Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 14
by Little PandaThe Salak is Sweet, That Was Her Lie
Liu Yinxi sat on the grass and looked up at Nan Huaixu, feeling that something was strange. She scooted backward on her bottom, her smile obedient. “Nan-jiejie, what kind of person is the ‘alpha of alphas’ you mentioned?”
Nan Huaixu stood before her, arms crossed as she looked down. “You know what the ‘omega of omegas’ is like, but you don’t know about the ‘alpha of alphas’?”
Liu Yinxi shook her head like a rattle drum. “That’s because you’re my idol and I worship you, so I know. I just haven’t met an alpha of alphas yet.”
Nan Huaixu watched her with a straight face for a moment, then laughed out loud. She walked away, swinging the wooden stick in her hand. “Alright, from now on, if you’re tired and want to rest, just rest. No need to blow rainbow farts.1 You worked hard looking for the stream yesterday. I was already planning to let you stay at the shelter today.”
Only when Liu Yinxi saw her triumphant smile did she realize Nan Huaixu had been teasing her.
Then, Liu Yinxi heard Nan Huaixu say, “However, if we’re talking about the alpha of alphas, it would have to be someone like Number 7.”
Liu Yinxi frowned. Huang Heshan?!
What was so great about the enemy who had snatched their military rations?2
Nan Huaixu plucked a leaf to wipe the dirt off the cassava, then divided them into two portions and put them into their respective backpacks. “I don’t know Number 7’s name. Sticking her number on her throat like that is pretty sexy, in a fearless, wild kind of way.”
“Sticking such a big tattoo sticker on your throat, isn’t that constricting?” Liu Yinxi retorted.
A smile played on Nan Huaixu’s lips as she glanced at her. “Jealous?”
“This one isn’t jealous at all. If we’re comparing sexiness, my figure is way better.”
Liu Yinxi jumped up and unzipped her hardshell jacket. “Jiejie, look at my slender waist—”3
Nan Huaixu shouldered her pack and turned to leave.
“Jiejie? Why are you leaving? Nan-jiejie, wait for me!”
Meanwhile, in the livestream chat:
【Liu Yinxi! What—are—you—doing—】
【Good heavens, is Liu going back to her old trade and shaking her waist on the spot?】
【6, this competition has finally gone as crazy as Liu is.】5】
【Psycho, but Liu Yinxi is hilarious, hahaha.】
The drone flew high in the air, skimming over the verdant treetops and recording the two figures on the ground, one in front and one behind.
One walked ahead, the other chased after.
As noon approached, the temperature in the rainforest rose. The scorching heat and humid air turned the island into a giant steamer.
Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu were drenched in sweat, and both had taken off their jackets and tied them around their waists.
Following her memory, Nan Huaixu found the place where they had picked horn bananas two days ago. The banana tree’s leaves were broken and drooping. Only a few rotten fruits hung from the tree, none of them edible. The topmost branches even had knife marks.
After observing the cuts, Nan Huaixu patted the tree regretfully. “We’re too late. Someone got here first.”6
They were lacking carbohydrates and sugar. Although the horn bananas were a bit astringent, their taste was light, sweet, and dense, making them a pretty decent food in this primitive rainforest.
But there was nothing to be done.
Nan Huaixu patted her full backpack. “It’s fine. We have cassava. We can go back and soak them now, and we’ll be able to roast them tomorrow.”
It was rare for Liu Yinxi to be so quiet. Nan Huaixu looked at her and saw she was staring at a thicket about ten meters away, from which a cluster of spiny palm leaves protruded.
“Liu Yinxi? What are you looking at?”
“Nan-jiejie, wait for me a moment. I’m going to check it out.”
There was a dirt gully ahead that was difficult to cross. Liu Yinxi took the cassava out of her backpack, bent down to climb into the gully, and used the stones as stepping stones to get to the dirt slope on the other side.
Nan Huaixu stayed behind to wait for her. “What did you see? Be careful.”
“Don’t worry, Nan-jiejie. A little gully is no match for me.”
“Stop being so glib.7 Slow down.”
Liu Yinxi climbed up the slope and found a large, thorny oil palm. Nestled between its bark and leafstalks were clusters of brown, scaly-skinned fruits, round at the bottom and pointed at the top.
Liu Yinxi chopped off the thorns on the tree’s stem, hugged the trunk, and climbed up. She cut off one fruit, sliced it open with her knife, and sniffed. It had the faint aroma of apples, with a hint of pineapple—it was wild salak.
