Actually, the audience in front of the screen is spot on. Jiang Ning walked all the way from the entrance of the village, secretly observing the residences of the villagers.
There are more than forty households in the village, and the crew is filming here for 21 days.
Even if they stayed at one home per day, half of the villagers would still be skipped.
Therefore, finding the three hidden inheritors among the villagers is quite challenging for the guests.
Liu Dahong was sitting under the eaves with her nine-year-old granddaughter, sorting vegetables.
Today’s weather is nice. Liu Dahong went to the vegetable field early to finish the farm work and returned home to wash and hang the dirty clothes she and her husband changed yesterday. As it was approaching noon, she prepared to clean the fresh beans picked from the vegetable field this morning.
The nine-year-old granddaughter thoughtfully brought her a small stool to sit on, which made Liu Dahong very happy, praising her granddaughter for being so sensible.
As for what day it was today, every villager in Sanwan Village knew.
Lately, Shi Qing had been gathering villagers for meetings during his free time, educating them about outsiders coming from the city to their remote mountain for filming.
The village signed a contract with the crew, and the village officers took this matter very seriously. They not only visited each household but even educated the cats and dogs in the village to behave over the next month, not to fight or cause trouble, and certainly not to bring shame to Sanwan Village, until their ears nearly grew calluses.
Liu Dahong, following the village head’s request, had returned early from the field to stay home waiting, but she didn’t really have any expectations, nor did she think the city folks would choose to stay at her house.
Her house is one of only two mud houses in the village, slightly better than Granny Mo’s house at the foot of the mountain, and incomparable to the brick and tile houses of other villagers.
Anyone with eyes from the city wouldn’t choose her house.
Liu Dahong felt no pressure about this.
Until she heard a knocking sound, accompanied by a clear and steady young woman’s voice, "Hello, Auntie, I am a guest coming to film a variety show. Could I stay here for two days?"
Liu Dahong looked up instinctively toward the direction of the voice. It was then she noticed several people standing outside the half-open door.
The young woman in the lead stood outside the threshold carrying a backpack. Her eyes were bright, and her exposed skin glowed white under the sun.
Behind her stood two young men carrying heavy equipment.
Liu Dahong had also dutifully listened to the village officers’ briefings these days.
Even though she had never seen such a situation before, she could tell at a glance that this was what the village officers called "going on television"!
Liu Dahong hurriedly dried her hands and stood up, "Young lady, are you sure you want to stay here?"
As soon as she spoke, Liu Dahong realized her words could be misunderstood, as though she wasn’t welcoming the youth, and quickly clarified, "I didn’t mean to be unwelcoming, you’ve seen our house, it’s all mud... You city folks might find it uncomfortable..."
"No problem." Jiang Ning replied with a bright smile, "Auntie, I grew up in remote mountain areas myself, and my hometown is even more secluded, with houses not as new as yours. Seeing your house reminded me of my childhood right away."
A city person is actually from the countryside?
And lived in a mud house too?
Jiang Ning’s words instantly closed the distance between her and Liu Dahong.
Liu Dahong no longer felt constrained or embarrassed. She quickly put down her work and warmly invited Jiang Ning and the crew into the house.
She asked her nine-year-old granddaughter Taotao to bring chairs for everyone and returned to the kitchen to pour some tea for Jiang Ning and the crew.
By the time Liu Dahong’s husband, Old Man Zhang, returned from farm work, Jiang Ning had already been settled into their home’s only guest room by Liu Dahong.
It was nearing noon, and with more people for lunch, Liu Dahong quickly started a fire to cook, preparing lunch for the day.
Seeing this, Jiang Ning immediately rolled up her sleeves to help.
Liu Dahong’s house still maintained an old-style wood stove. Initially, Liu Dahong felt embarrassed letting Jiang Ning help, but later she found Jiang Ning’s skills in preparing firewood and cutting cured ribs even better than hers, so she let Jiang Ning continue.
The village officers mentioned earlier that if these city folks come to stay, they must contribute some labor before providing them accommodation and meals.
The shooting staff followed Jiang Ning closely, capturing her every action, and the audience in the live streaming room watched Jiang Ning’s every move:
[No way! Does this mean we’ll be watching Jiang Ning cook for a month in the countryside?]
[Hehe, and doing farm work, chopping wood too.]
[Please no! That doesn’t fit Jiang Ning’s image! I want to see something more thrilling!]
[Has Conan’s physique failed? Isn’t she supposed to discover new suspects at every new location?]
[Get lost, upstairs! Who said it was supposed to happen? That’s just netizens joking around, not thinking Jiang Ning is a walking arrest machine.]
[Actually, calmly watching this live stream, it’s quite interesting. Seeing Jiang Ning’s efficiency reminds me of my childhood when I was diligent and capable. The living environment back then was much tougher, yet those times were pleasant, unlike now where it’s so easy to complain over small things...]
[Ah! I want to see Jiang Ning catch criminals! She might as well quit the variety show; I’d prefer watching Jiang Ning live alone.]
[I remember there are several guests this time, right? Is none of them going to mess up? Shouldn’t Jiang Ning check their tax returns or something?]
[How should Jiang Ning check that? She’s not all-powerful.]
[Everyone, don’t rush. Just watch patiently. Jiang Ning hasn’t interacted deeply with the guests yet and probably hasn’t found anything suspicious.]
Shen Zha has been keenly monitoring Jiang Ning’s live stream status. Upon seeing those comments in the back-end, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and feel pleased.
He wouldn’t admit that he had already predicted the netizens’ predictions.
Before confirming the guests, he had considered the possibility of the guests messing up, so he used his connections early on and sent the profiles of the guests to Jiang Ning.
After receiving confirmation from Jiang Ning that she wouldn’t capture these guests, he invited them to the filming.
The netizens’ plans will be in vain.
Don’t assume he doesn’t know what these netizens are thinking, watching the commotion and enjoying the drama.
As the show’s director, he wouldn’t let such things happen.
While Jiang Ning helped Liu Dahong prepare lunch, the other guests staying with villagers were not idle either, all trying their best to help their hosts with chores.
However, the rural stoves proved quite challenging for them.
Besides Chen Yunlu, Ji He, and Zhu Rui, who were somewhat proficient in kitchen tasks, Yuan Xingyao and Hao Meng were complete novices, unable to distinguish between sugar and salt.
These stars known for singing and dancing, telling jokes and acting, with their array of skills, were now tiptoeing in a small kitchen, feeling quite embarrassed.
[Hahaha, I’m dying laughing. Never knew Zhu Rui could be so adorably silly, asking seriously how many spoonfuls of salt everyone wants!]
[Watching Ji He gather eggs is incredibly relatable; it was something I feared as a child! Our hen was super aggressive, and pecking hurt a lot!]
[Yuan Xingyao is indeed a joker no matter where he goes—trying to bribe an eight-year-old with sugar to teach him chores, yet doing worse than the kid!]
[Yun Lu is surprisingly good. She seems to excel at everything...]
Anyway, all the guests smoothly found accommodations and had their first meal in the village.
In the afternoon, the guests were going to work alongside the villagers.
The crew had communicated with the villagers in advance. If guests stayed, they needed to complete no fewer than three tasks each day to earn accommodations and meals.
Initially, some villagers were hesitant. They knew that the crew coming here to film had signed contracts with the village and would pay a substantial fee. In their eyes, these guests were like bosses, how could they ask a boss to work!
However, after a brief interaction over lunch, everyone realized that these city guests were not as arrogant and aloof as imagined and were actually quite proactive in getting involved with chores.
Since that was the case, the villagers no longer felt embarrassed.