Chapter 34: Four Hundred Yuan Short

Viewers commented that the interaction between Li Wanbai and Quan Hao was easygoing and natural, and Li Wanbai herself felt the same way. She had been anxious before, worried that Quan Hao would come looking for trouble, but it turned out this revered figure was much easier to talk to than she had imagined, and he never brought up the confession at all.

After finishing his meal at the construction site, he went right back to work. He only stopped when the production team announced the end of the task and started calculating wages.

Quan Hao was drenched in sweat, and Li Wanbai quietly handed him a few tissues. Without even looking, Quan Hao waved her off and grabbed some tissues from the production team’s vehicle, roughly wiped his face, and asked, “I worked for five hours. How much will I get?”

One of the staff looked at the report sent by the director’s team. “Quan Hao, you have five hundred yuan.”

“And me?” Li Wanbai seized the opportunity to ask.

“Li Wanbai, you have two hundred and fifty yuan.”

Anyone who completed the task would get two hundred yuan, with extra given depending on performance. Quan Hao was the exception; he had chosen to extend his work hours and earned an additional three hundred.

Li Wanbai did a quick calculation. She hadn’t done much that afternoon—helped out in the kitchen, chopped and washed vegetables, but the technical jobs like stir-frying were beyond her skill. Helping to plate dishes was a bit tiring, but two hundred and fifty was more than she’d expected.

Still, she couldn’t be satisfied. This was a collective game, and just as Quan Hao had extended his shift to help the others, she felt she should contribute to the group as well.

Li Wanbai laughed, “Two hundred fifty? Is the production team trying to insult me?”

[Here we go again. She just happened to earn two-fifty, can she stop being so dramatic? The production team wouldn't target a minor celebrity.]

[Don’t be so hateful. I don’t care much for LWB either, but those three words don’t fit her at all!]

[Her acting may be lacking, but her looks and figure have made waves in the fashion world. Every time she walks the red carpet, she dominates the trending charts! Calling her a minor star is just spiteful.]

[Does being a popular celebrity mean she can bully the production team? Ye Xiruo’s popularity isn’t much less than hers, but I’ve never seen her clash with the crew.]

[Forget it, Ye Xiruo isn’t much better. When will Sunbeam Entertainment finally nurture a real actress, instead of these embarrassing routines?]

[It’s normal—who doesn’t want to earn a bit more?]

[I just think Li Wanbai is being too much. The production team already pays well. How much did she actually do?]

Quan Hao and the production team exchanged puzzled looks, unclear about the point of Li Wanbai’s sudden outburst.

Li Wanbai rubbed her hands together, beaming, “Two-fifty is such an ugly number. Add fifty more, please!”

After saying this, she nudged Quan Hao’s arm, lowering her voice, “Fifty more, and you can buy more tissues. Deal?”

Quan Hao cleared his throat and put on a serious face. “Exactly, two-fifty is an insult. Li Wanbai is one of the rare female guests on our show—the production team shouldn’t treat her like this!”

[All this for a few packs of tissues?]

[Hahaha! I’m rolling on the floor. I thought Li Wanbai had big ambitions, but it’s just for a few packs of tissues?]

[Seriously, fifty yuan can do a lot.]

Under the pressure from Li Wanbai and Quan Hao, the production team agreed to give her three hundred.

Meanwhile, Yu Baichuan made a similar decision. Quan Hao extended his hours at the construction site, whereas Yu Baichuan took on multiple roles—he was a music teacher at the neighboring elementary school, also filled in as art teacher, and even substituted for a PE class, earning five hundred yuan as well.

Li Wanbai counted on her fingers in the car: Quan Hao five hundred, Yu Baichuan five hundred, herself three hundred—that’s already thirteen hundred. Three people remained; even if they just completed the basic task, they’d each earn two hundred, totaling six hundred. The grand total would be nineteen hundred.

Nineteen hundred, six people, three days—it sounded tough, but with some thrift, maybe they could pull off a miracle.

She hadn’t expected, however, that upon returning to the villa, she’d receive a shocking blow.

Their six-person survival fund for three days was fifteen hundred, four hundred less than her estimate!

“What happened?” Li Wanbai asked, perplexed. “Did the production team cut wages?”

At her words, the cameraman and other staff broke out in dramatic fits of coughing.

Don’t blame us!

[I suddenly find Li Wanbai hilarious. I never noticed she was funny before.]

[Is every beauty doomed to become a comedienne? I refuse—beautiful sisters should remain goddesses. How do they become so down-to-earth the moment they speak?]

[It’s over, everyone. Am I really beyond saving? I genuinely like Li Wanbai now—what do I do?]

[I remember she used to be arrogant on variety shows, looking down on everyone. Now she’s so normal on this show.]

[Why else? All the other guests outrank her. She used to stand tall among the short, but facing Yu Baichuan and Quan Hao, let’s see her try to act superior! She’s lucky not to be torn apart by their fans.]

[Being afraid of Quan Hao’s fans is possible, but honestly, when has Li Wanbai ever feared Yu Baichuan’s fans? She rose to fame from their criticism!]

[Here’s a joke: Li Wanbai is afraid of Yu Baichuan’s fans.]

[It’s hilarious. Everyone knows how devastating Yu Baichuan’s fans can be, but Li Wanbai handles them with flair.]

[Thank you, I feel thoroughly mocked.]

[Whatever. If Yu Baichuan is happy, no one else’s suffering matters. At first, I thought Yu Baichuan being with such a woman wasn’t worth it. He’s faced countless scandals because of her—he even halted filming for a drama to deal with trouble she caused. But now, it’s clear they’re both willing participants. As long as they’re happy, that’s enough.]

[Yu Baichuan, please be happy.]

[…]

If Yu Baichuan wasn’t happy, no one else was either. Everyone sat around the grand dining room, staring at fifteen crisp hundred-yuan bills, lost in deep thought.

Yu Baichuan cleared his throat and said calmly, “Let’s check the accounts. What happened?”

Teacher Wang was older, and during filming suffered a herniated disc. Unable to bear the pain, he withdrew, completing no tasks and earning nothing.

The problem was that Ye Xiruo and Ma Xu, both young and strong, each earned only one hundred yuan.

That meant they didn’t even get the basic two hundred guaranteed for completing the task.

Quan Hao sneered, “Don’t tell me you two didn’t finish the task!”

Ye Xiruo lowered her gaze, looking pitiful. “Sorry, it’s my fault. I accidentally broke a flowerpot…”

Well, nothing more needed to be said. Ye Xiruo’s clumsy mistake led the director’s team to negotiate with the shop owner, resulting in a hundred yuan deduction as punishment—fair enough.

Although Li Wanbai didn’t think highly of Ye Xiruo, she had to be fair. Suddenly doing unfamiliar tasks could easily lead to mistakes.

Logically, Li Wanbai could understand Ye Xiruo.

But sometimes, reason alone isn’t enough to convince everyone.