Chapter 142: exchange life
Ruan Lan didn't watch "Exchange Life" before.
Even though she was in the city, there are TVs and computers everywhere, a mobile phone in her hand, and so many electronic devices, which can connect to the Internet all the time, and can see her performance in the show all the time.
But whether Ruan Lan swipes Weibo or browses video sites, no matter what he does, he will deliberately avoid information related to "Exchange Life".
It wasn't because she was afraid that she would be embarrassed to watch it, and of course she didn't feel awkward. She just, on the first Saturday, after looking at a few clips on Weibo, she couldn't help feeling a little funny.
Really funny that makes me laugh.
The video was shot, it's very touching.
It briefly describes the life of a skinny girl in the mountains. She is eager to study and to be admitted to a university, but her family is poor and her parents grit their teeth to work, but they still can't make up her tuition fees.
On the small screen, Mother Ruan was sitting in the yard breaking corn, wiping her tears with her calloused hands while breaking them.
"My little girl, she has good grades, she gets first place in every exam, she likes to read, and every time she comes home, she sees her reading. It's just us, the conditions are not good, we can't provide food or drink for their siblings. It's easy, where do you get the money to study..."
......
Ruan Lan had never heard of that background music.
But sadness, long and slow, almost flows into people's hearts. If she wasn't the "little girl" mentioned in the video, she would probably cry.
Ruan Lan laughed and turned off the video, and since then has no interest in the first and possibly only TV show in his life.
Maybe this is the way to shoot TV, and half-truths will be attractive. If all is true, maybe the audience will not like to watch it.
She has been in contact with the Internet for so many days, and she also knows some popular knowledge about ratings, personality and explosion points. Ruan Lan thought, it was just a job anyway, she would pay her and she would shoot according to their orders.
It's still her money.
After all, where in the world can there be such a quick and easy job?
As for how it will be edited and how her life will be edited after it is filmed, it is not within the scope of her concern, nor within the scope of her concern.
— Ruan Lan thought so a week ago.
But not at all now.
From time to time, she has to go online to check the comments of netizens on "Exchange Life". The show is broadcast every Friday night. When she comes home from school, she will secretly hide under the covers and watch it. When it is her turn, every one of the above She checked the barrage carefully.
Not because of herself, but because of Huo Xingchao.
She herself is okay. Even if you do a little badly, it doesn't matter if you are scolded by the audience a little bit badly.
Anyway, she originally felt that she was not such a simple and kind good girl as portrayed in the show at all.
But Huo Xingchao was different.
Huo Xingchao is the best person in the world.
Smart, kind, humble, filial and polite. Apart from a bit of getting up gas, there are no flaws, both inside and out.
She has all made up her mind. She made a huge salary for this show. Although the director team gave her mother at the time, she had 5,000 yuan in it - she secretly took it from her mother before she left. Stolen from a wooden box.
The whip was beyond her reach. Although Mother Ruan was furious at home after she found out, Ruan Lan had already arrived in Yangcheng, and she had nothing to do.
Ruan Lan secretly hid the 5,000 yuan, and then planned to sell all the mobile phones, clothes, and pens that her new "parents" gave her after filming the show, and give the money she saved to herself. And Huo Xingchao to go to university.
She very, very much believed that if someone as smart as Huo Xingchao could go to university and come to a big city, he would definitely become very, very powerful.
Even if she participated in this show and came to Yangcheng, she had seen all kinds of famous people in the city's schools, and she still felt that way.
Therefore, Ruan Lan was particularly concerned about the audience's evaluation of Huo Xingchao. She can't allow Huo Xingchao to have any stains
Every time the show aired, she would pay close attention to the comments below and the barrage above, and then texted Huo Xingchao, a series of text messages, telling him what to do and which clip was put in by the show team, saying Which sentence is more controversial.
—The phone was the one the director bought for Huo Xingchao on his birthday last week.
It's not an elderly phone that can only send text messages and make calls, as Huo Xingchao requested, but a smart phone.
It's a domestic brand, but it's not cheap. It costs about 3,000 yuan. The photographer told him that it was a birthday present from the program team.
The teenager faced the camera, frowned slightly, and didn't answer.
