While the few were in shock, Dean who had been observing in silence finally spoke.
“You can cut the watermelon open before digging the inner part of the watermelon out before squeezing the juice out,” Dean reminded.
“Yes, right, Dean is correct. That will be close enough,” Li He agreed.
“I agree,” Bai Guo agreed as well.
“Um, let’s do the Watermelon Juice then,” Jiang Meisi said.
“Choose a seedless watermelon. That will make things even easier,” Master Cheng reminded.
While in this restaurant, Master Cheng was rather kind in nature. Therefore, when the customers saw him being kind, they weren’t surprised.
After all, whenever they had any questions, they could ask Master Cheng and he would patiently explain. This was unlike Lee Yanyi who had a poisonous tongue.
“Thank you, Master Cheng,” Li He nodded and thanked.
Just like that, they cheerfully decided on making Watermelon Juice. After all, this looked to be the simplest thing they could prepare.
Next, they notified the crew of their choice. The crew then placed some watermelons in the temporary kitchen.
Dean stood in front and started explaining the preparation method.
“In Chinese Cuisine, knife skills are important. Therefore, you guys are definitely incapable of replicating what Boss Yuan did. The alternative would be to first cut the watermelon open before using a fruit knife to complete the remaining steps,” Dean suggested.
“Ok,” they nodded, completely in agreement.
After all, it was an undeniable fact that their knife skills were not up to par. For now, completing the mission was their priority.
With Dean’s guidance, Li He, Bai Guo, and Jiang Meisi finally met the requirements of the producers after wasting about four watermelons.
Of course, in the process of making the Watermelon Juice, many humorous incidents had appeared, and they were exhausted by the time they were done.
Through this show, Jiang Meisi the foodie understood one thing. Regardless of how simple a dish was, it was still the result of a chef’s hard work.
Yuan Zhou’s serious attitude towards food had also turned Jiang Meisi into a main proponent against food wastage. Of course, all this had happened after the filming. Yuan Zhou was completely unaware of it.
At times, one could influence others without realizing it. At times, it might even be an adverse influence. An example of this was Fang Heng who now disliked drinking his family’s liquor due to Yuan Zhou.
Shortly after the moon rose high up in the sky and the red lanterns on the street lit up, the crew announced that the clues for the next mission were in Yuan Zhou’s hand.
As an outdoor variety show, the crew would never film at a set location. That would be way too boring. More importantly, if the filming took too long, Yuan Zhou wouldn’t agree to it as well.
Usually, they would film at three different locations per episode.
“Apart from the location of the next mission, the mission tomorrow is also in Boss Yuan’s hands. As for how to get them, it will depend on what you do,” said the director with a mischievous grin.
“I feel like they are trying to kill us. In the morning, they gave us a mission that looked simple yet impossible to complete if not for Dean,” Bai Guo started grumbling.
“And the afternoon mission is even harder. Without discussing with Boss Yuan in advance, they told us to learn from him. They are totally trying to kill us. And now, they want us to look for clues. I feel like I’m already dead,” Bai Guo rested his head on Li He’s shoulder, showing that he was really very tired.
“Tsk tsk, it’s fine to be tired but you are acting that way? Have you forgotten about me?” Jiang Meisi remarked. She was trying to say that not even a woman like her was complaining, why was he complaining as a man?
“Let me clarify that I’m not that close to this guy after all. Let us focus on how to get the clues from Boss Yuan. That should be our current priority,” Li He pushed Bai Guo away and said with a straight face.
“That is uncalled for. I am merely voicing a tiny complaint,” Bai Guo said with an expression of someone who had been wronged. Fortunately, he was handsome in appearance and thus his actions did not look annoying.
Li He rolled his eyes and turned to look at Dean, “Dean, do you have any idea?”
“No, but I don’t think Chef Yuan enjoys socializing,” Dean said with a shrug.
“True, he didn’t even raise his head when a beauty like me is around. Looks like he won’t fall for any honey traps as well,” Jiang Meisi said. As a host of a variety show, it was necessary to be shameless.
