So that was alright, after all this kind of destructive power was not unfamiliar to the people from seeing it on TV, like in martial arts like Taekwondo, there would be similar training.
It's just a warm-up, wasn't it similar to performances that had finger-breaking wooden boards or stone slabs in the past? Hmm, thinking about it like that, it seems okay—
Not okay at all!!!
Help! This pampered female celebrity Ji Ruochu is actually skilled in martial arts!
Seeing Ji Ruochu dressed in a loose casual outfit yet mimicking the moves with the gym instructor, the crew members felt somewhat disillusioned.
Alright, alright, art stems from life, is that right?
Seeing this, it seems that Director Qiu and Old Shang's scenes were filmed a bit too conservatively.
At first, when they saw the instructor's fist as big as a sandbag coming at Ji Ruochu, the crew instinctively let out a cry and wanted to rush forward to stop it.
But in the next second, they saw Ji Ruochu use her seemingly "slender" arms to block and push, her footwork operating in an unknowable way, and in the blink of an eye, she easily dodged half a meter away by borrowing the force of the attack.
Not stopping there, while retreating, she used the instructor's attacking momentum to deliver a kick.
"Bang—"
The instructor's mountain-like physique slammed straight into the wall. Fortunately, this training room's walls were padded, so the instructor didn't hesitate at all and charged at Ji Ruochu again.
And after he left, the cameraman noticed that the previous padding had a dent in it.
In the following time, the instructor fully demonstrated what it meant to have "brute force but no skill", while Ji Ruochu... well, her forehead was "slightly" sweaty.
Half an hour later, the sweat-drenched instructor bowed to Ji Ruochu before limping out of the training room.
The crew on site: ...silent as chickens.
The director gulped and handed Ji Ruochu a white thermos with a cartoon portrait of a family of three on it.
"Thank you." Ji Ruochu smiled slightly as she took the water bottle.
Seeing this, the director immediately flashed an even brighter smile, though... his smile was rather stiff.
"Do the people at your martial arts school train like this every day?" The director asked cautiously.
"Huh?" Hearing this question, Ji Ruochu, sitting cross-legged on the padded floor, holding the adorable little cup cover and sipping her wolfberry tea, was taken aback.
She tilted her head slightly, her soft face raised, looking so gentle and lovely that no one could associate her with the killing machine who had slammed the instructor into the training room walls just moments ago.
"That's not quite it, I'm just a bit special." She smiled. "I started learning Tai Chi from my master at a very young age. After coming here, I also learned some other skills in my spare time.
"At first, my master could spar with me for a few moves, but later he threw out his back, so it was my martial brothers and sisters who would practice with me. But after that... they didn't want to play with me anymore."
Ji Ruochu sounded a little aggrieved as she said this. She knew she was different from others, like her strength and reflexes seemed to be faster than most people's.
So normally, she would hold back when sparring with her martial brothers and sisters, but eventually they still didn't want to practice with her.
She had no choice but to reluctantly agree to play with the little classmates in the Kids' Class, and then... slowly became the sole dominant force at the Nan Family Martial Arts School.
Sigh, what a bother.
"Ahem, anyway, I rarely have anyone to practice with nowadays, maybe because... it's quite strenuous."
Everyone: ...
Strenuous? This was beyond strenuous!
That instructor earlier, if he was any weaker, he might have been carried in assembled and taken out disassembled.
Now they understood why the instructor had been scowling the whole time—he knew he was doomed today!
But to be fair, the earlier sparring between Ji Ruochu and the instructor could have been an impressive action sequence if included in a martial arts film, even a continuous long take.
Hmm, suddenly they understood Director Qiu's preference for Ji Ruochu a bit more. In recent years, for any major production, Ji Ruochu was undoubtedly the first choice among female actresses.
After a brief chat with the director, Ji Ruochu set down her water bottle and started unzipping her jacket as she walked.
The director thought she was feeling warm and was about to ask the crew to lower the air conditioning temperature, but before he could say anything, he was drowned out by a chorus of "Woah—"
Following everyone's gaze—
Woah!
