Their eyes had barely met when Director Gong's voice interrupted them.
When Director Gong saw Xia Zhiyi arrive, his smile immediately widened, and he beckoned him over cheerfully. "Xia Zhiyi, you're here. Let me introduce you. This is Mr. Fu, Fu Chi, who's also an investor in our show."
Director Gong said, "You two met just now, so I suppose there's no need for much of an introduction?"
Xia Zhiyi smiled. "Director Gong, Mr. Fu."
Fu Chi said, "Mm."
Director Gong continued, "I didn't call you over for anything in particular. I was just explaining what happened yesterday to Mr. Fu. If it hadn't been for you, our show might have had to stop airing yesterday, so I thought I'd have Mr. Fu meet you."
Xia Zhiyi said, "It wasn't that serious. Generally speaking, bamboo pit vipers don't attack people unprovoked. They only attack when they feel threatened."
"Even without me yesterday, everyone would most likely have been safe as long as they moved away in time and didn't attack it."
Xia Zhiyi wasn't lying to comfort Director Gong about this. It was a fact.
It wasn't just bamboo pit vipers, either. Snakes in general weren't particularly aggressive toward humans.
When a snake encountered a person, often the person was frightened, and so was the snake. Both wanted to flee.
But if someone insisted on courting death and deliberately provoked it, they deserved to get bitten.
After yesterday's incident, Director Gong had looked into it himself and knew this, but he was still grateful that Xia Zhiyi had stepped in yesterday. "We still have to thank you for stepping in. Otherwise, our crew would have been scared out of their wits too, and might have ended up fighting the snake. If anyone got hurt, it would be a loss for our show."
As he spoke, Director Gong turned to Fu Chi. "Mr. Fu, I don't know if you watched our livestream yesterday, but Teacher Xia here is quite something. He may be young, but his skills are the best I've seen in my entire life."
There wasn't much expression on Fu Chi's face, making him look somewhat aloof, but his gaze was calm. At those words, he nodded slightly. "Mm, I've learned a little about him."
Then Fu Chi looked at Xia Zhiyi and said, "Thank you."
Xia Zhiyi felt he was being a little too earnest, which left him somewhat embarrassed.
Before Xia Zhiyi could speak, however, Fu Chi asked Director Gong, "So, have you gotten to the bottom of the venomous snake incident? I imagine the production team wouldn't be foolish enough not to inspect the surrounding area beforehand, or to use a venomous snake for entertainment value. Was yesterday's incident really an accident, or was it deliberate? After all this time, surely you've found something?"
At the mention of this, much of the smile faded from Director Gong's face. He rubbed his hair and only spoke after a moment. "Well, I already have my suspicions. I just haven't found any evidence."
Fu Chi said coldly, "So it was deliberate."
Director Gong said, "...Yes."
Fu Chi said nothing more and simply watched Gong Cheng in silence.
Director Gong fell silent for a while, glanced at Xia Zhiyi, who stood quietly to one side, then sighed. "Even if we really find evidence, I can't bring it out into the open. At least while we're filming, we can't have someone on the show turn out to be a criminal."
Xia Zhiyi's eyes shifted. Thinking of Zhou Kai's various unusual behaviors, he lowered his gaze slightly, hiding the darkness in his eyes.
Director Gong seemed unwilling to discuss this in front of Xia Zhiyi either, and said with a chuckle, "Right, Xia Zhiyi, as a guest, you shouldn't disappear for too long. Go on back."
"And please let the other guests know that Mr. Fu will be joining everyone for lunch as a special guest. Remember to prepare enough for two extra people when you make lunch. Agent Chen should be joining us too."
Xia Zhiyi looked up, seemingly not having understood their earlier exchange, and answered with a smile, "All right."
Then, without another word, he turned and left.
Only once he had gone did Director Gong turn to Fu Chi and say helplessly, "President Fu, this matter... how could we discuss it in front of a guest? Besides, Xia Zhiyi has only just come of age. He's still a kid. How could we talk about such dirty business in front of a child?"
Fu Chi said coolly, "Even if you don't tell him, he can guess."
Director Gong said, "How could he? Students these days are all so innocent. If you don't mention it, they certainly won't think along those lines."
Then Director Gong added, "Still, regarding this matter, it just so happens that Chen Yun came today. We'll discuss Zhou Kai's withdrawal from the show with her later. We only planned for five guests to begin with anyway."
Fu Chi said, "Will Chen Yun agree?"
Getting Zhou Kai onto the show had taken more than a few words from Chen Yun. She had paid something for it too.
The smile vanished completely from Director Gong's face, his expression turning serious. "She has no choice. I only wanted to make a slice-of-life variety show, not an episode of Legal Report."
As he spoke, Director Gong remembered what had happened to Zhou Kai when he got up that morning and scoffed. "It's quite a coincidence, though. I was just wondering how to reduce Zhou Kai's screen time today, and then he refused to leave his room because of his hives. Saved me quite a bit of trouble."
At present, Director Gong indeed had no solid evidence against Zhou Kai, but after so long in the industry, even if Gong Cheng wasn't a fully seasoned operator, he was halfway there. He knew how to read people. How could he have missed Zhou Kai's guilty behavior yesterday?
Before the guests gathered, Zhou Kai had been doing his best to show off. After the incident, he suddenly kept a low profile.
The other guests hadn't seen Zhou Kai's behavior that morning and didn't know about it, but with such an obvious contrast, how could Director Gong, the chief director, fail to notice?
He simply hadn't exposed it because he didn't want to disrupt filming.
For the sake of the show, Director Gong was still letting Zhou Kai save face. Since he happened to have hives, he could take this opportunity to leave, allowing everyone to retain some dignity.
If he refused to leave, he couldn't blame them for showing no mercy.
"Huh? Enough for two extra guests at lunch... it's doable, but my cooking is average. Wouldn't it be bad if the two new guests don't like it?" Qin Yue hesitated after hearing the message Xia Zhiyi brought back.
Xia Zhiyi said, "Well... Sister Yueyue, you don't really need to worry too much. Since they're coming here, I imagine both guests know what our current situation is like."
After a pause, Xia Zhiyi gave a light cough and said, "As long as it isn't burnt or undercooked, it should be fine."
Qin Yue said, "...Now that you've said that, I'm even more worried."
None of them could get the hang of that earthen stove. What Xia Zhiyi described really might happen.
The two stared at each other for a moment, at a loss.
Just then, Fu Yunyi returned from outside. Seeing the two by the back door, he walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Xia Zhiyi gave him a brief explanation.
Fu Yunyi blurted out, "Then why not just have him cook it himself?"
Xia Zhiyi and Qin Yue: "..."