Fan Mei couldn’t help but feel nervous. If those security cameras were really working, what would they show? She was afraid that the answer to that question wouldn’t be one that she liked.

No matter what she thought though, there was enough doubt about her actions that Yang Shu Na couldn’t refuse to check the recordings. She invited the judges, as well as the other contestants, back into the studio, and then had the other members of the crew set up a stream of the security feed a little behind the judges’ table.

Anyway, by now, the argument had drawn so much attention that she couldn’t just ignore the other contestants. If they felt that there was somebody going around trying to sabotage them, then the crew behind the show needed to prove that they were taking such accusations seriously. More transparency needed to be given as well.

Everybody went to stand behind their own cooking station, save for Si Jin who stood to the side, looking at the stream from there.

Yang Shu Na raised her brows at him. “That … What about you? Aren’t you going to go back to your workstation?” She definitely didn’t want to have yet another contestant act out so Si Jin’s behavior was something that she wasn’t too happy to see.

If things went on like this, the producer might really need to assign even more staff to the show so that there would be somebody to essentially babysit these people. Who would’ve thought that filming a cooking show could be such a headache?

Si Jin really didn’t want to talk and was wondering if he should even say something when Si Er already jumped in to save his master.

“Ms. Yang, he is the one whose workstation that Ms. Fan went to. I think it’s in his own interest to stay a bit further away so she can’t later say that he was responsible in case there’s indeed something odd about it. I think it’s better if he stands somewhere else.”

Yang Shu Na looked over to the cooking station and realized that, indeed, this was the one that Si Er had described before. “Well, in that case, just stand somewhere else. Now, let’s have a look at the security feed together.”

She motioned at the crewmember in charge of the stream and they rewound the feed from where it was currently showing everyone in the studio back to the beginning of the break.

There, it showed how everyone left the room together, the judges slightly lagging behind because they had still been talking to each other. For a while, there was nothing else happening in the studio. Then, a person stepped in.

The contestants’ brows shot up when they realized that this was not Fan Mei though. Instead, it was Judge Xiao.

The crewmember paused and looked at Yang Shu Na.

She wasn’t quite sure what to make of this either and slightly furrowed her brows before she turned to Xiao Ming. “Judge Xiao, why did you go back to the studio?”

Xiao Ming froze, feeling put on the spot. He really would’ve liked to say that he had stage fright and needed to take a breather before the next part started, but that was pretty much the same thing that Fan Mei had said before so he didn’t think that it would be a good idea to say that.

Chu Yu An glanced at him and then raised her brows. Clearly, Xiao Ming was a rather nervous person. Without a bit of help, who knew if he could explain himself? Considering that he had already been pulled into this matter against his will before, she figured she couldn’t leave him alone with this.

She gave a hum and then just spoke up instead of him. “Ms. Yang, what’s with that question? Judge Xiao isn’t the one who is under scrutiny here whether he was in the studio before Ms. Fan came in shouldn’t matter at all. But either way, he is in charge of the next task. Of course, he’d take some time to go in and revisit his instructions again. After all, we need to make sure that they are clear for the contestants. Just one wrong word might change the meaning, rehearsing is vital. Anyway, can we get back to finding out what Ms. Fan did now?”

Yang Shu Na didn’t feel like there was more to say about the matter with Xiao Ming so she motioned for the crewmember to continue playing the feed.

This time, the guy didn’t forward anything and just let it play at the normal speed.

It showed how Xiao Ming walked past all of the working stations and the judges’ table, actually passing by with quite a large distance from both of them. Obviously, he hadn’t done anything. Finally, he stopped a little further away and then just stood there.

He seemed to be rubbing his hands and the security camera from the other side showed that his lips were moving, probably muttering something to himself. If anybody had still had doubts, they now believed what Chu Yu An had just said: This person was indeed just going through the task again that he would soon have to give the contestants.

Xiao Ming almost wanted to heave a sigh of relief that nobody was asking him further questions but he forcibly held back. If he sounded relieved now, that would just make him sound guilty. How could he let that happen? No, since he had finally managed to make it through this ordeal on his part, then he had to make sure that he didn’t make any new doubt occur.

Back on the security feed, a second person finally entered the studio. This was indeed Fan Mei now and she walked directly over to Xiao Ming. Her gaze was darting through the room as if she was looking for something though.

