Xiao Ming was taken aback. She really made it sound as if that alone was already an unimaginable offense. But then, Fan Mei had attacked him before ever meeting him so in her eyes, that might actually be the case. Clearly, her opinion of him wasn’t very high.

Realizing this, he actually calmed down a little. It was to be expected that some people just wouldn’t like their style of doing things or were doubtful about online celebrities in general because there was so much you could make look better than they were when you weren’t under constant scrutiny like celebrities that had gained their fame offline.

Anyway, he hadn’t done anything wrong. Why should he be nervous? He had only ever wanted to pursue a career in cooking and even though things hadn’t panned out the way he had originally hoped they would, he and his friends had made the best out of it under the circumstances they were dealt with.

This matter with Nin Sha, it had surprised him. But there wasn’t anything shady about it so he could straightforwardly admit it: Yes, Nin Sha had helped him in the past. Even when their channel had only just started out and hadn’t had any kind of following yet, he had been there. He had watched all their live streams, commented whenever he asked a question, and yes, it couldn’t be denied that he had sent gifts that had tided some over some tough times and made sure they wouldn’t give up their dream too early. But all of that had happened on the online platform that they had signed with. They had never met offline and never even talked privately about cooking.

All of that didn’t change a thing about Nin Sha’s ability to cook. It also didn’t change how he thought of it. It didn’t need to either. After all, Nin Sha was clearly good enough. The rice cake soup he had made in the casting had proven that and so had the congee he presented them with today.

Thinking of that, Xiao Ming smiled faintly. “There’s no need to threaten me, Miss Fan. As far as I’m aware, Mister Si is one of the regular viewers of my channel, Bright Yellow Water. So I will admit that we know each other in a sense.”

Fan Mei raised her head higher, feeling that this was going quite well. Just as expected, the soft spot in this relationship was Xiao Ming. She might not be able to get to that Si Jin or his assistant, but she definitely could deal with Xiao Ming. “So you admit that you know him. Don’t you think that makes you seem biased?”

Xiao Ming faintly raised his brows. “Miss Fan almost makes it sound as if I was very close to Mister Si. As I just said: Mister Si is a viewer of my channel, somebody who … comments, somewhat regularly even. But other than that, I don’t know him. Until a few weeks ago, I couldn’t even have told you who he was offline.”

Fan Mei wanted to question him further but Si Yi already stepped back in. “This is an interesting point that Judge Xiao is bringing up there. Miss Fan, if I remember correctly, then it was you who actually made him aware of who my employer is. Before that, he was merely one of his viewers. So even if there was any bias, you would be the cause of that.”

Si Yi took out a memory stick and held it up as soon as he had finished his words to Fan Mei. He turned to Yang Shu Na, turning it between his fingers. “Ms. Yang, considering that it is Mister Si who is being accused here, I hope that you will allow me to present our side as well. Miss Fan is making some outrageous claims here.

“I know that it might be strange for me as another contestant to get involved in this, but outside of this show, I am still Mister Si’s assistant and I have an obligation to present his interests even now. I hope that my being a contestant won’t keep me from doing so. If it does, please tell me now so I can resign. ‘Golden Spoon’ as a TV show should not impede my ability to do my job.”

Yang Shu Na was taken aback at first that Si Yi would go this far. But then, when thinking about it more closely, it made sense. Most of the people that were now their participants were well-known professionals. While they were interested in being part of this show, it stood to reason that their jobs were more important to them than a small cooking show.

These contestants were what the show relied on though. And especially with such a good line-up made of people that weren’t celebrities but still important enough, she naturally wouldn’t want any of them to resign. Especially since setting a precedent like that might cause others to reconsider their participation as well.

Yang Shu Na felt that she should maybe inform producer Bian since this matter seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. Unfortunately, he really didn’t like to be disturbed and had only wanted to swing by to show his face after today’s filming had been finished. He wouldn’t take kindly to it if she disturbed him now for something that she could probably solve on her own.

