Chapter 17
[What? What did He Erwang just say?]
He Erwang’s unexpected sentence struck everyone present into silence.
The netizens watching the livestream were shocked, and He Erwang’s massive fanbase flooded the bullet comments with question marks.
[No, bro, did your account get hacked? Wait, no, did your whole person get hacked?]
[Bro, do you really not think this request is a little presumptuous?]
[Ahem, struggling to preserve a little dignity for my brother. My brother loves working out, and whenever he gets even a little result, he likes lifting his shirt for us to see at concerts. That’s right, we Wangwang Snow Biscuits eat this well. He just has this hobby and thinks other people have the same hobby.]
[Everyone, please understand. My brother, uh, he likes comparing this kind of thing with others. Maybe after seeing Senior Qin Ye’s muscles earlier, he felt inferior, so now he wants to look at Big Shot Shen’s abs and feel even more inferior. (dog head)]
[Sigh, let the storm come even harder! Hurry and let my brother suffer a heavy blow, realize he hasn’t worked hard enough at the gym, and strive harder from now on!]
[I’m convinced. Why do men like showing off abs so much? There are some guys in my Moments who always love posting gym ab photos.]
[No, actually, a lot of guys have strange competitive desires in certain aspects. He Erwang looks like the kind of person who would ask someone to go to the restroom together, then pull it out afterward to compare sizes.]
[Pfft, and then he asks: Bro, can you take that thing out and let me see?]
[Hahahahahahaha, the person in front is going to make me laugh to death.]
[Ahem, everyone, pay attention to the scale when posting bullet comments. Be careful your account gets banned. My last account disappeared exactly like this.]
In fact, Shen Jinfeng was also startled by He Erwang’s words.
Hah?
Look at my abs?
He cleanly chopped down another tree before finally processing what He Erwang had just said, somewhat bewildered.
No, was looking at abs some new type of friendship ritual?
They were all men. Logically speaking, it was normal to go shirtless in summer, but when someone solemnly made this kind of request, why did it feel so strange?
He hesitated, turned toward He Erwang, and prepared to refuse.
But someone’s voice was faster than his.
Qin Ye, standing to the side, casually pushed a tree he had just chopped down into He Erwang’s arms. “Can you start working now?”
He Erwang was shoved to the ground by the sudden weight.
He froze, then reacted after hearing Qin Ye urge him.
“Brother Ye, w-wait. Don’t you want to see Boss’s abs?”
Qin Ye’s expression paused, and he subconsciously glanced in Shen Jinfeng’s direction.
The young man wore a simple dark-black T-shirt with no particular sense of design or tailoring.
But as long as he moved even slightly, the thin fabric shifted and rose and fell with its owner’s movements, outlining the shape of his narrow, slender waist.
One could tell that it was a lean and strong waist. If it were covered with a thin layer of muscle…
Suddenly, Qin Ye felt the root of his ear burn fiercely.
Damn.
Qin Ye turned his gaze away in annoyance.
Only, he was used to concealing his expressions. The change in his eyes happened only for an instant and was not obvious, so the audience did not notice.
He came back to himself and refused coldly, “No.”
“And you don’t look either.”
He Erwang gave an “ah.” “Why?”
Still unwilling to give up, he continued asking, “We’re all grown men. What’s the big deal? Brother Ye, lift your shirt and compare with Boss! I’ll show you mine!”
As soon as his words fell, he decisively reached for the hem of his own shirt.
[!!!]
[Help… Bro, don’t you think the way you’re taking the initiative to lift your shirt and show people your abs is a little greasy and a little cheap? Wangwang Snow Biscuits will scold you first out of respect!]
[My brother is really just used to lifting his shirt at concerts. We Wangwang Snow Biscuits usually coax him by saying he’s very handsome, so we raised this child’s confidence too much. Everyone, please don’t mind!]
[Pfft, having this kind of idol, the fans are so humble, but also very cute hahahahaha.]
[Holy crap, he made my male god freeze. Well done, He Erwang! I want to see Qin Ye’s abs!]
[My god, the clothes Director Zhang couldn’t make Ye God take off in the movie are finally going to be lifted today?]
[I’m also very curious whose abs look better, Shen Jinfeng’s or Qin Ye’s. (starry eyes)]
Only, He Erwang failed before he even left the starting gate. His hand had just touched the hem of his shirt when another hand firmly stopped him.
Qin Ye’s brow bones furrowed slightly, and his sharp, distinct features were covered with a layer of coldness.
“I don’t want to see your abs.”
“How can abs be casually shown to other people?”
[Holy crap, did anyone notice Ye God’s wording! Just now, when He Erwang asked whether he wanted to see Big Shot Shen’s, he said he wouldn’t look. Now that He Erwang wants to show his own abs, Ye God says he doesn’t want to look! One word of difference, but they’re completely different things!]
[Sister in front, are you Sherlock Holmes? Your analysis actually makes so much sense!]
[No matter what, CP fans’ imaginations are always this powerful. But do you understand staying in your own circle and shipping quietly?]
He Erwang struggled manually for a moment but could not break free.
He gave up.
After all, Qin Ye was a big shot who chopped trees like cutting vegetables. He could not compare.
He tried to explain, and for some reason, his subconscious told him: “Brother Ye, showing abs is pretty normal. When we were studying as kids, when classmates played basketball, everyone went shirtless. Having well-trained abs was such an honor.”
Mm, his current memory was missing a segment, so of course he did not know that his subconscious came from being in the entertainment industry, where “selling looks” was very normal.
Some male actors often posted ab photos on Weibo as fan service, and all kinds of variety shows also often, accidentally on purpose, made some celebrity reveal a little something.
