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When Shen Xingsui was waiting in the yard, he was gradually feeling better. There, he began to prepare the ingredients that the fish soup might use.
Today's weather was not so good. There was a misty light rain falling from the sky. The houses in this village were all made of blue bricks and lumber. There was a thin veil of fog in the mountains and forests, heralding the incoming spring season after the new year has passed. Even the wind tasted fresher somehow.
Shen Xingsui was cutting vegetables when he heard some movement outside.
Shen Xingchen came in with the cut fish, taking credit, "Look at how the fish is handled!"
Shen Xingsui was a little surprised, but quickly realized. "Erge... did you secretly cheat?"
"Cheated?" Shen Xingchen gasped, clearly feeling insulted, "I got it with my own ability!"
Shen Xingsui doubted that.
But now that the fish has been processed, it was a good thing. The two of them put the ingredients inside the big pot and started to cook. Obviously they followed the recipe faithfully, but the end result was... hard to describe. As blood-related members of the Shen family, their affinity to dark cuisine was too hard to overcome.
The village chief's wife fell silent after taking a sip.
Shen Xingchen obviously didn't know what to say, so he just asked, "What do you think? Is it delicious? If it's delicious, please give us the treasure and the map!"
The old woman slowly put down the spoon, and said, "Give me your points book."
This was a book that records their accumulated points.
The guests of the program group could earn points by doing tasks, and the points could be exchanged for food and clues.
Shen Xingchen actively handed it over, and then saw the old woman write a line on the notebook. He happily took it back, wanting to see how many points she added to them, but saw the label of -20 points.
Shen Xingchen's smile froze on his face.
The old woman explained to him slowly, "You two used up all my glutinous rice cakes, and yet you didn't make a single baked one. You also wasted fish and a lot of ingredients in my family. To be honest, I would like to deduct more than 20 points for you."
"..."
Seems to make sense.
Shen Xingchen's shriveled appearance amused the audience in the live broadcast room.
[They're too miserable]
[Young master is here to experience real life.]
[Is this the misery after leaving the golden thigh?]
Maybe it's because they looked too pitiful, and did try their best, the old woman still said, "But for the sake of your sincerity, I can still give you some clues about the treasure."
Shen Xingchen's spirits came back. "Thank you!"
The old woman handed over a card. The card itself had a somewhat complicated circular pattern. This pattern was strange at first glance, but if they looked closely, it did feel a little familiar.
Shen Xingsui said, "I seem to have seen it somewhere..."
Shen Xingchen didn't remember it, but he was very confident. "This must be the key clue!"
Shen Xingsui also felt that this pattern should be useful in important places, so he nodded and said, "Then let's put it away first."
After completing the task of the guardian, they began to return to the center of the village to gather. At this moment, the sky was slowly getting dark, and the guests from other groups had slowly returned. Everyone was discussing today's harvest:
"We got two mission cards."
"We got 50 points!"
"..."
While everyone was happily bragging, Shen Xingchen and Shen Xingsui were as quiet as chickens.
Anran was quite proud today, he approached and asked, "Xingchen-ge, what did you two get today?"
Shen Xingchen hadn't answered yet, but the audience in the live broadcast room had already answered for him:
[Hahaha, he got -20 points.]
[I'm laughing to death.]
[They're losing, they're losing~]
Shen Xingchen also insisted on preserving his dignity. "These mundane, mortal things shouldn't be the focus of today's discussion. You are too obsessed with them, unlike me, who have already seen through the world of mortals and stay away from those!"
Anran showed an indescribable expression.
Shen Xingchen looked at him again and asked, "What about you, how are you and Fu-ge?"
Anran replied with uncontrollable pride in his tone. "Our harvest is very good, we got the key to enter the forest."
Shen Xingchen gave a solid compliment. "You guys are awesome, it seems that you have cooperated very well."
When it comes to cooperating, Anran couldn't laugh. In fact, he lived alone all day today. Fu Jinxiao basically ignored him completely. He searched for the key according to his own ideas. They had exchanges of information from time to time, but it was solidly business-like from beginning to end.
The audience in the live broadcast room also sighed:
[I was wrong, I was really wrong.]
[I haven't seen Fu-ge talk today.]
