Chapter 17

"Little auntie, how did you do that?" Qi Mushishi pointed at the fish stuck to the board in disbelief and asked.

Children are more curious. He had come over early to watch the whole process and saw it all with his own eyes.

Song Anan smiled at him and explained, "I heard a neurosurgery professor mention this method before. This is my first time trying it out, didn't expect it to work."

Qi Mushishi looked at her admiringly, "Wow, little auntie, you are so capable, you can do everything!"

Not only can she fight, but she can also kill a fish with one needle!

Song Anan quickly waved her hand and said modestly, "I'm a medical student."

This is considered relevant to her profession.

It's not that impressive.

After Song Anan's reminder, everyone suddenly remembered the human anatomy book she was reading before.

At first, they still felt that it was a bit scary to see such a soft little auntie killing fish.

Turns out, after seeing this, killing a fish should be nothing to her at all.

"Besides fish, can other poultry be handled the same way too?" Li Yu curiously asked.

Song Anan casually replied, "It works for animals with spines."

[Oh my god! If I understood correctly, humans are also vertebrates!]

[To say the gentlest words but do the most ruthless things, I guess this describes little auntie perfectly.]

[Wasn't there news before about a female medical student who stabbed her boyfriend dozens of times, avoiding all the vital organs every time, causing serious injury to the boyfriend but was still only convicted of minor injury!]

[Oh my god! Is that real?]

[Well, a martial arts expert with a black belt in Taekwondo who studies medicine, we don't have to worry about little auntie being bullied anymore.]

[Wahhh, little auntie's pure and innocent face always makes me forget about her capabilities!]

[I know, I always feel that she is just a little sister who needs protection. Haha, with little auntie, we are the ones being protected!]

[Uh... Song Anan really killed the fish, isn't that too cruel?]

[Damn, are you an idiot? Stop pretending to be so ethical here. You didn't say anything while eating meat, and now you say it's cruel?]

[Fool, give him the Leshan Giant Buddha to sit on!]

[Let me go off topic and ask, isn't Jiang Kai shivering right now?]

[Hahaha, so true! He messed with the wrong person.]

[Jiang Kai: I admit, the rule of law saved me.]

...

It has to be said, some of the online comments hit the nail on the head.

Jiang Kai was indeed not feeling very calm at the moment.

After Song Anan stabbed the needle into the fish's head, she suddenly looked up at him.

Out of guilt, Jiang Kai took that glance as a warning.

Song Anan was warning him!

Coupled with the motionless fish on the cutting board, he couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine at that moment.

However, Song Anan was actually wrongly accused in this matter. She just happened to glance over casually, without thinking too much about it at all.

It could only be said that those with guilty consciences often betray themselves.

With Song Anan's interlude, the rest became much simpler, just scaling the fish and gutting it to remove the internal organs.

Guo Xiu had experience scaling fish before, so that job was left to him.

As for gutting the fish, it naturally fell on Song Anan again, with her anatomical knowledge and practical experience.

After completing the tasks, the guests successfully obtained dinner from the program team, with meat and vegetables, very abundant.

At the dinner table, everyone was casual, sitting around the table and chatting while eating.

Li Yu, being the mood maker among the guests, looked at Song Anan who was silently eating and asked, "Little auntie, I saw online you're in your third year of university?"

Song Anan always ate very attentively. Hearing Li Yu calling her, she was stunned for two seconds before quickly swallowing the food in her mouth.

She nodded lightly and replied, "Yeah, going into my third year when school starts."

Li Yu raised her eyebrows, "Medical school is a five-year program. You're seventeen now, so wouldn't you graduate when you're nineteen?"

So young.

Song Anan shook her head, "No, my program is eight years."

Hearing this, everyone except Song Linchuan looked over curiously.

Eight years?

"Five years is for a bachelor's degree. If it's eight years, is it a combined bachelor's and master's program?" Shi Qing asked.

"There are two types of eight-year clinical medicine programs. What you mentioned is 5+3 integrated program, 5 years for bachelor's plus 3 years for master's. " Song Anan patiently explained.

