Is This The Right Way To Repay A Favor? Chapter 17
byPeach Blossom Spring
All the regular guests had arrived, and it was time to choose rooms.
Following the production team’s instructions, everyone gathered under the ancient banyan tree in the walled village.
The banyan tree was hung with paper umbrellas of various colors, though their patterns were completely obscured by semi-transparent white gauze. The surrounding open space was divided into individual cubicles using screens.
Each guest took a seat in a cubicle. Inside, there was a rule card, a blank card, and a box of colorful drawing pens.
Jiang Zhou opened the rule card.
“Please close your eyes and imagine what kind of private space you most look forward to having in the Peach Blossom Spring? What key image or feeling emerges in your mind? Please draw it on the blank card using the simplest symbols or lines.”
“Hint: Do not consider others; be completely true to yourself.”
“After drawing, please put the card into the dedicated opaque ballot box. Afterward, our AI Lingbao will match each guest’s drawing to the corresponding paper umbrella based on the hidden atmosphere (such as tranquility, nature, creativity, warmth).”
There was a fixed camera on the table inside the cubicle.
Jiang Zhou looked at the camera, constantly reminding himself that he was filming a show and must not reveal any flaws on camera.
Jiang Zhou picked up a pen and casually drew a tea tree on the card.
After finishing, he left the cubicle and dropped the card into the opaque ballot box under the banyan tree.
Jiang Zhou finished the fastest, coming out first. The second person to emerge was Dong Qianqian, an artist under Languang Media.
After dropping her card, Dong Qianqian sat under the banyan tree with Jiang Zhou, waiting for the others.
For some reason, the others took a long time to draw. The two sat idly for a while, but no one else came out.
Jiang Zhou was not a talkative person in private.
Dong Qianqian was naturally lively, but the person opposite her was the major leader of her own company, and it was their first time alone together, making her feel somewhat constrained and nervous.
Seeing the atmosphere grow increasingly awkward, Dong Qianqian mustered her courage and offered a dry conversational opener, “Mr. Jiang, are you hungry?”
Jiang Zhou, who had been looking down, heard her question and glanced up at her.
“In the Peach Blossom Spring, you don’t need to force yourself to chat.”
Dong Qianqian’s face instantly flushed crimson. She awkwardly tried to explain, “I wasn’t…”
Before she could finish, someone suddenly walked out of a cubicle. Dong Qianqian stopped explaining.
Shen Zhiyu dropped his card and sat down on Jiang Zhou’s other side.
“Mr. Jiang, are you hungry?”
Dong Qianqian: ……
Jiang Zhou: “Not particularly.”
Shen Zhiyu then said, “I’m hungry. I didn’t eat enough at noon.”
Jiang Zhou was choked by this remark and looked at Shen Zhiyu with complex eyes.
They had lunch at the Jiang family home at 2:30 PM, and Shen Zhiyu had eaten quite a bit—two bowls of soup and one bowl of rice. It was only 5:30 PM now, and he was already hungry.
Jiang Zhou then recalled. Before Shen Zhiyu terminated his contract, YNK was very strict about the team’s physique management. Their daily diet was supervised by a dedicated person, and calorie control was extremely rigid.
Jiang Zhou had seen the meals posted by other members of their team; they were terrifyingly bland.
Jiang Zhou frowned slightly.
The directors and producers outside the venue were sitting in front of the cameras, highly alert. When they saw a slight pause in Jiang Zhou’s expression, they immediately became wary.
Did Mr. Jiang feel that their preparations were insufficient?
They immediately instructed the staff to hold up a sign.
“Room selection is over. Dinner will be served at the ancestral hall at six o’clock.”
Following this, they quickly arranged for staff to bring out some biscuits and fruit, terrified of making even the slightest mistake.
Shen Zhiyu grabbed a packet of biscuits, tore it open, and started eating.
Soon after, the others gradually emerged from their cubicles.
The staff quickly stepped forward to collect the ballot boxes, allowing AI Lingbao to perform the divine matching based on the guests’ drawings.
Cai Zhiyang acted as the host for the room reveal segment.
“Each umbrella has the drawing you made attached to it. Please stand under your drawing, take down the umbrella, and peel off the white gauze. Beneath the gauze is a picture of your new home.”
Everyone found their respective drawings, took down the umbrellas, and received photos of their new homes.
The production team had selected three accommodation locations.
One was an old house near the opera stage, named Lingyin Pavilion. It had three rooms with century-old, rustic furniture, but it was centrally located, making it slightly more social and the space a bit small.
Another was next to the ancestral hall, named Wanglu Xuan. It was a two-story building with four rooms all on the second floor, offering a wide view and access to the surrounding watchtowers and gun emplacements of the walled village.
The third was an independent small courtyard named Youran Residence. It had three rooms and was converted from a former chicken coop. The space was spacious, but the location was quite remote, near the corner gate in the southwest of the village.
Everyone held up the photo of the room matched by AI Lingbao.
Weng Songlin, Yu Liang, and Zhang Qian were matched to Lingyin Pavilion. Cai Zhiyang, Dong Qianqian, and Hua Qian were matched to Wanglu Xuan. Jiang Zhou and Shen Zhiyu were matched to Youran Residence.
Jiang Zhou was incredulous that he was once again fated to be with Shen Zhiyu.
He noticed that Shen Zhiyu’s drawing was very complete: a small building, a small courtyard, a field, and a small river—presumably his imagined pastoral life.
In contrast, his own drawing was just a single, lonely tea tree.
He had no idea how the AI Lingbao divinely matched him to the same house as Shen Zhiyu.
The production team announced AI Lingbao’s analysis.
