An Empress's Return to the Present: The Real Young Lady's Strong Comeback

Although Gu Xiao did not like this kind of manual labour, how could she cause trouble if she rested? She, Gu Xiao, wanted to mess up this variety show without anyone knowing that it was her doing.

In Gu Xiao's memory, the attitude of the audience towards the children in the countryside and cities should have been clearly divided in the first episode. If it was the previous Gu Xiao, she might have long been labeled as a "vulgar village girl". However, with the development so far, the audience should not have developed the kind of extreme perceptions that the production team wanted.

In her previous life, when she was picking oranges, she was assigned to be in the same group as Ji Yao. In order to establish the image of being a caring friend, Ji Yao pushed her down the orange tree in the camera's blind spot. She even acted caring. Gu Xiao was angry but did not dare to say anything. In the end, she suffered a serious sprain. It took more than a week for her to recover. This even caused the audience to stereotype her as 'a country girl that did not even know how to work' and 'slacking off deliberately'.

Gu Xiao looked at the group divisions in this life. She was still in the same group as Ji Yao. She looked in Ji Yao's direction and realized that the director was talking to her. Gu Xiao sneered inwardly. How could she fall into the same trap twice?

The corners of her lips curled up. She had already thought of a way to turn the situation around.

In the end, it was Lin Xue and An Yang who had obtained the voucher for a half day's rest. They could have chosen not to participate in the orange-picking event in the afternoon. An Yang's family was in the orchard busines to begin with, so she had a certain amount of experience in doing such things. Lin Xue also wanted to give it a try, so she left the voucher for later use.

Therefore, everyone participated in the afternoon event.

The six of them were divided into three groups, in the same way as they were divided in her previous life. Two groups of girls were issued a retractable ladder to climb the tree.

This kind of ladder did not have a support, so it was very unsafe. It was precisely because of this that in her previous life, when Gu Xiao was carefully climbing down the ladder, Ji Yao pushed the ladder and Gu Xiao fell heavily onto the ground.

In the beginning, everything went smoothly. Those that should be picking oranges picked oranges, and those that should be transporting oranges transported oranges. However, Ji Yao looked distracted because the director had found her to tell her the plan before the event began.

"Ji Yao, you will be teaming up with Gu Xiao later. Then, think of a way to push her down."

"Huh?" Ji Yao was also very surprised when she first heard of this plan.

"I've learned that Gu Xiao isn't very favored at home. Even if she's injured, she won't say anything. When the time comes, you just have to do something and cause her to fall from the tree. When the time comes, the camera won't film you and the audience won't notice."

"Er…"

"You just have to do as I say." The director looked at this young mistress, feeling a slight headache.

"Is that a good idea?"

"Sacrifice an insignificant person in exchange for your future. You just have to pretend to care about her and take her to the hospital. Then, you can come back and do more work yourself. Won't you become popular then?"

A greedy expression appeared on Ji Yao's face and she couldn't help but nod in agreement.

Hence, from the very beginning, she had been looking for the right chance to make a move. However, Gu Xiao was a strange person. She always maintained a relatively large distance from Ji Yao. Every time she took down the basket full of oranges, she would always go down the ladder behind Ji Yao, so Ji Yao could not find the right time to make a move.

Hence, the program continued calmly. There were only a few comments on the bullet screen as well.

The director slipped in an advertisement and called Gu Xiao over to a secluded place. "Why are you always so far away from Ji Yao?"

"Didn't you say that you wanted to give her more scenes… so I've been staying away from her." Gu Xiao crossed her hands behind her back and looked at the director with her innocent eyes. She looked pitiful.

"Ha, you can't snatch Ji Yao's popularity either. If you stay so far away, the audience will think that you're alienating her. Go closer," the director said sternly.

"Got it…" Gu Xiao didn't return to the filming location immediately. Instead, she looked for the staff and asked, "Uncle, is there a rope here?"

"Yes, little girl. Why do you need a rope?" Compared to the director, the staff was more gentle.

"Uncle, this ladder doesn't have a support. It's too dangerous to climb up and down, so I want to use a rope to lift the basket up and lower it down. It'll be much safer."

"Little kid, you're very smart. That's indeed the case. Uncle will get it for you later."

Not long after, the staff brought over a bundle of hemp rope of suitable thickness. Gu Xiao thanked them and returned to the filming location to check on the other two teams. An Yang and Lin Xue had a clear division of labor, but Chen Li was the only one working in her team. Meng Fei had found a shady spot and started eating oranges.