Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 123
by Little PandaThe Third Elimination
The fishing net salvaged from the abandoned wooden cabin was in tatters. Liu Yinxi had tied knots to mend it, but with a few remaining small holes beyond repair, she simply used it alongside the basic life raft to try her hand at catching fish in the shallow lake area.
Even with a holed net, the harvest was far more abundant than using fish cages. Liu Yinxi dug a small pool next to the field, cordoned it off with a woven vine fence, and kept the surplus fish and shrimp alive inside.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, curls of smoke rose to signal dinner preparations. Nan Huaixu opened the chicken cage and pulled out the camellia chicken that Huang Heshan had given them.
Holding the camellia chicken in her arms, Nan Huaixu stroked its head. “You look so delicious. Don’t worry, we’ll carry your share of vitality and live on. See, your lifespan is ten years at most, right? I’m already in my thirties, so I can live even longer.”
The camellia chicken shifted its head, its tiny, pitch-black eyes staring right at her.
Liu Yinxi sat cross-legged on the first floor of the shelter, adding wood to the fire pit. “Teacher Nan, it’s too cruel to say those things to a piece of food.”
Nan Huaixu turned around, cradling the chicken. “It can’t understand anyway.”
She looked down and felt the camellia chicken’s belly again. “Why does it feel so plump?”
Liu Yinxi brushed the sawdust off her hands. “Probably just its feathers puffing up. Let me take a look.”
Nan Huaixu handed the chicken over. Liu Yinxi held it by its wings to carefully examine its condition. Its eyes were bright and clear, its feathers sleek and glossy, and its talons strong and full of life. Aside from the injured wing, it was in excellent shape.
Liu Yinxi parted the down feathers on the chicken’s belly to feel around, then suddenly poked her finger into the bird’s rear.
Nan Huaixu: “!”
“What… what are you doing?”
Liu Yinxi grew more excited as she felt around, rotating her finger. “Teacher Nan, let’s wait a few days before eating this chicken.”
When she pulled her hand back, it was smeared with a yellowish-white substance that carried a faint, odd odor. Nan Huaixu wrinkled her face in disgust and recoiled. “Liu Yinxi, you… go wash your hands right now! Use wood ash, and put on some aloe vera gel when you’re done!”
Liu Yinxi stood up with the chicken, raising her soiled hand. “Teacher Nan, this hen has an egg inside! It’s about to lay!”
Nan Huaixu lowered her hand from her nose. Not caring about the smell anymore, she excitedly reached out to touch the camellia chicken. “Oh, really? Where is it? Let me feel too!”
“Right here. You don’t have to poke too deep—you’ll feel something hard.”
“Ah…” Nan Huaixu looked at the bird’s rear, then at Liu Yinxi’s hand, and burst out laughing. “I think I’ll just wait until it lays the egg.”
Liu Yinxi chuckled as well. “Hahaha, sounds good.”
The plan to eat the chicken was temporarily shelved.
Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu brought the camellia chicken to the small livestock pen nestled beneath the bamboo. They shut it inside, applied medicine to its injured wing, and left it with water, wild grass and fruit, cassava peels, and some small insects.
“Make sure you lock the coop tight, or we’ll lose both the meat and the egg.”
“Don’t worry, Teacher Nan. It’s locked tight—I tied three separate vine knots.”
“Are you sure no small animals will sneak in to steal it?”
“There is an outer fence surrounding it, too.”
Dinner consisted of grilled fish, grilled shrimp, boiled corn, and sweet potato rice.
The two sat on the first floor of the shelter, eating while admiring the newly bloomed flowers by the field, which Nan Huaixu had transplanted from the wild brush.
The sunset painted the pool and the sprawling lake beyond in brilliant, magnificent colors. A cool breeze swept across the water, bringing a deep sense of peace.
Coo, coo, cluck.
From the direction of the bamboo, the camellia chicken let out two soft clucks. Nan Huaixu held her mess kit and smiled at Liu Yinxi. “The camellia chicken is calling.”
Liu Yinxi nodded. “It’s eating too.”
Nan Huaixu glanced back at the coop with a sigh of relief. “I’m glad we didn’t trade with Xue Yunshao. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have any eggs to look forward to.”
