WS - Chapter 95
Chapter 95
"Probably just bad luck." Yu Nianbing replied lightly.
But in truth, how could it be just luck?
Both Yu Nianbing and Song Shiyue had their suspicions about the current situation.
Aside from the camp supplies, from the two snakes the production team prepared at the start, to the cow yesterday and the frog today, the meat was essentially all provided by the production team either openly or covertly. The wild scallions and wild ginger from before also fell into this category, which Captain Yang clearly knew about.
But the lemongrass, jicama, and today's lamb's-quarters and bird eggs all seemed to be things Captain Yang hadn't anticipated.
Today's lamb's-quarters and bird eggs in particular gave Yu Nianbing an even clearer hint.
The jicama was something Captain Yang seemed to have found by taking a detour, and the lamb's-quarters and bird eggs were also only found after deviating from the route Captain Yang had originally planned.
In other words, it was very likely that when the production team left the prepared food, they also cleared away any wild edibles along the path...
Of course, she could understand this kind of control for the sake of the show's effect, but she just couldn't bring herself to like it.
Yu Nianbing could answer Ning Chuyang's question, but for the time being she couldn't.
The production team had finally settled down a bit. If they blurted it out on the livestream, who knew if Director Zhang, watching from the other side, might stir up trouble again. Then not only might they fail to extract something from nothing, but they might even lose what they already had.
They were just chatting idly now; why go looking for trouble...
What Yu Nianbing could think of, Song Shiyue had naturally already noticed. Yu Nianbing held her tongue to avoid causing more trouble with the production team, and Song Shiyue's thinking was much the same.
Right now, the production team probably hadn't realized they had caught on, so they might still pick up a few unexpected gains later. If the production team found out, they would likely clamp down even harder.
The two of them tacitly avoided voicing their thoughts, and Ning Chuyang, receiving no answer, didn't dwell on the topic, quickly moving on to other matters.
Of course, Yu Nianbing and Song Shiyue were not the only ones thinking about how deviating from the route could bring new food.
Compared to the guests, who still had a reasonable amount of food, Captain Yang clearly needed food much more urgently.
Two days' camp supplies that he'd been allotted, and it was this little. He'd thrown a whole frog into the pot to stew, and once dished out, it was barely a level bowl...
Unlike at lunch, when he'd still spit out the bones, with this bowl at night, Captain Yang even chewed up and swallowed any frog bones he could crush.
After downing that bowl of strange stew, Captain Yang at most only took the edge off his hunger. He then added water to the pot, boiled off the bits stuck to the sides, and drank the resulting slurry. Only then was he barely half full.
In the past, Captain Yang had always watched others being disheveled and hungry. This time, the tables had truly turned.
Since the regular route couldn't yield enough food, wasn't it only natural for Captain Yang to start eyeing the paths to the side?
Yu Nianbing and Song Shiyue hadn't expected the production team to fall out with Captain Yang so thoroughly that they wouldn't give him a single thing even when he was starving. So at this moment, they still didn't know that Captain Yang's mindset had already begun to shift a little.
As for the production team over on Director Zhang's side, luckily they had hearty boxed meals to fall back on, so when the aroma of stewed rice drifted over they only felt hungry and didn't act out any further.
Judging by the amount they ate, the guests were pretty much full as well, but let's set that aside for now.
Captain Yang's bowl was magnified on the holographic screen in front of Director Zhang, and it looked truly pitiful.
Feng Qianqian toyed with a few vine strips in her hand while watching the screen on Director Zhang's side. Frowning, she said, "Is it really okay to leave Captain Yang like this? He'll probably get hungry soon. He seems to have barely eaten today..."
"A little hunger won't cause any trouble. Besides, we finished our boxed meals ages ago; what are we supposed to feed him? Leftovers?" Director Zhang said, then remembered the look on Captain Yang's face last night when he'd been given the portion set aside before everyone ate. He let out another snort. "Even fresh food was disdained; leftovers would probably get thrown back at us."
"..." Feng Qianqian didn't quite understand where Director Zhang's volatile, spiteful moods—swinging from one target to another—came from.
Though she didn't like Captain Yang, out in this wilderness, Feng Qianqian was unwilling to see him get into trouble from hunger. After all, if it happened to be in a dangerous spot, and the expedition leader had a problem, the guests who were close behind might not fare any better.
