Chu Yu An put on a thoughtful expression and even gave a hum, trying to make matters a little more exciting. Anyway, knowing these kinds of TV channels, they would always do things according to what got them the most viewers.

In this case, while they might not show the current argument on TV, they would for sure post clips of it online. Maybe not those that were obviously filmed by the big camera, but there would absolutely be sneaky shots from a phone camera. They’d probably coincidently be ‘leaked’ sometime next week to drive the hype.

This meant that she had to be careful for her own sake. Even though she didn’t rely on this show too much herself, she wouldn’t risk her reputation and also had to make sure that she did a good job to help Xiao Ming. She couldn’t be hasty.

She finally gave a hum to signal that she had made up her mind and carefully eased into the plan she had come up with. “Well, with Mister Yu asking like this, I have to say that I agree with the points you already mentioned.

“I didn’t get the same preparation as Mister Yu from the producer. When I was invited as a guest judge, the concept of the show was explained to me, and you and Mister Xiao were named as the fixed main judges. It wasn’t even explained what kind of background you had so I had to look that up on my own.

“To do that, of course, I also watched a couple of videos on Bright Yellow Water’s channel. The impression I had was pretty similar. But I think we don’t even need to take that part into consideration. Today alone is a good way to judge already.

“You know, the task you gave the contestants today was actually difficult to judge. If everyone is required to make the same dish and we are really only looking for them to achieve the right consistency, while giving them a bit of freedom with the additional ingredients, then there isn’t much variety in what we can say in response to the dishes.

“I’ve even joked about this before when one of the contestants came up because I was already at a loss. What am I going to say? The consistency was achieved or not. It was god, very good or close to perfect. It might have been almost there or quite a bit off. In terms of consistency, one sentence is all we need.

“At the side, we can judge the choice of ingredients, how they harmonize, and affect the taste, and we can also say something about the looks of the dish. But even when we say all these things, it doesn’t amount to that much more. And we are three people. We don’t want to repeat everything the others already said so that makes it even more difficult. It really wasn’t an easy task to start on even as a judge.

“Also, I don’t know about either of you but I’ve never had to judge on a TV show before. I’m just working in my own restaurant, and maybe if a friend or family member asked, I would give a bit of feedback but never in this kind of manner. It is just different if it’s for a TV show, you know? Especially different if there are more than sixty people in front of you that all want to hear something about their dish.

“So, again, this task wasn’t easy to judge. I think that Mister Xiao has done a really good job with it though. In fact, I’d like to say that he did a better job at this than me. Although …” She tilted her head from side to side, pulling a face. “I didn’t do badly, Mister Xiao just has more information than I did. As a main judge, that is only natural but he did make use of that and I think that is very important for his role on this show.

“To explain more what I mean, I think that he has managed to grasp onto some matters we saw people struggling with. For example, Mister Si himself.” She motioned over to Si Jin who still wore the same blank expression as usual and didn’t respond.

Chu Yu An would have liked some help with making her point but considering that he hadn’t only started doing that just now but had been at for the whole day, she didn’t think too much about it. Well, at the very least, he wasn’t a pig teammate who tried to refuse what she said.

Chu Yu An just smiled at him, pretending his expression was normal and carried on. “Mister Xiao actually remembered you from the casting and was able to compare both today’s and last week’s dish. He noticed how you might be struggling with plating your dishes and accordingly gave you some tips. I think that was very well done.

“Mister Xiao did the same with several of the other contestants so this also isn’t something that is exclusive to just Mister Si.” Usually, she wouldn’t feel the need to clarify that but glancing at Fan Mei, she still wanted to make sure that she didn’t leave any room for interpretation. “I think this speaks to how he is able to relate to people.

“Mister Xiao takes his time to appraise their dishes and listen closely to what they say. He will try to find something that he believes a contestant might be insecure about or that they could still improve somewhat, and then he gives advice tailored to that.

“That’s exactly what Mister Yu just mentioned he wanted to see in a judge. So yes, I have to agree that he is really well-suited for this task. Also, since I am already mentioning it, the contestants should also keep this in mind: The more you speak, the better advice can be given. So if you are worried about something, don’t keep it to yourself because you are embarrassed.

