Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 36
by Little PandaA Big Bag of Herbs in Exchange
Nan Huaixu had an unhealthy mindset.
What she had always wanted was not to be treated equally, but to be favored.
For instance, Liu Yinxi’s earlier comment—“I don’t feel bad for her, I feel bad for you”—was deeply satisfying to Nan Huaixu.
Growing up and living cautiously with her mother in the Nan family home had trained Nan Huaixu to restrain her emotions. The more she cared, the more delighted she was, the calmer her expression would be. She would even feign indifference.
At this moment, Nan Huaixu lowered her head and let the corners of her mouth curve up ever so slightly.
To Liu Yinxi, it looked like an awkward but polite smile.
What kind of nonsense did I just spout? Liu Yinxi fretted inwardly. See, now Teacher Nan is upset.
She quickly tried to backtrack. “Teacher Nan, what I meant was, Yuan Fang and I aren’t good friends. We just bicker a lot and talk business about trades. You and I are on the same team, so of course I have to care about my teammate. That’s why I definitely care about you.”
She added, “In my heart, you’re the one who’s a good friend.”
The Huai fans in the live-stream chat exploded.
【……】
【Get lost. Who’s your good friend?】
【That Liu woman is so shameless, really knows how to latch onto someone powerful (eye roll)】
【You want to be our Teacher Nan’s friend? Are you worthy?】
【(Physically uncomfortable) I can’t watch anymore. How can Liu Yinxi say something so disgusting? Manman was kind enough to listen to her, give her career advice, and offer her connections, and now she’s gotten a big head,1 with her tail up in the sky.】
【Our Manman is just too gentle and kind, that’s how a sycophant2 like Liu could take advantage of her (furious)】
【Heh, what did our Xixi ever do to you?】
【Are actors a class above everyone else? Why can’t they be good friends? You all look down on Xixi so much, and your Teacher Nan is so capable, so tell Nan Huaixu to survive on her own! Don’t live in the house Xixi built, don’t eat the food Xixi found! (burning with rage)】
【A word of advice to Nan Huaixu’s fans: get a clear head and look at how your goddess Nan Huaixu treats the Liu Yinxi you despise. Nan Huaixu trusts Liu in this survival situation, actively listens to her troubles, and helps her find work. Why would Nan Huaixu do that? Is your goddess an idiot?】
【Some of you Huai fans should just save it. Your goddess Manman probably doesn’t see eye-to-eye with you at all (smirking dog emoji)】
【Can’t help but surface to say this, for the record: most of us Huai fans are just quietly watching the competition. We have no problem with Liu Yinxi. We can see she treats Teacher Nan well, and we recognize her survival skills. Please don’t let a few extremist fans mislead you into thinking all Huai fans are just a bunch of mindless haters =.=】
【Right. Just because we don’t like to argue doesn’t mean we’re dead (exhausted)】
【+1】
After calling Nan Huaixu a good friend, Liu Yinxi felt the atmosphere turn strange.
But she couldn’t put her finger on what was strange about it.
It was just… ugh, she couldn’t describe it.
“……” Nan Huaixu kept her head down for a while, silent.
Liu Yinxi stared at the top of her head, her heart pounding. She cursed herself for being so long-winded. What was the point of that frantic self-justification? Caring for a teammate was just caring for a teammate. Tacking on “you’re the one who’s my good friend” at the end made it sound like she was desperate to climb the social ladder to the National Goddess.
The best way to escape an uncomfortable atmosphere was to leave it.
Liu Yinxi tactfully ended the conversation unilaterally, shouldered her bag, and started walking toward the Toa River. “Teacher Nan, I’m heading out. See you tonight.”
After she had taken a few steps, she heard Nan Huaixu’s voice behind her, full of concern. “See you tonight. Be careful on the way, come back early, and don’t get too tired.”
Nan Huaixu’s voice was gentle; she didn’t sound angry. Liu Yinxi breathed a small sigh of relief and turned to wave at her. “Okay, you too.”
As she walked, she stepped on dry branches and fallen leaves, making a crunching sound.
Liu Yinxi’s footsteps gradually faded into the distance until they disappeared.
Nan Huaixu turned and gazed for a while in the direction she had left, then tossed away the blade of grass she had snapped in her hand.
She thinks everyone is a good friend.
Nan Huaixu adjusted her own backpack and walked toward the sea.
She had a good idea of what Liu Yinxi meant by telling her to dump the work on Yuan Fang.
During the morning’s scramble for the airdrop, she had noticed Xue Yunshao heading up the sea cliff, with Yuan Fang following. By that time, Liu Yinxi and Huang Heshan had already secured their airdrop crate. The only one Yuan Fang could possibly contend for was the one on the cliff. But based on Nan Huaixu’s observation, Yuan Fang had no way of climbing that high, whereas Xue Yunshao was a former professional athlete who also enjoyed rock climbing. Getting the crate would be no trouble for her.
