TL: Hua
Lin Yanran’s fans were worried that they wouldn’t have any shows to watch these past few days, but then the two directors scrambled to release content, which delighted the fans immensely.
So, this group of fans began jumping back and forth between the two official Weibo accounts, stirring up trouble.
On one side, they left a comment under the official Weibo of Incredible Journey: “Zhang Shanfeng, look at Song Yingming, he directly released a trailer. What good is just a Weibo post? Where’s the video? Do you not want the traffic?”
After posting this, the same people immediately went to Song Yingming’s Weibo to instigate: “Song Yingming, what kind of man are you, only releasing a three-second trailer? I couldn’t even clearly see Yanran’s face, and all the shots were fleeting glimpses! If you don’t want the title of the biggest variety show director in domestic entertainment with such a stingy trailer, we suggest you give it to Zhang Shanfeng next door~”
Song Yingming & Zhang Shanfeng, who were constantly spying on each other’s Weibo: ???
Seeing how the audience was deliberately pitting them against each other, the two directors immediately stopped their next wave of planned trailer releases.
Good heavens! They never expected that one day, they would both be completely controlled by the audience!
The two balding, middle-aged men quickly messaged each other, telling each other to stop fighting. This generation of audience members had truly wicked minds and deeper tricks than they did!
Before leaving for the recording, Lin Yanran wrote out the two lines of poetry that Gu Siye had mentioned to him the previous evening.
However, after writing them several times, he was still unsatisfied.
Every time he wrote, the image of Gu Siye saying those lines would appear in his mind.
“The mountains have trees, the trees have branches, my heart rejoices in you, yet you do not know…”
Whenever Lin Yanran thought about the meaning of the poem, he inexplicably found himself unable to calm down enough to write.
The most crucial thing for calligraphy is a calm heart; if the heart is not calm, the written characters will not be good.
Lin Yanran lifted his brush, then put it down, pausing and stopping, having written several pieces.
Seeing that nothing he wrote was satisfactory, he decided not to force himself and would simply rewrite it in a few days.
After putting away his brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, he turned to pack his luggage, preparing for the filming of Incredible Journey.
Because this filming, including the round-trip flights, would take about four days, Lin Yanran went to see Ultraman again before he left.
After learning that the person who was supposed to adopt the dog hadn’t returned yet, he asked the staff to take extra care of the puppy while he was away.
He didn’t know why, but he felt a little uneasy about going to record the show this time.
But seeing Ultraman eating well, sleeping well, and still acting affectionately towards him with no other issues, he thought perhaps he was just overthinking things because he was worried it might be claimed by someone else.
After visiting Ultraman, Lin Yanran immediately went to the airport and flew to the destination for the new episode of Incredible Journey.
This time, the production team did not continue filming abroad but chose a remote village in a small city within the country.
Right after the guests departed, the production team immediately posted several photos of the destination on their official Weibo, writing the following promotional text to warm up the new episode:
“The pace of modern life is always too fast; pressure and worries leave us no room to breathe. Today, let’s follow our guests back to the simple, ordinary pastoral life, allowing our hearts to quiet down for a moment and life to slow down for a day.”
After announcing the theme for this episode, the live stream channels for the guests also went online.
Unlike the last live stream, the moment Lin Yanran’s individual channel opened, the number of reservations instantly exceeded 100,000.
Not only that, online viewers flocked in, starting to type and chat in the room that was just a black screen displaying “The streamer is resting; please come back later.”
[Aahhhhhh, Baby Yanran’s live stream channel is finally online!!]
[Son, Mama loves you!!]
[So excited! So excited! I started watching this show because I was attracted to Yanran, but I was so disappointed when I specially tuned in to the last episode and didn’t see him. Finally, he’s back this episode! Happy, happy!!]
[@ZhangShanFeng How long until the stream starts!! Hurry up! I want to see Yanran!!]
After the channels went live, not only did fans arrive at Lin Yanran’s personal channel, but many viewers also went to the other channels.