Nan Huaixu called out from the other side of the gully, “Liu Yinxi, what did you pick?”
Liu Yinxi weighed the salak in her hand and leaned back against a branch. “Our Nan-jiejie wanted to eat fruit, so she must have some today.”
“Fruit? What kind of fruit?”
“Ssss-fruit.”
“Ssss? What on earth is that?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Liu Yinxi propped her leg against the tree stem, swung her backpack around to her chest, and began cutting the salak with one hand while catching them and putting them in her pack with the other. Cultivated salak ripens in late spring and early summer. It was only April, so the fruits were still quite sour. Liu Yinxi picked a few that were relatively early bloomers.
With a pack full of salak, Liu Yinxi jumped down from the tree and crossed the gully with practiced ease.
Seeing her approach, Nan Huaixu crouched down and extended a hand. Liu Yinxi grasped it firmly, and Nan Huaixu pulled hard, hauling her up.
“Heave-ho.” Liu Yinxi climbed out of the gully, stood up straight, and patted the dust off her clothes before eagerly opening her pack for Nan Huaixu to see. “This is it.”
Nan Huaixu took out a glossy brown fruit. Its skin resembled snake scales, arranged in a fine, dense pattern. It felt cool and smooth in her hand.
“It’s salak. Why did you tell me it was ‘ssss’ fruit?”
“Are you afraid of snakes?”
Nan Huaixu paused, then said with a lack of conviction, “It’s fine.”
Liu Yinxi smiled against the sunlight. “A snake’s call is ‘ssss.’ You were over here by yourself. What if I suddenly said ‘snake skin’ and scared you?”
Nan Huaixu was silent for half a second, then put the salak back in the pack. “I’m not that timid.”
Liu Yinxi said, “Oh, okay.”
She handed the salak she had sliced open to Nan Huaixu. “Try it?”
Nan Huaixu held the fruit and peeled back the scale-like skin along the cut. The flesh inside was milky white and divided into three segments, somewhat like an oversized mangosteen, releasing a fresh, sweet fragrance. When she smelled the clean scent, her eyes lit up, and the way she gently bit into the flesh was full of ceremony.
“Mmph!” Nan Huaixu took a bite of the salak, then frowned and covered her mouth.
Liu Yinxi quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
Nan Huaixu swallowed the fruit and said through her hand, “I was in too much of a hurry and choked.”
“Eat slowly. Are you okay?”
“Mhm, I swallowed it.”
Liu Yinxi took out a plastic bottle half-filled with water and gave it to Nan Huaixu.
Nan Huaixu took a small sip. “Hurry and eat. It’s so sweet.”
Delighted, Liu Yinxi broke off a segment and popped it into her mouth. As she chewed heartily, a sour, astringent juice flooded her mouth. Liu Yinxi’s expression twisted; her teeth felt like they were about to fall out from the sourness.
A stifled laugh came from beside her. Nan Huaixu quickly handed her the water bottle.
Liu Yinxi stuck out her tongue, panting, and accused the culprit, “Nan Huaixu, how could you do that?”
Fortunately, the other salak fruits weren’t quite as sour. They had a hint of sweetness.
The next day, after breakfast, Nan Huaixu was in high spirits as she prepared to go to the stream to fetch water.
She packed all the plastic bottles and buckets into her bag; she had deliberately picked up a few extra while foraging on the shore yesterday.
Hearing her humming a little tune, Liu Yinxi’s mood brightened as well. “Nan-jiejie, you’re so happy just to fetch water.”
Nan Huaixu sat on the edge of the bed, combing her hair with her fingers. “Mhm, I’m quite happy. I can wash my face and hair at the stream.”
The temperature in the rainforest was high. If she washed her hair and went to the seaside, it would be dry by the afternoon.
There were still faint green marks on her cheeks and arms, remnants of the herbal medicine. They felt sticky on her skin and needed to be washed off.
Nan Huaixu’s hair was a little longer than Liu Yinxi’s. She had trimmed it before the competition, but she didn’t like it too short, so she’d left it at shoulder length.
She was a celebrity, after all, and paid close attention to her appearance even on a survival show. She kept her hair very well-managed, combing it with her fingers every day, weaving it into a braid, and then wrapping the end with a small strand of hair. She looked neat and fresh, unlike the more careless Liu Yinxi.
Liu Yinxi stared thoughtfully at her braid. She found a thin, tender vine from the turnover box, trimmed it, softened it, and then wove it into a hair tie as thick as a straw and as long as her forearm.
