Chapter 43
After seeing the four quaint backpacks, as well as the gloves and tools inside, they almost guessed what the mission was.
Sure enough, the director smiled and said: “Everyone’s task this morning is to dig the ears. Two groups compete. The losing group has to take on the responsibility of washing the dishes today, and this afternoon, I have to help Aunt Zhang next door clean the yard.”
“As for lunch and dinner, the two teams will handle it separately, but we have a requirement that the members of the two teams cannot go to each other’s place for lunch.”
Although the director didn’t say the specific reason, everyone can probably guess it. It is estimated that the future punishments, rewards and ingredients are related. With the rule that you can’t eat food, it can strengthen the variety show, and second, it can increase everyone’s enthusiasm and make the atmosphere more lively. Be active.
The zheergen vegetable field is not far from the yard. Along the way, Ouyang Chao almost skipped past it, and kept talking to himself: “What is Zheergen? Is it delicious?”
“Yunyun, have you ever eaten Zheergen?”
Yun Feiwu nodded expressionlessly.
She and Xia Shutong both grew up in Yuncheng when they were young, so of course they had eaten this special snack of Chuanyun. But Ouyang Chao is from the north, not to mention eating it, this is the first time he knows about zheergen dish.
“Eh… have you eaten it?” Ouyang Chao looked at the others reluctantly, but found that everyone except him seemed to have eaten it. So he turned to Yun Feiwu again: “Yunyun, then I guess we will eat this at noon today, is it delicious?”
This time Yun Feiwu didn’t answer, but Xia Shutong smiled slightly and said, “It’s delicious.”
“Ah, is that right, Mr. Xia…?” Xia Shutong took the initiative to answer, which shocked Ouyang Chao, especially after seeing Xia Shutong’s weird smile, he felt a chill in his heart.
Mr. Xia said it was delicious, but why do you feel that it is very, very, very unpalatable?
It wasn’t until Yun Feiwu nodded to him that Ouyang Chao completely believed it.
Anyway, Yunyun must not be deceiving!
When they arrived at the Zheergen field, the staff invited the villagers who came to help to show everyone how to dig, and the group wore gloves and took tools to prepare to go to the ground.
Xia Shutong suddenly grabbed Yun Feiwu’s arm and lowered his voice: “Yun Feiwu…how about you just wait for us here?”
Yun Feiwu blinked, but did not answer.
Xia Shutong said in a low voice: “I’m afraid, I met that again.”
Snakes could be found in small courtyards just now, let alone in fields like this.
Yun Feiwu lowered her eyes slightly, and there seemed to be a flash of light in her eyes, and then she smiled: “It’s okay… Xiao Xia always protects me. I’m not afraid.”
What Yun Feiwu originally wanted to say was that if she was afraid, she would crawl into Mr. Xia’s arms.
But because of the camera, I didn’t say too much.
Xia Shutong resisted the urge to rub her head: “Then follow me closely, we shouldn’t be too far apart.”
However, after going to the field, Xia Shutong realized that it was Yun Feiwu who followed her, and it was clear that she was like a pendant following Yun Feiwu.
Yun Feiwu has good physical strength, which was shown when he was chopping firewood this morning, and now the movement of digging the ears is even more neat. Xia Shutong worked hard to dig one or two roots, and she took all the lumps. It was dug out.
So in the end, Xia Shutong stopped digging at all, and helped Yun Feiwu pass the tools and put the dug ear roots into the basket.
After working all morning, after returning to the yard, the program team immediately weighed the two groups of folded ears. In the end, the girl group won by a narrow margin.
Ouyang Chao was so angry that he said that he must win back next time, and Jiang Feng also yelled at him unceremoniously. For a while, the atmosphere in the yard was quite active.
The ingredients for the first lunch were provided by the program group. The two groups were two meat and one vegetarian, plus a cold salad that the program group had already prepared.
On the girl’s side, both Xia Shutong and Jiang Feng can’t cook at all, and Yun Feiwu can only cook noodles. Fortunately, Xi Ao has a lot of experience in this field, and the dishes he makes are bright and fragrant.
It was much worse for the boys, Ouyang Chao didn’t say anything, although Zhou Hanchi looked like a gentle and temperless house cook, in fact he hadn’t even been in the kitchen a few times, and it was the first time the two of them cooked together. The dishes are very… indescribable.
Zhou Hanchi didn’t mind much, and calmly buried himself in his meal.
