Chapter 500 - 334: Mysterious Deserted Island Experience

Chapter 500: Chapter 334: Mysterious Deserted Island Experience

"Just the two of you? Alone? Won’t that be a little awkward?"

She didn’t rush to give her opinion, instead turning her gaze to Jin Meiyan.

Since they were going on a wilderness survival trip, they would obviously stick close to a water source.

As a travel vlogger, Jin Meiyan wouldn’t miss the chance to film the beautiful ocean. She might even go for a swim.

She’d been in similar situations before, so she knew how quickly a bond could form under these conditions. This was especially true when one person was a complete novice with no survival experience whatsoever.

Once they were out in the wild, the woman’s sense of security would depend entirely on Lin Chen.

So, she was fine with staying behind, but first, she had to give the two of them a little hint.

’I’m not the same person I was before, so ignorant about Great Xia. I’m much better at this now. I can definitely get my point across subtly.’

Seeing Erica look at her, Jin Meiyan immediately chimed in. "Unni, don’t worry! I’ll do my best not to hold Oppa back!"

"Unni?"

"It’s a respectful term used in South Korea by women for an older sister, someone at least a year older. It’s similar to her calling me Oppa; it shows closeness."

Lin Chen quickly explained.

"Ohh, so that’s what it is."

’I was a little bothered by her constantly calling him ’Oppa,’ but since she has a name for me too, I guess it’s fine.’

"That’s not what I meant. You don’t have any survival experience, so it’s only right that he does more of the work. Men are strong for a reason, right? To do the heavy lifting."

"Er, right, right~"

"Oh, I couldn’t ask for that... It will be a lot of work for you, Oppa. How about I treat you to dinner afterward?"

’How did this turn into a dinner invitation?’

Erica’s brow furrowed. ’This isn’t going as smoothly as I’d planned.’

But she couldn’t just say it outright. For one, she didn’t really have the right to. For another, it might hurt Lin Chen’s pride.

After thinking it over, her eyes darted around for a moment before she came up with another plan.

"Meiyan, you’re in such great shape, and you’re so beautiful and elegant. You must have a lot of guys chasing after you, right?"

"Honestly, and I’m not trying to sound conceited, but there are a lot of persistent, annoying guys. Part of the reason I travel abroad is to get away from them."

"In that case, you two should be careful when you’re filming. You both have fanbases of over a hundred thousand, after all. There are bound to be some unstable types among them."

As he listened, Lin Chen finally started to pick up on what was happening.

’This girl’s behavior today is just too strange. Her whole way of talking is completely different from usual.’

’And she’s making a point to praise how beautiful Meiyan is right in front of me... Is she trying to give me a hint?’

’No way. Since when did this little tigress learn to be so indirect?’

"Don’t worry, Nuna. I might not be a veteran, but I’ve been a vlogger for a few years now. I know what to film and what not to film. I’ll be careful, thanks for looking out for me~"

Hearing this, Erica finally nodded, satisfied. She changed the subject to the dumplings in front of them.

"These dumplings are amazing! They’re so good. Can you teach me how to make them?"

Lin Chen quickly grabbed a dumpling wrapper and handed it to her. Then he placed one in his own palm and added some of the meat filling.

"We have many ways of folding dumplings in Great Xia, each with a different shape and look. I’ll start by teaching you the two most common and best-looking folds. Once you’ve gotten the hang of those, I can teach you some others."

As he taught, Jin Meiyan stood beside them, listening intently with a curious expression.

Since she already had some experience making dumplings, she only needed to watch twice to master the basic pleated fold, followed by the "tiger’s mouth" style Lin Chen had shown earlier.

When Erica saw Jin Meiyan master the folds in just a minute or two, she glanced down at the lopsided, mangled dumpling in her own hand. A competitive fire suddenly ignited within her.

"Hey, I refuse to be beaten! Give me ten more wrappers!"

...

「Two days later.」

Lin Chen finished packing his heavy bag and waved goodbye to Erica, who was seeing him off at the door.

"Go on back inside. I’ll message you in three days to let you know when I’ll be back. And don’t work too hard on the dumplings. You need to get some rest, too."

"I know, I know! Stop nagging like my grandmother. Just go already, I’m going back to bed to catch up on my sleep."

Erica waved impatiently, then turned to Jin Meiyan with a smile. "Have a safe trip, and have fun!"

"Thank you! Goodbye, Nuna!"

As she watched the taillights of the vehicle speed away, the smile on Erica’s face slowly faded.

After spending two days with them, she realized she had been overthinking things. There wasn’t the slightest hint of romance between them.

That cutesy, almost flirtatious tone the South Korean girl used was just a side effect of her native accent.

Even an American would be influenced after spending so much time in South Korea.

