Xiao Ming and Qian Huang first filled Li Shui in on what had happened before. His brows wandered higher and higher while he listened to the story of how Si Er had contacted both of them and had clearly also listened in on Xiao Ming’s conversation with Si Qi. He really didn’t know what to say when they had ended.

Xiao Ming just sighed and leaned back, rubbing his forehead. “You know, this whole matter is just … weird. And truth be told, it’s getting a bit scary. I’m not sure if I want to deal with this.”

Qian Huang furrowed his brows, staring toward the door to Xiao Ming’s room. He honestly wasn’t sure if that guy wouldn’t be able to hear anything just because they had put all their phones and the notebooks in the other room but he sure hoped so. “The thing is even if you don’t want to, we will still have to. The question is what to do. This kind of thing … it has the possibility of really blowing up in our faces.”

Xiao Ming nodded. “True. I mean so far, they just seem to be trying to get me to consider Nin Sha as a potential partner. That … well, it is strange but I can understand somewhat. He is a friend of theirs, somebody they like a lot and want to help and it just seemed like a good way.

“To be honest, I’m not even mad at Mister Shi for how we went about it. The conversation … to be honest, I think part of that was really just him feeling lonely. He wanted to pour his heart out to somebody. And I was just there.

“Sure, he also used the opportunity to tell me more about Nin Sha but I don’t think he had much of an agenda. It just … worked out like that in the end. But this guy?” He motioned back to the room and shook his head. “I feel like we are constantly under surveillance. And I … I’m not sure if I can do this.

“I didn’t think that having a cooking channel would turn out like this. I guess owning a restaurant would be better. Or even just working at one. But then again, I’m unlikely to ever do that, am I not?”

The other two could only smile wryly. Xiao Ming might’ve had a chance to get that opportunity in the future but what would happen with them then? Even though their channel had managed to become quite big, this was their only work experience. And working with a good friend was always different from working with somebody else. If they had to stop the stream, it would get tough for them.

Xiao Ming shook his head again and then leaned forward, propping his chin up on his hands. “Maybe I could contact Mister Shi and ask if he could help us out there. I mean he did say we could contact him.”

“The problem is: What will happen if somebody realizes that? In any case, I don’t think you should have any kind of contact with any of them outside of the show. Even Li Shui and I probably shouldn’t.”

Xiao Ming and Li Shui looked at him and Qian Huang could only sigh deeply. They probably still didn’t get it fully.

“You know how it would look to be in close contact with any specific contestant of the show while it is running. Even for a while after that, it might be difficult. Especially if that person makes it far in the show which … could happen.

“People might say you’re biased or gave him preferential treatment. Sitting outside with him in the open like that was risky enough. Add a couple of calls, texts, or meet-ups and you’ll ruin your reputation. You shouldn’t get close to any of them even if it’s about something outside of the show.

“If we have to do something because they won’t stop bothering you, then it would make more sense to go through the official channels. Like, I think it would make more sense to speak to the director and tell him or somebody on his team that you are being harassed by one of the contestants. Then they could deal with it.”

Li Shui pursed his lips at that. “But that would count as making trouble, wouldn’t it? And you said before we should try to avoid that. In any case, the list of contestants has already been publicized. They wouldn’t want to throw one of them out. They’ll just hope he’ll get disqualified soon.

“As for the rest, do you really think they can do something about this? Also, not to make this sound worse than it already is but … Are we sure that this guy wouldn’t retaliate if we do this?”

At that, Qian Huang’s face fell. He had thought of this as well but he hadn’t wanted to bring it up in front of Xiao Ming. Now though, Li Shui had already done so in his stead so he could only sigh and voice his own thoughts on the matter. “To be honest, I think it’s likely.

“And this isn’t even something we have to think about just for the duration of the show. For now, we can get them off our backs by saying that it wouldn’t do to have any contact with them until ‘Golden Spoon’ has run its course. That is a way to buy some time but it can’t completely solve this issue either.

