WS - Chapter 94

Chapter 94

If he could use the fact that the Production Team's supplies were meant for seven people as a reason to join the group, that was indeed the best outcome Captain Yang could imagine. But this outcome, Captain Yang himself knew, was unlikely to happen.

Still, knowing it was unlikely didn't stop him from carrying a sliver of hope in his heart.

What if, just what if they also found splitting the supplies inconvenient and unsightly, or since he had already lowered his stance, they might want to consider their livestream image?

As for Song Shiyue's strictly businesslike manner, he wouldn't dwell on that for now.

But Ning Chuyang—if she had just kept her mouth shut, fine, but the moment she opened it, she directly burst Captain Yang's bubble. It was infuriating!

The large pot in front of them bubbled with steam. Standing here, the aroma of vegetables, rice, and meat was even richer and more enticing than what they had smelled from the left side of the camp.

Captain Yang took a deep breath. Instead of responding to Ning Chuyang, he turned to look at Song Shiyue, who had walked over to the stack of bowls and plates and seemed to be picking through things. He spoke again: "Originally, the Production Team's supplies were meant for all of us to use together. Splitting them up separately is too troublesome and inconvenient. I'm not trying to take advantage of you. The things you found earlier on your own, I don't want them. Later on..."

"If you don't want the things we found, doesn't that just mean we directly split out your share?" Ning Chuyang, who was being ignored, did not fall silent just because she wasn't acknowledged. Instead, her smile grew even brighter. "Otherwise, what? Like this pot of rice—inside it, the only things you have a share in are the rice and seasoning. Should we pick the rice grains back out to give to you after we've finished cooking?"

Captain Yang: "..."

Yu Nianbing glanced at Ning Chuyang and shook her head: "That won't do. It was all cooked together. How would you account for the rice that absorbed the beef fat, meat juices, and vegetable broth?"

Ning Chuyang exchanged a look with Yu Nianbing and quickly rediscovered the telepathic rapport from the day before when they had united against Captain Yang. She slapped her leg as if suddenly enlightened: "Ha, right, how could I forget? Those are the essence of this pot of rice."

"...I already said I don't want the things you found before. Later on, we'll merge back together. I'll also contribute to foraging for ingredients, and I'll do whatever chores need doing." Captain Yang had initially only wanted to focus on talking to Song Shiyue alone, but these two, one after another, blocked him so thoroughly he had to acknowledge them. Captain Yang held back again and again, only just barely managing not to blurt out those words: "You guys are also just freeloading off Song Shiyue, what are you prattling on about?"

Captain Yang felt that this time, his stance was truly low, and he really had been very forbearing.

It was all the Production Team's fault, turning hostile at the drop of a hat. What about the plan before the show to create spectacle points together with the guests?

And that Song Shiyue... she was just too formidable. After the noon incident, Captain Yang had to admit that if he continued to stay at odds with the guests like this, the next few resource points might not have anything for him at all.

As for regrets like not being nimble enough catching frogs at noon or not scrambling down into the lamb's quarters patch to grab a few handfuls in the afternoon, there were too many to mention.

Then he glanced at Dog lying on the ground nearby, the woven vine pack on its back still holding quite a few bones. Truly worse than a dog! Captain Yang grew angrier the more he looked, practically warping with fury.

If not for the previous conflicts, even if someone had been dropped in mid-journey saying they wanted to help and eat together, the guests wouldn't have resisted so strongly. But a person like Captain Yang was really...

Ning Chuyang thought about it—probably because she disliked Captain Yang so much, just a casual thought was enough to fill an A4 sheet with reasons to refuse. But before she could speak, Song Shiyue came back carrying several small saucers and bowls.

"Every evening when we reach camp, when we find these supplies, we'll split them once. This time we used the pot first; next time if you need to use it first, you can." Song Shiyue's voice arrived from a few steps away. The words even continued right from what she had said earlier, as if she was completely unaffected by the argument that had just taken place here.

Captain Yang: "..."

The person who had the most say over these supplies was Song Shiyue—Captain Yang had understood this from the start. That was why he had focused on talking to Song Shiyue from the outset and hadn't intended to bother with the others.

But as it turned out, the others at least had some emotion and argued with him. Yet this Song Shiyue actually never once engaged with his words from start to finish...

At the very beginning, when Captain Yang first opened his mouth, Song Shiyue had immediately agreed to hand over the supplies. He had thought that if he pushed a bit more, merging back together with them later might not be entirely off the table.

