WS - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Although Director Zhang's words were not very pleasant to hear, Captain Yang himself knew that he indeed had several times where he hadn't managed to rein in his temper and had been filming with some emotion.

In corporate team-building, there were company executives watching and assessing. In school training, there were school leaders paying attention and evaluating. So over these years, during team-building or training, what Captain Yang mostly received was obedience and respect; he had grown accustomed to a life of giving orders, accustomed to the absence of opposing voices. Suddenly faced with a group that had no one above them to apply pressure, he had taken several knocks in a row, and for a time his mindset genuinely hadn't adjusted well.

Now that Director Zhang had taken the risk to approach him privately, it was also a not-too-heavy, not-too-light warning bell for Captain Yang.

"Alright, I'll pay attention." Although Captain Yang was very stifled, he wasn't so angry yet as to be unable to distinguish friend from foe, so he naturally nodded in response to Director Zhang's words, but added somewhat indignantly, "Just now it was that wild ginger patch I deliberately overlooked that got discovered by Yu Nianbing, which made me lose control for a moment. If I'd known earlier, I shouldn't have spoken up at that wild scallion patch."

Director Zhang glanced at Captain Yang, who still seemed somewhat frustrated, sighed and said, "It's no use."

"What?" Captain Yang didn't quite understand what Director Zhang meant.

"Well, this is something I only just learned too, the day before yesterday." Director Zhang pointed to the camera central control system on his wrist, "The day before yesterday, when they were on the spaceship, Zhuang Jiachuan mentioned that every time before Yu Nianbing films a drama, she reads a lot of materials about that drama. It seems some of the dishes she can make now were also specially learned because they were needed in some drama. Now, looking at it, before coming to film this variety show, she also put in quite a bit of effort."

Captain Yang was briefly taken aback, and quickly followed up, "You mean, she didn't spot the wild ginger by luck?"

"How could it be just luck? Didn't you see that earlier clump of lemongrass was also identified by her?" Director Zhang paused then added, "Anyway, I feel she specially learned some things. That patch of wild scallions earlier, even if you hadn't spoken, they might not have missed it."

Captain Yang was speechless.

Because Captain Yang had his privacy shield on, the audience heard only Director Zhang's voice from their conversation.

However, that was already enough for them to figure out what the situation was now, and by extension to fill in the other half of what Captain Yang said.

Earlier when watching the livestream, the audience's various complaints hadn't stopped either.

But complaints were just complaints; it was only from when Captain Yang killed the snake that it truly turned from complaints into scolding.

And now, "The Wilderness Journey" had welcomed the audience's biggest backlash since the program went online.

Variety shows are different from filming dramas. Whether there's a script or how much of one, there are always some pranks, some challenges, designed to make the participating guests encounter small mishaps and minor problems in order to create some program effect.

These unspoken things, most viewers understood as well, and didn't find them hard to accept; previously when they saw such things they just laughed and complained a bit.

But now, the livestream of "The Wilderness Journey" laid Director Zhang and Captain Yang's secret conspiracy and unfriendliness directly on the table, and coupled with Captain Yang's earlier performance, it truly made people's anger surge from nowhere.

Ever since a capable viewer uploaded three comparison pictures proving that Director Zhang was indeed talking to Captain Yang, who was standing very close, the livestream pages of Director Zhang and Captain Yang exploded.

Although they couldn't hear Captain Yang's words, according to what Director Zhang said, they indeed planned to starve the artists a bit, so as to dampen their arrogance and give Captain Yang another chance to establish his authority.

The ordinary passersby were somewhat better off, more or less able to think that this was for program effect.

But the fans of each star couldn't stand it; these were people they cherished in the palms of their hands, how could they bear to see these people discussing how to starve them, how hungry to make them.

They rose up in attack, but regrettably, Director Zhang and Captain Yang on Wilderness Planet couldn't see it.

Hearing in Director Zhang's words that Yu Nianbing might have already lit up a skill point made Captain Yang fall briefly silent.

But very soon, he rallied his spirits, focused his gaze and said, "Even if she learned some things in advance, if she can't see the actual objects, knowing is useless. Isn't there still a wild garlic patch ahead? I'll lead them on a small detour to avoid it."

"If we don't follow the prearranged route, would it be unsafe?" Director Zhang slightly furrowed his brow, "We've already got scallions and ginger, we can do without that bit of garlic."

"It won't be unsafe, don't worry. I remember the location of the garlic patch, we'll just detour slightly." Captain Yang was full of confidence, paused, looked at Director Zhang with earnest eyes and added, "That cow arranged later, don't dig it out."

"This..." Director Zhang hesitated, "Then what will you eat tonight?"

"They." Captain Yang corrected, "Didn't they prepare rice and flour at the lodging place? They'll eat that. Wild scallion and wild ginger rice."

Director Zhang opened his mouth, looked at the newly high-spirited Captain Yang, finally just nodded, and said nothing.

