After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Alpha, I Ended Up with the Movie Queen - Chapter 27

“Catching fish in the pond.” Shen Zhibei read out the task on the mission card. “There are no restrictions on the guests’ methods of catching fish. Time limit: one hour. The fish caught will become today’s meat ingredients.”

“I feel like this task is worth doing.” Gu Nan first told Shen Zhibei her thoughts, then turned to the production team and said, “Then if we catch fish, will you give us seasonings?”

“We’ve already put the seasonings back in the kitchen.”

“You’re actually starting to show kindness? I’m starting to have a bad feeling.” Gu Nan looked left and right but could not see anything abnormal on the staff members’ faces.

Shen Zhibei suddenly asked, “When does this time limit start?”

“It starts from when the first guest receives the mission card.”

Gu Nan, Shen Zhibei: !!!

Gu Nan hurriedly asked, “Were we the first ones you came to?”

“The first room we knocked on was Teacher Peng’s room on the second floor.”

Gu Nan asked again, “Then where is the fish pond? It’s not on the map either.”

“It’s near the small building. We’ve also placed various tools that can be used to catch fish there. Please search carefully.”

“Then you can at least tell us which direction from the small building it is, right?” Gu Nan continued asking.

The production staff still kept smiling, but they were unwilling to reveal any more information.

Sensing how stingy the production team was with information, Gu Nan and Shen Zhibei exchanged a glance, quickly put down the things in their hands, and went to the second floor to find the others.

When passing by Bai Rui’s open door, they also called out to Bai Rui, who was doing her makeup, telling her to hurry to the second floor and gather. This task had a one-hour time limit.

[Sure enough, it’s another trap. They’re so miserable.]

[Place your bets, place your bets! Let’s bet on whether the guests can eat fish today! I bet they can’t!]

[People should always have some hope. I’ll bet they can, then. I’ll give them a tiny bit of hope, hahahaha.]

[At least they have seasonings now. They can make some vegetarian dishes. (doge)]

[The production team only said they put the seasonings back just now. Maybe they still haven’t put the rice, flour, and oil back!]

[Now that you say that, it’s even more miserable, hahaha. Among these guests, isn’t there a big eater? Is he about to starve to death? So pitiful, hahaha.]

The first person the two of them had to find was, of course, Peng Yushu.

All the room doors on the second floor were open. It was clear that everyone had been ambushed by the production team.

They entered Peng Yushu’s room. At this moment, Peng Yushu was putting on a jacket with a sleepy face. The mission card had been placed on the bed, with no sign that it had been opened.

“Teacher Peng, after receiving the mission card, you haven’t looked at it yet?”

Seeing the married couple rush in, Peng Yushu also looked surprised. “No. What’s wrong? What’s the task?”

“Catch fish to use as today’s meat ingredients, but there’s a one-hour time limit. The countdown starts from the first person who received the mission card,” Shen Zhibei quickly explained.

Peng Yushu looked at the two of them, then pointed at himself. “So the first person who received the mission card… was me?”

The two nodded at the same time.

“Tang Ling, Xuehai, everyone hurry up!” Peng Yushu had originally wanted to brush his teeth and wash his face, but now he directly took a mask from his bag and put it on while loudly calling the others.

Tang Ling had only opened the door for the production team before lying back down on the bed. At the moment, there were still no signs that he had properly woken up.

Lu Xuehai, on the other hand, had gotten up very early, but he had completely ignored the production team the whole time. He slowly went to fetch a basin of water, returned, and washed up according to his own pace.

At this moment, Lu Xuehai heard Peng Yushu’s shout and quickly wiped himself with a towel before rushing over.

“What happened?”

Seeing his confused expression, Gu Nan could not help asking, “You didn’t look at the mission card either?”

“I didn’t even take it,” Lu Xuehai said very proudly.

“The production team learned to be smart this time. They know playing games isn’t attractive to us, so they changed it into letting us catch fish ourselves.” Peng Yushu roasted the production team. “Don’t say it, though. Hearing that we’re catching fish really does interest me. But the one-hour time limit starting the moment we receive the mission card really is too much of a trap.”

“And the production team didn’t give us a specific location. They want us to find it ourselves. They only said there are all kinds of fishing tools placed there,” Gu Nan also complained.

