Of the four guests present for the first episode, the rest include another top-tier idol Wei Jiangxue, long-time actor Muo Anping, and a newcomer fresh out of Acting Academy Lin Xi.
They greet each other after meeting, including Liu Yuâan and Yue Zhun who at least nodded to each other in front of the camera. They want to keep a low profile, which is thwarted by Ding Mingyao, however, who says with a smile, âif I remember correctly, Yue Zhun and Xiao-Liu are from the same company, and are in fact senior and junior under the same agent, right?â
Now, it could be said that this is just a normal, factual remark, but, this is the entertainment industry, and there are way too many people capitalising on hyperbole and misinterpretation.
Therefore, that sentence could be said to imply that Liu Yuâan is feeding off of Yue Zhun, since Liu Yuâan is currently an infamous, unpopular idol with much disparaging material, while Yue Zhun is a superstar almost ready to make the leap to the silver screen.
Their actual difference in status is too great, so, as expected, the atmosphere dies down as soon as that one sentence is uttered.
While Liu Yuâan may not have been in the entertainment industry, but having once been a practising attorney, his ability to interpret meaning within words would perhaps outrank many present. Not to mention that that is also a basic requirement of surviving the onslaught of imperial power struggles, and he, has once been an imperial prince too.
Liu Yuâan knits his brows slightly before replying, âright, weâre both from Anyan,â with Anyan being the name of the company, âour agent told us Yue Zhun is going, but I thought since weâre the investor anyway, instead of paying more money to hire another agent, I happen to be free these few days so Iâm here saving money for the company. And hey, Yue Zhun and I could look after each other too. Isnât that right?â
Anyan did the investment, and given Shao Yanxi is the single stockholder behind it, Anyan is practically Shao Yanxiâs at this point, and with that personality of his, even if Liu Yuâan said itâs also his, Shao Yanxi wouldnât say anything either. So he could use âwe.â
Meanwhile, everyone has a rather surprised reaction to the words, including Yue Zhun. He thought Liu Yuâan is only a second generation of a rather well-off family, but Liu Yuâan just claimed that he also has influence over Anyan⌠And, most importantly, the agent didnât tell him to come. In fact, Jiang He arranged for him to participate in this show; he didnât even know Anyan invested in this.
âOh, look after each other, are you now?â He Anran quickly breaks the ice with a chortling remark and a dramatic tone, completely different from his previous attitude, âI call nepotism! Oh no, now whatever will the rest of us do? Woe be unto us when they work together against us!â
Liu Yuâan smiles but does not reply.
Yue Zhun quickly follows up and says gently, âAnran, donât worry, weâll make sure to be gentle.â
In any case, as expected of a protagonist character in a novel. Liu Yuâan couldnât say Yue Zhun isnât pretty even if he were deeply near-sighted. In fact, his appearance stands out even in the entertainment industry with its myriad of good-looking people.
Unlike Shao Yanxiâs slightly colder and otherwise slightly feminine beauty, Yue Zhun is good-looking in a whole other sense. Heâs warm and cute like a big fluffy ball of sunshine.
When he smiles his eyes curve into crescent moons with a little dimple by the corner of his mouth. It can most certainly cause protective instincts to fire up among people, which is why his fanbase is made up mostly of motherly fans.
After Yue Zhun said that He Anran immediately turns to the others and continue his melodramatic performance, âhear, hear! What vile words indeed on Godâs green Earth!â
And everyone laughs in return, and the incident resolves without trouble.
A show about wilderness survival is, of course, going to be pretty harsh, at least on the surface.
So the production team tells them that tents and sleeping bags will be provided. Other than that, every guest is allowed only 5 items from their personal belongings, and everything else will be temporarily confiscated for safekeeping.
Liu Yuâan decides to keep a Swiss knife, an outdoors water bottle, a windproof lighter, a box of condiments and a flashlight, which are standard enough for wilderness survival even if considerably bare-bones.
Everyone else is considerably more unorthodox, especially Wei Jiangxue, who has taken five sets of instant hotpots , saying confidently, âthe show says five things, not just five components, so here you go, five instant hotpots. Not a single rule broken. Oh, and theyâre even matching flavours, all vegetarian!â
Everyone else ââŚâ
So an uproar starts over who gets to be in the same group with Wei Jiangxue in order to participate in her hotpots. Especially He Anran who latches onto Wei Jiangxueâs arm, âdirector, Iâm going to be with Xue-jie!â Then she sweeps a warning gaze over the rest of them, saying, âuntil death do us apart!â
ââŚâ Everyone else also wants to be with Wei Jiangxue.
Meanwhile, next to Liu Yuâan is Xu Bing, who is pretty impressed as he looks over to the mountain, which is over a thousand metres above sea level, in front of them, while thinking, what great strength one must possess to carry five whole hotpot sets up to the mountain.
Whether bringing hotpots to a wilderness survival show is inappropriate is debatable, but heâs pretty sure he wouldnât be able to hold out carrying five sets of hotpot utensils up a mountain.
Unfortunately, Wei Jiangxue ends up in Liu Yuâanâs group. And, perhaps by coincidence or by design, Yue Zhun also ends up in the same group. Besides the three of them is the newcomer Lin Xi.
Meanwhile, the movie star Xue Junming, the long-time actor Muo Anping, He Anran and the vlogger Xu Bing are in the other group.
And He Anran immediately reacts on the announcement of the results, âah, must even fate work against our journey together?!â Then, he stares fixedly at Wei Jiangxueâs hotpots, âcrying,â âmy hotpots⌠Oh, why are you not my hotpotsâ in a singsongy tone, and everyone laughs.
