After seeing the true nature of Jiang Ran and Xu Yang, the others left angrily, expressing their determination not to associate with them through their actions.
Jiang Ran looked at the backs of his companions as they walked away, then turned to look at the culprit - Bian Zhao.
"Shouldn't you explain it to me?" Jiang Ran frowned.
"I didn't say a word." Bian Zhao spread his hands, obviously unwilling to take responsibility, and even leisurely picked up the drink in his hand and took a sip.
Jiang Ran held his forehead and sighed.
The current situation wasn't over yet. As long as Bian Zhao continued to wander around carelessly, sooner or later, the production team would be greeted by all the contestants.
"You better take it easy," Jiang Ran said to her in a gentle voice. "Can't you just stay in the sky and watch from the hovercraft?"
Bian Zhao still had a blank expression, but a hint of confusion flashed across his face. "Then what's the difference between that and me staying home and watching the movie?"
That makes sense.
Since Bian Zhao endured the physical inconvenience and followed all the way from the capital planet to Earth, she certainly wanted to observe the real scene up close.
But both sides still have to strike a balance. Jiang Ran was thinking about it, but just as he was about to speak, he heard Bian Zhao's voice slowly coming.
"When watching a play, of course you have to sit in the front row."
Not to mention Jiang Ran, even Xu Yang was frozen.
After a long silence, Jiang Ran asked, "Watching a show?"
Bian Zhao didn't say anything this time, but a faint smile finally appeared on his face, which had always been cold and emotionless. Both the curved corners of his mouth and the cunning eyes revealed a bit of tacit mischief.
Good job.
This person came all the way to Earth just to watch a show.
I have to say... it's quite leisurely and leisurely.
"Well, why are you so concerned about me?" Bian Zhao said, "Look at your opponents. Some of them have already brought back treasures and started to appraise them."
Jiang Ran followed her gaze and saw several familiar contestants running happily towards the boat.
They were holding something in their hands, but because of the distance, it was difficult to see clearly. I could only see the faint glow of color between their fingers.
Jiang Ran couldn't help but sigh: "Young people are really full of vitality."
Xu Yang turned his head: "Aren't you a young man?"
Jiang Ran waved his hands: "No comparison, no comparison."
While they were talking, Bian Zhao controlled the smart wheelchair back to the hover car.
The bright orange car slowly hovered in the air until it was as tall as a person. Bian Zhao waved at them from inside, looking down at them: "Goodbye, lifeless old man and woman."
Without waiting for Jiang Ran and Xu Yang to reply, the car continued to rise into the air and headed straight for the blue sea. Because it was moving so fast, it only left a bright orange-yellow phantom along the way.
Jiang Ran heard the contestants screaming in the distance.
"What's that? What flew away?"
"It's running so fast! It must be a rare treasure! I have to catch it back!"
“…”
As the cheers rose and fell, many contestants rushed after Bian Zhao's car.
Jiang Ran watched from afar and saw their running figures finally stop at the shore. They looked at the sea in silence, and finally walked back covered in dust.
"We should work hard too!" Jiang Ran sighed, "I still want that 20 million bonus!"
Xu Yang looked at her with a smile: "Let's go... Do you want to go to the bottom of the sea first or to the forest first?"
"Under the sea!" Jiang Ran said without hesitation, his face full of excitement. "I've always heard that this is a paradise for diving enthusiasts. There are more than 2,000 kinds of fish in the offshore area alone, and there are countless corals, anemones, and other coral reef creatures. I want to see it with my own eyes."
Xu Yang sensed something: "You want to film the deep sea?"
"Ah, hahaha," Jiang Ran hesitated and waved his hands, "Since we're here, if we don't take a good pat, wouldn't that be a big disadvantage?"
"But the equipment may not be able to keep up," Xu Yang frowned slightly. "Although the ball is waterproof, it is entirely possible that it will be soaked or even ruptured under the huge pressure of the ocean."
"Don't worry about that. I had Zeng Pei help me reinforce it before I came here. It's now as strong and sturdy as a mecha. Not to mention the shallow waters near the shore, even diving to the ultra-deep abyss zone below two thousand meters will have no problems at all."
"Two thousand meters? That might not be a problem with bouncing the ball, but there will definitely be a problem with you."
"Oh, okay, okay, I was just giving an example."
"Heh, don't think I didn't do my homework before coming here. In the Earth Era, the human free diving record was only over 100 meters."
“…”
After a long debate about the diving depth, Xu Yang felt that he almost understood Jiang Ran's thoughts.
He was puzzled but also felt certain. "When you agreed to set the competition location in Papua New Guinea, you had always planned to come here for the deep-dive filming, right?"
Jiang Ran's eyes darted around, and finally he grabbed Xu Yang's wrist and said, "Look, others have found so many treasures, but we haven't found anything yet. Time waits for no one, let's go treasure hunting!"