"What's the matter, don't you like it?"
"If it's for me, I don't want it."
His voice was clear and lingering, with a rare maturity at this age, "I said, it's fine to deduct it from my salary."
The cameraman didn't know what to say for a moment, and finally had to perfunctory him,
"Okay, okay, okay, it will be deducted from your salary."
"Then let's write an IOU."
......
Because of Huo Xingchao's clear and decisive request, the director finally did not put this clip of giving away the mobile phone into the show. First, he was not sure about the boy's temperament, and was afraid of being exposed and slapped in the face in the end.
Second, he thought about it carefully, and felt that giving a smartphone to a mountain boy as a gift did not seem to be a good guide.
So in the end, Huo Xingchao and Ruan Lan had a fairly private way of communicating.
But even though Ruan Lan sent him a lot of text messages and talked a lot, Huo Xingchao's response was still only those few words each time.
"Okay, I know, don't worry."
Then the next episode of the show was broadcast, what should it be, or what, and did not take the little girl's persuasion to heart at all.
But it is very strange that he is not a completely perfect character, but more attractive.
In fact, he is a very standard good boy.
Humble and polite, not causing trouble or publicity, he is a good helper at home all the time, and a good class cadre who is serious and responsible at school. Teachers and classmates like him.
But it hurts again.
In the episode where he and Xu Yang went up the mountain together, there were several silhouette shots in the same frame.
On the screen, the boy's figure is thin, and his skin is almost transparent under the sun, as if it can be blown over by the wind, which is in sharp contrast with Xu Yang on the side.
- In fact, up to this point, it is the character that the director wanted to create in the first place.
—Poor, sensible, sick and good student in the mountains.
It's a pity that Huo Xingchao himself is not so cooperative.
However, his uncooperative response caused the show team to change their minds.
In the last issue, when they went down the mountain after picking up firewood, Xu Yang couldn't move his back anymore, so he poked Huo Xingchao with the branch in his hand.
"Hey, brother, let me ask you something."
The young man raised his eyes slightly, "You said."
"The master hired you, you carry these branches on your back for the master, and the master will give you these shoes as a reward, okay?"
Huo Xingchao was silent for a while.
Just when Xu Yang thought he didn't want to, and his temper was exposed by the sun, and he planned to throw the branches away, he suddenly asked.
"How much are your shoes?"
"Didn't you say, just over a thousand. One thousand eight? Anyway, it's about one thousand eight thousand nine. Why are you asking this?"
"Then how long have you been wearing it?"
"Fuck, don't you still dislike this? Then don't worry, I just bought this pair of shoes, I've been wearing them for two days. They're almost brand new. Damn, I'll give you a thousand if you carry a few branches on your back. If you have more shoes, you still make money, okay?"
"I don't want your shoes, you give me money."
Xu Yang was stunned, "What?"
"Your shoes cost one thousand eighteen, and you only wore them for two days. Can you count them as fifteen thousand now?"
"......what?"
Huo Xingchao repeated it again, in a light tone,
"I don't want your shoes, just give me the money. I will carry these branches for you, and you will give me 1,500 yuan."
Xu Yang was actually a little confused by him, and subconsciously replied,
"I-I don't have that much cash on me right now."
"It doesn't matter, you don't have to give it now. Write an IOU, and the interest will be calculated according to the bank's interest. It's fine to give it to me when you get home."
The young man raised his eyes, his eyes were quiet,
"is this OK?"
Xu Yang blinked, still in a trance, "Huh?"
"......Oh."
Huo Xingchao took a step forward, took off the basket on his shoulders, put the branches inside into his own basket, tied a bundle with a long rope and held it in his hand, and then walked down the mountain with one foot deep and one shallow foot. Walk.
It was almost noon and the sun was shining brightly in the woods with a scorching golden light.
He just walked forward quietly, with a thin back, slightly messy black hair, occasional low coughing sounds, and thin sweat on his neck.
But it never stopped.
…
Later, when Huo Xingchao was lighting a fire behind the stove, he held the camera with the cameraman to interview him,
"Why did you accept Xu Yang's loan just now?"
