Chapter 21 Spin-off Program Part 2
After finishing fertilizing the back garden, it was almost noon.
The old grandmother took them into another room, asked them to wash their hands, and then fried a few dishes with vegetables grown in the vegetable garden.
Xie Qingyu and his companions had experienced the double torture of "driving through the mud to see the princess" and "fertilizing the back garden" and were already starving.
But when they held their bowls and looked at the dishes on the plates, they swallowed and suddenly lost their appetite - after all, these vegetables were grown with the "organic fertilizer" they had applied with their own hands.
The old grandmother sat aside, calmly picked up a piece of food with chopsticks, chewed it slowly, and swallowed it before saying, "These vegetables were picked before fertilizing, so you can eat them with confidence."
After hearing this, everyone looked a little embarrassed, but they still put down their chopsticks.
As soon as the dishes took a bite, everyone was stunned - these dishes were not only crispy, sweet and delicious, but also had the unique fragrance of the vegetables themselves, without any of the strange smells they had imagined.
Grandma’s cooking method is simple and light, but it brings out the original flavor of the vegetables to the fullest.
Everyone couldn't help but speed up their food picking process. Wei Liangchen couldn't help but sigh, "It's worthy of being a dish grown with organic fertilizer. It lives up to its reputation!"
He completely forgot the pain he had just experienced when applying fertilizer.
The old lady listened and said as a matter of course: "The princess also wants to eat the dishes, so of course they must be carefully prepared."
Xie Qingyu took the opportunity to ask calmly, "I wonder what the princess's personality is like, and what she looks like?"
The old grandmother glanced at him and knew that he was trying to trick her, but she felt that it was okay to tell her the information since they had already met the "princess".
So she replied calmly, "The princess is intelligent and clever, and a beautiful lady."
When Wei Liangchen heard this, he almost spit out the food in his mouth.
He thought of Ding's "eye-catching" look and couldn't help but blurt out: "Him?"
His tone was full of disdain.
The old grandmother suddenly became angry and said sternly, "Don't slander the princess!"
Wei Liangchen was frightened by her aura. He shut his mouth awkwardly, lowered his head to eat, and didn't dare to say anything more.
The old lady put down the bowl, glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "I know why you are here. I do know the clue to the dancing shoes."
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up, and a glimmer of hope ignited in their hearts - finally... were they going to be free?
However, the old grandmother's next words directly shattered their fantasy: "But... after all, I have watched the princess grow up since she was a child. Now that she is choosing a husband, I am extremely worried.
Next, I will give you several tasks to test your character, morality and ability.
The first person to complete the task and pass the test will get the clue to the dancing shoes. Finding the shoes will win the princess' heart, allow her to attend the ball with him, and have the chance to marry her.
As soon as the words "marry the princess" were uttered, everyone's faces suddenly became a little distorted.
The corners of Wei Liangchen's mouth twitched, Wei Ran's expression looked as if he had swallowed a fly, and even the usually calm Gu Yan couldn't help but frown.
However, under the old grandmother's sharp gaze, no one dared to say anything more and could only nod and agree.
Xie Qingyu took a deep breath, tried to make her expression look calmer, and asked with a smile, "Excuse me, Grandma, what is the mission?"
The old grandmother stood up, walked to a cabinet in the corner of the room, opened the drawer, took out a few pieces of paper with handwriting on them, and handed them to everyone.
"The tasks are all written here. You each choose one and come back to me when you're done."
When everyone took the task list and looked down, they were dumbfounded - the tasks were varied, from "tidying up the barn for the old grandma" to "repairing the roof for the old grandma", and even outrageous requirements such as "knitting a scarf for the old grandma".
Wei Liangchen couldn't help but grumble in a low voice: "This isn't a task to choose a son-in-law, this is clearly an all-around housekeeping competition..."
At this moment, Xie Qingyu suddenly discovered something.
He carefully examined the assignment papers he received from the old lady and discovered that the paper quality of these assignment papers was exactly the same as the second piece of paper he had found on the corner of the table in the model house.
Although the handwriting is different, the stroke style is somewhat similar.
Doubts suddenly arose in his heart.
"Was the second note in the model house left by the old lady? What was her purpose? Or was this just an oversight by the props team?"
Xie Qingyu's mind was in turmoil, but he remained calm on the surface.
Others just thought that he was carefully selecting tasks. Wei Liangchen even looked at him with admiration. Only Gu Qie noticed Xie Qingyu's contemplation.
Xie Qingyu suddenly picked up one of the task papers, frowned slightly, as if he had encountered some difficulty.
Pointing to a section on the task paper, he asked, "This task requires us to go to the Parliament Hall to deliver a bouquet of fresh flowers to the princess, but we don't know the way."
The old lady glanced at the task paper, casually pulled it back, and said lightly: "The council hall is far away, I took the wrong one.
There are five task papers left for the six of you. The extra person should go and repair the roof together."
