enthusiastically wanted to continue doing problems.

Lin Yanran’s previous methods received approval from the first-grade parents. Those trying to stir up trouble, having nothing to work with, immediately began to mock him when they saw Lin Yanran explain the problem to the little girl without using the simplest equation.

[Couldn’t this be solved directly using an equation? Why use such an old-fashioned and clumsy method?]

[Brother, have you checked the textbook? Third graders haven’t learned equations yet]

[So, why do you think Yanran flips through the children’s textbooks? It’s to match their cognitive level and refer to the teacher’s teaching methods!]

[I teach third grade. Yanran explained this problem excellently, and the variation problem he gave was also very high quality]

[The person above is right. Why do some parents find tutoring their children’s homework so difficult? Firstly, have you looked at the child’s textbook? If you explain it using methods they haven’t learned, completely divorced from the textbook content and their cognitive level, how can they understand? Yanran is clearly very experienced and good at teaching children. He’s quite impressive]

[Holy cow, I thought he was flipping through the textbook to learn it on the spot. So that’s why!]

[I’m just curious how he knows so much…]

[Could he possibly have children???]

[??? What are you talking about! Couldn’t he just have experience from tutoring relatives’ children!]

Lin Yanran did not have children. The reason he had this experience was entirely because of a friend who worked at a training institution in France who had told him about these things.

The specific knowledge might differ, but the methods for teaching children in the lower grades are universal. The textbook is the foundation; everything must be based on the textbook.

First graders’ attention spans are not as long as adults’.

After explaining to them for about forty minutes, Lin Yanran stopped and played a puzzle game with them for a while, balancing work and rest.

He certainly couldn’t solve all the children’s academic debts from an entire semester in one afternoon.

Lin Yanran focused on the key and difficult points, providing thorough tutoring for the most urgent problems that needed solving for the several children.

At three o’clock, he stopped and began teaching the children simple drawing techniques.

After simply teaching some line work and coloring tips, Lin Yanran gave the interested children time to freely express themselves.

“Brother, drink some water.”

After teaching all afternoon, Lin Yanran’s throat felt a little uncomfortable.

Just as he was about to take a sip of water, Qianqian, the little girl in the third grade, had already poured him a cup of hot water and handed it to him.

Lin Yanran was touched by the little girl’s thoughtfulness and quickly took the cup with both hands, “Thank you, Qianqian.”

The little girl shook her head, smiled happily, and only returned to her seat to bury herself in her drawing after she saw Lin Yanran drink the water.

When the audience saw this, they flooded the screen with comments like: [Qianqian is so sensible] [So touching wuwu] [Yanran is great].

At this time, two related search terms about Lin Yanran on Incredible Journey were also gradually climbing the trending topics, reaching over 40th place.

The first was #YanranTutorsHomework#

The second was #YanranIsSoPretentious#

The haters completely ignored the first topic and rushed into the second topic.

They had originally thought this trending topic for Lin Yanran was because his tutoring “show-off” had failed.

They clicked in eagerly.

Upon seeing that it was actually a clip someone had edited of him hiding things in his hood, sleeves, and scarf yesterday, they realized they had been tricked and immediately cursed and retreated.

Feeling betrayed, the haters clicked on the topic of him tutoring homework and, seeing that it was still ongoing, immediately rushed into the live stream.

[Tutoring elementary school students and getting so much hype? Do you really need to buy a trending topic for something so simple??]

[Exactly! If you’re so capable, go tutor high school students! What are you showing off for?]

Before fans and viewers could even respond to these irrational comments, they saw in the video that An Xiaoming’s older brother, who attends high school in town, had returned from school.

[I have a feeling…]

[I wonder if…]

Sure enough, An Xiaoming’s brother pulled two test papers out of his bag and brought his wrong answers to Lin Yanran.

“Teacher, could I trouble you to take a look at this problem? I can’t figure it out.”

Everyone knew Lin Yanran’s education background—he hadn’t finished high school. Because of his low education level, he had been deliberately misinterpreted and mocked by haters as a “Nine-Leaked Fish¹“九漏鱼” (jiǔ lòu yú). TLDR: It’s Chinese internet slang for calling someone “uneducated” or suggesting they “skipped basic school,” aka the nine years of compulsory education..”

The haters who happened to be tuning into the live stream were delighted to hear a high school student was asking Lin Yanran a question.

They flooded the screen with comments like [Waiting to see the Nine-Leaked Fish refuse].

