Everyone guessed that Chi Yan could cook, but no one expected him to be so good.
The shiny brown and crispy spicy chicken with tender inside, the mellow mushroom chicken soup, the stir-fried three fresh vegetables... as the dishes were served, the quality was comparable to that of famous chefs, and everyone's saliva was flowing.
The guest next to him murmured, "Aze, you are so lucky to have met such a good actor like Mr. Chi..."
Wen Xingze's heart skipped a beat. He didn't expect to hear the guest say the next second: "...Such a good teacher."
The teacher-student relationship between the two was spread throughout the program crew through the director's mouth and has become a good story. It is said that the post-production editing will also focus on this aspect.
After all, the way Chi Yan and Wen Xingze get along is really cute, just like a kindergarten teacher taking care of children. This way of getting along between an industry star and a new actor is unique and definitely novel!
Wen Xingze didn't know that things had developed to this point. He listened to a few words in confusion and didn't grasp the key points, so he went back to the kitchen to help serve the dishes.
When it was completely dark outside the window, the hot pot was set up inside.
On one side was a rich white pot of bone broth, made with chicken broth, a bubbling, milky white. On the other side was a spicy red pot, with bright red dried chilies swirling around in it, creating a rich, alluring sheen.
"It's so delicious!" The guests including Wen Xingze cried. The hot pot soup base was also made by Chi Yan. It was fragrant and tasty. It was a delicacy that you could never eat outside.
All ingredients are sourced from the botanical garden, so the taste is beyond words. The vegetables are sweet and crisp, especially the chili peppers, which have just the right spicy taste, spicy but not greasy, and serve as the finishing touch as a seasoning. Biting into the tender and juicy beef rolls will make you salivate, and you'll want to keep eating.
"Are the peppers we grow really that delicious?" Professor Guo was the most moved. He wiped his foggy glasses and raised his glass. "Being able to grow peppers this delicious and use them for hot pot is exactly why I got into this business..."
Other guests: "..." Isn't this original intention a bit too hasty?!
Wen Xingze could especially understand Professor Guo's thoughts. He smiled so hard that his eyes curved up, and suddenly looked at Chi Yan.
Chi Yan was the kind of person who didn't talk while eating or sleeping. From the moment he sat down, he just quietly picked up two pieces of food for Wen Xingze with his chopsticks. But sitting in this bustling world, he no longer seemed out of place.
Chi Yan looked at him in confusion.
"That was my original intention as well." Wen Xingze held Chi Yan's hand under the table. Chi Yan's fingers had distinct joints and his fingertips were warm and cool, and he quickly held his hand back.
At that time, I entered the entertainment industry because I wanted to make some money and live a life with enough food to eat. Secondly, I thought that if I had the chance in the future, I could sit at the same table with Chi Yan and eat and talk like friends.
"Can I kiss you when we get back from filming the variety show?" Wen Xingze said in a voice that only the two of them could hear.
Chi Yan's breathing stagnated, and he didn't answer the question. During the meal, Chi Yan went to pour wine and called Wen Xingze's name, as if he had something to say to him: "Wen Xingze."
"Do you have something to say? Is it important?" Wen Xingze followed, holding the cup.
Chi Yan hummed calmly and said, "It's important."
Wen Xingze cleared his mind and said, "You go ahead."
Chi Yan's right fingertips gently stroked the back of Wen Xingze's neck, and in the dark corner where no one could see, he lowered his eyes and kissed him.
Then he said, "That's it."
As he spoke, Chi Yan even smiled, very faintly, like the hazy glimmer of light when the ice and snow melted.
Wen Xingze: “…”
Wen Xingze: “…………”
Help!!!
Wen Xingze walked back to the table with his hands and feet together and sat down. He tilted his head back and drank the whole glass of wine. Tun, tun, tun. Wen Xingze remembered the original reason why he entered the entertainment industry. How could he withstand this?
There is a lot of usable material in this section, and the photographers are all quietly looking at the camera on the side. Now the photographers are taking a break.
In the middle of the shoot, Wen Xingze went to serve food to the photographers and staff. Their hot pot had a lot of ingredients, and the ingredients were simply dipped into a small disposable paper bowl and it became a snack, which could at least fill their stomachs.
