The next day, the rain still hadn’t let up.
Perhaps because the night had been so biting cold, Gu Yan woke up to find herself tangled in Gu Ming’s embrace. She was curled tight against Gu Ming’s chest, and instead of pushing her away, Gu Ming had naturally wrapped an arm around her, resting her forehead gently against Gu Yan’s hair.
Reluctant to disturb the moment and even more reluctant to pull away, Gu Yan closed her eyes and pretended to still be asleep in the warmth of Gu Ming’s breathing. It wasn’t until Gu Ming stirred, softly stroking the hair at the back of her head and calling her name in a low whisper, that she feigned waking up.
“Yan, time to get up. We need to get breakfast ready.”
After using some gathered rainwater for a quick wash, Gu Yan grabbed the cooking utensils and stepped outside the tent to wash them in the downpour. Watching her, Gu Ming patted her head. When Gu Yan looked up with a puzzled blink, Gu Ming simply smiled. “It’s nothing. You keep going, I’m going down to gather some firewood.”
Gu Yan spoke up quickly, “Let’s go together.” She made a move to set the pot down and stand.
Gu Ming placed a hand on her head, gently pressing her back down. “No need. You stay and watch our home. Wait for me to come back and make you something delicious.”
Home…
Gu Yan’s heart skipped a beat. She lowered her head to hide the sheer delight she couldn’t quite mask, letting out a barely audible “okay.” Gu Ming gave her hair another affectionate ruffle.
Gu Ming was gone for quite a while. Gu Yan glanced at the sky…the rain showed no signs of easing. Looking around at the tents pitched on the other large branches, she noticed there was still no movement; everyone else seemed to be fast asleep.
Anxiety began to creep in, filling her head with worst-case scenarios. Restless and unable to sit still, she was just about to climb down the tree to look for Gu Ming when her companion finally reappeared.
Gu Ming looked quite a mess. Drenched from head to toe, her hair clumping together against her face and neck, she looked a bit like a stray dog caught in the rain, her fur all matted.
She was tightly cradling the waterproof tarp she had taken with her, while a bundle of wet firewood was being dragged along the muddy ground. Tied above the wood was a piece of fishing net holding something else. As Gu Ming drew closer, Gu Yan finally saw what it was: two big bunches of bananas.
Catching sight of Gu Yan peering out from the branch, Gu Ming quickly waved her off, gesturing for her to stay inside so she wouldn’t get soaked.
But how could Gu Yan just stand by and watch her struggle alone? Without a second thought, she slid down the tree trunk through the pouring rain, landing hard on her backside.
Startled, Gu Ming immediately dropped everything to help her up, her voice laced with panic. “I told you not to come down! Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?”
Leaning on Gu Ming’s support, Gu Yan stood up and took a quick inventory of her body before shaking her head. “I’m fine. It wasn’t that high, and the grass and leaves cushioned the fall.”
Gu Ming let out a sigh of relief.
Gu Yan bit her lip, feeling a bit self-conscious. “I just wanted to come down and help…”
Gu Ming gave her an amused, exasperated look. “Don’t underestimate me. This little bit of stuff is nothing.”
Gu Yan mumbled in defense, “I’m not underestimating you. I just wanted to share the load…”
“What was that?” The rain was heavy, and Gu Ming hadn’t caught her words.
Gu Yan shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Let’s move the things up.”
With that, Gu Yan walked toward the items Gu Ming had dropped. Gu Ming just shook her head, completely helpless against her stubbornness.
Gu Yan had always prided herself on her strength. After all, back when she was scraping by on her own, she had worked as a crew hand on sets, where being ordered to haul heavy equipment and props was a daily routine. But now, she found herself struggling to even lift a single bundle of firewood. It brought on a sudden wave of self-doubt.
Had she really been ruined by Yan Ling?
She looked down at her palms. The rough calluses from years of hard labor had long been replaced by smooth, soft skin, bearing absolutely no trace of the hardships she had once endured.
She recalled her very first night after Yan Ling had brought her back. The moment she woke up, an assistant named Qiu Yuan had shoved a VIP card for a luxury spa into her hands, instructing her to report there every single day.
Yan Ling had detested how rough she was, claiming she didn’t look a single bit like Gu Ming.
As time passed, those daily luxuries had indeed washed away the marks of poverty, molding her into a closer replica of Gu Ming.
“Leave the firewood to me. You carry these two,” Gu Ming said, handing her the bananas and the items wrapped in the waterproof tarp.
