As Fu Yunyi began grinding his teeth, Xia Zhiyi quickly brought up the second issue that deserved their attention: "Also, if you want to shower, I suggest doing it early."
Wang Chengran asked, "Why?"
Xia Zhiyi said, "There'll probably be a lot of mosquitoes after dark. If you shower after dark, you can't exactly leave the lights off, can you? And if you turn them on..."
He didn't need to finish. Anyone who had suffered at the hands of mosquitoes understood.
Xue Ranran, who had been too exhausted to speak or move, immediately sat up. "That won't do. We really do need to get this sorted out quickly. Let's stop worrying about where to shower for now. I'll go heat the water first."
Qin Yue stood up. "I'll come with you. None of them need hot water, so we can heat it ourselves."
Wang Chengran hurriedly said, "I'll do it, I'll do it. I said earlier I'd handle the fire..."
Xia Zhiyi didn't think much of it. Watching the three of them head toward the kitchen, he stood and turned to Fu Yunyi. "Then I'll go fetch water from Seventh Grandpa's place. What about you, Fu Yunyi?"
With everyone else on the move, surely Fu Yunyi wasn't going to sit there spacing out?
Fu Yunyi thought for a moment, then stood. "I'll go with you."
Then they discovered that there were only two buckets available for fetching water.
Neither of them had trouble carrying things. Clearly, taking one bucket each to fetch water was something of a waste of manpower.
Xia Zhiyi exchanged a look with Fu Yunyi, who asked, "...Is there anything else to do?"
Xia Zhiyi said, "...Chop firewood?"
Fu Yunyi's eyes brightened, and he visibly perked up with interest.
Fu Yunyi said, "I've never done that before. I'll give it a try."
The house they were staying in had platforms out front and back. The front platform was an extension made of concrete, while the one out back had been dug out. It was relatively small, but there was enough room to chop firewood.
If the male guests weren't too particular, they could even shower right outside the back door.
Now that Fu Yunyi had said he wanted to chop firewood, Xia Zhiyi didn't deliberately keep his distance from him. They passed through the kitchen one after the other, while the other three were so absorbed in starting the fire that they didn't notice them.
Then, a few minutes later...
Xia Zhiyi: "..."
He really hadn't thought filming this show would be any trouble.
But now, he suddenly felt that perhaps... it might be a little troublesome after all.
Not only did Fu Yunyi keep failing at chopping wood, but not a single one of the three people in the kitchen knew how to start a fire.
Not. One. Person.
All three looked pretty smart, yet they had somehow managed to fill the room with smoke without getting the fire lit.
They had even smoked themselves out.
[I'm dying laughing.]
[If I hadn't watched the whole thing and known they hadn't even lit the fire, I would've thought the place was burning down with all that smoke.]
[Wang Chengran sounded so confident. I really thought he knew how.]
[How do I put this? I'm not exactly surprised.]
[Wang Chengran stuffed so much wood in there that he blocked the opening completely. It would've been a miracle if it caught fire!]
"Cough, cough, cough... cough, cough..." Xue Ranran waved at the air in front of her face and coughed several times before wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Wang Chengran, can you actually do this?"
Wang Chengran said, "...I think the wood probably isn't dry enough. That's why it won't catch."
Qin Yue: "..."
Qin Yue had been going back and forth ladling water into the large pot just now, so she hadn't seen exactly what the two of them had done.
But looking at the kitchen, which was still billowing smoke, and its window, Qin Yue didn't know what to say either.
A few seconds later, she offered, "Does our kitchen... not have an exhaust fan?"
Wang Chengran and Xue Ranran both turned to look at her.
"Looks like it doesn't."
"...I was wondering why there was so much smoke. So it's because of the exhaust fan," Wang Chengran said in realization.
Having overheard their conversation from nearby, Xia Zhiyi said, "...Could it possibly be because you're starting the fire wrong?"
Wang Chengran said, "Huh? Isn't that how you start a fire?"
Xia Zhiyi smiled.
Fu Yunyi was still trying to chop firewood. Hearing their conversation, he said, "If I hadn't seen that Director Gong and his people weren't rushing over, I would've thought you'd set the house on fire with all that smoke."
Wang Chengran: "..."
Xue Ranran asked, "What do we do now? Wang Chengran clearly doesn't know how to start a fire, and neither do I. Do you, Qin Yue?"
Qin Yue thought for a moment, then slowly shook her head.
Xia Zhiyi: "..."
How had it come to this!
It was a good thing this was a lifestyle variety show rather than a survival show. Otherwise, these guests... would be the death of him.
Xia Zhiyi sighed inwardly. Seeing that most of the smoke had cleared, he ducked into the kitchen, saying, "Let me try."
Just then, a crew member came around from the side and said with a smile, "Thanks for your hard work, everyone. Director Gong sent me to remind you that the little shop closes in an hour."
Wang Chengran said, "Oh, if the shop closes, it clo-hmm, oh! I almost forgot we had a little shop!"
Xue Ranran's eyes lit up. "Oh, right!"
Xue Ranran said, "I'll go look! See whether there are enough rooms."
Wang Chengran said, "I'm coming too, I'm coming too."
Those two were clearly livelier than the others. Egging each other on, they headed off excitedly without anyone else needing to say anything.
Fu Yunyi missed with his axe again. He straightened up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and noticed that Qin Yue hadn't left. "Aren't you going to take a look?"
Qin Yue shook her head. She had actually noticed what Fu Yunyi was doing earlier and watched him swing more than a dozen times in a few minutes. Nine times out of ten, he hit nothing but air; the other time, he chipped off a few wood shavings.
Qin Yue wanted to say something but held back. It felt as though anything she said would offend Fu Yunyi.
But she also wanted to say something to him, so she stood there, hesitating.
She didn't know what to say, but Fu Yunyi misunderstood her intent and pointed at the chopping block. "Do you want to try too?"
Qin Yue said, "...Yes."
That worked too. At least it gave them something to talk about, and she could show her delicate side.
Fu Yunyi readily handed over the spot and the tool, stepping aside. "This is pretty tricky. It's my first time trying it too, and I haven't had much success."
No sooner had he finished speaking than he saw Qin Yue nail it in a single strike, splitting the piece of wood he had been hacking at for ages with little result clean in two.
Qin Yue: "..."
Fu Yunyi said, "Wow, that was amazing!"
Qin Yue thought, Wait, why? It hadn't looked this easy when Fu Yunyi did it!
Why had a delicate woman like her split this wood with just a gentle swing?
Was this stuff actually that easy to chop? Then what had Fu Yunyi been doing just now?
Fu Yunyi wouldn't think she was stepping on him to get ahead, would he?
When she looked up, Qin Yue was relieved to see that Fu Yunyi showed no sign of displeasure at all.
Fu Yunyi asked eagerly, "How did you do that? Have you chopped firewood before? Is there a trick to it? Can you teach me?"
Qin Yue: ...
Ah! Her persona!!!
Xia Zhiyi, who had heard every word clearly: "..."
Wang Chengran rushed over excitedly. "Teacher Xia, Teacher Xia! The shop sells gas stoves! We actually don't have to burn firewood!"