"Director Wang, what are you doing?"
Nong Chun turned his head in shock to look at Wang Ye, only to see that Wang Ye didn’t even have a moment to answer him. Instead, his eyes shone brightly as he stepped forward, looking at the cluster of vines as if they were some kind of treasure.
Wang Ye walked around the cluster of vines with utter joy in his eyes.
Jiang Ning saw the look on Wang Ye’s face and knew he must have recognized the wild yam vines.
Nong Chun and Jian Tiantian both seemed much more clueless. Nong Chun looked at Wang Ye, then at Jiang Ning, pointing at the unfamiliar cluster of greenery and asked, "Sister Jiang, is this the treasure you just mentioned?"
"Mhm," Jiang Ning nodded slightly.
With curiosity, Jian Tiantian stepped forward, noticed the vines were full of little things, and couldn’t help but pick one, "Can you eat this? What kind of fruit is this?"
"That’s a yam bean, small but edible." Wang Ye finally calmed his excited heart and answered, "Yams, Chinese yams – you’ve eaten them before, right?"
Nong Chun and Jian Tiantian both looked shocked as their gaze fell upon the vines in front of them.
Of course, they had eaten yams before!
Some were crunchy, others were powdery and sticky; the former tasted great when sautéed, and the latter made the most delicious soups!
This was indeed a find!
They finally understood the gleam that had appeared in Wang Ye’s eyes when he first saw the cluster of vines.
Curious, Nong Chun reached out and touched the yam vine, "So, this is what yams look like."
He had only seen the tubers after they were dug up and had never seen the vines, which was why he hadn’t recognized them.
"The yams we buy in the market are cultivated, but these are wild. They taste even better when cooked." As Wang Ye spoke, he caressingly touched the yam vines, "These vines are so thick; they must be many years old. I wonder if we can dig out the yams below."
Wang Ye grew up in the countryside and as a child, he’d gone digging with adults. The yams were particularly hard to dig out since they rooted deeply.
[Amazing! Jiang Ning even recognizes these!]
[So this is wild yam! Wow, when I was a child, there were lots of them around my home. We would pick these yam beans to play with, but we never knew they were edible.]
[Once you peel these, they are slimy and have an extremely tricky texture, but if you don’t peel them, they taste bitter and astringent.]
[Got it, I’ve never seen one before.]
"Dig! No matter how difficult, I will dig them out!" Nong Chun rubbed his hands together, eager and anticipating.
"You guys dig, I’ll pick these yam beans. There are so many; we can’t let them go to waste." Jian Tiantian also quickly assigned herself a task.
Jiang Ning took out a machete from her backpack, "First, let’s cut the vines. That way, you can pick, and they can dig."
Everyone felt Jiang Ning made sense when they heard her.
"Let me try," Wang Ye took the machete from Jiang Ning, his expression turning nostalgic as he suddenly remembered his childhood days of herding cattle and chopping wood.
Though the vine was thick, it was easily chopped down with the sharp machete.
Wang Ye stopped after chopping halfway.
The leaves on these vines were still green, indicating they still had room to grow.
They couldn’t be completely destroyed in one go.
He casually dragged the chopped vines to one side.
Jian Tiantian happily followed along—her task was to pick all the yam beans off the vines and bring them back.
Jiang Ning took off the small basket she was carrying and gave it to her to hold the yam beans.
At the same time, Jiang Ning handed over the hoes she and Qi Xingzhou were holding to Wang Ye and Nong Chun, waiting for the two of them to exert their strength.
She took off the basket from Qi Xingzhou’s back and set it aside, "Whether or not this basket can be filled depends on you guys."
"No problem!" Nong Chun took the hoe, "Sister Jiang, just take a good rest!"
Wang Ye glanced at the naive kid, "Digging yams is not that simple, I’ll dig a couple of times first, and you watch..."
"Director Wang, I have some gloves here, please put on gloves before digging." Jiang Ning suddenly offered two pairs of brand-new gloves, which she had taken from the small grocery room.
Wang Ye happily accepted them and gave a pair to Nong Chun, inwardly admiring Jiang Ning for her thoughtfulness. With the gloves, not only could they protect their hands and save a lot of effort, they could also double the efficiency!
Wang Ye swung his hoe down near the yam vines. After digging down about five or six centimeters, the surface of the yam was revealed, and it looked quite big!
The tip that was poking out was even thicker than a teenager’s arm!
Everyone was a bit excited, and even Jian Tiantian, who was picking yam beans on the side, specifically ran over to take a look.
"Wow!" Nong Chun, holding his hoe, was somewhat thrilled and couldn’t wait to jump into action. He counted the vines Wang Ye had just chopped, "He cut down six vines. If we have three as big as this, we can eat for a long time!"
Jiang Ning smiled without saying a word.
Wang Ye said irritably, "If you can finish digging two yam plants this afternoon, I’ll consider you amazing!"
Then, seeing how eager Nong Chun was, Wang Ye dug for a while, revealing part of the yam outline, and then let Nong Chun take over, carefully teaching him how to dig it up without breaking it. After Nong Chun had learned, Wang Ye went on to dig others.
Jiang Ning stood by watching for a while, then left Wang Ye and the others to continue digging, picking up a machete and heading towards the area where they were sawing trees this morning.
Qi Xingzhou, carrying the chainsaw, closely followed behind Jiang Ning.
When they got to the place where they sawed trees earlier that morning and seeing Qi Xingzhou eager to help, Jiang Ning put on gloves for him to protect his long and handsome hands.
Qi Xingzhou kept to the same routine as in the morning, cutting trees with the chainsaw, while Jiang Ning used the machete to strip away all the unnecessary branches from the trees they had sawed this morning.
Even if it’s for building a raft, not to mention a boat, clean and straight trees are needed.
[Jiang Ning works so fast!]
[Production crew! Calling the production crew! Come out and take your punishment!]
[They can’t seriously be expecting Jiang Ning and Xingzhou to actually make a raft or a boat, can they? That’s a huge amount of work!]
[Yeah, right! This is obviously just a virtual variety show, but the hardship they suffer from sawing and chopping trees is real. If Jiang Ning finds out that everything she is doing is in vain, she would be so disappointed.]
[Production team, hurry up and think of something!]
[Though I’m a bit curious to see what Jiang Ning can achieve, I don’t want to see her suffer!]
Production team: "..."
Since they started live broadcasting, who has been enjoying the show the most?
Who was it that laughed the loudest as the celebrities collapsed from exhaustion?
Before, they were praising the production team for being realistic, not fearing authority, daring to set up the guests, and even calling for other variety shows to follow their model to shoot the most genuine content.
Now Jiang Ning has only sawed trees for half a day, and they’re already feeling sorry for her?
When it’s time to enjoy the drama, they call them Sweetheart. When it’s time to take their side, they call them Zhou Bapi.
Production team: ...I’m numb, just let it be.