Chapter 19 Just Leave Everything To Me

The log cabin was located in the middle of a few houses. In the midst of the beautiful scenery and under the shade of the trees, it would become the place for everyone to gather for the next few days.

It was still early when the program team arrived at the cabin. Starting at 6 am, they quietly began preparing the site, only to discover that two guests, who were supposed to be sleeping in bed, were awake.

Ling Che was currently looking through the entire house to find drinking water. He had searched through the kitchen and refrigerator, but he couldn’t find any water to drink even after searching through everything.

Xu Tangzhou also exited his room. Just like Ling Che, he was also holding a cup: “We don’t have any water?”

Ling Che glanced at him: “En.”

One person had messy hair while the other person was still wearing pajamas, but dyed in the light of dawn, the scene caught by the camera seemed as if they were shooting some eye candy for an MV*. They wouldn’t even need to add any filters.

TN: For those who don’t know, MV stands for music video

After a brief exchange, the two fell into a strange silence.

Xu Tangzhou didn’t know what Ling Che was thinking about. He was only thinking: ‘Did Ling Che see those extra clips yet? He really wanted to return to that moment and cover his face! Couldn’t his blood vessels cooperate with him?!’

Ling Che was certain that this person listened to what he had said last night. He put down his cup and said lightly: “Call someone over to explain what’s going on.”

Xu Tangzhou volunteered himself: “I’ll ask!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he put on his shoes and rushed out to find someone. Doing what he had promised by properly recording the show.

As expected, the program was truly a “pit trap” show.

After Momo entered, she told them that since local resources weren’t allowed to be used, they had to buy their own drinking water from the convenience store.

Not only that, but the program group pushed her to give the explanation: “Regarding Zhouzhou’s matter, the luggage was taken care of by the logistics division and we’re currently reviewing yesterday’s surveillance. But don’t worry, before everything is sorted out, we will cover half of your expenses from last night.”

Ling Che had already contacted Situ Ya. He raised his eyebrows and said: “Half?”

Ling Che wasn’t really aggressive and his tone wasn’t fierce, but Momo was about to cry in fright: “Yes. According to the rules, this would be considered to be part of the daily necessities.”

Xu Tangzhou: “......” Why wasn’t he surprised by this result?

The program group probably wanted to see all sorts of situations happen to them.

Momo originally thought that Ling Che wouldn’t be too easily persuaded, but Ling Che said: “Fine. Then after everything is made clear, I want a public apology from the program team.”

The person involved, Xu Tangzhou, wasn’t even listening. After hearing the terrible news that only half of the cost would be reimbursed, he was already using his phone to calculate how much money they would have left.

*

The matter has temporarily come to an end*. After a simple breakfast, all of the guests would gather in the log cabin, and the sound of commotion drifted inside.

TN: The simplified version caught the typo XD

It turned out to be the Beta sisters Xia Yue and Xia Xing who had finally arrived at their destination after flying for 10+ hours and transferring flights.

Since they were the third group that arrived, they got the house that reduced the price of water and electricity. Not to mention, they didn’t have time to rest before the recording on the first day. The two of them looked extremely exhausted.

But unexpectedly, they quarreled the entire way.

“Then let’s not participate anymore.” Xia Xing’s eyes were red from anger, “Just quit! Let’s go back right now, it’s no big deal!”

Xia Yue stopped in her tracks and spread out her hands: “You??? You dare say that? The person who missed the flight was you, not me!”

Xia Xing was suddenly speechless and stopped speaking for a moment: “I had already apologized, what else do you want?! I didn’t do it on purpose!”

Xia Yue was the older sister, and she shouted: “Then shut up!”

Mi Fei was standing the closest to them. Seeing Xia Yue walking away and leaving Xia Xing behind, he went over to talk to her: “What happened? Why did you two start arguing? Why don’t you come with us first to calm down a bit.”

Xia Xing ungratefully rejected his goodwill: “It’s none of your business!”

Mi Fei felt a little embarrassed.

Lu Chengan shouted from where he was standing: “Xiao Mi.”

The two sisters quarreled daily, and it wasn’t anything new.

The two quarreling every second on shows was normal. Whoever tries to step in would be unluckily caught in the crossfire.

