The winning team prepared a very satisfying dinner. As the losing team, Yao Jing took the lead in washing the dishes and cleaning up, which could be considered as bringing the evening's dinner to a close.
After dinner, because it started to drizzle outside again, they moved their chat indoors (also because of Qiao Xinhuan's health). A thin mat was laid on the tatami, which was very cool.
Wang Xu cut the watermelons they had worked so hard to pick that afternoon into pieces. After being chilled all afternoon, the watermelons were completely cold. Now was the perfect time to eat them!
So, the six of them, excluding Qiao Xinhuan who was feeling unwell, all held a piece of watermelon in their hands. One bite and they were filled with the sweet taste of watermelon—it was definitely the taste of summer!
While eating melon seeds, Yao Jing asked Xu Qian, who was the most talked-about person there, "By the way, how old is Xiao Xu this year?"
Xu Qian, rubbing his vinegar, gave Meng Ziqiu's age of 'twenty-five'. If he revealed his real age, he might get into trouble.
"I heard you entered the entertainment industry because of a pen stand-in, right?" Yao Jing used the information Xiang Feifei had mentioned to him to help Xu Qian establish a persona. Well... it's not really a persona, he really does have that ability.
Xu Qian nodded. "Well... it was somewhat of an accident. I originally just wanted to find a part-time job."
Yao Jing asked again, "Part-time?"
Xu Qian smiled and recited the lines he and Meng Ziqiu had agreed upon, "Well, I've been traveling a lot before, and I like to explore deserts, snow-capped mountains, or the ocean. But right now I'm quite interested in acting, and I'll save up some money for travel expenses (this is the important part!)."
"Eh—"
"Wow, you've been to the desert?" Wu Meili was very surprised. She originally thought this child was quite 'reliable', but she didn't expect him to actually take such a risk.
"Life needs adventure," Xu Qian said with his usual smile.
“Your family must be very supportive of you.” Wang Xu once had a dream of traveling whenever he wanted, but the trivialities of reality had held him back. Hearing him say this, they were all tempted.
Xu Qian thought of his two family members, who were indeed supportive, and sometimes even wanted to go with him.
"And what about the literary and martial substitutes?" Yao Jing continued to ask.
Xu Qian thought for a moment and said, "That can be considered family learning. It was something my elders required me to learn from a young age, including basic pharmacology and so on."
"Family tradition?" Yao Jing was taken aback; Xiang Feifei had never mentioned this.
“Hmm…” Xu Qian quickly added, “Actually, it’s nothing special, just our own home, the kind deep in the mountains and forests.”
"Ah..." The trio exclaimed in unison, just like longtime partners who had worked together for many years.
With Xu Qian's brilliant opening, the story of the remaining two seemed a bit bland, but the trio still responsibly dug out the highlights.
As the chatter drew to a close, the group said goodnight to each other before going upstairs to rest.
11 p.m. is the best time to rest, for a full eight hours of sleep.
The next day, at seven o'clock in the morning.
Yao Jing arrived ten minutes earlier than usual. He thought he would be the second to get up (Wang Xu was undoubtedly the first), but when he opened the window, he saw two people practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard. One was the martial arts star Zhao Wenkang, and the other was the newcomer Xiao Xu!
"Good morning, Teacher Yao." Zhao Wenkang happened to see Yao Jing with the window open.
Xu Qian also turned his head to look and greeted him with a smile.
Soon, Yao Jing came out of the house, staring at the two of them with great curiosity, as if she wanted to make a flower bloom from her gaze.
"Is this a sport?" he asked with a smile.
“Yes, want to give it a try?” Zhao Wenkang offered his sword.
"Hey! I'll play with it for a bit." Yao Jing had been wanting to touch it for a while, and it was even better if someone offered to.
"Come on, let me teach you a couple of moves!" Zhao Wenkang volunteered to be Yao Jing's teacher. He liked teaching newcomers. There was no sense of accomplishment in teaching prodigies like Xu Qian. Before he even taught them, the other party had already mastered everything and could even apply what he learned to other situations. That was really boring.
Xu Qian was unaware that he was being criticized, but instead watched Yao Jing perform with great interest. He had all the flaws that newcomers had, but this wasn't an exam; it was just for entertainment and warming up.
While the teaching was still in progress, Xu Qian didn't just stand by and watch. He went to the kitchen to see if anyone needed help.
"Brother Wang, let me help you." Xu Qian came to the kitchen.
Wang Xu was leaning against the kitchen window watching the commotion when he saw him come in. He immediately asked about the move he had just made, his tone very excited. Every man has a martial arts dream, and he was no exception. "How many years have you been practicing that—whoosh—that move you just made?"
"That's something I've been practicing since I was a child," Xu Qian said with a smile, but he didn't bother to mention how many years it had been.
"Okay, so that means I'm out of luck." Wang Xu sighed, feigning sadness.
“But you’re a good cook,” Xu Qian said, trying to comfort her.
"You know what, the fish is especially fresh today. I made some soup, and we'll have some noodles when they all get up." Wang Xu's interest was piqued again when he mentioned his specialty.
"Okay, then I'll go wash some scallions and knead some dough to make some scallion pancakes." Xu Qian rolled up his sleeves, revealing an arm radiating sunshine and youthful energy. Not only that, his words were also incredibly appealing, "Oh, I remember there are some shrimp in the fridge, right? Then let's steam some shrimp dumplings too, and we have some leftover bamboo shoots..."
Wang Xu clicked his tongue inwardly. He could almost imagine the comments when this episode aired. There would definitely be netizens commenting that this was a food show, or even asking if they were deliberately starving the guests to death.
