On the phone was a downloaded ebook, titled <Don’t want the emperor brothers (JiaYi)>. After scanning it, Zhong Yibin realized that the names of the two characters matched his and his elder brother’s. Even more bizarre was the content.
“Give it back to me…” Chu Qin hurriedly attempted to snatch it back. But Zhong Yibin evaded him agilely, swiftly turning to the next page to read the summary.
The story was about the loving Zhong family brothers who had simultaneously transmigrated into an ancient dynasty due to a freak accident. Zhong Jiabin became the crown prince while Zhong Yibin was a constantly-bullied prince born to a concubine. Zhong Jiabin recognized Zhong Yibin, who was being bullied by the other princes, and protected him in his embrace, allowing his younger brother to stay with him in the eastern palace. They were mutually dependent on each other for survival during the ancient times and unwittingly developed feelings of an unusual nature towards the other.
“…” Zhong Yibin was silent for a long time. Raising his eyes, he glanced at Chu Qin, whose face was as red as blood.
“I didn’t have anything to do. This was a story gifted by the reading application, I didn’t know that it was written like that, ahaha,” Chu Qin gave two dry coughs and snatched back his handphone. Seeing Zhong Yibin’s gradually sinking expression, he swallowed.
Zhong Yibin narrowed his eyes slightly and bit Chu Qin’s ear. “I’ll put you in your place tonight.”
“Wu…” Chu Qin covered his ear, his entire body flushed red.
The programs team saw this scene and lowered their heads to look at the ground. There were actually people engaging in public displays of affection on such a lonely island, how infuriating! But that was the boss and director, they could only pretend not to have noticed anything.
After lunch, the afternoon activities immediately commenced without any rest time. The week’s theme was surviving on an island and the goal was to find the treasure the pirates had hidden in the mountains.
The programs team had already set up checkpoints at various locations on the island. With every completion of the task at a checkpoint, they would be awarded a clue. Some clues were useful while others were useless; it was very deceptive.
The five groups started their long journey on the island. Having received stimulation during the first week when Yu Tang snatched items, everyone proceeded without the intention of abiding by the rules. The smart ones would think of ways to scheme others, as well as methods to avoid others’ schemes. Of course, the pure Zhao Xu continued to be embroiled in thoughts of completing the task.
The athletes’ physical strength had always been impressive, and they were the first to reach the first task point. The task was to retrieve the <Nine Suns Sutra> hidden by the monkeys at the top of the tree and adopt the martial arts postures inside. They would then receive a key to open a chest.
The job of climbing the tree was handed over to the nimble sister. Upon retrieving the sutra and flipping it open, nine hand-drawn yoga movements were listed, all of which were particularly distorted. This task needed to be done by both brother and sister. The good thing was that it was effortless for the gymnast Zhao Yan to carry out such movements. Only Zhao Xu had to go through some pain.
He had already gone without training for a year and these movements required an extremely high level of flexibility. However, he was still stronger compared to others and eventually managed to complete it. Just as he took the key, Mu Chen suddenly rushed out and swindled him of it.
“The second checkpoint’s chest has already been opened, this probably isn’t of any use,” Film emperor Mu said with an expression of regret.
“Ah? No use?!” Zhao Yan made a pained expression. In fact, he wasn’t very aware of the game’s rules even till now. He only had a rough understanding of it – that he would get a key after passing the checkpoint.
“En, the next checkpoint was completed in advance, so this checkpoint is no longer applicable. The information inside also became bogus,” Mu Chen picked up the Nine Suns Sutra with regret, suppressing his laughter with great effort. “You two did these movements for real, hahaha!”
The yoga movements inside were all strange and hilarious. It was all right for Zhao Yan to do them, but it was very strange for a muscular guy like Zhao Xu to carry them out.
Mu Chen dragged Zhao Xu to the next checkpoint. Behind them, Mu Sha used the key to open the chest, obtaining a clue card. Realizing that there was something wrong, Zhao Xu turned and chased after them. After tangling with him for half a day, Mu Chen also escaped.
Wen Qing observed this scene and struggled to keep down her laughter. “Why are you so silly!”
Wen Yu covered her mouth in laughter as well. The two sisters had sufficient intellect but lacked athleticism. Hence, Wen Qing proposed that the four of them form an alliance and split the treasure evenly. Zhao Xu found this reasonable and followed them, even speaking to the camera in a conceited manner. “I can’t look through Mu Chen and Mu Sha’s acting, it’s better to stay a bit further from them.”
“It’s big Zhao who’s silly. Mu Chen’s acting is good, but does that mean Wen Qing’s acting is bad?” Chu Qin said helplessly on front of the surveillance monitor.
