The car stopped at a park and Xue Molin was the first to get off,
"Oi, you can get out of the car now. They said we're supposed to gather here."
"Is that so…?" Wen Jiexi stepped out of the car and turned her head only to see Xue Molin pulling Li Lingmeng back into the car and then waving at her,
"We'll be leaving first, I wish you good luck and a wonderful week~" After saying that, Xue Molin blew Wen Jiexi a kiss and then slammed the door shut before Wen Jiexi could react. And then without a second word, the car drove off, leaving Wen Jiexi in the dust.
"But I….." What am I supposed to do? Wen Jiexi retracted her (Erkang-styled [1]) outstretched hand and looked around helplessly at the deserted park. As someone who used to rely on others for everything, she was entirely unfamiliar with taking care of herself. Where was she? Where should she go? Her phone was still in the car! QAQ!
"Huh? Jiexi! You're here too?!" Suddenly an all too familiar voice sounded out.
"Wen Ting?!" Wen Jiexi turned her head in surprise to see a friend she hasn't seen for months looking at her from behind a pair of bushes. She never expected to see Wen Ting here too. Was it possible that they were doing the variety show together? She hurried forward,
"Wen Ting, you're here too. This is great, it is good to have a friend with me." Wen Jiexi said, her conflicted heart relaxing.
"Hehe, it's not just me! Look over there!" Wen Ting laughed happily and then pointed behind her. Wen Jiexi followed Wen Ting's gaze and found a small pavilion behind Wen Ting with three people sitting inside.
"Sister Heling, Brother Yan, and Yuyan?! You're all here too?!" Wen Jiexi exclaimed.
"Oh, Jiexi, you're here too! I knew we were all going to participate in a variety show but I never thought it would be the same one! I never thought we would all be together again!" Lan Yuyan smiled brightly when he saw Wen Jiexi and waved at her excitedly.
"Jiexi, you're here too." Chu Heling greeted softly.
Ah, Sister Heling is still the same gentle older sister as before!
"Hello." Yan Haocheng nodded.
Yan Haocheng was also the same iceberg face with facial paralysis as before.
"Don't tell me all of our crew is here?! That would be so illogical! But it also means our crew is just too awesome!" Wen Ting laughed while grabbing her stomach.
"No, if that was the case then it may cause an uproar. Even if the show is produced by the same company, it will be a little too controversial." Chu Heling said helplessly.
"Hey, no need to be so serious." Wen Ting rubbed her head sheepishly.
"If you already think it's illogical, why would you still think it's possible?" Wen Jiexi sat beside Wen Ting, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"I'm so hungry….I haven't even eaten breakfast yet…they made us assemble so early…do they want to kill us…" Lan Yuyan said weakly, lying on the table in sorrow.
"It's not just you, everyone here was directly thrown and abandoned here. I was the first one here and no one was around! I even thought I ended up in the wrong place again." Wen Ting pouted a little, remembering the anxiety and tension she had at the beginning. She really wanted to beat up this irresponsible production crew!
"Does anybody have any money on them? I didn't even bring my phone too…" Wen Jiexi asked with a wry smile.
"Same."
"Me too."
"It seems that everyone abided by the rules….nobody bought anything other than themselves." Che Heling smiled bitterly.
"Are we supposed to wait for the production crew now? But where are they!" Wen Ting wailed.
"I don't think they'll show up until everyone gets here. Otherwise, they're probably hiding somewhere." Wen Jiexi guessed as she rubbed her chin.
"That's possible. Should we start searching for someone/ Maybe if we find the production crew we can ask them for some food." Lan Yuyan's eyes lit up and he laughed happily.
"Even in this situation, you can still shamelessly say you'll beg for food?" Wen Ting rolled her eyes at Lan Yuyan.
"Ha, I've already prepared to lose my image! When I learned I was participating in a variety show, I had gone through some hellish training! I am not afraid! Eating is more important than anything!" Lan Yuyan patted his chest without even an ounce of shame.
