Translator:- Max
Editor:- Dobhsh
Chu Cheng looked at Ji Qingzhou, who was covering his ears and frowning, lying in his arms. He tenderly placed his hands on his ears, trying to help him block out the noise.
Ji Qingzhou slept in his arms for another half an hour before finally waking up. Seeing that he was still a little groggy, Chu Cheng poked his face several times until Ji Qingzhou opened his mouth to bite his finger. Satisfied, Chu Cheng withdrew his finger.
After changing their clothes, the two of them had a simple meal. During their meal, they received a task card from the production team, instructing them to gather at the location where they had recorded yesterday. Ji Qingzhou looked at the task card, which mentioned picking vegetables, and thought to himself, “They wouldn’t make us sell fruits yesterday and then vegetables today, would they? This is turning into a large-scale selling variety show!”
However, the games organised by the program team were not what they expected.
“May I ask, of all the guests present, who can cook?” The host asked, looking at the people in front of him.
Chu Cheng felt that he was good at it now and was about to raise his hand when he felt Ji Qingzhou tugging at his finger calmly. He squinted at Ji Qingzhou, who looked completely uninvolved, and saw him calmly raising his right hand.
Although Chu Cheng didn’t know the reason, since Ji Qingzhou had hinted at it, he didn’t join in the fun, acting as if he didn’t know how to cook.
The host counted them. “So there are only Jingxing, Xiayun, Qingzhou, and Zixin, right?”
“The game goes like this: Among the four of you talented chefs, two will be selected for a cooking competition. The remaining four groups of guests will choose the chef they believe will win and accompany them to the orchard to pick vegetables. Afterwards, everyone will return home to cook. At noon, we will reconvene here, and the two chefs will present their dishes for all of us, including me, to taste. The chef with the highest number of votes will be the winner. Do you understand?”
Everyone nodded.
When Lian Jingxing heard his words, he deliberately gave up the spotlight to Ji Qingzhou, saying, “Then I will withdraw. I can handle my own cooking, but when it comes to a competition, it’s not my forte.”
“Me too.” Guan Xiayun said, “I will also withdraw.”
Once the two of them retreated, only Ji Qingzhou and Liu Zixin were left on the floor. Ji Qingzhou looked at Liu Zixin, and Liu Zixin asked him, “How is your cooking?”
“It’s okay.” Ji Qingzhou answered truthfully.
“I’m decent too,” Liu Zixin replied with a smile.
Hearing this, Liu Zitong turned her head silently. What do you mean by decent? Her brother was a food blogger! How can anyone compare to that? Her brother must win the competition!
Seeing her strange expression, Zhang Jiarui asked her, “You have such an expression? Are you afraid your brother will lose?”
“Do you know why I brought my brother to record the show?”
“Why?” Zhang Jiarui was curious about these non-celebrity friends and relatives.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Non-celebrities usually had weaker camera presence and improvisational skills, so the friends or relatives they brought along typically had one or two commendable aspects. Jiarui wondered what advantage Liu Zixin had.
“P mjc’a mbbx, rb P ujnf wsrfio rbwf lcregjcmf.”
“Yt.” Itjcu Aljgel cbvvfv.
“Zs ygbatfg ralii tjr jcbatfg lvfcalas. Lf lr j obbv yibuufg klat 500,000 obiibkfgr.” Ole Ilabcu ibbxfv ja tlw tfiqifrris. “Vb cbk sbe xcbk kts P tjnf atlr fzqgfrrlbc.”
Itjcu Aljgel ecvfgrabbv. Ktlr kjr rlwqis j ajlibg-wjvf rfrrlbc obg Ole Ilzlc. Ktja’r kts Ole Ilzlc tjv atf cfgnf ab rjs “P’w vfmfca”! Lf rlifcais vfmlvfv ab mtbbrf Ole Ilzlc ijafg!
The host saw that Ji Qingzhou and Liu Zixin were the only chefs who had not retired from the competition and said straightforwardly, “Then it’s just the two of you. Including me, there are 13 people on the stage. Each of you will cook eight dishes, and these dishes should cover four different flavours: sour, sweet, spicy, and light. Understand?”
