Chapter 237 The Princess and the Pea

"Xia, are you scared?"

Xia Mian was pondering Zhou Pingchuan's words when Zhao Xiaohui suddenly called on him.

"...Huh?" Xia Mian crawled out of bed. "What happened?"

Zhao Xiaohui: "You haven't heard any ghost stories? Then why are you hiding under the covers? Oh, I know, you're whispering."

It turns out that after the lights were turned off, Zhao Xiaohui started telling Yao Yao rural ghost stories for the sake of the show. Yao Yao was very brave; not only was he not afraid, but he also challenged Zhao Xiaohui to a battle of who could tell the scarier story. The two got more and more excited as they battled, and when they turned around, they found Xia Mian hiding under the covers, so they naturally assumed that he was scared.

“I just got a phone call,” Xia Mian said calmly. “I’m not afraid, you can say whatever you want.”

"As long as you're not afraid," Zhao Xiaohui called to Yao Yao. "Hey, have you heard of the Cat-Faced Old Lady?"

aestivation:"……"

Zhao Xiaohui continued to vividly describe the cat-faced old lady, how she gnawed on his face, sucked out his brains, and ripped out his internal organs... Xia Mian's face turned from red to green, and then from green to purple—she dared not breathe, she was suffocating.

As if things weren't going to go wrong, just as Zhao Xiaohui and Yao Yao finally got tired of chatting and fell asleep, Xia Mian felt a strong urge to urinate.

Without light pollution, the nights in the countryside are even darker than in the city, so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. It's the perfect breeding ground for ghost stories; it would be a shame if something didn't happen in such a dark night.

The two male guests were already fast asleep, and Xia Mian was too embarrassed to wake them, but the urge to urinate was so strong that she couldn't sleep. Xia Mian had no choice but to grit her teeth and, using the light from her phone screen, slowly make her way to the bathroom.

Rural toilets are mostly dry toilets, and the same goes for the courtyards, built at the back of the yard. Xia Mian shakily groped her way out of the courtyard gate, and just as she was about to turn the corner—a pair of blood-red eyes suddenly flashed out in front of her!

Immediately afterward, with two squeaks, a creature covered in black fur darted past him. Xia Mian was so startled that he fell to the ground with a thud, landing hard on his bottom!

After an unknown amount of time, once her soul returned to its place, Xia Mian belatedly realized that what had just run past was a large rat that was stealing dried vegetables from the roof. When it saw the owner come out, it was so frightened that it quickly fled in panic.

Fortunately, Xia Mian patted his chest, thankfully it was outside the courtyard and no one saw the whole process of him being frightened, otherwise it would have been too embarrassing.

Wait, something's not right... He thought of something and looked up.

On the eaves, three cameras were flashing green lights, diligently recording every rustle and movement in the courtyard.

Before going to sleep, Yao Yao covered the indoor camera with his hat, but no one cared about the one outside.

aestivation:"……"

Damn! Damn! Damn!

Losing face is a million times scarier than the cat-faced old lady. Xia Mian didn't care about the ghost story. Her mind was full of her cowardly appearance just now. With a straight face, she went into the outhouse, urinated, went back to her room, and went to bed in one go.

Then he crawled into bed, kicking the covers wildly, his mind screaming, "Aaaaaaaaahh ...

I drifted off to sleep filled with endless regret.

The next day, just as dawn broke, the loud crowing of a rooster arrived as promised.

Zhao Xiaohui got up first, while Yao Yao remained motionless in bed. As a fellow young person, Xia Mian didn't want to get up either, but she didn't want to lie in bed any longer.

"Good morning, Xia," Zhao Xiaohui greeted. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Not good."

"Not used to it?"

Xia Mian frankly said, "I'm not a good sleeper because I'm not used to sleeping in certain beds, and there seems to be something on the bed board that's making me uncomfortable."

As she spoke, Xia Mian flipped open the mattress and, sure enough, saw a screw at the joint of two wooden boards. It wasn't tightened, with the screw head protruding less than a millimeter.

Zhao Xiaohui chuckled, "You can feel this thick mattress?"

Yao Yao found it hilarious: "Yeah, Xia, are you the Princess and the Pea?"

In Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, to test whether a girl was truly a princess, the queen placed a pea on her bed and then laid out twenty mattresses and twenty eiderdown quilts. Even so, the girl could still feel the pea's presence.

This story is somewhat ironic, satirizing those delicate and frail girls.

Xia Mian knew he was delicate, and as long as it didn't bother others, he felt there was nothing wrong with being delicate, so he didn't take those words to heart.

Little did he expect that, just half a month later, this statement would bring him a bizarre online attack.

The production team didn't give them a chance to stay in bed. Seeing that they were still not up, the director rang the task bell again, gathering the disheveled guests in the center of the courtyard.

"Guests of the courtyard, after a day of rest, I believe you are full of energy and ready to begin your trip. In about half an hour, the village chief will come to show you the charm of Nanye, so please prepare in advance."

"Wow, we're going to go out and have fun!" Yu Xingtong exclaimed excitedly. "I need to pick out a nice outfit and take lots of photos. Nanye is mainly about pastoral scenery, so low-saturation forest-style clothing should be more photogenic. Hongjie, Yuno, let's go change!"

"I only brought sportswear, this will be fine, I won't change," Zhang Yuno said.

Yu Xingtong: "You didn't bring a skirt when you went out to play?"

Zhang Yuno: "I rarely buy clothes."

“That’s true, you’re a talent,” Yu Xingtong pouted, “unlike us, we have to think about makeup, clothes, and styling all day long, it’s so annoying.”

These words, on the surface, praise Zhang Yuno's outstanding talent, but in reality, they subtly mock Zhang Yuno's low appearance.

In the entertainment industry, where handsome men and beautiful women abound, Zhang Yuno's appearance is somewhat ordinary, but not ugly. Xia Mian frowned and suggested, "Sports clothes have their beauty, and skirts have their beauty. How about we hold a photography competition? Two people in a pair, take photos of each other, and then post them online after the show airs, letting the audience vote for the best photos."

The other guests glanced at the director, who nodded. The production team would definitely agree to this kind of content that would add excitement and make the show more talked about.

Moreover, Fei Chao could see that Xia Mian and Yu Xingtong were incompatible. If the two of them started to fight each other over this, the show would definitely be more interesting, which would be beneficial in every way.

"Let's compete! Who's afraid of who!" Zhao Xiaohui, the atmosphere-maker, took the lead in agreeing.

"Alright, let's have a go!"

When it came to group assignments, Xia Mian naturally had to be with Zhang Yuno. To avoid suspicion, Yao Yao chose Liang Qiuhong, leaving Zhao Xiaohui with only Yu Xingtong.

Among these people, Liang Qiuhong is older and can garner a lot of sympathy votes. Yu Xingtong is stunningly beautiful, and as an international supermodel, her on-camera presence is unquestionable. On the other hand, Xia Mian and Zhang Yuno's group doesn't have much of an advantage.

Half an hour later, the dressed-up guests reassembled. The boys were all dressed similarly, in T-shirts, pants, and hats, except Xia Mian wore a sun-protective mask. Among the girls, Zhang Yuno was still in her sportswear, Liang Qiuhong wore a very sophisticated white shirt and pants, and Yu Xingtong had changed into a long cotton-linen dress, looking ethereal and radiant.

The director said the village chief was in place, and the six guests ran out excitedly, only to find a tractor at the gate of the courtyard.

"...You're letting us go out and play in this?" Xia Mian asked incredulously.

“In the village, this is the most convenient means of transportation,” Fei Chao said, shrugging.

Alright, the six of them reluctantly climbed into the back of the tractor. Because her skirt was too long, Yu Xingtong almost fell off when she got on.

After rumbling along for more than twenty minutes, the tractor pulled them to the edge of a farmland.

"Weren't you going to show us the local customs?" Yao Yao looked at the endless farmland. "Where are the customs?"

The village chief smiled warmly: "The charm of Nanye is its thousands of acres of watermelon fields. Our locally grown watermelons are known for their high sweetness and juiciness. Today you will experience the entire process of planting watermelons. These are the tools, one set for each person. Please line up to receive them."

Yu Xingtong glanced down at the rubber gloves, rubber boots, and shovel in the tool basket, then looked at her own ethereal dress, her eyes rolled back, and she almost fainted.