But remembering what Xiao Xu had mentioned about shrimp dumplings and scallion pancakes, Wang Xu was actually getting a little hungry...
Half an hour later, the aroma wafting from the kitchen almost filled the entire small house, making those who smelled it extremely 'painful'—it was just too tempting so early in the morning!
"My goodness, what are you guys doing? You're making my mouth water!" Wu Meili came downstairs with a bare face. Putting everything else aside, she still looks great even without makeup.
"You're up? Where's Qiaoqiao?" Yao Jing asked her.
"Then, the young lady needs to dress up a bit," Wu Meili chuckled.
"Oh, so you mean you're not a little girl anymore? Beautiful, beautiful, your brother won't allow you to talk about yourself like that!" Yao Jing started again.
"..." Wu Meili gave an awkward but polite smile. "Okay, okay, I'll take it as a compliment. Let me see what we ate for breakfast this morning, I'm starving—"
Several bowls of noodles were placed on the table, each containing only noodles, with a pot of milky white fish soup in the middle; next to them were two large plates of scallion pancakes, the pungent aroma of scallions making one's mouth water; lastly, there were the shrimp dumplings that Xu Qian had just brought to the table. Because there was no wheat starch, these shrimp dumplings were not translucent, but slightly white, but the pleats were perfect, and one could tell they were made by a professional chef.
"It's filled with shrimp, bamboo shoots, and spinach, but unfortunately, it doesn't have wheat starch, so the taste will be slightly different," Xu Qian explained.
"No, no, no, with your skills, there's no way your cooking could be bad!" Wu Meili trusted the other person implicitly, after all, she still needed to eat another meal at noon, hehe~
"Then try some." Xu Qian smiled and went back to the kitchen to get more shrimp dumplings. He had made quite a lot this time, and some were for the staff.
When Qiao Xinhuan came downstairs, the kitchen and living room were bustling with activity. Wu Meili saw this and quickly called her over, "Qiao Qiao, come on over, breakfast is ready!"
"They're here!" Qiao Xinhuan ran downstairs, drawn by the scent.
On the other side, Xu Qian distributed the extra shrimp dumplings and scallion pancakes to the staff, earning him many goodwill points.
Especially the junior director's. Xu Qian watched as the junior director's favorability towards him increased from 30 to 140, a full 110 points, all thanks to the food he ate.
Xu Qian: Ah, a craftsman, they have to make a living with their skills. (Lying down)
From noon yesterday to this morning, meal after meal, not only the three hosts were reluctant to part with him, but even the staff who were being fed by Xu Qian were reluctant to part with him. Although Brother Wang's cooking is also very delicious, but... but you all know what I mean!
After breakfast, the six people split into two teams. One team went to the market to buy ingredients for the group lunch, while the other team stayed behind to clean the house, especially the yard. This is one of the fixed procedures at the end of each program recording.
Yao Jing took Xu Qian and Zhao Wenkang to the town's vegetable market, riding in an oxcart, ostensibly to experience life. Fortunately, all the passengers were grown men, so they didn't care about appearances.
On the way there, the three men had a lot more to talk about, such as their recent work stress.
Zhao Wenkang instinctively clutched his lower back, his face pale and worried. "It's quite difficult. I had surgery on my back last year and took a full year off. I'm much better now, but I still have to rest from time to time on rainy days."
“It’s the same for everyone, my knee is the same too. But you really need to take better care of your body. You’re not as young as them anymore.” As she spoke, Yao Jing’s gaze fell on Xu Qian. When you’re young, you don’t take good care of your body. Now that you’re older, you don’t have the chance to take care of it anymore.
"I'd like to, but we have to make a living. My son is only in high school; there will be countless expenses in the future..."
When money was mentioned, the topic suddenly became heavy.
Xu Qian looked at Zhao Wenkang, feeling a little itchy to take a look. "Brother Zhao, would you mind if I took a look at your back injury?"
Zhao Wenkang was stunned. Is he here now?
Xu Qian also realized the problem, "Get out of the car, I can help you take a look."
“Okay.” Although Zhao Wenkang didn’t think the other party could help him in any way, he thought about it again and realized that this was a show and it was normal for them to want to make a splash, so he let the young man do as he pleased. Anyway, he wouldn’t lose anything.
The three chatted about the trivialities of life, and before long they arrived at a more bustling town.
After getting out of the car, before checking Zhao Wenkang's back, Xu Qian went to see the junior director. He didn't want the conversation from before to be broadcast. Although the junior director was puzzled, Xu Qian's attitude was very firm. The contract protected the guest's right to object to filming, although no one had ever used it in all these years.
“…Alright then,” the junior director, who had 140 points of goodwill, finally agreed, “but this part, we still have to film it at the market.”
With the young director's permission, Xu Qian turned back to check Zhao Wenkang's back injury. He touched it for a while under their watchful eyes, then told them to wait a moment while he went to a traditional Chinese medicine shop to buy something.
"What's going on?" Zhao Wenkang thought the other party wanted to make a splash, but then he asked the director to turn off the camera. He just couldn't understand this action.
"I don't know." Yao Jing was also confused, but he chose to believe it and see what happened next.
Less than ten minutes later, Xu Qian returned carrying a bag of medicinal herbs.
"Alright, we can continue filming now," he said.
"What's going on so mysteriously?" Zhao Wenkang couldn't help but ask.
"It's okay, we'll find out when we get back."
While surgery can cure the disease, decoction is also a good option for rapid recovery.
Author's Note: 10,000 words a day is over!
***
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