Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Why Can’t We Even Get Enough Footage to Edit...

Hearing that sentence, the director’s watch had already started sending out alerts.

He couldn’t worry about his own heartbeat. While coordinating through the earpiece, he couldn’t help but let out a low growl.

“What the hell is going on!”

He knew it—this bunch of fresh-faced stars couldn’t be relied on for acting!

Bai Jing stepped in just in time to interrupt: “Teacher Lü Yi’s pork knuckle is made in a special way—this must be the smell from all the alcohol evaporating…”

Everyone else turned their eyes toward the clay pot that had just been opened. Inside the black pot, the entire pork knuckle was soaked in a brown broth, completely submerged.

Emmmm… What happened to all the alcohol being cooked off?

“It doesn’t look like much evaporated at all…”

Sensing that today’s guests had suddenly become frighteningly blunt, Bai Jing worked hard to give Gu Yifeng some meaningful glances.

The three regular guests on this show had long since developed a tacit understanding.

Didn’t everyone know that Lü Yi’s cooking wasn’t tasty? Weren’t there past celebrity guests who refused to eat? Of course there were. Quite a few even openly criticized him.

In the very first episode, undercooked string beans made everyone sick. You think the rest of them were clueless? Let’s be real—eating was just part of the job.

Normally, Gu Yifeng would go along with Bai Jing to smooth over the awkwardness, but today, he felt an especially strong urge to speak his mind.

“Teacher Lü, why are you always so fixated on adding alcohol? What kind of wine did you use this time?”

Lü Yi hadn’t noticed the danger yet, and quickly slipped into storytelling mode: “Still yellow wine. I used two jin of it—didn’t add a single drop of water. You’ll see when you taste it later. Pork knuckle stewed in nothing but yellow wine is my signature technique. I’m telling you, even if you stewed a shoe sole in it, it’d taste great.”

“How can that taste good? What kind of wine is it exactly? Let me take a look—why can’t you add water? What’s the point of the wine, anyway…?”

The diva walked over with one hand on her hip, craning her neck to look into the pot while frowning in confusion.

She reached over and grabbed the just-emptied bottle from the counter and slowly read the label: “…XX Cooking Yellow Wine—wait, isn’t this just cooking wine?”

The diva had cooked at home before. This bottle might’ve been labeled “yellow wine,” but it was clearly just standard cooking wine.

Already known nationwide for her bluntness, and now emboldened by the taste of guobaorou, she couldn’t stop herself.

“You can use cooking wine like this?”

Lü Yi’s expression faltered. The smile at the corners of his mouth completely collapsed. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to refute her on the spot.

But this was a TV show, after all, and this diva’s fame and seniority were no less than his. In the end, he could only change the subject: “Just try it later, you’ll see.”

But even worse off than Lü Yi was the director.

What was wrong with these guests today?

The director, growing anxious outside, had no choice but to frantically prompt Bai Jing through the earpiece: “Teacher Bai! Say something—anything!”

Peach Blossom Spring wasn’t a live broadcast. There was still room for post-editing, and a few small slip-ups were understandable.

In previous seasons, Lü Yi had been criticized before—by guests of even higher status than him. Some were much more casual. If they didn’t want to eat, they didn’t. If they wanted to complain, they did.

But since it wasn’t live, a bit of editing could smooth things over. Leaving in a few minor complaints here and there didn’t seem to be a big issue.But this was the final segment of the whole episode!

The previous dishes didn’t look great—leftover twice-cooked pork and shapeless hutazi were hardly usable as highlights for the show.

And this pork knuckle was supposed to be the final dish! Once dinner was over, the guests would be leaving! A little criticism was fine, but they couldn’t criticize it so much that there wouldn’t even be enough usable footage left to edit!

Bai Jing, worthy of his title as the king of playing along, quickly shifted the topic: “Come on, let’s get this pork knuckle on the table and try it. The ingredients this time were already hard to come by. We finally have this much meat, so no need to hold back—everyone, dig in and enjoy yourselves!”

Unfortunately, his reminder made Liu Zi remember that there was still a portion of twice-cooked pork waiting to be packed up and taken home!

“No need, I’ll just stick to this dish.”

Aside from the pork knuckle, Lü Yi had also made a few simple side dishes: stir-fried choy sum, braised chicken, and stir-fried eggs with green pepper.

