An hour wasn’t a long time and Xiao Ming was even more anxious in front of the big camera than he was at home when the only people in the room with him were Qian Huang and Li Shui. As such, before the hour had even ended, he already went back to the studio, trying to adjust his mental state.

The next task was one that he had come up with. He had thought long and hard about what kind of tasks he wanted to do and also which task to choose for which episode. He felt like he had done a good job and most of his ideas had been accepted by the team without him needing to revise anything. Even those tasks that had needed some tweaks to be just right for the show had already been changed by now. So really, he shouldn’t have any reason to worry.

And yet, the closer the end of the break came, the more anxious he got. He just couldn’t help but imagine everything that could go wrong. What if he didn’t do a good enough job explaining his task?

Mister Yu had done such a beautiful job introducing his, talking about his own beliefs and also that he figured that everyone should be allowed to follow theirs, but also highlighting the importance that congee held in their country’s cuisine. Compared to that, would he be able to come even close?

Not even just the explanation, what if something had gone wrong behind the scenes? What if there was a problem with the ingredients? For the congee, the contestants could look through what was available and then choose whatever they wanted from it.

For his task, that wouldn’t be possible. So if anything had gone wrong with the ingredients, it would be a disaster. Yes, it might not be his fault, but how many people would think about that when viewing this episode? They would just see that it was his first task and that it had gone wrong and then they would think that it had something to do with him. So yes, he should worry about this.

Then again, maybe he was thinking too much. It wasn’t like the show was broadcasted live. The producer had mentioned that the last episode might be if the number of viewers and their interactions suggested that it would be a good idea, but for the ones before that, there was no chance that would happen.

So, even if something did go wrong, as long as they caught onto the problem early enough, they could still make up for it. There should be several ways to do so from starting over to just taking out specific scenes or adjusting something else. And it wasn’t like the crew didn’t have experience. They would know what to do. So yes, he should just trust them to do well and make it right if anything went wrong.

Xiao Ming shook his head at himself, feeling that he really was a worrywart. That was something he should try to get rid of. The show would go on for several weeks. He’d have to be in the studio as a judge for both days each weekend and would also need to come over to film additional material on the weekdays.

The first week from the casting to the filming for the first episode had been a period of grace. He had been able to do most things in their temporary apartment and didn’t need to come here and be around the crew and several cameras. But starting from today, that would change. He’d be here more often and he should better get used to it soon. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like he would have any success getting rid of this anxiety.

He hadn’t gone over to the judges’ table, feeling that sitting down there alone would seem a bit wrong. Instead, he was standing to the side, rubbing his hands together, and wondering how long it could take for the others to come over.

As long as Mister Yu and Miss Chu were there, he would feel at least a little better. After all, they were all judges. Being together made him feel like there wasn’t as much of a spotlight on him and that helped tremendously. Just the way it always helped when Qian Huang and Li Shui were in the frame back at home when they were filming for Bright Yellow Water.

He took a deep breath, going over what he wanted to say in his mind once again in the hope that it could ground him somewhat. By the time he was repeating the words for the fourth time in his head, the first steps sounded behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder and then couldn’t help but stiffen a little when he realized that it was Fan Mei of all people. She had narrowed her eyes and was looking at him as if he was doing something suspicious. Well, in her mind, he probably was.

Xiao Ming gave a faint smile and inclined his head. “Miss Fan, you’re back already. I guess the break should be over soon.” He knew that she probably didn’t want to talk to him and he hadn’t forgotten what Nin Sha had told him before, but he still figured that he couldn’t just ignore her.

Thinking back to the congee she had made today, as well as to the lion-head meatballs in the casting, he knew that she was a very good cook. The same could be said about the other sixty-three contestants, but he had to admit that so far into the episode, her chances to advance were pretty good. At the very least, they were in his eyes.

Yes, it would also depend on what Mister Yu and Miss Chu thought, but he was pretty sure that they would see this similarly. After all, while her congee definitely hadn’t been the best, she had at least been in the middle field, and her idea had been pretty interesting. Also, compared to some of the others, her presentation had been very good. Overall, he felt that she would at least be in the top twenty, even if she might only barely make the cut.

While Xiao Ming was pondering her chances, Fan Mei looked around more closely, trying to figure out what he had been doing here alone. Clearly, this was quite strange. Especially so considering what she had seen before. “Mister Xiao, I saw you talking to that Si Jin before.”

Xiao Ming faintly raised his brows, feeling that it really was no wonder that Nin Sha had warned him about her. Clearly, she really was still out to make up a conspiracy. But in that case, as long as he stayed calm and told the truth, maybe he would also be able to dissuade her from continuing to do so. After all, you would only need to get flustered if you had a guilty conscience, right? “Yes, he came over to say hello and apologize. I guess this is a bit awkward to talk about with you, but you know that there have been some …” He looked for the right word, frowning a little. “Well, some problems between him and me. I don’t mind but I guess he still felt the need to say some words about it. I do appreciate that.”

This wasn’t wrong. Even though Fan Mei would link this to the matter with her instead of what had happened last week, not a single word he had said was wrong. There had been problems between them. The matter with Fan Mei had been one of them, that guy stalking them another one, and Mister Shi and most likely Mister Ai as well trying to set them up was yet another one.

