Chapter 79: Live “history” Tasting Conference
“Hmm?!”
You Han and Yang Shuo looked toward Chi Ye, slightly displeased, and withdrew their gazes.
The chief director was even more displeased—earlier in the hotel, he hadn’t seen Yang Shuo. Here to freeload on the program?!
“Our lead actor’s Pearl River Home is about to premiere.”
You Han’s voice was low and mellow: “This time, I came for some promotion too.”
Yang Shuo’s super low bass voice rumbled: “Right, won’t delay your recording, will it? If not, I’ll step aside.”
Program Team: “…”
“Self-reverb + vibration?” Chu Luan Yu, who appeared last, gave a sideways glance.
Chi Ye pulled the director aside and whispered: “Don’t worry, the program team’s cameras are always dusty, right? Let them talk more to help us dust them off. This vibration effect is no worse than professional equipment.”
Chief director: “…”
“Everyone, go inside first. What’s the deal standing here?”
Teacher Wen saw the group standing at the hotel doorway, with passersby nodding kindly at Xiang You and giving him thumbs up.
Xiang You got excited and did a backflip on the spot.
“Ouch, twisted my waist!”
Wen Lijuan: “…”
She felt her face burning with embarrassment and didn’t want to stay here making a fool of herself.
The others felt the same and hurried to cover their faces as they entered the hotel.
Chi Ye saw Chu Luan Yu at the end: “Hello, Imperial Sister.”
“Hello? Prison Brother.”
Chu Luan Yu waved cheerfully with a grin.
“Prison Brother?”
Chi Ye was stunned.
What kind of nickname was this?
“Prison Brother, you’re almost not obscure anymore. We’re not on the same path.”
Chu Luan Yu looked at Chi Ye emotionally: “We agreed to be unlucky persons together, but you secretly released an EP.”
Chi Ye: “…”
“Alright, we’ll talk later. I’ve found a new ‘partner’!”
Chu Luan Yu’s gaze fell on Jiang Cheng.
—This one was also a resource person and a total unlucky person, perfectly matching her criteria for a ‘partner’.
Jiang Cheng, who was pondering that he hadn’t torn off today’s calendar and how long until his BL drama adaptation aired, was suddenly stunned.
Why did he feel a chill rising inexplicably behind him?
Chi Ye also looked at Jiang Cheng, then at Chu Luan Yu, a bit puzzled.
Why did he feel like the ‘Imperial Sister’ was deliberately distancing herself from him?
Even the greeting had a slight awkwardness?
Hmm…
He thought about it and suddenly understood something.
—Since his incident, Chu Luan Yu hadn’t spoken up for him.
Logically, they were ordinary friends before.
But perhaps due to some concerns, she hadn’t said anything, and she hadn’t expected Chi Ye to gradually ‘recover’.
So this meeting seemed the same on the surface, but there was inevitably some slight awkwardness.
Hmm…
Chi Ye hadn’t considered this himself, because he was self-aware—not everyone was Jin Xia.
“Teacher Chi, she doesn’t seem to want to talk much with you.”
The Empress Dowager noticed Chu Luan Yu’s little thoughts and said in surprise: “Is there anyone in this world who doesn’t want to talk to you?”
Chi Ye: “…Not quite.”
Jin Xia’s beautiful peach blossom eyes looked at him: “There is!”
Chi Ye: “…”
“You seem to be sarcasm-ing me.”
“No, I’m very serious!”
Chi Ye: “…”
Hmph, serious my foot!
The Empress Dowager huffed inwardly twice, skipped the topic, and looked at Xiang You who was walking pigeon-toed: “Teacher Chi, this Xiang You feels kinda abstract.”
“No, he’s not abstract.” Chi Ye explained: “He mainly harms himself.”
Jin Xia: “…”
…
On the other side.
Chu Luan Yu walked over to Jiang Cheng and greeted him.
The two were old friends, both top resource persons, and had collaborated on a movie before.
“Why are you joining this variety show?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“I divined it—this show is lucky for me.” Chu Luan Yu looked at him oddly: “By the way, why have you gotten so thin lately?”
“…Filming, to look good on camera.”
Jiang Cheng was indeed very thin now.
He was already slim, and for the ancient idol drama with Shang Youshu, he dieted like crazy, making his frame even thinner than Xiang You’s, with long arms that from afar looked like a mantis spirit.
“Director, Teacher Wen, Teacher Chi and the others are tired after a whole day. I suggest everyone rest first, then start recording. What do you think?”
Upstairs, the Empress Dowager saw Chi Ye really lacked energy and immediately looked at the program team.
Program Team: “…”
Luckily, even without Jin Xia saying it, they planned to let the domestic group sleep after arriving, or with this energy level, the recording wouldn’t work.
