By the time Si Qi and Fan Mei finished dinner and bid farewell to each other, the last contestant had also left the venue of the first episode of ‘Golden Spoon’. The three judges were still sitting in the same room though, looking tired.

Chu Yu An leaned back and groaned. “God, I wasn’t even the one cooking but I feel more tired than I’ve ever been after a long day in the kitchen. Honestly, I pity the two of you. As a main judge, you’ll have to do this for several weeks in a row.”

Xiao Ming glanced at Yang Shu Na who was standing on the other side of the room, talking with some staff members. Was it really alright to say this in front of her? He had to admit that today had been tiring though.

Mister Yu also glanced in her direction but he didn’t seem to have the same doubts as Xiao Ming. Instead, he leaned forward and looked at Chu Yu An. “Miss Chu forgets that there will be fewer contestants on the later episodes and we will be more familiar with everything.

“Today’s matters, I believe they are also our own fault to a certain degree. We didn’t plan well enough. After adjusting, things should get easier each time.”

Chu Yu An gave a hum and then thought back to the chaos after the break. “Well, I guess it wasn’t only the cooking and judging anyway. Today was wild.” She shook her head and then leaned forward again. “It’s been a long time since the last break. I still need to record that message for the contestants so why don’t you just rest up for a bit?”

Xiao Ming nodded while Mister Yu looked puzzled.

“Actually, do you still need to record a message if everyone will come in at different times and research here? We could just announce the task at that time.”

Chu Yu An smiled sheepishly. “Yes, but then I’d have to announce it several times. This way, it’s also less work for me.” She cleared her throat and got up. “Well, I’ll go over now.” She hurried away as if afraid she’d get called out for being lazy.

Xiao Ming laughed lightly. “It’d indeed be more work for her. It’s good she found a workaround. Also, this way, nobody can say they might have gotten a different introduction. It ensures fairness.”

Mister Yu gave a hum and couldn’t help but think back to what had happened earlier. Usually, he wouldn’t have thought about what could happen in this regard. But now, he really saw what his granddaughter had meant. On TV, there was indeed a need to be more careful. People might make a big matter out of nothing.

Xiao Ming noticed that he didn’t respond and turned to look at him. Seeing his expression, he wasn’t sure what to say for a moment. “Mister Yu …”

Mister Yu was pulled out of his thoughts and sighed. “Oh, it’s nothing. My thoughts drifted off for a moment there. Anyway, we only need to choose tomorrow, Miss Chu can record that introduction on her own, and there doesn’t seem anything else left to be organized. I think we should get on our way home. Tomorrow will be another hard day of work. As judges, we also can’t slack off.”

Xiao Ming nodded and also got up with Mister Yu. Anyway, they had used the breaks in-between the contestants coming over to present their dishes to talk more about how to split the groups tomorrow. Other than that, he really couldn’t think of anything that was left to do so it was better to just leave. Anyway, Qian Huang and Li Shui had been waiting for so long. It should be a bit dull.

The two of them bid farewell and Xiao Ming went to find the other two. Actually, they didn’t look bored. Especially Qian Huang looked like he had a lot to say.

Xiao Ming raised his brows but felt like they shouldn’t talk here. Even though he couldn’t be sure, he figured it should be about what had happened with Fan Mei and Si Jin. After all, they hadn’t had any time to talk since then. If he was right, then the venue wasn’t a suitable place to discuss the matter though.

Qian Huang indeed had some things to say about that and shared Xiao Ming’s opinion that they couldn’t talk about it here. Thus, the three of them silently walked out and made their way over to the car.

Qian Huang would have loved to already talk it through but with Xiao Ming being anxious while driving, he figured that this kind of topic wasn’t a good choice. It was better to reassure him so he could calm down a bit.

Thinking about the rest of the day, he didn’t need long to find something he could say. “You did really well today. I know it wasn’t easy for you sitting at that table and having to judge those dishes in front of everyone but looking from the sidelines, I really couldn’t pick out any flaws.”

Xiao Ming smiled faintly. He also knew that Qian Huang was just trying to calm him down but there should be truth to his words anyway. “It wasn’t as bad as I had feared. Well, other than that one moment.” He smiled in embarrassment when he thought back to it. “Do you think they’ll cut that part out?”

Qian Huang pursed his lips. “Well, they might. But then, Ms. Chu reacted quite well. It seemed totally natural as if you had really just frozen up because you didn’t know how to explain without the boxes but didn’t know what to do about it. So they might leave it in as a gimmick. I guess we can only wait until next week to find out.”

Usually, it shouldn’t be a problem to inquire about this but it wasn’t like the crew was too forthcoming. Their stance had softened a bit compared to the beginning since they had gotten quite a bit of publicity out of Xiao Ming’s involvement but at the end of the day, they were still the least important people on the show.

Mister Yu didn’t need to be said but just judging by Chu Yu An’s identity, it was to be expected that everyone else would be a professional chef. In comparison, Xiao Ming’s identity seemed a bit poor. As a result, they were also treated that way.

