CHAPTER 28: Burning

Gu Sheng wanted to say, why is it so warm inside the sleeping bag, but Wen Heng’s body temperature feels like ice?

But it was the middle of the night, and she was too lazy to think about it, soon falling asleep again.

However, to the shipping fans’ ears, this sentence carried a whole different flavor!

A big fan happened to be watching the live stream at that moment and got inspired, staying up all night creating a fanfic. So the next morning, the fans who woke up to enjoy their sugar feast all read the piece together—

That night, he stared at her face in the pitch-black tent. Ambiguous feelings circled around them, the atmosphere gradually heating up. Unable to hold back, he reached out and unzipped her sleeping bag.

“I… am afraid of the dark.” He gave a lame excuse for his desire, nervously waiting for her response.

She was silent for a moment, then asked: “How come you look like a corpse?” motionless.

…

So, everything was left unsaid.

The night was dense, the waves of emotion surging.

Fans who just woke up immediately snapped to attention and then exploded—

“Holy crap, is this real?!”

“The people who didn’t sleep last night confirm the dialogue is real, Luosi just did some artistic polishing.”

“Ahhh why did I even sleep! I’m dead from shipping this!”

“Help! Help! Wen Sheng is sexy without being flirtatious!!”

This masterpiece became the trending highlight post of the day, everyone had a copy, shared and liked a million times.

The fans, using their powerful imaginations, got completely carried away again!

….

Meanwhile,

In an office in a certain city—

Fu Chonghe pushed open the door and walked in, seeing Gu Song still holding the same pose as last night, staring at the computer screen at something unknown.

He had stayed up all night, his eyes red, several cigarette butts scattered on the floor by his feet.

Fu Chonghe was a little worried: “Brother Song, is our project really this hard?”

Still worried about the fifty million yuan we spent? If you’re that broke, stop showing off in front of your sister, my dear brother!

Gu Song ignored him.

He watched Gu Sheng waking up peacefully on the live stream, not being taken advantage of, and only then closed the webpage.

Gu Song originally had zero interest in watching that lame dating show, because he knew that silly Gu Sheng would definitely get scolded to death if she went on it. But now seeing her career actually picking up, and she seemed to be doing well, he found some free time to watch the latest episode after work.

And what he saw was something else.

—Why was Wen Heng pulling his sister’s sleeping bag late at night? Definitely not with good intentions.

They were only in an arranged marriage agreement. Wen Heng, although handsome, had a cold, coffin-lid face, was arrogant to the extreme, and looked down on Gu Sheng. But his sister was love-crazy, and both families intended to use this marriage for business development.

Now Gu Sheng had finally passed her rebellious phase and became normal. Once the contract was up and they divorced, she could start fresh and find a husband who truly loved and cared for her! After all, they didn’t even have a wedding—

But why was Wen Heng, this frozen man, acting strange?

Gu Song bit on his cigarette, his proud and handsome face showing a trace of displeasure.

After finishing this busy period, he’d have to go back to A City and check things out.

….

Gu Sheng woke up in the early morning with Wen Heng’s hand still holding hers.

The corpse-like temperature from last night had finally returned to a normal human warmth.

Wen Heng gently opened his eyes.

—“Countdown five hours ended. Pain relief successful.”

Wen Heng sighed in relief, but not completely.

From what he understood about this system so far, the next few days of filming would definitely not be easy. Most likely, other strange pains were still waiting for him.

Wen Heng was close to becoming completely calm inside.

“Additionally, influenced by your strong survival will, we have secured you a [Transfer Card]. You may choose to use it at any time.”

Wen Heng lowered his eyes and squeezed Gu Sheng’s hand.

The transfer card was indeed very useful, but rare. Unless the pain was as insane as last time, he probably wouldn’t transfer it. As for who to transfer it to next time, that still needed consideration.

One thing was for sure: it couldn’t be transferred to the person in front of him.

Gu Sheng’s long hair was messy from sleep, her expression still a little dazed. Her system notification sounded as well.

“Congratulations, Host, 27th pain relief successful √”

“Random reward dropped: [Beautiful state even in adversity]!”

Gu Sheng: ?

She reacted two seconds after waking up, then angrily said to the system, “What’s this? Can you give me some practical rewards??”

Even a Popeye would be fine—so useful for wilderness survival! What good is just looking beautiful?

The system earnestly explained its usefulness: “With this reward, even while sweating, dusty, eating poorly, and sleeping badly in the wild, your beauty will not diminish at all, providing the best visual experience for the audience!”

Gu Sheng reluctantly accepted: …Okay then.

