In Si Jin’s heart of hearts, he was actually a mess. Xiao Ming himself might not have said that he was a handsome man, but at the very least, he hadn’t disagreed when Chu Yu An suggested it.

Could this be counted as a silent approval? Did this mean that Xiao Ming thought about him in the same way? Just the notion that this might be true was enough to make the ninja happy. He wouldn’t show it on his face but, of course, the thoughts were still there.

Yes, how could he not be happy? For so many years, he had been silently chasing after him, advertising himself in the comment section of the Bright Yellow Water channel, hoping that Xiao Ming would notice him and pay more attention to him. Now, they were finally face-to-face and look at how smoothly things were developing! It really was true what people said: A handsome face was worth its weight in gold.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t really cared before. While yes, he did have to admit that being good-looking could open some doors, it wasn’t all that important if you were already in a position where they would be open anyway.

What did he have to gain from this face? Would the loyalty of the ninjas of the Si clan be swayed by just a pretty face? Of course not! As for business partners, while having a good-looking face wasn’t bad, it also couldn’t influence their decisions. That still relied on benefits.

So to him, for most of his life, being good-looking had seemed like not much of a big deal. In fact, there had even been times when he thought that it would be better to look more average. Then, he would have an easier time blending into his surroundings and doing things for the Si clan.

While he might have subordinates to do so, that didn’t mean that there weren’t also things he would like to do by himself. But with his face, it was sometimes difficult to do so.

To be honest, even with that kind of face, Si Jin probably wouldn’t have had as much of a problem if he was just able to put on an expression like a normal person. But with the deadpan expression he wore each day, that was able to freak out most people, he naturally wouldn’t be able to blend into a group of people.

Yes, in his pursuit of not revealing any flaws, the master of the Si clan had managed to develop a cumbersome weakness. Well, Si Jin wouldn’t care much. To him, the most difficult annoying about his usual expression was really that Xiao Ming probably also wouldn’t like it.

He thought back to last week at the casting when Si Er had given him the hint to smile a bit more and how Xiao Ming’s expression had softened a bit when he saw it. With that in mind, Si Jin tried to force himself to give another smile.

Chu Yu An was the first to notice this change since Xiao Ming was still busy trying not to look in the ninja’s direction. Seeing it, she was stunned for a moment and then elbowed Xiao Ming’s side. “My eyes have been opened! Have you ever seen that Nin Sha smile?”

Xiao Ming glanced at her and then involuntarily also glanced in Si Jin’s direction. Hearing her mention a smile, he just couldn’t help himself. As expected, what he found was the same expression as last week that looked as if it physically hurt him to stretch his face this way. It really was quite pitiful and seeing it, he almost wanted to smile back to comfort him, but then just looked away again.

Chu Yu An noticed that he didn’t even dare to look at Si Jin and couldn’t help leaning closer. “What’s the matter? You wouldn’t be embarrassed, would you?” Honestly, just watching for a while, it was pretty clear that Si Jin had a thing for him and not just in the way that a fan did.

In any case, while Xiao Ming was indeed a popular streamer online when it came to cooking and might have some fanatical fans just as every celebrity did no matter how small or big, there was still a difference between this and that. She could imagine that receiving that kind of affection could indeed make the recipient not know how to deal with it.

Xiao Ming really wasn’t sure if they should discuss this since they were not too far away from the contestants and there were cameras around, not to mention the microphone they were equipped with. Not answering would be rude though so he still leaned a little closer, holding his hand above the microphone and lowering his voice in the hope that what he said wouldn’t be picked up on. “Miss Chu, aren’t you afraid of talking about these things here? I really don’t want people to think that we might be biased. So can we just discuss one of the contestants like this?”

Chu Yu An raised her brows and realized what was going on. “Oh, you’re afraid they’ll make a scandal out of it!” She slowly nodded to herself and sighed, leaning back. “Well, I’m just a temporary judge and I’ll go back overseas after this episode has finished filming and I’ve had a chance to make some courtesy calls so I really didn’t think about that. But it’s true. You have to spend several weeks as a judge and even after that, you’ll have to continue to rely on your fanbase here. It’s probably better to be a bit more careful. Anyway, we should take a look at the other contestants as well then.”

Saying so, Chu Yu An turned around, glancing at the other contestants and trying to find something that was interesting. After a moment, she froze and then pressed her eyes shut before blinking a few times, taking another look at one of the men.

Xiao Ming couldn’t help but look over and realized that the person she was looking at was someone he knew as well: Shi Ru Qiu. “Is something the matter with him?”

Chu Yu An pointed over and then turned to Xiao Ming with an excited expression. “Isn’t he that author? Shi Ru Qiu?”

Xiao Ming nodded, but couldn’t help but be a bit surprised she was able to recognize him at a glance. Anyway, he had been reading Shi Ru Qiu’s books for years but he still hadn’t known how the author himself looked. And from what Si Qi had told him the other day, that seemed to be common. In any case, he was selling his words, not his face so it made sense.

Chu Yu An hadn’t had much doubt and had only wanted to make sure. “Ah, I can’t believe it! I didn’t know he could cook.”

Xiao Ming smiled, feeling that this Miss Chu was really interesting. “Sounds like you’re a fan of his.”

Chu Yu An wriggled her eyebrows at him. “Why wouldn’t I be? In any case, there are quite a few things to like in his stories.” She glanced around, and then couldn’t help but look down at the microphone that had been attached to her clothes, feeling that it was a bit of a pity.

Originally, she wouldn’t have minded, but considering that Xiao Ming had just reminded her of how he wasn’t just a temporary judge but a main judge for the whole season, she also realized she couldn’t speak carelessly. Anyway, this was China, so some things were better left unsaid.

