Ji Ying took the four of them to one of Wuzhen's most famous restaurants-Guests Come.
"Come on! Order whatever you like!" Ji Ying said, handing the menu to Ji Nanshu.
Ji Nanshu took a glance at the menu, then passed it straight to Chu Mo. "Teacher Chu, please order first."
"Oh, right, Sister Ji, does Guests Come serve a lot of local specialties?" On the walk over, Ji Nanshu had learned that Yu Niuniu's grandparents were Wuzhen locals. "Could I trouble you to recommend some?"
Ji Ying chuckled. "You've asked the right person! Let me tell you... this one, this one, this one..."
Ji Ying pointed out twelve dishes in a row, including quite a few snacks.
"These all count. The food here is really good! Locals like eating here too."
With Ji Ying's guidance, the four of them still ordered only one dish each. Once she confirmed that Ji Nanshu and the others weren't ordering anything else, she took the menu and, with a grand wave of her hand, ordered all the dishes she had introduced to Ji Nanshu that they hadn't chosen.
"Don't be shy!"
Yu Niuniu nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "Exactly, exactly! Pretty big brother, order whatever you want! Mommy's a rich lady! She's got plenty of money!"
Yu Niuniu's childish words made everyone present and the viewers in the livestream laugh.
[Ji Ying: I sure raised a wonderful daughter!]
[This kid really is smart!]
[Polite children are just so likable!]
[So are parents who apologize! Unlike some parents with their ridiculous "He's just a child. Why are you picking on a child?" Every time I hear that, my head hurts!]
[I wish I could send all those little brats back to be remade with one swing of a club!!!]
Guests Come served its food quickly. In less than half an hour, all the dishes had arrived, one after another.
They were just about to dig in when a slightly angry shout suddenly reached their ears. "Ji Nanshu, you're cheating?!"
Ji Nanshu: "?"
Why was it Bai Nanchen again?
Ji Nanshu put down his chopsticks and shot back, "Are those two holes under your eyebrows for letting air out? Can't you see there are six of us? Besides, which eye of yours saw me cheating? Those two air holes?"
"Ji Nanshu! You're cheating, and you still think you're in the right?! All these viewers can see it!" Bai Nanchen firmly believed that Ji Nanshu was cheating. Otherwise, how could someone like Ji Nanshu possibly have such a good lunch?
Chu Mo put down his chopsticks too, a trace of coldness seeping into his dark eyes as he asked unhurriedly, "Mr. Bai, are you saying I cheated too?"
"No... I..."
Before Bai Nanchen could finish, Chu Mo interrupted him again. "Then, by singling out... Nanshu, are you targeting him?"
"I'm not!!" Bai Nanchen hurried to defend himself. No matter how stupid he was, he couldn't possibly admit on a livestream that he was targeting Ji Nanshu!
Yu Lu stepped forward with a show of sincerity to explain, "Teacher Chu, I'm sorry. Brother Nanchen is just exhausted from doing tasks all morning, and he's anxious to finish them. He hasn't eaten yet, either. Then he suddenly saw you eating at such a nice restaurant, so... after all, Director Yang only gave all of us a hundred yuan in starting funds!"
Well, damn. What a masterful string of barbs wrapped in cotton!
Not only had he left the viewers with an impression of how understanding he was, but he had also helped Bai Nanchen out of his predicament and pleased him. By leaving his words unfinished, he had even made some viewers who didn't know the full story think the group had cheated to complete their task.
The moment Bai Nanchen rushed out, Jiang Yue had very cooperatively taken two steps back. Charging in with accusations before understanding what had happened? He wasn't that stupid.
Before Ji Nanshu could speak, Yu Niuniu hopped off her little stool, planted her hands on her hips, and shouted angrily, "Niuniu was playing on her skateboard in a crowded place and crashed into pretty big brother, and pretty big brother even saved Niuniu! Mommy only treated him to lunch to apologize for Niuniu. What's wrong with that? Why are you shouting and yelling and scolding him?!"
Ji Ying had a poor impression of both Bai Nanchen and Yu Lu. One was an impulsive, brainless fool; the other was a male green tea through and through.
"Niuniu, don't be rude." Ji Ying stroked Yu Niuniu's little head, then looked at Bai Nanchen and Yu Lu. "I invited Nanshu and the others to this meal to apologize to them. Do either of you think I've done something wrong?"
When Ji Ying turned her head, Li Lan recognized her-the wife of Century Entertainment's owner and the adopted daughter of the head of the Ji Family in Jing City.
She was also the wife of Li Lan's own boss. Her assessment: not someone she could afford to offend; in fact, someone she needed to please.
"No, no. We were too rash! Sorry!" Yu Lu waved his hands apologetically while looking pitiful as he moved to pull Bai Nanchen away. "Sorry for interrupting your meal. Brother Nanchen, let's go. You, Brother Yue, and Sister Lan haven't even eaten because of the task. Let's hurry and finish it so we can see if we can make it in time for dinner!"
At those words, some fans in the livestream instantly lost their composure.
[Mistress Ji, you @#￥％￥(ten thousand words omitted here), why are you insulting our brother!!]
[My heart hurts for Brother Nanchen. Who is this woman called Ji Ying?! Why is she protecting Ji Nanshu? Is she sick in the head?!]
[Our Lulu is so pitiful! He's been doing tasks all this time without even eating.]
[With all those dishes, why couldn't they invite our Brother Nanchen to eat with them?! Not a shred of compassion! Disgusting!]
[Our Film Empress Lan hasn't eaten either! Neither has Jiang Yue.]
[Eh, that's normal. If Ji Nanshu hadn't gotten lucky, this group probably wouldn't have anything to eat either.]
[Why does the way this Yu Lu talks sound so off...]
It had to be said that some fans became Bai Nanchen's fans because their thought processes worked in remarkably similar ways. Take this moment, for example-
"We're all guests on the same show. Can't you treat us too?!" Bai Nanchen blurted out without thinking, utterly self-righteous.
Ji Nanshu slapped his chopsticks down, his gaze sharp and his lips curling into a mocking smile. "Treat you to a meal? Why should I? Because you've got such a big face? Or because that brain of yours doesn't work very well?"
Li Lan and Jiang Yue frantically waved their hands in their minds. Not me! I didn't! Don't drag me into this!!
Bai Nanchen was nearly driven mad with anger by Ji Nanshu and began spouting whatever came to mind. "Ji Nanshu, I'm doing you a favor by letting you treat us. Don't refuse to save face when I'm offering it. I... mmph!!!"
The next second, the two men in Bai Nanchen's group very decisively clapped their hands over his mouth.
First came Yu Lu. "Teacher Ji, you all carry on filming!!"
Then Jiang Yue. "We're leaving now!! See you tonight!"
Li Lan wrapped things up. "Teacher Ji, Miss Ji, Teacher Chu, Yuanjia, Yanyan, we'll be going now. Please don't take it to heart. Nanchen is just a little rash."
Everything they said was meant to convey one message: Bai Nanchen had done all of this on his own. It had nothing to do with the other three!
Yu Niuniu understood none of this. She simply stared with her big, round eyes, looking back and forth between Ji Nanshu's and Bai Nanchen's faces three times before reaching her own conclusion. "His face does seem bigger than pretty big brother's!"
Bai Nanchen raged inwardly. Who needs a little kid like you sticking her nose in?!
[Uh, is Bai Nanchen's brain clogged with shit?]
[I don't get it, but it sounds impressive... I think Niuniu's right!]
[If I were Ji Nanshu, I'd curse him out too. What a total fucking idiot!]
[Exactly! My husband is right!]