It seems... that Song Shiyue fellow really is quite detestable.

Although Captain Yang was very hungry, very gluttonous, and not very optimistic about the road ahead, he had always been a man who cared about face. He felt he had already said all the soft words he could.

Now, after being retorted against repeatedly and blocked again and again, Captain Yang could only darken his face and cease his noise for the time being.

Seeing this, Ning Chuyang breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that Ning Chuyang wanted to be confrontational, but Song Shiyue really was too kind. Ning Chuyang was afraid she wouldn't have the heart to refuse and wouldn't be able to withstand Captain Yang's pestering, so she had hurriedly jumped in to play the bad cop.

At that moment, Ning Chuyang relaxed and unconsciously turned her head, wanting to mentally high-five her temporary ally with a look. But when she looked, Yu Nianbing appeared completely composed and unruffled, as if she had long guessed that Song Shiyue would not relent.

Fine, your tacit understanding—I don't get it. Ning Chuyang returned her gaze to Song Shiyue's busy hands.

The rice and flour had already been poured into two small bowls, and the little bottle used to hold oil for Captain Yang had been emptied out.

"What about the seasonings? Should we keep them together or find something to portion them out now?" Song Shiyue didn't have enough bowls and saucers at hand, so she raised her head to ask Captain Yang.

"Leave them together. But isn't the way you just poured things out a bit too careless?" Captain Yang looked at the items beside Song Shiyue's hands and answered sullenly. The breath of frustration in his stomach was roiling up and down, making him unbearably uncomfortable, and in the end he couldn't hold back a grumble.

"It's not careless. I'm not shorting you." Song Shiyue was so busy she didn't even raise her head, yet her reply was confident, forming a stark contrast with Captain Yang's aggrieved mood.

Captain Yang was so angry his nose nearly bent out of shape.

This rice, this flour—Song Shiyue had just casually poured them out. Who knew if it was one-seventh!

The Production Team had indeed provided plenty of supplies, but there was no scale. With nothing to rely on at the moment, Captain Yang couldn't firmly assert that the portions were off.

But by Captain Yang's own estimation...

It was absolutely less than one-seventh!

Yet this Song Shiyue said it with such confidence, like that old man in storybooks who could casually pinch out exactly one liang of tea leaves. And all because there was no way to measure it here!

Although Captain Yang didn't speak up again for the time being, his disbelief and displeasure were written all over his face.

But what he didn't know was that in this vast world, there were always peculiar and extraordinary individuals proficient in such arts.

Song Shiyue, whose precision in controlling strength far surpassed ordinary people, was naturally one of them.

And the viewers on StarNet, surprisingly, also included many with keen discernment.

Right when Captain Yang came over and said that the Production Team's supplies should be for seven people, many viewers began discussing exactly how much rice, flour, and seasoning the Production Team had provided over the two nights.

Later, when Captain Yang said that line, "You divide a bit here, a bit there, how can it be split clearly?" it was especially infuriating. It sounded as though Song Shiyue would short him.

Over the past two days, the number of viewers joining the Little Mooncakes had become incalculable, and those who became fans of Song Shiyue were just as numerous. Their fan instincts made them very trusting of Song Shiyue. Even if it couldn't be precise down to one-seventh, their Sister Song would only give more, never less!

The fans' blind faith made them unable to endure Captain Yang's doubt.

Right away, some skilled individuals turned around and pulled screenshots from past footage showing the supplies the Production Team had provided.

In the StarNet era, the ratio of the bags to the people could be used to calculate the bag sizes, and from there further deduce the possible weight of the rice and flour inside. The same operation applied to the seasonings, though the irregularly shaped bottles were more complex to calculate, but with a bit more time it could be done.

With the original supplies handled this way, the portions Song Shiyue poured out could naturally also be roughly estimated.

Scanning, modeling, programming—line after line of data streamed from personal StarNet clients and gathered in the StarNet livestream room.

However clear the video was, it was still just video.

Data restoration and calculation required a certain amount of time.

But by the time Song Shiyue had finished separating Captain Yang's share of rice, flour, and seasonings, for the flour portion at least, some viewers had already completed the calculations.

"I calculated it! I can't say it's absolutely precise, but the amount Sister Song poured out really was very, very close to one-seventh of the bag of flour the Production Team gave the day before!"

"Most of the flour was already used yesterday, and today only a tiny bit remained. Just now Song Shiyue didn't even finish pouring it all out for Captain Yang; there was still a shallow little corner left in the sealed bag. So it was actually that precise?"