Ouyang Chao couldn’t bear it after a few mouthfuls, so he went to the program group with a bitter face to pick up the cold and folded ear root, but as soon as the folded ear root was eaten, Ouyang Chao’s expression became even more distorted in an instant.
“Yunyun, Mr. Xia, you lied to me—” Ouyang Chao walked to Yun Feiwu’s table pitifully with a mournful face, “Folding the root of the ear is too unpalatable.”
Yun Feiwu put one in his mouth without changing his expression, ate it slowly, and took some for Xia Shutong by the way.
“Really? Boss Xia and I both think it’s delicious. Maybe it’s because Brother Ouyang, you’re not used to it.”
For those who are accustomed to eating zheergen, Zheergen is a rare delicacy, but for those who are not used to it…it can’t be worse.
Yun Feiwu still remembers that when she was a child, occasionally when she had spare money, she would go to buy zheergen yams with Xia Ruan. The two children stood in front of the stall anxiously, hoping that the boss would be merciful and put more Zheergen.
Later, when I grew up and had money, I asked for extra ingredients very generously. Every time I saw the boss put a lot of folded ears in, I felt very happy.
“Ah, is that so?” Ouyang Chao left bitterly holding the bowl.
As soon as he left, Jiang Feng patted the table and laughed, and Yun Feiwu pursed his lips lightly.
Xia Shutong lowered his head while eating, the smile in his eyes was equally soft.
…
In the afternoon, the two men, as the loser, stayed in the yard to wash the dishes.
However, although the other group of four won, they couldn’t go anywhere easily.
They want to take the condolences given by the program group and go across the mountains to thank the village chief for his hospitality.
The mountain road is rugged, and it takes about an hour to walk from the small courtyard of the program group to the village head’s house.
Xia Shutong was a little tired on the way there, and Yun Feiwu was always behind her to support her.
It was okay when we went there, but on the way back, Xia Shutong’s legs were sore and the soles of his feet were also aching.
It was the same with Jiang Feng, she almost collapsed on Xi Ao.
After finally getting out of the mountain forest, there was still a long flat road ahead, Xi Ao helplessly looked at the charming lady next to him, sighed, and squatted down: “I’ll carry you on my back.”
Jiang Feng’s eyes lit up: “Oh, what a shame…”
Saying so, but the body is very honest, and suddenly pressed on Xi Ao’s back.
Xi Ao didn’t speak anymore, just walked forward silently with her behind his back.
Yun Feiwu from behind saw it, and asked softly, “Mr. Xia, do I carry you too?”
“It’s okay, I can go.” Xia Shutong bit her lip and shook her head.
The big brother camera is still following, it’s too shameful.
It’s just a few steps. Although she hasn’t exercised for a long time, it’s not that she can’t bear the hardship.
Yun Feiwu helped Xia Shutong take a few steps forward, and when he caught a glimpse of her slightly faltering steps, his brows furrowed.
Yun Feiwu didn’t ask Xia Shutong’s opinion any more, but took a slightly forceful step forward, and abruptly pulled Xia Shutong onto his back.
Xia Shutong was caught off guard and fell forward. Before he realized what happened, he instinctively leaned against Yun Feiwu’s back.
His cheeks instantly turned red.
Some wanted to beat this wolf cub severely, but couldn’t bear it.
So, after the blush dissipated, Xia Shutong turned her head and looked at the camera brother with a smile: “This episode is not allowed to be broadcast.”
Brother Camera: “…”
The director far in front of the monitor: “…”
No, isn’t it just that your artist walked behind your back for a while? What can’t be broadcast, the outside world can still say that you have abused Yun Feiwu?
But soon, after recalling their subtle interactions in the past two days, the staff couldn’t help but become more excited.
— Hey, it seems that I found something serious, what should I do?
…
After returning to the courtyard, not only the four people who went to visit the village chief were exhausted, but also Zhou Hanchi and Ouyang Chao, who had been called to work as free labor for an afternoon, were also pale with exhaustion.
After a hasty meal and a quick meal, no one was in the mood to stay in the yard any longer. Except for the two who stayed behind to wash the dishes, everyone else washed up early and went back to the room to rest.
The task of the second day is similar to the first day, go to the back mountain to pick green dates.
The winning group went to the village primary school to “support teaching” for half a day, while the losing group stayed in the yard as free labor, helping nearby villagers with some work.
This time Ouyang Chao jumped up and down in the jujube grove like a chicken blood, and finally picked a whole basket of jujubes more than the girl group.
