When Yu Qian heard that they were going to eat, her gossiping heart was instantly thrown to the back of her mind.
Xi Yu got up and stretched a little, then walked over to Lu Zhixing and touched his clothes.
Lu Zhixing stood still, letting him touch him, his gaze following Xi Yu. He was unbelievably obedient.
Seeing that his clothes were almost dry, Xi Yu asked, “Are you cold?”
Lu Zhixing shook his head and spread out his hand. “Feel it. It’s warm.”
…………………………
Xi Yu touched it. It wasn’t exactly warm, but he had held Lu Zhixing’s hand several times, and Lu Zhixing had always been this temperature.
It wasn’t particularly cold, and it was normal.
【The interaction between Xi Yu and Brother Lu is…why does it feel like an old married couple?】
【I completely forgot Brother Lu’s clothes were still wet. Xi Yu kept paying attention to it the whole time. Major bonus points!!!】
【Brother Lu: Touch me!!!】
【President Shen’s divine love story!!! Falling in love after getting married is the best!!!】
【So honest. He even specifically emphasized that they fell in love after getting married. So they had no feelings before that and it was a business marriage?! Hahahahaha】
【A little birdie told me that President Shen’s wife once eloped with a punk and even made a fuss about breaking off the engagement. Then, somehow, she came back and married President Shen.】
【Upstairs, shut up before you get a lawyer’s letter.】
【President Shen said in an interview that he really liked the bracelet from the final challenge and hoped everyone wouldn’t pay too much attention to his private life. You’re still spreading rumors here. Get lost!】
【Shushu fell down, and Luo Chengan hurried over to help him. Those body movements were completely natural. He really doesn’t seem like someone who would bully others.】
【He’s pretending. Just trying to attract attention. That civet cat has been performing all morning. He probably came on the variety show to clear his name.】
【Their food looks so good. I just ate, and now I’m hungry again…】
Luo Chengan was also so hungry that his stomach felt like it was stuck to his back. He wolfed down his food and couldn’t help praising it after two bites. “It’s so delicious! This chicken, and these greens Brother Lu cooked—they’re amazing!!!!”
Seeing how shamelessly he was eating, Xi Yu rolled his eyes, picked up a piece of greens, and put it into his mouth. After chewing twice, however, he suddenly slowed down.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Zhixing asked. “Doesn’t it taste good?”
Xi Yu looked at Lu Zhixing with a very calm, almost scrutinizing gaze, but it soon returned to normal. He shook his head. “It’s good. I didn’t expect Actor Lu to be pretty good at cooking.”
“When I was studying abroad before, I couldn’t get used to Western food, so I cooked for myself.”
Xi Yu lowered his eyes and didn’t say anything more.
Everyone was hungry. After the dishes were completely wiped out, they continued deeper into the forest.
Now that they were certain the markings corresponded to shapes, the group kept searching for somewhere resembling a triangle.
Lu Zhixing had previously said that it was a mountain, but even after the sky grew dark, they still hadn’t seen any mountains inside.
Luo Chengan was puzzled. “Could we have gotten it wrong?”
It was impossible for them to be wrong. Xi Yu secretly calculated with his fingers. It was somewhere around here.
Yu Qian was a girl and had less stamina. She could no longer walk and waved her hand. “Can we take a break?”
It was already after six. The sky outside was still faintly bright, but it was already very dark inside the Lost Forest, almost impossible to see anything. Fortunately, among the supplies they had received at noon, there were several flashlights besides the food.
The production team probably knew they wouldn’t find the place so quickly, which was why they had prepared them.
Luo Shujing’s health was poor, and he had wanted to stop for a long time. But with the drone filming him, he hadn’t been able to say anything. Seeing Yu Qian bring it up, he immediately chimed in considerately, “Let’s rest for a while and take care of the girl.”
Shen Linchuan had no objection. It was already dark anyway, so finding it a little earlier or later didn’t matter.
Xi Yu paused for a moment. “You stay here. I’ll look around a little more.”
“Then I’ll go with you.”
“No!”
Lu Zhixing and Luo Chengan spoke at exactly the same time.
Luo Chengan didn’t want Xi Yu to go alone. It was too dangerous. The Lost Forest was so large, and there might even be wild animals. Even though he knew Xi Yu could handle them, he still wasn’t at ease.
Besides, without Xi Yu there, he didn’t dare stay alone with Luo Shujing.
Lu Zhixing, however, didn’t stop him. He took off his backpack and handed it to Luo Chengan. “Watch the bag. I’ll go with him. The sooner we find it, the sooner we can rest.”
Seeing this, Yu Qian felt a little embarrassed, but it was indeed better to find the tent as soon as possible. “Then let’s not rest. Let’s push through.”
Xi Yu shook his head and was just about to speak.
Luo Shujing said gently, “Qianqian is a girl, after all. Xiao Yu, please be considerate. It’s not like we’re in such a rush for this little bit of time, okay?”
【There it is, there it is! Xi Yu slipped up. Can he seriously stop being so misogynistic? Girls naturally have less stamina than men. Beauty Yu hasn’t fallen behind even once all day. Her face is already pale, and he still won’t let her rest?】
【Xi Yu really is a little…hard to describe. Is he trying to establish a tough, unyielding little-white-flower persona? He’s overdoing it.】
【Shushu is such a gentleman. Being his fan is my good fortune!】
【I really can’t stand this kind of thing. How long could a break possibly take? Yu Qian is already embarrassed to death, and he’s being so aggressive.】
【Exactly. He keeps insisting on going, as if Yu Qian is the one holding everyone back.】
Xi Yu was indeed a little anxious. Without sunlight, the demonic aura was growing stronger and stronger, and the possibility of Lu Zhixing being affected was also increasing.
