CHAPTER 471: CHAPTER 468 THE BEST ACTRESS 35 JI MOXUE’S REWARD FOR 10,000

Ning Shuangshuang laughed and said, "Picking dry firewood should be simple and not require picking it up from the ground. As the saying goes, ’a big tree has dead branches.’ In this mountain forest, no one prunes the leaves, so there are plenty of dead branches. Moreover, these dead branches on the trees are not on the ground, so they don’t absorb moisture. They’re very dry, easy to ignite, and produce less smoke. We just need to find some dead branches up in the big trees and pull them down."

Over there, Yu Yingjie was also pulling dead branches from trees with Qi Qing, who was a bit doubtful and said, "I heard that dead branches on trees can sometimes come back to life after a year. Isn’t pulling them down harming the trees?"

Yu Yingjie chuckled and said, "Don’t worry about that. These dead branches actually should be pruned anyway. For a tree to grow well, it needs pruning. As long as we don’t damage the tree’s bark, cutting off all the branches is fine. Pulling down some dead branches is actually beneficial to the trees."

In order to give Yun Chuching and Qi Qing a sense of participation and team spirit, Ning Shuangshuang and Yu Yingjie taught them how to handle the dead branches, leaving this task to Yun Chuching and Qi Qing to manage themselves, while Ning Shuangshuang and Yu Yingjie went to find rocks to build a small outdoor stove.

The stove needed to last for a full fifteen days, so Ning and Yu planned to make it sturdy. The two spent half a day by the riverside gathering a big pile of stones of similar size, then stacked them one by one, quickly assembling a decent-looking small outdoor stone stove.

Once the small stove was completed, Qi Qing and Yun Chuching eagerly came over carrying a huge pile of dried branches. The two had made several trips, collecting more than enough to last two or three days.

Ning Shuangshuang’s side of things was bustling yet orderly, while on Feng Zhipeng’s side, things weren’t going well. First of all, their catch from fishing wasn’t great; spearing fish with tree branches was much harder than using fish traps.

Previously, to ensure fairness, the show didn’t allow the two teams to make food at the same spot, the aim being to prevent one side from learning tricks from the other to pass challenges.

The all-male star group had no idea of Ning Shuangshuang’s success. After half a day of labor, spearing four fish with branches, the four were discussing how their haul was quite good and should be enough to trounce Ning Shuangshuang’s group!

Back at their camp, Lin Xichen and Jiang Mengchen were responsible for gathering dry wood, while Feng Zhipeng and He Bin were in charge of building a fire stove. However, the stove they made with He Bin wasn’t very neat or beautiful, just barely functional.

It was Lin Xichen and Jiang Mengchen, while gathering dry wood, who got lucky; they stumbled upon a dead giant tree, and, full of excitement, carried the whole thing back, huffing and puffing.

However, once they returned with the dead tree, they were dumbfounded! Without tools at hand, although they had a lot of firewood, they couldn’t use it at all. After wiping their faces, they resignedly continued to gather more dry wood under the bemused gazes of Feng Zhipeng and He Bin.

The two groups were unaware of each other’s situation, but the audience watching the live broadcast saw everything clearly, and soon all kinds of comments flooded in.

"Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter. This all-male star group thinks they’re sure to win, but they’ll lose miserably!"

"My male god and Brother Ning are on a roll! Watching them fish is just so stylish. Male god and Brother Ning stroll casually in the river, and every time they make a move, a fish is surely caught, then they casually flick them onto the shore—so cool! Male god, Brother Ning, I love you!"

"Haha, Lin Xichen and Jiang Mengchen are so silly, eagerly carrying back a dead tree only to find it unusable, and then there’s that stove, so shoddily done compared to my male god and Brother Ning’s. They’re really amazing!"

"I think my male god and Brother Ning must be cheating! They handle everything so well and even take care of Qi Qing and Yun Chuching. The way they taught Qi Qing and Yun Chuching to handle the dry branches reminded me of parents teaching their children how to do chores—such a strong visual!"

"What teaching children, it clearly feels like loving wives. I think my male god and Brother Ning are good brothers who each married a beautiful wife, the husbands go out to work, and the wives are pampered. My male god and Brother Ning are truly outstanding men!"

"Oh boy, upstairs, you’re cracking me up. Now that you’ve said that, I can’t stop imagining a little drama in my head: male god and Brother Ning are Martial Arts Masters, Qi Qing and Yun Chuching are peerless beauties. Male god and Brother Ning fall in love with these two beauties, grow tired of the world’s conflicts, and decide to retire to the Paradise, living a carefree life with fishing, woodcutting, and reading."

"Wow, you upstairs have such a wild imagination, I bow to you! But isn’t it true that male god and Brother Ning are so gentle? Haven’t you noticed that Brother Ning and male god sensed Qi Qing and Yun Chuching’s discouragement, and that’s why they intentionally took them to collect dead branches to cheer them up."

"Upstairs, you’re not alone. I feel the same, although it seems like male god and Brother Ning have more of a brotherly bond than anything ambiguous—they understand each other’s thoughts with just one glance. The way they act in perfect sync is amazing, but instead of seeing romantic tension, I see brotherly love. It’s because Brother Ning is quite the man!"

"You upstairs, I gotta say you’re too innocent. Don’t you know, there’s something called ’bromance’ in this world! And also ’best buddies, forever.’"

"Did a fujoshi just emerge here? But bromance, poof! Excuse me for laughing, but why do I feel this possibility is quite strong!"

Still busy breaking dead branches into suitable sizes for the fire, Ning Shuangshuang was completely unaware that in just this short time, after becoming Brother Ning, she’d not only gained a ’wife’ and a bromantic partner.

Tents, a working fire stove, dry firewood, and most importantly, fish were ready. The show sent someone to announce that it was time to reveal the competition results. Both sides were suddenly excited, confidently bringing their spoils to the meeting point. Once everything was revealed, Feng Zhipeng, He Bin, Lin Xichen, and Jiang Mengchen were left dumbfounded.

Looking at their four poor, gutted fish in miserable condition and then at the pristine string of fish that Ning Shuangshuang and Yu Yingjie held—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven; they couldn’t even tell how many fish there were—the male star group instantly lost their morale. They were sure to lose this!

According to the rules, Ning Shuangshuang, Yu Yingjie, Qi Qing, and Yun Chuching began to discuss what they wanted. First and unanimously, they decided they absolutely had to get their hands on that axe. Living in the mountains, having an axe that can chop trees, cut firewood, and even be used as a kitchen knife would certainly raise their quality of life by a notch!