The four people present: "…." What kind of training did this child go through?
"Wait a little longer. We're supposed to meet at eight and it's not time yet." Yan Haocheng said as he glanced at his watch.
Ten minutes later, more people arrived one after another. The first one was a small-time actor named Huo Lin'er who has a somewhat introverted personality and blushes whenever she talks.
After the blushing girl was a teen idol named Shi Junmao who had acted in several idol dramas as a supporting male character. His personality was a hearty type and he was not a bad person. He immediately hit it off with Lan Yuyan and they decided to call each other brothers from the get go.
The last person was a middle-aged uncle in his forties. Although he was not an actor, his fame made him quite well-known to everyone else. He can be said to be a big star from the previous generation and someone everyone else grew up watching. His name was Mu Du and he had a humorous personality. In fact, every artist gathered here had a good personality and everyone got along together.
"So what are we going to do now? We can't just wait here. Ohhh, old little me can't stand being hungry." Big brother Mu Du said while clutching his waist.
"The old cannot go hungry, let alone the young, people who are the pillars of the country's future!" Lan Yuyan imitated Mu Du's movements and the two looked funny together.
At this moment, a large group of masked people in black rushed over and surrounded the pavilion with the leader of the group shouting,
"Rob them!"
The eight people gathered together looked at each other. Did they look like rich people with money to steal from?
"Is this part of the program?" Wen Ting scratched her head puzzledly.
"Then this is a really weird and strange segment." Wen Jiexi couldn't help but complain a little.
"Come, come, leave the job of protecting the ladies to us! Come on, lads, don't underestimate this old uncle!" Mu Du patted his chest and shouted, adding to the rising momentum.
"I'm coming too!" Lan Yuyan yelled like he wished for the whole world to be in chaos. [2]
"Count me in." Shi Junmao replied eagerly.
"Have they been shot up with chicken blood? This…" Wen Ting was still confused and turned towards Chu Heling,
"Sister Heling, what do you think?"
"They should be from the production crew." Chu Heling said hesitantly.
"Then we can't fight them." Wen Jiexi added helplessly.
"I-I'm fighting too…." The little actor, Huo Lin'er, who had been hiding behind Chu Heling tremblingly raised her little fist.
"What are you going to do?" Wen Ting asked blankly and then watched as the girl ran up to Mu Du's side.
"Oh, little doll, what are you doing? It's dangerous here, please step to the side…." Before Mu Du could finish, he saw the girl close her eyes and take a deep breath before roaring like the thunder,
"Why are you robbing us?! Don't you see how poor and penniless all eight of us are sitting here? Do you want to rob us? We want to rob you instead! I'm hungry and almost starved to death! Make trouble! Make trouble! Why can't you wait until we are full before you make any trouble!" When she finished, Huo Lin'er hid behind Mu Du's huge body, her face red as everyone else just stared at her.
Mu Du: ?! So it turns out that this girl is actually this powerful!
Masked men in black: What just happened?
Wen Jiexi and others: ….Can't judge a book by its cover….
"I'm very good at getting in character….I'm good at imitating….learned from the other people who used to curse and live on my street…. If I have to I can even forcibly act strong…." Huo Lin'er lowered her head shyly and then fidgeted her fingers nervously.
Everyone: This is forced strength, this is true formidable strength!
"Whahahaha! Little girl, you're awesome!" Wen Ting laughed and pushed forward to hug Huo Lin'er's shoulders.
"Don't be afraid, we will protect you!"
"Uh….charge! Capture them!" The leader recovered from his shock and quickly waved his men forward. The dozen or so men in black immediately divided into two groups to cut off the two exits in the pavilion.
"Jiexi! It's up to you!" Wen Ting patted Wen Jiexi on the shoulder and then returned to sit behind Chu Heling with Huo Lin'er who still looked quite panicked.
