Xu Zifan cut a sturdy tree branch and sharpened one end.
Su Yanchen feigned surprise and asked, "Junior brother, are you going to use this to poke fish? Really? Fish in the sea swim very fast, you won't be able to poke them."
Xu Zifan was whittling a branch without looking up. "You can poke it. I've done it in the river before. It's easy to get the hang of it. Even if you can't poke it, you can use it as a crowbar to pry open shellfish stuck in rocks."
Su Yanchen almost laughed. If it were that easy, what would be the point of calling it "desert island survival"? How tough do the protagonists in similar movies have to be on an island? They have to practice for days before they can even catch anything. But he didn't say that. Instead, he flattered him, saying, "Junior brother, you're amazing! I'll just wait to eat. I'm not very good at this. I've only ever played in the sea, never caught fish before. Do you need me to make a net or something? Or find some bait?"
Xu Zifan finished sharpening the branch, swung it a couple of times to test its feel, and said calmly, "No need, time is of the essence. I'll go catch fish in the sea now. Senior Brother Su, if you're not good at it, don't go into the sea to avoid danger. Besides, going into the sea consumes energy very quickly. Just stay on the shore and see if you can catch any small crabs or shellfish. Remember, they have to be alive, don't kill them."
Su Yanchen nodded readily. He planned to show concern after Xu Zifan went into the sea, then find some flexible grass to weave a net. When Xu Zifan failed in his attempts, he would use the net to catch fish—at least it was a reliable method. Whether he succeeded or not, he would have tried his best, kept busy, and wouldn't have worked too hard, unlike Xu Zifan, who boasted and wasted time. When the audience criticized Xu Zifan, they would definitely praise him a couple of times, which was good.
So Su Yanchen didn't waste any more words, and Xu Zifan walked smoothly into the sea.
The photographer following the scene warned, "It's very unsafe to go down without diving equipment, so please don't use this method."
Xu Zifan waved his hand with his back to him, "Can we film underwater?"
"It is possible. This drone is waterproof and can go underwater with you, but it's really dangerous."
Xu Zifan smiled at the drone that was filming him, "I really like the sea. I feel free and at ease in it. There are no false rumors, no ridicule or sarcasm, only the sound of the sea. I don't think the sea is scary at all for me; it's much safer than being in a crowd. I hope we can find enough food soon so I can go back and help everyone build tents!"
He had been so serious and focused before, but now he suddenly started laughing happily like a sunny young man. The cameraman was momentarily stunned, marveling at how incredibly handsome he was. Then, Xu Zifan gave the camera a thumbs-up and plunged into the sea.
The sea was indeed beautiful. Because no one fished here, the fish didn't swim away quickly when they saw people. Xu Zifan dived down a bit, spotted a palm-sized fish, and when the fish was still some distance away from him, he pushed the branch forward with the current. The water resistance made his movements seem a bit slow, but when the branch was pushed out, the fish swam to that spot just in time, and the branch pierced the fish's body!
He surfaced, dug a large hole in the sand, filled it with water, and put the still-moving fish inside.
Su Yanchen's eyes widened in surprise, "You...you really poked a fish?"
Xu Zifan smiled and said, "Senior brother, why don't you believe me? I'm really good at this. I see there's plenty of fish in the sea, so you don't need to bother. Just sit here and rest for a while. Keep an eye on the fish, and once we've caught enough, we'll go back and help out. Brother Chen and the others must be working very hard."
Su Yanchen responded unconsciously, his eyes fixed on the fish in the puddle, still lost in thought.
Xu Zifan went into the water again, and he could catch seven fish in ten attempts. The small ones were about the size of a palm, but they were plump and had a lot of meat. The big ones were about the size of two palms, and they had even more meat.
Looking at the eight fish in the puddle, Su Yanchen could only force a smile and praise Xu Zifan, "Junior brother is amazing, I never expected you to have this skill."
Xu Zifan smiled and said, "It's alright. I just really love to eat, so I'm good at anything related to food. Senior brother, can you get some straw rope to string the fish together? I'll get some other things and then we'll head back."
Su Yanchen agreed and started twisting straw ropes after Xu Zifan went into the sea, but he had never done this before. No matter how he twisted the straw, it wouldn't come together. It would fall apart as soon as he let go, and some of it even broke when he used too much force.
He started to get anxious, and his brows furrowed. He thought this thing was very simple, and he had even thought about weaving a net. He didn't expect that twisting grass rope required skill, let alone weaving a net. Wouldn't it make him look useless if he filmed this?
Just a few minutes later, Xu Zifan surfaced, holding a shellfish the size of a durian. He didn't recognize it, but Xu Zifan had a happy smile on his face. He swam ashore and said, "We have enough food. There's plenty of meat in here. Let's go back."
Xu Zifan carried the seashell ashore and was surprised to see the straw in Su Yanchen's hand. He asked, "Senior brother, you haven't finished making the straw rope yet?"
Su Yanchen spread out his hands, which were already red from rubbing them, and deliberately gave a helpless, bitter smile. "This thing looks simple, but it's actually quite difficult."
"No, it's easy once you get the hang of it." Xu Zifan put down his things, grabbed a handful of grass and started twisting it. In the blink of an eye, he had twisted a grass rope. He handed it to Su Yanchen and continued twisting another one. "Senior brother, you can string the fish, I'll twist the grass rope."
