Chapter 6
The wind howled, the mountain obscured by dense trees, darkness shrouded it. Heavy rain pelted the leaves, crackling the ground. Everyone was soaked, their hands and feet numb with cold. Using the dim lights provided by the production crew, they carefully and painstakingly trekked up the mountain, sometimes deep, sometimes shallow. Several people nearly fell, but were fortunately caught by those beside them. Otherwise, with darkness still in the air, it would have been a disaster. The only consolation was the lack of thunder and lightning, which eliminated the possibility of lightning strikes.
"Oh my god, will there be a flash flood?"
"No way, the show just started today, and they're going to withdraw now?"
"I think it's very likely. It's not even April yet, and it's so cold up there. Add to that the heavy rain, and the body temperature will drop too low, and you'll die. The production team is really going too far this time!"
It rained heavily on the first day of the wilderness survival variety show, especially on the mountain. Many people began to worry about the safety and picked up the phone to call the program team. Finally, the director team said that they had made all preparations and it was safe.
Safe as hell!
When the fans heard the answer from the program team, they were furious and had to go back to the live broadcast room to watch the situation.
Chu Huaiqin wiped his face to shake off the rain, and hugged Lin Zhinan, who was huddled beside him, to keep her warm. The little monk was on the other side of Lin Zhinan. The rain slid down his bald head, blurring his vision, but his peripheral vision was always watching Lin Zhinan, and he helped her from time to time. The little girl was already crying secretly. She was cold, tired and hungry, but she couldn't open the waterproof backpack to look for clothes, otherwise the things inside would get wet.
In the livestream, Lin Zhinan's fans were madly cursing the production team. "Why is it raining so heavily on the first day? Didn't they check the weather forecast? It's still early spring, how cold is it going to be? Look at the girl's lips, they're all purple." Lin Zhinan's fans, mostly male and female, were incredibly harsh in their criticism of the production team. No one blamed them, as fans of other celebrities were also cursing.
Meanwhile, the other teams' live streams were continuing. Those who had chosen Route A2 had gone even further than Chu Huaiqin and his team. They were leaning against the rock face, sheltering from the rain, when some couldn't help but pull out iron pots to drink water. They'd miscalculated, and when they were thirsty halfway up the mountain and asked for water, the production team told them they didn't provide it. Yang Ling was so angry that she started arguing with the production team, nearly coming to blows. Some in the livestream supported her, while others mocked her, saying that Chu Huaiqin had figured out how to find bamboo tubes to hold water, and that they were the ones being foolish.
Of course, the fans weren't having any fun, rolling up their sleeves and arguing. Some, frustrated, turned off the comment barrage during their livestreams to find some peace and quiet. Xia En had already reached the halfway point of the mountain in the rain, and the climb was arduous. An Manrou and Shao Tai were shivering with cold. They gave their luggage to Xiao Dugui and Su Feichen respectively, holding onto Xi Xing's hands tightly, letting him pull them up the mountain.
Passersby in the live broadcast room and their fans have started arguing. Passersby think that the two are shameless, and fans think that their physical fitness is not as good as others. What's wrong with pulling? Besides, Xi Xing didn't say anything. It's the turn of passersby to be the messenger of justice. Some people even said that the sister was also dragging Chu Huaiqin.
"That's because a brother loves his sister. Don't drag my sister into this."
"Yes, Brother Qin is willing, but they are not so willing. Oh no, An Manrou seems to be willing, but Shao Tai is not willing at all, and he is still leaning over."
"Haha, when those two first tried to get close to Xia En, they were glared away. Isn't that the same as Brother Qin proactively asking his sister if she's cold?"
"Really? Why do I feel like Allen Chu isn't cold at all? He seems to be in good physical condition and is even holding his sister's hand."
"It's a bit strange. This afternoon, he walked the twenty-minute distance from the assembly point to the bamboo forest. He was a grown man, his face red and veins popping, and he was panting heavily. He was so tired that he looked like an old man. In the end, he picked up the lightest work. How come he's fine now?"