Ji Ruochu, with her hair tied in a high ponytail, had nonchalantly taken off the loose casual jacket she was wearing, revealing the sports tank top underneath.
The tank top was a simple design, the pure black fabric hugging her exquisite curves until her waistline, with matching loose sweatpants below.
What caused the crew members, especially the women, to exclaim was the blindingly pale skin around her waist and the powerful, toned six-pack abs on her midriff.
This reminded those present of last year's social media frenzy over Ji Ruochu's incredibly beautiful abs when her movie was released.
Back then, many netizens claimed that despite her impressive action scenes, she looked too frail, and with her busy studies and filming schedule, those abs must have been painted on.
However, even if they were painted on, those were arguably the best painted abs people had ever seen, enough for netizens to drool and give their likes.
But for those witnessing this scene in person... they really wanted to make a post right away.
[This woman really has abs!!!]
At that moment, the people hadn't realized the severity of the situation until—Ji Ruochu took out a sandbag from the drawer.
"Everyone can take a break for now, I need to practice my basic skills, it might be a bit boring."
Everyone: ??
Practice what?
What skills?
Didn't you just practice with that instructor earlier?
No, wait, she did say that sparring with the instructor was... a warm-up?
No, that sequence doesn't seem quite right? Who warms up by pummeling someone?
The retired instructor: ...To be fair, he did put up a struggle for a few moves, didn't he?
However, any further doubts and questions were swallowed back when they saw Ji Ruochu strap sandbags to her hands and feet, standing alone in front of the wooden dummy and launching move after move with resounding thuds.
Damn, this... this is something they could watch for free?
In all fairness, though TV shows might have scenes like this, to witness in person a girl who was the epitome of a gentle lady one second turn into a fierce, swift-striking heroine the next—
That transition was just too abrupt!
Especially when one of the wooden sticks on the dummy was even broken off.
At that moment, looking at the broken stick on the ground, those present couldn't help but imagine themselves as the wooden dummy...
Help, was that a wooden stick? That was like a body part of theirs!
And that wasn't all, was it?
Half an hour later, after finishing her arm and leg strength training, Ji Ruochu picked up a clean towel and wiped the sweat from her forehead and neck. After a brief contemplation, she turned and grabbed a long spear from the weapon rack.
Bang—
The tasseled spearhead struck the ground with a thunderous sound, causing everyone's hearts to skip a beat.
Wait, grandma, aren't you tired yet? You've been practicing for so long, and you're still this energetic?
That force, if there was a living person on the ground, they might have been cleaved in two, right?
Soon, some crew members realized that what Ji Ruochu was practicing now was the spear technique she and her classmates had demonstrated during college military training.
What people didn't know was that the training at the Nan Family Martial Arts School generally ended with firearms practice. If it were based on Ji Ruochu's usual intensity, it wouldn't have been this quick.
But there was no choice. The cameras were rolling, and since it was work, some techniques that couldn't be shown had to be skipped over.
After another twenty minutes or so, Ji Ruochu finally stopped and as she untied the sandbag and put on her jacket to walk towards the director—
Almost everyone facing her instinctively took a big step back.
It was just Ji Ruochu, who wanted to go and get her own water bottle to drink: ??
The others, snapping back to their senses: ...
It's absolutely not because they were scared, it's mainly that this woman's aura was too strong when she walked over, with that dark gray coat draped over her, she looked just like a big sister!
"Don't be afraid, I usually don't hit people." Ji Ruochu took the water bottle handed over by the director and smiled reassuringly at everyone.
The increasingly chilled crowd: !!
Usually don't hit people?
What about the other times?
Thinking about how disheveled that coach looked when he left earlier, everyone felt a slight pang of unease.
Of course, that wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was that the flow of the show could finally continue!
Thinking of this, the director who had been following Ji Ruochu all along felt like crying.
They originally thought the two-hour training time Ji Ruochu had set aside for herself was quite generous, and they could do some background recording and gather footage on the way.
Who could have thought that she was timing it so precisely!
From the time she left home until the end of training, it took exactly two hours!
And this led to the show's original task completion time for Ji Ruochu being reduced.
