Chapter 271: Chapter 269: The Fish That Slipped the Net
’If I can shape an image of a responsible person who disregards his own safety, it should be enough to turn around this difficult situation, right?’
’After all, he was even attacked by squirrels just to keep his team from going hungry!’
The cameraman was rendered a little speechless by Xie Fu Yao. "Fu Yao, this isn’t a script. The director said safety first."
"But I have to get our supplies. Otherwise, our team will go hungry again today. Can the director just give us a replacement set of supplies? If so, I’ll leave right now."
The cameraman was speechless. "..."
’Is he dreaming?’
Just as Xie Fu Yao thought the production team was about to yield, the cameraman took a few steps back. "Well, you should be careful then!"
Zhao Qi couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Xie Fu Yao was a little embarrassed. Meng Xiaoyi’s expression was unreadable, making it impossible to know what she was thinking.
"Brother Xie, why don’t we just forget it? It’s fine if we go hungry. We can’t let you get hurt because of this."
"Xiao Yi, don’t try to talk me out of it. It was my failure of duty that we didn’t get the supplies last time and everyone went hungry. This time, I can’t just stand by and watch everyone starve again."
"Brother Xie, but..."
"Alright, that’s enough. Can you stop acting? Are you two ever going to quit? Xie Fu Yao, did you cook up this whole drama because you think getting hit by them doesn’t hurt? And Meng Xiaoyi, go on, use that jinx mouth of yours. Say the squirrels are about to attack even harder."
Zhao Qi had noticed that the squirrels were only pelting Xie Fu Yao; they weren’t targeting the rest of them at all.
"I... Zhao Qi, we’re supposed to be a team. I know you like Doctor Wen’s group, but it’s just not meant to be. Can’t you think about our team for a change?"
Zhao Qi snorted with laughter. "Think about what? About the one or two dead-weight teammates dragging us down? Doctor Wen’s team has probably already finished their missions!"
"Zhao Qi is right," the cameraman said. "The director just told me that Doctor Wen’s team has already completed the first and second missions. They’re heading back to the rendezvous point with the monkey now."
"How is that possible?!" Meng Xiaoyi’s expression turned even uglier than when she first realized the squirrels would attack.
’They hadn’t even gotten their first set of supplies, but that bitch Wen Ying was already down to her last mission?’
’How is that fair!’
"Brother Xie, don’t you feel wronged?"
Seemingly aware that Zhao Qi wouldn’t side with them even if she spoke up, Meng Xiaoyi decided to just ignore him completely.
Xie Fu Yao remained silent.
Sometimes, silence is an attitude in itself.
"Cameraman, were the squirrels by the supplies really an accident?"
"Yes."
"Then did Doctor Wen’s team run into any accidents when they were getting their supplies?" Meng Xiaoyi asked, her expression calm.
"Yes."
"What kind of accident did they run into?"
[Meng Xiaoyi is being so persistent. Does she think the production team is showing favoritism to Doctor Wen?]
"They ran into a monkey. Oh, wait, that’s not quite accurate. Doctor Wen got the supplies by herself—they were in a spot even higher than yours. On her way back, she saw the monkey for Mission Two, so she got Xu Jiali and Song Jiayan to complete the second mission with her."
The cameraman listened to the director’s instructions and explained to Meng Xiaoyi’s group.
Meng Xiaoyi was slightly taken aback. "The tree was so high. How did Doctor Wen get the supplies?"
"The director says the show is fair and impartial. The production team hasn’t provided any special assistance to any group. Miss Meng can watch the footage after the show is over."
Meng Xiaoyi bit her lip, clearly still not reconciled to it.
"What about the monkey, then? A monkey wouldn’t just follow someone for no reason, right? Unless it was a trained monkey."
Xie Fu Yao nodded in agreement. "Before we came, the production team didn’t tell us there were monkeys in this forest. Now... are these monkeys trained?"
