“Alright, alright, we have enough meat. Let’s exchange the rest for supplies,” Nie Xingfei waved his hand and ran off.
Bai Jinyan walked over and said, “Lu Lu was asked to bring me some things. I’ll go down to get them later.”
“Go down the mountain?” Qiao Huaiyao nodded without asking what it was for. It was likely related to their work, and it seemed important.
Bai Jinyan said, “No need.”
Qiao Huaiyao replied, “Alright, then. Brother, I’ll go find the director to exchange for points.”
“Okay,” Bai Jinyan agreed.
They exchanged the remaining chickens for thirty points with the director. When Qiao Huaiyao returned, Bai Jinyan had already set up the fire. Two stoves were in use, one with skewers of whole chicken pieces and the other with a hot pot.
Qiao Huaiyao approached Bai Jinyan and asked, “Brother, is there anything I can help with?”
Bai Jinyan handed him a skewer of beef tripe, saying, “Can you taste this for me?”
The skewer had a light spice flavor without the heaviness of beef tallow. It tasted pretty good.
“It’s delicious,” Qiao Huaiyao said after taking a sip of lemonade. He then asked, “Why did you come back so quickly? Did you get everything?”
“Yes,” Bai Jinyan replied. “Skewers cook quickly, and these chicken pieces are almost ready. Let’s eat this first.”
By the time they returned in the afternoon, it was already late. After a busy day, they had dinner, and it was already dark. Fortunately, the farmhouse had provided some lanterns, so when they lit them, they could barely see.
While packing up, Qiao Huaiyao felt raindrops on the back of his hand. He paused and said, “Brother, it seems like it’s raining.”
Bai Jinyan took the things from his hand and said, “Let’s go inside the tent.”
The rain came quickly in this area. The initially clear sky turned overcast. It started with a few drops, but once they were inside the tent, they could hear that the rain was getting heavier. Their high-quality double-layered tent was fine for rain protection, but the sound of the raindrops hitting the tent was hard to ignore.
This unexpected drizzle had disrupted Qiao Huaiyao’s plans for stargazing in the evening. They had rented a tent with a small skylight, but now, they couldn’t even see their hands in front of their faces due to the rain.
Qiao Huaiyao checked the time on his phone; it was just past ten in the evening. It was too early to go to sleep, but with the rain, their stargazing plans were ruined.
He sighed softly, realizing he would have to wait for another opportunity. He put away the weather forecast and opened Weibo to complete some tasks. His alternate account had leveled up again.
When he opened Weibo, he noticed the name Zuo Tai trending with the abbreviation of a variety show behind it. Curious, he clicked on it.
A blogger had posted a video clip from today’s challenge, where Zuo Tai, unaware of the random live broadcast by the production team, had failed to catch a chicken and duck.
The caption read: [I don’t know if anyone watched the live broadcast, but Zuo Tai is really shameless. He couldn’t even catch a chicken, and he had the nerve to shout at his wife? This live broadcast is pure gold.]
Qiao Huaiyao understood that this was probably a spontaneous live broadcast set up by the production team today. Zuo Tai didn’t know about it, so he acted unreservedly… He probably felt embarrassed now.
Although it wasn’t Zuo Tai’s live stream, several guests had their names trending, but Zuo Tai’s discussion level was the highest, albeit not trending very high.
Qiao Huaiyao accidentally noticed Bai Jinyan’s name among the topics. He clicked on it and found that it had the highest discussion level among all the topics, even though it wasn’t trending very high. Netizens were discussing:
[In other live streams, there’s all sorts of fighting and unpleasantness. But when you switch to Bai Jinyan’s, it feels like you’re attending a wedding ceremony.]
[If you didn’t know better, you’d think Bai Jinyan was coming out in his live stream.]
[I’m just a passerby, and I accidentally entered Bai Jinyan’s live stream. Can someone tell me if it’s a wedding scene?]
[Sisters, take off the 10-year fan badge; I’ll believe you’re just passersby.]
[Can’t they just get married? The way they act is so sweet that even if they said they’ve been married for 10 years, I’d believe it.]
Qiao Huaiyao was flustered when he read these comments. He accidentally clicked on them and saw them; it was hard not to. He quickly backed out of the comments section, pretending he hadn’t seen anything.
“Brother,” Qiao Huaiyao said, feeling a little embarrassed.
Bai Jinyan reached out and ruffled his hair, smiling nonchalantly. “Watching the stars.”
Qiao Huaiyao had just seen the trending topics on Weibo, and now he couldn’t concentrate on stargazing. He tried to change the subject and asked, “What’s the purpose of this trip?”
Bai Jinyan lowered his voice and said, “We’re here to collect information about a new case.”
Qiao Huaiyao widened his eyes, suddenly intrigued. “A new case? Tell me more.”