ca-book Chapter 603: The entire team is wiped out; Pd apologizes
Chapter 603: The entire team is wiped out; Pd apologizes
……
……
"Whoosh~~whoosh—"
Zhao Liying and Yang Ying each gripped one side of the edge of the boat's bottom, their long, wet hair clinging to their cheeks and necks, water droplets dripping down their hair.
Two women, still shaken, caught their breath on the same overturned boat, their eyes meeting in the shimmering water.
"How are you?"
Zhao Liying spoke first, asking with concern in her eyes.
"...No...it's nothing."
Yang Ying was clearly caught off guard. She paused for a moment, then a somewhat unnatural smile appeared on her lips. She couldn't understand what kind of fighting style Zhao Xiaodao was using.
But she still replied, her voice soft and fragmented, asking with the same concern, "Liying, how are you?"
"I'm fine."
Zhao Liying shook her head.
"Um……"
"..."
The two fell silent again, an eerie atmosphere filling the space between them.
The incident was only broken when rescue workers rushed over in a small rescue boat and frantically pulled them onto the boat.
at the same time,
Gu Qing waded through the water like pulling up radishes, pulling one out as he went, helping the members who had fallen into the water to climb ashore.
"Brother Chao, Brother Chichi, are you both alright?"
Water dripped from Gu Qing's sleeves and trouser legs, leaving a trail of fine ripples on the water's surface behind him.
"It's alright, it's all Big Black Bull's fault!"
While wringing out the water from his team uniform, Deng Chao turned to Li Chen, who was still in the water, and complained with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "Chen, why did you stand up! Do you think we've lived too long?"
"Li Chen! Are you out of your mind?!"
Chen Chichi immediately roared, "Your pants are wet? You've wet the pants of the whole team!"
"me…"
Faced with the barrage of criticism, Li Chen's face turned bright red, and he said guiltily, "I really didn't think that much about it. I just wanted to show the coach that my pants were really wet..."
"You didn't think of that?! When have you ever thought of that?!"
"Ha ha ha ha--"
As they continued hurling insults, the others also started laughing in exasperation.
With a smile on her lips, Gu Qing unfastened the life jacket, took the orange-red life jacket off her head, and placed it at her feet.
He rolled over and sat on the wooden board, his hair still dripping wet.
"Little brother, how are you?!"
Zhao Liying had just been pulled ashore and was barely able to stand properly when she stumbled to Gu Qing's side.
She knelt down in front of Gu Qing, her almond-shaped eyes filled with worry and heartache, her eyes reddening.
"Little brother! Little brother! Quickly wipe it off, be careful not to catch a cold."
The crew was already terrified and the recording was forced to stop. Several stagehands rushed over with a thick stack of white dry towels.
"I'll do it."
Zhao Liying reached out and pulled two towels directly from the staff member's hand.
She spread a towel on her lap and then sat cross-legged opposite Gu Qing.
The two people faced each other, their knees almost touching.
She was a little shorter than Gu Qing, who was sitting on the wooden board, so she had to lean back slightly, pick up another dry towel, and gently cover Gu Qing's wet hair.
"Are you okay?"
She asked again, her voice even softer than before.
"It's okay, I'm perfectly fine."
Gu Qing glanced at the paused recording, tilted his head back, a clear and bright smile on his lips, his voice clear and gentle, carrying the purity of a lake after a baptism and the cheerfulness of youth.
"Sister Liying, am I right? Sit behind me, don't be afraid—I'll pull you up right away."
His skin appeared exceptionally clear after being soaked in cold water, and the contours of his brow bone and nose bridge were made even more distinct by the shimmering water.
especially,
Water droplets dripping from her hair and eyelashes landed on the back of Zhao Liying's hand. She could feel the cool touch of those droplets, as if someone was gently touching her skin with their fingertips.
"Hmm...you're right..."
Zhao Liying's almond-shaped eyes softened, and she responded softly. Her delicate nose tingled slightly, and her voice trembled almost imperceptibly as she wiped the area even more carefully.
the other side.
Yang Ying, carrying a stack of dry towels, walked quickly past the crowd toward Gu Qing.
Her hair was still dripping wet, strands of it clinging to her fair and delicate forehead, water droplets sliding down her cheeks, but she didn't bother to wipe them away.
She personally asked the staff for the towel the moment she got ashore.
Yang Ying didn't even ask her assistant to get them. Instead, she jogged through the crowd, took the thickest and softest ones from the stagehand, and ran back with them in her arms.
But when she walked through the crowd and saw the scene on the shore,
The towel in her arms was suddenly gripped tightly by Yang Ying's arm.