Making up her mind, Yang Shu Na gave a nod at Si Yi’s request. “Please don’t worry about this, Mister Si. There is no need to resign. This matter has started to involve several of our contestants and even a judge. I wouldn’t bar any of the contestants from speaking out. Especially not you, considering your relationship with Mister Si. That memory stick, I assume it contains some data that you want to show?”

Si Yi inclined his head. “Indeed. After Miss Fan’s article went online last month, we compiled some data in case she would continue further in that direction. To be honest, we had intended to reach out to her to have the article taken down, considering the impact it might have on Mister Si’s reputation, but it finally wasn’t necessary as the article was already debunked by somebody else. We figured it would be in our own interest to have both be online so we wouldn’t be accused of paying somebody else off.”

At one of the tables to the side, Si Er couldn’t help but smile. Well, that other article had been his handiwork and not even on Si Yi or their master’s orders but just because he had decided to do it. And he had to admit that he had done pretty darn well with that one.

In fact, hindering Si Shi Qi’s sister from getting onto their master’s nerves and vilifying young master Xiao might be his greatest achievement so far. Well, he could have achieved more but these idiots were always keeping him from doing his best by telling him to play by the rules. Ah, well, they might change their tune soon after today.

Si Yi could imagine how that idiot a few rows behind him looked, but he didn’t react, not wanting to draw attention to it, and instead continued to focus on the matter at hand. “If you would allow me to show this as well? I believe we have seen everything that was to be seen on the security feed already.”

Yang Shu Na straightforwardly agreed and had the staff member let Si Yi take over. Inwardly, she couldn’t help but wonder just why the memory stick had been taken along, especially when it turned out that there was nothing on there other than data that seemed to corroborate Mister Si’s side of the matter.

She didn’t bother to think too deeply about it though. Anyway, that Fan Mei had had to make trouble for herself. If the other side was prepared, she only had herself to blame. As for the show, they could mostly stand to the side and just make a final decision after both sides had made their points. Actually, it was quite nice that they didn’t even need to investigate themselves.

Si Yi didn’t immediately open any of the files. Instead, he turned to look at Fan Mei, his gaze unreadable. In this situation, what he needed to do was throw doubt on what she said and then prove his side. If he stayed calm and collected throughout and gave her the chance to defend herself in-between, the other contestants and the crew members would feel even more goodwill toward him and — in extension — his master. “Before we start, let me make sure of something first: Your suspicion seems to stem from the fact that Mister Si is a fan of Judge Xiao’s. Am I getting this right, Miss Fan?”

Fan Mei didn’t have a good feeling about this. Xiao Ming was easy enough to deal with. He got nervous fast and would throw some doubt on himself this way. This Si Yi was different though. He was self-assured and if you listened closely, there was even a hint of derision in his voice when he spoke to her. There was no room for error on her part if he was the one she had to go up against. Otherwise, he would mop the floor with her.

Thinking of that, Fan Mei decided to be more careful. Even if she couldn’t prove that Xiao Ming was favoring Si Jin or that the latter was outright cheating, it would still be good enough as long as she could stay around to find a better chance in the future. Now was the time to play it safe. “Well, I wouldn’t say that this is all there is to it but it is what made me look deeper at the relationship between the two of them and everyone else involved.”

Si Yi gave a hum that could have meant anything. He naturally noticed that she was trying to stay vague on purpose. Still, this was good enough. In any case, she didn’t have much to go off. And as long as he played his cards well, there would be even less of that by the time he was done with her.

Everyone waited for what kind of file he would open but instead, Si Yi turned to the people watching him. “Before I start, might I ask which of you has seen at least one episode of Judge Xiao’s streaming channel Bright Yellow Water?”

The contestants exchanged glances, wondering where he was going with this, but then, almost everyone raised their hand.

Si Yi’s gaze swept through them and he gave a faint smile. “I guess I should have asked the other way around: Who hasn’t seen one?”

The people took down their hands and only one person raised her arm. Everyone turned around to her, some muttering to themselves.

Ye Ping froze and hurriedly took down her hand. Then, she couldn’t help but turn to Xiao Ming, looking apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Judge Xiao! It isn’t that I think badly of you, it is just that all these online things, they really aren’t anything for me.

