The filming location chosen by the crew of ‘Somewhere Else’  the Old West City, the second largest city in country Y, was a scenic seaside city with a well-developed economy, tourism and culture, high population density and many activities.

The guests’ accommodation and food on the first day were provided by the program team and arranged at the most famous local five-star hotel in Old West City, which was built near the beach and had a long private beach with a first-class view.

However, as anyone who had seen the previous seasons of the show knew, this was pretty much the only thing the guests would enjoy throughout the trip. From the second day onwards, all the guests’ expenses would be paid for by themselves, and the initial funding provided by the show was already very limited.

But so far away from their home, their star aura no longer existed and there was also a language barrier, so making money was not an easy thing to do.

However, because of this, this program had been very popular with the audience. Watching these usually bright and shiny stars running around like ordinary people and struggling to make a living was as if the distance between themselves and the stars was instantly brought closer.

This was also the easiest part for the celebrity guests to pull goodwill. As long as their performance was grounded, the basic word of mouth would not be too bad. In previous seasons, there were stars whose popularity soared thanks to this part of performance of being hardworking.

The team arrived at the hotel, ate a meal and then went back to their respective rooms to rest and adjust to jet lag. In the evening, the six guests went to the cafeteria to eat together and then gathered around to discuss how to choose their next job.

Considering that the guests were unfamiliar with the foreign country, the program team arranged several simple jobs in advance, the guests could choose to find their own way to earn money, or directly choose the work provided by the program team.

But since the last few seasons, most of the guests would choose the work provided by the show, the reason was very simple. As stars, they usually focused on acting jobs so they knew very few other skills that could make them a living. Even if they had some, it was not easy to find a job abroad by themselves in a short period of time, it was basically impossible, not to mention the language barrier.

Some guests had tried to be street performers in the past, but the income was very unstable and if you were unlucky, you might not even earn a night’s accommodation.

This time, the program team provided a total of three different jobs in the local scenic spots. The first was Chinese guide for scenic spots, specializing in receiving Chinese tourists. The second was selling tourist souvenirs at scenic spots and the third one was a restaurant waiter.

These three jobs were also different in terms of pay. The Chinese guide had the highest salary, 100 US $ per day, but the souvenir salesman’s and waiter’s fixed salary was only half that of the Chinese guide, but sales could give you commission and the waiter could receive tips from the guests.

At the same time, each group of guests could not choose overlapping work, so choosing required guests to analyze and judge jobs and they also had to compete for the jobs.

After listening to the introduction of the program, several guests discussed enthusiastically, and there was no doubt that they all wanted to be the Chinese guide. Compared to the other two jobs, the Chinese guide had no language barrier, high income and low risk, and was obviously the easiest.

Meng Xixi, as the most lively, immediately blinked at others with her hands folded: “Seniors, as the saying goes, the country Y is the most concerned about women’s rights, so please let us choose first!”

“That’s not going to happen.” Jiang Wei immediately and justifiably retorted. “We are Chinese, Chinese people respect the old and love the young, so we should let the oldest choose first!”

Chen Xiaoxuan was not convinced: “What about loving the young?”

Zhu Chuanjia complained: “The problem is that you are not that young…”

Chen Xiaoxuan puffed up her face and said, “Senior is also not old enough!”

The two groups of people did not give a way to each other and were in the middle of arguments. Fang Huiwang naturally could not let them have the camera all for themselves but Xie Ran who sat next to him was not saying a word from beginning to end, only sitting in silence drinking coffee, with no intention of joining the discussion at all.

Fang Huiwang took the initiative to cue him, leaning over and smiling as he said: “Xiao Ran, which job do you think is better?”

In fact, he also wanted to fight for the opportunity to work as Chinese guide but it was difficult to make a decision in front of the camera and he had to discuss it with his partner first.

Xie Ran was quite cooperative at work, so after smelling and finally putting down his coffee, he paused for a moment, as if he was thinking and finally said: “If it is ranked by income, souvenirs are first, and Chinese’s guide income is similar to that of the waiter.”

Xie Ran rarely opened his mouth so when he finally did, the others all looked toward him, but they obviously disagreed with his answer. They also analyzed the job of selling souvenirs just now. Although there was a commission, the basic salary was low, and the language requirements were also relatively high. The risk was too big and not as good as the waiter.

Fang Huiwang also disagreed, but continued to ask: “Why do you think so?”

“It’s not my opinion but data.” Xie Ran glanced at him and then reported several data, namely, the average daily passenger flow of the scenic spot in winter, the number of restaurants and restaurant waiters, the number of souvenir shops and the number of salespeople, etc. “…According to the turnover rate and the tipping habit in Old West City, the daily tips received by restaurant waiters in this season are about 45 to 60 US dollars. Adding it to the basic salary, it’s about the same as that of Chinese guide.”

“Similarly, according to the percentage of sales and commission of the souvenir stores, the daily commission of the salesman is about 50 to 60 US dollars. Under normal circumstances, the income of these three jobs is basically the same.”

He spoke in a smooth tone, and reported the relevant figures one by one, each of which was accurate to single digits making all other quests bewildered.

Chen Xiaoxuan was stunned: “”Brother Ran, how do you know all of this?”

