The director was taken aback when he saw Ruan Tian actually build a chair. He walked over and ran a hand over the bamboo chair to check it out. He was shocked. Ruan Tian hadn’t even used a single nail, but the chair had been completed so smoothly? On top of that, didn’t it look and feel very sturdy?
The director gave her a thumbs up, “Teacher Ruan, I didn’t expect you to be so skillful.”
Ruan Tian narrowed her eyes and replied with a smile, “Heh, this is still the simplest kind. If we weren’t so pressed for time I could show you the deluxe plus version.”
The director laughed dryly, only thinking that this Ruan Tian could really joke around.
Ruan Tian continued to work silently. As she worked, her fingers were rubbed red and her palms began to throb painfully. However, she ignored the pain and continued to work steadily.
From 3 p.m. that afternoon until 5 a.m. of the morning of the next day, Ruan Tian worked without rest. By the end of it, her eyes were red and swollen and she was continuously yawning.
Finally, she finished weaving the last bamboo chair. After that, she barely managed to drag herself upright and began to put the chairs into the teahouse one by one. Once she finished, she was so tired that her eyes were barely open, but she still remembered to say a few words to her colleagues on the camera crew who had stayed up late to accompany her: “Thank you all. Anyway, I’m going to bed now.”
Ruan Tian went to her room, kicked off her shoes, and directly dropped onto the bed.
—————
When Xu Jing came out that morning and saw all the brand-new chairs, he could hardly believe his eyes. Did Ruan Tian really make these?
For some reason, Xu Jing was suddenly reminded of high school.
Back then, they had all been studying in their aristocratic high school peacefully when, one day, Ruan Tian had appeared and begun sticking out like a sore thumb.
She had gone around collecting the old plastic bottles that the other students didn’t want and stuffed them into a big nylon bag. Then, after classes ended on Fridays, she would heft the big bag on her shoulders and take them away to sell them all together. Also, her seat had always been by the window, and the window sill near her seat had always been lined with some weird handmade crafts of hers.
Xu Jing remembered bumping into her when she was working at a milk tea shop, then again at the convenience store, and again at a pet shop, a restaurant, an internet cafe, etc… Back then she had always gone around wearing simple and loose clothes with her head drooping from exhaustion, her hair tied back, always looking sweaty and tired.
It was as if she was very short of money and had no choice but to work everywhere to earn.
Xu Jing had always been puzzled whenever he saw that. He knew that the Zhou family definitely wouldn’t let Ruan Tian go without food and drink and that they also gave her pocket money.
Thus, he had always maliciously speculated that it was all just an act. He had concluded that she was just pretending to be pitiful and hardworking to attract Shen Shu’s attention and win sympathy from the people around her.
Back in the present, once the guests began waking up and getting out of bed for the day, the live broadcast resumed.
The number of viewers had soared from two million during the last episode to four million now.
“I just woke up, did I miss any exciting events?”
“I am typing with my eyes almost closed right now. I’m so sleepy. Ruan Tian is really a vicious woman. Because of her, I stayed up all night last night watching her making chairs!”
“****! How is that woman so capable? Compared with her, aren’t I basically a cripple?”
“So she really had the skills? She wasn’t just bragging?”
“I watched it all, but I’m still confused. She must be an ancient girl who fell into the modern era.”
The number of people in the chatroom kept climbing and climbing. At the same time, the program group had decided to take advantage of the trend and push the ‘TianxJing CP’ that was so popular with the netizens in an effort to rake in even more viewers.
At the same time, editing masters from among the masses had emerged and were gradually producing various materials based on the show. These video editors didn’t care about the content of the show at all, they just cut out all the frames of video that contained both Ruan Tian and Xu Jing, strung them together, threw in a Japanese love song in as BGM, and produced “proof” of the TianxJing CP.
In fact, this sort of thing was quite normal. The netizens would often pull out a CP among the guests whenever there was such a popular variety show.
Like this, the second episode of ‘Gege and Jiejie’s Journeys’ was being pushed to the peak of popularity and set off a ratings frenzy. The executives behind the show couldn’t stop themselves from grinning when they saw this news. After all, the station hadn’t had any expectations for this show, but now it was on fire!
The executives had all assumed that ‘Gege and Jiejie’s Journeys’ would end up just like most other variety shows and quietly fade into obscurity, and there would be no need to do any follow-up after releasing the episodes.
But who could have expected the show would get so big? And while it was still only on the second episode?
Seeing the show get so popular, the number of sponsors even jumped from one to five.
The executives were nearly superstitious at this point, thinking this was all Ruan Tian’s luck, and they began to try to think of ways to broadcast more shows featuring Ruan Tian. After all, although this level of popularity was still a far cry from those massive megastars, it was definitely a good amount.
tl begging corner:
Thanks for the chapter 🙃