When Cheng Ying woke up, she was shocked to realize she had actually fallen asleep in the desolate countryside under the scorching sun, and had even shamelessly rested her head on Jiang Hanguang’s shoulder.
Fortunately, Boss Cheng’s thick skin served its purpose splendidly at this moment. With a straight face, she ignored their previous, somewhat ambiguous actions and conversation, sitting up on her own to divide the sweet potatoes into the two back baskets.
In truth, “dividing” them simply meant transferring the portion that couldn’t fit in her own basket into Jiang Hanguang’s.
She effortlessly slung the brimming basket onto her shoulder and handed over the one containing only a few sweet potatoes. “This is yours. Let’s go.”
For once, Jiang Hanguang didn’t comment on this and obediently shouldered her basket.
Cheng Ying nodded in satisfaction. After taking just a few steps forward, she felt the basket on her back growing progressively lighter.
She turned her head suspiciously to look, and Jiang Hanguang seized that moment to rush past her like a gust of wind, carrying a small portion of sweet potatoes she had taken from Cheng Ying’s basket.
“Hey, why are you stealing my sweet potatoes?” Cheng Ying called out in moral condemnation as she hurried to chase after Jiang Hanguang, who was already a short distance ahead.
The woman ahead heard her and turned her face slightly, flashing a brilliant smile. She didn’t rise to the bait, and her pace didn’t slow in the slightest.
“Hurry up, the sun is scorching.”
Jiang Hanguang was born exceptionally beautiful. Usually, when she was serious and unsmiling with a stern expression, she could project an illusion of calm, solemn dignity that made her seem unapproachable.
But when she smiled, that beauty transformed into an invincible, lethal weapon.
This was especially true for the current Cheng Ying. No matter how many hundreds of convoluted schemes Boss Cheng devised in her mind, Jiang Hanguang was like an oblivious yet supremely talented swordmaster. Relying on pure instinct, she bypassed traps that countless others would die trying to solve, and with a single, fatal strike, transformed the ferocious arch-demon into a docile protector.
The heat that had subsided from Cheng Ying’s face during her rest flared up once more. She closed her mouth and kept up with Jiang Hanguang’s pace.
She decided not to fuss over her few stolen sweet potatoes anymore.
When the two returned to the main building, one after the other, Xie Chengcheng and Li Wan had not yet come back. The pair washed their faces, took out enough sweet potatoes for one meal and cleaned them, and stored the rest in a cool spot they found in the food storage utility room.
After finishing all this, Cheng Ying had just returned to the living room and was about to sit down for a breather when she saw Xie Chengcheng and Li Wan approaching the main building, one after the other, at a very fast pace.
“Well, well~” Cheng Ying let out a gloating sound and shouted upstairs, “Hanguang, come out and see the rabbit-hunting heroes!”
Jiang Hanguang, who was still washing up in the bedroom, heard Cheng Ying’s cheerful shouting from the living room. Thinking Li Wan had actually caught a rabbit, she quickly dried her face and ran out curiously to see.
Instead, she saw Li Wan storm furiously into the living room, slam her tools onto the floor, and collapse onto the sofa.
Jiang Hanguang immediately concluded that their hunt must have ended in failure. She shot Cheng Ying a look of slight confusion and reproach, wondering why she was so cheerful about a situation where everyone had lost out.
Cheng Ying paid that no mind. All she knew was that Zhang Zeyun was about to be in for it, and compared to eating meat, she was far more excited for that spectacle.
The Alpha didn’t respond to her questioning look at all, simply grinning and beckoning for her to come over.
Jiang Hanguang sighed softly and walked over.
She had an ominous feeling, like the calm before the storm.
Just then, Xie Chengcheng stepped into the living room. For a rare moment, Jiang Hanguang saw a look of shame on the face of this usually thick-skinned and oblivious Alpha.