After returning home just now, Xu Yang may have been watching him carry firewood all the way, and his heart was touched, so he was silent for a long time, and took the initiative to write an IOU to him, with a serious tone,
"I will give you this money."
Huo Xingchao nodded and took it calmly.
In fact, from the photographer's point of view, Xu Yang's "deal" at that time was a bit insulting, and it also carried a sense of alms from above. He thought that according to Huo Xingchao's character, he would definitely not accept it.
And even if Xu Yang didn't mean this, then more than a thousand yuan is indeed too high a "salary". How could a simple and kind child in the mountains accept it so calmly.
- But the other party just accepted it calmly.
So the photographer only asked this question at this time.
The young man glanced at him lightly, his amber eyes reflected the light of the fire, his voice was calm,
"Why not, it's my salary isn't it?"
"But... do you think this salary is a bit high?"
"But that's his own price."
Huo Xingchao threw another piece of wood into the fire, expressionless,
"Of course I want so much money."
"You care about money?"
"You don't care about money?"
The young man tilted his head slightly, and his eyes finally brought some surprise.
"If you have money, you can eat enough, keep some pork for yourself, change into a school uniform, and pay tuition. In this world, the thing I like most is money."
......
The photographer didn't know what to say.
The boy's eyes are very clear, frank and frank, and his tone is full of sincerity when he says he likes money.
His desire for money is too clean, clean enough to make people feel sad.
The stove was burning hot at the moment, and the temperature behind the stove was a little high, so Huo Xingchao took off his school uniform jacket, revealing a pure black T-shirt inside.
The T-shirt is a brand name, but it is obviously too large. The English letters on the chest have also been washed and discolored. The neckline is slightly open, revealing the delicate collarbone and two streak marks on the shoulders. from.
The same is true of his right palm. When he was carrying the bundle of firewood, he left a conspicuous mark on the palm.
Huo Xingchao saw the photographer staring at his shoulder all the time, thinking he was looking at the dress, so he gently pulled at the neckline,
"This is given to me by a brother who volunteered to teach before. His name is Lin Liangzhou, and he is from Sichuan Province."
"When did he give it to you? It looks like you've been wearing it for a long time."
"When I was in the second year of junior high school. He also gave me an electronic watch, but now there is no electronic watch, so I can't leave for the time being."
"In the second year of junior high school, more than four years have passed. Do you still remember his name?"
The young man raised his eyebrows slightly and gave him a strange look,
"What can't I remember, I remember all the teachers in elementary school."
He lowered his eyes and was silent for a while, watching the flames jumping in the stove, and added in a low voice,
"Anyway, I'll remember it for the rest of my life."
......
"I'm really fascinated by this little brother, the three views are too much to my taste, but I don't know why, the more I look at it, the more I want to cry, I don't think he's the kind of person who needs sympathy, but I'm... .Ugh."
"To be honest, I still haven't figured out why so many people like Xu Yang. Maybe everyone has never experienced school violence, so they really think F4 is an idol drama? I have experienced it, so I watched Meteor Garden before, and it really I absolutely hate the male protagonist in it."
"Xu Yang is actually a child who lacks love, but apart from lack of love, his other conditions are too rich, so he still hasn't grown up. Huo Xingchao is also a child who lacks love, but for him, life is too hard. Love is the least important one, it's too early to be sensible. Both of them are quite distressing. "
"I'll add a digression. I think Huo Xingchao's mother's appearance and temperament are simply unbelievable. She doesn't look like a village woman at all. She actually knows a few words of English! Huo Xingchao said that his mother was abducted and sold, and he must have been a family when he was young. The great beauty, I don't know why she suffered this crime... I really hate those traffickers!"
......
After the broadcast of these episodes, the pair of Ruan Lan and Xu Yang have quickly emerged as the most popular unit, and they are far from the other groups.
And between the two of them, Xu Yang was far more popular than Ruan Lan because of the addition of Huo Xingchao.
So in general, this season of "Exchange Life", the most popular guest is Huo Xingchao.
But Huo Xingchao himself did not take this seriously.
His goal is far more than the amount of money given by the show team. From the very beginning, he agreed to participate in the show for the same purpose as Xu Yang.
