“I understand that Let’s Travel Together has its own specific rules, but our show, Grandma’s Journey, actually won a Brocade Pouch before our trip began.”
As Chu Xingxing spoke, she pulled the crudely stitched “Brocade Pouch” from her backpack.
[Hahaha! If Xingbao hadn’t mentioned it, I’d have totally forgotten about this!]
[I remember, Xingbao won this playing darts. She totally roasted the production team back then for their lack of effort, calling it a lousy brocade pouch—it’s just a rag bag, okay!]
[It brings back memories of the Grandma’s Journey pilot episode. The set design and segments were all a bit slapdash back then…]
Chu Xingxing wasn’t speaking to the director in charge of Let’s Travel Together, but to her own team’s on-location director.
Chu Xingxing shook the rag bag in her hand. “During that dart game, your directing team said we could use this Brocade Pouch if we encountered an unsolvable problem during our travels. You said the team would unconditionally help us solve one problem. Does that promise still stand?”
“Of course, it stands.”
Chu Xingxing’s on-location director, Xiao Mao, nodded vigorously, sneaking a glance at Jiang Changsheng, who was standing on the yacht in the distance.
The Xiao Mao of today was not the same Xiao Mao of a few days ago.
Half a month ago, when colleagues learned Xiao Mao was assigned to be an on-location director for Grandma’s Journey, and for the artist Chu Xingxing no less, every single one laughed, saying she’d hit the worst luck possible.
It was like stacking debuff upon debuff.
A seniors’ variety show so obscure it made no waves. A heavily criticized artist, Chu Xingxing. And to top it off, enduring wind and sun as part of the crew.
Among her colleagues, those who mocked Xiao Mao the most were the “favored ones” in the Let’s Travel Together team.
As CBM Entertainment’s only major flagship variety show of the year, featuring their own top artists, anyone lucky enough to be on the Let’s Travel Together team was met with envious stares everywhere in the company.
However, lately, with Grandma’s Journey‘s soaring reputation, and the Shengsheng Group’s recent capital injection into CBM Entertainment, becoming the company’s new benefactor…
Now, when Grandma’s Journey, that “obscure show,” was mentioned in the office, everyone’s attitude had done a complete 180.
Xiao Mao, who’d always been undervalued and suppressed by colleagues and superiors, received numerous WeChat messages from people in other groups.
[Little Mao~ Is your team still hiring? I heard Grandma’s Journey is really short-staffed. Mr. Jiang transferred several key members over. Can you help refer me?]
[Sweetie, help me ask if the operations team for Grandma’s Journey can still take transfers. My project has zero performance bonus, I’m begging you.]
[Darling, I heard your show’s next stop is Europe, and all staff get five-star hotels too! Is any artist still short an executive director? Do you think I’d work?]
Xiao Mao: Ha! Today, I’m the one beyond your reach!
She politely declined every request from colleagues asking to be introduced to the Grandma’s Journey team.
——
“So, what do you need our directing team to do?” Xiao Mao asked, grinning.
Chu Xingxing handed the Brocade Pouch to Xiao Mao. “The problem now is that the Let’s Travel Together directors won’t let us take Cookie and the others to experience the powered paragliders. So, I’m asking you to communicate with their directing team and solve this difficulty for us.”
Upon hearing she’d get to battle the directing team that used to look down on her group the most, Xiao Mao’s fighting spirit soared.
“Alright!” The young director clenched her fists and dashed off, her steps seeming to channel ‘chakra.’
The lead director of Let’s Travel Together twitched at the temple, his eyes darting nervously towards Xiao Mao: No, don’t come any closer!
Xiao Mao practically lunged, dragging the Let’s Travel Together director away.
[Haha, hilarious! Xingxing is using magic to defeat magic!]
[Finally, it’s CBM Entertainment’s own people tearing into each other!]
[More, more! I love watching the production team get the short end of the stick!]
[Xingxing: One sentence to make CBM Entertainment’s flagship variety show’s directing team submit.]
Chu Xingxing winked at the dumbfounded little Cookie, telling her to relax.
She’d rather starve herself than let her adorable friend, little Cookie, go hungry.
Cookie: Wuwuwuwu, Xingxing is my goddess!
——
Under the strong insistence of on-location director Xiao Mao, the head director of Let’s Travel Together had no choice but to use the satellite phone to call Xiao Xiang, who was far away in the capital, for help.