Liu Zi picked up the plate of stir-fried eggs with green pepper like she wasn’t letting go no matter what, and headed straight toward the dining table outside.

Bai Jing was a little stunned. On this show, he was usually the master of smoothing over awkward moments. But jokes and banter still needed the cooperation of the people involved—and now Liu Zi had walked off hugging a plate of stir-fried eggs, how was he supposed to ease the tension?

“Looks like Liu Zi really appreciates Teacher Lü Yi’s cooking—she’s guarding that plate of stir-fried eggs like a treasure.”

Bai Jing forcefully smoothed things over with his words, desperately hoping no one would say anything else. He had no choice but to carry the clay pot full of pork knuckle out himself.

Even from a distance, the smell of the pork knuckle was sharp and pungent. Up close, the alcohol fumes were overwhelming!

Thinking about having to eat this intensely wine-scented pork knuckle in a moment, Teacher Bai Jing couldn’t help but feel nauseated—did this count as drinking on an empty stomach?

If he’d known earlier, he would’ve joined the others in sneaking some of the crew’s boxed meals.

Thinking back to the authentic sweet-and-sour guobaorou he’d had before, and now looking at this pork knuckle…

Bai Jing realized that while he was walking, the skin and meat on the outside of the pork knuckle didn’t even jiggle!

Indeed, under normal circumstances, even if a pork knuckle had been pre-sliced into smaller pieces, it would take at least two hours of stewing to make it tender and falling apart.

But this one had been soaked—wrongfully—in “yellow wine,” and only stewed for a little over an hour before being served. Of course it was going to be tough.

Even the broth hadn’t reduced—how could it possibly taste good?

Bai Jing placed the pork knuckle heavily at the center of the table.

Lü Yi brought over a plate of stir-fried choy sum as well: “Alright, come on, let’s eat.”

“After this meal, our short journey comes to an end…”

The diva once again blurted out without a filter: “About time it ended—come on, let’s eat, let’s eat.”

Lü Yi had started to sense that something was off. He glanced in the direction of the director’s team, then again at Bai Jing.

“Teacher Bai, have a taste of this dish.”

Unlike before, when he’d proudly shown off his food to big-name guests, this time Lü Yi chose to play it safe. Teacher Bai, at least, wouldn’t verbally tear him apart—and his signature three-stage praise would help smooth things over!

Bai Jing was in some internal pain, but still kept a professional expression. He raised his hand and reached for the pot of pork knuckle…

But before he could pick any up, he was interrupted by Ye Cunxin!

“We can’t always make Teacher Bai eat it—let me do it this time! Yesterday, Teacher Bai was looking after me the whole time. I’ll eat this pork knuckle!”

Lü Yi’s face completely fell—his smile had already dropped off the edge.Not a single word mentioned that the pork knuckle was bad, not a single word said Lü Yi’s cooking was lacking—but every word screamed that his cooking was terrible!

Ye Cunxin picked up a chunk of pork knuckle with chopsticks, placed it into her bowl, and ate it with an expression like she was marching to her death.

The director sighed—as long as someone ate it, it was fine. Even if it tasted bad, they could still edit in a shot of someone eating, slap on some glowing effects, and add some big bold text on the side to suggest it was delicious.

“Close-up! Hurry! Don’t miss this one!”

There was already so little usable footage, and if they didn’t get a good shot of someone eating the pork knuckle, this entire segment would be completely unusable.

One of the assistants, who had managed to snag two crew meal boxes today and was even more susceptible to post-production effects, looked a bit confused: “Director, actually, by now in the show, even if Lü Yi’s bad cooking gets exposed, isn’t it fine?”

“How could that be!” The director glared at him. “That cooking wine cost a fortune in sponsorship. If the audience sees that the pork knuckle cooked with it is inedible, do you think the sponsor would be okay with that?”

“And besides, why do you think Lü Yi’s been so desperate, trying out all these new recipes? Isn’t it all for money?”

Even if he wasn’t personally close to Lü Yi, he still knew that ever since Lü Yi’s box office flop, his main income had come from this ‘celebrity chef’ identity.

Not only did he offer both in-person and online cooking classes, he also had a whole range of seasonings, snacks, and semi-prepped meals. He had even collaborated with several brands on special edition meal kits.

All of these products were endorsed and marketed under the label of his celebrity chef status.

