At the beginning of the live stream, there was no one. It wasn’t until ten minutes in that a few night owls who hadn’t slept yet trickled in.

[Wait, what’s going on? A live stream at this hour?]

[Did he touch it by mistake?]

It wasn’t until Cheng Ye’s expressionless face appeared in the live stream.

The man’s facial contours were very deep, his eyes long, narrow, and cold. His features were not soft and rounded like most people’s, but sharp, exuding a wildness.

While putting on his jacket, he saw the words on the bullet comments. He lifted his eyelids and said without emotion, “The director said we have to stream for fourteen hours a week, which averages out to two hours a day.”

He explained, “Jiang Shi is sleeping. I’m live-streaming me breaking off corn.”

[I give up.]

[I really give up. I suspected I had the time wrong before I suspected Brother Ye. Five in the morning, live-streaming breaking off corn. I recognize every word, but how come I can’t understand them when they’re put together?]

[I haven’t even slept yet, and you’re already up and working? Are you a mule from the production team?]

[Forget it, it’s just an act for the live stream.]

Cheng Ye ignored the bullet comments, flipped the camera, fixed the phone on his head, put on his jacket, and set off, treading on the dew.

Even though the sky was showing a hint of fish-belly white, the surroundings still looked pitch black. The path was full of weeds, the stars twinkled sparsely, and the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking gradually began to rise. A thick fog rushed towards them.

[I give up. I don’t want to be the one clearing the path in front. It looks so scary.]

[Brother Ye, wouldn’t it be better to sleep at home with that kind of time?]

[Who’s going to watch a live stream at this hour?]

Actually, quite a few people were watching at this hour. Hundreds had trickled in.

[I was up all night playing games, on my way back to school. Let me see what this is all about.]

[Just came back from the bar, got a notification that my favorite streamer is live. Took a look, and Brother Ye is back to breaking off corn.]

[I get it. Of the hundreds of people in the live stream, besides the streamer, everyone else hasn’t slept.]

It was truly a vigorous clash between early risers and night owls.

Cheng Ye stepped on the weeds that were as high as his calves and arrived at the cornfield. The corn he had broken off yesterday afternoon was piled by the roadside in sacks. When the wind blew, the leaves rustled.

The bullet comments were full of doubts about him putting on a show. He adjusted the phone on his head, jumped down from the ridge, rolled up his sleeves, and started working.

Without the production team around, Cheng Ye worked even more efficiently. A grip, a twist, and the golden corn cob broke off from the stalk. A toss backwards, and it rolled into the basket.

He hardly stopped, not speaking, with only the rustling sound of the corn leaves around him.

By the time the production team realized he was up, it was already past six.

The sky was bright. By the time the cameraman arrived, panting with his camera, Cheng Ye had almost finished breaking off the corn in one plot of land.

The number of people in the live stream had strangely not decreased, but had actually increased.

[So tired. I feel like I’m covered in corn silk.]

[So tired. I feel like I just followed him and broke off a whole plot of corn.]

[So tired. Even the mules on the production team aren’t as capable as Brother Ye.]

[I can’t take it anymore. I’m obviously lying in an air-conditioned room, but I feel like I’ve been scratched by corn leaves and I’m covered in dust. I can’t breathe.]

[You’re too capable, Brother Ye. I apologize for my previous rude remarks.]

[No wonder he’s the CEO of Hengyuan. With that kind of perseverance, what can’t he succeed at?]

[Watching this has pumped me full of chicken blood. I’m getting up to memorize vocabulary.]

At 6:50, the sun climbed out from behind the mountaintop, its golden light spreading across the land. Cheng Ye looked up.

[Sunrise!]

[So beautiful. I haven’t seen a sunrise in years.]

[Oh my god, it feels like after all the hardship, hope is finally dawning.]

[All the effort seems to have finally found its meaning at this moment…]

Cheng Ye’s meaning was to rush back to make breakfast for Jiang Shi.

After looking for less than three seconds, he retracted his gaze and continued to break off corn with a thump, thump.

The cameraman had just set up his machine when the man emerged, covered in dust, with the basket on his back.

The invited guests had never done this kind of work before. The few plots of corn assigned were intended by the director to be a week’s worth of work for the guests. But Cheng Ye finished it in two days.

He tossed the basket into the small mountain of corn, took off his jacket and shook it, then left.

The chief director, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, was stunned. “CEO Cheng, you’re leaving just like that?”

The sun wasn’t out, so Cheng Ye’s face wasn’t sweaty, and even his expression showed no change.

He said, “It’s time. I’m going back to make breakfast.”

[I declare, Brother Ye is not a normal person.]

[Frantically breaking off corn for two hours, but still doesn’t forget to go back and make breakfast for his wife. He’s a man among men.]

[Others come to this variety show to suffer. Jiang Shi comes to this variety show to enjoy life.]

[Don’t say that. Maybe his life was much better before.]

[The baby cried all night, and I didn’t sleep well. Looking at my husband sleeping like a log next to me, the difference between people is really huge.]

[I’m so sour I’ve turned into a lemon.]

[No wonder the internet is always saying Jiang Shi has a bad personality. Now it seems he’s mostly just been spoiled by Cheng Ye.]

[I don’t blame him. If I were Jiang Shi, my temper would probably be even worse.]

He looked at the time, exactly two hours had passed, and then he decisively closed the live stream.

Cheng Ye went back to take a shower first.

The water had just boiled when Jiang Shi got up.

As soon as Jiang Shi came out, he saw Cheng Ye squatting by the sink washing vegetables. He had no idea what Cheng Ye had been up to and thought he had just woken up too. He stood under the persimmon tree and stretched.

“I want tomato and minced meat.”

