CH 30.1

“It’s nothing.”

“I’m feeling good.”

“Practicing bel canto1Bel canto is a singing technique that originated in Italy in the 18th century and is commonly associated with opera singing..”

Shen Fu was sweating on his forehead and looked at Su Chengyang and the others, as if not speaking was an unforgivable offense.

After a while, Shen Fu spoke with a stiff tone, “Stand as punishment.”

Xiao Lu: “…”

The several staff members who had watched the whole process without speaking let out a low chuckle.

Su Chengyang remained calm throughout, and changed the subject when she saw Xiao Lu wearing the same equipment as them, “What are you doing here?”

Xiao Lu replied, “Oh, they invited me to help out.”

Su Chengyang nodded and asked again, “Where’s Manager Lin?”

“He went to drink with the director.”

“Oh.”

Five people walked to the seaside together. Xiao Lu shone a flashlight on a bump on the ground and said, “If I’m not mistaken, there’s a conch under this bump.”

Sun Chengyang thought for a moment and said seriously, “We didn’t eat conch for lunch.”

“Don’t you still have to buy other seasonings tomorrow? This is at least 20 to 30 pounds.”

Sun Chengyang nodded and said, “Let’s pick up whatever we find.”

As Xiao Lu bent over to pick things up on the beach, she said, “I used to be in a coastal city in the military district. Every time we wanted to eat seafood, the squad leader would organize us to come out and pick it ourselves.”

“For razor clams, you can sprinkle salt on them to make them come out. If they don’t, you can dig along their route and intercept them. You have to be quick, they run very fast.”

“If you find shells and jars, you can look inside. There might be octopuses.”

Xiao Lu looked quite professional and spoke confidently.

Sun Chengyang had never even had a day to go out and play before, let alone go clam digging on the beach. Under Xiao Lu’s guidance, she gradually found enjoyment in it.

Xiao Lu occasionally glanced into their bucket and after walking for a few minutes, she found that Sun Chengyang had already filled half of it with things.

“What are you picking up?” Xiao Lu used her tongs to rummage through her bucket.

“Be gentle, if it dies, it won’t taste good,” Su Chengyang quickly pushed away her tongs.

“Why are you picking so much conch? There’s too much of it, who’s going to buy it?”

Su Chengyang replied, “If we can’t sell it, we can keep it and eat it ourselves.”

Xiao Lu laughed at her and picked up a small crab from the bucket. “Why are you picking such a small one?”

Su Chengyang responded naturally, “We can raise it and let it grow bigger.”

“What about the nose of this bamboo clam? Why are you picking its nose if you’re not going to eat its meat?”

Su Chengyang said, “We can also eat the nose.”

Xiao Lu rolled her eyes and said, “You really don’t picky about anything.”

“Being picky about food is a bad habit. You know, our previous generation could hardly afford to eat meat during the Chinese New Year. If we have the chance to eat it, we should take it. How can we waste it?”

Su Chengyang was especially stubborn when it came to meat.

Qin You listened and wanted to laugh. “Sister Chengyang, my mom also says things like that.”

Su Chengyang kept her eyes glued to the ground, and when she saw a small hole, she would use a small shovel to dig it. She muttered, “Wasting food is shameful, wasting food is absolutely unacceptable.”

Jiang Shanqi was probably going to the beach for the first time. She didn’t even know the names of the things she saw, so she followed Su Chengyang’s lead and picked up whatever she saw. She only wanted meat and anything edible.

As she chased after a newly born small crab on the ground, Xiao Lu couldn’t stand it any longer: “It’s just been born, let it go.”

Jiang Shanqi didn’t pay attention to her. Su Chengyang had said that even though it was small now, it would grow big if they took it home and raised it.

Su Chengyang had sharp eyes and saw a wooden jar on the ground. Without noticing Jiang Shanqi’s small crab running to her feet, she lifted one foot and stepped on it with a ‘crunch’. As luck would have it, there was a stone underneath the sand, and the small crab was crushed miserably.

Jiang Shanqi: “…”

Su Chengyang looked innocent and raised her head.

“Apologize.”

Su Chengyang took a step back, squatted down and looked at the poor little crab, sincerely saying, “I’m sorry.”

Jiang Shanqi: “…”

Xiao Lu chuckled, “Su Chengyang’s good deeds are reduced by one today.”

Su Chengyang walked over to the wooden jar and picked it up, “There’s an octopus inside.”

Xiao Lu leaned in to take a look, “There’s white dots on its head. It’s pregnant.”

Sitting with a frown, Su Chengyang looked, it was quite big, what a pity.

“Then let’s release it,” she said.

Su Chengyang put the wooden jar down and covered it with sand.

Jiang Shanqi was puzzled. “What’s wrong with being pregnant? When it’s born, we can raise it and let it grow up.”

Su Chengyang pursed his lips and, looking at her serious expression, imitated Xiao Lu and said, “Jiang Shanqi’s good deeds for today have decreased by one.”

Jiang Shanqi: “…”

The five of them had a good catch during the night’s fishing. Su Chengyang picked up everything she could find 一 starfish, sea urchins, and seaweed 一 and put them in the bucket, saying that if they couldn’t sell them, they would eat them themselves.

Xiao Lu picked out the valuable ones and filled a bucket full of money.

Jiang Shanqi, being around bad influences, followed Su Chengyang’s example and had all sorts of strange things in her bucket.

Qin You and Shen Fu were more restrained, although they weren’t as good as Xiao Lu, they were much more orderly than Su Chengyang and Jiang Shanqi.

“Why are you picking up seashells?”

Su Chengyang glanced at Jiang Shanqi’s bucket and saw some shells that were only half there.

