The group looking for water headed east. According to Wei Heng’s calculations, they had been traveling south when they arrived, and the mountain’s descending slope was to the east, so the river would most likely be in that direction.
Wang Ren and the others didn’t intentionally follow Wei Heng’s group, but following their own searched route, they also headed east.
Aside from searching for water along the way, they were also looking for food and places to set traps.
Zhou Youlan wasn’t paying attention to his feet and almost stepped into a puddle, but fortunately, Wei Heng pulled him back just in time.
“Be careful,” Wei Heng cautioned.
Zhou Youlan brushed off Wei Heng’s touch, putting on a cold expression. “I don’t need you to mind my business.”
“Hmm,” Wei Heng responded calmly.
Zhang Tongtong watched from the side with his brow furrowed so deeply it was almost twisted. Wei Heng was far too calm. Wasn’t he even angry or embarrassed by this?
He pulled Wei Heng aside. “Brother Wei, are you by any chance Brother Zhou’s sasaeng fan?”
He thought that if Wei Heng had romantic feelings for Zhou Youlan, he would definitely feel hurt and disappointed after being rejected so many times, but Wei Heng never seemed to.
Judging by the tone Zhou Youlan had just used, if it were him being spoken to with such cold rejections of his good intentions, having a heart full of care doused with cold water, he would be heartbroken to death.
Yet Wei Heng was always light and breezy. No matter how cold Zhou Youlan’s tone was or how many stinking faces he pulled, Wei Heng simply didn’t care at all.
Wei Heng’s kind of liking actually resembled those sasaeng fans who endlessly harassed and pothered celebrity artists, refusing to leave even after being driven away and warned countless times, no matter how harsh the insults were.
Only sasaengs could have skin thicker than a city wall like this, maintaining an eternally carefree mindset no matter how many times they were driven away.
Wei Heng’s treatment of Zhou Youlan seemed to fit every single one of these traits.
“So you’re a sasaeng.” Before Wei Heng could speak, Big Mac couldn’t hold back and turned his head first. “So you’re my brother’s sasaeng fan, no wonder.”
Wei Heng: “.”
Zhou Youlan’s brow furrowed into a deep crease. “Since when have you been prying into my life?”
Wei Heng’s lips parted slightly, then closed again.
He had no way to explain, and didn’t even fully understand what a sasaeng meant, but it seemed to be a rather unlikable identity.
“You can like my work with an appreciative attitude, but don’t harbor any other inappropriate fantasies about me.” Zhou Youlan lifted his chin, arrogant and cold. “I will absolutely never like you.”
Wei Heng nodded slightly, too lazy to argue or explain. “As long as you’re happy.”
It was hard to tell whether Wei Heng had actually taken it in or was just brushing him off, but his calm attitude made it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
Wei Heng didn’t dwell on Zhou Youlan’s words; his attention was entirely captivated by the nutuo trees here.
Feeling his way along the path, he finally found a suitable branch, chopped it down swiftly and skillfully, and then carved a small groove into each of the two cut ends. He hooked the scrubbed fine rattan threads onto both ends of the branch and pulled them tight, bending the branch slightly to form the embryonic shape of a bow and arrow.
Zhang Tongtong stared fixedly, his eyes widening in disbelief when he saw the woven fine vines bending the branch without snapping.
“Holy cow!” Zhang Tongtong exclaimed in shock. “Brother Wei, so the whole way here, you were scrubbing those thin rattan threads just to make a bowstring!”
“Whoa, not bad! You actually know how to make this,” Big Mac couldn’t help praising either.
Zhou Youlan hadn’t finished speaking, but it was clear he couldn’t get a word in edgewise anymore.
Still, his guess hadn’t been wrong. What Wei Heng was making really was a bow and arrow. Although Wei Heng didn’t look like someone who would know how to use a bow and arrow, his brain was quite smart, and what he made looked pretty decent.
Wei Heng pulled it to test it. Although the resilience couldn’t compare to a bowstring made of horsehair, under these conditions, it was considered quite a good material.
“Brother Wei, let me take a look.” Zhang Tongtong tugged here and touched there with a face full of fascination. “Wow, this branch actually won’t break, and when this string is pulled tight, it’s elastic and actually this sturdy. Too awesome!”
“The branches of the nutuo tree are flexible, making them good material for bows and arrows,” Wei Heng said.
“So these are nutuo trees.”
Big Mac remarked, “The bamboo sticks you’ve been trimming all the way here are those used to make arrows?”
“Yeah.”