Xu Yang: “…”
Judging from this reaction, his guess was definitely correct.
But now that I’m here, what else can I do?
Xu Yang secretly glanced at his wrist which was held by Jiang Ran.
At worst, after the competition is over, we can ask other staff to send another abyssal submarine over. Since Jiang Ran likes it, we have to let him take pictures to his heart's content.
While thinking, Jiang Ran suddenly let go of his hand.
Xu Yang was in a daze: "What's wrong?"
Jiang Ran crossed his arms and said, "I just remembered that this season is different from last season. We are competitors now, not teammates."
"Then what do you want?" Xu Yang asked with a smile.
"Hmm..." Jiang Ran thought for a moment and said excitedly, "Let's have a competition. The limit is sunset. Let's see who finds more treasures and gets more points."
"Okay," Xu Yang agreed readily, "What are the benefits of winning the game?"
"Of course!"
Jiang Ran had already thought about what he wanted, and at this moment, he said without hesitation: "If I win, then if I want to go to the seabed to shoot, you are not allowed to stop me. You also have to help me watch over the others, and no one is allowed to stop me either."
"Okay," Xu Yang said, "but you have to take adequate safety measures and make adequate preparations, otherwise I won't agree."
"Deal!" Jiang Ran excitedly stretched out his hand to high-five him.
"What kind of friendship is this?" Xu Yang raised his eyebrows. "You haven't even mentioned what benefits I'll get from winning. Do you think I don't even have a chance of winning?"
"How could that be?" Jiang Ran couldn't admit that he was thinking that way, so he said in a gentle voice, "Then tell me what you want if you win."
Xu Yang pretended to think about it for a while, and then stated the conditions he had already thought of.
"If I win the competition, I want to go to the bottom of the sea with you," Xu Yang said. "You take pictures of the beautiful scenery, and I'll see the natural beauty of mine."
"this……"
"no?"
"Yes, of course."
"So when does the game start?"
"I'll start when I count to one."
"good."
Both of them got ready to run, and Jiang Ran shouted "five" seriously.
Xu Yang was also ready, quietly waiting for her to shout, ready to run at any time.
"one!"
As soon as Jiang Ran finished speaking, he ran out, raising a lot of dust under his feet.
Xu Yang didn't react at once and only saw her back quickly disappearing into the distance.
Is this a shady way to compete?
It's really Jiang Ran.
Xu Yang was both angry and amused, and finally rushed forward.
"Wait for me!"
"We're in the game! There's no such thing as waiting for an opponent!"
“…”
The competition had to be treated like a competition. Jiang Ran ran all the way to the coast and began to look for the rare "treasure" seriously.
The first thing Jiang Ran found was a lot of small shells, which he picked up from the beach.
Among those shells, the most common are some thumb-sized snails, thick and thin, with brown or pure white blocks interwoven together, which looks very lovely. If you put them upright on the table, they look like exquisitely crafted and uniquely designed pointed-bottom vases.
There are also ones that are shaped like conchs, the size of a palm. When you put it next to your ear, you can hear the gentle sound of wind and waves, which makes you feel relaxed and intoxicated. The most difficult shell is dark red, only half of it, with clear texture, and is larger than a person's neck. If you string them together with a thin rope, you can hang them directly around your neck as a pendant.
Jiang Ran stuffed all the shells he had picked up into his backpack, packed it tightly, and then ran to the big ship with it on his back, panting, to ask Zhou Kangbo for an appraisal.
Consultant Zhou Kangbo was currently overwhelmed by the noise of contestants coming in one after another to ask for valuations, and he was not in a good mood when he saw Jiang Ran.
Jiang Ran opened the lid of his backpack and approached excitedly: "How do you calculate this?"
Advisor Zhou simply glanced at it casually and said, "About ten."
Jiang Ran was even happier: "One shell is ten points?"
Zhou Kangbo rolled his eyes: "A bag of shells is ten cents."
Jiang Ran: “…”
"Impossible!" Jiang Ran said indignantly, "Such exquisite conch shells, there's no way a bag of them would only have ten cents, right?"
"It wouldn't have been that bad originally," Zhou Kangbo said, shifting his position and pointing behind him. "But now... there's inflation and currency devaluation."
Jiang Ran looked in the direction he pointed, and then she saw... a pile of shells half a person's height. At a glance, there were almost a dozen of them that she had packed in.
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran was speechless and silent when Zhou Kangbo suddenly saw a red corner peeking out of her bag.
Curiously taking out the crimson shell, he examined it carefully, then, pinching his chin, commented, "This shell is quite good. It's both decorative and unique. I'll give it a ten."
Jiang Ran: "...Thank you."
"Mr. Zhou, can you give me an estimate?"
"What is it? Bring it here."