Jiang Shanqi said, “Isn’t there a food called scallop vermicelli?”

Su Chengyang looked at her in surprise, “Don’t you think scallop vermicelli is made from shells?”

“Why not?”

Su Chengyang fell silent for a moment and said, “Jiang Shanqi’s good deeds for today have increased by one.”

So pitiful.

The group of people returned to the villa one after another. Just as they were unloading their equipment, Han Songxue and the others returned.

“Ta-da!”

Han Songxue put the bucket in front of Su Chengyang. Su Chengyang, who had been slouching on the couch, sat up straight when she saw that the bucket was filled with tightly bound hairy crabs.

“How did you manage to pick up so many?” Su Chengyang’s eyes lit up as he exclaimed.

Han Songxue proudly put her hands on her hips, “Of course, who am I! I am…”

“This is hairy crabs that someone else raised, and the owner is a fan of Sister Tan Qi, who gave them to us.” Song Mingan suddenly appeared and interjected.

Han Songxue gave him a sideways glance and said disapprovingly, “I wasn’t finished yet.”

Song Mingan ignored her and walked away with his things.

Han Songxue rolled her eyes at his back and muttered, “So ridiculous.”

Su Chengyang asked curiously, “Did you guys have a fight again?”

The two of them were like a pair of bickering lovers, always arguing at the slightest provocation.

Han Songxue shook her head. “No, he’s just being ridiculous. I just casually mentioned something about him when I came back.”

“What did you say about him?” Su Chengyang frowned, sensing that Han Songxue couldn’t have said anything good.

“I just said that out of the three male guests on the show, he’s the least good-looking. I didn’t say he’s ugly or anything, I just meant that compared to Qi Fu and Shen Fu, he’s not the most attractive. But he got angry and acted like a sore loser.”

Su Chengyang looked at her silently and decided to use a way that she could understand to help her understand Song Mingan’s feelings.

“Songxue, imagine if he said to you, ‘out of the six female guests on the show, you’re the least good-looking,’ what would you do?”

Han Songxue’s face darkened. “I’ll make him regret it tonight.”

Su Chengyang nodded, feeling that the young can be taught. “Lock the door tonight, I’m afraid he’ll do the same to you.”

Han Songxue: “…”

Su Chengyang saw her stiff expression and couldn’t help but pat her shoulder, saying, “Why don’t you go apologize?”

“Oh…” Han Songxue looked a bit reluctant, but still walked over under Su Chengyang’s encouraging gaze.

Although they found quite a few seafood items, they ultimately couldn’t meet the conditions set by the program team and could only help with the filming at the seafood market.

During the two-day filming period, Su Chengyang didn’t see Lin Yu after the first day.

She occasionally heard from Xiao Lu that Lin Yu was staying at a nearby hotel and had some company matters to attend to.

Moreover, the reality show filming time was not long. After the first episode of the show became a big hit, even though the guests had truly entered the public’s view, Lin Yu planned to help her land a few more shows, make a few appearances, and increase her presence. After the completion of <Travel>, they would then move on to film the script.

On the night the filming ended, Assistant Xu brought them back to the capital early.

Su Chengyang and Xiao Lu were sitting in the back seat, feeling drowsy.

“Chengyang, there’s a performance show in three days, with the singer needing a dance partner. You don’t need to have too much professional experience. You can start practicing tomorrow. Do you have any objections?” Lin Yu turned around and handed a document to Su Chengyang.

Su Chengyang yawned and took the document. “No objections.”

It was just for fun anyway.

Lin Yu continued, “The singer is good at death metal, and he thinks your image matches the feeling he wants. The choreography may be different from normal dancing, so you should be mentally prepared.”

“Death metal?” Su Chengyang furrowed her brows, sat up straight, and her expression became serious.

Because of work requirements, Su Chengyang had been a backup dancer before, but she had never tried metal music and knew even less about death metal.

“Hmm,” Lin Yu responded.

Xiao Lu was awakened by Su Chengyang’s movement and lifted her head dazedly. “Death metal? Chengyang, you like death metal? I can’t tell.”

Lin Yu gave her a sideways glance but didn’t say anything.

Su Chengyang frowned, “No, it’s for being a dance partner.”

Xiao Lu was surprised and said, “For death metal? Is it real? I’ve never heard of it.”

She looked at Lin Yu incomprehensibly and said, “Cousin brother, death metal doesn’t fit the domestic aesthetic, not to mention the crazy dance that goes with that kind of music. Chengyang might be seen as a lunatic.”

Su Chengyang didn’t care about this. After all, she had made up her mind to terminate her contract and retire from the industry in a year.

Lin Yu responded with a “Hmm” and said, “The singer is British. To cater to domestic aesthetics, the song has been adapted and is different from the usual death metal style. If Chengyang can handle it, it should have an extraordinary effect.”

“Cousin brother, this is too risky. Chengyang doesn’t need to do such a dangerous thing. We still have plenty of time to take it slowly.”

Su Chengyang was startled and suddenly remembered that Lin Yu had signed her because of a bet with the chairman of Starlight Entertainment. He needed to bring out a first-line artist for the company, and he had chosen Su Chengyang.

But Su Chengyang doesn’t want to continue staying in the entertainment industry. When her contract expires, she will terminate it with the company. Therefore, they only have one year left.

Su Chengyang doesn’t think that she has the ability to become a first-line artist within a year.

“Manager Lin, I won’t renew my contract with the company after a year,” Su Chengyang said, looking up.

She didn’t want to hide this from Lin Yu and didn’t want him to focus all his attention on her, only to end up with nothing.