Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Song Qi watched as the three women walked away in different directions due to some sudden burst of excitement. In fact, they were so excited that they started running.
He turned and shot Qu Man and Hu Mofei a confused look.
“Why are those three so motivated all of a sudden?”
Qu Man, who had been listening with one ear to her radio the entire time, shot Song Qi a meaningful look. “Why don’t you listen in on Qi Wu’s microphone?”
Jiang Xuxu, Tong Luo, and Ke Lu were above average among all the contestants, so they were not that interested in points.
However, they were instantly pushed to search for the cards because Qi Wu had never tried barbecue before.
“I don’t care about that girl.”
Song Qi muttered to himself with a cold look on his face, clearly dissatisfied with how invested his two subordinates were in Qi Wu.
Due to Song Qi’s strict views and high standards, he forbade any preferential treatment or exemptions on his shows.
He also had to force himself not to pay attention to Qi Wu.
However, Hu Mofei had been working with Song Qi for over a decade, so he was unwilling to accommodate Song Qi’s stubbornness. The moment he heard what Song Qi said, he instantly pushed his way over to stand by Song Qi’s side.
“If you won’t switch to her side, I will. I’ll pull up Little Gray’s footage.”
Hu Mofei deftly seized control of the laptop in front of Song Qi to pull up the camera they had following Qi Wu.
“Hey!”
Song Qi scowled and angrily huffed. “How can you be so bold? You are not paid to look at your idol at work!”
Hu Mofei rolled his eyes. “Song, she doesn’t even know who I am? What do you mean by being paid to look at my idol? I pay attention to her because she is worth keeping an eye on.”
For once, Qu Man agreed with him.
“He’s right. Qi Wu will be a topic of great interest.”
Song Qi glared at them. By now, he could not even be bothered to talk to them.
When he turned to look at the laptop screen, his eyes went wide with shock.
“Why does she have seven cards?”
He had been astounded when she had found six cards just hiding near the site.
After all, most contestants would choose to run away from the field as soon as the timer started. No one could have thought that there would be cards hiding close to them.
Qi Wu had thought of that, though. She had also found the cards hidden by the lake.
She had a total of six cards, but three of them were given away. However, she now had seven cards in her hands.
That meant she had found four more cards during the production team’s brief conversation.
If it weren’t for the fact that most of the contestants seen in the other cameras were still frantically searching for cards while some had not even found a single card, Song Qi would have suspected the props department had gone easy on the contestants.
Hu Mofei had been watching Qi Wu’s camera from the start. Still, he could not contain his shock and muttered to himself, “Why does she act like she has some sort of radar installed in her? She finds a card as soon as she stops walking.”
If the entire clip was aired, a lot of their viewers would start to wonder if Qi Wu had been provided with a cheat sheet.
However, everyone in the production team was flabbergasted as well.
Song Qi looked at Hu Mofei with a suspicious look in his eyes.
Hu Mofei had been confused at first by the stare, but when realization dawned on him, he immediately shot to his feet.
“What do you mean by that, Song? Are you accusing me of helping her? I’m not in charge of props!”
Song Qi angrily huffed. “Enough. I’m not accusing you of anything. She just has good luck.”
Hu Mofei and Qu Man exchanged a look when they heard that.
Even now, Song Qi was still stubbornly insisting it was all a matter of luck.
Meanwhile, the timer displayed on the LED screen had ticked down to fifteen minutes. The speakers stationed around the living quarters began to sound out reminders.
“There are fifteen minutes left on the timer.”
Qi Wu calmly pulled out a card from beneath a letterbox nearby. Just as she was about to continue with her search, she noticed Jiang Xuxu excitedly waving her over from a distance.
“Come quickly!”
Qi Wu turned and walked over to Jiang Xuxu.
“What is it?” she asked.
Jiang Xuxu led her around the corner in a secretive manner. Then, they poked their heads around the corner.
“Look over there,” Jiang Xuxu said, pointing with a finger.
Qi Wu followed the finger and found Tong Fei and her group of followers confronting… Qiu Yan, who was standing there all by herself.
“Qiu Yan and Tong Fei are fighting over a card, I think,” Jiang Xuxu explained in a whisper. “I noticed them too late to know who found the card first. Still, just judging by who looks the strongest, Tong Fei won the fight.”
There was drama happening. How could Jiang Xuxu not share the gossip with her dearest friends? How she wished she could call everyone over to watch the catfight.
“What a pity I couldn’t find Tong Luo and Ke Lu,” she muttered.
However, she was happy enough with Qi Wu’s presence.
As soon as she finished muttering to herself, Tong Fei’s arrogant and unrestrained voice boomed through the air.
“Qiu Yan, be sensible. The card is mine.”
Upon hearing that, Qiu Yan scoffed. “Yours? Did you bring a whole group of women over just to keep an eye on me so that you could steal a card I found?”
“Did you lay your hands on it? No? That means you did not actually find it. It’s in my hands now, so it’s mine.”
Tong Fei did not feel ashamed of her behavior. Conversely, she was actually holding her head up with a puffed chest as she described what she had done.
The group of women behind her exchanged glances. A lot of them actually thought what they did was not ethical, but they did not dare offend Tong Fei.
Qiu Yan was trembling in anger. There was a sinister glint in her eyes as she glared at Tong Fei as though she wished looks could kill.
“Does the esteemed daughter of the Tong family not care about her dignity and reputation anymore? You are so much more inferior than Tong Luo!”
“How can you compare her to me? She’s nothing!”
The moment Qiu Yan mentioned Tong Luo, Tong Fei’s haughty expression instantly twisted into an ugly look. “She’s not even fit to polish my shoes! Do you know just how…”
“Tong Fei!”
The group of women behind her hurriedly stopped her from saying anything more.
The Tong family had arranged for them to join the talent show as a sort of “handmaiden”. Their duty was to support Tong Fei in everything.
While Tong Fei had long since chased away the cameraman assigned to her, they were all mic’d up. If Tong Fei continued speaking, this would turn into more than a simple argument.
Tong Fei’s face twisted as though a thought had just struck her. Thus, she had no choice but to swallow back what she planned to say.
“Anyway, the card is mine. If you want it, you’ll have to take it with your own hands!”
Tong Fei shot Qiu Yan another derisive glare before stomping away with her head held high and her group of followers scurrying behind her.
Qiu Yan was so angry that she desperately needed an outlet for her anger. However, she had no choice but to continue her search for the cards while she still had time.
Jiang Xuxu was disappointed to see that the two women did not tear each other into pieces.
“I thought Tong Fei would drop a bomb on us or something. What a pity she was stopped from talking.”
“She can’t hide what she knows for long.”
Qi Wu’s voice was as soft as a whisper when she responded to Jiang Xuxu.