She walked dejectedly to Li Wan’s side and said in a small voice, “Wanwan, I was wrong. Please don’t be angry. I’ll definitely do better next time.”
If Li Wan had heard this a few days ago, she might have been somewhat moved. But after all this time of living together for real and being held back countless times, Li Wan now looked at Xie Chengcheng as if she were an enemy.
Of course, she knew this was her sponsor, someone she couldn’t afford to offend. She also knew that Xie Chengcheng was, at her core, a pampered good-for-nothing.
If they were still in that glamorous modern society, she would have had plenty of patience to continue playing out this love story of Cinderella and the useless princess.
But this reality show, 《Little Little Farm》, was far too real and far too cruel. It ripped away Xie Chengcheng’s dazzling outer coat of gold and jade, then stuffed the straw from within into Li Wan’s mouth and forced her to swallow.
In truth, Li Wan was far from skilled at putting on a facade. She was too concerned with immediate gains and losses, wishing she could calculate every step perfectly, and she couldn’t bear to suffer even the slightest loss in silence.
But this was a loss of her own making, and she had to swallow it whether she wanted to or not.
A couple of days ago, Li Wan had considered quitting the show; otherwise, she truly couldn’t control her urge to strangle Xie Chengcheng. Quitting would mean paying a hefty contract termination fee, but as long as she could hold onto her golden meal ticket, Xie Chengcheng, money would be no object.
But she couldn’t swallow this indignation.
Li Wan couldn’t understand what the difference was between herself and Jiang Hanguang.
Perhaps Jiang Hanguang was a little prettier, but could that single point make her so transcendent and detached from worldly affairs?
Jiang Hanguang was clearly getting close to Cheng Ying for money and benefits, too. So why, when they were doing the same work, did her popularity soar while she herself was trampled into the mud?
Given Li Wan’s character, she simply couldn’t comprehend what kind of person Jiang Hanguang was, and so she refused to accept the situation.
The more she refused to accept it, the harder she tried to perform well and make the audience see her in a new light, yet her efforts only backfired.
Unwilling to find fault in herself any longer, Li Wan could only blame everything on Xie Chengcheng, who was dragging her down like a dead weight.
How could it be that when it came to choosing a sponsor from the same pool of rich heirs, even Jiang Hanguang’s judgment was so much better than hers?
Her frustration mounting, Li Wan shot the pitiful-looking Xie Chengcheng a cold glance, clearly not intending to forgive her. She repeated, “Didn’t I just tell you not to move? Can you not even stand still?”
By the end of the sentence, her tone was practically one of gritted teeth.
Xie Chengcheng flinched. Daring not to argue with her lover, who had lost all reason in her anger, she could only cast a pleading look toward the two spectators on the side.
Jiang Hanguang started to say something but was stopped by Cheng Ying. She looked at Cheng Ying, who pointed to herself as if to say, “I’ll handle it.”
Then, the Alpha calmly began to “console” her. “Oh, Miss Li, don’t be angry. Chengcheng didn’t do it on purpose. And while you two came back empty-handed, we fortunately dug up quite a few sweet potatoes. We can share some with you, so at least you can get a full stomach.”
Jiang Hanguang: “…”
This wasn’t consoling from Cheng Ying at all; it was blatant provocation.
The look Li Wan shot over could have torn her to shreds, but Cheng Ying was unfazed. She grinned. “Miss Li, don’t look at me like that. Oh, I’m so scared. It wasn’t me who kept you from catching the rabbit.”
Li Wan was half-dead with rage at her passive-aggressive tone but didn’t dare to actually lash out at Cheng Ying. After all, while she could control Xie Chengcheng, she wasn’t at all familiar with Cheng Ying.
After a moment, Li Wan just snorted and fell silent. Cheng Ying stood up and called to Xie Chengcheng, “What are you still standing there for, trying to be a nuisance? Come with me to light the fire and steam the sweet potatoes. Hanguang, you can help with the peeling.”
