Sugar Painting

Li Yu and Chi Yan returned to the guesthouse just before eight. As they entered, they happened to run into Zhou Yanqing.

"Morning, Brother Yanqing."

Li Yu raised a hand in greeting, and Zhou Yanqing nodded back. "Morning."

Zhou Yanqing's forehead was covered in sweat, and part of his black T-shirt was soaked through. He was slightly out of breath as he spoke, clearly having just gone for a morning run.

"Where did you two go?" Zhou Yanqing lifted the breakfast he had brought back for everyone and asked, "Want some? I picked some up while I was out running."

"We went hiking to watch the sunrise and grabbed something to eat on the way," Chi Yan said.

"What? Brother Chi, you and Little Yu actually went hiking without us!"

Shu Menglan arrived after her voice did. She had just woken up, and upon hearing movement at the front door, she came downstairs wrapped in her sleepwear.

"Sister Menglan, we got up after four. We were worried you all still needed rest, so we didn't mention it," Li Yu replied with a smile.

"Fine, fine. Four in the morning? There's no way I could've gotten up," Shu Menglan said with a pout.

The rest of the guests gradually woke up after that, and the livestream opened at the same time.

[Woohoo, first!]

[Is everyone only just waking up? I'm already on the subway to work (sad)]

[Us eight-o'clock workers start scrolling the moment we sit down.]

[Goddess Liang looks gorgeous even without makeup. She takes such good care of herself—like a beauty goddess descending.]

[Haha, I'm here to see my daughter Menglan again.]

[Holy crap, Zhou Yanqing looks way too good in a T-shirt. Husband, please turn around and stick that ass out for me!]

[Sis up there, this is the comment section, not the wilderness!]

"Any activities planned for this morning?"

Xiang Zhinan yawned, looking like he was still not fully awake.

"The production team's task card. We only checked in at three places yesterday—there are still three left."

Liang Meichen took out the task card and spread it open on the table.

"Hey! This picture looks familiar. It's the place that makes Sugar Painting—we passed it while strolling through the snack street last night." Yu Lin pointed at one of the pictures.

"Then let's go there directly."

Liang Meichen put away the task card, and the group set off at once.

Sugar Painting, as the name suggested, was painting with sugar—a traditional folk craft that had become quite rare these days. The Sugar Painting on Southern Jade Mountain Snack Street was especially famous, and tourists affectionately called the woman who made it "Sugar-Painting Granny."

The Sugar Painting stall was small, consisting only of an aluminum slab and a small pot for boiling sugar. The wooden sticks beside it were covered with finished Sugar Paintings, all kinds of birds and beasts gathered together in lifelike form.

"Wow, that's so cool! Is this a Phoenix? The feather details are incredible."

Yu Lin rested his chin in his hands and circled the wooden sticks, clicking his tongue in amazement.

"When I was little, I always wanted one whenever I went to the market with my family. If I drew a dragon or phoenix, I could show it off all day. Ah, childhood memories." Liang Meichen smiled.

"So what are we supposed to do? Just open our mouths and eat?"

The moment Xiang Zhinan asked, the PD issued the task. "See the Sugar Painting spinner beside you? Whatever you land on, you'll have to learn to make from Sugar-Painting Granny."

"Damn!" Shu Menglan spun around sharply. "Wouldn't anyone who lands on a dragon or phoenix be totally screwed?"

Xiang Zhinan added, "How about whoever has the best luck goes first?"

"I'll go." Xie Jingming stepped up to the spinner, flicked the wooden arrow, and watched it slowly begin to turn.

Xie Jingming had no idea what he would get, but his luck had always been pretty good. He was the kind of person who could pull two top-tier rewards from the beginner ten-pull in a game.

At last, the arrow slowly came to a stop, and everyone else leaned in to look.

"Holy dollar! You got a peach? That luck is insane!"

Yu Lin, the ultimate unlucky chieftain, clutched his head in shock.

Compared to patterns like rabbits, monkeys, dragonflies, and butterflies, the peach was indeed one of the simplest options on the spinner.

"Your turn?"

Xie Jingming gave up his spot to Yu Lin.

Yu Lin swallowed, squeezed his eyes shut, and muttered, "Peach, peach! I want a peach!"

As expected, the wooden arrow stopped on the pattern beside the peach— a dragon.

"Oh my god! Do you even realize what you've done?!"

Yu Lin nearly choked on his own frustration, wishing he could just die on the spot.

If this had been about eating Sugar Painting, Yu Lin would definitely have been the winner—but they were making Sugar Painting now!!!

"I'll do it, I'll do it!"

Shu Menglan eagerly stepped forward and ended up drawing a swallow. "All right, it's still a little difficult... but way better than Yu Lin's, hehe."

The next to draw a pattern was Li Yu. He got a Phoenix.

Seeing that, Yu Lin was the first to come over and gloat. "Ha, so someone else is just as unlucky as me."

Li Yu merely smiled and said nothing.

In one of his past quick-transmigration worlds, he seemed to have... learned how to make Sugar Painting.

"It's okay, Li Yu. Don't be sad. I'll keep you company. I've got a dragon, you've got a phoenix—we make a pair!"

Yu Lin patted Li Yu on the shoulder, completely unaware that he would soon be the one unable to laugh.

Fortunately, the others drew fairly ordinary patterns afterward. Liang Meichen got a butterfly, Xiang Zhinan got a little bird, and Zhou Yanqing got a monkey.

When it was Chi Yan's turn, something dramatic happened. The arrow stopped exactly on the carp pattern.

Chi Yan's first reaction was to look at Li Yu with a meaningful smile. Recalling what had happened not long ago, Li Yu immediately understood what Chi Yan was laughing about.

Li Yu coughed and pretended to study Sugar-Painting Granny's work beside the aluminum slab.

Sugar-Painting Granny demonstrated the dragon pattern directly. Golden sugar syrup dripped from the little ladle, and the rough shape of a dragon's head soon took form.

"To draw a dragon, start with the head, then curve down for the snout, make the teeth, draw the tongue... Pull the body lines higher, fill in the middle..."

Sugar-Painting Granny's movements were deft, but since she was demonstrating, she deliberately slowed down. Yu Lin watched with extreme focus, because the dragon was what he would have to make next.

"Okay! I've got it! Just wait for me to amaze everyone!"

Yu Lin rolled up his sleeves, sat on a small stool, compared the picture book to Sugar-Painting Granny's example, took the little ladle, and began to paint.

His hand shook terribly the entire time. Either he poured out too much syrup, or his lines were too thin.

Yu Lin gritted his teeth and finished a rough version before pressing a wooden stick onto it.

"Look! I'm done!"

Yu Lin stood up, and everyone came over to look.

Sugar-Painting Granny was the first to laugh, followed by Shu Menglan and the others.

"Come on, Yu Lin, you're calling that a dragon? Why does it look kind of stupid?"

Xiang Zhinan clutched his stomach, laughing so hard he could barely straighten up.

"What do you mean? This is absolutely a dragon!"

In a burst of anger, Yu Lin tried to lift up his Sugar Painting. In the end, the wooden stick remained in his hand, while the "dragon" broke into three pieces because some of its lines were too thin.

"..."

Yu Lin suddenly accepted his fate.

"I'll go next."

Li Yu sat on the small stool and flipped the picture book to the Phoenix page.