Chapter 29
Clearly, Qi Xiu did not take the “no wife, no children” part of his own five disadvantages and three deficiencies to heart at all.
In fact, there was no need to.
His eyes curved into crescent moons as he smiled at Shen Jinfeng. “Boss, you don’t need to worry about me.”
“So, want a divination?”
[Qi Xiu really is something. After learning the unfortunate—lucky—consequence that he’ll have no wife and no children, he has no taboos anymore. No wonder he wants to do a divination at every turn.]
[Someone come quickly! There’s a person exploiting a bug here! I feel like if there are other experts watching in front of the screen, they might be dying of envy!]
[It’s obvious. Qi Xiu is exceptionally obsessed with doing a divination for his boss.]
[Person in front, I don’t think you’ve really seen it. Little Qi calculated Mo Fan’s career and Ye God’s marriage fate without needing their eight characters. Just because he doesn’t have Big Shot Shen’s eight characters, he can’t calculate at all? I don’t believe he hasn’t secretly calculated for Big Shot Shen before.]
[He keeps calling him Boss. He even knows to calculate before going to the woods to find food or going beachcombing. Since he’s already calling Big Shot Shen Boss, are you telling me he hasn’t calculated?]
[Hiss, so Shen Jinfeng might really be a big shot? He’s genuinely calling Shen Jinfeng Boss? No way?!]
[Dunno. All I can say is that Big Shot Shen in the show feels like a completely different person from the Shen Jinfeng we knew before.]
[I know! Big Shot Shen must usually have some special mission on him and needs to conceal himself! Maybe he entered the entertainment industry with another purpose too!]
[That makes sense! Have you guys seen that video of an undercover police officer making jianbing? What can you do if your specialty doesn’t match the job? When Big Shot Shen was acting, maybe he was already doing his best by keeping a stiff face and reciting one, two, three, four, five! Maybe he was carrying out some special mission at the time!]
[What special mission?]
[Special missions? There are tons. For example, maybe there’s an extremely evil criminal in the entertainment industry? Maybe he’s collecting evidence of money laundering? Catching tax evasion? …Or maybe he’s trying to save the world? Hahahahaha, sorry, this is so ridiculous, I’ll laugh first!]
[Silence. This batch of netizens’ imagination is getting more and more outrageous, but somehow it has some damn logic!]
[So, little Qi must have secretly calculated for Big Shot Shen already and discovered that Big Shot Shen is super powerful. Big Shot Shen really is super powerful in the show too. But he still wants to know Big Shot Shen’s eight characters and calculate something more comprehensive and even more powerful. Maybe he’s never seen someone this incredible before, or maybe he wants to help Big Shot Shen seek fortune and avoid disaster…]
However, even though the bullet comments were filled with speculation, and Qi Xiu was eager to try,
Shen Jinfeng still ruthlessly refused. “No need.”
[Sigh, one side has feelings while the other has none.]
[Little Qi, you’re being inconsiderate! Big Shot Shen must have a secret mission on him, so he can’t let you know! Stop thinking about calculating it!]
All kinds of outrageous guesses began appearing in the bullet comments.
The passersby and viewers who were merely watching from the sidelines were utterly confused. Were these people serious, or were they joking?
Sun Xinping was among them.
Xiao Li swallowed, his eyes somewhat panicked. “Director, what do you think Big Shot Shen’s true identity is? Could he really be undercover in the entertainment industry?”
Sun Xinping shook off the goosebumps on his arms. “What are you thinking? Netizens are joking, and you’re taking it seriously?”
The equipment team leader added faintly from the side, “But if Shen Jinfeng doesn’t have another identity, how did he manage to control our character setting? Looking at it now, he’s simply gone above and beyond the persona.”
“Just that skill of his isn’t something a normal person can have. And with his practiced wilderness survival skills, he’s practically like a mercenary.”
Sun Xinping shuddered.
A mercenary?
That was someone who dealt in lives!
If that were true, and Shen Jinfeng came out of the show to settle accounts with him, would he still be alive?
Bah, bah, bah. Goat was talking nonsense and making wild guesses.
He stared fixedly at the equipment team leader. “If you ask me, who am I supposed to ask?”
“All right, go work. Add a line to the public bullet screen!”
The equipment team leader froze. “What line? Shen Jinfeng isn’t doing anything right now.”
“Oh. Director, you mean Qi Xiu’s fortune-telling? Should I also add: Professional movement. Do not imitate?”