The other contestants couldn’t help but give her a few glances. This behavior, it looked much less natural than that of Judge Xiao just how. This definitely wasn’t the act of somebody just looking for their workstation and mixing it up. No, clearly, there had been more to it. Otherwise, she would’ve at least walked to the other side, and then began hesitating when she was almost there because she wasn’t sure anymore which station was hers.

The security feed showed how Fan Mei stood a little further away from Xiao Ming and then spoke up, which made him turn around, giving her a smile. There wasn’t audio so there was no way to know what they were saying, but Xiao Ming’s expression looked a little awkward at first, and then turned surprised at the end. Finally, he left the room while Fan Mei remained.

Yang Shu Na didn’t really want to ask him something again considering how accusing Chu Yu An had sounded before but she still motioned for the staff member to stop the security feed and then turned to the judges’ table. “Judge Xiao, can you tell us what she said? It seems that you left because of that?”

Xiao Ming was once again put on the spot but this time, he didn’t have anything to hide. Anyway, he had told Mister Yu and Miss Chu about it before so they would likely believe him. “Of course, Ms. Yang. Ms. Fan told me that Qian Huang from my streaming channel had been looking for me. She made it sound rather important so I immediately went to go and talk to him because I knew that the break would be over in a few moments.”

Chu Yu An elbowed him when he stopped there and raised her brows. “Mister Xiao, don’t forget to mention the part where you found him and he told you that he had never asked her to tell you anything.”

Usually, she wasn’t one for making trouble for anyone, especially about things that didn’t directly have to do with their job, but this Fan Mei … After everything she had heard about and seen from her, she felt that it might be for the best if she were to leave the show.

Having a contestant on the show that had slandered one of the judges online was bad enough but clearly, whatever it was that she had had against him wasn’t over yet. Nobody might have commented on it at that time but she had seen Fan Mei’s expression when Xiao Ming talked to her after she presented her dish for the first task. She had looked like she had a problem with him. The kind of problem that spelled trouble for Xiao Ming in the future.

Lying to Xiao Ming to get him out of the studio and possibly trying to sabotage another contestant were just adding insult to injury. Really, this woman, she better shouldn’t be on this type of show. If she stayed, she would just cause even further problems.

Even though Chu Yu An knew that she wouldn’t be there anymore to suffer from that, she also didn’t want Xiao Ming and Mister Yu to have the problem. So, it was better to help out with making it as difficult as possible for her to stay.

Xiao Ming looked at her and blinked his eyes, finally lowering his head in embarrassment. “Yes, he didn’t seem to know anything about that.” Now, they had brought up what he had feared to be a problem in the first place. He was worried but it wasn’t like he could deny it after Ms. Chu already stepped out to help him.

Yang Shu Na felt like things were going in a clearer direction now. It made her hope that this whole matter would be solved soon. Thus, she waved at another staff member to get Qian Huang. Since all of the contestants were watching, they had to make sure of everything and not miss anything because either way, one of them had been wronged. In case future situations arose, the first one should be dealt with clearly.

Qian Huang arrived in just a moment. He had been hanging around to see what was going on anyway, and immediately sat close to the judges’ table himself.

“Mister Qiang, did Ms. Fan speak to you today?”

Qian Huang categorically shook his head. “I didn’t talk to her today even once. You know that I’m mostly behind the scenes, just making sure that everything is going alright from our side. So I don’t have much to do with the other contestants. As long as somebody doesn’t approach me, I’ll stay away.” This was true. The only people that he had really spoken to were Li Shui, Xiao Ming, and the other two judges.

As for the contestants, he had had enough of these people already. That matter with Si Jin and that guy who was now making trouble for Fan Mei but had been troubling them before had been more than enough for him. He’d rather not get embroiled in even more problems. So he had stayed clear of everyone.

Yang Shu Na nodded. Anyway, she hadn’t seen him make trouble anyway and none of the contestants had disagreed so this should be true. She turned back to the staff member.

The security feed continued, showing how Xiao Ming hurried out of the studio, leaving Fan Mei alone in there. She stretched her neck and tilted her head as if to make sure that Xiao Ming had really left, and then immediately rushed over to Si Jin’s working station, looking everything over from top to bottom.

