WS - Chapter 66
Chapter 66
This was naturally not the first time Yu Nianbing had seen Song Shiyue acting as she pleased.
However, holding this bowl more than half full of meat in her hands still left Yu Nianbing momentarily at a loss.
Was she moved? Naturally, she was.
But did she dare to act? She dared not.
Everyone else was just gulping down mouthfuls of soup, yet she was eating so much meat; what was to be done...
Looking at the bowl of meat in her hands, Yu Nianbing's first concern wasn't whether she could finish it, but whether Song Shiyue's actions would cause her number of anti-fans to rise again.
Although most of the food today was obtained thanks to Song Shiyue, this was ultimately a reality show, not genuine wilderness survival.
Everyone had a tacit understanding to share the food equally; even when Yu Nianbing worried that Song Shiyue wouldn't have enough to eat, she could only scrape from her own portion to subsidize her.
Originally, seeing Song Shiyue only take the same portion as everyone else each time, Yu Nianbing had thought she was also consciously mindful of "fairness" in front of the cameras.
Yu Nianbing had never imagined that Song Shiyue, who suppressed her appetite and never took extra each time, had scooped such a bowl of meat for her...
The cameras were recording...
If she ate it, she was afraid people on StarNet would start scolding Song Shiyue for showing favoritism.
If she didn't eat it and poured it back into the pot before touching it, would rumors spread that she looked down on Song Shiyue's ingratiating gesture...
If she shared it with the others to eat together, not to mention that StarNet would certainly have comments about how she had kindly corrected Song Shiyue's bias, even the people currently drinking soup and unaware of her situation would notice Song Shiyue's actions, and who knows what thoughts might arise in their hearts. They weren't very familiar with each other to begin with; it was only because Captain Yang and the Production Team had performed so poorly today that everyone had their current solidarity. Such a somewhat unstable friendship naturally needed to be carefully nurtured in order to become secure.
Then the final choice was... Yu Nianbing looked toward Song Shiyue. That girl was standing far away holding a bowl of soup, and when she looked over, returned a smile tinged with a bit of smugness and slyness.
Very good, her learning ability was very strong; the trick of stuffing things and running had been turned back on herself so quickly...
If Yu Nianbing's hesitation and indecision had happened two or three days ago, they would indeed have been quite correct.
She simply never expected that in just these two days, the winds on StarNet had already drastically changed. Not to mention Song Shiyue giving her extra meat in her bowl now, even if Song Shiyue were to chop up the entire ox and stuff it all for her to eat... under the condition that the others weren't going hungry this meal, what Song Shiyue would receive would only be praise, and the kind of three-hundred-and-sixty-degree rainbow-spinning praise at that.
People's thoughts always raced swiftly.
The hesitation in Yu Nianbing's heart took a hundred twists and a thousand turns, yet under the cameras, it only appeared as a brief moment of distraction.
The momentarily tightened lips, the firmed gaze, the spoon dropping into the soup, and the girl lowering her head to eat rapidly.
On StarNet, the viewers who had been rubbing their hands together and eating candy until their mouths were sweet suddenly had their little hearts seized.
"Sob sob sob, our family's Little Ice Block is really starving; it hurts my heart to the point of suffocation!"
"Today was truly too exhausting. Walking so far and still carrying an ox leg, she definitely didn't have much of an appetite for roasted meat."
"Thank goodness there's still a pot of soup. Thank goodness Little Ice Block can still stomach the meat in the clear broth, otherwise what would we do tomorrow? Weeping!"
"Although I am a steadfast Little Ice Bucket who doesn't eat CP candy, Song Shiyue is truly a good person. Extending a friendly hand to the neighboring Little Moons..."
"As a veteran Ice Bucket of many years, I'll say that I've truly never seen Little Ice Block eat in such a disheveled manner. This show is really too torturous."
"Sigh, thankfully there's Song Shiyue."
"Blowing a rainbow bubble for Song Shiyue!"
"The person in front, step aside, I can blow 666 of them for her!"
"So is the Production Team really not considering opening up a tipping function? Even though the cast doesn't lack this money, we really want to throw money!"
"The Production Team being too rich isn't a good thing either. What a perfect show this is for receiving tips! Angrily exchanging 666 yuan into coins to smash against the Production Team's door!"
Yu Nianbing, unable to see StarNet, buried her head in eating the meat, spoonful after spoonful. After simple chewing came rapid swallowing. With such wolfing down, the meat in the bowl quickly diminished.
Working hard at it, Yu Nianbing was actually still feeling somewhat apprehensive inside. She didn't know if this act of hers could make the viewers on StarNet see her hunger and appreciation, nor did she know if it could twist Song Shiyue's display of favoritism this time into mere thoughtfulness.
