Chapter 22: The Life-Endangering Production Team

Jin Xia: "..."

"Teacher Chi, later, later you come out with me."

The Old Buddha blinked her peach-blossom eyes, flashing with the light of wisdom: "Let's sneak out together!"

Chi Ye: "?"

"Sneak out? What for?"

He discovered that the Old Buddha really had a feeling of being very good at sneaking around.

Jin Xia was dissatisfied with Chi Ye's lack of rapport with her: "Does that even need asking? Of course, to go out and buy delicious food!"

She made a grand little wish: "When the time comes, you take me to eat more things I haven't eaten before... Hmm, it's not good to be out for too long, so we'll sneak it back and hide it to eat."

Chi Ye: "... Aren't the additives enough? You just have to taste gutter oil and eat some lymph node meat?!"

Jin Xia was overjoyed and lost her composure: "There's something even more delicious than additives?"

Chi Ye: "..."

The two reached a little secret about this outing.

But they never expected that on Teacher Huang's first day at "See You," before he even cooked, he would drop a huge bomb on everyone.

Half an hour later, inside the house.

The general director of "See You" looked at everyone with a serious expression and announced the first "outdoor activity" for the "See You" family's first gathering today.

"I think everyone came to our show wanting to show their truest selves, so the production team's procedures must be followed."

The general director glanced at Teacher Huang, who scratched his nose awkwardly.

The general director of "See You" wasn't an ordinary variety show director, but a big shot registered at Mango TV; otherwise, it would have been impossible to launch the "See You" project and gather so many monsters and freaks all at once.

Naturally, he was confident in controlling the scene.

"So, according to the production team's procedures, after the 'See You' family gathers for the first time, in order to let everyone get familiar with each other as quickly as possible, we have decided to take everyone on a special 'outdoor exercise' today."

After the general director finished speaking, he didn't give any further introduction.

Li Dao took over the work and began organizing everyone to pack their luggage and board the "See You" bus that had driven into the courtyard.

"Where is this going?"

Jin Xia was happy instead of surprised, poking her little head out to look at the scenery outside the window, then looking at Teacher Huang not far away, her charming peach-blossom eyes filled with inquiry.

Teacher Huang noticed the gaze and turned his head away to avoid looking at her.

That really was... a bit embarrassing just now.

He didn't expect that his first "ranking by seniority" on "See You" would encounter obstacles.

"Teacher Huang is quite fond of cleanliness."

Chi Ye couldn't help but shake his head when he saw this.

"Oh?" Jin Xia beside him came back to her senses, curious: "How do you know?"

"He lost face the moment he arrived, what do you think?"

Jin Xia: "..."

"Also, stop staring at Teacher Huang."

Chi Ye was speechless seeing the Old Buddha still couldn't resist her curiosity: "Teacher Huang is an old bag of bones; you've made him shy just by looking at him."

Jin Xia turned her head back, dissatisfied: "Teacher Huang negotiated pretty well this time too. Although we couldn't eat out, it's also very interesting for us to go play outdoors."

Chi Ye felt there was nothing wrong with that upon hearing it.

But when they arrived at the so-called "outdoor venue" mentioned by the production team after riding the bus with the "See You" logo, they were all dumbfounded.

Because the place they arrived at wasn't the ski resort or amusement park they had imagined, but a large open space.

The open space was extremely large, at least the size of a football field, with several "golden hills" piled up on it.

"Is this... corn?"

Yang Zi had already put on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and was wearing a valuable luxury watch, his temperament elegant and handsome; one look and you knew he was no good.

"Welcome to 'Corn Mountain'."

Li Dao, who took over the general director's work, gave a light cough and introduced with the production team's megaphone: "Winter is the slack season for farming, but around the 'See You' cabin, many villagers have stored dry corn in their homes."

"Every winter, they use the oldest corn threshers to peel the corn kernels off the dry corn to sell the following year."

"As friendly neighbors of the villagers, you have readily agreed to help them complete this arduous task..."

Yang Zi felt dizzy looking at the dry corn piled up as high as several mountains: "Who readily agreed on our behalf? We didn't receive any news!"

"Aren't we in a village in the city? Are there still neighbors around?"

Lin Jingyi's face was also pale.

They didn't have any neighbors; the production team was clearly doing this for traffic and was deliberately messing with them!

Chi Ye nodded: "We have painfully agreed to it."

Production Team: "..."

Li Dao gave a light cough and continued role-playing: "To thank everyone for their 'help,' the villagers have prepared various fruits and vegetables, rice, flour, and oil for everyone. You can exchange for the vegetables you like based on the total weight of the corn peeled today."

After speaking, he signaled to the camera.

The drone camera swept past, giving a close-up. In front of the wide open space, many fresh vegetables and fruits were placed.

Various "labels" were also stuck on them, representing how much weight could be exchanged for how many items.

