Chapter 159: Offerings
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
The guests in Ruan Yesheng’s house had just finished breakfast. They were still sitting at the table chatting and hadn’t gotten up yet when the production crew handed out the task cards.
The task card was red. Besides the show’s logo, it had blessings written in both Chinese and Yi language, full of festive mood. Ruan Yesheng held it in her hand and opened it, really liking these small details from the production crew.
Inside, it said the final task goal for today’s guests. The house was the team unit. The two guest hosts were captains. Ye Ye’s house was one team, Zhang Zhiyin’s house was another team. Based on the given clues, they had to collect four special ritual items step by step in the town. The items were different for each team, so there would be no fighting over them.
Each time a team found one ritual item, they would get twenty-five points. The team with the higher total points at the end would win. There were also point deductions and hidden bonus points.
The task card only had a few words. It did not say how big the search area in the town was, what features the ritual items had, what their names were, or the rules for hidden bonus points and deductions.
Shen Qingbie had been in the first season, so she knew the routine. She was the first to raise her hand and ask the director, “Director Ning, this card is way too simple. It’s like looking for a needle in the ocean. Can we ask some questions?”
“Okay.” Ning Kui’s voice came from off camera. He had just taken Xi Mo’s call earlier and settled some things, so he was in a great mood. “If I can answer, I’ll answer. If I can’t, then you’ll have to figure it out yourselves.”
“But.” Ning Kui suddenly changed the topic. “Before that, I’ll also ask you a question and see who can answer.”
The guests on Zhang Zhiyin’s side waited for Ning Kui’s question.
Ning Kui said, “Zhiyin, same old rule. Hand in all your phones first. From now on, you can’t use the internet to search. Everything depends on your own analysis, reaction, and knowledge.”
Zhang Zhiyin smiled as he went around collecting the phones one by one.
After collecting, Ning Kui asked, “Who here knows what day is Yi New Year?”
Gu Cen was a little confused. “Yi New Year isn’t on the same day as our New Year?”
Li Siran felt both impressed and helpless with Gu Cen. She quickly patted Gu Cen’s leg under the table. Gu Cen got startled and looked at her.
Before they came, their girl group’s manager had reminded Li Siran again and again to keep an eye on Gu Cen’s habit of exposing her IQ without meaning to. Especially on variety shows, it was hard to cover up and easy to be seen. Gu Cen was the youngest in their group. She was the baby of the team. Before she became a trainee, she was always near the bottom of her class every year, never caring about studies. But Li Siran had been a straight-A student back in school, always in the top three of the whole school. Her school’s college entrance rate was extremely high, so being in the top three there had solid weight.
Inside the girl group, the group fans were still okay. They had group spirit and tried to treat everyone fairly. But they couldn’t stop solo fans from stirring things up. Every time they argued, the comment section turned into a big trash-talking scene, spraying insults at each other.
After Li Siran’s school grades were reported, the company bought her a hot search. Li Siran’s solo fans hyped up her top-student persona. Gu Cen’s solo fans and Li Siran’s fans clashed the most. From bits of evidence before, they believed Li Siran often gave Gu Cen the cold face and thought she was suppressing her.
So when this hot search came out, Gu Cen’s fans mocked that Li Siran had nothing else to hype, using grades as a gimmick. “What, we watch girl groups for singing and dancing, not to see if you can solve math problems. Li Siran, you shouldn’t join the camera group, you should go take exams for Tsinghua or Peking University.”
Li Siran’s fans shot back, “At least we have a shot at Tsinghua or Peking University. Your Gu Cen was always at the bottom of the class every year, maybe she can’t even solve quadratic equations.”
Their group was called “Eos8”, made up of eight young girls. Originally, Eos was the dawn goddess Eos, symbol of morning light, also very beautiful. It should have been a nice group name. But as soon as the name came out, netizens couldn’t help laughing, because an international camera brand had a very popular series with the same name.
Gradually, as it spread around, fans stopped calling them Eos and called them “Camera Group” instead. The fans called themselves “Photographers”.
In front of the camera, Li Siran couldn’t show it too clearly, so she said, “Since Director Ning asked when Yi New Year is, then it must be different from ours.”
