After Divorcing the Scummy Alpha Movie Queen, I Became Extremely Popular - Chapter 23

Tan Jizhu Wouldn’t Be Coming to Pick a Fight With Us, Would He?

Seeing Luo Jingyun hang up the phone, Park Soo-ah pretended to be completely unaware and asked, “Jingyun, how is it? What did your mothers say?”

“They said those marketing accounts have already started deleting the smear posts because someone contacted them in advance. Soo-ah, who do you think would be kind enough to help me delete them?”

Park Soo-ah was also confused. “Maybe… maybe it’s one of your powerful fans.”

“That makes sense,” Luo Jingyun nodded instinctively. Aside from that, there wasn’t a better answer.

…

The night passed, and the program continued recording.

The weather had been quite hot these past few days—not a cloud in the sky, with the sun scorching the earth. Walking on the dirt roads in the countryside felt like being roasted. It was only at night that one could feel a hint of autumn coolness.

The task of picking apples had come to an end, and next up was planting wheat. In the apple orchard, there were at least apple trees to provide some shade, but the wheat fields were vast, open lands with absolutely nowhere to hide from the sun. Consequently, Luo Jingyun came fully prepared. Before coming out, she not only applied sunscreen but also wore the bamboo hat she had borrowed from a villager as if it were welded to her head.

Once everyone had arrived, Liu Yuqi, acting as the background voice, began to speak: “After a week of apple picking, I believe everyone has experienced the happiness of the harvest. However, without cultivation, there is no harvest. Therefore, our next task is to help the villagers plant winter wheat.”

“In autumn, we sow the seeds into the earth. After waiting through the entire winter, we will harvest bountiful results in the spring of the following year! The low temperatures of winter are an ordeal for seeds that have not yet matured, but only after enduring trials will the fruit become even sweeter.”

“Now, we invite our guests to cultivate personally.” Liu Yuqi emphasized, “Note that ‘personally’ cultivating means you are not allowed to rely on any external force—for example, neither plowing oxen nor machinery may be used. You must rely entirely on your own strength to turn the soil.”

Hearing this, Luo Jingyun looked as if she couldn’t believe her ears. “What on earth? Turning the soil ourselves? I’m too lazy to even turn the soil for the flowers and plants at home, and now you’re making me turn the earth personally without any machinery?”

Park Soo-ah was also shocked. She comforted Luo Jingyun, “Maybe they just want us to experience it, like turning just a few square meters.”

As if overhearing their discussion, Liu Yuqi said, “I believe everyone wants to know the area we are cultivating. The answer is thirteen fen of land. Why this number? Because one mu equals ten fen, which means you will all work together to cultivate one mu and three fen of land. In ancient times, to pray for favorable weather, emperors would personally cultivate one mu and three fen of land. Therefore, we chose this area to let everyone experience the feeling of being an emperor.”

Luo Jingyun quietly took out her phone to search. “My god, one mu and three fen is over 860 square meters. That’s almost as big as one floor of my house! That’s way too big.”

“…” Park Soo-ah struggled to maintain her smile. “That is indeed quite large. But it’s a collaboration; let’s work hard together.”

Luo Jingyun wanted to complain further, but she sensed a gaze staring at her. Looking back, she found that the gaze came from Tan Jizhu, who was standing not far away.

Heh, with that expression, he was definitely going to mock her again. She could already imagine the words: “Luo Jingyun, don’t bother planting this one mu and three fen; go back to the one mu and three fen of your own home and be an emperor there.”

Thinking of this, Luo Jingyun suppressed her complaints and said to Park Soo-ah, “Don’t worry, our team will definitely be the best!”

“Everyone, work hard! This time we are competing for speed. The fastest group will receive a reward!” After Liu Yuqi finished speaking, she arranged for villagers to come over and guide them on how to cultivate.

Seemingly considering that the previous dialect issue had caused the guests to not understand much, the program team specifically invited someone with standard Mandarin to spread the knowledge.

