“President Shen, I really can’t stay here any longer!”
Early in the morning, Song Xiyuan called Shen Yuanming, demanding to go back.
“You can’t even keep an eye on one person properly,” Shen Yuanming said with a dark, displeased tone.
“You have no idea about that crazy woman—there’s nothing she can’t do! Stealing the spotlight is one thing, but before she wouldn’t utter a single word, and now she shuts you down before you even open your mouth…”
Shen Yuanming paused. He naturally remembered Ge Yan’s barrage of words from yesterday.
Her temperament had indeed become more aggressive than before.
After hanging up, Shen Yuanming snapped back to reality and lightly raised his glass, clinking it with Cen Yan’s.
Cen Yan’s eyes sparkled slightly, as if she had suddenly thought of something.
“Ah Ming, I think the show Ge Yan is participating in is quite interesting.”
Shen Yuanming’s gaze darkened. “Is that so?”
He had already guessed what Cen Yan meant by saying this.
The show had already made it to the trending searches several times, and the live footage had been edited into various viral moments. The most controversial figure was Ge Yan.
Come to think of it, when did she learn all these skills?
Shen Yuanming smiled faintly and took Cen Yan’s hand. “I’ll accompany you. Let’s treat it as a vacation.”
Cen Yan’s eyes lit up. “Ah Ming, you’re so good to me.”
The afternoon task had been announced: digging lotus roots.
Ge Yan and the others had already arrived, wearing rain pants and carrying hoes. They walked into the mountains in a line, looking like a baby bus.
The production team had rented a small mountain fish pond and hired experienced lotus root farmers to assist them.
After walking for about twenty minutes, they finally reached the fish pond.
The pond didn’t look very deep, but the water was murky. Even Ge Yan, who had only ever caught fish in a pond, had never dug lotus roots before, so it seemed a bit challenging.
The old farmer said lotus roots were actually easy to find—they were just a bit deep. If they dared to feel around in the water, they could find them deep in the mud.
The group that dug the most lotus roots today would earn two carrots for their calf.
The production team was stingy, but no one expected them to be this stingy—working so hard for just two carrots…
But everyone thought about how their calves in the yard were almost sick of eating corn and decided to go for the carrots.
The lotus root farmer went in first, and it didn’t seem too difficult. Qin Dehua immediately followed.
As soon as he stepped in, he exclaimed—the water was cold, and the mud at the bottom felt like it was sucking him in.
“You all need to be careful. It’s easy to lose your footing here,” Qin Dehua warned.
One by one, they carefully waded into the water. Song Ruan was the youngest but tried his best not to hold the group back, mimicking the farmer’s movements as he felt around below.
Soon, Qin Dehua found the first one—two thick sections of lotus root.
Excited, he thrashed around in the water like an ox, splashing mud all over Song Xiyuan.
Song Xiyuan gritted her teeth silently. Was this big oaf deliberately messing with her?
The live chat erupted again:
“Let’s just sign Dehua up for a competitive variety show!”
“Xixi looks so adorably confused, ahhh!”
“This reminds me of my grandpa—he used to dig lotus roots for me too.”
A while later, Shen Yan also managed to find one.One, two, three—even Song Ruan had found two, but Ge Yan still had nothing to show. She had no idea what was going wrong, so she simply gave up and started randomly groping in the water. After all, she had already prepared other snacks for Hua Niu.
But the next second, something slippery brushed against the back of her hand.
Ge Yan froze for a moment, but instead of being scared, she followed that direction and reached out.
Song Xiyuan watched her struggling, with not a single lotus root in sight nearby, and the smile on her lips widened once more.
Finally, she had the upper hand!
“Ge Yan, are you having trouble finding any? Do you need my help?”
But Ge Yan had no time to pay her any attention. Bent over, her face almost touching the murky water, she held her breath and searched intently for something.
Song Xiyuan was ignored again, and her anger flared.
Seeing that the cameras weren’t focused on this side, Song Xiyuan moved closer.
“You won’t find lotus roots like that! You have to dig your hands into the mud…”
Before she could finish, she suddenly bumped into Ge Yan, pretending it was an accident, and pressed down hard, shoving her into the water.
Before Ge Yan could react, her entire head was submerged in the muddy water, instantly engulfed in darkness and suffocation.
“Ah!” It was Song Xiyuan who cried out first.
Everyone stopped and hurriedly looked toward Ge Yan.