“Yes, you want to win this show. Yes, you know there is a camera close by and everything you do and say will be filmed. But all the people here at ‘Golden Spoon’ who made it through the casting are talented and I believe that this show is not just about doing tasks and getting to the next episode but about learning something. When you go out of here at the end of whatever episode you manage to get into, you should be able to look back and tell yourself that you’ve learned at least one new thing. That will mean that it was worth it.”

She stopped speaking when she got there and turned to the side, rubbing her neck before pointing at the screenshot of the ranking that Si Yi was still showing. “Now, Mister Yu only asked me about what I think of Mister Xiao’s work as a judge so far but watching this whole argument unfold, there is something else I feel I need to mention.

“You know that I’m not living in China so I am also not that familiar with the cooking channels that are popular here. When I looked up Bright Yellow Water after being invited, I naturally saw some of the others as well and I think it is worth comparing them for a moment.”

Chu Yu An leaned back after saying that, crossing her legs beneath the table. “I don’t know how to say this, but what I liked most about Bright Yellow Water was the atmosphere. When Mister Yu said that Mister Xiao is kind, then that is exactly the kind of impression he gave me as well.

“If you watch a couple of his videos, especially the ones from recent years, then he has this way of talking slowly and unhurried while he is working to make sure that everyone can understand well. He even slows down the actual cooking when he feels that his viewers might need that to be able to follow along or even get what he is doing. This is different from other channels I saw online.

“This is not the only difference between Bright Yellow Water and other channels either.” Saying this, she turned back to Fan Mei, furrowing her brows. “I didn’t know about your article before today, Ms. Fan so I am sorry if I misunderstand anything. But from what I’ve seen so far, what you are accusing Mister Xiao of is pretty much being bribed by Mister Si over there and now wanting to repay him on the show by giving him inside information he shouldn’t have or otherwise helping. Is that correct?”

Of course, Fan Mei wouldn’t admit to that this outright.

She didn’t get the chance to say anything though as Si Yi used the opportunity to jump right back in. “I’m afraid that is exactly what is happening. In fact, Miss Fan referred to Mister Xiao as a ‘pretty face’ in her article and mentioned a ‘golden thigh’ he was holding onto. She was also indicating in her article that Mister Si might have had to do with him being chosen as judge directly.”

Chu Yu An nodded. Actually, she didn’t care too much about the details. The important part was that she had gotten the gist right. Although, of course, referring to these two that way was really a hit below the belt. What could Xiao Ming do about his face? Yes, he was pretty, but how did that impact his skills?

In any case, she figured that she might have a way to disprove this. “I see. Well, to be honest, I find it odd that Miss Fan would accuse Mister Xiao out of all people of doing something like that. I am sure that there are channels out there that get their fame not necessarily by working hard and having a good attitude but through some other means. But Bright Yellow Water would really be my last bet in that regard.”

She turned to Si Yi and couldn’t help but raise her brows. “Mister Si, you wouldn’t happen to have a few screenshots from some of the other channels as well, would you?”

Si Yi raised his brows, not quite sure what she was getting at. He wasn’t worried though. This Chu Yu An, she was clearly on their side. “I’m afraid I don’t but I’m sure that we could take a look at whatever it is that you need. There are certainly some pictures online. Especially if this is about the other channels on the ranking I showed before.”

“Lovely! Those are exactly the channels I had in mind. Please open some screenshots then. What I want is a full view of their kitchens. It’s best if the resolution is high so we can look at the details.”

Si Yi nodded and then turned to the notebook, pulling up a few screenshots on Baidu. Since the channels were all very well known, it really wasn’t difficult to do and he only needed a couple of minutes.

Chu Yu An nodded when he had finished and then motioned to Xiao Ming. “Now, could you also pull up a picture of the kitchen that Mister Xiao is usually streaming from?”

Si Yi nodded and did as he had been told, finally opening up all four of them next to each other since he was pretty sure that she wanted to compare them.

Chu Yu An nodded and then got up, walking over there to stand next to the notebook herself. “Now, I’m not sure how obvious this is if you look at it from a distance but if you zoom in to get a closer look, you will notice stark differences between these kitchens.” She took over from Si Yi, figuring that it would be easier, and zoomed in on some of the details of the first channel.

“For those who might be unfamiliar, this is the kitchen usually used on the channel She Hua Cooking, the one that was ranked the highest on the list we saw before. What I want you to take a look at are the appliances and kitchen utensils the streamer uses.” She zoomed in on one appliance after the other, going to the next after making sure that the contestants and staff members had had some time to see.