The chief director also felt that while the guests opposing the production team made for good drama and the audience enjoyed it, the show still needed proper task segments. That was the only way to better adjust the show’s watchability.

So after thinking it over for a long time, she finally decided to modify the game segment a little and mobilize the guests’ enthusiasm, changing it from the production team forcibly requiring something into the guests actively wanting to do the task.

That was why, for today’s breakfast ingredient task, she decided to adapt to local conditions and change it into catching fish.

She thought that guests, especially young people, would definitely want to go play around when they saw the chance to catch fish.

At that time, as long as the young people stirred things up, the guests would probably all go. Even if not all of them went, it would still attract a wave of viewers.

“Ah, that’s such a trap,” Lu Xuehai said. “I saw Tang Ling was still sleeping just now. I’ll go call him right away, then—”

At this time, Bai Rui had also finished her makeup and came down from upstairs.

Shen Zhibei glanced at the time on her phone. It had already been some time since they received the mission card. Thinking that they still had to find the fish pond and then try catching fish, she looked around at the other three currently standing there and said, “Let’s split into two groups. Gu Nan, Teacher Peng, and I will go search behind the small building. Bai Rui, you go with Xuehai and Tang Ling and search in front of the small building. Whichever group finds it will call the other.”

Bai Rui had originally wanted to follow Shen Zhibei’s group, but on second thought, Shen Zhibei had been the one to suggest this. That gave her the perfect reason to walk alone with Tang Ling and Lu Xuehai. At that time, she could first draw those two people over to her side.

Thinking this, Bai Rui readily agreed.

The production team had not set up any obstacles regarding the location of the fish pond. It was actually quite easy to find, located not far from the vegetable field.

The three searched for only a short while before finding a small, man-dug fish pond surrounded by dense, lush grass.

“It’s this easy to find? Looks like if they want us to play mini-games in exchange for meat later, we can just refuse directly. If we want meat, we can just come here and catch fish,” Peng Yushu said cheerfully.

Shen Zhibei had already taken out her phone. “I’ll call Bai Rui and tell them to hurry over.”

Gu Nan stepped forward and began searching for fishing tools.

“There are only waders, fishing rods, fishing spears, and fish baskets. And what is this jar? Oh, bait.” Looking at the six sets of simple—or rather crude—fishing tools placed in the grass, Gu Nan turned and asked the production team, “And you still said you prepared all kinds of fishing tools? You didn’t even prepare a fishing net for us.”

If they had prepared a fishing net, would there still be any show effect?

Everyone from the production team remained silent, not even meeting their gazes.

Shen Zhibei had already hung up. “Then should we get in the water first?”

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Gu Nan felt this activity was quite interesting, so she eagerly said, “I’ll try spearing fish.”

“I’ll choose fishing. Zhibei, will you accompany me?” Peng Yushu turned and asked.

Shen Zhibei had originally wanted to get into the water with Gu Nan, but since Teacher Peng had invited her now…

Her gaze turned toward Gu Nan, revealing the meaning, “Do you want me to accompany you?”

Perhaps because the two of them had exchanged too many looks recently, Gu Nan could now easily distinguish the meaning in Shen Zhibei’s eyes. She said, “You accompany Teacher Peng and fish on the shore. I’ll go learn spearfishing by myself. We can compete and see who catches a fish first.”

“All right.” Shen Zhibei went to take a fishing rod and bait, and also took a pair of waders for Gu Nan.

Gu Nan put on the waders, carried a fish basket on her back, picked up the fishing spear, and happily got into the water.

“She still looks young. She loves playing,” Peng Yushu said to Shen Zhibei while putting bait on the hook. “But sometimes, staying with energetic young people makes it easy to be infected by them, as if you’ve also become younger.”

Shen Zhibei did not understand what Peng Yushu wanted to say, so she only made a sound of agreement.

The reason she did not understand was because Peng Yushu had only remembered they were recording when he opened his mouth. Worried about being heard, he temporarily changed what he had been about to say.

In truth, he had originally wanted to ask whether Gu Nan had properly carried out the reminder he had given her last night.