She pushed that thought away and just smiled brightly, cupping her cheeks. Even if she couldn’t say things outright, she could at least hint at them. “Seriously, I think that some of the themes in his books are quite courageous. So I can’t help but always look forward to it whenever he publishes something new. And I’m following his Weibo. There really aren’t many authors I would be able to recognize at a glance, but he’s definitely one of them!”

Xiao Ming nodded and couldn’t help but feel that he should probably check the pictures of some of the other authors he liked a lot. If he ever happened to meet them, he would also be able to recognize them. Wouldn’t that be nice?

In any case, after Chu Yu An had spotted Shi Ru Qiu, he looked around and pointed out a few of the other contestants. “Actually, ‘Golden Spoon’ has managed to draw quite the crowd of illustrious figures. That woman behind Nin Sha is called Fan Mei. She’s a rather well-known news reporter, definitely an up-and-coming talent. Then the man over there, he is actually a university professor with international prestige. And that guy in the last row there, he’s a famous athlete from what I’ve been told, although I don’t know him personally.” He continued to point out a few figures, most of them the ninjas of the Si clan but some of the others like Fan Mei were also worth mentioning.

Chu Yu An followed to look where he pointed and couldn’t help but feel a little stunned. “Was this prearranged?” She couldn’t believe that there were that many famous people among just sixty-four contestants. It just didn’t seem right. No, this had to be a gimmick of the show.

Xiao Ming smiled but shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. Both Mister Yu and I saw quite a few participants in the casting. Not everyone’s dish was given to us for tasting and we just got the ones that managed to convince the other chefs at the venue. From what I know, some of them practiced together before the casting so their results were similar. Since one managed to make it in, the others did as well.

“I think this is true for about a third of the finally chosen participants. As for the others, I think they don’t have anything to do with each other. But anyway, I’d imagine those twenty or so people are in the same social circles. Of course, they will all have interesting identities.

“To be honest, when I was told after the casting, I was really surprised though. I didn’t expect something like that to happen. For a while, it really made me feel the pressure.” He sighed when he thought back to that moment and shook his head.

Actually, after knowing that most of those people were connected to Nin Sha in some way and had come to support him, it had also helped him to relax. He probably shouldn’t but it just made him feel that, in a sense, there was a bit of a connection between them as well and they weren’t as far away as he would have imagined. Anyway, if even somebody like Nin Sha who came from a wealthy and powerful family and had quite a bit of influence himself could be his fan for many years, he shouldn’t be so surprised to see others of the same caliber join in.

Chu Yu An gave a hum, and looked at the people one by one, wondering if ‘Golden Spoon’ was just extremely lucky or if there was more behind that. Considering that somehow, they had managed to enlist the help of Tao Jin who was relatively well-known even overseas, she’d lean toward the latter. Anyway, just by knowing what a few of the contestants were doing, she also couldn’t figure it out so she didn’t think about it any longer.

While the two of them had been talking, the contestants had continued to cook. Actually, when it came to congee, there wasn’t all that much work after the preparations were done. You just needed to make sure that you stirred the congee every half an hour or so, and then gave it enough time to cook. If you wanted to add ingredients, then depending on how you wanted the taste to come out, you might also need to prepare those toward the end of your allotted time.

For some of the contestants who wanted to add additional ingredients, the time to do so had just arrived. Of course, with enough time in-between, all of them had already taken out the utensils and ingredients they needed and processed them. Now, they only needed to fry or cook them, and then add them to the congee so they would be able to affect the taste.

Soon enough, the studio was filled with a multitude of smells, really making one’s mouth water.

One of the people adding ingredients was Si Jin. His gaze was still on Xiao Ming and he couldn’t help but wonder if he would like this dish. Judging from how the cooking stations were organized, if the judges tasted the dishes one by one in the same way that the contestants had walked into the room, then he would be able to present his first. Oh, he really couldn’t wait for it!

The countdown on the judges’ table closed in on zero and E Cheng Jun also went back after having interviewed a few of the other contestants as well. She wasn’t sure how much of these things would make it into the first episode but she was pretty sure that at least some of this would be published online to hype up the show. She felt like she had done a good enough job for that.

Finally, there was only half a minute left.

E Cheng Jun clapped her hands to get the attention of the contestants and put a hand on the judges’ table. “Only thirty seconds remain. Everyone, please make sure that you have plated your congee and are ready to present it to the judges when the countdown is up! Otherwise, I’m afraid you’ll have lost this round.”

The ones who hadn’t started to plate their dish yet immediately rushed to open their pots, taking out the congee and arranging everything. In their minds, with only those two hours, every second that the congee was able to cook was a little closer to the kind of consistency that the congee should have. As such, they hadn’t wanted to start any earlier.

On the other hand, while the other contestants might be worried about that as well, they had still taken the congee out a little earlier, feeling that no matter how good the consistency, if it wasn’t in the bowl by the time the countdown was up, they wouldn’t have anything to present. How could they dare to risk that?

Finally, there were only ten seconds left and E Cheng Jun counted down. The sides of the judges’ table lit up and the light of the room changed at the same time, a signal sounding from all four corners.

“Alright, step back, everyone! Now, this was an interesting two hours. I hope that everyone managed to make their best congee. Now, it’s time to present your finished dish to the judges. We will start from the front and go to the back just in the same way that you’ve come in. So, please bring your dish up to the judges’ table, and let them have a taste.”

With that, E Cheng Jun stepped to the side, and Si Jin picked up his dish, walking to the front, his gaze still lingering on Xiao Ming as usual.