"Mine is an eight-year combined bachelor's, master's and PhD program."

The others were still a little confused after her explanation, but understood one thing - Song Anan would get a doctoral degree instead of a master's degree after graduation.

[Holy crap! Any medical students here to explain? I'm still confused.]

[Yeah, skip all those professional terms, just tell us the simple version - which one is better?]

[One gets a master's degree, the other a PhD, it's pretty obvious!]

[Then apart from the degree, how about professionally? Medicine is a field that values true skills after all.]

[To keep it simple and crude, I won't go into the comparison process details. Overall, the 8-year clinical medicine program has more advantages, and has higher requirements for students.]

[As far as I know, the 8-year bachelor-master-PhD program in clinical medicine is only offered by some top institutions nationwide.]

[I see! So it means little auntie is very capable!]

[Wahhh, I'm going to tell my mom that this time I'm a fan of a top student, no, a top genius!!!]

[I've always admired medical students. They have so many textbooks, there are no key points at all in exams, the whole book is key points.]

[Of course, patients don't get sick according to key points.]

[There's a saying, don't become a doctor unless lightning strikes you, you can imagine what a tough job it is.]

[To be honest! When I first heard little auntie say she was a medical student, I was very surprised. Studying medicine is very difficult, being able to persevere is really not easy.]

[I've always wanted to say, although little auntie looks soft, she has a tenacity that ordinary people don't have, which is really rare.]

...

After lunch, the guests were brought back to the yard by the program team for the next segment - picking a house.

The production team had no tricks for this segment. They directly showed pictures of several houses and let the guests choose freely.

The houses were all ordinary rural courtyards with similar environments and layouts, nothing much to pick from. Everyone chose rather casually.

Just right, two of the courtyards were adjacent. Shi Qing got his wish to become neighbors with Song Anan.

Their courtyards were at the far east side of the village, relatively more secluded compared to the other ones. But being secluded also had its benefits, more tranquil.

Along the way, Shi Qing and Song Linchuan walked side by side behind, while Qi Mushishi pulled Song Anan along in front.

From afar, it looked like two parents taking their children out for a stroll.

Qi Mushishi chatted nonstop around Song Anan, while Song Anan didn't seem bothered at all, with a faint smile on her face as she nodded from time to time.

The two complemented each other nicely in their stillness and motion.

The village was not big. Soon the group arrived at their destination. After saying goodbye to each other, they each pushed open the door and entered their own courtyard.

After Song Anan went in, she didn't idle around, going through the new residence front and back.

It was just an ordinary rural courtyard. There were a total of three bedrooms, two adjacent, and one facing them across a narrow corridor, door to door.

The living room was not too big, but the furnishings were quite cozy. Next to it was a separate dining area.

The kitchen was a separate room in the yard, fully equipped with new cookware by the program team.

However, what Song Anan liked best was still the small courtyard. There was a grape vine in the corner of the courtyard, bunches of grapes hanging from the arbor, looking very pleasing.

The production team had also placed two recliners under the eaves. Lying on them at night, blowing the night breeze and stargazing, just thinking about it felt extremely comfortable. The two chose the rooms facing each other, leaving the doors open and organizing luggage while chatting.

The camera crew following them simply set up the camera in the corridor, moving the lens from time to time.

"Little auntie, are you getting used to it here?"

"Yeah, pretty used to it," Song Anan said, "I like it here."

It gave her the feeling of home when she was little.

Song Linchuan nodded, good that she liked it.

As Song Anan hung up clothes in the closet one by one, she seemed to think of something and suddenly asked, "Linchuan, were you like Mushishi when you were little?"

Song Linchuan raised his eyebrows, "How so?"

Song Anan was about to say talkative, but felt that the word might not be very polite to Qi Mushishi.

She thought about her wording, "...good at conversing."

Song Linchuan: "???"

[Pfft, good at conversing my ass, little auntie clearly wanted to say talkative!]

[Hahaha, poor little auntie, she swallowed the words at the tip of her tongue.]

[Song Linchuan/Qi Mushishi: Little auntie, are you being polite?!]

