WS - Chapter 81
Chapter 81
"You don't want to take the zipline?" Yu Nianbing gently tugged Song Shiyue's sleeve and asked.
Song Shiyue turned her head to look at Yu Nianbing, seemed to hesitate for a moment, then spoke: "It's not that..."
Wasn't it?
The somewhat reluctant expression on Song Shiyue's face told a different story.
Yu Nianbing glanced at the iron cable extending into the woods below, thought for a moment, and asked again, "Are you afraid of heights?"
As the two exchanged questions and answers— and then another question— the others, who had just been grumbling that the three choices were really no choice at all, all looked over.
"Song Shiyue, you're afraid of heights? What do we do then?" Ning Chuyang looked at Song Shiyue with some surprise.
Zhuang Jiachuan calculated for a moment. "Then taking the zipline would be a bit of a stretch. Among the two remaining choices, I personally think going down with the production team on the cable car is more practical."
"No... I'm not afraid of heights." Song Shiyue, somewhere between laughter and tears, shook her head and answered before the others could continue offering reassurances and suggestions.
So it wasn't a fear of heights.
Everyone's expressions relaxed.
Except for Yu Nianbing.
Even though Song Shiyue, who now joined the discussion of what rewards might appear along the zipline route, had indeed shed her earlier hesitant look, Yu Nianbing still felt she was hesitating.
But the way she had just said she wasn't afraid of heights didn't seem like a lie.
So... what was she hesitating about?
Unfortunately, even if Yu Nianbing racked her brains thinking from physiology to psychology, she couldn't guess what Song Shiyue's real concern was now.
Yes, who would have thought that Song Shiyue didn't want to take the zipline route simply because she didn't want to hand her backpack over to the production team to take to the camp.
For people like Yu Nianbing, who had always lived in a peaceful world and enjoyed fairly comfortable lives, even if they were given several more days, they probably wouldn't be able to guess.
Ever since Captain Yang said that when going on the zipline, backpacks would be handed over to the production team to be taken to camp via the cable hoist line, Song Shiyue had pushed that option to the very bottom.
In her backpack were jerky, beef fat— the food that was the foundation of surviving in this wilderness.
Even though she repeatedly told herself that this was just a livestream show, and the production team wouldn't be so bad as to deliberately lose the guests' food, Song Shiyue still couldn't hand over her backpack without any worry; and of course, she wouldn't be happy like the others at temporarily shedding her load.
For someone who had spent most of the past seven years struggling and fighting for tomorrow's food, even in this normal world, being able to share the food she obtained with the people in her team was already no easy matter. As for giving her own food to other people— especially to people like the production team who didn't look very reliable— for Song Shiyue, that was truly a test.
As for the rewards that might appear along the zipline route that everyone was now discussing, Song Shiyue actually didn't have much expectation.
From the fact that since noon, Captain Yang had only caught two frogs, eaten just one, and dried the other to keep, one could guess that the rewards along the zipline route probably had nothing to do with food.
Having ruled that out, the rewards were probably just about the comfort level of sleeping at night.
As far as Song Shiyue was concerned, whether she stayed in a wooden hut or a lean-to shelter, both were actually acceptable, and it wasn't worth the price of temporarily giving up her food.
Song Shiyue didn't want to choose the zipline route at all.
As Ning Chuyang had said, even on the flying ziplines on Amusement Planet, you had to hand over your large backpack. When traveling through the forest on a zipline, carrying too much on your body could indeed easily get caught or snagged, creating safety hazards. Even if Song Shiyue had great strength, once she was on the zipline in midair, she would also be constrained and unable to do anything about it.
Given Song Shiyue's current physical strength and walking speed, she would have preferred to simply start walking to the camp from now on. If she were walking alone, she might even arrive at the camp earlier than the rest of them going back and forth among the fifty platforms.
Unfortunately, the production team certainly wouldn't let her run up and down the mountain alone.
Captain Yang was most likely going to take the zipline route, so it was very likely that the production team would assign one of the bodyguards or Wang Daming to accompany the direct walking route.
In that case, Song Shiyue wouldn't be able to walk at full speed without reservation, meaning she would definitely arrive at the camp very late. Adding the omnipresent cameras, this was already no longer a good choice.