Sun Xinping: “…”
He sighed weakly. “This isn’t something you can imitate just because you want to. The main thing is, we don’t want netizens to believe in fortune-telling, go find someone to calculate for them, get scammed, and then blame the production team.”
Moreover, today’s society valued science.
These secret things passed down from the ancestors could not be openly promoted.
If he did not take some action soon, seeing how the heat of the trending searches across all platforms kept rising higher and higher, he was going to be invited for tea.
“Add this line to the public bullet screen: For program effect only. Do not take it seriously. Believe in science!!!”
The equipment team leader did it without objection.
As for the netizens who saw this line: “…”
They laughed.
[How is this different from me going to a temple to burn incense, only to find a notice pasted in front of Bodhisattva saying, “Believe in science”?]
[Person in front, so did you worship Bodhisattva? No other meaning. I’m a Party member, no religious beliefs. Going to temples is purely because of the customs passed down in our China for thousands of years. Every time I worship, with Bodhisattva and science both watching me, I tell myself I’m worshipping science, hahahahahaha.]
[Which scientist was it who said this? The end of science is mysticism.]
[All right, all right, everyone stop joking. I still want to keep watching the livestream.]
In the livestream, after being rejected, Qi Xiu finally completely gave up and sat back beside Shen Jinfeng, sleepily warming himself by the fire.
“This is really comfortable. I want to sleep,” he said.
When Shen Jinfeng heard this, he suddenly turned his head and glanced at him, the corner of his lips curving into a subtle arc.
It was currently the hottest part of summer. It was only because there was a rainstorm outside, and because the temperature difference between day and night on the deserted island had grown larger, and because they needed to dry clothes and cook food, that they had lit the firewood.
But in truth, if the firewood were removed, it would be a little cool, but not at all cold like winter.
He glanced at everyone who had just participated in the divination activity and now looked a little listless, then suddenly spoke. “This afternoon, Mo Fan prepared a surprise for everyone. Want to see it?”
Mo Fan, who was suddenly cued, raised his head in confusion. “Huh?”
When had he prepared a surprise?
He Erwang immediately became interested. “Not bad, Brother Mo.”
“If Boss says it’s a surprise, it must be something good. You didn’t spend the afternoon idling for nothing.”
Qin Ye also looked at Mo Fan with some surprise.
In the afternoon, he had left Mo Fan behind purely because he was afraid Shen Jinfeng might need someone to help with something. He had not expected the team to be full of hidden talents, and even the unremarkable Mo Fan had a unique skill.
Qi Xiu’s expression was a little strange. Why hadn’t he calculated this earlier?
Shen Jinfeng dragged out his tone, lazily creating suspense. “It’s something good that everyone needs.”
“All right, is everyone done eating? Get up and exercise with me.”
He stood first.
The others did not understand, but they obediently followed and stood up.
Only Qi Xiu had a bitter face. “We still have to exercise after eating.”
He looked around, trying to find agreement, but unexpectedly, everyone else looked as if they were used to it and did not resist at all.
“You all like exercising?”
He Erwang thought for a moment. “It’s been half an hour after dinner, right? We should exercise a little.”
Qin Ye said, “I usually go work out after meals too.”
Mo Fan sighed. “Boss’s suggestion is good. At my age, exercise is good for the body.”
Gu Shengsheng blurted instinctively, “You have to maintain your figure.”
[Hahahahaha, actually, it’s because celebrities usually rarely eat much, and once they do eat too much, they have to urgently exercise, right? Maybe they’re used to it, so they don’t resist at all.]
[Little Qi really did just enter the entertainment industry, so he’s still not used to it. Once you become a celebrity, you have to eat less and move more to look good on camera.]
Shen Jinfeng raised his brows in some surprise. His teammates were quite cooperative.
However, he glanced at Gu Shengsheng’s figure, which was clearly much thinner than an ordinary person’s, and added, “Except you, Gu Shengsheng.”
“Lie obediently on the bed and recover.” His tone was casual and gentle, carrying a deep soothing quality that gave it an indescribable feeling.
For some reason, after hearing this sentence, Gu Shengsheng’s face suddenly turned red, and he murmured, “Oh, okay.”
“Call me if you need help, Boss.”
Qin Ye looked at him faintly and silently withdrew his gaze.
“Let’s go, Little Captain.”
Shen Jinfeng turned around and saw the handsome, sharp-looking young man slowly smiling at him. Qin Ye even walked to his side and moved forward shoulder to shoulder with him.
Qi Xiu noticed this scene and shot to his feet, rushing to Shen Jinfeng’s side too.
“Boss, let’s go. I’ll exercise with you.”