"The Independent Living Challenge?"
Ji Ruochu blinked when she received the task card. "But I didn't plan on living independently, do I still have to do this task?"
She remembered that Director Qiu and the executive producer had previously said that she and Ji Mochen were the only guests still living with their parents, so the recording would mainly focus on documenting Ji Ruochu's life.
"Yes, it's just to assess your independent living skills."
The meaning was clear - just treat it like a game.
"Alright then."
Ji Ruochu nodded nonchalantly and opened the task card, which clearly stated:
[The most essential skill for independent living when it comes to one's three daily meals is the ability to cook.
According to the latest survey, most young people today have irregular schedules, unable to sleep at night and wake up late in the day.
On rest days, they often sleep until noon.
Prolonged habits like these are extremely detrimental to one's health. Therefore, the first step to independent living is mastering cooking skills.
Please prepare a lunch for yourself, any cuisine or meal type is acceptable as long as it fills your stomach.
Next, please use the funds provided by the show to go to the nearest mall and purchase ingredients for cooking.
Note:
Guests are not allowed to complete the task by purchasing ready-made meals, and to avoid food waste, each guest only has a fifty yuan budget for purchasing ingredients. Please plan accordingly before using it.]
"Fifty yuan?" Ji Ruochu blinked after reading all the requirements, then blurted out, "That's a lot?"
"Although fifty yuan isn't much— Huh? What did you just say?" The director who was about to give her time to think was stunned.
Did he hear that right?
The other guests who had already received the task were all lamenting that the money was too little.
Originally, everyone was worried that this young lady would refuse to work due to the small budget, but... she actually thought it was too much?
"Yeah, I usually spend only a dozen yuan or so for two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes at the school canteen." Ji Ruochu seriously stuffed the cash given by the show into her small pocket.
"Of course, I have to buy ingredients for myself now, so it will be a bit more expensive, but it shouldn't cost fifty yuan."
With that, Ji Ruochu, who wasn't as hot as before, put her jacket back on.
"Let's go, there's a supermarket nearby. We can go buy the ingredients and then head back after."
Everyone: ...
Great, as expected of a top student, her execution ability is truly strong.
And so, Ji Ruochu led the show crew to a nearby supermarket.
Since it was close to Peking University, there were occasionally tourists coming for a visit or influencers checking in, so they didn't pay too much attention to Ji Ruochu's group.
Not to mention Ji Ruochu was wearing a mask, baseball cap, and plain black casual clothes, keeping a low profile.
If it weren't for the cameras pointed at her, people might not even notice she was the main focus.
And to avoid revealing Ji Ruochu's participation in the show too early, the staff didn't follow Ji Ruochu into the supermarket, except for one cameraman and the director. The rest waited in the show's van.
"Let's go." Ji Ruochu fixed the selfie camera on the shopping cart handle, perfectly capturing her upper body, though... currently the lens could only see her beautiful fox-like eyes.
The three headed to the produce section first. Ji Ruochu bought a carrot, a daikon radish, a bunch of oil mustard greens, and a small bag of dried shiitake mushrooms. Finally, she picked up a few loose eggs, got the weight measured, and then moved towards the fresh meat section.
"Miss, what would you like?"
"This piece of meat, and... two pork ribs."
...
The supermarket staff weighed and bagged her items.
"Do you want to calculate how much you've spent so far?"
"I've calculated it." Ji Ruochu lifted her eyes slightly as she placed the meat in the cart. "Thirty-six yuan and seventy cents."
The two crew members: ??
Calculated it?
When?
They had been following Ji Ruochu the entire time and didn't see her take anything out to calculate, unless—
"I did it in my head as I put the items in the cart and glanced at the prices."
The crew members: ...
Damn! They almost forgot, this is the Queen of Mental Math!
Afterwards, Ji Ruochu also bought a small bag of rice and a handful of goji berries.
Seeing Ji Ruochu putting the goji berries into her bag, the director was instantly speechless: this kid is only twenty years old, why is she so focused on wellness? And she bought the best quality goji berries in the supermarket.
[Ding~ This is the latest version, super super plump chapter! Muah~]