So now Song Shiyue was more inclined to go with the production team's cable car line. Although she wasn't good at building houses or constructing lean-to shelters, when it came to sleeping, just casually sleeping anywhere would do; lying on the ground, how could you not sleep?
Differences in people's experiences and ways of thinking would lead them to have different inclinations and make different decisions when facing choices and trade-offs.
Song Shiyue knew that the knot in her heart would seem very laughable in this peaceful world.
This was a livestream show; how could the production team lose the guests' luggage?
Even in the one-in-a-million chance that the production team, for some kind of program effect, "accidentally" lost the luggage, how could there be no compensatory measures?
Whether it was a new resource point, or rewards that could be obtained after completing some tasks later, all could compensate for the earlier "accident."
This was just a show, only a show...
But...
As she listened to the others' conversation, Song Shiyue unconsciously tightened her backpack straps.
However, it wasn't just the backpack straps that moved on her body.
After thinking for a long time, Yu Nianbing finally made her move. She pulled Song Shiyue by the sleeve, took her away from the others, and led her all the way down below the pavilion.
"What's wrong?" Song Shiyue, knowing that Yu Nianbing looked like she had something to say, couldn't help but lower her voice cooperatively.
"I think you don't want to take the zipline route. Why don't we go down with the production team on the cable car?" Yu Nianbing said this straightforwardly, without any sign of it being a question.
Actually, this was the conclusion Yu Nianbing had reached after careful consideration. Although the reason was unclear, Song Shiyue's resistance to the zipline route was very obvious. As for the two remaining paths, Yu Nianbing admitted she didn't have the ability to continuously climb mountains until the wee hours without sleeping and then continue climbing the next day. So only the option of following the production team was left; at worst... she would just sleep on the ground at night.
As a result, right after Yu Nianbing finished her psychological preparations and opened her mouth, Song Shiyue completely overturned it.
"We?" Song Shiyue was somewhat surprised.
That light word hit Yu Nianbing hard.
Song Shiyue hadn't denied not wanting to take the zipline, but had seemed very surprised by the word "we."
What did that signify? It went without saying.
"So, you were originally planning to not take the zipline by yourself?" Yu Nianbing took a dull step back, not knowing how she was managing to maintain her expression in this immense embarrassment, or how she was keeping the sounds of each syllable pushed out by the tip of her tongue from fluctuating too much.
Or perhaps, it was more than just embarrassment...
It was just that Yu Nianbing didn't have the mental energy to discern further right now.
Song Shiyue truly didn't notice anything amiss with Yu Nianbing, nor did she even realize what that small step backward Yu Nianbing took signified.
"That's not it; I'm also taking the zipline." Song Shiyue shook her head, saying this.
Even though when she heard Captain Yang say the backpacks would be handed over to the production team to take down, she had wanted to immediately abandon this choice. Even though subconsciously, she had compared the feasibility of the other two options in her mind several times. Even though her heart was still full of hesitation and unwillingness.
But...
Now she wasn't alone anymore.
Song Shiyue looked at Yu Nianbing before her, who was still slightly sweating at the temples from climbing the mountain all the way, and seemed to be breathing lightly but unevenly. The hesitation and unwillingness in her eyes were slowly replaced by a faint tenderness.
This wilderness place, except for that king cobra on the first day, had always seemed very safe and peaceful.
But who knew how long this safety and peace could last...
Since she had said she needed to keep a close watch, of course they had to go together.
With Yu Nianbing's small frame, forget about going without sleep all night— she probably couldn't even walk for a few more hours.
Song Shiyue had strength to spare, but little experience building houses or lean-to shelters in the wild. After all, during the apocalypse, when they really had to camp out in the wild, a team would just build a campfire and make do for the night. Where would the energy come from to build a fine shelter just for a night's sleep?
Letting Yu Nianbing sleep out in the open with her on a pile of grass that hadn't even been dried in the sun— Song Shiyue couldn't bear the thought; she couldn't even imagine it.
And she couldn't let Yu Nianbing take the zipline alone, so Song Shiyue naturally had only one choice left.
The decision had been made long ago.
All her internal conflict stemmed from Song Shiyue's distrust of most people in the world, and her abnormal emphasis on food.
But agonizing was agonizing; the decision had long since been decided.
However, Yu Nianbing's powers of observation truly exceeded Song Shiyue's imagination. That "we" had indeed inexplicably stirred something in Song Shiyue's heart.
