WS - Chapter 44
Chapter 44
While everyone was cheerfully eating roasted snake meat around the fire pit, Zhuang Jiachuan was carefully climbing the slope holding a tree branch, and it was impossible for him not to feel lonely.
It was just... this was something he had to do...
The spot where Captain Yang was resting was slightly above where they had built the stone stove. From below they could see Captain Yang sitting under a tree, and presumably Captain Yang could also clearly see what was happening over there.
Having experienced ups and many, many downs over the years... Zhuang Jiachuan could roughly guess Captain Yang's mood at this moment, but he couldn't quite understand why Yang still insisted on maintaining such an aloof and proud attitude under the current circumstances.
They were all here to get some good screen time on the show. If you don't get it the first time, just try harder and get it next time. In life, where can you always have smooth sailing? If you shrink back after just one or two failures, that's just too weak.
Zhuang Jiachuan's path in the entertainment industry could be said to have gone from a bright, wide road all the way to a muddy trail. But he had always kept walking, otherwise he wouldn't be standing on Wilderness Planet now. He couldn't help but look down somewhat on Captain Yang's inability to suffer a loss. If it weren't for the fact that they still needed Captain Yang to lead the team back to the "right path" set by the production team, he wouldn't have wanted to act as the peacemaker either.
However, Zhuang Jiachuan had put aside his pride and gone, but Captain Yang didn't give him any face.
"No need. You should also make good use of the time; the lunch break is almost over," Captain Yang said with a stern face and flat tone.
Zhuang Jiachuan, who had kindly invited Captain Yang to try some roasted snake, really felt his face sting.
At this point, it must be said that people's memory is indeed very short. Because earlier the production team had eaten boxed meals with greasy mouths and the guests were roasting snake and stewing soup in lively fashion, it only highlighted Captain Yang sitting alone under the tree like a stone Buddha, truly looking lonely to the point of pity. On the livestream page, amid the battles between various fan groups, some sympathetic voices for Captain Yang even appeared. They said that he had always meant well, that things going wrong wasn't his original intention, so why was he being completely excluded? No wonder he wanted to make things difficult for the guests a little...
A hundred kinds of rice feed a hundred kinds of people; the world is so big, and of course there wouldn't be just one voice on StarNet. However, such saint-like voices were naturally blasted to the heavens the moment they appeared. After all, sympathy is a feeling, but Captain Yang's awfulness had too much evidence.
And here it was: as the roasting continued, another comment came.
"Hmph, saying 'no need'— actually he's looking down on roasted snake meat and thinking about the production team's boxed meals!"
"You shouldn't have taken him food at all; after all the hard work to make that stuff, does Captain Yang even have the face to eat it?"
"Maybe he felt he didn't have the face to eat it... and that's why he didn't?"
"Some people shouldn't defend him; he lost all his face back when he took detours and prevented others from getting food!"
"Exactly, if he's so capable he should never follow the guests for food and just stick with the production team."
"The above comment is wrong; he lost his face even earlier, when he saw the king cobra and yelled out loud!"
"That makes sense!"
"Poor our Chuanchuan, with such good intentions, got a cold face."
"White do-gooder, but that's fine, at least it saves a bite of food— giving it to Captain Yang would be worse than feeding the dog."
"Right, the dog even catches fish; what can Captain Yang do?"
"He can baa-baa-baa?"
"HAHAHA! Can the person above not come and mess around while we're seriously denouncing this scum?"
"La la la, none of your business~~~"
Faced with Captain Yang's formulaic, cold refusal, Zhuang Jiachuan was cursing inwardly, but on his face he wore a helpless smile, shook his head, and without further persuasion went back down the slope.
After all, he was a Best Actor who had won the Golden Planet Award; although he had been very unlucky in the years since, Zhuang Jiachuan's acting skills were still on point.
Noticing the situation was unfavorable, Zhuang Jiachuan decisively abandoned the idea of continuing to persuade Captain Yang, cut his losses, and promptly left.
When he returned to the group, it was just the moment the stone pot was opened and the fragrance of the soup wafted over.
"Quick, quick! Here's your leaf." Ning Chuyang waved at Zhuang Jiachuan, who was walking over from a few steps away. "Hurry and fold it, we're about to start serving the soup."
Zhuang Jiachuan nodded with a smile and quickened his pace.
When he reached the stove, Song Shiyue was using something like a piece of wood to stir the pot.
"Watch, fold it like this." Beside him, Guan Yongyi nudged Zhuang Jiachuan with his elbow, opening out his already-folded leaf bowl a bit for Zhuang Jiachuan to learn from.
So-called leaf bowls were simply large leaves folded together like wrapping a zongzi, with another leaf folded underneath to support the bottom— very simple.
But no matter how simple, it still required both hands.
Zhuang Jiachuan, still holding a skewer of roasted snake meat, was thus a bit flustered.