The program team introduced everyone: “This Teacher Peng is a native of Tongxi Village. Through his own unremitting efforts, he got into university. After graduating, he did not stay in the big city but decided to return to give back to the village that raised him. He is now a teacher at Tongxi School. Later, the guests will follow the teacher to conduct a unique teaching session for the students of Tongxi Primary School.”

Teacher Peng spoke in clear Mandarin, explaining calmly, “The land is the greatest wealth given to us by nature. Only by following nature can we gain a harvest. Harvesting plump wheat from the land mainly involves the following three steps. First is turning the soil.”

“Not every piece of land is suitable for cultivation, but since the land in Tongxi Village is cultivated every year, you don’t have to worry about encountering hard soil that is difficult to plant. However, after a year, the soil has become quite compacted. You need to turn the earth until it is soft and breathable. If there are hard clods of earth, you need to break them manually. If there are root residues from the previous season’s crops, you also need to clear them out.”

“Because we are planting winter wheat this time, sown in autumn or winter and harvested the following summer, it means the crop will endure an entire winter. To prevent the seeds from freezing, the soil needs to be turned to a depth of five centimeters to ensure the seeds can survive the winter.”

“The second step is seed dressing. To prevent the seeds from being attacked by pests, they need to be mixed with pesticide.”

“The third step is sowing. As the name suggests, this involves scattering the seeds and then lightly burying them with soil.”

“The latter two steps aren’t very difficult; the main challenge is the first step. Now, I will demonstrate how to turn the soil.” The teacher picked up a shovel, walked into the field, and demonstrated the essential movements.

Liu Yuqi said, “Alright, thank you Teacher Peng for the lesson. Next, it’s time for everyone to practice personally. Everyone, do your best.”

After saying this, the staff distributed a shovel and a pair of gloves to each person.

Park Soo-ah looked at Luo Jingyun and asked, “Jingyun, did you learn it?”

“I’ve got it,” Luo Jingyun nodded. “What’s so hard about this? I think we can get it done within three days.”

“…” Park Soo-ah couldn’t quite believe it. “Really? The program team gave us a week. You think we can finish in half the time?”

“Yup!” Luo Jingyun was very confident. She put on the labor gloves provided by the team. “Siss, these gloves are chafing my hands. The quality is too poor.”

“…” Park Soo-ah sighed. It seemed she would have to put in more effort herself. Relying on this young lady who found even the gloves too hard was impossible.

When Park Soo-ah had received Jiang Xian’s phone call, she felt that this job would be very challenging. Jiang Xian said she hoped Soo-ah could take more care of Luo Jingyun during the show, but Soo-ah understood that this actually meant acting as a servant for Luo Jingyun.

In recent years, she had been developing her career abroad and didn’t know much about the domestic situation. Before recording, she hurriedly searched for news related to Luo Jingyun. She was indeed good-looking, but her reputation was not great. Many people said Luo Jingyun was a “resource hire” (nepo baby) with a bad temper, who would target others for no reason and was constantly pestering Tan Jizhu.

Therefore, Park Soo-ah’s first impression of Luo Jingyun was that of an unlearned, ill-tempered rich young lady.

The only thing that surprised her was that on the day the program officially announced its lineup, news of Luo Jingyun and Tan Jizhu’s divorce was rampant.

Just by looking at the trending searches, anyone would think Luo Jingyun had come to this show to win back Tan Jizhu’s heart. The day before official recording began, Park Soo-ah heard from staff that they even took the same flight, which further confirmed her suspicions.

When the guests gathered on the day of recording, she observed silently from the side. Hearing Tan Jizhu’s cold words made her feel that Luo Jingyun must have done something heinous to be so loathed.

For the sake of her future development after returning to the country, Park Soo-ah had prepared herself mentally. She took the initiative to go up and greet Luo Jingyun. To her surprise, Luo Jingyun was not bossy; instead, her dazed state was actually quite cute. Even though she clearly didn’t recognize Soo-ah, she stubbornly insisted she had watched the dramas Soo-ah had acted in.