Liu Yinxi shoveled a couple of mouthfuls of rice. “Yeah.”
Nan Huaixu paused to reflect, her eyes lowering. “I was actually a bit tempted to trade the chicken carcass for the milk powder. Looking back, it’s a good thing I held back.”
Liu Yinxi quickly offered, “Oh? If you want it, I can hunt some game and trade with her instead.”
“No, I don’t want to trade with them.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t, that’s all…”
The moon gradually climbed high into the night sky.
On the other side of the lake.
Fish soup bubbled merrily in a mess kit over the campfire.
The firelight cast its glow over Luo Ling’s slender cheeks. She was meticulously washing the wild mountain longan fruit, peeling them before arranging them neatly on the lid of her mess kit, which she then carried over to Xue Yunshao.
“A Yun.” Luo Ling sat down beside her, picking up a fruit to take a small bite with a shy smile. “I’m sorry, these aren’t fully ripe, and wild ones don’t get as many nutrients as those grown in orchards. They’re a bit tart and astringent, not very sweet. But don’t worry—once the competition is over, I’ll buy you the sweetest wild mountain longan to try.”
Xue Yunshao gazed back with tender, affectionate eyes. She grabbed a handful of the fruit, popped them into her mouth, and chewed loudly. “Mmh~! Who says these aren’t sweet? They taste incredibly sweet to me. Wow, really, these are delicious!”
With that, Xue Yunshao grabbed another handful of wild mountain longan. The juice smeared across her lips as she nodded in appreciation. “So good! Lingling, it’s a good thing you recognized them and found such a tasty treat.”
Luo Ling blinked her large, shimmering eyes, clasping her hands to her chest. “Really? You like them that much?”
Xue Yunshao nodded repeatedly. “Of course. The ones you picked are especially sweet.”
Luo Ling immediately stood up. “That’s wonderful! I knew they’d be delicious. Just wait here—I’ll wash the rest of them for you.”
“Sure.”
Xue Yunshao smiled, her eyes crinkling. She used the back of her hand to wipe away the juice trickling down her chin. She felt a slight prickling sensation on her lips and chin—a mix of itchiness and heat. It must be like eating fresh pineapples, she thought. It’ll pass in a bit.
Luo Ling returned shortly with the second plate of washed wild mountain longan. “A Yun, here, eat up!”
Xue Yunshao fed Luo Ling one. “You should have some too.”
Luo Ling happily took the fruit from Xue Yunshao’s fingertips, her lips lightly brushing against her finger. Her eyes shimmered softly. “Mmh…”
Xue Yunshao gently stroked her hair, finishing the rest of the fruit under Luo Ling’s eager, expectant gaze.
Once they had finished dinner and tidied up the shelter, Xue Yunshao began to feel dizzy. Her chest felt uncomfortably tight, and a wave of nausea washed over her.
She braced herself against one of the shelter’s wooden support posts and sat down, pressing a palm to her forehead. Breathing was becoming an uphill battle, and her lips, chin, and the surrounding skin burned with an intense, fiery sting.
Luo Ling noticed her teammate’s distress and rushed over to her side. When she saw Xue Yunshao’s face, she gasped in horror. “A Yun, your mouth is swollen! What’s going on?”
Xue Yunshao leaned weakly against the post, shaking her head. A raspy, strained sound came from her throat. “It hurts… I feel so awful… Ugh! Vomit—“
“Oh no!”
Luo Ling shrieked, jumping back in a panic as Xue Yunshao retched up a puddle of stomach acid onto the ground.
“Retch—vomit—“
“A Yun, A Yun, are you okay? You’re scaring me! A Yun!”
After another violent bout of retching, Xue Yunshao collapsed into a fit of coughing. She gasped desperately for air, then went limp, slipping into unconsciousness.
Struck with sheer panic, Luo Ling dropped down beside her, tears streaming down her face. “A Yun, what’s wrong with you? A Yun! Wake up!”
“A Yun, you can’t collapse! What am I supposed to do if you leave me alone? We still have a competition to finish!”
“A Yun!”
