How did hiring someone to press a pig image during Chinese New Year become a top trend?

"that……"

Xu An glanced at Director Wang, who was staring at him with a "kind" expression, and felt a chill run down his spine.

I glanced at my phone screen again.

The comments section was still refreshing rapidly, showing no sign of stopping.

[ID didn't get the meat]: Blogger, don't go! Let's chat for another five yuan!

[ID Electronics Factory Flower]: Exactly! I'd love to watch you peel corn even if you were doing it!

[ID Wants to Marry into Xujia Village]: Who just said three million is nothing? Step forward and take a few steps!

Xu An shrank his neck.

He was truly too tired to continue the conversation.

These past few days, even in his dreams, he feels like thousands of eyes are staring at him.

That feeling was even more terrifying than being watched by the school's dean of students.

"Dear family members."

"Um... the director just told me."

"Although this phone is an extraordinary device, it is not powered by a nuclear reactor."

"I see the battery level has turned red."

"Besides, I also need to go and till the land at my second uncle's house, so it's inconvenient to carry this valuable thing with me."

"That's enough for today."

"Everyone, go home. Go to work if you need to, or slack off if you need to."

Done.

There was no time for netizens to react at all.

Xu An's hand, which was trembling slightly from peeling corn, pressed "End Live Stream" with the speed of someone who had been single for 23 years.

The screen went black.

The world is quiet now.

"call--"

Xu An slumped down on the small stool.

He let out a long sigh of relief.

It looked as if a two-thousand-pound fat pig had just been unloaded.

He shoved the expensive phone into his pocket and habitually put his hands back into his sleeves.

That feeling of being wrapped in cotton is what gives me a sense of security.

Wang Xingbang chuckled at his expression.

"What?"

"Many top internet celebrities would love to get this kind of traffic but can't."

"You're acting like you're avoiding a plague."

Xu An gave a wry smile.

"Chief, please stop teasing me."

"I would be so happy if I could exchange this data for sweet potatoes."

"But if it were millions of living people... I really couldn't handle it."

Wang Xingbang took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, tossed one to Xu An, and lit one for himself.

"Alright, enough joking around."

"Let's get down to business."

"That was in front of netizens, so I can't go into details."

"About the three million."

Upon hearing the number, Xu An wiggled his butt on the stool.

It looks like it has nails stuck in it.

"Director, I was serious about what I said earlier about building roads and air-raid shelters."

"I have to pay for this."

I won't feel at ease if I don't go out.

Wang Xingbang waved his hand and exhaled a puff of smoke.

"It's good that you have this intention."

"but."

"Road construction falls under the category of infrastructure."

"The road that was repaired overnight was an emergency measure; it wasn't paved thickly or wide enough."

"Secretary Li of the County Party Committee has already given his instructions."

"Now that Xujia Village has become a popular tourist destination, we should also build a base for the Academy of Agricultural Sciences."

"Then this is not a village road, but a road for national defense and a road to prosperity."

"The county transportation bureau has already approved the project, and it will be built to the standards of a Class III highway."

"Fully funded by government appropriations."

Xu An was stunned.

"what?"

"Then what about my money...?"

Wang Xingbang continued.

"And that air-raid shelter."

"That's a unique historical site, and now it also has tourism value."

"The Culture and Tourism Bureau has also approved special funds, which are for cultural relic protection."

"You don't need to pay."

"As for doing scientific research for Academician Zhang..."

Wang Xingbang smiled and patted Xu An on the shoulder.

"You little brat, do you look down on the country?"

"National-level scientific research projects receive funding in the hundreds of millions."

"With this little money, you can only buy two pounds of tea for the academician."

"If we really have to make ordinary people pay for scientific research, then what's the point of having us officials?"

"Don't you have any shame?"

Xu An opened his mouth wide.

He even forgot to smoke the cigarette in his hand.

So...

His own grand and moving words just now...

