Si Shi Qi felt like he could sense his sister’s malicious intentions. If he could, he really wanted to put an end to this. Originally, this whole matter had seemed like a good idea but he really regretted it now. If things went wrong and something was exposed or if his sister and his master got along even worse than before, then that would definitely bring new trouble. He could only hope that by that time, his father at least wouldn’t stand with his sister anymore.

He sighed faintly and then started to introduce everyone. “Well, I am sure you have heard of my wife, Tao Jin, the actress. Xiao Jin, this is Mister Si that I told you about, the one I worked with before. And this is his assistant, Si Yi. I also invited my sister, Fan Mei. It’s quite curious that we all took part in the casting today.” He smiled brightly, trying not to make it seem as if there was any problem.

Fan Mei immediately caught onto the crucial point. “Oh, we all did? That is such a coincidence! I wonder what made a businessman like Mister Si take part in this kind of small cooking show?”

Si Jin looked back at her, his expression as bland as always. “Big.”

Fan Mei looked at him, speechless. What did he mean with ‘big’? What was big?

Si Shi Qi hurriedly bit his lip, trying not to laugh out loud. Well, leave it to his master to make people speechless! That communication style of his had already driven quite a few of them nuts back at the villa of the ninjas. Now, he could finally appreciate how that same look played out on somebody else’s face.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he should gleefully explain when Tao Jin already jumped in. “I have to agree. To be honest, while this is a new show, I don’t think you can really call it a small one, Xiao Mei.

“The producer, Mister Bian, is actually quite well renowned in the entertainment circle. He is especially talented when it comes to TV shows so I would say that there’s a good chance that this will be a hit. Also, we can’t forget that Mister Yu is a well-known chef in our country, especially among the older generation, while Mister Xiao is also well-known among the younger people online. So ‘Golden Spoon’ should be able to attract quite the audience just based on their identities.”

Si Shi Qi turned to look at his wife in shock. While he had told her about the Si clan rather early on and she had met the others over the years, she had only met Si Jin once before at their wedding and not really had a talk with him.

To be able to figure out just what he meant from his one-word communication style was quite the feat. Si Shi Qi himself had needed years to be able to grasp the key to figuring things out. But now, his wife was able to do it over just one dinner. No, even less, just a few minutes had been enough for her to do this. Well, this just went to show that he had incredibly good taste. Such a woman … the other ninjas wouldn’t be able to find somebody half as good as her even if they were given ten years more.

Tao Jin glanced at her husband and seeing that he was looking at her quite proudly, she felt a bit strange. Had she said something wrong? Or was this just because she had stood up to his sister for him? Clearly, he had quite a bit of trouble doing that himself.

But in this case, Fan Mei really had been wrong to say that ‘Golden Spoon’ was just a small show. In any case, just the casting had been able to draw such a crowd. Most likely, with all the promotions that they had come up with, there would be a lot of viewers by the time the first episode aired next week.

Fan Mei also looked at Tao Jin and suddenly realized what had happened. Even though she had asked a question, this Si Jin guy hadn’t answered it but had actually contested the presuppositions she had made. “Well, whether it’s small or big, does it really matter?”

This time, Si Jin didn’t bother answering. In any case, the important point had already been clarified and her opinion further than that wasn’t important to him.

Tao Jin was wondering if she should step out again but then felt that it was a bit awkward to do so. Then, maybe Fan Mei would actually accuse her of having an affair with the master of her husband. She definitely wouldn’t be surprised. Fan Mei was the type to always see some kind of conspiracy no matter what was happening. So in the end, she could only keep quiet.

There was an awkward lull in the conversation before Si Yi finally cleared his throat. “Well, Miss Fan may be saying that but the fact is that all of us took part. Madam Fan is a well-known actress, Mister Si is not well-known but still a rather important businessman, Mister Fan has a successful event planning agency, and Miss Fan herself is a reporter with some renown in our region.

“I would say that it is safe to say that if the show is able to draw that kind of contestants in, that there has to be something more to it. Calling it a small show is really too humbling to yourself, Miss Fan.” He inclined his head and then turned to Si Shi Qi, clearly not wanting to continue the previous topic. “Thank you for his invitation. We were actually wondering what to do with the time until next week. Always traveling to and fro seemed like too much of a hassle so we’ve decided to stay here for these two months. We don’t really know that much about this place though so we haven’t decided on an itinerary yet.”

