Chapter 188: The Volunteer Teacher With a Dream

Chapter 188: Chapter 188: The Volunteer Teacher With a Dream

Thanks to Nan Zhi’s directions, the chaotic scene became orderly again.

They returned to the tour bus.

With the roof shielding them from the rain, they were finally no longer so miserable.

Before long, the people who had been sent to the village to find someone returned.

A few others followed behind them, carrying flashlights and wearing raincoats.

It was the village chief of Cuishui Village and his people, who had been in contact with Xu Lin.

The village chief said, "We’re so sorry, we all thought you weren’t arriving until tomorrow!"

It turned out there had been a problem with the communication process.

But now wasn’t the time to assign blame. The important thing was to assign houses first so everyone had a place to stay.

The identity cards they had drawn earlier finally came into use.

Nan Zhi took hers out of her bag and turned it over to look:

[As a volunteer teacher in a mountain village, you come from a poor family but possess a great dream more precious than gold. You hope to give more children wings to fly out of the mountains. Fulfill your duties as a teacher.]

[Savings: 10 yuan.]

Although she had already seen the contents of the card, seeing it again, Nan Zhi couldn’t help but fall silent at the clearly written "10 yuan."

There was no need for secrecy; the livestream cameras also focused on the cards in each guest’s hands—

[Nan Zhi is a volunteer teacher, and Qi Pei’er is a volunteer teacher too. Huh? What’s going on?]

[Hey, the descriptions that follow are different, and so are the savings amounts... Nan Zhi’s 10 yuan is just too pathetic!]

[Totally, Qi Pei’er at least has 200 yuan!]

[There’s nowhere to spend money in these mountains anyway...]

[Didn’t you hear them just now? There’s a small town down the mountain. What do you mean there’s nowhere to spend money?]

[Actually, I noticed a long time ago, our little Yiyi’s luck is kind of rotten!]

[Don’t break the kid’s heart.]

[The other people’s identities are pretty interesting too. Fu Chao is the ’rich young master who dreams of supporting the mountain region,’ and Xie Yu is the ’college student village official who wants to give back to his hometown after graduation’!]

[Wow, so is that why Fu Chao has 10,000 yuan in savings? No wonder he said at the airport that he drew the best one!]

[Wait, does the ’Young Miss’ not have an identity or any restrictions?]

[They already said she’s here to do charity!]

[Charity, charity, is ’charity’ her shield or something? We can’t even say a single word about it?]

...

The bullet comments were a flurry of debate over the identities everyone had drawn.

The only thing they reached a consensus on was—

The worst lot still belonged to Nan Zhi and Nan Yi’s family!

Director Xu and the rest of the production team, who had just seen the results of the identity cards, all fell silent.

Never mind the first episode; that was them rigging it behind the scenes.

But for the last two episodes, Nan Yi had drawn the cards with his own hands!

You see, because this episode was being filmed in the mountains, the production team had made the other three identities quite good.

The only one with poor conditions was added to make the show more interesting.

But the production team never imagined that Nan Zhi and Nan Yi would be the ones to draw it!

Now, even they felt bad about it.

It was quiet inside the bus, and everyone had different expressions on their faces.

Fu Chao suddenly spoke up with a smile:

"Director Xu, it’s always so boring to forbid swapping identity cards. Why not do something special for this episode?"

Xie Yu and Qi Pei’er nodded in agreement.

It was clear they all intended to swap their identity cards with Nan Zhi and Nan Yi.

How sensitive was Nan Yi to the emotions of others?

He reacted immediately:

"Mommy, did I draw the worst one again?"

His eyes drooped, and he looked very dejected.

Unable to help himself, he lowered his head and stared at his little hands, turning them over and over as if he could see right through them.

Nan Zhi comforted him:

"Of course not. How we live our lives is up to us. Or do you not believe in Mommy?"

Upon hearing this, the dejected Nan Yi looked up.

He remembered his mother’s performance in the first two episodes and finally, slowly, nodded:

"I believe you."

Nan Zhi also spoke to the conflicted Xu Lin:

"Director Xu, there’s no need to swap."

Xu Lin subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, he really wanted to accept Fu Chao and the others’ suggestion.

But changing the show’s rules on a whim would definitely attract a lot of complaints, which would be very detrimental to the show itself.

But he also couldn’t bear to watch Nan Zhi and Nan Yi suffer, so he could only say:

"If you really run into trouble, you should still ask for help when you need to."

Fu Chao and the others weren’t too happy about it.

But since Nan Zhi herself had requested it, it was hard for them to argue.

Afterward, everyone got up and set off for their lodgings.

Normally, they should have all toured each other’s houses first.

However, it was already too late, and it was raining outside. It was by no means a good time for a tour.

So they decided to split up, and the main livestream was also divided into individual streams.

In the blink of an eye, only the mother and son, Nan Zhi and Nan Yi, were left.

Nan Zhi helped Nan Yi put on his raincoat, then carefully checked it over for any tears that might leak.

Unexpectedly, while she was checking his, Nan Yi was also wide-eyed and earnestly helping to check hers.

"Mommy, it’s torn here."

The plastic raincoats were disposable and not of particularly good quality.

Nan Zhi’s had snagged on something when she put it on.

She looked down at it:

"It’s just a small tear, not a big deal."

Nan Yi wanted to swap with his mom.

But looking at the difference in their heights and the sizes of the raincoats, he ultimately gave up in disappointment.

He could only urge her earnestly:

"Then you have to be careful, Mommy. Don’t get drenched."

Nan Zhi smiled relaxedly:

"Don’t worry."

She pulled her suitcase and stepped out of the tour bus.

The moment they got off, Nan Yi immediately gripped Nan Zhi’s hand tightly.

Perhaps the surrounding darkness deepened his fear.

Nan Zhi quietly squeezed his hand back.

At this point, the mother-son duo was followed by a cameraman and an assistant director.

They were old partners of a sort with the mother and son, having been practically inseparable during the first episode and building up a friendly rapport.

Unfortunately, their friendly rapport couldn’t override the production team’s rules.

As recorders behind the camera, the two of them couldn’t communicate with Nan Zhi and Nan Yi or offer them any help.

So, it was still Nan Zhi who had to set off on the difficult path, holding Nan Yi’s hand with one hand and dragging the suitcase with the other, braving the wind and rain.

By this point, they realized the raincoats weren’t much use.

The wind howled, blowing the fine raindrops sideways so they assaulted them head-on.

Nan Zhi soon felt her face getting soaked by the rain.

Even her hair was dripping wet.

To make matters worse, the road conditions in the village were poor, and the downpour had turned the path muddy.

The wheeled suitcase became a burden at this moment; its wheels would get stuck in the mud, requiring a great deal of effort from Nan Zhi to pull it out.

At this point, Nan Zhi couldn’t help but feel grateful that she hadn’t packed too much luggage, bringing only this one suitcase that could be considered relatively light. Otherwise, she really wouldn’t have known what to do.

At first, Nan Yi insisted on holding Nan Zhi’s hand.

Later, when he saw how much trouble Nan Zhi was having dragging the suitcase, he let go of her hand.

Instead, he ran to the back of the suitcase, huffing and puffing as he helped push.

Nan Zhi frowned:

"Be careful not to get soaked."

"Don’t worry, Mommy."

Nan Yi secretly wiped the rain from his face.