Chapter 253: Chapter 251: Xie Fu Yao and Meng Xiaoyi Drill Wood for Fire
"Song Jiayan, can we borrow your pot?"
This time, Meng Xiaoyi changed her target and spoke directly to Song Jiayan.
Song Jiayan had been enjoying the show when he was suddenly put on the spot.
He froze for a moment.
’This...’
’The pot had nothing to do with him. This was all Sister Wen Ying’s work.’
[Meng Xiaoyi is so clever. She knows she’d never be able to borrow it from Doctor Wen or Xu Jiali, so she’s asking Song Jiayan.]
[Song Jiayan is a bit of a pushover. If she asks him, he’ll definitely be too embarrassed to refuse. And Doctor Wen and the others won’t let him lose face, seeing as he’s in their group, right?]
[This Meng Xiaoyi has no real smarts, just a whole lot of petty schemes.]
[Xie Fu Yao is pretty much the same, isn’t he? He’s tacitly approving Meng Xiaoyi’s actions.]
[If you ask me, they’re being really dumb, taking the long way around! Zhao Qi is on good terms with Doctor Wen’s group. If they had Zhao Qi ask, Doctor Wen would definitely lend it to them!]
[To the person above, what makes you so sure Zhao Qi would even ask?]
[Exactly. It’s obvious Zhao Qi can’t stand Xie Fu Yao; there’s no way he’d help them. If Zhao Qi asked, I bet Doctor Wen would just give him food directly.]
The audience had a very clear grasp of the various relationships between the contestants.
Xie Fu Yao and Meng Xiaoyi were universally disliked.
Song Jiayan looked at Meng Xiaoyi apologetically. "Sorry, Xiao Yi..."
"Jiayan, don’t tell me you can’t even make a decision like this?"
"We’ll lend it to you." Wen Ying stepped in, resolving the awkward situation for Song Jiayan. "Little Song is with me. If you need anything, you can ask me or Jiali."
Hearing this, Meng Xiaoyi only focused on the first part of the sentence. "Thank you, Doctor Wen. We’ll use the pot then. And the water in those bamboo tubes, could you give us some to make soup?"
"You can."
Meng Xiaoyi immediately got busy, and Xie Fu Yao breathed a sigh of relief.
There was no way he was going to speak up again. He had lost enough face for one day.
Xie Fu Yao stood beside Meng Xiaoyi, looking to see how he could help.
Meng Xiaoyi poured the water from three bamboo tubes into the pot, then placed it on the earthen stove with a semblance of competence and asked excitedly, "Where’s the fire?"
"There is no fire."
"No fire? How is that possible! How can you not have a fire? You just cooked and ate something!"
"We really don’t. You can search if you don’t believe us. We started a fire by drilling wood. It went out after we were done. If you want to cook, you’ll have to do the same."
Meng Xiaoyi could see that Wen Ying didn’t seem to be lying. "Brother Xie, I don’t know how to make fire by drilling wood. What do we do?"
"I’ll do it!"
Xie Fu Yao had a vague memory of how to make fire by drilling wood. He had seen a video about it a long time ago, so he thought it shouldn’t be a problem.
Following the images in his memory, Xie Fu Yao first found a thick, dry piece of wood and placed it on the ground.
Then he gathered some sharp stones.
Suddenly, he froze, staring blankly for a good while. Just as Meng Xiaoyi was about to ask what was wrong, Xie Fu Yao stood up and went to find a small piece of wood.
The wood was dry.
He took the small piece of wood, placed it against the thick piece on the ground, and began to spin it.
’This is how they did it in the video. It shouldn’t take long to successfully make fire!’
’When that happens, I’ll definitely get on the trending topics for making fire by drilling wood!’
’After all, this Skill is too dazzling!’
In modern society, very few people still knew the Skill of making fire by drilling wood.
Xie Fu Yao was full of confidence.
