Coming Clean: My Pancake Stand Needs Crowdfunding

After two years of scraping by on steamed buns and pickled vegetables, down-and-out web novelist Liu Weidong finally bows to reality. He decides to hang up his pen and bid farewell to the literary world! But his next stop isn't a day job. It's a jianbing stand! The trouble is, his startup funds are even more nonexistent than his collection of novels. So, under the pretense of “discussing something important,” he throws a Hongmen banquet in his tiny rental room, less than ten square meters in size. In reality, it's a scheme to swindle, trick, and, uh, no, to raise funds through crowdfunding. His equally hopeless buddies show up one after another, each bringing a “fortune”: Xu Kun, the “trainee” dreaming of making his debut in the center spot; Li Daliang, the “leader of the Flavor Tribe,” who fails at everything except eating; Pan Xiaojiang, the “philosopher” who sees through it all and loves to say, “You can't handle it”; Ma Aiguo, “master of traditional martial arts” (his special move: the Lightning Five-Whip Combo); Huang Xiaowei, a wild-action-scene director known as “Half-Submit Bro”; and Wang Gazi, Liu Weidong's childhood friend who always lets the team down at crucial moments. A hilarious debate about dreams (jianbing), friendship (pooling funds), and the future (possibly losing everything) begins! Can Liu Weidong's jianbing venture take off with this band of “hidden dragons and young phoenixes” on board?