Even After My Death
Chapter 141 - 116: Huo Miao’s Skillful Play with Words and Speech

Chapter 141: Chapter 116: Huo Miao’s Skillful Play with Words and Speech

Today, Nong Chun still prepared seafood soup with bread for breakfast.

Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou were not picky eaters. They would eat whatever was available, and coupled with Nong Chun’s decent culinary skills, a pot full of seafood soup was quickly devoured by the three of them, leaving even the steamed bread beside it eaten clean.

Seeing how much Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou enjoyed the bread, Nong Chun felt a bit happy, but he also sighed. His grandmother had originally packed him a large bag of bread in his suitcase, which Nong Chun had transferred into his backpack. A few days earlier, Huo Ziheng had rummaged through and found it, and they had eaten half a bag. With the consumption over the past few days, there was hardly any left. At best, there was enough for one more meal, and then it would be gone.

Nong Chun shared with Jiang Ning the news about his nearly depleted bread supply, and Jiang Ning nodded, "We’ll wait one more day. If the show crew and rescuers still don’t come, we’ll go to the safety house."

Continuing to wait like this wasn’t a solution, and since arriving on the island, they had mainly been eating seafood and grilled meat. Eating the same thing every day wasn’t ideal either. Without staple foods, a long-term meat diet wasn’t good for the body, and Jiang Ning was starting to miss the taste of rice.

[Wow wow wow! Finally going to the safety house!]

[Hahaha, can’t wait! There’s also the last mysterious guest in the safety house who hasn’t shown up yet, right?]

[I wonder who the mysterious guest in the safety house is. Could it be another guest’s acquaintance?]

[Roar! Hurry, hurry, there’s no rescue coming. It’s best to rush to the safety house.]

[If Jiang Ning decides to go, will the other guests follow?]

[They should go together, right? Although Jiang Ning doesn’t share food with the other guests, I always feel like without Jiang Ning, the others are doomed...]

When Nong Chun heard Jiang Ning talking about leaving, his eyes lit up: "To the safety house?!"

Jiang Ning nodded, "Yes, there’s also a mysterious guest there, and the environment and supplies in the safety house should be much better than here."

After hearing this, Nong Chun’s expression turned excited.

He hadn’t thought too much about it and simply wanted to leave this place.

Waiting here every day without the show crew and rescue team arriving was almost driving Nong Chun crazy.

At least heading to safety house would give them something to look forward to.

Nong Chun wholeheartedly agreed with Jiang Ning’s decision to start towards the safety house.

After eating, Nong Chun sat in front of the signal fire, adding firewood to the flames while taking out the map the show crew had given them. He looked down, examining it closely, and studied the route from their location to the safety house.

Actually, rather than figuring it out himself, Nong Chun would have preferred to ask Qi Xingzhou directly, as Qi Xingzhou had traveled step by step from the safety house. However, Qi Xingzhou was a man of double standards; he answered all of Jiang Ning’s questions but when Nong Chun approached him to speak, he would turn his head away like a child, pretending not to see Nong Chun, let alone reply to any of his questions...

Not only was Nong Chun rendered speechless, but even the audience in front of their screens felt it was outrageous and shocking: they had seen guests being snubbed before, but never so blatantly.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

On the other side, Huo Ziheng, who had wet himself out of fright due to a snake scare, had scrambled frantically away from the spot and immediately ran back to his and Mu Mingxuan’s tent.

With a chill between his legs, Huo Ziheng, feeling a mixture of shame and rage, took out a pair of clean pants from his backpack to change into.

After changing, Huo Ziheng pinched his nose with a look of disgust, and threw his soiled trousers and shorts far away.

Many environmentally conscious viewers criticized his littering behavior but felt somewhat relieved remembering that this was all part of a virtual reality show.

Huo Ziheng, having disposed of the evidence, had a stern face filled with thoughts about what had just happened.

He didn’t know whether Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou had noticed anything odd about him. The spot where he had been standing was a distance from Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou, and he had immediately turned around and run back upon discovering the wetness in his crotch—if Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou had not been closely watching a certain part of his body, they probably wouldn’t have known.

Unfortunately for him, he had worn grey trousers that day; the moist area darkened noticeably and was obvious at a glance, which made Huo Ziheng feel uncertain.

But the mere thought that Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou might know that he had been scared by a snake to the point of wetting his pants was enough to make Huo Ziheng consider jumping into the sea!

All his life, Huo Ziheng had never encountered such an embarrassing incident!

His face a mix of anger and distress, and feeling too ashamed to see anyone, Huo Ziheng’s expression kept changing. After standing still for a moment, he clenched his fists and returned to the tent where he and Mu Mingxuan resided.

Huo Ziheng was fortunate that at this time he had no idea that the episode where he just wet himself had been live-streamed for all to see. Even if Jiang Ning and Qi Xingzhou hadn’t noticed, thousands of netizens had seen it, and it had even hit the hot search list early in the morning. Screenshots of him sitting on the ground with a damp crotch were photoshopped by netizens into various memes... If he knew about this, his mood would probably be even worse than it currently was.

