“Of course, you can.”
Watching Yan Chi take Chu Zhu’s smart watch and lower his head to add contact information, Chu Kai felt his pupils dilate in shock.
He had never expected that when handing over their items, Chu Zhuo would summon the courage to ask the adult why he didn’t have a watch, and why he couldn’t become a good friend with a child.
Nor did he expect Yan Chi to patiently explain to Chu Zhuo that he had a way.
And then added his own contact information straight onto Chu Zhu’s watch.
After adding Chu Zhuo as a friend and handing over both his phone and the children’s smart watch, Yan Chi looked at the two medicine boxes, several boxes of throat lozenges, and pear syrup candies that had been forcefully crammed into his suitcase, and unconsciously cleared his throat twice.
He placed the entire box of pear syrup candies into Chu Zhu’s backpack, saying, “A return gift for the love-filled breakfast.”
Chu Zhuo felt the weight of the backpack on his back increase.
He looked behind him, saw nothing at all, accidentally lost his balance, and almost tripped himself over.
With lightning-fast reflexes, Yan Chi reached out with a large hand to steadily catch him, reminding him to be careful.
Sitting innocently in Yan Chi’s sturdy crook of the arm, Chu Zhuo looked down at the insulated lunch box placed on the ground and said, “My daddy made this, you must eat it all up, Yan Daddy~”
He had remembered this love-filled breakfast all week long, repeating it to Chu Kai every single day at breakfast.
The shooting location for the second phase was not far away, only a one-to-two-hour car ride from home, so Chu Kai had cooked the meal in the morning and arrived ahead of schedule, keeping the love-filled breakfast warm until now.
Just as Yan Chi bent down to lift the lunch box, Village Chief Wan Hua had finished reading the commercial script and announced the method for selecting houses this time.
House selection in this episode relied primarily on luck.
The family groups arrived in sequential order, selected an item representing a house, and found their respective dwellings within Miyao Village based on that item.
Chu Zhuo picked a collection of poetry with a worn cover and yellowed page corners.
Chu Kai and Liao Zhenzhen, rotated into the Wang father-and-son group, followed them to search for a house associated with the broken antique necklace.
“Thank you, Zhenzhen,” Chu Kai moved closer to Liao Zhenzhen, lowering his voice to express his gratitude. “No one else wanted to be with me after the regrouping; thank you for choosing me again.”
Liao Zhenzhen’s brow twitched as she remained silent for a few seconds.
Everyone in the crew knew Zhang Zijun was a connected guest, but only Liao Zhenzhen knew that Chu Kai was also a connected guest.
She had simply capitalized on information she accidentally overheard during a drinking session to cozy up to Chu Kai and gain some presence.
Yet this impure person of hers was constantly thanked by Chu Kai as if she were a saint.
Turning to look at Chu Kai, Liao Zhenzhen curved the corners of her lips into a meaningful smile, patted his shoulder, and said, “No need to thank me; being in a group with you brings me benefits too.”
Seeing Chu Kai’s bewildered reaction, the smile on Liao Zhenzhen’s lips widened as she nonchalantly added, “You’re a Beta and a kind person, so you won’t throw tantrums and flex pheromones like Alphas do whenever they get angry, using pheromones to suppress a low-ranking Alpha like me. Plus, you’re way stronger than that weakling Zhang Zijun. Being in a group with you is a total breeze.”
Following this string of praises, Chu Kai’s ears turned as red as boiled eggs.
“Zhenzhen, we’ll be in the same group from now on.” Chu Kai felt he had truly found a friend on this journey.
Ten-odd minutes later, Wang Zhiling and Wang Zhiyu, exhausted from walking, finally found their house.
This was a home belonging to someone who loved collecting antiques and porcelain, with all sorts of ceramic art pieces displayed across the spacious courtyard.
Although every household in the village made a living by making and selling porcelain, this family’s architectural design and scale clearly surpassed the surrounding houses.
It seemed to be one of the prominent households in the village.
Stepping into this House 5, all kinds of modern amenities were readily available.
After taking a refreshing hot shower inside the house, Wang Zhiling and Wang Zhiyu went out to visit neighbors.
