AITFYMIBP Chapter 61

TL: Hua

Lin Yanran leaned against the door, slightly out of breath, but the video rang for a long time without the other person picking up.

Is Gu Siye still busy?

Lin Yanran walked to the bed, sat down, and lowered his head to send the other party a message.

Lin Yanran: Brother Gu? Is it convenient to video chat now?

As soon as he sent the message, the other party sent him a video invitation.

Lin Yanran quickly tapped to accept.

The black screen paused for two seconds, and then the light reappeared.

“Ultraman.”

The first thing that came through the video was Gu Siye’s voice.

As if knowing what Lin Yanran most urgently wanted to see, Gu Siye aimed the camera directly at Ultraman, who was lying depressed in his little bed.

But apparently, Ultraman was a dog with a lot of personality. He completely ignored Gu Siye’s voice, didn’t even lift an eyelid, and remained motionless on the spot.

Gu Siye wasn’t angry with Ultraman. Instead, he explained good-naturedly, “Look who this is.”

“Ultraman!”

This time, the one calling its name was Lin Yanran.

Hearing this sound, Ultraman suddenly perked up its droopy ears, lifted its small head, and instantly became energized.

It first looked around, thinking Lin Yanran would appear from somewhere.

However, after looking around several times, it couldn’t find Lin Yanran anywhere.

Seeing the puppy’s silly look, Gu Siye leaned down a bit and put the phone screen in front of it.

“Look here, in front of you.”

With Gu Siye’s help, this time Ultraman finally successfully saw the phone screen!

The moment it clearly saw Lin Yanran on the screen, the dog acted as if it had seen its most beloved owner, starting to wave its paws and wag its tail, whining and scratching the floor on the ground, acting spoiled.

Ultraman hopefully raised its chin, originally wanting to rub against Lin Yanran’s hand like before.

However, it found that no matter how it rubbed, its face only touched a cold surface, completely different from the warm touch it used to feel.

So, Ultraman looked at Lin Yanran in the video with confusion and then tilted its head to look at Gu Siye next to it, seemingly asking what was going on.

Lin Yanran was finally relieved to see the puppy had cheered up a bit. He raised his right hand and placed it on the screen, petting its head through the screen.

“Awoo wuwuwu awoo wuwuwu…”

After seeing Lin Yanran’s action, Ultraman didn’t care if it was just a screen and proceeded to nudge its small head against it repeatedly.

Then, it put its paws on the screen, its big, black eyes staring at Lin Yanran, seemingly telling Lin Yanran how much grievance it had suffered these past few days.

Lin Yanran, of course, noticed the unusual expression on Ultraman’s face right away and asked, “What’s wrong, Ultraman? Why are you looking so pitiful?”

“Awoo wuwuwu.”

The dog, unable to speak, could only express its emotions to its owner with whines and howls.

Although Lin Yanran couldn’t understand the sounds, he could feel its emotions.

After comforting Ultraman for a while and waiting until its mood improved, he finally asked Gu Siye.

“Brother Gu, why did you bring Ultraman home? Did they not come to claim the dog?”

Gu Siye first answered the second question, “They didn’t come to claim it. They said the dog had already been found.”

While speaking, Gu Siye was about to move the phone to see Lin Yanran.

As soon as he made the move, Ultraman’s paw immediately slapped the screen possessively, resolutely not allowing Gu Siye to change the view.

Gu Siye was helpless and couldn’t win against the dog, so he could only let it be and started talking to Lin Yanran from the side of the phone.

“Xiao Lin said that it kept crying inexplicably for a long time these two nights, and this morning… I found an injury on its body. I was afraid the wound would get infected, so I immediately took it away.”

Gu Siye told Lin Yanran everything he knew.

Hearing Gu Siye’s description, Lin Yanran’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Before coming to record the show, he had always felt uneasy, and a strong intuition told him that he should immediately take Ultraman with him.

But the staff disagreed, and at the time, Ultraman looked fine, so he thought he would take it back when he returned.

But who would have thought that in just two days, Ultraman would actually get injured?

Upon hearing Gu Siye’s words, Lin Yanran quickly asked, “Is Ultraman’s injury serious? How did it get hurt?”