No matter what, Yu Nianbing had already done what she could. As for the rest... at worst, she could only scheme about it after the show ended and they got out.
Fortunately, the beef in this bowl was reasonably soft and tender; even eating it rapidly didn't feel too forced, which counted as a stroke of luck.
Yu Nianbing put down her bowl at almost the exact same time as the others, perfectly concealing the prior difference in her bowl.
Although the other bowls didn't have as much meat as Yu Nianbing's, they still had some, and combined with the items eaten earlier, one could say everyone was extremely full. Sated with soup and meat, they naturally praised Song Shiyue, the main chef, over and over again.
Among them, a phrase spoken by Mu Xingzhou was the most interesting... "Distinctively rustic."
The group thought about it, and wasn't it exactly so?
If judging by the refinement of the food and the precision of the seasoning, the lunch helmed by Yu Nianbing was definitely superior. However, the dinner Song Shiyue made tonight, using the exact same seasonings, carried a bold and sweeping grandness, despite not being as exquisitely detailed as lunch—a rugged yet original-flavored experience.
One meal was a delicacy fit for an elegant hall, while the other was a refreshing crispness that, if paired with some alcohol, could make one belt out a song in this wilderness.
Good thing there was the morale boost from these two meals; otherwise, after the exhaustion of this day, it would be simply impossible to be as cheerful as they were now.
Once the meal was finished, it was naturally left to Song Shiyue and Zhuang Jiachuan, who hadn't bathed yet, to finish roasting the remaining jerky and clean up. Afterwards, the two of them politely deferred to each other, but ultimately Song Shiyue, claiming she still had chores to do that others couldn't help with, won the final bathing slot.
For a time, those going to tidy the cabin and tents and those going to bathe all dispersed to their tasks.
Facing the three campfires alone, Song Shiyue didn't feel lonely either.
After all, there was still a lot of work to be done.
With six bowls scooped out from the large pot of soup, the liquid level had dropped by more than half; it needed to be topped up with water to continue simmering.
Before doing so, Song Shiyue picked out the large bones one by one, used the long knife to saw off one end, picked out the marrow inside each one, and then threw the bones back in.
Behind the cabin, Director Zhang was eating the fruit bowl left over from his boxed meal set while watching the camera central control system. Seeing Song Shiyue's actions, he couldn't help but feel emotional.
To forcibly crack open such hard ox bones just to scoop out the marrow—how could such a capable and frugal girl be subdued by a few threatening words from Captain Yang? He could only blame the incredibly inaccurate intelligence from both the Production Team and StarNet... What delicate little white flower who only knew how to cry? Was there such a ferocious little white flower? A man-eating flower would be more like it...
Just as Director Zhang was inwardly praising Song Shiyue, he saw the person in the video dump the more than half a bowl of ox bone marrow she had worked so hard for quite a while, chopping and sawing to extract, into the dog food bowl on the ground nearby that had originally held cooked ox blood and ox hoof.
"I..." Director Zhang, who was taking deep breaths of the beef aroma in the air and fantasizing about how delicious that marrow would be, abruptly widened his eyes, sat bolt upright, and couldn't stop half a curse word from bursting out.
What a reckless waste of good things!
A mighty voice echoed in Director Zhang's heart.
Yet on the screen, Song Shiyue fed the dog with a face full of complete naturalness.
Not only did she dump in more than half a bowl of ox bone marrow, but Song Shiyue also picked out two bones with a bit of cartilage and placed them inside, then instructed the dog, "It's still hot, eat it in a bit. You've already eaten a lot today, so this is all. There's no more for today. As for the rest of the bones and the ox hoof, I'll give them to you tomorrow. Conveniently, we can stew another pot."
That's a dog! Not a person, okay?! Such a waste! Aren't you afraid of having no food later and Captain Yang making you eat bugs?!
Director Zhang was a marrow enthusiast. His favorite was a pork-bone stew place on Changhui Planet; even though it was a hotpot restaurant meant for swishing vegetables, Director Zhang was perfectly satisfied just ordering the broth base to gnaw on the bones. Especially the marrow inside—using a straw, using chopsticks, sucking with his mouth, trying every possible way to get it out—it was a mouth-watering delicacy.
And now...
Director Zhang watched the dog on the screen waiting obediently and quietly by the bowl, occasionally blowing a couple puffs of air into the bowl as if it had truly understood her. It really gave him a suffocating sense of depression. Perhaps things today had truly gone wrong in too many steps, leading to this current state where humans were worse off than dogs...