Is it all just wishful thinking?

The road doesn't need repairing.

We don't need to worry about the hole.

Scientific research doesn't require payment.

So, this three million...

Is it still in your own pocket?

The money in Xu An's account became incredibly hot.

"Chief..."

Xu An's voice was trembling with tears.

"This won't do."

"I'm afraid of being robbed if I have so much money in my hand."

"Besides, the whole village is watching, including Brother Da Biao and the others."

"If I pocketed all the money, wouldn't people gossip about me behind my back?"

Wang Xingbang looked at Xu An's face, which seemed to say, "I have money, but I'm in pain."

If it were someone else, Wang Xingbang would definitely think this person was in Versailles.

But he looked into Xu An's clear yet terrified eyes.

he knows.

This child is genuinely scared.

The poor suddenly become rich.

Some people are excited, some are panicked.

Xu An is the latter.

"So what are you planning to do?"

Wang Xingbang looked at him with great interest.

"We can't just scatter money on the street, can we?"

Xu An pulled his hand out of his sleeve and scratched his messy hair.

His gaze swept around the courtyard.

He looked at his own few dilapidated mud-brick houses.

"Build a house!"

"Yes, let's demolish this house first and build a two-story building."

"The kind with heating and a flush toilet."

"We also need to get Grandpa a big bathtub, with a massage function."

Wang Xingbang nodded.

"This is a serious matter."

"However, building a house in the countryside will only cost a maximum of three or four hundred thousand yuan."

"There are still more than 2.6 million left."

Xu An got stuck again.

Yes.

This is the countryside.

Low prices mean low desires.

As long as you don't gamble or do drugs, you can live on that three million for the rest of your life.

Xu An turned his head away in despair.

Look out over the courtyard wall.

The winter sun is warm.

Grandma San and several other elderly women were still sitting under the wall, basking in the sun.

They held the leftover cold fried dough sticks from last night in their hands, chewing them bit by bit.

There were several chipped teacups next to it.

This is their day.

They sat there from dawn till dusk.

Waiting for the New Year, waiting for the children to come home, or waiting... for that day to arrive.

Something suddenly struck Xu An's heart.

sour.

"Chief."

Xu An pointed to the group of elderly people.

"Look at them."

Wang Xingbang looked in the direction the finger was pointing.

His brow furrowed slightly.

This is the norm in hollowed-out villages, and it's a major concern for him, the local official.

"I saw it."

"What's wrong?"

Xu An took a deep breath.

"Last night during the banquet, I saw my third grandmother secretly put a piece of braised pork into her pocket."

She said she wanted to save it for today.

"This meat is cold, and it's all lard. Eating it will give you an upset stomach."

"And they're older, so cooking is too much of a hassle for them."

"I often have a pot of porridge in the morning, and I drink it all day."

Xu An's eyes suddenly lit up.

It was no longer that kind of fear.

It was more of an excitement at finding an outlet.

"Chief."

"I want to build a... canteen in the village."

"It's not really called a cafeteria, it's more like one of those... senior activity centers in the city?"

"Build a few large, spacious brick houses."

"With air conditioning and underfloor heating installed, it will be warm and cozy even in the dead of winter."

"I'll buy one of those really big TVs, the kind that can play operas."

"We hired two capable cooks to prepare three meals a day for the elderly in the village."

"There's meat, eggs, and hot soup."

"It's lively with everyone gathering together to eat."

"They don't need to pay anything, it's all on me."

Xu An spoke more and more fluently.

The images in my mind became clearer and clearer.

I can almost see my grandpa and third grandma sitting in the heated room, eating hot stewed noodles while watching Henan opera.

"These three million."

"If it's just meals provided."

"That should be enough to feed all the elderly people in the village for over ten years, right?"

Xu An turned to look at Wang Xingbang.

His eyes sparkled.

"Chief, is this... even feasible?"

The cigarette in Wang Xingbang's hand burned down to his fingers.