On the other end of the phone, Gu Siye gently placed Ultraman in his palm, lifted its buttocks, and exposed its belly to the camera.

Lin Yanran then saw that the rear part of Ultraman’s abdomen was bandaged.

Just now, due to the video angle and Ultraman lying down, he hadn’t noticed this small cotton patch.

Now that Gu Siye held it up, he could get a clear look.

“The wound is around three centimeters long. It bled down to the flesh. The doctor bandaged it up to prevent infection.”

Although Lin Yanran didn’t see what the wound looked like, just by the description, he knew Ultraman must have been in great pain at the time.

Bled down to the flesh… no wonder its expression looked listless just now.

Gu Siye’s voice continued to come through the video.

“I’m not exactly sure how it got injured.”

When he saw Ultraman, it already had the wound on its body. He asked around, but no one knew how it got hurt, so he didn’t want to make assumptions, fearing Lin Yanran would worry.

“The doctor checked the wound on its belly, and thankfully it’s only a superficial injury, not too serious. They’ve already cleaned it up, and it should heal in a few days.”

After saying this, Gu Siye gently put Ultraman down and also reassured Lin Yanran, “The doctor gave it a full checkup today too and said there’s nothing wrong with its other parts; its body is very healthy, you don’t need to worry too much.”

Hearing that Gu Siye had done such a detailed examination for Ultraman, Lin Yanran was extremely grateful, and his heart felt a little better.

“Thank you, Brother Gu.”

If Gu Siye hadn’t noticed it, who knows if Ultraman’s wound would have become infected if it had been left to develop?

Gu Siye responded with a soft chuckle, then patted Ultraman’s head and said to Lin Yanran, “But Ultraman has been in low spirits, possibly because of the injury or the change of location.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Ultraman flipped over, waving its paws in the air, as if deliberately contradicting Gu Siye, and its mood seemed very high.

Gu Siye looked at this cunning puppy and shook his head helplessly.

“Alright, I take back what I just said; its mood is low when it’s with me.”

Gu Siye couldn’t help but smile as he spoke, “So to prevent it from getting depressed, I’ll keep it at my place for two days, and you can pick it up when you return.”

Ultraman, who had been listening to Gu Siye with its ears perked up on the ground, quickly flipped back over and “awoo awoo”ed, nodding its head when it heard that Lin Yanran would be picking it up.

Seeing Ultraman’s appearance in the video, Lin Yanran couldn’t help but smile as well.

“Alright, then I’ll trouble you for these two days.”

Gu Siye waved his hand. “No problem.”

Afterwards, Lin Yanran chatted with Ultraman through the video for a while longer.

It was only when he accidentally glanced at the time in the upper right corner of the phone that he realized he had been on a video call with Gu Siye for almost an hour.

Whether it was a phone call or a video chat, talking for too long wasn’t ideal, especially late at night.

Fearing that he was taking up too much of Gu Siye’s time, Lin Yanran told Ultraman to go to its little house to sleep.

Ultraman was reluctant, but it was obedient to Lin Yanran and crawled into its kennel.

“I’ve delayed you for so long, Brother Gu,” Lin Yanran said apologetically.

As Lin Yanran spoke, the screen shook a few more times before settling.

The man who appeared in the frame had somewhat messy hair and was only loosely wearing a dark gray bathrobe…

The collar of the silk damask bathrobe was not fastened, revealing a beautifully shaped collarbone. It was clear he had hastily put it on after showering.

Lin Yanran thought about how Gu Siye hadn’t immediately answered his video call earlier.

So… was he taking a shower at the time?

Gu Siye looked at Lin Yanran in the video, his peach blossom eyes slightly curved. He raised his beautifully contoured chin a little and asked in a low, husky voice, “Besides that, is there anything else you want to tell me?”

Lin Yanran, who felt a little guilty for interrupting the other party’s shower, was clearly taken aback by the question.

He almost instinctively let out a single syllable, “Hmm?”

Seeing his confused look in the video, Gu Siye reminded him, “Have you finished writing the calligraphy?”

“Not yet…”

After saying this, Lin Yanran immediately realized that his answer seemed a bit perfunctory and might make Gu Siye misunderstand that he hadn’t taken his request seriously, so he quickly explained.