Because the first episode’s ratings exploded, this program attracted many casual viewers to the live streams, in addition to each guest’s dedicated fanbase.
Wang Zhen had missed the most popular and fan-favorite first episode because of his injury.
Therefore, his acceptance among the viewers tuning into the live stream was somewhat lower, and today, after the seven channels opened, his channel’s popularity actually ranked last.
On his way to the location, Wang Zhen secretly checked his channel’s popularity online. When he discovered that he was not only less popular than Lin Yanran but was also at the bottom, he immediately felt uncomfortable.
He was also closely watching the online commentary about Incredible Journey.
He was originally one of the MCs that the production team had confirmed early on, but due to bad luck, an accident caused him to miss the first episode’s recording, allowing Lin Yanran to take advantage and substitute for one episode.
Who knew that in the span of just one episode, the show’s audience would act like idiots, demanding the original six people reunite every day, as if he, the fixed MC, were merely a guest star?
Furthermore, his integration with the other guests in the last episode was not as smooth as he had hoped. Although he only missed one episode, having missed the golden time for optimal collaboration, he could clearly feel that the relationship between himself and the other five guests was always separated by a layer of gauze.
So, after one episode, he struggled greatly and felt like he couldn’t fully integrate into the group.
Not only that, after the second episode aired, the ratings dropped significantly, and he was even disliked by the audience.
If he hadn’t been injured initially, and everyone had accepted him first instead of Yanran, this problem would never have arisen.
Therefore, facing this situation, he not only felt uncomfortable but also naturally developed a degree of aversion toward Lin Yanran.
His manager, seeing the bad look on Wang Zhen’s face, knew he must have searched for content related to the show again.
He glanced at the other person’s phone screen, understood what he was concerned about, and immediately advised, “Don’t look at these trivial things. Just record this episode well. Last episode was because people weren’t familiar with you yet. This episode will be different once they are.”
“But they invited Yanran back for this episode; everyone must be watching him now.”
Wang Zhen’s tone was very sour, and he rolled his eyes dismissively. “He just played the guzheng, didn’t he? Is there a need to make such a fuss and praise him to the heavens, demanding his return every day…”
The manager, seeing Wang Zhen getting agitated, quickly comforted him, “There’s nothing we can do; the audience has a bit of a baby bird complex. Even if it wasn’t Yanran, they would be the same with someone else. Some viewers are just like that—don’t pay attention to them.”
The manager knew Wang Zhen’s temper and, fearing he might show a bad attitude when he met Yanran, quickly reminded him, “This show is live-streamed. No matter what, you have to keep your composure.”
Wang Zhen impatiently waved his hand. “Got it, got it.”
Lin Yanran’s status in this episode was still that of a guest star, so his departure time was still later than the other guests.
Since he didn’t have to go abroad this time, the journey was relatively easier.
However, because the recording location was quite remote, after getting off the plane, he still had to endure a three-hour car ride before finally reaching the destination.
The recording location this time was a small village in the southern mountains.
Lin Yanran had left in the morning, and by the time he arrived, it was already four in the afternoon.
The program team’s car stopped at the entrance of the small mountain village, and the staff then handed him a hand-drawn picture.
“What is this?”
Lin Yanran looked at the crooked lines and strange objects in the picture, completely puzzled.
The staff immediately told him, “This is a route map drawn for you by Gao Zitai. The star on the map is your current location, and the place where you will be staying tonight is marked with the red flag.”
“Now, you need to use this route map to find your accommodation and meet up with the other guests!”
From the moment Lin Yanran stepped out of the car, his live stream channel went live.
The audience, who had been waiting to see him, didn’t even have time to excitedly cheer before being thoroughly amused by this move from the production team.
[Hahahaha, so Director Zhang calling Gao Zitai out just now was to have him do this]
[I’m dying of laughter. Why are other guests directly led to the accommodation by staff, but our Yanran needs to find it himself?]