Of course Song Linchuan wouldn't admit to this. He reckoned Qi Mushishi was twelve this year. When he was that age, Song Anan was only five.

Five years old probably didn't have many memories yet.

"When I was in middle school, I was a model student, excellent in both academics and conduct. All the teachers in school would praise me whenever they saw me, relatives and friends even more so. I was the epitome of a model child from another family."

Song Linchuan felt quite satisfied after saying that.

This should salvage the situation, right?

But Song Anan suddenly went silent on her end.

After a good while, she sighed and said in a slightly helpless tone, "Linchuan, have I told you something before?"

Song Linchuan let out an 'ah', a bit confused, "What is it?"

"Actually, I have very early memories."

"So when you were Mushishi's age, I remember a lot of things."

Don't try to fool her.

Song Linchuan: "..."

The bullet screen went silent for a second before being spammed with 'hahaha'.

Then, the live studio audience witnessed Song Linchuan using the excuse of "tired, going to take a nap" to close his room door.

—

In the afternoon, after the guests rested up, they were called back to the small courtyard by the program team again - to make dinner.

According to the requirements of the program team, the first meal would be provided by them, and the guests had to figure it out themselves afterwards.

However, the ingredients for the first day were still provided by the program team for now, whether they would continue providing was undetermined.

"How about we each make a signature dish with the ingredients?" Li Yu suggested looking at the ingredients on the table. "There's pork ribs, I'll make braised pork ribs."

Shi Qing pondered briefly, "Then I'll make steamed fish."

Song Anan blinked looking at the tomatoes on the table, "Then... I'll make tomato and scrambled eggs."

It was supposed to be simple, shouldn't be a problem, right?

"No!" Song Linchuan excitedly grabbed Song Anan, as if fearing she would enter the kitchen the next second.

The others were stunned for a moment, turning their heads to look at him.

"It's still better not to let my little auntie in the kitchen, for everyone's sake." Song Linchuan sincerely advised.

After speaking, he silently sighed. He had already thought of this before coming - the fact that his little auntie was a kitchen killer probably couldn't be kept secret.

If Song Anan kept finding excuses to avoid cooking every time, she would definitely be misunderstood as lazy.

Compared to attracting dislike, losing a bit of face didn't seem so important anymore.

After a brief shock, everyone vaguely understood something.

"Is it that little auntie doesn't cook well?" Li Yu asked tactfully.

Song Linchuan waved his hand, no longer keeping them in suspense. "It's more serious than that, she might blow up the kitchen."

To make his words more convincing, he took out his phone and showed everyone some photos and video clips that were even used as negative teaching materials on local lifestyle channels back then.

Having her dark history exposed so bluntly, Song Anan's face instantly turned red to the tips of her ears.

[LOL, this is hilarious! I can't believe little auntie has such an embarrassing past. Song Linchuan is too much for keeping this video. No wonder they reacted that way when their manager told them to cook for themselves last time.]

[No wonder little auntie and I finally have something in common - we are both kitchen killers! Famous ones at that!]

After Song Linchuan's efforts, everyone finally witnessed Song Anan's destructive power in the kitchen.

She was then successfully assigned to wash vegetables.

Farmhouse kitchens are generally not very big, and it was a bit cramped with so many people suddenly crammed inside.

Carrying the prepared ingredients, Guo Xiu looked around and said to Song Anan and Qi Mushishi: "Little auntie, Mushishi, you two kids go out and play. We have enough people here to handle things, and you won't be much help anyway."

Song Anan looked up, confused.

But she was washing vegetables!

"Leave those there, I'll wash them later," Guo Xiu said. "The kitchen is too small for this many people."

Song Anan obediently said "Oh," but still looked at Ji An and Jiang Yao enviously before leaving the kitchen.

Ji An was 19 and Jiang Yao 18. They were only a couple years older than her, yet they got to be treated like adults.

Meanwhile, she was 17 but got lumped together with 11 or 12 year old little Mushishi.

At the kitchen door, Qi Mushishi grumbled unhappily: "I'm 12 already, why do they still treat me like a kid?"

Song Anan silently sighed.

She was 17! So wasn't she even more miserable?