She stood there, staring blankly ahead, her lower lip gently bitten by her teeth, unable to maintain the natural curve of her smiling lips.
From the angle she was standing at,
Gu Qing and Zhao Liying sat cross-legged on a wooden plank by the lake, facing each other and rubbing each other's heads, both wearing bright and cheerful smiles.
The scene is beautiful and harmonious.
It was more natural and more captivating than any Korean drama Yang Ying had ever seen in her life.
She was so sour she almost cried.
"Brother Chao, here's your towel."
"Brother Chen, dry your hair."
“Chichi, now—don’t wipe it with your wet sleeves.”
Yang Ying distributed dry towels one by one to the members around her, and only after she finished did she walk to the bench and wipe herself down.
"Qingqing and I just made up, and our relationship hasn't gone back to what it was before."
She mentally encouraged herself, her eyelashes drooping, concealing the complex emotions in her amber eyes.
"No rush, we can't rush it. Zhao Xiaodao and he have been filming together for so long, it's normal that they have a good relationship."
"After the show airs, our CP fans will definitely come back. At that time, Qingqing and I will have plenty of opportunities to meet and spend time together."
"It's not impossible for us to collaborate on a TV series in the future, is it?"
Yang Ying looked forward to it.
What does it mean to spend several months living and working together on a film set?
She is confident in her charm.
What Zhao Xiaodao, what Liu Shishi, and what Jing Tian…
Whoever she is, she'll all have to line up behind me.
……
Because of this sudden drowning incident, and for the sake of the artists' health, PD Yao, still shaken, wiped away a cold sweat behind the monitor and decisively decided to postpone the recording.
The red, swollen bump on his forehead, aggravated by the earlier fright, started throbbing painfully again.
Everyone returned to the hotel by car to wash up and rest.
—Inside the car,
"Ugh, my arm is going to be ruined...it hurts so much..."
"I'm done for, I feel like I can't even lift my head."
"PD! Open your eyes! My hands are covered in blisters!"
On the way back, even without cameras recording, everyone was groaning and swearing, no longer needing to suppress their manners.
Chen Chichi and Dong Zijian, who were physically weak, looked like they had lost half their lives.
Han Han also took off his glasses, leaned back in the chair, looking utterly hopeless and exhausted.
Why would someone who is a scholar, a race car driver, and a good director choose to come here to row a dragon boat instead of sitting on a bench?
"Who has a cut on their hand? Come over here and disinfect it."
Gu Qing's magic bag came in handy. He took out iodine swabs and band-aids, and first checked the skin between Little Zhao's fingers, finding several small blisters and red marks.
After carefully applying disinfectant and putting on a band-aid, Gu Qing then used a new cotton swab to carefully wipe the wounds of Chen Chichi and the others sitting in the back row.
"Hehe, Xiao Gu, you're so nice."
"Brother Gu, you're even more virtuous than my girlfriend."
Seeing Gu Qing intently applying cotton swabs to his wound, Dong Zijian blushed crimson.
This is nothing compared to being a top influencer!
Isn't this an angel?!
"Oh no, do I have to guard against men as well as women from now on?"
Sister Zhao scratched her head in distress.
"Zijian, your blush is strange. I have to remind you, Xiao Gu doesn't play the Ji game."
Deng Chao was overjoyed.
"Brother Chao, how did you know?"
Dong Zijian looked at Old Deng with suspicion.
"Guess how I knew?"
Deng Chao blew him a kiss.
"Brother Chao, if you keep spreading rumors about me, I'm going to jump out of the car."
Gu Qing irritably put down the cotton swabs and tossed the capped iodine bottle and the bag full of cotton swabs to Old Deng.
"You can wipe it yourself. By the way, Brother Chen, Sister Baby, do you have any cuts on your hands? I still have some band-aids here."
"Qingqing, my hand isn't broken, it's just a little red from being rubbed."
Yang Ying's beautiful eyes lit up with joy, and she felt a surge of happiness in her heart. Sure enough, Qingqing still cared about him!
Back at the hotel,
After everyone finished washing up, they changed into new clothes and then went to lunchtime.
Because the training was so demanding, everyone tacitly had an extra bowl of rice.
Even Yang Ying, who usually strictly controls her diet, made an exception and added a dessert.
After dinner, the production team gave everyone a short break, allowing them to rest until 3 p.m.
At 3 o'clock sharp, recording resumed.
The boating activity was temporarily suspended due to the capsizing accident in the morning and the exhaustion of most participants.
