[Fuck]
[Aaaaaah, a snake!]
[Watch out!]
As someone shouted a warning, viewers in the comments quickly pinpointed the target too, spotting a small snake winding its way through the shade of a nearby tree.
Director Gong said, "Don't panic. Those nearby, be careful as you back away. Don't startle the snake!"
Before he had even finished, Xia Zhiyi had already strode forward and, under everyone's frightened gazes, deftly seized the snake just behind its head with one hand. "It's all right now."
The entire sequence was one fluid motion, taking perhaps only a few seconds in total.
Fu Yunyi ran out at the commotion. Just as he was about to ask what had happened, he spotted Xia Zhiyi standing at the edge of the platform outside the door, holding something green. He froze, then immediately backed away several steps. "Oh... my God. Where did that snake come from? What kind is it? Is it venomous?"
He forcibly swallowed the swear word on the tip of his tongue.
At the same time, his face went pale. He was clearly afraid of snakes.
Hearing his voice, Xia Zhiyi turned toward him. He paused when he caught sight of Fu Yunyi's complexion, then lowered his hand to hide what he was holding behind his back. "It's fine. I just checked. It's a green pit viper with its fangs pulled out."
Director Gong sucked in a breath.
Once the snake was out of his sight, Fu Yunyi visibly relaxed. Although he still didn't dare approach, his color improved considerably. "Does having its fangs pulled mean it's not dangerous? Are you all right holding it like that?"
Xia Zhiyi shook his head.
Meanwhile, Xia Zhiyi's words sent the comments into an uproar.
[What does Xia Zhiyi mean by that? A green pit viper with its fangs pulled? Does that mean what I think it means?]
[Maybe it's someone's pet from a nearby house.]
[Green pit vipers are venomous, right? And pulling out a venomous snake's fangs doesn't make it safe!]
[A snake's venom is in its venom glands and ducts, not its teeth. After its fangs are pulled, its other teeth can still break someone's skin. Venom coming into contact with the wound can still cause envenomation.]
Xia Zhiyi gave much the same explanation. By then, the other guests had also begun emerging one after another at the commotion, and after hearing that, they didn't really dare approach him either.
After hearing the explanation about the fangs, no one could spare a thought for who had pulled them out. They just wanted the venomous snake dealt with as quickly as possible.
Zhou Kai looked the worst out of all the guests. At that moment, he spoke up. "If it's that dangerous, why didn't you just kill it?"
Xia Zhiyi had already noticed a flicker of guilt in Zhou Kai's eyes when he learned that Xia Zhiyi had caught the venomous snake, and suspicions had formed in his mind.
Now, hearing Zhou Kai's rude question, Xia Zhiyi's expression remained unchanged. "Green pit vipers are a nationally protected Class II species."
Zhou Kai: "..."
At some point, Wang Chengran and Xue Ranran had linked arms. Frightened yet curious, they edged closer and ventured, "Teacher Xia, what should we do with the snake? Is it safe for you to hold it? Should we find a sack to put it in first?"
Xia Zhiyi said, "...If you want to look, you can look now. I've actually already squeezed it unconscious."
Otherwise, the snake wouldn't have stayed so obediently in his hand like a length of green rope. It would have struggled at least a little.
Wang Chengran and Xue Ranran exchanged a glance. Their nerve couldn't match their enthusiasm. One asked, "Then, can we touch it? Its green color looks so pretty..."
The other said, "That's Teacher Xia for you. Thank goodness you were here. If we hadn't noticed and someone had been bitten, we'd have been in serious trouble."
Those words practically voiced Director Gong's thoughts.
Director Gong had been badly frightened when they first discovered the green pit viper too-the production crew had inspected the surroundings before the guests moved in. Small bugs were an everyday sight in the countryside, but there had definitely been no highly dangerous venomous insects or snakes!
Otherwise, they wouldn't have dared let the guests stay there.
They weren't the kind of production crew that feasted on human-blood buns! If something really happened and the show got axed, the staff would be the ones left crying!
Director Gong had a staff member fetch a woven plastic sack. Only after Xia Zhiyi put the snake inside did he breathe a sigh of relief. "We can't kill this snake either. I'll have someone contact the forestry bureau to see how we should handle it. And thank you..."
Xia Zhiyi actually suspected this hadn't been an accident, but with the cameras on him, he couldn't say so outright. He glanced at Director Gong.
In fact, Xia Zhiyi was already starting to get the feeling that this show... probably wouldn't have a peaceful run.
In the plot, the show had been taken off the air shortly after its premiere for various reasons. The plot had glossed over it, stating that an amateur guest had molested a female celebrity, and the resulting negative impact had led to its cancellation.
Now, Xia Zhiyi reckoned the show's guest lineup had already changed beyond recognition. Of the six guests, probably only Qin Yue, Wang Chengran, and Xue Ranran had been in the original lineup.
Well, perhaps not even those three.
Considering how Zhou Kai could use Huanyu's backing to get the production crew to replace a guest at the last minute before the premiere, Xia Zhiyi was surprised that he hadn't been kicked out as the final amateur guest.
In fact, after learning that Fu Yunyi had accepted this gig, quite a few well-informed people in the industry really had entertained that idea.
For various reasons, however, they hadn't succeeded.
Xia Zhiyi gave Director Gong a sympathetic look.
Director Gong: "..." Why are you looking at me like that?
Still, Director Gong knew what mattered most right now. He quickly calmed everyone present, then had people take sticks, branches, and the like and repeatedly search around the house to confirm there wasn't a second venomous snake.
By then, some viewers were already cursing out the production crew in the comments over the snake.
But the situation was still under control. Director Gong also abandoned his plan to have the guests start cooking for themselves on the first day. Instead, he had meals prepared for them, then sent them off to rest and recover from the shock.
A short while later, Xia Zhiyi appeared at the door again, though this time he wasn't caught on camera.
Naturally, Director Gong had arranged that in advance.
"Teacher Xia." Director Gong's manner was extremely courteous this time as he addressed him. "We just checked the footage. This snake... for now, we can't determine where exactly it came up from. The vegetation around here is dense, so it's hard to find any traces."
Director Gong said, "I wouldn't believe it if someone said this wasn't deliberate. But our show has only just premiered. If this blows up and gets us taken off the air, the losses would be too great."
Xia Zhiyi understood Director Gong's difficulties too. "Don't worry, Director Gong. I won't say anything on camera. I didn't think that much of it earlier and accidentally mentioned the fangs. Did I cause trouble for you?"
Director Gong hurriedly said, "No, no. Whatever happened, none of this could be your fault."
Director Gong said, "We'll find out what's going on with this snake as soon as possible. If it was... we certainly can't make a public scene, but that person definitely can't stay."