Photographs

"Listing Dishes? OMG, this again..."

Xiang Zhinan rubbed his forehead with a wry smile.

Listing Dishes had always been a staple game on all kinds of variety shows. It was also an old friend of his. When he had first studied broadcasting, it had tormented him for quite some time...

Shu Menglan slapped her thigh. "Oh, this is Teacher Xiang's specialty!"

"Don't celebrate yet. I haven't explained the rules!" The PD grinned slyly. "The four guests must work together to recite three hundred dish names. No guest may recite more than one hundred. If anyone pauses for too long midway through, they'll be forced to switch to the next guest. You can discuss it first and decide who'll participate."

"Teacher Xiang definitely has to join, and I'll be one too. I memorize lines often, so my memory's decent. As for the other two..."

Before Shu Menglan could finish, Liang Meichen immediately said that she could do it too.

"Great! We're still one short! Yu Lin, how about you? I remember when you used to rap, that little mouth of yours could rattle off words at lightning speed!"

The moment Shu Menglan looked over, Yu Lin shook his head like a rattle-drum. "I can't, Sister Menglan. Reciting patter is reciting patter, and singing is singing. How can those be mentioned in the same breath?"

"I'll do it. My memory's pretty good."

Li Yu quietly raised his hand.

Chi Yan seemed to have completely ignored the cameraman filming beside him. His gaze at Li Yu was scorching, so blatant it seemed as though he could devour him. It never left Li Yu.

He stared at Li Yu's long fingers, their tips still tinged pink.

He had never intended to hide anything. If he liked someone, he liked them. A person's eyes could not lie.

After roughly deciding the relay order and how many dishes each person would recite, the four of them threw themselves into memorizing the dish names.

The production team had only given them half an hour to memorize everything. Shu Menglan had already been hungry, and as she held up the list of dishes and recited them, she complained about the production team.

Their order was for Xiang Zhinan to recite the first hundred, Shu Menglan and Li Yu seventy each, and Liang Meichen the final sixty.

"Thirty minutes are up. Please begin."

A staff member came over to collect their papers. Shu Menglan was rather reluctant to hand hers over, clutching the bottom edge and sneaking a few more glances at it.

"I'm starting." Xiang Zhinan cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I invite everyone to eat Steamed Lamb, Steamed Bear Paws, Steamed Deer Tail, Roast Flower Duck, Roast Spring Chicken, Roast Gosling..."

Xiang Zhinan spoke rapidly and enunciated clearly. He was so skilled it was as if the words had become muscle memory, and he did not even pause to catch his breath.

He smoothly finished all one hundred dish names in less than a minute.

Yu Lin was dumbfounded beside him. This time, he did not even cheer him on. His mouth hung slightly open as he stared at Xiang Zhinan, as though saying, Bro, how could you be this ruthless?

"I'm next." Shu Menglan faced the camera. She was not as fast as Xiang Zhinan, but her pronunciation was still crisp and clear, without a single pause.

It was soon Li Yu's turn. Chi Yan had been staring blankly at Li Yu's profile just moments ago, but he immediately came back to himself and sat up straight.

"And Three Delicacies Osmanthus Soup, Red Meatballs, White Meatballs, Southern Fried Meatballs..."

Li Yu remained completely at ease throughout, looking as though he might not lose to Xiang Zhinan at all.

Xiang Zhinan raised his brows and gave an impressed sound. "This kid said he only knew a little earlier, but now he's pulling out something huge on us."

Shu Menglan burst out laughing and gave Li Yu a thumbs-up.

Liang Meichen finished her portion in one smooth breath as well. Her acting foundation had once been praised by a director and sent trending online, so this bit of patter was naturally no challenge for her.

The whole game went unexpectedly smoothly. The producer had originally wanted to see the guests stumble in this segment, but not a single mishap occurred!

Still, the livestream's popularity only continued rising, and the comments were full of praise for the four guests, so the production team decided to wait and see.

When they ate, Li Yu instinctively sat beside Chi Yan. In his eyes, Chi Yan was someone familiar, completely different from everyone else.

Yet Chi Yan's first bite was not for himself. He naturally picked up a shrimp from a dish nearby and placed it in Li Yu's bowl, as though he had done it countless times before.

Li Yu froze. For a moment, he did not even know what expression to make.

The others saw it too, and their gazes held a probing edge.

Li Yu secretly scratched Chi Yan's thigh with the hand beneath the table, signaling for him to say something and explain.

The touch was light, like a feather brushing past, a little ticklish, yet it provoked an enormous reaction.

Chi Yan lowered his eyes, his emotions unreadable, and spoke in a calm tone. "You were staring at that dish earlier. I was worried you couldn't reach it, so I grabbed some for you."

"Brother Chi is really thoughtful. I definitely picked the right seat."

After saying that with a dry laugh, Li Yu hurriedly stuffed the shrimp into his mouth.

Still, he truly enjoyed eating it. He had always liked shrimp, and the Dragon Well Shrimp at this restaurant had been something he had wanted to try even before coming here.

Of course, it was only a small interlude. Chi Yan had explained himself too, so no one took it to heart—except for the netizens watching the show through microscopes. But that was a story for later.

That afternoon, the guests prepared to explore the remaining locations on their task cards. One picture showed only an arched bridge, yet Li Yu quickly named it.

"Embracing-the-Moon Bridge. It spans the Canglang River and is one of South Jade Mountain Ancient Town's hottest photo spots this season," Li Yu said.

It was probably late autumn now. The maple trees planted along the bluestone paths on both sides of the Canglang River had all turned red, their fire-like colors staining half the sky.

Besides the maples, there were ginkgo trees as far as the eye could see. Their leaves were bright yellow, lightly carpeting the road. When the wind blew, the entire world seemed to fall under an autumn rain named after ginkgo leaves.

Old boatmen also paddled bamboo rafts along the Canglang River, swaying long bamboo poles from side to side and sending ripples spreading across the water.

"Wow, that's so romantic!"

Shu Menglan's sigh came from the bottom of her heart.

The past few years had been the peak of her career, and her schedule had been packed. Every day, when she woke up, all she did was film. Now that her popularity had stabilized somewhat, she had begun branching into variety shows. She had never imagined she would get to see scenery like this.

"Yes, beautiful scenery should be recorded. Please take the phones provided by the show's sponsor and photograph the other guests. There is only one requirement for the photos: each guest must choose a different plant to take a picture with."

This time, the production team was no longer asking for some entertainment-oriented game. They had unexpectedly come up with something so distinctive, leaving everyone rather surprised.

But after the surprise came understanding. A travel show could not be nothing but games from beginning to end. It definitely needed segments to showcase the local scenery.

A ginkgo leaf fell beside Li Yu's feet. He picked it up, then glanced at the ginkgo tree before him. "I want to take a picture with it."

"Sure, sure! Li Yu, hurry and stand over there. I take really good pictures!"

Yu Lin pulled out the phone issued by the production team. Recalling the poses photographers used when taking his pictures, he began snapping away wildly at Li Yu, convinced he looked highly professional.

Chi Yan held up his phone too, taking pictures.

He zoomed in with the camera and said hoarsely, "Li Yu, look over here."

Li Yu immediately looked over.

With one tap of his finger, Chi Yan pressed the shutter.

In that instant, the boy he liked looked at the camera, as though he were looking openly and directly at him too.

This time, it was finally not just his profile, Chi Yan thought.