"Brother Xu, what dish are you planning to make?" You Zijun asked excitedly.
"You seem to be about the same age as me, right? Just call me Xu Qingyan." He felt a bit embarrassed, he was only twenty-three after all, and here was this 'Brother Xu' thing.
Among those present, Liu Renzhi was the oldest at twenty-seven. Bai Jinze was next at twenty-six, followed by Chen Feiyu at twenty-four, with You Zijun and Xu Qingyan being the same age.
"It's just that I got used to it after hearing Song Enya call you that, so I thought I might as well go along with it," said You Zijun with a laugh.
Xu Qingyan noticed that Chen Feiyu's expression was somewhat gloomy and couldn't help feeling a bit speechless. Everyone here was no pushover; it seemed they were trying to push him into the limelight.
Five male guests, four female guests, with two to be eliminated in the end.
On the surface, it was about voting out the money hunter, but in practice, whether the person voted out was actually a money hunter didn't seem to matter much.
"Let's go check out the ingredients in the kitchen first, whatever's there is what we'll work with," said Xu Qingyan.
"That's fine, just be sure to tell me what you're planning to make later. I don't want to clash with you," You Zijun said with a shrug and a smile. "I wouldn't dare to show off my amateur cooking skills in front of a pro; they're probably not up to par."
"What I make is just average," Xu Qingyan replied.
Bai Jinze had already headed to the kitchen with Liu Renzhi and Chen Feiyu, seemingly without any intention of conversing with Xu Qingyan, deliberately forming a small clique.
Where there are people, there are rivalling factions; the saying really made sense, especially with a big profit at stake.
"Looks like we'll have to stick together, let's go," You Zijun, who had at some point moved to his side, turned away from the camera and made a face in the direction of Bai Jinze's departure with a flick of his head.
"Yeah, let's go; it's getting late," Xu Qingyan nodded.
He was concerned that the kitchen wasn't big enough. With five people taking turns, they might end up cooking until tomorrow morning, especially since it was a main meal. Maybe the female guests all had small appetites, so just making one dish would suffice?
"Brother Xu, do you think there will be enough pots in the kitchen?" You Zijun asked, his frown revealing the same concern. "We can't just take turns cooking, can we?"
"That shouldn't be an issue, I'm sure the crew has everything arranged," Xu Qingyan replied as he walked towards the kitchen.
Fortunately, the kitchen was large enough; it seemed to have been temporarily converted by the crew—it was like those cooking showdown shows where each person has their own table, with three rows of tables in total.
Bai Jinze and the other two were already checking the ingredients; several large refrigerators were packed full, but it wasn't excessively so. The ingredients were common items that families would buy, of higher quality.
There were ingredients for Chinese dishes like chicken, duck, fish, and meat, as well as Western food ingredients like steak, ham, smoked meat, bacon, and salmon, offering a comprehensive selection.
"Let's go pick out our ingredients too, or they'll all be taken!" You Zijun said with a bit of urgency in his voice.
"No need to worry, there's less than two hours left, and the more ingredients you have, the longer it takes to prepare them," Xu Qingyan pointed in the direction of Bai Jinze and the others.
"Plus, look, it seems they are all leaning towards making Western dishes and not taking much in the way of large fish or meat."
"That's probably because girls these days prefer Western food; big fish and big meat are likely to make them gain weight," You Zijun scratched his head. "Most of the dishes I can make are Western too. This is a headache; I'm likely to clash with them."
"By the way, Brother Xu, what are you planning to make?"
"Fry some food, you just mentioned wanting something hearty," Xu Qingyan said. "Let's cook a fish. We had Western food last night, and it didn't sit well with my stomach."
At this point, the program crew's live broadcasting room, which initially had ten windows, had now merged into three. They were filming the male guests, female guests, and the celebrity observation group separately, with directors in each live room responsible for switching camera angles.
The live broadcast that netizens saw was similar to an NBA game, indeed without any edits.
After the male and female guests split up, most of the audience switched over to the live room of the four female guests, proclaiming they wanted to see the boudoirs firsthand.
There weren't many people in the celebrity observation room's live broadcast, but overall, it had more to offer than watching five big men getting busy in the kitchen. After all, who would like to spend two hours staring at the screen watching men cook?
If the program crew brought in a group of beauties to cook in nothing but aprons, perhaps that would draw in viewers.
Celebrity observation room.
Huang Miu had a serene, all-knowing look about him, his eyes consistently on the group of men in the kitchen live room. Even through the screen, one could feel his excitement upon seeing the kitchen.
He glanced over at his dedicated sidekick Chen Ming, who unfortunately was busy commenting on the female guests' room selection on the screen and did not notice Huang's longing eyes yearning to ignite a conversation.
"Pei Muchan really has a calm nature, just like her songs," Chen Ming said. "Out of the four rooms, she picked the one furthest in. This is also a reflection of her psychology."
"Yeah, I absolutely love her music," Yu Pei shared her playlist with the familiarity of an enthusiast. "But it's true that Pei Muchan scarcely makes the news, except for releasing songs."
"Musicians do enjoy solitude, don't they? It's more conducive to their creativity," Zhao Sisi added, pressing her skirt down with her hand.
"Perhaps they do," Yu Pei laughed. "The other female guests seem quite active though. Song Enya left a strong impression on me."
On the screen, Song Enya was confidently displaying her beautiful clothes and makeup in front of the camera, with a bright and generous smile, tapping lightly on her makeup box.
"I personally think that makeup newbies don't need to buy too many things. To begin with, you don't need to buy highlighters— it's just the same as the light color in your eyeshadow...."
The rooms of the several female guests were connected, with Nian Shuyu and Shen Jinyue next door to Song Enya. Both were visiting Song Enya's room to get more camera time.
As for Pei Muchan, she had temporarily gone back to rest.
On this side, Chen Ming had just finished chatting with Yu Pei and turned his head to look at Huang Miu. Huang was silently watching the screen of another kitchen live room along with Liu Yuzhou.
The live broadcast was almost twenty-four hours long, and generally, the observers could rest when the guests were resting.
Apart from the high-energy and exciting moments like cooking or taking on challenges, the atmosphere in the observation room had to be kept lively. Other times, like now, it was enough for someone to speak occasionally.
So, under normal circumstances, Chen Ming would chat with Yu Pei and Zhao Sisi, and on the other side, Huang Miu and Liu Yuzhou could rest. And for Chen Ming... sipping a cup of tea counted as rest.
As he turned his head, he caught Huang Miu's gaze and saw the longing in his eyes.
Chen Ming was at first a bit confused but quickly realized what was going on. Huang's persona was that of a master chef, and the male guests were cooking—how could that not be mentioned?
"Huang Teacher," Chen Ming tactfully steered the conversation towards Huang Miu, "Your cooking skills are widely acknowledged as excellent. How about you give us your thoughts on the men's cooking over there?"
"Oh, I wouldn't presume," Huang Teacher demurred, waving his hand modestly.