A familiar voice sounded in his ears. Jiang Ran looked sideways while holding the bag, and Xu Yang's figure came into view.
Before he could even say hello, Zhou Kangbo suddenly jumped up excitedly: "I've waited so long, and finally I have a decent 'treasure'! Where did you find it?"
Xu Yang smiled reservedly: "I was just lucky. I found it beside the thorn bush."
Jiang Ran looked in the direction of the voice and saw Zhou Kangbo holding a large string of gray beads in his hand.
It was too far to see clearly, so she moved closer and discovered that the rope was not strung with beads, but with animal teeth, shells, conchs and the like.
Judging from the dust, faded color, and weathering, it must be at least several hundred years old. Regardless of its aesthetic and practical value, this "treasure" is truly worthy of its price.
Xu Yang asked: "How many points do you think this can be calculated?"
Zhou Kangbo was still immersed in excitement, and without even thinking, he said, "300 points!"
After he finished speaking, he looked regretful: "Actually, it's worth even 500 points, but that's more of an implicit value. We're still in the competition, so we still have to estimate it based on market value... I really wronged you."
"I'm not wronged. Thank you."
Xu Yang finished speaking politely, then turned to face Jiang Ran: "It's only 280 points behind, which means I need to pack 20 more bags of snails. If you try hard, you can still catch up with me. Come on."
Jiang Ran: “…”
Why didn’t I realize before that Xu Yang is quite hateful?
"Jiang Ran." Zhou Kangbo called
"Hmm?" Jiang Ran came back to his senses.
"Give me the snails in your bag. I'll add your points to the tally. Then you can use the follow ball to check everyone's real-time points, as well as your own ranking."
Zhou Kangbo stretched out his hand towards her as he spoke.
However, Jiang Ran hesitated for a moment and ultimately did not hand over his bag.
"Why, you don't want the points anymore?"
"Sorry," Jiang Ran said, "Let me think about it."
"Okay, I'll do whatever you want. But I only work until 5:30 in the evening. I won't wait for you after that time."
"OK."
Looking at the clock, there are only two hours left until half past five.
Jiang Ran thought about it while putting the lid of his backpack back on.
He scored more than 200 points lower than Xu Yang. If he just relied on picking up shells one by one, how long would it take him to find them?
How about just exploring underwater and seeing if you can find something more valuable?
It wasn't necessarily too late. Firstly, the coral reefs were large and certainly couldn't be brought up from the bottom of the water easily. Secondly, even if we were to catch some tropical fish, we would need tools like a harpoon and a fish basket, and all of these took time, and time was what we lacked the most right now.
What should I do then?
While Jiang Ran was thinking, many contestants nearby had collected various treasures and came aboard to ask Zhou Kangbo for an appraisal.
There was another noisy commotion nearby, but Jiang Ran was lost in confusion.
At this moment, Bian Zhao, sitting in a wheelchair, slowly walked along the edge of the boat.
She caught sight of Jiang Ran and asked, "Little old lady, have you found your 'treasure'?"
Jiang Ran leaned on his temples with one hand: "No, I'm a little regretful about this treasure hunt."
"If you can't find it, then forget about it," Bian Zhao said. "If you go up the mountain at five o'clock to watch the sunrise, you might see only dark clouds. How can you even think about looking for treasure?"
Jiang Ran was stunned when she heard this. She felt that the words were very familiar. After thinking carefully, she remembered that these were what she had said to Xu Yang when she was watching the aurora in Iceland.
I don’t know how Bian Zhao remembered her words so well.
"Whether it's photography or treasure hunting, the right time, right place, and right people are all essential."
Bian Zhao said, "Instead of searching everywhere for a treasure you don't know if it exists, why not stay here and watch the sea view with me? Maybe what you want will appear."
Jiang Ran was silent for a long time before he said, "When you're not stuck, your voice is quite nice."
"Thank you," Bian Zhao said as he clicked a button on the remote control. The previously clear and cold female voice suddenly turned into a hoarse and rough male voice. "What do you think of this voice?"
“…I don’t think it’s very good.”
But Jiang Ran was not in a hurry to leave.
The deadline for the competition was approaching, but she still seriously accompanied Bian Zhao to watch the sea view.
More and more contestants crowded onto the boat and came to Zhou Kangbo to ask for an estimate. The various voices mixed together, making it quite noisy.
Zhou Kangbo endured it for a long time, but finally couldn't bear it anymore. He suddenly slapped the bench next to him and said, "Come here one by one! If you don't line up properly, get off the boat!"
The sound he made in anger was so loud that even Bian Zhao subconsciously turned around to look.
When they turned around again, Bian Zhao pointed to the sea view in the distance and said to Jiang Ran: "Look what they found, shells, small fish, shrimps, wild fruits..."