Part of Xiao Mao’s backbone came from having Jiang Changsheng backing her up.
Young Master Jiang now had real authority, and his words carried far more weight than before.
“Brother Xiang, please, think of a way. The other show’s team completely disrupted our script. The subsequent filming is a mess, and also…”
The head director walked a distance away, turning his back to lower his voice. “Changan and his group are still stuck in the mangrove forest. We planned that after dark, under the pretext of poor signal cutting off the live stream from the mangroves, we’d send a boat from the island to pick them up. If the camera crew and boat personnel now follow the Grandma’s Journey people, we’ll be short-staffed. We won’t know when we can retrieve Changan…”
Though the head director knew Grandma’s Journey wasn’t the same after the Shengsheng Group’s investment, CBM Entertainment’s crown prince was in trouble. Surely he couldn’t just be cold-hearted and indifferent!
Xiao Xiang no longer managed anyone at CBM Entertainment except Jiang Changan. Their relationship was like that of a father and son. The head director didn’t believe Xiao Xiang could be so ruthless as to let Jiang Changan suffer.
There was silence on Xiao Xiang’s end for at least ten seconds. He didn’t respond immediately.
It wasn’t that Xiao Xiang was dithering; his other personal phone had just received a WeChat message.
The sender was the assistant to the president of Jingcheng Zin Capital, the capital backing Xiao Xiang’s plan to start his own firm.
[Mr. Xiao, regarding the investment, Zin Capital needs more consideration. Our President Zhang suggests you might also reach out to other potential investors. Best regards.]
Meanwhile, on Xiao Xiang’s computer screen was the Shengsheng Group’s website. Among their invested companies, Zin Capital’s own entertainment subsidiary was now prominently listed. Yes, it had just been updated.
To Xiao Xiang, the Shengsheng Group was like a haunting demon, silently and stealthily encroaching on any promising company in the industry.
“You’re so stupid, you have to ask me about this?” Xiao Xiang sneered coldly, then replied irritably to the director. “If you offend Shengsheng Group, you’d better carefully consider if you can even continue in this industry.”
“Yes… then… then I know what to do. It’s just that Changan will have to endure some hardship…” The director wiped his sweat, surprised Xiao Xiang was so willing to sacrifice his personal ties.
“Changan is physically fit. Picking him up late is the same. Reality shows are reality shows; we must maintain the show’s reputation. Let them keep repairing that bamboo raft in the mangroves for a while longer.”
After speaking, Xiao Xiang added, “We must cooperate well with the Grandma’s Journey team. At the very least, nothing must go wrong on this trip, understand?”
“Yes, rest assured, Brother Xiang…” The head director hung up.
Xiao Xiang fell silent. It seemed his plan to go independent with Jiang Changan and CBM Entertainment’s core artists needed to be reconsidered. He couldn’t let Shengsheng Group discover his disloyalty so soon.
And, once his urgent matters were handled, he still needed to find someone…
Unconsciously, Xiao Xiang rubbed the inside of his left wrist with his right thumb. There was a tattoo of a sun there. Inside the sun was a tiny, ornate, cursive English word, almost invisible without close inspection: “NUAN.”
——
On-location director Xiao Mao returned, chest puffed out, marching triumphantly like a victorious general.
“It’s done!” Xiao Mao gave Chu Xingxing an “OK” sign.
“Thank you, production team, for the Brocade Pouch.” Chu Xingxing hugged Cookie, ruffling her slightly unkempt, golden-brown messy hair like petting a little dog. “Come on, little Cookie, big sister’s taking you to see the sunset.”
“Yes!!!” Cookie was overjoyed, tilting her chin up to rub against Chu Xingxing’s hand. In the sunlight, Cookie’s hair and eye color looked even lighter.
Chu Xingxing burst out laughing. Cookie looked exactly like a happy little golden retriever who knows it’s walk time when seeing its owner pick up the leash.
“Kids, get ready to board!” Grandma Sheng Shuwen waved commandingly, inviting the other female guests from Let’s Travel Together onto the boat.
In the Grandma’s Journey livestream, the comments were now full of pink hearts.
[Wow! The grandmas and Xingxing made new friends, and they’re all lovely girls /heart heart heart]
[Ah!!! The friendship between girls is so heart-warming!]