So after lunch, Ouyang Chao rushed out of the yard almost happily, and did not forget to make a face in the yard.
As a result, after the four people who stayed in the yard finished washing the dishes, they just changed the light bulb for an old man nearby, cleaned up and came back, and even took a nap.
It wasn’t until the evening that Ouyang Chao and Ouyang Chao, who had sent all the children home, returned to the yard. Ouyang Chao was so active when he set out, and he was so miserable at this time, and the whole person went down.
“Director! Why, what—” Ouyang Chao pointed at a table of girls who were eating, and sobbed exaggeratedly, “Why did they come back so early today? Uncle Zhou and I were summoned for the whole afternoon yesterday, it’s not fair Woo!”
The director smiled mischievously.
He couldn’t tell Ouyang Chao the truth: Aunt Zhang next door thought Ouyang Chao was handsome and was reluctant to let him go. In the end, it was the show crew who “rescued” him from Aunt Zhang’s hands by talking nonsense.
The routine on the third day remained the same, picking tea leaves from a nearby tea mountain in the morning and rewarding and punishing in the afternoon.
On the fourth day, the mission rules finally changed.
The three days of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the time for nearby villages to “go to the market”, that is, during these three days, people from various villages will gather together to trade commodities.
The task of the guests is to sell the zheer roots, dates, and tea prepared by the program group that they dug before at the market.
Whichever group earns more money every day wins, and starting today, the program group will not provide ingredients, and guests need to use the money they earn to buy food at the market.
If you don’t earn enough money, you need to complete the extra tasks of the program group to earn the corresponding ingredients.
Xia Shutong also almost understood the purpose of the program group setting up these tasks.
The small mountain village where they live has three major specialties, jujube, zheergen, and tea. However, due to traffic reasons, they have not been known to outsiders. The program team just used the task method to sell the special products in the village.
And other tasks, whether it is helping the villagers clean up their rooms, thanking the village head, or going to the village to support education, are all to show the poverty and isolation here to the audience and promote the establishment of public welfare projects.
Early in the morning, the group got on the tricycle borrowed by the program group and set foot on the way to the market.
It is said to be a market, but it is actually a slightly larger town, but during the period of “rushing to the market”, people poured in from the surrounding villages, making the streets of the town extraordinarily lively.
At this time, it was only daylight, but many street vendors had already gathered on the street, and some passers-by who came to buy things carried baskets on their backs, picking and choosing along the way, and the sound of voices and horns kept coming and going.
Occasionally, a car traveling on the Sichuan-Tibet line got lost and accidentally squeezed into the market, and the whole street was so congested that it was impossible to walk.
Fortunately, the program team had already occupied a booth for them. The boys’ group was at one end of the market, and the girls’ group was at the other end.
Xi Ao is obviously very familiar with the process of rushing to the market. After placing the goods, Xi Ao began to yell skillfully:
“Fold ear roots, green jujubes, and tea leaves are cheap!”
After living in the village for three days, the four of them wore very simple clothes, all shirts and flat shoes, and no makeup. However, they are good-looking themselves, especially the temperament of Yun Feiwu and Xia Shutong, standing out among the crowd rushing to the market, they are particularly conspicuous.
After a while, it attracted many people to watch.
Xia Shutong stood behind Yun Feiwu, with a calm expression on his face, but nervously, he secretly pinched the corner of Yun Feiwu’s clothes.
Let go again quickly.
“Would you like to buy something?”
However, there were many onlookers, but no one dared to take a step closer to buy something.
If they went up to ask with dates, they just waved their hands and took a few steps back shyly, got into the crowd, and just left like that. After a while, most of the onlookers dispersed.
If it goes on like this, it is estimated that I will not earn a penny in the morning.
“I’ll go to the market to have a look, and you guys will guard the stalls here.” After thinking for a moment, Xia Shutong said.
Jiang Feng and Xi Ao naturally had no objection, but Yun Feiwu stood up immediately: “Mr. Xia, I’ll go with you.”
There are too many people here, and she is inexplicably afraid that Xia Shutong…will get lost by herself.
Xia Shutong nodded.
The two squeezed into the crowd together.
However, the flow of people is too crowded, even if you walk along the road, you will inevitably be squeezed and scattered.
Xia Shutong vaguely noticed that the camera brother behind him was also having a hard time walking, and the camera was shaking uncontrollably.
So she confidently held Yun Feiwu’s hand in the crowd.
After shopping around and returning to their booth, Xia Shutong and Xi Ao had a brief chat.