Unfortunately, Song Shiyue didn't know what kind of turbulent waves her subconscious, question-like repeat had stirred up in Yu Nianbing's heart.
But before the two could say more, from the pavilion up above came Ning Chuyang's voice urging them to come over quickly.
Yu Nianbing slowly, deeply glanced at Song Shiyue, then turned and headed up to the pavilion.
If Song Shiyue hadn't noticed anything unusual before, that glance was truly somewhat conspicuously abnormal.
But... why?
It couldn't be that Yu Nianbing preferred the other two choices, could it?
Song Shiyue rubbed her face somewhat confusedly, and quickly followed.
The two returned to the pavilion one after the other. Ning Chuyang, like a swimming fish, squeezed next to Song Shiyue and elbowed her. "What did you and Teacher Yu go down to talk about? The four of us have all decided to take the zipline; you two didn't choose something else, did you?"
"No, we also chose the zipline." As Song Shiyue said this, her hands unconsciously tightened the backpack straps again.
Then, she kept feeling something was off.
Subconsciously, Song Shiyue looked over toward Yu Nianbing, just in time to see her turning her head away to look elsewhere.
"That's good then, that's good. Just now, the more we talked, the more we felt the other two choices were really traps. Maybe the production team was afraid some people wouldn't want to get on the zipline, so they deliberately made two even more miserable options to make us pick the best of a bad bunch." Ning Chuyang sighed again. "All tricks, nothing but tricks."
Just as Ning Chuyang was lamenting, Captain Yang also walked over again. Before even getting close, he said loudly, "Alright, a few minutes have passed. Let's not waste any more time. Everyone should have a decision, right?"
"We all choose the zipline route. Let's get started quickly." Ning Chuyang thought about how long it took to walk through those twenty-five platforms back then, and seeing that the sky was already getting somewhat late, she couldn't help but urge.
Captain Yang scanned the six people before him, but spoke again to confirm: "Everyone is taking the zipline, confirmed? Does no one have a different opinion?"
Zhuang Jiachuan and the others also felt pressed for time, and naturally nodded one after another.
This was also within Captain Yang's expectations.
But just as Captain Yang was about to proceed to the next step, a surprising female voice rang out.
"I choose to go down with the production team's cable car line." Yu Nianbing's voice was so steady that it came across as somewhat cold.
Yu Nianbing's voice wasn't loud, but it immediately drew everyone's gaze.
"Teacher Yu?" Zhuang Jiachuan felt something was off, but only muttered the name and didn't know what to say.
Well then... it seemed Yu Nianbing indeed hadn't clearly stated her position all along.
But as for herself... could she actually build a lean-to shelter...
Worry showed in Zhuang Jiachuan's eyes, but he felt that the pros and cons had long been clearly stated, and it didn't seem he had the standing to reiterate them at this moment.
Ning Chuyang, whose mind was usually the quickest to turn, instantly connected Yu Nianbing's current unusual behavior with the matter of Yu Nianbing and Song Shiyue going off to talk alone earlier.
If... if what she had seen and guessed on the road earlier was true... then this was an internal conflict between a couple. What place did outsiders like them have to interfere?
Whether it was Zhuang Jiachuan, who always took care of things and mediated everywhere as the big brother figure, or Ning Chuyang, who was also a woman and had always been clever and talkative, neither spoke up again. Mu Xingzhou and Guan Yongyi naturally also didn't know what to say in this situation. For a moment, the scene fell silent.
Captain Yang also blanked out for a good moment before realizing this was a good opportunity.
Never mind what Yu Nianbing was thinking— whether she had thought it through carefully or had a momentary brain cramp. In any case, there would be some entertainment to watch that evening.
"Alright, then Yu Nianbing will go with the production team's group. You can head over there now. We here will also prepare to set off." As soon as Captain Yang reacted, he quickly urged, as if worried that if they delayed too long, Yu Nianbing would come to her senses.
Without further ado, Yu Nianbing turned and walked away as soon as Captain Yang said that.
But she had barely taken two steps when her wrist was caught by someone.
"You..." Song Shiyue's mind was still a bit chaotic; she might have been the one with the most chaotic mind among everyone present.
