novelraw Chapter 69: Movie Star Dad (7)
Chapter 69: Movie Star Dad (7)
After returning home, they took out the dishes. Looking at the child who was standing tall and proud, ready to battle the feast like a warrior, Qi Sheng shook his head. Was he planning to “earn” his keep back with this one meal?
After lunch, the staff came by again to deliver a task card.
They were to gather at Baicao Village Square at exactly 2 PM!
There was still an hour and a half until two o’clock, so they had time to take a good nap.
Qi Sheng thought that since there were tasks in the afternoon, it would be wise to rest and conserve energy now. Unfortunately, the child was wide awake.
“Dad, I’m not sleepy. You go ahead and take a nap,” Qi Rui said.
Qi Sheng frowned. He knew his son would just play on his phone. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Play for a bit if you want, but remember to rest your eyes.”
Qi Rui nodded happily and ran off to his room to play.
At 2 PM, Qi Sheng took his son to the village square on time and saw that Zhao’s father and son were already waiting.
Qi Sheng had heard that their house was up in the mountains. They had probably come a few minutes early because of the distance. Once everyone had arrived, they saw Liu Jun once again approaching — this time carrying a box.
Qi Rui, no longer surprised, just gave the box a glance and immediately looked away — here we go again!
“Good afternoon, everyone. This morning, the five kids did very well. Now, for the afternoon, it’s the dads’ turn. Inside this box are five jobs. After the fathers draw their assignments, they must complete the tasks as described. Only the money they earn can be used to sustain life in Baicao Village.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu raised his hand, “Can we help out too?”
Liu Jun smiled, “Of course you can — but in a different way. The production team has prepared 3,000 quiz questions covering subjects like history, geography, biology, math, physics, chemistry, music, sports, and art. You can participate in a quiz challenge: answer correctly and earn 1 point; answer wrong and lose 1 point. Every time you earn 5 points, you can apply for a lucky draw. The prizes include red envelopes (cash), work assistance, and wage multipliers.”
After his explanation, Zhao Shuo immediately raised his hand to ask, “How much are the red envelopes worth? What’s work assistance? And what are wage multipliers?”
Liu Jun replied, “The red envelopes could be 5 yuan, 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan, or negative 50 yuan. Of course, 50 yuan and negative 50 yuan are the rarest. What you draw depends entirely on your luck. As for work assistance, it offers help with 20%, 30%, 50%, or 70% of the dads’ workload, depending on what you draw. If you draw an assistance card, a skilled worker will help your dad complete a portion of his task. As for the wage multipliers, the coefficients are 0.6, 0.8, 1.2, and 1.5. After drawing a multiplier card, it will be applied to the dad’s final earned wage.”
Such tiny red envelopes — and there’s even a negative 50! And the wage multipliers could even reduce the final amount! Qi Rui was shocked, completely defeated by the production team’s twisted setup. This was just pure sabotage!
It was already going to be hard enough to scrape together 5 points for a draw, and even then, there was a chance of drawing a disaster item. Qi Rui felt the deep malice of the production team and blurted out, “Leader, can we see the question bank before we start answering?”
Hearing him ask that, the other kids’ eyes immediately lit up, all looking expectantly at Liu Jun.
Unfortunately, Liu Jun just smiled and said, “Of course… not!”
Seeing the five kids’ faces immediately fall, Liu Jun added to console them, “Don’t worry, the questions won’t be very hard.”
He smiled warmly on the outside but thought wickedly to himself — I want to see you draw those negative cards! The questions definitely won’t be too hard…
Thinking this, Liu Jun once again flashed the same mischievous grin he had shown at noon, “Now, let’s talk about each of your debts.”
The teenagers: ???!!!
Sure enough, there’s no such thing as a free lunch!
“Teacher Zhang owes 160 yuan, Teacher Qi owes 140 yuan, Teacher Zhao owes 120 yuan, Teacher Xu owes 100 yuan, and Teacher Yu owes 90 yuan.”
“So much! How much can we even earn from these jobs? Don’t tell me it’s not even enough for a single meal?”
Qi Rui exclaimed. He hadn’t expected that casually grabbing a grilled fish at lunch would make his debt so much higher than the others’. Zhang Yu also felt a pang of regret — he now seriously regretted being so carefree at lunch. He exchanged a glance with Qi Rui, and both of them shivered a little.
“Heh, heh, the wages set by the production team aren’t low. At the very least, you can earn enough for one meal this afternoon!”