In truth, it was perfectly fine to steam the sweet potatoes with their skins on after washing them, but Cheng Ying didn’t dare let Jiang Hanguang and Li Wan stay in the same room together at the moment.
Miss Li looked like she had a strong bite. If she took a chunk out of Jiang Hanguang’s delicate skin, there would be no one to turn to for justice.
The three of them went to the kitchen. As Xie Chengcheng helped Cheng Ying with the firewood, she asked sullenly, “Sister Ying, am I really that useless?”
You’re only just realizing that now? Cheng Ying thought. But Xie Chengcheng was her friend, after all, and she couldn’t kick her while she was down. So, she offered a more tactful response, “You’re much better now than when you first arrived.”
That wasn’t entirely a lie. After the torment of the past few days, Xie Chengcheng had progressed from messing up everything at the start to, at most, messing up only fifty percent of things now. Li Wan’s constant pressure deserved most of the credit for such significant progress. After all, Xie Chengcheng was genuinely treating Li Wan as her girlfriend and had tried very hard to keep her from getting angry.
It was just a pity that no matter how hard she tried, she could never meet Li Wan’s standards, because all Li Wan wanted was to surpass Jiang Hanguang.
Xie Chengcheng accepted Cheng Ying’s words of comfort and silently went to stuff the firewood into the stove.
Of course, she didn’t know how to do it properly, and she figured no one else would either, so she just haphazardly stuffed the wood inside and considered the job done.
“It won’t light well if you stuff it in like that.” Jiang Hanguang’s voice came from the side. Xie Chengcheng turned her head to see Jiang Hanguang’s fair profile. This Omega, who looked as delicate as a jade carving, didn’t seem to mind the dirt at all as she reached into the stove—which Xie Chengcheng had packed without leaving a single gap—and pulled out several pieces of firewood.
“I’m sorry to trouble you,” Xie Chengcheng apologized subconsciously. It was the thing she had done most often over the past two days.
“It’s alright. You’ve probably never seen this kind of stove before,” Jiang Hanguang replied casually, her gaze resting on the old stove with a great deal of nostalgia.
She completely missed the emotional storm raging in Xie Chengcheng’s eyes. For the past few days, Xie Chengcheng had been living next to an active volcano. Now, Jiang Hanguang’s words, which weren’t even meant as comfort, were like a bowl of water in the desert to her.
Tears instantly welled up in the useless Miss Xie’s eyes. But before she could even let out a sob, someone grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled her aside.
“Don’t block my way while I’m lighting the fire.” Cheng Ying said with a smile. A sudden chill ran down the back of Xie Chengcheng’s neck, and her tears seemed to cool as well.
Because Xie Chengcheng and Li Wan had come back empty-handed, the four of them could only have a bland sweet potato feast for lunch. Although Jiang Hanguang did her best to prepare several different dishes, they were all made from the same ingredient, and it became tiresome after a while.
After lunch, Jiang Hanguang suggested that the four of them go to the small hunting ground together after their afternoon rest to see if they could catch anything for dinner.
Li Wan had been worrying about what to do if the afternoon hunt was also fruitless. Hearing that Jiang Hanguang and Cheng Ying were offering to help, she showed a rare hint of a smile and hastily agreed.
Even if they failed to catch anything, this time it wouldn’t be her problem alone.
Cheng Ying watched with cool detachment. It wasn’t until they were back in their room that she said to Jiang Hanguang with a smile, “Even with your kind intention to help Miss Li, she may not appreciate the favor.”
Jiang Hanguang wasn’t surprised that Cheng Ying had guessed her motive. She sighed softly. “I just feel she’s rather pitiful…”
Cheng Ying: “…”
“She’s not pitiful at all. She brought this on herself.”
She wanted to explain this to Jiang Hanguang, but upon seeing the somber look in her eyes, she swallowed the words that were about to come out.