[No choice, he’s the King, after all (manual dog head1手动狗头 Literally, it means “manually adding a dog head.” On the Chinese internet, it’s used to indicate that what you just said is sarcastic, ironic, or a joke, and you don’t want people to take it seriously. It serves as a “sarcasm tag.”)]
[It’s because Yanran was the program’s bug in the first episode, so the production team held a grudge and started taking revenge as soon as he arrived, hhhh]
After hearing the staff’s words, Lin Yanran glanced at the drawing paper in his hand and chuckled, “How am I supposed to find my way with such an abstract route map?”
Hearing Lin Yanran’s comment, the audience grew curious.
[How abstract is it? Let me see!]
[I don’t believe it unless you show me now]
[Don’t be afraid, Yanran; let me see, and I’ll help you find it]
However, Lin Yanran didn’t show them but stood in place, studying the map seriously.
The viewers then saw Lin Yanran standing still and looking at the drawing for about ten seconds, after which he observed the surrounding terrain of the small mountain village.
Then, he walked about 100 meters forward, carefully looked at every fork in the road, and then returned to his original spot.
The camera followed Lin Yanran the entire time, which is how the audience noticed that this small mountain village, just a short one hundred meters long, surprisingly had seven or eight forks in the road on both the left and right sides.
[Oh no, oh no, I clearly watched the other guests go in before, and now I can’t find the way!]
[Why do I feel like every fork in the road looks the same?]
[Is it the second one on the left?]
[I think it’s the third one on the right?]
Just as the audience was starting to get confused, Lin Yanran folded up the map and put it in his pocket, then directly dragged his suitcase and walked toward the second intersection on the front right.
[???]
[He found it just like that???]
[He must be wrong, I don’t remember it being here…]
The audience didn’t know if he was right or wrong, so they could only follow Lin Yanran with the camera as he looked for the way.
After entering the second intersection, he walked for about 150 meters and then turned into another fork on the front right.
After that, he made a few more turns, completely dizzying the audience.
[Shouldn’t he look at the route map??]
[What should I do? I’m so worried, I feel like I’m lost too…]
However, just as the audience finished sending that bullet comment, they saw the house they had seen before appear about 100 meters directly ahead in the video frame!
[Holy moly…]
[He actually found it!!]
[If I remember correctly, he only looked at the map at the village entrance and didn’t open it again afterward]
[His sense of direction is that good? I’m so jealous]
[All those twists and turns, Yanran didn’t look at the map once later; his memory must be amazing. Oh my god]
[Yanran truly always manages to surprise me]
Back with the guests, Gao Zitai had been sitting by the fence gate, looking out.
Because he had been assigned by Zhang Shanfeng to draw a map for Lin Yanran today, and his drawing skills were truly terrible, he was extremely worried that the other person would get lost because they couldn’t understand his drawing.
However, who knew that he hadn’t waited long before Lin Yanran’s figure appeared in the distance.
Gao Zitai jumped up happily, no longer showing the distaste he had for Lin Yanran in the first episode. He quickly turned to tell the people in the room the good news, “Yanran is here, Yanran is here!!!”
Ye An put down the vegetables in his hand and ran outside. “That fast?”
Fu Anqi, Cao Zhengpeng, and Sun Yuetong also quickly followed suit, coming out of the house to welcome Lin Yanran.
From afar, Lin Yanran saw several familiar faces waving at him.
So he gave the camera a slight smile. “Looks like I didn’t take the wrong path.”
[Ahhhh woo woo woo, that smile!!]
[Don’t smile, don’t smile, baby; if you keep smiling at me like that, my motherly love is going to turn into something else]
Lin Yanran’s smooth arrival greatly boosted Gao Zitai’s confidence.
Lin Yanran still had a long way to go before reaching the cottage, but Gao Zitai enthusiastically ran out.
He not only ran out to greet him but also voluntarily took the suitcase from Lin Yanran’s hand to help him pull it.
Even now, he still couldn’t quite believe that Lin Yanran was able to find the way so quickly.
