Su Yanchen's idea was correct. The next day, when the teams were divided, the director made Xu Zifan and Su Yanchen the team leaders of the two groups. They played rock-paper-scissors, and the winners chose a teammate. They played again, and the winners chose again. Once the teams were full, the remaining team was the other team.
If the group assignments are exactly the same twice in a row, that's not fair; the audience will definitely accuse them of being rigged. But the first time could be considered a coincidence, but the second time they were directly separated as group leaders. So no matter how the other four are divided, Su Yanchen is destined to lose.
Since arriving on the island, Xu Zifan has cooked every meal; no one else can. No matter who is paired with Su Yanchen, they will be in a mess, just to varying degrees. The director has a clever plan.
Xu Zifan didn't cheat either. He lost the first game of rock-paper-scissors with Su Yanchen, and Su Yanchen chose Chen Zaimin. He won the second game and chose Yi Xiao. He lost the third game and Su Yanchen chose Song Yunjian. Xue Ninglu naturally ended up in a group with Xu Zifan.
Xue Ninglu smiled broadly and stood next to Xu Zifan, exclaiming, "Great! We can eat our fill today!"
Yi Xiao also breathed a sigh of relief, looking very lucky. Chen Zaimin and Song Yunjian, on the other hand, had somewhat subtle expressions, looking a bit dejected, especially Song Yunjian. They had eaten a meal of sweet wild fruits and coconut juice yesterday, and woke up hungry in the middle of the night with a dull ache in their stomachs. It wasn't until they ate the sweet potatoes cooked by Xu Zifan in the morning that they felt better.
He's already somewhat desperate because he's in the same group as Su Yanchen again today.
Seeing the expressions on their faces, Su Yanchen was furious but couldn't vent his anger. Feeling frustrated, he decided to set off to do his mission.
This time, they weren't looking for the flag, but for a box they had buried in the ground. Inside the box were a small bag of flour and three large bowls of instant noodles.
There are bound to be traces when the land is dug up and then buried again, and the crew members would also leave footprints when they walk by. Although they knew some of the traces, they still deliberately left some clues to guide the way.
Su Yanchen was dumbfounded when he heard the rules. He chose Chen Zaimin because he thought Chen Zaimin had learned something from Xu Zifan and had some experience in finding things. But now he was only looking for one box, and it was a tracking box at that. Was this a movie? How could he find something like that?!
Xu Zifan set off with Yi Xiao and Xue Ninglu, calmly observing the paths around the camp before choosing one to take. He diligently searched and observed along the way. Yi Xiao, a man of few words, remained mostly silent, simply following Xu Zifan, only asking what to do when asked, and trying his best to cooperate.
The three of them fell silent. Xu Zifan, unwilling to speak to Xue Ninglu, pretended to be busy searching for clues and ignored her. Xue Ninglu felt extremely awkward; she hadn't spent any time alone with them in the past few days and felt quite unfamiliar with them. Suddenly being interrupted, she didn't know what to say.
However, having a rare opportunity to get close to Xu Zifan, she remembered her original purpose for participating in the show. This was the last day on the deserted island, and she and Xu Zifan would definitely not go hungry, so she wasn't worried about anything. She started looking for various opportunities to get close to Xu Zifan and strike up a conversation with him.
Xu Zifan acted coldly, refusing to touch her and even making obvious avoidance movements. He had stated from the beginning that he wanted to avoid women to prevent misunderstandings and rumors, and had said so two or three times already, so this avoidance wasn't surprising at all.
But he avoided Xue Ninglu, and Yi Xiao ignored him and didn't say anything. Xue Ninglu became extremely embarrassed, as if she were performing a one-woman show, and she had to try her best to smooth things over and save face.
Later, she couldn't take it anymore and, with a forced smile, gave up the idea of getting closer to Xu Zifan. Anyway, they'd get plenty of screen time together in a day; she could stay near Xu Zifan and then have her agent discuss with the director about editing out some of their ambiguous scenes. Generally, creating hype would benefit the production team, so the director shouldn't refuse.
Today, the allotted time was three hours again. Xu Zifan found the box by following the clues in just one hour and won. The other team that lost had to find their own food. Fortunately, Chen Zaimin had been helping Xu Zifan start a fire these past few days and had learned how to do it himself.
Their group didn't have a net, and Chen Zaimin couldn't catch crabs, but he did find sweet potatoes and dug up six.
At lunch time, Xu Zifan caught a snake and made snake soup and roasted snake meat, eating instant noodles as his main dish. It was another delicious meal that he couldn't usually eat.
Chen Zaimin lit a fire on Su Yanchen's side and roasted six "sweet potatoes," two for each of them. It was already several times better than what Su Yanchen had eaten the day before, but the aroma of snake meat from Xu Zifan's side made them feel like they were chewing wax, and the "sweet potatoes" in their mouths became dry and particularly unappetizing.
