The Eunuch Is A Heartthrob On A Survival Variety Show [Ancient To Modern] - Chapter 8

“How is that possible? Does he even have that kind of skill?”

Zhou Youlan recalled the scene just a moment ago when Wei Yan disarmed Old Ghost with one hand and held the blade to his throat, executing the maneuver with an effortless, casual ease as if he were playing a game.

If it had been anyone else, let alone attempting to snatch a knife, just seeing him go head-to-head with Old Ghost would have made their instinctive reaction to back away. Even Zhao Guanjun hadn’t stepped in, choosing instead to stand on the sidelines and wait for the right moment to play the peacemaker.

“Then how did it end up in Niu Xixi’s hands?”

Zhou Youlan recounted his warning to Wei Yan, and Damahou understood immediately. “So that catch was originally hunted and given to you by Wei Yan, but Niu Xixi ended up picking up the freebie.”

Damahou sped up his cleaning movements. “Then eating it carries even fewer burdens. Since Wei Yan gave it to you, it’s yours, and it’s just enough for the three of us to have a meal.”

Over on the other side, Zhao Guanjun approached Wei Yan. As the team captain for all twenty guests, he naturally had to step in and mediate when conflicts arose among them.

He casually went to pat Wei Yan’s shoulder, but Wei Yan instinctively sidestepped out of the way, leaving Zhao Guanjun’s hand grasping at empty air.

Zhao Guanjun had never held much affection for this young man in the first place. Everyone else treated him with utmost reverence and respect, yet Wei Yan always maintained an indifferent attitude, acting as if he didn’t hold him in any regard at all.

“Little Wei, I can understand wanting to get more screen time, but don’t act rashly when things happen. Pulling knives and such things shouldn’t happen again. It wouldn’t be good if someone got hurt.”

If Zhao Guanjun were truly capable of managing things, Old Ghost wouldn’t have dared to pull a stunt like holding a knife to someone’s throat.

Still, Wei Yan nodded. “Mhm.”

He didn’t know much about the laws of this era, but it seemed that this place placed a far greater emphasis on the strictness of the law than Da Qi did; after all, here they couldn’t even carry blades into crowded public areas.

“Young people nowadays, why are they all so impolite and disrespectful to their seniors?” Zhao Jie muttered unhappily from the sidelines. “Teacher Zhao is talking to you. What kind of attitude is that?”

Wei Yan stopped what he was doing. He disliked wasting breath and had no inclination to parrot flattery or pander to anyone, but hadn’t he already acknowledged the remark just now?

Zhao Jie wanted to continue lecturing him, but Zhou Youlan called both Zhao Guanjun and Zhao Jie away.

He didn’t know what Zhou Youlan wanted with Zhao Guanjun, but at least it bought him some peace and quiet.

Zhou Youlan hadn’t sought out Zhao Guanjun for anything major; he simply wanted to discuss the upcoming marching route and preemptively smooth things over in case Wei Yan displeased Zhao Guanjun again.

Although he wasn’t fond of some of Wei Yan’s actions, Wei Yan had at least helped them out just then.

Zhou Youlan shared a portion of the game with Zhao Guanjun and had Damahou deliver the best cuts to Wei Yan, since it was his catch after all. But Wei Yan refused it, and in the end, it all went into Damahou’s stomach.

A single bird didn’t have much meat to begin with, and splitting it among so many people meant it couldn’t go around. In the end, only the thick-skinned ones got a taste of meat while the majority remained hungry.

They delayed for over three hours before setting off again. With no food to be found nearby, everyone had no choice but to head toward areas with water sources.

Sluggish and lethargic, everyone packed up their belongings at a snail’s pace.

Niu Xixi was touching up his makeup with a powder puff; his makeup had melted off from the sweat.

Among this group, including the female participants, he was the one who cared the most about his appearance. The female guests were too exhausted to bother putting on makeup anymore, but Niu Xixi insisted on maintaining a refined, delicate look every single morning.

Old Ghost sneered as he walked past. “Damn sissy.”

“Who the hell are you cursing?”

Old Ghost crossed his arms, his face full of disdain. Because of the earlier incident, Niu Xixi felt a tinge of fear toward him, yet he was equally furious at being subjected to unprovoked personal attacks.

“What business is it of yours? Are you sick in the head!” Niu Xixi instinctively braced himself, though his standing posture remained bewitchingly sultry deep down in his bones. “Can’t let me touch up? Figures. With that thief-like, rat-eyed face of yours, even putting on makeup would be an insult to other people’s eyes.”

“Say that again, you damn sissy, trying to get yourself killed?”

“Come on then, try hitting me if you’ve got the guts! If you lay a single finger on me today, I’ll sue you until you’re completely bankrupt!”

Seeing them on the verge of quarrelling again, everyone hurriedly stepped forward to act as peacemakers.

“Stop arguing, stop arguing, save your breath.”

