Chapter Fifteen: The Money Is Gone

“Why are you all here?” Sang Yijia arched her brow, then noticed the kettle of hot water and glass cup in Bian He’s hands. “Set those aside for now,” she said.

With that, Sang Yijia deftly snapped open the glass tube of glucose she was holding and poured it into the glass cup.

Bian He even picked up a chopstick to stir it. “Who’s going to take it in?” he asked.

“You do it,” Sang Yijia replied as she wrapped the used glass tube in a tissue, placed it in a separate garbage bag, and labeled it to indicate there were glass shards inside.

Lu Wenchuan noticed—so meticulous.

Bian He didn’t pay attention to those details. He took the warm glucose water, stirred it, and asked offhandedly, “Yijia, what made you think to bring glucose along?”

Most people would just bring candy or chocolate.

“My mother packed it,” Sang Yijia answered honestly. “She helped me pack my suitcase and made a checklist for me.”

“Oh, I see. Your mom’s really thoughtful,” Bian He said, understanding.

The viewers in the livestream room had calmed down by now, but upon hearing Sang Yijia confidently declare that her mother packed her suitcase, the complaints started up again.

“Isn’t she old enough to do things herself? Still needs her mom to do everything?”
“I haven’t needed my mother’s help since I graduated high school.”
“She really thinks she’s a princess, doesn’t she?”

Such comments grew more frequent. It was as if they had forgotten what Sang Yijia had just done. Besides, after Shen Jin’s interference, many viewers suspected Sang Yijia was only helping Lan Qing to catch Shen Jin’s attention.

They felt her behavior was even more shameful.

Those in the know couldn’t let others remain oblivious; they flooded the stream with comments to “explain” Sang Yijia’s actions, ensuring everyone understood her supposed ulterior motives toward Lan Qing.

Any goodwill passerby viewers might have felt for Sang Yijia evaporated in an instant.

Yet Sang Yijia was unaware of all this, and even if she knew, there was little she could do.

At present, she simply nodded and said nothing more.

“Let’s head downstairs,” Lu Wenchuan said, glancing at her. “Yan Ningsi will probably be back soon.”

“Alright.” Sang Yijia and Lu Wenchuan descended the stairs together.

Bian He carried the cup of glucose water to find Lan Qing.

Just then, Yan Ningsi arrived with the doctor in tow. Spotting them, she asked, “How’s Lan Qing?”

“She fainted from low blood sugar, but she’s awake now,” Sang Yijia replied.

The doctor nodded in understanding. “I’ll go up and take a look.”

The camera crew followed the doctor upstairs. Yan Ningsi glanced after them, but realizing she wouldn’t be much help upstairs anyway, she recalled Sang Yijia’s recent feat and gave her a thumbs-up. “Jiajia, you’re amazing.”

“To carry Qingqing upstairs without the slightest effort…” Yan Ningsi herself had just been complaining that the suitcase was too heavy to lift; how embarrassing.

She touched the tip of her nose, then patted her pockets. Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat and her face changed.

“What’s wrong?” Sang Yijia remembered that on the first day of the dating show, things had also descended into chaos when Lan Qing suddenly fainted. Yan Ningsi had run out to find a doctor and lost the lunch money. When Shen Jin found out, he was furious, and the original Sang Yijia saw it as an opportunity, volunteering to retrieve the lost money.

But the original had never been in this place before and got lost wandering outside.

At her loneliest and most helpless, she hoped Shen Jin would come looking for her. He didn’t; his heart was entirely with Lan Qing.

In the end, it was Lu Wenchuan who went out and brought her back. The original was not the least bit grateful—instead, she resented him for ruining her chance and treated him even more coldly.

Recalling this plot, Sang Yijia tried to remember what happened next, but her mind was blank.

She realized she could only remember the general outline of the story now, the finer details slipping away. Maybe some would return to her, but with time, she would forget them entirely.

This realization struck her—would she eventually forget that she was someone who had entered a book?

The thought made her heart leap and she drew in a sharp breath.

Yan Ningsi, thinking she’d been found out, gave a nervous laugh, scratching her head in embarrassment. “I think I lost the lunch money.”

“What?” Bian He and the doctor came down the stairs just then and overheard. They froze. “Today’s money, or the budget for the whole show?”

“How did it end up with you? We didn’t get any news about that.”

Yan Ningsi chuckled awkwardly, “Remember the draw we did? I picked the slip with the money.”

She turned to Sang Yijia. “What did you draw?”

“Nothing, mine was blank,” Sang Yijia replied, shaking her head.

“Same here,” said Lu Wenchuan.

Bian He set down the glass cup, chatted briefly with the doctor as he showed him out, and returned. “Me too.”

“What about Shen Jin?” Bian He asked after glancing around and not seeing him. “Did he go out to look for the money?”

“No,” Sang Yijia answered again. “He went to buy glucose.”

“You didn’t tell him you had some?” Bian He asked.

“He didn’t ask.”

Yan Ningsi cut in, “Now’s not the time to argue about that—we need to figure out what to do about lunch.”

“There are vegetables in the garden,” Lu Wenchuan said. He had explored the grounds earlier and had a general sense of what was available. “If we can’t find the money, at least we’ll have vegetarian dishes.”

After a moment of silence, Sang Yijia volunteered, “I’ll go out and look for it.”

“I’ll go with you,” Yan Ningsi said immediately, raising her hand.

“Let’s check along the way,” Sang Yijia said, glancing at Bian He and then Lu Wenchuan. “We’ll leave things here to you two.”

“Alright,” Lu Wenchuan agreed.

Sang Yijia and Yan Ningsi headed out.

Bian He needed to wash the glass cup. Seeing Lu Wenchuan alone, he called out, “Want to join me?”

“Let’s check the garden while we’re at it.” Bian He nodded at the clock on the wall. “It’s eleven-thirty.”

“Time to get started on lunch.” He picked up the cup and continued, “I was the first to arrive. The show’s crew showed up at my place bright and early, so I barely ate anything this morning. I’m starving.”

Hearing this, even the viewers in the livestream room started getting annoyed at Yan Ningsi.

“She knew she had the lunch money and still lost it. What was she thinking?”
“Sisi didn’t do it on purpose. Why so much hate?”
“Exactly. If it weren’t for Lan Qing, Sisi wouldn’t have rushed out to find the doctor.”
“It’s not like Qingqing fainted on purpose. Stop blaming her, please?”

The chat was a chaotic mess, but the producers turned a blind eye as long as the show had viewers.

—

Outdoors, the country road was not the yellow dirt and gravel lane one might imagine, but a wide, clean concrete path lined with farmland, papaya trees, and wildflowers.

As they walked, Yan Ningsi glanced around and said, “The crew prepared a white envelope with the show’s name printed on it.”

“If someone found it, they’d probably return it.”

Sang Yijia remembered that in the book, once the money was lost, it was never recovered. She frowned and asked, “How much was inside?”

“Seven hundred,” Yan Ningsi pouted. “I had to fight for that. It’s our meal money for six people for seven days. The crew wanted to give us five hundred at first—how could that be enough? I insisted on at least a hundred a day, so they finally agreed.”

Who would’ve thought, as soon as they arrived, the money would be gone before they even had a chance to enjoy spending it.

Yan Ningsi was clearly frustrated.