That evening, Xu Zifan caught a few fish, shredded the fish meat, and made fish dumplings with the bread he won. Because the seasoning was well-prepared, they didn't need any additional seasoning after cooking; they were fresh and delicious.
Su Yanchen continued to eat sweet potatoes, as they hadn't had a pot and hadn't had a drop of hot water all day. They were exhausted from searching for food on the island. On the last day of their island trip, they fell asleep in exhaustion.
After dawn, they will return to the city. The first recording will be finished, and it can be edited into four episodes, enough to air for a month. They can go back and rest for ten days before going to the next location.
Before leaving, Chen Zaimin was particularly reluctant to part with the cabin and the table and chairs. Since the cabin was definitely immovable, the production team allowed them to take the table and chairs back as souvenirs. Chen Zaimin also asked Xu Zifan to help him pick a lot of wild fruits and coconuts to take back with him.
Seeing this, the staff took the opportunity to ask Xu Zifan to collect more photos, since filming was already finished and they could contact Xu Zifan privately.
Xia Du exchanged contact information with Xu Zifan, including with the cameraman who was filming him.
Xu Zifan welcomes everyone. Sometimes, building good relationships with the production crew can have unexpected results. Cameramen, post-production editors, program public relations, and so on are all here. They also know other behind-the-scenes people in the industry. This is how a good reputation slowly spreads and seems the most genuine.
On the way back, they were much more relaxed, as they were about to return to city life. Everyone had a smile on their face, filled with anticipation for going home. They stopped at sea for a while to try fishing, and caught a small fish, which they gave directly to the director.
The director suddenly suggested, "What if Xu Zifan cooks this fish after we get off the boat?"
Chen Zaimin chimed in, "No, no, our youngest brother is exhausted and needs to go back and rest. If you want to eat, go find someone to cook for you."
Song Yoon-geon chimed in, "The production team is too harsh on us. Don't even think about eating the youngest member's cooking."
Yi Xiao glanced at the director, "You've been craving it these past few days, haven't you?"
The director had no choice but to accept the small fish, feeling it was a pity he hadn't gotten to eat Xu Zifan's cooking.
They spent some time on the island and at sea, and by the time they reached the land it was almost dark. They checked into a hotel and prepared to catch their flight the next day.
Xu Zifan took a nice hot shower, turned on the TV to make some noise in the room, and then went online to check the situation. His trending topic had finally gone down. He checked Tan Yi's and the company's updates and found that Tan Yi had paid to have the trending topic removed.
After all, he was reborn. In his previous life, he had seen too many hype tactics in the entertainment industry. When he noticed that Xu Zifan was being mindlessly attacked online, he felt something was wrong. Since he couldn't contact the production team on the island, he had no choice but to remove the trending topic in the hopes that the hype would subside and wait and see.
Tan Yi was very careful, but Xu Zifan felt that things had fermented enough. The trending topic had only been removed for a day, and many people hadn't forgotten him yet. He logged into Weibo, deleted all of the original owner's posts, found the best angle to take a selfie, and posted a nine-grid collage with the caption: "With the vastness of the sea and sky, I realize that many things are not worth caring about. Life is short, and only oneself and good food should not be let down."
Many haters have nothing better to do than follow his updates. As soon as he cleared his Weibo account, it was immediately discovered. His new Weibo post didn't offer any clarification, so people still have the same impression of him. At first glance, it seems more like he's just making a pointless fuss.
Xiao Hua's fans flocked to the scene, and the comment section was filled with sarcastic remarks. Meanwhile, the original owner's former fans commented that he was handsome. His remaining fans were almost all fans of his looks, so it was no problem for them to judge him by his appearance.
Because of one unexpected move, he went from being off the trending topics list for only one day to trending again, and twice at that!
#Xu Zifan deletes all Weibo posts#
#Xu Zifan's looks#
The name "Xu Zifan" alone has been sensitive and eye-catching during this period. The first reaction of people to see it is annoyance, feeling that someone is attacking him again. But after seeing the topic, they can't help but click in to see. His new Weibo post is nothing special, but the nine-grid photo he posted is really cool.
How many people judge by appearance? Xu Zifan's looks are absolutely stunning, and he even used the spiritual spring water to reach his peak condition. It's no exaggeration to say that he's the most handsome man in the entertainment industry. His fan base has started to climb, and his nine-grid photos have been widely shared.
The hashtag #Xu Zifan's looks# quickly rose to the top of the trending list. On this day, fans and casual observers alike learned that Xu Zifan, aside from a bunch of unsubstantiated scandals, is also a stunningly handsome male god!
Xiao Hua's fans were all posting #Xu Zifan Get Out of the Entertainment Industry#, but the topic just wouldn't get going. They watched helplessly as Xu Zifan's looks made headlines, and they got furious and started calling him a pretty boy who was good for nothing but his looks.
But this time nobody bought into their argument. Quite a few people stood up for them, saying that looks are a gift, and even a pretty boy can be the most handsome pretty boy!