[Pfft-this really is... hahahahahahahaha.]
[Director Yang: just tell me, are the cuts of meat big enough? Are the fish fat enough?]
[Jian Yuanjia's expression could keep me laughing for a year.]
[Director Yang: what goes around comes around. Who has heaven ever spared?]
Looking at the table full of raw meat and vegetables, Ji Nanshu fell into thought. Clearly, he could not cook.
Jian Yuanjia shakily raised his hand. "I... I can't cook. Can any of you?"
Ji Nanshu immediately chimed in. "Neither can I!"
Cen Yan spoke up timidly. "I only know a teeny, tiny, little bit..."
Chu Mo sighed. "I'll do it."
Aside from his little guy, not a single one of these teammates was any use!
Bai Nanyu came forward with a beaming smile. "Teacher Chu, I cook at home too. Shall I help you?"
It wasn't as though he hadn't watched this livestream. Film Emperor Chu's fans might be laid-back, but their numbers were very real. If he could just latch on, the traffic was guaranteed.
Chu Mo gave Bai Nanyu a cold look. "No need." Then he picked up some of the ingredients, turned, and went into the kitchen.
Did he really think Chu Mo didn't know what sort of person he was? Chu Mo had already uncovered everything while investigating his little guy.
"S-sorry..." Rebuffed, Bai Nanyu looked aggrieved. "T-Teacher Chu, do you hate me that much?"
The moment Ji Nanshu heard that, he knew what stunt Bai Nanyu was trying to pull. Before Chu Mo could speak, he said, "Teacher Chu, since Mr. Bai wants to help, just let him. Otherwise, who knows? You might end up with some scandal about shutting out newcomers."
Yu Lu tried to smooth things over. "Teacher Ji, Nanyu only wanted to help~"
"Aren't I letting him help?" Ji Nanshu picked up the ingredients on the table and made the offhand remark. "Sister Lan, does anyone else on your team know how to cook?"
Suddenly put on the spot, Li Lan looked a little dazed. "Ah... huh? I can cook."
"Then let's go."
In the livestream, the comments rolled in-
[Wait, is Ji Nanshu trying to make the losing team help cook too?]
[+1 to the person above. That's what I think too. They don't even get to eat, and he's making them work for free.]
[Chu Mo's being weird too. Why's he so harsh with a newcomer? Has Ji Nanshu's face bewitched him?]
[Wouldn't be surprising. With that face... hehehe, I'd want to as well...]
[Isn't he a homewrecker too? Maybe loads of people have slept with him and his asshole's already ruined?]
[Aren't you haters disgusting? Is being good-looking a crime now? If you're calling him a homewrecker, show some proof! You're so damn annoying. Can't even watch a slow-paced variety show without you running your mouths!!]
After a few steps, Ji Nanshu looked back. "What are you standing around for? Do you want meat tonight or not?"
Li Lan's eyes lit up, and she immediately followed. "Coming, little brother Nanshu~" Who would want pickles and rice porridge when there was meat to eat? She wasn't stupid!
Jiang Yue silently followed as well.
Yu Lu froze for a moment, then followed too. Obviously, who wanted pickles and rice porridge when they could have meat? Besides, if everyone else went to help and he didn't, wouldn't that give people something to criticize? He'd look so unsociable!
[Hahahahaha, all those people saying he was making the other team work for free-slapped in the face now, aren't you?]
[With Buddha in your heart, everything is Buddha; with shit in your heart, everything is shit.]
[Let me add a heading to that couplet: you're a pile of shit!]
Director Yang: "..." Aaaaaah, this Ji Nanshu!!! Why was he so good at finding loopholes?!!
Sour face.jpg
In the kitchen.
Bai Nanyu volunteered to chop the vegetables. "Let me chop! When I lived with my adoptive parents, I did all the cooking!"
Bai Nanyu had carefully thought those words through. First, he would say he had done all the cooking at his adoptive parents' home, then bring up his background. The buzz and traffic would follow.
Sure enough, Yu Lu obligingly sounded puzzled. "Huh? So you're the Bai Family's adopted son?"
Bai Nanyu glanced at Ji Nanshu, who was trimming vegetables, and shyly pursed his lips. "Of course they're my biological parents! I meant before Mom and Dad found me! Mom and Dad said human traffickers abducted me when I was little... They only found me again recently~!"
Those words immediately earned Bai Nanyu several sympathetic looks.
"Don't look at me like that!! Although... let's not talk about it." Bai Nanyu's show of strength earned him gentle treatment from the guests. "Mom, Dad, and my brothers all treat me very well now! I'm very content!!"
Abducted as a child, a difficult past, and a strong, innocent persona-one had to admit Bai Nanyu did have a little cleverness in him. Hopefully, he could put that cleverness to proper use.
Otherwise... he would only bring about his own destruction.
On his first day reborn in this body, Ji Nanshu had said he would make sure the Bai Family and the He Family met miserable ends. He would certainly keep that promise.
As for how...
As Buddha said, it could not be spoken.
Jiang Yue, who was trimming vegetables nearby, was among those taken in by Bai Nanyu's resilient persona. His expression unconsciously softened. "Nanyu, let me help you."
Bai Nanyu thanked him sweetly. "Thank you, Mr. Jiang!"
He didn't actually need help from someone like Jiang Yue, who didn't have much traffic in the entertainment industry. Jian Yuanjia or Film Emperor Chu would have been best.
Whether Yu Lu had no sense of timing or an excellent one was unclear, but he asked, "Then, since you call Ji Nanshu your third brother, are you two..."
That question was exactly what Bai Nanyu had been hoping for. It was just as his second brother had said.
"Ah... well..." Bai Nanyu put on a troubled expression, bit his lower lip, and looked at Ji Nanshu, who was washing vegetables. "I-I can't say!"
Yu Lu had disliked Ji Nanshu from the very first time he saw him. That face and figure posed far too much of a threat in the entertainment industry.
So, as though he didn't understand at all, Yu Lu even called out specifically to Ji Nanshu. "Huh? Teacher Ji, why can't he say?"
Still focused on washing vegetables, Ji Nanshu didn't even look up. "Do as you please."
He didn't care about it in the slightest.
Anyone interested could find out about something like this with a little digging anyway. There was no need to hide it. Besides, it wasn't anything shameful.
Bai Nanyu lowered his eyes, thought for a moment, and sighed. "Since Third... Teacher Ji agrees... Teacher Ji is a child our family adopted. He's a little older than me, so I call him my third brother. But... Teacher Ji... are you really not going home to apologize to Dad?"
Only then did Ji Nanshu shake the water from his hands, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Sure. I'll apologize to your dad in front of all the viewers. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have attended your youngest son's engagement party. I shouldn't have defended myself when someone drugged and framed me, accusing me of seducing your youngest son's fiancé. I shouldn't have argued with you when, without investigating the truth at all, you tried to drag me off to apologize to your youngest son's fiancé."
Ji Nanshu's mouth was like a machine gun, firing off words so rapidly that Bai Nanyu had no chance to interrupt.
The whole point was, "I already apologized. What more do you want from me?"