Fans looked happy, so it was somewhat useful, better than nothing.

She rubbed her eyes, then remembered, “Wait, what pain did you relieve?”

Had she been asleep and missed the system prompt?

“Host, it was the 27th pain of love: Bone-chilling cold.”

Gu Sheng: …Wow.

Now she understood.

No wonder Wen Heng insisted on holding her last night.

She sat in the sleeping bag rubbing her eyes, talking to the system, but to others, she just looked half-asleep and distracted.

Yesterday, the cool vibe from wearing the combat uniform had somehow turned into an unconscious cuteness, and Wen Heng couldn’t help but pinch her hand again.

Only then did Gu Sheng react and shook him off: “Why are you pinching me?”

Wen Heng wanted to laugh but held it back, pulling his hand away. “Nothing. Get up.”

— A new day’s effort was about to begin.

The two packed up their sleeping bags and stepped out of the tent, where the crew was already crouched with cameras ready.

As soon as they appeared, online viewers surged, and the mood on screen got noticeably flirty.

[Ahem ahem—]

[Wen Ge and Sheng Jie, did you sleep~ well~!?]

[After reading the story, everything I see now feels wrong!]

[Sisters, me too!!]

But the two looked perfectly straightforward. Using the last half-bucket of water from yesterday, they washed up and then headed down the mountain.

The couples gathered again in the forest.

They came from different directions—some from the village chief’s house, some from the back mountain—but the most eye-catching were the two coming down the mountain.

After sleeping on the mountain all night, Gu Sheng’s face showed no signs of exhaustion; instead, she looked radiant and healthy. Wen Heng, on the other hand, seemed a bit gloomy and cold, as if he hadn’t rested well.

After gathering, everyone couldn’t help but share their impressions of their accommodations.

Song Qingzhi held Qin Tian’s hand and said, “The villagers were actually very warm. Tian and I were afraid of disturbing their rest, so we slept very well!”

Of course, they hadn’t stopped showing affection last night either, still fulfilling the show’s quota for couple moments.

Nearby, Yu Shanbei joined in: “Uncle Wang, the forest guard, is great too! Last night, Yiyi and I turned his livestream platform for our two little idols into a full-on dance party. Uncle Wang was their audience, and it was a lot of fun.”

Everyone talked about the advantages of their rooms until Wang He calmly said, “The village chief’s house is great, you can take hot showers.”

That comment instantly killed the mood. Everyone fell silent.

… Damn, so jealous.

Gu Sheng remembered their pitiful half-bucket of water from last night and instantly felt fired up—today she had to work hard!

No matter if they got the village chief’s house or not, at least a place with a roof!

The director saw that everyone’s mood was about right and started cueing today’s schedule.

“—The Wild Supply Grab! The forest behind you holds the supplies you’ll need for the whole day. But be careful, supplies are limited! So every couple is your competition! The food and supplies you find in the grass and on the ground can be exchanged with the crew for cooked meals. So—whether you eat meat or dirt depends on your efforts~”

“Also, pay attention! How well you grab supplies today will directly affect tonight’s room assignments~!”

Knowing how sly the production team was, today was definitely going to be exhausting for them—just enough to bring out the drama.

The theme this round was really “shared hardship,” seeing how couples and lovers would face each other under fatigue, hunger, and difficulty.

—“So, couples, are you ready for today’s grab battle?”

Qin Tian glanced at petite Song Qingzhi and promised tenderly, “I won’t let you struggle, trust me, leave everything to me!”

Song Qingzhi immediately felt proud and tried to hide her delight behind a moved expression: “I believe you, Tian Ge!”

Audience: [Aww, Qing Tian is always so sweet!]

Yu Shanbei wanted to say something romantic too, looking at Lu Yiyi: “Don’t worry, I won’t let you starve!”

Lu Yiyi: “If you can’t talk, just shut up!!”

Audience: [Hahaha, this mouth should just be donated!]

Although Wen Heng rarely spoke on the show, that didn’t mean he wasn’t listening.

At a moment like this, he could say something to Gu Sheng too. He lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then turned his head: “I—”

But Gu Sheng had already charged up the mountain.

Wearing her camouflage combat uniform, heroic and sharp: “Charge, friends! —”

Seeing that, everyone hurried to follow—supplies were limited!

Wen Heng: “…”

Okay.

His wife didn’t need declarations of love.

…

The four couples began searching in the forest.

The supply points were marked by flags, but with such a vast mountain full of trees and grass, they were still hard to find.

The cool morning quickly faded as the sun climbed higher.