Earlier, when Yu Nianbing had pulled her aside to talk alone, she had even sounded like she would choose the production team route for her sake. Yet now that she said she would take the zipline, Yu Nianbing instead still chose the production team.
Was it that Yu Nianbing had originally wanted to choose the production team route and thus chose it, or...
Song Shiyue couldn't figure it out, and so she was a bit slow to speak. Fortunately, she still had her physical abilities and immediately grabbed hold of Yu Nianbing.
But Song Shiyue, whose mind was still on how to ask, didn't put much attention into her grip, and in the next second, Yu Nianbing actually broke free.
Yu Nianbing's movement wasn't big; she just forcefully pulled once, and her wrist came out.
With that simple severance, both were somewhat taken aback.
Yu Nianbing also seemed not to have expected to break free so easily, and she stood blank for a good moment before preparing to continue walking away.
Of course, she was caught again.
This time when she tried to break free again, she couldn't.
But even though Yu Nianbing was angry, she still had some sense left. She knew she couldn't struggle too violently, or it would really look like something was going on between the two of them.
Yu Nianbing didn't want that.
Even though she was truly very angry, she didn't want the viewers watching the livestream to sense her anger, nor did she want to draw a whole new wave of haters toward Song Shiyue. And then she discovered that even when she was this angry, she was still considering the problem of Song Shiyue's anti-fans. It simply made her even angrier! Of course, the additional anger that followed was directed at herself.
Having great strength could also be really annoying at times...
Yu Nianbing lowered her eyes to look at the hand wrapped around her wrist, thinking this.
"Is Teacher Yu really going to go with the production team's cable car line?" Song Shiyue felt she had many questions to ask, but... she felt that right now, this was the only one she could voice.
What the viewers should see was them separating because of different choices, not because she had an issue with Song Shiyue... As Yu Nianbing was annoyed at herself for still caring about Song Shiyue's image at this moment, she struggled to adjust her emotions, and even showed a hint of a smile before answering, "Yes."
Yu Nianbing's quick-acting display was good; no one present could tell it was a fake smile.
Only Song Shiyue, holding Yu Nianbing's wrist, felt that every inch of skin was taut, like a prey forcibly suppressing itself, keeping alert and only waiting for her one moment of negligence to flee several hills over— that kind of resistance.
How could that be a look of cheerfully smiling while answering.
But...
Why?
Song Shiyue felt that compared to safeguarding her current food supplies, she more urgently needed to quickly search these mountains for walnuts... it genuinely made her head ache thinking about it.
"Then I'll go with the production team too." Seeing that Yu Nianbing didn't seem in a state for proper communication, and she couldn't figure it out either, Song Shiyue could only temporarily stop thinking about it.
In any case, as long as the two were together first, that would do. As for the subsequent troubles of this choice, there would always be a way to solve them later... right?
So, livestream shows were just troublesome.
At this moment, Song Shiyue also clearly felt the constraints.
If it weren't a livestream, if there weren't so many people watching, she could now properly ask and properly talk. Was there anything that couldn't be communicated properly? Even anger should have a reason.
Yes, anger.
If by now Song Shiyue still hadn't seen that Yu Nianbing was angry, and with an eighty percent probability it was anger directed at her, then she was probably truly blind.
But choices made in anger would have to bear consequences.
Song Shiyue was very worried now.
She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that after she said "Then I'll go with the production team too," the tightly-strung wrist she was holding seemed to relax a bit.
Very quickly, Song Shiyue felt that any relaxation was truly just her imagination.
Because, Yu Nianbing spoke again.
"Then I choose to walk to the camp." Yu Nianbing's voice was still flat, but what emotions lay beneath that flatness, perhaps only she herself knew.
Everyone present was startled again.
Oh, someone had said earlier that no one with a functioning brain would choose to walk...
This time, Captain Yang reacted much faster. Almost as soon as Yu Nianbing's voice fell, he promptly picked up: "What's going on, playing house? First this, then that. Is it decided now? Once it's decided, don't change it. I'll call Zhao Da to escort you."
Song Shiyue's mind was now almost overflowing with question marks.
Of course, Song Shiyue wasn't the only one whose mind was overflowing with question marks.
The viewers on StarNet were also utterly confused.
"What's wrong with Yu Nianbing today? Any normal person would choose the zipline. Why would she choose the other two?"
