WS - Chapter 40
Chapter 40
The firelight at the Noon Rest Stop, ignoring the distance in between, almost scorched Zhuang Jiachuan's eyes.
Who was it! Who snatched this win while he was down in the water!
Zhuang Jiachuan was full of pent-up frustration; his hands, nearly crippled by the stone pot, somehow found a burst of strength, quickening his pace back.
Looking from a distance, the place with smoke and fire was surrounded by quite a few people. Zhuang Jiachuan walked as fast as he could while guessing who it could be.
It couldn't be the production team or Captain Yang; right now they were probably all hoping for the cast members to make mistakes, so the cast would have to ask them for help.
Yu Nianbing and Ning Chuyang had just walked over to greet him, and at that time there was no smoke or fire.
Which meant...
Mu Xingzhou...
Zhuang Jiachuan felt a bit of regret. He shouldn't have ignored Mu Xingzhou just because he had been silent and passive these past two days, only following the others.
"Teacher Zhuang!" Just as Zhuang Jiachuan was only one uphill slope away from the Noon Rest Stop, Ning Chuyang above him suddenly turned around, looked at him, and shouted.
With a vague sense of foreboding, instinct made Zhuang Jiachuan ignore the call and take a big step up the slope.
But Zhuang Jiachuan, weighed down by the stone pot, was no match for Ning Chuyang's quick mouth, no matter how fast he moved.
"The fire's going. Please fill the pot with water before you come up," Ning Chuyang shouted loudly, even cupping her hands into a megaphone to make sure Zhuang Jiachuan heard.
Zhuang Jiachuan, who already had both feet on the foot of the slope, slowly raised his head to meet Ning Chuyang's joyful face.
"All right." Zhuang Jiachuan heard himself say so, and felt the stiffness on his face as he forced a smile.
This stone pot really is too heavy...
Zhuang Jiachuan obediently gave up on speed and shuffled step by step back to the stream.
Since he was already there, Zhuang Jiachuan simply chose a spot with clear stream water, gave the stone pot a good rinse, filled it a little more than halfway, and prepared to head back.
Hmm... if you asked why he didn't fill it to the brim...
Probably because this was already the limit of what Zhuang Jiachuan could carry.
Just as Zhuang Jiachuan straightened his back and struggled to lift the pot of water, a loud laugh suddenly came from behind him.
Because his attention was on his hands, he managed to hold onto the pot, but that booming "Ha ha ha" nearly made him twist his waist.
I can't do anything right! Can't I just have a moment of peace!
Zhuang Jiachuan didn't dare twist his body while holding the heavy load; he could only slowly shuffle his feet to turn his whole body around and look.
He saw, not far away in the stream, that Guan Yongyi also had... a pot in his hands?
Zhuang Jiachuan's eyes widened. Guan Yongyi's pot-like object actually had two ear-like handles, something his own lacked.
"Look, what I found. It even has handles." Guan Yongyi happily fiddled with the pot in his hands, showing it off to Zhuang Jiachuan from all angles.
Heh... Not envious at all...
Zhuang Jiachuan forced a smile at Guan Yongyi, struggled to keep a steady grip on his own handle-free stone bucket, and turned back around as if nothing were amiss.
One step, two steps.
A bit heavy, gotta hold it properly.
Three steps.
Can't hold it anymore.
Argh, so infuriating! So mad, so mad! Aaah!
I'm jealous of the pot with handles! Who wants this stupid bucket that's so hard to grip!
And that guy Mu Xingzhou, I really hate him! Aaaah!
So mad!
With steam practically rising from his head in anger, Zhuang Jiachuan somehow shuffled his way back down to the foot of the slope where Ning Chuyang had called out to him earlier.
Meanwhile, the muscular Guan Yongyi, carrying the new stone pot with two handles, had just happily passed him by with a full pot of water and gone up the slope.
Sigh... Zhuang Jiachuan couldn't help but let out a long sigh inside.
"Give it to me."
Just as Zhuang Jiachuan resigned himself to climbing the slope, a pair of dusty little hands stretched out before him. Zhuang Jiachuan looked up and saw Song Shiyue, who had come down the slope at some point, with a sincere expression on her face.