Li Dao continued: "The vegetables and fruits you exchange for will become the 'granary' of the 'See You' cabin and will also be the source of ingredients for Teacher Huang to cook for you today."

"?!"

Hearing this, everyone's expressions changed in unison.

Don't, don't do this!

What kind of torture is this?!

"I finally understand."

Chi Ye suddenly realized: "So the production team not only wants us to die, but also wants us to send ourselves to our deaths!"

"So they don't have to take responsibility, right? Is it really bloodless?"

He turned back to his PD camera and said: "Family, if I'm gone, remember to burn some incense for me next year."

"hhh."

"The 'See You' directing team is the most 'fan-doting' I've ever seen!"

"The production team knows what we like to watch; they just have to torture this group of monsters and freaks severely."

The audience in the live broadcast room obviously wouldn't burn incense for Chi Ye; they were all celebrating, very satisfied with this arrangement by the "See You" production team.

—What do you watch when you come to "See You"?

Isn't it just to torture this group of "malignant tumors" that are wreaking havoc in the entertainment industry?

This is the only way to feel relieved!

Over here, after the production team announced the rules, they let professionals come over to teach everyone how to use the corn thresher.

The corn thresher is very common in the countryside; it's the most ancient kind where you stuff the corn in, then manually turn the handle, using your strength to peel the corn kernels off the cob.

To be honest, it's manual labor.

"Come on, children."

Teacher Huang smiled kindly: "Get moving, labor is the most glorious. I just checked, the poisonous green beans are the cheapest; you only need five catties of corn kernels to exchange for them."

Chi Ye: "Yes, human life is just that worthless."

Everyone: "..."

Everyone looked at each other, everything understood without words.

Among the monsters and freaks, except for Jingyi who loves to eat shit, no one else has this hobby.

The production team announced that the timer had started. Everyone looked busy, but in reality, they were each showing their own special skills.

Chi Ye stood in front of his "machine," pretending to put in an ear of corn, and then turned it sluggishly.

Jin Xia, who was right next to him, was puzzled: "Teacher Chi, why are you being so perfunctory? If we don't turn out enough corn kernels, we won't have ingredients to cook!"

Chi Ye glanced at her and found that the Old Buddha was putting thick cotton gloves on those white, jade-like little hands. After putting them on, she seemed to feel the protection wasn't enough and added another pair, making her whole hand swell up like a tumor.

"What? If I'm not perfunctory, should I learn from you and not even pretend to act?"

Chi Ye praised: "Once these hands of yours come out, who would dare make you work?!"

"Genius, discharged from the hospital!"

Jin Xia: "... Teacher Chi!"

"Alright, alright, let's work."

Chi Ye waved his hand, but his movements didn't speed up.

—Look at the others, Yang Zi and Teacher Lü, who are known as two of the "Three Know-It-Alls" of "See You," are both pretending not to recognize the corn thresher and are still studying the machine!

Me doing it myself is already very conscientious!

Of course, among the seven guests, the most conscientious one is Shi Daifu, who has had no presence since Teacher Huang and the others moved in.

I saw her take out a hairpin from somewhere, nimbly coil her waterfall-like long hair, simply tie it into a high ponytail, then put on the thin gloves prepared by the production team, casually pick up two large buckets of corn, and start throwing them into the machine one by one.

The other seemingly slender arm turned the handle effortlessly.

In an instant, only the sound of "crack, crack, crack" could be heard, and batch after batch of golden corn kernels soon piled up into a mountain.

"Woc......!"

Chi Ye and the others watched, dumbfounded.

"Hmm?"

Shi Daifu noticed everyone's gaze, stopped her windmill-like arm, turned to look at everyone, feeling slightly nervous: "Th... that... am I doing it wrong?"

Everyone: "... No problem at all."

"Oh."

Shi Daifu nodded, her apricot eyes falling back onto the rusty peeling machine, a trace of hunger in the depths of her eyes.

The more corn kernels peeled, the more ingredients, and the more things she could eat...

To be honest, she had been in a state of semi-starvation since moving into the cabin. Yesterday, after experiencing Jin Xia's "health tea" incident, she felt even more ashamed, so she didn't dare eat too much breakfast.

But she usually consumed a lot, and her appetite was indeed not small; she had already reached her limit of endurance.

If she peeled more, she could eat her fill!

Thinking this, Shi Daifu's pair of slender, soft little hands had already turned into windmills, and sparks were faintly flying from the corn thresher.

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.

Crack, crack, crack, crack...

Chi Ye was terrified hearing this and couldn't hold back anymore, hurriedly shouting: "Teacher Shi, Teacher Shi, stop turning, you're turning out sparks!"

"What kind of grudge or grievance do you have that you want to harm the five of us like this?"

"Uh...!"

Shi Daifu hurriedly stopped her "windmill," her egg-shaped face flushed red: "I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to harm everyone."

Chi Ye: "..."

He walked over and grabbed Shi Daifu: "You should feel sorry for the machine. Look at what you've done to the 'neighbor's' machine; it's about to fall apart."