He learned the leverage theorem.
Archimedes once said, give him a fulcrum and he can move the earth.
Huo Xingchao did not seek to shake the earth.
But he stood here, and all the sweat and hardships he put in must find a fulcrum far enough to get more than what he paid in return.
He clearly and clearly understands that he can't be trapped in a mountain village forever, and this show is the best platform for him to communicate with the outside world.
In the evening, the teenager leaned against the head of the bed and quietly stared at the mobile phone in his hand. After a while, he closed the text message interface and called Ruan Lan.
This is the first call he has made to Ruan Lan in the past half month.
Because they didn't want to communicate in front of the camera, Huo Xingchao and Ruan Lan communicated basically at night after the camera was turned off. At this time, the mother slept next door, the sound insulation effect was not good, and they kept texting.
But today, my mother went to Aunt Yang's house in the east of the village to help her take care of her daughter-in-law, who was about to give birth, and she hasn't come back yet.
Huo Xingchao dialed that number.
After the bell rang twice, it was quickly picked up.
"Hey."
The clear voice of the girl came from the ear, because it was close to the ear, and it was such a silent night, so although the two were far away, they felt an inexplicable feeling of intimacy.
Huo Xingchao didn't speak for two seconds.
"elder brother?"
Because Huo Xingchao was half a year older than Ruan Lan, when he was a child, Ruan Lan always called him brother. Later, when he went to school, he felt inappropriate at school, so he called him by name.
"Um."
He replied softly, "It's me."
"I know it's you."
The little girl's tone had a light smile, "Why did you call me today?"
Since coming to Yangcheng, Ruan Lan's nerves have been tense, and she seldom smiles. Even if the photographer asks her to smile at the camera, it is not very natural.
Hearing Huo Xingchao's voice this time, it was the first time she laughed so easily.
Huo Xingchao also slightly curved his lips, "My mother is not here."
He holds the phone,
"But I have something very important to tell you."
"what?"
"I was at the small temple today, and I accidentally heard what your mother said to the Buddha statue. She said that she went to the town to watch TV and saw an acquaintance. She asked the Buddha, I hope she must have read it wrong, I hope that woman It must not be your biological mother."
Ruan Lan was stunned for a moment.
"......What's the meaning?"
"She also said that when she changed her child, she was just a ghost for a while. Now that so many years have passed, let the Buddha not care about it. You know, she also offered a chicken."
Offered a chicken.
It means that her mother must be very serious and take this matter very seriously, and it is impossible to talk nonsense.
What do these words mean?
"elder brother......"
"Don't talk, just listen to me."
The boy interrupted her,
"There are three keywords. The Lu family, your daughter as old as you, gave you a bracelet. You go to the last episode of the show, look for women related to these three keywords, and try to get it without her discovering it. When it comes to her hair or other things that can be used for paternity testing, you can look it up on the Internet, and after you get it, do the paternity test, and you should be able to find the specific process online."
"As for how to avoid the camera, I believe you can definitely find a way, so I won't say more. If the result comes out and proves that you are her daughter, you can show her this certificate to see if she recognizes it. You. If not, just pretend nothing happened, and we'll test your mother when you come back."
"I don't know if you can do the paternity test yourself. If you can't, don't go to a regular big hospital, go to a health center, and give more money. Those doctors will definitely find a way. Don't worry about the money first, if it's not enough, I still have 30,000 here. After all, there is an 80% chance that this is true."
"Okay, my mother is back, let's text."
......
The girl stared blankly at the phone that was hung up. After a long time, she still didn't know how to react.
She really didn't know how to react.
If, if the family that has tortured her for more than ten years is not the family she should have. And that gentle and elegant Mrs. Lu is actually the mother she should have.
- Should she be happy or unhappy?
But what if it's not true?
If the devil is still the devil, is heaven still someone else's?
after a long time.
The phone screen lights up again, and a text message comes in.
"Lanlan, it doesn't matter whether it is or not. Even if they refuse to recognize you, it doesn't matter. We rely on ourselves."
"Sun Wukong has only himself."
"Brother is your eternal flower and fruit mountain."
......