Superstar's Development Diary
Chapter 113: Snatching

Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Snatching

The assistant slapped her forehead upon seeing this, cursing herself for being stupid. She had known when she arrived that this place was very rural; there were many farmers nearby growing crops, and certainly, some would be growing fruit. How had she not thought of buying fruit?

Luckily, it wasn’t too late to have realized this.

Upon arriving at the front of the fruit store, the assistant read the store’s rules and then picked out a "mixed fruit platter" that had already been carefully cut into small pieces and placed in a clear plastic bowl, as well as a few good-looking citrus fruits.

Conscientiously putting the money into the coin jar, the assistant quickly flew back to the film crew.

Huang Yuanyuan was in the middle of shooting an action scene. Despite being winter, she wore a lightweight ancient summer costume and was forcibly sweating buckets.

Having just finished with the wirework, she let out a sigh of relief and just wanted to drink a cup of ice-cold water; instead, the next second, the assistant handed her ice-cold and refreshing... fruit?

Huang Yuanyuan was momentarily stunned, then took the clear plastic bowl and began to eat the fruit with a toothpick. It had to be said, it was quite delicious. The sour and sweet taste calmed her overheated mood.

While eating, she asked vaguely, "Where did you buy it from, the fruit market on Wanbao Net, and had it teleported over by instant delivery?"

The assistant shook her head, took out her phone, and displayed a picture, saying, "I found it in Film City, a self-service fruit store with no one watching over it, entirely reliant on customers to pay conscientiously."

Huang Yuanyuan peered curiously at the picture and laughed, "Interesting, was the fruit expensive to vend?"

The assistant thought for a moment, "The fruit is priced per piece, roughly five times the market price, but not scandalously expensive."

This wasn’t expensive considering Huang Yuanyuan’s level of spending.

Previously, Huang Yuanyuan wouldn’t eat anything but imported fruits, which were very expensive, costing dozens of yuan each, several dozen times the price of the same kind of domestic fruits. In comparison, a fivefold markup was nothing.

As Huang Yuanyuan pondered, a vague idea began to form in her mind. Before she could delve further into this thought, suddenly a second-tier actress from the crew approached her, hesitantly asking:

"Sister Yuan Yuan, sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to ask where you bought your fruit from. Could you tell me? I’d like to have some too."

Nowadays, it’s common to shop for all sorts of things online, and delivery is convenient, but even if it’s convenient, it’s hard to achieve same-day ordering and delivery. Plus, you never know if the fruit they pick for you is fresh.

But the fruit platter in Huang Yuanyuan’s hands looked very fresh, certainly not something that you can get from online shopping unless her assistant had ordered a lot of fruits online and then reprocessed them into individual pieces.

But they had been in the crew for many days, staying in the same hotel, and everyone more or less knew what was going on. They had never seen Huang Yuanyuan’s assistant collecting any parcels, let alone buying fruit!

Now seeing such fresh fruit out of the blue, the second-tier actress wanted not only to eat but also to indulge in the novelty.

Seeing the expectant look on the face of the second-tier actress, the vague idea in Huang Yuanyuan’s mind solidified into a plan, and she knew what to do next.

She smiled slightly and said, "I bought the fruit right here in Film City. There’s a place in the City that opened a temporary fruit store, specializing in selling fruit. However, they don’t sell much, so wait a bit, and I’ll have my assistant buy all their fruit."

Huang Yuanyuan paused, glanced at the people around her who were watching her, and said, "Everyone has been very busy lately, many staying up late overtime. It’s time to eat more fruit to replenish some vitamins, wake up our spirits and nurture our health."

As she spoke, the people who heard her clapped and cheered, and some said, "Yuan Yuan, then we won’t stand on ceremony!"

Huang Yuanyuan waved her hand, "What ceremony? Eat as much as you can!"

Although she didn’t explicitly say the very tacky words "I’m treating," everyone understood what Huang Yuanyuan meant.

As a top-tier celebrity, being one does not mean you’re exempt from dealing with interpersonal interactions; on the contrary, top-tier celebrities have even more ways to win people over, like using their wealth to make an impression.

It’s commonly said that if someone eats your food, they owe you something, and if they take something from you, they feel obligated. Securing a small favor, others will probably speak well of you outwardly.

Where does an artist’s good reputation come from?

Part of it comes from this.

Assistant Huang Yuanyuan was quick-witted. Upon hearing this, she immediately ran out and sprinted to "Xiongxiong Fruit Store."

Regrettably, some fruits had already been taken from the stand, and it didn’t look as fully stocked as before. It was uncertain if there would be enough for everyone in the crew.

Seeing other onlookers around the fruit store and fearing that the remaining fruits would be snatched away, the assistant quickly called for a car and moved all the remaining fruits into the vehicle, stuffing the money into the money jar in front of the onlooking crowd.

After the assistant left, the onlookers commented, "Someone actually dares to buy and eat?"

"Why not? The store owner must be too busy to mind the shop, that must be why they came up with this idea!"

"Then why don’t you go buy some if you dare to eat?"

"I’m poor, why should I buy such expensive fruits? Just watching the excitement is enough for me."

...

Once the crowd had dispersed, several people huddled together in a corner out of surveillance camera range and whispered with sneaky looks, "What do you think, should we snatch the money jar?"

Someone shook their head, "There are cameras all over the place, it’s not easy to make a move, and with so many celebrities filming in Film City, what if the owner calls the cops?"

Another replied, "So what about the cameras? Just put on a disguise! You said it yourself, with so many celebrities around, it won’t cause much of a stir. Celebrities fear negative press the most. Once the police show up, even if it’s not about them, it’s still negative news."

"But... acting on the first day seems a bit risky to me, and it looks like the fruit on display isn’t much. This owner seems to plan to set up a stall every day, and today is just a test run. How about we wait until there is more fruit and there’s more money being made before we make a move?"

Makes sense!

The others nodded in agreement, endorsing the suggestion.

However, they wanted to fatten He Jinxia like a pig for slaughter, but they had to see if He Jinxia was willing to continue manning the stall!

From the beginning, He Jinxia had never considered manning the stall as a way to make money. She remembered Sheng Yan’s teachings and saw it merely as an experiment.

At the end of the day, as soon as He Jinxia finished her work, Cheng Xiaohua drove her back to the hotel. On their way, they conveniently packed up the stall.

Once they reached the hotel and entered He Jinxia’s room, Cheng Xiaohua opened the money jar and dumped out all the coins.

Seeing the coins scattered everywhere, Cheng Xiaohua’s first reaction was disbelief.

"There’s, there’s so much money here?!" Cheng Xiaohua couldn’t believe it, touching the coins, there was a moment where she doubted whether they were all counterfeit.