But to everyone’s surprise, Lin Yanran put down the cup in his hand, quickly scanned the test paper, and without saying a word, immediately walked to the blackboard. He began to explain the problem to the student while writing.

“If f(x) satisfies f(x+1)-f(x) = 2x and f(0) = 1, then f(x+1) = f(x) + 2x…”

Lin Yanran wrote out the process step by step, and it wasn’t long before he explained the answer to the student.

Inside the live stream, viewers who were following along to learn also picked up paper and pen to calculate.

[That really is the answer…]

[He just glanced at the question??? And calculated it right away??]

An Xiaoming’s brother’s eyes sparkled with excitement after hearing the explanation, and he went on to ask Lin Yanran over ten more problems.

Lin Yanran gave the answer to almost every problem after just one read. Some simple ones didn’t even require calculation; the answers were practically given without thinking.

The viewers watching the live broadcast were also calculating along. Various answers flew across the screen in the comments, but no one was as fast as Lin Yanran.

After finishing math, he also helped An Xiaoming’s brother with physics.

The audience was completely stunned by the flawless explanations.

[Why did our live stream suddenly become so academic?]

[Is this a study live stream?]

[He calculates so fast!]

[And his handwriting is so beautiful!!]

[Who was it just now who said tutoring first-graders was simple? High school knowledge certainly isn’t simple, is it?]

[Yanran, tell me, did you install a camera in the haters’ homes? Whatever they say you can’t do, you immediately prove them wrong.]

[Wait, Yanran didn’t even finish high school, right? How does he know all this???]

[Oh right, the impression I had of him was that everyone called him a Nine-Leaked Fish, but it doesn’t look like it.]

[Honestly, with his level, taking the college entrance exam and getting into a key university would be absolutely no problem.]

[Indeed, so what exactly happened?]

[Six-year veteran fan of Yanran here. Back then, he was forced by his trash company to stand on stage for shopping centers. The company didn’t let him take the college entrance exam.]

[Damn, that’s disgusting! It’s such a shame he has such a low level of education.]

After Lin Yanran finished explaining the problems to An Xiaoming’s brother, the children on the other side also finished their drawings.

An Xiaoming brought his drawing to Lin Yanran. He had drawn a large whale with a child riding on it.

“I’m going to study hard, and later, I’ll ride this whale to fly out of the mountains and come play with Brother.”

After hearing An Xiaoming explain the meaning, Lin Yanran gently patted his head, “Okay. Study hard, and your wishes will all come true one day.”

Then, he drew a chibi picture of a child giving a thumbs-up in the bottom right corner of the drawing.

Below it, he wrote the words, “Keep going!”

Another little boy also drew a picture. He was incredibly sweet, saying he drew Lin Yanran.

“Brother, you look so good, just like a prince. I like you very much, and I want to be as good-looking and capable as you when I grow up.”

Qianqian drew their hometown, but after giving the drawing to Lin Yanran for review, she handed Lin Yanran an envelope she had folded out of paper.

“Brother, you can open it and read it now.”

Looking at the expectation in the child’s eyes, Lin Yanran carefully opened the envelope.

Qianqian had written a message inside:

Thank you for coming to teach us knowledge this cold winter. You are very patient and explain things carefully, like a warm fire in winter, which makes learning very interesting.

I hope to become a knowledgeable and excellent person like you in the future.

Thank you, Teacher Brother. You have worked hard!

The live stream audience was deeply moved by the simple and straightforward words.

[Awww, the children are so grateful, they are little angels]

[They are all so cute]

[Teacher Yanran is also great! He has been recognized by the children and has become a good role model for them!]

[I feel this class was quite meaningful]

After Lin Yanran finished reviewing all the children’s drawings, he announced that the class for the day was over.

The children looked a little reluctant to leave when they were handed over to their families.

Seeing the expressions on the children’s faces, the elders immediately and generously reached into their pockets to pay Lin Yanran the tutoring fee for the day.

Grandma Sun had already informed everyone of the price, which was 200 yuan per person.

However, Lin Yanran refused to accept the money, not even Grandma Sun’s share.

Everyone insisted for a long time, but Lin Yanran still firmly refused to take it.

Grandma Sun had no choice but to forcefully try to push 200 yuan into his hand, stating with absolute conviction, “You are not allowed to return this money. This is your wage for picking the mandarins for our family; you must accept it. I don’t want to get a reputation for letting people work for me for free.”

Lin Yanran knew this was Grandma Sun’s excuse, but since the other party insisted, he accepted the money.

It was only a little past four in the afternoon, still early before the production team’s deadline.