"Right! If you count that corner amount, it should be even more than one-seventh! —From a modeling addict."

"Manually @ the Production Team! Tell us! How much does it cost to send a message to Wilderness Planet right now! We'll crowdfund it!"

"Same! Crowdfund to slap his face!"

"Putting in money +1!"

"..."

Captain Yang could probably never have imagined that so many people outside Wilderness Planet were working this hard, just to slap his face from afar.

What was happening on StarNet aside, anyway from Captain Yang's perspective, after coming over for a good while, all he ended up with were three small bowls of stuff, none of them even full. It truly fell far short of even the medium outcome he had anticipated.

"And this." Song Shiyue placed a tiny oil bottle with only a shallow layer into Captain Yang's hands, already holding the three small bowls.

The bottle was small to begin with, and the thin layer of oil inside looked like it would vanish with one lick of the tongue.

The fire in Captain Yang's stomach surged and bubbled outward. He wanted to say forget it, but then thinking of his own roasted frog, which was tasteless and a bit dry, those tough words got stuck in his throat again.

Forget it, forget it. It was my share to begin with, Captain Yang silently chanted to himself.

Seeing that everything that should be taken had been taken and the supplies had been split apart, Captain Yang had nothing more to say. He glanced at the large pot on the ground, turned to the spot where Song Shiyue had fetched the bowls and plates earlier, grabbed a metal basin, put the things in his hands inside, and prepared to leave.

"Wait." Song Shiyue suddenly spoke.

Captain Yang, who had already taken two steps, turned his head with a frosty expression and a hard tone: "What? You're using the pot, so me using a basin isn't allowed?"

"It is allowed. If you need the pot, you can use it; it'll be freed up right away." Song Shiyue seemed completely unfazed by Captain Yang's provocation, always walking her own line of thought. As she answered, she pinched a bunch of scallions from the pile of ingredients Yu Nianbing had just used, stepped forward, and placed them into Captain Yang's basin. She added, "These wild scallions were spotted by you first on the road. Take a bit more for yourself."

Captain Yang: "..." Heh heh, she really had calculated it thoroughly.

"Alright, that should be everything." Song Shiyue paid no mind to Captain Yang's somewhat mocking expression. She finished speaking on her own terms, then turned and walked back to the campfire, asking Yu Nianbing: "Is the rice ready? I think I smell the scent of crispy rice crust."

Thereupon, before Captain Yang had time to leave, Yu Nianbing lifted the pot lid. A burst of aroma several times more concentrated immediately rushed out. Even though Captain Yang had already turned his back, he still suffered a wave of impact.

"It smells so good..." The quick-tongued Ning Chuyang voiced what was on everyone's mind.

Captain Yang's departing footsteps paused, then paused again, before he finally continued walking away.

"Good, it's not burnt." Yu Nianbing used the spatula to flip over a piece of rice. The crust on the side against the pot was just the right golden-yellow, perfectly done.

The bowls provided by the Production Team were indeed a bit small, and the braised rice in the pot had plenty of added ingredients. By the looks of it, one bowl per person wouldn't even finish emptying the pot.

Yu Nianbing held the spatula.

The other five each held a small bowl, sitting around the fire, looking eagerly at Yu Nianbing.

But Yu Nianbing first glanced at Song Shiyue, then lowered the spatula into the pot. She didn't rush to serve the rice; instead, she first pressed it down in the pot, then drew a couple of lines.

Song Shiyue's ability to gauge weight by hand was peerless, and Yu Nianbing's skill at casually portioning rice was not bad either.

The rice flattened in the pot was divided by two spatula marks into six roughly equal portions, like a braised rice cake that had been neatly cut.

Yu Nianbing began serving clockwise. After one round, the large circle in the pot had become a small circle, still in six nearly equal portions.

Yu Nianbing didn't say it explicitly, but her series of actions had already conveyed to everyone: one portion per person.

It looked as though each person's small bowl could be filled once more, with a bit over half a bowl left.

Though it was said one person could eat over a bowl and a half, in fact the vegetables bulked it up, so the sheer amount wasn't large.

Added to a day of ziplining and climbing up and down mountains, even Yu Nianbing and Ning Chuyang, who had relatively smaller appetites, could have finished it all without a problem.

However, before starting to cook, everyone had unanimously agreed on the principle of "keep a margin in hand, and the heart stays calm." Rather than being too comfortable early on and then controlled by the Production Team later, it was better to be slightly frugal, eat to seventy or eighty percent full, and get by.