She handed it over. “Nan-jiejie, can you use this?”
Nan Huaixu took it and used the hair tie to coil her braid into a bun. She touched it; it was quite stable. “I can, thanks.”
“You should make one for yourself too. Tie your hair up. It looks so hot when you wear it down every day. You can let it down at night when it’s cooler.”
“Mhm, mhm.”
Liu Yinxi didn’t feel particularly hot, but seeing Nan Huaixu looking so fresh and pretty made her want to spruce herself up too.
If nothing else, with Nan Huaixu’s massive popularity, there were definitely a lot of viewers watching their team. These were all potential audiences for her future self-media venture. Maintaining a good image was never a bad idea.
After braiding a hair tie and putting up their hair, they set off.
On the way, Liu Yinxi wondered if they would run into Ying Luoling at the stream. What kind of expression would Ying Luoling have when she saw Nan Huaixu with her?
The scene was so bizarre, Liu Yinxi couldn’t even imagine it.
They washed up and filled their water containers without running into anyone else at the stream. Perhaps Ying Luoling had gone to the beach.
They felt much more comfortable after washing. The cassava had also finished soaking, so they placed it on the stone stove to roast.
Nan Huaixu sat under the canopy skylight with her long hair down, sunbathing and happily talking to the robot dog.
“Hello, friends watching the show.”
“Is it this camera? Can you hear me?”
“Our situation is very good right now. I’m confident we can make it to the end. Please support our team.”
As she spoke, Nan Huaixu smiled and made a finger heart at the camera.
【Ahhh, Goddess Manman! We can hear you! Nan Huaixu, I love you!!!!!】
【My Manman is so beautiful QAQ】
【[Screenshot] Manman’s palms are covered in wounds! My heart is broken T口T】
【The hair tie Liu Yinxi made is actually kind of nice. It suits Manman.】
【Manman’s rash has faded a lot. The medicine Liu Yinxi made isn’t bad!】
【?? Drama Queen Liu has fans now?】
【Don’t be so harsh. I’m not a fan of anyone, just being objective. Since the start of the competition, aside from being a bit dramatic and pretentious, Liu hasn’t done anything out of line. She’s been working the whole time. Honestly, Nan Huaixu has done less than her…】
The robot dog lay down, wagging its little antenna tail at Nan Huaixu.
Nan Huaixu patted its head, smelling the steaming aroma of roasted cassava.
“It’s ready. We’ll eat it when it cools down a bit.”
Liu Yinxi used chopsticks to spear the roasted cassava and place it on a banana leaf.
She sidled up to Nan Huaixu and pointed at the robot dog. “You. No secretly filming us sleeping at night.”
The robot dog took two steps back and turned its camera away.
Liu Yinxi turned back to Nan Huaixu. “Jiejie, look, it has a guilty conscience.”
Nan Huaixu propped her chin on her hand, gazing expectantly at the fluffy roasted cassava. “Why bother with it? As long as you don’t have a guilty conscience, that’s all that matters.”
Liu Yinxi cleared her name. “What would I have a guilty conscience about? I’m very well-behaved at night, as you know, jiejie.”
Nan Huaixu: “.”
“I don’t grind my teeth, kick the bed, or snore,” Liu Yinxi said.
Footnotes
- “Blowing rainbow farts” (吹彩虹p) is Chinese internet slang for giving someone excessive and elaborate praise. The ‘p’ stands for ‘pì’ (fart).
- The term used here is ‘jié hú’ (截胡), which comes from the game of mahjong. It means to snatch another player’s winning tile to win for yourself, and is now used to mean intercepting or snatching an opportunity.
- The term ‘xiǎo mán yāo’ (小蛮腰) is a classic literary descriptor for a slender, attractive waist, famously associated with a concubine of King Ling of Chu.
- The original text uses ‘mài ài sī’ (麦艾斯), a humorous phonetic transcription of the English phrase “My eyes!” used to express shock or cringe.
- “6” (pronounced ‘liù’) is Chinese internet slang for “awesome,” “smooth,” or “well played.” In this context, it is used sarcastically to applaud the absurdity of the situation.
- The idiom used is ‘jié zú xiān dēng’ (捷足先登), which literally means “the swift-footed climb first.” It means the person who acts fastest gets the prize.
- The term ‘pín zuǐ’ (贫嘴) describes someone who talks a lot, often saying witty but unnecessary things in a teasing or annoying way.
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