WS - Chapter 139
Chapter 139
Song Shiyue, who had been forced to lie still and rest for two or three days, was moved over. Listening to the chatter around her, she found it quite entertaining and diverting. But as the conversation went on... she kept feeling like she was catching strays for no reason.
Song Shiyue kind of missed Yu Nianbing. Now that she thought about it, the way Yu fed her really did look like force-feeding a duck, but it was still better than beside her where Ning Chuyang kept spilling such blunt truths...
But unlike the duck in question, Song Shiyue, the viewers on StarNet were having a great time watching the livestream. Even the Danmaku had shed the gloom of the past few days and gained a bit of mirth.
"Hahaha, Ning Chuyang really is fierce. Turns out she can be this fierce on and off the show!"
"I won't say whether she's fierce or not, I just think Ning Chuyang is as straight as a steel pipe. Feng Qianqian has that refined look, sick and pale, crying in her arms like a pear blossom in the rain. Even this middle-aged woman with two little kids found it heart-trembling, but Ning Chuyang... Hahaha, Ning Chuyang has zero emotions!"
"Ning Chuyang: Just call me the emotionless, countdown-only force-feeding machine!"
"I'm literally dying of laughter. Last night when Yu Nianbing was feeding Song Shiyue congee, I thought something felt off. After Ning Chuyang said 'force-feeding a duck,' I even looked it up. Hahaha, it's ninety-nine percent identical, especially the timing of the uninterrupted force-feeding and that same stiff-necked gulp!"
"Ning Chuyang's learning ability is just too strong. Too bad she wasn't watching earlier when Yu Nianbing deboned the ribs in Song Shiyue's congee. Trying to draw a tiger and ending up with a dog, hahaha..."
"Our Little Ice Block—no, Little Hot Water is still the most caring."
"Even if the timing is off, I still have to envy the Little Mooncakes who ship the right CP. We all know Mu Xingzhou and Ning Chuyang's CP was probably a fake one stir-fried up to promote the drama, but back when there was candy, who bothered to be that serious. After coming to this show, not only have we not gotten a single bite of candy, we've also witnessed exactly how a ship falls apart..."
"Right, I almost forgot if the previous poster hadn't mentioned it. So what's the situation now? Mu Xingzhou is dumping both his real girlfriend and his fake girlfriend at the same time?"
"For real, luckily Ning Chuyang and Mu Xingzhou's CP wasn't real, otherwise instead of mutual support mode, we'd be entering a battlefield..."
"Ning Chuyang, don't chicken out! What's there to fear from losing a fake CEO boyfriend? You can still gain a real CEO girlfriend! Mu Xingzhou is just an illegitimate son of the Mu Group, but Feng Qianqian holds so many shares of the Yao Group."
"??? The poster above must be crazy, what kind of weird ship are you starting to eat?"
"...Actually, it doesn't seem that weird. It... kind of has a vibe!"
"That wouldn't be a real CEO girlfriend anyway. Looking at how soft and squishy Feng Qianqian is, in any case it's Ning Chuyang who's more domineering."
"A domineering force-feeding machine and a soft, squishy CEO duck?"
"Hahahaha! The poster above, are you trying to kill me with laughter! What kind of ship is this! I really want to reach through StarNet right now and rub your clever little head!"
"Help the children, how do you even ship a pairing like this? Just thinking about it makes me die of laughter!"
...
After this heartbreaking team finally split in two, the audience, who were clearly anxious and teary for the left-behind team, couldn't help but be thoroughly amused by Ning Chuyang. Good thing they were watching a livestream and not being livestreamed themselves, otherwise with that sobbing and laughing, anyone looking would probably think they were lunatics escaped from somewhere.
During the earthquake caused by the Yaoxing Storm, most of the prototype cameras Yao Yuxi had secretly smuggled into the show were smashed by falling trees and cave debris. After the livestream resumed on the new page, only six cameras remained functional: those following Song Shiyue, Feng Qianqian, Zhuang Jiachuan, Zhao Da, Director Zhang, and Mu Xingzhou.