“Why don’t you say that you’re not pretty enough for him to lift his head?” Bai Guo said.
“How is that possible? My beauty is publicly acknowledged,” Jiang Meisi said confidently.
“Let us focus on our task,” Li He paused and continued, “No matter how pretty you are, it won’t help to get you more food here anyway.”
“Hahaha, look, even Boss Li can’t be bothered about you,” Bai Guo teased.
“Pfft. That’s because your sense of beauty is abnormal,” Jiang Meisi snorted and remarked.
“So he’s not sociable and won’t fall for the honey trap as well. How are we supposed to get the clues from him?” Li He rubbed his eyes and asked. It was quite a headache to host the show together with Jiang Meisi and Bai Guo. He had no choice but to start being serious.
They sank into contemplation, feeling like it was extremely difficult to get the clues from someone as strict as Yuan Zhou.
And thus, they spent about 10 minutes in discussion before coming up with a plan.
Li He would be the one to ask first. If he was rejected by Yuan Zhou, they would get Jiang Meisi to ask for the conditions to hand out the clues. Next, Bai Guo would be responsible for fulfilling the conditions. As for Dean, he would be responsible to coordinate with them and help when needed. After all, he was a guest to the show and was also a foreigner. It wouldn’t be proper if they relied too much on him. The best way to complete a task was to split it among them.
After deciding on their plan, they puffed their chests and stepped into the restaurant. At this time, the liquor customers were already on the second floor. Only Yuan Zhou was left on the first floor.
“Hello, Boss Yuan,” Li He greeted politely.
“Hello,” Yuan Zhou returned the greeting with a nod.
“See, we are looking for the clues of the location tomorrow. Can I ask if the clues are here?” Li He got straight to the point.
“Yes, it’s in the envelope on that shelf. You can take it yourselves,” Yuan Zhou nodded and said.
“If…” Li He’s words were stuck in his throat.
That’s right. He had spoken the same time Yuan Zhou nodded. He was about to ask for the conditions to release the clues. But Yuan Zhou behaved completely outside his expectations and had directly revealed the clues.
“Oh, nice. Thanks, Boss Yuan,” Li He corrected himself.
“You’re welcome. A map drawn by me is in the envelope, and behind the map is the mission content. This is your first time at Chengdu after all,” Yuan Zhou said.
“Thank you, Boss Yuan,” Li He and the others thanked him and left after taking the envelope.
After exiting the restaurant, Bai Guo spoke, “It is quite a surprise that Boss Yuan is so agreeable.”
“Yeah, he has directly given us the clues,” Jiang Meisi was astonished as well.
“Looks like Boss Yuan is a person who is cold outside but warm within,” Li He said happily.
“Indeed,” Dean agreed. It was unknown what he actually had in his mind. After leaving, he had still been staring at the restaurant, seemingly longing to go in again.
Everyone including the crew members were shocked at how easy they were able to get the clues.
“So Boss Yuan had no requests for the clues?” asked the director.
“Of course. Boss Yuan is not as ruthless as you guys,” Bai Guo said happily.
“Well, since you guys have gotten the clues, time to take a look at it,” the director said while completely ignoring the ruthless part. Evidently, he was already used to being called ruthless.
“No, wait. This is too sweet a victory. We need to take our time and enjoy it while sitting in the car. After all, Boss Yuan said that he had directly drawn us a map,” Jiang Meisi said with a beam.
“Director, let us get on the car,” Li He agreed.
“Sure,” the director nodded in agreement. The cameraman followed them along as he continued filming.
Their happiness was understandable. After all, the two missions before this had been too difficult yet the clues had been obtained so easily. It was hard to not be happy at this.
Apart from that, they had been entrapped by the producers for way too many times. Each time they got a clue, it would be an extremely vague address that was no different from a puzzle that needed solving. It was a wastage of both time and energy. This time, it was different since a map had been drawn for them.
And thus, they were extremely happy.