After Divorcing the Scummy Alpha Movie Queen, I Became Extremely Popular - Chapter 24

Could Tan Jizhu Really Be This Kind-Hearted?

“?” Luo Jingyun was practically laughed into a rage by these words. “Tan Jizhu, aren’t you being a bit too arrogant? Coming to our field just to complain that our speed is too slow?”

Tan Jizhu said calmly, “I just wanted to confirm your progress.”

“Is there any need to tell you our progress?” Luo Jingyun brandished the shovel in her hand. “Go, go, go—leave our area, or don’t blame me for being impolite!”

“Calm down, I just—”

Before Tan Jizhu could explain, Luo Jingyun immediately called out to Park Soo-ah, “Quick, come help! Let’s drive her away together.”

Park Soo-ah was a bit out of it, but hearing Luo Jingyun’s words, she raised her shovel as well.

Seeing this, the expression on Tan Jizhu’s face instantly turned cold.

“Luo Jingyun, since when did the two of you become so close? She really does listen to you, doesn’t she?”

“The two of us are teammates. If our relationship isn’t good, is it supposed to be good with you instead?”

Tan Jizhu clenched her fists. “You really are like the dog that bites Lu Dongbin—unable to recognize a good person’s heart!”

Luo Jingyun immediately shot back, “Who are you calling a dog?”

“When you fall behind in progress, don’t come crying to me!” After saying that, Tan Jizhu pulled out her shovel and left.

Luo Jingyun angrily picked up a small clod of earth and threw it at Tan Jizhu’s retreating back, cursing, “Psychopath. All she knows how to do all day is cause trouble for me.”

“I somehow feel like Tan Jizhu’s attitude today seemed a bit better than the last few times,” Park Soo-ah said, sharing her genuine feeling.

Luo Jingyun looked back with a startled expression. “Since when did you go blind? She came up and targeted us immediately, and you actually think her attitude was good?”

Park Soo-ah pondered for a moment and said, “Jingyun, you’re right. I guess I’m just exhausted today and didn’t immediately see through Tan Jizhu’s malice. If she comes to find trouble with us again in the future, we must deal with her together. We are teammates!”

“Mm, that’s more like it!” Luo Jingyun was quite satisfied as she set off on the path back. “Let’s continue tomorrow. I’m so tired today I don’t even have the energy to play on my phone.”

Park Soo-ah hurried to catch up. “Jingyun, if Tan Jizhu comes to find trouble with you when I’m not around, you must find me immediately. I will definitely help you.”

Luo Jingyun waved her hand. “No need for you, I can handle it myself.”

“No, you must come find me. I will protect you.”

…

The next day’s work was still tilling the soil. Considering the guests didn’t usually engage in manual labor and lacked farming experience, the production team estimated that a pair could finish the task for their 1.3-mu plot within a week.

Waking up early in the morning, Luo Jingyun’s arms and waist were still aching. She finished washing up tremblingly, eating her breakfast absentmindedly. If it weren’t for the others being present, she would have really wanted to lie face-down on the table while eating her steamed bun.

When it was time to head to the fields, Luo Jingyun’s arms were so sore she had no strength; she simply dragged her shovel, making a clatter-clatter sound against the ground. From a distance, one might have mistaken her for some kind of shovel-wielding murderer.

Unable to stand the noise, Park Soo-ah snatched the shovel from Luo Jingyun’s hand to carry it for her.

Luo Jingyun thanked her. “Aren’t your arms sore?”

Park Soo-ah stretched a bit. “I’m okay. When I was a trainee before, we often had physical training. Every time we practiced ‘knife-like’ synchronized dancing to get the angles right, we’d hold our arms up for half an hour, so I can still hold out. Jingyun, if you’re tired, just rest more. I’ll make up the progress.”

“No way, I can’t let you work alone. Otherwise, wouldn’t I become an exploiter? That doesn’t fit the positioning of the show Journey of the Plowing Heart.”

Park Soo-ah chuckled and asked, “Is it just because it doesn’t fit the show’s positioning? I thought it was because you felt bad for me working all by myself.”

“Ah, right, there’s that reason too.” Luo Jingyun laughed along and said in a pinched, high-pitched voice, “I only feel bad for Zize.”

