ARC 1: POOR

Proofread by Cloud Chip Cake

During the evening rush hour, the crowded traffic slowly flowed along the sidewalk.

Renowned director Chen Jing’an’s new film started shooting today. Ye Chen, the second male lead, attended the press conference and had just come out of the venue. On his way home, he was sitting in the car arranged by the crew. His face was tired from the barrage of flashing lights just moments ago. He pulled a blanket over himself, preparing to rest for a moment.

Seeing Ye Chen close his eyes, the driver immediately turned off the sound system, raised the air conditioning, and lowered the sunshade. His gloved fingers danced over the gleaming buttons and knobs like playing a musical instrument. Not only the driver but everything in the car emitted an atmosphere of “providing the ultimate service”: the delicate touch of the leather seats was no less than that of a baby’s face, the filling inside was soft and just right, perfectly fitting the contours of the body, and the expensive fragrance permeated the air subtly.

After a few minutes of pretending to sleep, Ye Chen regained his senses and took out his phone, bending forward slightly “Excuse me, do you have a data cable?”

“Yes.” The driver glanced at the rearview mirror, pointing to the position of the socket, “It’s in the storage compartment on your right.”

“Thank you.” Ye Chen smiled politely.

With that smile, the driver couldn’t help but glance at the rearview mirror again.

Even in the entertainment industry, Ye Chen’s appearance was among the top. Just nineteen years old this year, his features were delicate and elegant, like fine brushstrokes dipped in pine soot, drawn out one by one. The tailored suit cinched his youthful waist, and the dark fabric made his skin appear exceptionally fair.

Expensive fabrics and luxurious cars built a fortress of extravagance, surrounding this porcelain-like delicate and proud young man, nurturing him meticulously. As Ye Chen sat here, even his pores were filled with the essence of money.

Ye Chen charged his phone and asked, “Do you have another data cable?”

“Yes, of course.” The driver hurriedly handed one over.

“Thank you.” Ye Chen somehow found a power bank and also charged it.

Then, he opened the storage compartment in the rear center console again. Neatly arranged inside were stacks of tissues. Ye Chen took a thin stack and quietly tucked it into his suit pocket.

The driver was focused on the road and didn’t notice the movements in the back seat.

Ye Chen then took another stack of tissues and slipped it into his pocket.

Another stack pinched away.

Again…

In the end, there were only two tissues left in the storage compartment. They were reserved by Ye Chen for the next artist to deal with sudden emergencies, such as a nosebleed or a sneeze…

Ye Chen patted the bulging pockets on the sides of his trousers and felt slightly reassured. He mentally expressed gratitude according to procedure—”Thank you for the tissues and the battery power, I will definitely do my best and act well!”

The sedan turned into an alley and stopped in front of a grand crimson gate. Behind the gate was a quadrangle courtyard.

Ye Chen took out the power bank and phone, tucked a handful of tissues into his pants, reached back to grab a bottle of purified water, got out of the car, bowed slightly, and politely thanked the driver, “Thank you for your trouble.”

The driver didn’t notice Ye Chen’s fidgeting movements and was quite pleased. He hurriedly replied, “You’re welcome.”

The courtyard gate was unlocked, and Ye Chen pushed it open.

This quadrangle courtyard covered an area of ​​six hundred square meters, with over a hundred square meters dedicated to the garden. The entire courtyard was adorned with carved beams and painted rafters, reminiscent of the Forbidden City. The location of the quadrangle courtyard was excellent, within the Second Ring Road of Beijing, and both the house certificate and land certificate were in Ye Chen’s name. He had purchased it in full a while back, so there were no disputes or hidden risks. Selling it for less than one hundred million would be a loss.

Ye Chen walked through the hanging flower gate and courtyard into the main house.

The interior decoration of the house did not quite match the grand appearance of the building. Due to its age, everything inside was quite old-fashioned: the floor was uneven and deformed, the walls were scattered with unknown stains, the wardrobe was peeling paint like a balding old horse, and the redwood bed headboard, carved with dragon patterns, still bore the marks of chopping from a kitchen knife. One could only imagine the intense domestic conflicts the previous couple who lived here must have had.

