The clue Xie Fu Yao’s group received was not in the same direction as Wen Ying’s group.
After the three of them finished reading the clue, Zhao Qi walked off.
But since they were in the same general area, the three of them were not very far apart.
So when they heard Zhao Qi yell that he saw the supplies, Xie Fu Yao and Meng Xiaoyi quickly ran over.
"Zhao Qi, where are the supplies you mentioned?"
Meng Xiaoyi looked around but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
If she had to point out something different, it was that a squirrel seemed to have just run up a nearby tree.
Zhao Qi pointed a finger at the large tree above them. "Up there."
Xie Fu Yao and Meng Xiaoyi looked in the direction Zhao Qi was pointing.
The production team was truly ruthless. The tree was quite tall—so tall that even with two grown men in their group, they might not be able to climb it. And the supplies were just hanging up there.
"Zhao Qi, can you climb trees?"
Just as Wen Ying and her group were heading to the designated meeting point with their monkey, Zhao Qi and Xie Fu Yao were at a standstill here.
Climbing a tree would ruin his image.
It would be detrimental to his stardom, so Xie Fu Yao was reluctant, even though he knew he probably couldn’t climb it anyway.
"Zhao Qi, Brother Xie can’t climb trees, but we have to get our supplies. Can you give it a try?"
Meng Xiaoyi was speaking up for Xie Fu Yao, but Zhao Qi shot her a displeased look. "Does he need you to tell me he can’t do it? Who do you think you are to him? It’s only been a few minutes. Are you two already so close that you can speak for him?"
"Zhao Qi, that’s not what I meant..."
"You don’t need to tell me what you meant. If you want the supplies, get them yourself. You’re here too, aren’t you?"
Meng Xiaoyi stared at Zhao Qi in disbelief, seemingly shocked that he could say such a thing.
"I... I’m just a girl."
"So what if you’re a girl? Ever heard of gender equality in this new era? Or is it that you cry ’gender equality’ when it benefits you, then play the weak damsel when it doesn’t? If you insist on playing that card, then fine, I can let you off the hook."
Meng Xiaoyi couldn’t believe Zhao Qi dared to say something like that on camera. Her face flushed red with anger.
"I can’t climb trees!"
"And you say that so self-righteously? Why don’t you ask your ’Brother Xie’ to help you? I’m not your brother."
Meng Xiaoyi was speechless.
’I’ve never met someone so shameless.’
"The three of us are in this group. You should be contributing too, right?"
"Haven’t I contributed? Didn’t I find these supplies? What’s next? You want me to find them, get them down for you, and then spoon-feed them to you? Did you call me ’Daddy’?"
"You!" Meng Xiaoyi was furious. ’This man is disgusting!’
’No wonder he’s a nobody. A man like this will never make it big!’
Even Xie Fu Yao couldn’t stand it anymore. "Zhao Qi, don’t you think you’re going too far, bullying a girl like this? No matter what, Xiao Yi is the girl in our group. You don’t have to help, but you don’t need to hurt her like this, do you?"
Zhao Qi threw up his hands. "Fine. Then I’ll leave it to you two to get the supplies down. Everyone has to pull their weight for the group—those were Meng Xiaoyi’s words. That’s fair, right?"
Xie Fu Yao was at a loss for words.
But with the cameras rolling, he couldn’t just brush it off.
"I’ll figure something out... How did the production team even get the supplies that high up?"
Suddenly, a squirrel scampered up towards the bag of supplies.
𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
"Brother Xie, the squirrel isn’t going to steal our supplies, is it?" Seeing this, Meng Xiaoyi suddenly grew anxious.
’I don’t want to starve again! I don’t want to watch my rivals live in comfort while I suffer!’
’How can we let the supplies we’ve finally found just get away?’
Before the word "no" could even leave his lips, Xie Fu Yao noticed more and more squirrels appearing from nowhere, all climbing the tree towards their supplies.
They looked down on Xie Fu Yao and the others from their high perch.
A chill ran down Xie Fu Yao’s spine, and his expression changed.
Meng Xiaoyi huddled close to Xie Fu Yao. "Brother Xie, why are all these squirrels gathering here? Something bad isn’t about to happen, is it? It’s not because some more dangerous beast is coming, is it? It’s not..."
"You jinx! Shut up!" In his panic, Xie Fu Yao blurted out the words, his tone harsh.
Meng Xiaoyi froze.
Zhao Qi also frowned as he looked at the squirrels.
What had been a simple matter now seemed to be getting complicated.
"Brother Xie, I... a jinx?"
Zhao Qi let out a cold laugh. "Pretty much. Why else would the ’Brother Xie’ you’ve been fawning over say that to you?"
Xie Fu Yao immediately apologized. "Xiao Yi, that’s not what I meant. I was just anxious and spoke without thinking."
[So this is the real Xie Fu Yao, huh? He usually acts like such a gentleman. This hypocrisy is disgusting.]
[Meng Xiaoyi and Xie Fu Yao are six of one, half a dozen of the other. Neither should look down on the other. Why don’t they just get together?]
[Poor Zhao Qi, getting stuck in a group like this. Next time, he should just ride Doctor Wen’s coattails.]
Meng Xiaoyi lowered her head and didn’t say anything else, looking very upset.
"Xie Fu Yao, it’s up to you to get the supplies down. You lost our supplies last time. This time, I found them. You can’t possibly lose them again, can you?"
Xie Fu Yao cursed internally, but his face showed a hint of worry. "Go find some long branches for me. I’ll give it a try."
Zhao Qi went to look, wondering aloud, "I really don’t get why the squirrels here aren’t afraid of people. Don’t they usually run away when they see someone?"
Those words made Xie Fu Yao’s face turn a shade paler.
Cursing internally again, Xie Fu Yao looked up at the squirrels, then suddenly bent down, picked up a thick branch, and threw it at one of them. "Sorry, little squirrels, but those supplies are ours! Please move along. I don’t want to hurt you!"
As the thick branch flew towards one of the squirrels, Xie Fu Yao expected them all to be startled and run away.
But the squirrel that was about to be hit suddenly dodged.
Then, each squirrel, holding something in its little paws, began to rain down objects on Xie Fu Yao’s position.
They let out urgent SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK sounds. Though incomprehensible, the anger in their tone was palpable.
The cameraman quickly dodged. ’Can’t let the equipment get caught in the crossfire!’
Meng Xiaoyi also quickly dodged.
The objects fell like rain, surrounding Xie Fu Yao and leaving him with nowhere to hide. He was hit by quite a few.
When Xie Fu Yao saw what was hitting him—pinecones—he breathed a sigh of relief.
[Isn’t this a production incident? Why aren’t the crew helping Brother Xie?]
Shielding his head with his arms, Xie Fu Yao wondered, ’Is this part of the director’s script? But why wasn’t I told?’
’Well, I guess I’ll just have to pretend I don’t know.’
"Director, I’m requesting assistance! Is this a production incident?"
The cameraman heard the director’s voice in his earpiece, then stepped forward and pulled Xie Fu Yao’s arm. "Fu Yao, why don’t we just leave for now? It’s fine if we don’t get the supplies."
"No. This is my responsibility. I can’t leave."