Chapter 6

Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Little Bird

Hang Sisi said, “The other number five isn’t here.”

Lin Qianyu let out a breath of relief. “Not here?”

Good. She nodded casually—so long as she didn’t have to team up with someone she disliked, everything was fine.

There were a total of eight guests participating in this variety show, and one of them had missed the first recording due to personal matters.

So, when a two-person task was issued, it was inevitable that one guest would be acting alone.

“You look kind of happy? We went to check out the task location arranged by the crew this morning. The trees are really tall. You can’t reach the fruit on your own—you need two people to work together.”

Lin Qianyu wasn’t the least bit worried. It was Hang Sisi who sighed and fretted. “Have you not gone over there yet? I came back to grab a tool—everyone’s picking wild fruit now, so we should hurry up too. These fruits don’t grow easily, and ones of the right size are even rarer. If we go late, there might not even be leaves left on the trees.”

As she spoke, Hang Sisi reached out to pull Lin Qianyu.

Lin Qianyu had been thinking about what to eat for breakfast and was caught off guard. Pulled a couple of steps forward, she only had time to grab the live broadcast device from on top of the makeshift shelter before she was dragged into a run.

She slung the device over one shoulder with one hand and casually asked, “Who’s your teammate?”

“Guo—”

“So slow! I told you to get a tool and you disappeared for eight hundred years!”

Before Hang Sisi could finish the name, Lin Qianyu heard that impatient shout. She clicked her tongue. No need to say more—she already knew who it was.

The director had handed out those task cards randomly while everyone was asleep the night before.

Whichever number ended up in whose hands was pure chance. If it could be chosen, Guo Yanpeng would’ve definitely found a way to team up with An Lanqing.

“I’m coming,” Hang Sisi muttered as she crushed the grass underfoot. “Then, Qianyu-jie, I’ll go ahead.”

“Mm.”

Lin Qianyu moved unhurriedly. Looking up, she saw the trees really were tall—the kind where even standing at the top of a ladder, you’d barely be able to reach the dangling wild fruits.

Because of that, the guests without tools were having a hard time.

Everyone had to work in pairs—lifting, holding, using each other for support, standing on shoulders propped against tree trunks. All sorts of small tricks were being used.

Even so, there weren’t many wild fruits in the baskets nearby.

Not fond of crowds, Lin Qianyu picked up one of the empty baskets prepared by the crew and walked off to the side.

【I mean, Lin Qianyu jumping still wouldn’t reach halfway up the tree, how’s she going to pick wild fruit.】

【Judging by how she was yesterday, I thought she’d just kick the tree and let the fruit fall down by itself.】“I can’t kick it, it’s too tall, and there’s no net underneath. If the fruit falls, it’ll all get smashed.” Lin Qianyu rubbed her hands together, placed them on either side of the trunk, and stepped up to test for a stable angle where she wouldn’t fall.

An Lanqing, seeing her odd movements, couldn’t help but ask, “Qianyu, what are you doing?”

“?”

The sudden voice made Lin Qianyu freeze mid-action.

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously. She’d picked a spot a fair distance from the group—when had An Lanqing snuck up on her without her noticing?

“You probably won’t be able to reach the fruit on your own. Our group’s been working at it for a while and picked quite a lot. I’ll give you some…” An Lanqing paused, hesitating as she glanced back in her teammate’s direction. “There’s too much for me to decide on my own, so I can’t help you complete your task, but I can leave you a few to eat.”

In the original version, after Lin Qianyu injured herself while picking wild fruit, An Lanqing had shown the same pitying face, tossing her a few bug-eaten rotten fruits.

The original Lin Qianyu had exploded in anger, kicked over the basket, and pointed at An Lanqing, shouting at her to get lost.

Because of the livestream angles, viewers only saw the large, intact fruits. Seeing Lin Qianyu reject them so harshly, fans were furious and flooded her stream with criticism.

“I don’t like getting my protein from inside fruit. You can keep your meat-and-veggie combo wild fruit to yourself.” Lin Qianyu lifted one of the fruits, pressed a finger to the part with a leaking wormhole, and casually tossed it back into An Lanqing’s arms.

【Giving someone rotten fruit while keeping the good ones to submit for the task—classic.】

【Qingqing didn’t do it on purpose. Do you all have to blow it out of proportion over something so small?】

Caught off guard by the incoming fruit, An Lanqing instinctively caught it. Then juice from the rotten spot smeared all over her hands, her fingertips sinking into the mushy flesh. The squelching sensation made her nauseous.

But just before she could lash out, she noticed the livestream camera and exhaled deeply. “Sorry, I just grabbed a few randomly and didn’t check carefully. Why don’t you pick some yourself? I’m really sorry.”

She apologized gracefully and without hesitation.

Though the criticism in the chat didn’t stop entirely, her fans quickly flooded the screen with comments to drown it out.

Lin Qianyu wasn’t interested in being entangled with her just to get airtime. Once she found a firm foothold, she took a few steps back, sprinted a short distance, and in three steps, launched herself upward.

Rustle rustle

The wind stirred the leaves, and several slowly drifted down, spiraling over the spot where she had just stood.

An Lanqing was still holding the rotten fruit in her hand, staring up in shock. “How did you…”

In just a blink, she hadn’t even seen clearly how Lin Qianyu had gotten up there—so silent and smooth. When she looked again, the person was already seated on a tree branch.