Zhou Youlan felt a true headache brewing from their chaotic racket, and he roared in a deep, angry voice, “Shut your mouths, all of you!”

The group instantly fell silent. Zhou Youlan swept his gaze across them. “Aren’t you tired at all? You still have the energy to fight.”

“Hurry up and pack your gear to set off. Dawdle any longer and it’ll be dark.”

The livestream was active, though comments expressed frustration: waiting hours for the broadcast to resume only to watch a petty argument. Many complained about the hunger and criticized the arrogant newcomer for intentionally stirring up trouble.

Meanwhile, the camera operators clearly favored Wei Yan, following the audience’s enthusiasm for his striking looks. Even as he remained quiet, the camera frequently captured his poised demeanor.

With five people per group, the setup was designed for both ease of management and optimal guest coverage.

Hu Lu had originally swapped positions with Ke Feiyang because this group contained Zhou Youlan, and Zhang Tongtong was a rising young artist with a growing fanbase among the youth. Associating with them allowed her to gain visibility and showcase her survival skills to bolster her own channel.

Yet the cameramen clearly showed bias toward Wei Yan. Despite his taciturn nature, the lens rarely lingered on the others.

Hu Lu felt a swell of displeasure at this favoritism, though she refrained from voicing it.

Without food to replenish their energy, their pace slowed significantly.

The jungle was choked with dense trees and thickets, and spending too much time enclosed within it bred a sense of oppressive claustrophobia.

Noticing a tree laden with green fruit, Zhang Tongtong tapped Wei Yan ahead of him and prepared to climb up, only to be yanked back down by Wei Yan.

“Wild fruit! Let me go check if it’s edible. This whole path is just trees, and this is the only one bearing fruit. What if we can eat it?”

The others looked over as well, but Wei Yan shook his head. “Toxic.”

Those were tung oil fruits. They resembled chestnuts in appearance but were poisonous. Back in the army, some soldiers had accidentally ingested them, resulting in subsequent diarrhea, vomiting, and in severe cases, dangerous debility that proved difficult to treat.

“Toxic?” Zhang Tongtong found it hard to believe, or rather, he didn’t want to believe it.

He argued, “But they look a lot like chestnuts! Can’t raw chestnuts be eaten too, even if they’re a bit astringent?”

His stomach was so starved his vision was turning green; he was ready to chew on tree leaves if he had to.

Hearing the commotion, Zhou Youlan walked over to inspect, plucked one open, sniffed it, and tossed it away.

“Inedible. It’s indeed poisonous.”

Zhou Youlan explained, “These are tung oil fruits. They merely look like chestnuts, but they are much smaller. Eating them leaves a pervasive tung oil taste in the mouth, and both tung oil acid and oleic acid contained within these fruits are toxic to ingest. They irritate the gastrointestinal mucosa, causing abdominal pain and vomiting at the mildest, and numbness of the mouth and liver damage at the worst.”

Hearing this explanation, everyone’s fleeting hopes vanished completely.

Zhang Tongtong’s last shred of hope was shattered, and he clutched his head, howling toward the sky.

“Alright, let’s keep walking a bit further. We’ll find a suitable spot to set up camp and rest for the night, and then see if we can set some traps nearby to catch some game. Of course, assuming we have the luck for it.”

Zhou Youlan’s words rekindled a glimmer of confidence among them.

Sensing Zhou Youlan’s gaze, Wei Yan merely lifted his eyes in a calm, reciprocating look, yet the moment their eyes met, Zhou Youlan hurriedly looked away.

Wei Yan: “.”

They didn’t find a suitable shelter until after dark, fortunately stumbling upon a shallow, shallow cave. It wasn’t deep, but by squeezing together, it was just enough to accommodate all of them.

Those with tents began setting them up, while those without had to forage nearby for leaves and dry branches to build a fire and create bedding.

Zhou Youlan took Damahou to set up a few hunting traps nearby, with Wei Yan naturally tagging along.

Since he couldn’t be shaken off anyway, he could follow if he wanted.

Zhou Youlan stripped off Damahou’s shoelaces, chopped two sections of branches, one about a meter long and another thicker one roughly half a meter, carved a V-shaped slot into the thicker branch, tied the shoelaces to both ends of the thin branch, and used a high-flexibility, break-resistant twig to suspend the center line to create a balance.

Finally, since the shoelaces weren’t long enough, he unraveled two of his own laces, tied slipknots, and secured them to both sides. This swing-style trap would snare any animal crawling through with a cord loop; as the creature struggled to escape, its own weight would drag the rope downward, tightening the noose further.

Naturally, this kind of trap could only capture small animals and posed no threat to large beasts.

Wei Yan didn’t participate, knowing Zhou Youlan’s efforts would likely go to waste.

There were no traces of animal activity in this vicinity, and it was in the opposite direction of the water source. Animal hunting grounds generally stayed reasonably close to rivers and water sources, making this spot a suboptimal choice.

