Qin Nuan went along a small path covered with small stones and started going up the mountain. It didn’t take long for her to reach the bamboo forest.
The entire mountain face was covered in jade bamboo, and they swayed gently in the breeze. Deep within the bamboo forest was a little house, and there was a sign under its roof. The words ‘Xiaoxiang Pavilion’ was written in large characters on the sign.
Qin Nuan quickly made her way over and pushed the door open. She found herself face to face with a double-storied bamboo building with a courtyard. The stone table and wooden pavilion in the courtyard looked even more quiet and peaceful within this bamboo forest.
The director was sitting in the courtyard and watching the screens. When he saw that Qin Nuan had arrived, he grabbed the loudhailer. “Congratulations, Qin Nuan, for being the first person to find this place! I want to ask you a question. How did you find out where Xiaoxiang Pavilion is located so quickly?”
Qin Nuan smiled at the camera and said, “The program staff gave us a hint that we’re looking for a place called Xiaoxiang Pavilion within Yunzhong Village. When I heard that name, the first thing I thought of was the place where Lin Daiyu stayed in the book Dream of the Red Chamber. I remember a line from the book that read: Look at those slim and beautiful leaves as they rustle like the sound of a bamboo flute. Surrounded by jade bamboo is the Xiaoxiang Pavilion. So I decided to try searching for this place within the bamboo forest, and it really turned out to be here.”
“If you can remember the words of the Four Great Classical Novels, you’d have no problems finding the place to stay.” The director applauded her. “Congratulations, Qin Nuan. You can go in and pick the room you like best!”
After hearing this, Qin Nuan walked out of the courtyard. The two-storied bamboo building had four rooms – two single rooms and two twin rooms, which were all on the second story. Qin Nuan looked at all four rooms and saw that all the rooms’ furnishings were simple and basic, and there wasn’t much of a difference between the rooms. The biggest difference was that the single rooms had an attached bathroom and toilet, while the twin rooms didn’t.
Since she was the first one to arrive, Qin Nuan chose a single room.
She had come early and figured that the rest wouldn’t arrive in at least another hour or more, so she went downstairs to find a broom and mop, then cleaned up the four rooms.
More than half an hour later, she finally heard the sound of someone else arriving.
Qin Nuan put the mop down, washed her hands, and walked to the courtyard. The second person to arrive was actually Gu Zhengxi.
He was panting heavily after running all the way here, only to find that someone had arrived at the courtyard before him. Gu Zhengxi was very surprised and said in a loud voice, “Little sister, how are you so fast?! Did the program staff give you clues?”
Qin Nuan folded her arms and stood under the roof as she looked in annoyance at Gu Zhengxi and retorted, “You’re actually the second person to arrive. I can’t help but suspect that the program crew had really given out clues.”
After she said that, Gu Zhengxi had an awkward look in his eyes as they lost focus, then he started saying loudly that he would grab himself a room and ran upstairs. The cameraman who followed him on his journey couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
Qin Nuan was very observant and immediately ran over to the cameraman. “You mean…you really gave him clues?”
“We didn’t give any clues. But Gu Zhengxi is like a bug in a computer program. He doesn’t operate the way the crew expects him to in the first place.”
The cameraman laughed helplessly and put the camera in front of Qin Nuan to show her the footage of how Gu Zhengxi managed to find this place.
Qin Nuan watched as Gu Zhengxi relied on his incredible ability to talk one’s ear off and kept harassing some of the villagers nonstop as he asked them repeatedly about where Xiaoxiang Pavilion was while even rolling on the floor and making things difficult for them. He looked like he would kill himself if they didn’t tell him where it was, and he refused to stop talking or leave them alone until they gave him the location. She finally understood why he was considered a bug in the program.
She started to feel bad for this season’s director.
Gu Zhengxi had run upstairs to pick a single room, then came jumping down the stairs excitedly after that.
Just then, Hao Bai and Zhou Qingshu walked into the courtyard at the same time.
After seeing that they were left with no choice but the two twin rooms, Hao Bai sighed deeply. “I’m an old regular on this show, but I lost to two newbies! I’ve really embarrassed the crew!” He then proceeded to choose one of the twin rooms.
Zhou Qingshu stood to one side and looked pretty nasty. He didn’t choose a room and didn’t say anything.
By this time, Su Wanyu had also arrived. When she heard that only one twin room was left, she didn’t even go upstairs to look at it and told the director right away, “I’m sorry, I’m used to staying by myself, and I can’t stay in a twin room.”