[I’m shipping ‘Star Cookies’ first! Cookie is so adorable, who could resist a puppy-like little Cookie?]
[Love seeing pretty girls bonding!]
[The grandmas are so nice too, super sweet to the girls. Grandma Sheng calling them ‘kids’ really touched me.]
[The grandmas are all so doting, wuwuwu, so envious of Xingxing, four grandmas means four times the love!]
[But Xingxing deserves it. If it were me, I’d dote on Xingbao too!]
Meanwhile, the comments on the Let’s Travel Together livestream were starkly polarized.
Fans of Cookie and the female guests who stayed on the island flooded the screen.
[What a dream crossover! Say thank you to the grandmas and Xingxing, they saved wuli Cookie’s life!]
[Ah! Thank you, grandmas, for rescuing Sister Zhu!]
[So grateful to Xingxing and the grandmas. Our Tang Xi was visibly wasting away, while those guys haven’t lost a single pound.]
[Director Cheng always wanted an aerial view of the island. Thanks to the grandmas for fulfilling our Director Cheng’s wish. Sister Cheng was mentally exhausted from watching those male artists fight every day; she finally got to relax!]
But fans of Jiang Changan and Tian Mengtong cursed the heavens, the earth, and explicitly called out the production team:
[Do the people left on the island have no heart? You still have teammates trapped in the mangroves!]
[This is really too much. The island guests just happily left with the grandmas? Isn’t this against the rules? Why should our Changan suffer while the others go enjoy themselves?]
[So angry I could die! Changan went to the mangroves to fish for everyone! Now that he’s in trouble, the island people don’t help solve the problem, but just go off eating, drinking, and having fun with another show’s cast?]
[What the hell, zero team spirit. Tongtong is in the mangroves fixing rafts, getting bitten by bugs. You older sisters can’t show some empathy, maybe just a little for the younger one?]
[Damn production team and their stupid rules. Tongbao and Changan have been trapped for so long. The guests clearly can’t solve it. Are you just going to drag this out without rescuing them? What if something really happens? Can you afford the responsibility?]
However, these brainless, provocative comments were quickly suppressed by other viewers of Let’s Travel Together.
[Can some fans just stop twisting facts? Cookie and the girls on the island never demanded Jiang Changan and his group go fish in the mangroves. When Jiang Changan and the others wanted to go, to build a raft, the girls all supported them and helped chop wood and twist hemp rope until their hands blistered, without a single complaint. And knowing they were going out to sea, the girls gave the only instant porridge to Jiang Changan’s group. The female guests left on the island only drank coconut water and ate nothing. Is this what you call ‘heartless’?]
[Hilarious. Saying the island people didn’t help solve the problem—how could they even know what happened in the mangroves? Everyone’s phones and communication devices were confiscated. Who knows what happened there? And even if they did, what then? Should the girls left on the island build an aircraft carrier barehanded to rescue your precious brothers?]
[Fans really can’t stand seeing others happy. Your Tian Mengtong herself insisted on following Changan. Now that she’s in trouble, you’re jealous that Cookie and the others went off to enjoy good food and fun with Xingxing and the grandmas. What were you doing before? It was all their own choice, how dare you blame others!]
[One sentence—like idol, like fans. You fans better behave yourselves.]
Thus, because of a “Brocade Pouch,” Grandma’s Journey and Let’s Travel Together had their first unexpected crossover collaboration.
Little did anyone know, similar “crossovers” would happen more and more in the near future.
——
Captain Jiang set sail again, taking the grandmas and their new friends towards the other side of the uninhabited island.
He deliberately kept the speed low, cruising steadily towards the powered paragliding base.
Because after boarding, Chu Xingxing had asked Jiang Changsheng to drive as slowly as possible, to buy some more time for Cookie and her companions.
This luxury yacht’s showers, sauna, and spa finally came in handy.
Cookie and the sisters who’d stayed on the island took a wonderful bath, reborn anew!
The grandmas had the crew prepare light snacks and hot soup to fill little Cookie and the others’ stomachs.
