Substitute Alpha Gets Confessed to by Her Ex’s Aunt on a Survival Variety Show – Chapter 62
by Little PandaFlower
“Xiao Yu-jie, how far are you planning to go?”
“I’ll head back at two in the afternoon.”
“Aren’t you coming back to the shelter for lunch?”
“I brought yam1 and roasted meat. I’ll share half with you.”
“I brought food too. No need, thank you.”
Yu Yan had already unzipped her backpack halfway. She looked at Liu Yinxi earnestly. “Are you sure? I eat very little and can’t finish my food. I can share with you.”
Liu Yinxi waved both hands. “I have enough too. Really no need.”
Yu Yan closed her backpack, her gaze inquisitive. She walked ahead to smell a cluster of plants, then used her knife to cut some leaves.
Liu Yinxi planned to separate from her when they got close to the traps. Before that, she observed what plants Yu Yan was collecting so she could gather them later.
Yu Yan turned back and showed Liu Yinxi the leaves in her hand. “This one isn’t edible. But if you crush it, it can be applied to burned skin.”
Liu Yinxi made a mental note. “Got it. I’ll remember.”
Sometimes the slopes were steep and difficult to traverse. Liu Yinxi wanted to help Yu Yan, but Yu Yan seriously declined each time. Though her movements were somewhat labored, she completed everything on her own.
Yu Yan moved very nimbly. This surprised Liu Yinxi, since Yu Yan had some trouble with her legs.
The original novel stated that Yu Yan was the orphan of a pair of peacekeepers, adopted by her late parents’ commanding officer. When she grew up, she joined a peacekeeping medical team, carrying on her parents’ legacy.
One of Yu Yan’s feet was slightly lame—a lasting injury from when she had just started working in a war zone. Because of this, she had a fierce argument with her adoptive mother. Her adoptive mother wanted to transfer her to a military hospital for a quiet administrative position, but she insisted on staying at the front lines to help innocent refugees and brave soldiers.
Additionally, Yu Yan donated eighty percent of her savings to refugee camps and orphanages in war zones. She told her adoptive mother: “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to grow. Now I’ve grown up, and I hope I can pass on this love.”
When Liu Yinxi read the original text, she respected this character. But she hadn’t expected the actual person to be so small and slender. No wonder her adoptive mother worried so much.
Liu Yinxi followed behind Yu Yan, watching the compass as they walked.
Passing through a thicket, Yu Yan spotted a parasitic vine winding around a large tree. High up, the vine bore pale yellow flowers. She jogged over, stepped on a rock, and stretched her arm to pick them, but couldn’t reach.
“Let me.” Liu Yinxi walked to her side, jumped hard, raised her hand, and pulled the vine down.
Yu Yan raised her face from Liu Yinxi’s shadow, picked a flower, and smiled at her. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Liu Yinxi thought the flower looked like an ordinary parasitic flower. She pointed at it. “What’s its medicinal use?”
Yu Yan said, “It has no medicinal use.”
“Can you eat it?!” It probably wouldn’t taste good either.
Yu Yan shook her head again.
Liu Yinxi looked confused. “Then why did you pick it? If I weren’t here, would you have climbed the tree to pick it?”
Yu Yan nodded. “Mm, that’s right. Otherwise how would I get it?”
“Huh? But it’s not medicine and you can’t eat it. What did you pick it for?”
“For my own enjoyment.”
Liu Yinxi froze.
This… this was allowed?
“Oh. Okay then.”
Yu Yan gently stroked the petals and pinned the flower in her hair. “I like flowers. Do you think it looks nice?”
Liu Yinxi scratched her head. “Uh…” Maybe their aesthetics were different.
Yu Yan held up the remaining two flowers in her hand. “You want to wear one too?”
“I’ll pass.”
Flowers… Liu Yinxi thought of the frangipani Nan Huaixu had insisted on using to decorate the honey jar. Was there some connection between the two?
They passed a small puddle. Yu Yan caught a toad with her bare hands and scraped off its toad venom, which was effective for killing insects and relieving itching.
Liu Yinxi was surprised again by Yu Yan’s agile movements.