After saying this, she urged the princes to choose their tasks quickly.
Xie Qingyu smiled at the old grandma and took the initiative to choose the task of repairing the roof.
Gu Qiong pondered for a moment and chose the same task. The others also completed the remaining tasks one after another.
Arriving at the location designated by the old grandmother, Xie Qingyu and Gu Qiong climbed onto the roof with tools.
After watching the two of them start to "do the mission", the old grandmother led the rest of the people to other mission locations.
Besides Xie Qingyu and Gu Qiong, there were only two cameramen squatting in the corner on the rooftop...
Less than two minutes later, Gu Yan whispered to Xie Qingyu, "In addition to the invitation letter given by the staff, I also found another note behind the mirror in my room."
After he finished speaking, he saw that Xie Qingyu did not show any surprise, so he raised his eyebrows and continued, "The note said that the Dream Dance Kingdom has accumulated countless gold and silver treasures for generations, and the king is seriously ill and has only one princess.
Invitations are now being extended to neighboring countries. Princes from all countries can take the invitation and come to the Dream Dance Kingdom. As long as they marry the princess, they will be eligible to inherit the throne and receive countless treasures.
There is more to it than what is listed here, so I will just pick out the important ones.”
After hearing this, Xie Qingyu frowned slightly and said, "I also found a second note, but the content is different from yours."
He told Gu Qie the general contents of his note. After they finished speaking, they both fell silent.
Gu Zheng put down the hammer in his hand, rubbed his forehead, and continued: "I just saw you talking a lot with the old lady in there. Did you find anything?"
Xie Qingyu nodded and whispered, "Grandma can't read.
The note I handed her didn't say anything about delivering flowers to the princess at the council hall, but she didn't question it out loud. Instead, she randomly changed the number of people on the task.
At first I thought I was just overthinking it, but the production team couldn't possibly have put such a big bug here, right? "
Gu Qi then added, "It's a bit of a detour to get here from the Parliament Hall, but it's not very far.
Why did grandma say the council chambers were far away? It seemed like she was afraid we'd leave.
Moreover, have you noticed…” When he said this, he looked up and met Xie Qingyu’s eyes, and they both said at the same time:
"Task paper."
After the two compared the clues, they had more questions.
Xie Qingyu said helplessly: "We still have to finish this task quickly and meet up with the others to check the clues."
Gu Yan nodded, and the two continued with their work.
After two hours of hard work, the roof was finally repaired.
After squatting on the roof for too long, Xie Qingyu felt his legs shaking when he went down the stairs.
Gu Yan helped him up from below.
After putting away their tools, the two went to the room where the old lady had just started assigning them tasks.
Grandma was not in the room. There were six glasses of water on the table, which must have been newly placed.
The two washed their hands in the sink nearby and sat at the table waiting for the others to return from their mission.
The first one to come back was Qian Song. He had gone to help the old grandmother fetch water, and there were still some wet water droplets on his shoulders.
Immediately afterwards, You Jinzhao and Wei Liangchen with a sullen face also came back.
You Jinchao's task was to weed, while Wei Liangchen's task was to tidy up the barn.
Wei Liangchen suddenly sat down on the stool, gulped down the water in his glass, and complained bitterly: "Does the production team have a problem with my handsome face? I'm either carrying manure to water the vegetables or shoveling poop in the barn!"
Sure enough, there was an indescribable smell all over his body.
After a while, Wei Ran still hadn't returned. His task was to weave towels, and at the same time, the old lady hadn't returned either.
Xie Qingyu took advantage of this time to tell the other three about his and Gu Qi's discovery, and at the same time took out his second note.
Upon hearing this, the other three people also silently took out the second note from their pockets.
Everyone looked at each other, and a thought flashed through their minds: "So no one is honest!"
The contents of the second notes of the other three people were slightly different from those of Xie Qingyu and the other two.
But if we summarize them, we can find a pattern: the contents of the letters all show one theme - as long as you marry the princess, you can get everything you want.
After the discussion, Xie Qingyu asked everyone to collect their notes and said, "Now we can only take it one step at a time."
After a long while, Weiran finally arrived.
Xie Qingyu asked him if there was any problem. Wei Ran said quietly, "I don't know how to knit a scarf. Grandma was teaching me, but I couldn't learn. She just sent me back and said I was eliminated."
Wei Liangchen spoke quickly and told him what everyone had just discovered.
Wei Ran was silent for a moment, then took out a second note from his pocket, and then took out a third note from another pocket - a formal invitation letter.
He placed the invitation in the middle of the table. Everyone noticed that the content on it was very formal. It began with: "Dear Royal Family of Binolans... Balabala"
The following long list of content is all polite words, which can be summarized as inviting the prince of the royal family of Binolans to attend the princess's ball.
The invitation letter was issued by the parliament and had the parliamentary seal of the Dream Dance Country on the back.
