RSDH CH14

The journey from Shanghai to Meishan took nearly three hours.

After getting off the plane, the production team went directly to the port to take a ferry.

Meishan was located by the sea, surrounded by nearly a hundred islands, big and small. As a holy land for tourism, visitors came in an endless stream all year round.

However, All the Way With You deliberately avoided popular spots, choosing a rarely visited, unpopular island. Even while waiting for the boat, the station was deserted.

At noon, everyone boarded the cruise ship.

The production team prepared lunch in the dining room—boxed meals, a bit heavy on oil and salt.

Duan Xingye was always picky about food, but he wasn’t pretentious when working. He wiped the greasy table in front of him multiple times and opened a pair of disposable chopsticks.

However, before he could take two bites, waves suddenly rose on the sea, and the ship lurched.

It wasn’t obvious at first, but as the waves came one after another, the speed at which Duan Xingye moved his chopsticks slowed noticeably.

Finally, a particularly fierce wave hit, tossing the ship high before dropping it down.

Duan Xingye’s face turned pale instantly. His internal organs felt like they were crowded together in free fall, only his stomach churning acid upwards.

He pursed his lips tight, pulled a paper bag from the side, and got up to leave.

Bullet comments:

“Teacher Duan gets seasick?”

“Seasickness is really uncomfortable. Heart aches for him, pat pat.”

Duan Xingye stood by the railing on the deck and pulled off his microphone to avoid the sound of vomiting being heard in the livestream.

Just as he gagged a few mouthfuls of acid into the bag, someone stood beside him.

It was Cheng Duzhou, holding a bottle of mineral water and fishing tissues out of his pants pocket.

Duan Xingye, face pale, said, “I’m fine, you go inside.”

Cheng Duzhou unscrewed the bottle cap. “Save your breath.”

Duan Xingye was displeased. “Don’t look at me…”

Before he could finish, he vomited.

Cheng Duzhou looked away, raising his hand to stroke his back.

…

When Duan Xingye finally settled down, he used half a bottle of mineral water to rinse his mouth.

Lunch was out of the question; even looking at it felt greasy and nauseating.

He sat on the bench on the deck and said seriously this time, “I’m fine now, you go inside.”

Cheng Duzhou sat down beside him instead and suggested, “Run with me when we get back. Your constitution needs strengthening.”

“My constitution is very good, thank you.” Duan Xingye blinked slowly and haughtily. “Seasickness has little to do with constitution.”

Cheng Duzhou lowered his eyes and said, “Who was the one crying tired after barely moving twice…”

“!” Duan Xingye’s eyes were sharp and his hands fast as he grabbed the microphone on Cheng Duzhou’s collar.

Bullet comments:

“Is it the kind of ‘moving twice’ where you sit on top and move yourself?”

“Don’t cover it up! Why is Teacher Duan still treating us like outsiders?”

“^_^ Looking forward to Cheng-Silly’s reaction next.”

Cheng Duzhou looked at Duan Xingye, his expression strange for a moment. Then he glanced at the microphone, thinking of the airport security check.

“…”

His jaw muscles clenched visibly, and a layer of red spread across his handsome face.

Duan Xingye had a complicated look in his eyes.

Objectively speaking, Cheng Duzhou was a man full of restrained gentlemanly demeanor. His bearing in front of the public was impeccable, and in private, he was self-disciplined and courteous… at most, he was a bit dirty when losing control in bed.

But now, he seemed to be on the verge of losing control at all times.

Duan Xingye vaguely felt that everything started to change from yesterday when he said that sentence, “I love you.”

An island appeared ahead. Standing on the deck, they could hear voices drifting from the port.

The cruise ship bypassed the island and continued forward, finally docking at a port on the other side.

On shore, besides Tao Ziyi and Huang Liang, two other celebrity couples had arrived a step earlier.

One was the TV Queen with fifteen years of marriage, Jiang Li.

The other was a young starlet newly married last year, Wu Enqi.

Among the guests, only Jiang Li knew Cheng Duzhou fairly well.