After bringing Lin Yanran into the cottage, Sun Yuetong smiled and said to him, “Yanran, did you know, when the director assigned Zitai to draw the route for you, we were all worried you’d get lost.”
Thanks to the revolutionary friendship formed in the first episode, their reunion this time felt like a gathering of old friends, and none of them felt awkward around Lin Yanran.
Fu Anqi poured Lin Yanran a cup of hot water to warm his hands and also laughed, “When Brother Zitai showed me that route map he drew, I couldn’t understand what he was drawing at all.”
Seeing everyone teasing him, Gao Zitai quickly defended himself, “It wasn’t that bad; Yanran found it directly, didn’t he… At least I drew it very clearly, okay…”
By the end of his defense, Gao Zitai sounded less sure of himself.
Cao Zhengpeng was outside chopping wood at the time and missed that part. Hearing everyone’s discussion, he grew curious and leaned in. “Yanran, open that map; let me see what it looks like.”
Thanks to Cao Zhengpeng, the audience finally got to see Gao Zitai’s masterpiece this time!
On an A4 sheet of paper, the top, bottom, left, and right were densely covered with all sorts of strange, squiggly, unclear lines.
Knowing it was a route map, the audience could vaguely tell that these lines were supposed to represent the route.
But the lines weren’t the most mind-blowing part.
What made the audience speechless was that Gao Zitai was supposed to be drawing the route for Lin Yanran, yet the main focus of his entire drawing was on the houses and trees beside the path, and he even drew some bizarre, strange things on it. It was too abstract, and the audience couldn’t figure out what any of it was.
Their being unable to figure it out was one thing, but Gao Zitai, this idiot, also used a green fluorescent highlighter!
[This eye-stinging fluorescent color is light pollution confirmed]
[My eyes! May I never be tortured like this again in this life, Yanran, you truly suffered]
[How is this a route map… I swear I could draw straighter lines with my eyes closed than this]
[Can anyone understand this? To be able to find it, Yanran, are you a human GPS?]
[I reasonably suspect Gao Zitai drew it like this on purpose, haha]
[No, actually, the production team did it on purpose. Gao Zitai is a notoriously ‘abstract artist’]
[No wonder his eyes widened when he saw Yanran drawing so well in the first episode]
Cao Zhengpeng was left speechless after seeing the route map and asked a profound question, “You could find it with this?”
Lin Yanran pointed to a spot on the map and smiled, “It was fine. I just needed to establish the direction. The goose he drew here was quite crucial.”
Hearing Lin Yanran praise him, Gao Zitai was about to regain some face.
But then he heard Fu Anqi ask doubtfully, “Where is there a goose?”
Ye An also nodded, “Isn’t that a drawing of a table?”
Sun Yuetong also thought seriously, “It’s not a table, is it? It looks like a rock??”
The camera cleverly cut to a close-up of the area Lin Yanran had just pointed to.
All that was visible were two circles, one large and one small, plus two vertical lines.
[…]
[@Gao Zitai’s Art Teacher, please come out. Is this a goose???]
[Teacher Yanran, how exactly did you figure that out…]
[It seems Gao Zitai’s ‘abstract paintings’ can only be understood by Yanran]
Just as the six people were gathered together discussing Gao Zitai’s artwork, Wang Zhen, who had just returned from using the outdoor restroom, paused upon seeing the scene.
The camera does not follow the guests to the restroom.
So, Wang Zhen, who returned alone, carefully maneuvered around the opposite cameras, lowered his head pretending not to know Lin Yanran had arrived, and walked directly into the kitchen.
Since the six people had their backs to Wang Zhen, they didn’t know he had returned.
But because of the multi-camera setup, even though he deliberately walked close to the door to avoid the lens, the audience still noticed his fleeting silhouette in the corner.
[Was that Wang Zhen just now?]
[Why did he go in without saying hello?]
