Back at the villa, Qin He and Di Shishi enjoyed an afternoon nap.
At half-past three in the afternoon, the two slowly emerged from the villa and headed towards the production team.
The production team was also struggling with the gold coin system. This system was originally intended to be a major draw. After all, the contestants present were all relatively well-known, considered minor celebrities in their respective fields and not to be offended.
However, if the competition proceeded smoothly, the show would lack appeal and drama.
Since these individuals were difficult to direct, the gold coin rule was introduced to incentivize them.
When Qin He arrived, the staff member who greeted her immediately presented the day's task board upon hearing she wanted to pick up a mission.
The task board was made of a small blackboard, likely different each day. Qin He speculated as she looked at the several tasks depicted.
"Fishing?"
Qin He frowned slightly. "At this time of year, the fish in the sea should be swimming deep, with the weather so cold."
"The oxygen levels are thin at the bottom of the sea in Jiangcheng, so the fish sometimes surface," a staff member cautiously added, afraid the two might back out.
"Alright, we'll take this fishing mission," Qin He decided immediately.
The staff member then reminded them of the precautions. "This pink beach has been entirely booked by the production team. As long as it's within the pink beach area, normal fishing is permitted."
Qin He thought for a moment. "Excuse me, how many gold coins is this task worth?"
The staff member smiled. "This is a quite high-value task. Every five catties of fish are worth two hundred gold coins."
Two hundred gold coins – equivalent to two hundred yuan.
Qin He gritted her teeth. It was worth it, at least at this critical juncture where no one was providing food.
Qin He rented two sets of fishing attire from the staff, the rental fee being five yuan per person per use.
She couldn't help but grumble inwardly, thinking how adept the production team was at fleecing people.
Wearing rubber shoes and waterproof overalls, the two reached the beach. The pink beach area was quite expansive, and they soon found themselves by a cluster of scattered rocks.
Qin He was lucky; this area was rarely visited. She caught a large fish as soon as she arrived.
Qin He placed the fish into a small basket.
She pondered for a moment, her gaze repeatedly falling on the omnipresent drone cameras flying overhead.
With cameras present, she couldn't reveal her true skills and had to pretend to be clumsy as she used a net to catch fish.
Qin He acted as if she was stumbling upon them by chance, and in just over an hour, she had caught five or six large, plump fish.
Di Shishi, taking a cue from Qin He, also innocently and accidentally managed to stun a fish.
In just an hour and a half, the large buckets the two were carrying were full.
Di Shishi's net was also filled with fish. After tying a knot, they began discussing their catch.
"Two hundred gold coins for every five catties, meaning about forty gold coins per catty," Qin He said, tapping the bucket. "I think this bucket has about twenty catties."
Di Shishi smiled brightly. "My net also has over ten catties. We'll make do for now; we can catch more tomorrow."
In the live stream chat.
The comments flew across the screen.
[??? Is this a reincarnation of the Fish God?]
[Anglers, worship Qin He from now on, and you'll never go empty-handed!]
[How can someone actually catch fish with a net? The most outrageous is Qin He's assistant, Di Shishi. Good heavens! I clearly saw her miss, but she ended up hitting another fish!]
The most prevalent were various question marks and exclamation points.
In the director's monitoring room, a whole wall was covered with feeds from various cameras.
Gu Qichen sat beside the director, a hint of a smile in his dark, inky eyes.
"She's not a very convincing actress."
The director glanced cautiously at Gu Qichen, now certain that this influential figure had come solely to watch Miss Qin.
It seemed the rumors online were true; Gu Qichen was on a long road to winning back his ex-wife after their divorce.
"I recall you mentioning that there would be a banquet after the first round of the finals," Gu Qichen turned to the director and said.
The director immediately nodded. "Yes, yes, we are preparing for it. To surprise the contestants, we haven't revealed it in advance. It will be held tomorrow evening, and everyone from the organizing committee and investors will be invited."
Gu Qichen nodded, then stood up and left.
The director wiped the fine sweat from his brow. "Having this gentleman here is truly unsettling!"
The assistant director beside him said with lingering fear, "Director, when will Mr. Gu be leaving?"
"Mr. Gu is the biggest investor in this event; eighty percent of the funding comes from Gu Corporation! You want me to ask him when he's leaving?"
The director clicked his tongue and looked at Qin He on the screen, smiling as she carried a bucket of fish.
"It's true that a beautiful woman is hard to resist. I was wondering why Gu Corporation suddenly invested in this competition a while ago; now I think I understand."
Qin He brought not only a massive surge of traffic that broke through the usual boundaries to this competition but also unprecedented investment.
"Miss Qin is truly a lucky star. She has looks, talent, and a stable personality," the director couldn't help but sigh. "It's a shame she's the eldest daughter of the Qin family; otherwise, I'd really consider inviting her to be the female lead in my next film."
"Director, I heard Director Li invited her before, but she's simply not interested in acting."
...
Qin He carried the bucket all the way back to the small supermarket. The staff member responsible for exchanges was momentarily stunned by Qin He's full bucket and Di Shishi's net.
Since it was an exchange, the staff had already tested all the missions beforehand to maintain balance.
When they tested fishing, they only caught one fish in an hour!
Had Miss Qin stumbled upon a fish nest?!
Despite their thoughts, the staff member dutifully weighed Qin He's fish.
"Miss Qin, you have a total of thirty-four catties. Since this is your first mission, I'll count it as thirty-five catties. That makes a total of one thousand four hundred gold coins. Please keep them."
The gold coins prepared by the production team were small, cast in copper, resembling arcade game tokens but golden, looking quite appealing.
One thousand four hundred of them were quite heavy.
Di Shishi complained softly, "Why did we only get this little bit of gold? I feel happier than when I took on a mission worth fourteen million before. Is the show manipulating me?"
"No, you're just craving self-heating hot pot," Qin He retorted softly.
The two became the wealthiest among all the contestants. Qin He thought of the kitchen utensils in the villa and waved her hand grandly.
"Let's not eat self-heating hot pot. Let's go buy some ingredients, and I'll make you a seafood hot pot when we get back."
The small supermarket had everything. Qin He and Di Shishi bought a pile of meat and vegetables suitable for hot pot.
"I want to eat this too," Di Shishi said, pointing at a salmon.
Qin He looked at the price. "Five hundred gold coins? That's quite cheap when converted! But after buying the ingredients and drinks we just got, we only have one thousand gold coins left."
"I'll go fishing again tomorrow," Di Shishi insisted on buying it.
Qin He generously poured out half of the bag of gold coins. At the same time, she didn't forget to buy a few packs of instant noodles, planning to return them to the girl who had lent her some last time.