Xia Zhiyi understood the production team's little tricks with the supplies. Creating difficulties deliberately and then using the guests' various ways of handling them to make the show interesting was hardly uncommon.
With that in mind, Xia Zhiyi had no intention of working against the production team. But they had their own plans, and he wasn't going to deliberately lower his standard of living just to play along.
So Xia Zhiyi volunteered to take the cattle-herding task.
First, it was for the points. Second, the other guests had all grown up in the city and had never dealt with livestock like cattle and horses. Before getting familiar with them, they didn't dare be alone with them, whereas Xia Zhiyi's combat prowess made everyone relatively less worried about his safety.
Third, while herding the cow, Xia Zhiyi only needed to keep it within sight. He could wander around nearby as he pleased.
Everything was peaceful at first. The cow was an old yellow ox, probably borrowed from some villager by the production team for the task. It was very gentle and seemed quite intelligent, going wherever Xia Zhiyi told it to go.
After walking some distance, Xia Zhiyi chose a relatively flat spot with abundant vegetation and let the cow wander nearby. Then he picked out the tallest tree, glanced at the camera, and flew up into it, disappearing from the shot in an instant.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the cameraman tilted the camera upward, relatively calmer this time than he had been yesterday.
Fortunately, Xia Zhiyi was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and light-colored jeans today, making him fairly easy to spot among the green leaves. But that height...
Xiao Yang, who had come along to herd the cow wearing a sun hat, couldn't help saying, "A friendly reminder from the production team: please don't try this unless you're a professional."
[Xiao Yang, do you have some strange misconception about us viewers?]
[I might be getting a little carried away. I'm actually starting to think flying up a tree is no big deal.]
[??? I just got here and don't really get this livestream. Isn't this worth being shocked over?!]
[Woohoo! Takeoff!]
[Am I the only one wondering why Teacher Xia climbed up a tree right now?]
Xia Zhiyi couldn't see the comments, but Xiao Yang could, so this was his chance to serve as the viewers' mouthpiece.
He walked under Xia Zhiyi's tree and tilted his head back to look at Xia Zhiyi, who had practically shot all the way to the top. "Teacher Xia, may I ask what you're doing?"
Xia Zhiyi looked down at Xiao Yang beneath the tree and replied with a smile, "Nothing much. Just checking out the surroundings."
Xiao Yang said, "Oh, okay. Be careful, Teacher Xia. Normally, the production team wouldn't stand by and let a guest do something this dangerous. We're also worried that underage viewers might not know any better and try to copy you."
Xiao Yang wasn't blaming Xia Zhiyi. He had actually said it out of kindness, reminding Xia Zhiyi to avoid doing things ordinary people couldn't do while livestreaming, as much as possible.
After all, plenty of people in this world had no self-awareness. They thought that if someone else could do it, so could they, then courted death and hurt themselves, only to turn around and blame the other person.
Hearing that, Xia Zhiyi thought for a moment and said, "I didn't climb up just now. Even if an ordinary person wanted to copy me, they'd probably get stuck on the first step."
Xiao Yang fell silent for a few seconds, looking thoughtful. "When you put it that way, that does seem to make sense."
Oh, right.
Ordinary people... couldn't fly, either.
As they spoke, Xia Zhiyi had more or less finished surveying the surroundings. He also spotted several people on a nearby trail who clearly weren't locals.
But in front of the camera, he said nothing, thinking, Climbing a mountain in suits in this heat. Aren't they worried about heatstroke?
Those people probably included the President Fu whom the staff had mentioned to Fu Yunyi earlier.
Still, seeing them was one thing. It had nothing to do with him either way, so Xia Zhiyi pretended he hadn't.
Once he had gotten a general idea of the surroundings, Xia Zhiyi, emboldened by his skill, simply let go and jumped down. Seeing this from so close nearly gave Xiao Yang a heart attack.
Xiao Yang shouted, "Watch out!"
At the same time, on a mountain trail not far away, Fu Chi happened to look up and caught sight of this as well. His pupils contracted slightly.
"President Fu?"
Fu Chi frowned and hurried toward that direction, prompting the bodyguards protecting him to instinctively follow, their faces alert.
As for Xia Zhiyi, the one responsible for everyone's fright, he saw Xiao Yang instinctively rush forward to catch him as he fell. A trace of helplessness flashed through his eyes, and he pushed off the trunk to change direction, finally landing lightly beside Xiao Yang.
Xia Zhiyi said, "Thank you, Xiao Yang. Sorry, I scared you."
He had thought that after yesterday, Xiao Yang should have had a thorough understanding of his abilities. A little height like this shouldn't have frightened him.
But clearly, Xiao Yang didn't feel that way.
In fact, only after Xia Zhiyi landed did Xiao Yang belatedly realize that Xia Zhiyi hadn't needed his unnecessary help.
This was an incredible man who could fly around two or three meters in the air while holding Fu Yunyi and then land with ease.
Jumping out of a tree was nothing at all.
Xiao Yang scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I overreacted."
Xia Zhiyi said, "Not at all. You were just worried about my safety. I wasn't thoughtful enough. I should have warned you beforehand."
Xiao Yang said, "Hehe, it's fine. As long as you're okay."
Just then, Xia Zhiyi looked up in a certain direction, narrowing his eyes slightly.
A moment later, several people in suits and dress shoes rounded a few trees and appeared before Xia Zhiyi.
Xia Zhiyi was somewhat surprised when he saw Fu Chi. Fu Chi wore a cold expression, yet when their eyes met, he seemed a little... taken aback?
Xiao Yang saw them too and froze for a moment. Then, remembering something, he hurriedly shot the cameraman a look: watch the camera. Don't get these people in the shot.
The cameraman had nearly turned the camera, but stopped himself in time and didn't expose Fu Chi's or the others' faces on the livestream.
[What's going on? What's going on? Teacher Xia seems to have spotted something?]
[There's a rustling sound. Seems like something's coming. No idea if it's people or animals.]
Xia Zhiyi spoke first. "Who are you?"
Fu Chi had happened to see Xia Zhiyi falling from the tree and mistakenly thought he had lost his footing. Now that he had come closer and found Xia Zhiyi calm and apparently uninjured, he vaguely realized that he must have misunderstood something.
Now, standing face-to-face, Fu Chi's Adam's apple bobbed slightly when he heard Xia Zhiyi's question. Only after a moment did he step forward and extend his hand. "Hello, I'm Fu Chi."
Xiao Yang: Aaaaah, the sugar daddy really is here! But what do we do now?! We're still livestreaming! Should we cut the mics?! Should we shut down the livestream?!