Huayu 2014: From Traffic Stars to Superstars

Chapter 82 Simplicity

The "Peak Key" is at the top of the church tower, the "Youth Key" is with the aunties dancing in the square, the "Cool Key" is in the freezer, the "Commemorative Key" is in the souvenir shop, and the "Cultivation Key" is near the Taoist-related stone tablet.

As for that "DuangDuang key".

Suddenly, Gao Huan recalled the most popular Jackie Chan shampoo gag of 2015, and realized that the production team would most likely leave the key in a place where the guests needed to make a "Duang" gesture.

Gao Huan stood still, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings.

Zhang Yixing beside him had already darted out like a startled antelope, clearly heading towards the mountaintop.

"Brother Yixing," Gao Huan called out to him.

Zhang Yixing slammed on the brakes, turned around with a blank look on his face: "Brother Huan?"

"Are you going to find the Peak Key?"

Gao Huan pointed to the majestic Sheshan Catholic Church, "The peak is definitely at the highest point. The highest point on the mountain is the church. Go to the top of the church tower first; the key should be there."

Zhang Yixing paused for a moment, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes, but seeing Gao Huan's confident expression, he nodded: "Okay, thank you, Brother Huan!"

After saying that, he took off running up the mountain.

After sending away the most innocent "little lamb" and giving him a definite hint, Gao Huan turned around but did not go up the mountain. Instead, he went straight to the visitor center at the foot of the mountain.

Behind them, Huang Bo and Wang Xun were arguing over a few yuan for tickets at the ticket booth entrance.

Wang Xun complained about the high ticket price, while Huang Bo fanned the flames from the side: "Then don't go in, just wait outside."

While the two were struggling, Gao Huan quickly ducked into the visitor center.

In an inconspicuous corner of the wall, there was a small gold box.

Gao Huan reached out and grabbed the key—DuangDuang, the key rang.

It took no more than ten seconds.

He turned and walked out of the visitor center, waving to the two who were still arguing, with a bright smile: "Brother Bo, Brother Xun, I'm leaving first."

Huang Bo was stunned. He turned to look at the ticket window, then at Gao Huan's back: "Hey? When did you go in?"

"Where are the tickets?"

Gao Huan had already walked far away, leaving only a dashing silhouette.

Just then, many of Gao Huan's fans among the tourists nearby came over and offered to pay for him.

The ticket sellers couldn't handle all the cash; there was just too much.

Holding the first key, Gao Huan strolled along the square.

Not far away, a burst of upbeat music drifted over.

A group of middle-aged women dressed in brightly colored clothes are dancing in the square.

Gao Huan's eyes lit up—the key to youth.

Just as he was about to step forward, Luo Zhixiang came running up, panting. When he saw the box in Gao Huan's hand, his eyes lit up instantly: "Brother Huan, you got the key?"

Now, besides Huang Lei, Sun Honglei, Huang Bo, Wang Xun, and even Luo Zhixiang habitually calls him "Brother Huan" on the show.

Gao Huan smiled at him and subtly switched the box to his other hand: "Little Pig Brother, you've come at the perfect time."

Before Luo Zhixiang could react, a red figure suddenly darted out from the bushes beside him, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, and reached out to snatch the box from Gao Huan's hand.

It's Sun Honglei!

"Give it to me!"

Sun Honglei's lunge was powerful and heavy, clearly indicating that he wanted to grab Gao Huan along with the box.

However, Gao Huan reacted much faster than him.

With the enhancement of the system, Gao Huan's dynamic vision and limb reaction speed far exceed those of ordinary people.

While Sun Honglei's hand was still in mid-air, Gao Huan, like a slippery eel, took a step back, the box in his hand drawing an arc in the air before landing steadily in his other hand.

"Brother Honglei, isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Gao Huan said with a smile as he looked at Sun Honglei, who had missed his target.

"Aren't we brothers? Let me see."

Sun Honglei, refusing to believe it, pounced again.

This time, Gao Huan dodged to the side.

Sun Honglei lunges again, Gao Huan retreats.

In just over ten seconds, Sun Honglei couldn't even touch Gao Huan's clothes; instead, he was panting heavily from exhaustion.

Gao Huan's breathing remained steady, and even her hair was perfectly styled.

Huang Bo arrived at this moment and couldn't stand it any longer: "Hong Lei, don't bother, you can't beat him. That kid is as slippery as an eel."

Gao Huan ignored the panting Sun Honglei, turned around and walked to the lead dancer, bowing politely: "Auntie, excuse me. I'd like to dance for you, could you give me the 'Key to Youth'?"