It could be said that, so far, save for the time that Nin Sha had been, well, just Nin Sha, their relationship had truly been one made of trouble. It was as if the moment he assumed the name ‘Si Jin’ instead of ‘Nin Sha’, everything had turned around.

Xiao Ming himself couldn’t quite explain it. Maybe this was just how things were when you dealt with somebody online, where they were nothing but that username, and offline, where the person had a face and showed a certain behavior that you could link to them. There was probably more potential for conflict after getting to know their actual identity. That was just how it was.

Fan Mei stared at him, trying to figure out if there was a hidden meaning in his words. Clearly, he was referring to the matter that had happened with her blog, but she didn’t feel that she needed to apologize.

Anyway, she had gone off the clues that she had. And she still didn’t think that any of that was wrong. She knew that there was something up. She might not have the whole picture yet but soon enough, she would prove that she had been right. Then, nobody would dare to say that she had made things up again. No, people would see the truth! And all those who had tried to tear her down and made fun of her in the days and weeks after posting that article would feel their faces hurt and ask to kneel down to apologize to her. Just as they should!

Well, that future still relied on her actually being able to figure everything out. And she had already seen that, that Si Jin guy wasn’t easy to get anything out of it. He wouldn’t if he didn’t have to and that employee of his had clearly been instructed.

As for her brother, he had always pretended that that Si Jin was just a business partner at most so he wasn’t helpful either. And don’t mention her sister-in-law! If she asked her, she would go on and on about how great her husband was. She wouldn’t say a single thing about that Si Jin other than maybe ‘he seemed nice’ or ‘he seemed like he was important’ and then circle back to what that meant for her husband’s good judgment of people or success as a businessman himself. It was maddening!

But with neither of these people being an option to gather more information, there was only one more person left to go after, wasn’t it? Yes, Xiao Ming was clearly the person she should get some more information from. Ah, thinking of it like this, what a lucky coincidence to have caught him alone where nobody would be able to interfere!

She forced a smile and walked over, giving him a scrutinizing look. Actually, he didn’t seem that different in real life than he did on camera when doing his stream. He still had that pretty face, he was still my mild-mannered and soft-spoken, and that fake smile was the same as well. It really made her angry.

She wasn’t able to see anything really interesting about him, to be honest. He was standing at a spot a little further away from the judges’ table and also the cooking stations as if he hadn’t been doing anything with either of those and had really just been standing around.

Come to think of it, if he wanted to give that Si Jin an unfair advantage, then the easiest way would be to go into the studio while nobody else was there and leave something for him, whether that was a small note, some kind of ingredient, or anything else to give him a hint or two on how to solve the next task successfully.

She wasn’t sure if the next task was the one that Xiao Ming had come up with himself so that he had been able to go over it with Si Jin in detail or if this was Chu Yu An’s task. But even if it was the latter, as a judge, Xiao Ming probably had known about it before as well, hadn’t he? In other words, it could be that Si Jin had been forewarned either way.

But then, there was also the possibility that the producer was responsible and had tried to make it as difficult as possible for anyone to cheat. The best option to do that would’ve been to have the judges submit their tasks, but then have someone from the crew choose which task would be done on which episode. That way, even Xiao Ming might only find out what the task would be when he came in today and needed to leave secretive messages for Si Jin.

Now, the only question was how she could be able to find out. She knew which of the cooking stations was Si Jin’s, but with Xiao Ming here, it wasn’t like she could go over and check, right? And in a moment, the others would return. She needed to be quick!

Fan Mei had always been smart. As soon as she caught onto this fact, she knew what to do. “Actually, I came in here to look for you.”

Xiao Ming raised his brows, not quite sure what to make of that. “Oh? Is there something I can do for you?” She wouldn’t want to try and apologize to him, would she? He could hardly imagine it but it would be a nice surprise.

He really hated that he was having trouble with one of the contestants. That just … didn’t seem like a good thing. No, if possible, he really wanted to be on good terms with everyone. Or, at the very least, on neutral terms. And while he couldn’t make undone what had happened with Fan Mei before, there was at least a chance that they could speak about matters and decide to let bygones be bygones. He would be happy about that.

Of course, Fan Mei was about to disappoint his expectations. “One of your co-anchors was looking for you. That Qian Huang. You should probably go and check on him immediately. After all, as you said, the break isn’t long anymore and you wouldn’t want to be late as a judge, would you?”

Xiao Ming froze, not sure how to react. Why would Qian Huang want to see him? Was it about that matter he had wanted to talk to Chu Yu An about? But why didn’t he come over himself? And why would he send Fan Mei of all people to notify him? This didn’t make any sense!

Even though he realized this, Xiao Ming wasn’t one for conspiracy theories. He never would have been able to imagine that Fan Mei was just making this up to check on Si Jin’s working station. So despite feeling bewildered, he nodded and thanked her, and then rushed out of the studio.

Seriously, just what was going on? Hopefully, this was nothing that would cause further trouble. It would be hard enough to get through the next few hours even if no new difficulties came up. So, please, let this be good news!