Starlet Taotie Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Defying Science
The flock of sheep was completely controlled by Jiang Tao alone.
Over a hundred sheep huddled together, trembling so badly that they didn’t even dare to bleat.
Jiang Tao drew a circle around them using the handle of her whip and declared, “I’m not going to eat you, but none of you are allowed to step outside this circle. Got it?”
Zhang Ce: “……”
He didn’t know how Jiang Tao had just managed to intimidate the sheep, but…you’re speaking human language, how could sheep possibly understand?!
And yet—
The sheep not only responded with obedient bleats, they also stayed perfectly inside the circle.
Some reckless little lambs even tried to step out, only to be kicked right back in by the mother sheep.
Zhang Ce: “???”
This defies common sense!!
This defies science!!
Jiang Tao dusted off her hands in satisfaction and began to wander around.
Zhang Ce and her cameraman followed her in a daze.
They watched as she climbed a tree to pick fruits, then squatted by the stream to catch fish. Jiang Tao continued to scour for food as if she could eat for the whole two hours!
At this rate, how were they even supposed to get usable footage?!
Zhang Ce decided he couldn’t just sit and wait any longer.
He went to find the sheep’s owner and asked him to scatter the flock. But who would have thought that no matter how much the owner scolded or pulled at them, the sheep didn’t budge at all. It was as if the circle was something Sun Wukong[1] had drawn with his golden cudgel*; stepping out of it would mean getting eaten by yaoguai[2] monsters.
(TLN: Ruyi Jingu Bang (如意金箍棒), or simply Ruyi Bang or Jingu Bang, is the poetic name of a magical staff wielded by the immortal monkey king Sun Wukong. For easy reading, I’m using golden cudgel.)
In the end, Zhang Ce was left with no other options.
At this rate, as long as Jiang Tao didn’t remove that circle, let alone two hours, this flock of sheep could stay there for an entire day.
He could only declare the mission completed ahead of schedule.
Jiang Tao’s face lit up with joy. “I can go eat now?”
Zhang Ce: “……”
In utter resignation, he followed Jiang Tao back to the camp.
When Dong Xianhong saw that Jiang Tao had returned early, he was a little surprised. “You completed your mission?”
Jiang Tao nodded and happily followed Zhang Ce to collect her meal.
Dong Xianhong and Sheng Xibai had both vomited from motion sickness on the way here, barely eaten anything before filming started, and had been busy working ever since. They were already exhausted and starving.
Seeing Jiang Tao eating her boxed lunch with big, satisfied bites, both of them couldn’t help but swallow unconsciously.
Driven by hunger, the two of them sped up their work and finally managed to repair the roof.
They hurriedly washed their hands and went to collect their boxed meals.
Though just ordinary boxed lunch, for some reason, whether because Dong Xianhong and Sheng Xibai were truly hungry or because Jiang Tao was eating so deliciously right beside them, their appetites were unexpectedly stirred, and they ate far more eagerly than usual.
Jiang Tao quickly finished two boxes of food.
Rubbing her still-empty stomach, she decided to go into the woods to find something else to eat.
She wandered around the forest aimlessly and somehow ended up at the chicken-catching area.
It was a space enclosed with nets. The guests were required to catch a total of ten chickens to complete the task.
But these weren’t the docile, farm-raised chickens from poultry farms—they were free-range local chickens raised by villagers, having grown up running around the mountains. Each one looked fiercely difficult to deal with.
Yang Zhen and the others hadn’t expected the chickens to be this hard to handle. After an hour of struggling, they were covered in dust and feathers, and had only managed to catch three chickens.
During the process, Tang Yuxia had nearly been pecked and was so frightened she no longer dared to get close.
Just then, they saw a clean Jiang Tao emerging from the forest.
At that instant, everyone felt a wave of regret in their hearts.
Was herding sheep that easy?!
If they had known, they would have chosen sheep herding instead!
Jiang Tao watched for a moment and felt a bit tempted herself. “Do you want help?”
Yang Zhen only assumed she had no camera presence on the sheep-herding side and came over to theirs to get some screen time, so he forced out a smile and politely refused. “No need, we can manage. Xiao Jiang, you’ve worked hard herding the sheep too, go get some rest.”
