novelraw Chapter 227 - 213: Bao Ye Is Here
Chapter 227 - 213: Bao Ye Is Here
Sun Yu, standing nearby, also praised, "Jiang, this isn’t just about being open-minded, it’s about being hardworking and enduring hardship. It’s a great quality to have, Jiang, keep it up!"Being complimented made Jiang Ruan embarrassed, "Thank you, Brother Sun."
Chen Jiao said, "Hey, hey, hey, I’m also very hardworking and enduring, okay!"
"I’m all talk, but I can work too. I won’t be a burden to you all, don’t worry."
Chen Jiao is naturally straightforward; she says whatever is on her mind and doesn’t gossip behind people’s backs.
Liang Pengbo laughed, "No worries, Brother Sun and I are here. Let’s give it our all today and aim for first place again!"
Sun Yu beamed, "Yes, so that the Red Team can’t even get up!"
Sun Yu extended his hand, "Come on, everyone, let’s cheer together!"
The other three reached out their hands.
"Go, team!"
From eleven o’clock, the Blue Team and the Red Team started their lotus root digging competition.
It ended at four in the afternoon.
Everyone was so hungry their stomachs were growling.
They had already digested their breakfast from the morning.
Here are the final results.
The Blue Team dug up sixty pounds.
The Red Team dug up thirty pounds.
Twenty of those pounds were dug by Zhang Jian alone.
The remaining three didn’t do much.
Zhang Jian didn’t even want to talk about it anymore.
Li Xin, however, was clutching her back and sighing, "I’m exhausted."
She was already tired from being with Huang Hongcheng last night...
And then having to work in the pond today.
Thinking about those dirty, muddy lotus roots, Li Xin never wanted to see another lotus root in her life.
Su Fengfeng was just there to goof off.
She was slacking the entire time.
In truth, she was also out of energy.
That jerk last night kept flirting with her.
Su Fengfeng clutched her back, "I’m so tired too."
Huang Hongcheng couldn’t do heavy labor, and with his bad mood, he didn’t even have the mindset to work seriously.
The result was the Red Team lost again.
Today’s prizes and penalties remained unchanged.
The Blue Team was rewarded with two chickens.
While the Red Team only got two pounds of lotus roots.
As their meal.
Upon hearing this, Huang Hongcheng got upset, "Is the production crew short of money? The rewards and penalties are always the same. Can’t they even afford meat?"
Li Xin stopped him, "Brother Hongcheng, stop talking, the cameras are recording."
Su Fengfeng remained silent beside them.
The host said, "Huang Hongcheng, this is a competition. Accept the loss graciously."
Backstage, watching this, the Assistant Director asked the Director, "Should we cut this part?"
The Director replied, "No need, variety shows are meant to be real."
"Besides, we can’t keep cutting scenes because of him every episode."
"Okay."
"Have you seen the online comments?" The Director asked meaningfully.
The Assistant Director nodded, "I have. The feedback for the Blue Team is all positive, whereas for the Red Team..."
Those insults.
The Assistant Director couldn’t bring himself to speak them out loud.
When he saw the comments, he was taken aback. Although he agreed the Red Team wasn’t as united and hardworking as the Blue Team, he didn’t think it should have gone to such an extent.
Criticisms of Li Xin being pretentious, Huang Hongcheng having a whole host of bad habits, and Su Fengfeng having a "princess syndrome."
All kinds of insults were there.
"Can’t put it into words, can you?" The Director scoffed. "I told you, the masses have sharp eyes."
"Everyone can see what kind of people they are."
"You’re right."
"Now look at Zhang Jian. He wasn’t very popular initially, but thanks to the comparison with Huang Hongcheng and the others, his popularity has skyrocketed."
"Seeing him quiet and not talking much every day, he’s clearly more responsible than Huang Hongcheng and the others."
The Director said, "The entertainment industry needs diligent artists like him. As for those three, I wasn’t keen on bringing in Huang Hongcheng from the start. Li Xin was forced onto us from above, so I had to accept. As for Su Fengfeng, she was my pick, but I clearly picked the wrong one."
"You truly don’t know someone until you interact with them. Relying on hearsay and reputation only tells you so much about a person."
The Assistant Director nodded, "Makes sense."
The task was over.
The four members of the Blue Team started tinkering around with food again.
Sun Yu asked the production crew and was told they could pick vegetables from the farm, as it was all rented out by the production team.
So he and Liang Pengbo went to the fields to pick vegetables.
Fresh spinach and lettuce.
Outside, seeing them picking vegetables in the fields, Chen Jiao curiously asked, "Are they planning to fry some greens later?"
Jiang Ruan laughed, "No, Brother Sun said he hadn’t had hotpot in a long time. Later, he’ll stew those two chickens for us to have hotpot."
The mention of hotpot made Chen Jiao’s eyes instantly light up, "Wow, hotpot!"
"It’s been a while since I last had hotpot too."
Saying this, Chen Jiao suddenly thought of something, scooting closer with a crafty look, "Have you seen the online comments?"
Jiang Ruan nodded, "Yes, I have."
Chen Jiao couldn’t stop laughing, "Didn’t expect they were all being criticized. This is quite a spectacle. It’s my first time participating in a variety show, and the comments are all scolding our opposing team."
Chen Jiao tutted, "Luckily, I wasn’t put in their team. Otherwise, I’d be furious. One teammate hindering is enough, but three?"
"Three of them dug only ten pounds of lotus roots in five to six hours. That’s just over three pounds per person. I really don’t get what they were thinking."
Jiang Ruan chuckled, "Maybe they enjoy slacking off?"
"Just intentionally lazy," Chen Jiao said disdainfully, "Zhang Jian must feel so incredibly unlucky to be teamed with them."
Jiang Ruan smiled without saying anything.
—
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
After spending a month at the recording location, interacting from dawn to dusk, the entire Blue Team grew even closer.
The night before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The production team had meticulously prepared a bonfire party, with barbecue, bonfire, and music and microphones. Everyone played together freely and were in especially good spirits.
At night, sitting on the lawn, Jiang Ruan listened with everyone to Sun Yu singing a love song, "If you don’t know which way to go tomorrow, just stay with me and be my wife, please..."
After finishing the song, Sun Yu expressed his deep love on camera.
"Wife, I will love you forever!"
It was evidently meant for his wife off-camera.
Chen Jiao, with hands cupping her mouth, jeered, "Woohoo!"
She shouted, "Brother Sun is so romantic!"
Everyone joined in, praising Sun Yu.
The Director pulled Sun Yu in for several more beers.
Jiang Ruan quietly observed, holding half a can of beer, and her dark eyes were filled with undisguised envy.
She looked up at the bright and round moon in the sky.
Since she arrived here, her contact with Bao Ye hadn’t been frequent.
Every day after filming, she was exhausted.
She just went back and slept.
Afraid of disturbing his work, they only had two phone calls in total.
Very few text messages.
But at this moment, Jiang Ruan couldn’t help but think of him a bit.
Tomorrow was the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Jiang Ruan bit her lip; he had said he’d come.
She wondered if he, being so busy, still remembered.
After drinking two cans, Jiang Ruan felt a bit dizzy, although her tolerance wasn’t so poor.
It was probably because she was feeling a bit down.
So Jiang Ruan used the excuse of getting tipsy and went back to rest first.
Walking in the hallway, she held onto the room keycard.
With a "ding," the door opened.
The living room was completely dark.
But the bedroom light was on.
Jiang Ruan was taken aback; had she forgotten to turn off the light when she left in the morning?
But she remembered turning it off.
Jiang Ruan turned on the living room light and walked over. Just as she reached the doorway, she saw...