"Alright, alright, I'll do it for you. You eat that roasted snake meat first." Guan Yongyi deftly refolded his own bowl in a few swift moves and took Zhuang Jiachuan's leaves.
Zhuang Jiachuan glanced around: everyone had already stopped gnawing on roasted snake and was holding leaf bowls, staring at the pot.
Ah, why did he even bother... Zhuang Jiachuan sighed, crouched down, and began to gnaw on his meat.
After going back and forth like this, the snake skewer that had been sizzling hot off the fire was now lukewarm.
Taking a bite, it was chewy and fragrant, but Zhuang Jiachuan always felt that something was missing.
What could be missing? The beauty of barbecue lies in eating it piping hot!
Zhuang Jiachuan had tasted Yu Nianbing's big plate chicken cooking before, and felt that while this roasted snake meat was not bad, it definitely warranted even higher expectations.
He couldn't think about it, couldn't think about it— thinking about what he had missed in order to get a cold face from Captain Yang made him feel stifled.
He'd never seen someone who was given a ladder and still kicked it over!
But... Zhuang Jiachuan chewed his snake meat indignantly, thinking that although he hadn't achieved the goal of reconciling with Captain Yang, this dignified friendliness of his should earn him some goodwill on the livestream.
Come to think of it, he actually had to thank that dog. Otherwise, offering a share of everyone's food and still being rejected by Captain Yang would probably make everyone look bad, and the livestream audience would think he was doing others no favors by offering their stuff. It was better this way— just his own kindness being rejected; it was embarrassing, but he could still get some sympathy points.
It must be said, Zhuang Jiachuan's calculations this time were decent; the reaction on StarNet was indeed as he expected— his general popularity increased, and the Little Skewers' sympathy for him also rose to a new height.
The others waiting for the soup had no idea that beside them, Zhuang Jiachuan, who was working hard to gnaw on snake meat, had gone through such a mental journey of continuous retreat in just one short round trip. Their attention was all on the bubbling soup in the pot.
"It's still a bit too hot; there are still two big leaves over there— bring them and fan the wind." While stirring the pot, Song Shiyue turned and pointed at the two remaining large leaves next to Mu Xingzhou.
The fire under the stone stove had already been put out, but the pot was too hot and the soup was still boiling. If they had bowls it would be fine, but they only had containers made of leaves, which couldn't withstand too much heat; they had to find a way to cool it down first.
Ning Chuyang brought the leaves over, one in each hand, and began fanning.
Song Shiyue, using this breeze, lifted up the wooden thing she had been stirring the pot with.
Only then did Zhuang Jiachuan realize it was a wooden spoon.
"Where did that spoon come from?" Zhuang Jiachuan swallowed his mouthful of snake meat and looked at Guan Yongyi, who was squatting nearby waiting for soup.
"Teacher Song whittled it with a stone knife. Don't worry, it's been scalded with boiling water and washed," Guan Yongyi said, turning his head to gesture toward the other stone stove.
Zhuang Jiachuan also looked over and saw that beside the earlier pot— which they said was left to cool so they could pour the water into kettles— there was also a large wooden spoon.
Hmm... really meticulous people; one spoon for soup, one for water.
Looking at the refined life here, and then thinking of Captain Yang, Zhuang Jiachuan truly felt like ignoring all the production team's arrangements and just sticking with this group from now on.
Yu Nianbing came over and took one of the leaves from Ning Chuyang; two people fanned while the third used a large spoon to scoop up the soup and pour it back into the pot through the breeze. They repeated this until the soup's temperature finally went down somewhat.
Time was limited, and they couldn't wait until it was completely cooled; as soon as it was just not too hot, the soup was ladled into everyone's leaf bowls.
"Are these bones going to be..." Zhuang Jiachuan carefully held his leaf of soup and looked somewhat curiously at Yu Nianbing, who was picking snake bones out of the spoon Song Shiyue was using to ladle soup and putting them onto a clean leaf.
"They can be stewed one more time; let's not waste them," Ning Chuyang blew on the soup in her leaf bowl and took a moment to answer Zhuang Jiachuan's question.
Fortunately, he hadn't asked whether it was for the dog. Zhuang Jiachuan exhaled softly and moved off to the side with his leaf bowl.
But he had to admit, this soup was truly delicious!
The lukewarm soup, full of meaty bone flavor, without the slightest strange taste. Perhaps because jicama had been added to the soup, the starch from it dissolved into the liquid and made the whole soup rich and thick. Even just a clear broth gained a unique texture when drunk.
Taking a sip of the fragrant, rich hot soup brought a sense of ease from the stomach to the meridians, relaxing the entire body. Then, one or two small jicama chunks followed the soup into the mouth, already so soft and cooked that they melted with a light press. It didn't feel like eating solid food, but more like drinking an even more intensely flavorful and full-bodied soup.
