WS - Chapter 93
Chapter 93
Because Ning Chuyang was quite insistent this time, after Zhuang Jiachuan yielded several times, he let it drop. In any case, Zhuang Jiachuan couldn't very well force Ning Chuyang to swap lodgings with him — that would have been far too much at odds with the friendly image he wanted to project.
With that settled, the group first divided up the accommodations.
Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing took the tent nearest to where they were standing, the first one in that row. Ning Chuyang chose the one beside them, the first lean-to shelter in its row.
All three tents were now occupied, but one lean-to shelter remained empty. Mu Xingzhou thought it over and, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, walked to the lean-to shelter farthest at the back, leaving an empty one between him and Ning Chuyang.
Once he got back there, Mu Xingzhou discovered something new and loudly called for the others to come see.
At the last camp, the pots, pans, stoves, and the small amount of grain and seasonings had been piled inside the small wooden cabin. This time, they were piled in the lean-to shelter at the very back.
Each of the six carried a bit, and soon everything was moved out.
Same as before: one large iron pot and an assortment of basins, bowls, and dishes.
One small bag of rice — hefting it, it felt like about one jin. Also the usual five short, stout little bottles, each about palm-sized, containing oil, salt, sugar, MSG, and ground pepper respectively.
The grain provided at the previous camp — rice and flour combined — had totaled about one and a half jin. This time it had shrunk by half a jin.
Thinking back to what Ning Chuyang had said earlier, that the accommodations might keep getting worse, even with all these supplies in front of them, no one's mood could really lift.
Regardless, Yu Nianbing let out a breath of relief at the sight of the iron pot.
Around this camp, let alone a stream, there wasn't even a water source in sight. Any water they needed would probably have to be fetched from the washroom.
If the production team hadn't provided a pot... Yu Nianbing genuinely worried that Song Shiyue would have to conjure up some sort of stone pot out of nowhere.
With Mu Xingzhou's discovery in hand, the group, nursing a sliver of hope, made a detailed inspection of their respective sleeping quarters for the evening and also walked through the area on the right side of the camp.
Mm... sure enough, this was all there was.
"Let's get a fire going first, start the rice cooking, and then I'll go make doors for the two lean-to shelters? There's some bamboo just off the path we came in on." Song Shiyue spoke as she looked at everyone.
"Not just bamboo. I also saw several trees with this kind of branch and leaf." Ning Chuyang pointed at the lean-to shelter's roof, which was woven from branches and leaves, and added, "I get the feeling that if you hadn't helped us all secure a place to sleep tonight, these tents and lean-to shelters would have been completely dismantled before we even got here, and we'd only be allowed to come back and build them ourselves using whatever materials we could find on the spot."
"Right, we really have to thank Teacher Song for this." At moments like these, Zhuang Jiachuan was never stingy about chiming in promptly.
So everyone once again showered Song Shiyue with a round of rainbow-colored flattery.
The sky was growing late, and there was still a great deal to deal with. They quickly discussed and assigned the next round of tasks. Just as they were about to scatter in different directions, a black-and-white blur darted over from the left side of the camp, whining and yelping as it charged straight at Song Shiyue.
In the blink of an eye, Song Shiyue's feet shifted slightly, her body swerved, and she didn't forget to gently nudge Yu Nianbing beside her somewhat to the side.
Pity that dog. It had finally managed to slip free of Wang Daming's grip and was running over, delightedly happy, only for the very person it had been about to nuzzle against first to dodge away. The dog didn't even react in time and just barreled past with nothing in front of it.
When the dog finally realized what had happened, all four paws hit the ground in a screeching halt. When it looked back, its eyes, fixed on Song Shiyue, were welling with tears of grievance.
Those eyes — perfectly round, glistening black, set against a sheen of moisture — were unspeakably endearing.
Mm, but unfortunately, Song Shiyue was not the person to be moved by them.
"Then I'll go get the bamboo." Holding the stone knife she had just retrieved from her backpack, Song Shiyue said a word to the others and made to leave.
Everyone's gaze traveled back and forth between the dog, whose bid to throw itself into someone's arms had failed, and the cold, merciless Song Shiyue. Truly, they felt a good pinch of bitter heartache for this dog.
"Teacher Song, why not give it a pat?" Zhuang Jiachuan looked at the dog, which had flopped down on the spot with a face full of hurt, its two paws even covering its nose as if about to hide its face and cry, and spoke up, somewhat unable to bear it.
