CSGM - Chapter 64

Chapter 64: Team-building Fun

When she finished climbing the 1600th step, Chu Xi really wanted to just plop down on the ground and give up.

But Ren Zhi's pair of peach-blossom eyes, which held a hint of a smile, were staring straight at her.

Chu Xi caught her breath and said with a smile, "You have so much energy at night."

It was the same on the last show. She often stayed up late, addicted to pulling all-nighters.

Now, even the dorm manager was tired and had gone to bed, yet Ren Zhi was still sitting here, full of energy. It was as if the human gene for feeling sluggish at night had been forgotten in her DNA.

Ren Zhi looked at her leisurely.

"Maybe a little better than you. I've done the same kind of exercise as you before, but I wasn't as weak."

Chu Xi's hand gripping the handrail suddenly tightened.

Weak...?

Her brow furrowed unconsciously, and her expression as she looked at Ren Zhi changed slightly.

Ren Zhi called her weak?

Chu Xi couldn't stand anyone using that word to describe her. She refused to accept it!

Ren Zhi wasn't finished speaking. She continued, questioning her:

"I heard you ranked first in every assessment before. You couldn't have been first in the physical fitness test too, right?"

Chu Xi didn't speak. Her head lowered fifteen degrees, and her thin lips pressed into a flat line.

True, her physical fitness test wasn't first during the assessments. It was just an upper-middle score. But her total score was always first by a landslide. The fact that she firmly held the top spot was still indisputable.

"Be careful you don't get a role. This movie has a lot of action scenes. With your stamina, you might not be able to handle it."

Chu Xi pressed the spot between her eyebrows, her patience wearing thin. "Don't trouble yourself with worrying about me. I'm fine."

Then, as if she'd hit an accelerator, she quickly climbed the remaining 400 steps. Then, without even pausing to catch her breath, she went straight back to her room-

"I'm done. I'm going back."

When her three roommates saw Chu Xi return to the dorm in the middle of the night, looking exhausted, drenched in sweat, and unable to catch her breath, they almost thought she had returned from some "great battle"!

After all, in their minds, Chu Xi wasn't the type to voluntarily do extra training.

"Chu-Chu Xi..."

Three pairs of gossipy, curious, and astonished eyes turned toward her.

Chu Xi cut through their wild thoughts with a cold voice, "I got caught by the dorm manager for bringing back snacks."

Ren Zhi had reported her personally.

She didn't mention that part.

After the sweat on her body had dried and her heartbeat had steadied, Chu Xi went into the shower.

After taking off her clothes, she stood in front of the mirror and raised her arm to look at it.

The lines on her arm were clearly more defined than before she entered the camp. Her skin was firm, slender but powerful. When she clenched her fist, she could see the distinct ripple of muscle.

Standing under the showerhead as water cascaded over her, Chu Xi checked her abdomen and saw she had lean V-lines. In the middle were the faint outlines of a six-pack, formed from the past three months of training.

Needless to say, her legs, from all the morning runs, were very healthy.

She once again rejected Ren Zhi's inappropriate description—weak.

Her, weak?

Heh... What an exaggeration.

During the morning runs over the next few days, Chu Xi went at it with the strength of an ox. She seemed to be performing exceptionally well every day, no longer resembling her former nonchalant self. This left the Dark-skinned Girl from her dorm dumbfounded.

"Chu Xi, didn't you used to hate morning runs the most?" the Dark-skinned Girl asked in private.

"I still don't like them. I'm just performing at my normal level," Chu Xi said nonchalantly.

The physical training instructor for the body-sculpting class was the most surprised. Chu Xi had suddenly become extremely serious about his class. She completed all the high-intensity training meticulously.

This gave the other trainees an even greater sense of crisis!

It's over. It seems like Chu Xi is serious this time. She's even going all out in physical training! The study god is going to outcompete them to death!

For a film with a theme like Three Kingdoms, the director wanted to showcase a healthy and strong aesthetic befitting a chaotic historical period, not the "pale, young, and skinny" look of a delicate willow in the wind, with skin-smoothing filters maxed out. Seeing that Chu Xi had come to her senses and become so motivated overnight, the director revealed a gratified smile.

He had wanted to keep Chu Xi in the cast from the start. A hexagonal talent is a rare find.

This Sunday was the training camp's usual day off. The director's team organized a team-building activity, taking the instructors and trainees to a mountain in the suburbs to relax.

Having been cooped up in the training camp for over three months, this sudden outing was like welcome rain after a long drought for the trainees.

Four buses drove up to a mountain that had been developed into a scenic area. The moment the doors opened, a crowd of excited trainees rushed out.

This was the "Taowu Mountain" suburban scenic area, the closest one to the training camp. The view was open, the air was fresh, with overlapping hills, lush green pines and cypresses, and greenery filling the view. It was the perfect place for a summer outing.

Most tourists would choose to book a farmhouse-style inn at the summit for meals and lodging, but to avoid the crowds, the director specifically chose a spot on the mountainside for their activity.

There weren't as many businesses or inns where you could cook, but its advantage was the freedom and open space. Besides, once the hundred trainees from the camp were let loose, the area was filled with people and didn't feel desolate at all.