But thinking that this had happened after the livestream was turned off, not only did Shen Zhibei not know, the audience did not know either.

If he brought it up now, Shen Zhibei would definitely ask what had happened last night. His conversation with Gu Nan last night had been relatively private, all about private matters between Gu Nan and Shen Zhibei as a married couple. It was fine to tell Shen Zhibei alone, but those words absolutely could not be said in front of the audience. So Peng Yushu temporarily changed what he said.

Hearing Shen Zhibei’s response, he did not continue the topic. Instead, he pinched the leader line, held the rod handle in his right hand, and cast the hook out.

Bai Rui and the other two arrived at this time as well.

The moment Tang Ling saw Gu Nan holding a fishing spear and spearing fish in the pond, his face also filled with eagerness. “It looks really fun! Can I also try spearing fish?”

“Of course. There are still waders over there.” Shen Zhibei pointed at the fishing tools placed in the grass.

Lu Xuehai was also very tempted by spearfishing. “Then I’ll get in the water and spear fish too.”

The two of them began putting on waders.

“I also really want to try playing, but I’m a little short. What if the water is too deep, or there are holes at the bottom?” Bai Rui bit her lip and looked at Tang Ling and Lu Xuehai, who had already entered the water. Then, as if she had thought of something, she said dejectedly, “Forget it. I’ll just stay on the shore and fish with Teacher Peng and Sister Zhibei.”

“It’s fine. Come down.” Tang Ling reached out to support her. “Xuehai and I can hold onto you.”

“That’s right. The two of us will support you,” Lu Xuehai also said.

“Then… then all right.” Bai Rui also put on the waders and placed her hands separately into Tang Ling’s and Lu Xuehai’s palms, letting the two support her as she entered the water.

“Thank you.” Bai Rui smiled sweetly.

Watching Tang Ling and Lu Xuehai protect Bai Rui in the middle, constantly paying attention to whether the water level went past her abdomen—

And from time to time, they would thoughtfully support Bai Rui to prevent her from slipping or twisting her ankle.

Then looking at Gu Nan, who was alone off to one side, seriously spearing fish—

Peng Yushu could not help saying, “Bai Rui really has a good relationship with those two young men.”

Shen Zhibei, who had been keeping her eyes lowered and focusing on fishing from the shore, looked up when she heard this and exchanged a glance with Peng Yushu.

Everything was understood without words.

[Did you all see the glance Shen Zhibei and Peng Yushu exchanged? Truly: everything was understood without words.]

[Bai Rui really is a bit ridiculously close with Tang Ling and Lu Xuehai.]

[Every time Bai Rui goes on a show, or shoots a movie or drama, she can create a strange chemistry with the Alphas or male Betas in it. Nothing surprising here.]

[For a moment, I genuinely can’t tell whether the comment above is sarcasm or praising Bai Rui for having a CP physique.]

[I’m starting to wonder whether I’m watching a romance variety show. Why did the style suddenly become like this?]

[Feels like only Teacher Peng is sitting alone off to the side, seeing through everything and silently shipping.]

“I speared a fish!”

Suddenly, Gu Nan raised the fishing spear, letting everyone see the large fish pierced on it.

Shen Zhibei’s first reaction was to ask the production team, “It hasn’t exceeded one hour, right?”

The chief director checked her watch. “Forty-three minutes. It hasn’t exceeded. That fish is part of your normal harvest.”

Only then did Shen Zhibei nod in satisfaction.

“Very impressive!” Peng Yushu praised. Then, with great disgust, he tossed the fishing rod in his hand back into the grass. “This thing looks good but is useless.”

Shen Zhibei thought to herself, with so many people stirring up the pond, all the fish had been frightened. How could they possibly catch anything sitting here with fishing rods?

“I think I’ve found the feeling. Watch me spear a few for you all. At noon, I’ll make one into soup and braise another.”

“Boss Gu, our meat today depends entirely on you!” Tang Ling said with visible delight. “Brother Xuehai and I both currently have zero results. Do you have any tricks? Hurry and teach us.”

He had also tried for a long time, but in the end, he had not even speared a fish scale. His confidence had suffered a huge blow.

Lu Xuehai did not speak, but judging from his eager eyes, he probably had the same thought as Tang Ling.

