CHAPTER 160: CHAPTER 155: THE FEMALE SUPPORTING CHARACTER OF THE SPIRITUAL SPRING SPACE

Lian Lan looked at the group of people walking ahead, chatting and laughing, with her heart filled with jealousy.

"Ye Qiu, you went to appear on a TV program, huh? How come you never mentioned it?" Lian Lan deliberately walked up to Lin Jiyan, tilting her head towards Ye Qiu with a charming smile, showing off her attractive neck and profile.

"Aren’t you busy with filming? You still find time to mingle with us?" Liu Qingqing just couldn’t stand Lian Lan’s pretentiousness. Weren’t everyone’s relations already strained? Why act like best friends in front of Senior Lin!

"Qingqing, I know I’ve been busy lately and might have overlooked some things, can you please stop blaming me?" Lian Lan put on an aggrieved and pleading expression as if others had wronged her greatly.

"By the way, Senior Lian, what’s the name of the TV drama you’re in? When is it airing? We all should go support you!" Liu Qingqing hadn’t even responded when a girl from the publicity department suddenly interjected.

"Yeah, Junior Sister Lian, I heard you even collaborated with Li Xingran. It must be a big production!" Lin Jiayan’s roommate chimed in, clearly interested in the topic.

Lian Lan was thinking of creating an image of herself being bullied and excluded in front of Lin Jiayan, but these interventions completely diverted the conversation.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Lian Lan couldn’t refuse to answer, but fortunately, she knew the dramas she starred in were bound to be hits, and she wanted to showcase her abilities in front of Lin Jiayan at this moment.

Hence she modestly said: "It’s a web series called ’Li Gu’s Investigation,’ airing next month on Xingxing Video. But I only played a minor role, so don’t be disappointed."

"Is it a detective drama?" asked the senior, already searching on his phone, "The trailer looks quite appealing."

"I didn’t see you in it, Senior," remarked one freshman girl, perhaps lacking in emotional intelligence, bluntly expressing disappointment, then swiftly added with a smile towards Lian Lan, "Senior, didn’t you also act with Li Xingran? How was it?"

Although Lian Lan disliked this junior’s "bluntness," she couldn’t afford to lose her composure in front of Lin Jiayan, thus she answered gently, "I was just a minor supporting character, I don’t have much to share. You should rather ask Senior Ye, she also participated! The drama was even filmed at her place, and she’s quite familiar with Li Xingran."

"Really?" The girl was surprised, clearly not expecting this, and blurted out, "Senior Ye is so pretty, it would be a loss for the entertainment industry if she didn’t join!"

Lian Lan felt like she was bleeding internally upon hearing this comment. This junior had been asking her about the entertainment industry without a single compliment, but upon mentioning Ye Qiu’s participation, remarked it would be a loss if she didn’t join – can’t you speak properly?

"Oh?" Lin Jiayan, intrigued, turned to Ye Qiu and asked, "Senior Ye, are you considering entering the entertainment industry in the future?"

He thought to himself, his family was in finance, but his uncle seemed to own an entertainment company. If Senior Ye decided to join the entertainment industry, wouldn’t that give him more opportunities?

"Not interested," replied Ye Qiu, with her usual indifferent tone, "Also, we’ve arrived."

The farmhouse they arrived at was in the mountains outside the city. Since the mountain wasn’t very high and the scenery along the way was pleasant, typically everyone parked their cars at the mountain’s base and hiked up. After approximately twenty minutes, they reached a relatively flat and wide area on the mountainside, where a row of wooden cabins appeared before everyone.

The inside of the cabins had entertainment facilities such as a KTV room, billiard tables, mahjong tables, while outside was a spacious activity area with eight or nine barbecue grills and large cooking stoves. Surrounding the area were vegetables and fruit orchards cultivated by the owners themselves. According to the manager, further down the orchard was a pond. The establishment provided fishing gear for guests to catch fish and shrimp themselves.

"Ye Zi, let’s go fishing." Liu Qingqing had fished at Ye Qiu’s place during the summer vacation and felt experienced, insisting on showing off her skills.

"You and Lu Lu go ahead, it’s almost noon. I’ll stay here to prepare the dishes and cook."

"Let’s assign some tasks," Lin Jiayan spoke up as there were many people and it was a bit chaotic, starting to gather everyone.

He was the former student council president and a senior in his fourth year, so implicitly everyone saw him as the leader and thus listened to his arrangements without any objections.

"I counted, we have twenty-two people here. It’s definitely not feasible for Ye Qiu to cook alone. How about this: first let Ye Qiu choose two people to help her deal with the vegetables, then select two people to handle the barbecue, and the rest go fishing, picking vegetables, and picking fruit?"

"Sure, no problem." Everyone was indifferent.

"Since there are no objections, then, is there anyone naturally willing to help Ye Qiu cook or take on the barbecue?"

"I’ll help Ye Zi chop vegetables." Cao Lu, a fan of snacks, her culinary skills weren’t as good as Ye Qiu’s, but she could still assist.

"Me too," He Qingfeng quickly said, partly for Cao Lu and also to get a chance to eat Ye Qiu’s cooking firsthand. The last time on the show, each dish was merely a small bite, today he definitely wanted to eat to his heart’s content.

Hearing that Ye Qiu had helpers, Lian Lan breathed a sigh of relief. She was truly worried that Lin Jiayan would volunteer to help Ye Qiu. Now that Ye Qiu had enough people by her side, she had the opportunity to stay with Lin Jiayan.

Next, two boys volunteered to stay and take care of the barbecue while others paired up to go harvest crops.

Liu Qingqing, always bold and decisive without considering others’ feelings, was the first to invite Lin Jiayan to go fishing with her and Jiang Tianfu. Lian Lan, who was always sticking close to Lin Jiayan and refused to leave, also went along.

Over here, Ye Qiu first had the owner kill a free-range chicken from their own farm, planning to cook the homeliest dish of chicken stewed with mushrooms. Among their own brought vegetables, there were plenty of beef and lamb, which she gave most to the two students next to the barbecue. The rest Ye Qiu planned to cook a tomato braised beef brisket and a cumin lamb rib.

With twenty-two people, three main dishes were definitely not enough. They couldn’t rely on the fish Liu Qingqing was catching for the time being, but they had bought additional groceries on the way over, involving beef, lamb, ten pounds of large shrimp, several chicken feet, duck feet, and other items.

Some of the large shrimp would be kept aside for barbecue. Over here, she could make either braised shrimp in oil or garlic vermicelli shrimp. The chicken and duck feet could be braised in spices and finally mixed with homemade spicy chili oil, making them perfect as snacks.

"Ye Zi, look what I’ve got!" Just half an hour later, Liu Qingqing ran up panting, carrying a basket of crayfish.

"Oh, you’ve found the traps our Lao Liu set!" The lady boss came out, smiling amicably at Liu Qingqing.

"Madam, do you still have more? I’ll buy all you have, is that okay?" Liu Qingqing negotiated, considering it’s summer, how could they go without spicy crayfish!

"Yes, we just gathered several pounds yesterday! They pinch, need me to help?"

"No need, no need, it’s more fun to do it yourself at the agricultural homestay." Liu Qingqing waved her hand and followed the lady boss who then fetched several more pounds of crayfish. With what she had brought up, there was a total of over ten pounds.