Park Soo-ah knew these internet memes like the back of her hand. “Don’t call me Zize, call me Jiejie (Sister).”

Park Soo-ah was indeed a year older than her, so calling her Jiejie was no big deal, but Luo Jingyun wasn’t going to let Park Soo-ah hear it so comfortably. Thus, she put on her most affected, artificial voice: “I only—feel bad for Jiejie.”

Park Soo-ah had originally been quite expectant, but hearing Luo Jingyun’s exaggerated voice, her romantic notions instantly dissipated by half. Sensing Park Soo-ah’s micro-expression, Luo Jingyun intentionally kept her voice pinched to be annoying: “Jiejie, Jiejie, why aren’t you answering when I call you?”

“Jiejie is so mean. You just told me to call you that, and now you won’t answer. In that case…”

“Luo Jingyun!”

Luo Jingyun, who was happily causing mischief, was suddenly called out. She looked over and found a stern-faced Tan Jizhu standing behind her with a shovel, looking even more like a shovel-wielding murderer than she did.

Luo Jingyun hurriedly snatched her shovel back from Park Soo-ah. “What are you calling me for?”

Tan Jizhu’s gaze patrolled between the two of them. “Instead of working hard, what are you doing here shouting nonsense?”

“I haven’t even reached the field yet, how am I supposed to work?”

Tan Jizhu gave a cold snort and quickly overtook them.

“?” Luo Jingyun complained to Park Soo-ah beside her, “Tan Jizhu has really been getting weirder and weirder these past few days.”

Park Soo-ah agreed. “She certainly is strange.”

The two walked to their assigned field. Park Soo-ah went to the other side, and Luo Jingyun dawdled for a while before formally starting work.

Putting on the low-quality gloves provided by the production team, Luo Jingyun slammed the iron shovel into the ground. Once she judged it was deep enough, she gripped one end of the wooden handle with both hands and pushed down hard to pry the shovel up.

The deep, moist soil was overturned, and the air was instantly filled with a slightly unpleasant, fishy scent of earth, much like the smell after a rain. Luo Jingyun checked the surrounding soil for hard clumps; if she found any, she broke them with the shovel before continuing to dig the rest of the field.

Tilling wasn’t technically difficult; it was just boring. Repeating the same monotonous action over and over, Luo Jingyun felt like she was becoming an emoji in a looping GIF.

Head down to till, head up to move forward—she felt like she had repeated this set of actions tens of thousands of times, yet when she looked back, she hadn’t tilled much of the field at all. Luo Jingyun wasn’t wearing a watch and didn’t know what time it was. She looked up at the sun and judged it was nearly noon. She wiped her sweat with the back of her hand, only to have the rough glove chafe her cheek.

Letting out a helpless sigh, Luo Jingyun regretted not bringing her phone; otherwise, she could have listened to some music with headphones. She looked at Park Soo-ah at the far end of the field, considering the possibility of asking her to come over and sing, but eventually decided against it and continued working.

Just as she slammed the shovel in again and prepared to dig, she suddenly heard a faint voice behind her.

“Is this how you work?”

“Holy—” Luo Jingyun was so startled she nearly bumped into the shovel. “Tan Jizhu, are you that bored? Why are you at our place again? This is already the third time you’ve come to find fault in the last two days.”

To divide the 1.3-mu plots, the four groups’ fields were not adjacent to each other, so Luo Jingyun had reason to suspect Tan Jizhu had crossed thousands of meters of land just to bicker with her.

Tan Jizhu said, “I came to check your progress.”

Luo Jingyun was so angry her head spun. She waved her hand. “Fine, fine, fine—we aren’t as fast as your group, okay? If you really have nothing to do, go feed the village pigs.”

Having said that, Luo Jingyun turned on “mute mode” and continued her work.

Tan Jizhu didn’t leave. She watched silently for a moment before speaking up: “Luo Jingyun, the way you’re working is wrong.”

I’m not listening, I’m not listening; it’s just a turtle reciting scripture. Luo Jingyun took a step forward and continued tilling.

“These wastes too much time,” Tan Jizhu took action directly this time, grabbing the shovel from Luo Jingyun’s hands. “Don’t grab just one end; grab the middle.”