As soon as they got off the bus, many people started shouting at the top of their lungs in the open space.

Others eagerly ran a lap to check out the surroundings.

"There's a river over there!" someone shouted, pointing down from the edge of a small slope.

Chu Xi slowly got off the bus behind the crowd, her gaze sweeping across the wide, flat area-

It seemed that when people were cooped up for too long, they could treat anything as a treasure. Some trainees even ran over to a dusty statue of Equuleus, brushed off the dust, and sat down. They were as overjoyed as children just playing with that.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

The director was in charge today. He allowed everyone to go play for a while, but they had to gather back at the original spot in twenty minutes.

In an instant, more than half of the trainees scattered.

Two or three minutes later, most of the rest had left too.

The only ones left on the flat ground were the crew members unloading things from the bus's storage compartment, and some of the instructors.

The staff brought out a huge mat and several bags of props. The instructors all went over to lend a hand.

This was probably the game they were going to play next.

Seeing that Ren Zhi was also helping set up the scene, Chu Xi walked over and joined them, working together.

Twenty minutes later, the trainees returned to a completely transformed spot.

A massive game mat had been laid out here. On it were inflatable balloons of various shapes: little frogs, dinosaurs, white doves, hammers, sunflowers... scattered all over the mat.

The mat had a starting line and a finish line. At the finish line, eight plastic buckets of different colors were placed.

The director's assistant was holding several costumes sealed in plastic bags. The director patted the bags and announced through his portable microphone: "Today, we're going to play a cooperative game called 'Piggy Run.' In a moment, one trainee will be paired with one instructor, forming a team of two. We'll select eight teams per round to participate in this game!"

The director continued explaining the rules-

"The trainee carries the instructor on their back. The instructor picks up the props on the mat. Each prop has a specific point value. You have to get them into your team's bucket before time runs out to tally the total score. The individual trainee with the highest total score will receive a mysterious reward in the next activity today!"

"Alright!" The trainees at the camp were very supportive. They burst into applause after the director finished a segment.

The director: "Male trainees will carry male instructors, and female trainees will carry female instructors."

"Huh?!" This time, everyone didn't applaud. Instead, they let out sounds of disappointment.

The director gave a kingly sneer as if he'd seen through them. "What's with the 'huh'? What are you all thinking?"

Not to mention anything else, the male instructors weighed, on average, almost double what the female instructors did.

A trainee questioned, "Why can't the instructors carry the trainees?"

The director said righteously, "What have you been doing all that physical training for? Have you all been slacking off? Anyone I find today who can't carry their instructor will get extra training when we get back!"

Oh, no. Now no one dared to make a peep. Meanwhile, the physical training instructor was snickering.

As for why the game was called "Piggy Run," it was because every trainee had to wear a piggy costume prepared by the crew to participate.

"First round, who wants to go?"

After the director asked, some enthusiastic trainees volunteered, but they were almost all male.

"What about the female trainees? Doesn't anyone want to participate? Are you afraid I'll find out you've been slacking?"

That wasn't it...

It was just that the female trainees were generally a bit shy about the new game.

One of them timidly circled around and approached Ren Zhi, asking quietly, "Teacher Ren, are you going to participate?"

Ren Zhi smiled amiably. "Sure."

The female trainee who asked instantly had her eyes light up. Great!

Chu Xi glanced over and smiled faintly.

"Director! I'll sign up."

Just as that female trainee finished speaking, Chu Xi walked up from behind her.

"I'll participate too."

Five men and three women. The ratio was just about right. The director readily agreed.

The issue of pairing everyone up was settled fairly using a game of palms or backs.

Before they started, Chu Xi deliberately walked over to Ren Zhi and said in a voice loud enough for not only Ren Zhi but also the circle of people around them to hear:

"Teacher Ren, I want to be on your team. You should show the back of your hand."

Ren Zhi's eyebrow twitched. "?!" Is she crazy?!

The other four female trainees and instructors: "?!" How could Chu Xi say that so brazenly?!

Ren Zhi shot Chu Xi a sharp glance and said with a fair-minded frown, "No cheating!"

"Okay." Chu Xi nodded and walked away.

And in the following game of palms or backs, Chu Xi never showed the back of her hand, only her palm.

Just as she predicted, after three rounds, she and Ren Zhi were grouped together.

It could only mean she had a bit of luck, that it was fate.

This trick wouldn't have worked if anyone had caught on after three rounds-

She had deliberately said that to Ren Zhi and let others hear, causing Ren Zhi, in order to avoid suspicion, to definitely not dare show the back of her hand at the beginning.

As for the other two female trainees who wanted to be on Ren Zhi's team, they were worried Ren Zhi would actually be influenced by her. Possessing a gambler's mentality and wanting to try their luck, they would subconsciously think that showing the back of their hand would make it easier to be grouped with Ren Zhi. So, they gambled on showing the back of their hand three times in a row. Even if Ren Zhi didn't show it the first time, they would inevitably tell themselves, "Then Teacher Ren will show the back of her hand next time."

It was just a little psychological manipulation. That doesn't count as cheating, right?

Chu Xi smiled at Ren Zhi.

Easily handled.

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