Why was he making bank? It was all thanks to the added value of being a celebrity chef.

The director realized he was saying too much and gave the assistant another glare, then continued directing through his earpiece: “Did you get the close-up shot!?”

He glanced at the monitor and almost passed out…

The cameraman was indeed dutifully filming Ye Cunxin eating the pork knuckle, but even such a simple shot looked unusable!

Ye Cunxin’s expression was completely unfiltered—grimacing, baring her teeth, eyebrows furrowed deep. And judging by how she was gnawing away without managing to take a bite, it looked like the texture of that pork knuckle wasn’t far off from a shoe sole.

The director fumed internally. These young actors nowadays—couldn’t even manage basic facial control!

At this point, all hope rested on Teacher Bai Jing.

“Teacher Bai, please, save the scene!”

Bai Jing, resigned to fate, reached out again with his chopsticks toward the pork knuckle…

But unfortunately, his usual gentlemanly image and caring attitude toward juniors once again worked against him.

Peach Blossom Spring had been airing for a while now, and Gu Yifeng had also received plenty of help from Teacher Bai.

Smelling the overwhelming alcohol from the pork knuckle and looking at Bai Jing’s slender build, Gu Yifeng clenched his teeth, stomped his foot, grabbed a chunk of pork knuckle and bit straight into it!

The director was overjoyed: “That movement just now was great—capture that, capture that!”

No matter what the expression was, at least it showed someone taking a big bite!

As soon as he took a bite, Gu Yifeng started coughing and scrambling for water.

Though he’d gradually started appearing on variety shows, Gu Yifeng was still primarily a singer, and took meticulous care of his voice on a daily basis.

Drinking alcohol was something he avoided unless absolutely necessary. His tolerance wasn’t great either. After that one bite of pork knuckle, his face flushed red on the spot.

“How is it? What does it taste like—good?”

The diva hadn’t dared to try the pork knuckle at all.Although she was full of curiosity, this kind of thing was better left to the juniors on set.

“No…”

If that line came out, the rest of the episode would basically be unusable.

Bai Jing was sweating all over and quickly cut Ye Cunxin off: “Don’t talk yet—your face is turning red, you’re choking, right? Have some water!”

This segment was a loss!

The director watched the chaotic scene on the monitor. Just as Bai Jing stopped Ye Cunxin, Liu Zi started up again on the other side: “This is even worse than yesterday’s twice-cooked pork…”

As soon as that was said, Lü Yi couldn’t hold it in anymore.

If it weren’t during filming, he would probably already be lecturing everyone at length. But since this dish had been made with the sponsor’s condiments, even if he wanted to lecture them, he had to salvage the situation first.

“Maybe I was worried you all wouldn’t get enough to eat before heading off today, so I didn’t stew it long enough,” Lü Yi’s face was dark as he spoke while desperately signaling Bai Jing with his eyes. “Kids just love to show everything on their faces—lose a game and still hold a grudge, huh?”

This was getting out of hand!

The director was already covering his eyes. Bai Jing had gotten to his feet and was loudly laughing to drown out Liu Zi’s comment: “We’ve got great reactions today! This part should definitely go in the trailer!”

Filming was impossible! He couldn’t keep the situation under control!

He’d even given up trying to manage with words and was instead desperately pouring drinks for the guests.

Fortunately, the special effect of the guobaorou had only been “courage to speak your mind,” and Bai Jing’s good standing in the industry once again saved the show.

“Teacher Bai, seriously… I really respect you.”

“Alright, I’ll drink—Teacher Bai, you really have it tough…”

At least they weren’t mentioning how bad the pork knuckle tasted anymore—but from the director’s point of view behind the monitor, it might’ve been better if they had!

He covered his face with both hands, preparing to immediately speak with the producer once filming wrapped up.

No more inviting young idols next episode! If they can’t act, it’s just not going to work!

The shoot finally wrapped, and the entire production team was on edge.

The atmosphere just now had been far from friendly—they absolutely couldn’t let any new conflicts break out.

As the diva took her coat from her assistant, she asked, “Go see if the crew still has any of those boxed meals? Get me one.”

The assistant rushed off happily. She remembered that for the past few days, the boxed meals had been handed out by a young woman surnamed Wan, and quickly spotted Wan Jiaxin in the crowd.

