Chapter 38
That was truly… quite reasonable.
The staff members who heard Sun Xinping’s statement all nodded in agreement.
If the rain did not stop and the guests were kept inside the wooden cabin any longer, this show might as well be renamed—Health Exercise + Handicraft Learning + Gourmet Program.
After receiving the order, the head of the equipment team and the technical members in his group began adjusting the deserted island’s weather.
After all, it was impossible for a typhoon to disappear in just two hours. The rain could not stop in the next second either. There still had to be a gradual process.
By tomorrow, he would make the deserted island clear up after the rain and let the sun come out.
That day, after finishing the “Approaching the Wild Boar” lesson, the guests all displayed their skills and, under Teacher Shen’s guidance, made two whole-hog feasts.
Everyone ate until their mouths were shiny with oil, their expressions fully satisfied.
Although Qi Xiu had been poor while following the old man, he had still eaten pork before.
But only today did he suddenly feel that not only had the old man been poor, but on the rare occasions when he had money and bought fish or meat, he had also been wasting money! No, he had been wasting pork!
“We only made ten dishes today! If we change ten dishes every day, we can eat for a whole week! Piggy really is treasure from head to toe!”
He Erwang nodded too. “After I get back, I need to make my family’s chef go study properly. Then he can follow Boss and write a wild boar cooking guide. I’ll find a publisher to print it and put Boss’s name on it!”
Shen Jinfeng looked at him blankly. “What did you say?”
He Erwang smiled embarrassedly. “Boss, would you mind putting all our names on it too?”
Mo Fan questioned, “Can this be published?”
He Erwang said matter-of-factly, “Why not? If postpartum care for sows can be published, why can’t a complete piggy cooking guide be published? Why do people study postpartum care for sows? Isn’t it to give birth to more piglets? And why raise so many piglets? Aren’t they all for us to eat?”
Gu Shengsheng shook his head and reminded him, “He Erwang, you missed something. Piggies aren’t just for eating. Piggy bristles can also be made into brushes, combs, and pens. And Boss can even use pigskin to make clothes.”
“Why don’t you ask Boss properly and just publish a complete guide on how to use piggies? The title can be Precious Piggy Is Treasure from Head to Toe.”
Qi Xiu also became enthusiastic and joined the discussion.
Shen Jinfeng exchanged glances with Qin Ye and Mo Fan, who were the remaining two still outside the situation.
Seeing the three of them discussing with such heated enthusiasm, he hesitated to speak, then gave up and temporarily did not stop them.
After a while, the three finally brought their discussion to a pause.
He Erwang turned back with an excited face and asked him, “Boss, how about it? You can be the first author! I’ll help you out, and let me put my name on it too, hehe. I guarantee it can be published. I have an uncle-in-law who’s the president of a publishing house!”
Guaranteed publication?
Mo Fan: “…Having an uncle-in-law who’s the president of a publishing house means you can go through the back door?”
“Oh my god, your topic is getting bolder and bolder. Is it really okay to be this blunt? Can ‘go through the back door’ be said openly like this?”
“Actually, it’s fine. Publishing something like this won’t harm anyone else’s interests. It’s just a matter of how many copies get printed and how much money gets lost. Anyway, He Erwang looks pretty rich. His uncle-in-law is a publishing house president, so he probably has money too. At worst, they’ll just lose some money.”
Unexpectedly, in the next second, He Erwang waved his hand with an indifferent expression. “Come on, does that even require going through the back door? As long as you have money, who can’t self-publish? If I ask my uncle-in-law to help me pay for self-publishing, surely he won’t refuse.”
He Erwang’s uncle-in-law, who received this video forwarded by his wife while on the way to work: “…”
He rubbed his forehead with a headache and replied pitifully: “Wife, all our family’s money is with you. Erwang has to ask you, his aunt, for it.”
“I don’t have money to help him self-publish.”
He Erwang’s aunt: “…”
The bullet comments were once again choked speechless by the world of rich people.
“Fine. They have plenty of money to pay out of pocket, self-publish, and entertain themselves.”
“This damned world of rich people. I was wondering why there are so many messy books on the market!”
But obviously, the bullet comments had still underestimated He Erwang’s ambition to “entertain himself.”
“Boss, after the book is published, I’ll find people to promote it. Isn’t overwhelming influencer marketing popular these days? I’ll find more influencers and have them go eat whole-hog feasts, wear pigskin coats, and make pig-bristle combs by hand. It’ll definitely go viral!”