Of course, it was Meng Feixuan who just reported it.

Xie Ran: “It was on the financial report of the scenic spot.”

This scenic spot was a listed company, which had a financial report that was also public so it could be viewed directly on the Internet.

The question was, who would remember such a thing when recording a variety show! Now, everyone didn’t have a cell phone so they could not prepare in advance.

Xie Ran must be making it up, right??!

Not only the guests, but also the whole crew was speechless and choked up, because the result Xie Ran had just deduced was completely correct. The three jobs they offered were actually carefully designed to end up earning about the same amount of money to avoid making the funding gap for the guests too big from the first day.

The difference was that they directly followed the data from the scenic spot, while Xie Ran analyzed it himself and relied on the financial reports disclosed online.

Program group:  Feeling IQ rubbed on the ground.jpg

Fang Huiwang woke up first and asked: “Since it is basically the same, why did you say that souvenir sales were the highest?”

“Because the variable of shooting the program is added.” Xie Ran still looked unfazed: “The flow of customers, tips are fixed but when there is a program shooting, souvenir sales will be more likely and it will be easier to sell. Also, if you meet Chinese guests, the sales may also increase.”

Everyone was surprised, but the other two groups of guests were still suspicious. On one hand, they could not believe that Xie Ran would check the financial report of the scenic spot in advance, and on the other hand, they were now in the middle of competition. Who knew if Xie Ran was deliberately trying to confuse them?

Jiang Wei was an old timer so he immediately raised his eyebrows and asked: “So Xiao Ran wants to choose souvenirs sales?”

Xie Ran leaned his hand on the armrest of the sofa and gently held his chin: “No.”

When the other people heard his speech they gave the meaningful “Oh” and expression of “sure enough”. After saying so much, he still did not choose it so he was really trying to trick them.

Fang Huiwang said: “Which one do you want to choose?”

“None of them.” Xie Ran said faintly, “I’ll use other options.”

As soon as he said this, others became stunned again. According to the rules, guests could indeed find their own ways to make money, but guests from previous seasons had verified how difficult it was, so they had not considered this option from the beginning to end.

Did Xie Ran have some good ideas? Everyone couldn’t help being curious.

Fang Huiwang was also surprised: “What can we do?”

Xie Ran raised his eyes and said succinctly: “The stock market.”

The people who had looked at him expectantly: “…”

Was this a joke?

Not to mention how unreliable stock speculation was at this time, they had very little funds and they did not even have their mobile phones so how could they buy and sell shares?

Fang Huiwang’s mouth twitched as he could not control himself anymore: “Xiao Ran, seriously stop it.”

“I am serious.” Xie Ran said and looked at the time. Seeing that it was almost time, he raised his hand to call the waiter of the hotel and asked him to call the hotel manager.

The hotel manager quickly appeared: “Who is looking for me?”

“Me.” Xie Ran stood up and began to communicate with him in english.

At this time, everyone found that Xie Ran’s english was very fluent and he had no language barrier communicating with the hotel manager.

Other people’s english was at the average level of the entertainment industry so they could only cope with simple daily communication. But Xie Ran not only spoke fast but also mixed in a large number of professional words making all of them confused, and they could only look at the team leader who was a part-time translator.

The team leader was even more surprised by Xie Ran’s english level than others, because she could hear that Xie  Ran was not only fluent, but also had a pronunciation so standard that it did not have any accent at all, so his english was much better than hers.

However, she soon regained her senses and whispered to everyone: “Brother Ran is asking the hotel manager to help him operate and buy stocks…. “

Their mobile phones were confiscated so they could not buy their own stocks, but it was obvious that Xie Ran had  already figured out a way.

Fang Huiwang did not expect Xie Ran to be actually so serious about it on the spot, anxiously he pulled Xie Ran: “No, Xiao Ran’s stock speculation is too childish, I oppose.”

“I didn’t count you in.” Xie Ran interrupted him and extended a hand. “Give me my funds.”

Fang Huiwang was stunned: “Do you want to act separately?”

“Yes.” Xie Ran gave the team leader a questioning look. “I remember there is no rule that the same group must act together, right?”

The team leader felt choked for a moment: “No ……”

The problem was that this program was focused on the friends traveling together, so generally, under normal circumstances, the same group would not act separately…

Not to mention that Xie Ran still unilaterally split the group.

The other two groups of guests who were originally confused by Xie Ran’s sudden divine operation, instantly sobered up and looked at their partners separately.

That’s right, that’s the look!

Curious, excited, but still holding back.

At this moment, everyone was curious what would happen next.

There’s material for this episode!

Fang Huiwang’s face turned from blue to white for a while but he couldn’t say a word.

He simply did not expect Xie Ran would be so straightforward.

In the headset, Meng Feixuan asked very studiously: “Sir, Fang Huiwang’s current appearance is the legendary embarrassment, right?”

Xie Ran: “You know what he looks like?”

Meng Feixuan: “I hacked into the surveillance here.”

Xie Ran: “…”

 

Hi!

Looking for editor/ Proofreader

Good English grammar and time required. 

If you are interested, please contact me – lajnaa72@gmail.com

 

Edited by: Nio

Proofread: Rubhyl

 

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