On the large deck terrace, Grandma Eileen pulled Chu Xingxing aside. “Xingxing, remember to tell these kids later not to eat too much in one go. They’ve been hungry for days, their stomachs haven’t had any rich food. Eating a huge meal suddenly will be too hard on their digestion. So, I had the chef make simple, easy-to-digest sandwiches and pumpkin soup. Tell the girls to eat slowly, best to start with the soup first. No rush, there needs to be a transition period. We can have a big feast for dinner.”
“Okay, I’ll remember.” Chu Xingxing nodded. She had plenty of experience with this. After years of surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, she knew the first meal after prolonged hunger must be light, easily digestible, and not too much. Eating slowly and chewing thoroughly helped the body absorb nutrients better.
When Cookie and the others emerged from their showers, refreshed and clean, enjoying the sea breeze and the sweet, soft pumpkin soup, Chu Xingxing kindly reminded the older sisters. Also, since they’d be riding the powered paragliders soon, eating too much could make them feel unwell.
Cookie, with both cheeks stuffed with sandwich and holding one in each hand, looking like an eager squirrel hoarding food, widened her eyes as Chu Xingxing spoke. Then, panicked, she tried desperately to swallow.
Help! It seemed… stuck.
Chu Xingxing quickly opened a coconut water and handed it to Cookie, who was nearly choking.
“No…” Cookie shook her head frantically, jumped up with red eyes, grabbed a bottle of cola, and took a gulp. Finally, she recovered.
Chu Xingxing laughed. “Pfft, little one’s picky, huh?”
Cookie, on the verge of tears, pointed at the coconut water in her hand. “Wuwuwu, no, Xingxing! These past few days, I’ve drunk a lifetime’s worth of coconuts. I never want to drink coconut again…”
[Little Cookie: Coconut, no way!]
[Has Cookie developed coconut PTSD?!]
[Hahaha! Right? All these days of stuffing Cookie with coconuts have traumatized her!]
[Can’t really blame Cookie, the little sister was chasing coconuts under the trees like a retriever every day (:з」∠)]
[It’s a bit pitiful and cute. Little Cookie is both pitiable and hilarious hahaha.]
——
Powered paragliding is a highly popular experience in island tourism. The roar of engines beneath the paraglider wings filled the air.
Unnoticed, dusk was approaching. The island’s intense sun gradually softened, and the vast sea horizon was tinted with a pale gold.
Aside from Chu Xingxing and the grandmas, who were visibly excited, even Wen Han felt a fear of heights watching the ascending paragliders.
After completing the safety training.
“Let’s go!” Grandma Wen Xuelan put on her goggles and charged forward first, unstoppable even by Wen Han.
“Paragliding, are you going, going, going, going, going!”
The fashion-forward Little Grandma Jiang pulled the most composed Grandma Eileen, and they dashed off with an “Aow!”
This completely stunned Cookie and the other female guests from Let’s Travel Together who were still watching.
Whoa! Even the young ones like them were a bit scared.
The grandmas were this fierce?
“Charge!” Chu Xingxing grabbed Grandma Sheng’s hand and sprinted towards the other two paragliders.
High in the sky, the sea breeze caressed faces, and the no-longer-burning sun shone warmly. The endless sea changed colors, turning into shades of orange, gold, and red.
Radiant and colorful, like a spilled palette of gold-flecked orange-red paints across the sea surface.
The uninhabited island’s peak, the luxury yacht Captain Jiang Jr. was steering, the coconut trees that terrified little Cookie…
From high above, everything looked like mini Lego toys.
The sunset, viewed from a different perspective, was exceptionally beautiful.
The grandmas and Chu Xingxing were the first group to descend from the paragliders.
Upon landing, everyone experienced some tinnitus.
Although a doctor had checked beforehand that the grandmas were healthy enough for this, they were still a bit hard of hearing right after landing, needing a good ten-plus minutes to recover. The grandmas needed more rest.
But temporary hearing loss and ear ringing couldn’t suppress the grandmas’ wildly explosive desire to share.
Grandma Eileen, who usually spoke softly, was exceptionally excited now, her voice several octaves higher. “Xiaolan! I saw so far! Further than from a helicopter!”
“I even took selfies with the GoPro!!! See! Aren’t I cool!!!”
Though Grandma Wen Xuelan couldn’t hear clearly what Grandma Eileen was saying, it didn’t stop her from showing off her selfies, with beauty filters turned up to ten.