“Hey, Xiao Wan, got any more boxed meals?”

“None left…”

When she first joined the production, Wan Jiaxin had some hopeful illusions about Lü Yi’s cooking, but now even the last shred of hope was gone.

Watching the assistants of several celebrities come over to ask for boxed meals to fill their stomachs, Wan Jiaxin even felt a moment of sympathy for them.

But it was only the intern who briefly sympathized with the stars—post-production practically went insane!

If it had just been an ordinary dish, a little complaining would’ve been fine. Peach Blossom Spring was a reality show, not Lü Yi’s cooking show.

But this dish had been specifically emphasized by Lü Yi, and the diva had even picked up the bottle and read the label aloud—so editing had to be very carefully considered.As a result, when the episode finally aired, this segment ended up feeling a bit baffling.

Many loyal viewers who had tuned in right at mealtime were confused to find that the highly anticipated pork knuckle tasting segment was strangely short.

Moreover, the scene was packed with excessive sound effects and visual effects—the guests spent more time drinking beverages than actually eating the pork knuckle.

Very quickly, video editors on social media took action.

Regular viewers might not have noticed anything, but those bloggers who specialize in dissecting variety shows, especially food segments, definitely didn’t miss the clues.

The first viral hit was a food blogger’s recreation video.

Is pork knuckle stewed in yellow wine without a single drop of water actually good? The blogger even went out of their way to find the exact same brand of yellow wine used in the show.

In the end, the conclusion was that the recreated pork knuckle wasn’t nearly as tasty as expected, and it wasn’t recommended for ordinary viewers to try such a recipe at home.

Not just the pork knuckle—other recipes from the show were gradually dug up as well…

Food poisoning, pre-packed twice-cooked pork, people heaping praise while clearly not eating—the netizens unearthed everything. Comments made by another actor who had tried to endure Lü Yi’s cooking during the show were pulled up and analyzed frame by frame.

Soon, a rival network’s food variety show seized the opportunity, and once comparison videos were made, the topic took off—occupying three spots on the trending list at once!

#TheArtOfTeacherBai’sWords

#UnderratedActingSkills

#IsMeatStewedWithoutWaterActuallyGood

All at once, Peach Blossom Spring was thrust into the spotlight, with all kinds of retrospective analysis videos flooding the internet.

Chen Ran was handling pork knuckles when she heard the auntie nearby giggling while watching a video.

“Is that analysis video really that funny?”

The auntie had watched several episodes of Peach Blossom Spring, especially after the production team came to Yanglianshan. She had binged multiple episodes overnight.

Now watching all the creative breakdowns, she couldn’t stop laughing.

However, the little restaurant was at its busiest, so the auntie didn’t feel right continuing to watch. She quickly turned off her phone and focused on washing dishes.

“I’m done watching! It’s been getting busier these days. When Old Liu comes to mooch a meal tomorrow, we need to make him bring someone to help.”

Business at the small restaurant had been booming lately. And for some reason, most of the customers who trekked all the way up the mountain would sigh after looking at the menu.

“Sigh… Why isn’t there lion’s head meatballs?”

There seemed to be some strange kind of understanding among these customers—just mentioning “lion’s head” was enough to spark conversation.

“No worries, order this pork knuckle dish. It’s limited! Super tasty—come late and it’s gone!”

Whenever pork knuckle was brought up, everyone would inexplicably laugh for a while: “This pork knuckle’s got water in it, right?”

Chen Ran hadn’t been following the recent video drama—she was too busy, handling over a dozen pork knuckles every day. Hearing the guests’ comment outside, she replied without thinking, “Of course there’s water.”

Hearing Chen Ran’s honest reply, the whole restaurant burst out laughing.

“Chef Chen doesn’t watch short videos?”

“Not even Weibo?”Zhu Chenchen had specially taken leave to come over this time and immediately spoke up for Chen Ran: “Ran-jie doesn’t even have time to play on her phone! She practices her knife skills every day with sandbags hanging from her arms, and she still has to prepare so many pork knuckles. How about this—none of you eat the pork knuckle, and let Ran-jie go play on her phone instead!”

The restaurant instantly fell silent for a moment.

Chen Ran didn’t take the comment to heart. She reached into her pocket, touched that ebony business card, and her mind echoed with what Chang Nian had said that day.

