They unwittingly fell asleep after listening to a bedtime story. The weather was already very cold in November, let alone the fact that they were in a mountain village. Zhong Yibin habitually shifted towards a heat source and in his sleep, stretched out a hand to clasp the person beside him and tugged the person towards his embrace.
The Zhong family’s big brother, who was sleeping dazedly after telling the bedtime story, felt a claw suddenly stretching over from under the covers. He hadn’t reacted when he was hauled over and pressed against his brother’s body tightly.
Zhong Jiabin opened his eyes, looked at his younger brother who had shoved his head into the crook of his neck, and couldn’t help but turn rigid for a moment. This brat; he was too used to sleeping with Chu Qin. The good thing was that the night light on the camera had already been turned off so one would see their movements. Zhong Jiabin reached out and tucked his brother under the sheets, realizing that Zhong Yibin kept shifting towards him.
“Achoo—” The cold wind blew past. As if doused with cold water, the warmth in the blankets completely disappeared. Zhong Yibin suddenly sneezed and shocked himself awake, sniffing.
“Cold?” Zhong Jiabin puckered up his brows worriedly. He didn’t receive any reply; his brother had once again fallen asleep. This situation couldn’t continue, he would definitely catch a cold after sleeping a night. Zhong Jiabin took out his phone and sent Yu Tang a message.
It wasn’t much later that a flashlight illuminated Zhong Yibin’s face. The camera also promptly filmed this scene.
“What?” Zhong Yibin said unhappily as he used a hand to block the light.
“Is it comfortable sleeping under the skies?” Yu Tang’s voice came from above.
Zhong Yibin sat up and cocked his head to look at him. “It’s very comfortable. The sky is our tent and the ground our seat. We can breathe the fresh mountain air. Come come, sleep with us.”
“Tch,” Yu Tang stared at his bedhead in disdain. “This place is too cold. I’ll bestow on you two the reward of sleeping at our luxurious residence, are you going or not?”
Zhong Yibin blinked. “We’re going!” This place was truly too chilly, they wouldn’t have peace of mind sleeping at night. They would be fools if they didn’t stay at a large residence.
The audience naturally took notice of that ‘bestow’. The after-effects team typed out the word with two extremely large exclamation marks.
[Bestow, bestow, bestow…]
[Emperor, till now you still haven’t put down your idol punchline!]
[Hahahahaha…]
The Zhong brothers met up with the Yu brothers and stayed at the luxurious house. The moment Zhong Yibin entered the house, he raced towards the washroom in excitement. He had run around for a day and his entire body was drenched in sweat. It was too cold outside and impossible for him to take a bath.
The camera cut to the Mu brother-sister pair. The two of them were both adults and it wasn’t appropriate for them to sleep too close to each other. But there was only one room, so Mu Sha slept on the bed and Mu Chen made his bed on the floor.
“The floor is too cold, it won’t do,” Mu Sha said with creased brows as she lay down to test the bed he had spread out.
“It’s fine,” Mu Chen waved his hand without concern. In the production team, there were many moments when he didn’t have time to sleep. He could even sleep while on a stool, this wasn’t anything much.
Mu Sha didn’t agree and dragged her brother onto the bed. “I won’t be able to tell you a story if you sleep on the floor. What are you scared of? I was the one who gave you a bath when you were young.”
Mu Chen’s face reddened involuntarily. “That was when I was young. A grown man can’t sleep with his sister or mother.”
“Why so traditional? What are you scared of? Just treat it as us acting in a palace drama,” Mu Sha said unconcernedly. She hauled her brother onto the bed and placed a bolster in the middle to separate the two of them. This was to avoid her brother shifting towards her in the night when he slept soundly.
The corner of Mu Chen’s mouth twitched. “Palace drama…what are we acting as…”
“I’m playing the empress, you act as the imperial consort having a heart-to-heart talk with bengong,” Mu Sha raised her chin slightly as she shot a glance at her brother.
Imperial consort… The after-effects team added a large Zhuo dynasty flag and two blush spots to Mu Chen, indicating that he was an imperial consort. Thereafter, Mu Chen was given a petrification special effect and a crack split down between the two people. The words Mu Sha had previously spoken, ‘wide gap in sibling affection’ was repeatedly typed out.
