[Am I seeing this right? Not a shred of gentlemanly behavior, just openly threatening a woman? Does a cleaver count as a restricted blade? Jian Jianjian is being utterly blatant!]
[First ghosts, now cleavers. Since when were variety shows this bloody and violent?! File a complaint. Everyone, report it!]
[Waaah, don't drag my idol into this. I've only stayed in this livestream for his variety show debut! What if they take the whole thing down?!]
[Timidly raises hand. Am I the only one who thought Jian Ran looked kind of hot just now? He handled that cleaver with real skill, with a Chinese flair!]
[Are you blind? How could Jian Ran possibly have anything to do with hot? Chinese flair, seriously?! He's probably got eight hundred schemes up his sleeve and is trying some new angle to get attention!]
[Honestly, I'm with the girl who raised her hand. Ignoring those fluid knife moves is what really makes someone blind!]
[...]
The livestream chat was buzzing with heated discussion, but the open kitchen was dead silent. No one seemed to understand how a perfectly ordinary travel variety show had turned into the Cooking King Contest.
The question was,
why was Jian Ran so damn good with a cleaver?!
Had he shut himself away at home to practice while he was being kept?!
Especially that look in his eyes. He must have practiced looking vicious in the mirror, or how could a single glance make their legs go weak...
"All right, everyone, just do what you can. No need to be so rigid," assistant director Li Yuan stepped in to smooth things over, trying to dispel the awkward atmosphere. "Our inn serves food too, so everyone needs at least a little cooking practice."
"The livestream has already started. We need to work together to make the show a success."
As he spoke, he looked toward Lu Yanting. "Emperor Lu, wouldn't you agree?"
The man leaning against the corner with his arms folded, silent all this time, did not respond at first. Only when Jian Ran looked his way did he nod, as though reluctantly.
Li Yuan immediately brightened, clapping as he called out, "Come on, everyone, get moving! Whether we get dinner tonight depends on all of you!"
Yang Ruoxi looked displeased as she awkwardly walked back into the kitchen, her reluctance plain on her face, though she secretly shot Jian Ran a wary glance.
Has this guy gone crazy?
What kind of persona script is he following?
A deranged idiot?
Or has something set him off and made him want to kill someone...
Rumor has it his sugar daddy just dumped him. Surely he isn't trying to take revenge on society?!
I can't figure out his game. Better not provoke him!
At that thought, Yang Ruoxi worked a little faster, deftly plucking off the vegetable leaves she supposedly had not known how to remove.
And so, under the tyranny of a certain cleaver-wielding individual, the kitchen became peaceful and cozy, as though no conflict had ever occurred, everyone getting along in perfect harmony.
Just then, a fierce wind suddenly rose outside the villa. Rain fell in sheets like a curtain of beads, pelting the windows with a loud patter.
The assistant director's young assistant looked over and muttered quietly to himself, "Looks like we won't have any guests tonight."
"We can even skip wishing ourselves a successful opening."
In truth, he had never held out much hope anyway.
Who would come suffer in this remote backwater, deep in the mountains and forests, apart from young people seized by a sudden urge to go adventuring?
Not to mention that the place was haunted, with rumors that made it sound utterly supernatural.
Even an upstanding young man like him, who believed in the eight-word maxim, felt his hair stand on end the moment he stepped inside. Who knew what the production team had been thinking, choosing somewhere like this...
"Not necessarily."
While he was silently grumbling, a mysterious, meaningful voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. Startled, the young assistant instinctively ducked his head and looked to the side.
Jian Ran's profile, sharply defined yet somehow soft, came into view. "W-what did you just say?!"
"Weren't you cooking? When did you get here..."
There had not been a single footstep. It was as though he had floated over.
At that thought, a chill ran down the young assistant's spine. His throat felt stuffed with cotton, and his words cut off halfway.
Ignoring his reaction, Jian Ran fixed his clear, penetrating gaze on the double doors with their thirty-seventy split and lowered his voice. "Tonight's guests are no ordinary guests. Tell everyone to be careful."
"Y-you, you, you, you, don't scare me. It's raining so hard. How could anyone still..."
The young assistant's stammering abruptly stopped. His head whipped toward the entrance, his face filled with shock and terror-
The stubbly man standing on the entryway rug-
when exactly had he come in?!
Before you continue