A Love Letter Written to You - Chapter 46
Chapter 46
But to the production team…
Their game setup was basically pointless now!
“This is hilarious, they always find a way to bypass the rules!”
“Love it, I live for Director Pan getting roasted like this!”
After dinner, night fell. The village’s streetlights weren’t bright enough for physical training, so they switched to mountain song duets.
This was one of the confirmed competition items for tomorrow.
Ji Yu sang until her throat was dry. She gulped down her water, then leaned on Leng Ying again during the break.
Leng Ying chuckled, “Battery running low?”
“Yes, yes,” Ji Yu obediently said. “Need to recharge.”
Leng Ying smiled again. Ji Yu tilted her head and stared at her profile, slightly dazed.
“You might as well grow on me,” Leng Ying said.
“Sure!” Ji Yu agreed cheerfully. “That would be great~~”
Leng Ying tapped her forehead. “You…”
“What about me?” Taking advantage of the darkness, Ji Yu reached out and turned off their microphones. “Say it, what about me?”
Leng Ying looked at her with a smile and said nothing. Then she turned the microphone back on. “Turn it off again, and Director Pan will freak out.”
“I can invest in the show,” Ji Yu said. “Then I’d be the client.”
Clients can do whatever they want~
Leng Ying signaled her to focus, “We have to train again. Once this segment is over, we can go home.”
The sports day was scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, but the opening ceremony was at 8:30, so they had to arrive by 8:15 at the latest.
They needed to rest well tonight.
…
The next day, they changed into their team uniforms before setting off — Leng Ying and Ji Yu were on the red team. The bright red uniforms hugged their figures and looked sharp.
Ji Yu couldn’t stop staring at Leng Ying. Leng Ying also thought Ji Yu’s golden hair against the red top was a striking contrast. But Leng Ying was more rational, and reminded her, “Let’s go. We need to make the opening ceremony.”
The ceremony was the highlight of the sports day. The village had set up a symbolic stage. The village secretary gave a short speech, then the village head said a few words — short and sweet, with a clear focus on safety.
The weather was good — no rain, no wind, not even a harsh sun.
Besides the cameramen following the guests, the crew brought in two more to film the sports day for the village to keep.
The first big event was the group tug-of-war. Two teams competed, and Leng Ying and Ji Yu were teamed with Ji Youqin and Luo Qing.
Leng Ying and Ji Yu were placed in the middle, Ji Youqin and Luo Qing at the front.
They won the first round easily. The opposing team had villagers with significantly smaller builds, so the red team (Leng Ying’s team) won without suspense.
Next up were the winners versus winners and losers versus losers. Leng Ying’s team now faced Qiu Daoyu and Shengjianbao.
Shengjianbao had proven during testing to be surprisingly strong — a dark horse. The teams were now more evenly matched.
Leng Ying whispered to Ji Yu, “Tough battle ahead.”
Indeed, they tugged back and forth for a whole seven minutes before a result emerged. The red ribbon in the middle of the rope crossed the marker — flying toward Shengjianbao’s team. Ji Yu fell onto Leng Ying, softly landing on top of her.
Leng Ying: “……”
She helped Ji Yu up. Ji Yu stood up, a little disappointed, then leaned against her again, “Just recharging a bit.”
Once the winners and losers bracket rounds ended, they moved to the straw-carrying competition.
The leftover straw in the village needed to be gathered. The sports day gave them a reason to turn the guests into laborers. Each group had the same amount to move, and only one member could go per round.
By the end of it, both Ji Yu and Leng Ying were covered in straw fragments.
Ji Yu smiled at her.
Leng Ying asked, “Hmm?”
Ji Yu said, “I don’t know why, but this feels really domestic.”
Leng Ying: “……” She couldn’t help but laugh, reaching out to pat the straw off Ji Yu. Her fingers brushed the thin shirt, warm and slightly damp with sweat.
As the competitions went on, everyone’s energy and enthusiasm increased, though their stamina slowly wore down. Near noon, with the sun high overhead, they came to the final event—
Singing mountain songs.
Under the blazing sun, with the mountain breeze around them, they stood among the villagers and belted out songs passed down for generations.
Their voices connected everyone’s emotions.
The echoes bounced off every hillside.
…
In the end, Leng Ying’s group won first place.
Even though they lost the tug-of-war, and other events were hit-or-miss, the final award was based on overall points — and they came out on top. The other teams didn’t go empty-handed either. The village prepared awards like “Best Sportsmanship,” ensuring everyone felt included.
