Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Misheard! This is the smell of boxed meals...

Around noon, the celebrity guests arrived one after another.

This episode’s guests were star-studded. Everyone was in a hurry with little time to rehearse; basically, they started filming as soon as they arrived.

They first played a small game to win ingredients, then proceeded to the usual cooking and chatting segment.

He asked the singer queen first, "What do you want to eat?"

The singer queen glanced at the ingredients they won: "There’s not much to eat here. Just make whatever you can. Don’t ask me."

Two popular young actors nearby wanted to speak but their eagerness was ignored by Lü Yi.

After being asked two or three times, the singer queen sighed helplessly and pointed to the two young actors: "You two, what do you want to eat? Say it, isn’t Teacher Lü asking?"

"I want garlic sprout stir-fried meat!"

Ye Cunxin was eager: "It’d be even better if there’s rice to go with it!"

He heard that such a simple dish is the best way to judge a chef’s skill. Lü Yi, the big shot, has done so many cooking episodes and even made several viral recipes. Cooking a simple dish like this should be a breeze, right?

Also, before coming, his agent specially emphasized that he must eat well and react a lot to grab screen time!

For an artist who’s often hungry, he was really looking forward to this meal.

Think about it: usually, it’s just raw lettuce, chicken breast salad, or sometimes only cucumber and boiled eggs for a whole day.

In such a situation, having a plate of garlic sprout stir-fried meat with rice…

He couldn’t imagine how wonderful that would be!

Lü Yi glanced at him and said on his own: "Stir-fried meat? Then let’s make twice-cooked pork and scramble some eggs with garlic sprouts."

After he said this, Bai Jing came over to smooth things out: "Twice-cooked pork is great, and it goes even better with rice! Liu Zi is from Sichuan, right? Looking forward to this dish?"

Ye Cunxin forced a smile while another popular actor replied: "Looking forward to it!"

"When I was a kid and went home, the thing I looked forward to most was this dish made by my grandpa!"

Liu Zi’s expression was far more vivid than Ye Cunxin’s—no wonder he got the male second lead in a new historical drama.

Recalling the twice-cooked pork he had eaten, his voice slowed down: "It’s just a pity that my grandpa’s health is bad now and he can’t cook anymore. It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted my grandpa’s flavor… The twice-cooked pork outside is always just a bit off in taste."

Lü Yi didn’t hesitate and poked Liu Zi with a spatula: "Your grandpa’s health is bad, but you’re still thinking about your grandpa’s flavor? Come learn from me. Once you learn, you can cook for your grandpa."

Liu Zi felt he performed well this time, got a lot of screen time, and happily went to start helping out.

Ye Cunxin felt a bit melancholy and could only sit aside chatting with the singer queen and Bai Jing, trying to get some screen time for himself.

The filming crew had many cameras shooting from every angle, busy as ever. Li, the production assistant, walked around managing everything, feeling very annoyed.

Who suggested filming at the scenic spot anyway? Everything needs to be prepared in advance; it’s really inconvenient.

…Except for the scenic spot’s boxed meals, which were actually quite interesting.

Li took out her phone, found Chen Ran’s WeChat, pinned it to the top, and changed the note from [Scenic Spot Logistics Chen Ran] to [Chef Chen Ran].

"Beauty, can we make twice-cooked pork again tonight?"When Chen Ran received the WeChat message, she was washing vegetables and hadn’t decided what to cook for the evening yet. Seeing the reply, she casually agreed.

Cooking at the scenic spot was most troublesome because of insufficient ingredients.

When the ingredients arrived today, she found that the purchaser had mistaken green garlic sprouts for scallions and bought many wrong ones, so she made twice-cooked pork as a workaround.

After setting aside some for the show’s prizes, there was one bunch left—just enough to continue making twice-cooked pork.

“What about other dishes? Is there anything you want to eat?” With no other customers around, Chen Ran decided to generously satisfy this production assistant Li.

The small restaurant in the scenic spot basically had no customers. After all, the menu with fixed prices was posted. Isn’t a ten-yuan grilled sausage tastier? Why eat a sixty-yuan rice bowl?

Could you even order dishes?

Li thought about the boxed meal from lunch—simple homestyle dishes—and couldn’t tell which culinary style the chef was specialized in. Twice-cooked pork is Sichuan cuisine, but which restaurant doesn’t have it?

