Singing
Yang Huayi’s exquisite voice came through the phone in the night, smooth as silk—cool, unhurried silk.
“Good morning. How’s the trip going?”
Li Lan walked to the end of the corridor, glanced left and right, then lowered her voice. “It’s fine. What do you want?”
“Just calling to ask. Why so nervous?” Yang Huayi said lightly. “Or is your little sweetheart not letting you take my calls?”
“What does Zhu Qing have to do with this?” Li Lan frowned. “I’m on a show. If there’s something to say, why can’t you send a WeChat message? Why do you have to call?”
Yang Huayi chuckled and said softly, “Because I just wanted to let you hear this song every now and then.”
Li Lan’s expression darkened at once.
“All right. I’ll tell you before I call next time, so you can avoid your little sweetheart, okay?”
Li Lan disliked the way she spoke and acted. She forced down the emotions surging in her chest and said coldly, “It would be better if you called less in the future.”
“Variety shows are exhausting, and you’re in a bad mood. I won’t hold it against you,” Yang Huayi changed tack. “Yu Ling called me crying too. She’s bruised all over and still not getting enough to eat; she’s much worse off than you.”
“That’s because you picked such a good partner for her,” Li Lan said indifferently. “And I didn’t stop her from eating. She just refused to leave Qi Yao.”
Yang Huayi said, “Why bother arguing over that? How could she possibly abandon Qi Yao? She’s just a civilian, with nothing more than a contract with the company compared to Zhu Qing; how could she leave her partner on the very first day? The two of them still need to play up the chemistry.”
“You’re really willing to go that far,” Li Lan said flatly, with a touch of sarcasm.
Yu Ling was only seventeen or eighteen, seven or eight years younger than Qi Yao. Qi Yao was lazy, useless with his hands, and had a rotten mind; the company should have thought of that when it decided to pair them up.
“There’s no choice. Qi Yao is someone the other side wants to push,” Yang Huayi said patiently, as if it were all very casual. “If you keep him off the show, they won’t be able to grab any benefit and will put all their energy into smearing us. By then this variety show will probably be blacklisted across the internet before it even airs. You don’t understand that?”
Li Lan curled her lips in mockery.
Yang Huayi’s tone turned calm, like an order no one could disobey. “All right. Whether you like it or not, during the next few days, take better care of Yu Ling. Speaking of which, she’s your fan.”
Li Lan said nothing, answering with silence.
Yang Huayi had anticipated that. Seeing that she still wasn’t speaking, she drawled, “I watched the rough cut of the first episode last night. It was shot pretty well, but I had someone cut part of it.”
Li Lan was silent for a beat, then asked, “Which part?”
“The part where Zhu Qing finished earning her points and went back to the kitchen, saw the empty water urn and the firewood all used up, and immediately turned sour,” Yang Huayi said evenly. “But the program group didn’t include the earlier footage of Zhu Qing filling the water urn and gathering firewood in the morning. I had that sour-faced moment cut.”
Li Lan’s face soured even more; the anger on it was far more obvious than before.
“You’re smart. You should know what reaction the audience would have to that scene.”
Li Lan gritted her teeth. “Most people would think using a little water and a little firewood in a communal kitchen is no big deal.”
“Exactly. So keep an eye on your little sweetheart and tell her to rein in her true nature a bit. But don’t blame the program team either. Qi Yao had already clashed with you on day one; there’s bound to be friction later. They can’t cut out everything. Planting a little foreshadowing and testing the waters is normal enough.”
“So they can smear Zhu Qing however they want? Zhu Qing clearly carried water and chopped firewood; why didn’t they cut Qi Yao using up the water someone else fetched without asking? If they’d shown the full thing, I’m sure the audience wouldn’t have misunderstood Zhu Qing so one-sidedly.”
This time Yang Huayi didn’t answer immediately. Several seconds later, she let out a laugh that carried no clear meaning.
“I remember someone once said she was thirty this year. With all these years of experience, haven’t you learned yet? There’s no such thing as why. If they edited Zhu Qing like this, of course it’s because Zhu Qing is the one with the weakest backing. Besides, it’s topical, it’s explosive, and it’s profitable, because she’s the easiest soft target to squeeze. Don’t ask me why the show is bullying her; that makes me picture the person talking to me not as the thirty-year-old Li Lan I know, but as that young hothead from back then, the girl who used to explode at the slightest provocation.”
