Chapter 17: Balanced Nutrition

Back with Qiao Yitong.

After the two of them finished the grilled fish, Qiao Yitong gestured for Lu Cheng to bury the food scraps.

This was a long-standing habit of hers.

First, she feared leaving behind traces of her life that could be tracked, exposing too much personal information.

Furthermore, food scraps tended to attract all sorts of strange little creatures, something she found unpleasant.

While Lu Cheng went to handle the disposal, Qiao Yitong returned to refining the details of her Bamboo House.

After all, this was where she would be living from now on, and she wanted it to be as comfortable as possible.

Once Lu Cheng finished burying the remains, he strolled over to the edge of the bamboo grove to find Qiao Yitong.

However, the moment he rounded a corner and saw the scene in the grove, he froze in his tracks.

A beautiful Bamboo House seemed to have appeared out of thin air. It wasn’t large—roughly eight or nine square meters, about the size of a small bedroom.

Yet the exquisite little house, looking like something straight out of an anime, held Lu Cheng spellbound for several minutes.

It was too beautiful, too much like a fairy tale.

It was the kind of thing that sparked instant desire and longing the moment one laid eyes on it.

But when he had looked this morning, it had just been a pile of bamboo. How did it…

“Sister Tong, did you just build this by yourself?” Lu Cheng asked, swallowing hard.

Even though he had learned over the past two days that Sister Tong was far from ordinary, seeing a small house rise from the ground in the blink of an eye still felt utterly unbelievable.

“Mm.” Qiao Yitong finished the final touches on the small Bamboo House and stood back a bit to inspect it, nodding with satisfaction.

“Sister Tong, you… I also… this house…” Lu Cheng was so shocked he couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.

Qiao Yitong glanced at him, easily guessing what he was trying to say.

“You want one too?” she asked.

Lu Cheng nodded frantically.

He wanted it so badly! This little house was incredible, a literal fairy-tale bamboo cottage. Who wouldn’t want one?

“Cut the bamboo yourself, and I can help you build it,” Qiao Yitong said.

Her impression of Lu Cheng was decent enough. To be honest, being alone on this Deserted Island was quite boring; having someone like him around for company was nice.

It was a small favor, and she didn’t mind helping.

Of course, that was limited to the construction. As for cutting the bamboo, he would have to do that himself.

Lu Cheng was speechless.

He glanced at the bamboo grove behind him. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried cutting it before.

It really wasn’t that he was unwilling; it was simply that… he physically couldn’t do it.

But on this Deserted Island, he truly craved a private space of his own. To put it bluntly, the production crew had gone to extremes. There were cameras everywhere on the island. Even when he needed to relieve himself or handle personal business, he had to carefully scout the surroundings, find the hidden cameras, cover them up, and then proceed.

As for things like bathing, it was unthinkable.

Setting aside the cameras, there was still Sister Tong to consider; he felt too embarrassed.

But having a private space would change everything. Moreover, the purpose of this Bamboo House went far beyond mere privacy.

In the wild, those forgotten, inconspicuous, yet omnipresent insects and snakes were everywhere.

In particular, there was a type of unknown ant here.

They could fly, were much larger than common ants, and most importantly, their bite was incredibly painful.

He had discovered this since the first day in the cave. Wherever there were trees and woods, these ants were sure to be found.

When sleeping at night, he had to wrap himself up completely, even covering his head with his jacket.

Even so, one night he had tossed and turned, and his hand had slipped out from under the jacket.

That night, he had been jolted awake by the stinging pain of ant bites.

When he got up to look, his hand was covered in dense red spots. It looked horrifying.

At that moment, he had felt a deep sense of despair. Living in a modern society, he had never even considered that without a clean environment or a shelter like a house, even getting a good night’s sleep would be a luxury.

No wonder Sister Tong had been emphasizing the need for a shelter.

Seeing Qiao Yitong’s Bamboo House, the longing in Lu Cheng’s heart reached its peak.

With a little house like this, he wouldn’t have to fear the wind or rain, nor the invasion of insects.

On this Deserted Island, that would be the ultimate happiness.

But thinking about it now, he could probably only look on with envy.

After all…

If it were up to him to cut the bamboo, it would take him half a month.

Bamboo wasn’t like other trees…

Thinking of this, Lu Cheng paused.

A flash of inspiration hit him, and he asked Qiao Yitong, “Sister Tong, could I use other wood instead of bamboo to build a little house like this?”

Qiao Yitong raised her eyelids. Through their interactions over the past two days, she had gained a general understanding of the fragility of humans in this world, and she could well understand why Lu Cheng would ask such a question.

“You can, but it might not be very comfortable,” Qiao Yitong said.

Bamboo had a fresh scent, was naturally straight, and relatively uniform in size. When pieced together, the joints were tight, and they supported each other firmly.

Other types of wood weren’t as convenient unless one had the patience to trim and level everything bit by bit.

Clearly, with limited tools here, she didn’t have that kind of patience.

Receiving such a definitive answer made Lu Cheng feel as if he’d been saved. “It doesn’t matter if it’s not comfortable. I’ll go look for wood right now.”

In an instant, he was filled with motivation.