The older woman looked him up and down, then pushed him into the dance group: "Come on, young man, you dance first. If you dance well, you can have it!"

Gao Huan took out his phone, connected it to the old lady's portable speaker, and played a currently popular song, "To My Love".

The moment the music started, Gao Huan's demeanor changed.

His body swayed with the melody, his physical control was extremely strong, and every movement was just right, any more would be greasy, any less would be stiff.

His dance moves have both youthful energy and a professional sense of rhythm, and he even perfectly timed several beats.

The previously noisy square dancing aunties quieted down for a few seconds, and then someone took out their phone and started filming.

Sun Honglei wanted to come up and perform his breakdancing, but several middle-aged women pushed him out.

Even middle-aged women are obsessed with looks! They were such beauty enthusiasts when they were young!

After finishing the dance, Gao Huan was slightly out of breath, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

The lead dancer, an older woman, beamed from ear to ear and pulled a gold box from her handbag, handing it to him: "Young man, you dance very well, much better than my grandson! Here you go!"

Not far away, Sun Honglei and Luo Zhixiang happened to see this scene. They exchanged a glance and were about to rush over when Gao Huan had already grabbed the keys and ran away like the wind.

Gao Huan ran to a small shop next to the square and handed the proprietress the 20 yuan in cash that the fan had just thrown to him.

Pointing to the bottom of the freezer: "Boss, I'd like to buy an ice cream."

The moment the proprietress opened the freezer door, Gao Huan, quick as a flash, reached out and grabbed an ice cream, also pulling out the golden box that was hidden by two bottles of mineral water—the Cool Key.

He peeled open the ice cream and took a bite; it was refreshingly cool.

At this moment, Huang Bo and Wang Xun also arrived, panting heavily.

Gao Huan raised the ice cream in his hand to them and said generously, "Brother Bo, Brother Xun, want one? It's on me."

As he spoke, he grabbed a few popsicles from the freezer and threw them over.

When Sun Honglei caught up, he saw this scene and was so angry that he glared at it.

Gao welcomed him and took a step forward, then lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "Brother Honglei, don't chase after me. I'll tell you a secret: the key to cultivation is under the stone tablet at the summit of Yu Mountain. If you don't go, I will."

Sun Honglei looked at him suspiciously: "Are you playing a trick on me again?"

"This time it's for real. You're sure to find it when you go. If you can't, I'll give you one of my keys."

Gao Huan looked sincere.

Sun Honglei hesitated for a moment, looked at the two keys that Gao Huan already had, gritted his teeth, turned around and ran up the mountain.

Just as they reached the halfway point of the mountain, they encountered Zhang Yixing, who was running down the mountain.

Holding a key in his hand, Zhang Yixing excitedly shouted, "Brother Huan! I got the Peak Key! It's at the top of the cathedral tower!"

Gao Huan glanced around, then sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation: "—Keep your voice down, aren't you afraid someone will come and snatch it?"

Zhang Yixing then realized what was happening and quickly covered his mouth, but several menacing gazes were already fixed on him from all around.

Gao Huan combined the key he found with Zhang Yixing's, and now he had five keys—DuangDuang, Youth,

Cold-blooded, cultivating immortality, reaching the pinnacle.

Only one commemorative key remains.

He walked to the vending machine next to the souvenir shop, took out his last ten-dollar bill from his pocket, inserted it, and pressed the button.

With a clatter, a golden box fell to the ground—a commemorative key.

Of the six keys, Gao Huan took five. Zhang Yixing took one.

When Huang Lei walked over from a distance with his hands behind his back and a calm expression, he had no idea what had happened.

Show Lo ran over, looking utterly desperate, and said to him, "Brother Lei, it's over, we've lost all the keys."

Huang Lei was stunned for a moment: "They're all gone? Who took them?"

Luo Zhixiang pointed to Gao Huan standing next to the vending machine: "He—he found five by himself."

Huang Lei's expression instantly became fascinating, going from "Impossible" to "This kid—" and then to "—Okay."

He walked over, looked at the key in Gao Huan's hand, then at the key in Zhang Yixing's hand, and finally his gaze fell on Gao Huan's bulging pockets: "You found five keys by yourself?"

Gao Huan nodded.

"How did you do that?" Huang Lei narrowed his eyes, trying to see through the young man's tricks.

"He runs fast and calculates accurately," Gao Huan said with a faint smile.

Huang Lei looked at him for a long time, then shook his head, a bitter smile appearing on his lips: "Gao Huan isn't here to participate in the show; he's here to collect the keys."

