"Has everyone had enough to eat?"
After breakfast, the director no longer needed to pull out his megaphone. Standing off camera, he addressed the seven people at the dining table:
"This will be your last breakfast that you get without working for it. From this moment on, the production team will not and cannot make any more exceptions. In other words, from now on, you'll need to complete the challenges set by the production team to obtain supplies."
"Now, please head out together to find the ingredients the production team has prepared in advance in the forest, and make your own dinner for tonight's bonfire banquet."
"However, considering that we're living in a forest, this bonfire dinner will be held indoors. You'll gather around the fireplace and complete the dares the production team has prepared for you."
[Huh, they're pretty thorough. They know not to light fires in a forest.]
[So how does this count as a bonfire banquet? Hahahaha.]
[Doesn't matter. I strongly demand that my wife's dare be dancing in a maid outfit!]
[So vulgar! Why would an aloof, peerless beauty like my wife wear a maid outfit? He should wear a qipao!]
[Honestly, you two aren't fundamentally any different.]
[Horny as wolves.]
[Why is this show practically becoming Shen Shuangjian's solo show? I don't get it...]
[Sure, he's gorgeous, but there's no need to promote him all day. Eight out of every ten videos online now are of Shen Shuangjian.]
[Exactly. What's even more disgusting is that an army of Shen Shuangjian's braindead fans suddenly popped up lately, putting everyone else down to praise him. I'm speechless.]
[And any video about Shen Shuangjian is guaranteed to mention Xie Qingchi in the comments.]
[It's always that whole pathetic act about not being able to forget Xie Qingchi. If you can't forget him, carve his name on your ancestral grave. Braindead.]
[So what's your point?]
[Isn't Shen Shuangjian the young master of a wealthy family you all keep talking about? Isn't he some aristocratic gentleman? What's he doing in the entertainment industry? Did the Shen Family go bankrupt, so he's here to rake in cash?]
[What aristocratic gentleman? He's actually a rich family's illegitimate son, okay? (doge, don't kill me)]
[Don't bother asking us not to kill you, because I'm going to tear your mouth apart!]
[What, did the late Mr. Shen whisper it in your ear? Or did he come to you in a dream and tell you Shen Shuangjian was illegitimate? You sound so certain.]
[Even Shen Shuangjian's brother has never said that. What, are you part of the Shen Family? You're the only one who knows anything, huh?]
[I don't get why you're arguing over a show. I just want to watch in peace. Can Shen Shuangjian's fans stop making a scene?]
[?]
[What an impartial bystander who can't tell right from wrong.]
[Turn off the comments. Do I really need to teach you how?]
[Bitches are so dramatic. Consort Hua never lied to me.]
The production team hadn't explored the depths of the forest beforehand either, so most of the ingredients were hidden around the outskirts of the small villa.
Besides, they were filming a show, and most of the hidden ingredients had cameras nearby, so they weren't particularly difficult to find.
Thus, chatting and laughing as they looked here and there, the group found all the ingredients and supplies the production team had prepared before noon.
Finding things wasn't difficult. The difficult part was figuring out how to cook them.
These young celebrities were usually so busy they practically wished they could turn themselves upside down. They rarely even spent time at home, let alone cooked.
So from the afternoon onward, the chaos in the kitchen never stopped. Although Gu Xuanlin and Lin Weiluo could just about be considered capable of cooking, the unfamiliar utensils, combined with the difficulty of preparing the ingredients, still left them making mistakes everywhere.
When Shen Shuangjian came downstairs after changing his clothes, Lin Weiluo let out a startled cry because she had accidentally smashed a plate.
Shen Shuangjian paused on the stairs and looked toward the kitchen with a slightly bewildered gaze.
"What do I do, what do I do? How am I supposed to season this soup?"
On the verge of a breakdown, Lin Weiluo clutched her messy hair. Her delicate, makeup-free face was full of helplessness, giving her a more genuine air than her usual glamorous star appearance.
She looked for help from Gu Xuanlin, who was equally unpracticed, but he merely shrugged, indicating that he couldn't help.
Just as she was about to put down the ladle and give up altogether, a pair of slightly cool, pale, slender hands took it from her.
"Let me."
Shen Shuangjian stood across the kitchen island, his eyes lowered as he raised his hands to tie up his long hair. Without its cover, his slender, delicate nape had no choice but to reveal a few inches of snow-white skin.
Cooking fumes curled through the kitchen, the rising haze drifting toward his cool features. Through that faint mist, his breathtaking beauty, like a fleeting glimpse of a startled swan, finally gained a little tangible reality.
Like frost and snow that would shatter at a touch, finally willing to melt into the mortal world.
Somewhat dazed, Lin Weiluo lowered her hands. She silently watched Shen Shuangjian standing across from her, and for one fleeting, hazy moment, she thought she understood Yu Sheng's impulse to abandon his promising career and willingly lose himself.
Two hours later, as the sky grew dark, Lin Weiluo sat on the sofa beside the fireplace, looked at the dinner covering the low table, and let out a long, heartfelt sigh.
"Wow... that really wasn't easy."
For this meal, Shen Shuangjian had only made one dish before everyone in the kitchen ushered him out amid a chorus of objections. Gu Xuanlin had calmly offered a little unhelpful help, and almost everything else had been made by her.
Looking as though she had lost the will to live, she curled up on the rug between the sofa and the low table, utterly at a loss.
"Thanks for all your hard work, Weiluo!"
"Thank you, thank you!"
"But I still never expected Shuangjian to know how to cook!"
Yu Sheng looked at the dish Shen Shuangjian had made with surprise and curiosity, speaking with a hint of disbelief. "I always thought Shuangjian would be the sort of person who was above worldly concerns and difficult to approach."
Yu Sheng wasn't wrong. After all, in everyone's eyes, Shen Shuangjian was an aloof beauty who had perhaps been too well protected, who wasn't good at socializing and didn't want to socialize either.
He always seemed close yet distant, and was forever the focus of others' attention. He could be a man of few words, but every word from his mouth was a maxim, an imperial decree that others couldn't help taking to heart.
For someone like Shen Shuangjian, whatever he wanted to do, the entire world would give him the green light.
"That's not true, little Xiao Yu."
Lin Weiluo, who had been leaning against the sofa playing dead, suddenly spoke. She glanced at Shen Shuangjian with a smile, then subtly prompted Yu Sheng as though pointing him toward the key.
"Actually, someone like Shuangjian really gives me the feeling that you could win him over by pestering him relentlessly."
At those words, everyone present, even Xie Jinghui, couldn't help turning their eyes toward Shen Shuangjian, who sat curled up on the rug.
A red cord, vivid as a cinnabar mole, was tied in his hair. Amid the snowy white and rich black, he slowly lowered his long lashes, concealing his tea-brown eyes.
No matter how they looked at him, he seemed distant, someone they couldn't help wanting to approach yet dared not profane.
Pester him relentlessly?
Yu Sheng looked toward Lin Weiluo with some confusion, a trace of incomprehension showing in his eyes.
As though saying: Are you serious, sis?