"The director says it was an accident, an unexpected event that both teams encountered. But the monkey didn’t hurt anyone. As for the squirrels pelting you... wasn’t that because you threw something at them first?"
[Holy cow! I almost forgot about that! It’s true, Xie Fu Yao was the one who threw a branch at the squirrels first! Didn’t expect his plan to backfire so spectacularly! HAHAHAHA]
Xie Fu Yao felt a bit humiliated hearing this. "I didn’t mean to hurt them. I just wanted to scare them off."
"But to them, your actions were a threat to their lives, weren’t they?"
"Zhao Qi! Why do you keep targeting us?" Xie Fu Yao finally blew up.
"Someone once said I had a warped moral compass. Thinking about it now, I think my morals are perfectly fine. If you think you can twist my values, dream on!" Zhao Qi said righteously.
"Besides, Doctor Wen said that squirrels are a Class II protected species. Harming a Class II protected species is illegal!"
Xie Fu Yao’s face went pale. ’This brain-dead idiot must have been sent specifically to be my bane!’
’Being on the same team as an idiot like this... God must be trying to torture me!’
"Of course, there’s no crime if one is ignorant of the law, right?"
Xie Fu Yao let out a sigh of relief.
But his relief instantly turned to choking anger when he heard Zhao Qi continue, "But Doctor Wen also said that if you don’t know something, you should read more. You can’t expect leniency just because your ignorance led you to break the law."
"I didn’t try to hurt them! I really didn’t know squirrels were protected animals, but I truly didn’t harm them. Look, they’re not injured at all. In fact, I’m the one who got pelted."
Xie Fu Yao put on a victim act.
"See? That’s why they say you should read more if you don’t know things. I never used to get that saying. Even though my family forced me to study, even sending me abroad, at least I got my diploma. Seriously, Xie Fu Yao, there are just too many ’nine-leaky fish’ in your circle."
"What’s a ’nine-leaky fish’?" Meng Xiaoyi didn’t understand what new nonsense Zhao Qi was spouting.
But Xie Fu Yao’s expression was extremely ugly.
’Is Zhao Qi mocking me, calling me a nine-leaky fish?’
"Brother Xie, what’s a ’nine-leaky fish’?" Meng Xiaoyi asked again.
Xie Fu Yao felt like he was about to collapse from mental exhaustion!
’This Meng Xiaoyi is a nine-leaky fish too, so why isn’t Zhao Qi targeting her?’
"Meng Xiaoyi, if you don’t understand, you can ask me. I can explain it to you."
[Does Meng Xiaoyi really not know, or is she pretending?]
[I remember Xie Fu Yao’s agency promoting him as a top student, right? ’Nine-leaky fish’ shouldn’t have anything to do with him, right?]
[These days, can you really believe a celebrity’s ’top student’ persona???]
[That’s a good point. Plenty of stars who marketed a ’top student’ image have crashed and burned. Is Xie Fu Yao going to follow in their footsteps before he even gets famous?]
[That’s what you call ’dying before the battle is won.’]
[LOL! The commenter above knows their literature!]
Meng Xiaoyi looked at Zhao Qi. "And you know what it means?"
"It means ’a fish that slipped through the net of nine-year compulsory education.’ Meng Xiaoyi, are you one of them?"
Meng Xiaoyi was stunned. "Of course not! I graduated from high school and got into a film academy. I may not be a top student, but I’m not a ’nine-leaky fish’."
Meng Xiaoyi didn’t notice that the more she spoke, the uglier Xie Fu Yao’s expression became.
Meng Xiaoyi was indeed not a ’nine-leaky fish’. This was thanks to something someone had once told her: if you want to get ahead in life, you have to study hard.
Meng Xiaoyi desperately wanted to get ahead, so after finishing high school, she tested into a film academy somewhere.
"Well, if you’re not a ’nine-leaky fish’, then the viewers probably won’t laugh at you for being uneducated."
"Brother Xie isn’t one either. I believe in him."
