Xu Gui sat on a park bench, playing on her phone. Her phone displayed the eighty yuan her boss had just transferred to her for today's wages.
She had already worked at the restaurant for two days; today was her third. In total, she had earned three hundred and twenty yuan. However, when she opened her payment app and checked her balance, it was exactly "80," no more, no less.
Xu Gui: "..." So, the eighty yuan she had just received was all her assets?
She rummaged through her memories and realized what was going on.
According to the program's rules, guests could only bring one set of clothes and a mobile phone during filming. The funds for food, clothing, and accommodation during the program had to be earned by the guests themselves.
"Xu Gui's" daily wage was one hundred and twenty yuan, and the accommodation fee alone was one hundred and twenty yuan. In other words, her daily wages were only enough for her lodging. If it weren't for the fact that the restaurant provided meals, she wouldn't have to pay for food, and her daily earnings wouldn't even cover her food and lodging.
Today, Xu Gui only received eighty yuan in wages. After careful calculation, she realized she hadn't even earned enough to cover her lodging costs; she'd have to pay an extra thirty yuan. If she didn't earn more, her assets would soon become negative.
Realizing this, Xu Gui
was speechless. So she was working at a loss every day? "Actually, living under a bridge isn't so bad," Xu Gui muttered. After all, she was a tortoise; it's normal for tortoises to make their home under bridges, isn't it?
Xu Gui sighed, tilted her head back, and "baked" herself on the bench, letting the sun bask in her warm glow—since things had come to this, she might as well soak up some sun first.
After a few minutes, she even flipped herself over, letting the sun shine on her back as well, to avoid uneven basking.
The paparazzi and over three thousand live viewers watched as she flipped over like a pancake on the park bench. Everyone
was speechless. "Xu Gui," the paparazzi had to remind her, "Aren't you going to work to earn money? The money you earned today probably isn't enough for your accommodation, right? If you don't earn enough for accommodation, the production team won't give you special treatment. Do you want to sleep on the streets?"
Xu Gui, who was feeling drowsy from sunbathing, opened her eyes. She yawned and said slowly, "You're right, I do need to earn money..."
After saying that, she sighed, genuinely lamenting, "Being human is so troublesome, you still have to find a place to stay."
Unlike them, the tortoises could just find a place with water to live, but humans can't sleep on the streets. So, how did she become human? Could it be that the old tortoise, the Third Elder, was causing trouble?
Xu Gui sat up straight, looked around, distinguished east from west, and decided which way to go.
Let's head south then. I've calculated it, and south is my lucky direction!" she declared. "The heavens tell me that heading south will allow me to make a fortune without working!"
The viewers in the live stream were bewildered.
A heavenly secret?
And she wanted to make a fortune without working?
[I get it now. The previous Xu Gui was foolish, but the current Xu Gui has gone mad. She's started talking nonsense, dreaming of getting rich without working. If such a thing existed, why would I still be sitting at my desk working so hard?]
The viewers understood and offered Xu Gui merciless ridicule.
*
Xu Gui really did head south. After about ten minutes, she arrived at a trash can in the park and, under the watchful eyes of thousands in the live stream, began rummaging through it.
Her thousands of viewers: ??? So, your idea of getting rich without working is just rummaging through a park trash can?
Xu Gui was oblivious to everyone's complaints. She rummaged through the trash can and, relying on her intuition, finally pulled out a tattered black bag.
The bag was truly worn out; it looked like it was over a decade old. The leather was peeling off, with patches of sap in various places, making it look pitted and worthless.
But Xu Gui treated the bag like a treasure, sitting down on a bench not far from the trash can.
Then, everyone watched as she closed her eyes, facing the sun, seemingly starting to sunbathe again. This time, no matter how much the cameraman reminded her, she didn't move, her eyes closed, looking like she was already asleep.
The cameraman commented: "I can't keep up, I can't keep up!"
And the few remaining viewers in Xu Gui's livestream dwindled even further after her antics. Aside from the two fan groups who persisted and continued to criticize her, everyone else had left.
Xu Gui continued sunbathing until sunset. During this time, several people came and went, including a garbage collector.
What these people had in common was that each of them couldn't help but glance at Xu Gui a few times. After all, they'd seen plenty of people sunbathing in the park, but they'd almost never seen someone sunbathing while being filmed by someone carrying a camera.
Viewers in the live stream even heard a young man mutter, "What's this? Is this some kind of new generation of abstract artists?"
The viewers in the live stream: ...Suddenly, they felt incredibly embarrassed.
Now, several of Xu Gui's few remaining casual viewers had left, leaving only a few who refused to believe it, clinging to the thought, "Let's see what other tricks you can pull."
Xu Gui's filming, initially maintaining a professional posture, gradually changed from sitting down on the ground to setting up the camera and filming himself while lying on the floor, head tilted to one side, seemingly asleep.