"But the true treasures of the wild are not these. No matter how many shells are piled together, they are not as beautiful as the clouds in the sky. No matter how many fish and shrimps swim together, they cannot gather together to form the magnificence of the vast ocean."
"The ocean and the sky?" Jiang Ran seemed to be thinking about something.
"Yes," Bian Zhao chuckled, a rare moment. "If you could collect all that, it would be a treasure trove unmatched by anything else on the entire ship. It's a pity that the clouds in the sky can't be picked, and the water droplets in the sea are no longer the sea once they leave the sea."
"I understand!" Jiang Ran suddenly jumped up.
"What do you understand?" Bian Zhao was confused.
"Thank you!" Jiang Ran patted her shoulder excitedly, "I'll treat you to dinner later!"
Although Bian Zhao didn't understand why she was suddenly so happy, he could still understand the word "dinner".
"No need," Bian Zhao rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a space button. "For this trip to Earth, I specially asked the chef at Zuichunlou to make me a lot of delicious food. I put it in the space button. It won't rot or spoil, so I can enjoy it when it's time for dinner."
Jiang Ran: “…”
For the hundredth time, he doubted whether the conditions he agreed to with Bian Zhao were correct.
Jiang Ran worked for a long time and finally got back to the boat around five o'clock.
The sun was setting, and it was almost time for Zhou Kangbo to get off work, and the appraisals were about to end. Many contestants rushed to see him to have their treasures appraised, so the boat was particularly crowded and noisy.
Fu Bo and several others were crowded in the boat and lined up. When they saw Jiang Ran, they all exclaimed in surprise.
Fu Bo shouted the loudest: "Did you take a bath in the sea? Why are you soaked all over?"
Zeng Pei took out a piece of cloth from his backpack and took two steps forward to wipe Jiang Ran's hair: "Wipe it quickly. It's not good for your health to keep your hair wet."
Jiang Ran didn't refuse. He took the dry cloth and wiped it on his wet hair.
Ren Xiayang was sharp-eyed. He saw her backpack, which she had temporarily placed on the ground, and immediately realized something: "You went into the sea and found something valuable, right? You're completely soaked, but the backpack is the only thing that's dry... What is it? And you've kept it so well?"
"Good stuff." Jiang Ran smiled mysteriously.
This aroused everyone's curiosity, and they all clamored for her to hand over the treasure so that they could see it.
Jiang Ran's attitude was extremely firm. He held his bag tightly and protected it carefully, refusing to let anyone touch it.
"Oops! Sorry!"
When Jiang Ran was trying hard to protect his bag, a noise suddenly came from not far away, and they subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound.
Then everyone saw Bian Zhao. She was still sitting in a wheelchair, on the edge of the boat where she and Jiang Ran had watched the sea view before. But now there were many more people on the boat than before, and they would squeeze her from time to time.
Bian Zhao controlled her smart wheelchair, trying her best to avoid the crowd, but with hundreds of people crammed onto the deck, it was a blessing to have a gap. Where else could she hide? She was constantly being squeezed by people, her arms and legs bumped.
Bian Zhao usually has a cold and expressionless face. Although there is still no frown between his brows at this moment, his displeasure is already revealed, and he seems to be a little depressed.
"Jiang Ran, you guys are really going too far."
"Exactly! Why on earth would you choose someone with a disability as an observer?"
"I'm convinced. You can afford a 20 million bonus but can't afford to hire employees? Okay, I'll pay for it. Just send that little girl back to the capital planet!"
“…”
Jiang Ran felt speechless, after all, Bian Zhao was not actually an employee they hired, but at the same time he felt...
Looking at Bian Zhao's appearance, he wanted to hide but couldn't, and could only let himself be bumped into. It was really pitiful.
Thinking of this, Jiang Ran no longer hesitated.
She put down her backpack and walked forward, wanting to help Bian Zhao evacuate the crowd and get her off the boat first.
However, after taking just two steps, Jiang Ran saw a shocking scene——
In full view of everyone, Bian Zhao stood up from his wheelchair with an uneasy look on his face!
At that moment, the entire crowded and noisy ship suddenly became quiet.
No one dared to speak and subconsciously made way for her. Bian Zhao was not polite at all and didn't even bother with his wheelchair. He walked forward quickly with a sullen face.
When Bian Zhao passed by, Jiang Ran grabbed her arm dreamily: "Your leg..."
Bian Zhao raised his head with a gloomy face: "What's wrong with my leg?"
"Aren't you disabled?"
"Who told you that?"
"Why else were you in a wheelchair?"
"I'm just too lazy to walk, is that okay?"
Under everyone's gaze, Bian Zhao walked under the boat as if no one was around.
Jiang Ran: “…”
I have never been so speechless in my life.
The author has something to say:
Bian Zhao: It’s so annoying. I even have to stand up and walk by myself.
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