That meant Yuan Fang’s team had come away with nothing from this airdrop.
And those who lack resources are always the most diligent.
Waves lapped at the pale gold sand. A few seabirds paced along the white line of the surf, but at the first sign of movement from the coconut grove, they took flight with a wary flap of their wings.
“Teacher Nan! You’re here! I thought you were taking the day off. Come, sit! I’ve laid out a grass mat, it’s comfortable.”
Nan Huaixu had just entered the grove when she heard Yuan Fang’s enthusiastic greeting.
Nan Huaixu raised an eyebrow slightly. Judging by Yuan Fang’s proactive attitude, Liu Yinxi’s guess had been spot on.
But Yuan Fang diligently boiled salt every day, and their cooperative arrangement had been agreed upon long ago. Nan Huaixu wasn’t the type to exploit someone else’s labor just to be lazy.
“Morning.” Nan Huaixu sat down without ceremony on the grass mat Yuan Fang had prepared for her, then unhurriedly took out her mess tin and lit the stone stove.
Two roasted fish were stuck in the sand next to Yuan Fang.
Nan Huaixu asked her, “You didn’t go back to the shelter this morning?”
Yuan Fang looked dejected. “Nope. Didn’t get an airdrop, so I have to live off the sea3 to fill my stomach.”
She offered Nan Huaixu a fish, but Nan Huaixu politely declined, saying she wasn’t hungry.
Nan Huaixu picked up the large plastic bucket, went to the shore to fill it with seawater, and carried the full bucket back.
Yuan Fang stirred the seawater with a wooden stick and took a bite of her fish. “Teacher Nan, we’ve been in this competition for almost a month now. Based on your time with Liu’er, do you think if I took care of her during her susceptible period, she’d share some of her supplies with me?”
The huge cash prize hung over their heads. Moreover, the longer a contestant stayed in the game, the more exposure they got, and the more traffic and revenue they earned. The guests on every season of 《Survivor》 would use every trick in the book to survive, and it wasn’t uncommon for some to set their sights on other contestants, finding an alternative path to success.
Nan Huaixu poured water into her mess tin with a glug glug glug. She sniffled, indicating her allergies were acting up, and handed the stick to Yuan Fang, gesturing for her to do double the work.
“No, she will.”
For two consecutive days, Liu Yinxi explored the area around the Toa River.
The muddy ground in the dense forest was rugged and uneven.
With a knife in hand, Liu Yinxi cleared away obstructive clumps of grass and vines as she scouted a path.
Some of the markers she had left before had been disturbed by the wind or small animals. Liu Yinxi had no choice but to reorient herself and leave more secure markers.
She walked for several kilometres along the riverbank but couldn’t find a satisfactory spot to set up camp.
Some spots were near the riverbank, convenient for getting water, but the terrain was too low. A heavy rainstorm could cause the river to flood, with unimaginable consequences.
Other spots were more than five metres in elevation above the water source and were sheltered by trees, but they were at the bottom of a slope, making them vulnerable to rockslides on rainy days. The campsite also received no sunlight…
There were still four or five days until the fifth airdrop. Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu had planned to officially move the shelter only after confirming the next airdrop would be near the great river. That meant setting the final deadline for the move before the sixth airdrop, which gave them about ten days of preparation time in total.
The situation wasn’t particularly urgent, and the choice of a shelter location was extremely, extremely, extremely important. Liu Yinxi refused to compromise. She would rather spend more time finding the absolute best campsite.
Two days of scouting had yielded no results, but Liu Yinxi didn’t mind. She was just worried Nan Huaixu would get anxious.
Nan Huaixu liked to make thorough plans. If a plan didn’t unfold smoothly, she was especially prone to anxiety.
The longer they spent together, the more Liu Yinxi realized that this dedicated actress was a perfectionist to the point of obsession.
So every time Liu Yinxi returned to the shelter, she would bring back as many supplies as she could—cassava, kudzu root, wild fruits, fresh water. If all else failed, she would at least chop down some banana pith and leaves. At the very least, she had to let her teammate see some kind of gain.
In the wild, a harvest was hope.
Bracelet Date: April 26th.
The day they had agreed to trade herbs with Huang Heshan.
After breakfast, Liu Yinxi combed her hair with her fingers and tied it into a simple, low ponytail.
She rinsed her mouth with water and a piece of chewed banana pith. Nan Huaixu, who had already washed up, asked her where the honey was.
“Why isn’t it in the basket on the tree branch anymore?”
“Oh, right. I took it down when I got up. It’s in the instant noodle box.”
“Let me see.”
Nan Huaixu opened the airdrop crate and gently lifted out the glass jar of honeycomb honey.
The fresh flowers that had decorated the jar a few days ago had withered. Nan Huaixu picked two delicate plumeria blossoms from a banana leaf platter holding water and tucked them into the woven grass cord tied around the jar’s mouth.
