In the end, Xiao Yang temporarily muted the mic and turned the camera away. Only after consulting Fu Chi and getting his agreement did he let the cameraman continue.
His actions, combined with the clothes Fu Chi and his group were wearing, easily piqued the viewers' curiosity.
Who were these people?
What were they here for?
Whatever the case, people who wore suits into the mountains in the middle of summer definitely weren't here for sightseeing.
Still, no one connected Fu Chi with Fu Yunyi at this point. After all, while Fu wasn't as common a surname as Liu, Wang, or Li, it wasn't rare either.
Since the other man had taken the initiative, Xia Zhiyi naturally cooperated. "Hello, I'm Xia Zhiyi."
He reached out and lightly shook the other man's hand, then withdrew his hand with a smile. "What I actually wanted to ask was, what brings you here? Judging by your clothes, you seem to have business to attend to. Are you lost?"
Fu Chi looked at the fresh, comfortable-looking Xia Zhiyi, then at himself, and fell silent for a moment.
Behind him, a young man who was visibly out of breath and seemed to be an assistant spoke up. "Hello, Teacher Xia. We..."
Fu Chi said, "I came to survey the surroundings. I saw you coming down from the tree just now and was worried there might be an accident, so I came over to check."
Xia Zhiyi saw a hint of surprise in the assistant-like man's eyes, but once Fu Chi spoke, he tactfully shut his mouth.
Xia Zhiyi blinked. After hearing Fu Chi's words, he realized he had frightened this passerby and apologized first. "Sorry, I scared you."
Fu Chi shook his head. "No. As long as you don't think I'm meddling."
Xia Zhiyi said, "Of course not. You meant well, Mr. Fu, and I'm grateful. I don't consider that meddling at all."
Xia Zhiyi said, "But if you're surveying the area... unfortunately, I'm not a local either, so I don't know the surroundings. Otherwise, I could show you the way."
Fu Chi said, "That's all right. May I ask what you're doing here?"
Xia Zhiyi said, "Hmm, I accepted a task, and right now I'm grazing a cow."
Fu Chi said, "I see."
They looked at each other for a moment.
Xia Zhiyi spoke up. "Then, Mr. Fu... would you like to see the cow?"
Fu Chi said, "...All right."
Xia Zhiyi clearly saw the subtle expressions on the faces of the people behind Fu Chi when they heard this.
He hadn't expected Fu Chi to take him up on his offhand suggestion.
At a glance, this man was the elite type, someone who was in his element in the city but looked out of place in the countryside. He ought to have refused at a time like this.
But... since they had already gotten this far, Xia Zhiyi could only smile and lead Fu Chi over to see his cow.
Then the two stood beside the cow and fell silent again.
[...So what's happening right now?]
[Please note: this is not a still image.]
[Cow: ????]
Xia Zhiyi could sense Fu Chi looking his way, whether deliberately or otherwise, but the man clearly wasn't talkative. So when Xia Zhiyi didn't speak, neither did Fu Chi.
That was how they ended up in this lull in the conversation.
Other people might have found it awkward, but Xia Zhiyi didn't find it particularly awkward. He thought watching a cow eat grass was rather interesting.
After all, it wasn't something he usually got to see.
If Fu Chi wanted to look at him, he could. Xia Zhiyi had never had any dealings with him before. Although he didn't know why the man seemed to care about him a little, he wasn't going to ask now.
Xiao Yang: ...Chief director, hurry up and come rescue us! We can't just leave our sugar daddy roasting in the sun here!
The "rescue" soon arrived.
But it wasn't someone arranged by the production team. It was Chen Yun, who had also just arrived today.
Unlike Fu Chi, Chen Yun had her own purpose for coming. She had only notified the production team, then brought her assistant over herself after getting the address.
Before she arrived, the production team had only known she was coming, not when.
So when they saw Fu Chi, the production team wasn't surprised.
But when they saw Chen Yun, everyone on the production team was caught off guard.
Not just because they hadn't expected Chen Yun to appear at this moment, but also because... Xia Zhiyi had rescued her.
Yes, rescued her.
On her way up the mountain, Chen Yun had twisted her ankle in her high heels and fallen, then had the bad luck to slide into a pit over a meter deep. Not only was she a sorry sight, but she had also injured her arm and couldn't get out for the time being.
Luckily, she hadn't come alone. Once her accompanying assistant realized he couldn't get Chen Yun out himself, he immediately decided to look for help nearby.
As luck would have it, he ran into Xia Zhiyi, who was watching the cow with Fu Chi.
When he heard the young assistant say someone had fallen into a pit and couldn't get out, Xia Zhiyi's first thought was, A pit? What pit? I didn't see any pits on the way up yesterday.
When he saw Chen Yun in the pit, holding back her anger as she waited to be rescued, Xia Zhiyi's expression remained perfectly calm, but inwardly, he felt a little pleased.
As for why there was a pit here...
Don't ask. If you had to ask, a villain who ran into the protagonist's halo was destined for bad luck.
The pit Chen Yun had fallen into actually wasn't deep, only about a meter, and it wasn't hidden either. Ordinarily, anyone watching where they walked wouldn't have fallen in.
At that depth, even if someone fell in, they could climb out on their own.
Yet Chen Yun had not only fallen in, but with the double debuff of a twisted ankle and an injured arm, she couldn't get out and had ended up covered in dirt and bits of grass. She was a truly pitiful sight.
But Xia Zhiyi found the sight very satisfying.
Chen Yun was no good person.
So, although Xia Zhiyi could easily have carried her out, he used avoiding any appearance of impropriety as an excuse and chose to haul her out of the pit instead.
As for Fu Chi, who stood nearby...
No one suggested asking Fu Chi to help.
What Xia Zhiyi didn't see was that, while he was "helping" Chen Yun, the people behind Fu Chi had intended to step forward to help, only for Fu Chi to turn his head slightly and stop them with a look.
Fu Chi quietly watched as Xia Zhiyi rescued Chen Yun from the pit with one hand, then unobtrusively stepped back several paces, putting distance between himself and Chen Yun, while his expression betrayed nothing amiss.
If he hadn't been watching Xia Zhiyi the entire time, paying attention to his every move, he might not have noticed him stepping away.
Xia Zhiyi didn't like Chen Yun.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
With things having come to this, Xia Zhiyi couldn't very well continue his task, so the group planned to head back to the cottage first.
They only needed to follow yesterday's mountain path. It was a route the people on the mountain frequently traveled back and forth, safe and reliable. Apart from being a little troublesome on rainy days, it generally posed no problems.
Supported by her young assistant, Chen Yun walked behind Xia Zhiyi and Fu Chi. Once she had composed herself, she wanted to exchange a few words with Xia Zhiyi and build a rapport with him.
Yet they had barely taken a few steps when, somehow, Chen Yun's foot slipped. Before her assistant could catch her, she pitched forward and grabbed something in her panic.
Riiip-
Xia Zhiyi: "...?"
[Oh-ho!]