Inspired by Wen Xingze, the program crew simply scooped up a big spoonful and took it away, to thank the botanical garden for its support for the recording today, and it seemed that they were going to distribute it to other staff members of the botanical garden.
"Aze, come and play mahjong. The loser drinks." Half of the wine had been drunk by then. Everyone was very full but still wanted to continue eating. Professor Guo patted Wen Xingze on the shoulder and asked him to play mahjong.
Of course it’s not a mahjong table, it’s just some kind of card mahjong.
Wen Xingze: "Okay."
Professor Guo dealt the cards, and half a minute later Wen Xingze said, "Win."
Everyone: "? Ton tn tn."
The second round began, and another twenty seconds later, Wen Xingze said, "All the same color, I win."
Everyone: “?? Ton t t t.”
Wen Xingze, who had just finished dealing the third and fourth rounds, said, "Uh... I won."
Everyone: “???????”
Wen Xingze was also shocked. It was a bit strange that he had such good luck today!
Soon, Wen Xingze was sent off for disrupting the rhythm of the game: "..."
Also sent off was Professor Guo, whose luck and skills in playing cards were both terrible. Mahjong was one of the few things Chi Yan couldn't comprehend. He had been carefully examining Wen Xingze's cards from the beginning, but his inability to offer any constructive feedback left him feeling a bit frustrated.
"It's really rare, hiccup," Professor Guo drank until he was almost unconscious, and said to Wen Xingze with great relief, "When I first met your teacher Chi, he was completely different from what he is now. He's doing very well now... Really..."
Professor Guo met Chi Yan about ten years ago, and at that time he was very worried about this young man with a cold and solitary temperament.
Wen Xingze pondered this sentence and wanted to hear more about Chi Yan's past from Professor Guo, but Professor Guo was already dizzy and continued drinking, so Wen Xingze did not continue asking.
On a windy autumn night like this, sitting under the eaves with a few good friends to eat a steaming hot pot and open two bottles of wine, you really feel like you have tasted all the flavors of the world.
At the end of the recording, the staff and guests clinked their glasses with each other, the clanging sound like wind chimes, and the camera captured this ordinary yet heartwarming scene:
"Respect the world."
Inside the Botanical Garden's glasshouse, a food blogger, one of the most popular food influencers online in China, was filming. Because the show "A Hundred Flavors of Life" was being filmed at the Botanical Garden today, her video, a collaboration with the TV station, would be released online as part of the show's promotional campaign.
"It would be nice if we could meet the guests filming the show, but we can't. What's the point of us coming here to take pictures of these flowers, plants, and crops?" The assistant accompanying us complained. "We make food videos, and this botanical garden has nothing to do with food. It's just a farm stay at best!"
They make food videos in a variety of styles, some making their own recipes and publishing them, while others are popular, such as trying out various high-end restaurants and high-end ingredients, such as Michelin three-star and French blue lobster. They are the latter.
Even if these fruits and vegetables cultivated in the botanical garden are the result of the painstaking efforts of the cultivation experts, how delicious can they be? It's just a gimmick to return to a simple life. They also have to pay attention to the number of views when shooting videos. After all, bloggers have to make a living.
They hadn't filmed anything useful for most of the day, and now they were still working on an empty stomach. The assistant was extremely annoyed and couldn't help but continue, "Young people don't like coming to this botanical garden anymore. Only elementary and middle school students come here for the science outings. There's nothing much to do there, and the food is just average..."
This botanical garden was opened to the public at the insistence of a cultivation expert from the previous generation, so that the younger generation can understand them and the world they love. However, based on the current visitor flow of the botanical garden, it is likely that it will be closed in the next two years and completely turned into a closed research and cultivation base.
"Stop complaining," the blogger said. She really liked the botanical garden, but what the assistant said was true, so she stopped him. "We'll shoot for another hour and then call it a day—Hey, do you smell it? It smells so good!"
The two of them moved their noses at the same time.
...It’s true!
At first they thought they were hallucinating from hunger, but as they got closer, the aroma grew stronger. The spicy aroma mixed with the steam rising from the rich broth was very tempting.
When I got closer, I saw a long queue downstairs of the tube building. There were staff members handing out paper bowls in front, and for a moment there was a feeling of hustle and bustle and noise.
You have to know that because the show is being filmed by some big names, the botanical garden is closed today. The only people allowed in are staff and researchers, or people like food bloggers. The fact that so many people were able to gather here is a testament to its popularity.
