Chapter 28: Herding the Pigs

After lunch, Xiao Siqi and Xiao Yao said their goodbyes to go and rest, conserving their energy for the afternoon’s tasks.

At 2:30 PM, the mission cards arrived. As expected, the task was to wear the clothes purchased by the children and help the villagers with manual labor. However, the meeting point had changed from the threshing floor to the front of Zhou Lixing’s house, designated as House Number 3.

By 3:00 PM, all five families had gathered. As soon as the fathers saw each other, they began teasing one another about their outfits.

Among the five, Zhao Tao wore a dashing camouflage uniform, though the size seemed a bit small, making it look skin-tight. Zhou Lixing, the shortest of the group, appeared to be wearing the largest outfit: a plain blue shirt and black trousers. The hem of the shirt reached the middle of his thighs, and the pant legs were rolled up several times, forming a thick bundle around his ankles. Lin Shaohua was quite dejected; while his clothes fit well enough, his long-sleeved T-shirt was covered in rhinestones across the chest—clearly a woman’s garment. Sun Zhihao’s attire was relatively the most appropriate, consisting of a collared long-sleeved polo shirt and black trousers; while he looked a bit like a village party secretary, it was the most harmonious look of the bunch. As for Xiao Siqi, his appearance drew a collective crowd.

"A full set of workwear? Siqi, which factory assembly line did you walk off of?" Zhao Tao laughed first.

"You even have a matching hat and shoes?" Zhou Lixing asked, looking at Xiao Siqi’s head and feet.

"Even though we all bought new clothes, why do I feel like ours look worn out, while only Siqi’s set looks brand new?" Lin Qisan asked curiously.

"I can answer that," Chen Lei interjected with a smile. "I had a brief chat with the directors following the children at noon. They said your clothes were all bought at street stalls, and only Xiao Siqi’s were purchased by Bayi at a proper shop. Street stall clothes are exposed to the wind and sun, so they’re bound to be different from items that haven’t been unsealed from a store."

"Wow," everyone took the opportunity to poke and prod at Xiao Siqi. "The quality of things from a shop really is different from street stalls. Just touching the fabric, you can tell."

"Go away, go away," Xiao Siqi said, helplessly pushing aside the fathers’ wandering hands. He pulled a stack of gloves from the bag in his hand and said, "Here, here, one pair each. Wear them while working later to avoid getting hurt." He began handing out the gloves.

"Oh, this is good stuff. Hey, it’s even anti-slip. You’re really thoughtful, Siqi," Zhao Tao chuckled as he took a pair and put them on.

Chen Lei said with some surprise, "Even I, the village chief, must commend Xiao Siqi. It really is very thoughtful, and these gloves are perfect for the fathers' task this afternoon." He then began to announce the mission. "This afternoon, the fathers' task is to help the villagers with labor. You’ve all been in the village for nearly two days now, and it’s inevitable that you’ve brought some trouble to the locals. To show our gratitude, we are going to help them with some work this afternoon. As for what exactly? It’s carrying stones to repair a pigpen. That’s why I said Xiao Siqi’s gloves are truly perfect."

As he spoke, Chen Lei took a few pairs of gloves out of a bag to show everyone and continued, "Originally, the production team prepared work gloves for everyone, but I took a look and found that Xiao Siqi’s are better than ours. So, I won’t be handing out the ones the production team prepared; everyone just wear Xiao Siqi’s."

Compared to the production team’s gloves, the raw materials were similar—both made of white cotton thread—but Xiao Siqi’s gloves were covered in small plastic anti-slip particles on the palm side, providing a function the production team’s version lacked. When moving stones, that anti-slip feature was crucial.

Sun Zhihao asked Xiao Siqi with some surprise, "How do you have so many of these gloves? Did you tell Bayi to buy them at the market this morning?"

"Yeah," Xiao Siqi said, feeling a bit guilty. "Before we left this morning, Village Chief Chen Lei said we’d be doing manual labor this afternoon. You don’t believe me?" Having spent more time with Sun Zhihao over the past two days, he feared the "master calculator" would realize he wasn't actually that meticulous.

