Chapter 18
Shen Jinfeng vaguely heard Qin Ye calling the others to go beachcombing. He only spared a few glances before withdrawing his gaze.
He Erwang was noisy and dramatic, Gu Shengsheng had no strength to even truss a chicken, and Qi Xiu was an expert at rainbow-flattery.
Mo Fan, whom Qin Ye had left for him, was indeed the type who quietly did the work without complaining and with high efficiency.
However, Shen Jinfeng only had Mo Fan help out with simple tasks, placing the wood in fixed positions.
The finer work and technical structures were all handled by Shen Jinfeng himself.
Once he got busy, he worked from the blazing heat of noon until the sun set in the west.
For several full hours, he practically did not stop.
The livestream audience watched helplessly as a wooden house rose from flat ground.
To be honest, this wooden house was not exactly exquisite. Even its appearance was somewhat unusual.
But with two people—strictly speaking, only one person truly doing the work—to use locally gathered timber and raise a wooden house in a single afternoon, the inexperienced netizens were all stunned.
[Was Shen Jinfeng a carpenter before debuting? He must have been a carpenter before debuting, right!]
[Pfft, don’t be too ridiculous. Earlier, someone said he must have been a phone repairman before debuting! Why don’t you two fight it out?]
[Yesterday, people were saying he was the Fish God and an inheritor of an ancient martial arts family. The aura was so high-end, but today it’s suddenly grounded.]
[Wait, is he using the legendary mortise-and-tenon structure? He didn’t use a single nail the whole time! Amazing! Starry eyes!]
[Flying eaves, dougong brackets, sparrow braces—why does it look so much like the illustration in the cultural heritage elective textbook from high school history? This is too incredible! Aside from not having finely carved patterns on top, it’s practically identical! No, it should be said that it’s even more vivid and real than the picture.]
[Incredible. There’s not a trace of modernity. It’s antique and elegant, just a little plain. If there were carved patterns on the pillars and dougong brackets, it would absolutely be a museum-level inheritance!]
[And Shen Jinfeng is really amazing. After several hours, he didn’t stop once. His whole body was soaked through with sweat, but he didn’t complain at all. Honestly, based on his current performance, I don’t believe he would act like a big shot on set just because he refused to be suspended by wires or got impatient after a few NGs.]
[Exactly. Before this, the entire internet was almost overwhelmingly blackening him. Although Shen Jinfeng has a good persona in the show, this show has already run for several seasons. All I can say is, one’s nature is hard to change. If his nature were evil, could he do this much? Did he offend someone outside before?]
[Sigh, let’s keep watching. It’s only been a few days. If Shen Jinfeng is innocent, I believe that with the long-tail effect of the “Being Human” production team, netizens will definitely return him a grand innocence!]
[Let’s focus on the show first… I’m numb. What exactly does he not know how to do? Were these personas really arranged by the production team? Or is Shen Jinfeng actually a genius who learns everything effortlessly and can act out whatever persona he’s given?]
[I really want to ask the production team what other skills Shen Jinfeng has! Can you give us some mental preparation?]
Sun Xinping looked at the bullet comments, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
He also really wanted to know what exactly had gone wrong with the persona the equipment team gave Shen Jinfeng.
Was this assigning a persona?
They might as well say they had followed a template and created a “genuine” big shot.
“Director, what level are we setting tonight’s rainstorm to? Looking at how simple that wooden house is, would an orange warning be a bit too harsh?” The equipment team leader felt a little unable to bear it.
An orange rainstorm warning meant that rainfall would reach over fifty millimeters within three hours.
In some mountainous or rural areas, that was already the level where one had to carefully guard against flash floods, landslides, mudslides, and other risks.
The guests would be huddled inside this little wooden house. If the house was not sturdy, what if it directly collapsed?
Sun Xinping looked at him expressionlessly.
“Mountain Goat, let me ask you. What is the original intention of our show?”
The equipment team leader looked blank. “What?”
“Isn’t it to uncover the guests’ true faces and excavate human nature?”
Sun Xinping choked for a moment.
Then he spoke with righteous conviction. “Without experiencing danger, without going through hardship together, without taking a trip through a life-or-death moment filled with peril, how can human nature be seen clearly?”
Xiao Li secretly curled his lips at the side.
Come on.
He made it sound so dignified, but he simply could not stand seeing the guests live comfortably.
But Sun Xinping felt that he was already benevolent enough. He was only sending a heavy rainstorm and strong wind. It was not like he was directly sending a typhoon.
The equipment team leader felt that something was not quite right, but also felt that it made some sense.
His technical brain could not hold too many twists and turns.
“Then after six o’clock, I’ll adjust it here.”
On the other side, Qin Ye’s four-person group, who had taken the remaining guests to beachcomb, also shocked the audience.
Not far from where Shen Jinfeng had previously caught fish, Qin Ye casually circled off an area and led the way, holding a military knife as he dug into the sand.
He crouched down and explained to the others. “Finding mud snails is the easiest. Look for fish-scale-shaped sand pits like this. On the wet surface of the sand pit, step on the harder spots. Dig around places with water like this, and you’ll be able to find them.”
As he spoke, he used the knife to turn the sand a few times.
His luck was good. With this one dig, over a dozen mud snails appeared at a glance.
Gu Shengsheng and Qi Xiu hurriedly crouched down and picked them up together.
[Holy crap, they look so plump and delicious!]
[Holy shit, I want to eat mud snails now!]
He Erwang’s eyes lit up. “It doesn’t look hard.”
He copied the example and casually found a place, but his start was unfavorable.