“Just think about it: This guy probably has evidence of anything we’ve done for this year or maybe even the last five. Some embarrassing call with somebody we were dating? Some conversations we had about our channel, signing the contract with the guys from ‘Golden Spoon’, any of the contestants from the show, or whatever else was going on in our lives at the time? Even Xiao Ming being …” He stopped himself from saying it with another look at the door and just shook his head.

“In any case, if there are recordings of what we said, whether that be audio or video, that could be a problem. I mean you’ve seen what happened with that Misses Youya and she was only guessing for the most part.

“If we now have some kind of hacker preying on us who has even more intimate knowledge of what we’ve been up to over the years, that’d be even worse. I don’t even want to imagine what kind of scandal that might cause. We would be ruined if it really happened. And I’m not sure if he wouldn’t do something like that if you refused to date Nin Sha.”

Xiao Ming’s expression also didn’t look too good. “But we can’t just ignore it, can we? I mean buying time … that’s alright for now but we need to do something. It can’t continue like this. We can’t always leave our phones somewhere else. We need to work. What should we do?”

Qian Huang furrowed his brows, not too sure what the answer to that should be either. Going to the director would have been the best way in his eyes but Li Shui was right that he had also said before that they shouldn’t make any kind of trouble if they could help it.

And right now, only the casting was over. If something like this happened … well, they had been fast enough to get somebody else to be the host for the casting and the rest of the show. He didn’t think that they would have a problem replacing Xiao Ming as well. They could just come out and say that he had gotten sick or whatever else they thought of.

With the contract that they had signed, they wouldn’t be able to refute it. In fact, they would need to go along with it because it also stated that the topics of the streams they did while ‘Golden Spoon’ was running had to be preapproved by the director.

He didn’t think that there would be any getting approved if they really were to be thrown out. And that meant that for two months, they wouldn’t be able to post anything. For a channel like theirs, that might be their death sentence.

The three of them fell silent, no idea of what a solution might be. They couldn’t go through the official channels and they couldn’t go with any of the people actually involved. After all, whether it was Si Jin, that creepy hacker, or Shi Ru Qiu, they were all contestants. If one was to be kicked out of the show, then maybe that would be a chance but it wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

While Qian Huang and Li Shui might not know how good those three were, Xiao Ming had tasted all the dishes and he knew that their level was quite high. If they hadn’t coincidentally only practiced this one dish, they would be able to make it into one of the later rounds.

Anyway, this meant that Si Qi couldn’t be used as a messenger while Si Jin … well, he might be difficult to talk to outside of the channel’s comment section. And Si Er … well, it didn’t need to be said that he wasn’t the right address.

Also, when it came to Si Qi, Xiao Ming didn’t want to put him on the spot like that. After all, from what he had told him, he didn’t have that many friends. To get into trouble with one of them because of this matter … Xiao Ming didn’t feel comfortable with that.

He furrowed his brows, wondering if there wasn’t something else that they could do. Was there nobody who would be willing to help them but wasn’t a contestant on the show? Finally, he couldn’t help but think of one other person. “What about Mister Ai?”

The other two looked at him, not quite sure what to think of that.

“I mean, Mister Ai also knows Nin Sha. And from what Mister Shi told me, they are one big group of friends that grew up together. Maybe not everyone is close with everyone else to the same degree but they should definitely have some kind of influence among them. And Mister Ai isn’t a contestant. So if we maybe tried contacting him, it might work out.” He also didn’t want to put him on the spot like this but it really seemed like the only option they had.

Qian Huang’s expression turned thoughtful. Ai Gui Jin might indeed be a good address to get help. If he would be willing to do something … well, that would be great. For one, there wasn’t the problems that he was associated with the show in the way the contestants were. Even if it came out that he had to do something with Xiao Ming, it wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, it might be helpful for the show’s reputation that Mister Ai thought favorably of Xiao Ming. And then there was also the fact that he knew exactly how to contact him.