The food blogger was about to ask a question when he suddenly heard a commotion in front of him.
"Wow, this is really delicious! Do you sell chili peppers here? I'll mail some back to my parents..."
"I want to ask that, too."
"Someone got it once and still lined up secretly. Report it!"
The person who queued up for the second time was criticized by everyone and was kicked out in disgrace with his small paper bowl.
The blogger and his assistant were both surprised: "What on earth is being posted?"
The person in front of them explained, "These were given away for free by the 'Flavors of Life' production team. Apparently, they cooked too much, so they wanted to treat everyone. They used ingredients from the botanical garden... Ah! It's my turn!"
The person in front jumped up as she was talking. The blogger didn’t believe it at first, until it was their turn in the queue. She walked up and got a small bowl.
——The freshly baked oil soup is still warm, and the bright red peppers are rolling in the beef tallow and bone soup, covered with a layer of hot chili oil. There are fatty beef rolls, duck tongues, lamb, tripe and tender egg dumplings... It is full of various ingredients, and a piece of green lettuce is placed on top.
It was just the simplest little paper bowl and bamboo skewers, nothing comparable to the tableware in high-end restaurants, and the environment was just on the street in the autumn wind.
But when you take a bite of the fatty beef dripping with rich and spicy soup, the heat goes all the way from your throat to your stomach, your forehead sweats and your cheeks feel hot. Just one bite makes you recall the most simple deliciousness of the food.
Of course, the crops in the botanical garden are all carefully improved and cultivated by experts. Coupled with Wen Xingze's planting techniques and Chi Yan's cooking skills, not everyone can enjoy this small bowl.
“Sizzle, sizzle—isn’t this too delicious?!”
The assistant was the first to fall for it. They have been shooting food vlogs for almost three years, and they never expected to encounter food that makes them want to cry... The most important thing is the chili pepper. It’s hard to put a specific spin on it, but it has a different feeling from chili peppers elsewhere, which makes the whole hot pot have a soul.
"Oh my god," the blogger couldn't help but ask the same question as everyone else and walked over. "We're here to shoot a collaboration video. Can I buy this chili?"
The staff member recalled: "The peppers seem to be seeds bred by Professor Guo himself, but they were ruined today, so Wen Xingze replanted them - Hey, the peppers he planted today have grown? Maybe I remembered it wrong."
The elf filter can significantly help with planting techniques and results. The peppers planted by Wen Xingze in the afternoon had matured one after another by the evening. The guests who went to pick them didn't pay much attention to them and just picked them when they saw they were ripe.
"...In any case, the crops grown by the guests on this episode of 'Human Flavors' will be sold at a low price on the official website once they mature, and all the proceeds will be donated to charity," the staff member said with a smile. "We can wait and see."
This has been a long-standing tradition of "Human Flavors". For example, in the previous episode about pottery, the clay made by the guests themselves would be sold at a low price on the official website and donated to the corresponding research institutes, charities or craftsmen, but most of the fans came to support it.
After all, celebrities are not professionals. What can they achieve in a short half-day training? It can be used as a fan welfare.
This food blogger is actually a casual fan of Wen Xingze. Adding on to the fact that the hot pot is so delicious, it felt like a dream connection and made him even more excited.
"Okay, I'll definitely go support you as soon as I can!" The assistant's attitude had completely changed from her initial complaints, and the blogger was excited and looking forward to it. "I know Aze can act, play the suona, do magic, and read feng shui, but I didn't expect he can also farm? How much do I not know about this man?!"
The blogger thinks that with so many vegetables grown, it shouldn’t be impossible to buy them.
But she never expected that three months later, not only the peppers planted by Wen Xingze, but all the crops listed on the botanical garden's official website would be sold out...
The elven priest Shaya walked into the deep forest.
On a moonless night, a silver-white unicorn followed him, its hooves clattering in the wind. Dark elves, lanterns in hand, stood silently on either side, countless pairs of dark red eyes gazing at the path through the deep forest, their silver chains clattering around their ankles.
No one knows which elf will be chosen to meet the king. Everything is decided by the Tower of Light. No matter who it is, the elves will have no complaints.
Priest Shaya had walked this road twice.
The first time was when the elves were picked up by the king.
