When Xiao Ming bit into the quenelle, his expression was pretty underwhelmed.

Even though Li Shui didn’t really care, he still couldn’t help but look at Xiao Ming to see how he would react. Anyway, this was the first dish he had ever made! That was still something that held some kind of significance, right?

Well, seeing Xiao Ming’s expression, he crossed that thought out of his mind. No, that held no significance at all. Otherwise, he’d have to admit that he had sucked really badly. He was just hoping that he wouldn’t give Xiao Ming any food poisoning or something. They definitely couldn’t use that right now.

Xiao Ming chewed for a moment before he swallowed, his expression not getting any better. He rubbed his fingers together as if he wanted to get rid of the whole experience before he turned to Li Shui. “Well, I guess I do owe you feedback then. First things first, you forgot the fish.”

Li Shui looked at him, not seeming to get what he meant. “Fish?”

Xiao Ming leaned forward and motioned over to the plate Li Shui had put the fish on when he had originally gathered the ingredients.

Li Shui looked over and his face fell. “Oh.”

Xiao Ming nodded and then turned the quenelle between his fingers, motioning at the charred edges. “Well, I guess there’s no need to say much about the looks. Clearly, these were far too long in the oven. They are more than just slightly burnt at the edges which really doesn’t help the taste. In regard to that … I feel like apologizing to goddess Tao. Mister Yu and I said that the quenelles were a little bland but, really, compared to this, they were actually really nice. I’m not sure if you might have mismeasured one of the ingredients when you had to redo the first step.”

Li Shui rubbed his neck and then just reached over, taking the quenelle from Xiao Ming’s fingers. “Aiya, don’t eat them! I know they’re bad anyway, if I really was a contestant, they would’ve thrown me out before I could even approach the stage in the casting. Anyway, don’t try more than that. I don’t want to give you food poisoning or something. Otherwise, they’ll switch you out like that guy Miss E took over for.”

Qian Huang and Xiao Ming looked at him, a little puzzled. After a moment, they exchanged a glance before looking back at.

Qian Huang raised his brows. “You mean Ren Ya Hui?”

Li Shui immediately nodded. “Right! That was his name!”

Qian Huang rubbed his forehead, not even knowing what to say anymore. This … was this guy for real? Had he seriously forgotten the moderator of the show that they were a part of? Well, Xiao Ming was the only one with an actual part in it but still.

Xiao Ming just gave an embarrassed smile sitting between the two of them and then cleared his throat. “Well, it’s a pity that Mister Ren can’t be part of the show anymore but Miss E is very nice. I had the chance to talk with her a bit behind the scenes and I’m sure that with her, the show will be a lot of fun.”

Qian Huang jumped at the chance to make this less embarrassing. “Honestly, I can believe that at once. Just look at yesterday’s episode! She and goddess Tao got along so well. I had the feeling they were secretly best friends.”

Xiao Ming chuckled. “It wouldn’t be all that secretive if they showed it in front of everyone. But anyway, I think that whether it’s goddess Tao or Miss E, they are both people that are very easy to get along with. It’s something you might not expect since we see them on TV so often, making it seem like they are these far-away stars that are completely different from us but I think, privately, they are much more approachable.

“As a live streamer, I never thought I’d have a chance to meet either of them but now that I have, I’m surprised in a good way. I’m sure that the contestants will also be very happy to see Miss E on the show. While neither Mister Yu nor I are trying to cut anyone down, we do have to say the truth which might hurt sometimes. That means that if a task isn’t done all that well, we will have to be honest and can’t sugarcoat it. Some contestants might take that harder than others. I’m happy that we have Miss E on the show to comfort them a little.”

Qian Huang sighed. “Yes, I guess it can hurt. Honestly though, I still can’t believe that we barely missed seeing goddess Tao herself. Ah, this will be a regret for the rest of my life now.”

Xiao Ming reached over and patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that she would come by either. Otherwise, I certainly would’ve asked her for her signature for you.”

“Just for me?”