Liu Yinxi, still chewing on the banana pith, said, “That’s so pretty.”
Nan Huaixu held up one of the flower’s pristine white petals. The center of the flower was a milky yellow, making the whole thing the color of a sunny-side-up egg.
“I think it’s very pretty, too. This flower’s color goes well with the honey.”
Decorating the honey jar had been Nan Huaixu’s idea. She believed that a little embellishment could improve the quality of the trade.
Liu Yinxi didn’t care about such things, nor did she understand the mystery behind them. But the talking points Nan Huaixu had taught her before had been decisive in the success of their trades. Now, Liu Yinxi believed: Teacher Nan is always right. Teacher Nan has her reasons.
Liu Yinxi poured a little clean water into her palm, splashed it on her face, then sat down to tie her shoelaces. “If you’re ready, let’s go. We should get there early so we don’t keep our customer waiting.”
Nan Huaixu nodded, picked up Liu Yinxi’s bag and handed it to her, then shouldered her own. They set off for the southeast corner of the coconut grove.
They left before seven and arrived at the meeting point before eight.
Huang Heshan was already waiting under a tree.
Liu Yinxi put on a smile and ran over. “Huang-jie, good morning! Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Nan Huaixu, walking beside her, also offered a friendly smile.
Huang Heshan held out a hand, clutching a bulging black plastic bag.
Liu Yinxi held up the honey jar for her to see, indicating that the goods had arrived.
“Huang-jie, can we check the herbs first?” Nan Huaixu asked in a low voice.
Huang Heshan nodded, leaning against a coconut tree.
Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu crouched down, opened the plastic bag, and took out all the herbs inside. There were nine types of plants in total, separated and tied with grass cords according to their functions: hemostatic and anti-inflammatory, anti-itch and analgesic, anti-diarrheal, fever-reducing and cold-dispelling, and insect-repellent.
Liu Yinxi smiled as she packed them away. “We’ve received the herbs. Thank you, Huang-jie. And please thank Yu Yan for us, too.”
Huang Heshan turned her head slightly. She was standing against the light, and the play of light and shadow made her jawline look even more sharply defined.
“She said if either of you feels unwell, she’ll take a look.”
“That’s great, thank you!” Both Liu Yinxi and Nan Huaixu’s eyes lit up with surprise. They had thought they were only getting herbs, but they had gotten a chance for a consultation as well.
Huang Heshan didn’t reply.
After a moment of silence, she lightly touched the decorative flower on the honey jar with her fingertip. Her tone was a little awkward. “What… is this called?”
“?”
Liu Yinxi’s eyelashes fluttered in astonishment. The cold and seemingly unromantic Huang Heshan was actually interested in a flower decoration.
She looked excitedly at Nan Huaixu. Teacher Nan is a master strategist!4
Nan Huaixu answered Huang Heshan, “This flower is called plumeria.5 It also has another name, egg flower.”
Huang Heshan carefully placed the honey jar in her backpack, making sure to cover it with a separate bag to prevent it from getting jostled on the way and ruining the decoration.
“Where can I pick them?”
Nan Huaixu was in a good mood after completing the trade and answered every question. “Near the shipwreck, over by the mangrove forest. If you go into the rainforest and walk about three kilometres northwest, there are a few plumeria trees.”
Huang Heshan nodded once and slung her bag over one shoulder. “Goodbye.”
Liu Yinxi watched her leave, then hugged the big bag of herbs excitedly. “We have you to thank for this trade, Teacher Nan. You’ve led us to success. Teacher Nan, how on earth did you come up with a way to persuade Huang Heshan? Why did you think saying that eating honey brings happiness, and then adding a flower decoration, would interest her? She seems like someone who’s only interested in knives and guns.”
Nan Huaixu turned and began to walk slowly under the shade of the trees, the sea breeze toying with the loose strands of hair by her ear.
“Because Huang Heshan is more of a woman than you, and more of an alpha than you.”
Liu Yinxi huffed softly. What was so great about that?
It was just eating some sweets and picking some flowers.
Footnotes
- Original: dēng bízi shàng liǎn (蹬鼻子上脸), literally ‘stepping on the nose to get to the face.’ An idiom for when someone takes advantage of kindness and becomes increasingly presumptuous; to give an inch and take a mile.
- Original: qū yán fù shì (趋炎附势). A four-character idiom describing someone who fawns on the powerful and influential to get ahead.
- Original: kào hǎi chī hǎi (靠海吃海), a common saying that means ‘if you live by the sea, you eat from the sea.’ It signifies making a living with the resources you have at hand.
- Original: shén jī miào suàn (神机妙算). A four-character idiom praising someone for being divinely clever and having brilliant plans.
- Original: miǎn zhī zi (缅栀子). It is also commonly known as frangipani, or jīdàn huā (鸡蛋花) in Chinese, which literally translates to ‘egg flower’ because its white and yellow coloring resembles a fried egg.
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