When Tao Ziyi smiled and walked towards Duan Xingye, Duan Xingye turned away, shielding his eyes with one hand as if looking into the distance elsewhere.

Tao Ziyi was embarrassed.

He didn’t expect that surrounded by cameras, Duan Xingye couldn’t even be bothered to pretend.

After everyone gathered, the production team requested they hand over their phones.

Everyone dragged their feet a bit.

Losing communication devices on a strange island was tantamount to throwing them into the wilderness.

Next, the production team handed out mission cards.

Jiang Li picked up a loudspeaker and read from it:

“Island Treasure Hunt.”

“Dear travelers, welcome to the beautiful island. Your luggage has been placed at tonight’s accommodation. Next, please follow the hints to find treasure chests and embark on your respective journeys.”

“Each treasure chest hides a part of the map, and the secret to opening the treasure chest lies in your tacit understanding. The final complete map will guide you to your happy nest. We will provide an initial password and travel funds. We hope you enjoy the journey.”

“However, although the scenery along the way is good, you must hurry. The order of arrival at the accommodation will determine your living conditions tonight.”

The bullet comments immediately launched a heated discussion:

“It’s competitive mode. The sleeping arrangements tonight definitely have tiers. Faster is better, charge!”

“Exciting. Which couple will be first? Betting on Jiang Li, this sister is very action-oriented.”

“Betting on Tao Ziyi and Huang Liang! They have super tacit understanding, opening chests will surely be fast.”

“Starting to feel sorry for my Teacher Duan. Accidentally exposed his clumsy beauty essence while packing luggage TAT”

“Suspect Teacher Duan won’t even be able to read the map.”

“President Cheng, put in some effort.”

On the other side of the island, far from the filming site.

The chief director was watching all the livestream monitors backstage.

The guests had already received their travel funds. Opening the envelope, there were thirty yuan inside.

“So stingy?” Jiang Li was confused. “Is this for a taxi?”

“Not enough for a taxi, right?” Wu Enqi suspected. “Is there a bus on the island?”

Her husband Wu Hao said, “This might not be transportation money. Maybe it’s for buying water on the road.”

“Meal money?”

“Guess, guess hard.” The chief director blew on his tea cup, leisurely saying, “None of you will ever guess that this money is for buying ferry tickets. Tonight’s accommodation isn’t on this island. The destination pointed to by the map is the South Port Ferry Station. By the time you get there, the money should be mostly used up.”

Then the guests would be dumbfounded. In the end, to cross the sea, they would have to use all their skills.

That would be entertaining.

The chief director lowered his eyes to drink tea, secretly pleased with himself.

The tasks he planned were truly interlinked and unexpected.

Duan Xingye looked at the three ten-yuan bills in the envelope and said out of nowhere, “This money is for buying ferry tickets.”

“Pfft—!” The chief director sprayed a mouthful of tea onto the control panel.

By the shore.

Cheng Duzhou repeated, “Ferry tickets?”

Duan Xingye put away the envelope. Under the sun, a clear light floated in his dark pupils:

“To use exactly thirty yuan in one afternoon—either you can rent a car on the island, or buy a ferry ticket. When we came just now, we passed the South Port, which has a ferry station. Where we are now, there are only fishing boats around, not a place for tourists to land. The production team deliberately used this as the starting point to design a north-south route running through the island, making it convenient to scatter mission points, ultimately guiding us to the south to buy tickets for another island.”

The chief director broke out in a cold sweat listening through the livestream.

Bullseye!

Cheng Duzhou raised an eyebrow, following the train of thought. “So even without finding the map, we can ask for directions to the South Port. Once there, we look for a boat with a thirty yuan ticket price. Can’t rule out other options at the same price, but the route with the highest round-trip frequency is the most likely because it saves everyone waiting time.”

The chief director’s heart pounded.

Are you two here to wreck the show?!