Su Yanchen was already about to vomit blood watching him twist the grass rope so smoothly. After taking the grass rope and picking up the fish, he found that he had no idea where to start. It was too difficult to thread the grass rope through the fish's mouth. He had no idea how to do it. He could only try his best to look hard and work hard to show that he was also trying.
Xu Zifan lowered his head and rubbed the grass.
The rope, seemingly oblivious to his predicament, tossed him one after another as it finished twisting it. After twisting four ropes, it wiped the sweat from its brow with the back of its hand, relaxed, and leaned back slightly with its hands at its sides, clearly wanting to rest. However, when he looked up, a look of surprise immediately appeared on his face. "Senior brother, you don't know how to string ropes?"
Su Yanchen wanted to curse him out of hatred, but he couldn't show it. He could only say in frustration, "Am I really useless? I can't do anything."
Xu Zifan waved his hand, got up and took the straw rope and fish. With a little skill, he strung the fish on the rope and said casually, "It's normal if you haven't done this before, Senior Brother. If you need anything next time, just call me. I'll know how to do it. If we do it quickly, we can go back sooner."
He worked quickly, stringing two fish together with a straw rope, and soon they were all strung together. He had Su Yanchen carry four fish, while he carried four himself, along with the seashells, and began to head back.
Su Yanchen was extremely frustrated standing next to him. He had intended to step on Xu Zifan's foot when they were in the same frame, but ended up stepping on himself instead. Xu Zifan had prepared all the food, making him feel particularly useless.
Su Yanchen secretly resented Xu Zifan for being so tactless and unable to smooth things over, making him feel so awkward. He truly regretted coming out with Xu Zifan.
The two returned to the camp, where only Yi Xiao was sweating profusely as he hammered thick tree branches into the ground. He had only hammered four branches so far, and the complete framework was still a long way off.
Xu Zifan hung the food on a nearby tree and asked, "Brother Yi, where's Brother Chen? Brother Song and Sister Xue haven't come back yet?"
Yi Xiao stopped what he was doing and wiped his sweat. "Brother Chen went to cut tree branches. Brother Song and Xue Ninglu haven't come back yet."
The man was as taciturn as ever, so Xu Zifan didn't ask any more questions. He said, "The progress on the shed is not good, it's too slow. We won't be able to sleep at night, and it will be troublesome if it rains. Why don't you stay and help, senior brother? I've been to this area a few times, so I feel quite familiar with it. I can collect some herbs and wild fruits by myself, no problem."
Su Yanchen was feeling frustrated and exhausted for a long time, and didn't want to move at all. Hearing this, he asked insincerely, "Are you really capable?"
Xu Zifan nodded as he wished, "Okay, no problem."
Su Yanchen then said, "Then I'll help Brother Yi. Come back soon and be careful."
"Okay, good luck to you guys!" Xu Zifan had given the wood-chopping knife to Chen Zaimin, who was using a military shovel instead, which was perfect for digging up medicinal herbs.
Shao Hua had already marked the location of available plants on a map of this area. He opened the virtual screen and quickly ran to the place with herbs. Since it was a solo shoot, in order to avoid awkward silences, the photographer asked him to talk more to the camera, as if interacting with the audience.
Xu Zifan dug up medicinal herbs while explaining their uses and how to preserve them for longer. He occasionally looked up and smiled at the camera, the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees making his face look stunning. The photographer thought that just for the beautiful scene, the audience should be willing to buy it; wasn't Xu Zifan's initial fame based on his looks?
Xu Zifan dug up several kinds of herbs, but found it inconvenient to hold them in his hands. He looked around, shoveled off a few long, flexible grasses, then sat cross-legged on the ground, his head down, his fingers flying, and a grass basket the size of a schoolbag gradually took shape in his hands.
After finishing weaving, he pulled and tried it out, nodded in satisfaction, spoke to the camera while putting the herbs into the basket, and then carried the basket on his back and continued on his way.
"I grew up in the countryside. After I found out I was going to participate in this program, I specially looked up some materials to review. Luckily, I hadn't forgotten everything, otherwise I would have suffered on the island." He smiled at the camera. "Now I feel it's quite fun. There is no internet here, no weird keyboard warriors accusing me, the air is fresh, the environment is beautiful, and most importantly, there is the freshest seafood. I feel so happy."
The director, who was monitoring the drone footage from inside the tent, heard Xu Zifan's words and immediately had the cameraman ask, "Aren't you afraid of being attacked for calling netizens keyboard warriors?"
Xu Zifan looked at him questioningly, "I didn't say that netizens are keyboard warriors. Only a small number of random people are keyboard warriors. I always tell the truth, and I don't think it's a bad thing."
However, it's probably not good to always tell the truth. Even saying I'm not familiar with someone gets me criticized. Does that mean I have to pretend to be familiar with them? From now on, I'll stop responding to those false accusations; nobody believes the truth anyway.
The director then had the cinematographer ask, "So, would you like to take this opportunity to clarify the matter regarding the trending topic with your fans?"
Xu Zifan shook his head. "No need. I've already clarified on Weibo. If you don't believe me, fine. I've thought it through. I've done nothing wrong and I'm not afraid of being slandered. Rumors stop with the wise. By the way, this part won't be aired, right? The show will be edited out in post-production, won't it?"
The photographer smiled without saying anything, while Xu Zifan seemed unconcerned. He spotted a patch of wild fruit and quickly ran over to pick some, then smiled at the camera and said, "This time the wild fruit is sweet, everyone should like it."