All elves are born on the same day. Every year when winter turns to spring, the snow on the sacred tree melts and the souls of the elves are born from the branches.
The elves are always homeless, because the dark elves are despised by all things. The planet they live on is withered, and the country they live in is in turmoil. They are accompanied by light, songs, and blessings, but they are also accompanied by war, poverty, and plague.
I don't know if it's a coincidence, but every birthday of the elves happens to be in the Dark Elf Period, and they have never received any gifts - it's not accurate to say that. On their birthday more than fifty years ago, they were temporarily staying in a country on the then Red Earth, and the ruler of that country gave them a "gift".
——They were surprised to open the gift box with "Happy Birthday" written on the surface, and found it was filled with rotten tomatoes and a space expulsion warrant.
The elves like to plant. The soil conditions on Red Earth are poor. Those tomatoes were cultivated by the elves with great effort for a long time. They originally wanted to repay Red Earth for taking them in.
The elves left the planet in disgrace and began to wander aimlessly. They even deceived themselves through day after day of persuasion, thinking that the elves loved freedom by nature and they did not need a home.
...It wasn't until that birthday twenty-eight years ago that they celebrated their first birthday. After returning from a long expedition, the little king gave them a home and accompanied them in planting seeds on this desolate planet that would not be cursed.
This made the elves feel terrified.
They understood, far more profoundly than any other race, that the more you gain, the greater the price you must pay. And what Wen Xingze had given them was practically priceless; even if they gave all the luck of the light elves, it would be difficult to repay him. They might die in the next second.
They were not afraid of death, but they did not want to hand over the home given to them by the king to others.
Then the king demanded a price from them.
"I want to eat scrambled eggs with tomatoes," Wen Xingze said, feeling a little sleepy. He touched the elves' ears and his voice was like snowflakes that melted in late winter. "Scrambled eggs with tomatoes are the eternal god!"
The elves: “…”
Scrambled eggs with tomatoes...the eternal god?
Just as the Light-Giving Festival is also known as the Roasted Chicken Leg Festival, which is absurd, the alias of the elves' main star is scrambled eggs with tomatoes.
Years later, they still remember the taste of the scrambled eggs with tomatoes they ate that day with their son: sour and sweet, like the days that seemed to never end. It made them quickly forget the years of wandering, the rotten tomatoes in their birthday gift boxes, and the feeling of being universally rejected.
“…”
“Bang—”
Memories come back.
Accompanied by the gazes of the dark elves and the distant songs that came from nowhere, Priest Shaya reached the end of the road. The pendulum of the temple clock struck the hour and then stopped.
The blond elf with green eyes slowly opened his eyes.
The sound of the wind and the rustling of leaves stopped, and he heard a sound similar to a car horn, the clatter of street advertisements, high heels on the asphalt, and...
“Dongdong——”
At eight o'clock in the evening, Earth, the capital of China.
The open auditions for the film "Dust Planet" were bustling with activity. Compared to other auditions, this one was particularly unique: parents were mostly bringing their children to register and get numbers. A closer look revealed dolls placed everywhere, and staff were even holding colorful balloons.
This is the selection of the little boy who will play the lead role in "Dust Planet." The director didn't plan to select the actor from among the child actors, but decided to open the casting. The so-called open casting means that the school can recommend or parents can bring their children to apply. As long as they can find the child actor they like, they are not worried about the large workload.
"Make way, make way, parents and their young actors are lining up. The auditions are about to begin... Holy crap!"
The staff led the reporters in hurriedly and almost knelt down.
In the midst of the bustling crowd, a tall man stood quietly among the hurried people, like a visitor from another world. He was dressed in a complex snow-white priest's robe, with pointed ears, an emerald gem on his forehead, and long light golden hair cascading down to his ankles.
In the quietness that was out of tune with the chaotic and crowded audition room, he held the umbrella handle to block the falling light.
People around looked at him sideways.
The men had a kind of terrifying beauty that seemed harmless, yet made the hairs on their backs stand on end. This made them almost afraid to speak loudly, let alone take out their phones to take pictures. They only dared to discuss it in low voices after walking a long distance away.
"...cosplay? Model?"
"He's so handsome! Is he a foreigner? I just heard him say something like 'Shengwen Xingze'. Is he a fan?"
"Oh my god, he's pretty, but I get scared after looking at him for more than a second. I just stared at him for half a second and I broke out in a cold sweat!"