While she was pondering, she saw Liu Zi smiling as he squatted to pick vegetables: “Make some stir-fried garlic sprouts! The rest is up to you!”

Chen Ran replied with an OK and began preparing the meal.

The auntie came over and said, “Oh, twice-cooked pork again? Great, I didn’t have enough at noon!”

Yanglianshan Scenic Spot had few visitors, and the small restaurant had hardly any customers, already on the verge of being shut down. Before Chen Ran arrived, they barely bought ingredients routinely, and auntie herself ate instant noodles every day.

Since Chen Ran came, she finally got fresh food!

“Yes, the crew said they wanted to eat it, so it’ll use up these green garlic sprouts,” Chen Ran reminded auntie, “Please tell the purchaser not to mistake green garlic sprouts for scallions anymore! There aren’t many scallions left; you have to buy a bunch.”

“One garlic sprout stir-fry with meat, plus one twice-cooked pork, and use the rest to make wood ear mushroom stir-fried with cabbage.”

Before long, Chen Ran finalized the menu, washed vegetables with auntie, and started chopping.

Two meat dishes and one vegetable dish might seem a bit much, but the very low-cost wood ear mushroom with cabbage made up for that.

Not to mention Liu Zhengtang came every day for meals; he didn’t care about the cost at all!

He wished Chen Ran would cook three big dishes with lots of meat every day, so he could also have some side dishes with his drinks. After all, the cooking expenses for the crew could be covered by the scenic spot’s publicity budget.

“Oh, starting to cook? That’s early today, huh?”

Chen Ran turned around and saw the balding male leader. She smiled: “The crew said they want garlic sprouts today, so I’m stir-frying them early to let them cool before making twice-cooked pork.”

“Ranran knows what to eat!”

Liu Zhengtang grabbed a small bottle of white liquor and sat down at the table: “Garlic sprouts don’t taste good on the first stir-fry. You have to let it sit a bit; otherwise, it’s basically leftover from the day before... Even cold, mix it with hot steamed rice—ah, no one can resist that!”

Auntie, knowing Liu Zhengtang was a boozehound, said: “You’re just saying that because you drank too much the day before, right?”

“Ah, come on, give me some face in front of Ranran.”

Auntie pouted and chopped cabbage vigorously.

Chen Ran had already marinated the pork slices, first stir-frying the garlic sprouts on high heat. When the sprouts turned bright green, she turned off the heat.

Let it cool before proceeding.

Chunks of pork had already been boiled and were thinly sliced for later use.

There’s a technique when cooking in a big pot: directly stir-frying seasonings can cause the oil temperature to be insufficient, so usually the ingredients are stir-fried separately first. This way, it can reach the same effect as stir-frying in a small wok.Chen Ran stir-fried the side dishes one by one, cut the cabbage, tore the wood ear mushrooms into small pieces, and then started cooking. By the time the twice-cooked pork and wood ear cabbage stir-fry were done, the garlic sprouts had cooled.

Liu Zhengtang, anxious from the aroma, couldn’t help but come over to watch Chen Ran cook.

The cooled garlic sprouts were reheated, then the prepared sauce was added. It was simmered on low heat for a while, then the heat was turned up to reduce the sauce. When served, the garlic sprouts looked yellowish and soft, fully soaked with the sauce.

“Oh, yes, that’s exactly the flavor!”

Liu Zhengtang reached out to grab some but was quickly slapped away by auntie’s sharp hand: “Wait a moment, the crew’s boxed meals aren’t packed yet!”

She and Chen Ran quickly and efficiently packed the boxed meals. Once done, the two carried large and small bags over to the crew.

Forty boxed meals were quite heavy, and the plastic bags cut into their hands. Following the principle of respecting elders and caring for the young, Chen Ran carried two more boxes than auntie.

However, the reception now was very different from the morning.

Chen Ran had just appeared when someone from the crew spotted her and ran over like a 100-meter sprinter.

“Oh, you’ve worked hard! Next time just let us know, we’ll come get it ourselves!”

“These boxed meals are really generous, packed full, and oh, there’s twice-cooked pork! I love this twice-cooked pork!”

Wan Jiaxin came over and asked, “Are these boxed meals made by our scenic spot?”

“Yes, made by Chef Chen here.”

Auntie hurriedly handed over a boxed meal while winking at Chen Ran.

Wan Jiaxin quickly reached out to take the boxed meal from Chen Ran’s hand, secretly worried the chef’s hands might get hurt from carrying so much.