Later, giving up the space in the woven bag to Luo Jingyun was also a part of her attempt to get close to the other woman. However, it seemed this young lady’s temper wasn’t as bad as imagined—at least she didn’t truly treat Soo-ah like a servant.

Even more unexpected was that when Luo Jingyun had the right to choose a teammate, she didn’t choose Tan Jizhu but chose her instead. When asked for the reason, the response was also startling.

Her own efforts had actually been noticed by Luo Jingyun.

When she was abroad, because she was young, she was often ordered by several seniors in the team—whose skills weren’t even as good as hers—to do chores. Those people took her efforts for granted.

Luo Jingyun’s recognition made her feel a spark of warmth.

As she continued to observe, she realized Luo Jingyun wasn’t here to win back Tan Jizhu as she had thought. Rather, it was Tan Jizhu who often came to pester Luo Jingyun.

Although she was curious about the matters between Luo Jingyun and Tan Jizhu, she always remembered her true purpose.

As long as she helped Luo Jingyun finish recording Journey of the Cultivating Heart, her future work abroad would be even smoother.

Walking to the plot of land that needed cultivating, Park Soo-ah suggested they start digging from both ends separately, so that meeting in the middle would signify the work was complete.

Luo Jingyun laughed. “Isn’t this just like a primary school math problem? Person A and Person B start digging from two ends, calculate the time they use. What if we dig and miss each other?”

Park Soo-ah looked at the field, her expression carrying a hint of worry. “That shouldn’t happen, right?”

Luo Jingyun patted her shoulder. “Hehe, just teasing you. Let’s get to work.”

The two stood at opposite ends of the field, looking at each other from afar. Park Soo-ah cleared all stray thoughts and focused only on speeding up the digging. As the sky grew dark, the program team told them to continue tomorrow during the day. After a day of working with her face to the earth and back to the sky, when she looked over, she found that Luo Jingyun still seemed very far from her.

In the distance, Luo Jingyun sensed her gaze, turned toward her, and waved. Park Soo-ah quickly crossed the uncultivated land in the middle and walked over.

Without the program team’s cameras, Luo Jingyun didn’t care about her image anymore. She sat directly on the ridge of the field, took off her gloves, and complained: “My god, this is simply not a job for humans. Look, even though I was wearing gloves, my hands are rubbed red.”

Park Soo-ah looked at the results of Luo Jingyun’s work. She had followed the requirement to dig to a depth of five centimeters, but the area was only about two-thirds of her own.

Luo Jingyun sat for a moment and then stood up to rub her waist. “Gosh, my waist hurts so much. It hurts even more than when I have period cramps.”

“Let me rub it for you.” Although Park Soo-ah was also very tired, she immediately offered to help Luo Jingyun.

“That would be great! You rub it for me first, and once I recover, I’ll rub yours.” Luo Jingyun wasn’t shy and let the other woman get to work. “Yes, yes, right here on the lower back, the muscles hurt so much.”

Park Soo-ah applied a bit more pressure. “How’s this?”

“So comfortable! Add another hour!”

Park Soo-ah was about to continue when she felt an unfriendly gaze nearby that made her scalp tingle. She looked over and saw a person standing in the distance, looking rather gloomy.

“Jingyun, over there…”

“What’s wrong?” Luo Jingyun looked in the direction Park Soo-ah was pointing and saw Tan Jizhu carrying a shovel, walking toward them.

“Holy crap, what’s the situation?” Luo Jingyun whispered her complaint. “Tan Jizhu carrying a shovel… he wouldn’t be coming to pick a fight with us, would he? Soo-ah, he’s definitely coming for me. You stand behind me.”

After a day of labor, Luo Jingyun was already exhausted, but she still firmly raised the shovel in her hand, striking a defensive pose. “Tan Jizhu, what are you doing in our field?”

Tan Jizhu thrust his shovel into the ground and said, “This is the result of your work for the whole day?”