“Then I’ll spend the afternoon looking for suitable wood. Sister Tong, what do you plan to do this afternoon?” Lu Cheng asked.

“Find food,” Qiao Yitong said.

Lu Cheng was stunned. “Don’t we have enough food already?”

Qiao Yitong shook her head. “It is not enough.”

Lu Cheng was puzzled.

When it came to food, Qiao Yitong uncharacteristically spoke a few more words: “The Way of Food¹ is not merely about seeking a full belly, fine flavors, or satisfaction. One must also balance meat and vegetables, ensuring the nutrition is appropriate. The essence of eating lies in diversifying the types and broadening the fare. Relying solely on fruit, juice, and fresh meat is far from sufficient.”

At the mention of food, Qiao Yitong’s eyes seemed to shimmer with a strange light.

In the past, Qiao Yitong had always appeared indifferent. She spoke with little enthusiasm and treated others with cold detachment.

Only now did she show a rare spark of interest.

One might even call it… passion.

Lu Cheng nodded instinctively, agreeing with whatever Qiao Yitong said.

Meanwhile, the netizens watching the stream were left feeling a bit dazed by her words.

“Wait, sister, are you planning to settle down here permanently?”

“If I’m understanding this correctly, Qiao Yitong means that just filling their bellies with fish and fruit isn’t enough. Even on this Deserted Island, she wants to focus on a balanced nutritional diet?”

“If I haven’t misread the situation, that seems to be exactly what she’s saying.”

“Sister Tong is a legend! Only someone with real confidence could say something like that. I’m loving this.”

“I’m honestly curious what kind of balanced nutrition she can scrape together on a deserted island like this.”

“Curious +1².”

“Already followed her. I used to only see news about her on trending searches occasionally, and it always seemed negative. This is the first time I’ve watched her show. Regardless of what others say, I actually really like her.”

“I’m suddenly curious who helped Qiao Yitong pick this show. This has to be the smartest decision her agency has ever made. I feel like her follower count is going to skyrocket after this variety show…”

In the bullet comments, viewers began sharing their opinions one after another.

At that very moment, sitting inside the Juntian Building, Wen Bojun, the second young master of Juntian Entertainment, stared at the screen projected on his wall with a face turned livid.

This was an outcome he had never expected, and one he certainly did not want to see.

Ever since that incident years ago, Qiao Yitong had been a thorn in his side.

Qiao Yitong was beautiful and had a charming personality.

As the second young master of Juntian Entertainment, he had noticed this artist from his own company early on, but unfortunately, he never found a good opportunity to make a move.

Later, by a stroke of luck, he secured a collaboration with a certain individual who had just returned from abroad.

What is the most stable kind of collaboration?

It is, of course, when interests are tied together and both parties hold leverage over each other. That way, they become two grasshoppers on the same rope³ – inseparable and unable to betray one another.

Qiao Yitong was the “rope” he had planned to use to bind their relationship.

If both men enjoyed themselves together, the matter would become a shared secret. As for Qiao Yitong, until she resisted and fled, he had never considered her a living human being capable of fighting back.

In his eyes, his company’s artists were nothing more than money-making tools.

They were merely objectified commodities for trade.

But Qiao Yitong was stubborn. After the incident, if she had just behaved herself, known what to say and what not to say, and understood what was good for her versus what would destroy her – if she had just accepted the astronomical compensation they offered and kept her mouth shut – then everything would have been fine.

With his resources, he could have certainly made Qiao Yitong a superstar.

Simply put, it would have been enough for her to enjoy a life of luxury and leisure forever.

But that wretched woman refused every benefit and wanted nothing. From beginning to end, her only goal was to find evidence of what happened that year, expose them, and send them to prison.

Heh…

A woman who didn’t know her place.

He had suppressed her for so many years, fought her for so many years, yet she remained obstinate in her defiance.

He was tired of it. He was exhausted and had no desire to keep playing this game with her.

He wanted her to shut up, and the best way to make someone shut up was to make them a corpse.

Therefore, he used his influence to force Qiao Yitong into this brutal Survival Variety Show. Furthermore, several other participants were handpicked by him and given incentives to ensure they would never let Qiao Yitong have an easy time.

Ever since Qiao Yitong entered the program, he had been monitoring the show’s developments.

When Qiao Yitong was being targeted at the start, he cheered internally.

When Qiao Yitong took the initiative to leave the team, he was even more satisfied.

In his view, in an environment like that, Qiao Yitong wouldn’t last three days after leaving the group.

But now, nearly a week had passed. Not only was Qiao Yitong not dead, she was living quite comfortably.

She had a house, she had water, she had food, and she was even clearing her name in the eyes of the netizens?

The show he had forced her into with the sole intention of killing her had become, in the eyes of the audience, the best career move she’d made in years?

What a load of absolute bullshit!

Wen Bojun furiously smashed the glass in his hand onto the floor, pacing back and forth in his office with his hands on his hips, agitated.

He was trying to think of a way to fix this.

Suddenly, the phone on his desk began to ring.

Wen Bojun glanced at it, and the moment he saw the name displayed on the screen, his entire body jolted.

Translator’s Notes