“Next time send me a WeChat message, I’ll come pick it up!”

Using this excuse, Wan Jiaxin quickly added Chen Ran’s WeChat.

Fearing misunderstanding, Chen Ran said, “All the dishes are freshly made today, the garlic sprouts were specially simmered for a while, not leftover.”

“Don’t worry about that!”

Wan Jiaxin wouldn’t think otherwise.

Before interning with this crew, she had been with many crews. If the boxed meals were really sloppy, many would just put unwashed dishes straight into the pot. If the food was this delicious, even if it were leftovers, she would accept it.

Watching Chen Ran leave, Wan Jiaxin carried the boxed meal into the filming site. The director saw the boxed meal and instructed: “Those without work should eat in batches.”

Since it was a reality show type program, the crew was busy nonstop, with no dedicated meal times. Being able to eat in shifts was already good; the cameramen even had to watch their cameras while eating.

Now the dishes cooked by Lü Yi were almost ready, and it was the busy moment.

The cameramen adjusted their cameras, waiting to capture the shot of the dishes coming off the stove. Along with the praise from the two guests nearby, the post-production would add golden light effects—that was the traditional selling point of Peach Blossom Spring.

Everyone loved this bit!

Wan Jiaxin found a place to squat, ready to enjoy her boxed meal while watching this famous scene up close.

Before interning with the crew, she had watched many episodes of Peach Blossom Spring and almost every time ordered takeout to eat along.

Who would have thought that one day, she’d be on site eating a boxed meal while watching a food variety show?

Only now, the boxed meal in her hand was much more delicious than the takeout she used to order!Wan Jiaxin lifted the lid of the lunchbox, and a strong aroma mixed with doubanjiang sauce wafted out.

“I smell it! The twice-cooked pork smells so good!”

At the start of ordering dishes, Ye Cunxin’s acting had been completely overshadowed by Liu Zi.

He casually ordered a dish to express his expectation, nowhere near Liu Zi who brought out family members in his performance.

When it came time to taste Teacher Lü Yi’s dishes, shed a few forced tears, and say something about it reminding him of his grandfather’s taste... such a sentimental act meant lots of screen time.

Grudging Ye Cunxin immediately began his exaggerated acting when he caught a whiff of the twice-cooked pork.

“So fragrant... this flavor is amazing!”

He stood up, as if straining to smell the meaty aroma in the air, his face full of longing.

But... it wasn’t all exaggerated acting.

As performers, their primary job was to diet. Their usual light appetite from eating salads year-round was no match for such a top-notch comfort food like twice-cooked pork.

However, Bai Jing’s earpiece received a reminder from the director’s team.

“Wait! Wait, what are you doing? Lü Yi hasn’t started stir-frying the twice-cooked pork over there yet!”

Bai Jing quickly stood up and pushed Ye Cunxin down: “You’re hallucinating from hunger! They haven’t finished cooking yet!”

After the director’s prompt in the earpiece, he quickly looked around and spotted Wan Jiaxin squatting aside, ready to eat her boxed meal—

—and the piece of twice-cooked pork on her chopsticks that looked extremely tempting.

“Hey... what are you doing? Go eat over there! Everyone eating boxed meals, keep your distance!”

Hearing Ye Cunxin’s sigh, Wan Jiaxin sensed something was wrong.

Feeling aggrieved, she prepared to take her lunchbox and leave, but didn’t forget to shove that piece of twice-cooked pork into her mouth before going.

The director watched helplessly as the intern’s grievance quickly vanished after that piece of pork entered her stomach, replaced by delight and a smile.

This intern was quite suitable for filming this variety show.

The director thought quickly and instructed the assistant nearby, “Bring my lunchbox back to me.”

At noon, the director hadn’t arrived yet and hadn’t tasted the boxed meals. He had brought some food himself, planning not to eat the boxed meals unless necessary, but seeing this young intern’s expression, he decided to reserve a box for himself early.

However, it still had to wait until Lü Yi’s dishes were ready before opening, to avoid anyone smelling the wrong aroma.

The highlight of this show was exactly the moment the dishes came off the stove!

On set, Ye Cunxin awkwardly rubbed his stomach and sat down again.

But his awkwardness quickly turned shy following Bai Jing’s guidance.

“I’m really looking forward to Teacher Lü Yi’s twice-cooked pork! And the garlic sprouts! I love garlic sprouts too!”