He sighed when he thought of this. “You know, we can be happy that Nin Sha made such a fuss before. Otherwise, after the incident today, they might have thrown us out.” He hadn’t wanted to bring it up but since they were already on the topic, he also didn’t feel like pushing it back. “That Ms. Yang’s expression was ugly the whole time.”

Xiao Ming nodded. “I can imagine.” He hadn’t had much of an opportunity to pay attention to Yang Shu Na but as the producer’s assistant, she surely wouldn’t like seeing something like this happening. “How do you think they’ll deal with this matter?”

Yang Shu Na had said before that they would look further into it but he wasn’t sure what that would mean in the end. When that investigation was over, would there be consequences? Or would they just keep quiet about it? He wasn’t sure what to expect.

Qian Huang also had some doubts in that regard. “I don’t think they’d like to keep somebody who is going to make trouble. But then, throwing her out might cause more of a controversy and she has already shown that she is willing to blow matters out of proportion without any real evidence. They might keep her on the show and just have a talk just so she won’t try anything fishy.”

“I guess so.” Xiao Ming faintly furrowed his brows. He’d like it if they could just get along but he didn’t think that would be possible. Even if he was open to that, Fan Mei didn’t seem to be.

“Speaking of fishy …” Qian Huang gave Xiao Ming a complicated look, not sure how to say the next thing.

Xiao Ming only raised his brows. “What’s the matter?”

“Well, since I had to keep out of sight, I had a good view of the corridor. That Shi Ru Qiu left together with Fan Mei. I’m not sure what that was about but I didn’t think it was reassuring.”

“Mister Shi?” At that, Xiao Ming’s eyes widened. It wasn’t like he knew him well but that person was clearly in Si Jin’s sphere of influence. Not just that, he was in love with the assistant who had had a verbal spar with Fan Mei. Why would he get close to her now?

Qian Huang nodded. “Yes, I’m sure it was him. Anyway, he spoke up while that whole disaster was going down so I paid a bit more attention. I couldn’t have gotten it wrong.”

Xiao Ming furrowed his brows. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s what I thought. I really wonder what he was up to. I mean, he couldn’t be trying to talk some sense into her, could he? That sounds like an impossible task.”

Xiao Ming nodded in a daze. That would be one explanation but yes, it seemed unlikely that it would work. Anyway … “I’m pretty sure that Si Jin has to do with Ms. Fan’s brother. I wonder why the relationship between them is so bad. Surely, there has to be more to this.”

Qian Huang nodded just when Li Shui finally stopped the car. Looking outside, it seemed they had already reached the house where they were living for the time being. “Ah, we’re back. Let’s go up first.”

Xiao Ming nodded and the three of them got out of the car.

Li Shui couldn’t help but glance at him. “You’re probably really tired …”

Xiao Ming raised his brows and then reached out to pat his friend’s stomach. “You’re probably really hungry after having to smell good food the whole day and not getting any.” He couldn’t help but laugh when he said so, his eyes curving into crescents.

Li Shui had the decency to look embarrassed. This was indeed the case but he had only been waiting at the side while Xiao Ming had to work and was always in front of the camera so that he had to pay attention to how he looked and what he did. Comparing the two of them, this little bit of hunger couldn’t compare to how tired Xiao Ming had to be.

Qian Huang gave him an exasperated look before turning to Xiao Ming. “Don’t let him fool you! He cozied up to the contestants in the second half while nobody was looking and got a taste as well. He can’t be hungry.”

Xiao Ming just laughed again. Whether or not Li Shui could manage to be hungry even after eating was something he knew all too well. They had known each other all of their lives after all. Li Shui’s stomach … it seemed to be connected to a black hole that would swallow anything. Even if you fed him, he might feel like he was starving again a few hours later.

“It’s alright. I’ll make a couple of light dishes. Anyway, even if Li Shui wasn’t hungry, you didn’t eat at the venue, did you?”

Qian Huang pursed his lips. He had indeed not eaten anything. Originally, he had wanted to in the break but then he had been talking to Chu Yu An, and soon enough, the break had been over, and then everything went to hell. Where would he have taken the opportunity to eat from? “It’s not like I can’t order take-out …”

Xiao Ming raised his brows. “Take-out? Aren’t you worried about paparazzi taking photos? I can already imagine the headline we’d see in the newspaper tomorrow.”

Qian Huang’s lips twitched. “Are you making fun of me?” He had been worried precisely about this kind of thing before and, well, after what had happened with Fan Mei, he felt that it wasn’t that ridiculous of a thought anymore.

Xiao Ming just smiled. “I wouldn’t dare. Anyway, there’s no need to order takeout. I’m not hungry but I’ll still manage to make some delicious food for you. I’ll just choose something simple if you’re that worried about me.”

Qian Huang nodded. “Definitely do! Even if you’re not that tired today, don’t forget that tomorrow will be another long day. It’s not good to stay up too long or do much.”

Xiao Ming gave a hum but he still went to get busy as soon as they were inside. Anyway, after sitting around for the whole day judging other people’s food, he was actually happy to finally be in his own kitchen to cook. Well, not quite his own kitchen but it was still better than only sitting around.

Soon enough, two or three dishes were standing on the table and even though Xiao Ming wasn’t hungry, he still sat down with the other two. After all, there were still some things left to talk about.