“Then do you know when it is?” Gu Cen asked back.
Li Siran: “…”
She almost choked, then after a while said, “I don’t know either.”
Gu Cen reached out and put her hand on Li Siran’s shoulder. “Then basically we’re no different.”
Li Siran: “…”
Li Siran thought, if not for your sister’s sake, I would have… beaten you to death.
Ruan Yesheng actually knew the answer. She hadn’t at first, but Xi Mo had told her before. Xi Mo always prepared ahead, never leaving things to chance. Before coming, she had specially learned about some Yi customs and traditional culture. Among them was the Yi people’s special New Year. From hearing her often, Ruan Yesheng also picked up quite a lot of Yi knowledge.
But she saw no one speaking up on the spot, like nobody knew. If it wasn’t needed, she didn’t want to steal the spotlight.
Although Shen Qingbie might appear quite silly, she possesses a certain wit that disguises her own ingenuity. She asked Ning Kui, “Director Ning, you ask this right at the start. Does that mean if we answer, it’s also a hidden bonus?”
Ning Kui smiled slyly, but didn’t say a word.
Zhang Zhiyin laughed and said, “This must be bonus points. Look at how Director Ning is smiling. Everyone, think hard if you’ve ever heard this. It’s a good chance. Maybe right from the start we can pull ahead of Ye Ye’s side.”
Hearing the word bonus, Ruan Yesheng finally spoke. “Yi New Year isn’t like ours, set on one fixed day. It’s not fixed, and the time is different in each Yi area. Usually it’s chosen between October and mid to late November of the lunar calendar. They pick an auspicious day during that long period.”
Now it is mid-December in the Gregorian calendar. Converted to the traditional lunar calendar, it was early November. It happened to fall within that holiday range. But she didn’t know which auspicious day Heizhugou chose here, or if it had already passed.
Ning Kui clapped his hands. “Ruanruan, how do you know so much detail?”
Then a staff member came forward and handed over a score card. It was worth two points.
Seeing they got two points right at the start, like a lucky omen, the team members were all happy.
Ruan Yesheng smiled. “I heard it from my good friend. She knows a lot.”
Thanks to Xi Mo.
Shen Qingbie asked Ning Kui again about the scope of those hidden deductions. Could he give a hint to avoid triggering them? But Ning Kui just wouldn’t say. He only said once they triggered the deduction rule, they’d know.
It was like stepping on mines. If you didn’t step forward, you wouldn’t know which one would blow.
Ning Kui used this to bring up the Yi New Year concept. He said, “This time in Heizhugou, it hasn’t been celebrated yet. The town decided to pick today as the auspicious day, to match our production crew in showing the town’s festive customs. Today the town will hold the grandest ritual celebration. You have to find the four ritual items and join the celebration.”
This time a staff member handed over another card. It wasn’t a red task card, but a blue clue card.
The clue card passed around in their hands. From their faces, it seemed very odd, like the clue was strange. Gu Cen stared at it for a long time, then said, “Why does it look like this?”
When it reached Ruan Yesheng, she saw the clue card had a drawing.
A sword and an axe crossed together, inside a square frame, drawn there.
“What does that mean?” Shen Qingbie was completely at a loss.
Li Siran couldn’t understand either.
Ruan Yesheng said, “Let’s go out and see. Even though there’s no set range, it should be in the town.”
The six of them didn’t waste time. They put on warm clothes and went out together.
When they went out, the town outside was hung with lanterns and colored banners. Many townspeople were dressed in Yi festival clothes that were only worn during holidays. It was lively and grand. To promote tourism in Heizhugou Town, the town worked with the show. They recorded the whole town’s celebration, respect to the ancestors, and rituals for the variety show, so more people could learn about the customs and traditions here.
“Wow.” Gu Cen’s life experience was still shallow. When she saw this scene, her eyes lit up. “This is so lively, totally different from yesterday.”
“We’re not here to join the fun.” Li Siran stared at her. “We’re here to find the offerings.”