Feng Qianqian thought for a moment and added, "Isn't there still tomorrow morning's breakfast? You could..."
"No. If Captain Yang is really hungry, doesn't he still have several boxes of bugs in his pack? How come the guests have to eat bugs when their daily energy intake isn't enough, but the expedition leader can't? Right, by the way, you tomorrow..." Director Zhang turned his head and cut Feng Qianqian off with a stern face, but halfway through he stopped and glanced over at Wang Daming, not far away, and summoned him. "Wang Daming, tomorrow morning, remember to tell Captain Yang that he ate too little today. For the sake of tomorrow's operation safety, have him eat some bugs before setting out."
Wang Daming, who always followed Director Zhang's lead, naturally grinned and said no problem.
Feng Qianqian genuinely hadn't expected Director Zhang to twist the topic like this...
But looking at the two people in front of her—one speaking smugly, the other responding crisply—Feng Qianqian sighed and didn't say any more. She could only silently apologize to Captain Yang in her heart. Who could have guessed that good intentions would lead to a bad outcome?
Over on the guest team's side, after eating and drinking, they tidied up roughly and then took turns showering.
The girls washed first. Ning Chuyang, outwardly looking resolute but inwardly sobbing, went to the lean-to shelter by herself. Once inside, as she turned to close the bamboo door, she caught sight of the tent next door, where Song Shiyue was holding the tent flap open for Yu Nianbing...
Envious, Ning Chuyang sniffled and shut the bamboo door.
Yu Nianbing went in first, then Song Shiyue entered and lay down on the side near the tent door. It really was a bit cramped. She wondered how the two grown men, Zhuang Jiachuan and Mu Xingzhou, had managed to squeeze in and sleep there last night.
As Song Shiyue entered the tent, she kept feeling like she had forgotten something. She frowned and thought hard, and finally remembered.
"What is it?" Yu Nianbing, who was already inexplicably nervous and had her back to Song Shiyue, felt movement beside her. She turned over and saw that Song Shiyue had sat all the way up.
"I'm going to run over to Ning Chuyang's for a bit. Wait for me to come back before I give you a massage, okay?" Song Shiyue said as she turned and opened the tent.
Oh... right, the massage...
Yu Nianbing pressed her lips together and followed Song Shiyue out of the tent.
Ning Chuyang in the lean-to had long forgotten about the mutual massages. The moment the bamboo door was shut, she flopped onto the mattress, closed her eyes, and started trying to hypnotize herself.
But just as her eyes had closed, the bamboo door was knocked on.
"What's up?" Ning Chuyang moved the bamboo door aside and saw two people standing at the entrance, which made her inexplicably nervous.
"The massage service you booked earlier today has arrived." Song Shiyue grinned, cracking a joke.
Ning Chuyang laughed.
Yu Nianbing behind her did not.
"Are we in mosaic mode now?" Ning Chuyang asked over her shoulder as she shifted further into the lean-to.
"Yeah, they counted us as lights-out from the moment we started showering. See, there's a little red dot on the side of the wristband." Song Shiyue, having passed Yu Nianbing's midnight training on the wristband manual, climbed up onto the bamboo platform too.
The lean-to wasn't very big. Two people could fit comfortably, but three couldn't stand.
Yu Nianbing stood quietly at the entrance of the lean-to without a word.
It was Ning Chuyang who, as she lay down on her stomach on the mattress, realized Yu Nianbing's silence and remembered her own speculations.
"This is way too much trouble. Maybe let's skip it; I'm not really that sore." Ning Chuyang's survival instinct prompted her to turn to Song Shiyue and refuse.
"No trouble, it'll be quick. If you let it accumulate day by day, it'll get more and more uncomfortable walking later." Song Shiyue was someone who meant what she said. Seeing Ning Chuyang looking a bit nervous, she added with a smile, "Teacher Yu was just arguing with me in the tent; we both wanted to give you a massage. I only got this chance to show off because I won at rock-paper-scissors. Now lie down properly."
Ning Chuyang: ???!!!
Song Shiyue's last sentence would have been better left unsaid. The moment she spoke, Ning Chuyang instinctively looked toward the lean-to entrance.
Faced with Ning Chuyang's undisguised astonishment, Yu Nianbing thought for a moment, tugged at the corner of her mouth, and managed a smile.
