Cheng Lu waved frantically at the camera, her smile beaming, "We did it!"
The director looked at the sky, then at them, feeling his hair might just fall out.
His job was to make things difficult for the guests, to rack his brains to prevent them from completing the tasks smoothly. But now, hardly having started, they had already taken a huge lead over the other five pairs of guests. How on earth was the show supposed to proceed?
Tao Ti patted her flat stomach, having expended too much energy; she was already hungry.
King of Film Xu sat in the shade of a tree, looking at Tao Ti who was rubbing her belly, "Hungry? Thanks to Little Taotie, we'll have a full meal today!"
The words spoken by the director, even if reluctantly, had to be honored.
"Take them to eat," the director said impatiently, waving his hand as if smoke was about to come out of his nostrils.
"Aren't we shooting anymore? Then they will have much less screen time!" the cameraman said.
The director touched his thinning hair, troubled, "A task that was anticipated to be unfinished until night, where they would certainly ask for help—at that time, we could have made things difficult for them, gotten more footage, made the plot more interesting. A task easily completed without difficulty—viewers don't like to watch that! Forget it, just give more screen time to the other five pairs!"
"...That doesn't seem quite right. Cheng Lu is a relative of the investor, and the investor likes Tao Ti very much."
"You reminded me! I have to give more screen time to little friend Tao Ti! Let me think..."
The director slapped his forehead, "I've got it! Mukbang is popular online now, viewers like to watch people eat, so we'll just keep filming, film them eating! King of Film Xu eating, his fans have never seen that, and since he was hungry all day yesterday, his way of eating might just be a highlight!"
Tao Ti's group was the first among the temporary families to complete the task, so they could choose a feast.
The program team presented a menu with both hands.
Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Thai—six different types of cuisine from various countries were available for the picking.
Cheng Lu and King of Film Xu both agreed that Little Taotie deserved the most credit this time, and the choice should be given to him.
"Chinese!" Tao Ti's voice was loud and clear, her face full of pride.
From a young age, she had been taught by her grandfather to be a patriot; her grandfather said that China boasted over five thousand years of culinary history, with more delicacies than abroad!
Every time she saw her father bring back tasty food from outside, and her mother sneakily ate with her grandfather behind her, her grandfather would tell her to wait until she went to university and became somebody, then she could earn her own money and eat lots of delicious food.
She could now earn her own money, she could choose delicious food, she wanted to taste all the culinary delights China had to offer!
The staff led them to the restaurant, the exterior of which was ancient Chinese architecture with carved beams, painted rafters, and pointed rooftops. Pushing open the door, there stood two young ladies dressed in Hanfu at the entrance.
The beauty in the ancient costume showed them to a private room.
In the private room, the decor was antique, complete with a purple clay teapot set on the table, screens painted with plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum, and ancient-style Taishi Chairs for seating.
"This restaurant has put a lot of thought into the decoration; only question is whether the taste can live up to it," King of Film Xu remarked as he settled into his seat and wiped his hands with a wet towel.
Cheng Lu took the menu, which was made to resemble an ancient book, and had no pictures—each page was full of brush-written characters.
"What is 'Little Lotus just showing its sharp tips'?" Cheng Lu asked.
The beauty in the ancient costume replied, "Lotus Leaf Chicken."
"That's quite unexpected!" Cheng Lu couldn't help but laugh and cry.
Tao Ti, who couldn't read many characters and without any pictures to guide her, didn't know how to choose, so she asked Mother Cheng to help her.
Cheng Lu ordered three dishes and one soup, thinking about the current campaign for clean plates; three people eating three dishes and one soup should be about right, not wanting to waste.
The Lotus Leaf Chicken was brought to the table wrapped in a layer of lotus leaf. The beauty in ancient costume lifted the leaf to reveal a whole spring chicken; cutting open the belly, it was stuffed with lotus petals and seeds.
In the private room, the ancient tune "High Mountain Flowing Water" played, the melodies lingering. Suddenly, a "gurgle" sound arose, and King of Film Xu and Cheng Lu turned to look at Tao Ti.
Tao Ti bashfully looked down at her belly and murmured, "Tummy, be good, don't make noise!"