“The show didn’t say we can’t shop, so why not look around?” Gu Cen, seeing Ruan Yesheng had answered the Yi question before, asked her: “Sister Ruanruan, if we shop at stalls or stores while looking for clues, will it cost us hidden points?”
“It shouldn’t.” Ruan Yesheng thought for a bit and said, “I think the show might even encourage us to look around. Maybe we’ll even get hidden points.”
She calmly explained, “This episode is also to better promote Heizhugou. This really is a great place. If we walk around with the cameras, showing more of the town’s look, it fits the show’s main goal better. The staff might have hidden surprises in some places, for us to find while wandering.”
Gu Cen glanced at Li Siran and gave a small snort. “You heard that? Sister Ruanruan said it.”
Li Siran: “...”
Look at that cheeky face of yours.
...If not for your sister’s sake.
“As for the hidden point deductions.” Ruan Yesheng said with a smile, “The show took away all our phones. This means many clues could be checked by looking things up. If we borrow a phone from townspeople or ask them to answer key knowledge points, it might break the rules and cause us to lose points.”
Gu Cen looked at Ruan Yesheng, full of envy. “Sister Ruanruan, you’re amazing. I’ve decided to follow you.”
She was a bad student and admired smart people. Li Siran saw the starry look in Gu Cen’s eyes and felt very annoyed, not bothering with her.
Ruan Yesheng smiled. “No, no. I still haven’t figured out what this clue card means.”
As they chatted, after a while, Ye Ye came over with her team. At first glance, Shen Qingbie thought Wang Yanhe wasn’t there, but there was an extra Yi-dressed beauty. Looking closer, she was shocked.
That was actually traffic star Wang Yanhe.
Wang Yanhe kept his word. He said last night he would wear women’s clothes, and today he really wore a Yi girl’s dress. He even put on makeup, looking very charming.
“Have you got a clue yet?” Ye Ye came to snoop. “We already cracked the first clue, now we’re going to follow it.”
Zhang Zhiyin laughed. “No comment.”
“You little fox.” Ye Ye tapped Zhang Zhiyin’s nose and walked off with a smile. “This time it won’t be so easy for you to win.”
But Ruan Yesheng’s team really had no clue. They stood there at a loss. Gu Cen ran to a nearby stall and bought some skewers, handing them out to share. Li Siran didn’t eat, Shen Qingbie ate quite a few.
"Do you have a guess about the clues yet?" Gu Cen asked while eating skewers. “If not, do you want to hear mine?”
“Yours?” Li Siran was doubtful.
Gu Cen said, “Do you usually play games? This crossed knife and sword symbol, this style is pretty common. In games, this kind of icon is usually for a weapon shop. But I don’t get it. If it means a weapon shop, would the town have one? It’s not a game.”
Ruan Yesheng’s eyes lit up. “If we match it to real life, maybe it’s not a weapon shop, but a tool shop.”
Gu Cen suddenly understood, then glanced at Li Siran with some pride.
Li Siran: “...”
The group hurried to search around the shops on the street, looking for a tool shop, even checking grocery stores. After some time searching, they finally found a shop. Ruan Yesheng, sharp-eyed, saw in an unnoticed corner of the counter the exact same symbol as on the clue card.
This was it.
The shopkeeper greeted them politely. “Hello, what do you want to buy? Feel free to look.”
Ruan Yesheng saw a tool. It looked like a crossbow, but much smaller than a normal bow or crossbow, not even as big as a palm. On its edge were three small slots, probably used for shooting something.
It looked more like a weapon than a tool.
“This is my own work.” The shopkeeper noticed Ruan Yesheng’s gaze and said with a smile, “Many tourists buy it as a souvenir. Do you want one?”
It really was a homemade weapon, and it could even be used to hunt birds. In Heizhugou there were many birds and beasts, so locals who went into the mountains would carry some homemade weapons. As long as it didn’t involve protected species, the town allowed it. But since this was on the show, the shopkeeper of course didn’t say that, only calling it a souvenir.
Since the clue card had a weapon icon, and in this tool shop only the small crossbow looked like a weapon, Ruan Yesheng thought maybe they needed to buy it.