The livestream viewers laughed loudly at the dissatisfied looks on the two.

[Hahaha, Mushishi, be patient! Only little kids emphasize not being little kids!]

[People are such strange creatures. We wish to grow up when young, then get nostalgic for childhood when older.]

[Speaking of which, little auntie seems to be only 1 or 2 years younger than Ji An and Jiang Yao, but standing together they look very different.]

[I think their clothing styles make a big difference. It's been a while since the show started, and little auntie wears sporty outfits every time, looking very high school. I don't think she wears any makeup on the show.]

[You're right! Ji An has debuted after all, so his outfits are more mature. Jiang Yao's white dress today isn't bad, just a bit too made up looking mature.]

[Oh right, didn't they say Jiang Yao just took the college entrance exam? Has it been announced where she got in?]

[Who knows? The production team hasn't said. She's most likely aiming for the entertainment industry.]

[Not necessarily. They used to say little auntie came just to debut, but she explained she doesn't plan on entering the industry.]

...

The two of them looked at each other blankly outside.

Qi Mushishi looked expectantly at Song Anan: "Little auntie, what should we play?"

Song Anan shook her head. She didn't know either.

But she remembered her promise to Shi Qing earlier and said, "Since we have time now, let me tutor you in math homework."

Qi Mushishi: "..."

Uh...could he say no?

Clearly not.

Because...unfortunately, Shi Qing happened to walk past them just then.

In the end, under his mother's stern gaze, Qi Mushishi reluctantly went back to get his homework, bitterness and resentment written all over his face.

While he was gone, Song Anan went to ask the production team for a table and chairs to set up in the yard.

It was far enough from the kitchen to be relatively quiet, yet still in view of the cameras.

When Qi Mushishi returned, he laid out his math homework and looked at the problems with a pained expression.

Song Anan sat next to him and asked, "Which question don't you understand?" Qi Mushishi scratched his head and randomly pointed to a blank space, "This one."

Song Anan nodded lightly and picked up his workbook to carefully look over the question.

Middle school math posed basically no difficulty for Song Anan, but Qi Mushishi was completely lost after she explained it.

Clearly he didn't get it.

Song Anan was silent for a moment before using another method. This time he seemed to understand.

After explaining several math questions this way, Song Anan could see Qi Mushishi struggling.

So she gave him a break to digest what they'd just covered.

"Little auntie, studying is so boring," Qi Mushishi complained bitterly, head down on the table. "What do I do if I don't like studying?"

Don't like studying?

Song Anan's brows furrowed slightly.

But he was still in middle school. What else could he do without studying?

Qi Mushishi also looked confused. "Then little auntie, did you like studying ever since you were young?"

Song Anan thought for a moment: "Can't say I liked or disliked it."

Qi Mushishi exclaimed in surprise.

What does she mean? "How to put it," Song Anan carefully organized her thoughts, "From a very young age I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. Studying was just the necessary path."

She wanted to become a doctor, but that required getting into the best medical school, which meant she had to study well.

It took Qi Mushishi a moment to grasp her implication.

He looked at Song Anan enviously.

Knowing what you want to do when you grow up from such a young age, how nice.

As for him, it seemed he'd never thought about it before.

Qi Mushishi knew his dad was a great director and his mom a great actress, but they had always been pretty hands off regarding his future, without requiring him to enter any particular industry.

For now, he didn't seem interested in becoming a director or actor like his parents.

Song Anan asked, "What do you like to do usually?"

"I really like playing games," Qi Mushishi said without hesitation. "But my parents limit my time and don't let me play too long."

Song Anan considered this, then asked, "Can you explain why you like playing games? Or be more specific about this 'like'?"

Qi Mushishi propped up his face and thought hard.

"Hmm...I like defeating enemies and boss fights in games, the harder the better. Because most people can't beat them, but I can. It makes me feel really accomplished, like I'm awesome."

Song Anan blinked.

She didn't play games herself, so she couldn't relate to the feeling.

"Then based on your logic, wouldn't the people who design and develop games be even more awesome?"

Qi Mushishi was startled, then his eyes lit up.

