Pei Tingyun poured the meatballs beside the stove and the prepared bowl of sauce into the wok.
Xie Huan said, "Step three, put the lid on."
Pei Tingyun did as instructed again.
Xie Huan turned on the gas burner.
Once the sauce in the wok had thickened, Xie Huan clapped his hands. "All done!"
The director looked stunned. "What did you even teach him to make? You're already done?"
Pei Tingyun said, "Can't you tell? A premade meal!"
Before the director could say anything, Tang Keni, who was sitting at the dining table, burst out laughing.
He gave Pei Tingyun a big thumbs-up. "Pfft, hahaha! Freaking premade meals! You're the best at exploiting loopholes!"
The director had just opened his mouth when Xie Huan dealt another blow:
"Hey, don't you look down on premade meals! This stuff could cost you over a hundred at a restaurant!"
The director closed his mouth.
The livestream comments:
[The three-step cooking method! This is so White Clouds and Black Soil!]
[The director got roasted into silence again, hahahaha.]
[When White Clouds and Black Soil make their move, the director has to admit defeat!]
Half an hour later.
Xie Huan finally finished cooking.
The dining table was packed with dishes.
They were all steaming, fragrant northeastern dishes that looked incredibly appetizing.
So much so that Gu Lin didn't even have time to bicker or sulk at Xie Huan.
He picked up his chopsticks and dug right in.
He even couldn't resist saying how good it tasted.
Xie Huan placed a braised lion's head meatball in Pei Tingyun's bowl.
"You made this. I think it's good. Give it a taste and see what you think."
Pei Tingyun looked at the meatball in his bowl.
Xie Huan had done 99.9 percent of the work on this dish.
He knew perfectly well that Pei Tingyun had only exploited a loophole to fool the director earlier.
Yet he still gave Pei Tingyun credit for the dish.
Xie Huan was pretty good at handling social niceties, wasn't he?
Pei Tingyun said, "Mm, it tastes good."
Pei Tingyun had barely taken a bite of the meatball when a piece of rib appeared in his bowl.
Pei Tingyun said, "You eat. I can get my own food."
Xie Huan agreed aloud. "Sure."
But his chopsticks picked up another piece of crispy sweet-and-sour pork and placed it in Pei Tingyun's bowl.
"You get yours, I'll get mine."
Pei Tingyun: "..."
The livestream comments:
[Xie Huan: if we both get you food, you can have double portions!]
[Hahaha, Xie Huan's adding something every second. Is he trying to fatten up our Peipei?]
[Is this how northeasterners express their love? I've totally failed to learn it!]
After the meal, the director announced the end of the day's livestream.
All the livestream equipment was switched off.
Next came the cast's individual interviews.
Hearing about the interviews, Xie Huan, who had never experienced this segment before, asked Pei Tingyun:
"What's an individual interview?"
Pei Tingyun said, "It's an interview. Each person gets interviewed separately."
Xie Huan nodded. "Oh, got it. An individual interview means interviewing you behind everyone else's back."
Pei Tingyun blinked.
Uh...
There didn't seem to be anything wrong with understanding it that way.
Interview mini-theater:
1
A staff member asked, "There are five people in the Roaming Group, but you only seem to give Mr. Pei special care. Why?"
Xie Huan said, "Aw, he's my little bro. Isn't it only right that I look after him?"
The staff member asked, "Just a little brother?"
Xie Huan said, "What else would he be?"
The staff member asked, "The others are all younger than you too. Why don't you give them special care?"
Xie Huan said, "That's different."
The staff member asked, "How is it different?"
Xie Huan thought it over with that brain of his that lacked any wiring for romance.
He couldn't figure it out.
In the end, he left it at, "Dunno. It's just different."
2
A staff member asked, "Everyone online is shipping you and Xie Huan now. How do you see that?"
Pei Tingyun said, "I haven't been online these past two days, so I can't see it."
The staff member asked, "Now that you know, how do you feel?"
Pei Tingyun said, "I feel like your production team is very good at generating buzz."
The staff member, who hadn't managed to get a single useful piece of information out of him: "..."
I'm not the director. You don't have to roast me like this...
Pei Tingyun's interview came after Xie Huan's.
By the time he finished, Xie Huan was already showering in their room.
Pei Tingyun returned to the room and flopped onto his bed.
He stared at the ceiling, considering how to talk to Xie Huan in a bit.
Should I ask him directly why he knows me so well?
Or be a little more roundabout...
As he was pondering this.
He suddenly heard Xie Huan's phone, which was lying on the bed, chime.
Pei Tingyun hadn't intended to pay it any attention.
But it chimed several times in a row.
Pei Tingyun called loudly toward the bathroom:
"Xie Huan, your phone's going off."
Xie Huan's voice came from the bathroom along with the sound of running water:
"Oh, I forgot to bring my phone. Ting'er, bring it in for me, would you?"
Pei Tingyun's eyes flew wide open.
What?!
Asking your crush to bring your phone into the bathroom halfway through a shower.
Are you hoping I'll see something?
Or hoping something will happen?
Who would've thought Xie Huan had so many tricks up his sleeve when it came to flirting!
There was absolutely no way Pei Tingyun would bring the phone inside for him.
At most, he would take it to the door.
Pei Tingyun figured the production team had supplied their phones, and everyone's contacts were people from the show, so there couldn't be anything private on them.
But when he walked over to Xie Huan's bed and looked.
The person messaging Xie Huan was someone he knew all too well-
Sister Hua.
Pei Tingyun's pupils practically quaked!
Holy crap!
Isn't that my manager?!
When did those two get mixed up with each other?!
Pei Tingyun stared at the name "Sister Hua" on the screen as a sense of foreboding came over him.
He took a deep breath.
His finger hovered above the screen for a second.
In the end, he swiped it open.
The screen wasn't locked.
The chat appeared right before his eyes.
Sister Hua had sent several messages in a row.
Every one of them was about him.
Sister Hua: [Has the livestream ended?]
Sister Hua: [How's Peipei doing?]
Sister Hua: [Is he feeling unwell at all?]
Sister Hua: [Are you still working?]
Sister Hua: [Sorry for the trouble, but please reply when you see this.]
In his shock, Pei Tingyun couldn't resist scrolling a little.
Then he saw their previous chat history.
Pei Tingyun's manager had not only asked Xie Huan to look after him, but had also sent a whole list of things to watch out for.
From major things like his issues with physical contact and insomnia.
To minor things like how he had blown up a kitchen while cooking, didn't eat garlic chives, and so on...
She had spelled everything out in perfect detail.
Great.
Mystery solved.
So Xie Huan knowing far too much about me was all my blabbermouth manager's fault!
Pei Tingyun suddenly felt his head ache and his heart grow troubled.
So all this time, has Xie Huan only been good to me because my manager asked him to?
As though trying to escape something, Pei Tingyun tossed Xie Huan's phone back onto the bed, picked up his own, and left the room with a frown.
I'd better find somewhere quiet and call her to demand an explanation first!
After his shower, Xie Huan came out of the bathroom wearing only a pair of board shorts, drying his hair.
Only to find that Pei Tingyun, who had been talking to him just a moment ago, was no longer in the room.
But he didn't think much of it, assuming the production team had called Pei Tingyun away.
Xie Huan walked over to the bed and sat down.
He picked up his phone and started replying to Sister Hua.