He thought for a bit and finally nodded. “Alright, let’s do that. I’ll take care of it though. I think it’s best if you aren’t directly involved in this. You know, this is about Nin Sha having feelings for you and his friend acting out because of that. I think it would be awkward to have that conversation yourself.”

Xiao Ming nodded, actually quite happy that he didn’t need to have the conversation himself. Even though he didn’t mind talking about Nin Sha and his feelings, he really didn’t like conflict all that much. He’d rather let Qian Huang handle that so he could get around it.

Seeing that he didn’t have a problem with it, Qian Huang motioned over to the room where they had put the phones. “Then I’ll get my phone and give him a call. Anyway, I guess he’ll be glad to hear from us and will at least try to do something about it. He seemed like a good guy.”

Xiao Ming nodded, also feeling relieved that they indeed had this option.

Qian Huang went and got his phone and then left the apartment, not wanting to have the others around for this call necessarily.

There was a small backyard behind the building and he went to sit down there, holding the phone in his hands for a moment before he contacted him.

To be honest, he had thought that maybe this Ai Gui Jin and Xiao Ming … could be a thing in the future. When he heard from Xiao Ming about his talk with Shi Ru Qiu and how that Mister Ai would never date Xiao Ming even if he was into men, he had actually been a little disheartened.

To be honest, he had to say that he felt a bit guilty toward Xiao Ming. He hadn’t had an easy life and he felt like he might’ve had it easier by now if he wasn’t tied down by the channel.

By now, he probably could’ve taken care of the channel and culinary school at the side so that he could really start to work at a restaurant later on. Xiao Ming surely knew that the option was there but he had decided against it.

And Qian Huang knew why: It was because of them. Because they had given up their own dreams back then, so he felt that he had to continue and let them live their dreams in the same strange way that they had found for his dream.

Originally, that never would have been a problem. But it limited Xiao Ming. The current situation was just proving that again. He could gain no stability for the future with this and that was what they should want for him as friends.

Qian Huang sighed and then finally gave a call to the person whose number he had just gotten.

At this time, Si Shi Wu had just returned home to the temporary headquarters of the Si clan after managing to have a chat with his friend after all. When his phone rang, he almost expected it to be Si Yi with some kind of task but he was surprised to see that it was somebody else entirely.

He immediately accepted the call while he got out of the car, a faint smile on his lips. “Mister Qian, what a surprise! I take it that this is about that meeting I talked about with Mister Li and Miss Yu?”

When Qian Huang heard that, he couldn’t help but feel awkward. There was a small pause before he finally answered. “I’m afraid not.” He made another small break that let him hear the sound of Si Shi Wu walking on the other side and closing a door before the environment got quieter. “I hope I’m not bothering you but there’s an issue I wanted to talk to you about.”

Si Shi Wu went to sit down in the lounge, leaning back on the couch. “Well, I’d be glad to help. What might this be about?”

Qian Huang cleared his throat, feeling even more awkward. “Well, if I’m not wrong, then you are friends with Nin Sha, aren’t you? I mean Si Jin. Right?”

Si Shi Wu stared ahead, not quite sure where this was going. “Well, I guess I already mentioned that on your stream once so it shouldn’t be much of a question anymore. So, yes, that is indeed true.”

“Well, you see, there’s a bit of trouble with him and Xiao Ming. I was wondering if you would be able to help us with that.”

Si Shi Wu closed his eyes, feeling that this was really not something he wanted to deal with. Especially not if Si Yi wasn’t around to give him some pointers.

But, well, it seemed that for the time being, he could only take care of this matter on his own. “Well, please tell me the specifics and I’ll see what I can do. In any case, I do consider Mister Xiao a friend as well. So naturally, if there is a way for me to mediate, I would be very happy to do so.”

He really hoped that just mediating a bit would help. Because this had sounded as if the problem was quite a bit bigger.