Song Shiyue turned her head to glance at the dog and happened to see those two dog ears standing bolt upright, swiveling around like signal receivers.
"We've already settled our accounts, payment and goods in full." Song Shiyue lowered her head and stroked the stone knife in her hand, reckoning that she might need to sharpen the blade before cutting bamboo. But when she raised her eyes again, she caught sight of the look Yu Nianbing was directing at the dog — it seemed to hold a fair measure of tender affection. Song Shiyue couldn't help tugging at Yu Nianbing and said with a laugh, "It's pretending to be pitiful."
"Mm. It's just looking at it..." Yu Nianbing nodded but then pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Forget it..."
So, even knowing full well it was faking, she still couldn't help but find it pitiable?
Song Shiyue looked at Yu Nianbing beside her, who seemed to be somewhat torn over whether to go check on the dog, and her expression gradually softened more and more.
That was right — Yu Nianbing was just that soft-hearted a person.
If it weren't so, Yu Nianbing would never have stepped without hesitation across a floor littered with broken tiles into Song Shiyue's smoke-wreathed room, not knowing what the situation inside was. Much less would she have taken such a huge risk, personally sending Song Shiyue to Ciming Hospital, and only leaving after Wang Mancang had arrived...
Such a soft, tender person.
The softness that had come into Song Shiyue's expression because of Yu Nianbing hardened right back up when she looked at the dog again.
Let you pretend to be pitiful. Let you make the soft-hearted one unhappy...
Grumbling in her heart, Song Shiyue strode over to the dog's side.
Poor dog, thinking its feign-pity plan had worked. It had barely pulled its paws off its nose, and before its tail could even start wagging, a big bone was stuffed into its mouth.
"Eat. Be happy." Song Shiyue was concise. After a moment's thought, she went to the pile of dishes, picked out a large plate, took quite a few more bones from the vine-woven bag the dog was carrying, and pushed them in front of the dog. "Eat more. Be happier."
Dog: "..." It felt like it had understood a couple of the words, but they didn't seem to mean quite what it had learned.
Well, no matter. In any case, having regained Song Shiyue's attention, the dog instantly perked up, its little tail even going pap-pap-pap as it wagged.
Song Shiyue glanced at Yu Nianbing.
Good, she was smiling.
Only then, with some satisfaction, did Song Shiyue pat the dog's head and head off to cut bamboo.
The dog had one big bone in its mouth and a whole plate of big bones in front of it. Unwilling to abandon the food, it couldn't follow Song Shiyue for the moment and could only chomp down, gnawing away urgently to make the most of the time.
Another day full of fine food, the dog thought as it buried its head and gnawed on the bone.
And as for whose dog food bowl was fully topped off, was it really only a single dog's?
"Has this dog turned into a spirit or something? Just now when it was in Wang Daming's hands, the leash was nearly torn apart by its pulling. Now that it's in front of Song Shiyue, it's as docile as a rabbit..."
"Hahaha, did you all see the shot over on the production team's side just now? Wang Daming was taking out the boxed meals, and the dog suddenly yanked him — the boxed meal in his hand almost flipped back into the thermal storage box."
"Saw it, saw it. I saw it. It was around when Song Shiyue's group got close to camp. Probably the dog picked up their scent."
"The dog's love is really baffling. Clearly on the first day, back at the old castle, it was so scared of Sister Song that it buried itself in Wang Daming's arms. Just a few hours later, its heart changed allegiance."
"That's just the charisma of our Sister Song!"
"No, no, no, I think it's the law of the jungle — the strong rule supreme, hahaha."
"Stop... stop it... don't say that. I'm instantly picturing a Tarzan version of Sister Song. King of the Jungle? Hahaha, I'm dying."
"Friends! Is the point really the dog's love for Song Shiyue? Isn't the point Song Shiyue's 'love me, love my dog' attitude?!"
"Haha, from the very start it was Yu Nianbing who first accepted the dog. Song Shiyue's attitude has always been 'Fine, follow me if you want.'"
"I hope the dog learns indirect tactics. Stop bootlicking Sister Song. Licking Sister Song ten thousand times isn't as good as licking Little Ice Block once!"
"Right, Sister Song is super pragmatic. Just don't know if the dog can understand what 'payment and goods settled in full' means, hahaha."