“?” Luo Jingyun looked at her empty hands. “Are you that arrogant? You actually just snatched my shovel?”

“Watch me.” Tan Jizhu demonstrated directly, gripping the wooden handle at the front and back thirds respectively. “Look, shoveling like this saves effort.”

Luo Jingyun watched as Tan Jizhu dug out two or three meters with a crunch-crunch sound. She looked down to inspect the work. “Are you intentionally not digging very deep because you want my wheat to grow poorly? Or are you purposely putting something bad in our soil?”

“I just wanted to correct your posture to make it easier for you.”

After checking, Luo Jingyun didn’t find anything suspicious, so she questioned Tan Jizhu: “You say this posture saves effort? How is that possible? Have you studied physics? Torque equals force times the lever arm. With a fixed amount of torque needed, the longer the lever arm, the less force is required. My way is the most energy-efficient way.”

Tan Jizhu chuckled. “Explaining it with physics, my method is equivalent to changing the position of the fulcrum. Your original way treated the connection point between the shovel head and the handle as the fulcrum. My way treats the space between your two hands as the fulcrum—moreover, one hand applies downward pressure while the other applies upward lifting force. This makes it much easier.”

“…” What she said made so much sense that Luo Jingyun couldn’t even argue.

“You two,” a cameraman carrying a camera and Liu Yuqi walked over. “Eh? Jizhu, why are you over at Jingyun’s group?”

“I came over to help Jingyun,” Tan Jizhu said. “You need a solo interview, right? Then I’ll be going.”

With that, Tan Jizhu turned and left.

Liu Yuqi looked at Luo Jingyun. “Was Jingyun just discussing physics problems with Jizhu?”

“Uh… sort of.”

Liu Yuqi looked at the ground beneath Luo Jingyun’s feet and began the formal solo interview. The questions were fairly standard—asking about Luo Jingyun’s thoughts on tilling the soil, then talking about the importance of cherishing food. Liu Yuqi then walked to the other end to interview Park Soo-ah.

The interlude over, Luo Jingyun continued her work.

“Jingyun!”

A voice sounded from behind, and Luo Jingyun was startled yet again. She turned around and said, “Park Soo-ah! Don’t speak behind my back! You scared me to death; I thought it was Tan Jizhu.”

“Sorry, Jingyun, I’ll be more careful next time.” Park Soo-ah asked, “But what was Tan Jizhu doing looking for you just now? I was busy working with my head down, and when I looked up, I saw Tan Jizhu beside you. I was about to come over when I saw the production crew arrive, so I didn’t dare.”

Luo Jingyun tilted her head. “To be honest, I can hardly believe it myself, but Tan Jizhu actually came to guide my movements.”

“Guide your movements? Would Tan Jizhu really be that kind-hearted?”

“Yeah, she taught me a very labor-saving method.” Luo Jingyun demonstrated it. “Just like this—you can use this method later too. It really does save effort, and there’s a scientific basis for it.”

“It’s really strange. Did Tan Jizhu take the wrong medicine or something? To actually be kind enough to teach me how to till soil.” Luo Jingyun said she didn’t understand it at all, but a strange thought suddenly popped into her mind.

Could it be that Tan Jizhu came to help… because of her?

Park Soo-ah thought for a moment and said, “I think that even though our four groups are in competition, we still ultimately have to complete the task set by the production team—which is to finish tilling all this land. Could Tan Jizhu be worried that our group is too slow and will hold everyone back?”

Luo Jingyun pondered this, hesitating as she asked, “Is that all it is?”

“It’s possible!” Park Soo-ah was firm in her answer. “Think about it, Jingyun—the first thing Tan Jizhu asked you yesterday was about your progress. I observed the other groups just now, and their progress is much faster than ours. Plus, the two of us are working from opposite ends, whereas they are working from the same side; compared to their progress, we look even slower.”

“True,” Luo Jingyun gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Your analysis is spot on. That must be the reason.”

Staring at the ground beneath her feet, Luo Jingyun shook her head.

I must be exhausted to the point of stupidity. Otherwise, how could I have felt, even for a split second, that Tan Jizhu came to help because of me?