Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Sister Qiao is probably thinking up some mischief again

After purchasing the tofu, they only had a little over ten left, and among the five groups, only Xu Mianmian’s group had yet to earn any bonus points or performance opportunities.

Sang Qiao simply shoved the little over ten yuan into her hand, “You guys see what you can buy.”

Xu Mianmian stared at the little over ten yuan in her hand, pondered for a moment, and then looked up at everyone, “How about we buy some rice? Does the production team provide this?”

“No, we do not provide it,” the director replied with ruthless indifference.

The final item to be purchased was thus determined, as rice is generally sold in supermarkets at a fixed price and one can’t haggle over its cost.

Xu Mianmian acted quickly, using all the money in her hand to buy rice, then she and Lu Anchi each carried a bag out.

That brought an end to the morning’s shopping trip.

Upon their hurried return to the residence, the staff members led them to where the production team’s staff lived, which was clearly a much better environment and layout.

There was even underfloor heating!

Yao Hui exclaimed, “Damn, director, that’s really not fair—you guys live so well, but we guests are stuck in such rundown conditions?”

“Work hard to earn work points; you can exchange for these things with the production team in the future,” the director said with a smile, unashamedly staring at him.

The previous two episodes had been too comfortable for everyone, so none of them had any ambition!

“Can’t we just buy them with our own money?” Meng Wange muttered, noting the lack of even a blanket in the room, which she had not thought to bring since the production team didn’t provide one.

Moreover, while the clothes in the suitcase were fine for wintertime in the south, they were insufficient against the freezing cold here.

Sweaters and fleece-lined sweatshirts offered little protection against the chill.

“In order to promote everyone’s enthusiasm for the tasks, no, you can’t. However, considering that some people might not earn work points right away, you can get the everyday items you need from the production team first and pay back the owed work points later.”

“But the amount we earn isn’t enough; the house lacks everything,” Gu Nanmo couldn’t help but complain.

For ten work points, you could at most exchange for a set of blankets, but what about toothbrushes and cups?

“After all, this is a place we will be living in for a long time, and many things need to be added gradually. Those who want to exchange for items after dinner can register with that staff member.”

The director kept a friendly smile on his face—it was good for them to realize that life was not easy, as it would encourage them to work harder on the tasks.

Knowing that the director was determined not to be lenient this time, everyone stopped complaining.

They began to divide up the work to organize the ingredients, and Gu Nanmo set about preparing his tofu, slicing some to leave on a plate for frying later.

For the remaining tofu, he sprinkled various seasonings and found several bottles in the drawer to pour them into for marinating.

“Are you planning to make moldy tofu?” Xu Mianmian, with sharp eyes, couldn’t help but inquire.

“Yes,” Gu Nanmo nodded, giving the cute-looking girl beside him a smile that he thought was handsome.

Had she come earlier, he would have opted to be in the same group as her, but now it was too late.

“But doesn’t that need a month to marinate? By the time it’s ready, filming will be nearly over, and the daylilies will have gone cold,” said Xu Mianmian as she peeled a radish, her tone very even.

Her seemingly casual comment reminded Gu Nanmo, “…”

[Could it be that Gu Nanmo was so focused on the task that he completely forgot how long it would take to eat?]

[Hahaha, Xu Mianmian’s reminder struck right at his heart, deeply wounding him.]

[Cough, it’s apparent that this was a thought for the long-term.]

It was still Sang Qiao who butchered the chicken; her hands moved smoothly like flowing water and it didn’t take her long to chop it into pieces.

After washing it, just as she was about to cook the chicken soup, she realized they hadn’t bought any ingredients needed for making soup, like mushrooms.

She simply added some tofu into the pot and that was good.

“Your face has some blood on it,” Si Chenli said softly, reaching out to wipe the chicken blood off her cheek.

His tall frame stood beside her throughout, passing items to her but not much else he could help with.

“It must have gotten on me just now by accident.” Sang Qiao could vaguely feel the warmth of his palm on her cheek where he wiped.

In such cold weather, his hands were still warm.

“Mhm,” the man withdrew his hand, fingers unconsciously rubbing together afterward.

His gaze followed her bustling figure, her slender waist could be encircled with a hand, her sleeves pulled up high revealed the whiteness of her arms in front.

“Pass me the bowl,” Sang Qiao suddenly turned back, her red lips parting and closing.

Outside the window, the snow continued to drift down, creating a beautiful scene, and her eyes were clear, reflecting only him. At that moment, Si Chenli couldn’t hear anyone else’s voice but hers.

“Si Chenli?” Sang Qiao saw that he hadn’t moved for quite some time and couldn’t help calling out again.

“…Okay,” the man snapped back to reality, his movements somewhat slow as he handed her the bowl and chopsticks.

After Sang Qiao took them, she turned on the tap to fill the pot with some water, then covered it with a lid, and pressed the soup button. Done.

The other people were also wrapping up their tasks.

Once the ingredients were out of the pot, there was chicken soup, pan-fried tofu, and stir-fried radishes—a simple everyday meal that smelled particularly good after a busy morning.

And with the cold weather, the chicken soup seemed to warm up one’s entire body upon drinking.

After the meal,

They queued up to exchange for daily necessities with the production team, first prioritizing a four-piece bed set, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and cups.

Everyone immediately found themselves indebted by twenty work points, but Gu Nanmo’s team had ten work points to offset, so they only owed ten.

When it was Sang Qiao’s turn, after exchanging for the first two items, she unexpectedly saw tissues on the table, “I’ll also take a bag of tissues.”

“Okay, then your team also owes twenty work points,” the burly man quickly handed her a large bag of tissues and then scribbled a two in front of the existing ten on the paper.

Once everyone had put things like the bed sets back into their rooms, they came out to gather.

The director, seeing that everyone had arrived, began to assign the afternoon’s tasks.

“Yesterday’s snow was quite heavy, and there are several roads nearby that are thick with snow. So, our task this afternoon is to clear the snow.”

“How do we earn work points?” Gu Nanmo was focused solely on work points at that moment, not despising the work at all.

After all, to live comfortably in the days to come, one needed sufficient work points.

“Twenty work points for each road cleared, the capable will do more work.”

“That little?” Yao Hui couldn’t help complaining; they still owed twenty work points!

“Nothing comes easy, of course, but you can also choose not to clear,” the director said with a smug tone, having calculated that everyone would certainly agree to sweep.

“Dammit! You’re obviously doing this on purpose,” Yao Hui grumbled as he walked forward reluctantly.

If they didn’t clear, they wouldn’t earn work points, and without work points, they could exchange for nothing. They had no choice but to bow their heads and accept their fate.

[The director has finally turned things around, no longer being so aggravated by the guests that he might die on the spot.]

[Ah, won’t anyone stand up to resist, really love to see the director get frustrated, rather than having everyone obedient.]

[Don’t worry, just watch, Sister Qiao is still lost in thought in the corner, perhaps cooking up some mischief.]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com