“Yes.” Duan Xingye, feeling lazy from the sun, tilted his head back and rubbed his neck. “According to the envisioned process, hiking around the island all afternoon, by the time we find the place, it’ll be dinner time. There’s no need for the production team to set up more tests. If they don’t send a car to pick us up, the accommodation must be by the sea, and there will be a conspicuous show logo placed as a guide.”

The chief director stood up straight!

Duan Xingye said, “Giving thirty yuan in advance is the biggest bug in this mission.”

Cheng Duzhou smiled. “Knowing the destination, I’ve suddenly lost interest.”

In the [Lü Ye Shu Huai] livestream room:

“Teacher Duan is the biggest bug in this mission! Saw through the ferry ticket money at a glance!”

” Lü Ye Shu Huai: It hasn’t even started, and it’s already over.”

“Both of their reasoning skills are so strong! Giving off that Double Alpha vibe!”

“I bet Lü Ye Shu Huai arrives first!”

“If the final destination really is South Port, the program team will be hilarious.”

The chief director, face red, grabbed the phone and said urgently, “All units attention, implement the backup plan now! Switch routes immediately! Move tonight’s accommodation over here!”

Tao Ziyi stood not far from Cheng Duzhou and Duan Xingye, listening to their conversation, deep in thought.

He walked back to Huang Liang, avoided the camera, and signaled Huang Liang with his eyes to follow him later.

Shortly after, the staff gave each group of guests a box with a combination lock and a letter.

Jiang Li read aloud:

“This is a mysterious code letter. Please decipher it as soon as possible to get your first map. If you cannot decipher it, you can ask the staff for a hint, but it will come with a twenty-minute silence time.”

The so-called “silence time” meant staying in place, unable to move, delaying the arrival at the finish line.

Unfolding the envelope, they saw six geometric shapes: triangles, circles, squares, etc.

However, the lines of most shapes were not closed, having different numbers of gaps. At first glance, there was no pattern.

Jiang Li was baffled. “What is this?”

The answer should be numbers, yet they gave a bunch of patterns.

Duan Xingye and Cheng Duzhou sat on a reef rock, already studying the paper.

Old Xu shouldered the camera, harboring malicious intentions. “Didn’t you two teachers already know the destination?”

Implying they could totally skip the decryption step and go directly to South Port for the boat.

“In the end, that was just our guess.” Duan Xingye looked up and said, “Think about it. Would a planner really be retarded enough to arrange a mission full of loopholes?”

Old Xu choked.

Chief Director: “…”

Felt mocked.

Cheng Duzhou: “Besides, we can’t rule out you guys being sore losers and changing the route immediately after guests see through it.”

Chief Director: “…”

Another knife to the heart.

Just as the guests settled down to solve the puzzle, Tao Ziyi and Huang Liang had already picked up their treasure chest and set off first, openly and confidently.

Just like those people in exam halls who flip their test papers loudly, they undoubtedly caused significant psychological pressure on the remaining people.

Jiang Li sighed, “So fast?”

Wu Enqi urged her husband anxiously, “Hurry up!”

Duan Xingye glanced at Tao Ziyi’s retreating back, withdrew his gaze, and continued studying the problem.

The audience was also actively decrypting, crying out that the program team was inhumane.

“Is it necessary to be this hard right at the start?”

“La la la ‘Yellow Peach’ CP has already set off. As expected of the strongest brains.”

“Bullshit! Tao Ziyi and his partner didn’t open the box at all. Who knows where they’re going.”

“Sent the picture to my Harvard classmate, even he didn’t solve it instantly, let alone these stars. Even with more time, they won’t solve it.”

“Just ask the staff for a hint quickly to save time.”

Right at this moment.

Suddenly.

Duan Xingye flicked the paper with his finger.

He picked up the box beside him and turned the six-digit combination.

Click!

The lock popped open.

First to get the map.

The audience was stunned:

“What? How did he do it?”

“Took one minute and ten seconds. Too strong…”

“Who said Teacher Duan is a clumsy beauty! Clearly, he’s the intelligence lead!”

_

Author’s Note:

Teacher Duan: Fans are too humble. Intelligence and Beauty lead.

President Cheng: …Heh.