With Xia Zhiyi's skills, even though it had happened suddenly, he should have been able to dodge Chen Yun's "sneak attack."
But strangely, at the very instant it happened, Xia Zhiyi had blanked out for a moment.
Yes, it wasn't that he had been distracted thinking about something else and failed to notice what was happening behind him. He had simply blanked out, and when he came back to his senses, he found that his shirt had been torn.
Xia Zhiyi: "..."
While the others around him were still somewhat flustered by the situation, Xia Zhiyi himself was very calm.
For no other reason than that this wasn't the first time he had experienced something similar in other worlds.
To put it bluntly, he had just been affected by a force called the plot.
For an original cannon fodder character like Xia Zhiyi, the power of the plot was naturally nothing good. When Xia Zhiyi first learned that the world he lived in was merely a novel, and that everything he and his sister experienced was controlled by the plot, he had utterly loathed this so-called power of the plot.
Who would want to be manipulated like a puppet?
But later, after experiencing more, Xia Zhiyi had grown calm about it.
For no other reason than that the plot was an inanimate thing.
Or rather, it was a program that operated according to established rules. People within the plot generally couldn't detect the existence of this force.
And when you became aware that the plot existed, that was actually good news.
It meant you were already on the verge of breaking free of this force, because someone controlled by the plot couldn't realize they were being controlled. When you clearly sensed it, that instead meant the plot was trying to pull you back under its control.
But for Xia Zhiyi, this didn't really count as good news.
He had thought that, since they hadn't yet entered the so-called "main text" and the plot hadn't begun, he still had a year or two to prepare to shed his cannon fodder label.
But the plot was already trying to control him, which meant that while he thought it hadn't started, everything was actually already unfolding without a sound.
Then... did he have no choice but to become the male lead's enemy?
"I'm sorry!" Chen Yun hadn't expected to be so unlucky today either. Falling twice in a row was utterly humiliating.
Fortunately, because there were quite a few outsiders in their group, the production team had, for certain considerations, pointed the cameras at some of the roadside scenery rather than at them, sparing Xia Zhiyi the embarrassment of being caught on camera.
Xia Zhiyi: "...It's fine."
Beside him, Fu Chi took off his jacket and handed it to Xia Zhiyi. "There are probably quite a few cameras over there."
Somehow, more than half of Xia Zhiyi's short-sleeved shirt had been torn clean away, exposing a stretch of slender waist that was dazzlingly pale in the sunlight.
But what drew even more attention was the layer of abdominal muscle across his midriff, its smooth lines full of strength. In an instant, Xia Zhiyi's puppy-like air had turned into that of a wolf pup. Innocent yet sexy described him perfectly at that moment.
Xia Zhiyi also sensed the gazes gathering vaguely around his waist and abdomen. After thanking Fu Chi with a smile, he took the jacket and put it on, fastening the buttons one by one to cover that fair, enticing waist.
Xiao Yang smiled a little awkwardly. "We need to be extra careful on mountain paths. They're not as flat as paved roads, after all. One moment of carelessness and you can easily fall."
Chen Yun also looked embarrassed. "Sorry, I... I'll pay for the shirt."
Fu Chi was tall and broad, and once Xia Zhiyi put on his suit jacket, he looked like a child who had sneaked into an adult's clothes. With his muscles covered, Xia Zhiyi had become a little cutie again.
At Chen Yun's words, Xia Zhiyi scratched his cheek, looking a little bashful. "No need. The shirt I bought was poor quality. It's just a short-sleeved shirt."
He didn't want much contact with Chen Yun, and from what he knew of her, as long as she had an opening, she would always find a way to establish a connection.
And Xia Zhiyi didn't want any connection with her, nor did he want to keep maintaining even a superficial harmony with Chen Yun.
It was just that, in this world, he was currently a nobody, an ordinary person. He didn't care about abruptly falling out with Chen Yun before anything had happened, but he was afraid of dragging his sister into it.
Chen Yun and Huanyu, which stood behind her, had often forced artists to do their bidding by controlling and threatening the family and friends those artists cared about.
Xia Zhiyi himself had experienced it before: Chen Yun had used Xia Wanyi to make veiled threats against him. Otherwise, someone like him, who had already trained in martial arts, wouldn't have ended up locked in a stalemate with Huanyu.
He wouldn't let Huanyu off, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to charge straight in either.
It was only acting, the thing he did best. Maintaining a surface calm couldn't have been easier.
Afterward, probably worried that Chen Yun would fall again, Xiao Yang simply joined her young assistant in supporting her, while Xia Zhiyi and Fu Chi went on ahead.
On such a hot day, it was one thing for Fu Chi and his people to be dressed in suits and leather shoes. They had the stature to match.
But for a young man like Xia Zhiyi, wearing a dark suit jacket was far too hot, and Chen Yun was walking slowly. After a brief discussion, they had Xia Zhiyi go back first to tell those staying at the cottage to prepare to receive guests.
Xia Zhiyi agreed.
As for Fu Chi?
Fu Chi was the sugar daddy footing the bill. Xiao Yang had no say over him.
Today counted as the first day of filming at the Incredible Life cottage. Of the six guests, everyone except Zhou Kai, who was feeling somewhat overwhelmed, had taken a task to test the waters.
Xia Zhiyi was herding cattle, Wang Chengran and Xue Ranran had gone to harvest corn in the fields and pick some vegetables for lunch while they were there, and Qin Yue was staying at home.
Fu Yunyi had taken the chicken-feeding task, only to discover afterward that he also had to prepare the chickens' food himself.
When Xia Zhiyi and Fu Chi returned to the cottage, Fu Yunyi had finished preparing the chicken feed and was about to carry it over to feed the chickens where they roamed nearby.
Seeing Xia Zhiyi and then Fu Chi appear behind him, Fu Yunyi froze with the red plastic basin in his hands, looking rather bewildered. "Huh?"
Soon, Fu Yunyi noticed the subtle detail in their attire and spoke hesitantly. "Huh? You two... these clothes... hmm?"
Xia Zhiyi briefly explained what had happened on the way, indicated that he would go change first, and went inside.
That left Fu Yunyi and Fu Chi staring at each other in silence.
The cameras faithfully captured this scene too.
[Uh, this seems a little awkward.]
[Is Brother Fu thinking: Teacher Xia was still wearing short sleeves before he went out, so how did he come back wearing another man's jacket? How much plot did he miss in between?]
[If this weren't a livestream, and in broad daylight at that, Xia Zhiyi suddenly putting on someone else's clothes really could cause misunderstandings.]
[Brother Fu standing there dumbfounded with a basin of chicken feed is so funny hahahahahaha.]
[Fu Yunyi: Stunned...]
[Ah, Teacher Xia looks so delicate in someone else's clothes. Such a slender, beautiful boy.]
[Cold, domineering CEO × frail little wife!]
[...Ummmm, who's frail? Say it louder. Who's frail!?]