“Now, in case any of you aren’t familiar with brands: These are all top brands. Luxury brands, even. They are expensive to the point that I would think twice to get them whether that be at home or at my restaurant. For the latter, I still might because they are certainly good but for somebody who isn’t actually selling his dishes, you could call this overkill.”

Some people weren’t quite sure if she wasn’t exaggerating but since they had already taken their phones out, they hastily looked those brands up one by one, and then couldn’t help but feel that Chu Yu An wasn’t understating things. This wasn’t just something for wealthy people, this was something for people who had money to throw out of the window. This really was pure luxury.

Chu Yu An watched their expressions change and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, for those of you who don’t have a phone to look it up right now, you can still do so at home. I’m sure you will get what I say. The gist of the matter is though that the streamer behind She Hua Cooking is rich. Filthy rich even.

“This is the kind of person that has money and is very well-connected. This is the kind of person who would have it the easiest to get onto the judges’ panel of a show like ‘Golden Spoon’.

“Not, I don’t want to accuse anyone, but I am fairly certain that She Hua Cooking’s ranking will in part have to do with the fact that they are very often displayed prominently on the platform. I don’t know if anyone has ever seen that happen to Bright Yellow Water.”

Some of the contestants shook their heads. The meaning was clear: She Hua Cooking was paying money to be specifically promoted and thus had more attention on their channel and a better ranking. Bright Yellow Water didn’t have the money for something like this so their ranking was lower. It wasn’t about skill but funds.

In fact, some contestants couldn’t help but think that this made it pretty clear that there hadn’t been any shady deals between Xiao Ming and Si Jin. If the former was really holding onto the golden thigh of a rich businessman, wouldn’t he also get his channel specifically promoted?

While everyone was still pondering on what they had just seen, Chu Yu An already closed the window with She Hua Cooking’s kitchen and pointed at the next square. “Now, this is a channel that I actually really liked: Little Kitchen. They were ranked in the eighties if I remember it right.”

Si Yi next to her nodded. “Place eighty-one, to be precise.”

Chu Yu An nodded. “I see. Well, this means that they are quite a bit closer to Bright Yellow Water’s ranking so maybe comparing these two will give us a better view of things.

“Now, just like Mister Yu said, the two streamers of Little Kitchen are usually cooking together so it might’ve been difficult to include either of them as a judge without the other’s input. It wouldn’t work well with the image of the channel. In fact, because of that, I believe that even if they had been asked, they might have said no. But either way, they would have been a possible choice so I still want to compare.

“Generally, you can say that Little Kitchen is in the middle between Shen Hua Cooking and Bright Yellow Water. They have appliances that are from traditional companies. Those aren’t needlessly expensive and don’t have unnecessary luxuries, but they are very durable and have a price that reflects that.

“I believe that Bright Yellow Water is not able to afford something like that.” She raised her hands at Qian Huang and Xiao Ming and waves them. “No offense, but looking at your apartment, you can see that most of your appliances are actually from really cheap brands. That’s the kind of thing that you can use to cook, but if you do it every day, you will probably realize after some time where the issues lie with that kind of merchandise.

“It’s … the kind of appliance that students might have or people who are just starting out in their career and don’t have a lot of disposable income. They might not want to go without these appliances because they like to cook but they can only compromise and get something cheap for now because the money just isn’t there.” Chu Yu An furrowed her brows when she said so and zoomed in on a couple of names on the appliances.

Some contestants couldn’t help but cough, clearly having gone through such a phase themselves. In fact, considering their age, some might even still be in such a situation.

Chu Yu An didn’t know much about the background of Xiao Ming and the other two and was simply surmising these things from what she had seen. Still, she was sure that she was right. Seeing that none of the members from Bright Yellow Water refuted her point, she went on. “Actually, if you look back through some of the earlier videos, you will realize that they don’t always have the same appliances.

“When I prepared for the show, I watched a couple of videos from different times of the channel. I think they’ve been active for around five years so I picked some recent videos, but also some from the very beginning, and others from in-between. Each time, the appliances had changed.

“Now, you might think that this is them having the money to regularly replace them but I think that’s not actually the case. They are probably changing and adding appliances whenever they have the funds for it. That will have happened more lately than in the beginning but still not to an astounding degree.

