With Director Gong's hint, the guests finally stopped chatting altogether.
Then, after listening to Director Gong rattle off some formalities and briefly introduce Xia Zhiyi as a non-celebrity, the group moved on to the first relatively important segment.
Director Gong said, "Xia Zhiyi was the first to start livestreaming today, so he received an extra task from the production team. First, let's announce how he did."
"Task: leave a sufficiently deep impression on your five future roommates without revealing your identity as a guest."
"Since Zhou Kai wasn't traveling with the other guests this time, and Xia Zhiyi only ended up separated from everyone because of some unexpected circumstances, the production team will consider Xia Zhiyi's task complete as far as Zhou Kai is concerned."
"Zhou Kai, do you have any objections to that?"
At that, Zhou Kai smiled, seemingly unconcerned. "No objections. Besides, even without the production team saying so, Xia Zhiyi left a deep impression on me. He did show up all by himself, after all."
That might not have sounded like much, but anyone with a little shrewdness could tell that Zhou Kai was pointing out how Xia Zhiyi had arrived last, all by himself, so much later than the other guests. It would have been hard not to leave a deep impression.
But none of those present picked up on Zhou Kai's remark. Director Gong said nothing about it either, simply smiling as he continued, "On the plane, we briefly interviewed Fu Yunyi, Xue Ranran, Wang Chengran, and Qin Yue about Teacher Xia's task. All of them had a deep impression of Xia Zhiyi, so..."
Director Gong took a red envelope from behind his back and waved Xia Zhiyi over. "Congratulations to Xia Zhiyi for completing his task perfectly and getting our show off to a great start!"
"Xia Zhiyi, come collect your task reward."
Xia Zhiyi blinked, stood up, and walked over. He bent down to accept the red envelope from Director Gong, discreetly giving it a squeeze.
...This thin? Even if it had hundred-yuan bills inside, it would still be so thin it left me speechless.
Forget it.
When he returned to his seat, several guests looked over curiously.
Wang Chengran asked, "What's in the red envelope? Money?"
Xia Zhiyi did not hide it. He glanced at Director Gong and, seeing no sign that he intended to stop him, opened the red envelope in front of everyone.
Once they saw what Xia Zhiyi took out, everyone fell somewhat silent.
Xia Zhiyi said, "One, two, three, four, five. Exactly one for each of the five guests. How generous of you, Director Gong."
Everyone else: "..."
Fu Yunyi asked, "That's the reward?"
Qin Yue said, "...I have a bad feeling about this."
Xue Ranran said, "Director Gong, you're way too stingy! Teacher Xia went through a lot to complete that task!"
Wang Chengran said, "...What can you even do with that little?"
Zhou Kai looked around, then at Director Gong, who sat beneath the sun umbrella smiling like a flower in full bloom. "Director Gong, that's a little unfair of you."
Director Gong beamed. "Don't get impatient. Anywhere else, this reward really would be a little meager. But here, it's a huge sum."
Everyone: "..."
Like hell we believe you.
Xia Zhiyi held five twenty-yuan notes, adding up to just one hundred yuan. In the city, buying some fruit would have been enough to spend it all.
Besides, before they went up the mountain, the production team had stripped every guest of all their cash and replaced their phones with flip phones supplied by the show. They could make calls and send texts, but online payment was not an option.
Xia Zhiyi's expression had not changed when he received his "new" phone, but the other guests' faces had. Wang Chengran had even thrown himself at Director Gong and pestered him for ages, without managing to change his mind.
Now Director Gong added, "Oh, right. The production team will only provide food for the first day. After that, you'll have to sort out your own food every day."
Director Gong said, "But don't worry too much. See that little room over there?"
The guests got up and walked to the front gate, craning their necks to look toward the right side of the house. A small room had been built adjoining it. It did not take up much space and was rather cramped, clearly not somewhere meant for sleeping.
Director Gong said, "Every morning from eight to eleven, our Incredible Life exclusive shop will open here, selling ingredients and some daily necessities. Miss those hours, and you'll miss out."
"You can buy things with money or redeem them with points. Two options, take your pick."
Director Gong beamed. "Well? Isn't that a pleasant surprise?"
Xue Ranran said, "...Oh, what a pleasant surprise." Her delivery was flat.
Wang Chengran asked, "You can't sell much in a place this tiny, can you?"
Fu Yunyi went straight inside the little room and walked around, looking down at the floor tiles that were clearly nothing like those in the main room. "The production team renovated this room at the last minute, didn't they? What was such a tiny room used for before?"
From outside, the marks on the walls did not look new, but the inside was clearly newly done, so the room must have been built at the same time as the main house.
Director Gong said, "...Ahem, before... Oh, anyway, you'll find out when you go near the other villagers' homes. The houses around here all have pretty much the same layout. If you're curious, you can go have a look."
The house the production team had chosen was neither the largest nor the most unusual among the homes halfway up the mountain. It simply had a geographical advantage-it stood right in the center of this village of families surnamed Wu.
Well, it also belonged to the wealthiest household. The owners had already moved to the city, and this was their old home. They came back once a year for Qingming Festival and otherwise entrusted the neighbors with keeping an eye on it.
The road leading to the village had also been built by people the homeowner hired. However, the family only had a modest amount of money, not enough for any major undertaking. Getting a rough road built was already pretty good.
There was no need to bring all this up specifically on the show. The guests would be staying here for half a month, so letting some of it come out during casual conversation would be enough.
Director Gong said, "You also have a few mu of farmland: one mu of vegetables, one mu of corn, and one mu of rice paddies."
"If you don't want to buy ingredients from the shop, you can harvest them from the fields yourselves. The production team won't impose any requirements on that, but please remember one thing: you absolutely, absolutely, absolutely must not waste food."
"Eat however much you pick. Understood?"
Director Gong beamed.
Everyone nodded in unison.
They did know where to draw the line on that.
Director Gong said, "Also, what Xia Zhiyi just received was his task reward. The production team has prepared starting funds for all the guests too. Everyone gets the same amount."
Then he handed each of them one hundred yuan.
Holding his two hundred yuan, Xia Zhiyi was silent for a moment before asking, "One hundred yuan, for half a month?"
In an age when a cup of milk tea cost twenty yuan, the production team certainly knew how to budget.