Seeing that Lin Yanran was planning to look for another job, a few elders introduced him to a sausage-packing job.

[Where are those people who said he’d take any job for money?]

[It was right for Yanran to do that, not accepting the money, to avoid criticism.]

[He has a very clear mind, and he probably planned not to take the money beforehand.]

[Although he lost a lot of money, I was quite touched by the end.]

[Is he a saint? If he doesn’t take the money, he still owes the other guests money, unfairly harming the others?]

[Are you brainless? Didn’t you see he went back to work to earn money?]

At seven in the evening, the guests who had worked all day returned to the cottage one after another.

After a busy day, the lively spirits they had that morning were long gone.

When they first found work, there was a sense of novelty, and they didn’t feel anything was wrong while doing it.

But after a whole day of labor, the guests and the audience all realized it wasn’t as simple as they imagined.

The production team didn’t go easy on them at all; everyone had to honestly complete whatever job they found.

Take Fu Anqi, for example, who thought bunnies were super cute.

After actually working with them, she realized that raising bunnies was far from simple.

She had to cut grass for the rabbits, and the grass couldn’t be just any type; she had to cut specific kinds. She even had to carry a basket up the back mountain with the owner and cut grass for a long time.

In addition, she had to change the rabbits’ water and clean their cages.

The mother rabbit about to give birth, as well as the newborn kits, also needed to be kept warm and cared for.

After working all day, Fu Anqi stopped saying the bunnies were cute.

She wasn’t the only one tired. Sun Yuetong, who cut grass, and Cao Zhengpeng, who cut yellow chives, were now so tired their backs and waists felt like they were breaking.

Wang Zhen, who went to feed the chickens, had spent the whole afternoon cleaning the chicken coop and now smelled terribly foul.

His assistant had quietly reminded him of the online reactions to his nausea that morning.

So, even though the smell genuinely made him feel like throwing up, he strongly held back and did not show any discomfort.

He kept giving himself a mental pep talk to reassure himself.

It’s okay, it’s okay. Although it stinks, the pay is quite high. The boss gave 200 yuan, which is much better than Yanran, who owes everyone money.

Plus, the boss gave him twenty eggs when he left. He definitely had the biggest haul of everyone today.

So, Wang Zhen walked briskly towards the cottage, carrying a basket of eggs.

On the path near the entrance, he ran into Gao Zitai, the shepherd, who had been herding sheep all day.

Gao Zitai seemed unreliable, but he managed the sheep quite well. All day long, he just led the sheep around to graze and walk, making sure they didn’t run off, so he looked much better than Wang Zhen.

Gao Zitai was surprised to see the eggs in Wang Zhen’s hand and asked him, “Did you buy eggs too?”

Wang Zhen said with a touch of pride, “The boss gave them to me.”

Gao Zitai didn’t think much of it and happily said, “Then we’ll have eggs tonight!”

Wang Zhen smiled and reached into his bag with his other hand to feel for the money. “Not only do we have eggs, but we can buy other things too. My salary today…”

However, just as he was about to brag, he and Gao Zitai simultaneously saw a huge pile of things placed right at the cottage’s entrance.

“What is that?”

Gao Zitai ran over in a few steps and found several baskets of vegetables and fruits placed on the ground, seemingly left by someone.

In addition to these, there were even several links of sausages and cured meats.

Gao Zitai happily looked over all the items, then shouted toward the cottage, “Did you guys strike it rich working today? Who bought so much stuff??”

Fu Anqi, who had just washed her hands, told Gao Zitai, “It’s Yanran’s.”

Hearing Fu Anqi’s words, Wang Zhen almost dropped the eggs he was holding.

Yanran’s??

Didn’t he get penalized for being late while looking for a job this morning? Where did he get so much money to buy things!

Just as he was wondering, he saw a villager, a middle-aged man, walking toward the cottage carrying a case of water in his left hand and a bag of seasonings in his right.

When the man saw Gao Zitai and Wang Zhen, he enthusiastically asked, “Has Teacher Yanran not returned yet?”

The bewildered Gao Zitai quickly shook his head, “Not yet…”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Lin Yanran’s figure appear not far away.

He quickly corrected himself, “He’s back, he’s back, right behind me.”

Upon hearing this, the villager quickly put down the water and turned to meet Lin Yanran.

Seeing Lin Yanran, the man warmly stuffed the large bag of seasonings in his hand into Lin Yanran’s arms. “Teacher Yanran, my daughter called back after watching your show and realized you didn’t have any seasonings or water, so she asked me to quickly buy some and bring them over for you.”

