The Movie Queen's Beloved Crybaby Alpha - Chapter 51
“Only fifty?!”
Wei Youning’s wail echoed through the homestay.
-Hahaha! Wei Youning didn’t believe in Xu Youyou’s luck, but it turns out her own luck wasn’t any better.
-I can’t stop laughing. Wei Youning prayed to every god in her heart, but no one answered.
-This is too hilarious. Sister Youning has officially become the biggest comedian in my eyes.
Back in the homestay, Xu Youyou also looked utterly devastated.
“Who said I had to come? Cousin, yours isn’t any better!”
Du Wenjun laughed until tears streamed down her face. “Youning, you’re really pulling out all the stops for the show’s entertainment value.”
The others tried their best to hold back their laughter, their shoulders shaking as they struggled to keep straight faces.
Wei Youning wore an expression of utter despair. “How was I supposed to know? The worst part is, even if I buy groceries with this money, I don’t even know how to cook!”
The host seized the moment to add salt to the wound. “Oh right, and each team has to work independently this time, no helping each other like last episode.”
Wei Youning: “Why does that sound a little too gleeful?”
The host grinned. “That must be your imagination, Teacher Wei.”
Wei Youning wasn’t in the mood to talk.
The host then comforted her, “But don’t worry. We’ll organize an activity this afternoon. If you perform well, you can earn more living expenses.”
“Guess that’s the only option.” Wei Youning sighed deeply.
Xu Youyou couldn’t help but mutter, “Well, there goes slacking off.”
Wei Youning glared at her. “Don’t even think about it.”
Xu Youyou pouted. “Fine, I get it.”
Ye Qinglan chuckled and interjected, “Shouldn’t we go buy groceries now?”
“Yeah, if we don’t hurry, dinner will be way too late,” Du Wenjun added.
The host said, “There’s a seafood market not far from here, and a vegetable market right next to it. You can shop there.”
Wei Youning sighed. “Forget seafood. Let’s just head straight to the vegetable market.”
As she spoke, she glanced at Xu Youyou.
Xu Youyou also sighed. “Ugh, what else can we do? Who knew your luck would be just as bad as mine?”
“You must’ve jinxed me.”
“Really? I don’t believe that.”
The comedic duo bantered as they packed up and headed out with the others.
The group made quite the spectacle as they marched into the market, drawing plenty of attention.
The crew had already arranged for order, so the cast quickly picked what they needed, paid, and left without delay.
Back at the homestay, Ning Yunshu, Jiang Can, and Du Wenjun busied themselves in the kitchen, while Wei Youning and Xu Youyou fumbled around before finally settling on a plate of vegetable salad each.
When the others brought out their dishes, Wei Youning shed tears of envy.
“I swear, once we get back, I’m going to focus on improving my cooking skills,” Wei Youning declared.
Xu Youyou’s lips twitched. “Then I’ll just eat at school.”
Wei Youning fixed her with a stare. “Think carefully. Would you rather adjust your taste buds at home or suffer through inedible food on the show?”
Xu Youyou immediately looked as if life had lost all meaning.
“I’m doomed. This is my fate now.”
After finishing their meal and cleaning up, everyone returned to their rooms to rest.
By the afternoon, they had all gotten up, freshened up, and followed the production crew to the beach.
The beach was already set up with volleyball nets and other equipment. Seeing the setup, everyone instantly understood what was coming.
“Volleyball, huh? Feels like it’s been ages since I last played,” Wei Youning said, stretching her wrists.
“How about you? Still remember how to play?” Ye Qinglan turned to Ning Yunshu.
Ning Yunshu smiled. “Might be a bit rusty, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Du Wenjun chuckled. “Thankfully, filming the movie trained my stamina quite a bit. Otherwise, I’d really be worried about keeping up.”
“So how are we splitting into teams? Just sticking with our original groups?” Jiang Can asked the host.
“Of course, we’ll divide into two teams of four each. For fairness, Teacher Ye and Team Leader Ning, as well as Teacher Du and Teacher Xu, will be on separate teams. Meanwhile, Teacher Jiang and Teacher Wei will be assigned via draw. The match will be best of three, with the first team to score 21 points winning a set. The winning team of each set will receive 50 yuan in living funds,” the host explained.
Jiang Can nodded slightly. “Looks like I won’t get the chance to face both alphas.”
“That would be exhausting. Even if we didn’t lose, our stamina wouldn’t hold up. But winning a single set gets us 50 yuan? Then we absolutely have to win at least one otherwise, we’ll be broke!” Wei Youning laughed.
“Pfft, poor Wei-jie. But back during training, Teacher Xu was always way ahead in stamina drills. The rest of us were practically dying trying to keep up,” Ye Qinglan remarked with a sigh.
Of course, Ning Yunshu’s stamina was nothing to scoff at either.
After all, she had firsthand experience with that.
“But seriously, why does it have to be another draw?” Wei Youning groaned, her face scrunching up in dismay.
Xu Youyou: “At least it’s fine either way, no matter which team we end up on, it’s a win.”
Wei Youning had to agree.