Everyone didn't understand why there was another invitation, and since only Weiran had it, they were all a little confused.
Gu Qi suddenly spoke up and said, "My second note states that princes from all countries can take the invitation letter and come to the Dream Dance Kingdom.
Now only Weiran has the invitation letter, but a second note appeared on the other five people.
The situation is now very clear - Wei Ran, who has the invitation, is the prince who was actually invited to the princess's ball; the remaining five of us merely saw the second note and came here with ulterior motives, hoping to marry the princess and covet the royal property and treasures of the Dream Dance Kingdom..."
"Evil criminals!"
What made everyone even more speechless was that the five "fake princes" had all completed their missions, but the only "real prince" had been eliminated...
Before everyone had time to marvel at the ridiculous development, more than a dozen armored guards suddenly rushed into the room.
Without waiting for them to react, the leading guard waved his hand, and the guards behind him immediately stepped forward to hold everyone down, and quickly took out blindfolds to cover the eyes of the six people.
Two guards each took a contestant's arm and led them out. Wei Liangchen screamed and struggled, shouting, "What do you want to do? This is illegal!"
The guards turned a deaf ear to his shouts and continued to pull them out.
Wei Liangchen was shouting all the way and it was very noisy, but at least everyone could confirm that they were not separated this time.
After walking for a while, the leading guard finally lost his patience and said coldly, "Shut up! The ball is about to begin. The princess sent me to invite the princes to the banquet hall."
Upon hearing this, Wei Liangchen became even more agitated and shouted, "Is this how you invite people? This is kidnapping!"
The leading guard remained indifferent, his tone calm and unmoved: "These are all the princess's orders."
Wei Liangchen was so angry that he started to scold Ding Zai: "Ding Zai! You are such a heartless and ungrateful guy!
When you were starving in the middle of the night, who was it that shared the last of his hidden supplies with you? When you came back from dance practice and cried out in pain, who was it that applied medicine to you? When you fell, who was it that laughed at you... um..." He was suddenly stuck here.
Xie Qingyu couldn't help but remind him: "That's a bit off topic."
Wei Liangchen uttered "Oh oh" twice, immediately calmed down, and continued to cry: "Now that you're rich, is this how you treat your brothers? Everyone, come and see, this is your princess!"
The leading guard finally couldn't bear it anymore, took out a piece of cloth from his pocket and stuffed it directly into Wei Liangchen's mouth, blocking his voice.
Wei Liangchen could only groan "hmmmm" and struggled for a few times before finally falling silent helplessly.
Because Xie Qingyu was relatively quiet, the two guards beside him only symbolically held his upper arms and led him forward.
After walking for about ten minutes, the guard next to him reminded him: "Lift your feet and go up the stairs."
Xie Qingyu felt as if he was being taken into a carriage because he heard the animals' panting and the sound of horses' hooves gently stepping on the ground.
After getting in the car, the guards also sat on both sides of him, sandwiching him in the middle. Xie Qingyu smiled bitterly. This really is the case of "left and right for men".
In order to confirm everyone's situation, Xie Qingyu asked, "Are you all still together? Everyone, please speak up."
Gu Yan's voice came from not far behind: "I should be behind you."
Then, people responded one after another.
Because Wei Liangchen's mouth was blocked, he could only make muffled "hmm" sounds.
Judging from the voices, behind Xie Qingyu was Gu Qiong, in front of her was Qian Song, in front of her was Wei Liangchen, behind Gu Qiong was You Jinchao, and the last one should be Wei Ran. Xie Qingyu felt a little relieved that no one had separated.
At this time, the carriage started moving and slowly moved forward.
Xie Qingyu suddenly thought of a joke: Cinderella was dressed up in a pumpkin carriage to attend the prince's ball, and we, the real and fake princes, were busy all day trying to help the princess find her dancing shoes, and were "invited" to the princess' ball in a carriage. What a romantic fairy tale!
——No way.
The carriage swayed for a long time, and Xie Qingyu felt dizzy from the shaking.
Finally, a short "whoosh" was heard from the side, and the carriage stopped. Then, they were held by their arms and taken out of the carriage.
The guards led them forward, and the surroundings suddenly became lively. Xie Qingyu heard the long-lost voice of Ding Zai.
Ding Zai said to the guards, "That's enough. Let's stop here. All of you can leave."
The guards answered in unison, "Yes!" Then they released everyone, and the footsteps gradually faded away.
Xie Qingyu took off his blindfold and suddenly saw the light, which made his eyes squint.
He paused for a moment before slowly opening his eyes. Before him lay a beautifully constructed Western-style building, its carved stone pillars and ornate arches radiating luxury and elegance. It was completely out of place with the layout of the parliament hall.
Everyone was together, facing a huge door, from which came lively music and laughter.
Ding Zai stood in front of the door, looking at them with a complicated look, a hint of sympathy, and seemed a little helpless.
He sighed softly, then turned around and slowly pushed open the door behind him...
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