WS - Chapter 19
Chapter 19
"Last night, and the treatment's not bad at all." Zhuang Jiachuan's voice sounded from ahead of Yu Nianbing.
Yu Nianbing walked a few more steps, then reached the outside of the spaceship and saw what had prompted Zhuang Jiachuan's exclamation.
A... castle.
The simple briefing materials the production team had handed over didn't mention this, so Yu Nianbing was somewhat shocked when she first saw it, too.
"They've really pulled out all the stops this time." Ning Chuyang's voice came from behind.
Yu Nianbing turned her head and happened to see Song Shiyue following behind Ning Chuyang as she walked out. The young woman was gazing into the distance, her surprised lips slightly parted, her eyes seeming to reflect the starlight. Yu Nianbing quietly averted her gaze.
Once they reached the castle gates, Director Zhang didn't immediately shrink back into a corner to be part of the furniture. Not only that, he even had the young woman among the three of them step forward and explain the current situation to everyone.
Feng Qianqian slowly walked out from behind Director Zhang. First she pulled back her hoodie, then took off the baseball cap on her head, followed by her sunglasses and face mask. In no time, a fresh and lovely young woman appeared before them.
It had to be said... dressed like that, anyone who didn't know better would think she was the star with hundreds of millions of fans who would cause traffic jams just walking down the street.
Taking off a few accessories didn't take any time at all, so everyone waited quietly. Only Song Shiyue, when she saw the young woman remove her baseball cap, heard a sudden sharp intake of breath from beside her. She tilted her head to look and saw it was Mu Xingzhou, who was standing one person away from her with Ning Chuyang between them.
Was it someone he knew?
Mu Xingzhou didn't speak; the sound of clothes rustling seemed to have only happened once, and soon even his breathing gradually steadied.
The young woman began to speak, and Song Shiyue no longer had the attention to spare for Mu Xingzhou.
"Hello everyone, I'm Feng Qianqian, the staff member accompanying the team this time, responsible for explaining the necessary rules to you. Once we officially enter the wilderness tomorrow morning, even if you call out to me, I won't be able to hear you. I hope you'll understand." Feng Qianqian smiled sweetly, then continued, "Tonight we'll be staying in this old castle. It's clean and tidy inside, with no strange things, so please don't be scared."
Song Shiyue felt Yu Nianbing beside her tremble slightly.
Guan Yongyi also let out a low mumble: "Why does that sound a bit cold..."
Feng Qianqian seemed to find nothing amiss and continued: "Tonight, there are a cook and a butler staying in the old castle to serve everyone. You can enjoy your dinner and tomorrow's breakfast here in the castle, and you'll each have your own bedroom for a good night's sleep. However, when we set off tomorrow morning, you cannot take anything from the castle with you, including but not limited to food. You can now go in and move about freely; the entire castle is open for you to explore. Dinner and breakfast have no set time; you can go eat together or individually. After you've chosen your bedroom, write your name on the plaque at the bedroom door, so others won't go in. Finally, tomorrow morning at seven o'clock, assemble at the castle gate. Thank you for your cooperation."
With that, Feng Qianqian reached out and pushed open the main doors of the castle.
Brilliant lights instantly illuminated the open ground before the castle gates, somewhat dispelling the less pleasant associations that had sprung to mind from certain words Feng Qianqian had used.
"Shall we go look at the bedrooms first?" Song Shiyue, following her chick principle, immediately turned to the person she knew best, Yu Nianbing.
"Alright." Under the lamplight, Yu Nianbing still seemed as steady and composed as she usually was, and she hadn't forgotten to ask the other woman present, "Ning Chuyang, will you come with us?"
Of course there was no reason not to.
As expected, girls still preferred moving around with other girls.
The castle's second and third floors had a large number of bedrooms.
But precisely because there were so many bedrooms, and so... few people, it felt rather...
In the end, Song Shiyue and the other two chose three adjoining rooms on the right side of the second floor, near the staircase. And when they went downstairs to the kitchen and ran into the three men who were checking out the food, they amiably suggested that the men choose the rooms on the left side of the second floor, near the staircase, opposite theirs.
The castle was really rather large, and the men had no particular sense of adventure, so they quickly moved their luggage over.
The cook had prepared many dishes; the various pots, large and small, were all full to the brim.
If anyone had special requests, as long as the castle had the ingredients, the cook could prepare something extra.
After a tiring day, the six of them had no special ideas, so they simply sat down at one table and told the cook to bring out whatever was ready.
When Zhuang Jiachuan took his seat, he also mentioned asking the three people from the director team to come and eat together. But who knew where they had gone; he went outside and called around the vicinity twice but didn't see anyone coming.
