Chapter 12

The rooms were freely allocated. Sebastian looked at the guests and said, “Hey, do you want to form bigger teams? You know, you can stick together, help each other out, and it will be easier to find stuff or get food from the villagers. Working in a bigger team won’t be as tiring.”

The original plan didn’t include forming teams, but Maddox and Jamar didn’t get along, and Phoebe and Reece had broken up. Things were going to get interesting once the teams were formed. That was why Sebastian brought it up.

Erika got all excited when she heard Sebastian’s idea. She said, “That’s a great plan. Count me in.” Then she turned to Sienna, “Hey, Sienna, since we live together, let’s team up.”

And, of course, Jamar would join them because he was so protective of Sienna. Reece was pretty chill and had a lot of fans. If Erika teamed up with them, she would definitely get a lot of attention.

Too bad, though, because there was no way superstar Maddox would be on the same team with them. But he had a sharp tongue and didn’t know how to be nice. Erica thought it was probably better if they were not on the same team.

Sienna really wanted to be on the same team as Maddox. She thought that spending time together every day would help Maddox see the good in her and not be so indifferent. But she knew it was kind of unrealistic, especially since Maddox and Jamar weren’t on good terms. She figured it would be better to team up with Reece first, as she wanted to completely win him over from Phoebe.

So she said, “Okay?”

Jamar took the lead and said, “Then Reece and I will join your team.” Reece, who had wanted to be on the same team as Phoebe, didn’t say anything. He wanted to find a way to clear up the misunderstanding with Phoebe and silently blamed Jamar for holding him back. “That’s cool with me,” Reece finally said.

When he came to the variety show this time, he not only wanted to reconcile with Phoebe but also take care of Sienna. It would be more convenient if he was on the same team as her. And that was how their team came together.

Maddox looked at James and asked, “Hey, the folks in the two rooms have teamed up. Should we also form a group with the two ladies?”

James, being chill, replied, “Sure, but I’m not sure if the ladies are up for it.” He then turned to Phoebe and Lexie with a grin and asked, “How about the four of us team up? Cool with you guys?”

Phoebe and Lexie glanced at each other and nodded in agreement. They both said at the same time, “Cool.”

Sebastian noticed that the eight guests had split into two teams and thought there might be some conflicts ahead. He was pretty happy with how things were starting off. He then said, “It’s your showtime now.”

Once Sebastian finished speaking, he and some of the program team members moved to a corner of the yard. Only the live broadcast photographer stuck around with the guests.

After they climbed up the mountain, they were all pretty beat, so they decided to take a break before heading out to find some work. The groups split up to figure out their next step.

Maddox slouched in his chair and suggested, “Should we just go to the village and ask each family if they need help?” He hadn’t been in a variety show before and didn’t really know how this worked.

James agreed. “Yeah, we don’t know anyone here, so we’ll have to go door to door.”

Lexie chimed in, “I’m on board with that.”

Then Phoebe had a great idea. She said, “Why don’t we find the sheriff first and get the lowdown on what’s going on in the village? The sheriff would know who needs help, and we can save time and effort by going directly to those families. Plus, we can ask the sheriff if there’s anything else we can help with.”

They all thought it was a fantastic idea and couldn’t believe they hadn’t thought of it themselves. So, they all agreed to Phoebe’s plan.

They didn’t want the other team to catch on, so they hung back and chatted until the other team left. Once the other team was out of sight, they got up and headed out.

As they suspected, Reece’s team was doing exactly what they had planned to do. They were going from house to house, asking around. They asked a villager for directions and found their way to the police station.

The sheriff, Charles Barnes, was totally on board with the production crew coming to the village to film a variety show. He made sure to spread the word to everyone in the village before the crew arrived.

When these big-shot stars came to meet him, Charles was surprised but greeted them warmly. He asked, “What’s up? What can I do for you guys?”

Then Phoebe said, “We wanna know about the village and help out with whatever we can. Plus, we’re hungry, so can we exchange some food? We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and work.”

Charles thought they were pretty sharp because they wanted to understand the village’s situation first.

He spilled the beans, saying, “Our village is a bit behind the times due to its tricky location and lack of good transportation. There are over a hundred households here. Most of the young and middle-aged folks have moved away for work, leaving mainly old folks and kids behind…”

After giving them the lowdown on the village, he mentioned a few families that could use some help. “David’s family needs extra hands for fruit picking, and Daniel’s family…”

Phoebe borrowed a pen and paper, took notes, and even sketched a simple map based on what Charles told her.

After their chat, Charles walked them out of the office. Phoebe suddenly pointed at a tractor in the yard and asked, “Hey, is this tractor busted?” Charles nodded and said, “Yep, it conked out out of the blue about two weeks ago, and they couldn’t get it fixed even after calling in some help.” The village was on a tight budget, so they were still discussing whether to get a new one.

Maddox asked, “Could you actually drive a tractor up the road into the village?” Sebastian mentioned that even riding a motorcycle isn’t easy. Charles grinned and said, “The path you took is a shortcut. We have a wider and less steep road that goes straight to the village. Cars and tractors can handle it.” After hearing that, they realized that Sebastian had pulled a fast one on them.

Phoebe was back to focusing on the broken tractor. “Isn’t it annoying that the tractor is broken?” she remarked.

Charles let out a sigh. “It’s such a pain. I was supposed to head to the village to grab fertilizers and stuff, but now everything’s delayed.”

Phoebe grinned mischievously. “If we fix the tractor, do you think we could score some food as payment?” Eager to earn a free meal, she wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip by.

Charles was taken aback. “Wait, you can fix tractors?”

The other three guests were equally surprised, turning to Phoebe and asking, “Can you really repair it?” Although they had no clue how to tackle the repair, they figured Phoebe might have some tricks up her sleeve.

Phoebe nodded confidently. “Yep.”

She had a knack for mechanics from the get-go and had honed her skills through travels to different small worlds, constantly learning, perfecting, and putting her knowledge into practice. So, fixing the tractor was a piece of cake for her.

Everyone was utterly shocked, clearly not expecting her to have the skills to repair tractors.