Mu Sha used her handphone to find a fairytale and started to complete her task. They were originally from the northeast and Mu Sha’s way of reading the story was filled with hints of the northeast dialect. “In the past, there was Snow White. Her mother passed away, her father married a stepmother, and the stepmother fed her a poisoned apple. Then she died and a prince kissed her. With a ‘kacha’, she revived. After that, the prince and princess lived happily ever after.”
Mu Chen looked at her silently for a while before lying down wordlessly, turning his back towards his sister.
The after-effects team once again repeated ‘wide gap in sibling affection’…
The next day, everyone received their tasks in the morning.
The Yu brothers had originally been sleeping on the bed while Zhong Yibin slept on the carpet with his brother. When the staff members entered, Zhong Yibin was dead asleep while hugging Yu Lin.
The camera froze this scene and replayed what had happened during the night the previous day – Yu Lin had toppled off the bed in his sleep. Of course, Yu Tang’s kicking legs was also part of the reason. The tiny lump thus rolled onto the floor and entered Zhong Yibin’s arms with a rumble.
Zhong Yibin subconsciously hugged the thing near him, covered himself with the covers, and fell asleep. Therefore, in the morning, the scene of the two elder brothers sleeping at the sides while the two younger brothers clung onto each other appeared.
Yu Lin woke up and upon realizing that he had been sleeping in Zhong Yibin’s embrace, was so shocked that he jumped up. Turning, he noticed Yu Tang, who had already sat up. He hurriedly greeted. “Good morning, elder brother.”
Yu Tang nodded slightly in greeting. Yu Lin climbed onto the bed with his protruding buttocks, wore his clothes on his own, and ran to wash up. After washing up, he even brought over a wet towel for Yu Tang, who was playing with his phone while seated on the bed, to wipe his face.
Zhong Jiabin looked at the two brothers’ actions enviously. He pushed at Zhong Yibin, indicating for him to observe the other family’s younger brother. Zhong Yibin hadn’t slept enough and shrunk his head back into the sheets. The Zhong family’s big brother helplessly got up and went to wash up. After that, he brought Zhong Yibin a wet towel to wipe his face.
The task for the morning was for them to make their own breakfast.
The director had everyone gather at a plaza with cooking utensils and requested for every family to make their own food.
These people usually lived like princes, how would they know how to cook? The script originally meant for the elder siblings to cook for the Buns, so the change was to accommodate the elder siblings who didn’t know how to cook.
For instance, Wen Qing and Mu Sha. Mu Sha bickered with Mu Chen, saying that as the adult younger brother, he ought to take care of his sister. “Your milk powder was mixed by me when you were young, it’s now time for you to repay your older sister.”
“Why didn’t you say that I bore all the blame unjustly when I was young, and you even constantly stole my snacks! Now’s the time for you to repay your younger brother!” Mu Chen wasn’t convinced.
Chu Qin took out a pile of ingredients and distributed it to everyone. It was all raw eggs, vegetables and flour. There was no food that they could directly consume.
Zhao Xu came late with his sister, who had a head of messy hair. Carrying a comb and a rubber band, he sought help from Wen Qing with red cheeks. He didn’t know how to comb his sister’s hair and after attempting for half a day, her entire head of hair was transformed into a chicken’s nest.
Everyone was at their wits’ end. Only Zhong Yibin confidently went forward to pick up flour and eggs. He had made Chu Qin’s breakfast for such a long time that doing such things was already a piece of cake.
The nice-looking egg and evenly-mixed dough drop and vegetable soup, all looked very tasty. The background music simultaneously switched to the theme song of ‘Jewel in the Palace’. “Wulala, wulala, adouwula…”
“Director Zhong’s culinary skills are very impressive,” Chu Qin walked over to interview him.
“En, I specially learnt how to cook so that I can let my most-beloved person have breakfast,” Zhong Yibin winked at him.
Chu Qin’s face turned red. “The person in Director Zhong’s heart must be very happy.”
Zhong Yibin laughed wordlessly. He placed the fried egg on a plate and passed it to Chu Qin. “Quick, eat it while it’s hot.”
The author has something to say:
Small theater: <They’re all younger brothers but the gap in their conduct is so big>
Yu Lin: Wishing elder brother an abundance of blessings