Page 47

Lu Heng pointed at the quartz clock hanging on the main room wall and reminded him, "Lunch is in an hour. Chicken stewed with potatoes. Do you eat potatoes?"

Wei Linxuan fell silent.

Lu Heng finished his work in a flash. Carrying the bowl of potatoes past Wei Linxuan, he deliberately jostled it and asked with a grin, "Can you find the potato chunks with those beautifully curved, sleek lines?"

Unable to bear it any longer, Wei Linxuan reached out and flicked Lu Heng on the forehead. Then he ran over to the cameraman to inspect his filming work.

His conclusion was—

"Lu Heng, it's not a good habit to always steal the spotlight! I'm telling you, if you do this while filming dramas, you'll offend people easily, you know that?"

The rural infrastructure was certainly no match for the city's. Like the surrounding villages, Lu Family Village had not fully adopted gas canisters. The villagers still preferred cooking over large traditional stoves with big iron pots and firewood.

Such crude facilities would naturally fall far short when making delicate dishes. But for Northeastern farmhouse mixed stews, they had a certain rustic charm.

Dry firewood was stuffed into the stove, burning into bright red flames. In the thick iron pot, home-raised free-range chicken simmered fragrantly. The rich broth bubbled away, while golden potato chunks cooked until soft and fluffy. There were also dried string beans and dried tofu strips, glistening with oil and smelling so good that just breathing it in made one drool.

Lu Miao, the youngest in the family, anxiously circled the stove. Seeing his little sister acting like a greedy kitten, Lu Heng, who was manning the pot, picked up a piece of chicken, blew on it, and held it out to Lu Miao.

Little Lu Miao gulped down the chicken in one bite, her eyes wide and round as she nodded repeatedly. "It's good! So, so good!"

Lu Heng glanced again at Wei Linxuan, who stood beside him. After thinking for a moment, he picked up another piece of chicken leg meat and brought it close to Wei Linxuan.

Wei Linxuan lowered his head to look at the still-steaming chicken leg and complained, "Why didn't you blow on mine?"

Lu Heng: "..."

Rolling his eyes helplessly, Lu Heng said, "How old are you?"

Wei Linxuan huffed, reaching out with his index finger to touch the bone. Once he felt it was no longer too hot, he pinched the chicken between his thumb and forefinger and put the meat into his mouth.

The rich flavor instantly spread through his mouth. Wei Linxuan's eyes lit up. "Delicious."

Wei Linxuan savored the taste for a moment. "It somehow feels better than what you made in Beijing."

"Of course it is. This is pure home-raised free-range chicken fed on corn, stewed in an iron pot over firewood for at least two hours. How could it be the same as city-bred broiler chicken cooked over a gas canister?" Lu Heng pointed at the broth in the pot. "Even this soup is thicker, richer, and more reduced. Otherwise, why would it be called farmhouse cuisine?"

Seeing that Wei Linxuan's gaze, just like Lu Miao's, was still stuck on the pot, Lu Heng smiled and ladled out two more potato chunks, giving one each to Wei Linxuan and Lu Miao. "Try these potatoes too. They've absorbed the flavor of the chicken. They're really fluffy and delicious."

Mother Lu was stewing fish on another stove. Having finished her potato, Lu Miao knew her second brother probably would not feed her anything else. With a giggle, she sidled up to Mother Lu. Mother Lu reached out to stroke Lu Miao's little braid and gave her a piece of fish.

Then she beckoned Wei Linxuan over as well.

Wei Linxuan felt a little embarrassed. Lu Miao said with a giggle, "Come over, Brother Wei. Second Brother won't give us any more food."

Wei Linxuan: "..." I'm not actually that greedy.

Lunch consisted of firewood-stewed chicken and fish, goose stewed with pickled cabbage, braised spare ribs, red-braised beef, tiger-skin pork knuckle, four-joy meatballs, braised pig trotters, and several vegetable dishes. The rice was freshly cooked with corn kernels, and the moment it finished steaming, a fresh fragrance wafted through the air.

Father Lu and Mother Lu set up two large round tables in the main room. The five members of the Lu family, Wei Linxuan, and the production crew crowded around them for an especially lavish New Year's meal.

During the meal, Wei Linxuan sighed more than once, "It's so fragrant. I've never had farmhouse food this delicious. Once this episode airs, it'll probably make the viewers in front of their TVs drool themselves to death."

"Every place really has its own specialty dishes. Last time, when we went to a small village in Yunnan Province to film the show, their steamed-pot chicken was especially delicious. The village chief treated us to it. Oh, it was so fragrant—I think it was every bit as good as today's firewood-stewed chicken."

"Hey, do you think we could make a food show sometime? Gather specialty dishes from all over the country. I think that would be really fun." The cameraman put a piece of fish into his bowl and suddenly suggested, "How about we try adding some of those elements when we film the third episode of Exchanging Lives?"

"You might as well write up a proposal and submit it to the company, then set up a separate project." Wei Linxuan said casually, "You can be the director, and I'll find someone to be your producer. How about you put together your own team?"

Several young writers and directors at the same table immediately raised their hands. "Count me in. I swear I'll eat all the delicious food in the world."

The cameraman chuckled, not taking Wei Linxuan's words seriously.

Perhaps the meal had been too delicious. Everyone had eaten until they were a little stuffed.

After lunch, Wei Linxuan, Lu Heng, and the production crew went out for a walk. The cameraman dutifully carried his camera around the village, filming everything he could: trees coated in frost and snow, fields blanketed in heavy snow, stacks of firewood, and children setting off firecrackers and throwing poppers by the roadside.

Watching the cameraman struggle to find material, Lu Heng suddenly had an idea. "How about I take you to the township middle school? It's changed a lot over there now. I think you could film it."

Wei Linxuan also thought it was a good idea. Then he saw Lu Heng run over to a group of children and ask them to notify all the village kids to gather at the township middle school.

Wei Linxuan raised a brow and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm telling you, there's a ton of snow on the middle school field. Nobody has cleared it since winter break started, and it's been snowing continuously these past few days. We can go over there and have a snowball fight—"

At that point, Lu Heng turned back to look at Wei Linxuan. "Have you ever had a snowball fight?"

Wei Linxuan gave a dry laugh. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Lu Heng staring directly at him with bright, clear eyes. Somewhat awkwardly, he said, "When I was very little, I built a snowman with Jia Yi."