WS - Chapter 73
Chapter 73
No matter how substantial the jerky portions were by volume, they were far lighter than the raw beef they had carried on their shoulders the previous day.
At least when the other four finished their tasks and came to distribute today's provisions for the road, no one raised any objection to each person having to carry a large pack of jerky.
In truth, among so many people, where could perfect consensus come from? The simple fact was that these supplies had been Song Shiyue's gains from the start, and sharing any with them was already generous. If they didn't necessarily feel grateful, at least they wouldn't raise a fuss over the trivial matter of carrying some meat. Besides, under the cameras, everyone wanted to show their best side.
Of the remaining items, Song Shiyue voluntarily took the heaviest— the large lunchbox of beef tallow and the temporarily useless, somewhat redundant snake-bone powder. The rest— wild scallions, wild ginger, lemongrass, jicama, and the utensils and seasonings obtained at the camp— were distributed among the other five to pack into their backpacks.
That morning, from waking up, to breakfast, to packing and tidying— without anyone explicitly directing, simply through discussion and cooperation, everything was completed in an orderly manner.
By the time Captain Yang, who had been enduring his hunger while timing the sounds outside, finally emerged from the tent, the guests had already packed nearly everything and were ready to hit the road...
So, with this group, what need was there for a team leader? They might as well just form their own team and go wilderness roaming...
From the moment his initial appearance had gone awry the day before, Captain Yang's mental state had crumbled again and again.
His attempt to assert authority had failed, costing him the status a team leader should hold. His attempt to block the guests from obtaining more supplies had failed, depriving him of the leverage he had over them.
To make matters worse, even the Production Team began siding with the guests. Captain Yang had originally planned to adopt a cold attitude, casually leading the guests forward while maintaining his pride through cold treatment, but that was no longer viable.
The Production Team was no longer providing him with meals, so he had to eat and drink with the guests.
Captain Yang had already humbled himself once to beg Director Zhang, only to receive two bowls of messy, mixed-together food.
On reflection, he might as well humble himself and make peace with the guests...
Although he might not get a share of the already-divided beef, if they were to acquire food together later on, surely the guests would be too embarrassed to keep it all to themselves?
Thinking this way, Captain Yang naturally began paying more attention to the six guests.
And with that attention, he spotted an opportunity to extend an olive branch.
Captain Yang stood by the tent, watching as Ning Chuyang not far away stuffed a large pack of jerky into her backpack, then began cramming in a big bundle of lemongrass sealed in a bag.
In Captain Yang's perception, among the six, the female guests' hostility and dissatisfaction toward him were much stronger than those of the three male guests. Although Song Shiyue was always the one wrecking plans, when it came to sharp tongues, the standouts were Yu Nianbing and Ning Chuyang, who had once coordinated seamlessly to corner him into speechlessness.
Since he was prepared to bow his head, it was naturally better to start with the person who had more value.
Thinking thus, Captain Yang reached up with both hands to smooth his hair, tousled from a night in the tent, and walked toward the six people gathered at the cabin door.
Forget yesterday's friction, offer friendly reminders, return to the proper function of a team leader, expect nothing in return, and advance step by step, beginning by using professional knowledge to blend in with them.
This was Captain Yang's new self-positioning.
However, ideals were beautiful, but reality often wasn't.
Just as Captain Yang was a few steps from the cabin, close enough to clearly hear their voices, he saw Song Shiyue, ever the spoiler, give Ning Chuyang a tug.
Even before Song Shiyue opened her mouth, Captain Yang sensed trouble and instinctively stopped in his tracks.
"Don't put your backpack that way," Song Shiyue said, tapping the straw bundle Ning Chuyang was trying to stuff into her bag. "Looks like we'll be walking mountain paths for a long time. Light things like this straw should go at the bottom; jerky, the heaviest stuff, should go higher up, near your back. That keeps the center of gravity stable and distributes the shoulder load more evenly. But the center of gravity needs adjusting constantly, too— if you're crossing cobblestone beaches or places where you have to dodge and jump, shift the heavy stuff lower to help keep your balance. Pay attention to how it feels, and try adjusting when it's uncomfortable. Once you've traveled enough, you'll get the feel."
Captain Yang: "..."
Hearing this, Ning Chuyang suddenly understood and hastily rearranged her items. The others also thought back to check if their own backpacks needed adjustment, so naturally no one noticed Captain Yang, who had already approached them.