Ji Qingzhou and Liu Zixin nodded, “Understood.”
“Now, the remaining four groups of guests can choose the chef they want to support and go stand behind them.”
Lian Jingxing and Yu Anyi naturally chose Ji Qingzhou, but to their surprise, Qin Weiming also stood behind Ji Qingzhou.
Ji Qingzhou: ….
“I think Xiao Ji’s cooking is probably pretty good.” Qin Weiming explained.
Ji Qingzhou: ….
Chu Cheng had a headache. He looked at Qin Weiming. “You go to Liu Zixin’s team.”
“But I…”
“I’ll go.” Lian Jingxing suddenly said, “Let him stay by Qingzhou’s side.”
Chu Cheng looked at him and thought to himself, ?
However, Ji Qingzhou quickly understood the situation.
If both Jingxing and Yu Anyi were on his team, it would create an imbalance in popularity, with Liu Zixin’s team having lower popularity. Moreover, the three of them belonged to the same company, which could lead to criticism from black fans accusing them of sticking together.
As one of the producers, Lian Jingxing naturally had to consider the post-show effects, and so he intentionally balanced the teams.
That way, the difference in popularity between the two teams wouldn’t be too significant.
When Liu Zitong heard that Lian Jingxing was coming, she waved her arms excitedly and said, “Brother Lian, don’t worry, you must choose my brother. My brother’s cooking skills are very good!”
Chu Cheng watched Lian Jingxing and Meng Yuanbai walk away as Qin Weiming smiled and stood beside him with his wife. He could only accept such a team for the time being.
However….
He raised his eyes and glanced at Ren Zhen. Ren Zhen felt a little embarrassed and lowered her head, hearing Chu Cheng say emotionlessly, “Speak less, do more.”
Ren Zhen instantly remembered what she had deliberately said about Yu Anyi and Ji Qingzhou by the well earlier and felt a little guilty for a moment.
Seeing that he was looking at Ren Zhen, Qin Weiming thought that Chu Cheng believed what he said yesterday, so he hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, Xiao Zhen already knows her mistake, and she won’t do it again.”
Ji Qingzhou: ….
Ji Qingzhou thought he was really shameless!
Seeing that the two teams had assembled, the host asked the villagers to take them to the field to pick vegetables.
Compared with picking fruits, picking vegetables was obviously much easier. Zhang Jiarui even ate tomatoes while picking vegetables. Li Yiming laughed at him and ate tomatoes too.
Ji Qingzhou asked Chu Cheng, “Do you want to eat?”
Chu Cheng couldn’t accept unwashed melons and fruits, so he shook his head. So Ji Qingzhou put the tomatoes in his hand back into the basket and continued picking other vegetables.
There are quite a lot of vegetables in the field. After picking them for a while, Ji Qingzhou and Liu Zixin felt that they had enough, so they were ready to go home and cook.
Qin Weiming followed Chu Cheng, wanting to chat with him along the way, but was stopped by Chu Cheng several times.
Yu Anyi laughed. “Don’t you see that he doesn’t want to talk to you?”
“This has nothing to do with you.” Qin Weiming retorted.
Chu Cheng felt a bit annoyed by his persistent actions. He said to him, “You can leave the vegetables here and go back.”
“What’s the matter, I plan to help Xiao Ji cook.”
“Can you cook?”
“I can help out.”
“Qin Weiming,” Chu Cheng told him patiently, “I don’t know what Qin Shuang said to you, but I don’t like others rushing to follow me. If you do this again, I will contact Qin Shuang and ask him if it’s possible to replace you.”
Hearing this, Qin Weiming felt a little embarrassed. He really wanted to curry favour with Chu Cheng, but he didn’t expect the other party to directly reject him this way.
“Weiming just wants to be friends with you.” Ren Zhen spoke in a low voice.
Chu Cheng sneered, “There are many people who want to be friends with me, but I don’t require it.”
After he finished speaking, Chu Cheng turned around and continued walking.
