Chapter 45: Prompted by Whim, Arriving in High Spirits

Hearing that breakfast was ready, the five of them turned back one after another.

As soon as they stepped into the house, a look of agony washed over their faces.

"Brother Jun, do you really have nothing else to treat us with? Smell it yourself, the whole room reeks of snail rice noodles!" Wu Dajing blurted out genuinely.

Wang Chuanjun suddenly straightened his back, feeling so awkward that he didn't know what to say, his brain racing frantically.

That's right! Why did I cook snail rice noodles early in the morning?

What should I do? How should I answer?

Seeing him in such an awkward spot, Xu Xiu had to wave his hand to break the ice: "I suppose these snail rice noodles must be the most expensive things around here; he just wanted to give us the best."

"Ah, yes! These snail rice noodles are indeed the most expensive things here," Wang Chuanjun nodded. "There really is nothing else here."

"Have any of you ever had snail rice noodles before?" Wu Dajing asked again.

As it turned out, there was someone here who had never tried them—Song Yanfei had never eaten them in her life.

"I haven't, but I can give it a try."

Taking a bite, she felt it wasn't quite as unacceptable as she had imagined.

Although the snail rice noodles weren't authentic and even smelled a bit funky, they tasted quite savory once you started eating.

Seeing everyone devouring the food voraciously, Wang Chuanjun finally let out a long sigh of relief.

He had been terrified of ruining this breakfast, which would have made things even more awkward.

Fortunately, everything turned out fine.

In fact, Wang Chuanjun even lost himself amidst the girls' chorus of "so delicious," a goofy, Husky-like smile beaming across his face.

After breakfast.

Since the group had nothing better to do, they let Wang Chuanjun lead them to the shore to pick up trash. The azure seaside, however, was littered with white plastic waste, making for a rather distressing sight.

Shortly after, everyone brought their fully stuffed garbage bags to the smart vending machine.

Meng Ziyi asked a question that everyone had on their minds: "Is this vending machine actually smart?"

"Good question, how could it possibly be? It's not even plugged in." Wang Chuanjun shook his head with a bitter smile.

Xu Xiu stepped forward and patted the vending machine: "Hey buddy, I've left the trash for you out back, now hand over a few boxes of snail rice noodles."

No sooner had his voice trailed off than a box of snail rice noodles dropped right out of the vending machine.

True intelligence!

Wu Dajing chimed in from the side: "Give us two more boxes. With so many of us here, who is one box supposed to feed?"

To everyone's surprise, the vending machine showed no reaction whatsoever this time.

"What's going on? Is this thing broken?" Wu Dajing reached out and gave it a pat.

This action instantly prompted a voice to come from inside the vending machine.

"Out of stock. There's only one box left."

"Huh? The robot spoke!" Li Xueqin joked.

"Well, now he can't even pretend it's a smart vending machine. Shall we just resort to outright robbery?" Xu Xiu offered a magnificent suggestion.

"Is that a good idea? After all, we are..."

"What are we waiting for then? Find something to smash the door open, once it's open we go right in." Wu Dajing was truly afraid of nothing and even wanted to stir up some trouble.

This scared the PD inside out of their wits. I'm just a prop person, don't come after me!

"Hahaha, how ruthless! They're not buying anymore, they're switching to zero-dollar shopping? Our American friends would call this professional!"

The viewers commented with smiles:

"Don't do this! I always thought Wu Dajing was a mature and steady person, but I never expected Xu Xiu to turn him into a comedy partner. I love him even more now!"

"Call it quits, Xu Xiu, the corn stalks are everywhere outside, the corn cops from all over the city are coming to catch you!"

"Seriously though, what is the point of the production team setting up this piece of junk? Were they waiting for Xu Xiu and the others to rob it?"

"We've been watching up to this point, do we not know how broke you are? Why is the production team still bothering us with useless gimmicks?"

After all, the group wasn't actually a band of outlaws, so they couldn't genuinely resort to robbery; instead, they simply pressured the PD in a subtle way to bring everything out from inside.

Even the corn didn't escape their grasp. Two ears of corn were tightly clutched in Xu Xiu's hands, though he was being held back relentlessly by the PD on the opposite side who refused to let go.

"Are you out of your mind? You gave me everything else, what are you so stingy about with these two pathetic ears of corn?" Xu Xiu shouted as he tugged.

To which the PD replied through gritted teeth, "Because these two ears of corn are my breakfast!"

"Pfft—hahaha!" Wang Chuanjun burst out laughing.

"No wonder you wouldn't let go, so it's your breakfast. You should have said so earlier!" Li Xueqin puckered her lips.

"All right, don't rob his breakfast then. The ingredients we have are pretty much enough," Meng Ziyi patted Xu Xiu on the arm.

"Exactly, leave some food for the PD. He didn't even get to eat breakfast early in the morning before rushing over to play a robot for us."

Xu Xiu didn't speak; his gaze merely drifted toward the PD.

"Buddy, one ear of corn each, how about that? Let's meet each other halfway!"

"No way! Absolutely not!"

Xu Xiu said with a straight face, "You can have this!"

"I really can't have this!"

"So stingy!"

The PD's nose was almost crooked with anger at Xu Xiu. Are you out of your damn mind?

You rob my stuff and then call me stingy???

Is there any justice left?

Are there any laws left?

Xu Xiu still had a shred of conscience left, though not much, and in the end, he didn't forcibly snatch the corn from the PD's hands.

Just as the group was grabbing their food and preparing to head back, Li Xueqin suddenly remembered a very important matter!

"Oh no, the sun is already out. Weren't we supposed to watch the sunrise?"

Meng Ziyi let out a gasp: "Ah? It's out? Really? Didn't we get up early for nothing then? I even came here without putting on any makeup!"

"It's true, the sun is really out!" Song Yanfei pointed her finger toward the sun at the edge of the horizon.

The sun slowly ascended, dispersing the distant fog and slicing through the sky like an peerless divine sword.

The six of them stood shoulder to shoulder by the small house, all pulling out their phones to take pictures and videos.

The golden sunlight cast its glow upon them and upon the boundless sea.

The sea surface mirrored the breathtaking golden radiance, layer upon layer of white foam rising and receding.

At this moment, what the crashing waves stirred up was not merely seawater, but their surging yet ordinary hearts.

This was not just a remote island, but a sanctuary where one could briefly rest, with the endless ocean rolling like the vastness of their dreams.

Everyone quietly gazed out toward the edge of the sea, as if that was where their poetry and distant horizons lay...

"How beautiful~ But what a pity we didn't get to see what the sunrise looked like at the very beginning; the sight must have been even more stunning than it is now, right?" Meng Ziyi's eyes twinkled.

Song Yanfei said with a hint of regret: "Yeah, what a shame. If we had actually caught the sunrise, it would have been so romantic!"

Yet Li Xueqin, the initiator of this plan, felt no such regret. Instead, she turned to look at the others and said earnestly:

"There's nothing to regret. The definition of romance should be following an impulse, arriving with high spirits, and returning with high spirits."

"So what if we didn't see the sunrise? Don't you think this is very interesting? It is precisely because we didn't see the sunrise that this feels exceptionally romantic."

"I think what we really wanted wasn't necessarily to watch the sunrise itself, but to have three or five close friends accompanying us when the sun rises."

"Everything in this series of actions we took, including waking up at five in the morning, everything—at this very moment, romance has taken tangible form."

"As long as we ourselves are romantic people, anywhere can become our utopia!"

"This! This is the life we yearn for!"