He Erwang rubbed his chin. “Oh my goodness, why do I have such a good business mind?”
“Help… Little Purple Hair won’t really do this after he gets out, right?!”
“Save me, save me. Does this mean that for the next while, all of my Douyin will be marketing videos for Precious Piggy Is Treasure from Head to Toe?”
“Bro, don’t look for influencers! With this promotion of yours, plus the traffic from the third season of ‘Being Human,’ your unpublished book is already famous nationwide!”
“I’m very curious. How do influencers feel right now? Would you really accept this advertisement?”
“Why wouldn’t they? I estimate that once the book is really published, Little Purple Hair won’t even need to personally look for them. Influencers who come after the buzz will each have a copy in hand!”
“I really can’t. I never realized my idol was a business genius before.”
“I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it, okay! I’m actually pretty curious, hahaha! And at least if I buy this Precious Piggy Is Treasure from Head to Toe and bring it home, my mom will definitely think it’s more useful than those ‘trash’ magazines.”
“‘Trash’ magazines? Sister, you’re not talking about those Big Five September and October issues He Erwang shot that made other traffic stars red with jealousy, are you?”
“Shh, as long as we understand their value, that’s enough. In my mom’s eyes, aren’t they just useless ‘trash’ magazines? Sorry, sorry, major fashion magazines. I mean no offense. After all, it’s a bit hard to explain to the older generation how impressive you are, haha.”
On the livestream screen, Shen Jinfeng was being looked at by He Erwang with the gaze of someone who would not give up until he achieved his goal, and who was obviously very proud of his genius-level idea.
If he had to use a reaction image to describe his current mood, it would probably be six ellipses.
It was not as if he had never published a book before. And seriously, in a certain backward ancient world, he really had written a book similar to postpartum care for sows.
But, well…
Shen Jinfeng was silent for two seconds before saying, “It’s not impossible.”
“But I’ll need a pen name.”
He Erwang slapped his forehead. “Right. Having a pen name makes it more high-end.”
“Boss, what pen name are you planning to use?”
Shen Jinfeng: “Anonymous.”
“Pfft.”
Qin Ye and Qi Xiu, who reacted the fastest from the side, could not help laughing.
“I’m dying of laughter. Anonymous, hahahahaha.”
“Boss, you’re truly talented!”
He Erwang then reacted, his face full of black lines.
“I get it. Boss, you want to stay low-profile.”
“Hahahahahaha, Anonymous. What’s up with this author Anonymous? Why are you everywhere?”
“Honestly, when I was little, I often saw this name and genuinely thought this person was really amazing. So many works.”
“Later, I discovered this might not be one person, but a group, right? Hahahaha.”
At this moment, Shen Jinfeng did not know that He Erwang’s “genius” idea would truly succeed.
After leaving the show, he would earn quite a handsome income every year just from the royalties of this book, happily lying down and collecting money.
The fourth night on the deserted island was probably the most relaxed and pleasant night since everyone had woken up. They laughed and chatted, took baths, and went to bed.
Leisurely and carefree.
The next day, early in the morning.
Shen Jinfeng was the first to wake up, and he discovered that the rain had unknowingly stopped around midnight.
At the hour of the rabbit, around not even six o’clock, the sun was already hanging above the sky by the sea.
Looking into the distance, it seemed to coat the surface of the sea in a layer of golden light. The waves glittered, breathtakingly beautiful.
But compared to this beautiful scenery, what was even more astonishing was—
On the beach by the sea, probably because the waves had washed closer, from the sand where the tide had receded to an area only about fifty meters away from the wooden cabin, the beach was densely packed and dazzlingly full of seafood visible to the naked eye!
Among the originally golden grains of sand, one could see exposed seafood almost every few steps. Not one piece, but piles!
This scene was simply spectacular.
The corners of Shen Jinfeng’s lips curved slightly.
Sure enough, he had guessed correctly. After the heavy rain, the seafood had not fallen from the sky like the wild boar and crashed into their front door, but it was almost the same. The waves had blown it to their feet.
If they went beachcombing now, even a blind person would probably return fully loaded.
Early in the morning, only the netizens who had set alarms and planned to exercise along with the livestream had woken up.
Most of the production team’s staff had not woken up yet.
Only the equipment team had spread bedding in the workroom. Every day, someone stayed behind in shifts to watch the livestream in case any unexpected situation suddenly occurred.