Shen Jinfeng’s heart, which had been beating somewhat chaotically, slowly calmed.
After walking two steps, he stopped. He endured and endured, but ultimately could not help saying, “Stay farther away from me.”
They had taken a seawater bath during the day and had sweated too. Both of them carried a pickled smell, and with the barbecue from just now added on top—
Damn, this smell was too overwhelming.
When they had been sitting earlier, he had somewhat gotten used to it. Besides, the smell of food from the barbecue pile had been stronger.
Now that they had stood up and walked two steps, and the air was circulating,
no more…
Qin Ye’s expression stiffened. “What’s wrong?”
The next second, he reacted and silently walked two steps away together with Qi Xiu.
He Erwang and Mo Fan, seeing this from the side, could not help bursting into laughter. “Hahahahahahaha.”
After the two walked away, the air grew a little fresher.
But when Shen Jinfeng thought of his own instinctive reaction just now, he felt a little embarrassed and looked toward Qin Ye. “I’m not disgusted by you.”
I’m disgusted by the way you smell right now, but I won’t say it out loud and hurt your feelings.
He felt he was quite considerate.
The corner of Qin Ye’s mouth curved with difficulty. “It’s fine.”
Qi Xiu’s expression was somewhat vexed. “I think my constitution is pretty good. How about I go outside and take a shower now?”
He looked toward the pouring, torrential rain outside, a little unable to make a decision. “I feel like if I strip naked and stand out there for a few seconds, I’ll be washed clean. I just don’t know if I’ll catch a cold.”
“Let me calculate a hexagram.”
He seemed to have completely let himself go. In the past, at school, he still had to hide his mystical identity.
But just now, everyone in the team had learned that he could do divination, so he no longer concealed it.
Shen Jinfeng: “…No need to calculate. I’m taking you all to wash up again.”
“Huh?” He Erwang looked at the bean-sized raindrops that seemed as if they could smash someone to death, then lowered his head to smell himself. With the expression of a man generously going to his death, he said, “Let’s wait until the rain is a little lighter?”
Only Mo Fan widened his eyes, suddenly reacting to something, and blurted, “Boss, the surprise you said I prepared couldn’t be…?”
Shen Jinfeng smiled and nodded. “Yes. The little bathing pool I had you dig this afternoon.”
The viewers watching the livestream finally also belatedly reacted.
[A bathing pool? Holy crap, am I some tiny idiot with a bad brain? I only realized now! This afternoon, when Mo Fan had nothing to do, wasn’t Big Shot Shen having him dig in the ground?]
[I thought he was digging a foundation… —covers face—]
[Ha, I thought he was digging the shape of a bed.]
[What the hell do you mean, the shape of a bed? Is your bed installed underground?]
[That… wasn’t it because I thought Big Shot Shen had unique taste and his own artistic design? Hahahaha.]
[Shocked. Is this how big shots foresee the future and plan ahead?]
[Wait, the bathing pool is dug indoors?? You can’t blame me for not thinking of that, right? Who could imagine that Big Shot Shen could still think to dig a bathing pool while rushing to build a house?]
[And Big Shot Shen didn’t say anything at the time. He didn’t even do the work himself. He just directed Mo Fan to do it. Who could have thought Mo Fan was actually shouldering such an important mission?]
[Pfft, if you say you didn’t see that pit was a bathing pool, I can understand. But if you say, “Who could have thought Mo Fan could shoulder such an important mission?” I’m going to die laughing hahahahaha. So now you all think only Big Shot Shen does serious work?]
[Sorry, it’s really because Mo Fan’s sense of presence was too low before.]
[Mo Fan is going to cry. He’s been working the whole time. He silently built a bathing pool for everyone! Although he also didn’t know he was building a bathing pool hahahaha.]
[Exactly! Even Mo Fan, the person involved, didn’t know he was digging a bathing pool. It’s normal that we couldn’t think of it either, right? Right?]
[Wait, something’s wrong. That bathing pool was dug indoors, but there’s no water indoors. How do they wash? Are they going to use wooden basins to collect water and pour it in? Then why go through so much trouble? Everyone could just take a basin outside to collect water and wash. When my family didn’t have a shower or water heater when I was little, that’s how we bathed.]
This netizen’s question was quickly answered.
It was not accurate to say the bathing pool Mo Fan had dug was indoors, because it was under the eaves on the other side of the wooden hut. This stretch of eaves extended very far, and there were wind-blocking wooden boards outside. It counted as a semi-enclosed open-air bathing pool.