Ye Chen took out the two large stacks of tissues from his trouser pockets and placed them in the drawer. This large drawer was specifically for storing sanitary supplies, with some tissue packs scattered inside, each printed with various logos such as Qiandao People’s Home, Yuncheng Fisherman’s Wharf, Dengying Garden Hotel… There were also several rolls of unevenly tall and different quality paper towels, seemingly brought back from different hotel rooms.

—Ye Chen may seem like a shining star on the surface, but in reality, he was so poor that it would shock the central government. In the past month, his disposable income was less than five hundred yuan, making him truly deserving of the title of impoverished. 

After arranging today’s tissue spoils, Ye Chen dragged out an old wooden box from under the bed. Neatly stacked inside the box were two piles of international first-line brand clothing, as well as some scattered small items such as watches, belts, sunglasses, and wallets, all luxury items. Ye Chen took off his expensive custom-made suit, folded it neatly, and put it into the wooden box, then locked the box and pushed it back under the bed.

This was because he didn’t trust the wardrobe. One of the partitions in the wardrobe had been chewed through by mice, and Ye Chen was afraid that his last box of good clothes would be ruined by the mice. If that happened, he would have to wear street stall goods.

Putting away his formal attire, Ye Chen stood up straight, leaving only a plain style of underwear on his body.

The underwear was bought at a night market, at five yuan per pair. Ye Chen bargained it down to three pairs for ten yuan, with some forgivable fading.

Even stripped of his luxurious clothing, Ye Chen still stood out. He was slender but not weak, with just the right amount of muscles covering his abdomen and chest. His calves and ankles were slender, yet they conveyed a masculine sense of strength. His skin was as smooth and tender as white jade. He opened the wardrobe and put on a loosely fitting tank top, a pair of coarse cloth pants, a dirty jacket, and a pair of grass-green rubber shoes.

Then, Ye Chen, with a completely changed demeanor, picked up the hoe leaning against the wall, grabbed the script from the table, walked out of the main house, crossed the courtyard, and stepped onto the corridor behind the hanging flower gate. He walked in a strange manner, as if playing hopscotch in the corridor, silently counting his steps.

…Five steps, six steps, seven steps.

Just as the seventh step fell, Ye Chen’s surrounding corridor and courtyard dissipated like phantoms, revealing a vast and boundless plain.

The sky above the plain was clear and transparent like crystal. The setting sun peeked out from the top of the distant mountains, casting a dim corner of ashes. Near it, eight moons were arranged in the sky like a diagram of lunar phases, each of different sizes and colors, displaying crimson, pearly white, tender yellow, and more. The earth was outlined by the interlacing moonlight, creating gentle and clear contours.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t moonlight… They were actually remnants of the eight suns shot down by the ancient god Hou Yi during the primeval period.

Ye Chen looked around and shouted, “Qi Qi? Hou Hou? Xuan Xuan?”

No one responded.

Ye Chen furrowed his brows and walked towards a vegetable field not far from him.

The vegetable field wasn’t large, just the size of an ordinary rural courtyard. It was planted with cabbage, tomatoes, sweet potatoes… In total, there were seven or eight kinds of vegetables and fruits, some just sprouting, and some already bearing fruit. These crops were the only signs of life in the entire plain, with nothing else growing elsewhere.

The soil was moist, indicating that it had rained here not long ago, and the crops didn’t need watering. Ye Chen pondered for a moment about the current configuration of the vegetable field, preparing to plant two rows of Chinese chives today, which would be ready for making dumplings when they grew.

Turning over the soil was mechanical labor that didn’t require much thought, so the time could be utilized elsewhere. Thus, Ye Chen, the rising star who quickly became famous this year, swung the hoe to plow the land while memorizing his lines, finding his sense of the scene for tomorrow’s shoot.

Ye Chen didn’t come from a professional background, and lacked systematic training. His talent was purely innate, coupled with immersion. He immersed himself into the role as quickly as a ghost possessing a body. The downside was that he was slow to detach from the character. If two consecutive scenes required portraying two completely opposite emotions, he would easily become confused.

In just a few seconds, Ye Chen immersed himself in the role, his eyes filled with despair as he used the hoe to break apart the compacted soil, trembling as he recited his lines, “Father, are you okay! Father, it’s just…” Ye Chen’s words were cut off abruptly as he suddenly shivered, shaking hands scattering leek seeds into the pit with remarkable evenness, passionately delivering his lines, “I dare not say! If I say it, he will come for me! Third brother, please save me!”