During the handoff, Gu Yan caught a glimpse of Gu Ming’s palms.
Despite her wealthy upbringing, Gu Ming didn’t just possess refined manners and elegance her hands bore the markings of a life richly lived.
Gathering firewood in the rain was no easy task, and such grueling work shouldn’t have fallen entirely on her shoulders. Yet, Gu Ming had taken it all on without a word of complaint.
“You should have called Xu Wen and Yin Shi to help,” Gu Yan said, her heart aching as she stared at the scratches on Gu Ming’s hands. She couldn’t hide the flash of resentment she felt toward the others.
“It’s fine. Just a few scrapes, barely broke the skin,” Gu Ming dismissed lightly.
“It still hurts. Wait here for me.” Without waiting for a reply, Gu Yan scrambled back up the tree, rummaged through the tent, and climbed right back down.
She took hold of Gu Ming’s hand, using a kitchen knife to carefully trim away the loose skin around the scratches. Fearing she might cause Gu Ming pain, she kept gently blowing on the wounds.
Gu Ming couldn’t help but chuckle. “Really, it’s fine. You don’t have to be this careful, it doesn’t hurt.” Her reward was a sharp, reproachful glare from Gu Yan.
Gu Ming immediately shut her mouth with a serious expression, though a warm, irrepressible smile danced in her eyes.
In the end, Gu Yan woke the rest of the group up and distributed the load for them to carry up.
Walking just a step behind Gu Yan, Gu Ming sighed softly, “I was originally planning on keeping the good stuff so the two of us could hoard it. Now look.”
Before Gu Yan could process the remark, Yusa’s groggy voice suddenly erupted into a thrilling shriek: “Coconuts! There are coconuts!”
As it turned out, the treasure Gu Ming had gone through the trouble of shielding from the rain was three large coconuts.
Gu Yan immediately whipped her head around to look at her, her expression a mix of wonder, surprise, and a hint of gentle reprimand. Feeling inexplicably guilty and embarrassed, Gu Ming rubbed her brow to cover it up, averting her gaze to look at the sky.
“That’s not all! There are mushrooms too…these should be edible, right?” Xu Wen discovered another treasure.
“Looking at the color, they should be fine. They look a bit like shiitake mushrooms,” Yin Shi said, leaning in to sniff them.
“They’re edible. I specifically picked the ones that had insect bites,” Gu Ming chimed in.
“And wild greens! Is this shepherd’s purse?” Yusa tried her best to identify them.
“Then what’s this?” Xu Wen picked up a bunch of long-stemmed leafy vegetables.
“Looks like water spinach,” Yin Shi identified.
“Oh my god, Gu Ming, you are amazing! How far out did you go to find all of this?” Yusa was utterly beside herself with admiration.
“It wasn’t too bad, not that far. If you head east out of the woods, it leads toward the ocean. I found the coconuts and bananas in that area. The mushrooms were closer. The weather must be just right because there were quite a lot of them growing. We shouldn’t have to worry about our mushroom supply for a while, and the wild greens aren’t far either…they’re all over the woods.”
Even the fishing net used to carry the bananas was something Gu Ming had scavenged from the beach. If it weren’t raining so hard, they could have actually gone foraging by the shore.
“Waaah, Gu Ming, thank goodness we have you on this show. Otherwise, we would have faced a total wipeout by day two,” Yusa cried dramatically, throwing her arms around Gu Ming and refusing to let go.
Gu Yan’s face darkened, entirely unconsciously.
Amused, Gu Ming quickly pulled Yusa off her. “Don’t say that. If we hadn’t all held on together, I wouldn’t have made it to the third day on my own.”
“Stop being so humble, Gu Ming. If it weren’t for you, we really would have starved to death,” Yin Shi said.
“Exactly, exactly,” Xu Wen nodded in eager agreement.
“Alright, no need for the exaggeration. Let’s get cooking, the others must be starving too.”
“Right, right, let’s cook! I’m starving to death.” Yusa eagerly grabbed a coconut to start preparing it. She was already dying for some coconut water and coconut meat porridge. If only we had some chicken, she thought, coconut chicken soup is legendary.
“Oh, right. I also managed to find two bird eggs. Let’s toss them into the porridge to cook together,” Gu Ming added, pulling two egg-sized bird eggs from her pocket.
Yusa’s eyes practically lit up. She threw up a massive thumbs-up. “Captain, you are officially the GOAT! I am following you for the rest of my life. You are my new goddess!!”