“I’ve written it a few times, but I’m not very satisfied, so I haven’t continued writing. I’ll write a new piece when I get back from the show recording.”

Gu Siye’s tone was lazy but implied something more. “No rush, you can take your time.”

After hanging up with Gu Siye, Lin Yanran went to take a shower.

He had been picking mandarins, tutoring homework, and cooking a huge table of food today, and now that he was relaxed, he felt a bit tired.

Lying in bed, he thought again about Ultraman’s injury.

Ultraman was very well-behaved and usually didn’t run around, only moving within about 20 meters of its own territory. Logically, there shouldn’t be any iron scraps or anything else around to scratch its body.

So, how did it get wounded?

Lin Yanran lay in bed thinking about this question and gradually fell asleep.

In his dream, he dreamed of that “Brother Ye” again.

In the dream, after the other person learned in a game of truth or dare that he was still distressed about Ultraman running away, when they slept in the same tent that night, the other person gently put an arm around his drowsy shoulder and quietly said,

“How about I help you find the dog and we raise it together?”

Half-asleep, he only had one thought at the time.

Silly, how could a dog that ran away so many years ago ever be found again?

…

When Lin Yanran woke up the next morning, he found that he had received photos and a short video of Ultraman sent by Gu Siye on his phone.

Compared to yesterday, Ultraman seemed to be getting along more intimately with Gu Siye, but it still proudly refused to let Gu Siye pet its head.

After watching the video, he sent a voice message back to Gu Siye.

After sending it, he prepared to hand his phone over to the production team.

He made the call too late yesterday and forgot about it. It wouldn’t be good if he didn’t hand it in today.

Just as he thought this, he saw Gu Siye send another photo of Ultraman.

Two seconds later, the other person sent another one.

Lin Yanran: ?

What does Brother Gu mean by sending so many dog photos first thing in the morning?

Looking at these photos of Ultraman in various poses, Lin Yanran felt that something was not quite right.

He went back and looked at the photos Gu Siye had sent.

Instantly, Lin Yanran felt as if he had suddenly figured things out and understood Gu Siye’s intention.

Then, he opened his phone’s front camera, took a serious photo of himself, and sent it to Gu Siye.

Teacher Gu’s action must be a hint for him to send a photo for the dog to see, right?

After all, Ultraman was quite attached to him, and he had to record the show during the day, so he couldn’t keep making video calls.

After sending the photo, Lin Yanran went out and handed his phone to his assistant, Xiao Wang.

On the other side, Gu Siye saw the photo and smiled, gently stopping Ultraman’s head, which was trying to lean forward.

“It was sent to me.”

Ultraman: ?

*

When Lin Yanran left the room, Ye An was already in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone.

Among the guests, Lin Yanran was considered to be an early riser, but he didn’t expect the other person to be up even earlier.

Seeing that Ye An had already started cooking the porridge for everyone, he went to help fry eggs and made a few light side dishes.

Thus, the other five guests, who were tired from farm work and slept in yesterday, woke up and came out to enjoy the hearty breakfast prepared by Lin Yanran and Ye An.

Fu Anqi took a lovely sip of hot milk and bit into a boiled egg, sighing with emotion, “I feel so lucky. With you guys here, I never have to worry about going hungry.”

After the peaceful and lovely breakfast time, Zhang Shanfeng brought a man in his forties to the front of the cottage.

The man was not very tall, about 1.7 meters, with dark skin, but he was dressed very formally.

Facing numerous cameras, his facial expression was slightly nervous, but his back was ramrod straight, and his chest was held high.

Zhang Shanfeng introduced him to everyone: “This is Secretary Ji of Xiangning Village. After a preliminary understanding of Xiangning Village yesterday, I believe everyone has come to like this beautiful place. So, our task today is to follow Secretary Ji to get a deeper understanding of a different Xiangning Village.”

After Zhang Shanfeng finished speaking, Secretary Ji took over.

Being on camera for the first time, he seemed a bit excited and nervous.

However, he tried hard to control his accent and introduced the situation in Xiangning Village to everyone using his less-than-authentic Mandarin.

“Our Xiangning Village is located in a remote mountainous area and is the poorest village in our county. Due to the relatively backward economy, almost all the young people in the village have gone out to work. What remains in our village now are mostly the elderly or left-behind children…”

Secretary Ji then gave a brief overview of Xiangning Village.