The viewers and staff members who opened the livestream drowsily, still half asleep, saw this spectacular scene together with Shen Jinfeng.
“!!! Mom, are my eyes blurry? What are those things on the beach?!!”
“My goodness, if I’m not mistaken, that’s a whole beach of seafood, right?”
“This, this, this is even more shocking than the wild boar!”
And Shen Jinfeng, who saw this scene, did not look overly surprised. It even seemed to be within his expectations?
The young man who appeared early in the morning, completely bare-faced yet with flawless skin and a refreshed expression, woke his companions one by one.
“Get up and exercise,” he ordered mercilessly.
Fortunately, because they had gone to sleep early at night, even though they were forced to get up early, the group had gotten enough sleep and did not complain bitterly. Instead, they even felt a little anticipation toward exercising.
“I love waking up early, I love waking up early, I love waking up early!” Qi Xiu hypnotized himself. “Seriously, if I had gotten up this early every day when I was in school, I feel like I could’ve fought for provincial top scorer.”
He Erwang, the poor student, rolled his eyes speechlessly at him. “Why don’t you drop out, repeat a year, get up this early every day, and take the provincial top scorer title next year? The bonus is pretty generous too.”
Qi Xiu: “…I was just showing off. Why expose me?”
“Actually, I only said I got up late in the morning. But every day, I also studied until very late.”
He coughed lightly in embarrassment. “Actually, I secretly used a flashlight to study under the covers, but my classmates didn’t know.”
Gu Shengsheng reacted and looked at him in horror. “Holy crap, you’re so sinister! You even wanted to set up such a childish academic-genius persona!”
Shen Jinfeng was amused.
“All right. Brush your teeth, wash your face, and come out with me.”
And so, when the group walked under the eaves and also saw the beach full of seafood not far away, their eyes widened like copper bells.
Mo Fan’s voice trembled slightly. “These… are all ours?”
Pfft.
Shen Jinfeng had not expected the first person to speak to say something like that.
He cooperated seriously. “That’s right. This is the territory the rainstorm conquered for us!”
“Pfft, hahahahahaha, brilliant.”
“What the hell, the territory conquered by the rainstorm. That idiot production team didn’t control the weather these past few days. Now they’re going to be furious, hahaha.”
“I can already see Old Dog Sun crying and fainting in the bathroom!”
Qi Xiu said, “Sure enough, happy news came knocking. So the heavy rain plus typhoon, yesterday’s wild boar was only the first layer of surprise.”
Gu Shengsheng’s eyes also shone. “No matter how unlucky I am this time, I should be able to pick up as much seafood as you guys, right?”
“Hahaha, if Gu Shengsheng hadn’t said it, I almost forgot that he basically came back empty-handed last time they went beachcombing. Little unlucky egg, hahaha.”
“Don’t worry, Shengsheng. This time, even heaven is helping you! One person gets one section of beach. You’re all on the same starting line!”
“What do you mean pick up as much as last time? There’s so much seafood! They can’t finish picking it up. They simply can’t finish!”
Without saying another word, Qin Ye turned around, wanting to grab equipment to pick up seafood.
Shen Jinfeng grabbed him. “Hey, wait.”
He walked to the other side of the eaves, the side facing the forest.
He gestured for everyone to look over there.
“Take a look. There’s another surprise.”
The group looked carefully, leaning past the eaves. Some simply passed through the bath area to observe more closely.
“After the heavy rain, mushrooms have broken through the soil!” Qin Ye, with sharp eyes, was the first to notice.
Shen Jinfeng nodded, his tone light. “The weather these past few days has been perfect. After bright sunshine, the weather suddenly changed, then there was heavy rain and a typhoon. The rain fell for several days, providing mushrooms with plenty of water and nutrients. On top of that, the sun came out today.”
“There’s a saying: ‘When the sun shines while rain falls, mushrooms in the mountains are free for the taking.’ Actually, it’s not just mushrooms. Many plants have this habit too. Right now, the forest is probably full of treasures.”
“That means we can have a great harvest in the forest today!” Qi Xiu said in surprise.
Gu Shengsheng was eager to try. “Then what are we waiting for? Boss, let’s set out now! But we also need to pick up seafood, and we also need to gather mushrooms and other things in the forest. Should we split into two groups?”
Qin Ye analyzed, “Everyone already recognizes the common seafood, and it’s simple. But the useful plants in the forest aren’t things most of us know. Little Captain, you should lead the forest group?”
