Chapter 336: The Cellar
Ouyang Ouyang quickly explained the difficulty in a few words.
“Do you have to rent that family’s cellar? Can’t you find someone else?” Xu Youyou couldn’t understand.
Ouyang Ouyang scratched the back of his head and said, “Boss, that cellar is really something special…”
Xu Youyou looked strange — she thought it was hard to judge. No matter how good a cellar was, at the end of the day, it was still just a cellar!
Ouyang Ouyang handed her the script, full of red marks.
“This cellar perfectly matches the script’s setting, Boss. You should know better than I do — the script you gave us is practically untouchable, not a word can be changed,” Ouyang Ouyang said.
The movie script Xu Youyou gave him was produced by the system and was already flawless; any possible errors had long been patched.
In Ouyang Ouyang’s eyes, this script was even better than what the top screenwriters in the industry could produce. The dialogue and plot setup were absolutely perfect — not a single word could be altered.
The cellar he found was the only one that matched the script perfectly.
“Boss, you’ve met Xiao Luo from our team too. If it weren’t for him being a local and having dealt with that eccentric old man before, I wouldn’t have been able to find such a perfect cellar.”
As he spoke, Ouyang Ouyang showed Xu Youyou the photos of the cellar.
Xu Youyou had seen village cellars as a child, but this one was truly different. After all, it wasn’t every day you saw a cellar carved out into a three-bedroom, one-living-room layout. Even more amazing, one of the rooms had an open ceiling, making it not feel like a cellar at all — exactly as described in the script.
Even though Xu Youyou found it fitting, she didn’t get as obsessed as Ouyang Ouyang. She said, “It’s just a cellar. Instead of getting so hung up, couldn’t you just hire someone to dig another one?”
Ouyang Ouyang said helplessly, “Boss, of course I thought of that! But either something’s off here, or something’s missing there. We dug several, but none came out right.”
Xu Youyou clicked her tongue in amazement. “So you really are ready to hang yourself on one tree, huh?”
Ouyang Ouyang almost cried, pitifully saying, “Boss, I don’t have a choice! We can’t skip this scene, and the budget is burning faster and faster…”
Xu Youyou waved him off. “I told you before, money’s not a problem.”
Ouyang Ouyang muttered, “Boss, you’re generous, but I can’t be irresponsible. What if someone says I’m wasting the budget on purpose?”
Xu Youyou reassured him again, “I know what kind of person you are. If I trust someone, I trust them fully. No need to say more.”
Ouyang Ouyang stopped acting pitiful, but still looked at her pleadingly. “Boss, you’re smart — help me think of a way to persuade that old man?”
Xu Youyou asked, “Not even money works?”
Ouyang Ouyang nodded lightly.
“What about his children? If he doesn’t care about money, surely his descendants would?”
Ouyang Ouyang sighed heavily. “Boss, we tried that too. His descendants do want the money, but that old man is so stubborn, even with the whole family trying to persuade him, it’s no use!”
Even Xu Youyou couldn’t help clicking her tongue in amazement.
Xu Fang, who had been about to volunteer, backed off after hearing how stubborn the old man was.
Still, Xu Fang remembered her duties and softly said, “Boss, I’ll have someone look into it, see if we can find another way.”
Unexpectedly, Ouyang Ouyang sighed again. “Assistant Xu, it’s useless. Xiao Luo, who grew up here, already went crazy trying. He’s basically harassed every villager, dug up everything about the old man’s past — still no use.”
Xu Youyou’s curiosity was piqued. “What’s the old man’s story?”
“It’s both strange and ordinary. Back in the day, there were many like him. His family used to be a wealthy household. They drew lots when they emigrated, and the old man drew the unlucky one — he stayed behind while the rest went overseas.”
“It’s strange because, clearly, they had enough means to take all the children abroad, but they followed some weird rule and left just one kid behind — and he was only about ten. Imagine how cruel the parents must’ve been.”
Hearing this, Xu Youyou sensed something odd and immediately focused. “A ten-year-old survived all the way to now?”
At that time, there was a shortage of food and clothing, landlords were being targeted, and a young kid with wealth would’ve been an easy target. Yet he survived into his nineties — that really was strange.
Ouyang Ouyang nodded heavily. “Boss, I thought so too. He was lucky. Before liberation, someone set him up and he lost all his family fortune, only keeping this broken cellar. After liberation, he was even classified as a poor peasant.”
Xu Youyou was slightly surprised. In that era, social class was a huge deal, and being rich was dangerous. This man was too lucky — though she faintly felt something was off, as if he had deliberately made himself poor.
“And after liberation?” Xu Youyou asked.
Ouyang Ouyang continued, “After liberation, he married, had kids. During the Cultural Revolution when schools shut down and educated youths were sent to the countryside, he still valued education highly. When the college entrance exams were reinstated, both his son and daughter got into university. Later, during the reform and opening up, his son caught the last wave of opportunities and made a lot of money — he was the first millionaire in the village.”
At this point, Xu Youyou thought the story was over.
But life has its ups and downs. Ouyang Ouyang said, “Unfortunately, his son and grandson died early. The huge fortune ended up being squandered by his great-grandson. Now the family is doing so-so — not rich, not poor.”
Xu Youyou sighed internally. No matter how wise the family head is, they can’t stop foolish descendants from messing everything up.
Ouyang Ouyang added, “His great-grandson’s desperate for money, trying hard to persuade the old man to rent the cellar, but no matter what, the old man refuses.”
