The livestream comments:
[Hahaha, you can tell Xie Huan's genuinely happy. He's even calling a dog his brother.]
[Husky: this family would fall apart without me.]
[Give the director some screen time! I really want to see his face. His expression must be priceless!]
[Looks like the director won't just have to guard against fire, theft, and Xie Huan from now on. He'll have to guard against the husky too!]
The director was indeed thoroughly frustrated.
Who could have imagined a husky could be that cunning?
He had carried the cleaver away without a sound, right under the props team's noses.
Seeing how late it was, the director didn't confiscate the cleaver again.
Whatever grudges there were could wait until after dinner.
After that unreliable tool-finding fiasco.
Xie Huan decisively chased the other four out of the open kitchen:
"Go, go, go. Take a break outside. Quit getting in the way!"
Xie Huan's words were all about chasing them away.
Yet he held a small plate of freshly cut fruit, persistently offering it to Pei Tingyun.
When Pei Tingyun wouldn't take it, Xie Huan simply grabbed his hand and set the little plate in his palm:
"Hold on to that. Have a little something to tide you over. If it's not enough, I'll cut you some more."
Before anyone else could say anything.
The director objected first.
He picked up his megaphone and shouted:
"Wait! As the tour guide for this stop, Pei Tingyun has to stay in the kitchen and help!"
Xie Huan's expression was hard to describe. "You sure keeping him here counts as helping?"
It took him five minutes to wash one chili pepper. Let him help, and they wouldn't be eating for another two hours!
Pei Tingyun shot him a sharp look. "What, got a problem with me?"
Xie Huan instantly backed down. "Of course not! I'm worried you'll tire yourself out."
As he spoke, Xie Huan brought over a barstool and placed it beside the kitchen counter.
Then he pressed down on Pei Tingyun's shoulders, getting him to sit.
Xie Huan said, "You don't have to do a thing. Just sit right here and eat your fruit."
Gu Lin, who had no little fruit plate, immediately turned sour. "We want fruit too."
Xie Huan's double standards couldn't have been more obvious. "Cut it yourselves if you want some!"
"Hey, you..." Gu Lin was about to blow up when Yao Xuan and Tang Keni both grabbed him.
Tang Keni said, "Come on, we don't want that! Too sweet!"
Yao Xuan said, "Exactly! Let's save room for dinner!"
Between dragging and hauling, the two pulled Gu Lin into the dining room.
The three had only just sat down at the dining table.
When Xie Huan came over.
But his hands were empty. He wasn't carrying anything.
Clearly, he hadn't come to deliver fruit.
The three stared at him in confusion.
He took a fruit pick from the holder on the dining table, then turned and left.
Then.
He handed the fruit pick to Pei Tingyun, who was sitting on the barstool.
So he could spear his fruit with it.
Then he went off to work on dinner.
Gu Lin, utterly oblivious to shipping the two, grew even more sour and muttered:
"He's so thoughtful toward other people, but with me, nothing good ever comes out of his mouth. Tch, double-standard dog!"
"Woof! Woof, woof!"
Several barks came from beside his feet.
Gu Lin lowered his eyes.
And found the husky glaring at him.
The next second-
The husky ducked his head and bit his trouser leg.
Clearly, those barks hadn't been agreement, but protest.
Gu Lin said, "Let go, you damn dog! Do you know how expensive these pants are?!"
Gu Lin grew frantic, but no matter how he tugged, the husky wouldn't let go.
Just then.
Xie Huan, still busy in the kitchen, suddenly whistled.
At the sound of the whistle.
The husky immediately stopped biting his trouser leg.
And ran toward Xie Huan, tail wagging.
The sight made Gu Lin even angrier:
"You ungrateful thing! I'm the one who mixes your food, gives you baths, and takes you on walks! Why do you run over the second he whistles?"
The husky ignored him completely.
He trotted up to Xie Huan and obediently sat down.
His big, round eyes fixed on the pork leg Xie Huan was preparing, and he gave a few soft whines and barks.
It actually sounded as though he was asking for credit-
He bad-mouthed you, so I bit him back, woof! Wasn't I great, woof?
A great dog deserves a big bone as a reward, woof!
As though he understood.
Xie Huan chuckled and pointed toward Pei Tingyun.
He told the dog, "Go play with him for a bit first. I'll give you some once it's cooked!"
Pei Tingyun: "..."
Do I look that bored?
He's actually sending a dog to play with me!
The dog was quite obedient, though.
Xie Huan told him to go over, and over he went.
Seeing that Pei Tingyun showed no intention of playing, he sat by his feet and rubbed his big head against him.
Amused, Pei Tingyun stroked the husky's big head.
It was rather interesting.
With Gu Lin, this dog's husky nature was on full display.
But with Xie Huan, he was so well-behaved it was as though the husky genes had never been installed.
Pei Tingyun leaned against the kitchen counter, rubbing the dog's head with one hand and propping his chin on the other.
He watched Xie Huan's busy figure.
For one fleeting moment.
He actually felt that a life like this, two people and a dog, three meals a day, seemed pretty good too.
Wait!
Something's wrong!
This is twelve out of ten levels of wrong!
Has Xie Huan put some kind of spell on me?
Why else would these unrealistic thoughts keep popping into my head?
And every single one of them involves Xie Huan!
No!
I haven't even gotten clear answers about where Xie Huan came from or why he approached me.
I absolutely can't fall for him!
In the kitchen.
Xie Huan was busy cooking.
Pei Tingyun was busy watching Xie Huan cook.
The husky was busy rubbing against his legs and acting cute.
In the dining room.
Gu Lin was busy being angry.
Yao Xuan and Tang Keni were busy persuading Gu Lin not to be angry.
The director, meanwhile, was busy being delighted.
Because Xie Huan's blatant favoritism toward Pei Tingyun had brought another surge of shipper attention to the livestream.
To keep that momentum going.
The director decided to fan the flames!
And so.
He picked up his beloved megaphone again:
"Mr. Pei, you can't just sit there doing nothing. As the tour guide, you need to contribute a dish to tonight's dinner."
Pei Tingyun raised his eyebrows slightly.
He knew perfectly well that Pei Tingyun couldn't cook.
He was deliberately trying to make him embarrass himself.
Pei Tingyun smiled faintly:
"Sure. But let me make this clear up front: if I cause any damage to this kitchen while cooking, I'm not taking responsibility. Your production team will pay for it."
The director was left speechless.
He said nothing for several seconds.
He was silently assessing the potential damage.
Still, he thought Pei Tingyun was largely exaggerating.
How much damage could cooking a meal possibly do?
Surely he couldn't blow up the kitchen.
And so.
A few seconds later, the director said:
"No problem. We'll take responsibility for any damage."
Before Pei Tingyun could say anything.
Xie Huan, who had been chopping vegetables, suddenly slammed the cleaver into the chopping board with a crack.
The instant the tip sank into the board, everyone jumped.
Xie Huan lifted his chin and pointed.
That northeastern big-brother, "What're you looking at?" "You got a problem with that?" readiness to throw down came out in a flash:
"He can't cook. Why do you keep giving him a hard time?"
Pei Tingyun was closest to him.
He saw it all perfectly clearly.
Every single hair on Xie Huan's buzz-cut head seemed to bear the same fury at that moment-
He's under my protection, and you lot just won't quit picking on him, huh?