Once she felt she was ready, she could go to Chang Nian to learn hand-torn cabbage.

What she needed to do now was work hard on mastering her basic skills!

Without strong fundamentals, even if the system gave her the best recipes, she wouldn’t be able to execute them.

And besides, there was still that Chef God recipe hanging over her. Back when she was still with the Chen family, Chen Ran had heard many legends about the Chef God. But those recipes were true, closely guarded family secrets. Not even Uncle Chen Zheng had ever gotten his hands on them.

“Ran Ran, are the pork knuckles ready? Another table just came in!”

Ever since Lu Xiaoyu posted that video on her channel, more and more customers who had missed out on the lion’s head meatballs started flocking over.

The first day was just a trickle of a dozen or so people. By the second day, it was completely packed!

But the little restaurant was still on a mountainside, with limited ingredients and cookware every day. Even after limiting the now-famous pork knuckle dish to one plate per table, at most only twelve servings could be made each day.

For a small shop like this, prepping three pork knuckles ahead of time was already pushing it. Not to mention, Chen Ran originally came to this little restaurant to prepare boxed meals for the production crew.

“Sorry, no reservations…”

“No, really—reservations aren’t possible.”

Every customer who had tasted Chen Ran’s double-S grade clear-stewed pork knuckle tried to reserve one for the next day. Chen Ran had to work hard to decline.

“Why reserve for tomorrow? Are you planning to climb the mountain again?”

One customer proudly replied, “I got a cable car ticket today—I took the cable car up!”

If he hadn’t left so early, he might not have gotten one! Those cable car tickets to Yanglian Mountain were super competitive now.

After all, not many people were actually here to enjoy the scenery of this previously unknown tourist spot—most were here because they hadn’t gotten to try the lion’s head meatballs back in Xinhua City.

“Really can’t do reservations,” Chen Ran said sincerely. She was starting to understand why the system had her working shifts instead of running her own restaurant—if she opened a shop, how would she ever find time to improve her cooking skills? “There’s only enough to make twelve servings a day. If I let you reserve one, what about the early customers tomorrow?”

Ji You had just gotten a takeaway order of pork knuckle and nodded upon hearing Chen Ran’s words.

If reservations were allowed, she wouldn’t have had to come herself to pick it up.

Still, thinking about how Ms. Wang might smile in a bit, she figured the trip had been worth it.

She greeted Wang Zhaoshan: “President Wang, I’ll be heading back now. Enjoy your meal.”

Wang Zhaoshan and Qiu Xian were sharing a plate of cold-sliced pork knuckle, strictly splitting it in half. Since Wang Zhaoshan was older, he got the odd extra piece.

He said goodbye to Ji You, then looked up and happened to spot a figure in the queue outside that left a deep impression on him.

Some ex-girlfriends—no matter how many years have passed since the breakup—are just hard to forget.

Qiu Xian also knew this gourmand was still single. Seeing him lost in thought staring at a woman, she couldn’t help but glance over a few more times.

Unexpectedly, after just a few glances, that woman actually took the initiative and started walking toward their table.

“Xiao Shan…”Wang Zhaoshan looked conflicted.

Their breakup back then had indeed been rather unpleasant, but after being together for several years, it would be a lie to say he didn’t miss it at all.

He let out a deep sigh and couldn’t help saying, “I’m sorry, this is just a coincidence…”

It was just a chance encounter. Their relationship had ended, and that was that—there was no rekindling it.

But before he could finish his words, he saw the disappointed expression on his ex-girlfriend’s face.

“I thought you were here to do a feature on this little restaurant. I even wanted to ask if you knew the owner and could help reserve a pork knuckle…”

Qiu Xian burst out laughing, and Wang Zhaoshan’s face darkened. The ex-girlfriend left in disappointment.

When a wave of exclamations erupted from inside the shop, his face darkened even more.

Who was so bored they actually eavesdropped on his conversation with his ex?

But Qiu Xian, who had quickly pulled out her phone, answered his question.

“Look! ‘Peach Blossom Spring’ just announced the next round of guests—big names, every one of them!”

After much internal struggle, it seemed the variety show Peach Blossom Spring had decided that even if Lü Yi’s public image had collapsed, they were still going to ride this wave of traffic.

Among the three new guests, there wasn’t just a big-name, candid film emperor—there was even a model who used to be a chef.