Forget it, where is there a captain who separates from the team, follows the production team to eat work meals, and lets the team members eat scallion-ginger rice? If this person is so unworthy, then let's just walk and watch... Anyway, the quality of the captain doesn't make that much difference to the program effect. I've done what I should; since the two sides can't get along, if the captain's image gets ruined, the team members' days won't be good either, and for the program... it's not a bad thing for the program.

Just as Director Zhang was thinking this, Captain Yang's wristband beeped several times.

"It's only thirty seconds, I'll head back first." Director Zhang said, quickly turning around to head back toward the main group.

"Hey, remember not to dig out that cow." Captain Yang loudly said behind Director Zhang.

If it weren't for Captain Yang's privacy shield still being on, preventing any camera from capturing video or audio, his voice would probably have directly traveled across the growing distance between them and appeared in Director Zhang's livestream.

Director Zhang didn't even turn his head, just waved his hand to signify he understood.

Now that Director Zhang was listless and said little, the viewers on StarNet couldn't guess what the two's final exchange had been.

"That sentence from Director Zhang, 'Then what will you eat tonight?' Can anyone guess what Captain Yang said before that?"

"It feels like there's some conspiracy, they definitely withheld food!"

"Damn it, isn't this an abuse of the shield function? They clearly couldn't be talking while going to the toilet!"

"I also guess Captain Yang told Director Zhang to withhold food, pity even if we heard it clearly it's useless, we can't tell them."

"So pitiful, our Little Ice Block, even though she's prepared, she still couldn't guess that the bad guys are this bad, detouring and withholding food."

"So those edible plants must have been arranged by the production team after all, otherwise why would the detour be to avoid them."

"Heartbreaking, so today we can only eat wild scallions mixed with wild ginger?"

"If they don't yield to Captain Yang, maybe tomorrow they won't even get wild scallions mixed with wild ginger."

"So suffocating it's hard to breathe..."

"Suffocating +1"

"One by one lying flat, stopping breathing..."

Just as the viewers were so stifled by helpless anger that they were about to collapse, Yu Nianbing was not, as they thought, entirely unaware of the bad people's badness.

From lemongrass, to wild scallions, to wild ginger, aside from their other functions, they shared one common point: they were all seasonings that could remove gaminess. This made Yu Nianbing suspect that these were very likely specially transplanted by the production team. And moreover, an opportunity to use them would come very soon.

As for this opportunity, there was a fifty percent chance it was for the snake that the production team had originally planned for them to prepare, which was now dead, to remove the gaminess from the snake meat. And the other fifty percent chance, the production team had later prepared some food that needed de-gamifying.

If the former, then one could truly say thanks. But if the latter, Yu Nianbing very much doubted, with their relationship with the production team and Captain Yang so strained now, would the other party still kindly provide that other food that needed de-gamifying?

Eighty percent, unlikely.

It was just that Yu Nianbing didn't regret reaching this point either.

Although food was important, that stifled breath held in the heart could also cause trouble.

However, if Song Shiyue knew, she would probably be unhappy...

In the gaps while tidying the wild ginger, Yu Nianbing thought of many things, and also had some issues she wanted to discuss, but there was no opportunity to speak.

Although Director Zhang had likely gone to talk with Captain Yang and for the moment probably didn't have time to watch their livestream, Yu Nianbing didn't know if Director Zhang's control system had a playback function. She was afraid that for some things that hadn't yet changed, if she rashly spoke out and was heard by Director Zhang and the others, it would instead cause an incident, truly an unnecessary move.

So no matter how many words, in the end they were all swallowed back.

But Song Shiyue, who had finished digging the wild ginger, seemed to perceive Yu Nianbing's somewhat heavy mind, and after thinking, spoke: "How about I accompany you?"

Yu Nianbing pulled her mind back from daydreaming about how to game the production team, and asked suspiciously, "Go where?"

"To take care of personal business." Song Shiyue said gravely, lowering her voice, with a look of 'don't be embarrassed, I won't laugh at you'.

Yu Nianbing took a moment to react, then both annoyed and amused, gave her a light thump.

What is this, how can this person's thoughts linger on a conversation from so long ago.

And still wrong...

Captain Yang didn't go long; within two minutes after they had harvested all the ginger from the wild ginger patch, he was back with the group.

As for Director Zhang, he had long before returned to the production team's side, thinking he had been completely unnoticed.

The group set off again; the others were fine, but Yu Nianbing, who had thought a bit deeper, sensed something wrong not long after they started walking.

Yu Nianbing's sense of direction was decent, so earlier she had felt that the path they walked, though in the forest, should have been roughly parallel to the stream.

But after Captain Yang returned, they hadn't walked long before they began heading diagonally to the right front.

The stream was to the left of their direction of travel; walking like this, they would get further and further from the stream.

The noon rest stop should be a place to replenish food and water. If they started deviating now, then was the rest stop going to have a different water source, or did the production team want to teach them a lesson, making them miss the chance to replenish water?