He was an idol and did not feel embarrassed at all about showing abs for fan service.
That was a sign of his professionalism.
If he added a little trick like this during concerts, the atmosphere would immediately get hyped.
So he did not understand Qin Ye’s resistance.
Shen Jinfeng silently looked toward Qin Ye.
The others also stopped what they were doing and looked toward the two people in the standoff.
No one had expected Qin Ye to be so pure-hearted!
Facing He Erwang’s questioning, Qin Ye withdrew his hand and said faintly, “Exposing one’s body is a very private act. Only one’s future other half can see it.”
He Erwang: “What???”
No, bro, nobody asked you to show the lower half.
[No, so Qin Ye is this kind of old antique?]
The corner of Shen Jinfeng’s mouth twitched.
He saw Qin Ye secretly glancing toward him while thinking he had hidden it well.
Tsk. A handsome guy with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs, who looked so upright and open.
Why was he so sneaky in his heart? Even when getting jealous, he went around in such a roundabout way.
He ignored this farce and turned back to continue chopping trees.
Mo Fan, standing at the side, issued a soul-searching question. “Brother, this thinking of yours won’t do. In today’s society, you’d be criticized for this. This is a sign of feudal thinking and a strong desire for control. Nowadays, girls care a lot about freedom of dress. If you demand that your other half can’t show anything, that’s a bit too much.”
Qin Ye fell silent for a moment. “Boys also care about freedom of dress?”
Mo Fan froze. “Aren’t boys already very free? As long as they don’t expose their bird, you can walk around the street shirtless in summer and no one will say anything.”
[Pfft, that’s actually true. My dad walks around shirtless every day in summer.]
[The vegetable market and the streets really are full of them, especially middle-aged men.]
[It also depends on the occasion. Going shirtless in a slightly formal setting isn’t very appropriate.]
However, after this interruption, He Erwang also forgot his original purpose.
With Shen Jinfeng joining in, everyone worked together to chop trees. By around noon, they had pretty much enough wood needed to build the house.
The group ate lunch hastily.
Although it was hasty, everyone here had extraordinary looks, the kind considered first-rate even in the entertainment industry.
When such a group of people acted as eating streamers, the audience watching the livestream was so tempted they howled.
But in the afternoon, when Shen Jinfeng started building the house, the others suddenly realized they had lost their usefulness.
Because very clearly, even Qin Ye’s wooden hut from last night could at most be considered shaped like a thatched hut. It could not possibly withstand a heavy rainstorm.
Shen Jinfeng said he could build a house strong enough to resist a storm, and almost no one hesitated before believing him.
But only Shen Jinfeng knew how to do it.
After all, he had experienced 999 worlds.
Among the three hundred and sixty trades, even if he had not done all of them, Shen Jinfeng had almost done the dozens or even hundred or so common ones.
He would not dare say he was the top scholar in every field, but he had learned seriously in every world and could be called an expert.
Ancient worlds did not have modern technology, yet natural disasters came all the same.
In such an era where technology could not even be called sprouting, Shen Jinfeng deeply experienced the boundlessness of human strength.
Human wisdom, ingenuity, hands-on ability, and practical skill were displayed even more masterfully in more backward eras.
Food, clothing, housing, and transportation—in ancient times, housing, which was almost placed first among them, gathered the supreme knowledge of skilled craftsmen and the inheritance of generations.
Shen Jinfeng had not truly been a house-building craftsman in ancient times, but he had been a construction supervisor many times.
After supervising several times, he developed interest and learned a bit.
There was naturally no need to say what level the craftsmen who built houses for imperial nobles had. After squeezing several heads dry of their knowledge, he was confident that he could go become an ancient contractor.
Xieshan roofs, ridge melon posts, Taiping beams, log-cabin construction, dragon-gate brackets, mortise-and-tenon joints plus dougong brackets…
Removing all the complicated and exquisite styles, temporarily building a wooden house to deal with a storm would be enough.
Only, time was tight and the task was heavy. Naturally, he could not bring apprentices along.
So Qin Ye and the others could only watch eagerly from the side.
Naturally, they would not be so confident as to think that because they had understood a little, they could casually step in. That would create safety hazards.
They also felt too embarrassed to disturb Shen Jinfeng.
But watching from the side and doing nothing made them even more embarrassed.
Qin Ye watched Shen Jinfeng’s nonstop, flowing movements quietly for a while and fell into thought.
What else could he do?
He thought of yesterday, when He Erwang mentioned coconut fish and various ways to cook fish, Shen Jinfeng’s eyes had clearly lit up.
Uh, it was not exactly clear.
He had not been staring at Shen Jinfeng the whole time.
It was really just pure coincidence. He had accidentally seen it.
Shen Jinfeng seemed very interested in food.
Got it.
Qin Ye asked the others, “Have you ever tried beachcombing?”
Yesterday, when he went out with Shen Jinfeng, he had thought they could try beachcombing for some seafood. Only later, he had been so shaken by Shen Jinfeng’s “Fish God” operation that he forgot about it.
Now they needed to store food. Besides relying on the fish Shen Jinfeng speared back, gathering other seafood was also a good choice.
It could also change up the flavor and reward the team’s great contributor.
He made the decision at once. “Don’t just stand here.”
He saw He Erwang constantly looking at Shen Jinfeng with sparkling eyes. It was irritating.
Every time Qi Xiu called him Boss, he also looked completely trusting and worshipful. A bootlicker. Annoying.
As for Gu Shengsheng, Gu Shengsheng’s face was beautiful, but he did not look like he knew how to do much work.
Qin Ye looked toward the last person. “Mo Fan, stay behind and help Little Captain with errands.”
“The rest of you come with me to beachcomb. We’ll look for more food.”
