Chapter 26
The bamboo raft was finished, and their next thought was dinner. They divided into groups to find food, one going into the water, the other into the mountains, returning just as darkness approached. Su Huaichen held a pumpkin and papaya, while Xia En and the others speared fish and wrapped clams. As they approached camp, they smelled the aroma of roasted fish, and their mouths watered.
We ran back with the food in hand. My sister's fish had already been fried to a golden brown, fragrant and fragrant. The slight curve indicated that it was cooked just right. A sprinkle of fine salt on top created a strong visual impact, instantly making those who hadn't eaten enough hungry. Even before the food was cooked, everyone couldn't help but start digging into the salted fish and shrimp.
"It's delicious. My sister is amazing." The little monk kept nodding his head while chewing the fragrant fish in his mouth. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
"It's really delicious! If I had known, I would have gone fishing with my sister." Lin Yongfu couldn't stop eating, eating very quickly. When the others saw this, they also quickened their pace, praising his sister as they ate, making Lin Zhinan blush.
Xia En threw a small fish into his mouth. Seeing Chu Huaiqin smiling as he listened to others praising Lin Zhinan, his brows unconsciously furrowed. He swallowed the fish faster and said coldly, "Chu Huaiqin fried it deliciously."
Everyone: ...
"Aren't you called Huaiqin Qingqing? Why do you call her by her full name?" Su Huaichen ate the last fish and started to peel the pumpkin. The fish was delicious, but it was not filling.
"No way, it's Qinqin!" Lin Yongfu felt that he was not mistaken. "It sounds nice and intimate like that, Qin..."
"That's so ugly." Xia En suddenly growled, interrupting Lin Yongfu abruptly.
Everyone: ...
Xia En was stunned for a moment, as if realizing what he had just said. His face suddenly darkened. He lowered his eyes, and his hands clenched tightly at his sides, veins bulging.
The atmosphere was a little awkward for a moment. Everyone looked at Xia En and then at Chu Huaiqin in surprise, but saw Chu Huaiqin smiling and eating dried fish, as if he was not affected by Xia En's words at all. For a moment, no one knew whether they should smooth things over.
"I'll go kill the fish." Xia En suddenly stood up, holding the dagger and walked away hurriedly, as if running for his life.
"Kill the fish." Su Huaichen wanted to remind him, but Xia En had already walked away.
Everyone looked at Chu Huaiqin, wanting to see his attitude, but they saw Chu Huaiqin grinning, "Let's stew pumpkin. I'm hungry."
Everyone: You have such a big heart.
Live broadcast room: Xia Entropy has a problem, absolutely.
Except for Chu Huaiqin, no one else enjoyed the dinner because even though Xia Entang escaped under the pretext of killing fish, he still had a cold face when he came back. Su Huaichen and Lin Yongfu tried to create a cheerful atmosphere but failed to save the situation.
After eating and drinking, everyone went to sleep. The one who came to change Chu Huaiqin's dressing tonight was Su Huaichen. Before leaving, Su Huaichen patted Chu Huaiqin's shoulder, sighed, and shook his head.
Chu Huaiqin: ...
As the night deepened, Chu Huaiqin, who was sleeping on his stomach, felt that his heart was being squeezed and he couldn't breathe. He even dreamed that he was crying because of the uncomfortable feeling.
Crying?
Chu Huaiqin woke up from his dream, gasping for breath, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was just a dream.
No, there was real sobbing, right outside his tent.
Chu Huaiqin's limbs stiffened and he listened carefully. The sobbing sound really came from outside his tent accompanied by the sound of waves.
Could it be a ghost?
Chu Huaiqin's eyes lit up, he quickly got up, unzipped the tent, and ran out, all in one go.
“Crash!”
The gentle sound of the water echoed through the azure night sky, leaving nothing but the sound of wind and rustling leaves. Unconvinced, Chu Huaiqin circled a few times until a cool breeze gave him goosebumps. He returned to the tent and was about to crawl back inside when he heard the crying again. Following the sound to the little monk's tent, Chu Huaiqin squatted down and untied the chain...
"ah!"
The little monk screamed in fright, looked closely and saw that it was Chu Huaiqin, and immediately moved over with a pout.
"Why are you crying in the middle of the night?" Chu Huaiqin asked curiously.
"I, I heard crying," the little monk was so scared that his face turned pale and he grabbed Chu Huaiqin's hand, "Brother, I'm scared. I'll sleep with you tonight!"
Chu Huaiqin pulled his hand back forcefully, "No."
"Brother!" The little monk screamed, rushed over, and hugged Chu Huaiqin tightly. It seemed that if Chu Huaiqin didn't sleep with him tonight, he would just hold him like this.
"Be good, go back and sleep by yourself."
"don't want."
"Then I'll wait for you to fall asleep tonight, and then I'll take you to the lake to sleep with the ghost."
"ah!"
The little monk yelled, crawled back into the tent, zipped up, and covered his head with the blanket in one go.
Night owl audience in the live broadcast room: Fortunately I didn’t sleep tonight and watched another good show.