But he didn't feel any pain.

He looked at the young man in front of him wearing a tattered military overcoat.

My heart was in turmoil.

This is hardly a cafeteria.

This is the "rural mutual assistance elderly care model" that the country is now vigorously promoting!

Many places wanted to develop it, but it was shelved because they lacked money, land, and manpower.

That kid.

He actually thought he could do this all by himself?

"Xiao An."

Wang Xingbang threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out hard.

Do you know?

"Once this starts, it's a bottomless pit."

"Building a house is easy, but the labor, water, electricity, grocery shopping, etc., are all the problems later on..."

"That's an expense that will last a long time."

Xu An grinned.

He had a particularly silly smile.

"I know."

"But as long as I still have that money, I can manage."

"We'll see."

"What if we run out of money later?"

"Don't I still have over a million followers?"

"I livestream myself peeling corn and cooking for the elderly."

"Netizens are kind-hearted."

"If everyone gives a dollar or two, the fire at the bottom of the pot won't go out."

Wang Xingbang stared at Xu An for a full ten seconds.

Sudden.

This man, who was almost fifty years old, suddenly slapped his thigh.

"middle!"

"That's a fucking hit!"

"I did that too!"

Wang Xingbang stood up, and the imposing manner he used to command the county government compound returned.

"However, we can't let you pay for everything yourself."

"The county civil affairs bureau already has a special subsidy for this."

"There are also these mutual aid elderly care centers, which are supported by policies."

"The village collective will provide the land, and the county will cover the majority of the cost of building the house!"

"I'll go begging for donations, I'll find charitable companies to donate the equipment!"

"Keep this three million as operating capital to improve the meals for the elderly!"

Upon hearing that the government would have to pay again, Xu An instinctively wanted to refuse.

"No, no, no, Chief, I have money..."

"You've got money my ass!"

Wang Xingbang interrupted him directly.

"Listen to me on this!"

"This is both a public matter and a good deed."

"If you cover everything, then you're a philanthropist."

"But when the government gets involved, it's called a public welfare project!"

"We'll see."

"I also want my third grandmother and the others to be able to eat a hot meal provided by the government!"

this sentence.

Xu An was left speechless.

He looked into Wang Xingbang's determined eyes.

I could only nod.

"That...that's fine."

"I'll do as you say."

"Anything is fine as long as Grandpa and the others are comfortable."

Wang Xingbang smiled.

He reached out his large hand and firmly grasped Xu An's calloused hand.

"Alright."

"Now that it's settled, I need to go back and get more people."

"People from the design institute and the civil affairs bureau all need to be brought in for a meeting."

"You little brat."

"Just stay home and enjoy peeling your corn."

"The construction team will be on site in a few days!"

Done.

Wang Xingbang is also a decisive and efficient person.

Turn around and walk out.

They stopped at the doorway.

He glanced back at Xu An, who was still sitting on the small stool.

"Xu An".

"Um?"

"Your grandfather is right."

"You're a good kid...".

Wang Xingbang strode away.

The SUV kicked up a cloud of dust and disappeared around the corner at the village entrance.

The courtyard returned to quiet.

The two crows started cawing again.

"Croak—croak—"

Xu An picked up an ear of corn again.

"Splash—"

Golden corn kernels slipped through my fingers.

It fell into that bamboo basket.

Xu An's heart.

This time I feel completely at ease.

The money has found a place to go.

Grandpa has found a place to stay.

The elderly in the village now have something to look forward to.

This feeling is better than any extraordinary master or a million fans.

Everything should make people feel good.

"Master."

Xu An called out.

Grandpa was squatting behind the millstone, using a broken brush to comb the donkey's hair.

"What?"

"You heard what I just said to the bureau chief, didn't you?"

Grandpa didn't even look up.

"Your ears aren't deaf, you heard it."

"So, what do you think... I'd like to build that cafeteria, is that alright?"