“Can I be on your team?” He struck first, and his reasoning was very sufficient. “Last time, Qi Xiu and He Erwang went with you. Gu Shengsheng just recovered from illness, so running that far isn’t good for his body. This time, let me go with you and Brother Mo.”
He Erwang and Qi Xiu, who had just been about to protest, were rendered speechless.
Only Gu Shengsheng froze for a moment. “I only had a cold and fever. That doesn’t really count as a major illness, right?”
Shen Jinfeng glanced at Qin Ye.
He knew the secret admirer’s little thoughts perfectly well.
Ahem, wasn’t he just trying to increase the amount of time he spent with him? Yet he said it so grandly.
But… what he said did make sense.
He patted Gu Shengsheng’s shoulder and said with a smile, “Your body is indeed still relatively weak right now. Stay home and guard the door.”
Gu Shengsheng instantly quieted down and nodded obediently. “Okay!”
“Boss, I’ll cook lunch and dinner and wait for you to come back.”
“? Gu Shengsheng’s persona is arrogant, domineering, selfish, and self-serving, right? He’s this obedient, even more obedient than a cat. Where is the arrogance? He even volunteered to cook. Where is the selfishness?”
“Hehe, go look at the things netizens exposed these past few days and you’ll know.”
“I saw… His parents are really hard to describe. But right now, it seems like there still isn’t enough evidence. His fan anti-black group is recruiting vigorously and organizing evidence chains, planning to issue a unified clarification, I think. A bunch of passersby are even more anxious than his fans, hahaha.”
“Speaking of which, Big Boss Shen’s reputation was also really bad before. Why aren’t there fans coming out to fight anti-fans?”
“Ah? Does Big Boss Shen still need anti-black work now? He has gained too many new fans. I haven’t seen anyone scolding him online these past few days.”
“Hahaha, according to rumors leaked from a paid troll group, they say scolding Shen Jinfeng is honestly impossible to keep up with. They fought at their keyboards all night until their hands cramped. No matter how many comments they posted, they were buried again in no time… They don’t even want to earn this money anymore. They said the scariest thing isn’t arguing with fans. The scariest thing is that they frantically post and post, but can’t make even the smallest splash, because new fans and passersby comment every minute, and their comments can’t stay on the homepage for even two seconds before disappearing.”
“Big Boss Shen seems to have gained many impressive new fans. Gossip says they’re also moving quickly and holding back something big.”
However, before the bullet comments could continue discussing, they stopped.
Because after the day’s group assignments were confirmed, everyone was excited, their eyes shining. They could not wait to go pick up seafood or head into the forest.
But Shen Jinfeng called them back.
“What’s the rush? A strong body cannot be built in a day. Exercise with me for an hour first, eat breakfast, and then set out.”
Everyone: “…Okay.”
“Hahahahaha, their expressions look like they’re saying: What’s going on? Why still can’t we escape?”
“Especially Qi Xiu and Gu Shengsheng. Why are they so resistant to exercise? It’s so good. Big Boss Shen is leading you! I specially got up early planning to exercise with Big Boss Shen. I almost thought I woke up early for nothing.”
“Do you even need to ask? Did you like morning runs when you were in school? Even if morning runs weren’t tiring at all and I knew they were good for the body, my resentment toward morning runs was still endless.”
“That’s right! Morning runs in middle and high school were one thing… But even in university, when I clearly didn’t have an 8 a.m. class, I still had to wake up early to clock in for morning runs! My resentment was heavier than a ghost’s.”
“But baby, it’s not even six yet, and you opened the livestream…”
Under Shen Jinfeng’s lead, everyone genuinely practiced exercises for a full hour… actually, more than that.
The reason was that when he saw the results of Gu Shengsheng and Mo Fan, the two lagging students, he felt that one hour a day was not enough to make up for it. He Erwang had long-term late-night habits, while the healthiest were Qin Ye and Qi Xiu.
But anyway, practicing more would not hurt.
The plan for a day lies in the morning. Since they had gotten up this early, they might as well train.
The netizens outside the livestream who had kept up from the beginning also genuinely practiced for an hour and a half.
It was very magical. The set of exercises Shen Jinfeng taught could not be found anywhere on the market.
After practicing, there was none of the usual feeling from fitness exercises, where one became drenched in sweat and exhausted to collapse.
Following along slowly, practicing and practicing, it seemed very easy for a person to become immersed in it, entering a mysterious and difficult-to-describe state.