Six cameras, and now two of them were right in this tent, truly drawing a huge audience that was crying and laughing at the live force-feeding scene.
After two bones were spat onto her pants, Ning Chuyang became a bit more careful when feeding. When she encountered a spoonful with bones, she knew to wait a little and let the person spit the bones out before continuing.
Law of the jungle, power reigns supreme.
Feng Qianqian had now witnessed Ning Chuyang's persistence; she couldn't out-stubborn her, she'd already swallowed a few mouthfuls, her plan was completely shattered, and continuing this pointless resistance would just be ridiculous...
So after this tussle, each gave a step: one fed, the other drank, and they gradually fell into a harmonious rhythm.
Unconsciously, Ning Chuyang's "five, four, three, two, one" countdown became more and more sporadic, then slowly faded into silence.
A small bowl of dried scallop and rib congee; eaten seriously, it actually goes down quickly.
After the last spoonful of congee was fed into Feng Qianqian's mouth, Ning Chuyang put down the spoon, moved her back to lean against the backpack, then let out a breath and said, "You just woke up. Eat this one bowl first, then we'll eat again at noon."
Feng Qianqian was silent. What was there to say? She was just a duck with no strength to resist...
"Does your wound still hurt a lot? Want a painkiller now? Or rest a bit and take one later?" Ning Chuyang didn't mind Feng Qianqian's silence; she wasn't good at coaxing people anyway. If gentle didn't work, she'd just force it—hadn't the result just now been pretty good?
Feng Qianqian didn't speak.
"Then I'll go get them." Ning Chuyang tossed out these words and was about to turn away.
"Wait." Feng Qianqian grabbed Ning Chuyang's clothes. Without much strength, she couldn't hold her back and almost stumbled forward.
Fortunately, Ning Chuyang hadn't meant to actually walk off; she turned and caught her.
"No need for medicine, I'm not in pain..." Feng Qianqian said, noticing Ning Chuyang frowning with apparent dissatisfaction. She paused and amended, "It doesn't hurt much. Let's not take it now; I'll take it when I can't bear it any longer."
Ning Chuyang thought about the only remaining blister pack of eight painkillers and didn't insist further.
"You seem to know a lot about our current situation. When did you wake up before?" Ning Chuyang sat back down, looking ready to chat with Feng Qianqian.
Feng Qianqian briefly explained that after taking the painkiller that time, she hadn't been able to fall asleep right away and had overheard the last conversation between Ning Chuyang, Mu Xingzhou, and Ni Jinghe.
Ning Chuyang nodded. After some thought, she asked again, "Then do you know how you were carried to this camp? I mean, do you know about Mu Xingzhou giving each person five million to help carry you here?"
Feng Qianqian froze. Her already pale face lost even more color.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not taking Mu Xingzhou's side. I just... think you should know. Actually, he didn't want to give up on you all at once. Although this is the result, there was a process. I hope knowing this can make you feel a little better." Ning Chuyang reached out and gently patted Feng Qianqian's shoulder. "Sometimes we have to learn to make ourselves feel a bit better, right?"
The congee: Feng Qianqian had gotten it down.
From the earlier conversation about the painkillers, Ning Chuyang understood that a single bowl of congee wouldn't dispel Feng Qianqian's plummeting will to live. But since there really weren't many painkillers left, she thought it was fine to wait until the pain became unbearable. After all, the medicinal powder on that cloth strip was probably about to lose its effect; if the situation worsened, the painkiller would be more useful then than now.
But Feng Qianqian kept harboring the thought of not wanting to go on living well. Ning Chuyang couldn't keep an unblinking watch on her either. With the force-feeding method, at least she didn't have to worry about Feng starving herself. But if some other self-ending thought arose, that would be troublesome...
Even though she didn't know how to console her, Ning Chuyang felt it was best to find some way to stir up a bit of Feng Qianqian's will to survive.
Thinking this, her thoughts turned to Mu Xingzhou.