Xiao Ming laughed at that. “How could I be so shameless to ask for three? Goddess Tao surely has better things to do. Anyway, does it matter? The three of us live together anyway. I’m sure you’d have framed it and hung it on the wall somewhere where everyone can see. So if I asked Ah Shui and I were to get something out of it as well.”

Qian Huang clicked his tongue and then motioned at the plates. I “Well, let’s not expose me any longer. Just eat your food. Well, not the quenelles, just the soup. Although I guess I’ll still have to give them a try.” He grimaced, and then gingerly picked up one of the quenelles to take a minuscule bite.

In the comment section, the viewers were already having fun at their expense, laughing the whole time.

Right now, Qian Huang wasn’t looking at that though, and just focused on the food. He showed a similar expression as Xiao Ming had made before, and then shook his head, putting the rest of the quenelle down. “Well, I’m not a professional cook but even I can tell you that this is disgusting. The overall thing is bland but also tastes slightly off and then there’s the burned parts. I can’t really find anything nice about this to say.

“Ah Shui, do me a favor: In this one case, don’t make goddess Tao your example. Her husband is a saint for trying the same dish over and over again. I guess being served by a literal goddess will help with that but you don’t have that benefit so please don’t follow in her footsteps. I’d much rather eat Xiao Ming’s food instead.”

Xiao Ming smiled, picking up the spoon and starting to eat the hot and sour soup. “I’m glad you say so. I was already worried that while I’m taking part in the show, Ah Shui will secretly practice and then take over my job at the end of it. Who knows if you wouldn’t be really attached to his cooking after eating it for some time?”

Qian Huang gave a huff at that. “If that was the case, then it’s because he used some black magic to make it and I got addicted. So let’s rather not risk it.”

Li Shui just ignored the two of them, continuing to eat the soup. The less you talked, the more you could eat. In a household where he always had to battle Qian Huang to get enough food, this was a tactic he had long perfected.

By the time Qian Huang had finally finished his bowl and looked into the pot, half of it had already vanished. He furrowed his brows and then looked at Li Shui. “You’re such a pig! Can’t you leave something for me as well?”

Xiao Ming chuckled and leaned back, but not before grabbing Qian Huang’s phone to look at the comments. “The two of you shouldn’t fool around as much. Especially you, Qian Huang. Ah Shui and I have both cooked today. Why aren’t you reading out the comments?”

“Ah, of course, it’s because I wanted to eat!”

Xiao Ming clicked his tongue and shook his head at him. “In that case, I’ll have to make sure that we won’t forget about you guys! Let’s see …” He scrolled through the last comments that had come in, and smiled when he saw some familiar names. There were also some new ones that he had never seen before. Those were probably viewers that had been attracted by the mini-episode or ‘Golden Spoon’ in general.

He wasn’t quite sure how to begin at first but finally figured that maybe he should just comment on what he saw. “It seems that other than our regular viewers, there are also quite a few new people here.

“For example, here is a person called ‘Five Metal Rings’ who is commiserating with our Ah Shui. They said ‘Black cuisine? That is something I know quite a lot about! So far, nobody has gotten addicted to it though. In fact, I lost three girlfriends over this.'” Xiao Ming looked up when he finished, looking apologetic.

“I’m sorry to hear about your girlfriends, Five Metal Rings. I think in a relationship, how you spend your time together, how you share work in your household, and also how you share the things you like are all very important. I know, the other two and I are just friends but friendships and relationships are quite similar in that regard.

“For us, Ah Huang and Ah Shui hanging around while I cook, telling me about things they find online or showing me a quick video on the side until I finish and we can eat together are incredibly important to all of us. It is something that makes use of what I can do while the others can’t while also making sure that it can be quality time for all of us as a group.

“So what I want to say is: Maybe those girls and you just weren’t a good fit in how you appreciated different things in life. Or maybe you didn’t find a good way to make those things work because of the differences you might have had. That can be difficult and I think that — speaking from experience — if it hadn’t been for the fact that the other two and I practically grew up together, we would also have had some trouble adjusting to living together. In fact, I know that in some of my past relationships, my close friendship with Ah Huang and Ah Shui was a problem for my partners.