Gu Nan looked at Tang Ling and Lu Xuehai, each supporting one of Bai Rui’s arms, while also carefully paying attention to Bai Rui’s condition from time to time.

She wanted to say: Stop being so worried about Bai Rui. As long as you spend all your focus on spearing fish, naturally you’ll be able to spear one.

Gu Nan wanted to speak but stopped. Then she thought again, why was she meddling in other people’s business? She should take care of herself first.

So she said, “First hold the fishing spear still. After the fish swims over, spear downward quickly. The main thing is timing. The water surface refracts light, so when the fishing spear enters the water, it won’t be the same as the place we actually see. So you need to experiment a few times in the same spot and remember how much the deviation is.”

Tang Ling and Lu Xuehai both understood, but neither of them could even achieve the first step.

Because Bai Rui, who stood between them, would occasionally lose color in shock when something swam past in the water, then involuntarily move a little.

The two of them were also afraid she would fall, so they had to support her. The result was that the three of them simply could not maintain a still posture for too long. Naturally, they could not spear a single fish.

Gu Nan stood there with her hands on her waist and watched for a short while. Then she looked at the fishing duo on the shore, who were still empty-handed. She felt she should just rely on herself. Otherwise, one fish for six people really would not be enough.

[Gu Nan is also starting to want to speak but stop. It’s over. She’s no longer the straightforward girl in my heart.]

[Can Bai Rui hurry and go ashore to fish with Peng Yushu and Shen Zhibei? Otherwise, if she keeps dragging Tang Ling and Lu Xuehai down, are the six of them supposed to eat only the one fish Gu Nan caught all day?]

[Can’t we have a little more sincerity and fewer schemes? Say it! Say it honestly! Just say Bai Rui is dragging them down!]

[What is wrong with all of you? Do you absolutely have to make the whole situation awkward? Isn’t Bai Rui just trying to contribute to the team?]

[Don’t force awkwardness onto others when you have nothing better to do. I think you’re pretty awkward.]

With the successful experience of the first fish, Gu Nan soon speared the second and third fish.

It was also at this moment that the chief director took a megaphone and shouted from the shore, “One hour is up! Guests, please come up quickly.”

None of the guests paid attention to their shout and continued doing whatever they were doing.

The chief director had long expected this. She immediately waved her hand, and more than ten burly men wearing waders, standing at the very back of the production team, directly rushed out. After a few steps of running, they all jumped into the fish pond with splashes.

The fish pond immediately became restless.

These people who had entered the water did not speak to the guests at all. They simply stirred up the fish pond.

Both fishing and spearfishing required stillness. Now that the production team had done this, there was simply no way to continue.

The four people in the fish pond could only climb ashore and start taking off their waders.

The six fish baskets were lined up in a row. The other five people’s baskets were empty; only Gu Nan’s fish basket had three fish.

The chief director circled the fish baskets several times and even reached out to touch the fish that had been speared.

After dragging things out for quite a while, she finally said, “It’s clear at a glance. Then the final result for the guests is three fish. We have already placed the seasonings back, and you have also obtained the meat ingredients now. Next, guests, please return to your lodging and make a delicious breakfast to soothe your hungry stomachs.”

Originally, the guests had thought the chief director was going to say something useful, or directly give them breakfast.

In the end, after wasting so much time, she was only saying nonsense.

They still had to cook. No, filming had started at nine, the timed task had lasted one hour, and after that they still had to start a fire and cook. By the time they could eat, it would already be at least eleven, right?

How was that still breakfast? It was clearly lunch.

The group rolled their eyes at the chief director on the spot.

“Disperse, disperse. Hurry back. I’ll make fish soup for you. We’ll keep the other two in water, and tonight I’ll braise them for you.” Gu Nan picked up the fish basket and walked off.

The others also followed one after another, and the group quickly walked back.

Looking at their hurried backs, the chief director still did not forget to remind them about the next segment. “Everyone, this afternoon, we still need to help the villagers harvest American ginseng. Please don’t forget.”

“We remember, we remember. Don’t sound like you’re urging us to our deaths! Your variety show is called A Poetic Life, but you might as well rename it A Hellish Life. It would be much more fitting.” Peng Yushu waved his hand carelessly.