After a quiet half-minute, Li Lan gathered every last trace of emotion. Deep in her eyes, heavy sarcasm was being held down, yet her voice was perfectly calm as she said, “Then please keep overseeing it, Chairman Yang. I’ll take better care of Yu Ling.”
-
In the morning, Hu Xu took out a bag of Mongolian milk tea powder. Yu Ling mixed the milk tea and bird’s nest together, then used the only twenty points she had to exchange with the program team for a few pancakes. She soaked them in the milk tea bird’s nest and shared them with everyone.
As soon as Li Lan and Zhu Qing stepped outside, they were each handed a bowl.
Zhu Qing sniffed it. “It smells so good.”
Hu Xu and Liu Yini were older, needed less sleep, and were up before five. They’d been doing morning exercises in the courtyard for a long time. Zhu Qing and Li Lan woke around seven, showered, watched the first episode, and came out just in time for 8:30.
They had thought no one would be up besides the older pair, but Yu Ling had already gotten up and prepared food for everyone.
“Thanks,” Li Lan said with a smile. “You worked hard.”
Yu Ling also smiled. “It’s nothing, just boiling some water so everyone can drink once they wake up.”
Li Lan asked softly, “You’re going to do farm work today. Are you ready?”
Yu Ling was a little surprised that Li Lan would speak to her first. She nodded immediately, then quickly shook her head, a little embarrassed. “I lived in a village when I was very young. I should know how to fertilize, but it’s been too long since I’ve done it. I don’t know if I still can.”
Zhu Qing thought for a moment and reminded her, “If you’re fertilizing, it’s better to use a little less than too much. Too much can burn the seedlings.”
Li Lan agreed. “She’s right.”
Zhu Qing took out a bottle of mosquito repellent and handed it to her. “Also, this is for you. Tie up your sleeves and pant legs; farm fertilizer smells strong and attracts mosquitoes and bugs. Be careful not to get bitten.”
Yu Ling took it in startled gratitude, looking from Zhu Qing to Li Lan.
Her eyes were a lighter color than most people’s, which gave her a layer of innocent, pitiful vulnerability no matter what expression she wore when looking at others.
But she was also delicate and pretty; when she wasn’t looking at anyone, she seemed cool and aloof, very pleasing to the eye.
Zhu Qing still couldn’t help saying, “You’re really beautiful.”
Yu Ling smiled shyly. “You’re beautiful too.”
Milk tea and bird’s nest could only take the edge off hunger. For ordinary people, it wasn’t enough to count as a meal, but for Li Lan, it could easily become her only breakfast.
Of course Zhu Qing would not allow that. She rolled up her sleeves and went into the kitchen. Hu Xu and Liu Yini had just come back from a walk, and Zhu Qing greeted them with a smile. “Teachers, want some soup?”
Hu Xu wandered around the kitchen doorway with her hands behind her back. “What soup?”
“There’s some chicken left from yesterday and wild greens, plus the flour the program team provided. There should be fresh eggs in the coop too, so how about... some dough-drop soup?”
Hu Xu said happily, “Sure, I love dough-drop soup.”
As for Liu Yini, the moment she heard “eggs,” she headed toward the coop, saying as she walked, “I heard the chickens crowing this morning. I said there should be eggs, but you insisted there wouldn’t be.”
“Wait for me, and watch out for the chickens pecking you.” Hu Xu made a gesture toward Zhu Qing, signaling that dough-drop soup was great and she should hurry up and make it, then rushed off after her wife.
Though the two women born in the 1960s had long since reached an age where they were no longer in danger of starving to death, and though they no longer ate their fill every day, they had still lived through lean years with very little good food. A bowl of thick, hearty dough-drop soup was already a treat; how could they possibly be picky?
Zhu Qing let out a breath, but she was still a little worried.
She had seen Li Lan’s previous diet. If she needed to walk a runway, she had to prepare three months in advance, and many of the ingredients she ate had to be flown in.
And even for rich people like Qian Cancan’s family, who were not particularly fussy, the monthly food budget was still several tens of thousands. For such a plain dough-drop soup, she was worried no one would be willing to drink it.
Li Lan gathered a pile of small sticks to use as kindling. Once she entered the kitchen and heard Zhu Qing chattering away, she smiled faintly after hearing the whole story. “Just make it. What’s all this about some pampered young lady or young master? Everyone here has suffered before.”