But Yu Yan’s leg was injured, after all. It was clear that the long trek was gradually wearing her out.
Liu Yinxi couldn’t help thinking of Nan Huaixu. She wondered if she had gone back to the shelter to rest.
Liu Yinxi watched Yu Yan process the toad venom. “Xiao Yu-jie, you go out alone this far, climbing slopes and trees, catching bugs and toads. Does Huang-jie not worry?”
Yu Yan skillfully put the toad venom in a small bottle and released the toad. “She didn’t care at first.”
“Huh?” What did “didn’t care” mean?
Yu Yan sat on a tree root and patted her pant legs. “She’s like that—you’ve seen her. She doesn’t communicate well, just does whatever she wants. On landing day, I didn’t see my teammate. I thought someone in my group had quit. Later, when I grabbed the airdrop, I realized she was the only one alone, so I called out to her.”
Liu Yinxi slapped her forehead.
What a mess.
What even was this.
Yu Yan continued, “But I like her pheromones.”
Liu Yinxi: “…?”
Huh?
Just now she was saying Huang-jie had this flaw and that flaw.
Yu Yan said, “I think she’s cool.”
She turned her head. Her sweet smile held an emotion Liu Yinxi had never seen before and didn’t quite understand—like melted sugar, sticky and hot.
Liu Yinxi: “Oh…”
Yu Yan’s eyes shone brightly. “She took me to the shelter she built, gave me delicious roasted meat, and even picks fresh flowers for me every day. Sometimes she makes me angry, but she’s not good with words and always finds ways to apologize. She thinks she’s clumsy, but I think she’s cute, pure and innocent like a newborn.”
Liu Yinxi: “…”
Yu Yan continued, “She doesn’t approve of me going out alone for too long. In the first days of the competition, she didn’t care what I did, and I managed fine on my own. I told her—don’t think you’re the only one who’s been to a battlefield. On the front-line surgical tables, I’m better than you. So she can’t control me now. She taught me climbing and fighting; I taught her healing and plant identification.”
“Xiao Liu, don’t underestimate me just because I’m small-boned and lame. If you’re afraid of getting hurt, you’ll never challenge difficulties—that’s wrong. People who rarely catch colds, when they do get a fever, it’s usually serious, because their immune system hasn’t been exercised. Only by challenging difficulties and experiencing pain can you heal. Meeting difficulties is the only way to solve them.”
Liu Yinxi’s mind wandered slightly.
Yu Yan called to her softly, “Xiao Liu, if you’re worried about Teacher Nan, next time bring her along when you go out. Don’t leave her alone near the shelter, okay?”
Liu Yinxi looked blank. She had left Nan Huaixu to rest because Nan Huaixu wasn’t feeling well. “I don’t always leave her. And many places are hard to reach. If we split up, I’m faster.”
“Mm, you’re right. But she’s slow because she hasn’t mastered efficient hiking techniques. You can teach her, and she’ll get better. I was overthinking—when I saw you and Teacher Nan earlier, you split up to find resources. You told her not to go too far. I thought after what happened last time, you were worried Teacher Nan would encounter danger again, so you were against her exploring far away.”
Liu Yinxi: “…”
That point… she had been called out on it.
Was protecting Nan Huaixu like this… wrong?
Yu Yan checked her bracelet. “I’m heading north. Are you still coming with me?”
Liu Yinxi needed to check her traps. She shook her head.
Yu Yan stood up. “Then let’s stop here. Remember to bring rice and beans for the airdrop the day after tomorrow. Be careful on the road. Bye.”
Liu Yinxi waved at her retreating figure. “Bye!” She watched until Yu Yan disappeared into the emerald green of the forest.
Liu Yinxi’s mind was in chaos.
What was that?
What did she just hear?
She had only asked one question about Yu Yan, and somehow heard all that about her and Huang-jie.
Liu Yinxi rubbed the top of her head and turned toward her traps.
But… was leaving Nan Huaixu alone really a mistake?
Would Nan Huaixu be happy about a bouquet of flowers, like Yu Yan was?
Would it be better to teach Nan Huaixu climbing and hiking, and bring her along on longer trips, like Yu Yan suggested?