Given the current situation, if everyone were to get back on a dragon boat, let alone paddle two thousand meters, they would probably capsize even after paddling two hundred meters.
But the time can't be left empty; there must be new games to fill the episode's runtime.
PD Yao racked his brains at the impromptu meeting, and finally came up with a simple, direct, and absolutely effective idea – acupressure mat jumping mat.
Staff quickly laid out a half-meter square acupressure mat in the hotel's indoor sports hall.
The mat is covered with tiny bumps that mimic the tips of bamboo shoots, and just looking at them makes your feet itch and ache.
The rules are simple:
The entire team must jump from the starting point in turn and squeeze onto this half-meter square acupressure mat. Only those who can stand firmly without falling off will win.
The challenge is considered a failure if even one person is pushed off, bounced off, or jumps off because of the pain.
The Running Man team went first.
"Ooh ooh ooh—"
Huang Zitao was the first to jump. When he landed, he stepped right in the center of the mat. Even through his shoes, he could feel the tingling sensation from the bamboo shoot protrusions on the soles of his feet.
Then came Zheng Kai, Li Chen, and Wang Zhulan. With each person jumping, another scream echoed on the acupressure mat.
Unfortunately, by the time Chen Chichi arrived, the whole team was like bowling pins that had been knocked over, swaying and staggering.
The Running Man team failed their challenge.
Next up is the "Riding the Waves" team.
The situation here is much more optimistic.
All five members are quite slim, and their combined weight is probably less than half that of the Running Man team.
Deng Chao, Dong Zijian, Han Han, Gu Qing,
Then there was Sister Zhao, who jogged and jumped over, bumping into Gu Qing's arms.
"Oh oh oh~"
Despite the jeering crowd, he successfully completed the challenge.
But at that moment,
"Director, this isn't fair!"
Chen Chichi got up from the ground. "Gu's team only has five people, while we have six! We've been taken advantage of!"
"But you were the fifth one to go and eliminated the team."
Gu Qing retorted without hesitation.
"I do not care!"
Chen Chichi activated his ultimate cheating mode: "You guys have to have six people too, otherwise it doesn't count as a win! I'll jump right now—catch me!"
He pretended to pounce on the mat, which startled Zhao Liying so much that she screamed and shrank back half an inch into Gu Qing's arms.
"Chen Chichi, get out of here!!" Old Deng shouted in terror, holding Han Han and Dong Zijian tightly with one hand and stretching out the other to block them. The terror on his face was no less than when the dragon boat capsized that morning.
"Ha ha ha ha--"
The whole audience was laughing uncontrollably.
"No, no, Chichi, you're too heavy. This mat really can't support you."
PD Yao, of course, liked the show's entertainment value. His eyes narrowed, a brilliant idea flashed through his mind, and he quickly seized the opportunity to back down.
He added, "Okay, Xiao Di is absent today, so we'll have someone else fill in for the girls."
Baby, you take over. You two weigh the closest, is that fair?
"If Baby succeeds in the challenge, then the 'Sisters Who Make Waves' team wins. But—they can't intentionally fail. If they intentionally fail, it will still count as a successful challenge."
"Baby jump?"
Chen Chichi was taken aback at first, then said, "Haha, I have no objection."
“Baby, you have to jump on time.”
"That's right, we must not knock Xiao Gu over, aim carefully before jumping."
Zheng Kai and Li Chen were also shouting mischievously from the side.
Yang Ying stood outside the take-off line, her pretty face slightly flushed.
She's not the kind of woman who gets shy easily.
Having been in the entertainment industry for so many years, I've seen all sorts of ups and downs.
But at that moment she could definitely feel her heart racing.
Yang Ying reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her slender fingers concealing the hair. She then clenched her fists in front of her.
Will Qingqing catch her?
"Definitely!!"
As soon as the program team gave the order, Yang Ying took a deep breath, bent her slender legs at the take-off line, and then jumped with force.
"Splat—"
She was hugged.
But... the feel of this embrace wasn't quite what she had expected.
It's not very firm; it doesn't have that broad chest and sharp bone structure feel.
On the contrary, it is soft, fragrant, and warm, and when you put it on your cheek, you can feel the delicate skin and soft elasticity.
"Hehe, we won! We won!"
Little Zhao smiled adorably, then grabbed the big baby who jumped over and hugged her tightly, pressing her cheek against her chest.
She herself leaned firmly against Gu Qing, completely blocking the direction from which the baby would jump.
"..."
Yang Ying was held tightly in her arms, her slender arms still in the slightly open position when she jumped over.