Si Shi Qi hurriedly nodded, realizing the Si Yi was trying to establish their background story for the next weeks. “Well, there are quite a few things worth to be seen in the city. Maybe you could have a tour around. I am not that knowledgeable about it myself but I’m sure that some others might be. Didn’t you recognize some of the people that were among the contestants? Maybe you should invite them to go out sometime as well. In any case, even if they don’t stay here all the time, I’m sure that most of them won’t just arrive for the days the episodes are filmed on and then leave immediately after. It would be quite the hassle considering that they take several hours to film as well.”

Si Yi nodded again. “Yes, especially with the time it takes for the preparation and then interviews and the like afterward.” He turned to Tao Jin, giving a faint smile. “Madam Fan would probably know more about this kind of situation. For your works, you probably also take some extra time if you can, don’t you?”

Tao Jin smiled politely. “Well, that depends a bit on how my schedule works out. I don’t always have the luxury to arrive a day early and rest in the morning. But if I can, I would certainly do it the same way. If you are able to stay all this time, you should do it. And I agree with my husband that going out for a sightseeing tour would be quite nice. Actually, I might have a few days off next week. We could also go together.” She looked at her husband, clearly expectant.

Si Shi Qi was taken aback. Usually, this kind of matter would only be decided after clearing it with the Si clan. But now … oh well, in front of his sister, he couldn’t really do that. And since he was already here, it would be strange to say no.

“Well, I’ll need to take a couple of days off from work then. I’ll clear it with my employees later on then.” Thankfully, his job as an event manager had evolved over time into being an event manager with his own company under his name. So actually, it was mostly his employees who dealt with matters. His title as boss was only a charade for the public and he only had to attend some functions and deal with some especially important customers in the early stages of a project. Otherwise, he was pretty idle to just lounge around the villa of the Si clan with the others. In fact, this was the case for most of them even though they had all genuinely learned their trade. Sometimes, he even missed work a little.

Tao Jin nodded, happy that this had worked out.

Si Yi gave her a look and actually couldn’t help but smile. This woman really knew how to deal with people. In front of his sister, Si Shi Qi wouldn’t be able to say no if he couldn’t give some kind of good excuse. Thus, he had to give the promise and the Si clan probably wouldn’t say no either since they had been there to witness everything. Thus, she had finagled a date out of this whole dinner, using the people that were present to make this possible. Clearly, Si Shi Qi had married a good wife.

Fan Mei already felt uncomfortable when she saw this and wanted to bring the matter back around to the casting when there was finally a knock on the door and several waiters started to bring in the food. Seeing all the plates that were being delivered, Fan Mei’s eyes widened. This … “Just how much did you order? Who is going to eat all of this?” It certainly looked like he had ordered pretty much all of the dishes that were on the menu.

Si Shi Qi looked a little embarrassed. “Well, I only thought of meeting up today so there wasn’t much time to prepare anything and I figured it would be awkward if we had to wait too long so I just called them ahead of time and asked if they could just bring us a sample of all of the dishes. Just eat whatever you like and leave the rest.”

Fan Mei still felt that something was wrong but as soon as the waiters had left, Si Jin already picked up the serving chopsticks, starting to take something from all of the dishes and arranging it on his plate before he switched to his own pair and started to eat. He even closed his eyes as if he had no interest in talking any further and was just focusing on the dishes.

Well, that was precisely what Si Jin was doing but Fan Mei had no idea that this was the reason he had gone out originally and just felt that this guy was rather rude. Now, she even more wanted to figure out what was the deal with them and was about to start another round of interrogation. Unfortunately for her, somebody else was faster.

Tao Jin also helped herself to a couple of dishes and smiled at Si Jin. “Ah, Mister Si, this is such a good idea. You know, when I go out with other people, I always wonder what to get. You never know how it tastes, after all. But I see now that if you get a lot of dishes, you can just give all of them a small taste and then decide what you’d like to eat more of. I should keep that in mind in the future.”

At this remark, Si Jin actually cracked his eyes open after tasting his current dish and gave her a look that may or may not have shown some appreciation. In any case, he was able to see that she was trying to hinder that Fan Mei at any chance. Very good!

Tao Jin smiled to herself and then picked up a bit of food to put on her husband’s plate. “Here, have some as well, darling.” See how hard I am working for you? Your master will certainly appreciate you more after you return this evening! Even if you make another blunder soon, I will be able to smooth things over for you.

Clearly, Tao Jin wasn’t just trying to hinder Fan Mei in achieving her goal but also hoping that she could finally support her husband a bit better. After all, that was what a good wife would do, right?