There is a time difference between Vilkande and Jing City. The flight from Jing City to Vilkande took over eight hours. Departing at 9:30 AM, they arrived at the destination at 17:30 Jing City time.
At this time, it was already approaching midnight here.
The group took a taxi to a seaside hotel. The staff assigned rooms to the guests, stating that everyone should settle down here first. The day after tomorrow at 6:00 AM, everyone should wait in the hotel lobby. The production team would take everyone to the island to officially begin filming.
Before that, everyone should get a good rest. If you need anything, contact me anytime.
So they weren’t going directly to the island.
After hearing the staff member out, Shi Yi took her room card and entered her room. This thought crossed her mind before she tossed it to the back of her head. She would sleep for a while first; it wouldn’t be too late to ask questions tomorrow.
She had never been able to stand the noise of airplanes. Listening to it for too long made her feel dizzy and bloated. Having been on a plane for eight hours today, she just wanted to sleep; nobody should bother her right now.
Everything fell silent in the night.
“…”
Shi Yi slept for a solid eleven hours.
At 10:30 AM the next day, she opened her eyes. After washing up a bit, she felt her entire body sober up.
That felt much better.
While applying toner, lotion, and sunscreen to her face, she called to order lunch. Perhaps the hotel was run by a fellow countryman, because the Chinese food tasted incredibly authentic. Shi Yi ate an entire bowl of rice.
After eating, she picked up her phone and tapped into the production team’s group chat, wondering if the team had announced anything.
There were no announcements in the group, but she had quite a few private messages.
At the very top were messages from Xu Meimei. Looking at the time, they were sent last night, asking if she had arrived yet.
Below that was the staff member she had just added yesterday, Lu Mengmeng, who had pinged her at 9:30 AM, asking if she was awake and saying she would come over to sign the contract once she woke up.
…Right, she hadn’t signed the contract yet.
Shi Yi sent a quick reply to Xu Meimei and opened Lu Mengmeng’s chat interface.
Shi Yi: Sorry, just woke up. Shi Yi: Which room are you staying in? I’ll come find you.
Lu Mengmeng replied quickly, “No, no, no, just wait there, I’ll come find you right now.”
The young girl jogged all the way over, hugging the contract as she knocked on her door. How could she let a guest come to her instead?
“Teacher Shi, this is the contract. The director and the others are inspecting the venue, so they asked me to bring the contract for you to look over. Please see if there’s anything unacceptable.”
“Alright.”
Shi Yi poured her a glass of water and told her to drink first.
“Thank you, thank you.”
Lu Mengmeng sat on the sofa. Looking at Shi Yi without her mask, she couldn’t quite control her eyes, stealing glances at her every now and then… Sure enough, beauties were favored by the heavens.
Logically speaking, since she had to get over jet lag yesterday, she ought to have some dark circles under her eyes right now, but she didn’t have any at all.
The contract didn’t contain any tricky loopholes; on the contrary, it looked quite lenient. There was only one thing. Shi Yi tapped on one of the clauses, “If Party B withdraws from the program midway under any pretext, the production team will hold Party B accountable, with a minimum required compensation of… Why is the compensation amount so high here?”
Lu Mengmeng leaned over to look at the spot her finger was pointing at. “If any guest suddenly withdraws during the filming process, the production team’s task flow will need to be adjusted, which will cause a series of subsequent impacts on the show. Furthermore, every guest’s remuneration is very high. To prevent this sort of thing, the set compensation amount is calculated based on the guest’s remuneration multiplied by two.”
In short, the compensation amount was calculated based on the other guests’ remuneration, so the scope was actually very reasonable.
Shi Yi, “This privacy right clause—”
Lu Mengmeng blinked. “This is referring to the live broadcasts. The production team will start live broadcasts at irregular intervals, three times a day, half an hour each time. The guests will not be notified when the live broadcast starts.”
“Of course, there won’t be any cameras in the rooms where the guests are staying.”
“I see.” Shi Yi clearly asked about all the places she had doubts about, nodded to indicate she understood, and signed her name on the contract.
Lu Mengmeng put it away. Afraid that there were still places she didn’t understand, she told her absolutely not to be polite and that she could ask her if anything came up.
Shi Yi was a bit surprised, her eyes curving into a smile. “There’s nothing else.”
The contract was indeed lenient.
“Alright then.” Lu Mengmeng had no reason to stay any longer. “Then I’ll get going first.”
She hesitated for a moment, then turned around and said, “The scenery in Kande is quite nice. Teacher Shi, if you’re free, you can go out for a stroll… There’s a Sea God Temple not far from the hotel. It’s said to be very effective and is a famous local attraction.”
Shi Yi accepted her good intentions and waved at her.
“…”
Shi Yi wasn’t planning on going to the Sea God Temple, but she also wasn’t planning on staying inside the hotel the whole time.
Since she arrived so late last night, she hadn’t been in the mood to pay attention to the surrounding environment. Going out today, she discovered that the surrounding scenery was indeed very beautiful. The hotel was built at the foot of a mountain. Walking out the main entrance led to a neatly arranged garden, and the path through the garden led straight to the sandy beach.
At this moment, two people were walking down this small path, one in front of the other.
The two seemed to be a married couple, looking to be in their fifties, though their actual age might be a bit older than they looked. Right now, the woman was wearing earphones and talking, while the man turned his head to tell her to watch her step.
Shi Yi furrowed her brows slightly… Teacher Chen? Was it Teacher Chen and Director Lu? They didn’t quite look like it.
While she was pondering whether to call out to them, Chen Hongmei, who had raised her head, also saw her at the hotel entrance. Her eyes lit up, “Shi Yi!”
Chen Hongmei closed the distance in a few quick strides and grabbed her hand. “Your name is Shi Yi, right?”
“What a pretty young girl. I was just about to look for you. Are you getting used to staying here?”
Shi Yi was startled by her enthusiasm.
According to the news reports she had seen, Teacher Chen Hongmei was a very distant person, acting very coldly towards strangers.
Her mind might be spinning, but her face wouldn’t show it. Shi Yi’s smile was appropriate, and she looked very pleasantly surprised, “Teacher Chen~”
She naturally made her tone sound a bit more intimate.
“…”
From the other end of the phone that Chen Hongmei had put into her pocket, someone let out a snort: Always sweet-talking people, little liar.
The man behind her caught up, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deep. He gave Shi Yi a solemn look, “So this is A—” Zhan’s sweetheart?
Chen Hongmei stepped hard on his toes, forcing Director Lu to swallow the rest of his words back down.
Shi Yi looked at him sideways. A-what?
Chen Hongmei laughed genially and took over, “Mhm, this is the young girl I told you about, her writing is incredibly spirited.”
Director Lu pulled his foot back a bit. “…Mhm.”
Sensing Chen Hongmei’s goodwill, Shi Yi, although not knowing where it came from, generously and intimately accepted it, “I’m going to take Teacher Chen’s compliment seriously.”
Chen Hongmei feigned seriousness. “What do you mean, take it seriously? I never tell lies. I just like you.”
Shi Yi expressed that she was extremely flattered.
Chen Hongmei pulled her inside, her eyes full of satisfaction. “How about this, don’t call me Teacher Chen anymore, it seems too distant.”
Shi Yi: “Then what should I call you?”
Chen Hongmei calmly cast a glance at her phone and said with absolute certainty, “Call me Auntie.” “Just treat me like your real Auntie!”
The person on the other end of the phone snorted once again.
“…”
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