Lü Yi was still unaware of this little episode outside as he started cooking the twice-cooked pork!

This dish had several steps, but the final stir-fry took relatively little time. Once in the wok, it was stir-fried over high heat a few times and then ready to serve.

“Wow!”“This flavor! Amazing!”

Bai Jing, afraid that the earlier “smelling the wrong aroma” would happen again, this time stood inside the kitchen waiting for the dish to come off the stove.

The classic three-stage expression combined with “amazing” was already enough to imagine the golden glow special effects the production team would add in post-production!

With the dishes coming off the stove and the classic anticipation shots filmed, the director finally waved his hand: “Alright, let’s eat!”

He was hungry too!

Filming this kind of food variety show, with a tempting box of food beside him, how could he resist?

On camera, Lü Yi had already plated the twice-cooked pork, and the director eagerly picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.

The entire filming venue was filled with the aroma of twice-cooked pork.

After plating the dishes, Lü Yi asked Liu Zi, “How is it? Does it taste like what your grandfather made? Do you notice any difference in the aroma?”

Liu Zi took a deep breath; a hunger-inducing fragrance filled his nostrils.

“Delicious! Exactly that flavor! I can’t wait to eat it. I think with this twice-cooked pork, I could eat three more bowls of rice!”

The director nodded off-camera; this twice-cooked pork could indeed make him eat three more boxes of meals!

He picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork, which was completely curled up—a professional technique called ‘dengzhanwo’ (lantern shape).

Cut thin and carefully, with the meat cooked to just the right elasticity, only slices like this could curl during high-heat stir-frying to achieve that effect.

While thinking this, the director instructed the cameraman: “Get two close-ups of the twice-cooked pork, big close-ups! Shoot the meat slices…”

Looking at the flat, uncurled meat slices on the plate, the director silently swallowed the words “curled” and turned to instruct the assistant.

“Tell post-production to make the meat slices a bit more translucent, not so…”

Not so stark white, it looks off-putting!

He couldn’t help but bite into the twice-cooked pork from his own box to steady his appetite.

The assistant nodded and then heard the director say, “I’m feeling a bit hot today, check if there are any boxes left, bring me another one. Also, find out who ordered the boxed meals and have them come tell me later.”

He quickly grabbed the last box and gave it to the director, then opened his own box and started eating.

Everyone was starving, especially since they had been rushing to set up scenes all morning; now who wasn’t famished?

At this time, on the wooden dining table in the filming area, several side dishes had already been set out.

Garlic sprout scrambled eggs, twice-cooked pork, shredded potatoes, and tomato scrambled eggs.

“Here, Liu Zi, try it. Is it the same taste your grandfather made?”

Lü Yi had already taken position to start explaining; cooking alone wasn’t interesting, one had to embed life lessons into cooking to show depth.

He watched Liu Zi take a bite; the expression on his face changed…

Bai Jing noticed as well, ready to chime in at any moment.

The singer beside them couldn’t help but freeze briefly; the chopsticks she was reaching out with quietly curved toward the shredded potatoes.

But the next moment, Liu Zi’s hand reached out to cover his eyes.“This is… exactly the flavor…”

He cried!

The director, reluctant to stop, quickly put a chopstick of cabbage slice into his mouth and hurriedly instructed in the earpiece, “Keep filming! He’s crying! Quick, cut to a close-up! Hurry!”

Liu Zi tasted the strange flavor in his mouth, and for a moment, his feelings were as mixed as this twice-cooked pork.

After all, he was a young actor who could be the second male lead in a period drama; although his acting wasn’t outstanding, he had some skill.

“This flavor… this flavor…”

Why is it sour, bitter, and numbing all at once?!

“It’s exactly the same as what my grandfather used to make…”

Why does this fatty meat taste so fishy and greasy?!

He didn’t even dare chew it; barely swallowing the fatty piece, Liu Zi genuinely cried.

The entertainment industry is really tough!

Lü Yi looked at Liu Zi’s expression, feeling proud: “Isn’t your family from Sichuan? I heard your home cooking usually has a stronger flavor than restaurants, with extra Sichuan peppercorns and such. I guess the reason you can’t find your grandfather’s twice-cooked pork flavor outside is that it’s missing this taste!”

The singer’s chopsticks went straight toward the tomato scrambled eggs.