Chen Jing’an’s new work, 《Aspiration For The Throne》^[1]The actual title is Wen Ding which means to aspire for the throne or aim for first place. I couldn’t think of the exact English equivalent for this so I just went with a similar meaning. is a fantasy thriller set in the palace. Ye Chen plays the Fifth Prince, born of the favored consort. With the emperor gravely ill, the Fifth Prince is declared the Crown Prince. As he attends to his father’s illness, he unexpectedly discovers that a demonic force has infected the emperor, and the demon is preparing to abandon the emperor’s frail body and possess the Fifth Prince instead.

Horror-stricken by this revelation, the Fifth Prince, feeling cornered, confides in the First Prince, portrayed by the film emperor Shen Mofeng, and seeks his help. The usually overlooked First Prince, adept at scheming and manipulation, seizes control over the innocent and fragile Fifth Prince under the guise of protection. While contending with the demonic emperor, he also schemes to seize the position of Crown Prince from his younger brother…

The entire work is filled with eerie and mysterious elements. Despite its wild imagination, the plot is meticulously crafted, with each thread woven carefully, gripping the audience’s emotions. The intense rivalry between the first and second princes leaves ample room for interpretation, making it a must-watch. Ye Chen was hooked after reading it once and begged his agent, Gu Qiu, to land him a minor role. Little did he expect Gu Qiu to secure him the role of the second male lead.

Ye Chen signed with Xinghan Media when he was eighteen, just over a year ago. It’s said that without connections it’s tough to make it in the entertainment industry, but Ye Chen, a newcomer without a family background, didn’t find it particularly challenging. Perhaps it was because Xinghan was so powerful. In any case, in the past year, Ye Chen’s career has been smooth sailing. His debut on the big screen is a showdown with the film emperor Shen Mofeng, under the direction of the renowned director Chen Jing’an. With such a start, there was no higher point to aim for.

“I’m not crazy! I saw it with my own eyes!” As Ye Chen delivered the emotional lines, he threw the hoe aside, dropped to his knees in front of an eggplant plant, and, mistaking the eggplant for Shen Mofeng, grabbed a few eggplants and shook them distractedly, his voice hoarse, “The emperor always hides behind a veil, not because he contracted measles, but because something has grown on his face… something has grown…”

At this moment, a series of footsteps sounded with a pitter-patter from behind Ye Chen. He turned his head and caught sight of three little dough-like faces. A child’s voice, sweet and childish, piped up, “Gege, we’re back.”

Ye Chen took a moment to reluctantly pull himself out of character. He stood up, brushed off the dirt from his knees, and glanced past the three children. In a gentle tone tinged with complaint, he said, “Didn’t I tell you not to go scavenging? Why didn’t you listen?”

The three children all looked like they were around three or four years old, each with features more delicate and prettier than the last, but with some non-human characteristics. The one on the left had a pair of soft, fluffy rabbit ears atop his head, the one in the middle carried a turtle shell on his back, and the one on the right had two horns protruding from his head, with the character for “king” scribbled crookedly on his forehead with a ballpoint pen.

From left to right, the three children were named “Hou Hou,” “Xuan Xuan,” and “Qi Qi”, corresponding to the mythical creatures “Hou”^[2]Hou(犼) – The Denglong has ten characteristics that resemble animals: horns like a deer, head like a camel, ears like a cat, eyes like a shrimp, mouth like a donkey, hair like a lion, neck … Continue reading , “Xuanwu” ^[3]TN: Xuan Wu( 玄武) – The Black Tortoise is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. One of the Four Auspicious Beasts. It is usually depicted as a tortoise intertwined with a … Continue reading and “Qiongqi^[4]Qiong Qi(穷奇) – A ferocious beast, one of the Four Perils, that looks like a tiger with wings that likes to eat people(usually starting from the head)..”

They were the cubs of three divine beasts.

“Hou Hou wants to eat meat.” Hou Cub drooped his rabbit ears, pushing a bulging woven bag toward Ye Chen with chubby hands, whispering softly, “A catty of bottles can be sold for three yuan.”