Xi Ao yelled in Mandarin, with a correct accent and a delicate voice. The villagers here speak the Sichuan dialect. When they first heard Mandarin, they would inevitably feel nervous and novel, and they would not dare to go shopping for a while.
Then there is the issue of price. There are no tea sellers in the market. Xia Shutong just wrote down the average price of zheergen and green dates, and they sell them at a price slightly lower than the average price.
“But I don’t know the Sichuan dialect.” Xi Ao frowned.
“I’ll teach you.” Yun Feiwu said softly, “I grew up in Yuncheng when I was a child, and the dialects of Chuanyun and Chuanyun are similar.”
After Yun Feiwu taught it a few times, Xi Ao imitated it decently, and Yun Feiwu also squatted on the stool and yelled with her. After a few minutes, their stall finally had business.
With the first money he earned, Xia Shutong went to buy a speaker nearby, and directly recorded Xi Ao’s voice and played it on a loop, saving a lot of effort.
However, after more than an hour of selling, a lot of green jujubes and Zheergen had been sold, but the tea leaves remained unchanged.
Xia Shutong walked around before, but did not see any tea sellers in the market.
Most of the villagers who come to the market are here to buy daily necessities, and of course tea is not one of them.
Xia Shutong took out his mobile phone and glanced at the map: “Yun Feiwu and I took the tea to the entrance of the town to sell.”
When she and Yun Feiwu were visiting the market just now, they saw several private cars accidentally squeezed into the market. After being blocked, although the tourists on the bus were impatient, most of them also felt the novelty and got off the bus with great interest for a few laps before leaving.
Xia Shutong looked at the map, and sure enough, the Sichuan-Tibet line is not far from the entrance of the town, and there should be a lot of vehicles passing here.
Perhaps, they can try to sell tea to tourists.
Ten minutes later, the two arrived at the entrance of the town. Sure enough, there are many small stalls on both sides of the road, but the things sold here are completely different from those in the market. Most of them are souvenirs and other gadgets, as well as various special snacks.
Most of the passing vehicles will also slow down. If you see anyone who is interested, get out of the car and take a look.
The two quickly set up the tea stand, and soon, the first car stopped in front of them.
A young girl got out of the car. She bought hundreds of tea leaves without saying a word, and she glanced at Yun Feiwu from time to time, obviously nervous.
Xia Shutong immediately realized that this should be a fan.
After paying, the little fan said to Yun Feiwu nervously and excitedly: “Yunyun, are you recording a variety show? I, I was in the car just now, and I saw you from a long distance. I, I can ask A signature?”
After getting the signature, the girl said a few more words to Yun Feiwu before returning to the car reluctantly.
Afterwards, Yun Feiwu put on a mask and sat slightly behind Xia Shutong.
Although she didn’t say anything, Xia Shutong could tell that the silly wolf cub felt that the fan bought the tea to take care of her, which was unfair, so he deliberately lowered his sense of existence.
The two sold tea for a while, and although they didn’t meet fans again, they still sold tea for one or two hundred yuan.
By noon, Xia Shutong’s group had earned a total of more than 800 yuan, which was enough for them to eat for the next few days.
As for Ouyang Chao, it was a bit miserable. Due to the language barrier, they barely sold some dates. Fortunately, the prices here are not expensive, and this little money is enough for them to eat for a day.
“Yunyun, how did you sell the tea? My voice was hoarse, and I almost betrayed my appearance, but no one came to buy it.” On the way back, Ouyang Chao looked at Yun Feiwu pitifully.
“Xiao Xia always took me to the side of the road to sell.” Yun Feiwu paused, then added, “…Actually, we didn’t sell much, we just met fans to help.”
Xia Shutong grabbed her hand calmly and rubbed it.
Silly wolf cub.
Ouyang Chao didn’t hear the guilt in Yun Feiwu’s words, but excitedly said: “It’s still like this? I’ll go tomorrow too! Hehe Yunyun we have more fans than anyone else…”
Yun Feiwu turned his head helplessly.
Jiang Feng couldn’t help sighing, and said earnestly to Zhou Hanchi: “Uncle Zhou, when will your kindergarten start classes? Take little friend Ouyang back, we really can’t take it anymore!”
“Tch, you are obviously the only one!” Ouyang Chao snorted disdainfully, and complained to Zhou Hanchi, “Look, Uncle Zhou, Jiang Feng is targeting me.”