Grandma Jiang Yao, trying to read their lips, shouted excitedly, “When we were twenty-five, we promised to go skydiving together! We waited over forty years and never did it! Now we’re too old, so it’s good we can at least ride the powered paragliders!”
“Awesome! You have to take a risk at least once in life, so you won’t regret it!” Grandma Sheng Shuwen smiled like a child, her silk scarf puffing up in the wind.
The four grandmas were practically talking over each other without fully understanding what the others were saying, like a game of multilingual charades, all yelling at their old sisters. The scene was quite comical.
Chu Xingxing’s tinnitus was milder. Hearing Grandma Jiang Yao say “waited over forty years and never did it,” she found the little grandma both adorable and a little heart-wrenching.
Little Grandma Jiang was the only one of the four who hadn’t started a family.
When she spoke, Chu Xingxing could see that although Little Grandma Jiang was exhilarated from the flight, there was also a tiny bit of hurt.
Perhaps, for Little Grandma Jiang, flying into the sky with her three old sisters to watch the sunset was a very ceremonial thing.
Chu Xingxing didn’t want the grandmas to have any regrets.
The camera she’d wrestled back from the monkey for Grandma Wen Xuelan was now hanging around Wen Han’s neck.
“Wen Han, let me borrow the camera!” Chu Xingxing dashed over and lifted the camera off Wen Han’s neck.
“Let me take a group photo for you, my dears! You all look super cool in your goggles. This look hasn’t been shot before!” Chu Xingxing shouted to the grandmas.
Though the grandmas couldn’t hear clearly, they understood just from the action.
These old babies, deeply obsessed with photography, would never refuse any photo opportunity.
Within seconds, the four little old ladies fell into formation, each pulling out a small mirror to check their appearance and touch up their makeup.
Then, they started helping each other adjust their silk scarves.
Chu Xingxing joined in too; before the trip, she had specifically followed short videos to learn “Fifty Ways to Tie a Silk Scarf.”
Soon, the four grandmas, wearing silk scarves tied in different styles and sporting their goggles, stood in a row.
They all struck the most leg-lengthening T-stance, looking cool and proud as they gazed at the lens.
Behind them were four red powered paragliders.
“Cheese~” Chu Xingxing smiled, capturing this beautiful moment for the old babies.
The promise the four old babies made over forty years ago was, in a way, fulfilled today.
Many things, if not done now, you might never have the chance to do in a lifetime.
She hoped the grandmas’ lives would forever remain free of regrets.
Right after the photo, Little Grandma Jiang’s face clearly showed distress. “Oh dear, I need to handle an urgent matter…”
“Oh my, me too. Around here, it doesn’t seem… I don’t see…” Ms. Wen Xuelan stamped her feet anxiously.
Grandma Sheng Shuwen and Grandma Eileen were also looking around.
The so-called paragliding base was merely a flattened patch of ground.
Besides the shed built to store the paragliders, there were no other structures.
Earlier, on the other side of the island, thanks to Cookie and her friends’ enthusiastic hospitality, the old babies had consumed quite a bit of coconut water.
Now, the grandmas were extremely desperate, and they likely wouldn’t even make the ten-plus minute walk back to the yacht.
And because they were on camera, everyone was trying hard to hide it, feeling rather embarrassed.
After all, it wasn’t like an airport with restrooms everywhere; you can’t just all hold hands and go.
Chu Xingxing understood instantly. During her time with the old babies, she’d long realized that each of them was very proud and didn’t want to be seen as a burden or have others feel they needed special accommodation.
“Oh no!” Chu Xingxing suddenly clutched her stomach, biting her lip as she asked the paragliding instructor, “Excuse me, where is the restroom? I have a bad stomachache, I really need to go, it’s urgent…”
The instructor gestured and told her, “There’s no restroom nearby, but you can go back to the yacht…”
Little Cookie shouted at her, “Xingxing! Come on!!!”
Cookie had realized Chu Xingxing was covering for the grandmas.
Now a seasoned expert in wild survival, little Cookie had somehow found two huge banana leaves and was waving them like flags.
The spot where Cookie stood, screened by the banana leaves, formed a perfect blind spot, essentially a makeshift restroom.
“My dears, could you please come with me…” Chu Xingxing tried her best to look towards the old babies with a pleading gaze.