If someone else was here, they would definitely feel this is a strange scene. These eight people were obviously being surrounded by more than a dozen people and it should be reasonable to say that the smaller group was at a disadvantage. But, instead, it was the men in black who kept getting flung out of the pavilion and landed on their backs. Fortunately, the grass in the park was very soft and so there should only be some light bruises and no serious injuries. And so, the men in black would keep getting back out and charging forward.
The situation continued in a cycle for another five minutes when finally….
"Ok, stop!" A smiling uncle walked over with a few people, clapping and laughing. The men in black finally stopped and took off their masks. Under each mask was a young man whose face was flushing red with exertion. The smiling uncle gave Wen Jiexi a thumbs up,
"Sure enough, the little stunt performer's skills are really good!"
"I was lucky, that's all." Wen Jiexi smiled. The four people beside her who already knew about her skills looked unfazed while the other three were holding their chests in shock. They just saw with their own eyes what a 'human basketball' is. This thin and slender little girl had effortlessly thrown the men in black with one hand even when they grabbed her wrist! She used clever and skilled techniques to easily throw people out. Are girls nowadays all this terrifying?
"Come on out! We were just playing with everyone. No one is hurt, right?" The uncle laughed. What he said was right for if the men in black were serious, Wen Jiexi alone would not be enough to protect them and it would've required everyone to fight.
"Old Zhan, your hospitality is terrible!" Mu Du and the uncle seemed to know each other. He angrily stomped out as the others walked out one by one.
"It's for the entertainment effect!" The uncle shrugged, smiling like an old fox.
"Greetings, I am surnamed Zhan and you guys can call me Old Zhan. I am the person in charge of the production crew. As long as you listen to me, everything will be fine. Now, let's announce the rules of the next game!"
Old Zhan waved his hand and two men came forward carrying a big folded roll of paper.
"This is our theme this time!" With a wave of his hand, the paper unrolled and the word "Animal" was printed largely on the white paper. Underneath were many illustrations of animals and it looked rather familiar….like something their kindergarten teachers would put up as decoration….
"I believe you must've seen our show before. Indeed, you did not read wrong, for you will wear animal costumes during the entire time you're on this show!"
Old Zhan waved his arms happily and then paused but it was a pity that everyone only looked at him silently. The men's eyes showed rejection and unwillingness while the women's eyes showed shame. But their gazes did not make Old Zhan retreat. On the contrary, it only made him cheekily wink at them and everyone felt a bad premonition.
"Aiya~ Let's draw for your animal first!" Old Zhan laughed and the staff beside him took out a box that contained several small slips.
"Alright, who's going first."
As the eldest and feeling pressured by everyone's gaze, Mu Du stepped forward first. He wailed silently in his heart, aren't you guys supposed to be considerate of the elderly? At the same time, he could only lower his hand into the box and take out a slip of paper.
"Congratulations, Mu Du, for winning the costume of the grizzly bear!" Old Zhan announced loudly and then at the same time patted Mu Du's shoulder,
"A big bear, that suits you well."
"Beat it!"
"Aiya~ Hurry and change your clothes! Next!" And like successfully selling off a cheap good, Old Zhan had Mu Du dragged away before crying out again.
As they couldn't escape their fate, the remaining people could only rub their nose and draw their lots. As for Wen Jiexi, she could only cry when she saw her lot but no tears fell. Why would she want to cry? That's because of the two big words written on it, Little Sheep (White). Not just a sheep, but a little white sheep! She wanted to assert a domineering and cold image, but already failed in the first half!
Ten minutes later, the eight people lined up in their various animal costumes. If they weren't wearing a bitter smile, they were wearing an expression like they've given up on the world. As for their animals…
Mu Du: Grizzly Bear.
Yan Haocheng: Lion.
Lan Yuyan: Husky.
Chu Heling: Deer.
Wen Jiexi: Little white sheep.
Wen Ting: Horse.
Huo Lin'er: Scottish fold cat.