Zhang Tongtong gave frantic praise. “Too cool, Brother Wei! You’re really amazing!”
How was it that Wei Heng knew how to do everything? Zhang Tongtong couldn’t help but admire him a little.
“Hey, the sound of water! There’s the sound of water!” Ke Feiyang suddenly shouted.
They all quieted down at once. Listening closely, it truly was the sound of water. Overjoyed, everyone hurried and ran toward the direction where the rushing water came from.
The moment they saw the river, everyone ran straight into it with joy.
The water was about thigh-deep and surprisingly crystal clear. This time, ignoring impurities and microorganisms, they cupped it in their hands and drank straight into their mouths, looking disheveled yet pitiful.
“Ah,” Niu Xixi let out an exaggerated scream, “why did you push me?!”
Li Xiaohuan was washing the arm on the side that had just been touched by Niu Xixi, his face full of disgust.
Li Xiaohuan was extremely homophobic. Everyone had been sweating earlier, and when Niu Xixi entered the water, he accidentally brushed against him, so Li Xiaohuan had subconsciously pushed Niu Xixi away.
Niu Xixi raised his voice and threw a tantrum. “What are you pushing me for? Are you sick in the head?!”
“Disgusting,” Li Xiaohuan spat.
Being cursed at for no reason, Niu Xixi was truly burning with rage. Splashing water, he cursed back. “Who are you calling disgusting? Did I provoke you? You look down on homosexuals, but I fucking look down on you too, you ugly piece of shit!”
The two of them traded insults back and forth, getting increasingly nasty before finally starting to wrestle right there in the water.
Ke Feiyang and Lin Yue managed to pull them apart with great difficulty, temporarily forcing them to quiet down.
Several girls took off their outer jackets and soaked in the water, feeling much cooler. Their short-sleeved shirts and vests had become completely soaked through after getting wet, causing the fabric around their chests to sag down slightly from the water’s weight.
Unintentionally catching a glimpse, Wei Heng turned his back.
He bowed his head and washed his hands, the river water flowing through his fingers bringing a much-needed coolness.
Taking advantage of the clear and clean current, he took out his bamboo tube to scoop some water when he noticed Old Ghost squatting on the opposite bank of the river, staring narrowing-eyed at the girls behind him.
Old Ghost licked his lips, his expression utterly wretched.
Wei Heng slapped his palm into the water, sending water droplets splashing straight onto Old Ghost’s face.
“Fuck!” Old Ghost was splashed backward, tumbling down onto the grass. Recognizing who it was, Old Ghost clutched his left eye, which stung from the water droplets, and glared in fury. “Fucking you again! Have a death wish, is that it? Mind your own damn business!”
Wei Heng stepped into the current in front of him, shielding the girls behind him. His cold gaze directed at Old Ghost was an unmistakable warning.
Wang Ren chuckled aloud on the bank, and hearing the commotion, Zhou Youlan and the others turned their heads back as well. With several pairs of eyes fixed on him, Old Ghost had no choice but to swallow his anger.
He lowered his voice to threaten, “You just wait!”
Zhou Youlan had no idea what had happened between them; he only heard Old Ghost apparently cursing before leaving quickly.
After drinking water, their stomachs only felt hungrier.
Big Mac grumbled plaintively, “Brother, will there be fish in this river? I’m starving to death.”
“There should be,” Zhou Youlan said, joy overflowing the corners of his eyes. “Everyone look around. If we can catch some fish, we’ll have meat to eat tonight.”
Zhou Youlan’s words instantly re-energized everyone, and they scattered in all directions to grope for fish in the water.
Niu Xixi was crying aggrievedly off to the side, but nobody had the time to pay attention to him.
There were too many people in this section, and after their ruckus in the water just now, the fish had probably been scared off. Zhou Youlan wanted to go downstream to take a look.
Seeing him head out, Wei Heng followed along downstream.
Old Ghost’s group was also in this downstream section, groping slowly in the water and not daring to make any large movements.
Zhang Tongtong and Big Mac came over as well. Zhou Youlan told them to keep their movements small. Since they had made such a commotion upstream just now, if there were any fish, most of them would likely have drifted downstream.
The riverbed was filled with broken stones and pebbles soaked for years, covered in a layer of moss. Zhou Youlan was entirely focused on looking for fish and didn’t pay attention to his footing. He stepped on a pebble, his foot slipped, and if Wei Heng hadn’t caught him around the waist, he would have practically laid down in the water.