Shredded potatoes must be stir-fried with some peppercorns too… better eat the tomato scrambled eggs, safe choice!

Liu Zi wiped his tears and nodded, “It’s true, when you’re away, you just miss that taste from home…”

“I haven’t gone back to see my grandfather for a very long time…”

Liu Zi covered his eyes and put down the chopsticks in his hand.

Feeling sad, it was understandable to put down the chopsticks and not eat!

Lü Yi began to recommend other dishes and pointed at the garlic sprouts: “This garlic sprout scrambled eggs is good too.”

Seeing the topic shift away from the dangerous twice-cooked pork to garlic sprouts, Gu Yifeng quickly chimed in, “And I especially love eating the leftover garlic sprouts the next day! That’s when it’s really flavorful!”

The director off-camera nodded and couldn’t help but pick up some garlic sprouts from his own meal box.

One bite, soulfully delicious!

The garlic sprout stir-fried with meat was extremely flavorful.

The soft garlic sprouts soaked up the sauce and had a bit of an oily sheen. Meanwhile, the pork belly slices inside were slightly crispy and fragrant.

Soft and hard, the flavorful vegetable garlic sprouts contrasted with the savory pork belly slices; this collision of textures made the director quickly eat a big mouthful of rice.

He had waited so long to eat, and the rice and dishes had cooled slightly, but it was this temperature that elevated the taste to a new level.

Delicious!

It was like last year’s New Year, when he worked late until New Year’s Eve and rushed home early the next morning.

At home, there were many rich dishes waiting, but what caught his eye was that plate of leftover garlic sprout stir-fry.

Cold food mixed with the freshly steamed rice his mother made when she got up at midnight—that was the taste!

He didn’t hesitate to tell the cameraman, “Get a close-up of Teacher Bai mixing rice with the dishes!”The director was momentarily stunned when the camera zoomed in close.

Why were there chopped green onions in the garlic sprout scrambled eggs?

But it didn’t matter—after all, the audience could only see the guests’ reactions and couldn’t taste what was on screen.

As long as Teacher Bai enjoyed eating it!

Bai Jing mixed the seemingly less risky garlic sprout scrambled eggs into his rice bowl, picked some up with chopsticks, and the cameraman quickly gave a close-up.

These garlic sprouts… were truly green!

“This… is amazing!”

The director watched through the camera as Bai Jing first closed his eyes, then swallowed hard, then opened his eyes and shook his head, finally sighing again: “Amazing!”

He shook his head and quietly praised to his trusted assistant nearby,

“See that? That’s how a real person behaves!”

The assistant nodded, a bit admiring, watching the vibrant green garlic sprouts on screen, and couldn’t help but pick a big chopstickful of the same garlic sprouts from his own meal box.

Garlic sprouts that were first stir-fried, cooled, then simmered again with sauce until tender looked very dark in color, even a bit yellowish.

But garlic sprouts cooked to this degree were truly flavorful; beyond the salty umami, they also gave off a sweet and fragrant vegetable aroma.

He’d better just stay a humble assistant—he probably couldn’t handle the hardships of the entertainment industry.

On camera, the celebrity guests had already started eating and chatting.

But everyone tacitly agreed—the first dish to disappear would be the tomato scrambled eggs, followed by the simply stir-fried shredded potatoes.

“These shredded potatoes are crispy! I’ve never eaten such delicious shredded potatoes!”

“Yeah! Really crispy! This dish really shows skill!”

Lü Yi felt a bit annoyed and pointed to the twice-cooked pork: “Eat up, don’t hold back, eat more!”

Everyone hesitated…

Until Teacher Bai Jing stepped up!

“This dish, let’s pack it for Xiao Zi! He loves it!”

Liu Zi nodded with tears, quickly adding a safety note: “Yes! That dish won’t spoil! Garlic sprouts taste even better the next day, so eat the shredded potatoes first—if you miss them now, they won’t be crispy later!”

“Right! Eat the shredded potatoes!”

Outside, Li Changwu shook his head and sighed to his newly promoted trusted aide Wan Jiaxin: “Did you see? Teacher Bai is really impressive—the way he adapts to save the situation is amazing!”

Poor Teacher Bai Jing, after eating a half-raw garlic sprout bite, only had two bites of shredded potatoes.

She advised Wan Jiaxin, “Don’t say your sister doesn’t take care of you. When you go get the late-night snack later, bring some to Teacher Bai.”