“My children do like to watch your channel though! They were also the ones who told me about ‘Golden Spoon’ and signed me up for the casting. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have known I could do this and just watched it on TV. You should also show your stream on TV! I’m sure there are a lot of people my age that would love to watch you cook but don’t know how to use a computer. I am sure you would have a lot of success this way.”

Xiao Ming couldn’t help but smile. “It’s no problem, Ms. Ye. I am glad you made your way to ‘Golden Spoon’. Your children did the right thing!”

“Oh, thank you, thank you, Mister Xiao! My children are really very good. I am so glad to have them.”

Si Yi faintly cleared his throat, afraid that Ye Ping would completely derail the topic. “Well, I am sorry if I made things awkward. I didn’t want to put anyone on the spot. This was merely to see how many people are familiar with Judge Xiao. Actually, might I ask how many of you are regular viewers of the channel?”

There weren’t as many people raising their hands now but even apart from the ninjas of the Si clan, there were at least a dozen. It was clear that the participants of the show were quite familiar with Xiao Ming.

Si Yi nodded, not too surprised. Just like Ye Ping had said: Quite a few people of her generation weren’t too interested in things happening online. So most people that had registered were younger and likely familiar with channels like Bright Yellow Water. And Xiao Ming’s channel wasn’t small. Of course, they knew about it and would have watched at least sometimes and even more so the closer they got to the beginning of ‘Golden Spoon’.

He turned back to Fan Mei, smiling. “Well, Miss Fan, I guess we have at least established now that Mister Si is not the only one who is ‘familiar’ with Judge Xiao. I wouldn’t presume to call any of the others his fan since I haven’t asked but do you really feel that this enough cause for suspicion? Actually, maybe I should ask just how many of them are fans of Mister Yu?”

He didn’t even need to ask. Ye Ping immediately raised her hand, smiling brightly again. “Oh, I! I am a huge fan of Mister Yu’s. I have all of his cookbooks and we regularly make the dishes from that. They were the first I taught my children!” She was so excited that she almost stumbled over the words.

Seeing as she was already going ahead, the ninjas of the Si clan figured that this was a good opportunity to help out as well.

Si Qi gingerly raised his hand. “I probably can’t call myself as big of a fan as Ms. Ye but I started to learn cooking with one of Mister Yu’s cookbooks. I still like to reference it every now and then.”

Actually, this wasn’t a lie. Compared to the other ninjas, he had indeed known how to cook a little. He had started to learn a good ten years ago, also in the hope to impress Si Yi. It hadn’t worked even then because there was never really a chance to use this skill but it had helped him with picking up the skills more easily now. Si Shi Wu hadn’t had much trouble with him as long as he focused.

Si Yi turned to look at him, his gaze turning gentler for just a moment. He knew. He had seen him practice often enough and he knew him well enough to guess just who that skill had been picked up for.

Actually, Si Qi’s best dishes weren’t part of the Chinese cuisine even though that was what he had learned originally. No, instead, he excelled when it came to French cuisine. He had tried those dishes often enough to know.

Si Yi cleared his throat again, trying not to get overwhelmed by his own feelings. This was exactly why he was keeping his distance from Si Qi: If he didn’t, there would be a day where their relationship would get between him and the Si clan. He couldn’t let that happen.

He turned back to Fan Mei once again, not wanting her to catch onto his feelings. She was really the last person who should know. “I hope this won’t make you suspect Mister Yu and his fans as well.”

Fan Mei furrowed her brows. Thankfully, she had kept vaguer before. “Mister Si, you’re making me sound overly suspicious now. I said that your employer and his admiration of Mister Xiao is what originally caught my interest. While looking more closely, I noticed other things. That is what made me really suspicious.”

Si Yi gave another hum. This time, he turned to the notebook the staff member had been using before and clicked on a file. A screenshot of Fan Mei’s original article popped up. “I assume those suspicious points you are talking about would be the ones you mentioned in your original post?” He motioned at the projection behind him and faintly raised his brows.

The contestants and staff members looked up and couldn’t help but mutter to themselves.