"No, no," Sun Zhihao waved his hand and began counting on his fingers. "Look here, these gloves have to be at least five yuan a pair, right? Five times five is twenty-five. Duo'er said Bayi treated all the kids to ice cream on the way back; I know those three-color boxed Luxue ice creams, they’re five yuan a box, that’s fifty right there. The pile of vegetables Bayi brought back must have cost at least ten yuan, right? That’s sixty. With the remaining twenty, you bought this whole outfit? This hand-woven straw hat must be at least ten yuan, and the rubber shoes on your feet, even if they look like the cheap kind, shouldn't cost less than ten yuan either. That’s eighty gone. Where did this set of clothes come from? This outfit alone must cost around eighty. And I’m calculating at the absolute lowest prices. Didn't they say each child only had eighty yuan? You’ve spent way more than that, haven't you?"

"Truly worthy of being a master calculator; he calculated that very clearly," Xiao Yao sighed to himself, though he decided it was better to keep quiet for now.

With Sun Zhihao pointing this out, not only the other fathers but even Xiao Siqi himself was stunned. He subconsciously muttered, "I don't even know how he managed to buy it all."

As soon as Xiao Siqi spoke, the fathers turned their fire toward Village Chief Chen Lei, as ganging up on a child wasn't much fun.

"Village Chief, I seriously suspect the production team showed favoritism and gave Bayi more than eighty," Zhao Tao initiated the attack.

"Exactly, or maybe some staff member secretly slipped Bayi money," Lin Shaohua added.

"I heard from Duo'er that the shopping was split into three groups, and Bayi was the only one in a group by himself. Is there some trickery going on?" Sun Zhihao chimed in.

Facing the siege from the fathers, Chen Lei didn't feel nervous at all; he knew they were just teasing for the sake of the show’s effect, not out of genuine dissatisfaction.

However, the curiosity was real. Chen Lei smiled, spread his hands to signal them to settle down, and said to the seemingly indignant fathers, "I can guarantee that every child really only had eighty yuan. Bayi bought everything himself; the production team staff didn't even help haggle, let alone secretly slip him money. As for how Bayi managed to buy all this with eighty yuan, I’m actually quite curious myself. Director Wu said everyone will find out when the episode airs. Although it’s quite unexpected, I guarantee it will prove the production team’s innocence. By the way, one more thing: Bayi was the only child out of them all who didn't even spend the full eighty yuan." Chen Lei added with a smile.

"Now, let’s not talk about this anymore," Chen Lei said, seeing the villager had arrived. He pointed to the man and said, "Our task this afternoon is to help this fellow villager repair his pigpen. Fathers, please follow him. He will take you to his collapsed pigpen and show you where to fetch the stones needed for repairs. The children will stay behind; there is another task for them."

Hearing this and seeing the villager had arrived, the group stopped their bickering and followed him with laughter.

Chen Lei said to the children who remained, "Little friends, because that uncle’s pigpen collapsed, his little pigs have all run away. Your task is to go into the village and help him find his ten piglets. Then, once the fathers have finished repairing the pen, the pigs will have a new home. You just need to get the pigs into their new home, and the task will be complete. Do you understand?"

"Understood," the little ones shouted.

"If you know what to do, then head out," Chen Lei waved his hand.

"Off to find the piglets!" the children cheered and took off running into the village.

After they had run a few dozen meters, Zhao Rui suddenly called for everyone to stop.

"We can’t stay together; it’s too slow. We need to split up," Zhao Rui commanded. "San’er, you go that way; Haohao, you go that way; Duo’er, you go that way; Bayi, you go that way; and I’ll go that way." As he pointed, he divided the village into several areas for everyone.

"We’ll search separately, and whoever finds a piglet will call out loudly. Everyone who hears it will come over to help. Once we herd the found piglets back to the pen, we’ll come back out to continue searching," Zhao Rui continued to direct.

The kids, all in a playful mood, had no better ideas and nodded in agreement.