She looked down at Zhao Liying's head, which was buried in her chest and grinning foolishly, and for a moment all her pre-set facial expressions failed her.
Yang Ying: "..."
Are you trying to take advantage of me?
Is that right?!
finally,
The game of jumping over acupressure mats ended with Sister Zhao's divine hug helping the "Riding the Waves" team achieve victory.
After the casual mini-games,
Today's main event—a 2,000-meter rowing simulation training session—is about to begin.
Under the coach's guidance, everyone put on their life jackets again, picked up their paddles, and boarded the dragon boat.
Rearrange yourself according to the posture Xu Yaping taught in the morning, take a deep breath, straighten your back, kick your legs, and paddle into the water.
Yao PD's failure to qualify was due to overestimating the physical abilities of all the members.
After paddling for less than 300 meters, Zhao Liying and Yang Ying's arms could no longer support them.
Their physical exertion in the morning was already at its limit.
With each stroke of the oar, Zhao Liying could feel the blister on her hand, which had been rubbed raw, begin to ache again, and her wrist trembled so much on the oar handle that she could barely hold it.
Yang Ying sat behind her, her breathing rhythm completely disordered. Her delicate face was soaked with sweat, and strands of hair clung to her forehead. With each stroke of the oar, her hair fell down.
The splashes from their oars grew smaller and smaller, and the oars became heavier and heavier, forcing the production crew to take them back.
When he reached 600 or 700 meters, Dong Zijian cried.
She truly wiped away her tears, and cried uncontrollably, breaking down completely.
He's a privileged second-generation rich kid, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. When has he ever tasted such bitterness?
Sitting on a hard dragon boat under the scorching sun, paddling until his arms felt like they were about to break, he felt terrible.
When you reach one kilometer,
Chen Chichi clutched his waist and let out a muffled groan, his forehead pressed against Li Chen's back, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
"I'm not recording anymore!"
Huang Zitao also completely broke down at the same point. He put the oar on the boat, leaned back against the seat back, closed his eyes and started to give up.
Thanks to Deng Chao's patient reassurances, the team's remaining unity was maintained.
When they reached 1,300 meters, Wang Zhulan was banging on a drum, but his arms were so numb that he couldn't lift them.
Deng Chao's physical strength was also nearing its limit, but he gritted his teeth and did not stop.
As the team leader, he kept shouting commands in a hoarse voice, from "one, two, one, two" until his vocal cords were almost splitting.
From 1,500 meters onwards, only these three people remained on the entire dragon boat, putting in real effort.
Li Chen, Gu Qing, Zheng Kai.
The three men gritted their teeth and desperately tried to maintain the speed of the dragon boat.
The entire team paddled for over forty minutes from start to finish in the two-kilometer race.
The moment the dragon boat's bow struck the finish line buoy, everyone collapsed as if their bones had been removed.
The ship was silent for several seconds. No one cheered or celebrated; only heavy breathing could be heard.
After getting ashore,
Gu Qing's legs felt like they were walking on cotton. After taking only two steps, they buckled uncontrollably and landed hard on the wooden board.
He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving visibly.
Zheng Kai is in an even worse situation than him.
Like a dead fish pulled ashore, he lay sprawled on the wooden plank, his face buried in his folded arms, completely still.
Only his back was still rising and falling slightly with his breathing, proving that he was still alive.
"It took more than 40 minutes to skate to the finish line..."
The production team set a target runtime of twelve minutes for them.
"broken…"
Yao PD initially thought it would be easy, assuming that rowing a dragon boat was as simple as running 2 kilometers. However, upon seeing the pained expressions on the faces of all the members, he realized that something was amiss.
Will this episode start strong but end weakly?
When they arrived at a courtyard to rest,
Sister Zhao and her baby were already slumped in the rocking chair.
Those two women were pretty fierce; they paddled 300 meters before being forced to leave.
But once he had rested, he rejoined the team and rowed with them to the finish line.
The price to pay,
However, the lactic acid buildup in his arms caused tears to well up in his eyes, which were red and he struggled to hold back his sobs.
"Hiss—Gu, slow down... Ah! Holy crap!"
Chen Chichi lay sprawled on a rattan chair in the courtyard, his pants pulled down to his waist, revealing a section of his swollen lower back, and let out a pig-like scream.
Despite the soreness in her arms, Gu Qing poured safflower oil into her palm, rubbed it to warm it, and then used the heel of her palm to push the oil into Chen Chichi's waist muscles one stroke at a time, with precise and ruthless force.
A simulated 2,000-meter training session knocked out four people.
Why are there four people?