"Going with the production team is understandable; at worst you just sleep more roughly at night. But walking an entire night— what's that about? Yu Nianbing doesn't have Song Shiyue's stamina, right?"
"Even Sister Song probably wouldn't dare say she could walk until the wee hours and keep climbing mountains the next day."
"Since there are three choices, they're meant for people to choose from. Why can't Yu Nianbing choose the other two? Her own path, her own decision— that's perfectly fine."
"As a long-time Ice Bucket, allow me to venture a guess: could Little Ice Block be angry?"
"Although I'm not an Ice Bucket, I also want to say that I think Yu Nianbing is angry."
"Thinking she's angry +1, but I went back to check the replay and couldn't find any point where she got angry at all..."
"Couldn't find it +10000, but I feel... Yu Nianbing is angry at Song Shiyue."
"Is she angry? I think it's just a difference in choice; why say she's angry?"
"I can answer this one. As a professional shipper, when one person loudly says 'I don't want to be with you!'— ninety percent of the time, they're angry."
"That's right, that's right. What's that called? Oh, it's the feeling of eating candy and suddenly the candy turns sour."
"I also feel it suddenly turned sour, but... why?"
"Ahem, let me say a couple of things. I think the problem should lie in when they talked alone. Yu Nianbing said, 'Why don't we go down with the production team on the cable car,' and Song Shiyue responded with a questioning 'We?' Then later Yu Nianbing asked Song Shiyue if she wanted to be alone. Connect these together and see— from a glasses-pushing Little Mooncake"
"???"
"!!!"
"So... our Little Ice Block is this fragile?"
"As a woman in love, I can probably understand. But... could it be... are they really in love?"
"This is the first time I might be eating real candy up close, but why am I so panicked..."
"On careful thought, the glasses-pusher earlier makes quite a bit of sense. She probably got angry right then!"
"You could even pick up on such a subtle change? Impressive! Is the glasses-pusher earlier a galactic linguist or a psychologist! Accept my worship!"
"Today's candy is truly both sour and sweet, but suddenly my heart aches. Could it be because I'm a Little Mooncake who transformed from an Ice Bucket? My residual memories make me ache so much for this sensitive Little Ice Block!"
"The glasses-pusher earlier is so awesome! I'm starting to be able to follow the current real-time plot!"
"Thank you for all the kind words. Actually, I'm not a linguist or a psychologist; I'm just a writer, the kind who writes tsundere characters who say the opposite of what they mean. I hope we can still be friends, hahaha!— from a blushing, glasses-pushing Little Mooncake"
"???"
"..."
Unfortunately, the talent was all on StarNet. Song Shiyue, without a StarNet client, could only proceed on instinct.
Although she didn't know what was up with Yu Nianbing, there was no way Song Shiyue could let her follow Zhao Da through the woods alone all night.
Judging by Captain Yang's impatient, schadenfreude-filled look that he could barely hide, this route was definitely the hardest, most arduous, and most torturous.
Song Shiyue wanted to persuade her.
But the aloof calm on Yu Nianbing's face, as if she saw through the world, made her unable to voice any persuasion.
Song Shiyue suddenly somewhat understood what the rumors on StarNet about Yu Nianbing meant.
With that demeanor, even without speaking a word or sparing a single extra glance, it was already enough to keep people at a thousand miles' distance.
With Yu Nianbing playing her cards wildly first, and Captain Yang's words pressing closely after, Song Shiyue had no time to lament that she had suddenly received the same treatment as the general public, and had to once again state her position.
"Then I also choose to walk there." Song Shiyue's words were firm yet helpless, carrying a hint of indulgence.
"Teacher Song doesn't need to choose whatever I choose. Even though we're in the same group, this segment probably doesn't require team formation." A faint smile rippled across Yu Nianbing's face, and she turned to look at Captain Yang and asked, "Captain Yang, am I correct?"
To be honest, when Yu Nianbing wasn't smiling, she had a cold, slightly ascetic beauty. But when she smiled, even if it was just a faint smile, it gave people a stunning feeling of ice breaking, cold dissipating, spring warmth returning.
Captain Yang had never received such a pleasant expression. Even last time when Yu Nianbing tricked him, who had just eaten a bug, into stepping aside to talk, he hadn't gotten such nice words and pleasant looks from Yu Nianbing.
Of course, Captain Yang also wouldn't know that this was merely acting.