Ning Chuyang: ...
My friend, even though the viewers can't see you under the mosaic, is it really okay to fake a smile like that?
"I think..." Knowing they were still being recorded, Ning Chuyang carefully chose her words before continuing to Song Shiyue, "...maybe let the loser do it instead..."
"..." Song Shiyue frowned slightly and tried to salvage the situation. "But I'm stronger."
"I prefer a lighter touch." Ning Chuyang had watched Yu Nianbing's expression at the lean-to entrance improve little by little with each of her words; there was no way she was going along with Song Shiyue now.
Song Shiyue: "..."
Unlike Song Shiyue, who was speechless at Ning Chuyang's preference, the faint smile on Yu Nianbing's face at that moment was completely genuine and not forced at all.
"Teacher Song, come on down now." Yu Nianbing said with a smile from the lean-to entrance.
What else could she do? Song Shiyue had no choice but to come out...
"Teacher Yu, just a casual massage, just a casual one is fine." Ning Chuyang wished she could go back in time several hours and beat herself to death for ever suggesting mutual massages.
Ning Chuyang had seen through it all. The reason these two were competing to give her a massage was absolutely not because they liked her! It was because they didn't want the other one to do it!
When she thought about it, she really was pitiful!
Sob, sob, sob!
Between a grim, fake-smiling Yu Nianbing and a somewhat dazed, unenthusiastic Song Shiyue, Ning Chuyang chose the lesser of two evils and picked Yu Nianbing, fervently hoping that this massage, in which she was the central cannon fodder, would end quickly.
However, perhaps out of a sense of duty, maybe out of habit, or... out of gratitude.
Yu Nianbing massaged diligently and seriously, persisting for a full twenty minutes before stopping, despite Ning Chuyang's periodic "Okay, okay, Teacher Yu, you've worked hard." "That's enough, thank you, Teacher Yu." "Teacher Yu, really, that's enough, thank you!"
Ning Chuyang, whose mind was in turmoil but whose body felt wonderful, expressed: ...
Song Shiyue, who had stood outside the lean-to for twenty minutes without doing anything and yet seemed more unhappy than if she'd been working, also expressed: ...
Only Yu Nianbing, pressing her hands together and finally loosening the tendons in her own hands, straightened up with satisfaction.
Oh, it wasn't just Yu Nianbing—rather, the viewers on StarNet, who had been laughing for twenty minutes with their mouths agape, were also quite satisfied.
"Ning Chuyang is really such a coward. Hahaha, is she afraid Sister Song will crush her bones with one claw?"
"So cowardly. A strong massage is what feels good; it loosens the muscles and tendons, and you feel so refreshed after getting up."
"Hahaha, isn't the key point that Ning Chuyang chose Yu Nianbing, and that's why Sister Song wants to crush her bones?"
"A vicious battlefield, ah, a vicious battlefield! So exciting! Why is it all mosaic right now! Who wants to watch three mosaics having a showdown!"
"Even though it's late, this shouldn't count as lights-out. Hey production team, how about we secretly remove the mosaic for a bit?"
"I vote yes!"
"Hahaha, talking about a single dog stuck among CPs, Ning Chuyang really has it rough."
"Hahaha, is Ning Chuyang made of tofu? Little Ice Block barely pressed a couple times and she's already saying 'no, stop pressing'."
"Honestly, I really hope that when the Song-Yu CP massage each other later, they'll also make those 'no, stop pressing' sounds. Last night when Little Ice Block was massaged, she was practically gold in silence."
"???"
"Friend ahead, did you lose control of your speed, or is my brain flying too fast!"
"I can't, I can't imagine any more, let me faint for a moment."
...
If Ning Chuyang could see the viewer danmaku on StarNet, she probably wouldn't be able to help crying out indignantly, "You people have no idea what a true vicious battlefield looks like!"
The comfortable yet torturous twenty minutes finally passed. Ning Chuyang hesitated for a long while, then after considering her livestream image, she feebly asked, "Should I give you two a massage in return?"
The 'feeble' here was both insincere and a sign of her guilty conscience.
Fortunately, Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing had no interest in this proposal.
If she weren't mindful that the livestream was still recording sound, Ning Chuyang would have heaved a huge sigh of relief.
