The next day, they could see their money, and everyone was excited again that night.
In the morning, no one needed Peng Fei to call them; they all got up enthusiastically, eager to go to the market.
Peng Fei felt they could venture further into the mountains and dig for more.
So, he sent two people to the market to sell, while four continued digging, and the other two went with him to find mushrooms.
It was another busy day. In the evening, when everyone gathered, the brothers from the market brought back over eighty yuan.
Since locals also went into the mountains to dig bamboo to sell to town residents, the price wasn't very high. That's all they made from so much effort.
But for them, starting from scratch, over eighty yuan was enough to be exciting.
They calculated that if they sold all they had, they could get over a hundred yuan. Would that be enough to buy seeds?
Peng Fei dampened their spirits.
During the day, he had chatted with an elder from the village and learned that they could sell their bamboo for over two yuan per jin. Why were they selling it for only a few jiao per jin?
With the cameras present, these two people shouldn't dare to embezzle public funds. It meant their selling method was wrong, and they had been cheated.
He told everyone to spend a few more yuan tomorrow to take the bus to the county town and sell it for two yuan and five jiao per jin. Not a jiao less, and they would definitely earn more than today.
Moreover, the mushrooms he collected were all very fresh and tender. It would be a shame not to sell them at a high price.
At this point, everyone began to look at him with a little more respect. His arrangements were always quite reasonable.
Although he liked to give orders, he didn't excessively fight for camera time. He seemed like someone they could get along with.
Everyone decided to follow his lead.
The next day, Peng Fei continued to lead people in digging, and he sent two more people to the county town.
After a day's effort, they actually brought back over three hundred yuan.
"After all, city people know what's good. They gave much higher prices than the town. Just that basket of mushrooms sold for nearly 200. Brother Fei, you're amazing! With over 400 yuan, can we buy a lot of seeds now!"
Everyone was very excited. They had only been in the mountains for two days and earned over 400 yuan. This was incredible!
But Peng Fei had to bring them down to earth. This amount of money was not enough at all.
Not only did they need to buy seeds, but they also needed to buy fertilizer and pesticides. Furthermore, the growth cycle of bamboo shoots was very short. Once they found all the nearby ones, they were gone, and they couldn't utilize them anymore. They had to think of other ways to make money.
"Ah? Is that so? Then what else can we rely on to earn money?"
They had filmed for five days, which was enough to edit one episode. Leaving a cliffhanger, they stopped filming.
The cameras were put away, and everyone started to complain.
"Why didn't you say earlier that this money wasn't enough? If we had known, we would have worked harder when looking for bamboo shoots. Those villagers wouldn't have gotten any! Now you say this after they're all dug up. Isn't that just hindsight?"
"How about I ask my mom to send me some money? Two thousand yuan should be enough, right? Our family can afford that much."
No one wanted to trouble themselves, nor could they think of any other solutions. Peng Fei ignored them. After dinner, he went to the village head's house alone and asked if there was anything he could help with, as long as he was paid, he would do anything.
There was a large vegetable grower in the village who had contracted over a hundred mu of vegetable gardens. It was the season for planting vegetables, and every day, from nurturing seedlings to sorting and various complicated procedures, people were needed.
Usually, the aunts and uncles from the village helped, earning 80 yuan in labor fees per day.
The village head told him to ask there if they still needed people.
Peng Fei found the boss and inquired. They needed people. Lunch was provided, and they paid 60 yuan per day. He took the job.
After a night's rest, the filming resumed normally the next day. Everyone again appeared diligent and hardworking, picking up their hoes after breakfast to head to the fields.
Peng Fei suddenly told them that they wouldn't be digging today.
"If we're not digging, what are we doing?"
"Going to make money." He deliberately kept it a secret and didn't tell them.
Upon arriving and greeting the boss, he learned that making money was secured again!
Each person earned 60 yuan a day. For the nine of them, that was over 500 yuan. They were impressed that he had negotiated such a big deal without telling them!
Working in the shed was much more comfortable than digging. Everyone enjoyed it immensely.
They went for three consecutive days. The production team said it wouldn't work, as every day they had the same footage, and there was nothing to edit. They asked Peng Fei to come up with something else.
The production team had also realized that the entire show relied on Peng Fei. The production assistants, and even the director, weren't very knowledgeable about farming, and he was more insightful than them. They decided to film according to his ideas from now on.
Peng Fei thought for a moment, took out the money, and divided some people to buy fertilizer, some to buy seeds, and some to continue planting vegetables. He himself went to continue digging.
Another five days quickly passed, and they had the material for the second episode. The first episode was aired.
Unexpectedly, the show went viral because of the segment where nine young idols were showing off their muscles while swinging hoes in the field.
The click-through rate for a single video exceeded 200 million, with over a million likes and 400,000 comments.
Everyone was curious, what kind of show was this? It was too funny.
Others were recording singing and dancing, playing instruments, and debuting with various professional skills. Their show actually brought in a few young people to dig in the dirt?!
They all expressed their desire to watch.
In one night, the show's popularity soared to fourth place among similar variety shows.
Naturally, Peng Fei, who was the most down-to-earth, hardworking, quiet, but most insightful person in the show, received unanimous praise from netizens.
"Ahhh, what a divine show! How can you find such a handsome, hardworking, not greasy, and quiet male god! I absolutely love watching it, it's so stress-relieving!"
"Look closely, he doesn't look like he's faking it. You can tell he's done this before! The way he swings the hoe is too handsome! The key is that he can also cook and do laundry. My goodness, he's simply the perfect husband in my mind!"
"Finally, there's a show that suits my taste. Singing and dancing talent shows are so tiresome!"
"So farming has so many intricacies. I've learned a lot from the show. Brother Peng, keep it up, I support you!"
"What have I done wrong? As soon as one episode was updated, it was pushed to the top. It's not enough to watch! Ahhh, can you update daily? I really want to see Brother Peng again soon!"
"By the way, no need for daily updates. Can we do a live broadcast? I want to see the nine handsome guys show off their muscles in front of me at the same time, cough cough~"
"Support the person above! When is the second episode coming out? How are they going to earn money to buy seeds? I'm so curious!"
"Live broadcast, live broadcast!"
"Live broadcast, live broadcast!!"
The agent saw that Peng Fei had gone viral and quickly spent a lot of money to have a big V write an article about Peng Fei's experience in a model selection show.
The curious netizens who couldn't get enough of the farming show, followed this article and found his previous selection show.
Seeing him constantly changing his styles in the show, releasing his charm in various ways each episode, and besides the show, he didn't chat and laugh with others, only reading or reading, they developed an even better impression of him.
Incidentally, that show also became popular.