【No!!!】
【Yunshao!!!】
【QAQ】
【Oh my god! (Screaming)】
【Why the hell is Luo Ling just crying! Hurry up and use whatever medicine you have!】
【This is bad. Yunshao must have food poisoning. Luo Ling can’t handle this—they need to call for rescue!】
【Hurry up and call the medical team! I’m so done, why did they just eat random wild fruit?】
【Cry, cry, cry, that’s all she knows how to do! If you keep crying, your A Yun’s body will be cold.】
【Xue Yunshao: I think I can still be saved. Luo Ling, don’t be in such a hurry to cry, call for help first (Ghost)】
【Didn’t Luo Ling say she recognized this fruit and that it’s edible? (Allow me to grieve)】
【It is edible. Wild mountain longan is a local island delicacy on Jinzhou Island 0v0】
【Huh? Then why did Xue Yunshao end up like this after eating it? The fish and palm hearts they had for dinner should have been fine—they’ve been eating those all along.】
【I saw in Nan Huaixu’s stream that Liu Yinxi said a small number of people have a severe allergic reaction to wild mountain longan. Anyone who hasn’t eaten it before needs to try a tiny amount first to make sure they aren’t allergic before eating more. I wonder if Yunshao is having a severe allergic reaction to the wild mountain longan.】
【Didn’t Liu Yinxi say she didn’t recognize wild mountain longan?】
【Heh. So Liu Yinxi knew all along that they should test for allergies by eating a small amount of wild mountain longan first, but she deliberately didn’t say anything, right?】
【How could Liu Yinxi do this? When a human life is on the line, she stays silent? She did this on purpose to harm our Yunshao (Angry)】
【No doubt about it, it was definitely deliberate! Liu Yinxi saw our Yunshao as a powerful rival. By making Yunshao sick, she has a better chance of winning.】
【God, Liu is so scheming (Frown)】
【I know, right? Liu Yinxi is just that devious. She has Nan Huaixu wrapped around her finger and drove a wedge between her and Lingling.】
【Liu is so disgusting (Vomit)】
【???】
【I came to the stream after hearing something happened to Xue Yunshao, only to find everyone slandering our Xixi the second I walked in (Puzzled)】
【Whoa, Luo Ling is the one who picked the fruit, Luo Ling is the one who said it was delicious, and Luo Ling is the one who fed it to Xue Yunshao. But now that something went wrong, you’re blaming our Xixi?!!】
【Xue’s fans are absolutely brainless.】
【These fruits are great (Eating melon)】
【If they’re so delicious, you should eat more of them (Doge face)】
【The medical rescue team is here!】
【Ahhh, what did the doctors say?】
【Anaphylactic shock! She has to be rushed to the hospital immediately TAT】
【Whoops.】
【And she’s out…】
At dawn, the first rays of morning light spilled across the pristine surface of the lake.
A butterfly fluttered over the flowers in front of the field, landing on a shrub beneath the bamboo.
An excited gasp rang out from the chicken coop.
“She laid an egg!”
Liu Yinxi gently picked up the brown egg from the straw nest, holding it up to rotate it slowly in the morning sun.
It was the freshest egg Nan Huaixu had ever seen. “It’s so small.”
“Camellia chickens are a different breed from modern farmed poultry. The eggs they lay are naturally on the smaller side, and they don’t have as much meat either.”
“But it tastes much better.”
Liu Yinxi grinned. “Exactly.”
She placed the small egg gently into Nan Huaixu’s palm.
Together, they strolled back to the shelter.
Nan Huaixu cradled the egg with utmost care. “How should we prepare it? Boiled in plain water?”
Liu Yinxi agreed. “Boiled is best—no waste that way. We’ll split it in half, have it with boiled shrimp and cassava, and add a bit of beef jerky, wild fruits, and wild vegetables. That way, we’ll have protein, carbs, and vitamins all covered. We’re just a little low on healthy fats.”
Nan Huaixu laughed. “This is already an incredibly lavish breakfast.”
Liu Yinxi lifted her chin with pride.
Beep, beep, beep!
The bracelet suddenly chimed with a notification. Liu Yinxi tapped open the touchscreen—it was an elimination notice.
Liu Yinxi whipped her head around, locking eyes with a startled Nan Huaixu.
Another contestant had been eliminated.
Who could it be?
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