Or perhaps they saw him and simply didn't care, since apart from leading the way on the road, whenever Captain Yang passed by them, he always acted like a stranger.
Yet this time, Captain Yang had indeed come with a heart full of reminders and a desire to reconcile.
Of course, that heart had already been shattered by Song Shiyue, who spoke first.
From killing the snake, to butchering the cattle, and now a reminder that should have come from the team leader himself...
Captain Yang was certain: for him, Song Shiyue was the wrong person!
Alas, within just a few steps' distance, Captain Yang chose to stop rather than rush forward and speak first, thereby losing his chance to show friendliness.
By now, both the guests and the Production Team had finished packing up, so Captain Yang could only regretfully turn away. After quickly tidying himself, he announced it was time to hit the road.
The day before, from the valley where the aircraft had landed, they had been following a small stream upward. They had practically climbed all the way to the mountaintop before reaching this overnight campsite.
By the time they arrived, dusk was already falling, and with a tree-climbing segment wedged in between, they naturally had neither time nor energy to look around.
Now, in the fine morning light after breakfast, everyone had taken a short stroll around the area.
Although this spot could be considered a mountain summit, it was truly a low hill.
The surrounding ranges stretched on without end, and from all sides, this peak was the lowest... Let alone the so-called second-to-last stop, the Old Castle, even the farther mountains could not be fully seen.
This modest, gently sloped hill had taken them nearly five or six hours to climb the day before.
One could only imagine how much time and toil those other, steeper, and loftier ones would demand.
Under the morning light, it was all lush greenery, rarely seen on Mingtan Prime. It was a feast for the eyes, yet one couldn't help sighing: "What 'Wilderness Journey'? Wouldn't 'Mountain Wilderness Journey' be more fitting?"
Having already looked around earlier and found little to anticipate for the days ahead, when Captain Yang called everyone to set off, he was met with several indifferent faces— yet another disappointment, but let's set that aside for now.
They say ascending is hard, but who knew descending is even harder?
Even on the gentlest slope, without carved steps, descending while looking down at those low trees inevitably kept your nerves and limbs taut.
"At first I thought it was fine, but now seeing that we've got mountain roads for more than ten days, the physical demands are really something," said Guan Yongyi, walking behind the lead, Captain Yang, but turning his head back to add, "Teacher Zhuang, Teacher Mu, tonight let's give each other a rubdown."
Such a simple sentence, yet Zhuang Jiachuan and Mu Xingzhou both froze for a moment, exchanged glances, and then nodded in unison saying okay, with a touch of indescribable awkwardness.
Guan Yongyi, as large-spirited as ever, simply beamed at their reply and turned back to continue walking.
Yu Nianbing, however, observed all this from behind and instantly guessed that the two who had slept in the tent last night must have worked the kinks out of each other's muscles.
Come to think of it... the previous night, Song Shiyue's technique had been so good that after soaking her feet, Yu Nianbing had practically collapsed into bed and hadn't tried to give Song Shiyue any loosening in return.
Thinking this, Yu Nianbing couldn't help feeling a twinge of guilt.
Just then, Ning Chuyang, walking ahead of Yu Nianbing, suddenly turned her head and said, "Song Shiyue, let's..."
Mid-sentence, she met Yu Nianbing's already somewhat complicated gaze, and the words were forcibly broken and reassembled in her mouth.
"Tonight, let's all give each other rubdowns, with Teacher Yu too..." After a brief pause, Ning Chuyang strained to tack it onto her earlier half-sentence.
Walking beside Yu Nianbing, Song Shiyue, who had somehow gotten hold of a few slender vines and was stripping off the leaves, looked up at Yu Nianbing.
The latter, keenly remembering the earlier awkwardness between Zhuang Jiachuan and Mu Xingzhou, did not turn her head.
"Sure," Song Shiyue agreed readily, seeing that Yu Nianbing didn't seem to object.
After all, rubbing one person was the same as rubbing two.
Since Song Shiyue had spoken, Yu Nianbing nodded as well.
What the two didn't know was that Ning Chuyang, having stiffly turned her head back and resumed walking, was already somewhat regretful.
Teacher Yu is not too pleased with the proposal, she kept feeling...
