Qin Zhao walked past him and said, "Don't be so sensitive, I'm not a bully. I won't hit you for no reason."
An Hongyu felt a little more at ease.
Qin Zhao was holding a bucket and went to the riverbank to fetch water.
The weather was hot and it was easy to become dehydrated.
When she came back, she saw An Hongyu had taken off his shirt and was fanning himself with a banana leaf.
She quickly walked inside with a look of disgust.
Sheng Xi was using straw to make a simple water filter.
By the time Qin Zhao arrived, Sheng Xi had just finished.
Qin Zhao sat next to her and said, "It's too hot during the day. The animals have all gone to shady places to keep cool. In the next nine days, we'll have to hunt at night instead."
Sheng Xi said, "If you don't mind, we can find protein to fill our stomachs in this cave."
"What?"
"Snakes."
"Sounds good, I don't mind."
After that, Sheng Xi went to catch snakes every day as she said.
When they got lucky, Qin Zhao could also find one or two rabbits in the bushes not far from the cave.
They spent five days like this.
On August 2nd, afternoon.
An Hongyu took a sip of river water that had been carried over and boiled.
"Ptooey!"
The strange taste in the water was unbearable and An Hongyu spit it out.
"Damn it, this kind of life is simply inhumane!"
As the temperature rose, the riverbed dried up, and many aquatic organisms mysteriously died, causing the water to smell increasingly fishy.
It got to the point where it was almost impossible to swallow.
An Hongyu couldn't help but curse, "What kind of freaking place is this Ancient Star? Who the hell chose this location for the show?!"
"When I get back to Blue Star, I'll make sure my big sister fires that person!"
An Xin watched An Hongyu's miserable state on the screen and asked, "Guo Qi, is everything going according to plan?"
Guo Qi replied, "There's still some work to be done."
An Xin's face showed anger. "I'm paying you guys, not so you can drag your feet.
The show is ending soon. If you go any slower, An Hongyu will be back!"
Guo Qi lowered her head. "I'll hurry them along."
An Xin got up and said, "No need to rush them. I'll go supervise personally."
The two went to the engineering department.
Opening the door, the thirteen people of the engineering department sat up straight when they saw the big boss come in.
The speed at which their fingers tapped the keyboards also visibly increased.
The head of the engineering department, Li Su, slowly walked up to An Xin and opened his mouth, "Hello Boss An."
An Xin smelled something and frowned, "How long has it been since you showered? Don't you think you stink?"
Li Su sniffed his armpit, and his face immediately wrinkled up.
Then he laughed and said, "Isn't it because you were in such a hurry for us to meet the deadline?
We bunch haven't been home in over ten days. When do we have time to shower?"
If not for the air conditioner changing the air, they probably would have suffocated in the studio.
An Xin shook his head speechlessly and walked in to sit in an ergonomic chair. "Continue. I'll watch you guys here."
Everyone felt bitter inside but didn't dare say a word of refusal in front of the big boss. They could only grind away diligently.
Qin Zhao filtered the river water to remove the stench.
Sheng Xi boiled water next to her.
Qin Zhao asked 502, "What's the current ranking situation?"
502: "The female lead's livestream popularity value is 1,709 million, over 300 million more than you."
Qin Zhao: "Looks like there's no other way. It's time to play my trump card!"
Qin Zhao poked at the fire with a stick and asked Sheng Xi, "There are four days left. What are your plans when we get back to Blue Star?"
Sheng Xi said, "First take a shower at home.
Then sleep in my big bed for three days and three nights, preferably while hugging you.
After sleeping my fill, go to a restaurant and order a seafood set, eat to my heart's content.
At dusk, watch the sunset together with you."
"You've already included me in your future plans. Did you ever ask if I agree?"
"Well, do you agree?"
"If you can answer a question to my satisfaction, I'll agree to your request."
"Ask away."
"Why did you lock me in the equipment room that autumn afternoon fifteen years ago during our elementary school sports meet?"
As soon as this question came out, the people watching the monitors, including Xu Lianggong, sat up straight and stared intently at the screen, afraid to miss a single frame!
The sensitive netizens also began a heated discussion!
"This won't be a story about school bullying, right?!"
"I don't believe that someone as gentle, beautiful and generous as Sister Sheng Xi would bully Qin Zhao!"
"Qin Zhao must be deliberately framing her to overtake my Sister Xi's popularity!"
"She'll stop at nothing for that billion dollar prize!"
There were also viewers who thought differently.
"If Sheng Xi really bullied her and they're in a relationship now, no matter how you look at it, it must be a complicated, winding love story. What if it's actually pretty intriguing?"
"Don't try to ship everything. The combination of a school bully and a goody-two-shoes doesn't sound plausible at all.
If you were the one getting bullied, could you still ship them?"
"Don't judge a book by its cover. Let's hear what Qin Zhao has to say first."
...
Going back in time to 3008, Cloudscape Middle School, start of the school term.
Eleven-year-old little Qin Zhao was hiding in her room refusing to come out. Her grandma pleaded with her through the door, "Good girl, come out quick or you'll be late.
Being late on the first day will leave a bad impression on your classmates."
Qin Zhao's muffled voice came from under the covers. "I'm ugly. No one will like me anyway!
It's all your fault for feeding me so fat!"
Grandma said, "Yes yes, it's all grandma's fault, but grandma thinks you look cute when you're chubby.
Your classmates will like you."
Qin Zhao flung off the covers and stomped to the door.
Opening it, she pinched the fat on her belly to show her grandma. "What's cute about this?!"
After asking, she burst into tears. "They'll definitely find me disgusting. I don't want to go to school!"
Grandma held Qin Zhao's face. "In grandma's eyes, you're the cutest."
Finally, under grandma's patient persuasion, Qin Zhao went to Yucheng's best middle school, Cloudscape, with a backpack even bigger than her body.
Entering campus, she found her grade's Class 1 and walked in with her head lowered.
The students whispered among themselves.
"Why does that student keep her head lowered?"
"Maybe she's ugly and doesn't dare show her face."
"Shhh...keep it down..."
Qin Zhao tried her best to ignore those noisy voices about her, but each hurtful remark still wormed its way into her ears unwillingly.
Sitting in her seat, her deskmate glanced at her disdainfully and shifted away.
Qin Zhao's tears streamed down even harder, the desk soaked by her crying.
She wanted to find a tissue to wipe it but realized she didn't bring any when she checked her pockets.
When crying, her runny nose was also out of control.
She kept crying while continuously sniffling her nose.
The annoying sounds attracted strange looks from students around her.
Just then, a delicate hand holding a pack of tissues appeared before her eyes!