Grandma Wen Xuelan quickly grabbed Chu Xingxing’s hand. “Let’s go, go, let’s hurry, Xingbao, I’ll go with you.”
Ms. Wen Xuelan didn’t forget to raise her hand to block the lens. “Hey, camera guy, stop filming for a moment, okay? The young girl is shy.”
“Could you all come with me?” Chu Xingxing looked pitifully at the other grandmas, blinking.
“Ah, then let’s all go together.”
And so, Xingxing mimicked the grandmas’ little penguin-like steps, slowly shuffling towards where Cookie was standing.
——
In front of their screens, the viewers who had just watched the grandmas view the sunset from high above and then witnessed this “little interlude” each had their own small reflections.
[It suddenly reminded me of the promise I made with my best childhood friend. Twenty years have passed, and I’m the only one who still remembers.]
[Being able to remember something your best friend always wanted to do together is also a kind of happiness, yeah.]
[Watching the grandmas trying so hard to live in the moment, it’s a bit touching.]
[I think I figured out Xingxing was covering for the grandmas. Both Xingxing and Cookie are so kind.]
[Little Cookie reacted really fast, super good rapport with Xingxing!]
[It was just a simple meal-time variety show, but seeing the grandmas’ carefree attitude reminded me of my own grandmother. The old lady worked hard her whole life, and now in her old age, she feels guilty even enjoying things a little. I don’t want her to feel that way, I really want to take her out to see the world, but she refuses to go.]
[Actually, the main reason many elderly people don’t want to go out is that they’re afraid of burdening others. Because going out for an elderly person is like going out with a baby, it’s a hassle. But people tend to have more patience for babies. I think I’m like that too…]
[Wuwuwu, once I spontaneously took my grandmother to the park to take photos. Grandma kept refusing to drink water, no matter what. Later, my mom scolded me because grandma’s diaper hadn’t been changed in a long time, which is why she dared not drink. If you truly care for an old baby, you need to be more attentive, especially to the details, and also protect their dignity.]
——
A little while later, Chu Xingxing and the grandmas emerged from Cookie’s makeshift banana leaf restroom.
The old babies were lively and energetic again.
After the paragliding experience ended, everyone gradually returned to the yacht.
Captain Jiang Jr. docked the yacht at the uninhabited island pier and instructed the chef to start preparing the meal.
Amidst the hubbub, Young Master Jiang finally had a moment to check his brother Jiang Changan’s livestream.
Out of professional integrity, as a manager and the head of the Grandma’s Journey production, Jiang Changsheng naturally wouldn’t casually interfere with the filming of another CBM Entertainment show.
Since his brother proposed building a bamboo raft to go to the mangroves, it must have been the show’s script, designed to make Let’s Travel Together more dramatic.
And his brother had been his role model since childhood. Their father always praised Changan for picking things up much faster than him. Uncle Xiang also preferred spending time with his brother.
Perhaps because Jiang Changan was the family’s first child, he received more affection and resources, growing up carefully nurtured.
Also, because Jiang Changan was more handsome, resembling their movie star mother, and was thus more liked, he was pulled into cameos as the child version of various male leads by famous directors from a young age.
Growing up, adults and teachers always praised Jiang Changan for being handsome, attractive, and smart, a natural-born actor.
Combined with Xiao Xiang’s particular fondness for him and meticulous training, the title of ‘genius actor’ stuck with him from childhood to adulthood.
On Jiang Changsheng’s side, besides being told his two little dimples were cute, people mostly praised him for looking like his brother, though without his brother’s acting talent.
Growing up under his brother’s “shadow,” Jiang Changsheng never envied him, because to him, his brother was simply the best.
Whether in academics or entering the entertainment industry, Jiang Changan could always master something in the shortest time, always coolly analyzing pros and cons, making the most strategically sound decisions.
If their mother, Lin Xilei, hadn’t noticed Jiang Changsheng’s sensitivity to numbers and intentionally guided him towards business, he might never have found his direction in life, nor been recognized by his father and groomed as the future company successor.
Even if privately, some people complained his brother was arrogant and stubborn, Jiang Changsheng just assumed they misunderstood him.
Often, his brother was just too tired and busy from work to fully attend to everyone’s emotions.
Purely from a younger brother’s perspective, seeing his brother gone so long in the mangroves without returning, Jiang Changsheng was a bit worried.