Originally, the two sisters didn’t choose Set C’s cheap airplane tickets. After weighing the pros and cons, they chose set B. Their initial funds were originally lagging behind, but they didn’t want to be the last group to arrive at Surilan. Unexpectedly, Xia Xing somehow missed the plane so they had to quickly buy Set C’s tickets, spending twice the amount of money to rush to Surilan.

With these reasons, everyone could understand why they quarreled.

The following cameraman continually took close-up shots of Xia Xing. Her tears were falling drop by drop and she didn’t move, allowing the camera to film her.

Xia Yue: “You’re still not coming!”

Xia Xing wiped her tears away forcefully and obediently walked over: “No need to rush!”

Xu Tangzhou: “......” It’s truly a mysterious way of getting along. Are families that have siblings all like this?

Ling Che stood next to him, with a full view of his shocked expression: “Hey.”

Xu Tangzhou looked back: “Hm?”

Ling Che lowered his voice and spoke in a tone only the two of them could hear: “Next time you blush, don’t just stupidly stand there and let others film you. Understood?”

Xu Tangzhou’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, ‘OMG, Ling Che actually saw the extra clips.’

Fu*k!

His face promptly flushed red. Xu Tangzhou pulled at his T-shirt collar and hid half of his face under the collar: “Understood!”

At this moment, the directing team notified everyone that they could begin filming.

They have already met the host for the overseas scenes yesterday, and they’ve even eaten a meal together. He was a Beta called Xiao Bai. He has hosted many popular overseas variety shows in the past few years, and they say that he’s Qi Mu’s apprentice.

Xiao Bai first said a few casual remarks, not forgetting to thank the financial backer, Bao Fenni, for the exclusive sponsorship. His humor while hosting was unique.

“[Our Perfect Trip] gives you unique experiences. Please don’t say we like to dig pits, because we never have the roads fixed.”* Xiao Bai stood beside the guests, “The three groups have successfully arrived at Surilan. First thing first, welcome everyone!”

TN: Digging pits is essentially to cause needless trouble for someone. Look, some things rhyme, and I’ll try my best to preserve the rhyme without sacrificing meaning, but I’ll explain underneath if it doesn’t work

Some scattered applause sounded.

Ling Che and Lu Chengan were too lazy to applaud, and Xia Xing was still sulky. Only Xu Tangzhou and Mi Fei politely clapped a few times.

With this kind of program group, they couldn’t give them any face -- everyone was thinking that not only did they spend a huge sum on daily necessities such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, and shower gels, but they also had to go to the convenience store early in the morning to buy drinking water.

Xiao Bai was spouting nonsense: “Wow, everyone seems so enthusiastic!”

Everyone: “......”

Deafening silence.

Xiao Bai said with emotion: “A trip is to find the most excellent starting point of life, and it’s the process to find the meaning of life! After coming to Surilan, you’ll definitely say that Surilan is one of the most popular tourist locations in the world! In the next few days, we will explore this beautiful island with the guests and enjoy our perfect trip! So, where is the first checkpoint we are going to today?”

After speaking, Xiao Bai tore open the part that said Day 1 on the itinerary card. On it read: Mermaid Reef.

He began to blabber an introduction.

Xu Tangzhou was originally carefully listening to the host, but he suddenly heard Lu Chengan speak next to him towards Ling Che: “Che Shen, how do you plan to get there?”

Xu Tangzhou admired Lu Chengan a bit.

Even after being tricked by Ling Che once, he still dares to trust* Ling Che.

TN: Yea, it’s another typo in the web ver that’s caught by the simplified… The traditional ver says “he still dares to find Ling Che.”~

Ling Che said: “How does Senior Lu plan on going there?”

Lu Chengan said: “I heard that you and Zhouzhou went to the convenience store last night and spent quite a bit of money. Pheromone blockers are fairly expensive, your group should be somewhat conservative.”

Ling Che spoke calmly: “It’s not too much. After all, we don’t need to pay rent for our house.”

Lu Chengan: “......”

Every day, Senior Lu was called out by Ling Che and doubting life.

Xu Tangzhou couldn’t hold himself back. He earnestly fanned the flames: “Senior Lu, how much is the daily rent for your house again?”

All of the guests were curious about each other’s finances. They would calculate how much money the others had left, in order to win. They would be as vague as possible about their own expenses, never telling others.