"We've always said that our brother Qin is still very capable. Stand up with pride."
"Come on, come on, stop bragging. You might fall down soon."
After this incident, the comments in the live broadcast room became much more relaxed, but the audience was still very worried, wondering what to do if the rain continued like this?
"We still don't have enough prepared." Chu Huaiqin frowned and turned to look at the trembling directors who were huddled together. They were still insisting on filming, which showed that they were capable people. "Let's find a place to settle down first."
"It's raining so hard now, even if we want to cut down trees to build a tree house, we don't have knives!" Su Huaichen crossed his arms, his teeth chattering with cold. After thinking about it, he realized that the program claimed to be realistic, but the tools they provided were too few. "They might as well just strip us naked and throw us into the mountains."
Su Huaichen started training a month in advance to participate in this program, but he ran out of energy on the first day. He thought to himself: This year's production team doesn't want them to win the championship, they want them to be so awesome that they can break the earth!
Chu Huaiqin also thought so. Even if the program team wanted a real wilderness survival effect, it would be impossible to do it so thoroughly. He couldn't help but look at the program team and think about it. From the intersection of the discovery route map, he thought that the program team must want to do something. Is there something else he hasn't discovered?
"Let me check the map," Chu Huaiqin remembered. The map was waterproof, which meant the production team had taken this into consideration from the beginning. He spread out the map, and the others came over to look. Finally, they discovered that the first intersection of the three routes was not far away. Chu Huaiqin said, "Let's go there and take a look."
Several people agreed and walked forward into the heavy rain. After more than ten minutes, they heard vague voices. In the dark rainy night, goose bumps suddenly appeared on the group of people, their throats moved slightly, and their soaked bodies became even colder.
"It's the people from Route A2," Chu Huaiqin said, "Let's go!"
Hearing someone else arrive ahead, everyone looked at each other and dragged their heavy feet towards the source of the sound. Sure enough, they soon saw the lights of the A2 director team. At this time, the A2 team was hiding from the rain under the rock wall. The rain was falling from the back of the rock wall. Although it didn't prevent the people from getting wet, it at least reduced the amount of rain.
Seeing the rock face, the A3 group, who had been soaked by the rain all the way, instantly perked up. They quickly walked to the rock face, threw their backpacks, slid down to the ground, and panted. They were so tired. Climbing is tiring in itself, and the heavy rain was a double blow to their spirits and bodies.
"Why are you so late?" Chen Jian looked around at the people in Group A3. Seeing that everyone was carrying bamboo tubes, he immediately understood and sneered, "So they're getting bamboo tubes? Even though we're competitors, is it really necessary to be so cautious at the beginning? You didn't even say a word."
"There's nothing I can do. Sister Yang walked too fast. You guys were gone when I wanted to talk to you." Su Huaichen smiled and put his backpack on the ground. He saw Chu Huaiqin touching the rock wall as if he was looking for something. He didn't speak to Chen Jian anymore, turned around and walked towards Chu Huaiqin. He heard Chu Huaiqin's voice before he arrived.
"Found it."
Chu Huaiqin's lips curled up slightly, revealing a smug smile. Rain continued to fall from his head, and his bangs fell softly on his forehead. His skin was already fair, and the rain made it look even more translucent. This smile was particularly alluring.
"What did you find?" The little monk jumped out from behind Su Huaichen and ran towards Chu Huaiqin. Seeing him scraping at the rock wall with his hands, he asked in surprise, "Brother, are you learning the Dragon Claw technique? You can scrape rocks with your hands."
Su Huaichen: ...
Live broadcast room: ...
"I'm looking for something."
Chu Huaiqin wiped the rain off his face and continued with his work. Su Huaichen seemed to have thought of something and helped dig. After a moment, their fingertips touched something hard. They dug it up quickly and took it out. It was a hatchet wrapped in cloth.
"Amazing! Did Chu Huaiqin get the script for survival in the wild?"