Zhou Youlan was taller than Wei Heng, and the scene of him being held by the waist in Wei Heng’s embrace looked inexplicably comical.
Feeling as though he’d been electrocuted, Zhou Youlan hurriedly pushed Wei Heng away, stumbling a few steps before standing steady.
Wei Heng cautioned, “Be careful.”
“Ooh ooh ooh, a hero saving the beauty,” Ruan Mengmeng teased with a smile.
Big Mac said, “Brother, actually, it’s pretty good that Wei Heng follows you around. Otherwise, with a fall like that just now, the back of your head definitely would’ve hit that rock.”
Zhou Youlan looked back. He wasn’t far from the bank, and sure enough, there was a sharp little rock sitting right there.
“Brother Wei, seriously, don’t love him too much.”
“Hahaha.”
Having found water and recovered a bit of stamina, everyone could uninhibitedly crack jokes.
However, some people found this kind of behavior disgraceful. Li Xiaohuan voiced his annoyance. “If you want to ship a couple pairing, go to a dating reality show. Don’t bring it here, please.”
Even a survival variety show could have these guys spinning it into a boy’s love topic. Could they stop disgusting normal people like them?
Li Xiaohuan’s words were harsh and abruptly hit Zhou Youlan’s sensitive nerve.
He pushed Wei Heng away, his expression sinking. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from me?”
Seeing Zhou Youlan angry, the smiles on everyone’s faces slowly faded, and they didn’t dare to banter anymore.
Wei Heng raised the outer corner of his brow slightly and took a few steps back.
At that moment, a dark silhouette swam past their feet. Big Mac looked closely. It was a black catfish about the length of an arm.
“There’s a fish!”
Old Ghost’s group saw it too. That catfish was as thick as a forearm, wriggling through the water plants right by Zhou Youlan’s feet. As long as Zhou Youlan made his move quickly, that fish would definitely be caught.
However, just as Zhou Youlan held his breath and reached out to catch it, the water surface suddenly violently thrashed, scaring the fish into darting away at lightning speed.
Old Ghost reached his hand down, but he was too far away. Even if he plunged his entire body into the water, he might not necessarily catch it.
“What are you doing?” Zhang Tongtong demanded angrily. “Can’t you see none of us dared to make too big of a movement? You scared the fish away!”
“Oh, it ran away? Well, you can’t blame anyone else for being so dawdling and dragging your feet,” Old Ghost sneered with the smug smile of someone who had succeeded. “You’re all so useless at catching a fish.”
“Who are you calling useless?!” The meat that had finally reached his mouth had flown away, and Big Mac, starving to the point of desperation, felt his anger rush straight to his head. “If you want to openly rob us, just say so. What’s with playing petty tricks?”
Last time, this guy had snatched Niu Xixi’s prey, and now he was trying to steal their fish again.
While they were arguing, Ah Hu was already waiting ahead.
It was obvious Old Ghost’s group was in cahoots. They intended to snatch this fish from them and had deliberately disrupted it.
Seeing the fish wiggle into the water plants at the edge, Wei Heng pulled a sharpened bamboo stick from the bamboo tube on his back and felt his way down along the riverbank.
When Ah Hu saw Wei Heng groping his way over too, he deliberately took big strides through the water, stirring up ripples and making the water murky so it was impossible to see where the fish swam.
It was clearly the attitude of: if we can’t have it, we won’t let you guys have it either.
“Are you guys fucking retarded?” Big Mac didn’t care about whether there were cameras or not. When he got angry, whoever he was pointing at got a thorough tongue-lashing. “Do you think you guys are the only ones who get to eat? Snatch, snatch, snatch. Now look, nobody gets to eat!”
“Did your family chisel this river? Did your family raise this fish? Do you live by the ocean or something?” Old Ghost played the rogue. “I saw that fish too. Why can’t I catch it? When you reach out your hand, it’s fair and square, but when I reach out my hand, it becomes outright robbery? Your robber logic is really interesting.”
“You—” Zhang Tongtong’s face turned red with anger. “You’re simply a rogue, shameless!”
“Originally, if we caught it, everyone could share it. Because of your sabotage, nobody can eat now. Are you happy now?!”
“That’s a fish!” Ruan Mengmeng looked like she was about to cry. “How long has it been since we’ve had a proper meal…”
They were so hungry they wanted to chew on tree bark on the way here. How difficult it had been just to catch sight of meat!
Old Ghost maintained his attitude of smug satisfaction over doing bad things, picking at his ear and blowing nonchalantly toward them.
His expression clearly said: so what? I did it on purpose.