Lin Xi is also a pretty happy-go-lucky person, and follows up, âAnran-jie, delusions are a medical condition, because the hotpots are clearly ours!â
He Anran makes a show of holding his heart in pain.
Wei Jiangxue then proudly closes up her suitcase, blocking off the wolfish gaze of everyone else. Unfortunately, the pride is about to turn into regret, because, they are about to ascend the hill.
On foot.
And Wei Jiangxue canât even carry the suitcase on her back as an option.
Soon enough, the people who were dying to be in the same group as Wei Jiangxue before end up an immediate demonstration of the plastic friendship in the entertainment industry as they retreat as far away from her as possible, and everyone laughs again, all faithfully recorded by the cameraman.
Wei Jiangxueâs mood sinks realising she canât bring the hotpots up; she doesnât like food roasted in the wild, even if they are probably pre-prepared by the show and are not poisonous⌠But theyâre bland.
She once camped with friends and had roasted meat in the wild. She never wants to try it again. Itâs that unappetising.
That is why she brought hotpots this time, but, who would have known she couldnât carry them up.
What a bummer.
But then Liu Yuâan offers her a suggestion, âif you really want to bring them up, you can make a deal with everyone else. Offer them one in exchange for bringing another up for you.â
Wei Jiangxueâs eyes sparkle at the suggestion, âoh, youâre right! Amazing! Thanks xiao-Liu, Iâll go ask them now.â
Then she yells out her proposal.
The thousand-metre high mountain means that 20 boxes of the instant hotpot is too much, but two is fair enough. Everyone who isnât already overburdened is willing to help carry two boxes.
Wei Jiangxue is therefore pretty thankful, and so is happily chatting along with him on the way up. Since she is highly popular, compared to Liu Yuâan who is practically unknown, therefore the camera will follow the both of them as long as she sticks to him; in other words, she is helping his career.
Liu Yuâan is not that sharp to this aspect of the entertainment industry, but as soon as he finally realised it, he quietly offers his thanks.
A thousand metres is not exactly tall, but is definitely not a short way up either.
At the halfway point a few of them are already tired out.
Xu Bing is a wilderness survivalist, naturally, he is still lively as ever, so to help, he offers to help carry things for those tired out, and everyone is moved to the point of fake tears. He receives a bunch of friendzone cards.
Liu Yuâan is also fit himself, plus, given he has only brought along lightweight survivalist equipment, heâs also able to carry extra.
Normally he should be helping Wei Jiangxue, especially given sheâs been trying to help his image along the way, but when he thinks about how Shao Yanxi might react, he decides to extend his helping hand to the long-time actor whose age can be his grandparent, Mo Anping, âMr. Mo, Iâll carry your things for you.â
He Anran quickly follows up, âXiao-Liu, do you know how people end up single?â
Liu Yuâan canât help but find it funny how different He Anranâs attitude to them contrasts in front of and outside of the camera, then replies, âI donât,â since heâs not single anymore.
He Anran then happily goes into blabbering mode, before being cut off by Wei Jiangxue in the end, who says, âplease, take a drink first.â
Along the way, Liu Yuâan has been trying to somehow contact Shao Yanxi and Ren Jianzhang to explain and ask about Yue Zhun respectivelyââAs heâs sure Xiao-Zhang would have informed Shao Yanxi already at this point.
And of course, even if Xiao-Zhang hasnât, Liu Yuâan feels heâs still obligated to tell Shao Yanxi that he has no part in Yue Zhun participating in the show, otherwise this might forever be part of a rift between Shao Yanxi and him.
Over time, who knows whether this will end up being the undoing of their relationship.
Finally, when thereâs a mobile signal near the top of the hill, Liu Yuâan first sent a message over to Ren Jianzhang, then starts mulling over the exact wording to send in Shao Yanxiâs message, but Shao Yanxi is already calling him as soon as he has sent the message out.
Liu Yuâan ââŚâ
Have you been waiting staring at the phone this whole time?
Thank goodness he wrote a message, if notâŚ
He can feel a coldness down his spine.
Liu Yuâan then looks over to see the cameraman preoccupied with something else at a long distance behind, and accepts the call.
Shao Yanxi quickly says, âI know what you said. Ren Jianzhang just called me, to say that he didnât tell Yue Zhun to go; in fact, heâs only just now informed that Yue Zhun is also part of this.â
âWait, so he signed on in person instead of in the companyâs name?â
Liu Yuâan is surprised.
âNo. He has formed his own subsidiary.â Shao Yanxi replies.
Liu Yuâan ââŚâ Ok. Great. He only focused on Shao Yanxi recently and completely ignored anything else happening in the entertainment industry.
âIt is unrelated to me, and I just want to clear that out of the way first. And, if you donât like it, I can immediately withdraw from the programme right now.â
âDidnât you say that the stylised photos are out already and they canât find a good replacementâŚâ Shao Yanxi repeats what Liu Yuâan said.
âWait wait wait,â Liu Yuâan cuts him off, âyou know Iâm worried youâd be unhappy.â
âIâm not.â
âReally? Really really not unhappy?â Liu Yuâan is now smiling rather cheaply.
Shao Yanxi doesnât reply.
Liu Yuâan decides to speak seriously, âShao Yanxi, remember, itâs alright to be unhappy with me, but I want you to tell me about it, and donât hide it inside yourself. If it continues this way, it will eventually become a big problem between us. Do you hear me?â
âMm,â Shao Yanxi says, âI am unhappy, but that is your job, so I will not interfere.â