Truly, life seemed to have its unavoidable awkwardness.
For instance, speaking and then instantly regretting, or for another instance, the number of people who become friends being... three.
Thinking back to that viral search topic from over half a year ago, and considering Yu Nianbing's attitude toward Song Shiyue over the past two days, even if Ning Chuyang didn't want to admit it, she couldn't escape the fact that she was the extra one among the three.
With such thoughts, when subtle rustling sounds kept coming from behind, Ning Chuyang finally couldn't resist turning around again— only to find the two of them wrapping the ends of the same vine around each other's wrists, which only confirmed her feeling again.
Alright, it was rather sweet... if only there weren't just three female guests...
Ning Chuyang's turn of the head was like an electric shock— she turned back instantly.
Yu Nianbing wanted to explain; she opened her mouth but couldn't produce a word.
In truth... it was simply that Song Shiyue, worried the downhill path was difficult, had wanted to reach out and support Yu Nianbing.
But Yu Nianbing felt her backpack was not as heavy as the day before and she wasn't as tired; there was no need to add to Song Shiyue's burden from the very start, so she evaded Song Shiyue's hand.
Then, Song Shiyue tore some vines from the roadside, wanting to tie them around Yu Nianbing's waist.
Yu Nianbing knew it was kind, but having a vine tied around her waist with Song Shiyue holding the other end from behind— wouldn't that look like walking a dog...? The image was too vivid to bear thinking about, so she dodged aside once more.
Wasn't the issue just being afraid of rolling down the slope? Tying their wrists would be enough to catch each other. Yu Nianbing had refused Song Shiyue twice; even without words, the StarNet viewers were certainly watching. Yu Nianbing definitely didn't want the audience to speculate whether she was annoyed with Song Shiyue, so she took the initiative to take the vine and signal that they should tie it around their wrists together.
As for whether this would lead the viewers to have other associations, Yu Nianbing thought, what could she do? Who told Song Shiyue to worry about her so much... Anyway, once the show ended, any romantic imaginings would dissipate. Better than repeatedly refusing and provoking a wave of deeply rooted antis for Song Shiyue, right?
The two walked behind, their successive movements like a pantomime, until they finally reached an agreement and wrapped the vine around their wrists.
With this model— distance when you wanted distance, safety when you wanted safety— Yu Nianbing was satisfied.
As for Song Shiyue... though she didn't see how this could help and it felt rather silly, seeing how much Yu Nianbing seemed to like it, what else could she do...
Words are a power for communication.
Through their actions, Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing proved that when words are absent, mental compensation can fill the gap.
They spent the entire morning descending, but without the stream alongside them— only walking through the woods.
Even as fatigue set in later, Yu Nianbing never let up her vigilance in scrutinizing the plants on both sides, yet there were no pleasant surprises.
In her disappointment, Yu Nianbing couldn't help but mentally work through the Production Team's original plan. In their original plan, they might have intended to eat the cow's head, but they definitely wouldn't have planned to make jerky. That meant the cow from the previous day was probably intended to last one to three meals.
In that case, it was quite possible that there would be no supplementary ingredients the whole day today.
But then, this whole morning's journey would have had nothing worth watching, right?
Just walking— what was so interesting about that?
On Wilderness Planet, Yu Nianbing naturally had this doubt, unaware that the StarNet viewers had already been sweetened by those vines. Let alone watching them walk, even if the two were standing still daydreaming right now, the viewers could see a fine show.
That morning, the guests had risen earlier than the Production Team had imagined, and they packed up with surprising speed.
The departure time was much earlier than expected. They reached the designated point nearly an hour ahead of the planned eleven o'clock.
Captain Yang, who was leading the way, after walking in a straight line for several hours, finally turned a corner near the foot of the mountain.
After only a short distance more, a large pond backed by a cliff wall came into view.
Long before seeing the pond, however, they had already heard those croaking calls...
Clever people like Yu Nianbing had guessed from the sound that this was a spot to replenish ingredients.
Sure enough, along with the pond, quite a few frogs that had already leapt out appeared before their eyes...
"Looks like we've lucked out today. Frogs may not look good, but they taste quite nice," Captain Yang said, pointing toward the pond. "So before lunch, we'll add a segment. The groups will compete to catch frogs, and your catch will become your lunch. As your team leader, I'll also join the fray. Do your best."
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