Just then, as the sun was about to set, a voice suddenly came from the other side.
"...Think carefully, did you really throw your bag in this trash can over there?" Accompanied by a woman's anxious and angry voice, two figures, one large and one small, appeared in front of Xu Gui and his companions.
It appeared to be a mother and son. The mother's face was dark and anxious, while the son's face was long and tearful.
As they approached, the son pointed to the trash can Xu Gui had previously searched and said, "I threw it here..."
The woman quickly walked to the trash can and said, "We've already searched several trash cans. If we still can't find that bag this time, see if your dad will beat you to death when we get home!"
Xu Gui's live stream had been quiet for too long; many viewers had forgotten they were still streaming. Hearing the noise, they all exclaimed: "[What happened? Let me see! Let me see!]"
Xu Gui, who had been sunbathing, finally "woke up."
She groggily opened her eyes, and under the precise camera lens, it seemed there was still a speck of sleep in the corner of her eye. Viewers who saw this were furious. One commented: "[This person was definitely asleep just now. That means she slept here all day? Is that even possible?]"
XuGui yawned. She watched the woman roll up her sleeves, preparing to rummage through the trash can. Grabbing her bag from the side, she called out wearily, "Sister, is this the bag you're looking for?"
The woman, already near the trash can, turned instinctively at the call. When she saw the bag in Xu Gui's hand, her eyes widened.
The next second, the woman rushed to Xu Gui, her gaze fixed intently on the bag, her breathing rapid.
"Where did you find this?" the woman asked Xu Gui.
Xu Gui pointed to a trash can not far away and said, "It's in that trash can. This bag is yours, isn't it?"
Upon hearing this, the woman first took a breath, and then exhaled a long breath.
She squatted down in front of Xu Gui, as if her legs were weak. She remained squatting on the ground for several seconds before looking up at Xu Gui, her expression full of gratitude.
"Thank you, this bag is indeed mine!" she said.
Xu Gui handed her the bag: "Here, take it."
Just as the woman was about to take the bag, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and grabbed the bag. Xu Gui looked up in confusion and saw that it was her paparazzi.
"Teacher Xu, how can you be sure what this lady is saying is true or false?" the paparazzi asked seriously. "What if she's lying to you?"
Xu Gui: "...Uh, I think, such a tattered bag, besides its owner, probably no one would want it, right?"
The paparazzi subconsciously glanced down at the bag he was holding, and chuckled dryly: It seems, perhaps, maybe, probably, that's really the case... But!
"Just to be on the safe side, why don't you ask her what's in the bag?" the paparazzi suggested.
Xu Gui looked at the woman, who hurriedly nodded and said, "That's indeed the case, but this bag really is mine. There are ten pounds of gold inside, gold bars, jewelry, and all sorts of gold products!"
The paparazzi's expression remained calm until he heard the number the woman mentioned, and his expression gradually became uneasy.
"Ten...ten jin?" The cameraman stammered, swallowing hard, and asked incredulously, "And it's gold?"
The woman nodded shyly, saying, "It's all what my husband and I have saved up over the years. We don't have any other hobbies, we just like buying gold. We've been saving for over ten years, and this is all we have... If you don't believe me, you can open it and see, this really is my bag!"
The cameraman was flattered: "Can...can we open it and see?"
Meanwhile, in Xu Gui's live stream: [!!! Ten jin of gold? Let me see it, let me see it! I want to see it too!] The
woman nodded and said, "You'll see when you open it. This bag really is mine. I'm not lying."
"I'm live-streaming here," Xu Gui suddenly said, pointing to the still-running machine and asking the woman, "Isn't it okay? If someone sees so much gold in your house, won't thieves break in?"
The woman paused, glanced at the recording machine, and thought for a moment before saying, "It's alright. Anyway, we're going to sell this gold soon… My elderly relative is ill, and this gold is for their surgery."
"Besides," the woman smiled, "doing this will bring you some traffic, right?"
Clearly, the woman wanted to use this opportunity to thank Xu Gui, but Xu Gui's expression didn't change. Instead, she said, "You don't need to thank me like that. I didn't help for free. If you want your bag back, it's only fair that you pay me a certain amount, isn't it?"
The woman's expression became somewhat strained, but she still said, "You have a point. So, how much do you want?"
Xu Gui held out her palm. "This amount!"
The woman hesitated, looking at her, and said, "This is… 500,000?"
The woman thought: If it's 500,000, it's not unacceptable.
Then, she heard Xu Gui clearly and distinctly say, "Five hundred yuan!"
The woman, who had already prepared herself for a hefty sum: "…"
The people filming and the viewers in the live stream, who also thought Xu Gui would ask for an exorbitant amount: "…" At this moment
, looking at Xu Gui, everyone had only one thought in their minds: It's only five hundred yuan… You should have said so earlier! With this attitude, I thought you wanted five million!