To have such a bowl of hot soup right after eating roasted snake meat— this would be a life of the gods even under normal circumstances.
After a few gulps of hot soup, Zhuang Jiachuan looked at the stone pot that had already been emptied and suddenly felt that Captain Yang's earlier refusal wasn't so annoying after all.
With more monks and less porridge, an extra outsider monk was a bit superfluous.
Yu Nianbing and Song Shiyue divided the last two bowls of soup in the pot. Yu Nianbing looked at the others who had already started slurping their soup, picked up the wooden spoon Song Shiyue had just returned to the empty pot, and scooped a spoonful from her own leaf bowl.
Song Shiyue cleverly avoided the spoon Yu Nianbing extended toward her.
"I can't finish it," Yu Nianbing said quietly.
"That's what you said when we were eating roasted snake meat earlier, and after you refused, you were able to finish it..." Song Shiyue covered her bowl with her hand, her face full of disbelief.
Having already been refused once before, Yu Nianbing sighed, "It seems my cooking isn't good enough; let someone else take over next meal."
As she spoke, she slowly pulled the wooden spoon back.
Song Shiyue had no doubt that this was the aura of a threat.
"Did someone say they can't finish?" Just then, Guan Yongyi, who had been burying his face in his soup and drinking with a satisfied expression, suddenly looked up.
Song Shiyue swiftly extended her leaf bowl under the wooden spoon that Yu Nianbing had halfway pulled back and quickly said, "No."
Both annoyed and amused, Yu Nianbing tipped the spoon downward, letting the soup fall into Song Shiyue's leaf bowl, and then gave Guan Yongyi a polite smile.
Guan Yongyi didn't mind their little exchange; he just chuckled and went back to blowing on his soup.
To those by the fire pit contentedly drinking their soup, this was just a minor interlude that perhaps no one even noticed.
But in the eyes of the StarNet audience who were hungrily waiting for their "food," it was a sweet piece of candy.
"Just went to scold Captain Yang, and came back to get candy. Suddenly I feel like I've worked hard all day and it's payday."
"HAHAHA, and it's a daily wage at that, right?"
"No way, after such hard work, it should at least be calculated on an hourly basis!"
"The friends above are too greedy. I'm easier to please— just give me a pot of this snake soup and I'll be fine."
"??? I only need one bowl!"
"What's with all this? A cute baby like me who only needs one sip is the most adorable, okay? Give baby one sip of soup, and I'll become a Mooncake baby!"
"..."
"Malicious cuteness prohibited!"
"I can't taste the soup, but this candy is so satisfying. In that spoonful Little Ice Block gave, the bottom was full of nothing but jicama."
"Hahaha, this suddenly brings to mind the story of twenty-one potatoes and three chickens. With this little amount, Song Shiyue won't be full— Yu Nianbing is really thoughtful."
"To be honest, I roam StarNet and never casually ship CPs, but at this very moment, please call me a jicama-flavored Little Mooncake."
"I'm a snake-soup-jelly-flavored Little Mooncake~"
"??? The person above is clever, and even noticed that liquid can't be used as filling?"
"Forgive me for saying, knowledge is a good thing. For example, I'm called a snake soup bursting Little Mooncake"
"..."
Song Shiyue didn't know that on StarNet, her and Yu Nianbing's CP fans were already heading in a strange direction. A long, long time later, when she discovered this, the variations on the "Mooncake" thing had already been played to heights she couldn't imagine.
Because they had spent too much time earlier preparing the utensils, they had hurried and rushed, but when Captain Yang started coming down the slope, everyone still only had half their soup left.
Just as everyone, unwilling to argue with Captain Yang over such trivial matters, was quickly blowing and drinking their soup, Captain Yang suddenly veered off and headed toward the nearby woods.
"Is he going to eat with the production team?" Ning Chuyang whispered.
Everyone nodded.
Even Mu Xingzhou, who rarely spoke, added, "I saw Wang Daming waving at Captain Yang at the edge of the woods earlier; he waved for quite a while before Captain Yang saw him."
"Look, he didn't go in." Guan Yongyi also whispered.
Twelve pairs of eyes all looked over.
"What's that?" Song Shiyue rubbed her eyes.
"Probably a boxed meal," Yu Nianbing, with just the right angle, spotted at a glance the box Captain Yang picked up from the ground.
"Tsk tsk." Ning Chuyang pursed her lips, then said mercilessly, "A boxed meal definitely isn't as delicious as the roasted meat and soup Teacher Yu made. Hmph, too bad he was upwind earlier; otherwise, the aroma would have driven him crazy with hunger."
"Exactly, exactly," Guan Yongyi agreed with a nod.
At that moment, while Captain Yang was holding the boxed meal, he wasn't exactly being tormented, but as he looked at the box he had just opened in his hands, he felt he was about to die of anger instead.
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