Song Shiyue, true to her word, obviously knew nothing of this interlude behind the little wooden cabin.
After feeding the dog, Song Shiyue took a trip to the creek and brought back a stone pot full of creek water.
That's right, the magical creek, the brand-new stone pot...
Once the creek water entered the soup pot, Song Shiyue fetched more with the stone pot, placed it on the stone stove next to it where the stone slab had originally been, and began boiling everyone's drinking water for the night.
As long as conditions allowed, one must absolutely never attempt to drink untreated water. This was one of the fundamental survival rules Song Shiyue had learned in the apocalypse. Even now, with doctors and medicine available, habit prevented Song Shiyue from relaxing in the slightest.
The stone slab and the iron mesh had already been taken and rinsed clean by Zhuang Jiachuan earlier, and the miscellaneous items had all been tidied away.
What remained to be dealt with was that pile of ox hide and ox sinews that looked like waste.
Sitting by the stone pot, Song Shiyue thought for a moment, then couldn't help turning her head to glance at the little cabin belonging to her and Yu Nianbing.
The cabin door was open, and in the candlelight inside, it seemed someone was walking back and forth.
It seemed that Yu Nianbing, who had brought water inside to tidy up earlier, still hadn't finished.
So, taking advantage of this gap, Song Shiyue retrieved yet another stone pot from the creek and began blanching her processed ox hide.
When Yu Nianbing came out to dump water and looked at the two fires among the three that should have been uselessly extinguished—seeing the familiar stone pots and familiar operations—apart from a soft sigh, she was unexpectedly so accustomed to it that she had no further reaction.
Having processed what needed processing, Song Shiyue habitually picked up the stone slab that Zhuang Jiachuan had just tidied up, swept up those useless, blood-stained things from the ground, held them up, and walked out of the camp.
She didn't drop them to the ground until she reached the woods, and then, using the stone slab as a shovel, she dug a deep pit and buried those blood-stained items.
Logically speaking, she shouldn't have processed the ox at the place where they were staying for the night. However, during the show, they were ultimately still somewhat at the mercy of others. Still, things that could attract undesirable creatures had to be properly dealt with. Although... walking along this path, Song Shiyue always felt that the program's route must have evaded or deliberately dealt with aggressive beasts, or even... beasts in general. Otherwise, they had encountered far too few things over the course of this day.
But since it only required digging a bit of dirt, it was better to be safe.
Caution was never a bad thing.
After dealing with the garbage in the woods, Song Shiyue returned to the camp entrance, gripped the stone slab, and continued turning the soil.
The soil stained with blood all had to be turned underneath.
The aroma of food and the scent of blood always stimulated beasts differently. Even if the beef soup could simmer all night long, those bloodstains couldn't be left exposed here for the whole night.
But as Song Shiyue turned and turned the soil, she sensed something different.
Amidst the turned soil, there seemed to be a particular odor...
Just as Song Shiyue crouched down, preparing to take a closer sniff, a flurry of footsteps sounded behind her.
Song Shiyue immediately stood up and turned her head. Although she knew whose footsteps they were, the hand gripping the stone slab didn't relax in the slightest.
The one clearly heading toward Song Shiyue was Zhao Er, one of the bodyguards who had had zero interaction with the cast the entire time.
"Teacher Song, what are you doing?" Zhao Er's tone was considered polite, but his voice wasn't low.
"Turning the blood-stained mud underneath to prevent wild beasts from catching the scent and coming over at night." Song Shiyue naturally answered with a righteous expression.
Zhao Er froze for a moment. Perhaps he hadn't expected such a normal yet rare answer, but he still reacted quickly, nodding as he said, "You've worked hard, Teacher Song.
If you need anything, you can call us for help."
This was truly just a polite remark. Song Shiyue didn't take it seriously either, merely nodding and casually saying "Okay" to leave it at that.
Zhao Er likewise left without hesitation.
On the other hand, Yu Nianbing, who had been drawn out from the cabin by Zhao Er's voice, brushed shoulders with Zhao Er as they passed each other.
"What's wrong?" With Captain Yang as a prior warning, Yu Nianbing was much more cautious when dealing with the Production Team's people than she had initially expected to be.
Song Shiyue roughly recounted the conversation they just had, and then, lowering her voice slightly and tapping her toe against the dirt on the ground, mentioned the strange smell she had caught earlier.
When Yu Nianbing came over, she was standing upwind and hadn't smelled it at first. Hearing Song Shiyue say this, she naturally crouched down to sniff it closely.
She had originally thought it was some part of a conspiracy, but upon sniffing closely, Yu Nianbing's tense expression actually relaxed.
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