Chapter 849 - 848: Yeah, So Lonely That He’s Eating Fruit and Playing on His Phone

Shi Yuhuai didn’t feel there was anything wrong at all with squatting in the little dark room enjoying life. Seeing the three of them standing at the door, he gave them a very perfunctory greeting.

"You want a couple? My assistant specially brought these."

Zhu Qi: "No, that... doesn’t seem very appropriate?"

"Oh, okay then. There happen to be only a few left, and I wasn’t really in the mood to share anyway."

"......."

Mu Qiu squatted down in front of him, patiently lecturing: "We’re out there running around exhausted, and you’re in here living your best life, chilling like crazy. Brother Huai, doesn’t your conscience hurt at all?"

Shi Yuhuai: "My conscience basically doesn’t hurt."

"...This whole episode, the entire episode, you can only stay in here. You don’t know what’s going on outside, who’s losing, who’s winning, and in the end even if we win, you probably won’t be eligible for the prize. That’s a big gift pack. Can you really be so unconcerned?"

Shi Yuhuai calmly finished all the lychees, turned up the volume on the phone next to him for her to hear, and turned the screen around.

On the phone screen was the live broadcast of their show, and right now the main camera was aimed at this exact place.

Mu Qiu looked at herself squatting on the screen, then gave Shi Yuhuai a complicated look.

"You’re basically the director now, watching the show within the show’s live broadcast."

Shi Yuhuai took the phone back and looked up at them. "Anything else?"

If not, he was about to log off; his assistant had prepared other snacks and toys for him.

She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Nothing for now. You slowly enjoy yourself, we’ll come back later. Don’t even think about saying we don’t need to come—coming is definitely happening. You’d better be ready anytime."

He nodded. If not for the two symbolic chains still hooked to his wrists on either side, he’d probably want to personally see them off.

The three of them headed out again. Cheng Zhirang stood at the bottom of the steps and suggested, "Let’s go find other useful NPCs. Hopefully we can get more detailed information."

Mu Qiu and Zhu Qi had no objections. They went around the little pavilion to the canal avenue outside, craning their necks to look at the increasing number of NPCs.

This episode really was a big production. There were way too many NPCs, and they were lined up in an orderly fashion, flooding toward every area. Even the little pavilion they’d just left had people heading there.

Like burning incense at a temple, so many people.

Mu Qiu watched, and saw a crowd at one spot suddenly start running around, shouting, looking pretty lively.

"What are they doing over there?"

She stood on tiptoe to look, but layers and layers of heads blocked her view. She couldn’t see anything.

Cheng Zhirang naturally reached out to steady her elbow, bracing her, then said, "Let’s go take a look."

They followed the canal downstream. The winding path extended to a lake that gathered the water. In the middle of the lake was a pavilion, with dragon-carved stairways on both sides. The lake surface itself had been turned into a flat platform, and now there were many stalls set up there.

Group actors in plain costumes were playing vendors, fanning themselves behind the stalls with little trinkets of their trade hanging up.

Little accessories, masks, snacks—bits and bobs—there were more than twenty stalls set up, and the things hanging out front were surprisingly pretty.

The group actors who’d just run over in different costumes were playing common residents, weaving between stalls, smiling and chatting. It looked exactly like a scene out of a historical drama.

And the acting here was even better. Mu Qiu even saw two girls, when the camera wasn’t on them, still diligently doing their simple bits. Not a single person was sneaking glances at the camera.

Mu Qiu got excited. "This time the set is too perfect. There’s even an ancient street market. Wanna go stroll around?"

Cheng Zhirang nodded and followed her steps to the first stall selling little accessories.

Zhu Qi trailed behind. Mu Qiu hadn’t even touched the accessories yet when she heard him yelling excitedly, "Over here! Shu Ran, we’re over here!"

She looked to the front—Guan Yu and Shu Ran’s group had also come over, obviously following the crowd here to see what the fuss was about.

"Whoa, isn’t this a bit too realistic?" Guan Yu was stunned, running over to look at the twenty or so stalls, touching this and that.

"They’ve basically made it into a historical drama set. I kind of feel like I don’t dare OOC later." Li Yang scratched the back of his head, suddenly nervous again.

Once he got nervous, Song Weili got even more nervous. The two of them had never acted before, and running into a scene so similar to an actual filming set made them both a little panicky.

"What’s there to be scared of? If you don’t think in terms of winning or losing, you naturally won’t be afraid. Learn from Brother Huai—he’s been a salted fish from last episode all the way to this one, and not a hint of nervousness." Mu Qiu said.

"You guys went to see Brother Huai?" he asked. "Is he pretty lonely? All alone in that little dark room?"

"Yeah." Mu Qiu’s tone was cool, with a slightly sour trace of envy. "So lonely he can only eat fruit and snacks and play on his phone."

Li Yang: "Huh?!"

Shu Ran lifted the hem of her ruqun skirt and snorted. "I knew it. How could he possibly sit there obediently? It’s a rare chance to openly slack off and coast."

"His name isn’t even in this episode’s genealogy anymore, we don’t need to discuss him."

Guan Yu picked up a mask from one of the stalls and added:

"With things set up this grandly, there’s definitely a story about to happen."

Xu Jihua: "Let’s stroll around first. Maybe we’re supposed to bump into someone to trigger a plotline."

"Speaking of which, don’t you guys feel this episode’s format is a bit like the first one?" Zhu Qi asked.

"It is a little similar," Cheng Zhirang agreed. "But it probably wasn’t meant to be. It’s just that after we simplified the rules, it started to feel that way."

In other words, the production team clearly designed a totally different type of gameplay. But certain guests here, for the sake of that hundred-thousand gift pack, basically forgot the word "director" and never bothered to study the carefully planned套路.

"Okay, okay, enough talking, let’s just stroll. You guys said you wanted to get into the dynasty setting ahead of time, right? This is the perfect chance."

Mu Qiu tugged at Cheng Zhirang’s clothes, pulling him toward a stall selling xun flutes on the other side.

Cheng Zhirang had no choice but to nod to the others and follow her over.

Guan Yu: "That little nod just now was handsome enough to floor me. Gave off that vibe of a lofty ancient Crown Prince. Come on, my silly-sweet Prince and long-suffering little eunuch, let’s go stroll too."

Song Weili: "...I’m not silly-sweet..."

"Shh, you are. And I suspect your entire group is silly-sweet. How are you all this dopey? Come on, slip out from behind Li Yang, big sis has got you."

Shu Ran took one look at Song Weili’s expression, then at Guan Yu baring her teeth with a cheeky grin, and elegantly spat out a few words: "Forcing the good into prostitution."

Guan Yu: "......Now that Brother Huai’s gone you’ve got no one to roast, huh? Go cultivate your relationship with your heaven-sent male lead. Come on, little Tiantian, let’s go."

Song Weili shivered.