Chapter 174 Braised Carp with Noodles [First Update]

While Wen Fan was cooking, the production crew on the other side started filming.

The variety show has only five regular cast members, including men, women, young and old, plus three guests who came to promote their new drama today. There are eight people in total. The script set by the production team is "The Road to Wealth."

The director announced the rules using a megaphone.

"This is Carp Village, where a lucky carp god lives who can grant everyone's wishes. Please draw lots to determine your identity card. Afterwards, you will earn money through various means. Once you have the money, you can spend it freely in the village, or you can save it... At midnight tonight, everyone's savings will be tallied. Those with more savings can have the lucky carp god grant their wishes."

A long-time guest was the first to shout, "Where's the food? Aren't you providing meals?"

The director said mysteriously, "It's up to you to decide. If you want to buy food, there are restaurants in the village. If you don't want to buy food, there are stoves outside the village, but you'll have to find the ingredients yourself. Or, you can save money on a meal."

"Wow, that's so stingy!"

"Exactly! I should have eaten something at the hotel earlier!"

"La la la, luckily I brought money~"

Director: "The money is confiscated! It can't be used!"

To prevent the guests from keeping secrets, the director even confiscated everyone's phones.

The guest who had just been boasting about his prophetic abilities instantly deflated, saying amidst the laughter of the crowd, "If I had known, I wouldn't have said anything!"

"By the way, director, can I steal other people's money?"

The guests immediately screamed, "Ahhhhh, I don't want to!"

The person who asked the question was today's guest, Su Tiantian. She covered her mouth after asking the question in a daze, and then belatedly stuck out her tongue.

“I think everyone used to do this.”

The regular guests started blaming each other: "Who said that? Isn't this ruining our reputation?"

"It's all XX's fault. She opened Pandora's box."

...

The director said meaningfully, "We are a program with a high degree of freedom."

Hahahaha.

All eight of them laughed.

High degree of freedom = you can do anything as long as it's interesting.

Su Tiantian clenched her fist and was the first to declare, "I will definitely win!"

The other "veterans" were quietly forming cliques, which is one of the interesting aspects of the show; viewers love watching the interactions between the guests.

Of all the guests, Zhou Xuanli was the only one who most wanted to partner with Su Tiantian. He looked left and right.

After cheering herself up, Su Tiantian skipped off to draw lots.

There are eight possible identities to be drawn.

Su Tiantian immediately drew a "Fisherman" card that made her want to cry.

"...I'm going fishing."

Zhou Xuanli: ...

He turned around immediately, thinking, "What kind of footage could there be of a fisherman?"

Soon, everyone had drawn their cards. Some were street swindlers, some were carpenters, and some were oil sellers...

The director prepared some NPCs for each character to interact with.

"Okay, let's begin."

...

Zhou Xuanli drew the name of an oil seller. When he picked up the carrying pole, he struck several poses, thinking that selling oil on the streets was better than going out to fish.

So, following the program's plan, they began to sell their wares.

Su Tiantian took the fish basket and fishing gear and headed straight out of the city.

She was lively, chattering away as she walked and looked around. When she came across the goldfish raised in the village, she would stop and exclaim "Wow!" She spent a lot of time just introducing the fish.

After finally arriving at the destination, they started fishing. They painstakingly caught a few carp about the length of their forearms. It was already past 2 PM, and everyone else had already completed the first stage of the task. Several guests had already taken the vegetables and meat they had earned with their own money and went up the mountain, calling out to Su Tiantian.

"This whole area is full of stoves! It's so convenient!"

Several guests felt that the village was ingenious; if they came out to play, wouldn't they be able to cook for themselves at noon? That's part of the fun of a picnic.

Su Tiantian really wanted to go, but she hadn't sold her fish yet, so she could only call out a few times that she would come as soon as she sold her fish.

But when she brought the fish to the fishmonger's stall, the vendor unscrupulously tried to lower the price.

"Four copper coins for a fish?"

Su Tiantian was stunned. Forget about winning against others, this amount of money wasn't even enough to eat!

The fishmonger NPC was exceptionally dedicated, with an arrogant expression: "If you're not going to sell, then leave! I don't believe you can sell anywhere else!"

Su Tiantian pouted: "Fine, I won't sell it! I'll make it myself!"

She stormed off with the fish in a huff, but after walking a short distance, she regretted it. She had no idea how to cook fish; let alone cook it, even cleaning it was a challenge.

She hadn't walked far when she ran into two guests who were hiding. They had originally wanted to rob her of her money, but Su Tiantian showed them the fish and said, "Go ahead and rob me!"

"Wow, you're even worse off than the chant leader!"

“The Xuanli painstakingly sold it for twenty coins, and we all snatched it from him, hahahaha.”

Su Tiantian: "...You guys are so mean."

She carried her fish around the village, but after a while she started to worry that her fish would go bad.

In this sweltering heat, she finally managed to catch this fish!

Suddenly, a fragrance wafted from somewhere, and Su Tiantian unconsciously moved closer.