Although Liu Jun said this, Qi Rui didn’t feel reassured. He made it sound like they were only going to eat one meal?
At this point, Zhang Yunzhi couldn’t stay calm anymore. He sighed and said, “Turns out raising a daughter is indeed cheaper!”
Hearing this, Xu Congwen and Yu Yang couldn’t hold back their laughter anymore. They finally got their revenge for the teasing they suffered that morning.
The five fathers stepped forward to draw their mission cards. Qi Sheng opened his card:
“Go to Mr. Zhou’s house to learn how to weave bamboo baskets. Successfully complete one basket to earn 200 yuan. P.S.: After 100% completion, you may freely choose other jobs.”
Qi Sheng frowned. Weaving a basket? He didn’t know how to do that — it was going to be tough.
Qi Rui looked at the mission card and frowned too. If they couldn’t even finish weaving one basket, wouldn’t that mean they earned nothing? This task was way too hard!
He couldn’t help but glance at the others’ tasks and found that their assignments weren’t exactly easy either — but they still seemed a bit better than his dad’s. Some were to make kites, others to weave Chinese knots.
Based on local residents’ estimates of difficulty and time required, the program team had priced weaving a basket, making a kite, and weaving a Chinese knot at 200 yuan, 100 yuan, and 30 yuan respectively. Experienced local craftsmen typically took about two hours to complete a basket. As for kite making, even master craftsmen needed a bit over an hour per kite. For novices, it would take about two hours to meet the standards, so at most they could finish two or three in an afternoon. Weaving Chinese knots was a bit faster — around 20 to 30 minutes per piece. But for complete beginners like them, timing was still uncertain.
Since basket weaving was the hardest, the program team had only prepared one basket-weaving task. And, just their luck, Qi Sheng had drawn it.
Once Qi Rui understood all this, he looked at Qi Sheng with distress and said, “Dad, your luck is seriously bad!”
The other four families didn’t look too happy either. None of them had any experience with these tasks, and even if they finished one, they might still not be able to repay their debts…
Seeing that the five fathers looked pretty worried, Liu Jun tried to comfort them:
“Considering that all of you are beginners with no experience in handcrafts, for safety’s sake, the program team has also set up a friendship offer: For any failed handicraft, we’ll buy it based on the degree of completion, at 10% to 30% of the full wage.”
After hearing this, Qi Rui didn’t feel any happier. Thinking realistically, they might not even complete the work properly — at best, they might get 60 yuan for a failed basket. And when he thought about how much debt they already owed, he realized he’d better focus on answering more quiz questions — maybe they could make up the shortfall that way.
The other four kids thought the same. They all decided that working hard on the quiz and trying to earn more red envelopes was probably the more reliable way.
The five fathers then hurried off to their assigned learning spots. Zhang Yunzhi and Yu Yang had drawn the task of weaving Chinese knots. Xu Congwen and Zhao Jingyi were assigned kite making. Only Qi Sheng had drawn the bamboo basket weaving — so he set off alone.
Arriving at the master craftsman’s home, he saw the bamboo strips already prepared. Qi Sheng politely exchanged a few words and then couldn’t wait to ask the master to start teaching him.
The master, Mr. Zhou, had a good temper and was very talkative. Although he was already in his forties or fifties and looked down on the current celebrity-fan culture, back in his youth, he had once been a crazy fan of Qi Sheng — even buying posters of him. Now seeing that his temporary student was Qi Sheng himself, Mr. Zhou felt a faint excitement inside. He taught him with extra dedication — almost to the point of doing the work for him.
The program staff kept signaling at Mr. Zhou with meaningful glances. They almost strained their eyes doing it, but Mr. Zhou still wanted to secretly help.
The staff had no choice but to speak up: “Work tasks must be completed independently by the guests — otherwise, wages will be deducted!”
Mr. Zhou scratched his head and smiled innocently, “It was Teacher Qi himself who was doing it just now.”
The staff: “…”
Do you think we’re blind?!
Since he couldn’t help openly anymore, Mr. Zhou started worrying silently. What if Qi Sheng couldn’t finish it?
But his worry was unnecessary. Qi Sheng had lived through many different worlds (through transmigrations), and though he had never made a basket before, with Mr. Zhou’s careful and detailed teaching, he was quickly getting the hang of it.