...
Though it couldn't understand "payment and goods settled in full," and didn't quite get why the person who had given it delicious marrow to eat the day before and so many bones this morning was now a little cold in the evening, the dog's sixth sense told it that getting on good terms with the person Song Shiyue cared about was also very important.
The hand Yu Nianbing extended was not rejected by the dog, which was currently buried in gnawing a bone.
Not only that, but the dog even tilted its head and nuzzled Yu Nianbing's palm once, which rather made Yu Nianbing's eyes light up.
When Song Shiyue came back carrying an armful of cut bamboo, what she saw was a dog, at Yu Nianbing's feet while she rinsed dishes in a basin, weaving back and forth, nuzzling and rubbing...
Song Shiyue looked at the dog several times, then looked at Yu Nianbing, whose hands were full but whose eyes were completely filled with the desire to pet the dog. Her footsteps halted. She carried the bamboo over to the side of the lean-to shelters.
The dog carefully stole a glance at Song Shiyue and soon came scampering over, pad-pad-pad.
Two seconds later, it was chased away by Song Shiyue, who was preparing to start a fire...
The kindling and firewood the others had gathered already formed a sizable pile, and Song Shiyue soon got a fire going.
This time, the fire was not built at the camp entrance but on the empty ground beside them, near the lean-to shelters. That way, if anyone sleeping in the lean-to shelters felt cold at night, they could throw on a few more sticks to raise the temperature.
Because the fire was built close to where they were staying, when Song Shiyue gathered stones to set up the stove, she brought back extra to encircle the fire pit. Before bed they could tidy it up a bit more, clear a firebreak, and then it would be foolproof.
By the time Song Shiyue had the fire lit, the stove set up, and even the fire pit ringed with stones, that dog... was still rubbing against Yu Nianbing's leg.
Song Shiyue patted the dust from her hands, walked a few steps over to Yu Nianbing's side, and in one move seized the dog by the collar around its neck.
Was this... was she going to play with it now? Having been rejected repeatedly, the dog wavered between self-respect and playing together, and very quickly chose the latter.
In an instant, two dog paws planted themselves on Song Shiyue's leg.
Song Shiyue looked down at the dog whose tail seemed about to wag right off, paused for a beat, and only then met the somewhat puzzled Yu Nianbing's eyes once more and explained: "Well... I saw your legs are covered in dog fur..."
Oh, so that was why you pulled the dog away?
Yu Nianbing's face clearly showed she did not believe it, but she still shook her head and said, "It's fine. I'm going to shower and change clothes soon anyway."
Song Shiyue: "..."
Fine.
Song Shiyue released the dog's collar, just as if she really had come over to pull the dog away solely because of the dog fur on Yu Nianbing's clothes.
Regaining its freedom, the dog tilted its head up to look left, then looked right, and then, following its instinct, continued hugging the leg under its paws tight.
The next second, Song Shiyue withdrew the leg of friendship.
"Then I'll go make the bamboo doors." Song Shiyue spoke and strode off.
The dog's two front paws slowly lowered to the ground. It watched Song Shiyue's retreating figure for a moment before returning to Yu Nianbing's side once more.
The players in the game are blind, but the onlookers see clear.
While Yu Nianbing was still somewhat puzzled as to why Song Shiyue had suddenly become so concerned about the dog fur on her, the viewers on StarNet had long since seen through everything at a single glance.
"Hahaha, what a heavy whiff of vinegar! Little Ice Block's utterly baffled expression means she definitely didn't smell it!"
"I'm really so anxious I want to shove Song Shiyue right onto Yu Nianbing so she can get a good whiff, hahaha!"
"The most pitiful one is the dog — what did the dog ever do wrong, hahaha."
"Song Shiyue: 'What I care about is the dog fur? What I care about is the leg that belongs to me!'"
"Little Ice Block really is too straightforward. When Song Shiyue walked away just now, her face was practically written all over with 'This conversation is literally impossible to continue,' hahaha."
"Go listen to the sound of bamboo being chopped on Song Shiyue's livestream window right now — it's even louder than when she was outside the camp earlier."
"Hahaha, even the nearby livestream windows of the others can hear the huge racket. She's probably about to blow up from anger, right?"
"She's even starting to get jealous of the dog. It's so sweet it clenches the heart."