A catty of plastic bottles can indeed be sold directly to the recycling factory for three yuan, but if sold to the garbage collectors roaming the streets, the market price fluctuates between one yuan and fifty cents. The garbage collectors then sell them to the recycling factory, netting just over one yuan per catty… Ye Chen, who earns tens of thousands per episode in TV drama fees, did some mental arithmetic and decided to sell directly to the recycling factory to avoid the middlemen’s markup.

“With a few more catties, we can afford chicken legs.”Qiongq Cub licked his lips, clearly eager.

Xuan Cub in the middle nodded slowly, speaking slowly, “Xuan… Xuan… also… wants…”

“Hoo—” Ye Chen couldn’t catch his breath when he heard Hou Cub speak, so he took a deep breath.

Xuanwu Cub: “Eat… chicken… legs…er…”

Ye Chen emphasized earnestly, “Xuan, can you skip the ‘er’ in your words?”

Xuanwu Cub: “Okay…”

Taking the woven bag from them, Ye Chen frowned and said sternly, “From now on, no more going out to collect bottles. If you don’t listen, Gege will be really angry.”

He was poor. Apart from the luxury items locked in his box, the only valuable things on him were his two buttocks. He couldn’t accept the idea of sending out these soft little cubs to scavenge for scrap.

“Gege has plenty of money to buy chicken legs.” Ye Chen lied.

In fact, he only had ten yuan left, hidden at the bottom of his box.

Qiongqi Cub frowned. “Gege, aren’t you too poor to even afford toilet paper?”

At the mention, Ye Chen’s eyes darted nervously. “Who said that?”

“No one said it.” Qiongqi Cub mumbled, “But there’s nothing in the drawers but hotel tissues.”

“That’s because I don’t want to waste them.” Seeing that Qiongqi Cub had no evidence, Ye Chen turned on his acting skills instantly, speaking righteously, “If I don’t take them, they might be thrown away by the cleaning staff when they clear the tables. Saving resources is a matter of character, regardless of wealth.”

However, the three little divine beast cubs weren’t fooled so easily. They looked at Ye Chen with suspicious eyes.

Hou Cub drooped his ears sadly. “The last time we ate meat was three days ago, and it was leftovers from a restaurant…”

“What’s wrong with leftovers? There was half a pork knuckle in it. If no one eats it, it’ll be thrown in the trash, and the pig will have died in vain, won’t it?” Ye Chen’s face was full of pity. Seeing that the cubs still didn’t believe him, he pounded his chest and made a solemn promise, “I guarantee you’ll have chicken legs tomorrow. I really do have money!”

…Just farming won’t do, I’ll have to start raising chickens, Ye Chen thought calmly.

The author has something to say:

Ye Qiongqiong^[5]qiong – poor: I’m not letting middlemen profit from price differences!

The scrap collectors: Okay. 🙂

Ye Qiongqiong’s account book today:

Deposit balance: 10 yuan

Today’s expenses: None

Today’s income: Two stacks of tissues + a bottle of purified water + one bar of power bank + two bars of phone battery

Si Feng^[6]The author refers to SMF(ML) as Si(4) Feng. I think he’s the 4th character named Feng in the author’s works.  Ge is born, Film Emperor Shen Mofeng and the impoverished idol Ye Qiongqiong…

Still a sweet and joyful story~ Mutual pampering, with a slight shou-gong dynamic~ In the early stage, the impoverished shou may take advantage of the gong a little, but the shou is a good grateful child who will repay the gong later~ (Not a physical repayment, but a genuine one… Of course, there might be physical repayment too… [doge])

TN:

Welcome~ This is a fluffy story with basically no drama and angst, an easy read. It’s the kind of thing you read when you’re looking to just sit back and unwind. If you’ve just read dog blood that left you feeling like your heart was put through a meat grinder, then this is the story you’ll turn to soothe you and prove there’s still good in the world! If you are looking for a complex plot, angst, or drama, this is not for you. But if you’re looking for a relaxing read with cute babies, cute MC and whipped ML with a dash of farming and entertainment, then *opens doors and windows wide* come right in and get settled for the ride~

Schedule: Tuesday and Thursday. Advance chapters may(MAY) be available via the coin system on the site or Patreon sometime in the future if I’m able to stockpile enough to not fall behind on the set schedule. If I get it done the schedule will be upped to Mon-Frid (3-4 chaps/week).