In fact, even without Secretary Ji speaking, the guests present could feel it.

Yesterday, they had walked around the entire village several times, and most of the people left were the elderly and children. The entire village’s economy was predominantly agricultural, and everyone’s life was quite tight.

Although the villagers were generous with the wages they gave the guests yesterday, their income was actually not high. Giving so much money was a manifestation of their hospitality towards rare visitors.

The local government agreed to cooperate with Incredible Journey, hoping that the effect of the program could open up new avenues for tourism and agriculture in Xiangning Village and boost the local economic development.

Therefore, today’s program began by approaching it from several angles, having the guests lead the audience to gain a deeper understanding of Xiangning Village.

After Secretary Ji finished his introduction, Zhang Shanfeng brought out his glass box again.

A lucky draw that hadn’t appeared for several hundred years finally made its debut today!

“Alright, all our guests, to better understand Xiangning Village, please step forward now and draw today’s mission.”

Ye An, who already had PTSD from lucky draws, immediately widened his eyes in surprise and exclaimed, “No way, Director, again???”

Zhang Shanfeng smiled and nodded. “Today’s missions are all very interesting, trust me.”

Gao Zitai gave him an expression that screamed, ‘I’d be crazy to trust you,’ and was the first to walk forward.

He tentatively reached in and fumbled for a small ball, then glanced at Zhang Shanfeng again.

Absolute distrust.

“Next one.”

Zhang Shanfeng spoke up before Gao Zitai could take a second look.

Subsequently, the others all drew their respective missions.

Gao Zitai, who did not have an ounce of trust in Zhang Shanfeng, was the first to open his mission ball.

He unfolded the paper inside.

This time it wasn’t a blank piece of paper; content was written on it.

“Explore the delicious cuisine of Xiangning Village.”

After reading out his mission, Gao Zitai immediately beamed with delight.

“I love this mission, Director Zhang. You look a little handsomer than usual today.”

Zhang Shanfeng gently tidied his thinning hair. “It’s fine, it’s fine; I’ve always been handsome, and I’ve always known it.”

Gao Zitai: …

After Gao Zitai read out his extremely normal mission, the other guests also opened their small balls one after another.

“Experience the tea culture of Xiangning Village!” Cao Zhengpeng, who was already interested in tea culture, became excited. “I like this one.”

Sun Yuetong chimed in, “Mine is also great. Visit the tourist attraction, Taohua Valley!”

Fu Anqi: “Mine is to care for left-behind children—visit the village school!”

Ye An: “Care for the elderly living alone!”

Wang Zhen felt a bit speechless after hearing everyone else’s missions.

Compared to the previous ones, his mission had no highlights; it wasn’t as easy as Gao Zitai’s, nor would it easily produce moving scenes like Fu Anqi’s and Ye An’s.

His was just a very ordinary job: “Be a porter for a day…”

After being warned by his assistant and manager yesterday, Wang Zhen didn’t dare to show his true feelings casually today.

Even though he thought the mission was stupid and lacked any highlight, he still acted very expectant.

After stating his mission, he looked at Lin Yanran, wanting to hear what his was.

As a result, Lin Yanran, under everyone’s gaze, generously displayed the strip of paper in front of everyone.

He smiled slightly. “My mission is a day in the life of an ordinary person.”

“Ah? A day in the life of an ordinary person??”

“What kind of mission is that?”

Amid the perplexed expressions of the others, Wang Zhen secretly began to gloat.

He had originally thought his mission was the worst and most lackluster, but he didn’t expect someone else to have even worse luck, drawing an even more boring mission than his own.

A day in the life of an ordinary person?

Isn’t that just eating, drinking, using the bathroom, and doing farm work? Everyone watched that all day yesterday; what’s left to see?

Just as Wang Zhen was thinking this, Zhang Shanfeng interrupted his thoughts.

“Alright, everyone’s missions have been selected. Now, please go and complete your respective tasks.”

So the group split up, heading to their own mission locations.

As they separated, Wang Zhen, for the first time, ran up to Lin Yanran and asked him, “How are you planning to complete your mission?”

Lin Yanran pointed to the various corners of the surrounding mountains and smiled, “I’ll just look around first.”