"Just now someone said the correct posture for being a bootlicker was to start making a breakthrough from Yu Nianbing's side. Looking at it now, that path is definitely blocked."
"Dog, just give up. You really have no fate with Song Shiyue, hahaha."
"Love this kind of plot that's sweet to the point of abuse, sour to the point of making your teeth ache! — Today's mooncake filled with aged vinegar"
"Absolutely never expected that when Song Shiyue gets jealous... she'd be this direct! Hahaha! The bamboo's nearly being hacked to splinters!"
...
The frequency at which the character for "vinegar" was refreshing on StarNet at this moment was naturally unknown to Song Shiyue herself. But the force behind her hands as she chopped bamboo was, truth be told, rather considerable.
Song Shiyue's skill at construction-type handiwork was average, and her spatial imagination wasn't particularly great either. She simply used split bamboo to make bamboo nails and, together with vines, pieced the cut bamboo stalks into a bamboo panel of a reasonably suitable size.
Then she pressed the bamboo panel against the opening of the lean-to shelter and used vines to tie one side in place.
Once done, the lean-to shelter's opening was firmly covered, and it could be pushed and pulled open or shut without much issue. It was just that, lacking better and more suitable materials and only using vines to bind the door's edge, there was still some resistance when opening and closing, requiring a bit of strength.
But they were only staying one night. These small flaws were nothing compared to having no door at all.
While Song Shiyue was busy making bamboo doors, Yu Nianbing, who was in charge of cooking tonight, also received the vegetables the others had washed and prepared to put the food into the pot.
Braised rice — Yu Nianbing had specifically learned to make it for a film shoot in the past.
Although the ingredients she was putting in this time differed somewhat from what she had learned before, given the available ingredients, making braised rice was an extremely good choice.
Many hands make light work. Very soon, the ingredients that needed washing were gathered one plate after another at Yu Nianbing's side.
The rice she hadn't used the day before, plus what they'd received today, came to a bit more than a jin and a half in total.
Yu Nianbing didn't touch the portion they'd just gotten today. First she took out the seven-plus, just under eight, liang of rice from the previous day, then diced the remaining jicama into small, thumb-sized cubes. That settled the starch intake for tonight.
She washed a good portion — over half — of the lamb's quarters. This kind of vegetable didn't keep well once picked; drying it into dried greens lost a lot of vitamins and also required much time. Yu Nianbing only set aside a small portion for now.
The main event, naturally, was the jerky. The jerky had been scalded in hot water for a while, already softening so that it was easy to cut into small pieces.
That container of beef tallow from before — it probably couldn't be kept for long either. When making braised rice this time, they naturally had to use some up. Otherwise it really would be a shame if it spoiled later.
Beef tallow into the pot, ginger slices stir-fried until fragrant, then the jerky added, followed by the rice, jicama, and a portion of lamb's quarters cut into short lengths. After adding a few seasonings and quickly stir-frying everything, she added water, covered the pot, and all that remained was to wait.
From the very moment the beef tallow hit the pot, that alluring, mouthwatering aroma spread out at once, enveloping the entire camp in that distinctive fragrance.
The familiar scent, the familiar hunger. Even though the production team members had already eaten when the guests returned to camp and were long since full, the involuntary craving brought on by the aroma still made them feel a touch of hunger. They couldn't help but remember the previous night, when the smell of beef had lingered the entire night at the camp — the terror of having their saliva ruled by beef.
If even the production team members, who had eaten richly of fish and meat, several meat and vegetable dishes, plus soup and fruit, felt this way, then all the more so for Captain Yang, who had eaten no breakfast, who had only eaten a single frog at noon, and who hadn't even had time to down the remaining frog before the fire was lit in the evening.
Captain Yang did have a tent over by the production team. But since the production people couldn't use an open fire, Captain Yang also didn't want to pull out that pitiful, somewhat charred-black frog in front of them, so he had built his fire at a spot not far outside the camp.
Yet even at this distance, the fragrance of beef tallow being heated came rushing over in an instant, and Captain Yang smelled it clearly.
It would be impossible for him not to be annoyed.
Captain Yang looked at the black frog he had just finished skewering onto a branch, thought for a moment, cast a glance in the direction of the camp, thought some more, and ultimately set the frog in his hand down for the time being, not rushing to heat it.
By the time Song Shiyue had the two bamboo doors more or less finished, the aroma of rice from the large iron pot had also emerged.
