As soon as they heard they could take photos, the number of people buying lotus seedpods suddenly increased.
An older sister happily stood to the side holding her child, smiling as she said, "Handsome, could you hold my baby?"
Jiang Yanchen stiffly held the child from her arms. Separated from a familiar embrace, the baby wailed and punched Jiang Yanchen in the face a few times.
By the time the photo was taken, Jiang Yanchen's face had completely darkened.
Ji Zhaoxi hurried over to soothe his emotions, "Jiang Yanchen, did it hurt when you got hit?"
Jiang Yanchen pursed his lips and shook his head.
Next up was an auntie taking a photo with Jiang Yanchen. Jiang Yanchen held a butcher knife in one hand and a basket in the other. The auntie flashed a peace sign at the camera, while Jiang Yanchen looked like he had lost the will to live.
Ji Zhaoxi stood to the side, happily counting the money.
An older uncle came over too. He walked up to Jiang Yanchen with his head held high and chest puffed out, his voice full of vigor, "Handsome, let's strike a martial arts pose."
So the two of them struck a golden rooster standing on one leg pose for the camera.
Ji Zhaoxi glanced at Jiang Yanchen while stuffing money into her pocket.
"Jiang Yanchen, if you're not happy, we can stop taking photos."
Jiang Yanchen looked at her. She was counting the money in her hands, her eyes sparkling, her face flushed with excitement.
He looked away and uncomfortably rubbed his ear.
"It's fine, it's just a few photos."
Later, three children came over. Jiang Yanchen carried a basket on his back with the youngest child sitting inside, looking a bit timid. He held the two slightly older children, one in each arm.
The surrounding villagers couldn't stop laughing.
As the photoshoot went on, Jiang Yanchen became more and more professional. He even started offering pose suggestions when the customers couldn't think of any.
By the end of it, Jiang Yanchen's face was stiff from posing, and Ji Zhaoxi's hands were numb from counting money.
The other guests were also selling lotus seedpods at the market, but all the foot traffic had been drawn over by Ji Zhaoxi and her partner.
They shouted until their mouths were dry but only managed to sell a few.
When Ji Zhaoxi and Jiang Yanchen headed back to the village, they even enjoyed a couple of popsicles.
The director had been holding back his laughter the entire time at the market. Now that they were finally home, he immediately called Jiang Yanchen into the post-interview room.
Jiang Yanchen sat on the stool, looking completely numb.
"Did you feel embarrassed taking photos with everyone to sell lotus seedpods?" the director asked.
Jiang Yanchen paused for a moment. "At first, yes. Later on, no."
The director nodded in satisfaction. "Is it because you felt the joy of interacting with everyone?"
Jiang Yanchen replied flatly, "It's because I had no other choice."
The director made an OK gesture. In truth, the first few questions were just to lower Jiang Yanchen's guard; the real questions he wanted to ask hadn't even started yet.
"What do you think of Ji Zhaoxi as a person?" the director looked at him with a smiling face.
Jiang Yanchen was silent for a moment. "She's pretty good."
The director raised an eyebrow. "Do you like spending time with her? It feels like you're quite happy when you're with her."
Jiang Yanchen looked out the window and stopped talking. He watched a big yellow dog wagging its tail as it walked along the path by the door. Noticing someone watching, the dog wagged its tail even harder, hopped up on its hind legs, and rested its paws against the window, staring at the person inside.
Seeing that he wasn't going to answer, the director changed the question. "Has your impression of Ji Zhaoxi changed compared to before?"
"Yes."
"What was your impression of her before?"
Jiang Yanchen said impatiently, "I didn't have much of an impression."
The director looked at him, feigning surprise. "It's impossible that you had no impression. Your manager, and some of the news online about the two of you, did you really have no impression at all?"
Jiang Yanchen grew slightly irritated. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Why?"
"No reason."
Jiang Yanchen was completely uncooperative.
If he said anything, those online gossip accounts would definitely start editing things out of context, which would surely cause trouble for her.
At this moment, those photos of Jiang Yanchen at the market were going viral online.
The Jiang household.
A little girl sat on the sofa, looking with a worried face at the photo of Jiang Yanchen holding a basket in one hand and a butcher knife in the other.
"Mom, has my brother gone crazy?" Her tone carried a hint of fear.
Why did he look like a madman?
The elegant lady, who was drinking tea, twitched the corner of her mouth. "Don't talk nonsense."
However, when she first saw those photos of her son, her initial reaction had also been to wonder if his brain had suffered some kind of shock.
Today, after dinner, the guests sat by the door chatting.
The summer night breeze was very cool, and the sky was full of stars. The grandma, feeling sorry for how hard they had worked, had specially brought a watermelon back for them.
Having been tired all day, everyone was now completely immersed in this relaxed atmosphere.
Grandma drank her tea and smiled, "If you work hard when you're young, you'll have an easy time when you're old."
Lin Yichen looked at the old grandma curiously. "Grandma, don't you feel lonely?"
Grandma smiled and shook her head. "What's there to be lonely about? It's so relaxing. I cook a little food for myself every day, and then find people to play cards with."
Lin Yichen asked in confusion, "Don't you miss Grandpa?"
Grandma fanned herself with a look of disgust. "Miss him? I hate him to death."
"Ah?" Lin Yichen looked at her in disbelief. "Why is that, Grandma?"
Grandma scolded, "When we were young, he was always hitting me. I had to go out and work even when I was pregnant, while he lay at home sleeping every day."
As if she thought of something, she laughed out loud again. "When he got old, he fell ill and his health was very poor. Then I beat him and scolded him every day. I finally got my revenge for what happened when we were young."
Lin Yichen looked over disapprovingly. "Grandma, that's not very good, is it? Grandpa was sick and you still treated him like that. He must have been so pitiful."
Grandma fanned herself angrily. "He was pitiful? I was beaten by him for so many years, I'm the pitiful one."
Lin Yichen was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Maybe Grandpa just didn't know how to express his love."
Grandma spat, "Love? He only loved himself his entire life."
If she weren't so old now, she would want to dig him out of his grave and smash his bones to pieces with her walking stick.
Ye Mubai couldn't help but speak up. "If it were love, he wouldn't have let Grandma work so hard."
Seeing that even Ye Mubai dared to contradict him, Lin Yichen's face looked very ugly. "Sister Mubai, you're thinking the worst of people, aren't you? Can you determine that Grandpa was a bad person just from these few words Grandma said?"
He felt that Grandma had just been reading too much of that stuff online. In the past, there weren't this many women who had complaints about their husbands.
Ye Mubai's face turned red, and she gathered her courage. "It's weirder to empathize with a domestic abuser, right? Little brother, the reason you're speaking up for this grandpa like this, is it because you are the same kind of person?"
After saying this, she quickly lowered her head, her hands trembling non-stop from nervousness.
Lin Yichen looked at her in disbelief. He hadn't expected Ye Mubai to speak to him in such a tone.
He said stiffly, "Say whatever you want. Anyway, in your eyes, there are no good men in this world."
The old grandma watched this scene and shook her head. "Still too young."