The next morning, everyone got up early and divided into three groups. One group looked for food on land, one group went into the water, and one group packed up. Chu Huaiqin was left out because of his hand and waist injuries and did not have to do anything.
Chu Huaiqin sat cross-legged on the ground, chin propped up, looking at the lake for a while, then spun his wrists. He felt that he had recovered well, and the swelling in his waist had subsided, but it wasn't yet time for him to rest. After thinking for a moment, he took a dagger and cut the bamboo that the little monk and his friends had left behind into pieces.
The live broadcast room was stunned. What was the brother doing?
After more than two hours, the sun was about to rise. Those who had gone out to look for food slowly returned, and all they saw was the bamboo shed atop the raft. It wasn't complicated to make: a bamboo shed was erected on each side of the raft, the tops tied into a square, and bamboo strips were laid on top and tied tightly, leaving the surrounding area hollow. It was a very simple job, and with the help of his sister, Chu Huaiqin even made a few small shrimp cages.
"Let's make breakfast and get going as soon as possible." Chu Huaiqin squinted his eyes and looked up at the sun. There was still some sunshine just now, but now the sun has hidden behind the clouds again.
"Okay, everyone, hurry up! We've got time," Lin Yongfu agreed. According to the map, it would take them twenty-four hours to cross the lake. They couldn't sail at night, and the wind usually picked up around 6:00 PM, so they had to dock around 5:00 PM. With only a few hours to spare, it would take them three days to reach the other side. Fortunately, the director didn't kill them off and let them drift for three days. According to the map, there were peaks from one end of the lake to the other, and they would rest there.
Everyone started to hurry up and eat the same things they had eaten from the previous two days, cassava, pumpkin, and fish, all of which were edible. Su Huaichen couldn't help but remind Chu Huaiqin, you still owe the little monk a chicken leg!
"That's also owed to the little monk!" Lin Yongfu reminded.
"Then give me some soup, at least!" Su Huaichen has very low requirements. He used to refuse to eat anything for the sake of his figure, but he decided that he would never do that again. Being able to eat is a blessing.
Everyone hurriedly finished their breakfast, filled bamboo tubes with boiled water, packed up and left.
There were five people in a group. The little monk was the first to pull Chu Huaiqin to form a group. Su Huaichen, Feng Shan and Lin Yongfu also stood on Chu Huaiqin's side. Xia En didn't move at all. It seemed that although he and Chu Huaiqin had been in a cold war since last night, he still wanted to be in the same group with Chu Huaiqin.
My sister wanted to go too, but Bingxiang persuaded her to join them. The reason was simple: the bamboo raft needed paddling, and Chu Huaiqin had an injured hand. There were just four of them, so if my sister came along, they would have to have another person come over, and there wouldn't be enough people to paddle.
Reluctantly, my sister walked over to Bingxiang's side. The young monk thought for a moment, let go of Chu Huaiqin's hand, and also walked over. Thus, the division came out. My sister and the young monk were in one group, along with Bingxiang, An Shunan, and Su Feichen, and Chu Huaiqin, Xia Entropy, Fengshan, Lin Yongfu, and Su Huaichen.
Backpacks were carried up, along with food that had been left for lunch in the morning. Everyone also made straw hats and placed a layer of small branches on the top of the bamboo shed so that the heat would be reduced when sitting inside.
As everyone was getting ready to board the bamboo raft, the director team finally had a change of heart and gave everyone a life jacket.
Chu Huaiqin threw two small shrimp cages to Bingxiang and tied them under the bamboo raft. He also tied two on his side, then climbed into the bamboo shed and sat in the middle of the backpack, cross-legged, supporting his chin with half-closed eyes, with a faint expression.
"Brother, why are you a little quiet today?"
"I noticed that too. He looked a little pale."
"I know. Xia En must have run outside his tent and cried last night and scared him. Haha, someone even took a screenshot of Xia En and posted it on Weibo today, but it was deleted quickly. I wonder if it will be included in the edited version later. It's hilarious."
"Oh, no, he ran out to see it with great interest. He didn't look frightened at all. It was the little monk who was frightened, I think. He started crying."
"Hahaha, I saw that short video too. The poor little monk was threatened by his brother and dragged to the lake to sleep with a ghost. Haha, the way the little monk ran back to the tent, I can laugh for a whole year."
"It's hot! He's always like this at noon!"
"Why do I think he's afraid?"
"He really looks like he's scared. He even surrounded himself with five backpacks. Pfft, a 5'8" tall guy sitting in the middle of a tiny room. Ahhh, why do I feel a little cute? Oh no, I can't take it anymore. My heart is racing."
As soon as this speculation came out, everyone became excited and kept posting comments crazily. It turned out that besides the sunlight, there were other things that the brother was afraid of. But what was he afraid of?
Want to know.
The bamboo raft left the lakeside and slowly entered the water. People paddling around the rafts felt the lake breeze and wanted to hum a song. Su Huaichen thought the same thing and couldn't help but hum: "The beauty of West Lake in March, the spring rain is like wine, the willows are like smoke, ah..."