The good thing was that Wen Qing didn’t reveal her true colors today and was always very united. They got past the fourth checkpoint by cooperating and opened the treasure chest. There was no clue inside, only a small bag of rice. The four people were wild with joy. In such an area, obtaining an edible clue made them even more excited.
The other two pairs of brothers were high IQ teams and engaged in a highly-exciting battle of wits. However, an afternoon’s worth of time was too short and was not enough time for the tasks to be completed. When night fell, Chu Qin announced a time-out.
“Man-eaters roam about at nightfall; exploration activities must be suspended. Courageous navigators, what you need to do is solve your dinner, as well as protect the clues and keys that you have already obtained,” Chu Qin’s tone of voice had a cadence like that of the large monsters in movies, causing everyone’s hairs to stand on end.
Due to the various struggles that had taken place in the afternoon, several groups no longer had the amicable attitude of before and prepared their dinners individually.
Mu Chen’s fishnet had undergone a few alterations by Mu Sha and could finally catch fish. As usual, Yu Tang mysteriously caught a rabbit and slaughtered it skillfully with the knife. He skewered it on his younger brother’s tool – the barbecue fork. Zhao Xu and Wen Qing found wild fruits and flowers. Without any hunting tools, these were the only things they could consume. However, they did have a good item, namely Wen Qing’s tool – a pot. With the rice obtained in the afternoon, they could cook vegetable and fruit porridge. It couldn’t get any better than that.
Just as everyone was preparing their dinner in high spirits, they suddenly realized that there was no fire.
The afternoon bonfire had been extinguished by Zhong Jiabin after they finished their meal, the reason being that with no one minding the fire while they were completing the tasks, a fire could occur. Everyone acknowledged this and thus didn’t say anything much. Now that there was no fire, they were flabbergasted, turning to look towards the calm Zhong brothers.
Since Zhong Yibin’s tool was matchsticks, he was the only one out of the ten people who had the ability to light fires. The brothers didn’t hunt, nor did they search for wild fruits, only leisurely building up a fire and using the kettle the programs team had distributed to boil water to drink.
“Borrowing your fire,” Yu Tang walked over with a branch, wanting to get some fire, but was stopped in his tracks by Zhong Yibin.
“There is a shortage of supplies. It’s fine to want fire but give us something in exchange,” Zhong Jiabin held a pot of water above the fire. If Yu Tang moved to snatch it, the fire would be put out.
Everyone finally realized the big brother Zhon’s true motive behind wanting his brother to snatch the matches. As it turned out, they were waiting for this.
Yu Tang was infuriated into laughter. He exchanged one-third of the chicken for a stick of fire. The rest wanted to borrow fire from Yu Tang, but Yu Tang similarly also wanted compensation.
Mu Chen pondered over it for a moment. Borrowing from Yu Tang was a short-sighted deal and they would offend the Zhong brothers. They would still need to borrow fire tomorrow and would also need to offer something in return. Why not give it to the Zhong family then?
As a result, Mu Chen offered a fish the size of two palms in exchange for fire. To obtain fire, Wen Qing promised to give them two bowls of porridge after it was done cooking. The Zhong brothers, who had done nothing, leisurely obtained the most luxurious meal.
Zhong Yibin was in full admiration of his elder brother’s resourcefulness and happily tagged along to eat delicious food.
After dinner, everyone was tired and wasn’t in the mood for any amusement. They went to sleep one after the other after extinguishing the bonfire. Zhong Yibin slept back to back with his brother till the middle of the night, when his eyes suddenly opened.
The moonlight shone through the entrance covered by mosquito netting. The tropical island was hot from morning to night and was full of all kinds of insects. A towel was draped over the camera in the corner. It had been covered at night when they were changing clothes and had not been taken down.
Zhong Yibin sat up, shook his sleep-laden head, and softly clambered out. He entered Director Chu’s tent amidst those who were in a deep sleep.
Chu Qin was sleeping soundly when his chest suddenly felt smothered. In his dreams, a gigantic dog was licking his face while drooling. The more it licked, the further south it went. Then, he woke up with a start. His eyes opened and with the help of the moonlight, he saw someone leaning over him with his face buried in his chest.
“Ah…” A startled scream was trapped in his throat by the pair of lips that suddenly attacked him, resulting in an aggrieved whimper.
The author has something to say:
Small theater:
Er Bing: You’re not allowed to scream, otherwise I won’t be polite
Qinqin: How won’t you be polite?
Er Bing: I’ll marinate you, then ferment you, and then marinate you again