The cameras were rolling, so Zhu Qing didn’t keep asking. She actually wanted to ask whether the actress couple would eat it, and also Yu Ling and Qi Yao.
“I’ll ask,” Li Lan said at once, seeing what was on her mind. “You start boiling the water. That pile of purslane probably won’t be enough; I’ll go find some more.”
Zhu Qing was about to ask where she planned to look. “We still have points. Don’t go out searching. We can just exchange for some.”
Li Lan gave her an amused look, then smiled and turned away.
Zhu Qing could read Li Lan’s expression very well. She was basically saying Zhu Qing was a little miser, unwilling to give points up yesterday, but quite generous today.
Zhu Qing pouted and started the fire.
She was not a miser. Yesterday’s conditions had been too awful; if for the next few days they really had to go up the mountain every day to find food, Li Lan’s stamina definitely wouldn’t keep up. And don’t think she didn’t know—Li Lan might look healthy, but in truth she was just a weak little twig. If Zhu Qing went alone, Li Lan definitely wouldn’t agree. Then she’d have to go with her and end up exhausted too.
The program team had changed the rules last night. Zhu Qing only needed to cook to earn points, so she didn’t have to worry about tiring out Li Lan or letting her go hungry. Besides, cooking in the kitchen meant fewer mosquitoes, and she could even spare a bottle of repellent for Yu Ling.
Soon, Li Lan came back with word. The actress couple praised the unfinished dough-drop soup to the skies, Yu Ling sensibly said she had no objections while also praising Sister Zhu Qing for being so capable and asking if there was anything she could help with, and Qi Yao was still asleep, which was taken to mean he had no objections.
The group had a lively breakfast together, each person receiving a task card before starting today’s work.
There was just a little episode in the middle: when Qi Yao came downstairs for breakfast, he mistakenly thought no food had been prepared for him because there was no full bowl in front of his seat at the table. He turned around and went back upstairs at once.
Yu Ling chased after him and called him back down. In the end, Qi Yao still ate the food Zhu Qing had made, and he ate the most of anyone, but everyone praised the dough-drop soup except for Qi Yao.
Zhu Qing didn’t notice any of this, though, because Li Lan kept praising her. Every time Zhu Qing’s attention was about to be dragged off by Qi Yao’s rude behavior, Li Lan would call her name and then praise her.
Zhu Qing was praised so much that she felt refreshed all over. The whole meal, her expression stayed bright and cheerful; she looked very obedient and likable.
“Go back to the room and rest,” Li Lan stopped Zhu Qing as she reached for the dishes after breakfast. “I’ll wash them.”
Zhu Qing hesitated. “I should do it.”
“You cooked; I was your helper.” Li Lan pulled her upright and pushed her toward the room. “Cooking is hard work. Go rest first. Once the other three groups have enough points and exchanged for ingredients, you can cook for them then.”
“Don’t we need to film?” Zhu Qing asked. She hadn’t expected variety-show work to allow rest; she thought they’d have to keep working nonstop.
“They’ve got endless footage. In a day they only use an hour at most, so they’ll definitely cut and trim it down. The work you do only needs a few minutes in the edit,” Li Lan said lightly, though Zhu Qing could hear the tiniest trace of dissatisfaction in her tone. So she obediently returned to the room. “Then I’ll sleep for an hour. You come back and rest after you’re done too.”
Although everyone had no objections to the dough-drop soup, only Sun Qi and Xu Yuzhi planned to wash the dishes after breakfast; the others didn’t even care how the leftover mess would be cleaned up.
The older group was easy to understand. They were older and less agile, and they certainly knew that even if they wanted to wash dishes, no one would let them. So they didn’t bother with the polite talk.
But Li Lan also knew that whoever cooked was assumed to wash the vegetables, pick over the greens, wash the cutting boards, scrub the pot, wash the dishes, fetch water, light the fire, chop firewood, serve the rice, carry the food, clear the table, and clean up afterward... all of that could not be summed up by the words “make a meal.”
Zhu Qing didn’t not know this. She simply had a good temperament and didn’t fuss over it; cooking was boring anyway. Li Lan had already anticipated that Zhu Qing’s screen time would be getting shorter and shorter from here on out, and of course, that was what Li Lan wanted.