Lin Yanran was a little stunned to suddenly receive these seasonings, thinking the man’s daughter must be a fan. He politely refused, “Thank you, sir, but you should take these back. The program rules say we can’t accept gifts like this.”

The man had bought the things and refused to take them back, waving his hand away. “No, no, absolutely not. You tutored our children and didn’t even accept money. This is just a small token of our appreciation.”

After speaking, the man quickly backed up a few steps and ran back, then turned and shouted to Lin Yanran, “Just take it! If you don’t accept it, I won’t be able to report back to my daughter.”

Wang Zhen, standing at the door, was completely dumbfounded.

What tutoring?

What happened this afternoon?

How did Yanran manage to build such good relationships with the villagers in just a few hours?

When everyone returned to the cottage and saw the ingredients piled up at the entrance, along with the water and seasonings the villager had just brought, Wang Zhen, who had been about to show off his eggs, silently remained quiet.

That was because the villagers had also sent Lin Yanran a case of eggs, duck eggs, and goose eggs!

His meager eggs were completely incomparable to that haul.

Since these were given by the villagers for free, and they had refused to take them back multiple times, the older Sun Yuetong listened to Yanran briefly explain what happened, then told the younger ones, “Accept them. It’s the villagers’ sincere gesture, and it’s really not good to return them. They might mistakenly think we look down on their things.”

Since Sun Yuetong had spoken, no one said anything else, and the boys quickly moved all the ingredients inside.

“Yanran, you’re amazing! It definitely pays to stick with you; we’ll have plenty of good food and drink.” Gao Zitai circled the ingredients several times, practically drooling.

“We have enough food for tomorrow, too. Now do we just need to pay the rent?”

Zhang Shanfeng originally wanted to intervene, but Gao Zitai, in a flash of inspiration, retorted, “You didn’t specify how to handle this kind of situation beforehand! Didn’t you hear? It’s the villagers’ sincere gesture. If you don’t let Yanran eat it, be careful; the villagers might block your door tomorrow!”

Zhang Shanfeng looked at the typically clueless guy suddenly becoming so quick-witted, his face filled with shock.

[Hahahaha, Gao Zitai, you’ve grown up!!]

[Hanging out with Yanran, even the silly son has become smart.]

With so many ingredients tonight, everyone no longer had to worry about going out to buy more, and they especially relaxed.

So, they used the time they would have spent buying ingredients to quickly take a shower, then returned to the kitchen and started getting busy.

With a rich array of ingredients tonight, everyone finally enjoyed a wonderful dinner.

Lin Yanran and Ye An, as the main chefs for the evening, received praise from everyone for their cooking skills.

After dinner, it was time for everyone to settle their income for the day.

Fu Anqi was the first to take out her money. “My income is 105 yuan, hehe.”

Next, Ye An handed over his income, 120 yuan.

Sun Yuetong’s and Cao Zhengpeng’s were higher; one was 150 and the other was 180.

Ye An looked at the money and happily elevated the subject matter, “It looks like everyone had a good income today. Labor is indeed the most glorious, and only hard work can bring wealth!”

After saying that, he looked at Wang Zhen, Gao Zitai, and Lin Yanran, who hadn’t handed in their money yet.

Gao Zitai hadn’t handed in his money because he remembered that Lin Yanran had given his job to him before, which resulted in a deduction.

Just now, he heard that Lin Yanran tutored the village children for free, so he was worried that Lin Yanran would be criticized for not having money. He immediately slipped 100 yuan of his salary to him.

“Just say this is your salary later.”

After saying that, he was about to hand over the remaining 20 yuan in his hand.

But just as he was about to do so, Zhang Shanfeng’s voice rang out.

“Gao Zitai, please hold on to your own salary.”

Gao Zitai looked at Zhang Shanfeng: @￥#@￥%……

Lin Yanran also smiled and returned the money to Gao Zitai.

“No need to give it to me. You hand it in…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Wang Zhen smiling as he handed over 200 yuan.

Currently, no one’s salary has broken the 200 yuan mark.

Seeing the sudden huge sum of two hundred yuan, everyone praised Wang Zhen for such an impressive achievement.

Wang Zhen pretended to be humble. “Actually, I didn’t even break two hundred. We have to deduct 10 yuan, right? So it’s only 190.”

After speaking, Wang Zhen immediately cued Lin Yanran.

“Yanran, what about you? How much did you earn today?”

Gao Zitai felt a sudden discomfort hearing Wang Zhen’s words.