“Hey, it’s fine, this is nothing, just over ten hours.”
Teacher Wen, hearing this, suppressed a yawn and instinctively said: “Back in the day, we went three or four dozen hours without sleep like it was a game.”
Everyone: “?!”
“Teacher Wen is an indefatigable top, can’t be knocked down.”
Chi Ye explained.
Everyone: “…”
“Alright then, everyone rest first. Once rested, we’ll officially start recording.”
The chief director nodded, then led everyone to the fifth floor to distribute room cards and assign rooms.
Chi Ye’s group looked okay on the surface but were actually exhausted, so they took the cards without politeness and returned to their rooms to rest.
They slept until 8 p.m. local time when Chi Ye woke up—to Keke’s phone call.
On the phone, Keke first gave the routine work report, then told him two pieces of news barely related to him.
1. Peng Chen’s lead ancient idol drama for the New Year is exploding in popularity. It seems since Chi Ye ‘replaced’ him in the blood-sucking spot, ascension is in sight. Industry predictions say he’ll be the biggest beneficiary of Meng Yixun’s persona collapse.
2. About Teacher Shi’s matter.
Before boarding last time, Chi Ye called the marketing team rebooting the cover song to give Teacher Shi some resources.
After all, it’s marketing—who gets it doesn’t matter?
Unexpectedly, paired with Teacher Shi’s amazing singing skill, it surprisingly went viral on Douyin. She’s received an invitation from a hot music variety show, and her gloomy career has a glimmer of turnaround.
Chi Ye was genuinely happy for Teacher Shi and immediately sent congratulations via WeChat.
Teacher Shi’s reply was simple: 【Thanks.】
But feeling it wasn’t good enough, she instantly withdrew it. A while later, not sure if she searched for stickers, she sent Chi Ye a 【Crab crab『 little rabbit bowing.gif』】
Chi Ye: “…”
After some casual chit-chat, noticing she always took forever to reply with stickers, Chi Ye didn’t bother the Boxing King.
The room door was knocked.
Program team staff had come to remind everyone to get up quickly—the dinner segment tonight must be recorded.
Chi Ye freshened up simply in the room, then went out to gather in the lobby.
Upon arriving at the lobby, sure enough, Yang Shuo was in the crowd.
Looks like the director listened to him!
“Everyone, welcome to Paris.”
Director Li, now taking over, stood behind the camera reading the script: “Since this is your first gathering, plus jet lag and such, the first dinner of ‘With Your Family’ will be specially provided by the program team.”
“After today, you’ll need to travel using the limited expenses given by the program team.”
After the brief pleasantries, Director Li waved: “Dinner is ready now. Please move to your seats.”
Everyone exchanged glances, stood up, and followed the program team staff to the hotel’s top floor.
“Wow.”
As soon as the elevator doors opened, the crowd let out a “wow”.
The program team had a little gimmick: the hotel’s 33rd floor top with floor-to-ceiling windows, visible Paris night view right out of the elevator.
“Program team is generous.”
Jiang Cheng spoke up.
“Indeed generous. How come it wasn’t this generous back in Jian Ni.”
Chi Ye remembered money matters deeply.
Director Li: “…”
“Everyone, please sit. Dinner is coming.”
“Hey.” Teacher Wen sat down, saying: “This is just 33 floors. Back when we gathered for meals…”
“Fun fact, Teacher Wen can fly.”
Wen Lijuan smiled at him: “Xiao Chi, want me to invite Teacher Huang to cook just for you?”
“Hahaha.”
Everyone laughed, the initial awkwardness of first meeting fading.
Jin Xia sat next to Chi Ye, looking downcast and not very upbeat.
Chi Ye knew the Empress Dowager too well. Seeing this, he pointed at the obviously pre-made dishes: “What’s the rush? Afraid you won’t get any?”
The Empress Dowager blinked her peach blossom eyes, picked a piece of meat for Chi Ye with chopsticks, and said nothing.
On the other side, Shang Youshu watched this, pinched the soft flesh at her thigh root, and muttered lowly: “More, more! I can handle even bigger scale!”
Meanwhile.
Teacher Wen, Jiang Cheng, Chu Luan Yu and others across didn’t notice.
Soon after sitting, high-end uniformed servers began serving dishes.
“Doesn’t look very high-end.”
Wen Lijuan glanced at the current dishes, slightly dissatisfied: “Isn’t the program team treating us to a big meal? We’re in Paris— no local specialties? Back when I was with a few old gal pals…”
“Coming, coming.”
Director Li interrupted with a chuckle, signaling a master chef with a tall hat.
The master chef carried a tray, ceremoniously placed the dish, and said in accented Chinese: “Roquefort cheese, our hotel’s signature ingredient, France’s most renowned blue cheese, known as the ‘King of Cheeses’.”