The house belonging to Jing Yuanwei and his daughter was roughly similar to the last one, while Liang Zuo and his daughter got a slightly better place with a separate bathroom and washroom.
Although Zhou Lesheng and his son’s House 1 also featured an independent bathroom, it was located quite far from the village chief’s house meeting point, requiring a long uphill walk every time.
Hurrying back from Zhou Lesheng’s place, they ran into Bei Yan and Bai Jiayu, who were still searching for a house.
“My house is House 5, the Liang family is House 3, the Jing family is House 2, and the Zhou family is House 1. That only leaves House 4 and House 6,” Wang Zhiling analyzed, leading Bei Yan and Bai Jiayu toward his direction. “Since 1, 2, and 3 are over there, 4, 5, and 6 should be in this direction.”
The sun grew increasingly harsh, and Bai Jiayu was both exhausted and sleepy. Bei Yan hoisted him onto his back, and the two groups continued on their way.
Chu Kai’s steps also grew soft and weak.
He was prone to sweating, and the bottle of water he drank earlier at the Wangs’ place had completely evaporated into sweat. His entire white short-sleeved shirt was soaked through, and his lips were gradually drying and turning white.
Feeling genuinely miserable, he finally took off his hat and mask to catch a bit of relief.
Right at this moment, Zhang Zijun, who continued following the crew as part of Bei Yan’s entourage by virtue of his connections, bumped into Chu Kai and flashed a malicious smile. “Hey! Go back and help make lunch!”
“Kitchen rotation is not our turn yet!” Liao Zhenzhen pulled Chu Kai away and glared at Zhang Zijun in rebuttal.
“Everyone has to eat together at noon, so people definitely need help,” Zhang Zijun’s lowered voice remained grating. “Brother Wang and the others don’t like too many staff members following them around, so you’re the one who needs to stay behind.”
“He,” Zhang Zijun pointed at Chu Kai and declared, “you, come back with me to help out.”
“He’s not going!” Liao Zhenzhen raised her voice, catching the attention of the cameraman ahead.
The cameraman gritted his teeth and glared at her.
If this argument continued, it might disrupt the show’s recording.
Wanting to avoid complications, Chu Kai murmured to Liao Zhenzhen, “It’s fine, hold my hat for me, I’ll be right back,” and followed Zhang Zijun back toward the village chief’s house.
On the way back, Zhang Zijun kept striking up idle chatter with Chu Kai, asking how old he was, whether he was seeing anyone, where he lived, and who lived with him.
Chu Kai realized that ever since Zhang Zijun had accidentally caught him using makeup to cover his tear mole during the first recording session, Zhang Zijun, who had previously ignored him, had started targeting him.
Forced to be on his guard against the man, Chu Kai answered his questions with vague and hesitant mumbles.
Receiving such ambiguous answers left Zhang Zijun looking highly displeased.
Glancing down at Chu Kai’s sneakers, which looked like they were bought from some roadside stall with the side patterns nearly worn completely away, Zhang Zijun sneered, “I bet your background is about the same as Liao Zhenzhen’s.”
With that, he glanced around, and seeing a villager walking out from the corner, he pulled back his outstretched arm.
“You’re luckier than Liao Zhenzhen. I don’t like Alphas.” After dropping those words, Zhang Zijun strode forward in long strides.
Chu Kai let his words go in one ear and out the other, treating them as if he heard nothing.
Upon reaching the village chief’s house, the crew members inside were indeed in a flurry of chaos, already cooking meals within the courtyard.
“I’ll help.” Chu Kai casually hurried over to a chef who was busy cooking, hoping to completely distance himself from Zhang Zijun through this.
“Alright, you.”
Just as the chef was about to assign Chu Kai a task, he heard Zhang Zijun shout, “Zhu Kai, come with me to the inner kitchen to help cook the rice.”
Just as Chu Kai lifted his foot, a small iron spoon was suddenly thrust into his hands by the chef.
Looking at the chef in confusion, he saw the man acting as if nothing had happened, turning his head back to continue chopping vegetables.