Xiao Yao felt he had shown off enough over the last day and a half. With only half a day of filming left, he planned to keep a low profile and act more like a normal child; it wasn't good for him to hog all the spotlight. He had no experience in herding pigs, and since Zhao Rui’s method seemed reasonable, he simply nodded in agreement.

Seeing Xiao Yao agree, Zhao Rui seemed more confident. He waved his hand grandly and said, "Everyone, split up and head out!"

Xiao Yao searched slowly in the direction assigned to him. There were many houses here, and it was unlikely the pigs would have run this way, so he remained somewhat indifferent.

A few minutes later, Xiao Yao heard Zhao Rui shouting, "There are piglets here! Everyone, come quickly and help!"

Sighing helplessly, Xiao Yao had no choice but to run toward the sound of Zhao Rui’s voice.

When Xiao Yao arrived, he saw four piglets running in circles in a vegetable patch, seemingly looking for food. Zhao Rui stood on a nearby dirt path, holding several thin tree branches over a meter long, not rushing to get too close.

"Stone!" Xiao Yao called out to Zhao Rui and ran to his side.

"Bayi." Zhao Rui turned to see Xiao Yao, nodded in greeting, and handed him a branch. "Here, use this to herd them."

"Okay," Xiao Yao took it and waved it in his hand. "Why are there only the two of us? Didn't they hear you shouting?" Based on the directions they had been assigned, he and Zhao Rui were the furthest apart, and since he hadn't been running at full speed, there was no reason he should have arrived later than the others.

"I don't know, I’ll call out a few more times," Zhao Rui said, then raised his voice again: "Haohao, Duo’er, Qisan!"

"Stone, we’re over here."

This time there was a reply. Zhao Rui and Xiao Yao looked toward the sound. On a grassy patch about a hundred meters away, there were three or four piglets, with Zhou Zhihao, Lin Qisan, and Sun Tingting nearby. It seemed they hadn't taken Zhao Rui’s instruction to call for help seriously.

"You three herd those ones, and Bayi and I will herd these. Let’s split up," Zhao Rui called out.

"But we don't know how to herd them!" Lin Qisan shouted, looking troubled.

"The three of you—one stands on the left, one on the right, and one at the back. Wave your hands, and the pigs will move forward," Zhao Rui instructed from afar. Then he said to Xiao Yao, "The two of us will both stand behind the pigs. One on the left, one on the right; if the pigs try to run to the side, we use the sticks to herd them back toward the middle."

"Okay." Xiao Yao had no objections.

"But where are we herding them to? Where is the pigpen?" Lin Qisan called out again.

This stumped Zhao Rui, who turned around to ask the accompanying cameraman.

At that moment, Xiao Yao spotted some familiar figures. He quickly tapped Zhao Rui and pointed in that direction.

Zhao Rui followed Xiao Yao’s gaze and saw Zhao Tao and Lin Shaohua carrying a bamboo basket filled with stones on a shoulder pole, while Zhou Lixing walked slowly in the distance along a field path with a large basket on his back. Zhao Rui quickly pointed that way and shouted to Lin Qisan and the others, "That way! Follow the fathers, and you’ll find the pigpen!"

Zhao Tao and the others were moving slowly with their heavy load, while the children ran quickly, catching up to them before long.

Xiao Yao asked Zhao Rui curiously, "You know how to herd pigs? Have you done this in the countryside before?" His performance today had truly made Xiao Yao look at him in a new light.

"No," Zhao Rui smiled proudly. "My dad took me to the grasslands once, and I saw the people there herding sheep the same way."

"You’ve been to the grasslands? Have you ridden a horse?" Xiao Yao asked casually.

"Of course I have. My dad took me to the grasslands specifically to ride horses. I don't need anyone to lead me anymore; I can ride by myself now. By the way, can you ride a horse?" Zhao Rui asked.

"No," Xiao Yao replied simply.

"That’s okay. Next time we go to the grasslands, I’ll teach you," Zhao Rui said, looking even more pleased.