"Right, right." Captain Yang couldn't help but answer twice in a row, and actually felt a moment of pity, adding, "But walking there is really arduous. Even if you walk fast, you won't reach the camp until the wee hours. You'd better reconsider."
As soon as Captain Yang said this, everyone instantly looked at him.
But at most, everyone inwardly grumbled about why Captain Yang suddenly changed his temperament, without realizing it was merely because Yu Nianbing had slightly softened her expression, dissolving Captain Yang's desire to watch drama and instead stirring pity.
Yu Nianbing, however, paid no heed to Captain Yang's persuasion. She only looked at Song Shiyue and smiled again: "See, no need to form teams."
What was there to smile about? It clearly wasn't anything funny, and she didn't look like she wanted to smile.
Yu Nianbing was acting so abnormally; how could Song Shiyue feel comfortable letting her walk through the night with Zhao Da, whom they barely knew and who didn't seem very professional or responsible? Furthermore, Song Shiyue had never intended to let Yu Nianbing out of her sight from the very start.
"Regardless of whether we form a team or not, didn't I say from the beginning? This is, after all, the wilderness. You have to stay close to me, preferably where I can see you. So since you won't stay close to me, I can only come close to you." Song Shiyue said this in a lowered voice, but the smile on her face was truly sincere.
Yu Nianbing's gaze moved from her held wrist upward, and she saw that Song Shiyue's smiling expression was rather like an elder watching a mischievous child— with helplessness and indulgence.
Who's a child? Who needs indulgence! Yu Nianbing was somewhat annoyed, but even more so, embarrassed.
But as this feeling surged up, the "we" that had been stuck in her heart earlier dissipated quite a bit for the moment.
And also because... what Song Shiyue said was really... just a bit too soft...
When Song Shiyue had previously told Yu Nianbing to follow her and stay close for safety, it was right after she had killed a venomous king cobra and Yu Nianbing had been severely frightened. In that context, it had sounded like quite normal reassurance.
But... saying it now like this...
It felt somewhat indescribable...
What's more, Song Shiyue had gone on to add, on her own, a sentiment about "if the mountain won't come to me, then I'll go to the mountain."
Having been angry for so long, Yu Nianbing could more or less think that Song Shiyue's earlier question about "we" perhaps wasn't entirely what she had thought— that Song Shiyue wanted to be apart from her. And her own idea of always thinking of the two as a pair was just her own notion; even if Song Shiyue didn't agree, she shouldn't be so angry about it...
Actually, when Song Shiyue had said she would also go with the production team's cable car earlier, Yu Nianbing was already not so angry anymore.
And now she even said she would also walk together, and said such words...
Song Shiyue felt that the wrist she was holding was finally not so tightly strung and hard.
Did this mean it was alright now?
Just as Song Shiyue was thinking this, Yu Nianbing next to her made a sound, and the heart that had just relaxed was immediately lifted again.
"I choose the zipline. Teacher Song, you too, right?" Yu Nianbing said with a smile.
So what was all that earlier about?
Song Shiyue was somewhere between laughing and crying, but she quickly nodded, fearing Yu Nianbing might change her mind again.
Of course, Yu Nianbing wouldn't change again.
Earlier, she had been angry that Song Shiyue didn't have "we" in her heart. If you want to separate, then separate. Who said she couldn't walk by herself?
Now, however...
Since Song Shiyue had said so much, and Yu Nianbing was not a masochist, how could she continue to choose a route that made both of them miserable?
As for whether Song Shiyue was truly satisfied with the zipline route, Yu Nianbing indicated, humph, not being angry is one thing; it's not like she'd keep thinking about her.
Poor Song Shiyue was completely unaware that in less than ten minutes, she had already traveled thousands of miles in Yu Nianbing's heart, nearly being tossed to the edge of the sky, hard to retrieve.
Perhaps it was because Yu Nianbing's fake attitude earlier had dazzled Captain Yang so much, but even though Yu Nianbing changed her choice again and again, Captain Yang surprisingly didn't get angry again or say anything sarcastic.
This face-judging world was always this real.
Zhuang Jiachuan and the others had also sweated for Yu Nianbing's and Song Shiyue's choices. Fortunately, in the end, everyone was together again.