Only after angrily digging in five different places did he find a small hole in a patch of mud. When he reached his hand inside, he actually felt a big clam.
Dramatically, after he felt the big clam in his hand and raised his head,
as far as the eye could see, on the beach not far in front of him, there were actually dense clusters of big clams!!!
He Erwang muttered with a lost expression, “So this is beachcombing? It’s so simple!”
Netizens watching the livestream who had beachcombing experience were so angry their hearts nearly stopped.
[Simple? He Erwang actually said beachcombing is simple! Fine, to him it really is easy mode. Jealousy has twisted my face.]
[Such a huge patch of clams, and they’re all growing in one place? Did they come collectively to repay kindness—no, to deliver themselves to death?]
[Lucky is lucky, but I won’t allow you to say beachcombing is simple! This is very embarrassing for me, someone who went beachcombing three times this year and whose total seafood catch wasn’t even enough to stir-fry half a plate!]
[Damn, even though I’m a fan, I still have to say this: He Erwang, your tone is way too punchable!!!]
However, viewers watching several livestream perspectives at the same time would discover that He Erwang was not the most outrageous one.
After Qi Xiu helped Qin Ye pick up that patch of mud snails, he also began moving freely.
But he did not take the techniques Qin Ye had taught to heart at all.
On the center of the screen, the delicate-looking young man wore the most modern T-shirt and shorts. The few loose strands of hair on his forehead only added a bit more freshness.
He looked exactly like the traditional top student in a teacher’s eyes.
This top student walked alone to an empty space off to the side, then in a very un-modern, unscientific, somewhat mysterious manner, raised his hand and formed a gesture.
Fortunately, What Kind of Person Are You? created a virtual world, unlike ordinary livestreams where there would still be concerns over sound pickup.
Qi Xiu’s self-muttered sentence was transmitted with absolute clarity into the ears of everyone watching the livestream.
“Let me first do a divination.”
[That one sentence suddenly made me go silent.]
[Bro, you know spirits aren’t allowed after the founding of the nation, right?]
[A few days ago, I went to a temple near us. One meter away from the fortune-drawing and divination stall, there was a sign that said: Please believe in science. Same energy. Qi Xiu is divining again, so let’s type together on the public screen: Believe in science!!! But I still went and drew a fortune a few days ago, so Qi Xiu, keep calculating, I’ll keep listening.]
[Hahahahahahaha, the result isn’t out yet, so this doesn’t count as promoting feudal superstition.]
Qi Xiu’s hand moved strangely for a bit, then he very casually walked about fifty meters to the right.
Then he crouched down.
On the beach, a lively big crab leapt into view.
It jumped energetically, as if saying: Hurry and catch me!
[!!! N-no, bro, are you serious?]
[Is the production team crazy? They dare cooperate with this? Aren’t they afraid the livestream room will get banned?]
[Holy crap, so scary. I got goosebumps. The production team had better come out and explain whether this is part of the show effect!]
Qi Xiu picked up the big crab and placed it into the leaf basket he carried with him. He even kindly scooped some water into it.
The leaf basket had been distributed by Shen Jinfeng to the group that morning.
His fingers moved again, and he walked a few meters, crouched down, and once again picked up a big crab.
Sun Xinping, who was also watching the livestream, felt the chill from the soles of his feet grow even stronger.
What the hell?
He slowly turned to look at the equipment team leader and swallowed. “You didn’t arrange this, right?”
The equipment team leader shook his head with the same terrified eyes. “Director, let me explain. This is not a gimmick arranged by our production team.”
“Wait!” Sun Xinping hurriedly stopped him. “Don’t explain it, and don’t respond. Let the netizens think whatever they want.”
If they really explained and denied it, the production team would clear itself.
But wouldn’t that make Qi Xiu truly become feudal superstition?
Fortunately, not everyone was this outrageous.
As the organizer of the beachcombing trip, Qin Ye clearly had some real skill.
It did not seem like he put much effort into searching. He simply walked a few steps, casually dug, and almost never came up empty-handed.
Mud snails, crabs, swimming crabs, razor clams, mantis shrimp…
There was almost nothing you could think of that he could not find.
This confident, effortless, never-missing aura was extremely convincing.
It made people watch with red eyes.
[Although Ye God is making me dizzy with how handsome he is, I seriously suspect, using my real name, that the production team is releasing way too much water!]
[Also dizzy. Dazed and unclear. Is beachcombing really this simple?]
[Too much! This seafood lover’s drool is about to fall!]
Qin Ye was now teaching Gu Shengsheng how to find sea urchins.
“Look for this kind of reef near where the seawater washes over. Search in the gaps. Sea urchins usually have half their bodies attached in the mud and will expose their sharp surface spines. They’re very easy to identify.”
As he spoke, he pulled several visibly sizable sea urchins from the crevices.
[Holy crap, even if Ye God stops being a president, earning money is this easy?]
[I guarantee that one sea urchin would sell for over a hundred yuan in a restaurant! This is five hundred yuan right here! How long has it even been!]
Gu Shengsheng nodded fairly seriously.
However, after listening to Qin Ye’s full lesson, he truly demonstrated what an ordinary person’s beachcombing looked like.
In sharp contrast with everyone else’s huge harvest, after busily working for more than three hours,
Gu Shengsheng had turned beachcombing into turning himself into a mud man. His beautiful face was also covered in mud.
His results were: a sparse dozen or so mud snails, and one swimming crab so tiny it could not be any smaller. If cooked, it would probably only be enough to get stuck between his teeth.
His dark, bright eyes looked especially lost and wronged through the cover of mud, clearly having suffered a heavy blow.
“Does this sea have a grudge against me?”