But this collective decision, the moment Yu Nianbing lifted the pot lid, everyone already felt a bit of regret.

Look at the pot: green vegetables, red meat, white rice and jicama, mixed together looked incredibly tempting. Coupled with the aroma that burrowed straight into people's noses, it was so appetizing they could drool. Forget seventy or eighty percent full—even if you let them eat to one hundred percent, their mouths probably wouldn't be satisfied...

Just looking and smelling had already done this. When they actually scooped a mouthful in, the regret was so intense it could green their intestines.

The originally dry roasted meat, moistened by the beef fat, had become plump again, turning into tiny, slightly chewy meat cubes with a distinctive roasted meat aroma. The lamb's quarters were tender without being mushy, carrying a touch of vegetable sweetness. Chewed together with the jerky, it just got more fragrant the more you chewed.

The most flavorful part had to be the rice and jicama cubes that had absorbed the meat juices and vegetable broth in the braised rice. Starchy foods truly are the greatest comfort when one is weary and hungry.

Braised rice with beef fat added was indeed aromatic beyond compare.

One bite down, warmth traveled from lips and teeth to the throat, rolling hotly into the stomach, almost moving people to tears.

The several of them ate without even lifting their heads, uniformly shoveling the still somewhat scalding rice into their mouths in large mouthfuls, vaguely wishing their mouths could just open a bit wider.

But as delicious as the rice was, and as much as they couldn't get enough, no one had any objection to how Yu Nianbing had silently divided the rice into six equal portions in the pot.

The day before, everyone had mostly eaten soups and broths. Generally, you could drink as much as you wanted; it was a water fullness. Today they made dry rice. Although everyone was initially surprised when Yu Nianbing divided the rice like this, after thinking about it, they felt it was quite good.

After all, the ingredients had been sought and brought back together. You couldn't say that just because men have bigger appetites, they should be given more to eat. Especially since Song Shiyue, who contributed the most effort, hadn't asked for half the pot of rice either.

Everyone felt it was quite fair, quite good, and far better than the treatment Captain Yang got.

Only Song Shiyue, seeing Yu Nianbing pull this move, more or less guessed why she did it.

As expected, after Yu Nianbing finished one bowl, she didn't refill her own portion from the pot. She waited until Song Shiyue finished her allotted share, then with one scoop she filled Song Shiyue's bowl to more than half full again.

"You should eat some more too." Song Shiyue looked somewhat helplessly at the rice bowl that was simultaneously caught by both of them.

Admittedly, Yu Nianbing wasn't strong and was unsteady on her feet, but every time it came to adding rice, ladling soup, and feeding food, her hand movements were truly agile, and she was very persistent.

Hmm... moreover, it had gradually shifted from secretly giving food to openly doing it...

"No need, there's still soup later. I'll have some soup." As Yu Nianbing spoke, she scraped up the last bits of crispy rice crust from the pot and tossed them into Song Shiyue's bowl as well.

This scene fell into Mu Xingzhou's eyes, and he couldn't help but sigh inwardly that it was indeed like this: those two were different from the rest... Seen this way, just now he himself had indeed been somewhat... Mu Xingzhou once again recalled the words Ning Chuyang had said in the lamb's quarters patch, and he couldn't help but heave a light sigh in his heart.

Compared to Mu Xingzhou, who still didn't seem to have fully let go of the matter on the platform, the viewers on StarNet watched this scene with utmost glee.

"Feeding again! Feeding again!"

"Ever-changing food, iron-clad feeding, hahaha!"

"Little Ice Block really is so generous. I saw Ning Chuyang, after adding more rice, ate so clean that she was about to lick the bowl."

"Maybe Yu Nianbing just has a small appetite?"

"Hahaha, not at all. Little Ice Block's appetite is probably about the same as Ning Chuyang's. At the very beginning on the spaceship when they ate three chickens and a pot of potatoes, Little Ice Block also ate quite a bit."

"Just mentioning it makes me laugh to death, three chickens with twenty-one potatoes, hahaha!"

"Song Shiyue really is pitiful. It feels like since leaving the Old Castle, she hasn't eaten her fill."

"Little Ice Block really is sweet, that kind of silent care that keeps someone in your heart and never forgets... Hmm, maybe we really should rename her Little Hot Water."

"..."

The reaction on StarNet to the feeding was so huge, with some people even starting to make a feeding compilation, something that Yu Nianbing, busy making soup on Wilderness Planet, naturally knew nothing about.