—I imagined that if I were left behind because I wasn’t capable enough, staying alone at the shelter, I’d be very lonely. Teacher Nan would be too.
That’s what Yu Yan had said.
The leaves on the treehouse roof looked brand new.
Nan Huaixu inventoried the crate: woven vine ropes, sharpened stone axe, newly gathered bracken ferns, banana stem cores, palm cores, moss.
There was an empty plastic water bucket.
Nan Huaixu touched the handle, thought for a moment, then put it back in its place and sighed.
Forget it. Liu Yinxi didn’t feel safe with her going to the river alone to fetch water.
Actually, she felt fine now. No need to be afraid of well ropes after being bitten by a snake once.
To put Liu Yinxi at ease and not cause trouble for the team, someone with relatively weak survival skills like her should just stay obediently at the shelter.
Nan Huaixu sat for a while, her gaze sweeping across every corner of the shelter, wondering if she could find more work.
She couldn’t have Liu Yinxi busy outside all day while she couldn’t go far, couldn’t catch prey, and stayed at the shelter whenever she felt slightly unwell, slowly becoming marginalized and becoming a burden.
Nan Huaixu checked the time. Liu Yinxi should be back soon. She’d clean up a bit more, then make dinner.
She set up the mess tin, poured in clean water, and started cooking rice.
The lizard meat from noon was already roasted. She had only eaten a little, saving most of it for Liu Yinxi for dinner. Liu Yinxi had been out all day with high activity levels and needed more energy.
The rice was cooked, the meat was heated, arranged neatly on the crate serving as a table.
In the tropical rainforest, there was no worry about food getting cold. Nan Huaixu leaned against a tree, waiting for Liu Yinxi to return so they could eat together.
Through the leaves overhead, she saw the sky dyed orange-yellow by the sunset. Several birds flew past, their silhouettes like cutouts from an art film.
In the past, when she was filming, she rarely had a chance to rest. She’d finish one project and immediately start another. Mommy said the corporation needed endorsements, needed fame—this was the best way for her to build reputation in the Nan family.
Back then, she used one minute like two. She never imagined that one day she’d have this much time to waste.
It was almost boring.
Nan Huaixu smiled faintly. She had become quite extravagant.
Wasting something even the richest person in the world couldn’t buy.
Time that wasn’t needed.
Footsteps came from the forest.
Nan Huaixu looked up and saw the approaching figure. She stood up abruptly and walked toward her.
“Teacher Nan! I’m back!”
“How did it go? Did you catch any prey?”
Liu Yinxi held the fish trap in one hand, her other hand behind her back. “Teacher Nan, I learned about a lot of plants from Xiao Yu-jie today and gathered some. I don’t really understand the specific medicinal properties, but Xiao Yu-jie said if you soak them in water at the shelter every day, they can soothe emotions and help maintain a good mood.”
Nan Huaixu thought it was something like lavender or aromatic plants. “That amazing? Let me smell.”
Liu Yinxi slowly pulled out a bouquet of bright wild flowers from behind her back and smiled at Nan Huaixu. “It’s like this, Teacher Nan. Take a look.”
The delicate flowers bathed in the sunset’s flowing light, boldly claiming Nan Huaixu’s entire field of vision, blooming with abandon.
Nan Huaixu stood in place, staring at the flowers for a few seconds. She slowly raised both hands and embraced the bouquet. The light in her eyes trembled. Her throat felt hot, and she couldn’t speak.
Liu Yinxi walked past her, dragged over a stool, sat down, opened the fish trap, and drew a knife to process the fish.
“Teacher Nan, I have a presumptuous idea.” Liu Yinxi cut open the fish belly and looked back at her. “I was thinking, would you be willing to learn from me—”
“Don’t speak.”
Nan Huaixu turned her back to her, lowered her head, and hugged the flowers tightly. Then she picked out a plastic bottle and carefully placed the flowers inside to keep them fresh.
Liu Yinxi walked toward her nervously. Nan Huaixu turned around, her bright smile like gorgeous flowing clouds. “Alright, go ahead and say it~”
0 Comments