Setting aside all the sentimental talk, if we were to condense everything that was said, it would boil down to two sentences: "Students, this is where you'll be going for your spring outing. It'll last for two weeks, and you'll be living and eating with the local villagers."

The students looked at each other in disbelief: Is this really the spring outing that all the upperclassmen had been raving about?

In fact, everyone had heard about this spring outing before. The version they heard from the upperclassmen sounded wonderful, the kind of experience you'd cherish for a lifetime. (Upperclassmen: How could it not be?)

But now you're saying that the spring outing isn't about going to a beautiful place, eating all the delicious food you've brought, and taking a bunch of pretty photos?

Instead, it's about a class of students living with local villagers?

What does this mean? Has the spring outing suddenly turned into some kind of "youth going down to the countryside" movement?

And by the way, those upperclassmen are all big liars. The reality is so different from what we imagined.

Of course, the upperclassmen couldn't tell their juniors the whole truth. The hardships they had endured, they wouldn't let the next batch of students escape from either.

Just imagining that one more person would share the suffering they had gone through made them feel a little less miserable about their own experience.

Naturally, the upperclassmen also had the juniors' best interests at heart. After all, mastering an additional survival skill would be beneficial for their future.

All the upperclassmen shared this mindset, and not a single one revealed the truth to the next batch of students. Instead, they thoughtfully concealed the reality, fearing that if the juniors knew the truth, they might find excuses to skip the spring outing.

Everyone very kindly kept the truth hidden and told their juniors an embellished version of events.

This tradition of one class deceiving the next had almost become a cherished custom at Qianpu School.

Before the "spring outing" departure, those gathered at the windows watching the group leave weren't envious at all; they were purely gloating.

As the leader of the group, the class monitor suggested, "We all have our phones. Why don't we call a car to take us back home?" What else could they do? Spend two weeks in this godforsaken place? Was life even worth living anymore?

Shi Li inwardly poured cold water on the idea: [Save it. Even if you manage to leave, they'll just throw you back here, or you'll unlock other maps, like survival in the dense forest.]

In her previous life, Shi Li had miserably tried to escape. She and a few others, including Shi Qiuyu, had managed to get away, but it turned into a wilderness survival situation. They nearly became feral before the "spring outing" ended and the school staff came to retrieve them.

Afterwards, the class had discussed it. Apparently, there were quite a few people like Shi Li who had tried to escape. They were all thrown into different challenging "maps." Only the students who obediently stayed in the village didn't suffer.

Compared to wilderness survival, doing a bit of farm work and eating coarse corn meal didn't seem like such a hardship after all.

[You really think the school just left us here without supervision? There are people watching from every corner.]

[The moment you step out of the village, you'll face other maps.]

[In comparison, isn't it more comfortable to spend two weeks peacefully in the village?]

Shi Li's cold dose of reality had a super effective impact. In an instant, her classmates felt a chill run through their hearts.

The simple and honest Village Chief Zhao silently watched these well-dressed young people, waiting for them to process the situation.

Their village received a batch of such children every year. These kids were never easy to deal with, but the school's compensation to the village was always quite substantial.

Compared to the extremely emotional children from previous years, this group of kids was surprisingly calm.

Although their expressions showed reluctance, they behaved very properly.

The class monitor stepped forward to communicate with the village chief. "Hello, Uncle Zhao. You can call me Lin. We'll be troubling you for this period. May I ask where we'll be staying, and what the general plan is?"

The children were unusually polite, making Village Chief Zhao feel a bit uncomfortable.

He scratched his head sheepishly, "Don't worry, there's definitely a place for you to stay at night."

Upon hearing the village chief's words, the students figured that even if they had a place to stay, the conditions wouldn't be too good.

However, when the village chief pointed to a row of mud houses behind him, everyone fell silent. They had never stayed in a place like this before.

The mud houses, built with yellow clay, were probably older than the students' parents.

"We... are staying... here?"

Village Chief Zhao nodded, "That's right. These are the houses your school booked for you. One for boys, one for girls."

"Since it's your first day here and you must be tired from the journey, we won't assign you any farm work today. I'll bring your lunch and dinner over in a while. After lunch, you can rest."

At this point, the students didn't quite understand what the village chief meant by bringing lunch and dinner together. It wasn't until half an hour later when the village chief came back carrying two bags of stuff that they realized they were expected to cook their own meals.

The village chief pointed to a bag of yellow stuff and introduced it to the students, "This is corn meal."

Then he pointed to a bag of leafy vegetables and said, "You're in luck. It's a good time for picking wild vegetables. These are delicious."

After introducing everything, the village chief clapped his hands and left the courtyard, leaving behind a group of people who were neither used to physical labor nor familiar with grains, staring at each other in bewilderment.

Forget about cooking in the kitchen; most of them had rarely even seen raw ingredients.

"How do we prepare this?"

"Why don't we just run away?"

Shi Li thought: See? I told you the first reaction to this situation would be to run.

The class monitor glared at the person who suggested running away, "Don't talk nonsense."

Fu Huixing, who had already taken a tour inside and outside the house, spoke up, "The kitchen has all the basic pots, bowls, and utensils. We should be able to cook normally."

"The problem is we don't even know what these two things are. How are we supposed to cook?"

Fu Huixing held up his phone showing a search page, "The village chief just told us this is corn meal. I've looked up how to cook it."

It was a good thing Fu Huixing stepped up, otherwise Shi Li would have had to guide everyone on what to do.

In her previous life, when she first experienced this, she indeed didn't know how to cook. It seemed that Fu Huixing had also taken charge of cooking back then.

Shi Li watched a couple of times and learned quickly.

Everyone still had their spring outing backpacks with them. Fu Huixing looked at the group, "You guys go put away your luggage first and choose where you'll sleep tonight. I can try cooking first."

It was already 1:30 in the afternoon, well past lunchtime, and everyone was hungry.

Watching Fu Huixing search online for cooking instructions, Shi Li realized that this was actually his first time experiencing this situation too.

Seeing how skillfully he had cooked in her previous life, she had assumed he had secretly practiced beforehand.

With the experience from her previous life, Shi Li volunteered, "I can help you as an assistant."

When it came to cooking the vegetables, even Fu Huixing was a bit confused about how to handle the unknown wild greens.

Shi Li patted her backpack, "I brought some Lao Gan Ma with me."

They could boil the wild vegetables in water, then mix them with some Lao Gan Ma. That should make them edible.

Shi Li opened her backpack, which was filled with various bottles and jars of condiments for rice and vegetables. She had bought these from the supermarket at the last minute.

Fu Huixing thought to himself: Isn't that heavy? It must have been quite a burden for her to carry all this way.