The staff hadn’t expected Qi Sheng to pick it up so quickly. They had been hoping to watch King Qi in an embarrassing situation! Even Master Zhou clicked his tongue in amazement — such skillful hands — worthy of being the male idol who had taken their generation by storm!
Meanwhile, the five teenagers placed in the quiz room had no idea how their fathers’ tasks were going. Not that they had much hope. At the moment, all their energy was focused on the quiz questions. Every time Liu Jun finished reading a question, the boys would scramble frantically to answer.
“Which of China’s Four Great Inventions is NOT included?”
“Seismoscope!”
“‘Gongbi’ refers to which painting technique?”
“Traditional Chinese painting!”
“Which country invented the tank?”
“Germany—ah no, it’s the UK! Wrong answer!”
“Who invented the four-stroke internal combustion engine?”
“Eh? Uh… I don’t know.”
…
The quiz scene was intense. The five teenagers now wished they had memorized an encyclopedia before coming here. After answering another question incorrectly, Xu Mingyan collapsed on the desk and howled, “Why am I, a study slacker, even here?! Wasn’t this supposed to be a travel show?!”
Half an hour had passed, and Xu Mingyan had only accumulated one point. She was convinced the show had a personal vendetta against her. Her “pretty girl” image was ruined; now she would forever carry the “academic failure” label.
At this moment, the five contestants had split into three groups based on points. In the first tier was Zhao Shuo — a true top student who loved reading. He could answer almost all kinds of questions and had already gathered five points. He was excitedly awaiting his chance to draw a prize.
In the second tier were Qi Rui, Zhang Yu, and Yu Fei. Their levels were about the same. Qi Rui had four points, the other two had three points each. Watching Zhao Shuo about to draw a prize, they were all equally nervous.
After silently praying, Zhao Shuo finally drew a reward card. As he peeled it open and glimpsed the number “50,” he lit up with joy — but before he could celebrate, he saw a small minus sign in front of it. His heart plummeted instantly, and he let out a tragic wail:
“AAAHHH, minus 50! Heaven wants me dead!”
The other four teenagers, who had been eyeing him enviously, immediately burst into ecstatic laughter.
Qi Rui teased, “Hahaha, what rotten luck you have!”
Zhao Shuo protested, “Leader Liu! Be honest — how many minus 50s are there? How did I manage to draw one first?!”
Liu Jun didn’t answer right away and instead asked, “Do you want the honest truth or the comforting lie?”
Zhao Shuo froze, then guessed in horror, “Don’t tell me there’s only one?…”
Liu Jun smiled sweetly and nodded, triggering another round of wild laughter from the others.
The quiz continued. Qi Rui was the second to reach five points and eagerly drew his prize — but his luck was mediocre: only a five-yuan red envelope.
Then it was Yu Fei’s and Zhang Yu’s turns. By the time Zhao Shuo reached five points again, poor Xu Mingyan had only scraped together three points.
Desperate now, Xu Mingyan watched as her teammates all went to draw prizes. Gritting her teeth, she vowed to cram an encyclopedia when she got home!
This time, Zhao Shuo’s luck was better — he drew a ten-yuan red envelope.
Qi Rui, still laughing at Zhao Shuo earlier, suffered his own reversal: when he drew his second prize and saw the bold characters on the card, he froze.
“Hahahaha!”
“I can’t breathe, I’m laughing too hard!”
“You two are truly brothers-in-bad-luck!”
Qi Rui pulled a long face, staring at the “Wage Multiplier 0.8” card, wishing he could turn back time.
By now, an hour had passed. Over at Qi Sheng’s side, things were progressing smoothly. He was weaving the bamboo basket while chatting casually with Master Zhou. The atmosphere was relaxed; the staff smiled as they made conversation with him.
“Mr. Qi,” a staff member said, “Little Rui has already drawn twice. The first was a five-yuan red envelope. Can you guess what the second was?”
Qi Sheng raised an eyebrow. Seeing the staff member struggling to contain his laughter, he immediately sensed something wrong. “Negative fifty? No — don’t tell me it’s a 0.6 wage multiplier?”
The staff member barely held back his laughter. “A little better than that — it’s 0.8.”
“This unlucky child!” Qi Sheng sighed.
He had originally planned to finish a basket and then go make a kite, aiming to earn 300 yuan total — enough for two days’ worth of meals. But with this wage multiplier now in effect, the final earnings would only be 240 yuan. Qi Sheng sighed heavily — raising a kid with bad luck was truly exhausting!