The noodles were cooked. Jiang Shi used a pumpkin bowl, half full. Cheng Ye used a large stainless steel bowl, filled to the brim.

Jiang Shi’s posture was always very proper. His elbows rested on the table, his back straight. He ate quietly, his movements slow and methodical.

Cheng Ye sat opposite him with his legs spread apart, head down. With a few slurps, a corner of the noodles disappeared.

The scene was very jarring, but since both of them acted as if it were completely normal, it exuded a sense of harmony.

Jiang Shi asked, “Do we have to keep breaking off corn after we finish eating?”

Hearing him speak, Cheng Ye swallowed the noodles in his mouth before answering, “No. We’ll borrow a car first. There’s too much corn, it’s too tiring to carry it back. We’ll find a tricycle to pull it.”

“Borrow from the director team?”

“They’re too much of a scam. We’ll find a local villager.”

“Huh?” Jiang Shi said, “Is that allowed?”

“They didn’t say it’s not, so it is.”

The director team, who hadn’t thought of this at all: “…”

After eating, Cheng Ye wiped his mouth, put down his bowl, and went into the house to wash Jiang Shi’s and his own dirty clothes.

Jiang Shi ate slowly. By this time, he had only eaten half. Seeing Cheng Ye come out with a basin to wash clothes, he felt very embarrassed. “How about I wash them after I finish eating?”

“No need,” Cheng Ye said. “I’ll be done in two minutes.”

“But you’re so tired…”

“Not tired.”

Jiang Shi’s clothes smell so good. How could washing his clothes possibly be tiring?

When washing Jiang Shi’s, Cheng Ye carefully applied laundry detergent and soap, stretching them out to smooth the wrinkles before hanging them up.

When washing his own, a few random rubs to get the water clear was enough.

Jiang Shi had finished eating, and Cheng Ye’s clothes were also washed.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Shi went to the bathroom and took off his microphone. The slender young man stood at the door and beckoned to Cheng Ye. Cheng Ye, like a dog that had caught a scent, immediately came over.

Jiang Shi took off his microphone, grabbed his collar, and, tilting his head up, kissed him.

Sunlight streamed in through the half-open window, dancing on Jiang Shi’s face like a fish. His pale fingertips climbed onto the man’s shoulder, and he actively deepened the kiss.

When they parted, Jiang Shi’s eyes were flushed, and his lips were an unnatural color from being rubbed. Before he could even catch his breath, he first kicked Cheng Ye.

“Are you a dog? Who kisses like that?”

Cheng Ye held his chin and looked at it. His lips had been accidentally bitten a little by him, and the bruised color spread from that spot. He couldn’t help but lick it. “My fault, young master. Let me kiss you again, I’ll be gentle.”

The two fooled around in the bathroom for a full twenty minutes before coming out.

After all, they had invited a real couple. The production team could understand certain things, so they all tactfully didn’t ask what the two had been up to.

On the way to find a villager to borrow a tricycle, Cheng Ye had a sullen face.

His mouth had been eaten and eaten, and the person involved still put on a not-so-willing expression. Jiang Shi was not happy. “What’s with that expression?”

Cheng Ye said, “I have some regrets.”

If I had known that working in front of Jiang Shi could get this kind of benefit, I wouldn’t have gone to the company every day. All the hard work is done, and Jiang Shi hasn’t even seen it. And I still get嫌弃 (xiánqì) ‘disdained’ for a kiss back home.

The corn should have been broken off later. Maybe there could have been one more kiss.

Jiang Shi just thought he had a hole in his head.

He felt bad that Cheng Ye had worked so hard, so he comforted him. But Cheng Ye, instead of feeling the hardship of his work, was only secretly delighted at finding a new way to get kisses.

There weren’t many villagers around. The two walked around for a while before finding a family with a tricycle.

The couple looked to be in their forties or fifties. Their children had gone out to work, leaving just the two of them at home. When they heard Cheng Ye wanted to borrow their tricycle, they gave it to him without a second thought.

Cheng Ye drove the tricycle with Jiang Shi back to the field. It was only when they arrived that Jiang Shi discovered there were many more piles of corn than yesterday.

“What’s going on?”

“I got up this morning and broke them off. I’ve finished the whole plot. We can just pull them back today to dry.”

Jiang Shi was stunned. “When did you do this?”

“I was up at five this morning,” Cheng Ye stared at him pitifully. “I came in the dark. It was very hard work, much harder than washing clothes.”

The meaning behind his words was obvious.

Even Jiang Shi’s pity at this moment turned into speechlessness.

“Young master…”

Jiang Shi said, “Get lost.”

“…”

Cheng Ye deeply understood the difference between being proactive and being pushy.

Without receiving Jiang Shi’s affection, Cheng Ye went to carry the corn with a cold face. Sun Jiayu came out of the field with a basket on his back, panting. When he saw this scene, his world collapsed.

“Brother Cheng, where did you get the car?”

He looked around again, his eyes darkening. “And you’re done breaking them off?”

Wait, how did he finish breaking them off while I was asleep?

The cameraman beside him whispered, “You have no idea. This guy got up at five this morning. The director team didn’t even know. By the time we arrived, he had already finished.”

Sun Jiayu: “…”

Cheng Ye is not human. A human couldn’t do this kind of thing.

Hearing that Jiang Shi’s group had finished, all the guests came to watch.

Cheng Ye carried a car full of corn, rode the tricycle, and looked nothing like a CEO. His appearance was more local than the locals.

One of the female guests was very impressed with his car and asked him, “CEO Cheng, where did you get your car?”

Cheng Ye said, “Rented it. We asked around, it’s the only one in the whole village.”

“Then can you help us pull ours too?”

“Sure,” he agreed readily. “Fifty.”

“…”

I give up.