In Demand

Yu Lin leaned in closest, looking every bit like he was there to enjoy the show. The thought that he would soon no longer be the only one embarrassing himself eased much of his earlier frustration.

Li Yu flicked the spoon in his hand, and a proud Phoenix head sprang onto the board. That single movement alone drew gasps of amazement from the watching guests.

"Li Yu's got skills. The feeling's already there from the very first move," Liang Meichen said.

"He really has that master craftsman vibe," Shu Menglan agreed with a nod.

Li Yu pressed his lips together and continued drawing the Phoenix's feathers. The guests watching beside him were even more nervous than he was, holding their breaths and staring without blinking.

What had initially been nothing but a few irregular curves took on the rough shape of a Phoenix once Li Yu finished gathering its feathers together. He then added the Phoenix's body, his movements exceptionally practiced, without the slightest tremor in his hand.

Before everyone had fully processed it, Li Yu had already finished the entire Phoenix.

He promptly pressed in a wooden stick, flattened the sugar painting with a small spatula, then lifted it up to show Yu Lin.

"How is it?"

Li Yu turned the sugar painting in his hand. The Phoenix on the stick was lifelike, its dense, delicate feathers beautiful beneath the sunlight.

"No, no! Wait a second! I didn't even blink! How did you finish it all at once?!"

Yu Lin stared at the finished piece in Li Yu's hand in disbelief, completely forgetting to manage his expression.

"Tsk, tsk. Without comparison, there's no harm," Xiang Zhinan said, folding his arms and sighing at Yu Lin.

"So impressive. It feels professional, like it was done in one smooth go." There was a hint of admiration in Xie Jingming's eyes as he accidentally voiced his thoughts.

"Yeah, I've been interested in things like drawing since I was young. I've also learned a little about sugar painting."

A few scenes flashed through Li Yu's mind, all memories from when he had been completing missions.

His master in that mission world had been far more skilled than he was and could even make many three-dimensional sugar paintings. Li Yu had studied under him for a year or two as well.

"Did you hear that? Li Yu and I aren't even on the same level, yet you're still laughing at me, Teacher Xiang? Why don't you come up here and show us what you've got?" Yu Lin refused to accept this.

"Fine, fine. It's just a little bird, isn't it? I've got this."

Smiling, Xiang Zhinan scooped up a fresh spoonful of sugar syrup and began making a sugar painting as well.

But before long, his smile had transferred to Yu Lin's face.

Pointing at Xiang Zhinan's finished product, Yu Lin laughed louder and more wildly than anyone else. "Teacher Xiang, your little lump of a bird is pretty unique too."

"...I miscalculated."

Only after trying it himself did Xiang Zhinan realize that it was nowhere near as easy as it looked.

"Hahaha! If Teacher Xiang had drawn a Phoenix, that would've been perfect. You and Yu Lin could've been one Sleeping Dragon and one Fledgling Phoenix—an absolutely complete set."

After teasing the two of them, Shu Menglan realized something and added, "If I end up drawing garbage later too, just pretend I never said that."

In truth, it was perfectly normal for someone trying sugar painting for the first time to fail. The other guests' finished pieces might not have been pretty, but none of them had gone as disastrously wrong as Yu Lin's.

Chi Yan naturally didn't know how to do it either, but as soon as he sat down, he turned to Li Yu and said, "Teacher Little Fish, I'm not very good at this. Can you teach me?"

Caught off guard by Chi Yan suddenly calling him "Teacher Little Fish," Li Yu took a moment to react. But his body clearly moved before his brain did. He stepped forward and nodded. "No problem."

Li Yu bent down and took Chi Yan's right hand. Then, realizing they were in front of the cameras, he deliberately said, "Brother Chi, I'm going to hold your hand."

"Okay."

Chi Yan wore a serious expression, like a student listening attentively in class, but the tips of his ears secretly turned red.

Li Yu guided Chi Yan slowly as they drew. His fair, well-defined hand gripped Chi Yan's tightly, and their brushing contact seemed to ignite a spark of fire.

Li Yu was so close that his warm breath brushed Chi Yan's cheek. In an instant, Chi Yan felt half his body go soft and numb.

It was as though he had completely lost the ability to think. By the time he came back to himself, the carp had already been drawn.

"All done."

Li Yu pulled his hand away, but the warmth from their contact still lingered on the back of Chi Yan's hand.

"Whoa! Teacher Little Yu, I want you to teach me hand in hand too!"

Yu Lin raised his right hand, and Shu Menglan followed suit. "Me too! Me too!"

Yu Lin switched to raising both hands. "I raised mine first, and I've got one more hand up than she does! So teach me first!"

"Little Yu is really in demand."

Zhou Yanqing stood beside Chi Yan and smiled, though his gaze was fixed on Li Yu. Chi Yan's expression had been sunny before he heard that, but it suddenly clouded over.

It was like the discomfort of having a treasure one had hidden away for a long time suddenly discovered by others one day.

And those people were even fighting to steal his treasure!

At that thought, Chi Yan's throat tightened, and his chest felt even more stifled.

Surrounded by several guests, Li Yu naturally did not notice what Chi Yan, squeezed into the corner, was thinking. Only the silent camera recorded it all.

The guests lingered at the sugar painting stall for a while longer. When they left, every one of them carried a sugar painting they had made themselves.

Chi Yan stared at the carp sugar painting in his hand, strangely reluctant to eat it—Little Fish had made it together with him.

But he still took a bite, looking as though he wanted to eat someone up as well.

Once he bit off Little Fish's tail, Little Fish would stay in the pond forever and never be able to run away.

Li Yu, who was talking with Yu Lin, suddenly felt a chill run down his back. He had no idea that the person behind him had already eaten the sugar painting as though it were him.

"What's our next stop?"

Only when they had nearly finished their sugar paintings did Xiang Zhinan remember to ask about their next checkpoint.

"Mm, come take a look. Where do you think this image is?"

Liang Meichen took out the task card. They had already checked in at four of the six locations, leaving two remaining.

"Hey! What was this called again... Let me think. I'd wanted to try it before..." Shu Menglan looked at the second-to-last picture and suddenly grew excited. "I remember! It's Flower Adornment!"

"Flower Adornment? It seems like a traditional custom from somewhere," Xiang Zhinan said. Having seen plenty, he naturally knew a little about such things.

"That's right, and it's so pretty!" Shu Menglan agreed.

Now that they knew what the next destination was for, Liang Meichen casually stopped a passerby and easily learned where they were headed—the Seeking Fragrance Flower Adornment shop.

"Do the rest of us have to get flower adornments too?" Yu Lin asked.

"You can decide that for yourselves," the PD replied through a megaphone.

"Oh, come on, it'd be no fun with just Sister Liang and me! You guys can join in too! It looks really nice!"

Shu Menglan tried to persuade the male guests to join their "flower adornment team."

"But we're all men..."

Before Yu Lin could finish, Shu Menglan refuted him. "What's wrong with being men? Men can wear flower adornments too! There was even a custom of men wearing flowers in ancient times!"

"Exactly. Don't they say, 'Wear flowers in this life, be beautiful in every life'?" Liang Meichen said.

None of the male guests moved. They were probably all a little embarrassed. After all, this was a variety show—if it went badly, wouldn't they lose fans for sure?

Li Yu, however, did not care about that. On the contrary, he was quite interested, so he said to Shu Menglan, "I want to try it too."