"Could it be that the director team told him in advance? Otherwise, how could the A2 team not notice it after being here for so long?"
"Stop the conspiracy theories. Think about how Chu Huaiqin looked at the map earlier. I understand. It seems that this season's wilderness survival requires not only physical strength but also mental strength."
The rain was still falling. When the three men came back with this thing, the people in Group A2 were stunned. How could they still operate the tool?
"Let's go look for it too!" Tong Tao said. He was in the amateur group and had been a lay disciple of Shaolin. He had some common sense about survival in the wild. He was not very satisfied with going up the mountain with Yang Ling and the others. No matter whether he suggested looking for water or food, she rejected it all.
She is a big star here and has many fans, so everyone gives in to her, but in the end it turns out that they were all wrong.
"What's the use of this thing?" Yang Ling asked impatiently. It was still raining and she was very tired. She had originally thought that leaving early would leave Group A3 behind, but she didn't expect that they would be caught up because of the rain.
"Build a shed." Kong Tiao replied, "Sister Yang, it's only a little after seven o'clock now. We can't get wet all night."
Kong Tiao and Tong Tao are from the same school. This time they are participating in the wilderness survival competition with the intention of developing into the entertainment industry, so it is necessary for them to establish a good relationship with Yang Ling.
"You guys go look for it. My head hurts a bit, so I need to rest for a while." Yang Ling leaned on the backpack without moving, and looked really tired.
The two men looked at each other, said nothing more, and turned around to find axes.
Chu Huaiqin had already started building the shed. He cut a dozen dry branches and made them into an N-shaped shed, which he embedded in the uneven rock wall. The small shed was taking shape. At this time, the others were not idle either. They went to pick branches, long grass, banana leaves and other things and brought them back to seal the top and the perimeter of the shed bit by bit.
Everyone was working so hard, even Lin Zhinan, who had been crying from exhaustion and couldn't do heavy work, was mowing the grass with a dagger.
"I cried. Why is Chu Huaiqin's team so united?"
"Ahhh, my sister is doing fine. Su Huaichen asked her to rest but she refused. She secretly ran off to cut grass. I'll be a fan of my sister forever."
"Compared to that side, it's really... I really prefer this side. Director, please just broadcast from A1 and forget about other places."
"That's not right. Where's Chu Huaiqin?"
"Damn, seriously, why is it that he is never seen during work, and the little monk as well."
"Pointing to his personal livestream room, he was chopping trees with the little monk and said he wanted to cook."
audience:……
"Please, Mr. Science, it's raining heavily now, how can I burn it?"
"I remember there was a type of wood that could be burned wet, but I don't know what it was."
"Green palm wood."
After hearing this, many people ran to Chu Huaiqin's personal live broadcast room, and sure enough, they saw him and the little monk. He was walking in front, and the little monk was following behind, dragging a branch of green palm wood.
"Chu Huaiqin is really good at ordering people around!"
"Pfft, it's not like you just found out today that he's spoiled. After being brainwashed by his character, you don't even find it strange. If he wasn't like this, I'd think he was pretending!"
"But he seems to have leadership skills. It's only been one day, but I can already see that everyone is listening to him."
On their own team, Lin Yongfu was easygoing and sweet, and the little monk called him "brother" sweetly, so Chu Huaiqin was undoubtedly the only one in charge. Lin Zhinan's two brothers both liked her, and since she followed Chu Huaiqin, the two naturally had no complaints. Su Huaichen had come along on his own, and he often asked Chu Huaiqin what to do, so it seemed reasonable to say that Chu Huaiqin was the team leader.
Everyone vaguely felt that something was changing, but they couldn't put it into words, and nothing was obvious yet.
When the two came back, the shed had been set up and everyone's backpacks had been moved in. They found the raincoats they brought and tied them to the roof of the shed, finally keeping the rain out.