His brows slightly furrowed, feeling that Wang Zhen’s comment was somewhat deliberate.

The usually incredibly slow-witted him somehow had a flash of insight at that moment.

In the past, he wouldn’t have thought too much about it. After all, there was nothing wrong with Wang Zhen’s tone or expression.

But now, he felt that Wang Zhen’s action was a little malicious and targeted.

With that thought, Gao Zitai stepped forward and placed his 120 yuan on the table.

However, he then separated the 100 and 20, picked up the 20 yuan, and said, “This is my salary, only 20 yuan. You don’t need to deduct the money for Yanran’s delay today; just deduct it from the remaining 100 yuan. That job was originally one he saw first, but he didn’t compete with me for it, so the deduction should have been mine too.”

Worried that Lin Yanran would not have any salary, he then added, “The remaining 30 is Yanran’s.”

Wang Zhen, who originally wanted to outdo Lin Yanran, never expected Gao Zitai to pull such a stunt, leaving him completely bewildered.

Seeing Gao Zitai speak like this, the other guests quickly put their money back.

Cao Zhengpeng also stepped forward to speak for Lin Yanran, “We are a team. If there’s a deduction, let’s all take it! Besides, although Yanran didn’t get a salary today, he worked in exchange for a lot of food. The total value of this food far exceeds 70 yuan, right? Since we all ate it, how can we let him pay it back alone?”

Lin Yanran naturally felt the veiled hostility displayed by Wang Zhen.

He was usually too lazy to bother with such petty tricks.

But now, seeing Gao Zitai and Cao Zhengpeng secretly defending him, he felt that he couldn’t drag them down, so he smiled and said, “Actually… I do have a salary.”

After saying that, he pulled out a huge sum of 270 yuan under everyone’s gaze!

The guests: ? ? ? ? ? ?

Gao Zitai looked at the highest amount in disbelief and asked in shock, “How did you get so much money! Didn’t you say you tutored their homework for free?”

Lin Yanran nodded but then said lightly, “But I picked mandarins in the morning and stuffed sausages in the evening.”

Everyone who had only worked one job all day was stunned when they heard about this. “You can work like that??”

Why did they foolishly persist for the entire day???

Lin Yanran: “There’s no rule that you can only work one job.”

After speaking, Lin Yanran smiled and looked at Zhang Shanfeng. “Right, Director Zhang?”

Zhang Shanfeng: …

Please don’t cue me.

I am being tormented by a rule-exploiting bug…

Lin Yanran earned 270 yuan plus all the free ingredients, undoubtedly becoming today’s strongest worker.

The production team then announced that, as the first-place winner, he would receive a special privilege, just like in the first episode.

Since everyone had everything this episode and didn’t lack anything, Lin Yanran temporarily decided not to use the privilege and would wait until tomorrow to see.

In the evening, everyone pooled their money to pay the rent and utilities. After that, there were no more group activities, and they returned to their rooms to rest.

After all, they had been working all day and were very tired. They just wanted to lie down now.

The live stream, as before, had been interrupted when Lin Yanran went to stuff sausages.

Now that all the guests had returned to their rooms to rest, the production team’s recording work was also paused.

Xiao Wang, the assistant who came along, saw that Lin Yanran had some free time and immediately handed him his phone.

According to the rules, guests are not allowed to use their phones during the recording period.

However, every artist’s schedule is busy, and there are many unforeseen circumstances, so their phones are kept by their assistants. If there is an emergency, the guest can look at their phone and make a call.

Xiao Wang pulled Lin Yanran to a corner, away from the staff, and told him, “Teacher Gu called you. He asked me to tell you to video call him back when you have time.”

Teacher Gu?

Gu Siye?

Lin Yanran opened his phone and indeed found that Gu Siye had sent him a WeChat message a few hours ago.

Gu Siye: I brought Ultraman home.

Gu Siye: It’s not doing well and is feeling a little down right now. Video call when you’re free so it can see you.

After reading Gu Siye’s messages, Lin Yanran’s head was buzzing.

He had only been gone for two days. What happened to Ultraman?

And why did Gu Siye suddenly bring it home? Wasn’t he supposed to wait for a nearby resident to claim it?

Thinking about these questions, Lin Yanran jogged back to his bedroom, which had no camera installed.

As soon as he closed the door, he immediately video-called Gu Siye.

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  “九漏鱼” (jiǔ lòu yú). TLDR: It’s Chinese internet slang for calling someone “uneducated” or suggesting they “skipped basic school,” aka the nine years of compulsory education.