Shen Zhiyu’s drawing was almost a one-to-one replica of the layout of Youran Residence, so he was naturally matched there.
Jiang Zhou’s tea tree was expanded by the AI into a continuous tea plantation. Coincidentally, passing through the corner gate of Youran Residence led directly to a tea plantation. Therefore, Jiang Zhou’s drawing was also matched to Youran Residence.
The drawings and matching analyses for the other guests were also announced sequentially.
After the room selection concluded, it was time for dinner.
The guests paired up according to their room assignments and headed to the dining area.
Jiang Zhou did not dare to walk too close to Shen Zhiyu. Whether Shen Zhiyu walked fast or slow, Jiang Zhou always maintained a half-step distance behind him, like an invisible boundary.
The night gradually darkened, and the streetlights by the lake lit up one by one.
Shen Zhiyu suddenly stopped.
Jiang Zhou subconsciously paused as well, but still adhered to that half-step distance.
“Mr. Jiang.” Shen Zhiyu looked up, his voice carrying a hint of lighthearted laughter. “The moon is out.”
Jiang Zhou looked up. A pale golden crescent moon hung in the deep blue sky, its edges blurred by thin clouds, like a casual watercolor stroke.
The clear moonlight fell from the sky. The light and shadow were faint, like a light wash spreading on rice paper, yet it made Shen Zhiyu’s outline exceptionally clear.
Jiang Zhou saw tiny points of light clinging to the other man’s eyelashes.
The night wind swept through the treetops with a rustling sound, and Jiang Zhou’s heart began to beat uncontrollably.
Jiang Zhou remained silent for a moment, intending to break the beautiful atmosphere.
“Didn’t Teacher Shen say he was hungry?” Jiang Zhou asked in a low voice, his fingers slightly curled inside his coat pocket.
Shen Zhiyu stopped looking at the moon.
The corners of his mouth curved into a soft arc, and his clear eyes watched Jiang Zhou without blinking.
“The moon is so beautiful, I suddenly don’t feel hungry anymore.”
After speaking, Shen Zhiyu turned around. The moonlight flowed over his shoulders, plating the folds of his coat with a silver edge.
Jiang Zhou watched his retreating figure and suddenly realized that the half-step distance had been scattered by the evening breeze at some unknown point.
Their shadows, illuminated by the streetlamp, quietly overlapped on the flagstone path, like two fallen leaves meeting by chance.
—
The dinner arranged by the production team was sumptuous, featuring specialties from Yongnan Village.
During the meal, there was also a performance of the local specialty opera, Tea Picking Opera.
The guests enjoyed the performance and happily savored their first dinner in the “Peach Blossom Spring.”
After dinner, the guests received the Peach Blossom Spring Life Guide distributed by the production team.
There were three fixed activities in the Peach Blossom Spring, open 24 hours a day, with voluntary participation.
One was the Worry Relief Mailbox. Located in a wing room near the large banyan tree, it was a quiet mailbox for sharing worries. Guests could write letters here. Letters could be sent to specific people or kept unsent. Guests who received a letter could choose to respond or not.
Another was the Youran Teahouse. The teahouse was set up in the gun emplacement in the southwest corner. It was an open-air tea room stocked with various basic teas and seasonal flowers and fruits. Guests could come at any time to brew tea and relax. If a guest desired a special blend of tea or a snack prepared by someone else, they could write their request on the bulletin board. Another guest could then voluntarily choose whether to fulfill the request.
The third activity was the Time-Collecting Workshop. The workshop was located in the ancestral hall and was a fully equipped space for handicrafts. Several open-ended “blank canvas” large canvases were hung on the walls. Guests could come at any time for aimless creation, such as adding a stroke, molding a small animal, sewing a fabric scrap, or working on an independent project.
In addition to the fixed activities, the production team also established a “Three-Hour Seclusion” rule.
Guests could apply for three hours of “seclusion” every day. During seclusion, guests were free to move around, even leave the Peach Blossom Spring. Unless the guest permitted it, the production team was not allowed to follow and film.
This type of variety show was unique in the industry.
Especially the “Three-Hour Seclusion Rule,” which was virtually unheard of.
The guests were incredulous. “Can we really disappear for three hours?”
The staff nodded affirmatively.
The guests collectively cheered.
To give the guests a more immersive “Peach Blossom Spring” experience, A Dream of Peach Blossom Spring would not be filmed in batches. Similar to filming a drama, it would be a month-long closed-set recording.
During this month, guests were not allowed to leave the Peach Blossom Spring without special circumstances.
Once the show officially began filming, aside from the three fixed activities and resources approved and funded by the Peach Blossom Spring Committee, the production team would not provide any further resources.
No currency was used within the Peach Blossom Spring. Transactions were conducted through bartering or on a non-monetary basis. Guests could establish their own businesses, and the proceeds could be sold to the Peach Blossom Spring Committee in exchange for any item.
After all the rules were introduced, from this moment on, the production team would no longer interfere with the filming or arrange the schedule, leaving everything to the guests’ free will.
It was the guests’ first time participating in such a variety show. With the production team stepping back, they genuinely didn’t know what to do for a while.
In the end, it was Cai Zhiyang who stepped up. He suggested they play the game “I Have, You Don’t” to increase the guests’ familiarity with each other and speed up the ice-breaking process.
After making the suggestion, Cai Zhiyang upheld the production team’s motto of “follow your heart.”
“Those who want to participate, stay. Those who don’t want to, don’t.”
Although the motto was “follow your heart,” since it was their first meeting and they were filming a show, none of the guests refused and consciously stayed.
Jiang Zhou secretly glanced at Shen Zhiyu. Seeing that he chose to stay, Jiang Zhou did not leave either.