While Xu Zifan was hunting, he casually asked Shaohua to add fuel to the fire for those who were criticizing him. They spread rumors that he was afraid of hardship and refused to film "Survival on a Desert Island," calling him a useless pretty boy who couldn't lift a finger and would definitely be the biggest failure of the show. They also said that he had a bad temper, was uncultured, spoke without thinking, and his acting skills were inferior to those of children, etc. In short, they were trying to smear him to the extreme, but they were all criticizing his abilities.
The main people criticizing him now are that young actress's brainless fans. They're irrational and will spread any information that can smear him. Since the original owner didn't have many opportunities to showcase himself before, nobody really knew him. So netizens were naturally swayed by online opinions, believing that Xu Zifan was useless, troublesome, and just an unprofessional pretty boy trying to take shortcuts.
The internet is abuzz with controversy, with everyone wondering who this celebrity named Xu Zifan is and why he's provoked so much anger, remaining a trending topic for days. It seems like they're trying to drag him out of the entertainment industry, but he hasn't even shown his face. What's the point of all this criticism?
Xu Zifan stirred up trouble online and then left it at that, only letting Shaohua monitor the direction of public opinion.
He hunted a pheasant and also caught a nest of wild eggs. He gathered a lot of mushrooms and wild vegetables, and also dug up a starchy, sweet potato-like thing. He dug up more than twenty of them, each about the size of his palm, quite substantial.
Finally, he gathered some natural seasonings, fetched more water, and returned to camp.
Chen Zaimin and Yi Xiao had already made six small stools; practice makes perfect, and they were very sturdy. They were building the other half of the hut; the frame was already in place the day before, and now only the roof and walls were missing.
Song Yunjian went to get some vines and leaves, and came back to help them build. However, he was unfamiliar with the process and was eager to keep up with the other two, so he cut several things on his hands. They weren't serious, but they were easy to bump into. They didn't hurt much when he bumped into them, but they were still painful and annoying.
Xu Zifan checked their progress, gave them some water, and the group sat on small stools to rest and chat. After a while, the three of them built a small hut, while he boiled water to scald the chicken feathers and started making chicken stew with mushrooms.
Since he didn't have all the ingredients, Xu Zifan used a light and nutritious method to preserve the freshness and aroma of the ingredients to the greatest extent. He turned the fire into a small flame and simmered it slowly, then buried the eggs around the fire, baking a total of twelve, two for each person.
After finishing all that, he went to explore the areas of the island that hadn't been explored yet. With Shao Hua around, he knew what was on many sides without even having to walk there, so he started walking in circles 400 meters from the edge of the island, maintaining that distance. After completing one circle, he would move 500 meters inward, making the circle much smaller and saving a lot of time. Then he would move another 500 meters inward and complete another circle, thus exploring the entire island!
He now has the most comprehensive map of the island, clearly marking where the food and animals are, so he knows the island like the back of his hand.
He walked contentedly towards the camp, picking a bunch of ripe bananas and some sweet and sour wild berries along the way. He arrived at the camp at exactly one o'clock in the afternoon, and the chicken was already stewed.
Song Yunjian exclaimed in surprise, "Youngest brother, you found bananas? All the ones I saw before were green."
"I only saw this one string of yellow ones, it's pretty good, we can eat them after dinner." Xu Zifan smiled as he glanced at the chicken in the pot, threw in a handful of wild vegetables and sour wild fruits, covered it with large leaves to simmer it for a final simmer, and added more firewood to the fire to make it a big fire.
As he dug the eggs that had been roasted in the ground, he said to Song Yunjian, "Brother Song, could you please call my senior brother and Sister Xue? It's time for dinner. Chicken soup is nutritious; give them some to help them recover."
Song Yunjian responded and went into the small house to call for others. Xu Zifan then called Chen Zaimin and Yi Xiao to eat. By the time everyone had washed their hands and sat down at the table, the wild vegetables and sour fruits were just ripe, the timing was perfect.
A large pot of chicken stew with mushrooms, the pale yellow broth dotted with oil, and containing green wild vegetables and yellow sour wild fruits, the colors were quite beautiful, and the aroma was incredibly enticing.
Each of them had a coconut shell and a pair of chopsticks made of twigs in front of them. Xu Zifan gave each person two eggs and a coconut, with the eggs as the main dish and the coconut as a drink.
Looking at this table, it actually gives the impression of a very lavish spread. The photographer deliberately filmed the entire scene, making it resemble a rural farm stay, completely lacking the desolation of a deserted island survival scenario.
Everyone raised their coconuts and took a big bite, then tasted the chicken and drank the chicken soup, all showing satisfied expressions.
Chen Zaimin suddenly laughed and said, "Why do I feel like... all my hard work was for a meal? After eating this meal, I feel like all the hard work this morning was worth it."
Song Yunjian said, "No wonder my wife especially likes playing simulation management games. It turns out that building things little by little and getting rewards is really satisfying. The youngest son's cooking is amazing. This is the best reward on the island."
"That's right, Yunjian is absolutely right! Come on, let's all toast the youngest one. If it weren't for the youngest, just think how miserable we would be now. We might only be able to fill our stomachs with coconut juice. We wouldn't know how to hunt or fish, we wouldn't know if we could eat wild fruits and vegetables, and we might not even be able to find a water source. Luckily we have the youngest one, that's the thing we should be most grateful for." Chen Zaimin raised the coconut. He really felt that he was too lucky. Apart from doing some work, he hadn't suffered any hardship. Moreover, he had a feeling that the show would be a hit after it aired. This trip was worth it.
