CH 8

Before Jiang Laien opened the door, she hurriedly picked up the cake, slammed it back in its box, and moved it and the second set of tableware into the kitchen before coming out again.

But when she reached over to serve herself a plate of steamed prawns, Jiang Laien had already opened the door and walked in.

Jiang Laien’s makeup that day was as exquisite and beautiful as ever, and she was wearing a light gray skirt with a waistband of soft cloth. The whole ensemble made it look like she had just come from a small banquet.

Seeing that someone had come in, Ye Kehuan, who had planned to continue withdrawing, had her mind go blank, so she sat down at the table and picked up the silverware.

After Jiang Laien came in, she saw a large table of vegetables in front of Ye Kehuan. She was shocked and could help but wonder to herself: Did she cook it for me? After all, today is my birthday.

Taking a closer look, she saw a plate of steamed garlic prawns, a bowl of winter melon meatball soup, a plate of boiled cabbage hearts, and a plate of pickled and shredded beef on the table.

Every dish looked extremely delicious and appetizingly presented. A lot of work must have gone into them.

Although Ye Kehuan’s chopsticks were in her hand, there was nothing on her dish yet.

“Back?” In the end, when Jiang Laien walked over, Ye Kehuan took the initiative to ask.

“Yeah.” Jiang Laien nodded.

“Oh…” Ye Kehuan also nodded.

“Why did you cook so many dishes?” At that moment, Jiang Laien walked to the table and asked.

Ye Kehuan was stunned for a second, biting the tip of her chopsticks, and replied: “Because… I wanted to try a bit of everything, so I made so many inadvertently.”

When Jiang Laien heard this, she suddenly felt she was really a bit ridiculous.

I suddenly felt that someone would only cook so many dishes because they remember that today is my birthday and they wanted to surprise me. What part of me is worth so much trouble?

Thinking of this, Jiang Laien could help but smile awkwardly and look to the side. “It seems you have a good appetite--eat more.”

After listening to her, Ye Kehuan coughed again, and then asked, “Have you had dinner?”

Jiang Laien grabbed a big suitcase and moved it up the stairs with force. “I have eaten.”

After speaking, Jiang Laien continued to bow her head and carry up her suitcase. She didn’t know if God was against her or something, but the wheels at the bottom of the suitcase caught on every edge and corner of the steps, making ugly sounds. Jiang Laien’s eyebrows furrowed without her even realizing.

Ye Kehuan held her chopsticks and stared at her for a while before finally putting down the chopsticks and walking over. She took the suitcase and said, “I’ll help you get this.”

“No need…” Jiang Laien stroked her hair, “Just eat your food. I’m not that weak.”

“If you are not that weak, then why are you still stuck here…” Ye Kehuan answered.

However, Jiang Laien stubbornly took the suitcase from her hand, and then stubbornly supported herself on the handrails and walked upwards with crooked and heavy steps as if she was about to fall down the stairs.

Ye Kehuan looked at her from behind and couldn’t help but ask: “In a bad mood?”

“Yes,” Jiang Laien’s voice trembled a little, “Of course I won’t be in a good mood after being stuck on the highway for a few hours.”

Ye Kehuan nodded and tried to carry the suitcase again. “I see. Let me do it.”

“No, you leave me alone. I can do it myself.” However, Jiang Laien snapped again.

“Okay, I don’t care!” Ye Kehuan was done, so she returned to her dining table to sit down again.

Maybe because Ye Kehuan’s voice was a little too loud, Jiang Laien suddenly felt a little uncomfortable while listening to it. Then she opened her mouth and let out a sigh. After carrying the suitcase up the last step, she finally turned her head to look downstairs. Jiang Laien opened the door of her room and walked in, then closed the door with a “bang”.

The sound was a little loud, and the crystal lamps in the room seemed to be swaying constantly.

Ye Kehuan looked at the food on the table with her arms folded, and instantly picked up her bowl and chopsticks, grabbed a prawn, and took a big bite. “You said you missed me earlier, as if you couldn’t let go. Then you suddenly changed your attitude back later. I really don’t understand it, don’t care about it--who would want to care about you? Whoever cares about you is a pig.”

After eating some, it was really too much, so Ye Kehuan packed everything into the kitchen, then opened a small cupboard, took the cake out from it, and directly stuffed a piece of cream into her mouth with her hands.

Unexpectedly, after deliberating for a long time, she still couldn’t let it go. Ye Kehuan turned on the faucet and began to wash her hands.

The next day.

Because Ye Kehuan’s role was finished, and her reputation was still the same as ever, she was not so busy and instead quite leisurely, so she went out to prepare various things for participating in the show.

Since this show was a tourism and food show, the general model is that the group of people go out to various places with famous food cultures to experience life, appreciate the customs of the world, and even play at some of the local sites. They would taste the local food, and in the end, each group would make the local food with their own hands, and the most authoritative local gourmet would comment on it.

In general, this was a show of eating and drinking, and probably because the content of the show was relatively light, it was very relaxing, and suitable for people who were devastated by life in the modern era, so its ratings are very high.

Because the filming of the show would take more than a month in total and spread across twelve cities, some necessary items would need to be prepared. Although Ye Kehuan had never participated in a reality or variety show because she was used to recording in a studio.

After walking around, Ye Kehuan bought gauze, iodophor, medical cotton swabs, band-aids, some cold medicine, stomach-invigorating tables, compresses, and so on.

It seemed like she was heading out for a large battle.

While packing her suitcases in the evening, she felt that her two suitcases looked like a treasure bag of Doraemon with almost everything she wanted.