After sending off the door-to-door massage duo with a thousand thanks, Ning Chuyang shut the bamboo door, flopped onto the mattress with a thud, and couldn't get up again.
Those two definitely have something going on.
Ning Chuyang buried her face in her pillow. How pitiful that the guest team had three girls, yet she was doomed to play by herself...
When had those two started pairing up? Ning Chuyang racked her brain, but her memory could only trace back to the plane from the Old Castle, when they hadn't spoken much but already seemed a bit odd.
So... could that hot topic from over half a year ago be true?
Late at night, in the simple lean-to, Ning Chuyang was all alone, eating melon.
Yeah, and she was actually enjoying it quite a bit.
As she ate, someone knocked on the door again. Before Ning Chuyang could get up, she heard Song Shiyue's voice outside.
"Don't open the door. I just wanted to say, for cooking breakfast tomorrow we won't need those big basins. If your feet are sore, you can take one to soak your feet. When you're done, just keep it in your own place so they don't get mixed up."
Could she do that?
Ning Chuyang paused for a moment before replying, "Okay."
But she couldn't help feeling a bit curious: so were those two over there sitting side by side soaking their feet?
Hmm... Ning Chuyang thought for a moment and decided to behave herself, heading out a bit later.
Outside, however, it was nothing like Ning Chuyang had imagined, with the sitting side by side foot-soaking.
As soon as Song Shiyue turned her head from the bamboo door, she saw Yu Nianbing, whom she had already shooed into the tent, come right back out.
"Just in time. Sit there." Song Shiyue raised a hand to stop Yu Nianbing, who was about to walk over.
But Yu Nianbing, her face flushing with embarrassment, ignored her and came over to take the basin from Song Shiyue's hands.
"Hey, it's heavy." Song Shiyue shifted the basin away, and Yu Nianbing grasped empty air. Despite such a big movement, the water in the basin stayed steady, not a drop spilled.
The previous night she'd been too sleepy to protest, but now that she was fully awake, how could Yu Nianbing bear to let Song Shiyue carry her foot-soaking water...
And yet she couldn't wrest it away from Song Shiyue; it frustrated her so much that her face grew even redder.
"What's wrong? Did you overhear me? The tent's soundproofing really is no good." While speaking, Song Shiyue held the basin with one hand and grabbed Yu Nianbing's hand with the other, leading her back to the tent. She added, "Take the blankets and clothes from inside and stack them up by the tent to sit on, or else it won't be convenient to soak."
Yu Nianbing tried to struggle when her hand was pulled, but of course it was useless, so she could only go along with Song Shiyue's wishes for the time being.
With the original thickness of the mattress plus the blankets and clothes, they finally arranged a seat high enough to soak her feet. But after stacking everything, Yu Nianbing didn't sit down, only looking at Song Shiyue and saying, "You soak in this. I'll do my own in a bit..."
As it turned out, reasoning with Song Shiyue was useless.
Before long, under Song Shiyue's insistence, Yu Nianbing sat down.
She had to admit, after walking all day, soaking in hot water really was comfortable.
This Song Shiyue... really was...
Watching Song Shiyue shoo the Dog away to keep it from rubbing against her clean clothes, Yu Nianbing shook her head and smiled.
But such happiness was always short-lived.
After her offer to pour out the water was refused, Yu Nianbing's plan to repay Song Shiyue with a basin of water also quickly fell through. After her feet were dry, Song Shiyue just gave her a gentle push, and Yu Nianbing rolled right back into the tent, practically swelling up with anger like a pufferfish.
Song Shiyue had a thousand good points, but there was one thing that truly made Yu Nianbing grind her teeth.
This person always did so much for others and so little for herself, and always rejected the hand of friendship that others extended. What was with that?
Although those hands were certainly not as strong as Song Shiyue's own, it was still so disheartening!
Yu Nianbing, who had received so much care from Song Shiyue and wanted to give something back, was also very annoyed.
"I'm going to give you a massage first, or I won't let you massage me!"
When Song Shiyue came back after pouring out the water, she saw Yu Nianbing, lying in the bedding, declaring tough words with a determined face.
That kind of talk needed to be said standing up to have any force; this was so soft... Song Shiyue couldn't help laughing. Instead of answering Yu Nianbing, she raised a finger to her lips in a shush gesture, then brought out the other hand she'd been hiding behind her back.
