Jiang Yanchen had always been extremely conscious of his image since childhood.
Ever since kindergarten, he had developed his own sense of style, harboring a particular disdain for the kids who showed up every day in cartoon-patterned clothes.
But this show was completely trampling his dignity into the dirt!
Every day, he was covered head to toe in foul-smelling mud and forced to wear secondhand clothes. He felt like an absolute clown.
"Come pick me up right now," Jiang Yanchen's voice was freezing cold.
Terrified, his manager nodded hastily over the phone, "Okay, okay, I'm on my way to get you."
The director stood by, trying earnestly to persuade him, "Jiang Yanchen, don't you want to step out of your comfort zone?"
"It's just a little chicken manure. You eat their meat all the time, can't you be a little more tolerant of their droppings?"
Jiang Yanchen sneered, "Get lost."
He wished he could strangle his past self for agreeing to this variety show.
The director paced around frantically. What was he supposed to do? Jiang Yanchen was the biggest draw of the show.
But he really only had himself to blame; he had lost his footing and tumbled right into the chicken manure.
Jiang Yanchen showered ten times straight, nearly emptying the bottle of body wash in the bathroom.
The director sat in the main hall, sighing heavily.
The elderly granny of the house had just returned. Upon hearing what happened to Jiang Yanchen, she was worried sick.
Seeing Jiang Yanchen emerge from the bathroom, she hurried over. "Child, are you hurt? It's all the fault of those awful chickens I raised."
Jiang Yanchen couldn't bring himself to lose his temper at an old woman. He kept his voice steady, "It's fine, Grandma. Something came up at home, so I need to head back early."
The old granny felt immensely guilty. "Is it because you were wronged here at Grandma's place? I'm so very sorry."
Suppressing his frustration, Jiang Yanchen forced a smile. "It's really okay, Grandma. I genuinely have matters to attend to."
No matter how much the director and the granny pleaded, Jiang Yanchen's resolve to leave remained entirely unshaken.
Looking at Jiang Yanchen, who had already packed his bags, the director said despairingly, "But your manager won't be able to get here until tomorrow at the earliest. Even if you go out and wait right now, he won't show up."
Dragging his suitcase with a cold expression, Jiang Yanchen replied, "It doesn't matter. I'll just sit on the wooden stump at the village entrance all night."
And with that, Jiang Yanchen actually dragged his suitcase to the village entrance and sat down on the wooden stump.
The director and the old granny followed closely behind him.
The director was worried to death. If he really sat out here all night, his fans would tear the production team to shreds tomorrow.
The old granny's eyes grew red. "Child, at least come back and have some food while you wait. Grandma will kill the chicken that bullied you and cook it for you, okay?"
Jiang Yanchen offered a strained smile. "Grandma, you should head back. The wind is strong at night. I don't want to eat chicken. This has nothing to do with you; I just want to go home."
The old granny could easily tell he was just brushing her off, and she couldn't stop sighing beside him.
As night fell and it grew dark, Jiang Yanchen still refused to go back. He simply sat on the wooden stump, his eyes fixed on the intersection.
A pack of dogs heading home for their dinner trotted past, shooting him curious glances.
Some children also stopped to stare at him.
"Mom, there's a person sitting here."
"Shh, be quiet."
Jiang Yanchen: ...
He directly pulled a straw hat over his head. It was the director's hat, accidentally left behind when the man had walked away earlier.
Jiang Yanchen had thought the director looked like a pig when wearing this hat.
Meanwhile, back in the house, the others were discussing Jiang Yanchen's situation.
Lin Yichen asked in surprise, "Ah? Is Yanchen going to sit at the village entrance all night? People will think it's so weird."
Li Qiuchi hesitated, "Are we really just going to sit here and ignore him?"
Xie Siheng felt helpless. "But if we go over there, we'll just get yelled at."
Everyone knew exactly how furious Jiang Yanchen was right now.
Ultimately, this heavy responsibility was passed onto Jiang Yanchen's teammate.
A certain teammate walked out carrying a bowl of rice. Dinner tonight wasn't just chicken, but also fish, and it was absolutely delicious.
"Having dinner?" The villagers smiled at the teammate.
The teammate smiled and nodded back. "Have you eaten yet?"
The teammate finally located her partner.
A suitcase, and a person sitting stiffly on a wooden stump, wearing a straw hat.
He looked utterly miserable.
Ji Zhaoxi sighed and sat down next to him. Straw Hat Bro's body tensed for a moment, but he still didn't remove the hat from his head.
The director kept shooting her meaningful glances, but Ji Zhaoxi had no idea how to comfort him either.
Being humiliated in front of so many people—she could completely understand how he felt.
Ji Zhaoxi ate her food. A large yellow dog suddenly trotted over, wagging its tail. Ji Zhaoxi tipped her leftover bones out for Dahuang, then took a few sips of herbal tea.
"Maybe in your eyes, chicken manure is something incredibly filthy," Ji Zhaoxi wiped her mouth and spoke earnestly.
"But did you know that dung beetles also eat chicken manure? As do fly larvae and earthworms. They all feed on it. To these creatures, chicken manure is incredibly precious."
Ji Zhaoxi maintained a solemn expression and gestured, "What if you thought of yourself as an earthworm? Then chicken manure would be a precious food source to you, rather than reeking, filthy excrement."
She looked at him with utmost sincerity. "Does thinking about it that way make you feel any better?"
The director thought Ji Zhaoxi's words were profoundly moving and nodded continuously.
He truly hoped Jiang Yanchen would take it to heart.
Ji Zhaoxi noticed Jiang Yanchen's hand tremble slightly. She assumed her words had actually managed to comfort him.
She quietly leaned in closer, only to see that the corners of Jiang Yanchen's eyes were red, with tears welling up and swirling in his eyes. He had his head bowed and his lips pressed tightly together, looking like his tears were about to spill over at any second.
It was just too humiliating. Everyone knew he had face-planted into chicken manure, and everyone had seen the embarrassing spectacle of him being chased by a rooster and a hen.
Ji Zhaoxi stared at him in shock.
Jiang Yanchen was actually crying over this?!
The cameraman caught onto something from Ji Zhaoxi's expression and immediately tried to rush forward. Ji Zhaoxi instantly blocked him.
If Jiang Yanchen was caught crying on camera, he would be so furious he'd probably jump off a building.
Ji Zhaoxi let out a deep sigh. She pulled the ointment the old granny had given her out of her pocket and offered it to Jiang Yanchen.
"Put some of this on. The skin on your hands is scraped."
Jiang Yanchen didn't take it, but Ji Zhaoxi noticed that the fabric over his knees was completely soaked and still dripping wet.
Ji Zhaoxi: ...
Just when the director thought Ji Zhaoxi was going to continue comforting Jiang Yanchen...
...he suddenly heard Ji Zhaoxi speak up in a sour, jealous tone.
"You falling into chicken manure is definitely going to generate a ton of trending traffic. Your manager must be thrilled."
She had worked so hard to catch those chickens, but with his one fall, he had stolen all the spotlight!
The director choked on his breath.
At a time like this, she was actually still obsessing over trending traffic!