Then we spotted a restaurant.

The restaurant was decorated in a classic style, clearly designed by the production team. As soon as she entered, someone greeted her.

"What would you like to eat, sir?"

It was unbelievable. In order to save money, almost all the guests gave up eating in the village and went up the mountain instead. So Wen Fan's family waited and waited, and Wen's parents got used to the camera and were no longer nervous. In the end, they only got to see Su Tiantian, one of the customers.

Having missed the main group's operation, Su Tiantian's mouth watered at the aroma: "Boss, what do you have in the store?"

Wen Fan was wearing a royal blue outfit, and she looked surprisingly elegant on camera, which made Su Tiantian instantly agree that she must also be an actress. So Su Tiantian asked Wen Fan directly.

Wen Fan: "There's braised carp with noodles, stir-fried fish with garlic, sweet and sour carp, boiled fish, crispy fish..."

Su Tiantian: ...I really want to eat it.

But she remembered that she had no money, so she cautiously asked Wen Fan, "Boss, I don't have any money, can I pay with fish?"

Wen Fan remembered the director's suggestion to be more flexible, so she didn't refuse outright. Instead, she asked Su Tiantian to show her the fish.

Su Tiantian has six fish. Wen Fan did some mental calculations. He couldn't just come here today and go through all this trouble without getting a single shot, could he?

"...Six fish can be exchanged for one cooked fish."

Su Tiantian immediately agreed, shoving the fish she had been carrying all the way to Wen Fan: "Okay, okay!"

Wen Fan took the fish to the kitchen, and Wen's mother asked Su Tiantian what she wanted to eat.

Su Tiantian: "Braised Carp with Noodles!"

With both carp and noodles, she doesn't need any staple food!

Wen's mother gave him the menu, and Wen Fan quickly prepared braised carp noodles in the kitchen and served it.

It must be said that this dish is incredibly photogenic, with its thick broth, richly flavored fish, and finely shredded baked noodles on top. Most importantly, it's incredibly fragrant.

The PD, who was originally filming with Su Tiantian as usual, immediately turned the camera on the dishes and took close-up shots for a while.

Su Tiantian was also shocked. She thought the production team had prepared pre-made dishes. After all, no one knows what might happen during the recording process, and it's always faster to prepare dishes than to cook them on the spot. But the sound of Wen Fan frying things in the kitchen just now was not fake, and the fish also smelled fresh. It was obviously cooked by a real chef.

Su Tiantian had been busy all day, and yesterday she had flown in on a red-eye flight. She was instantly captivated by the aroma of the fish.

Breaking open the chopsticks and taking a bite, the first thing you taste is the eye-catching thin strands of roasted noodles. These noodles are so thin they don't even look like noodles. When you dip them in the sweet and sour sauce underneath, they are crispy and full of flavor. The strands of noodles, like golden silk, have crispy and fragrant parts that aren't covered in sauce, like eating French fries. The parts that are soaked in sauce underneath take a backseat to crispiness, while the sweet and sour flavor takes center stage.

On such a hot afternoon, sweet and sour flavors are the perfect appetizer, and Su Tiantian's taste buds were quickly awakened.

Peel back the crust, and the fish meat underneath is tender and smooth. The fried fish skin is delicious when dipped in the sauce, and the tender fish meat inside, stained with the bright red broth, makes the white fish meat look like a sunset dyed red.

"……tasty!"

Su Tiantian instantly forgot about the show and ate all the golden noodles, and also ate most of the big fish.

This prompted Wen's father to quietly ask Wen Fan if she wanted more noodles.

"She doesn't seem to have enough to eat!"

Like a Northeasterner, Wen Fan was instantly provoked by the words "not enough to eat".

Not enough to eat?

She never let her guests feel like they hadn't had enough to eat!

"Sir/Madam, we're currently offering complimentary golden thread noodles with unlimited refills!"

Su Tiantian said without hesitation, "That's great! Two more servings, please!"

Wen Fan:......

She began to doubt herself. Could it be that she hadn't done enough?

Su Tiantian proved her appetite with a serving of fish and three servings of baked noodles. Before leaving the store, clutching her stomach, she suddenly had a bright idea and asked Wen Fan, "Besides fish, does the store sell anything else?"

Wen Fan: "You can order food."

One sentence made Su Tiantian's eyes light up instantly.

There's food to eat!

Su Tiantian went out the door and headed straight for the place where she had been blocked.

Sure enough, the two guests were still there, preparing to "rob" them.

Su Tiantian pretended that she had money in her pocket, and unsurprisingly, the two people stopped her.

While trying to distract herself, Su Tiantian swiftly snatched the other person's purse.

The guest who tried to ambush someone but ended up getting robbed instead: ...

"Aaaaaah! Give it back! We haven't eaten yet!"

Su Tiantian ran very fast.

Hehe, now we have dessert after dinner too!

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Author's note: It's past 2 AM, so this is the second update.