“In 1411, King Charles VI’s royal charter stipulated that only cheese matured in the Combalou natural limestone caves qualifies as Roquefort blue cheese.”
“Wow…” Everyone half-cooperated, half-surprised.
“Enjoy your meal.”
The master chef retreated, and Wen Lijuan and others were very satisfied.
“Good, this is good. I’ve had this.”
Teacher Wen nodded, saw Jiang Cheng eyeing it eagerly, and smiled kindly: “Arthur, grab the knife and cut yourself a piece.”
Arthur was embarrassed but gladly accepted the senior’s invitation.
He took a small piece of blue cheese.
“Come on, everyone try some. This is good stuff.”
Teacher Wen enthusiastically called others.
“No thanks, we’ll have some mushrooms. Dieting, can’t eat too much.”
You Han smelled an odd odor from afar and quickly refused.
Chu Luan Yu deftly avoided, shaking her head.
Chi Ye frowned even more.
—The smell was too strong!
He didn’t know what this blue cheese was, but just the smell was like body odor, stinky shoes, stinky socks.
Turning to the pale-faced Empress Dowager, he curiously whispered: “You’ve had it?”
The Empress Dowager nodded, then shook her head, her little head wagging like a rattle, and after a long time, she squeezed out a terrified word: “Gross!”
“Teacher Chi, this is gross, don’t eat it!”
Chi Ye: “…”
Shang Youshu, who had been watching secretly, kept a straight face and passed back the plate she’d taken: “Dieting, no thanks.”
Teacher Wen didn’t hear, happily spread a big spoonful on bread, smeared it evenly, and took a big bite with his gaping maw.
Hmm…
Hmm…?!
*Gag*!
Teacher Wen’s expression was weird, he gagged but didn’t spit, chewed hard, swallowed messily.
His facial muscles visibly twitched.
“Damn, it’s like chewing on tendons.”
Chi Ye watched with lingering fear.
“How’s the taste, Mom Wen?”
Jiang Cheng noticed too—mainly he’d cut a lot, and the smell from his plate made him nervous.
Teacher Wen kept a straight face: “Delicious, exquisite flavor.”
“?!”
Jiang Cheng didn’t believe it, but seeing Teacher Wen endure to show off, what couldn’t he do?!
Gotta go high-end!
He gritted his teeth and started devouring head down.
Hmm…*gag*, delicious…hmm…*gag*, delicious…
Teacher Wen looked at him in shock: “Arthur, you…want some water?”
“No need…*gag*!”
Arthur shook his head, already dazed by the stench, head down—not daring to lift, afraid the camera catches the gag.
Kept eating head down.
Nearby, Chu Luan Yu unconsciously covered her nose, didn’t eat but couldn’t help gagging too.
…
Meanwhile, to the left, You Han and Yang Shuo missed this bizarre scene.
They had each taken some mushrooms—said to be fungi specially ‘imported’ from Yunnan, domestic. Both loved this, or they wouldn’t be friends.
Looking at the fungi in their bowls, appetites surged.
“Mm, been craving this back home, but filming’s too busy, no time for Yunnan. Didn’t expect to eat it abroad.”
You Han sighed, picked a mushroom with chopsticks, put it to his mouth, and slurped hard.
Yes, he didn’t chew but slurped the mushroom ‘juice’ first, lips in a small gap, *slurp*, all in, eyes closed, face ecstatic.
“Ah~”
“This is the taste, this is it…”
“Mm.”
Nearby Yang Shuo licked his lips, took a piece of fungi, chewed slowly savoring, mouth crunching, his super low bass voice timely: “Mm~ It’s exactly that taste, no mistake, this texture.”
You Han heard his friend’s bass bubble sound, stunned, instinctively dropped his voice eight degrees, bubbly: “Compared to the May mushrooms we ate in Pearl River Home, this is sweeter, more delicious~~”
Did not forget to promote his new drama.
Yang Shuo glanced, smirked, said nothing, eyed: Bro, go wild acting, I got you!
“My god…”
Shang Youshu nearby got goosebumps all over, instinctively shifted her butt—this dominant CEO wasn’t like in novels!
“CNPC and Sinopec duo’d.”
Chi Ye hand-covered Jin Xia’s eyes: “Don’t look, dirty stuff.”
The Empress Dowager didn’t resist, huffed and turned to ‘look’ at Shang Youshu: “Sister Shang, the dominant CEOs in your novels are like this?”
Shang Youshu: “…”
Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!
“Sorry, for protagonists like this, I read abuse-the-MC stories, more satisfying.”
“…”
You Han and Yang Shuo didn’t notice the chirping, after ‘acting’, exchanged looks and smiled knowingly.
What a thrilling opponent scene.
So satisfying!!