Winning first place should’ve been a happy moment, but Ji Yu raised a protest: “So the supplies for first place only last one day?”
Director Pan smiled kindly: “Yup, because we’ve got a new challenge tomorrow. Same with your supplies from the firefly competition — they were only for yesterday and today.”
Ji Yu felt like she’d been tricked.
Leng Ying smoothed her hair comfortingly and stood by her, “The show’s being stingy.”
“Exactly!” Ji Yu was fired up again. “We’ll try even harder tomorrow!”
They didn’t know what the next challenge was, but during dinner that night, the show handed out a bunch of message-in-a-bottle kits and had them all sit apart to write something.
Each of the eight guests had a different colored ribbon tied to their bottle.
Leng Ying had a guess. Back in their cottage, she told Ji Yu, “Tomorrow might involve finding these bottles.”
There was a small creek in a nearby valley — a good place to hide them.
Ji Yu thought for a moment, then declared, “Then I’ll wear clothes with big pockets.”
Leng Ying blinked, “Why?”
“As long as we grab everyone else’s bottles, we win~~!”
Leng Ying chuckled. “What happened to ‘friendship first’?”
Ji Yu replied seriously, “That was for the sports day. Safety first, remember?” She added, “Let me think this through.”
…
The next day, Ji Yu wore clothes with two huge front pockets and four big pants pockets.
…Very storage-efficient.
Leng Ying stared at her outfit for a moment, then silently tied Ji Yu’s ponytail into a high bun. “This way, your hair won’t get wet in the water.”
Ji Yu touched the bun. “Mhm, you’re so smart, Ying Ying~”
As Leng Ying guessed, the show gave them a final treat — a warm breakfast. Afterward, they were brought up the mountain to the creek’s source.
Director Pan pointed at the stream. “The bottles you wrote last night have been released here. This morning’s challenge is to find your partner’s bottle. Whoever collects the most wins and can make one request of anyone present. The request cannot be refused.”
So it was a solo challenge after all! That changed the dynamics.
Director Pan continued, “We’ve got lifeguards and medics with you, so don’t worry. We’ve also confirmed with the villagers that this stream is regularly visited and safe.”
Indeed, there were many visible footpaths along the banks.
Once they learned it was a solo event, Ren Meng, Bo Xin, Ji Youqin, and Luo Qing began distancing themselves — no more teamwork. Qiu Daoyu and Shengjianbao still stuck together. Leng Ying and Ji Yu also didn’t split up.
Ji Yu didn’t care much about the reward. If she wanted something, Leng Ying would say yes. And even if she didn’t, Ji Yu could just pout a little and she’d still say yes… So the reward wasn’t particularly tempting.
But as the saying goes—
“We’re already here!”
She had to make full use of her outfit’s big pockets!
Ji Yu was fired up. Leng Ying followed her lead.
They started from the upper part of the stream, walking downstream while searching among the water and rocks. They weren’t that interested in their own bottles — but were very interested in everyone else’s.
Every time they saw a ribbon-colored object, they ran over to check.
Their pants got wet. The slippery stones meant they had to hold hands to move safely.
Halfway through, Ji Yu forgot what the goal even was. Who cared about bottles when you could hold hands?
Bottles piled up in her six pockets, and she even used Leng Ying’s four. Yet it was hard to tell they were carrying so many.
Meanwhile, the other guests were still wondering—
Where are my bottles?
Where’d they go??
Ji Youqin finally came down the mountain, frustrated, and accused Director Pan, “Director Pan, your show’s playing tricks! I only found six bottles! We each wrote fifteen yesterday!”
She declared, “I searched everywhere! This is cheating!”
Director Pan: “……”
He glanced toward Leng Ying.
Leng Ying and Ji Yu had come down earlier and were already drying their clothes and hair at the rest station. The mountain air was chilly — they didn’t want to catch colds.
Leng Ying stepped forward. “We took them.”
Ji Youqin glared, then spotted the basket full of bottles behind them and was completely speechless: “…You…”
A whole basket of bottles — all colors included.
Leng Ying smiled and explained, “Ji Yu wanted to collect as many as possible.”
Ji Youqin: “……”
She stepped closer to count and muttered, “Looks like they’re gonna win again.”
Director Pan smiled mysteriously, offering no further explanation.
After venting, Ji Youqin let it go and sat down to dry off. They had to wait for everyone else to return before announcing the results.
It would be a while.
Ji Yu, clothes dry, was counting the bottles in the basket. Then she suddenly remembered something and said to Leng Ying:
“Ying Ying, do you remember?”