【Holy crap holy crap holy crap????】

【Does anyone have a screen recording?! I looked down to pick up a fruit and when I looked back, Lin Qianyu was in the tree???】

【@WildernessShow other guests, come look—climbing the tree directly is clearly way more efficient.】【The other guests aren’t climbing the tree because they don’t want to? So I’m not going to Tsinghua or Peking University because I don’t like them?】

…

Lin Qianyu picked a wild fruit nearby, wiped its skin with her sleeve, and took a bite. It was crisp and refreshing, strongly sour but not astringent. The sweetness was mild, but the fruity aroma was very distinct—more flavorful than the fruit sold in markets.

“What are you standing there for? Not leaving yet?” Lin Qianyu leaned against the trunk, her legs crossed over the extended tree branch.

She’d originally planned to find a quiet spot to eat something and rest up before continuing the task.

Even though she was quite interested in the rewards prepared by the production team, she wouldn’t adjust her survival rhythm in the wild just for a bit of extra stuff.

It’s a variety show after all—having fun is the priority.

An Lanqing pressed her lips together. After being told to leave, she didn’t linger. She set the rotten fruit on the ground. “Then be careful. I’ll go back to work.”

Lin Qianyu waved her hand casually.

“Do you know what kind of fruit this is?” Lin Qianyu turned toward the camera. “Kind of like a pear, kind of like an apple. Green apple? But the skin is really thin.”

As she talked, she had already nearly finished the whole fruit.

After eating a few, she’d gotten used to the sourness—now it didn’t taste as sour anymore.

Like eating hawthorn—it whets your appetite.

Lin Qianyu thought aloud, “Later I’ll go see if there are any rabbits or ducks. Had roast chicken yesterday—let’s change it up today.”

“Oh right, I have a pot now. On the way back I could pick some mushrooms, make chicken stew with mushrooms? Tsk... but then I’ll need to catch another chicken.”

Bored, Lin Qianyu had already started planning her lunch.

Compared to the other guests, who were struggling just to get one meal, Lin Qianyu was happily past grilling stage and already thinking in terms of recipes.

“What do you all think?” Thinking about her own meal, Lin Qianyu still remembered to engage with the audience a little.

After a pause, she added, “Never mind, doesn’t matter. I’m eating it like this.”

The comments were filled with question marks.

Lin Qianyu picked all the wild fruits within reach from where she sat.

Pulling them directly would bend the branches and leaves too much and risk damaging the fruit, so she pinched just above the fruit’s stem with her fingertips and twisted lightly—it came off easily.

Whole and beautiful.

The only pity was that she hadn’t brought the fruit basket up with her. Otherwise, it’d already be full by now.Lin Qianyu took off her jacket and placed all the wild fruits on it.

"Help me find out how much the other guests have picked." Lin Qianyu didn’t want to keep climbing up and down the tree—she preferred to pick enough in one go and be done with it.

The livestream chat immediately began reporting numbers.

In other guests' streams, fans regularly updated the fruit counts. As soon as someone entered, they could see messages like “picked this much already” flooding the screen.

Before long, Lin Qianyu had a full grasp of the situation.

She weighed the jacket in her hand—it felt like about enough.

Standing up, she estimated the distance to the ground. The livestream camera followed her movement and tilted downward.

【Oh my god! A heads-up before tilting the camera, please—I’m afraid of heights! Let me down!!】

【How is she gonna get down? Speechless. Climbing that high just to pick a few wild fruits? Girl’s brain is broken.】

She hovered between two options: jumping down directly or tossing the fruit down first and then climbing down herself.

Just then, she caught sight of something deeper in the densely layered branches—something light brown… a bird’s nest?

“Look, a baby bird.” Lin Qianyu had been hearing birdsong earlier, but in the forest that was so common she didn’t think twice.

Now that she turned her head, she saw a fluffy little bird curled up quietly on top of an unhatched egg, with bits of broken shell scattered nearby. It looked a bit damp—probably just hatched and too tired from chirping to move, now bundled into a quiet ball.

She wasn’t too close to the nest, but from this distance, she could clearly see a distinct dark red marking on the baby bird’s head. “That’s… a Red-tailed Forest Eagle, right? Kinda cute.”

【Sure, it’s cute, but I’m pretty sure that thing is listed under raptors.】

【You think it’s cute, its mom thinks you look tasty.】

Although Lin Qianyu moved carefully, the baby bird, which hadn’t been sleeping soundly to begin with, sensed something and opened its confused eyes.

Its eyes, round as beans, were big and black. Under the overlapping leaves, it quickly spotted Lin Qianyu.

The little guy tilted its head. “Chirp!”

Lin Qianyu tilted her head too. “Hi!”

The baby Red-tailed Forest Eagle looked adorably dumb, a single feather sticking up from its head as if trying to interpret what Lin Qianyu said.

“Where’s your mom?” Lin Qianyu smiled as she parted the leaves and said, “Are you hungry? Big sis will find you a bug to eat, okay?”

“Chirp chirp!” The eaglet rolled around in the nest. It couldn’t fly yet but stretched its tiny wings and waddled over the other eggs trying to get out. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it and tripped, its head flopping onto the nest edge. “Chirp?”

“Don’t move, don’t move. Go back in.” Lin Qianyu called from a distance, gently comforting it. “Wait for me, I’ll go catch some bugs for you.”The livestream viewers were completely baffled: 【???】

What are you doing?