Grandpa stopped what he was doing.

I tapped the brush against the sole of the shoe.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Back in the days of the collective farming system, didn't the whole village eat from the same pot?"

"Back then we were poor, and we ate sweet potato soup."

"Now it's all right."

"We can finally eat meat."

Grandpa turned around and looked at Xu An.

On that wrinkled face, a smile appeared that was the most relaxed he had shown in the past few days.

"My dear grandson."

"This was handled very well."

"It's even more genuine than the thousand dollars your dad sent me back then."

Xu An grinned.

He smiled like a child who had received a red flower.

He lowered his head and continued rubbing the corn in his hands.

But I remembered what my grandfather had said yesterday.

"This Xu Family Village is too small; it can't hold your feet."

"We need to go see a bigger world."

Xu An looked at the plump corn kernel in his hand.

He thought to himself:

Once the cafeteria is built...

When Grandpa has someone to take care of him.

Once this road is repaired...

perhaps.

I should pack my bags too.

Go and see the world beyond those mountains.

Let's go see the laboratory that Academician Zhang mentioned.

Let's go check out the river-view room where Lin Zixuan is staying.

Go take a look...

The places my parents walked through back then.

But now.

We need to finish peeling this basket of corn first.

Otherwise, there won't be any firewood to cook dinner.

"Splash—splash—"

That sound.

In the warm winter sun.

It sounds exceptionally good.

......

And just now, at the very moment the live stream screen went black...

It's like the climax of a musical piece being played, only to have the power plug pulled out.

That feeling of emptiness that comes with an abrupt end.

Following that invisible network cable, it instantly spread to countless mobile phone screens thousands of kilometers away.

Netizens were stunned.

Everyone stared at the dark screen, at the cold, impersonal message: "The streamer has ended the live broadcast."

I was stunned for a full half minute.

"Holy crap?"

"That's it?"

"I just took out the sunflower seeds, and I haven't even cracked the first one yet!"

"He didn't even say 'See you tomorrow, family'?"

"What kind of hand speed is that? How many years of being single does it take to type that fast?"

After a brief silence.

Xu An's list of works, which only contained a few short videos, was completely overwhelmed.

The data in the comments section is refreshing at an alarming rate.

Each refresh adds thousands more comments.

[ID: Champion of Staying Up All Night]: I've called the police! I'm going to call the police! Is there anyone going to do anything about streamers who kill streamers but don't care about their consequences? They tricked me into crying, and then turned around and gave me a black screen?

[ID Electronics Factory Flower]: Waaaaah, I still want to see him peel corn. That sound is so relaxing, better than any ASMR I've ever heard. Can he finish peeling that whole basket before he leaves?

[ID: Human Sober]: You don't understand, this is the real Xu An. He was preparing to spend all three million, he must have been panicking. He ran away so fast, he must have gone to cry in bed.

[ID Psychological Analyst]: The comment above is superficial. This abrupt ending is a form of blank space! It's an art! It's telling us that after the hustle and bustle fades, we will eventually return to tranquility. It's using this method to teach us how to be alone!

[ID: Xujiacun Spirit Villager]: Stop analyzing! I think he just really needs to use the restroom!

[The leg hair of the number one ID on the leaderboard]: Brothers, let's disperse. I took a screenshot of that last look in his eyes. It was so clear, so clear that it made me feel like an ordinary person.

That night.

The trending topics list on Douyin was completely dominated by it.

#Xu An spent three million# Breaking news

#FastestStreamEndingRecordOnTheEntireInternet# Boiling

#TheSoundOfPeelingCorn# Hot

#Xujiacun Elderly Care Canteen# New

Countless people lay in bed, scrolling through these keywords and looking at screenshots shared by netizens.

Some people started laughing as they watched.

Some people cried while watching it.

Some people, while watching, quietly transferred the money they originally intended to use to buy designer bags into their "personal pension accounts".