Did Jiang Hanguang truly not understand what she was about to say?
The malice Jiang Hanguang had endured might not have been on par with her own, but it was still far more than what most people experienced.
Yet she remained soft-hearted. Seeing those who knelt and begged, those on the verge of madness, she still wanted to lend them a hand.
Even if they weren’t good people, and even if no one had any right to ask her to do so.
…Fortunately, she could protect her now.
Cheng Ying sighed along with her. “Alright, we’ll do as you say.”
The small hunting ground was located in a corner of the farm, a fenced-off patch of low-lying woods about the size of an elementary school playground. The vegetation was quite dense. Although Zhang Zeyun claimed there were rabbits and chickens inside, a single glance revealed nothing but lush green trees and weeds, with no sign of any living creatures.
Cheng Ying had no doubt that, given Director Zhang’s character, she would toss in a couple of rabbits and chickens and have the audacity to call it a “small hunting ground.”
Fortunately, the tool provided by the production team this time wasn’t bad: a simple wooden trap. Its mechanism was similar to a mousetrap, but being made of wood and requiring remote manual control, both its sensitivity and sturdiness were limited. If they couldn’t grab the animal the very instant it was caught, all their effort would likely be for nothing.
Cheng Ying chose a spot with dense vegetation to set the trap and put down some bait. The four of them then began to lie in wait nearby.
Their luck was good. Before long, a fat gray rabbit—one that was clearly a domesticated animal placed there by the crew—emerged from the dense vegetation, its nose twitching, and made its way to the side of the trap.
All four of them held their breath, watching as the rabbit dawdled, sniffing here and there, stubbornly refusing to enter the trap.
Xie Chengcheng felt uncomfortable in her half-kneeling position and wanted to shift. The moment she moved, a firm hand pressed down on her shoulder.
Xie Chengcheng glanced at the smiling Cheng Ying, her pained expression conveying just how uncomfortable she was.
Cheng Ying raised an eyebrow and gestured toward Li Wan, whose expression was grim.
That was more effective than any threat. Immediately, Xie Chengcheng’s back stopped aching and her legs stopped hurting. She felt like she could kneel for another two hours without a problem.
And so, as the four of them watched with bated breath, the fat rabbit put on a ten-minute performance of nuzzling a patch of grass before finally heading toward the trap.
Cheng Ying tightened her grip on the rope that triggered the trap. At the exact moment the rabbit reached the very bottom of the trap—the most difficult point to escape from—she yanked it hard.
The trap snapped shut instantly, and the startled rabbit began to struggle frantically.
The rabbit was too fat, and the wooden trap was exceptionally flimsy. Under its forceful struggles, the trap instantly became rickety and looked ready to fall apart.
Cheng Ying clutched the rope, not daring to let go. Xie Chengcheng had just managed to stand up when her numb legs gave way and she stumbled back down.
Li Wan shot up like a weasel spotting a roast chicken and charged forward. But she rushed too recklessly, and as she neared the trap, her foot slipped. She was about to fall flat on her face.
“Careful.” Jiang Hanguang, who was right behind her, reached out and grabbed her, allowing her to regain her balance.
Just then, the rabbit kicked a large hole in the trap and was about to make its escape.
Li Wan’s eyes were bloodshot. Without a second thought, she violently flung off Jiang Hanguang’s restraining hand and lunged forward, seizing the rabbit.
“Hiss.” Li Wan had shoved her so hard that Jiang Hanguang stumbled back two steps, tripping over a protruding tree root and badly twisting her ankle.
At that moment, the camera was focused on Li Wan, filming the scene of her catching the rabbit. Jiang Hanguang’s leg, hidden in the grass, went unnoticed.
However, Cheng Ying and Xie Chengcheng, who had just caught up, saw the whole thing clearly.
Seeing the fleeting expression of pain on Jiang Hanguang’s face, Cheng Ying’s own expression instantly turned grim.
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