They only felt that their limbs and bones were all warm, but not hot and restless. It was simply very comfortable.
After finishing, they only felt refreshed and energized, as if they could begin a busy day with a hundredfold spirit.
Because they had started exercising before six o’clock, after Shen Jinfeng and the others finished and leisurely ate breakfast, it was only a little past eight, not yet nine.
It was the time when workers in real life were about to start work.
All the workers in the production team arrived together.
Little Li yawned. “Why is our show already trending every day the moment we get up? What time is it? Early in the morning, and the views have already passed a hundred million?”
“Also, didn’t ‘timely rain’ and ‘timely wind’ already trend before? Why are they trending again?”
He tapped open the trending topic #TimelyRainAndTimelyWind, and then the bun he had been holding in his mouth dropped.
“My good heavens. So much seafood and mushrooms! Did they come to repay kindness?”
“This netizen is right. The director will faint from anger when he sees this!”
“What faint from anger?” Sun Xinping had just stepped in with one foot when he heard Little Li mention him.
Before Little Li could answer, the technical team member who had stayed behind on duty last night pointed at the reserved split-screen livestream. “Director, look!”
What was astonishing was that after staying up all night, he was actually still full of energy. It was entirely thanks to following Shen Jinfeng’s exercises.
Now that a colleague had arrived to take over, he was about to hand off his shift and leave.
Sun Xinping glanced at him and muttered inwardly.
Sure enough, young people looked as if they had been injected with chicken blood the moment they were about to get off work.
Only then did he look toward the large screen and reveal an expression as if he had seen a ghost.
He cried out, “I thought there would be seafood on the beach after the typhoon, but this is way too exaggerated!”
So exaggerated that he wanted to go into the screen and pick it up with them.
“So their plan today is to pick up seafood?”
Sun Xinping closed his eyes, his tone helpless. “They’re not going to create one hundred and eight delicious seafood methods again, are they?”
The technician shook his head. “No. Director, you should watch for yourself. I’m getting off work first!”
He packed up his belongings, waved gracefully, and said goodbye to everyone.
Sun Xinping, who had not gotten up early today yet still felt listless, looked at his back with envy.
Sigh. Young people really did have good stamina.
Back in the day, he had survived the same way.
He sat in the director’s chair, opened his breakfast, and began staring at the screen while urging the head of the publicity team to analyze yesterday’s data for him.
In the livestream, the group had brought their storage equipment and already split into two teams, preparing to set out.
Shen Jinfeng set off with Qin Ye and Mo Fan, walking toward the forest.
The three people who talked the most had all been left on the beach. The three of them walked together, and after five minutes, they had not said a single word.
“None of you are talking. Is there something difficult to say?”
“Seriously, Qin Ye, can you show a little promise? You finally managed to send Little Purple Hair and Little Qi away, and you’re actually not talking?”
“I’m used to the way they chatter nonstop. I thought that was just the atmosphere of this team. Only now have I realized that the main chatterboxes were the other three.”
“Hahaha, but the other three are also acting separately now. It seems they don’t have the habit of talking to themselves.”
Sun Xinping frowned.
What was going on?
They had split into two groups and two livestream rooms, yet there was not even any sound!
How were they supposed to retain viewers like this?
Fortunately, Qin Ye seemed to sense their thoughts.
He walked side by side with Shen Jinfeng. In truth, he had been brainstorming the whole time. What should he say?
“Little Captain, where are you from? Where do you live now?” After thinking for a long time, he came up with a “household registration check.”
Shen Jinfeng recalled the memories 888 had transmitted to him back then.
“I live in Shanghai.”
Qin Ye nodded.
Shen Jinfeng said, “I remember… you’re from Beijing?”
Shanghai and Beijing were still quite far apart.
Mo Fan, beside them, cut in. “I’m from Beijing too. But I don’t have a next job lined up, so after I get out, I’m planning to try my luck in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is close to Shanghai.”
Because in his memories, he was a programmer. He was also middle-aged, had divorced his wife a few years earlier, and did not have any children.
His parents had also passed away a few years ago. He truly had no attachments.
Beijing really was a place that made people sad.
Shen Jinfeng nodded. “Sounds good. Then after we get out, let’s meet often.”
Qin Ye’s fingertips tightened slightly at the side.
Meet often after getting out?
He cleared his throat. “Our group has a branch company in Shanghai. It happens to need someone to oversee it. After I get out, I should also stay in Shanghai.”