Yu Nianbing had scraped the pot spotlessly clean; it didn't even need rinsing. Without adding any oil, she simply threw in some lamb's quarters and two slices of ginger, added water, and set it to boil.

The lamb's quarters they had picked were still fairly tender, and by the time the water boiled, they were pretty much cooked.

Once the water was at a rolling boil, Yu Nianbing sprinkled in a bit of seasoning, then cracked in the four bird eggs Song Shiyue had fished out of the trees.

When they'd discussed before cooking, everyone assumed the "vegetable soup" Yu Nianbing mentioned would just be lamb's quarters soup. No one expected such a good thing as bird eggs—an unexpected delight.

The light vegetable and egg soup was quickly ready. A few sips after blowing on it cooled it, and the taste was so wonderful it made people narrow their eyes with pleasure. The slight oiliness lingering at the end from the beef fat braised rice was also smoothly washed down. With a bowl of this soup, everyone felt their meal had finally reached great satisfaction.

Even the three men with larger appetites, having taken in this meal with soup, were completely full. As for part of that being the false satisfaction of water-bloat, they could only cover it up by going to sleep early.

When the others were full and had put down their bowls, Song Shiyue didn't stand on further ceremony and drank up the last remaining dregs of soup from the bottom of the pot.

Although Song Shiyue no longer actively converted food into stored strength, by habit, her appetite was indeed somewhat larger than an ordinary person's. Moreover, since arriving on Wilderness Planet, Song Shiyue really had expended quite a bit of energy.

Others might not have noticed, but Zhuang Jiachuan, who had experienced the "three chickens and twenty-one potatoes" with her, had a sudden realization.

The cooking the day before had been somewhat chaotic, but now, at this moment, Zhuang Jiachuan realized that, judging by Song Shiyue's appetite, it seemed like this was not enough for her to eat her fill...

And at this moment, the thin layer of soup at the bottom of the pot had been scooped completely dry by Song Shiyue, not a single vegetable leaf or egg drop flower remained, not even a couple drops of broth.

"Teacher Song, why don't you eat something more?" Zhuang Jiachuan spoke hesitantly, "Don't we still have some ingredients? We can make a bit more to eat."

The hesitation here wasn't because Zhuang Jiachuan was grudging the ingredients. It was simply that, faced with the two choices of watching Song Shiyue continue to go hungry versus once again making Song Shiyue's appetite apparent, how to choose between the two was somewhat awkward.

Zhuang Jiachuan chose the latter.

Song Shiyue did not accept Zhuang Jiachuan's suggestion. Instead, she cast several glances at Yu Nianbing.

"I don't need any either." Yu Nianbing quickly grasped the meaning in Song Shiyue's eyes and shook her head with a smile.

Conserving ingredients to avoid eating bugs later was everyone's shared decision. Even when Yu Nianbing worried about Song Shiyue eating her fill, she would only give up her own portion.

A person with principles treats themselves almost harshly.

While a person without principles can never be satisfied no matter how much they get.

Ever since Yu Nianbing had opened the braised rice pot, the fragrance in the camp had risen several levels.

Captain Yang carried a basin containing a diverse but scarce variety of items back to his own campfire. He sat down and remained silent for a good while, then stood up again and went to the temporary wash station on the director team's side to fetch some water.

A tiny handful of rice, a pinch of flour, heh heh... one-seventh... Captain Yang didn't believe it one bit in his heart.

The rice and flour were carelessly tossed into the basin. The somewhat burnt frog was also shredded and thrown in. Add water, add oil, add seasonings... oh, and scallions.

Expressionlessly, Captain Yang threw everything he'd just gotten from the guests into the basin, stirred it around, and started cooking.

As if no one else could make braised rice.

If not for the comparison with the guest team side, actually in this wild, being able to get a basin of food like Captain Yang's—with meat, starch, and scallions as vegetables—would have been acceptable.

But unfortunately Yu Nianbing had just produced a pot that was perfect in color, fragrance, and flavor. Captain Yang's crude preparation method was really a bit... As Captain Yang was haphazardly boiling and stewing, he had no idea that just as he'd walked off with the basin a moment ago, among that circle of people, Ning Chuyang had already voiced her soul-deep question.

"Logically, the team leader chosen for this show—never mind what kind of person he is—should at least have some experience. Forget the Production Team's frogs; why can't Captain Yang find anything else to eat on his own?" Ning Chuyang was somewhat baffled.

As soon as she spoke, everyone present agreed, and so did the StarNet livestream window.

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