“Also, when they change appliances, they usually get a better one but even in their latest video, the brands they chose are those who don’t have steep prices. Instead, they go with those that most people would be able to afford. That tells us something about their income and, at the same time, makes them relatable. I think that isn’t the worst thing for such a show where the other main judge and most of the guest judges should be professionals.”

Chu Yu An smiled faintly and then pointed at the last picture. She didn’t speak immediately and instead stopped at the last moment, opening Baidu instead, and looking up another picture of that channel’s kitchen that she displayed instead of the one from Little Kitchen.

Once again, she zoomed in on the appliances, this time doing so for both pictures of the channel. “This is the channel Wan Huang which is named after the streamer, I believe. Anyway, if you look at the picture on the right, then you can see that she started off very similar to Bright Yellow Water: cheap appliances and utensils that just about anyone could afford.

“About a year into her career as a streamer though, she suddenly changed her appliances. And not just like Bright Yellow Water did, starting at one place and ending at another. No, she changed all of them at once. If you look up more pictures or go through the old videos, you’ll notice that the layout of the room is still the same. So she didn’t get a new kitchen because she moved, she really just got new things.

“Now, I can only guess here but it seems she got into quite a lot of money at that time. Don’t get me wrong!” She looked up at the contestants and then gave Fan Mei a deep look in particular. “This does not mean that she sold her face or anything. She might have inherited money from a relative, won a lottery, got a well-paying job outside of her channel, or had her partner move in who brought the appliances with them. There are a lot of possibilities.

“Either way, there is money there. This becomes even more obvious when three years in, Wan Huang actually changed locations. She didn’t take the appliances with her and instead once again got a full new set. That is the same set she currently uses as the channel is only three years old from what I know. You can see that set-up in the left picture. As you can see: All appliances are of high quality. It’s not wrong to say that Wan Huang made some very steep leaps there. That is something that Bright Yellow Water was never able to do.”

Chu Yu An straightened up and couldn’t help but rest her hands on her waist while giving Fan Mei an odd look. “So, Miss Fan, having that comparison side-by-side, do you really believe that there is any cause to suspect Mister Xiao might have accepted bribes from anyone or that there is some kind of rich sponsor that is helping him behind the scenes?

“Personally, I don’t think so. I don’t see even a single hint of that being the case. In fact, I would almost say it’s unreasonable to assume that judging by the state of the kitchen. After all, you can’t forget he’s a cooking streamer. Bright Yellow Water’s livelihood relies on him being able to cook on camera.

“If his appliances break down and he can’t perform, they won’t generate income. Investing in that area is the best he can do. But he hasn’t and I think this shouldn’t be a case of not wanting to but not being able to.

“Anyway, where else would they be investing? I don’t see it. They are …” She looked at what Xiao Ming was wearing and then at Qian Huang, and finally could only raise her brows. “Well, I really don’t mean to be rude. Maybe this is because I haven’t been living in China for quite some time but let me just be blunt: If you look at what Mister Si is wearing, then you know that he’s a wealthy man.

“On the other hand, if you look at the clothes of the members of Bright Yellow Water, you can tell that they aren’t. They are definitely much more comfortable off than they were in the beginning but that is because they were poor back then. They still aren’t rich now, they probably only have little to spare. In fact, I’d say they might be up to the average worker’s salary, although I’m not even sure of that.”

Xiao Ming froze on his seat, not quite sure how to react to that. He had to admit that what Chu Yu An had said about them was unfortunately true. He remembered that time at the beginning when they had needed to scrape everything together they had just to survive. It hadn’t been easy. And often enough, they had barely had enough to get the ingredients they needed for the stream, not to mention getting new clothes or appliances.

Back then, it had been lucky that he hadn’t grown much anymore after his parents died so he had been able to continue wearing the clothes he had had from before. But that was also something that had shown in the videos. In fact, he was pretty sure that Qian Huang had once mentioned how some viewers had commented on how their clothes were completely out of fashion already.

It had been embarrassing but it hadn’t been like they were able to do anything about it. They just hadn’t had the money. The bit that they made had been reinvested into the channel, making sure that they had the right tools in their kitchen, the appliances that they needed, and better ingredients where possible.

And really, with the cheap things breaking down after a while, any extra had always needed to be saved because they knew that, sooner or later, there would be a problem. But that wasn’t something he would like to say out loud. So he really hoped that everybody could just gloss over this and let the matter rest. He definitely wasn’t up to having that talk in front of so many people and with the camera maybe running in the background.