At this moment, on the other side of the island, our great actor Bo Da was still leading two cameramen tirelessly towards the center of the forest. Despite the path being entangled in vines and overgrown with weeds, he did not change his course.
Here, Ye Qiu led Li Yan to a wind-sheltered beach. The terrain was open, with a hillside not far away and several large trees providing cover. Even if the tide rose or it rained, they wouldn't need to worry. They decided to camp here and wait for the others to find them.
Ye Qiu checked the surroundings and asked Li Yan to wait on the spot, while she plunged into the woods herself. Ten minutes later, she came back with some dry branches and cotton grass.
"What are you doing?" asked Li Yan, curious, "Can you make a fire?" She suddenly got excited.
"Hmm, I've learned a little bit before," Ye Qiu replied quietly. Both Li Yan and the audience in front of the internet thought she had learned it specially for this show. Only she knew it was simply because she had survived for so long and been to so many worlds, that it had naturally become a skill she possessed.
"But we don't have any food, what's the use of making a fire now?" Although Li Yan was not fussy and could endure hardship, she still knew very little about these things.
"We build up the fire and throw some wet leaves on it to make smoke. This way, others will know we're here, and they won't be waiting in place like us," Ye Qiu explained.
Listening to Ye Qiu's explanation, Li Yan's eyes lit up: "You're really smart!"
The audience in front of the internet shared her sentiment. They never expected the delicate-looking Ye Qiu to know so much; it was quite surprising. Moreover, the fans of the other male guests suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the only two female guests would not be a burden but rather a pleasant surprise!
Ye Qiu had experience in making fire, and she was well-prepared, making a simple fire-starting tool with two thin sticks and a fine rope twisted from tree bark. In less than fifteen minutes, a fire was successfully lit.
Once the fire was burning well, they piled on a thick layer of wet leaves, and dense smoke began billowing upwards. As long as one was observant, most of the island could see it. But our Bo Ying, who was deep in the center of the island and covered by layers of leaves such that even sunlight could hardly reach, naturally could not see it.
The other three, Xiao Hua, Yi An, and Lin Cheng, were all walking this way and saw it from afar, so they quickened their pace.
All three thought it was one of the male guests who had made the fire. When they arrived at the destination and saw only two delicate girls, they were stunned.
Xiao Hua knew Ye Qiu and being a young person himself, was the first to speak: "Sister Xiao Ye, Sister Yan, did you two make this fire? That's really impressive!"
"Not me, not me, it's all Ye Qiu's doing. She's amazing, isn't she!" Li Yan said proudly, as if she were the one who had accomplished this remarkable feat.
"Indeed quite surprising!" Yi An stepped in, his face adorned with a just right smile. He was already in his fifties, looking kindly and benevolent at the younger ones. As a veteran idol and God of Songs, he didn't have any pretense and was easily likable, which is no wonder that even after many years without releasing albums or holding concerts, he still held his place in the entertainment industry. That's the charm of being personable.
"I'm Yi An, you can call me Uncle Yi, but if you don't mind my thick skin, Brother Yi works too."
"How can we call you Uncle? You're so youthful, you're definitely our Brother Yi!" Li Yan was not surprisingly popular since her debut. Even if her acting lacked, her emotional intelligence was extremely high.
Yi An laughed heartily in response: "I'm more than a generation older than you guys, still young?"
"Please don't say that, the most popular figures in the entertainment industry right now are handsome and mature uncles like you who have real talent. Fresh young meat like me is no longer popular." Xiao Hua also joked and teased, and several strangers warmed up to each other in an instant.
"Brother Yi, it's nice to meet you." Ye Qiu didn't talk as much, but she was polite nonetheless: "I am Ye Qiu, please take care of me in the future."
"I should be the one asking for your care. I've heard it was you who started the fire; you're much more impressive than I am. I'm letting you know in advance. Apart from collecting firewood and picking fruit, I can't hunt, fish, or cook." Having been in the entertainment industry for many years, Yi An no longer carries the burden of being an idol, and his fans love his genuine and unpretentious nature. If he can do it, he says he can; if he can't, he doesn't pretend.
"Brother Yi is just showing off how his good wife takes such great care of him at home that he can't do anything on his own," Li Yan chuckled and winked at the Music God.
Yi An smiled knowingly, and his fondness for Li Yan increased significantly: "Just think of it as me showing off; I can't help it, I have a good wife at home."
His helplessly doting look fed a good deal of 'dog food' to the singles present and those watching online, but the envy and blessings were sincere.
Yi An's wife is his childhood sweetheart and wife of many years, without a single scandal across more than thirty years of his career and with a son and daughter, theirs is undoubtedly a true love story.
"Hey, it seems we're still missing one person, right?" Olympic champion Lin Cheng is rather introverted. It took a while for him to find an opportunity to speak, but the others showed no disrespect to him; any athlete who has won medals for the country deserves everyone's respect.
"It should be my senior brother, Bo Rong. Maybe he's just further away from us," Ye Qiu frowned slightly, feeling a bit worried. After all, she was here through her senior brother's connections; she definitely couldn't afford for him to run into any trouble. But with the program crew around, there should be no big problem, right?
"Then let's set up camp here, and keep the fire going. He must be on his way when he sees it!" Yi An is the eldest and what he says goes. Besides, the campsite chosen by Ye Qiu and the others was indeed a good one, and no one raised objections.
"It's already past noon, I'm going to look for something to eat. Anyone want to come with me?" Lin Cheng suggested, being an athlete, he usually eats a lot, and now he was already hungry.
"I'll go with you." Xiao Hua stood up. "On the way here, I saw a few coconut trees; let's start there."
"Can you swim?" Ye Qiu turned to ask Li Yan.
"Yes, what about it?"
"Then let's go to the sea and see if we can find conches or fish!" Ye Qiu then said to Yi An: "We'll have to trouble Brother Yi to hold the fort and wait for Brother Bo."
"Then I'll take advantage of being the elder and lazily rely on you. Go ahead, I may not be capable of much, but keeping the fire going? That, I can do." Yi An laughed heartily, without a trace of feeling undervalued.
The group divided the tasks and cooperated. All the tools provided by the production team were two knives, one big and one small, and a pot. The two men took the big knife and set off, while Ye Qiu sharpened two sticks from the trees, hoping to try her luck at fishing later.
Meanwhile, Yi Ge, left behind at the camp, was evidently not as useless as he had claimed. After making sure the fire wouldn't go out, he walked to the other side, where he found several banana trees. Although fruitless, their large leaves could shelter them from wind and rain.
Inside the island's central forest, Bo Ying, the movie star, was still walking his arduous path, and even the camera crew following him were feeling bitter.