In that hand were some little dark-colored sticks and what looked like a piece of white cardboard.
The fire outside was relatively close to Song Shiyue and Yu Nianbing's tent and Ning Chuyang's lean-to, but though the tent was small, its light-blocking was decent. Now the only light inside came from the flashlight placed in one corner of the tent.
Song Shiyue settled into the tent, fished the flashlight over from the corner, held it, and started using one of the dark sticks to draw on the white cardboard.
With a whole bellyful of tough talk still held back, Yu Nianbing slowly, reluctantly edged closer.
"I think the production team cleared the wild flora and fauna along the route. You..."
On the white cardboard in front of Song Shiyue was an unfinished line.
Yu Nianbing could guess the rest. She took the little dark stick that Song Shiyue had been writing with; it felt... a bit like charcoal.
"Right."
Having not finished her tough talk, Yu Nianbing's reply was brief and to the point.
Song Shiyue nodded, then took it back and wrote, "Do you think the next time we come across a place where the production team has provided ingredients, we should hold back and leave some for Captain Yang?"
Watching Song Shiyue write word by word, Yu Nianbing's brow gradually furrowed. Once the charcoal stick was handed to her, she immediately drew a "?" beneath Song Shiyue's sentence.
Song Shiyue then continued writing: "If Captain Yang can't get enough food on the route the production team set, he's very likely to lead us off course. Assuming the production team's designated route has been cleared of wild flora and fauna and is relatively safe, other places might not be so safe."
Yu Nianbing stared at the passage Song Shiyue had written for quite a while. Just as Song Shiyue, seeing her no reaction, was about to keep writing, Yu Nianbing took the charcoal. "If we don't deviate from the route, food will be a bit tight. If we also leave a portion for Captain Yang, it'll be even more insufficient..."
Yes, that was exactly the problem.
This was why Song Shiyue had fetched the charcoal sticks and the piece of cardboard used for stiffening clothes and come back to discuss it with Yu Nianbing.
On one side was safety and hunger; on the other, risk and food.
If it were just Song Shiyue alone, she would without hesitation choose the latter.
But now, there was also Yu Nianbing.
"I choose to let Captain Yang do as he will. After all, you'll be watching over me, right?" Yu Nianbing started a new line and continued writing.
Perhaps because the charcoal stick had become a bit short and hard to grip by the second half, her originally graceful handwriting actually tilted a little askew.
"Right." Song Shiyue wrote after switching to a new charcoal stick.
Yu Nianbing thought for a moment and was about to start writing again.
Song Shiyue timely handed her a new charcoal stick.
"Then, should we ask the others' opinions?" This time Yu Nianbing wrote extremely steadily.
To Yu Nianbing's surprise, Song Shiyue actually shook her head this time.
Yu Nianbing slowly drew another "?"
"For now it's just our speculation; it might not come true. More people means more opinions, and if opinions differ it could get troublesome; there's no point in making things unpleasant over something that hasn't happened yet." Song Shiyue paused, then continued writing: "Let's just align our thinking first. We'll see how it goes; if things really develop that way, then we'll talk to them."
If nothing else, Song Shiyue felt that even Captain Yang couldn't lead the team too far astray under Director Zhang's watch. If the production team had really cleared along the route, there shouldn't be any major dangers. As long as she paid a bit more attention herself, any minor troubles could be resolved in advance.
Reading the two new lines Song Shiyue had written, Yu Nianbing couldn't help but marvel that at least right now they were just a blob of mosaic on-screen, so the viewers couldn't see what was in Song Shiyue's hand, much less these words.
Otherwise... they'd definitely be scolded for not being united, not valuing their teammate, and so on.
But why...
Yu Nianbing's gaze lingered on the two words "you and I" that Song Shiyue had written. After a long while, she finally couldn't help asking in writing: "Then what if our opinions also differ?"
"Then I'll listen to yours." Without a moment's thought, Song Shiyue wrote that.
The white cardboard was now completely covered on one side with dense writing from the two of them.
Despite using charcoal sticks, Yu Nianbing's handwriting remained graceful.
But Song Shiyue's seemed even more unrestrained.
Especially those last five words Song Shiyue had just written—they were like a heavy sword, its strokes forged in iron and silver, striking straight into Yu Nianbing's heart.
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