Yi Xiao looked up and saw Su Yanchen and Xue Ninglu, whose faces were pale and whose lips were cracked. He frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "If we didn't have Lao Yao, we would not only go hungry, but we would also end up like Xiao Su and Xiao Xue. That would be too terrible. I don't think we could continue filming."
It was rare for Yi Xiao to speak at such a long time, and upon hearing this, everyone looked at Su Yanchen and Xue Ninglu, who seemed quite...
It's not much better than this morning, which shows the medicine isn't very effective.
Song Yunjian advised, "You should eat the herbs that the youngest brother picked."
The two didn't want to eat, but they were indeed feeling unwell. Seeing that Song Yunjian looked healthy, they hesitated for a moment and then gave in.
Xu Zifan said, "Why don't we eat now? We'll feel uncomfortable for a few minutes after eating, and then the taste will gradually be masked by the other food."
Thinking of the bland taste of food the day before, Su Yanchen shook his head. "Let's talk about it after we finish eating, otherwise we might lose our appetite and not even want to eat."
The two patients were listless and didn't like to talk. Xu Zifan and the other three discussed going elsewhere after finishing building the hut, but the two patients couldn't join the conversation. They felt like they hadn't had much to do with the day's filming. This was also why they decided to take herbal medicine—to get better quickly so they could get more screen time; otherwise, their trip would have been in vain, and all the suffering would have been for nothing.
After finishing their meal, they tidied up, spreading hay inside the hut and building walls around it. Since the existing half of the hut already had walls surrounding it, building the other half created a complete hut with a partition wall in the middle. Only three people could sleep on each side, and there was no connection between the two sides.
Su Yanchen and Xue Ninglu were resting in their original half of the hut. Since they had finished setting up their new half, they decided to sleep there. Because they had experience, the new half was more comfortable than the old one, so Song Yunjian, who was extra, naturally had to sleep with the other two.
Considering that Xue Ninglu was the only girl, Yi Xiao generously gave her his sleeping bag so that she could sleep in it and be separated from the other two men.
They finished everything at 3 p.m., took a nap for an hour to rest, and then the four of them took their straw baskets, vine nets, and props and went on an "adventure".
In the eyes of the director and his team, Xu Zifan had walked around the island three times and had a general understanding of it, so naturally he was the one leading the way. He led them to catch crabs, which were quite large and could climb trees, making them a bit easier to catch.
This time, the campsite was well-built, providing shelter from the wind and rain, and there was plenty of food, so everyone was in a good mood, walking unhurriedly as if taking a stroll, and enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way.
Whenever they discovered any rare or unfamiliar plants, Chen Zaimin and Song Yunjian would call them over to take a look and ask Xu Zifan what they were. These scenes were then used for filming. Consequently, the screen time of the two people sleeping in the cabin was reduced to one or two minutes.
The director, watching the screen from inside the tent, couldn't help but shake his head. "Isn't this too easy? Xu Zifan is a survival expert, why didn't his agent tell us? We weren't prepared at all. Now, this desert island survival movie has turned into a beach tourism movie."
The staff member next to him thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we give them a task, let them complete it in two groups, draw lots to form groups, and increase the difficulty?"
The director called a meeting, and after discussion, decided to use this method: experts would mark several points on a map, place items there, and then have them compete. Although this would turn a survival show into something more entertaining, there was no other way at the moment. It was better than turning it into a travel show; at least it wouldn't stray too far from the original theme.
Finally, the director sighed, "These next few days will be different. We need to choose a really difficult place, like a desert or something, where resources are scarce. Let's just treat the first episode as a simple warm-up challenge; that'll be passable."
Xu Zifan and his three companions successfully caught eight crabs. For dinner, they had spicy stir-fried crabs. He had a full range of seasonings, and the spiciness was so intense that it made everyone's mouths water. It was especially delicious with the cooked sour wild fruits.
The four of them each ate two crabs. Su Yanchen and Xue Ninglu were still sick and couldn't eat crabs, of course. Besides, they had taken the herbal medicine after lunch, and the nausea completely masked the deliciousness of the meal. After gagging for a few minutes, they felt nauseous all afternoon and had no appetite at all. In the end, each of them ate a "sweet potato" to get rid of it.
Seeing Xu Zifan and the others eating so heartily, he felt incredibly frustrated.
That evening, Xu Zifan checked the situation online. Throughout the day, instead of criticizing him, passersby developed a sense of disgust towards Xiaohua's fans.
Some people even stood up for Xu Zifan, questioning the fans about what heinous things he had done to warrant such criticism. Why aren't they so nosy and instead criticize the criminals in the news? Besides, the talk of hype is pure speculation; where's the evidence? The show can be edited however they want, right?
Although not many people spoke up for Xu Zifan, and he was quickly overwhelmed by haters, the tide had gradually turned. At least his public image did not suffer any further damage; on the contrary, this incident increased his popularity considerably. Many people who did not know him before remembered his name. Now, all that remains is for him to reappear, and we will decide whether these people will become fans or haters.