Besides, the temperature was getting lower and lower. It was probably only in the teens now, and once night fell, it would likely drop below ten degrees.
Everyone had dressed rather lightly when they came in. When organizing their clothes, Xi Yu had glanced over and seen that no one had brought anything thick, and there wasn’t enough room in their bags either.
Xi Yu frowned and looked at Luo Shujing. After pausing for two seconds, he suddenly realized.
“I almost forgot. You’ve never slept under a flyover.”
Yu Qian was puzzled. “Huh?”
Xi Yu explained, “Flyovers are damp because they’re near water, and they get very cold at night. The Lost Forest will be even colder than underneath a flyover. The temperature drops extremely low at night. Everyone hasn’t eaten dinner yet, so their body heat is constantly being lost. If we can’t find the tent and eat something before the temperature drops further, it’ll be very easy to become hypothermic.”
Xi Yu smiled. “When I slept under the flyover, I always covered myself with a thick blanket at night.”
In reality, he couldn’t have needed a blanket at all. He had spiritual energy, so it didn’t matter how cold it was beneath the flyover.
He had been about to explain, but Luo Shujing had started arguing with him.
Wasn’t he fond of stepping on others to establish his own persona?
Then Xi Yu would step on him a little, too.
He could tell that Luo Shujing needed rest even more than Yu Qian did.
The backlash from the Life-Exchange Lock wasn’t something that would recover in a short while.
Luo Shujing wasn’t speaking up for Yu Qian. He was speaking up for himself.
After Xi Yu finished speaking, before anyone could react, he continued walking. After taking two steps, he came back, still worried, and reminded them, “While you’re sitting, shake your legs a little. Don’t let your body temperature drop.”
Luo Chengan watched Xi Yu’s retreating back, tears already welling up in his eyes. “Brother…sob, sob, sob… I want to go with you!”
His brother had never told him any of this.
Although he knew Xi Yu had always been living beneath the flyover, he had never experienced it himself and couldn’t imagine what it was like. Xi Yu never mentioned it either, so he had almost forgotten that his brother had had such a miserable life.
Luo Chengan wailed as he tried to rush toward Xi Yu, but Lu Zhixing stopped him.
“Don’t your legs hurt?”
Luo Chengan: ????
“They don’t hurt!!!!” Luo Chengan had just said that when a sudden ache shot through his leg. “My leg really hurts! Why did I get a cramp?”
Shen Linchuan hurriedly supported Luo Chengan. “How about I go?”
“No need. Two people are enough.”
After saying that, Lu Zhixing turned around and caught up with Xi Yu.
Luo Chengan was helped over beside Luo Shujing while crying out in pain. He was both physically and emotionally miserable.
His leg hurt, and his heart ached for Xi Yu. That heartache even overwhelmed his fear of Luo Shujing. Rubbing his cramped leg and sniffing back sobs, he spoke to Yu Qian.
“Sis Qianqian, my brother wasn’t trying to stop you from resting. He was worried that we’d be in danger at night.”
…………………….
Yu Qian shook her legs. She had felt cold the moment she stopped earlier, but now that she was shaking her legs, she felt much more comfortable. She felt a little guilty.
She had been somewhat embarrassed at first, but after Xi Yu explained it, she finally understood. Xi Yu had been thinking of them.
“I’m sorry. I understand now.”
Luo Chengan then looked at Luo Shujing, tears hanging in his eyes.
“Brother Jing, my brother is really, really good. I took his identity for so many years, and he has never once blamed me. Next time…next time, could you please not misunderstand him? He’ll be very hurt.”
The expression on Luo Shujing’s face stiffened. He awkwardly explained, “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m sorry. Don’t blame me.”
Luo Chengan sniffed. “I don’t blame you. I just feel sorry for my brother.”
【Oh my god, isn’t sleeping under a flyover basically being a beggar?】
【Even someone as poor as me didn’t realize it would be cold at night, because I’ve never been poor enough to sleep under a flyover.】
【I sometimes go hiking with friends. It really is cold at night. You absolutely have to pay attention to keeping warm. There was even news about someone getting into trouble in the mountains not long ago. Hypothermia really can happen.】
【Xi Yu is so pitiful, but I feel like he has an incredibly strong core. If I were surrounded by all these rich and powerful people, even if I were the real young master, I’d feel inferior. But Xi Yu talks about it so calmly.】
【This round with Luo Shujing is really… Luo Chengan understands Xi Yu so well. Isn’t Luo Shujing his cousin? Why does it feel like he’s always taking the outsider’s side? Xi Yu didn’t even explain anything at the time, yet Luo Shujing jumped out and accused him of being inconsiderate… Why does this feel a little…】
【Luo Chengan has always bullied Shushu. These two brothers have such a good relationship, so who knows whether they were isolating Shushu together? And Xi Yu was the one who didn’t explain things clearly in the first place.】
【But Luo Chengan occupied his rightful identity for so many years, and Xi Yu doesn’t seem to resent him at all. You can even tell that he indulges Luo Chengan. If Xi Yu doesn’t hate Luo Chengan, someone like him probably wouldn’t isolate someone else either…】
【Just now, I saw Beauty Yu say they should push through, and Xi Yu shook his head and refused. He was probably about to explain, but Luo Shujing didn’t give him the chance.】
【Enough! I’m heartbroken for Xi Yu. He should have been the little young master everyone doted on, but instead… sob, sob, sob…】
“We found it!”
Xi Yu, completely unaware that everyone was feeling sorry for him, pointed toward a small hill in the distance.
A triangle. It wasn’t a mountain range—it was a mound, and there was an opening inside it.
Xi Yu was just about to stick his head inside when Lu Zhixing grabbed him. His eyelashes trembled.
“I’m a little scared.”
“Don’t be afraid. That’s an order!”