“Anyway, in the future, I’m sure that you will find somebody who will appreciate the hard work you put into your black cuisine! Or maybe by that time, if you just don’t give up, your black cuisine will have been upgraded to gray cuisine already. I’m sure that you can do it! Even if it doesn’t look easy at first, cooking is something that everybody can learn. It might just take some time.” He smiled, hoping to give this viewer some optimism back. Constant setbacks could make a person give up one day. It was important to remind them that no matter what was in the past, things didn’t have to stay the same in the future.

When he looked at the comments again, he couldn’t help but raise his brows. “Oh, now that is a comment I can get behind! One of our regular viewers, ‘Cat Dancing on a Wire’, just mentioned that you just need to look at Nin Sha to figure that out. He only started learning how to cook a few weeks ago and now he is a contestant on ‘Golden Spoon’.” Xiao Ming looked back up at the camera, seeming a little puzzled himself.

“Honestly, when Nin Sha mentioned that he registered but didn’t know how to cook, I was a bit worried. But when he came to the casting, and I actually tasted his dish, I was surprised. I’m not sure if all of his dishes will be this good but the one that he presented? I didn’t have anything to complain about there. I’m really curious to see what else he will bring us. So yes, he really is a good example when it comes to everyone being able to learn. Although I guess most people will need a bit more time.”

Qian Huang couldn’t help but tilt his head at that. “Speaking of which … when scrolling through the comments the whole time before I came over to the counter I didn’t see his name pop up a single time. Don’t tell me that now that he’s a contestant, he actually isn’t watching the stream anymore?”

Xiao Ming blinked his eyes, and then looked at the comment section, not quite sure what to think. He hadn’t paid much attention and it wasn’t like Nin Sha was somebody who had commented a lot in the past, so he wasn’t quite sure if it had to say anything that there currently wasn’t one of his comments on screen.

He also didn’t know how to feel about the idea that maybe Nin Sha wasn’t a viewer of theirs anymore. He knew that sometimes, people just lost interest. There were some viewers from the early days that he hadn’t seen around anymore after a while. But with Nin Sha … it would be strange after so many years. But then again, maybe that would be better. After all, they had clearly had quite a bit of trouble because of his involvement recently.

Before he could think any further, the familiar username already popped up on the screen again.

Nin Sha: [I’m still watching the stream, Xiao Ming. I am merely not commenting anymore because I don’t want to make trouble for you. Since you are a judge on the show and I’m a contestant, I thought it might not look good. Just know in your heart that I’ll always stay your greatest admirer. I will see you on Saturday.]

Xiao Ming couldn’t help but smile when he saw the comment. Saturday? Yes, they would indeed see each other again at that time. Now, he was indeed looking forward to that as well.

Thinking of that, he looked back up at the camera, that sweet smile still on his lips. “Well, Nin Sha is apparently still there and I guess he will stay around for a while longer. He just reminded me that the next episode of ‘Golden Spoon’ will already be recorded in two days’ time. Let’s see what the contestants bring us.

“For now, we’ll have to bid all of you farewell. But we will also see each other again in two days’ time when the casting of ‘Golden Spoon’ finally airs. I hope that all of you will go to watch it and then soon, we will also be greeting you again here at Bright Yellow Water.”

Author’s Note:

This is the end of The Onion-Cutting Ninja’s 2nd volume. I’ll use this opportunity to take a short-ish break from OCN and instead use its time slot to upload the last remaining story of the Sons of Nature collection, “The Last Rose of Winter”. It has 13 chapters so we’ll start on Thursday this week and finish it in another six weeks. After that, we’ll continue with OCN’s third volume at the usual time. I’ll also post a reminder when the time comes so you won’t miss it.
I hope you’ve had fun with our ninjas so far. You can always leave me a few words in the comments if you’d like to 😉