Li Lan didn’t mind if the program team cut Zhu Qing’s labor results. What she didn’t want was to see the program team splash filth all over Zhu Qing. Stuff like random editing just to chase heat was Zhu Qing’s reverse scale; if she saw it, she would absolutely hate it.
Zhu Qing disliked being blamed, disliked people telling her how she should or should not be, and hated being slandered or distorted. But what she hated most was the cold, hostile atmosphere of people turning on one another for profit. Yet that was exactly what the entertainment industry was now, and exactly where Li Lan worked.
So Li Lan could only keep Zhu Qing as far away from it as possible, and make sure no one bullied her.
When Li Lan washed the dishes, two cameramen crouched right in front of her. Without dish soap, she went to the kitchen to boil hot water.
“These are the little sticks Xiaoqing picked up. There’s actually waste newspaper in the storeroom; you can gather that to start a fire, but she still likes these little things better. She uses big firewood for cooking large pots of rice and small sticks for kindling; she thinks it’s fun.” Li Lan held up the pile of sticks and explained to the camera. “Before gas canisters and natural gas existed, people used to cook like this.”
She didn’t know whether the program team would cut out her chatter, but compared to Zhu Qing, they liked using her footage more.
It took an hour to wash the dishes. Li Lan went back to the room and took a nap with Zhu Qing; it was already two in the afternoon when sounds started rising again in the courtyard.
Hu Xu and Liu Yini were the first back. The two of them had not only gone into the village, but also taken a car to a distant market. They exchanged for a pile of tasty and fun things, and they even brought snacks back for Li Lan and Zhu Qing.
Li Lan couldn’t help smiling a little. “Teacher Hu, where did you trade for all this?”
“At the market and in the villagers’ homes. Rice-puff candy, yellow gluten cakes, and sour jujubes,” Hu Xu said, looking eager. “A lot of it was homemade. I tasted it all, and it’s delicious.”
Liu Yini wouldn’t let her eat too much. “How old are you? Did you check your blood sugar today?”
Zhu Qing lifted her head. “Does Teacher Hu need to control her blood sugar?”
Liu Yini laughed. “She does. Look at her build; the older she gets, the more she craves snacks.”
Zhu Qing thought about it. “Then I’ll make more vegetable dishes.”
Liu Yini smiled gently. “Then I’ll have to trouble you two little ones.”
Hu Xu was a little embarrassed and couldn’t quite save face, so she coughed lightly. “We’re out traveling, and you still won’t let us eat well? We’ve already walked nearly ten thousand steps today.”
Liu Yini gave her an eye roll.
The program team came online.
[Congratulations to the two teachers for completing the bartering task. Five wild game birds, two jin of assorted mushrooms, and other snacks and miscellaneous items not included in the exchange have been traded for a total of 550 points. After deducting the twenty-point loan interest, 190 points remain.]
Hu Xu said to Li Lan and Zhu Qing, “We’ll give you all the points. Take whatever you want to exchange for. I don’t like spicy food, and Teacher Liu likes sour food. We don’t have any other restrictions.”
The program team interrupted: [The two teachers successfully exchanged for points, but they must still complete the following task in order to successfully activate the “kitchen.”]
[Please have the two teachers and Li Lan and Zhu Qing compete in a singing PK. The first team to sing three songs matching the prompt wins. There are five questions in total; best of five wins.]
[PS: If Li Lan and Zhu Qing win the PK, they can earn an additional fifty points.]
The wording was a bit cumbersome, but Li Lan understood. She gave Zhu Qing a concise explanation. “Basically, if we win, we get fifty points. It doesn’t matter to them; they just need to participate in the game.”
Zhu Qing was just about to nod when she saw Li Lan frown and say in a low voice, “But I can’t sing. Can you?”
Zhu Qing stared at Li Lan blankly.
She can’t sing?
That ringtone she’d heard—if she hadn’t misheard, it had absolutely been Li Lan’s voice.
In that song, Li Lan’s tone had been full and rich, the rhythm smooth, every note exactly where it should be. It had sounded excellent. How could she not sing?
Was she hiding it, hiding it, or hiding it?
————————
Zhu Qing: So the song I heard was AI-sung, then?
Li Lan: ...That’s not quite it.
TL Note:
“全网黑” (literally “blackened by the whole internet”) is slang for getting smeared and dogpiled online; I used “blacklisted across the internet,” but the point is the show would get hated before it even aired.