After everything was packed, two big suitcases were picked out without paying attention. After thinking about it, Ye Kehuan re-packed in more affordable suitcases with cheaper clothes. She was trying to be as low-key as possible, as she didn’t want people to focus their attention on strange things.

Although Ye Kehuan and Jiang Laien lived together, they set out for the recording separately in order to avoid being gossiped about.

The recording started after arriving at the first stop and getting off the plane. Ye Kehuan just came out but was taken aback by the huge camera placed in front of her face.

“Hello, hello.” Ye Kehuan immediately spoke to the camera, but the cinematographer didn’t speak, just nodding while carrying the camera.

So Ye Kehuan pushed her sunglasses up: “You can’t talk, can you?”

The camera clicked up and down again.

“Hey, okay, let’s go. I’ll get my luggage first.” After Ye Kehuan finished speaking, she carried a small bag and walked towards the luggage conveyor belt, and started to wait to take her luggage.

The first stop was recorded in a place called Bincheng [En. Beach City or Coastal City]. As the name suggested, it was close to the sea and had beautiful scenery. Although it was not a popular tourist city, the tourism industry had gradually developed in recent years. When the program team came there, it was tantamount to advertising it.

After Ye Kehuan got her luggage and walked out of the airport, she took a taxi and went to the address given by the program group.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Kehuan arrived at the small villa arranged by the program group.

The small villa looked pretty. It was square with open-air balconies and huge swimming pools, but they would only stay there for two days, barely two and a half if they counted that day.

Ye Kehuan pulled her suitcase, and when she arrived outside the villa, she reached out and pressed the doorbell, and the door opened.

After entering, a white-born girl opened the door of the villa and greeted her. “Hi. Hello. I’m Bai Wei.”

“Hi, hello, I’m Ye Kehuan.” Ye Kehuan shook her hand.

Who was Bai Wei? Bai Wei was also a newcomer who had first debuted two years ago. She was currently only seventeen years old. She had the face of a first love. She looks very innocent, and a little innocent. She also had two dimples when she laughed, which placed her in a very popular type. Even in real life she looked very easy to get along with.

“Is it heavy? Let me help you.” After Bai Wei finished speaking, she stretched out a slender arm wearing a white ghost crystal1 bracelet towards Ye Kehuan.

“It’s not heavy at all.” Ye Kehuan shook her head. After carrying her things in, she looked around at her surroundings. “Are you and I alone here now?”

“No,” Bai Wei shook her head. “Sister Wen Xian, Brother Zhao Qi, and Brother Li Yuean went to the supermarket to buy things together, and then Sister Liu Yun, Sister Laien, and Brother Zhou Junyi are busy making dinner in the kitchen.2

After Ye Kehuan heard Jiang Laien’s name, her entire back stiffened, and then she smiled again: “No wonder, I was wondering why it smells so sweet.”

Then, Ye Kehuan set her luggage aside, and walked to the kitchen with Bai Wei.

The kitchen was quite large, roughly tens of square meters, but there were only three people standing in it. A little girl washing vegetables and the pair of Jiang Laien and Zhou Junyi.

At this moment, the three people were talking and laughing, seeming to get along very well.

“Sister Kehuan is here!” Bai Wei shouted after entering the kitchen.

As a result, all three people in the kitchen turned to look at her, including Jiang Laien.

After Ye Kehuan saw Jiang Laien, she raised her hand and scraped the tip of her nose. “Hello everyone.”

“Hello, you’re here?” Liu Yun turned her head around and asked actively.

“Well, are you cooking?” Ye Kehuan walked over. “Is there anything I can help with?”

“It’s okay, I can handle things here.” Zhou Junyi smiled softly at her after listening.

“Oh.” Ye Kehuan stood by the counter, nodded, and then looked at Jiang Laien who was silently cutting potatoes next to her.

After a while, Jiang Laien fiddled with a thick potato on the cutting board and said softly: “It’s really difficult to cook. I think my potato is ugly.”

After Ye Kehuan listened, she was about to speak. As a result, Zhou Junyi, who was standing with her, hurriedly rushed over and stood beside Jiang Laien. Looking at the cutting board, he smiled: “It’s okay, take your time. Beginners are like this; you are already very good.”

“Really? Are you comforting me? Such a big piece can’t be used for braised beef, right?” Jiang Laien raised her head and frowned slightly.

The next second, Zhou Junyi smiled again: “How could I lie to you? It’s okay, come on, I will teach you. First… Then, this…”

When Zhou Junyi said these words, the cameraman carried the camera over and gave them a close-up of each of their faces before giving them a close-up of the two in the same frame, which looked like he was going to give them a full CP3.

Ye Kehuan could predict what kind of fangirl screaming around the details of the two of them would happen after the show started.

For a while, Ye Kehuan didn’t know what was wrong with her. As soon as she turned her head and saw the two of them who seemed to be very close, she kept feeling choked in her throat and uncomfortable.

Was Zhou Junyi made of gooey sugar? Do you have no spine? What are you doing so close to Jiang Laien?

TL/N

1 - Ghost crystal seems to be a kind of quartz. This is probably a bad machine translation and it means something else though, but I don’t know what.

2 - When speaking in a formal setting, regardless of what honorifics you give them, people are generally referred to by their full name. Using anything else is a bit informal. That’s why Bai Wei, a girl, uses the full name for all of the men, but only the given name of most of the girls.

3 - CP is slang for ship, as in the romantic kind. Because this is what is used in Chinese fandoms, I won’t be changing it.