The rustling downpour continued. Team A3 was busy gathering stones for a stove and splitting chopped chopped chopped chopped wood for firewood. Chu Huaiqin opened his backpack, rummaged through it, found a curtain, and hung it in the corner. He sent his sister off to change, and the others politely turned to look outside.
"Can I come here to shelter from the rain?" Yang Ling walked over with a pale face and looked at the people in Group A3 pitifully.
Everyone was silent. The place wasn't big to begin with, and with eight grown men besides her sister, moving around wasn't easy. It would have been fine if she were alone, but there were three other girls in Group A2. They couldn't just accept Yang Ling. If all four girls came in, they'd have to leave.
"Here," just as everyone was hesitating, a hatchet was handed out. The man sitting on the ground tilted his head back, his wet hair sticking to his head but it didn't affect his complexion. He was so handsome, but what he did was disgusting. He said, "I'll lend it to you. Remember to return it later."
Yang Ling's face darkened, she bit her lip, glared at Chu Huaiqin, then turned and left.
"Can you lend it to me?" Some people left and some came. Cha Guo walked over in the rain and looked at the people in Group A3 apologetically.
"Take it!"
Chu Huaiqin didn't seem to mind Yang Ling's attitude at all and handed him the hatchet. However, the live broadcast room was boiling again, and everyone was scrolling through the comments in disbelief. They couldn't imagine that Chu Huaiqin was such a person. After being spoiled, arrogant, and narcissistic, he had another nickname: ruthless.
The wet wood started burning little by little. There were three stoves, one for boiling water, one for cooking noodles, and one for cooking vegetables.
Chu Huaiqin sat on the ground and said, "Little monk, go cook."
When we were chatting on the road today, he already knew that the little monk could cook and was very passionate about it. He came to participate in the program in order to get the prize money to open a small restaurant.
"Pfft, didn't you say you would treat him to chicken legs? Why did you ask him to cook?" Su Huaichen next to him laughed. He happened to hear what Chu Huaiqin had said to the little monk before.
"Yes, please eat the chicken leg. Now it's cooking, be good."
"Okay, wait for me, I'll make you something delicious."
With that, he fished the food out of the bamboo basket and ran out into the rain. He peeled and sliced the bamboo shoots and washed them in the rain. He also cleaned the slate vegetables directly in the rain before bringing them back. The heavy rain became a tap for Team A3.
Su Huaichen sighed, "Why do I feel like he likes you very much!"
Chu Huaiqin nodded: "Well, maybe it's because I look good."
Su Huaichen: How shameless.
Only the leaves of the slate vegetable are taken, and after being blanched in water, salt and oil are added directly. After blanching the spring bamboo shoots, remove them, pour out the excess water and add oil. After the oil is boiled, add the bamboo shoots and stir-fry for a few times, and the delicious flavor will come out. The people who were drinking water with bamboo bowls, feeling tired and hungry, swallowed their saliva unconsciously and kept urging the little monk to hurry up.
Spring bamboo shoots are at their plumpest and tenderest in March, and they cook through in a moment. With the lid on the pot, we placed the noodles on top, topped them with a layer of fresh, green salad, and each person had a chopstick of spring bamboo shoots. This group of people, fresh from the bustling city, almost cried; it was so delicious.
After eating, people get sleepy. The rain continued to fall, and the ground was too wet to set up the tent, so everyone had to make do. My sister and Chu Huaiqin were the smartest. They both brought waterproof outerwear. They changed into dry clothes and put on a waterproof coat, so they could sleep sitting on the ground without discomfort. Everyone looked at his clothes, their eyes red with envy.
The people in Group A2 set up the tent more than an hour after Chu Huaiqin and the others fell asleep. Xia En's group arrived when Group A2 was having dinner. Seeing that both groups had settled down, the wet group of people wanted to drag the people inside out and lie down in there themselves. Xia En, in particular, had tears in his eyes when he saw Lin Zhinan on Chu Huaiqin's left and the little monk sleeping against him on his right.
Bastard, a bastard who abandons you after having fun with you.
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