Watching the confident Xie Fu Yao tirelessly drilling the wood, Meng Xiaoyi’s eyes began to sparkle with admiration.
’Xie Fu Yao really is capable. It might actually be great to be in a CP with him.’
’I’m a complete rookie, while Xie Fu Yao is already established in the industry. The company probably plans to make him famous. As long as I can ride his coattails, I’m sure I’ll get just as many fans as Song Jiayan and Xu Jiali!’
Thinking of Xu Jiali’s smug look from earlier, Meng Xiaoyi felt a surge of anger.
’Go, Brother Xie! You have to succeed!’
Meanwhile, Xie Fu Yao’s mind was completely filled with thoughts of trending topics and the massive popularity he’d get after making fire!
However, making fire by drilling wood seemed a bit different from how he had imagined.
He had been drilling for so long that his palms were starting to hurt, the pain growing worse each moment, yet there wasn’t the slightest sign of a spark from the wood!
Seeing beads of sweat appear on Xie Fu Yao’s forehead, Meng Xiaoyi spoke up. "Brother Xie, I’ve been watching for a while and I think I’ve learned how. Why don’t you take a break and let me try? When I get tired, you can take over again. How does that sound? Making fire like this is clearly a high-level skill; it probably takes a very long time."
Xie Fu Yao stopped immediately upon hearing her words!
’He’d been wanting to stop for ages. It hurt like a motherfucker!’
’This is no work for a human being!’
’But he had already made his boastful claim. If he gave up now, the viewers would probably flame him.’
Meng Xiaoyi had spoken up at just the right time.
Xie Fu Yao felt that Meng Xiaoyi’s timing was perfect!
’Who knew this Meng Xiaoyi could actually be useful!’
Xie Fu Yao stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm. "Xiao Yi, be careful. You girls have delicate skin, so don’t scrape yourself."
"It’s okay, Brother Xie. From the first day I joined this show, I was prepared to endure hardship."
Xie Fu Yao nodded without saying anything more and sat down on a nearby rock.
’The feeling of resting was just too wonderful!’
’It would be even better if Meng Xiaoyi tried for a little while and then just gave up and threw the stuff away.’
Meng Xiaoyi imitated Xie Fu Yao’s actions, squatting down and starting to spin the small piece of wood with both hands.
At first, she was full of confidence, a smile on her face.
But... Meng Xiaoyi had been spinning it for three minutes, and the wood showed no sign of catching fire.
’Could this step be wrong?’
’Maybe if I keep at it for a few more minutes, I’ll succeed?’
But after a few more minutes passed, Meng Xiaoyi wanted to scream a million curses.
’My palms hurt so much, and I’m so tired!’
’I can’t take it anymore!’
Meng Xiaoyi stopped abruptly and threw the piece of wood in her hands onto the ground!
"Brother Xie, I think this fire-drilling thing is too hard. It’s impossible to succeed! And besides..."
Meng Xiaoyi suddenly looked over at Wen Ying’s group. "Doctor Wen and the others didn’t use a drill to make fire at all, did they? There aren’t even any fire-starting sticks near them!"
Hearing this, Xie Fu Yao also looked over.
His expression grew cold.
Zhao Qi was sitting next to Song Jiayan. Song Jiayan handed Zhao Qi half a piece of bread—the half he had saved for himself.
Among all the male guests, Zhao Qi was the only one who didn’t look down on him.
Zhao Qi ate the bread and drank the water Song Jiayan gave him, all while watching Xie Fu Yao and Meng Xiaoyi’s performance.
"Doctor Wen, do you find it amusing to mess with us like this?"
Xie Fu Yao was now certain: Doctor Wen’s group hadn’t made fire by drilling wood at all!
And now, they had made him lose face on camera, in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers!
’This grudge... I must get my revenge!’
’Even if I can’t get it now, I’ll definitely get it later!’
"Xiao Yi’s palms are about to start bleeding! So many viewers are watching on camera. Don’t you care at all?"