Shi Junmao: Panda.
The animal costumes were full-bodied suits with only the face exposed. On their heads were hooded with animal ears. As a lion, Yan Haocheng even had a majestic mane and everyone had a tail hanging on their butts. The whole outfit looked like a one-piece but it was actually a two-piece suit. They made it like that so it was easier to go to the bathroom.
Wen Jiexi looked down at her shoes. Her shoes were specially made and designed to imitate the soles of various animals. However, for Wen Jiexi's sheep hooves and Wen Ting's horse hooves, they could only make it look almost like the actual thing. The others even had delicate animal claws on their shoes.
"Actually, it's easier to move in these things and it won't be a hindrance at all…well, except for the tail." Lan Yuyan bounced around, his tail swishing behind him. His whole person looked happy and satisfied. Wen Jiexi agreed with his words as her sheep's tail was relatively short and so there wasn't much hindrance.
"Ok! It seems that everyone is satisfied with what you're wearing." Old Zhan jumped out again, his cunning smile made his fox-like features even more crafty looking.
"Since everyone has finished changing, let's start the game that everyone is looking forward to!"
Everyone: We were not looking forward to it at all!
"Then I will start to explain the rules of the game!" Old Zhan rubbed his hands together and then printed at a panel held by his staff member.
"This is your first mission!" Saying so, he tore off the upper part of the velcro covering it. The text written below said, "Make money!"
Old Zhan held out his hands, his face full of faked disdain,
"You see, you guys are just a bunch of poor beggars right now and our crew cannot support you. So the first thing to do is to make money and support yourself! Oh, by the way, we've filled the schedule with plenty of activities today and so the time for you to make money is very limited, you only have this one day to do so."
Everyone: We're poor?! Weren't you the one who told us not to bring anything! Liar!
"Of course, taking pity on you poor souls, we have eight items here to help you. Two of these items are clues to help you find our mysterious guest stars! As long as you find these mysterious guest stars, we can guarantee to support your basic needs! But if you want something better than that, you need to earn it yourself! You can partner up or earn money by yourself! It's up to you to decide how you want to split it later! Come, time to draw your numbers, and see what you get." Old Zhan shouted loudly.
Another eight boxes were placed in front of them and Wen Jiexi drew out the number 8. Then Old Zhan spoke again,
"Alright then, we kindly ask that you grab the corresponding box. Ah, yes, some of the items are relatively large and are unable to fit inside a box so we put a note in the box instead. Please grab the note and exchange it with our staff to get your item."
Wen Jiexi opened her box. Inside was a mobile phone. A small phone charm was hanging from it but the screen was locked when she turned it on. How was she going to open it? Was she supposed to search for the passcode or something?
"Huh? Jie Xi, you got a phone? I only got this stupid empty box with only a note in it." Wen Ting said enviously.
"But the phone needs a passcode if I want to unlock it." Wen Jiexi smiled bitterly and found that Chu Heling was holding a similar phone. Huo Lin'er got a note that had the character for 'violin written on it, Shi Junmao got a weird pen, Lan Yuyan got a hat, Yan Haocheng got a vegetable basket and Mu Du got the worst…a cooking apron….
Everyone glanced at each other. What the hell is going on?
"Congratulations to the contestants Wne Jiexi and Chu Heling for getting the clues for the mysterious guest stars! Good luck with finding them and making money!" Old Zhan yelled and then left as a few cars pulled up to drive him away.
Everyone: "…"
"If we just go out like this, we're going to be very conspicuous…." Wen Ting said as she pulled on her clothes. Not just conspicuous, they were simply asking to get gawked….plus they have three very famous stars here and the others can be considered slightly famous stars too so how can they not be stared at if they just leave like this? Instead of making money, won't they be surrounded by fans!
"So it's inevitable that we will have to separate!" Mu Du scratched his head.
Immediately after he said that, Yan Haocheng grabbed Lan Yuyan and left.