Lin Chen was even more focused. He was cooking from the moment he woke up. Morning, noon, and night, he almost never stopped. He rolled out over two thousand dumpling wrappers by himself.

He also made all the filling by himself. The two of them mostly just helped wash vegetables and fold the dumplings. The high-efficiency task of rolling the wrappers was something only he could manage; he could even roll five at once.

They could roll them too, but only one at a time, so it was more productive for them to just fold the dumplings.

She glanced at the time. It was just after six in the morning.

Since the food was already prepared, she had arranged for the driver to pick her up before lunch. She would go along to serve the workers, which was her way of supervising for Lin Chen.

’Doing this job was also a way of proving she was one of Lin’s own.’

She yawned, turned, and went back inside, planning to get a little more sleep.

「Meanwhile.」

In the car, an excited Jin Meiyan was already holding up her phone, recording an intro in Korean and English. Occasionally, she would pan the camera to the scenery outside the window.

As they drove on, she realized they weren’t heading into a forest as she’d imagined. Instead, they arrived at a familiar coastal highway and finally pulled up to a small pier.

"Huh? Why are we at a pier? Are we taking a boat from here? I thought we’d be taking a boat from somewhere on your land, Oppa."

"That’s right. We’re going to an island. There’s no road access through my property, so we can’t drive there. The only way is by sea."

He slung one bag over his chest and the other on his back, locked the car, and led the way onto the pier, waving at a speedboat docked by the shore.

A moment later, a Black man emerged from the cabin, extending a hand with a wide, toothy grin.

"This is the owner of the yacht," he explained. "Since this is a port city, a lot of tourists like to charter boats to go out on the ocean. The locals also go out fishing all the time, so rentals are pretty cheap."

Once aboard the speedboat, Lin Chen started recording his own intro. It was a planned collaboration with Jin Meiyan, so there wasn’t anything too unusual. He skipped a lengthy self-introduction and went straight to outlining the trip’s itinerary and the goals his guest hoped to achieve.

To be honest, ever since becoming a landowner, this was his first time seeing his coastline from the sea. From this angle, he could spot all sorts of things that were invisible from the shore.

After about twenty minutes on the speedboat, all traces of civilization on the coastline vanished, leaving only untouched nature.

The speedboat slowed to a stop in the water not far from a small island. In the morning sun, the light-colored sand and pebbles were clearly visible beneath the azure water.

Lin Chen, with a camera strapped to his chest, vaulted over the deck railing in a single smooth motion.

SPLASH!

Water flew everywhere.

Jin Meiyan peeked her head out curiously. She let out a relieved sigh when she saw the water only came up to Lin Chen’s knees. She sat gingerly on the railing, then turned around and carefully dipped a toe in to test the temperature before slowly lowering herself into the water, holding onto the railing for support.

The captain walked over with a cheerful grin and waved to Lin Chen. "Contact me a day ahead of time when you want a ride back! Have a great time!"

As the roar of the motor faded into the distance, the world fell silent. The only sound left was the rhythmic melody of waves lapping against the shore.

A few seagulls flew overhead. Their loud, familiar cries were what finally made it feel real to Jin Meiyan—she was truly out in nature.

"Oppa, my heart is pounding! There isn’t anything dangerous on this island, is there?"

"’I don’t know for sure,’ Lin Chen said, shaking his head with a teasing smile. ’I’ve never set foot on this island myself. There’s a survey report, but you can’t completely trust it. Animals move around, after all. Come on, let’s head ashore and take a look.’"

The two of them waded toward the beach. While Jin Meiyan looked around curiously, Lin Chen’s eyes scanned their entire visible surroundings like a radar.

From the speedboat, he had already gotten a rough idea of the island’s shape. Based on the data he had, it wasn’t very large—only about a kilometer across.

On an island this small, any mountain would be more of a small hill, at best.

Whether they could actually survive here was another question entirely. He’d have to scout the island first to assess the food and fresh water situation.

Jin Meiyan had only worn ’no-makeup’ makeup today. It was hard to remove makeup properly in the wild, and she didn’t want to damage her skin, so she’d kept it minimal.

Even though it was a ’no-makeup’ look, it was a noticeable departure from the elaborate makeup she’d worn the past couple of days.

If her previous, more formal look was a ’cool, older sister’ vibe, today she had transformed into something more like an innocent campus beauty.

For practical survival, she’d chosen to wear beige performance leggings. They hugged her curves, provided warmth, and would protect her skin from most scratches from plants.

On top, she wore a simple white T-shirt and a sun jacket, a truly practical, lightweight outfit.

’Lin Chen hadn’t given her any specific advice on what to wear. This was a survival trip, after all. It wouldn’t be interesting if she came fully prepared with warm clothing. She had to experience some hardship.’