The bathing pool had not been dug very large. Its length and width were both less than two meters, and its depth was only a little over sixty centimeters, just enough for an adult man to sit in and bathe, with the water able to cover his shoulders.
A major reason Shen Jinfeng had chosen this piece of land for building the house was that the terrain around the bathing pool had height differences and formed a slope.
The bathing pool was located on the middle-lower slope. After Mo Fan dug out the shape, Shen Jinfeng had connected some bamboo pipes from the upper slope to the pool.
The pipes were outdoors, while the bathing pool was indoors.
This way, when the rainstorm poured down, rainwater would flow through the pipes into the bathing pool.
At the same time, he had also left some pipes at the downslope side of the bathing pool. They were currently blocked. As long as the pipes were cleared, the dirty water could be drained out.
In this way, water flowed in from one side and out from the other, with fresh rainwater circulating and replacing itself.
The water inside the bathing pool could also maintain a relatively clean cycle.
This extra-large storm had already lasted for several hours.
Water had gathered deeply, and at this moment, the bathing pool was nearly overflowing.
The people who followed Shen Jinfeng out saw the scene before them and all widened their eyes in shock.
“Boss, you’re way too awesome!!! How did you think of this?” Qi Xiu’s tone was stunned and excited. “I also calculated that there would be a heavy rainstorm, and I saw you building the house, but even I didn’t think of this!”
He Erwang spoke without thinking. “Damn, if I’d known earlier, why did I even take a seawater bath? It made me feel like I was dehydrated.”
Only after the words landed did he remember that he needed to be a polite and considerate person.
He looked at Qin Ye embarrassedly. “Brother Ye, I don’t mean to blame you. I’m blaming myself for wanting to bathe. The key point is that I want to praise Boss’s intelligence and Brother Mo’s hard work.”
Mo Fan scratched his head. “It’s mainly Boss’s credit. I didn’t even know I was digging a bathing pool.”
He Erwang praised from the side, “This is practically like those outdoor pools at high-end hotels.”
“One look and you know it’s more comfortable than those lousy pools at those lousy hotels.”
Eh, he had accidentally spoken a little inelegantly again.
Shen Jinfeng: “…There’s no need to exaggerate that much.”
This bathing pool was only a few meters long in total. Calling it a swimming pool? Someone a little taller would not even fit one body length inside.
Lousy pools at lousy hotels?
With He Erwang’s wealthy fate, one could imagine what kind of hotels he usually stayed in.
If those hotels knew this evaluation, they would probably cry.
Qin Ye also played along supportively. “It’s better than the one in my family courtyard.”
[No, although I really understand that in this situation, you have to be supportive and flatter him, but one by one, you really don’t need to praise it by comparing and stepping on the “competition,” okay?]
[Fans really summarized the hotels from He Erwang’s publicly available schedule in the past year, and most of them have swimming pools… Mm, are those pools really that bad?]
[Hotel managers are going to cry hahaha. You’re noble, you’re amazing? Is your bathing pool not shabby?]
[And Qin Ye too. A man with a net worth of hundreds of billions, and the one at your house can’t compare to this one in front of you?]
Ms. Yun and Qin Jianfeng, who were watching the livestream, also fell silent.
The swimming pool in their courtyard had been built with a huge sum of money. Its area alone was the size of an ordinary family’s three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. Hot spring equipment and water purification machines operated around the clock.
The amount of money burned every month would be an astronomical figure to an ordinary person.
The surroundings were filled with flowers and plants, and there were artificial mountains and pavilions modeled after garden landscapes. It could be called the perfect combination of technology and elegance.
Beside the pool stood a massive bookshelf, with smart robots providing service at any moment, ready whenever needed.
If one did not want to read, they could also turn on the projector and watch a movie. The scenes in novels describing people swirling red wine glasses were far too vulgar.
The canopy could be left open to the sky, allowing one to enjoy the natural wind.
It could also be closed, capable of imitating a starry night sky and dozens of other sky scenes.
There had never been a guest who came to their house and did not praise it.
And the pool on the livestream screen—
even calling it a bathing pool was somewhat shabby.
In terms of area, it would already be crowded with two people standing in it.
As for the surrounding scenery, fine, it could barely be considered original ecology. A stretch of green was good for the eyes, but right now it was pitch-black and dirty, so nothing could be seen.
As for water quality, fine, it was nature’s gift, mixed with the fragrance of mud…
Qin Jianfeng frowned as he looked at his son on the screen, who had a sincere expression.
He laughed. “That brat has learned to lie through his teeth in order to pursue a wife.”