[That feels very rude]
[He probably didn’t notice Yanran had arrived]
Wang Zhen’s fans, who were originally just as annoyed by the guests’ overly enthusiastic attitude towards Lin Yanran as Wang Zhen himself, started to make sarcastic remarks after seeing everyone discussing him.
[Yanran fans, are you trying to instigate a fight by saying this?]
[How famous is he that everyone has to come out to welcome him?]
[The other guests were completely blocking the view, maybe he just didn’t see him]
[He’s just a temporary guest, why are his fans trying to make such a presence?]
Lin Yanran’s fans did not want to cause trouble online, and since their idol was recording the show with the other person, they didn’t want to make things difficult for Lin Yanran. So, they didn’t engage much with those people, sent a few other bullet comments, and quickly overshadowed the negative trend.
However, even though Wang Zhen pretended not to know and deliberately avoided Lin Yanran this time, since seven people were recording the show together, they would inevitably have to face each other.
So, not long after, when Cao Zhengpeng realized he had returned, he pulled him out and enthusiastically introduced the two of them.
Lin Yanran smiled and voluntarily offered to shake Wang Zhen’s hand.
The other person didn’t overtly show any displeasure, but his body language still gave him away.
When they shook hands, he merely gave a perfunctory, fleeting grasp before quickly withdrawing his hand, as if Lin Yanran’s hand had thorns.
It was already past four when Lin Yanran arrived, and with the time spent finding the way and chatting after reuniting, time flew by, and it was five o’clock.
“It’s almost five o’clock! We should go make dinner!”
Fu Anqi, who had just been assigned to wash vegetables upon arrival, suddenly realized they had only prepared the ingredients but hadn’t started cooking and quickly reminded everyone.
Just as everyone was preparing to divide the cooking tasks, they heard a familiar voice amplified by a loudspeaker coming from the courtyard.
“All guests, please bring your luggage to the living room for a meeting.”
Hearing Zhang Shanfeng’s voice, the audience knew that the much-anticipated segment of confiscating extra items was here!
After the first two episodes, the guests were already familiar with Zhang Shanfeng’s routine.
Being prepared, they all lifted out their suitcases and opened them wide.
Gao Zitai pursed his lips and said, “Look, look, look closely. I didn’t bring any prohibited items.”
The staff automatically ignored the guests’ words, bent down, and searched carefully.
After checking the suitcases of all the guests, they waved their hands at the director.
Cao Zhengpeng zipped up his suitcase and said, “We are very honest, unlike you guys.”
However, no sooner had he finished speaking than he heard Zhang Shanfeng speak again, “Wait a moment!”
Everyone turned to look at him, looking confused.
“Also check the guests’ coats and bags.” After saying that, Zhang Shanfeng turned his gaze to Lin Yanran, “Especially Yanran’s down jacket…”
Zhang Shanfeng’s special attention to Lin Yanran instantly set the bullet comments in the live stream on fire.
[Hahaha, Yanran’s down jacket has indeed become a key focus for the production team]
[I vividly remember the scene in the first episode where he pulled out a dozen packets of hand warmers from his bag]
[Honestly, Yanran’s bag is too spacious, it’s practically a treasure chest]
[Has Zhang Shanfeng been given PTSD by Yanran? Not even letting the down jacket off, so funny]
After hearing this, Lin Yanran looked at Zhang Shanfeng, whose eyes were full of caution towards him, and smiled as he opened his down jacket and bag, displaying them generously.
“There’s nothing.”
Zhang Shanfeng, having been fooled once, was obviously still a little suspicious. “What about inside?”
Lin Yanran also generously turned the inside of his bag outwards. “Nothing inside either…”
Zhang Shanfeng was stunned in place after seeing this.
Why was Yanran so obedient this time???
Zhang Shanfeng looked at Lin Yanran suspiciously again, seeing that his expression was normal, even maintaining a slight smile.
For a moment, his intuition told him that things were definitely not that simple.
But he couldn’t see anything unusual, so he had no choice but to give up.