The guests hadn’t eaten breakfast yet and were already complaining inside, having to climb the mountain.

Of course, no one complained out loud, especially since the crew behind them had to climb and carry cameras.

Gu Sheng and Wen Heng took the same path they went up last night. Since the crew had scouted it, there had to be supplies along the way.

Gu Sheng looked carefully. After a while, she suddenly shouted, “Over there, over there!”

Under a tree, a camouflage flag was planted—so well hidden you’d miss it if you weren’t paying attention.

[Screaming every day at the stupid crew! Who can see this!]

[Luckily Sheng Jie has good eyesight, hope it’s food, they haven’t eaten yet!]

[Milk! Bread! Anything, just get it!]

Gu Sheng ran over, pulled out the camo flag, and then dragged out a nylon waterproof bag from behind the tree.

She opened it—

A pair of binoculars.

Gu Sheng: “…?”

[It’s not food!]

[Ahhh, director, are you trying to starve my brother and sister!?]

Gu Sheng shook the binoculars and raised them to her eyes. She saw that the view was indeed much wider; she could already spot some small flags hundreds of meters away in the grass.

Nice!

She turned back and smiled at the camera, “This is useful. Finding flags will be easier now.”

She smiled, and the audience instantly cheered again: “Ahhh, awesome sister! Go, sister!”

At that moment, Wen Heng came over from the other side. What he found wasn’t food, but a military water bottle.

“No water,” Wen Heng shook it and asked Gu Sheng, “Thirsty?”

Gu Sheng raised her hand, brushed back some stray hair, and casually wiped sweat with her sleeve. “It’s okay, not really.”

Though she was clearly hungry and tired, surrounded by dust and debris on the mountain, her face showed no sign of it—her brows and eyes beautiful and bold, skin fair, lips full of vibrant red life.

Even with sweat, the smile at the corners of her mouth sparkled brightly, full of the lively energy of wild roses.

Wen Heng’s gaze fell on her face.

Maybe the sunlight was too strong, because he blinked for a moment.

[Wuwuwu why is this sister so beautiful?]

[This is the first time I feel someone can outshine Wen Heng’s godly looks]

[+1 to that, Wen God is a recognized god of faces, but Sister Sheng is even more stunning!]

Outside the scene, Chang Yan was closely monitoring the situation. Soon his work phone received several new business offers.

“Yes, Gu Sheng is the one I’m managing, right…”

“Oh, you want Gu Sheng to endorse sunscreen? Okay, we can discuss that first…”

On the surface, Chang Yan maintained the calm of a top agent, but inside he was shouting: My girl is too impressive! Just a few shots and she’s already bringing in business!!

This level—big stars in the industry don’t even have it!

He felt so proud!!!

The couple searched the mountain ridge for hours, slowly realizing that the higher they went, the more food there was.

Obviously, everyone knew supplies were scarce, and competition was getting fiercer. Gu Sheng had been to several spots, but all she found were small flags pulled out.

The pressure of competition hovered over everyone—it was a real matter of survival.

Gu Sheng kept holding up her binoculars, tired hands not lowering it. Finally, she spotted a small flag about to fall—bright red, the color of food!

Excited, Gu Sheng ran over, then pushed aside grass and started digging with a shovel she found along the way.

Dig, dig—the more she dug, the more showed underneath. It turned out to be a large package!

Gu Sheng happily opened the nylon bag—

“XX brand flour.”

She stared at the whole bag of flour for a few seconds, then decisively waved her hand and called Wen Heng:

“Wen Heng, there’s a bag of flour here!”

[Haha, can’t carry it? Just call the tool-man husband!]

[I’ll call it Sister Sheng’s cute act! Now that I think about it, Sister Sheng’s never really acted spoiled toward Wen Heng, right?]

[No need to act spoiled at all, look how Wen God still listens to his wife’s orders, sob sob]

Wen Heng quickly came over, pulled the whole bag of flour out, shook off the dirt on top, then swung it up and slung it over his shoulder.

Gu Sheng blinked.

Young and able-bodied labor power, so good.

Wen Heng had been walking most of the day, but carrying a bag of flour didn’t seem to tire him. He naturally helped Gu Sheng to her feet and asked, “Going to exchange supplies?”

Gu Sheng nodded.

They could only exchange the flour for finished products with the production team—there was no way they could make dough themselves.

Before leaving, she hung the little red flag on a branch, making it very visible—anyone within hundreds of meters could see it.

—She had just been tricked by other contestants’ empty promises once, so now she jumped into the fierce competition all at once.

Gu Sheng clapped her hands, “Let’s go!”