That seemed right.

The game developers designed everything in the game worlds. They were like the creators of those worlds.

No matter how accomplished game players became in-game, in the end they were still being led around by the developers.

Qi Mushishi's gaze suddenly became more focused as he looked at Song Anan.

"Little auntie, what if," he asked uncertainly, "if in the future I wanted to design games, would you look down on me for it?"

Song Anan shook her head. "Of course not."

"There are no superior or inferior professions, no big or small dreams. As long as you truly enjoy it, that's good enough."

Affirmed, Qi Mushishi was very happy.

But at the same time he had a new question. Song Anan wanted to be a doctor and studied medicine. What about him?

"What major should I study then?"

Song Anan considered. "From what I know, if you want to develop games, you'll probably need to study a computer-related major."

She wasn't too familiar with it either, so could only speak generally.

"Our school's College of Information Science and Technology has that major. You can check out their website."

Song Anan immediately pulled out her phone and found the college's official site for him to browse.

Qi Mushishi looked through it very seriously.

B University's College of Information Technology didn't only have computer majors, but also artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, and more.

A featured lecture on AI happened to be on the home page, so Qi Mushishi clicked in.

"AI can even be applied in medicine?" he exclaimed in surprise.

Song Anan nodded. "That's right. Nowadays AI has many medical applications, like smart healthcare, medical imaging recognition, and so on. It can greatly improve primary care..."

Qi Mushishi's eyes shone even brighter, as if a door to a new world had opened.

After chatting for a while, they looped back to tutoring homework.

"Actually, math is pretty interesting too. Look, each question is like a level in your games. You have to infer the creator's intent from the information in the problem, and solving a question is like cracking the level the author designed," Song Anan said.

With this new approach, the effect was still good. At least Qi Mushishi was interested now.

"For example, this question..."

"Wow! You're right."

"And this one..."

"Ah! This problem setter is so sly, using tricks in the text."

...

The livestream viewers who witnessed all this immediately erupted.

[Holy crap! Is this the power of a B University genius? My whole family is shocked!]

[Interest is the best teacher - perfectly demonstrated in Qi Mushishi!]

[Gotta admit, little auntie is pretty amazing.]

[Of course! She keenly identified what Qi Mushishi was interested in during their chat, and promptly adjusted her teaching method. Not something an average person could do.]

[Sigh, the gap between me and geniuses is clearly more than just a little...]

*

After dinner, since it was the first day, the production team didn't arrange anything else and just let the cast rest.

Song Linchuan had to discuss something with the director, so he and Song Anan didn't walk back with Shi Qing and her son.

On the way back, Qi Mushishi skipped along happily, homework workbook tucked under his arm, completely lacking the dejectedness from earlier after finishing homework.

"Mom, I think studying isn't that hard after all, it's pretty interesting."

Shi Qing faltered, twisting around to stare at Qi Mushishi, looking like she'd seen a ghost.

For this learning-challenged kid to suddenly say this...

Did he have some kind of awakening while getting tutored just now?

Or was it a proximity effect with the genius?

How was he so puffed up all of a sudden!

[Hahaha, Shi Qing's "I've seen a ghost" expression is too obvious!]

[Is Qi Mushishi determined to make progress now?]

Completely oblivious to his mother's reaction, Qi Mushishi rambled on, "I think B University is great. When it's time for the college entrance exam, why don't I try for first place for fun?"

Shi Qing: "..."

After thinking for a few seconds, she replied, "Sure, why not."

Hearing this, Qi Mushishi was very happy and turned to ask excitedly, "Mom, so you think I have the potential?"

"No," Shi Qing said solemnly. "I just think there's no harm in dreaming big."

Qi Mushishi: "..."

[Hahahaha, I'm dying, no doubt Shi Qing is the real mom here!]

[I can't breathe from laughing! The kid is still too young. He really thinks getting into B University is that easy, talking about casually scoring first place. Like it's cabbage on the street!]

[We all had silly naivete in our youth! I also harbored some "wicked thoughts" about B University back in the day!]

[Shi Qing: People should have dreams, doesn't mean they'll necessarily come true.]