Song Xiyuan, as if unable to keep her footing and seemingly frightened, flailed about, pressing Ge Yan’s head down again and again.
Qin Dehua quickly sensed something was wrong. He strode over, grabbed Song Xiyuan’s hand, flung her aside, and then pulled Ge Yan up.
Ge Yan’s face was covered in mud, her hair matted with it, and she couldn’t even open her eyes.
Song Xiyuan looked innocent. “My leg cramped, and I couldn’t keep my balance. I’m sorry, Ge Yan…”
The livestream might not have captured it clearly, but Qin Dehua, being so close, had definitely seen it.
This girl was deliberately targeting Ge Yan.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Ge Yan coughed a few times and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
She hadn’t expected Song Xiyuan to be so ruthless.
“I’m fine… Wait a minute!”
Gasping for breath, she suddenly bent over again, pressing close to the water’s surface to search below.
Qin Dehua frowned. “Forget about digging for lotus roots now. Go wash up quickly…”
But Ge Yan remained still, and with another effort, she pulled something out of the water.
She tightly clutched a black object in both hands. It struggled in her grip, splattering mud all over her face, but she laughed with pure joy.
“Ah! I caught a fish!”
Everyone was instantly stunned. The lotus roots they had just dug up suddenly seemed far less appealing.
Even Song Xiyuan’s earlier smugness was washed away.
The lotus farmer estimated the fish weighed at least three pounds.
The production team hadn’t expected this either. The fish pond had been abandoned for so long, yet they had an unexpected harvest.
“This sister really has a lucky charm aura!”
“Is the production team trying to hype up Sister Ge with some mystical storyline?”
The barrage of comments almost covered the entire screen.
Emerging from the lotus pond, everyone was exhausted, but they carefully escorted Ge Yan, who was cradling the big fish, all the way to the distant shore before daring to set it down.
The livestream became even more lively with the interaction, and the number of viewers skyrocketed.
Comments unanimously demanded an extension of the livestream time, with the keyword: livestream cooking the fish!
Shen Yan joked at the screen, “Barbecue last night, big fish tonight—we’re practically on a countryside getaway variety show!”
Only Ge Yan, supported by Qin Dehua and Song Ruan, was being cleaned up at the shore.Song Xiyuan pretended to come over to check on her, her smile barely holding up.
“Oh dear, Sister Ge Yan, I’m so sorry. I got scared and just panicked.”
Qin Dehua looked serious. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You almost caused my little sister to get hurt!”
Song Xiyuan had finally gotten her revenge and couldn’t care less about what some internet celebrity thought of her.
“Sister Ge Yan, you’re not angry, are you?”
Ge Yan straightened up, rubbing the mud on her hands that hadn’t been washed off.
“Of course not!” Her smile was even more fake than Song Xiyuan’s. The next second, she smeared mud all over Song Xiyuan’s face.
“I certainly don’t mind! Sisters should be close—let me help you wash your face too!”
Song Xiyuan was no match for Ge Yan. Pinned to the ground, no amount of screaming could save her.
“Let’s do a mud mask while we’re at it!”
The camera panned over to them from a distance, vaguely capturing Ge Yan and Song Xiyuan rolling around on the grass. The comments section was nothing but harmonious.
“Look, they’re still playing together. So much for the rumors of them not getting along!”
“Dehua is laughing so happily, hahaha!”
“I envy their sisterly bond!”
After yesterday’s ordeal, Ge Yan had successfully evolved from a cooking novice into a little kitchen goddess. The task of frying fish was unanimously handed over to her.
Sure enough, scaling, gutting, and cleaning—she handled it all effortlessly.
Qin Dehua felt bad about freeloading, so he shared one of his carrots with Hua Niu.
The fish was cleaned, its flesh tender and plump. Ge Yan estimated that the leftover seasoning from yesterday’s barbecue should be enough, but at the last moment, she realized they were missing cilantro and ginger.
These two ingredients were essential—all six of them loved cilantro.
Some suggested making do without, while others argued that since it was a rare treat, they shouldn’t cut corners.
Finally, they came up with an idea: borrow some from the villagers.
But they were unfamiliar with the area, and the sun had already set. No one dared to knock on a stranger’s door.
Ge Yan thought of the “distant” neighbor who had given her garlic the night before.
If they had garlic, they probably had ginger and cilantro too.
“I’ll be right back.”
Ge Yan untied her apron. Before anyone could ask where she was going, she dashed down the path in the other direction and disappeared from sight.