Of course, Huo Ziheng would inevitably come to know of it after the reality show ended... but that’s a story for later.

Huo Miao’s injured hand was carefully cleaned by Jian Tiantian with iodine. Oysters, which grow on reefs all year round, have not only sharp edges but are also covered with lots of moss and other dirt, and inevitably, Huo Miao’s wound got scraped with this moss. Jian Tian Tian carefully treated her while Huo Miao howled in pain, her cries of agony unceasing.

When Huo Miao, with tears in her eyes from the pain, realized that Huo Ziheng had gone to Jiang Ning to ask for medicine and had been gone for a long time, she couldn’t help but get angry, "Where is my brother? Why hasn’t he come back after so long?!"

Having spent the past few days with her, Jian Tiantian had come to realize that Huo Miao’s true personality was not as gentle and kind as she usually appeared, so she remained silent, treating Huo Miao’s wounds without a word.

After all, like Huo Miao, she had been in the tent all this time and didn’t know anything.

Yuan Wei and Lin Qi had also been in the tent just moments ago, but after realizing that Huo Miao only had some scratches, and that they had no medicine on them, they figured they couldn’t help much by staying, so they went out to look for food instead.

The two found some wild cactus fruit on another coast; although the fruits were small, they could be eaten after peeling.

Huo Miao howled a few more times and, seeing that Huo Ziheng still did not show up, reluctantly stopped her wailing.

After more than ten minutes, when Huo Miao heard some noise outside and faintly heard Mu Mingxuan and Ling Bo talking, she called out again.

This time, Mu Mingxuan, who had just come out of the forest, heard Huo Miao’s voice and immediately ran over, "Miaomiao, what’s wrong?"

Upon seeing Mu Mingxuan’s figure, Huo Miao looked at him with a wronged expression, lifting her hands to reveal the multiple wounds on her palms and fingers.

Though Jian Tiantian had just carefully tended to them, the fresh wounds on Huo Miao’s delicate hands were still a shocking sight.

Mu Mingxuan was somewhat angry, his first thought being, "What happened? Did Jiang Ning bully you?"

If it had been in the past, Huo Miao would have surely pinned the blame for the wounds on Jiang Ning, as it wasn’t the first time she’d done such a thing. But now, with everyone stranded on a desolate island and Jiang Ning seeming like a changed person, and with Jian Tiantian right there, Huo Miao could only regretfully pass up this opportunity, shaking her head, "No, it wasn’t... It was my fault, I fell."

Mu Mingxuan looked skeptical, clearly not convinced, "Really?"

"Really." Huo Miao nodded, her lips pursed with a hint of grievance, "It happened when I was following Second Brother to the seaside to look for seafood. I accidentally fell, and it hurt so much, I bled a lot... It was Second Brother who carried me back."

[Why did Mu Mingxuan immediately assume that Jiang Ning was responsible for Huo Miao’s injuries? Did Jiang Ning often bully Miaomiao in the past?]

[Huo Miao is impressive, huh? Jian Tiantian was right beside her treating her wound for so long, yet she doesn’t mention her a single time.]

[Exactly, the injury was to her hand, yet Huo Ziheng carried her back. Anyone who didn’t know better might think her legs were broken.]

[The most pitiful is really Jian Tiantian, who has endured Huo Miao’s sobbing and wailing all morning, and didn’t even receive a single word of gratitude—not even a ’thank you.’]

[Hahaha, the real victim is Huo Ziheng. If not for him going to ask Jiang Ning for medicine for Huo Miao, he wouldn’t have wet himself from the snake scare. Now, every netizen has got a screenshot and a meme... This will surely become a lifelong stain for him.]

Mu Mingxuan, holding Huo Miao’s hands, was overcome with pity, while Huo Miao buried her head into his chest, looking aggrieved. The two of them chatted as if no one else was present.

Jian Tiantian: "..."

Jian Tiantian, with a dark expression, walked out. If she had known it was going to be like this, she would’ve let Huo Miao’s hands get infected and rot without lifting a finger to help her. She had struggled all morning, only to not receive thanks in the end, while the others acted as if it were only natural!

Seeing Ling Bo with a few clods in his hand, Jian Tiantian hurried over.

After Huo Miao heard from Mu Mingxuan’s mouth that they had dug up something edible, her heart relaxed, finally relieved that she wouldn’t have to go hungry this morning.

But looking at her hands covered in wounds, Huo Miao felt a wave of sorrow again. She pushed Mu Mingxuan, who was hugging her, "Brother Mingxuan, can you please go look for my Second Brother? He went to ask Jiang Ning for medicine just now but hasn’t come back yet."

[Huh? What do you mean ’he went to ask Jiang Ning for medicine for you’? Wasn’t it you who cried and begged Huo Ziheng to go?]

[If I remember correctly, Huo Ziheng didn’t really want to ask Jiang Ning for medicine in the first place, considering the several conflicts they had, with Jiang Ning not giving them any face.]

[Right, Huo Miao was crying non-stop, and it was out of pity for her that Huo Ziheng went.]

[Hahaha, Huo Miao is so adept at manipulating words.]