Chapter 252: Chapter 250: Xie Fu Yao’s Fruit
Xie Fu Yao was holding several unidentifiable fruits—some red, some green, some yellow—as well as a few mushrooms.
A fleeting look of embarrassment on his face made Xie Fu Yao look a bit pitiful.
He opened his mouth. "I had the supplies, but... a bunch of rotten monkeys came out of nowhere..."
Xie Fu Yao wondered how he could convince his teammates that it really was monkeys.
"It really was monkeys. If you don’t believe me, you can watch the video playback later."
"And then?" Zhao Qi asked, his expression cold.
"The monkeys snatched the supplies. I wanted to get them back, but there were more than ten of them, and they wouldn’t listen to me at all. It was like they understood what I was saying and kept making all sorts of provocative gestures at me. If you don’t believe me, ask the cameraman!"
The cameraman nodded awkwardly. "Good thing Fu Yao didn’t get hurt. Those monkeys were too much. They threw bananas at us, and after they were done, they even picked the bananas back up! They didn’t leave a single one for Fu Yao."
When Song Jiayan and Xu Jiali heard this, they recalled what Sister Wen Ying had said about the battle between the squirrels and the monkeys.
’Could it be that same group of monkeys?’
’These monkeys are such jerks!’
’But why do we find this so hilarious!’
’Are we being a little mean?’
’No, I have to keep a straight face!’
Xu Jiali looked at Wen Ying. Wen Ying winked at her, and Xu Jiali understood completely.
"I picked these fruits on the way back, and these are mushrooms, right? They should be enough to fill our stomachs. I was just wondering if we could borrow Doctor Wen’s pot?"
When Meng Xiaoyi saw that Xie Fu Yao had returned with so little, her heart sank.
’Are we really going to starve on the very first day of the show?’
She took a few steps toward Xie Fu Yao. "Brother Xie, these fruits should be edible, right?"
Xie Fu Yao thought for a moment. "Should be fine. They don’t look poisonous."
As he spoke, Xie Fu Yao handed the largest fruit directly to Meng Xiaoyi.
Meng Xiaoyi took it. The red fruit had a smooth, shiny skin and looked very appetizing.
"Thank you, Brother Xie!" Meng Xiaoyi said cheerfully. ’Finally, something to eat!’
Xie Fu Yao then handed another one to Zhao Qi. "Sorry, this is all I could get. I hope you don’t mind."
Zhao Qi’s face was full of disdain, plain for the cameras to see.
But he still took the fruit. Xie Fu Yao waited for a "thank you."
Instead, he watched as Zhao Qi walked over to Wen Ying. "Doctor Wen, is this fruit edible? Is it poisonous?"
Xie Fu Yao: "???"
’What the hell? I’m the one who gave it to you, and you don’t ask me, you go ask a competitor?’
’He took the fruit without so much as a thank you, and now he’s slapping me in the face right on camera?’
Xie Fu Yao’s loathing for Zhao Qi intensified.
But in front of the camera, there was nothing he could say.
Wen Ying looked at the yellow fruit in Zhao Qi’s hand. "It’s not poisonous, but if you eat it, it might not be a good idea."
Xie Fu Yao’s face stiffened. ’This Doctor Wen is slapping me in the face too.’
"Doctor Wen, why can’t this fruit be eaten?"
"This isn’t an ordinary fruit. It’s called a Dream Fruit. The locals here probably never eat it, because after eating it, you’ll start dancing around uncontrollably as if you’re in a fantasy world. There are no major side effects, but after the effects wear off, you’ll probably have erectile dysfunction for a week."
THUD!
Zhao Qi threw the fruit directly onto the ground, his expression panicked. "Xie Fu Yao, do you not recognize these fruits? Randomly picking fruits you don’t know can get someone killed!"
Xie Fu Yao was displeased, but his face showed an apologetic expression. "It can’t be that serious, can it? Has Doctor Wen eaten one before?"
"Not that serious? Then eat it in front of us!" Zhao Qi said angrily.
Xie Fu Yao froze.
’He wants me to eat it?’
Ordinarily, he might have eaten it, since he was very hungry. But as a young celebrity, and a handsome one at that, his public image was especially important.
’I absolutely cannot let my fans see an uncool side of me. If their image of me is shattered, I’m finished!’
’So dancing around uncontrollably is absolutely out of the question!’
And then there was the whole erectile dysfunction thing.
Xie Fu Yao absolutely could not accept that. He was a normal man with normal needs. He had even been planning to... take care of things in a day or two.
’If I become impotent, I’d probably be laughed out of the industry by everyone in my circle!’
"If there’s a chance of that happening, then never mind." Xie Fu Yao didn’t pick up the fruit, looking instead at Wen Ying.
"Doctor Wen, what about my fruit and Xiao Yi’s? Is there a problem with them?"
"Not poisonous."
Wen Ying’s two simple words made both Xie Fu Yao and Meng Xiaoyi heave a sigh of relief.
’Thank goodness, our fruits are okay. We can finally get something in our stomachs.’
"Zhao Qi, how about I give you half of my fruit?" Xie Fu Yao offered.
’This time, Zhao Qi has to thank me, right?’
Upon hearing Xie Fu Yao, Zhao Qi immediately looked at Wen Ying. "Doctor Wen, can I eat it?"
"No."
Meng Xiaoyi looked at Wen Ying, aggrieved and dissatisfied. "Doctor Wen, you... didn’t you say it wasn’t poisonous? Why are you saying he can’t eat it now? Zhao Qi is on our team, isn’t he? If you want Zhao Qi to join your team, Doctor Wen, you could just say so. There’s no need for this."
Xie Fu Yao didn’t object. Clearly, he felt the same way.
’This Doctor Wen keeps targeting us. It’s infuriating.’
"If Zhao Qi leaves, it’ll just be me and Brother Xie on our team. We... we can’t just starve for a whole day, can we? You say we can’t eat this and we can’t eat that, so how can we dare to eat anything?"
The more Meng Xiaoyi spoke, the more wronged she felt.
"Brother Xie, I..."
"Xiao Yi, don’t cry. It’s not your fault. We’re competitors, after all."
Xu Jiali couldn’t hold back any longer. "Sister Yingying said *Zhao Qi* can’t eat it, she didn’t say anything about you two, did she? You can go right ahead and eat it. What’s with all the talk? Who are you trying to throw shade at? Whether you’re hungry or not, what’s it got to do with us? We didn’t ask you to consult Sister Yingying, did we? Acting all wronged like we’re targeting you... tsk, tsk, tsk."
"Xu Jiali, don’t you think that’s going too far?" Xie Fu Yao frowned at her.
Xu Jiali wanted to retort, but Wen Ying pulled her back.
"Alright, let’s not get angry over unimportant people. We have plenty of supplies now. We can enjoy the beautiful night view, play on our phones, and just go to sleep when we’re tired. Isn’t that nice?"
"Phones?" Xie Fu Yao stared at the phones in their hands.
Only then did he notice that every one of them was holding a phone.
"Brother Xie, they completed today’s task, so the production team gave them their phones back," Meng Xiaoyi explained.
Xie Fu Yao didn’t say anything else, but looking at the fruit in his hand, he just couldn’t bring himself to take a bite.
’What if there’s a problem with it? How embarrassing would that be?’
Meng Xiaoyi moved a little closer to him. "Brother Xie, don’t we still have the mushrooms? Why don’t we make some mushroom soup?"
Xie Fu Yao nodded, but they had no fire and no pot.
It was too late to make them now. And of course, they didn’t know how anyway.