And as for the butler who was supposedly there... there was still no sign of him at all.
"I think we should just eat and then go to bed early today. We're leaving tomorrow morning anyway," Ning Chuyang said rather vaguely, but everyone understood what she meant.
"I hope there isn't a fake ghost terrorizing us in a night raid tonight," Zhuang Jiachuan said with a chuckle.
Then he was met with five stern gazes.
"I was joking, just joking..." Zhuang Jiachuan quickly waved his hands.
"This is a wilderness survival show, after all, not a supernatural show. It would be more reasonable for them to stage a wolf attack than a... night raid of that sort." Song Shiyue still wasn't quite used to speaking up among so many strangers, but... just now, when Zhuang Jiachuan spoke, she had heard Yu Nianbing's breathing pause for a considerable beat, and so she couldn't help but speak up to offer some comfort.
Song Shiyue's words were met with everyone's agreement.
In this castle where the atmosphere was indeed somewhat strange, everyone clearly had much more goodwill toward the wild wolves Song Shiyue had mentioned.
The castle cook's culinary skills were decent; at least Song Shiyue thought they were better than her own.
Unfortunately, everyone's appetites were quite average; it was only by remembering that they'd have to start roughing it the next day that they managed to force themselves to eat their fill.
Zhuang Jiachuan rubbed his full belly, unable to help lamenting that the feeling of fullness here was far worse than the satisfaction they'd felt eating big plate chicken the day before.
The six of them went back to the second floor together.
The production team staff and the legendary butler still hadn't appeared.
But once they reached the staircase landing, they ultimately had to go their separate ways to their own rooms.
Ning Chuyang, needing to use the washroom, went into her room quickly.
Song Shiyue noticed that Yu Nianbing's steps were slow, and after thinking for a moment, she also slowed her own pace a couple of steps.
But it wasn't until Yu Nianbing opened her door that Song Shiyue finally got the words she had thought Yu Nianbing would say.
"Hey..." Seeing Yu Nianbing lift her foot to walk inside, Song Shiyue couldn't help calling out to her.
"What is it?" Yu Nianbing turned back, her brows and eyes cool and clear, her words seeming to carry an extra hint of cold, stiff aloofness because of the night chill.
"Nothing..." Song Shiyue hesitated, but still said, "I'm right next door. If anything happens, knock on the wall and call me."
It was clearly a friendly remark, but Song Shiyue watched, wide-eyed, as Yu Nianbing's face instantly went pale.
"Wh... what's wrong?" Song Shiyue was so startled she stuttered a little.
Yu Nianbing shook her head, steadied herself, and reached out to touch the wall between their two doors. Suddenly she spoke: "I wonder, if this castle wall were broken, how much would it cost to pay for the damages?"
Others might not understand, but how could Song Shiyue not get the teasing in Yu Nianbing's words? However, she wasn't the type to be led astray by a couple of jibes.
"How about we give it a try?" Song Shiyue didn't continue bringing up the matter that seemed to have scared Yu Nianbing earlier, but instead played along with her teasing.
Yu Nianbing paused, but then quickly shook her head seriously: "No, it's a livestream, remember."
??
Song Shiyue was almost amused by Yu Nianbing's earnest expression. She was the one who had brought it up, yet now she was the one worrying about it?
"Speaking of which, will you be scared sleeping alone?" Song Shiyue felt that waiting for Yu Nianbing to bring it up herself was definitely impossible. But those two distinctly frightened breaths earlier made her suspect that tomorrow she might see a panda-bear transformation next door. Regardless, out of friendly gratitude for saving her life, she had to ask.
This question caught Yu Nianbing off guard for a moment. Still, she quickly and rather stiffly shook her head.
No matter what her answer was, Song Shiyue had already seen the truth.
"Well... I'm a little scared. Can we sleep together?" Song Shiyue asked with a friendly face.
Yu Nianbing felt as if she had been struck by lightning.
"Do you know what a twenty-four-hour livestream is?" "Do you know you confessed to me half a year ago?" "Do you know what kind of cyber attacks you'll face for saying this?" "Do you know that since the Same-Sex Marriage Legalization Act passed..."
Thousands of words clogged Yu Nianbing's throat, yet she couldn't utter a single one for a long time.
There was no way around it...
The girl before her had not a trace of calculation or shyness in her eyes; there was only earnest, sincere goodwill and friendliness.
Song Shiyue had seen through her. Yu Nianbing knew that Song Shiyue had realized she was a bit scared. She didn't want to sleep together because she was scared herself; it was because she was worried about Yu Nianbing being scared that she...