Le Hui quickly echoed his words as well.
Only Tang Yuxia looked like she wanted to say something but held back.
She had genuinely been frightened and no longer wanted to catch chickens. But since they had already struggled for so long, she also didn’t want another person coming in and splitting the screen time, so she tacitly agreed with Yang Zhen and Le Hui.
Thus, Jiang Tao took a different approach and went to Director Zou. “Director, can those chickens be eaten?”
Director Zou: “……”
He had already heard about Jiang Tao’s ‘achievements’ from Zhang Ce. Rubbing his forehead, he said, “Those chickens are props. They can’t be eaten.”
Jiang Tao: “Then if the chickens can’t be eaten, what about their eggs?”
Zou: “???”
Young lady, did you just finish tormenting the sheep and now you’re moving on to the chickens?
From the sound of it, are you planning to make the chickens lay eggs on the spot for you??
Jiang Tao pleaded again with hopeful eyes.
“Sure,” Director Zou said. “As long as you can make the chickens lay eggs, you can take them away.”
Jiang Tao happily stepped into the net enclosure.
Director Zou curved his lips slightly.
This little girl was still too inexperienced.
In order to increase the difficulty of the game, he had specifically bought only roosters. Even if you really could make chickens lay eggs, could roosters lay eggs?
After Jiang Tao entered the enclosure, the free-range chickens that had been strutting arrogantly and tormenting the guests until they were in misery suddenly seemed to encounter their natural predator. They all shrank back in place, not daring to move.
Jiang Tao looked at the obedient, crouching chickens and asked, “Can any one of you lay eggs?”
Onlookers: “???”
Director Zou spat out the tea in his mouth.
Yang Zhen and the other two didn’t know what had happened on the sheep-herding side, and were originally still wondering why the chickens had suddenly become so well-behaved. But after hearing Jiang Tao’s words, they looked at her like she was an idiot.
However, something even more unexpected quickly happened.
Among the flock of chickens, two of them actually stood up.
“Cluck-cluck—cluck-cluck—”
Plop.
An egg dropped straight out from each chicken’s rear end.
Everyone: “????????”
This defies science!!!!
Director Zou: Weren’t they all supposed to be roosters?!! Liar!!
Jiang Tao picked up all the eggs and waved at Yang Zhen and the others. “Good luck! I’m leaving!”
Only after Jiang Tao had gone far did the three of them finally snap back to their senses.
“S–Should we continue…?”
However, the moment Jiang Tao left, the previously obedient chickens immediately regained their fierce, untamed nature.
Screams once again echoed across the sky.
…
Jiang Tao returned to the camp and borrowed a pot from the staff to boil the eggs.
Dong Xianhong walked in while rubbing his full stomach in surprise. “Where did you get those eggs?”
Jiang Tao: “The chickens laid them.”
Dong Xianhong: “……”
He of course knew that eggs were laid by chickens.
He assumed Jiang Tao had gotten them from nearby villagers, and even started thinking that if they couldn’t complete their task later, he might try his luck there too.
After finishing the eggs, Jiang Tao once again slipped into the forest.
Dong Xianhong looked at her back and couldn’t help but say, “Xiao Jiang, it’s getting dark. The forest might be unsafe. I heard this place isn’t fully developed, and sometimes there are wild beasts. You’d better not go out.”
Jiang Tao waved her hand. “It’s fine. Even if I run into wild animals, it’ll be them who are unsafe.”
Dong Xianhong: “????”
…
Jiang Tao was still thinking about the chicken she had missed out on. She wandered around the forest for a while and didn’t even have to put in much effort before catching two wild chickens (aka pheasants). She originally intended to kill them for food, but was told they were nationally protected second-class animals, and killing them was illegal.
Jiang Tao: “???”
What the heck?!
Rarely seeing her so stunned, Zhang Ce held back his laughter and gave her a brief explanation of the Wildlife Protection Law.
Jiang Tao looked at the two gray, foolish-looking wild chickens in her hands, her little face full of disbelief.
Ridiculous!!
These ugly, scruffy-looking things were actually protected animals and not even allowed to be eaten?!