Huang Bo chimed in from the side, "I thought Huang Lei was shrewd enough before; after all, Teacher Huang is an old fox, experienced and knowledgeable. This kid Gao Huan—so young and already—"

Sun Honglei returned from the mountain just then, exhausted like a dog. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Don't even mention it! He's even more cunning than an old fox. I searched the mountain for ages and couldn't find a single hair. Turns out, this kid snatched it all up!"

Huang Lei, the "old fox" of the Extreme Men's Team, stood to the side with his hands in his pockets, looking at the five keys in Gao Huan's hand. His lips moved, but he finally managed to utter only one sentence: "I admit it, I give up. This kid isn't a fox, he's the hunter, and we're the prey."

A Cadillac CT5, a bus pass, and another Cadillac.

Gao Huan held up five keys, demonstrating his "benevolence".

He gave the taxi voucher to Luo Zhixiang, the old man's car to Huang Lei, and chose a Cadillac with a driver for himself.

Sun Honglei and Zhang Yixing rode in the same Cadillac, Huang Bo took the bus pass, and Wang Xun followed behind Huang Bo.

However, the show's mishaps had only just begun.

Show Lo got into a taxi, but halfway there the driver kicked him out. The production team then replaced him with a truck that was used to transport chickens and ducks, which reeked of stench the whole way.

Huang Lei's electric car ran out of power halfway through its journey, and he had to push it for nearly a kilometer before finding a place to charge it, completely losing his composure.

Only Gao Huan sat in the back of the Cadillac, enjoying the air conditioning and listening to music.

As Gao Huan passed Huang Lei, who was pushing his cart and looked covered in dust, he told the driver to stop and rolled down the window: "Brother Lei, want to get in? Squeeze in?"

Huang Lei stared at the young, irritating face through the car window, then remained silent for a moment before saying, "—Are you doing this on purpose, kid?"

Gao Huan smiled and rolled up the car window: "Brother Lei, good luck, see you in the city."

Around noon, Wang Zijian announced the final rules in a video call on his phone: "The person with the most gold bars is out. The person with the fewest gold bars is also out. The person with the same number of gold bars is also out. The person with the most gold bars remaining wins."

Gao Huan sat on the sofa in the lounge, took out the gold bars from the box and counted them—twenty bars.

Not too much, not too little.

But he knew that the more than sixty gold bars he had hidden in advance had now been found by others one after another.

Luo Zhixiang found some of the information, Huang Bo found some of the information, and Sun Honglei found some of the information.

Sun Honglei and Zhang Yixing returned to the secret room to retrieve the gold bars they had hidden, only to find that the door to the secret room could no longer be opened.

Zhang Yixing was also moved by Sun Honglei's plan and was completely convinced, so he returned with Sun Honglei.

He tried to pry open the door to the secret room with his hands, but to no avail.

They looked for the book that Wang Zijian had been fiddling with on the bookshelf, and even turned the vase next to it.

It was almost noon, and everyone had already been notified by the production team to head to the next task location.

Sun Honglei and Zhang Yixing were driving a Cadillac on a highway in the suburbs of Shanghai. Sunlight filtered through the plane tree leaves outside the car window, casting dappled patterns on Zhang Yixing's face.

Zhang Yixing leaned back in the passenger seat, his stomach growling loudly.

He rubbed his stomach sheepishly: "Brother Honglei, are you hungry?"

Sun Honglei gripped the steering wheel and glanced at him sideways: "Hungry? I'll treat you to dinner."

"real?"

"Really, when have I ever lied to you?"

Zhang Yixing thought about it and realized that there really wasn't one, since they had only known each other for a few days.

From now on, when facing the newly acquainted TV King and senior actor, PD Zhang will only feel respect.

He nodded: "Then I want to eat KFC."

"Okay, KFC it is."

As Sun Honglei spoke, he turned on his turn signal and turned into a parking lot near a KFC on the side of the road.

The two got out of the car, locked the doors, and each carried a silver briefcase into the store.

Sun Honglei ordered two Big Mac meals, carried the tray, and found a seat by the window.

After sitting down and eating a few bites of his hamburger, Zhang Yixing suddenly stood up and said, "Brother Honglei, I'm going to the restroom."

"Go ahead." Sun Honglei took a bite of his hamburger and waved to him.

When Zhang Yixing turned to walk towards the restroom, Sun Honglei paused for a moment.

He put down his hamburger and his gaze fell on the silver briefcase Zhang Yixing had placed next to the chair, his expression subtly changing.

He glanced in the direction of the restroom, making sure he could no longer see Zhang Yixing's back, then reached out and pulled the suitcase to his feet.

"How can this child be so naive?"