And because of that, Yu Nianbing suddenly couldn't voice any refusal.
In fact, in this situation, which had already been broadcast on the livestream, her refusal would not only be of no help to Song Shiyue, but might even add fuel to the fire.
"You saw through me..." Yu Nianbing relaxed her tense body, a hint of softness entering her whole demeanor. She revealed a slightly embarrassed smile. "I really am a bit scared. And you, there's nothing about you that looks scared; you just casually told a lie for my sake."
"Heh..." Song Shiyue had no idea of the countless thoughts that had twisted and turned in Yu Nianbing's mind. She simply thought her little scheme had been seen through, and she also smiled a bit sheepishly before quickly perking up again. "Then let's sleep together! When we were looking at bedrooms earlier, wasn't there a room on the third floor with a bunk bed? That way the livestream won't matter, right?"
Song Shiyue was very proud of her quick thinking. Although she wanted to keep Yu Nianbing company, she hadn't forgotten the somewhat delicate state of their relationship in the eyes of the world, oh.
Yu Nianbing looked at Song Shiyue's face, which was practically begging for praise, and a breath got stuck in her throat, nearly choking her. In the end, she was actually angered into laughter.
So, was that just her own wishful thinking earlier? This person really... couldn't she have strung those two points together when she spoke?
But... even if she had... she herself still...
The smile on Yu Nianbing's face gradually faded, and she shook her head again. When she spoke this time, she carried a bit more gravity: "I won't hide it from you. What Teacher Zhuang said on the spaceship earlier, about me learning more about the things and knowledge related to my role before I start filming, that's true. A while ago... alright, a few days ago, our company brought me a script for a horror film. For some reasons, I'll likely take it. And then I went to look at some related materials. Because of that... I can't sleep in that bunk bed either. Since I'm scared either way, I might as well just sleep like this."
"..." Song Shiyue hesitated for a moment. "Actually, I don't think there's any problem with sharing one bed. After all, we're both upright and brave citizens of Beichen Planet. Besides, once we're in the wilderness, never mind two people sharing one bed, we'll probably have to sleep on a communal platform; there might not even be a bed."
It actually made some sense. Yu Nianbing was almost convinced.
But, no. Yu Nianbing knew Song Shiyue meant well for her, but she knew even more clearly that, to be honest, sleeping together wouldn't really put her at a disadvantage. But Song Shiyue, who had brought it up voluntarily, would be in a rather tricky situation...
Yet Song Shiyue had put it so strongly. If she continued to refuse, it would seem as if she had indeed detected some strange intentions on Song Shiyue's part and was guarding against her...
Song Shiyue, oh Song Shiyue, you're putting me in a dilemma where either choice causes you trouble.
Yu Nianbing looked at the eager-eyed young woman before her, and for a moment, simply didn't know how to act. Her whole body went a bit stiff.
"How about this: let's go ask the director team. We won't ask them anything specific; we'll just ask if, from now on, there will be opportunities where we all have to sleep together, or where two or three people need to share a bed. If there are, then that proves, ah, it's all forced by the show—we're just sleeping together a bit early." Saying this, Song Shiyue grabbed Yu Nianbing and made to leave.
Was that the same thing?
This already had nothing to do with whether they would sleep together later, okay?
The problem now was that you took the initiative to say you wanted to sleep with me!
And you said "sleep" so many times... and "sleep together a bit early"... don't you think there's anything wrong with that?
Yu Nianbing's urge to snark was nearly irrepressible, but in the end, she calmed down and pulled Song Shiyue back: "We haven't seen the director team for ages. Do you think you can just ask and find them?"
Song Shiyue had no idea that Yu Nianbing was now in a state of not knowing what to say at all and was just saying anything to stall. She thought the other party was genuinely asking a question, so she nodded seriously and said, "I can. Let me take a guess."
With that, Song Shiyue closed her eyes, then carefully listened.
Mm... next to her, why was there a heartbeat that was so fast?
Oh, never mind that.
The sounds in the four nearby rooms, those must be the four of them.
Then a bit farther...
A bit farther...
"Found them." Song Shiyue opened her eyes and smiled. "I'm guessing they're in a spot even deeper inside."
Yu Nianbing thought Song Shiyue meant the bedrooms on the second floor, or the third floor, in the direction opposite the staircase—the area they'd called "deeper inside"...
But as she was racking her brains trying to figure out how to untangle the predicament of Song Shiyue's proactive invitation to sleep together, she let Song Shiyue lead her twisting and turning around, until finally they stood before...
The basement door?
The power of association made Yu Nianbing bite down on her lip hard before she barely managed not to tremble.
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