When she later learned about the treatment pandas received, she was practically outraged to the point of losing composure.
If we’re talking about rarity, wasn’t she far more precious?!
She was a taotie!
The only one in the entire world!
Shouldn’t she be properly protected too, able to eat whatever she wanted whenever she pleased, instead of working hard every single day only to end up with just two boxed meals?!
Not to mention, now they were even making her give up food that had already reached her mouth!
This dignified taotie had never suffered such grievance before!
As the sun set, faint rays of light fell across her delicate, fair face. There were even two streaks of dirt on her cheeks, and her eyes were slightly red at the corners, as if she might shed tears the moment she blinked.
That pitiful, wronged expression made even Zhang Ce, who usually had a rather hardened heart, feel a bit guilty. So he agreed to exchange snacks for her instead.
Jiang Tao reluctantly responded, completely lacking the usual excitement she had whenever she got something delicious.
By the time she returned to the camp, Jiang Tao happened to run into Yang Zhen and the other two coming back, each of them filthy and dejected.
They were also extremely frustrated.
They had originally thought they picked the best task, but who knew it would be so difficult? After chasing chickens for hours, they had barely managed to catch five in total.
Director Zou was strictly impartial and said they had only completed half the task, so they could only receive half a box of dinner.
After chasing chickens all afternoon, the three of them were already starving, and half a boxed meal was nowhere near enough to fill them up. But in this remote mountain area, there was practically nothing to eat.
In the end, it was Dong Xianhong who took pity on them and told them they could try asking nearby villagers for food.
But after walking several kilometers, they didn’t see a single household and could only return empty-handed in the end.
Le Hui had sharp eyes and immediately noticed the snacks in Jiang Tao’s hands. She quickly walked over. “Xiao Jiang, those snacks of yours…”
The listless Jiang Tao instantly became alert. She clutched them tightly. “What? You want to eat them?!”
Le Hui’s thoughts were exposed and she felt a little embarrassed. Though inwardly somewhat resentful of Jiang Tao, she still forced a smile. “We didn’t get enough to eat tonight… could you maybe—”
Jiang Tao immediately hid the snacks behind her back. “What does that have to do with me?”
Yang Zhen quickly chimed in, “You already had dinner, so you probably can’t fit in anymore, right? How about—”
“No.” Jiang Tao looked at them with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
Anyone who dared to steal her food was an enemy!!
Tang Yuxia felt extremely awkward and finally couldn’t hold back. “We’re not trying to take your snacks. We just want to know where you got them from.”
As long as they weren’t trying to take them, it was fine.
Jiang Tao relaxed slightly. “I exchanged them with the production team.”
After saying that, she looked as if she was afraid they would chase after her for snacks and quickly ran off.
The trio: “……”
Although they were annoyed by Jiang Tao’s thief-guarding attitude, at least they had learned where the snacks came from, so they hurried off to find Director Zou.
Director Zou rejected them outright the moment he heard it.
Yang Zhen was unconvinced. “Why can Jiang Tao exchange for them, but we can’t?”
Director Zou lifted his eyelids. “She used wild chickens to exchange for them. Can you do that?”
The trio: “?!!!”
Director Zou didn’t forget to deliver the final blow. “You couldn’t even catch domestic chickens. I suggest you drop the idea.”
The trio: F*ck, so infuriating!
Footnotes:
[1] Sun Wukong (孫悟空), aka Monkey King, is a stone-born monkey from the 16th-century novel Journey to the West. He possesses absurdly overpowered abilities: he can lift 2 mountains while running "with the speed of a meteor," travel 108,000 li (54,000 km) in a single somersault, shapeshift into any animal or object, clone himself using his fur, freeze people in place, turn invisible, partially control the weather, and defeat Heaven's entire army. He was so dangerous that the Buddha himself had to personally intervene, and even then could only trap him under a mountain for five centuries rather than kill him.
[2] Yaoguai (妖怪) represent a broad and diverse class of ambiguous creatures in Chinese folklore and mythology defined by the possession of supernatural powers and by having attributes that partake of the quality of the weird, the strange or the unnatural. While yaoguai are not evil in the sense Western demons are, they are usually weird and dangerous, tending to exert a baleful influence on mankind.