The smell of rice mixed with the scent of meat was truly voraciously appetizing.
The other guests, who had earlier been responsible for gathering firewood, vines, and stones, wiping out the lean-to shelters, and patrolling the ground conditions on the right side, had all successively completed their portions of the work. At this moment, they were all gathered in a circle around the campfire.
When Song Shiyue finished the bamboo doors and came over, what she saw was Yu Nianbing, spatula in hand, stirring the pot, and a circle of people sitting up ramrod straight beside her, waiting eagerly to be fed. Oh, and one dog as well.
Beside the fire pit it was a bit hot, so the dog was no longer nuzzling around Yu Nianbing. Right now it was lying prone behind the row of people sitting properly upright.
"Almost ready, it'll be soon." Yu Nianbing said, pouring a little oil from one of the small bottles the production team had given into the spatula and carefully drizzling it in a circle along the edge of the pot, before covering it again.
Seeing that the meal was nearly done, everyone had already portioned out the bowls and held them in their hands. But from the production team's side, a person came sauntering over.
"We are one team, so the supplies the production team prepared are for seven people." Captain Yang seemed not to see their guarded, as-if-facing-a-great-foe expressions. He only expressionlessly recited the line he had muttered to himself several times on the way over.
Oh, he finally came.
If they had felt somewhat on guard when they saw Captain Yang's figure, then when Captain Yang really did say that line, the guests' expressions instead relaxed.
Two days had already passed. Even Guan Yongyi, the most thick-skinned of them all in mind, had probably faintly thought of this possibility.
It was just that if Captain Yang didn't bring it up, it was merely a possibility. There was no reason for them to proactively shove what they had into the hands of someone who disliked them.
Perhaps not many had noticed that Captain Yang hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, but at noon, everyone had seen it. Although they didn't know what had happened between the production team and Captain Yang, it was conceivable that Captain Yang really did need this one-seventh share of supplies.
But since Captain Yang had come to say so...
The group exchanged several glances, and in the end, their gazes all landed on Song Shiyue.
It wasn't that whenever something came up, they pushed Song Shiyue forward to take the brunt. To be perfectly frank, the vast majority of what they ate and drank, they wouldn't have even dreamed of having without Song Shiyue. Under ordinary circumstances, a team freeloading a bit of food and drink was one thing, but to actually give things to an outsider — they all felt that none of them had the standing to make that call.
Even Ning Chuyang, who normally had the most ideas, pressed her lips together, just looking at Song Shiyue and waiting for her to speak, offering no opinion.
Song Shiyue more or less understood what they were thinking and at this moment didn't shirk.
"The production team gave us one jin of rice and five small bottles of seasonings. The iron pot is currently in use and will be ready soon. If you want to use it, you can wait a while. Also, there are plenty of extra basins and bowls and chopsticks — take as many as you need." As Song Shiyue spoke, she gestured toward the pile of dishes not far away and added, "How will you take the rice and seasonings? Use these bowls to hold them, or do you have something else to put them in?"
Captain Yang: "..."
"The supplies from yesterday — rice and flour combined totaled about one and a half jin, plus the same five small bottles of seasonings. The rest is just the pot, bowls, and dishes. Nothing much to divide. For the grain, do you want all rice, or a mix of rice and flour? There's still a handful of flour left." As though she hadn't noticed the startled bewilderment and awkwardness on Captain Yang's face, Song Shiyue just continued on her own, "If you don't have anything to hold the seasonings for now, you can take them away in bowls and figure out how to wrap them later. For the oil, we have one small bottle left from yesterday; we can spare one bottle for you."
Captain Yang: "..."
Song Shiyue glanced at Captain Yang but didn't stop. She turned her head toward Yu Nianbing: "Give me the flour from yesterday and today's rice."
"..." Seeing that Song Shiyue was all set to hand over the goods and send him packing without a moment's pause, Captain Yang finally choked down the breath that had nearly burst straight through the top of his head and spoke in a low voice: "The things the production team gave are for seven people — that is, for us to use together. You dividing this bit and that bit — how is that supposed to be divided clearly?"
Song Shiyue had said so much just now; her meaning was already perfectly obvious.
Ning Chuyang at this moment had no need to hold back and let out a laugh at once: "So it turns out you're not here to divide the rations — you're here eyeing the rice in our pot?"
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