Sang Ning arrived at the company at 2:00 PM, and it turned out the production team had posted the official announcement on Weibo exactly at 2:00 PM.
Encounter in Countryside: This summer, we'll take you to experience countryside life alongside six celebrity families. Starting this Saturday, @Shen Yi @Song Shiye @Qin Kai @Chu Wei @Sang Ning @Chu Xi—don't miss it!
Shen Yi is the top-tier male lead from the original book, Song Shiye is a cultivated idol, and Qin Kai is a renowned actor. The three of them all surpass the female guests in popularity.
The top comments were soon dominated by fans of the three male stars.
#Experience Countryside with Shen Yi#
#Experience Countryside with Song Shiye#
#Experience Countryside with Qin Kai#
But when it came to the female guests, the tone took a sudden turn—more precisely, when it reached Sang Ning, it completely shifted.
The fourth most popular comment was: #Sang Ning Get Out of the Countryside#.
Sang Ning clicked on this comment, and all the replies under it were just scolding her.
[Don't make me laugh. Someone who cries for half a day over a little scratch and needs the entire crew to soothe her—isn't it blatant performative nonsense for her to join a show like this?]
[A centipede spirit coming here, seriously? Won't she just end up sobbing? The village dirt roads won't be her runway carpets. No heels, however fancy, will get her through this.]
[Wherever Sang Ning shows up, drama follows. This program's tone is supposed to focus on warmth and healing, but with her around, it's just going to turn into trauma central.]
Sang Ning scrolled through several more pages of comments, and there wasn't a single one speaking up for her.
Well, that was to be expected. She was already a star with 20 million anti-fans. Probably not a single random passerby in the entertainment industry would defend her now.
Sang Ning resolved that if she couldn't complete the tasks in the allotted time, she'd find a quick and clean way to die rather than giving that damned System the satisfaction of torturing her further.
On the other hand, she found it baffling—was the production team really this confident?
She had just stepped into the company, and they had immediately posted the announcement on Weibo. She hadn't even signed the contract yet!
The agent explained that because of her repeated behavior of backing out of variety shows mid-recording, her reputation in the industry was terrible. Now that a production team was willing to extend an olive branch, the company couldn't afford to refuse, so they agreed without waiting for her consent.
As for the contract, they said she could just sign it later. After all, they couldn't afford to delay the production team's announcement schedule.
Fine… That sounded reasonable enough.
Sang Ning picked up the contract and glanced at it. All that was left was for her to sign and confirm.
Worried there might be traps in the terms, Sang Ning decided to carefully read it from page one.
She hadn't even finished the first page when her agent burst into the office in a panic.
"Sis! Not good, not good! The production team says they need to go to your house right now to film the pre-departure family vlog for tomorrow's live broadcast promo video!"
"What's the rush? Are they racing to reincarnate?" Sang Ning slowly raised her head, pointed at the contract, and said unhurriedly, "Let me finish signing the contract first."
She lowered her head and continued reading the contract's clauses, but at this moment, her agent suddenly dropped to their knees with a loud thud.
"Sis, my one and only sis, I'm begging you—stop playing diva! Your black marks are already too many. If you screw up again, you're going to be entirely blacklisted by the industry!"
"If you get blacklisted, I'll die on the spot. Because of you, I've already made it to the top of the industry's blacklisted agents list!"
"Please, I'm begging you, for the sake of me joining you right after I graduated college, have some pity on me!"
"Your success is my success."
Sang Ning: "…"
The agent's eyes turned red, tears teetering on the edge of spilling. They were just short of bowing their head to the ground.
"Fine. I'll give you this one. I'll read the contract when I get back." Sang Ning stood up from the sofa at a leisurely pace.
The agent's face immediately lit up, tears wiped away in an instant, as they sprang to their feet.
"Sis, you're so mysterious. I still don't know where you live or how many people are in your household. Here's a contact; send them your address."
Sang Ning called the number the agent provided, and after a conversation, she found out the filming team was already near her neighborhood.
Originally, she had wanted them to wait until she returned, but thinking of the agent's earlier dramatic antics, she resisted the urge. If they were going to wait anyway, she'd at least let them into the house to rest and have some tea.
So, she gave the production team the Sang Family's address and asked them to head in and wait. She'd be home in half an hour.
"Sis, should I go with you?" The agent looked at her with a pleading expression.
"No need. Don't worry, I'll be polite and behave well." Sang Ning rejected decisively.
"…Alright, if you say so."
The agent's tone carried obvious hesitation, but they didn't dare pressure Sang Ning. If they pushed her too hard and she refused to go, they'd be the one to suffer.
After stepping out of the company, Sang Ning wanted to notify the Sang Family and ask them to help receive the production team.
But when she opened her phone, she realized that her contact list and WeChat had no entries for any of the Sang Family members.
The original owner had actually deleted all of them…
It seemed the original owner truly had strong feelings of resistance toward the Sang Family.
Still, she had only left recently, so they should still be home.
Sure enough, all three members of the Sang Family were at home, though Sang Ning hadn't expected them to stay in such a way.
The moment she had left, the Sang Family seemed to spring to life.
Hu Zhi wasted no time setting up the mahjong table and calling her mahjong buddies over, as she hadn't gotten her fill of the game yet after being summoned home urgently by Sang Youming's earlier call.
Sang Youming, on the other hand, brought out his stash of private liquor, planning to enjoy a few drinks. He hadn't satisfied his craving for alcohol today, so now that Sang Ning was out, he seized the chance for a few sneaky sips.
Meanwhile, Sang Chuan powered up the computer, ready to dive into a gaming session. He had been forced to leave the Internet café earlier while in the middle of a match, and since he'd now offended Sang Ning, his parents had forbidden him from returning to the café. He had no choice but to settle for the family's old, slow computer.
By the time Sang Ning had reached the company, the Sang Family's living room already presented an utterly bizarre scene.
Sang Youming lounged on the sofa with a drink, a look of pure relaxation on his face.
Next to the sofa was the dining table, its cover lifted to transform it into a mahjong table. Hu Zhi and her mahjong buddies were sitting around it, playing enthusiastically.
Beside the mahjong table sat a small classroom-style desk and chair set meant for elementary schoolers. Squeezed into the child-sized chair was Sang Chuan, a 6'1" man whose lanky figure looked utterly out of place.
Yet he seemed unbothered by the mismatch. Because the table was too small, he had placed the keyboard on his lap, one hand furiously tapping away at it while the other guided the mouse on the desk, his eyes locked onto the screen.
The three members of the Sang Family each did their own thing, as if this odd tableau had played out countless times before. Strange as it was, there was an odd harmony to it.
By the time the Sang Family was buzzing with activity, the filming crew had already arrived at the entrance of the urban village where Sang Ning lived, using the address she had provided.
The group, consisting of four staff members, exited the car and were greeted by a narrow, endless alleyway.
On both sides of the alley stood rows of shabby residential buildings. The crew could scarcely believe that Sang Ning's home was actually in one of these buildings.