After the luggage check, everyone’s stomachs were starting to rumble, so the seven people hurried into the house, preparing to make their dinner.
Because it involved cooking, everyone started dividing up the tasks in advance.
After asking around, only Lin Yanran and Ye An knew how to cook.
So the important task of cooking fell to these two, and the remaining five people were assigned to be assistants or wash dishes.
The guests had arrived earlier than Lin Yanran, and the production team had arranged for them to pick vegetables from the field earlier.
So tonight’s dinner will consist of the vegetables they brought back.
Fu Anqi brought the washed vegetables to Lin Yanran. “Brother, just stir-fry some dishes first.”
Lin Yanran looked at the vegetables and felt like something was missing.
Just as he realized it was meat, he heard a desperate shout from Ye An in the kitchen.
“Where are the seasonings?? Why are there no seasonings in the kitchen!!!!”
He rushed out anxiously and asked everyone, “Did any of you take the seasonings?”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other with blank expressions.
“No, we were arranged to pick vegetables as soon as we arrived…”
Fu Anqi’s words were agreed upon by everyone; indeed, since they arrived, no one had gone into the kitchen…
Realizing that no one had taken the seasonings, everyone suddenly understood that this must be the production team doing it on purpose!
Sure enough, Zhang Shanfeng’s irritating voice immediately rang out.
“Congratulations to all the guests on unlocking the first mission of Pastoral Journey.”
Zhang Shanfeng, holding the megaphone and a smile full of tricks, walked up to everyone. “Through your hard work, you have obtained tonight’s ingredients. However, ingredients alone are not enough to make a hearty dinner, so please go to Master Wang’s house at the village entrance and work for him in exchange for tonight’s seasonings.”
When Zhang Shanfeng announced the mission, it was exactly half past five.
In the middle of winter, starting to cook only at 5:30 PM was already quite late.
Waiting for the seven people’s meal to be truly ready would take at least an hour.
Everyone was tired from the journey and hadn’t eaten much; they hadn’t rested since arriving and had been working in the fields.
At this moment, everyone felt a little hungry.
It was already going to be late when they could finally eat, but Zhang Shanfeng, this inhuman person, suddenly announced an extra mission, and they had to go out and work to get the seasonings…
Looking at the sky that was already beginning to darken outside, the guests were practically itching to strip every last hair off Zhang Shanfeng’s head!!
Zhang Shanfeng had announced the mission, but there were always a few disobedient ones.
The thought of having dinner so late after working again made the hungry Gao Zitai protest immediately, “Working so late?? What time will we finally get to eat? I’m not going, I’m not going. If there are no seasonings, there must be plain boiled water. I’ll just eat boiled food tonight!”
Cao Zhengpeng, who had gained experience from the first two episodes, was no longer so compliant and immediately nodded, “Yes, let’s eat boiled food. Boiled food is good for the stomach.”
Fu Anqi also raised her hand and said, “Boiled food doesn’t make you gain weight! I’m used to it.”
Zhang Shanfeng saw the guests planning to eat boiled food and immediately stopped them, “No, you must have seasonings to eat dinner.”
Just as Zhang Shanfeng was feeling smug about the rules he had enforced, he saw Lin Yanran speak.
“If we have seasonings, we can eat, right?”
Hearing this sentence, an alarm immediately sounded in Zhang Shanfeng’s head, and a bad premonition arose.
No way, no way!!
Yanran couldn’t possibly have thought of a way to exploit a loophole again!!!
This scene was too familiar; Zhang Shanfeng’s scalp tingled, and he was about to say something.
But before he could speak, Lin Yanran smiled faintly. “I have seasonings here.”
????
Zhang Shanfeng looked at Lin Yanran in disbelief.
What did he just say???
Seasonings??
Where did he get seasonings??
Didn’t we just search the luggage and the bag!!!!
Please consider supporting me on Ko-fi if you like what I’m doing. Thank you for reading! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)
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MicoLy On FCC Chapter 37.3