Zhuang Jiachuan clenched his jaw. Sweat from his forehead streamed past his temples and along his cheeks, dripping from his chin like a leaky faucet.
No. It's been a long march of ten thousand miles, and only a few steps remain. After all this exhausting work, I'm finally almost there. How can I hand over the credit for hauling the stone pot and fetching water to a young lady?
"Mm..." Zhuang Jiachuan forced a syllable through his gritted teeth, then struggled to straighten his arms, already numb from the weight, and passed the stone pot into Song Shiyue's hands.
Song Shiyue took the stone pot, said nothing more, turned around, and went up the slope.
Relieved of the pot that had nearly crushed his hand bones, Zhuang Jiachuan felt a weight lift both from his hands and his heart.
Zhuang Jiachuan didn't know if Song Shiyue had just happened to pass by or had seen from afar that he was at the end of his rope. He was unwilling and too embarrassed to ask for help out loud, but if he had to carry that pot of water up the slope, he really was... In any case, Song Shiyue had saved him in his moment of crisis, rescued him from his predicament.
What a good girl. Zhuang Jiachuan found it hard to say this "thank you" that would sound like an admission of weakness, but his gratitude toward Song Shiyue at this moment was absolutely genuine.
Since things were already like this, Zhuang Jiachuan didn't rush up the slope. Instead, he shook out his sore, numb hands, went back to the stream once more, wiped his face and head thoroughly, and only then returned to the Noon Rest Stop.
After those two round trips, when he saw the two stone pots set on the makeshift stone stoves at the Noon Rest Stop, the water already bubbling away inside, most of Zhuang Jiachuan's earlier anger had dissipated.
However, Zhuang Jiachuan still minded one thing: who had beaten him to it.
"Who got this fire going? It started up so quickly..." Zhuang Jiachuan circled the two decent-looking stone stoves a couple of times and asked, as if casually.
"Ha ha ha, you think so too, right? When I first came up, I thought the production team had taken pity on us since our noon break wasn't long enough to cook, and had kindly started the fire for us," said Guan Yongyi, who had come up earlier, with a simple laugh. "Teacher Zhuang, take a guess—who got this fire going?"
With the way he's put it, what's there to guess... Zhuang Jiachuan smiled and looked toward Mu Xingzhou.
"I was only responsible for gathering firewood," Mu Xingzhou said with an open expression. Then he glanced at the branches beside the stone stove, weighed the stone knife in his hand, and said, "Seems like it's not quite enough. I'll go get some more."
With that, Mu Xingzhou headed toward the woods behind.
"I'll go too." Guan Yongyi loudly followed.
Wait... wasn't I supposed to guess?
Zhuang Jiachuan awkwardly looked at the three women remaining in the area.
"Ha ha ha, Teacher Zhuang, you couldn't guess, could you? It was Song Shiyue." Ning Chuyang said with a grin. "While you were all out feeling around for stone pots, Teacher Yu suggested we look for fire-starting materials. We gathered some dry branches and dead grass, and then as soon as Song Shiyue came back, she struck a spark in no time. The timing was perfect."
Zhuang Jiachuan looked at Song Shiyue a bit dumbfounded, and the latter smiled modestly. "It wasn't just a few strikes. I had to rub for a while too."
What 'a while'? There was only a few steps' difference, and the fire was already lit ahead of me!
Well... it wasn't Mu Xingzhou who started the fire, but Song Shiyue. That was unexpected, yet also made perfect sense! Heh!
"Very impressive, really impressive." Zhuang Jiachuan smiled and praised her.
The smile was fake. The praise was real.
Knowing that Song Shiyue had started the fire so easily, Zhuang Jiachuan was only slightly shocked and soon stopped being so upset. After all, whether it was for lunch or dinner, he could never beat this skill.
What is there to fight over? What is there to be angry about?
People only envy those who are just a little bit better, just a step ahead. Toward those who are far too outstanding, such feelings don't arise. Since he was going to be crushed either way, he might as well be happy and just look up in admiration.