While they were working on the traps, Wei Yan climbed up toward the bamboo grove higher on the slope.

He chopped down a section of bamboo, selected the slender top portion about the length of a wrist, and used the tip of his knife to drill small holes on both sides of the bamboo tube. Taking a few strands of ox-tendon grass, he stripped away the leaves, braided them tightly into a single cord, and threaded it through the small holes of the bamboo tube to serve as a convenient handle.

“I hope we get to eat meat tomorrow morning,” Damahou pressed his palms together in prayer.

Zhou Youlan chuckled. “Let’s hope so. Come on, time to head back and rest.”

Upon returning, they discovered that Zhang Tongtong and several others were missing. Asking Zhao Guanjun revealed that they had gone out to look for food.

Wei Yan scanned the surroundings. Wildlife trails were sparse here even during the day, let alone at night when living creatures avoided the area. Venturing out now risked getting lost entirely.

Zhou Youlan said anxiously, “Why go running around blindly in the middle of the night? Didn’t we only have a single lighting tool?”

Ruan Mengmeng slowly raised her hand. “Qinhu asked me for the flashlight, so I gave it to him. I told him it was too late and unsafe, and suggested they wait until tomorrow morning, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“Chen Nan said that even Niu Xixi could manage to find game, and he refused to believe he was any worse than Niu Xixi, so he insisted on going…” Zhang Tongtong muttered softly.

Zhou Youlan pressed his lips together. Everyone was well aware of Chen Nan’s prejudice against Niu Xixi and Wei Yan, meaning Chen Nan’s unauthorized departure tonight was largely an act of stubborn pride.

“There shouldn’t be any trouble. I told them to just poke around nearby; they won’t go too far,” Zhao Guanjun said.

Zhou Youlan wanted to vent his frustration, but mindful that Zhao Guanjun was a senior, he kept his temper in check and said, “The forest is extremely dangerous at night. Venturing deep into the woods without illumination or self-defense weapons is reckless.”

“I was only worried those girls wouldn’t have food and lack the stamina to keep marching with us tomorrow.”

Zhou Youlan countered, “Women’s endurance is consistently stronger than men’s.”

While Zhao Guanjun’s intention to care for the female members was well-meaning, participating in a show like this required learning self-reliance and self-protection.

Besides, during the night in these mountains and forests, let alone humans, even wild animals rarely roamed about.

The dangers that were difficult enough to avoid in daylight only amplified infinitely at night, especially when they lacked adequate lighting tools.

Zhou Youlan intended to go search for them. “How long ago did they leave?”

Zhao Guanjun checked the time. “About half an hour.”

“Wait,” seeing him move to set off, Ruan Mengmeng called out, pulling Li Rongsheng beside her. “We’ll go too. Staying behind here feels unsettling.”

Zhou Youlan didn’t refuse. Wei Yan pulled a burning piece of firewood from the campfire and followed behind them.

Catching sight of the faint firelight glowing from behind, Ruan Mengmeng’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Why didn’t we think of using this as a torch? We’re so silly.”

The two girls hurried back, pulled burning branches from the campfire to use as torches, and instantly brightened the surroundings significantly.

Deep in the remote mountains and forests, a primitive lighting tool like a torch was something they had completely forgotten about after living in the city for too long.

Zhou Youlan also grabbed a branch, and with the torches, their visibility improved somewhat. However, without other accelerants, the flames relied solely on the sparse remaining sparks and wouldn’t last long.

As they walked, Zhou Youlan plunged into darkness ahead. His footsteps paused, and Wei Yan closed the distance, stepping up directly behind him.

“Oh no, mine’s about to go out too.” Ruan Mengmeng tossed her branch to the ground. “I swear, I am never doing a show with a production team stingy enough not to provide proper equipment again. This is awful.”

“A single stick of wood is hard to burn; let’s try putting them together,” Wei Yan said.

He picked up a piece of firewood from near his feet and handed it to Zhou Youlan.

When Zhou Youlan turned around, his arm brushed against Wei Yan’s windbreaker, creating a rustling sound as the distance between them closed too tight.

The firelight illuminated the high bridge of Wei Yan’s nose, casting a soft, warm red glow across his features. Yet what caught Zhou Youlan’s eye first was the small red mole between Wei Yan’s brows. Resembling a drop of cinnabar, it drew his gaze directly to those delicate eyes and brows.

When Wei Yan’s gaze lowered slightly, his eyelashes fluttered in a slow sweep, inexplicably emanating a gentle, compassionate air.

Setting everything else aside, to be entirely honest, he had genuinely never seen anyone more attractive than Wei Yan, regardless of gender.

After a brief, dazed moment, Zhou Youlan hurriedly reined in his thoughts.

No, he couldn’t afford to give Wei Yan any pleasant expressions, or else what would he do if Wei Yan fell more and more in love with him?