Wen Ting hooked her arms around Huo Lin'er and Wen Jiexi. The three of them then also attacked Chu Heling and dragged her with them. However, they at least said a few words before leaving, unlike the cold Yan Haocheng.
"We women will naturally take care of each other! Good luck, old uncle!"
Mu Du looked around his empty surroundings: "…." Ah, there was still that little teen idol left.
"Let's go together?"
"Ok, but what can we do with our stuff?" Shu Junmao naturally had no complaints but still helplessly asked him a question.
The two men looked at their pen and cooking apron and then looked at each other. Bow can they even participate in this game?! Damnit!
The group of four females went to sit on the bench before studying the two phones.
"The passcode is four numbers and it seems we will only have three opportunities to solve it." Wen Ting studied the phones but could not see something that looked remotely like a clue.
"A clue…what about the pendants?" Huo Lin'er pointed at the small phone charms hanging from the phones. They were indeed the only things that looked like a clue.
The mobile phone Wen Jiexi had a phone charm of a tiny woman holding a crown. There was a tiny puppy sitting beside her, a small character for 'food' behind her, and finally a small stack of money sitting beside the woman.
On the other hand, Chu Heling had a phone charm of a woman holding a stack of paper. A miniature magazine, small diamond-shaped plastic stones, and, like Wen Jiexi's phone charm, a small stack of money sat beside the tiny woman.
"Looks like the mysterious guest stars this time should both be women." Chu Heling looked at the two figures and guessed. The other stuff might be the person's preferences or hobbies but they didn't know how this was going to help them figure out the passcode.
"I think they are clues for the location since there are no numbers on it. The only thing that is the same between the two is the stack of money but money represents a lot of places. The most obvious example is a bank I guess.' Wen Jiexi rubbed her chin.
"If you had to guess a few places then some obvious ones are maybe a pet center or pet shop for this dog, a food center for the 'food' character, a bookstore for the magazine, and a…jewlery store for the diamonds?" Wen Ting listed several locations.
"Maybe we'll have to visit all these places to figure it out." Wen Jiexi smiled bitterly.
"The most difficult thing is what the women are holding…what they are holding should be their occupations…but an occupation that holds papers is very general, many occupations do that. But, what occupation involves crowns?"
The four stared at each other and in the end, it took another ten minutes before they wrote down a few more guesses. They had a total of ten different locations written down and it looks like they will need to run around a lot.
"I'm unfamiliar with the place and life here, does anyone know this area?" Wen Jiexi looked around, hoping for someone who knew the place to come along or else their chance of getting lost would be very high.
"I-I've played around here before….it's fairly familiar to me…"Huo Lin'er raised his hand under the surprised gazes of the other three.
"Wuooo….Well, no matter where we go…I'm starving to death over here…" Wen Ting wailed, clutching her grumbling belly.
"Yeah, making money is the key point. After all, even if we can't find the guest stars they will arrive sooner or later. The important thing is we should earn enough money to buy food for this week. It's already half past nine but if we work tougher we can double the money. We have to hurry and earn a windfall."
"Then let's sell our acting! Acting is the easiest pulse we don't have to worry about not getting any attention as our clothes will naturally attract people. Can anyone play the violin?" Wen Jiexi asked.
"I can." Chu Heling raised her hand.
"But attracting attention with a violin isn't enough." Huo Lin'er whispered as she held out the violin.
"Why won't it be? With our costumes, Sister Heling's face, and the violin it will be easy to attract people in a crowded face. As for splitting up the work, Sister Heling will play the violin, I will be responsible for gathering and managing a crowd and Lin'er will walk around with a cardboard box to collect money. Careful not to get mobbed when holding the money collection. As for Jiexi….we can't let those fighting skills of yours go to waste…"
T/N:
[1] Erkang hand: meme in China.
[2] to wish for the whole world to be in chaos: Basically to not fear anything else and not afraid to let the world fall into chaos.