Li Yueyao quickly styled Nuan Nuan's hair into a pretty bun. After finishing, Li Yueyao bent down and dotingly patted Nuan Nuan's small head.
Ye Jingxing touched his nose guiltily, looking at the neat hairstyle. But seeing Li Yueyao's action, he strode forward and separated Nuan Nuan from her.
"Thank you."
"There's no need to be polite, Mr. Ye. Girls should be pretty, right Nuan Nuan?" Li Yueyao winked playfully at Nuan Nuan behind him.
"Mhm, mhm." Nuan Nuan pretended to be well-behaved and nodded.
"Alright, I have something to announce!" The director took out a megaphone, ready to announce today's task.
"Everyone will go to the county town together today. We will thoughtfully give each family 20 yuan in living expenses. This living expense will cover your spending for the day, including three meals."
"20 yuan a day?" Zhuo Fan's mouth gaped in surprise.
"Yes, today's theme is 'A Day of Hard Work.' Our little ones will work with their parents in the county town. At the end of the day, we will see whose family has earned the most."
"Director, child labor is illegal!" Ye Jingxing reminded him.
"So, you will be working, and the little ones will watch from the side! The 20 yuan is the initial capital. The group that earns the most by 5 PM will receive a luxurious dinner from the production team."
"Special reminder: Using your fame to make money, such as trading signatures for photos or leveraging your popularity, is invalid."
Upon hearing the words "luxurious dinner," everyone's hearts fluttered with excitement.
Although Nuan Nuan and her group had meat yesterday, they had to share a plate later.
The three male stars were not people who usually maintained their figures by dieting, so their appetites were already large. Moreover, two of them had exercised for half the afternoon, so a small pot of porridge was far from enough.
At this moment, everyone was eager to win the luxurious dinner.
"Please get in the car now, we're heading to the county town."
"Director, you're not even providing breakfast?" Zhuo Fan protested from inside the car.
"You are responsible for all three meals. We haven't eaten either."
"You're lying. I can already smell the meat buns and soy milk in the car," Zhuo Fan said with a look of disbelief.
"My goodness, is Brother Fan a dog? He can smell meat buns, and he can even smell soy milk."
"It's clear that Brother Fan didn't eat enough last night."
"20 yuan for one adult and one child to get through the day."
"You've already smelled it, what can you do even if you smell it?" the director said fearlessly.
Soon, the vehicles entered the county town. S County was just a small third-tier city, with not much foot traffic.
The eight of them got out of the car one by one and stood in front of the square on the pedestrian street, looking lost. It was morning, and there weren't many young people around. It was mostly elderly folks peeking at them curiously.
"What should we do?" Fang Zhongwen rubbed his forehead, completely lost for ideas.
"How about our four families cooperate? We can split the earnings equally. That way, everyone gets a luxurious dinner," Li Yueyao suggested, stepping forward.
"Do you think the director will let everyone earn the same amount of money in the end?" Ye Jingxing interrupted her, wanting nothing more than to get away from this woman.
"Right! The director wants us to compete, and even if we cooperate, what can we do? Even combined, it's only eighty yuan, and we still need to eat," Fang Zhongwen added.
"Dad, I'm hungry. I want a meat bun." Fang Lei, having smelled the meat buns in the car, had been hungry all the way.
"Eat my meat! We don't have meat buns, but we have mantou. Hey? What if I use this 20 yuan to buy mantou, and we two get by for the day!" Fang Zhongwen slapped his forehead, thinking it was a viable plan.
Fang Lei looked at him incredulously, as if to say: You can't possibly be serious, Dad!
"Hahahaha, I'm liking the Fang Zhongwen father-son pair more and more."
"Me too, buying 20 yuan worth of mantou for a whole day."
"Looking at Fang Lei's expression, I'm going to make it into a meme."
"Bro, send me a copy."
"Let's split up. Everyone, it's time to show our true colors today!" Zhuo Fan cupped his hands towards everyone with a theatrical flourish.
"Mr. Ye, why don't our two families cooperate? You can take the lion's share," Li Yueyao still wasn't giving up, continuing her proposal.
"Sorry, we are in a competitive relationship." With that, he picked up Nuan Nuan and quickly walked away.
Li Yueyao bit her lip unwillingly, looked down at Li Xinyue with annoyance, but couldn't lash out at her.
"Xinyue, let's go too! Stay close to Auntie," Li Yueyao said gently to her niece at her feet.
"Hmph~ Hypocrite." Li Xinyue had long been fed up with Li Yueyao's two-faced nature. Being a child, she didn't understand pretense and said it directly.
Li Yueyao was extremely embarrassed by Li Xinyue's behavior. She stood there for a while before composing herself.
Meanwhile, Ye Jingxing, wearing sunglasses and holding Nuan Nuan's hand, strolled leisurely, looking around and thinking about what to do.
"Fourth Uncle, what are we going to do?" Nuan Nuan couldn't stand seeing Ye Jingxing wandering aimlessly.
"Nuan Nuan, Fourth Uncle needs to find a way to earn some money, otherwise, Nuan Nuan will go hungry today."
Ye Jingxing wasn't aiming to win, but he couldn't let Nuan Nuan go hungry today! 20 yuan wouldn't even be enough for Nuan Nuan if he went without eating for a day.
"Is Nuan Nuan hungry? I'll buy you buns later."
"Fourth Uncle." Nuan Nuan held back Ye Jingxing, who was about to leave.
"Does Fourth Uncle not have money? Nuan Nuan does!"
Saying this, she took off her small bag, the same one from yesterday. From the innermost small pocket, she took out five hundred yuan. This was money Nuan Nuan had taken from a red envelope given to her by Ye Jingchen.
Ye Jingxing looked at the five hundred yuan in Nuan Nuan's hand, a little stunned.
"Nuan Nuan, why did you bring money?"
"Of course, you have to bring money when you go out! Fourth Uncle, are you silly?" Nuan Nuan looked at him strangely.
"Then why didn't you take it out yesterday?"
"Fourth Uncle, Daddy said not to put all your eggs in one basket. If Nuan Nuan took it out yesterday, wouldn't Uncle Director know?"
"This is too much! What else is in her bag? Go and confiscate her money. What's the point of playing now!" the director exclaimed excitedly, slamming the table behind the scenes.
"My heavens! Nuan Nuan's schoolbag is like a treasure bag!"
"I think the director is about to spit blood right now."
"Nuan Nuan is too smart! She even knows not to put all her eggs in one basket. Uncle Ye's parenting is impeccable!"
"The most crucial thing is that she didn't reveal it all day yesterday."
"Nuan Nuan must have seen the director collecting money yesterday, so she held back all day yesterday without showing her wealth."
"I just want to see the director's expression."
"Me too..."
The director had already fainted from anger in the restroom.
"Nuan Nuan, you're amazing!" Ye Jingxing happily picked Nuan Nuan up and spun her around.
"Let Fourth Uncle see what else is in your schoolbag?" Ye Jingxing put Nuan Nuan down, also curious about her bag.
"Fourth Uncle, this is Nuan Nuan's privacy, you can't look." She tightly covered her bag with her small hands, afraid someone would take it.
"You know about privacy?" Ye Jingxing tickled her little nose.
"Alright, Fourth Uncle won't look. Then Nuan Nuan, let's go eat something delicious."
It felt so good to have money. Just moments ago, he was calculating how to spend the 20 yuan frugally. Now, with an extra five hundred, he felt instantly wealthy.
Young Master Ye Si had never felt that five hundred yuan was so much money.