So she asked the price and bought the small crossbow. The price was quite high. Besides that, there was also a small pouch. Ruan Yesheng weighed it, it was heavy, and she felt it should be used with the small crossbow. Since it might not be convenient for the cameras, she didn’t open the pouch.
“Handmade, you can’t buy it outside. Thank you for your business.” The shopkeeper smiled and handed them a blue card. “As thanks, here is a gift for you.”
They finally got another clue, and quickly opened the clue card.
On the blue clue card it was written: “She is the youngest public servant in town. I will follow her steps to meet the elder.”
This clue was much simpler. After all, if they stayed stuck, the show couldn’t move forward. One look and they understood it.
“Public servant means government worker, the youngest one in the town office.” Shen Qingbie said. “Let’s go ask at the town government.”
The show had made a deal with the government, so the filming went smoothly. The group asked the gate guard and learned that the youngest female staff inside was called Yi Miaomiao*.
*易淼淼
Yi Miaomiao was only in her twenties. She wore a pretty hair clip and was very friendly. She handed them another blue clue card.
This time the card read: “She is by the rippling water. And the flower by her temple is so charming. I think I must give one kiss before I can get the blessing from her hand.”
“Does this mean we should go by the water to find someone wearing a flower?” Shen Qingbie was a little puzzled. “But the water area is too big.”
They had two chances to ask for help. But if they used one, even if they found the sacrificial item, their score would be cut.
“Filming also has a time limit. For convenience, the places we need to go are not many. It should only be in the festival-decorated celebration area.” Ruan Yesheng looked around. “There’s no river in this area, but maybe there’s a pond or a well. On the way we can ask people about ponds or public wells. That won’t break the rules.”
The group quickly set out, asking while they searched.
After asking around, they found a pond. There were a few people with flowers in their hair there. They asked one by one but got nothing. Until they came to an old well, where a gray-haired old lady and two middle-aged women were fetching water and washing vegetables. The old lady had a bright flower tucked by her white hair, very eye-catching, but the two middle-aged women also wore flowers.
“The previous card from the government said to follow the footsteps to meet the elder.” Ruan Yesheng said, “The one with the flower should be this old lady.”
They walked over, politely greeting the three at the well, and spoke especially to the old lady.
But the old lady spoke Yi language, and they could not understand a word. Luckily, the middle-aged women beside her helped translate, or else it would have been chickens talking to ducks.
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
Shen Qingbie studied the card for a while, then gathered her courage and said to the old lady, “Grandma, may I ask how we can get the blessing from you? Do we really have to kiss you?”
She thought, I think I must give a kiss, since that was what the card said. She did not know if it was just a trick.
The old lady heard the translation and smiled happily.
“Then if I kiss you, you will not mind, right?” Shen Qingbie felt it was fine, only afraid of offending her.
The old lady still smiled, shook her head, showing she did not mind.
Shen Qingbie now had no worries. She leaned close to the old lady’s cheek and kissed her lightly. The old lady looked very happy, even patted Shen Qingbie’s head, saying words in Yi language that Shen Qingbie could not understand, and gave her some colorful candies.
“Is this the blessing?” Shen Qingbie asked carefully. “Is this one of the ritual items we need this time?”
The two middle-aged women laughed, “No, Grandma likes you and cares for you, so she gave you candy. This is not a ritual item. You found the wrong person.”
Shen Qingbie was a little confused.
The two middle-aged NPC women finished speaking, laughed, and left. The old lady lifted up a basin filled with washed vegetables, ready to go. But she was old, and the basin with all the vegetables was a bit heavy. Seeing this, Ruan Yesheng helped her carry the basin and asked where her home was.
The old lady pointed in a direction and walked forward. Ruan Yesheng carried the basin and followed behind her.
The production crew quickly followed.
After sending the old lady home, Shen Qingbie looked excited and whispered to Ruanruan, “Ruanruan, now Grandma should be able to give us the blessing, right?”
She thought Ruanruan was so smart, she must have noticed something, that was why she insisted on sending the old lady home. Usually this was the production crew’s routine, helping the NPC along the way, then the NPC would give the mission clue or the key item.
Ruan Yesheng smiled and shook her head. “Grandma won’t give a blessing. I really just helped her.”