While Zhuang Jiachuan was gradually getting used to Song Shiyue's excellence, reining in his negative emotions, and starting to help tend the stove fire, Director Zhang was still far from calm.
Seeing that the cast members were all gathered around the stone stoves boiling water and didn't look like they'd go to the stream anytime soon, Director Zhang pulled aside Wang Daming, who was rubbing his stomach nearby, and whispered, "Go take a look in the stream where they found the stone pots just now."
"Look for what?" Hunger had slowed Wang Daming's thinking.
Director Zhang glared at Wang Daming. His voice didn't rise, but his tone sharpened. "Go see if there are things like stone pots or stone knives in that stream."
"Oh." Wang Daming nodded, dragged his feet half a step forward, but couldn't help turning back to Director Zhang. "They've already started boiling water. When are we going to eat?"
All you think about is food!
But since it was brought up... Having been reminded, Director Zhang also felt a bit hungry. He waved his hand. "I'll have them dig it up now. You can eat when you get back."
At these words, Wang Daming's eyes lit up, and he walked briskly toward the stream.
"Feng Qianqian, you know where lunch is buried, right? Take Zhao Da or Zhao Er to get it." Director Zhang thought for a moment and added, "If anyone has a big appetite and wants an extra portion, bring it over early. The leftovers here are useless now anyway."
"Teacher Yu, Teacher Zhuang, and the others—are we really not going to share lunch with them?" Feng Qianqian hesitated. "Actually, if we give them some this time, they might not be so angry about the snake incident this morning."
"No. This is no longer about the snake. Go when I tell you to go. Am I the on-site director, or are you?" Director Zhang said, slightly angry.
Feng Qianqian shut her mouth, nodded, and went off to find the Zhao brothers. But inside, she still felt a bit indignant. How is this not about the snake? Back at the Old Castle, when they confiscated this and that, the cast only grumbled a little; they never ignored the production team to the point of near-confrontation like now. This Director Zhang really is as self-opinionated as his file said.
Neither Director Zhang nor Captain Yang seems like the right person for this show. Why did the show... choose them? Feng Qianqian had many doubts, but now she had no way out. She would just have to muddle through these next ten-odd days and see.
Back on the hillside, Zhuang Jiachuan had just stuffed two dry sticks into the stone stove when he looked up and saw Wang Daming heading into the middle of the stream.
"Why is he standing in the middle of the stream?" Zhuang Jiachuan felt something was off.
"Maybe the production team wants to fish out a stone pot too," Ning Chuyang said, crouching by a big rock and chopping jicama with the remaining stone knife—chop, chop, chop.
"It can't be," Zhuang Jiachuan muttered. Then he turned to look at Ning Chuyang and couldn't help but caution her, "Careful, don't chop up the leaves underneath."
But there wasn't much to see with Wang Daming. After a few casual glances, everyone turned their attention back to the marinated snake meat that Yu Nianbing was turning over in her hands.
Zhuang Jiachuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Song Shiyue often did unexpected things and achieved surprising results, but she still couldn't compare to someone like Yu Nianbing, who had such a meticulous mind and good brains. While they were out searching for stone pots, she had already arranged the firewood gathering, chopped the ginger and scallions, and marinated the snake meat, saving so much time for their lunch.
While the others paid little attention to Wang Daming in the stream, Yu Nianbing felt a bit uneasy.
No normal person would think you could find stone pots in a stream, and the production team wasn't all fools. The spot where Wang Daming was standing now was indeed near where Song Shiyue and the others had found their pots... Watching him constantly bend and straighten up, he didn't seem to be fetching water. The stream seemed to have only tiny fish too small to pick from between the teeth—surely the production team wasn't that hungry.
Then he is... Yu Nianbing occasionally turned over the marinating snake meat in her hands, but most of her attention was on the distant stream.
As expected, patience paid off. Not long after, Yu Nianbing saw Wang Daming make a sudden movement.
"This is..." Yu Nianbing, who had been using two twigs to turn the marinated snake meat on a large leaf, suddenly stood up.
"What?"
"Huh?"
The three others around the stove fire stood up one after another, looking in the direction of Yu Nianbing's gaze.
Comments
Post a Comment