Jiang Feng grabbed Xi Ao’s hand beside him vigorously, and raised it up: “Hey, Xi Ao is annoying you too! Look, she has raised her hand.”
In the next second, she was held in Xi Ao’s arms.
“Uncle Zhou,” Xi Ao said calmly, ignoring Jiang Feng’s struggle in his arms, “Does your kindergarten accept other children? I’ll sign up for Jiang Feng.”
There was laughter in the car.
…
In the afternoon, it rained suddenly in the mountains.
There were bursts of spring thunder, and the sea of clouds was churning. It didn’t stop for several hours, and there was a tendency to change from light rain to heavy rain.
So the task in the afternoon was also cancelled, and the guests rested in their respective rooms, but the program team was not idle, shooting and recording near the village in the rain.
Until the next day, the spring rain had no intention of stopping.
The rain was misty, and there was a layer of hazy mist even between the cliffs.
Due to the rain, the program team temporarily changed today’s task. The guests no longer went to the market to sell things, but wore raincoats to experience “rushing to the market”.
Even if it has been raining all day, there are still many people in the market.
The path on the market was already full of potholes, but now it was full of water, almost every step I took would inevitably splash water.
After returning to the yard, everyone’s rain boots and trouser legs were covered with mud.
After lunch, we changed our clothes and went to the village school together in the afternoon.
Due to the heavy rain last night, the roofs of several rooms in the small village were broken, and a lot of water accumulated inside. The two supporting teachers were too busy, so they asked the program team to help clean up.
To everyone’s surprise, today was the weekend, and students didn’t have to go to class, but many children took the initiative to come over to help transport things and repair the roof.
There is an indescribable sour feeling.
At night, the rain finally stopped.
The last meal of the guests in Ba County was in the small village.
The supporting teacher dug out the wine he had buried in the yard, and a table of people chatted while drinking and eating. Compared with the cheerful atmosphere of the previous days, it was inexplicably heavy at this time.
Finally, when the teaching support teacher talked about her experience in the mountains over the years, Jiang Feng didn’t even hold back, and went to the playground alone and cried for a while.
After a few minutes, Xi Ao followed, stood aside, and silently patted her on the shoulder.
…
Except for Yun Feiwu who didn’t drink, almost everyone present was a little drunk.
Along the way, Yun Feiwu helped the drunk Xia Shutong back to the room.
“Maomao…” Xia Shutong hugged Yun Feiwu as soon as he entered the room, whispering.
At this time, Xia Shutong was dumbfounded, with silly eyes, but a little inexplicably heavy, which made people feel distressed.
“Ruan Ruan,” Yun Feiwu helped Xia Shutong onto the bed, and said softly, “Wait for me, I’ll fetch water, and I’ll wipe my body before going to sleep.”
“Uh-huh.”
After Yun Feiwu filled the hot water and returned to the room, Xia Shutong still maintained the posture just now, sitting on the bed, his pupils staring straight ahead.
“Ruanruan?” Yun Feiwu squatted in front of Xia Shutong, looking at her worriedly.
I don’t know what Xia Shutong, who was drunk this time, remembered.
After getting drunk the first two times, Xia Shutong, who was like a child, seemed to just instinctively like Yun Feiwu, remembering that Yun Feiwu was an indispensable existence in her life.
But this time, it was obviously different.
Yun Feiwu and Xia Shutong have experienced many, many things together.
There are good and bad.
Yun Feiwu hopes that Xia Shutong can pick up the past memories and think of her. But she didn’t want that soft and fragile Xia Ruan to recall those bad experiences again.
Seeing that Xia Shutong didn’t answer, Yun Feiwu just wanted to get up and hug her, but suddenly saw two lines of tears falling silently on Xia Shutong’s cheeks.
Xia Shutong raised her hand to hold Yun Feiwu’s cheek.
Many mixed emotions flashed in a pair of apricot eyes soaked in tears.
“Cat cat.”
“I want to work hard to make a lot of money, I want to move out of here, I want to buy you a big house…”
Xia Shutong’s expression was confused at this time, as if he thought they were living in that hut in Yuncheng now.
Yun Feiwu said softly, “Yes.”
Xia Shutong’s eyes became more gentle, but then, they were suddenly replaced by a cruel but firm light.
“Maomao, let’s not be bullied by others…I want to protect you.”
“I want to protect you.”
“I don’t want to be so timid and useless anymore, don’t…”
It’s a cry of despair.
Yun Feiwu’s breathing stopped, and then she stood up abruptly, hugging Xia Shutong tightly.