Shen Qingbie: “…”
Sure enough, the old lady nodded at Ruan Yesheng and gave her lots of candy, but nothing else followed. Gu Cen peeled a candy and tasted it, found it was pretty good, then slipped one into Li Siran’s mouth. Li Siran was caught off guard, her brows furrowed, but Gu Cen did not look at her. Instead, she stared at Ruan Yesheng eagerly.
“Then the clue is broken?” Shen Qingbie was at a loss.
The old lady NPC’s clue clearly ended here. They had no other clue.
“Could it be in the candy?” Shen the Great Detective suddenly had a flash of inspiration and got excited.
“You want to eat one by one?” Ruan Yesheng asked her. “You can’t peel one and throw one away. This is Grandma’s goodwill.”
Shen Qingbie lowered her head. “I can’t eat so much candy. I’ll be scolded.”
Ruan Yesheng also ate a candy. “Actually, I have an idea. We were misled by the clue. The clue is not Grandma.”
“What idea?” Shen Qingbie quickly asked.
Ruan Yesheng took out the two clue cards and said, “Look at the earlier clue card. It said, ‘She is by the rippling water. And the flower by her temple is so charming. I think I must give one kiss before I can get the blessing from her hand.’ Plus it said elder before, so we naturally thought to find an old lady with a flower by the water. But look carefully at that line.”
She paused and said, “I think I must give a kiss. This doesn’t mean a real kiss. One and kiss, if you put the character for one (一) inside the mouth（口） part of ‘kiss’ （吻）, it becomes 曰. Then put 曰 above 勿 part of kiss, what character do you get?”
Shen Qingbie froze for a second, then loudly shouted the classic Shanghai curse, “Cenna! It’s the character 易! I got it!”
Ruan Yesheng: “…”
Well, that would surely be muted in the edit.
Ruan Yesheng said, “It’s the character 易 (Yi), and Yi Miaomiao’s name has six water characters in it. Isn’t that exactly by the rippling water? Also, did you notice Yi Miaomiao’s hair clip? It was a flower-shaped clip. That can be taken as the flower by her temple, so charming. The NPC we need for the blessing isn’t Grandma. It’s Miss Yi Miaomiao we met before.”
Author's Note:
Ruanruan’s IQ really suits variety shows, but her dream, where she truly shines, is in movies or TV, where her acting can be fully shown.
That tool shop appeared in ‘Exploring The Empty Tomb - Modern Times’. Back then, when Shishi and the others arrived for their New Year trip, it was almost Spring Festival, the end of lunar December, which is February in the Gregorian calendar. At that time, Shishi also bought a small crossbow in this shop, and later it was modified.
Here, Ruanruan also bought the same small crossbow, but she doesn’t know how to modify it. Here I’ve already made clear the timing: it’s mid-December on the Gregorian calendar. This is when Luoshen comes alone, which is the beginning of lunar November. Pay attention to the timing here, especially the difference between Gregorian and lunar calendars.
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Note: The riddle is a 字谜 (zìmí) - a Chinese word puzzle, which plays with the visual structure, radicals, and stroke components of Chinese characters to reveal hidden meanings or clues. It's hard to explain the riddle without actually dissecting the Chinese characters involved, I hope you get Ruanruan’s explanation above. Below is further explanation but tl;dr: the riddle points to Yi Miaomiao
“She is by the rippling water. And the flower by her temple is so charming. I think I must give one kiss before I can get the blessing from her hand.”
‘She is by the rippling water. And the flower by her temple is so charming. = "She", who turned out to be the government staff surnamed Yi is by the rippling water, 淼淼 (Miǎo miǎo) consist of 6 水 （shuǐ）- the character for water. Also Miǎo means vast expanse of water = the character Yi is literally next to Miaomiao
‘I think I must give one kiss before I can get the blessing from her hand.’ = This is the clue to get the character for Yi. Basically, The word for kiss is 吻 (wěn) has been broken down= 口+勿 then add or merge the character for one （一） into 口 (because give ‘one’ kiss), so it became 曰 then add this above 勿 = 易 （yì）
So, the riddle reveals Yi Miaomiao!
