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Not only were the drivers eager to know, but the viewers watching the live stream were also scratching their heads, extremely curious. Butterfly's live stream didn't have many viewers to begin with, but after this incident, his audience surged by nearly a thousand.
However, this cool boy remained expressionless as he blew bubbles: biting bubble gum, blowing, popping it, taking it back, biting it again, and blowing again... The audience was getting bored, but he didn't seem bored at all and kept blowing bubbles.
Ugh, just looking at this makes my cheeks ache.
"What kind of chewing gum is he eating? It's been chewing for so long and it's still so chewy!" The audience noticed the interesting detail.
If the viewer pays close attention and watches with a stopwatch, they will discover something even more surprising: all the butterfly's steps seem to be wound up, taking exactly the same amount of time, not a second off.
The guests didn't take the minor incident seriously; they boarded the new bus and continued as usual, without any disruption. However, the production crew went into emergency mode the moment they discovered the oil leak.
"Everything was fine yesterday, how come it suddenly started leaking oil? What did the repair shop say?"
"It was man-made." That was the less-than-ideal answer they gave.
"Damn it!" the director, who was waiting for them in the village, cursed angrily. "If I find out who did this, I'll kill him!"
"Is it targeting us, or Teacher Ren?" the assistant asked.
"Is there a difference?" The director turned his head. "I invited this person, so I can't let anything happen to him here! Make sure everyone in the car is on high alert."
The people traveling with them were unusually tense, constantly worried about some kind of conspiracy, but nothing else happened along the way. This stretch of road took about two hours, during which the group of guests mostly slept, enjoyed the scenery, ate, drank water, and listened to music, each minding their own business and rarely interacting with each other—they hardly seemed like guests on a rural variety show.
"It's addictive. I can actually watch such boring 'still images' with great interest."
"It's so true, I was exactly like that when I got on the bus."
I've never seen a celebrity variety show like this before. These people are completely uninhibited and incredibly relaxed in front of the camera. Especially their award-winning actor, who put on an eye mask and fell fast asleep as soon as he got in the car, making the live stream seem like it was frozen in time.
"You guys should really do something! Such a huge appearance fee... wait, it seems like these people don't get an appearance fee. Huh? So they chose to let loose?" The audience member was dazed, feeling like she had discovered the truth.
A cameo appearance, so watch and cherish it.
The car had already entered the mountains, traveled along the newly built mountain road, and wound its way over several mountain peaks before finally arriving at its destination: a small village nestled deep in the mountains.
"We've arrived," Saman called to Ren Yifei.
"Hmm?" Ren Yifei pulled off his blindfold, rubbed his face, and then drew back the car curtains.
His eyes lit up: "Wow, this village looks pretty good."
Looking out the car window, what I saw wasn't the quaint, earthen-and-wood village that city dwellers dream of, but rather rows of neat government-subsidized housing. Red bricks, white walls, and large black iron gates—these were rows of two-story rural villas.
Unlike villas in the city, every household here has a large, paved courtyard where they can dry grains and raise chickens, ducks, geese, and dogs.
"What's so good about it?" Saman asked with a smile.
"The yard is big, and it's a detached house, so we can let them run wild as much as we want. If our house had a yard that big, I could raise as many goldfish as I wanted." Ren Yifei felt sorry for the fish when he thought of the small fish tank on the balcony.
That's way too small! On average, each fish has less than 0.1 cubic meters of living space.
If they were kept here, we'd have to give them a whole little fishpond.
"You can raise them in my lake," He Jun suggested earnestly, standing nearby. He had a private lake, fed by mountain springs, far from the hustle and bustle, hidden deep in the mountains. The lake water was of excellent quality, drinkable directly from bottles, and perfect for raising fish.
So Crane Lord threw a lot of small fish fry into the lake.
These small fish fry eat insects and shrimp in the water, drink top-quality mountain spring water, and have no natural predators, so they naturally grow to be plump and tender. They are an important source of dried fish in He Jun's pocket.
Dried fish made from fish from other places don't have that same flavor.
"No, your lake is too big, and the fish are numerous and aggressive. My fish are timid, and domesticated fish tend to stay at home."
"I see. Moving suddenly does require some time to adjust."
The two men both looked incredibly serious, as if what they were saying was the absolute truth. The viewers in the live stream nearly collapsed with laughter: "They sounded so convincing, I almost believed them!"
Although... what they said is true.
The group got out of the car and followed the signs along the road to the square.
The director had been waiting for a long time in the large square where the village meeting was being held, with the village chief standing beside him. The village chief greeted them immediately, saying, "Thank you all for coming from afar to promote our village. Welcome, welcome!"
"You're too kind." Ren Yifei shook hands with him and got straight to the point, "Could you tell me about the unique features of our village?"
The village chief was surprised that this supposedly famous celebrity would be so agreeable.
"Ahem," knowing there was something being broadcast live nearby, the village chief straightened his clothes. He was both excited and a little nervous as he began to recite, "Ahem, our village is surrounded by mountains and forests, with streams, valleys, and bamboo groves. This bamboo grove..."
This village mainly produces bamboo products.
Before the roads were built, the villagers used local bamboo to make bamboo products and sold them by walking along the mountain paths. As a result, every household developed excellent skills in making bamboo products. Even the little children helped their families polish bamboo strips.
Now that the government has built roads, it's easier to sell those bamboo products, and they've also developed new uses for bamboo, such as making 'fresh bamboo sap' and raising bamboo rats.