Lu Chengan said: “Little friend*, you’ve picked up some bad habits from being with Ling Che.”

TN: I’m making a literal tl here, although it’s usually used to refer to little children. It’s kinda like saying “little fella.”

Xu Tangzhou was the youngest one among the guests, so there was no problem with Lu Chengan calling him a little friend.

But as soon as Lu Chengan finished speaking, he noticed that Ling Che was coldly glaring at him. At that moment, Lu Chengan felt a bit of pressure. He put his arms around his own boyfriend and told Mi Fei: “Baby, they’re very bad. In the future, don’t play with Zaizai.”

“Ok.” Mi Fei hugged Lu Chengan’s waist and silently waved goodbye to Xu Tangzhou.

It truly exemplified the phrase that lovers are like bros, while friends are like clothes.

TN: So that phrase is an parody of the chinese phrase that literally translates to “bro are bros, while the wife are like clothes” (easily replaceable), which is equivalent to the english expression “bros before hoes”...

They were now competitors.

“Once you arrive at the Mermaid Reef tourist spot, you’ll need to take the most beautiful picture for the other person and you’ll complete today’s task!!” Xiao Bai told them the task, “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

The Mermaid Reef was around 10 kilometers away, and there was no bus to take them there. They could only choose to either take a taxi or walk.

The island was relatively flat, and Xu Tangzhou had already earnestly prepared a strategy. He told Ling Che: “We could ride a two-person bicycle and we would be able to arrive at the Mermaid Reef in around an hour. We can rent a two-person bicycle at the second intersection near the convenience store. According to the guide, everyone could ride around for fun, but no one has ever ridden the bike that far before. There’s no way the others would’ve thought that this was possible.”

When they arrived at the bike rental, all of the guests were already there.

The two: “......”

Wasn’t there no way they would’ve thought of it?

“Thanks Zhouzhou!” Mi Fei and Lu Chengan already put on their sunglasses and got on the bike, “Your suggestion is really good!”

Xia Yue and Xia Xing seemed to have reconciled. At least they’re not quarreling anymore.

Xia Yue said: “I agree! Next time we won’t go wrong if we follow Zhouzhou!”

After Xu Tangzhou finished paying, he was extremely speechless: “How could you eavesdrop on us! This is plagiarism and I want to collect fees for it!”

Xia Xing said happily: “You two were standing so far apart and talking, I could hear you even by the seaside! There’s no need to eavesdrop!”

That was the truth.

Xu Tangzhou kept standing far away from Ling Che today. They were even standing a person’s distance apart, as if he was purposefully avoiding.

After the others left, Ling Che coughed lightly: “Let’s go. You ride in front.”

Although gland patches and pheromone blockers could be bought at the convenience store, the medication Qiu Yin prescribed couldn’t be bought.

The medication Xu Tangzhou had to adjust his pheromone sensitivity was gone, and right now, he didn’t know his body’s situation at all. He kept feeling as if he would begin nosebleeding from Ling Che’s scent.

“I’ll ride behind.” Xu Tangzhou hesitantly said.

If he rode behind, even if something happened, Ling Che wouldn’t see it.

Ling Che was too lazy to speak more to him. He preemptively sat at the back seat: “With me blocking the view, can you still see the road?”

Xu Tangzhou who was half a head shorter than the other person: “......”

Alphas are amazing!

As soon as he sat on the front seat, Ling Che spoke out from behind him.

His voice was low and pleasant.

The sound coming from behind his ear was as if he was being whispered to from within the other’s embrace. The distance and the atmosphere were intimate.

“No need to work too hard. Just leave everything to me.”

Ling Che spoke.

It was an extremely normal sentence, and Ling Che still had a lazy and indifferent tone.

Xu Tangzhou’s hands trembled. Before he even started pedaling, his waist was already soft.

___________

The author has something to say:

Ling Che: I could look at him from behind.

Xu Tangzhou: He seemed to be looking at me QAQ

TN: Chinese terms as pinyin in this chapter

“Shen” (literally: god, but mainly for a highly respected and revered figure)

"Zaizai" (Literally: child, but it's mainly used as a nickname for kids)

"Xiao" in front of names means little, but it's a way of addressing people you care about who are younger.
"En": Sound of agreement, kept in pinyin