He clicked into his brother’s livestream.
After just a few minutes of watching, Jiang Changsheng’s brow furrowed deeply.
In the frame, Jiang Changan was holding a piece of wood, silent towards the camera, but one could sense a heavy, hostile aura.
Jiang Changsheng saw, for the first time, a look of contempt and arrogant superiority in his brother’s eyes.
“Can’t anyone come help?!” Jiang Changan in the frame threw down the wooden slat, his voice frighteningly cold.
“It’s not that we didn’t help, it’s that you never told us your repair plan from the start, and you designed the raft yourself. Every suggestion we made was rejected. How else are we supposed to help?”
Xiao Xiong argued, his face full of grievance.
Even as a top-tier roaster and a rapper whose daily job involved dissing people, he didn’t dare directly clash with his own company’s crown prince and could only defend himself indirectly.
Su Weigang and a few other male guests had just managed to catch some blue crabs to replenish everyone’s energy.
Because it was getting dark, Su Wei didn’t see the wood Jiang Changan had thrown out and tripped hard face-first.
The crab trap in his hand tipped over, the crabs scattering rapidly.
With poor light, the frantic chase yielded little; they only managed to recover a single fallen crab claw.
“Who the hell threw that damn stick?! Fine, now nobody eats. Might as well all be screwed!”
Su Wei’s mentality instantly collapsed. He was too hungry to even have the energy to curse.
Tian Mengtong, who’d been hiding behind Jiang Changan, timidly poked her head out, playing peacemaker. “We need to unite, everyone. We must figure out a solution together to get out of the mangroves. When facing difficulties, we should be more understanding and considerate of each other. Changan has been trying to figure things out, but we’re lacking too many things. It’s really hard to fix it. You can’t blame him entirely…”
Internally, every other guest rolled their eyes massively.
Pure, the vocalist from the boy band WE, was always one to speak his mind freely.
By now, Pure’s patience was completely exhausted. He no longer cared about offending Jiang Changan or the Tian family’s aspiring actress.
If he stayed any longer in the mangroves, Pure feared he wouldn’t live to see the next day’s sun.
Pure said bluntly to Tian Mengtong, “Oh, just shut up already. Useless at everything, bottomless pit at eating. When there’s a problem, all you do is run your mouth. Now you realize we lack the things to fix it? When your ‘bestie’ Chu Xingxing came to help this morning, why didn’t you say we lacked things? What’s the point of being a hindsight hero here?!
And can you stop speaking for Jiang Changan all the time? Did he lose his mouth and can’t speak for himself? If you need us to do something, just say it directly. Stop being passive-aggressive and blaming us for not helping!
Besides, how did we not try to help? The moment the raft broke, we begged Chu Xingxing for help. But you two refused her kind offer, and now you turn around and blame us!”
“You…!” Tian Mengtong was so aggrieved she was speechless with anger.
She’d held on because in her past life, Jiang Changan and his group had also built a raft, gone out to sea, encountered problems, and solved them perfectly.
So Tian Mengtong completely trusted Jiang Changan.
But what she didn’t know was that in that past life, Jiang Changan’s raft repair was secretly aided by the production team.
Under the powerful Xiao Xiang’s care, the team had prepared various tools hidden under the raft in advance. When filming the “raft repair,” the cameraman also helped Jiang Changan find specific angles.
In the poor light, the audience hadn’t noticed the trickery.
In this life, however, Pure’s accidental “duck egg retrieval” caused the raft to lose balance and crash into the redwoods. This not only knocked loose the production team’s hidden tool package but also washed all the tools away in the current.
And Xiao Xiang didn’t figure out another way to “save” them like in the past life, as he was now swamped with his own problems.
Without the production team’s “cheat” and Xiao Xiang’s “care,” Jiang Changan now found every step extremely difficult.
Jiang Changan, who always presented the image of a perfect gentleman prince, was trying his utmost to control his temper, but his words and actions still revealed a persona quite unlike his usual self.
[Changan isn’t losing his temper, he’s just anxious and wants everyone to get back soon.]
[Our Jiang Changan is just a very upright person. He didn’t accept Chu Xingxing’s help because he strictly follows the show’s rules. What’s there to criticize?]
[Exactly, some people are just so used to ‘cheating’ they can’t stand seeing others be upright and kind.]