Ning Chuyang didn't know if her words would help. But it was clear Feng Qianqian hadn't known about those five-million payments before. Although this didn't excuse Mu Xingzhou's choice, at least knowing she hadn't been instantly abandoned might make the girl feel a little better.
Feng Qianqian was silent for quite a while. Just when Ning Chuyang thought her words had some effect, Feng Qianqian laughed.
"When you get out, help me deliver my farewell letter. Tell my big sister about this and have her return that money to Mu Xingzhou." Feng Qianqian leaned back against the backpack, the smile still on her face, and said softly, "Since we've cut ties, I don't want to end up owing him a debt."
"You and him..." Ning Chuyang's voice unconsciously softened.
"Heh." Feng Qianqian tilted her head to look at Ning Chuyang, smiling even wider. "Now there's no relationship anymore."
"Now there's no relationship" was admitting that before...
Watching Feng Qianqian laugh until she was almost shaking, Ning Chuyang felt like she had completely messed up.
"Don't..." Ning Chuyang reached out and placed a hand on Feng Qianqian's shoulder, intending to say, "Don't laugh like that, it's creepy."
But the words had barely left her mouth when Feng Qianqian's whole body leaned over and her head crashed onto Ning Chuyang's shoulder.
Fainted... fainted?
Ning Chuyang instinctively tried to push her back up, but just as the hand supporting Feng Qianqian's shoulder applied force, she heard next to her ear that soft, suppressed crying.
"He might as well have just left directly. Did he think using money meant he could leave with a clear conscience... Why didn't he ask me? I wouldn't have kept him to stay with me... Why didn't he ask me..."
How could she not be sad?
Even before entering this show, the two had already had some disagreements, but in the end, there were still feelings.
Feng Qianqian knew she wouldn't drag Mu Xingzhou down, but it turned out Mu Xingzhou simply didn't know that.
How could she... not be sad...
Strength came from despair, from feeling that it had already reached the end, that all emotions were unnecessary.
But Ning Chuyang's words made Feng Qianqian even sadder. Tens of millions were a lot, a lot, but could tens of millions replace a proper goodbye...
The weeping beside her, quiet but prolonged, made even Song Shiyue's heart ache, a bitterness rising.
The heart is hidden behind flesh; even in a peaceful world it's like this, let alone when disaster strikes.
Honestly, the group that left just quietly departed without plundering the belongings of those staying behind, and even left some food from the camp. From Song Shiyue's perspective, having rolled through the apocalypse for seven years, that was acceptable—quite generous, even.
It's just that for people who haven't experienced a real disaster, it's still too hard.
They still have emotions; they can still be heartbroken over choices that caused no physical harm.
Truly, it makes one sigh with emotion.
But precisely because of these feelings, Song Shiyue felt there was still hope.
Even though right now she was only conscious, her body only waking for brief moments, there was more hope than when she struggled alone freely in the apocalypse.
Feng Qianqian's shell had been cracked open a big gap by Ning Chuyang unintentionally; it hurt a lot, but it wasn't completely sealed shut anymore.
Whatever the process or the after-effects, things inside the tent had made some progress.
Meanwhile, outside, Yu Nianbing's and Zhuang Jiachuan's work was starting to run into trouble.
Moving tents was something that only required patience and time; you could follow the same steps and move them one by one.
After some effort, the three tents were arranged in a semi-fan shape together, with space left in the middle for a campfire.
But when it came to building the fence, that was where the difficulty began.
They only had stone knives, and not enough strength, so they couldn't chop suitable wooden posts for the fence. They could only slowly grind away, which yielded half the results with twice the effort.
It was almost noon, and they had only managed to produce a single decent pointed wooden stake...
"This isn't working..." Zhuang Jiachuan put down the stone knife and wood, caught his breath, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "When I watched Teacher Song do it, it was as simple as floating clouds and flowing water, a pleasure to behold. Now that it's my turn, it's so hard my hands are shaking. Could it be that I don't exercise enough normally?"
Yu Nianbing, who was also grinding wood strips until her hands shook: "..."
Someone like Song Shiyue—even if they spent all day in the gym, they probably couldn't manage that.
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