Chapter 16: Chapter 16

silence is golden

this travel variety show was the most popular method in the market nowadays. they would invite a few unique actors and celebrities, then give them a small living allowance and complete the task set by the program team at the designated time.

“we will stay here for three days. in this envelope contains your allowance for the next three days. we will tell you the daily tasks that you must accomplish each day in the morning. from the moment we leave the airport, all expenses you use will be from this fund. once you use it up, there will not be any extra cash.”

as the most senior member of the group, yan hao was just about to reach out for the envelope when feng cheng beat him to it. opening up the envelope revealed only 200 pounds.

“is this for one person?” he asked, rather eagerly.

the employee remained expressionless. “six people, for three days.”

with only two hundred pounds for six people to use in three days… that only averages out to about ten dollars per person per day.

feng cheng’s expression turned dark, and tried to negotiate with the director. “this is too little! how are we supposed to buy food, or find places to live with this? should this not also be covered by the production crew?”

the employee shook his head. “everything is included in this fee. figure something out yourself!”

the agreement had failed, and yet feng cheng was unwilling to make a decision for everyone. turning to the group, he asked, “so, this cash… what do you…”

yan hao gave a slight smile. “since feng cheng had taken it, why don’t you make the decision? i have no objections to that.”

liao ping agreed, mo yancheng gave his silent acknowledgment, and ma yunyun gave a rather enthusiastic agreement as well. gu ran, however, said not a word.

stuck between a rock and a hard place in this situation with no clear way out, feng cheng could only pocket the envelope in resignation. “since it’s going to be this way, why not i take the lead in this journey? coincidentally, i do know a rather cheap hotel around here. we can just walk there instead of spending unnecessary cash on transport as well.” ”

after asking around for a rough route to the hotel and finding out that it was only a few minutes away from the airport, everyone agreed to walk.

along the way, ma yunyun noticed that gu ran had not spoken a word since getting off the place, and asked with furrowed brows, “gu ran, is this your first time travelling outside the country? are you nervous? is this why you haven’t been speaking at all?”

gu ran gave her a sideways glance and continued walking without uttering a single word.

ma yunyun became more sure of her assessment the longer she observed gu ran’s actions. “it’s okay if you’ve never been out of the country before! we’ll all look after you! if you don’t understand french, you could just ask us for help!”

“bête!’

ma yunyun froze. “what did you just say?”

“bête!” gu ran repeated, her pronunciation of the language flawless and elegant.

only mo yancheng was able to understand gu ran in this group. he paused in his footsteps, and turned back to give gu ran a look with a slight smile. he then turned back and continued walking.

ma yunyun might not understand what gu ran had just said, but anyone could guess that it was nothing nice with one look at her expression!

since they were currently in a live-stream, she coould not argue with gu ran even though she wanted to. seeing this situation, liao ping stepped in to smooth things over before it got out of hand, and deliberately walked between both people to keep them apart.

when they arrived at the hotel, feng cheng ordered only two suites in order to reduce costs. the three men would get one room, while the three ladies would get another.

but even then, 80 pounds had already been burned through.

“we still have two nights to go! we’ve alreayd spent so much now, what are we going to do about our meals for the next three days? not to mention we still have to complete the program’s tasks every day!”

feng cheng, who had just received the room cards for their rooms, paused rather awkwardly, because he had never thought about this situation. he’d naturally assumed that forty dollars a night for this hotel was already plenty cheap, and had not thought about anything beyond that.

“it’s no issue. it’s our first time here, we should get to enjoy ourselves! we’ll tighten our pockets later on and it’ll be fine.”

yan hao and company all nodded without complaint.

gu ran looked at feng cheng, gave a frosty smirk, and left without a word.