Now, bamboo products are piled up in several warehouses, and the bamboo rats are all fattened up; they're just waiting to be sold. That's why the village chief is so looking forward to the show—to bring them some popularity and hopefully a few orders.
Although the guests don't need to do any tasks or work hard for survival, they are not idle either. In the evening, there is a live shopping event where guests introduce the local specialty bamboo products and sell them on the spot.
"The air here is really nice." The guests noticed it as soon as they got off the car; it was the pleasant atmosphere of 'little human activity' that they found so comfortable. Surrounded by mountains, with no factories, the air was moist and fresh.
"Chirp chirp." Crane Lord waved his hand, and several small birds of different kinds landed on his arm. These little birds chirped and twittered, showing off their singing voices to Crane Lord.
The peacock, his face dark, waved them away: "These little birds can't even take care of their own bodily functions, so you'd better watch out."
"?!"
These birds are all exceptionally intelligent and gifted. Although they cannot transform into human form like their counterparts in the monster world, they can still understand human speech without much difficulty, so they all understood the peacock's words.
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
"Chirp chirp!"
"Coo coo!"
The little bird was so angry it started swearing. If it weren't for the fact that it couldn't beat the bird, it would have tried to peck at it with its beak and flap its wings. A staff member nearby, unaware of what was happening, was deeply moved: "Look, this is the first time I've ever seen these birds so close to a person. How harmoniously humans and nature coexist!"
Ren Yifei looked at the peacock being chased and attacked by sparrows, then turned to the staff member: Are you serious?
Nothing much happened in the morning except finding my place to stay, putting down my luggage, taking a stroll around the village, and then waiting for lunch.
We stayed and ate in the homes of local residents, choosing those with relatively good living conditions.
There were nine of them, and they were to be divided into five families. Only one person could have a room by himself, while the others had to share a room with two people.
It's just a regular room allocation process; the production team doesn't plan to focus too much on it. They intend to finish it in ten minutes.
However, plans often go awry.
"I'm not used to sharing a room with people." The assassin, Butterfly, was unusually proactive and assertive at this moment. "So that single room is mine...!"
A playing card grazed his face and embedded itself in the mud wall. The card's owner, Wenli, smiled and asked, "What did you say?"
Wenli turned her head: "I have neurasthenia and cannot live with others."
"Then you can live with someone and work on your endurance. Cough cough cough." Ke Bei coughed, a blush rising on his pale and sickly face. "I'm not in good health, and coughing in the middle of the night will disturb other people's sleep."
He didn't explicitly say he wanted a single room, but his meaning was quite clear.
"You're kidding me, I'm not sick at all!" the people of the desolate corner sneered.
"I don't care." Shan Chuan spoke at this moment. He seemed very indifferent about the room allocation, if not for the last sentence.
"I shared a room with someone in high school, but that person seems to have died later, which is really a pity."
With a calm face, yet uttering words that were nothing short of threats, Shan Chuan remained the same Shan Chuan.
Of the five, only Chen Shen truly didn't care. She didn't care who she lived with; women were fine with her, and men were fine with her too. She even went so far as to boldly invite Ren Yifei to live with her: "Don't you get bored sleeping with Saman all the time? Why don't you stay with me for one night?"
She was particularly eager to experience what it would be like to live in the same room as an evil god.
"Pfft—" A viewer in front of the live stream sprayed a mouthful of milk tea onto the screen. "Damn it."
I'm not sure if they're referring to the screen or the live stream.
The viewers in the live stream were stunned. Are the relationships between the movie star and his friends really that complicated? Some with wild imaginations even started to suspect that the entire group of friends was the movie star's harem.
Only one person's focus was off: "So who is Saman?"
Could the wealthy merchant Lin, also known as Saman, tolerate this at this point? Of course not!
"Afei will only share a room with me." He stood between Chen Shen and Ren Yifei like a predator guarding its food.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Chen Shen shook his head, "How could you tolerate such a jealous man for so many years?"
"He's fine." Ren Yifei simply smiled.
The case is solved; it turns out that President Lin is actually 'Saman'.
"It sounds like they knew each other before, and had a pretty good relationship?" That "pretty good" needs a big question mark. But it's certain they knew each other.
"Could it be another employee of a game company?"
The audience couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at this possibility: What kind of game company is this? It has produced a top-notch actor, a group of handsome men and beautiful women, and now it can even produce a domineering CEO?
The calmest person in this group was probably Crane Lord. He was the same wherever he was, and he had no problem eating and sleeping outdoors. Moreover, he didn't sleep; at most, he would meditate and cultivate.
As for the peacock, it was so excited it was practically steaming.
"Director, what should we do?" The staff were completely baffled; the very act of assigning rooms at the very beginning had caused these 'friends' to turn on each other so badly. He simply couldn't understand this obsession with single rooms.
There are two beds in one room, and they're not even next to each other. Is it really necessary to do this?
The director stroked his chin, unsure of what was going on, but he had a feeling that something was off about this group of people.
"Director," Ren Yifei walked over, "could you arrange five single rooms?"
The director glanced cautiously at the people throwing cards and asked, "Is it really that serious? Aren't they friends?"
"People will die," Ren Yifei said seriously.
"...Hahahaha, I didn't expect Teacher Ren to be such a deadpan comedian." The director praised him for his great sense of humor. "The guests are also very entertaining. I didn't expect that grabbing a room could be so fun. There's no time to arrange anything else right now, let's give it a try."
Ren Yifei: "Alright."
Try it, and
you'll die.