[Wuwu... I thought he suddenly wanted to play variety shows this year]
[Maybe it's a matter of partner?]
[So he's only talkative and happy when he's with Suisui?]
The audience really felt that they had been taught a lesson by Actor Fu today. They didn't know why, but Fu Jinxiao didn't laugh or look friendly. All he did was diligently doing tasks to find the key. While there's nothing wrong with his behavior, it still felt strange.
But anyway, today was nearing the end.
Seeing that it was getting late, the director said, "Now I'll start counting the points in everyone's hands. The last group with the lowest points will face punishment tonight. First, we will not provide food. Second, you are going to sleep in a tent tonight."
A bolt from the blue.
What a ruthless reality show.
Shen Xingsui and Shen Xingchen looked at each other, and they both saw despair in each other's eyes. There was no need to think about it – they must be solidly the last. No food and sleeping in a tent... difficult...
Shen Xingchen patted Shen Xingsui on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, even without help, we can get through tonight with strength, right? If you're hungry, think of it as losing weight! We should temper our body until we have the quality of a hero!"
Fu Jinxiao's voice came from not far away, and slowly said, "I'll give half of my dinner to Shen Xingsui."
The others were stunned.
Fu Jinxiao raised his eyelids to look at the director, and opened his lips, "Can't I?"
The director didn't dare to reject Fu Jinxiao, especially when he was giving off a dangerous vibe. He nodded earnestly, "Okay, of course! Teacher Fu can share his dinner with whoever you like."
Shen Xingsui didn't expect to have this benefit, and was moved immediately. But soon he became worried, "Then you won't have enough to eat."
"It's okay." Fu Jinxiao said these enviable words in a flat tone, "My points are number one. I can get more food if I want to. You don't have to worry about this."
Shen Xingchen next to him was shocked, and he pointed at himself in disbelief. "Well, what about me?"
The director didn't mind watching the excitement. "Then you can ask for more blessings."
"..."
Shen Xingchen's expression froze. If there was a table here, no one would suspect that he would overturn it on the spot.
The audience in the live broadcast room were also laughing happily.
[Don't drag Suisui to starve together! Be a man, Xingchen!]
[Hahaha, you rely on yourself, while Suisui can rely on others.]
[Lmao, Fu-ge really dotes on Suisui.]
[Suisui always has a backer.]
Shen Xingchen hugged Shen Xingsui's arm and shouted, "Suisui, you can't leave your brother to be tortured by hunger like this! You don't want to lose your brother in the end, right?"
While Shen Xingchen was having fun while making a fuss, Shen Xingsui could only look at Fu Jinxiao helplessly.
Fu Jinxiao raised his eyebrows and glanced sideways at Tuya.
Tuya, who received the signal, understood and came over to comfort Shen Xingchen and said, "It's all right, you can eat with me, it's okay."
So the problem of dinner was solved in this way.
During the meal, everyone chatted about who the villain might be, and when they would start to eliminate people. Regarding this issue, everyone has their own guesses.
Shen Xingchen quickly took out his mission card while eating and secretly handed it to Fu Jinxiao, saying, "Fu-ge, thank you for inviting us to dinner. I will share this mission card with you."
Fu Jinxiao glanced at the pattern.
Shen Xingsui knew that he was smart, so he leaned over and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
Fu Jinxiao picked up the card and looked at it for a while before replying, "I have seen this pattern before."
Shen Xingsui's memory was very good, but what he didn't expect was that Fu Jinxiao was even more meticulous than himself. So he hurriedly humbly asked, "Where did you see it?"
Fu Jinxiao answered, "The center of the village."
Everyone else was stunned.
Because they gather in the center of the village every day, and they have never seen this pattern before.
Shen Xingsui thought about it seriously. He suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "I see, it was during the performance that day. The cloth on the floor had this pattern on it, and it was put away later."
Fu Jinxiao nodded.
Shen Xingchen was a little puzzled. "Then we should look for that person who took away the cloth. Or, we can go to the village center to have a look, but there should be nothing there now."
Fu Jinxiao pointed to the pattern and said, "There is a moon on this pattern, go and have a look at night."
Shen Xingchen showed a proud expression. "Maybe I can see the fairy at night."
Fu Jinxiao said with a smile, "Or you might see a female ghost instead."