Ms. Yun rolled her eyes at him. “Did your son not know how to lie through his teeth before?”
“Besides, when there is love, even drinking water fills the stomach. When you’re with someone you like, isn’t everything the best? Even plain rice porridge smells fragrant.”
Qin Jianfeng: “…If he dares make his wife drink plain rice porridge with him, I’ll break his legs first. How useless.”
Ms. Yun: “…What wife? Who’s the wife isn’t certain yet.”
Qin Jianfeng looked stunned. Since Ms. Yun had long suspected Qin Ye’s sexual orientation, she had pulled him along to research all kinds of romantic relationships.
She had even discussed with him a man in some country who fell in love with his own donkey and insisted on marrying it.
Human-animal love—Ms. Yun had even discussed that with him… Uh, but that span was indeed too large, and neither of them had been mentally prepared.
By comparison, same-sex love had always been within the range they could accept.
Therefore, he understood somewhat.
He stared in astonishment and pointed at Qin Ye and Shen Jinfeng on the screen. “No, do you have that little confidence in your son? He looks a little taller than Xiao Shen.”
Ms. Yun said, “They’re both men. Can’t you change your wording and say husband?”
Although she also felt a little uncertain in her heart. After all, Qin Ye only seemed a few centimeters taller. If Xiao Shen wore slightly taller shoes, they would be about the same.
But Xiao Shen had strong martial power.
However, she would not use this topic to strike Qin Jianfeng, who, as a man, always wanted to be on top and probably hoped his son would also be on top.
Shen Jinfeng had no idea at all that he had already been identified as another family’s “husband.”
He was equally doubtful about Qin Ye’s sentence.
Although he had never seen Qin Ye’s family swimming pool, a pool in a private residence could not possibly be worse than the one in front of him, right…
One could only say that on a deserted island, having a pool to bathe in was simply too joyful and luxurious.
“All right, I called everyone here to exercise a little.” He solemnly suppressed the faint pleasure in his eyes and instructed everyone to get to work together. “The stones are all piled over there. Now we need to use stones to press down the silt at the bottom. The surroundings also need to be built into a circle of stone walls, so the water quality can be cleaner.”
“Once we finish, everyone can wash up before sleeping.”
“Okay!” The others did not hesitate at all and immediately began working.
With everyone working together, it did not take long before the bottom of the bathing pool was densely covered with a layer of stones. The mottled, interlaced stones of uneven sizes unexpectedly had their own unique beauty.
The slightly larger stones were fitted together, and the gaps in between were filled with smaller stones, or even bamboo pieces that had been shaved flat.
Because the rain had moistened the soil, the surface was so soft that with a little force, one could sink a few centimeters into it.
Therefore, after the stones were laid, the height of the bathing pool was still just right.
After filling the bottom of the pool, the group built a stone wall around the pool, leaving only the water inlet and outlet.
This way, the surrounding soil would no longer collapse inward.
When everyone worked together, strength grew.
The small bathing pool was completed in less than an hour.
The rainstorm was now ridiculously heavy. Even describing it as “pouring” seemed insufficient.
So, after opening the outlet and draining the water from the bathing pool,
then reopening the inlet, it did not take long at all to fill the pool with fresh water.
“All right. You can bathe now.” Shen Jinfeng narrowed his eyes and looked at the little bathing pool in satisfaction.
Who knew how long he had drifted at sea? It had also been two days since he woke up. If he did not bathe soon, his whole body would feel uncomfortable.
He Erwang ran a hand through his sweat-damp purple hair and very self-awarely spoke first. “Boss worked hard. Boss, you wash first.”
After saying that, he turned and went inside.
Qi Xiu and Mo Fan also walked in together.
Shen Jinfeng was not polite either. It was only a matter of who went first. He had contributed the most, so there was nothing wrong with him washing first.
Only Qin Ye had just moved the last few stones to the side and had not heard what the others had said.
“Eh, you’re going to bathe?” He walked back stupidly and saw that Shen Jinfeng was actually taking off his clothes.
The hem of Shen Jinfeng’s shirt had already been lifted halfway, revealing a section of waist that looked dazzlingly white even in the night.
It was the second time he had seen it.
Shen Jinfeng was startled. He had not expected there to still be someone who had not left.
He swiftly lowered the hem of his shirt and turned back to see Qin Ye still standing in place.
???
“What are you doing? Do you want to wash together?” he asked in annoyance.
Qin Ye was startled and felt as if his whole body was burning up with a whoosh.
“Huh? Isn’t it… isn’t it too early?” he stammered in refusal.
Shen Jinfeng: “…”