[Heart aches for Changan, a king player stuck leading a bunch of pig teammates!]
Fans might still excuse his attitude as him worrying about the other guests, being anxious and self-blaming.
Tian Mengtong also chalked it up to him being overly tired and not in his best state.
But Jiang Changsheng, watching the livestream on his phone screen, felt a tumultuous mix of emotions.
The angry, hostile brother before his eyes looked incredibly unfamiliar.
So unfamiliar that Jiang Changsheng began to doubt which side was his brother’s true self.
——
On the yacht’s deck.
That evening, dinner was a sumptuous seafood barbecue feast carefully prepared by the local chef.
Cookie was munching away happily on a massive grilled prawn full of roe, almost as big as her face.
The mangrove eel Chu Xingxing had caught barehanded that morning was grilled over charcoal by the chef, seasoned with just a thin sprinkle of salt and pepper, and it tasted exquisite.
Chu Xingxing skewered a piece of eel and took a big, satisfied bite.
Mmm, delicious!
Savoring the tasty eel, she glanced at the calm sea out of the corner of her eye.
It seemed Jiang Changan and his group hadn’t returned from the mangroves yet~
Cookie: “Xingxing, thankfully there’s only one last day of this trip. I’m going to take in enough calories for tomorrow too, so I can just survive on water all day!”
Little Cookie’s mouth was greasy from eating. Her big eyes darted around, and suddenly, she covered her mic with her greasy little paw, pretending to drink water as she whispered to Chu Xingxing, “If Brother Changan and his group come back from fishing and see us eating so well, won’t they be mad at us?”
“Why do you care about him? Even if he’s furious, it’s none of your business. Besides…”
Chu Xingxing also covered her mic, whispering in little Cookie’s ear, “We won’t be seeing Jiang Changan’s fish tonight. Most likely, they’ll be camping overnight in the mangroves.”
Basically, whether Jiang Changan and his group could even return was still an unknown.
“By the way…” Chu Xingxing kindly warned Cookie and the other female guests from Let’s Travel Together, “Earlier on the other side of the island, I found animal tracks. After dinner, I’ll help you make a protective net to install outside your campsite, so you can sleep soundly.”
The older sisters from Let’s Travel Together looked at her with admiration. After days of struggling to survive on this deserted island, they were on the verge of breaking down.
Chu Xingxing’s appearance now was practically a godsend.
“Awesome, Xingxing knows everything!”
“I won’t hide it from you, Xingbao. I really heard animal footsteps at night, so scary…”
“Me too, I didn’t dare say because I didn’t want to scare you all.”
“Thank you, Xingxing!”
…
“It’s nothing, really, small matter.” Chu Xingxing waved dismissively, smiling.
She picked up a piece of crispy fried eel bone with her chopsticks and crunched down on it.
Just thinking about Jiang Changan and Tian Mengtong, hungry and thirsty, stuck in the mangroves…
The little eel in her mouth tasted even more delicious!
——
That night, Let’s Travel Together set a record for the longest all-night livestream for a variety show.
Because Jiang Changan refused to “admit defeat,” insisting on repairing the bamboo raft himself, yet utterly unable to fix it.
The production team stayed up with Jiang Changan until two in the morning. When it was clear the raft was completely disassembled into splinters and beyond any hope of repair, they finally “rescued” all the guests trapped in the mangroves and took them onto the boat.
A few netizens who stayed up late flooded the comments with complaints:
[Jiang Changan is indeed a bit stubborn. I don’t know why, but his gaze made me a bit scared.]
[I don’t know if it’s the poor light at night, but I was even startled by several shots.]
[Is Jiang Changan emotionally unstable, or just too tired?]
By the time they returned to the uninhabited island, Cookie and the other female guests were already asleep.
Jiang Changan, Tian Mengtong, and the others discovered their teammates weren’t just dead asleep and un-wakeable, but also that a dense row of protective netting had been erected outside their camp…
Just how well-crafted was this net? It couldn’t just stop large beasts; without opening it from the inside, even a person couldn’t get in from the outside!
Thus, Jiang Changan, Tian Mengtong, and the remaining five male guests huddled outside the camp, hungry and freezing… squatting against a wall.
They barely made it to dawn.
Cookie stumbled out, half-asleep, to pee, and finally let this group of unlucky souls into the camp.