Su Huaichen: "...Hey...Hey..."
Little monk: "Your tape is stuck?"
"No, who is calling? Did you hear it?" Su Huaichen asked in confusion.
"...Wait... Wait, let's..."
The sound finally became clear, and everyone turned around to see two people rushing towards them with backpacks on their backs. The director rushed out and threw them life jackets. They quickly put them on, put on their backpacks, and jumped into the water to swim towards Su Huaichen. When they were halfway through, assassins in camouflage uniforms appeared from behind. Team A2 hadn't dealt with these people yet!
Several people stopped paddling and pulled out the spare poles to support the bamboo raft that was floating downstream. When two people swam closer angrily, everyone could see clearly that they were the amateurs Pu Pen and Tong Tao.
"One over here." Bing Xiang saw that both of them were going towards Chu Huaiqin, and hurriedly called someone over.
Seeing Tong Tao heading straight for Chu Huaiqin's bamboo raft, Pu Peng turned and swam towards Bingxiang. When they swam closer, he threw his backpack onto the raft before climbing aboard, lying flat on his stomach, panting.
Su Huaichen asked curiously, "Where are the other members of your group?"
"They're all eliminated," Tong Tiao wiped the water off her face and asked shyly, "Is there anything to eat? We've been chased by them for the past two days and there's no way we can even find food."
Su Huaichen glanced at Chu Huaiqin and saw that he had his head down as if his soul had left his body. He did not react at all. He touched his nose and replied, "Yes."
After saying this, he handed the boiled pumpkin that he had put in the small pot in the morning to Tong Tao.
Park Pen also got some food. After they wolfed it down, they drank two sips of lake water before they recovered.
"Let me do it!" After Tong Tao finished eating, she reached out to take the juice from Su Huaichen, but he dodged her.
"Here it is." Xia En handed the oat over without any hesitation.
Su Huaichen: I just want to be polite.
Although Xia En had given the pulp to Tong Tao, he was not idle either. He sat next to Chu Huaiqin and, like Lin Zhinan, tied some bait with needle and thread and threw it into the lake to fish.
The two bamboo rafts slowly moved away from the shore and into the mountains.
From morning to noon to afternoon, everyone went from being at ease at the beginning to being so exhausted that they didn't want to lift their hands at all. However, after six hours, thinking that there were still two days left, everyone was about to cry, and seriously doubted whether they could row out of the mountains in three days.
"Let's find a place to dock now!" Bing Xiang looked at the time and felt it was almost time. "We can't do this tomorrow. It's okay if we go slowly. We'll split up into groups, two people in the morning and two in the afternoon."
"Sure," Su Huaichen said with a bitter face, shaking his hands. Even though Xia Entang came to replace him, the feeling of his arms being so sore that he couldn't lift them was still maddening. "It doesn't matter if you're a day late."
"Yes," Bingxiang replied, then looked up and said after a while, "It's raining."
"No way! It's raining at this time! Damn it!" Lin Yongfu stretched out his hand, and soon, raindrops really fell on it. He looked up and saw that the clouds were a little dark. It wasn't obvious now, but if it started to rain and the lake was rushing, it would be troublesome. "Let's find a place to dock quickly."
"That's fine, Brother Chu, what do you think?" Bing Xiang pointed to the nearest mountain. It looked close, but it would take a long time to row across the water. He just hoped that it would not rain heavily before they reached the shore. "Brother Chu!" Bing Xiang shouted again when he got no response. He turned around and saw Xia Entang kneeling beside Chu Huaiqin and wiping his sweat with a handkerchief. Chu Huaiqin sat still and let Xia Entang move. His delicate face looked like a puppet.
"What's wrong?" The others also noticed that something was wrong with Chu Huaiqin. The little monk looked at him anxiously from a distance, "Is it because of the heat?"
After saying this, he felt that it was impossible. The sun was not very strong today, and it was even more impossible to feel hot in the lake. Chu Huaiqin, who was sitting in the bamboo raft, had a bamboo shed above his head and was wearing a straw hat. He didn't look like he would be hot at all!
"No," Chu Huaiqin finally spoke, but his voice was hoarse, "I just..."
"ah!"
Before Chu Huaiqin finished speaking, the two bamboo rafts were suddenly shaken by the waves.
"The wind is picking up," the little monk said anxiously, standing at the head of the bamboo raft, feeling the wind, "Hurry, let's get to the shore first."
The sky darkened instantly, the wind whipping the water up, and the fishy smell of the lake, which hadn't been noticeable the past two days, began to emerge. This was a sign of heavy rain. It was a mistake. No one here knew how to read the weather, and they hadn't expected this to happen. No one cared about being tired, and they paddled desperately towards the final peak.
We must reach the shore before the heavy rain comes.
The author has something to say: The beauty of West Lake in March, the spring rain is like wine and the willows are like smoke, ah... Excerpted from the lyrics of "Du Qing", the opening theme song of "New White Snake"
Now that other events have come to an end, I finally have time to write during the day. Starting tomorrow, I will try my best to update at 9 pm and not so late anymore.
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