Qin Weiming and Ren Zhen, who were holding the baskets, wondered whether they should follow or not.
“Let’s go,” Yu Anyi said to them. “Why are you standing there? It’s just a variety show; keep it simple and don’t overthink things. Oh, by the way, do you need a key? It’s three yuan for one or ten yuan for three. Do you want one?”
“You…” Ren Zhen was about to retort, but Yu Anyi interrupted her. “Enough with the ‘you’ and ‘me’. If you’re not participating, go back and rest. If you are, then let’s hurry up and go. Don’t waste any more time.”
After Yu Anyi finished speaking, she pulled Guan Xiayun with her and hurried to catch up. Ren Zhen felt dissatisfied, but she was unwilling to let her trip go to waste with only a few shots on camera, so she persuaded her husband to follow along.
Qin Weiming, concerned about saving face, refrained from approaching Chu Cheng again. He planned to contact Qin Shuang later that evening and update him on the current situation.
Ji Qingzhou had already thought of the recipe he was going to cook while on the road. So when he got home, he began to assign tasks, asking everyone to wash and chop vegetables while he started to prepare to cook.
Chu Cheng helped Ji Qingzhou start the fire, and Ji Qingzhou poured oil into the pan. They decided to start with the lightest dish first.
Both Ji Qingzhou and Chu Cheng usually prefer spicy flavours in their meals, so Ji Qingzhou didn’t prepare the usual dishes. Instead, he chose a lighter dish they had enjoyed at a private restaurant Chu Cheng had taken him to. Although he couldn’t perfectly replicate the dish, he had managed to create a unique flavour that he found delicious and relatively easy to make after attempting to make it several times at home.
He cooked very quickly. Chu Cheng, Yu Anyi, and Guan Xiayun stood aside and helped. Qin Weiming and Ren Zhen couldn’t help, so they silently stood a little further away.
At 11:30, when Ji Qingzhou finished cooking his final dish, he instructed everyone to take one dish each, while he and Chu Cheng each took two dishes. They made their way back to the filming location where they had recorded earlier in the morning.
Before Liu Zixin arrived, the host set up the table and chairs. Ji Qingzhou and the others placed the dishes on the table and took their seats. The host looked at the dishes in front of him and, smelling their enticing aroma, felt a pang of hunger. He thought to himself, “This guy is quite impressive.”
When it was almost 12 o’clock, Liu Zixin finally came. He and his team members also put the dishes on the table and sat down.
“Alright, now that all the team members have arrived, let’s begin the tasting. After eating, apart from the two chefs, the rest of the guests will write down the name of the chef whose dishes they preferred on a piece of paper and anonymously put it into the voting box behind me. The chef who receives the most votes will be today’s winner.”
Everyone was hungry after working for a whole morning, so they were eager to eat. They picked up their chopsticks and started asking, “What is this?” and “What is the name of this dish?” They commented, “Not bad” and “This one is also delicious.” as they enjoyed the food.
Liu Zixin originally thought that he would definitely win this round, but after eating two mouthfuls of Ji Qingzhou’s food, he couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment. He looked at Ji Qingzhou, who was sitting on a chair, and at Chu Cheng, who was helping him with the food. He ate slowly while talking with Chu Cheng.
Ji Qingzhou looked very small and had a very clean temperament, like a piece of jade soaked in water. He thought that a star like Ji Qingzhou would be spoiled just like his younger sister, so he would not be able to do such housework, but he had said that he could, and he had done it pretty well. Liu Zixin thought that he was just okay, but unexpectedly, he was much better than he imagined.
Liu Zixin felt that he might not necessarily win.
The author has something to say:
Qin Weiming: Uncle, he won’t let me get close to him.
Qin Shuang: …..
Chu Cheng: Being a lapdog won’t get you a house; give up.
Qin Shuang: …What use is this stupid nephew of mine?!
Thanks for the update
Offend someone, then immediately curry favour? Does that ever work for anyone?
Thank you for the update.
Maybe if the other party is arrogant and likes the feeling of being worshiped or seeing someone feeling embarrassed of eating their words.🤭