“That’s true.”
Then she turned to Jiang Can. “How about this you do the draw, Teacher Jiang. That way, I’ll know who I’m teamed with without having to pick.”
Jiang Can smiled. “Alright then.”
With that, she stepped forward and drew a card from the host. Flipping it over, it clearly read: Team Du Wenjun and Xu Chaoyang.
Jiang Can waved the card. “Teacher Du, Teacher Xu, we’ll be counting on your guidance.”
Du Wenjun clapped. “Welcome, welcome! Happy to have you both with us.”
Wei Youning, meanwhile, tilted her head at Ye Qinglan. “Well, well, Captain Song, looks like we’re teammates again.”
“Looking forward to working with you, Comrade Xiao Yan,” Ye Qinglan replied with a grin.
“Yay! I get to be on Teacher Ye’s team!” Xu Youyou cheered excitedly.
No one had any objections to the team assignments. In fact, online audiences were especially pleased with the outcome.
Captain Song and Xiao Yan! The novel had me bawling my eyes out, ahhh! When’s the movie coming out? I’m ready to ship the unconventional pairing!
No! Don’t you dare! Don’t break up our childhood friends duo!
Is no one else excited to see the police trio take on the captain?
Using official duties for personal grudges, huh?
-Youyou’s inner thoughts: No matter what, I’m not losing out. Being paired with Ye Qinglan makes it even better.
-I’m so jealous of those who get to chase stars in person.
-Jealous, I’ve practically worn out the word “jealous” from overuse!
After the teams were assigned and the referee took position, both groups began discussing tactics. Though “discussing tactics” mostly boiled down to figuring out how to play volleyball, with some basic positioning thrown in.
“Now, let’s have representatives from each team come forward to decide who serves first,” the host announced.
Unsurprisingly, the representatives were Ye Qinglan and Du Wenjun.
“The serving team will be decided by rock-paper-scissors.”
“Rock-paper-scissors? Qinglan, you’ve got to go easy on me,” Du Wenjun said with a smile.
Ye Qinglan blinked. “I’d like to, Teacher Du, but even I don’t know what I’ll throw.”
“Pfft.”
Wei Youning, standing behind them, couldn’t hold back a laugh.
Du Wenjun was speechless for a moment. “Well, that’s truly unpredictable.”
Ye Qinglan chuckled. “Shall we begin, Teacher Du?”
“Let’s go!”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Ye Qinglan’s rock crushed Du Wenjun’s scissors.
Du Wenjun: “…Best two out of three!”
Ye Qinglan sighed. “Fine, fine.”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Du Wenjun: “…Best three out of five!”
Ye Qinglan: “No more take-backs after this!”
“Rock, paper, scissors!”
Du Wenjun: “…”
Ye Qinglan turned away decisively, cutting off any further protests.
“Ref, we’re serving first!”
The others were already doubled over with laughter.
Ning Yunshu stifled a giggle. “The production team really picked well, Qinglan’s best at this. She’s actually practiced it.”
Du Wenjun: “???”
“Seriously? Who in their right mind practices rock-paper-scissors?!”
She felt both cheated and not cheated at the same time.
Ye Qinglan looked innocent. “Didn’t you ever have adults play rock-paper-scissors with you as a kid, promising to buy you something only if you won?”
Du Wenjun was stunned. “You practiced for that?!”
“Of course! That way, I could get whatever I wanted.” Ye Qinglan’s reply was utterly shameless.
Du Wenjun: “…”
She had nothing left to say. Thanks.
-I can’t take it, I’m literally dying of laughter hahahaha!
-“Who in their right mind practices this?” The sheer disbelief in Du Wenjun’s tone is killing me.
-Du Wenjun tries to turn the tables. Du Wenjun fails. Teacher Du! The old fox isn’t so sly anymore!
-Someone make a meme edit of this ASAP! I need it!
-Our childhood friends really understand each other, huh.
Du Wenjun returned to her team in defeat, where Xu Chaoyang quickly tried to console her. Meanwhile, Ye Qinglan’s team, having secured the serve, was raring to go.
At the referee’s whistle, Ning Yunshu tossed the ball high and spiked it with a swift, powerful strike. Jiang Can scrambled back, barely managing a bump pass. His girlfriend reacted quickly, setting it to Xu Chaoyang near the net, who launched a fierce counterattack, only for Ye Qinglan and Xu Youyou to block it in tandem.
The match was intense, with both sides trading points. But the sand made movement tricky, leading to mistakes, and as stamina dwindled, the score remained neck-and-neck.
Finally, after a hard-fought battle, Ye Qinglan’s team narrowly clinched the first set.
“Finally! Dinner’s covered tonight!” Wei Youning nearly teared up in relief.
Xu Youyou rubbed her hands together eagerly: “One more win! I’m craving meat tonight.”
Wei Youning’s lips twitched: “I’d advise against getting your hopes up, I don’t cook.”
Xu Youyou replied: “No problem, I can make hot pot. That doesn’t require any culinary skills.”
“Brilliant! You really know your way around food.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere.”
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