The incident with the snake had been resolved quickly and led to no unpleasant consequences, so after a brief fright, everyone soon had their attention drawn to other things.
The kitchen.
The first to realize there was a problem with the kitchen was Qin Yue.
"This earthen stove..." Qin Yue had wanted a drink of water and made her way to the kitchen, only then noticing how unexpected the kitchen the production team had arranged for them was. "We're doomed. My cooking was only average to begin with, and this earthen stove... just getting a fire going will be a hassle. What am I going to do if I can't control the heat?"
Qin Yue's room was next to Xue Ranran's. When they were assigning rooms, Qin Yue had said she knew a little about cooking and volunteered to take a room toward the back, near the kitchen. Directly across from her happened to be the room Xia Zhiyi and Wang Chengran were staying in.
As a result, Wang Chengran could hear Qin Yue clearly from his room. He poked his head out curiously for a look, and his eyes lit up. "Hey! I didn't notice before. Are we supposed to cook with firewood ourselves?"
Qin Yue said, "That's right. Wang Chengran, do you know how to tend a fire?"
Wang Chengran thumped his chest. "Who doesn't know how to tend a fire? Don't worry, Qin Yue. When you cook, I'll handle the fire!"
Because of the house's layout, Xia Zhiyi had three routes back to his room: going around to the kitchen's back door, passing through the main hall and then the kitchen, or going past Fu Yunyi and Zhou Kai's room.
Since none of them knew one another very well, Xia Zhiyi naturally chose to go through the main hall. Stepping over the thirty-centimeter-high threshold, he glanced at the two earthen stoves in the kitchen, one large and one small. "What are you going to make, Qin Yue?"
The production team had prepared food for the guests earlier, so they had not needed to make their first meal here themselves. Dinner had already been arranged at the mountain village's village chief's home, so the guests did not need to prepare anything for that either.
Qin Yue said, "Nothing, nothing. I just wanted some water and thought there should be drinking water in the kitchen."
As she spoke, Qin Yue looked at Xia Zhiyi and asked, "Were you not in your room just now, Xiao Yi?"
Xia Zhiyi said, "I figured people in the countryside usually keep a few chickens or ducks, so I went out front to look around. I found a chicken coop beside the house."
Qin Yue nodded. "Oh, right. I wouldn't have thought of that if you hadn't mentioned it."
Xia Zhiyi walked over to the cupboard, lifted a wooden board with one hand, and told Qin Yue, "The water's here."
Beneath the board was a large water vat enclosed in a wooden frame. It was filled to the brim with clear water, and a red plastic dipper sat on the cupboard beside it, clearly meant to go with it.
Qin Yue: "..."
Wang Chengran: "Wow."
Qin Yue frowned. "Are there no water pipes here?"
Xia Zhiyi said, "I'm not sure. At least, I haven't seen any pipes in this house so far. I don't know whether the other houses nearby have them."
Qin Yue was stunned.
Wang Chengran, on the other hand, found it novel. He picked up the dipper and examined it. "So if we want drinking water, do we have to boil it first?"
Qin Yue was thinking further ahead. "Wait, then... what about showers and things...?"
Xia Zhiyi was very calm. "If we want hot water to wash with, we'll probably have to heat it ahead of time every evening."
Qin Yue: ...
Qin Yue felt as though she was about to fall apart.
Just then, Xue Ranran, who had heard the commotion, appeared from behind Xia Zhiyi. "What's going on? Why are you all here? What are you talking about?"
Wang Chengran told her what they had just discovered.
Xue Ranran said, "Hiss... wouldn't that be really inconvenient? Aren't there other people living nearby? Are their homes like this too?"
Heating water would be far too much trouble. It would be one thing if there were only one person, but there were six of them.
And besides...
Xue Ranran said, "There are so many crew members too. If everyone really has to heat water to wash, with this many people taking turns, we might be washing until dawn."
Xia Zhiyi said, "There's still some time before dinner. I was planning to visit a few of the nearby residents anyway, so let's go ask now."
Xue Ranran said, "...Aren't you tired, Teacher Xia?"
She was already tired.
They had traveled by car and plane, then walked a long stretch of mountain road after arriving. Although she had sat down and rested for a while before Xia Zhiyi arrived, she still felt exhausted.
Xia Zhiyi smiled. "I'm all right. Not very tired."
Meanwhile, in the room Fu Yunyi and Zhou Kai shared, Fu Yunyi was unpacking with a frown, while Zhou Kai sat on an old wooden sofa against the wall, looking somewhat dazed. There was no telling what he was thinking.
Fu Yunyi did not disturb him and simply carried on unpacking.
It would have been one thing if he were staying alone, but he had been assigned a room with Zhou Kai. However easygoing Fu Yunyi was, he still had to consider his roommate's feelings while unpacking. He could hardly take up all the space.
The production team had installed cameras throughout the house beforehand, so the camera operators had all gone to rest. Only the two of them were in the room.
The house was not particularly soundproof, and the door was not fully closed. The faint sounds from the kitchen drifted in, pulling Zhou Kai from his thoughts.
He frowned, but when he caught sight of the camera running silently in the opposite corner, he quickly adjusted his expression and asked Fu Yunyi, "What are they doing in the kitchen? Aren't we supposed to have dinner at the village chief's house tonight?"
Fu Yunyi did not even look up. "There are no water pipes in the house. They're talking about washing up."
Zhou Kai paused. "You can hear them clearly?"
Fu Yunyi was puzzled. "What's hard to hear? Aren't their voices pretty clear?"
Zhou Kai was at a loss for words.
Feeling that something was off, Zhou Kai concentrated and listened closely, but he could still only catch a few scattered words. He truly could not make out exactly what they were saying.
He could not help wondering, Is Fu Yunyi's hearing that good? Or is mine just that bad?
Meanwhile, Xia Zhiyi, who was still in the kitchen, shifted his expression slightly and turned his head a little to glance toward Fu Yunyi and Zhou Kai's room.
Xue Ranran said, "We are guests in their village, after all. Even if we don't visit anyone farther away, we should at least say hello to the nearest neighbors. In that case, I'll go with Teacher Xia."
Wang Chengran said, "Then I'll go too."
Qin Yue said, "...Then I'll come along as well."
Since all four of them were going, they could not leave the other two behind, or it would look a little as though they were deliberately excluding them.
Xia Zhiyi did not need to say anything. Wang Chengran and Xue Ranran were clearly outgoing and took the initiative to ask Fu Yunyi and Zhou Kai what they wanted to do.
In the end, all six guests set off together. On the surface, none of them seemed affected by the earlier scare.
However, as they headed out, despite how well Zhou Kai concealed it, Xia Zhiyi still noticed his distraction.
Seeing this, Xia Zhiyi's dark eyes flickered, and he turned his head slightly to look at Director Gong nearby.
At that moment, Director Gong was watching them. He seemed... to be watching Zhou Kai too.
Now this is a little interesting.
Xia Zhiyi thought.