The man also looked around with a gentle and slightly curious look, but he didn't seem to find the person he was looking for, so the man quickly lost interest and walked out.
He brushed past groundskeepers and reporters.
The reporter had come here to randomly select three or four parents for interviews, but now, his mind raced, and he couldn't help but reach out to stop the man. "Excuse me, sir—are you also a parent bringing your child to the audition?"
Maybe it’s because the key words ‘child’ and ‘parent’ were captured.
Priest Shaya finally stopped and slowly looked at the reporter. Two seconds later, he smiled wryly and said, "My child and I got lost, and I'm looking for him."
He said that the pronunciation of the first two words was a bit awkward, but it quickly became fluent and natural towards the end. The elves have a very high ability to learn languages.
"Lost?! That's too dangerous," the staff member exclaimed. "What's your child's name? Come with me, I'll help you check the surveillance."
Xia Ya's expression remained normal: "Wen Xingze."
Stagehand: “?”
reporter:"???"
The two exchanged glances, and the stage manager whispered, "Is this the legendary mommy... daddy fan?"
“…” The reporter whispered even more quietly, “No male mother!”
The old elven priest was already getting a little impatient. Nothing here was worth wasting his and the cub's precious time.
However, long-standing etiquette and the idea that as a parent, he should set a good example for his children prevailed, and after some hesitation, Char gave up the idea of blowing up the audition venue.
The reporter coughed and said, "Can I ask you a few questions? It will take at most two minutes. It won't take up too much of your time."
Char: “…”
The Elf Priest took a deep breath and smiled: "I'm in a hurry."
"Parents and children who participate in the interview will receive surprise prizes," the reporter said, not wanting to miss this opportunity. This was clearly an interesting interviewee, and who knew there might even be some famous scenes. "It's a SpongeBob balloon and..."
The reporter said as he held the microphone to the elf's lips.
Char glanced at the thing. Microphones were too unfamiliar to the residents of the interstellar age. They all received sound directly with miniature cameras.
Feeling a bit impatient, the elven priest snapped his fingers, and the microphone was quickly pulled into the air by an unknown force and buried in the soil. A silver-gray plant quickly took root and sprouted from the asphalt road, and soon a tree full of microphones grew...microphones...
reporter:"???"
"This isn't easy to grow," Char commented politely. "Do humans like to eat something like this? My kids don't really like it."
reporter:"?????"
Char snapped his fingers, and the strange plant vanished again, as if it were all a dream. The reporter shuddered, took two steps back, and fell to the ground.
Next second.
Char's pointed ears tilted upwards slightly, and he looked somewhere intently.
Registration for the audition was about to close, and parents had already lined up with their children. The staff at the registration desk were holding loudspeakers.
Because this audition was for child actors, in order to take care of the mood of the children and their parents, the staff acted like kindergarten teachers: "Our audition will officially begin in twenty minutes. Tell me loudly, whose baby is the cutest——"
The eyes of the parents present immediately lit up, and they were filled with confidence: "My family! My baby is the cutest!"
Elf: “…”
The audition registration point was right next to them, and the staff member was speaking so loudly that it was difficult to ignore him.
"My child is the cutest," the elven priest casually glanced at the staff member and stated the facts objectively. "There's no need to argue about this."
Throughout the day, the staff had seen many parents like this and had offered some clichés: "After all, we're just auditions... Honestly, parents have some kind of filter when they look at their own children..."
I have to admit that all children are cute, but the term "cutest" is mostly just an illusion of parents, and this is the truth.
Elf: "Everyone knows that my baby is the cutest."
The staff member looked tolerant and soothed him in a tone of obvious disbelief, "Oh, hahaha, if you say so, then so."
Elf: “……????”
Immediately afterwards, the last number plate in the staff member's hand was suddenly taken away.
The elf priest, who usually had a gentle and relaxed expression, suddenly had a stern face. He took the number plate and started lining up at the end of the line with an expressionless face.
...At the same time, on the live broadcast channel of "Baby Development Plan", like Char, the desire of parents across the Muse Empire to show off their children and their desire to win have expanded to an unprecedented level.
Whose baby is the cutest?
Isn’t this nonsense!
“…”
Wen Xingze, who was about to pass by here in ten minutes, asked: "...A-choo?"
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