Ning Chuyang, on the other hand, perhaps because she had accidentally taken a big bite of drama earlier, subconsciously remembered that familiar flavor. What, in everyone else's eyes, was simply a brief change of choice, as if Yu Nianbing had hesitated over the three routes, was, in Ning Chuyang's eyes, definitely the two of them having a little tiff.
At this moment, Ning Chuyang couldn't help but give Song Shiyue a mental thumbs-up.
After all, to coax Yu Nianbing back with just a few words— this Song Shiyue seemed much stronger than Ning Chuyang had imagined.
In Ning Chuyang's eyes, who had only experience with cooperative hype and none with romance, the current happy ending was naturally due to Song Shiyue's prowess.
But in matters of the heart, how could it be about one side's prowess?
It was simply that the one who first fell, unable to resist acting out a bit, was easily coaxed back by the slightest warmth transmitted from the other side.
Alas, this matter, Ning Chuyang didn't know, Song Shiyue didn't know, and probably even Yu Nianbing herself didn't know.
No matter what, after a few minutes' delay, everyone's choices became unified again, just as Captain Yang had originally anticipated.
Captain Yang didn't dawdle. After the final decision was made, he walked to the center of the pavilion. No one knew what mechanism he touched on the floor, but a wooden panel on the ground automatically lifted and flipped open, revealing a box underneath.
"For safety's sake, you'll all leave your backpacks with the production team and they'll go with the cable car line. Take out your water bottles, and you can also bring a few portable toilet kits. Then put what you need to bring into these small waist packs." Captain Yang said, pulling out several waist packs from the box beneath and distributing them.
Naturally, the waist packs couldn't compare to the capacity of their large backpacks, but fitting a water bottle and a few compressed portable toilet kits was still an easy matter.
After distributing the waist packs, Captain Yang began taking out the equipment needed for using the zipline from the box.
Song Shiyue tried putting her water bottle and two portable toilet kits into the waist pack, and was pleasantly surprised to find that after putting them in, there was still extra space. She couldn't help but take the sealed bag of jerky out of her backpack.
Calculating the remaining space in the waist pack, Song Shiyue transferred a small handful of jerky into a new sealed bag.
Yu Nianbing put her things into the waist pack, turned her head, and saw Song Shiyue's actions.
"Are you bringing these?" Yu Nianbing walked over and, seeing Song Shiyue trying hard to squeeze the jerky into the remaining space in the waist pack, couldn't help asking.
"Mm." Song Shiyue nodded firmly.
It seemed there was a bit too much jerky in the sealed bag in her hand; Song Shiyue tried twice in a row but couldn't stuff it into the waist pack.
Yu Nianbing couldn't bear to watch any longer, and she added, "How about taking out two pieces? With two pieces taken out, it should fit in."
Take out two pieces?
Song Shiyue looked at the already small handful of jerky in her hand, and once again firmly shook her head.
If she hadn't seen it, she could have endured. But since she had seen it, she practically wished she could bring it all.
Now she had only taken out a small handful; Song Shiyue truly... couldn't bear to part with it.
And so, Yu Nianbing watched as Song Shiyue, through the sealed bag, used her bare hands to snap two slightly larger pieces of jerky into two halves each with one go, then folded them together, and finally managed to stuff them into the waist pack.
So... when would she ever have a bit of an estimate of her own strength?
Yu Nianbing sighed inwardly, but unconsciously noticed Song Shiyue's insistence on bringing jerky.
"Do you need me to bring some too?" Yu Nianbing actually didn't quite understand why she asked this.
Perhaps... it was because the eyes Song Shiyue had when stuffing jerky into the waist pack were simply a bit too bright.
Bright, filled with anticipation, so lovely that one wanted to gaze a little longer.
Yu Nianbing said this to please her, and then saw Song Shiyue look over with a face full of delighted surprise.
So...
Her earlier unwillingness to take this iron cable route... could it be because...
Yu Nianbing quickly rejected this guess in her heart.
Song Shiyue loved to eat, but she wouldn't go so far as to be unable to bear letting someone else keep her food for a while, preferring to suffer in other ways just to maintain reunion with her food.
"How about you bring this bag?" Song Shiyue's eyes were bright as she looked at Yu Nianbing.
"What?" Yu Nianbing was a bit confused.
"This way, I can bring that box of beef fat." Song Shiyue smiled.
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