[I’m laughing to death. Teacher Peng is always at the forefront of roasting the production team, and his roasting is especially accurate. I hereby declare him the strongest roast king.]

[If Teacher Peng hadn’t said it, I would have forgotten this show was originally called A Poetic Life, hahahahaha.]

[Are we about to see Gu Nan cook? She even said she’s making fish soup. What will she make it into? Can these stars who are used to delicacies really swallow it?]

[They should be very hungry, right? They only ate some pumpkin last night. As long as Gu Nan doesn’t make it taste truly unbearable, they should be able to eat it.]

[I don’t think they were that hungry. The livestream was turned off after nine-something. After it ended, they probably ate something else. I remember in the pilot, every guest brought lots of snacks, except Shen Zhibei and Lu Xuehai. Gu Nan even brought instant noodles.]

[Instant noodles?! I didn’t notice Gu Nan brought those. Did she foresee that this episode would be a true transformation reality show? I need to go watch the pilot again and look for details.]

On the way back, the group also stopped by the vegetable field to pick vegetables.

This time, Gu Nan and the other young people stood to the side and listened to Peng Yushu’s orders.

“Young people still lack daily common sense.” Peng Yushu shook the cilantro, chili peppers, scallions, ginger, garlic, and other ingredients in his hands. “I’m different. I’m a farming enthusiast, and I’m someone who has grown many vegetables.”

“Grown vegetables? Then, Teacher Peng, exactly how many kinds of vegetables have you grown?” Gu Nan asked with a mischievous smile.

Peng Yushu immediately stopped moving. Then, as if nothing had happened, he turned his head and ran to a farther place to pick loofahs, leaving behind one vague sentence, “Anyway, quite a lot.”

“Looks like it wasn’t that many.” Gu Nan snickered and said to Shen Zhibei.

Shen Zhibei had been to Peng Yushu’s home before and had also been invited by Peng Yushu to see the vegetables he planted.

She knew that his so-called vegetable planting meant planting a very small amount of one kind of vegetable in the backyard each time, but basically, he failed to keep them alive every time.

Shen Zhibei had even sympathized with Peng Yushu’s constitution of being unable to grow anything except chives. She was even a little envious. After all, she could not even keep a cactus alive.

So although she was also laughing, she was not as unrestrained as Gu Nan. Seeing that Gu Nan had actually spoken the truth out loud, she even said, “You can’t laugh at a senior like that.”

But Peng Yushu had already heard Gu Nan and Shen Zhibei’s conversation. “Nowadays, in the city, how hard is it to find a piece of land to grow vegetables? The fact that I can grow vegetables in that little patch in my backyard is already not easy. Isn’t that right, Zhibei?”

“Yes. Teacher Peng’s vegetable growing is also very difficult.” Since Peng Yushu asked her, Shen Zhibei naturally had to give him face. But Teacher Peng being this stubborn still made the corners of her lips rise.

From Shen Zhibei’s state, Gu Nan knew she had probably guessed right, so she boldly asked, “Zhibei, do you know how big Teacher Peng’s backyard is? What has he grown?”

Shen Zhibei held back her laughter. “I’ve been invited to Teacher Peng’s small yard before. It’s around ten square meters, I think. Teacher’s chives grow very well.”

Shen Zhibei only mentioned chives and not anything else. The other guests were all shrewd people, so how could they not understand what she meant? One by one, they suppressed the smiles at the corners of their mouths.

“Ten square meters really can grow a lot of chives.” Gu Nan spoke as if she were trying to salvage Peng Yushu’s dignity. “And maybe aside from chives growing well, the other things Teacher Peng planted that you didn’t see also grew very well. Isn’t that right, Teacher Peng?”

Following Gu Nan’s lead, Peng Yushu continued being stubborn. “Exactly. Don’t look down on my small yard. If I want to plant things, it can grow many kinds! Zhibei didn’t see it, but I’ve actually also planted chili peppers, eggplants, and the like. They all grew especially well.”

“Pfft, hahaha.”

Shen Zhibei finally could not hold back and laughed out loud.

For a moment, because of the words of Teacher Peng, the king of talking big, the entire vegetable field was filled with cheerful laughter.