Yu Nianbing was inwardly anxious, but wary of Director Zhang's camera central control system, she ultimately kept her words bottled up. She couldn't help but grumble inwardly: if only Director Zhang didn't have that thing on his wrist that was practically a monitor, their autonomy would be greater, that would be good.

But fortunately, the production team didn't seem to want to make them thirsty.

After walking diagonally to the right front for over ten minutes, Captain Yang began leading them diagonally to the left front.

It seemed that from a straight line, they had changed to walking a not-so-smooth arc...

They could see the group walking more and more left; in a few more minutes, they should be able to return to that original straight line near the stream. Yu Nianbing's mood didn't improve greatly. She couldn't help thinking, what is on that stretch of straight road we bypassed and didn't walk?

She felt that both before and now, the forest was very calm. When they initially started going diagonally right front, there hadn't seemed to be any danger or difficult terrain ahead.

So... there must be something, something the production team didn't want them to see, or rather, something they originally wanted to give them but now didn't want to give anymore...

The greatest possibility was edible plants.

Just not knowing whether it was like the previous three kinds of spices, or a staple food or fruit-vegetable plant.

So they really did say something in the forest...

Although there was no script, it was still all within the production team's control after all.

Yu Nianbing didn't dislike the production team making some arrangements to ensure the program ran smoothly. But she very much disliked this kind of controlling behavior done for the sake of control.

Really, very detestable, a familiar detestable flavor!

Just as Yu Nianbing was slowly mentally classifying Director Zhang and Captain Yang into the type of people she disliked most, a clump of plants that brushed past her shoulder caught her attention.

Yu Nianbing stopped, focused her eyes to examine carefully; before she could confirm, Song Shiyue's voice came from beside her.

"This one? Is it for eating leaves?" Song Shiyue reached out from the side.

"Do you even know what it is, just reaching out to touch it?" Yu Nianbing hastily grabbed her hand.

"What is it?" Song Shiyue's face was full of curiosity.

In the time it took for these two sentences, the others also gradually stopped.

Yu Nianbing didn't answer immediately, instead looking toward Captain Yang at the very front.

Captain Yang, perhaps because of the rustling sounds that had suddenly appeared from the back of the group, also stopped and turned back with a puzzled look.

Their gazes met squarely.

Yu Nianbing saw the befuddlement on Captain Yang's face clearly, and slightly curved the corners of her mouth in pleasure.

What's going on? Is wilderness survival that much to her taste? How can she smile at Captain Yang, what about the supposed cold attitude toward people? Song Shiyue took in the sight of the two looking at each other, and for some reason couldn't help but squeeze Yu Nianbing's palm.

"I think this might be jicama. But I'm not certain... Jicama likes sunlight, and these few are quite close to the trees." Yu Nianbing didn't let go of Song Shiyue's hand even after her palm was squeezed; she just stopped looking at Captain Yang and refocused on the plants before her.

"Jicama? Does it grow underground? If you're not sure, I'll dig, and you have a close look." Song Shiyue thought back; she didn't think she'd heard of it. But even on Earth before, she hadn't known every plant; whether this was an interstellar specialty was even harder to say. But since Yu Nianbing was willing to stop, that meant it should be somewhat useful.

Yu Nianbing sensed Song Shiyue's eagerness to try, quickly tightened her grip and said, "If it's jicama, its stems and leaves are poisonous. Although I haven't tried it and don't know how poisonous, getting it on you might not be good."

"It's fine, I'll be careful." Song Shiyue promised with a serious face.

"We'll help too." Zhuang Jiachuan also squeezed over.

There were only a few such plants; with the men all crowding over, Yu Nianbing had no space to lend a hand, so she temporarily stepped back a little.

Then she couldn't help but look again at Captain Yang; Captain Yang was frowning, his face full of disdain and disbelief. Then she looked at Director Zhang, who seemed to be watching a floating screen, his expression unreadable.

Yu Nianbing calculated: from here, they probably still needed to walk left for several minutes before returning to that straight path they might have originally been meant to take.

Judging from Captain Yang's expression, if she wasn't mistaken, if these were jicama, then they should be genuinely wild, not arranged by the production team.

So, was it to make us miss something that they led us on this route?

Did you end up losing, or gaining?

Yu Nianbing looked toward the trees.

Song Shiyue, who was vigorously digging in the soil, suddenly straightened up, turned her head to look over, "Is this jicama? It's huge!"

Yu Nianbing looked at the chubby tuber, still covered in mud, that Song Shiyue couldn't even hold with both hands, and smiled.

"Ah, it's really huge." Ning Chuyang drew closer and lifted it with a hand, "This one must be at least a jin, right?"

The commotion on this side was a bit loud; Captain Yang heard it, saw it, and his face uncontrollably darkened, but he couldn't help striding over a few steps this way.

But it was only a few steps.

Beside that lump of mud was Yu Nianbing, gazing over with a burning stare.

Captain Yang had no doubt that in that gaze, he saw more than a trace of provocation.

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