Because Dong Zijian vomited as soon as he finished rowing, his face turned as white as a sheet and he saw stars, he was rushed to the hospital.
Now there isn't a single intact person left in the entire courtyard.
Han Han sat on the stone steps with a blank stare in his eyes, seemingly conjuring up some kind of literature about suffering.
Li Chen and Zheng Kai sat back-to-back on the stone slabs of the courtyard, too exhausted to even mock each other's physical strength.
"Brother Chao, can you guys hold on a little longer?"
Before the machine was turned on, PD Yao quickly walked to Deng Chao's side, his voice low and his tone tinged with guilt and probing.
"Director, a few of us can hold on,"
Deng Chao stood with his hands on his hips, trying to maintain a calm tone, but his usual playful smile was gone from his face.
He glanced at his teammates lying haphazardly in the yard, then at PD Yao, "But what about Baby and Liying? Look at their hands, they can't even lift them."
Zijian even vomited and had to be taken to the hospital for an IV drip. Do you think they could still paddle?
He paused for a moment.
"This intensity is really too high, twelve minutes, two thousand meters, not everyone on our team is an athlete."
"There are girls, people with back injuries, and people who have never practiced this before. How are we supposed to do it?"
"If all else fails, I'll urgently arrange for a few athletes to come over tomorrow to partner with you."
Yao PD looked at Deng Chao with hope, his tone carrying a last-ditch effort, "National team, Chao-ge, do you think it's okay?"
"With the addition of professionals to your team, your speed will definitely improve."
"Director, what do we do now that they've arrived? Should we all train for another day?"
Deng Chao's tone finally hardened, "I can wait, but can my little brother wait?!"
He invested in and produced "Duckweed".
He still has several roadshows and drama promotions to attend, as well as media interviews and endorsement shoots to do.
These schedules are all calculated by the hour; if he stays an extra day, his entire itinerary will have to be disrupted and rearranged.
Deng Chao turned his head and looked at PD Yao again, his voice neither loud nor soft, his expression serious: "Director, you should know how precious a day is for an artist of his caliber, right?"
Upon hearing this,
PD Yao's gaze involuntarily shifted to Gu Qing.
After applying the medicine, he screwed the cap back on the safflower oil bottle, wiped his hands with a towel, and then looked up.
Gu Qing didn't say anything, but just glanced over casually.
That glance was indifferent, not because of any dissatisfaction, but simply a blank, expressionless stare.
But the low pressure that permeated the air made PD Yao shiver inexplicably, and his back felt cold.
"Brother Chao, what should we do?"
PD Yao's voice softened unconsciously.
"PD, why don't you apologize?"
Deng Chao's tone softened, "You didn't expect the task to be so intense, and you underestimated the physical demands of dragon boat racing on non-professionals."
Be sincere, in front of everyone, in front of the camera. Anyway, the beginning of this episode was exciting enough.
The interactions between the younger brother and Baby alone are enough to guarantee high viewership ratings.
If we cut some of the dragon boat racing segment from the later part of this episode and instead show a clip of you apologizing, the audience will understand, and the comments section might even praise you for being humane.
"apologize?"
PD Yao touched his forehead with a troubled expression.
The spot where Huang Zitao's punching bag hit me precisely this morning still has a small bruise, and it still feels a bit sore and swollen when pressed.
He felt that this was a particularly unlucky day for him, with a big bump on his forehead, his plans on the script completely disrupted, and now he had to apologize to the national audience in front of the camera.
He originally wanted to replicate the close relationship between director and MC that existed between the "Men's Gang" and Yan Min in this episode.
As a result, before any relationship could be established, everyone was given a public lesson on "how to turn the recording of an S-level variety show into a disaster."
"I'm not recording anymore! I'll die if I keep recording!"
The sounds of Huang Zitao arguing with her manager could be heard from another corner of the courtyard. "Is this a task that a human could complete?! It took forty minutes to finish! I'm not recording this show anymore! Whoever wants to record it can record it!"
"All right……"
PD Yao turned his gaze away from Huang Zitao, sighed deeply, and his shoulders slumped.
He admitted it.
"Brother Chao, it's my fault for not designing the mission well. I'll go apologize."
Once all the equipment is set up, start recording.
He first had someone record the miserable state of everyone before PD Yao quietly apologized to the members.
The dream of making one episode into two is gone.
Fortunately,
Deng Chao reminded them that there were scenes of Gu Qing and Yang Ying interacting in the program.
PD Yao must think that this episode's ratings might break the record since the second season, right?
"Let the station buy a trending topic first!"
……
...(End of this chapter)