Shi Daifu was startled and looked over, indeed discovering that a deep scratch had been rubbed between the machine handle and the machine arm.

"I... I didn't mean to, maybe my operation method is wrong..."

"None of that is important."

Chi Ye also felt his eyelids twitch wildly. This broken machine took quite a bit of effort for a normal person to use normally. How did Shi Daifu manage to do it effortlessly while rubbing against other things every time?

Look at her delicate figure...

Could it be that she's a cultivator?!

"Sister Shishi, you're so strong! So amazing!"

Jin Xia looked at the empty scene under her own machine, then at the mountain of corn kernels piled under Shi Daifu's machine, and admired her even more.

But after hearing the four words "so strong," Shi Daifu felt so embarrassed she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into, hurriedly waving her hands: "No, no... I'm actually not that strong..."

"Yes, not strong, just lucky to be alive."

Jin Xia was puzzled: "What does that mean?"

Chi Ye sighed: "Ordinary people wouldn't dare to 'provoke' Teacher Huang like this."

Everyone: "..."

"I'm sorry everyone... I... I'll be slower."

Shi Daifu lowered her head to apologize. She wasn't completely ignorant and already understood what everyone meant.

"Why are you apologizing? It's fine. In the future, I'll give you all the food Teacher Huang makes for me; you won't go hungry." Chi Ye comforted.

Jin Xia: "... Teacher Chi, you're so vicious."

"Ah... no, no, I'm not hungry, my appetite... my appetite is actually not that big..."

Shi Daifu didn't care about this; she didn't expect Chi Ye to see through her thoughts, and her face turned even redder, feeling ashamed.

Chi Ye: "..."

How exactly was this personality of wronging herself and subconsciously saying "not hungry" even when "hungry" formed?

After this little interlude, without Shi Daifu, the honest person, the group of old artists had already reached a tacit understanding. On the surface, they were working, but in reality, they were all slacking off one by one.

Half an hour passed, and Yang Zi and Teacher Lü hadn't even figured out the machine!

You're a know-it-all, but he doesn't know anything either!

Jin Xia gained nothing at all.

The Old Buddha wasn't doing it on purpose; it was because she really hadn't used this thing before, and... those gloves of hers, wrapped up like tumors, couldn't work either!

Chi Ye took a look and discovered that among the group, except for Teacher Huang, he was actually the one who had peeled the most.

For a moment, he even wanted to say to Teacher Huang: Who is the real Yellow Bee?!

Of course, the production team was definitely not satisfied with this kind of unbearable work efficiency.

Li Dao was responsible for this outdoor recording. After discovering that the monsters and freaks were all secretly slacking off, he frowned a little.

He had thought everyone would stir up trouble, but he didn't expect the guests would really not want to "eat Huang's food." What's wrong? Are they really going to be their "true selves"?!

He paused and signaled to the assistant beside him.

The assistant immediately handed the megaphone to Li Dao, and Li Dao took it and shouted: "Everyone stop for a moment, next, I'll announce a piece of news."

The "busy" crowd looked up, and Yang Zi habitually started acting, holding his waist: "What? Is there more bad news? My old waist can't take it anymore!"

Chi Ye: "Acting like you can't take it."

Yang Zi: "?"

He glared: Whose side are you on?!

Chi Ye apologized: "Sorry, I'm used to it."

Yang Zi: "..."

"In view of everyone's 'work attitude,' the villagers hope that everyone will complete the work within an hour."

"?"

Yang Zi immediately shouted: "The villagers hope?! Where are the villagers? Isn't it all just you, the production team!"

Chi Ye: "Why are these villagers so demanding?"

Production Team: "..."

Li Dao ignored the complaints of these two and continued: "If you can't complete the work within an hour, you won't be able to get ingredients and won't be able to eat lunch."

"!!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was happy instead of surprised!

There's such a good thing?!

"If we don't eat, we don't eat!"

"Then we won't eat."

"It's too tiring, we can't finish it at all. It's a pity we can't eat Teacher Huang's food." Teacher Lü said with high emotional intelligence.

"Ah, I still wanted to eat it!" Lin Jingyi said regretfully.

Hmm, it could be seen that she was truly regretful.

What kind of innate disaster poison body is this?!

"...!"

"Hey, how can this be."

Over here, Teacher Huang, hearing everyone's "regretful" words, frowned and began his habitual education: "You still have to eat. Food is the heaven for the people, right? You group of kids just haven't suffered enough."

As he spoke, he pointed happily at the iron pot he brought: "Children, don't worry about lunch."

"Even if you can't finish it by noon, it doesn't matter."

"I've negotiated with the production team; even if we have to set up a stove here temporarily, I'll make lunch for everyone!"

"Rest assured, I guarantee I won't let everyone go hungry!"

Everyone: "?!"

Chi Ye: "Not a brother, are you chasing us to kill us?!" ===== CHAPTER 23 =====