She stopped abruptly, even flinching, at the exact moment when another person could be seen approaching the door. Clearly, this was the moment where Si Er had ‘discovered’ her. Now, she really had quite a few things to explain.

Fan Mei realized everyone was looking at her. If she didn’t find a solution soon, they would probably throw her out of the show. She couldn’t let that happen!

Her gaze darted around and finally, she just pointed at Si Jin. “I wasn’t trying to sabotage him. I suspect that he is cheating himself so I was looking for evidence because I knew that nobody would believe me if I just said it like that.”

Before Yang Shu Na could even wrap her head around that concept, Si Yi stepped out. “That is a very harsh accusation, Ms. Fan. If you don’t have any evidence to back that claims of yours up, you should better be careful about saying something like this.”

Fan Mei’s eyes gleamed when he spoke up. She took down her hand and raised her chin, giving him a direct look. “Oh? I don’t think you were the one that I accused of cheating. So what’s it to you? I think the fact that somebody is speaking out on his behalf suggests that I might be right.”

Si Yi wondered just what she was trying to achieve here. Clearly, she was only about as good as her brother. A regular person might be intimidated by her display and get flustered, but against the number one of the Si clan, she naturally didn’t stand a chance. No, he’d put her in place for treating his master like this.

“Ms. Fan, please don’t pretend. I am sure that quite a few people here are aware that your brother is also a contestant on the show and I have come to know Mister Fan as a very honest person. I am sure that if I asked him, he would admit that the two of you, as well as Mister Fan’s wife, Misses Tao, went out to eat dinner with Mister Si and I. As such, you are very well aware that Mister Si is my employer.

“As his assistant, I’m naturally concerned when somebody accuses him of misconduct as you can imagine that this might have a profound impact on his reputation and thus, his business. I’m sure that his lawyer will also be very much interested in the fact that somebody is slandering him this way.”

Si Ba perked up at that, feeling that this was work coming his way. Although maybe they should delegate this to somebody outside of the clan. After all, if Fan Mei realized that not only had their master somehow convinced a Michelin-starred chef to tutor him in cooking, taken his assistant along to cook in the casting of the show, and also gotten a business partner to try his luck, but then also discovered that their master’s lawyer was a contestant as well, that really wouldn’t put them in a better light.

Actually, now that he thought of it, while it had been a good idea to have all of them take part in the casting to block them nineteen additional spots for their master, it would still be better to have a few of them drop out earlier. The longer they stayed here, the bigger the chance that somebody might realize something. He’d definitely bring that up to Si Yi as soon as they went home today.

Fan Mei furrowed her brows when Si Yi brought up the lawyer. This wasn’t what she wanted. Well, she definitely did want to prove that Si Jin had been cheating and that there was something really fishy going on with this whole situation, but the threat of having to deal with his lawyer was quite effective on her.

She didn’t want to get herself into trouble. Her father might be able to get her out of it if it was a normal person, but things might be much different if the person in question was a rich businessman. The more corrupt a person, the bigger their chances of winning a lawsuit.

As Fan Mei had finally been shut up by Si Yi’s words, Yang Shu Na also found her an opportunity to jump in on the conversation again. “That is indeed a rather harsh accusation, Ms. Fan. Mister Sima was able to corroborate his story about you trying to sabotage Mister Si thanks to the security feed and also the statements that Mister Xiao and Mister Qian gave.

“What about you? You’re saying that somebody was cheating and you just wanted to find evidence. If you are able to prove that this is indeed the case, then I am sure that producer Bian will take that into consideration.” Anyway, she couldn’t make a decision on this herself but with how everything else had been going so far, Mister Bian would certainly take a look at this and make a decision. Anyway, a scandal of somebody trying to cheat on the show … Maybe it also wouldn’t be too bad.

Fan Mei furrowed her brows even further, knowing that she had to make a very convincing argument. If she didn’t, she would really be out. She glanced from Si Jin to Xiao Ming and then straightened up. “Well, as I said, I didn’t want to bring this up before I didn’t have solid proof.

“To be honest, I’ve been suspecting that there is something going on since quite some time ago. This is not just about this Mister Si, but also about one of your judges.” She turned to the judges’ table and stared directly at Xiao Ming. “Judge Xiao, isn’t it true that you and Mister Si know each other? And don’t try to lie to me. This is something that I can prove!”