"What dish are you planning to make later?" Situ Chen asked Ding Xiang, feeling lost amidst the dazzling array of ingredients in the market, and decided to ask his teammate for her opinion first.
"I... I've never cooked before... My parents told me girls shouldn't learn to cook themselves, or they'll turn into old hags later!"
Situ Chen was speechless. He understood not knowing how to cook, but he found that reason hard to accept. However, time was of the essence, so he headed to the vegetable stall first, arranging as he went, "Then you can just make smashed cucumber salad. No need to turn on the stove for that! I only know how to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes, so let's just buy these ingredients!"
Xiao Wenqiang and Wei Yizhou were the second pair to arrive, and they had already discussed their plans on the way. Wei Yizhou suggested making a simple egg drop soup, which was relatively easy and hard to mess up. Xiao Wenqiang, on the other hand, intended to make a lotus root and pork rib soup, as she remembered Situ Chen quite enjoyed it back then.
However, they encountered a problem. The budget of 100 yuan was insufficient for buying both lotus root and pork ribs. Coincidentally, they ran into Situ Chen and his group while buying eggs later. Xiao Wenqiang approached him to discuss the issue, "Brother Chen, is your budget enough? If you have any extra, could you lend us some?"
Before Situ Chen could reply, Ding Xiang interjected, "No! Everyone gets the same amount of money. If we lend you some, how will we manage our own cooking?"
"What dishes were you planning to make?" Situ Chen ignored Ding Xiang and asked Xiao Wenqiang.
"We're making two soups, an egg soup and a lotus root and pork rib soup." Xiao Wenqiang specifically watched Situ Chen, and sure enough, she noticed his eyes light up again.
"Then we'll give you 70 yuan. We have enough for ourselves." Situ Chen quickly handed the cash to Xiao Wenqiang.
"Senior Brother, why are you helping another team? What does it have to do with us if they don't have enough money?" Ding Xiang grumbled unhappily.
"It's just a game, and it didn't say we couldn't borrow from other teams, only that we couldn't borrow from strangers. It's not against the rules." Situ Chen picked up the ingredients he had bought, "Let's head back first. We can start cooking earlier and make good use of our time."
Ding Xiang had no choice but to stomp her feet and follow.
At this time, Wei Yutong and Kong Yunshan had also finished buying their ingredients and were preparing to return. Kong Yunshan also didn't know how to cook, so he chose to make a simple tomato salad with sugar; Wei Yutong was also not very skilled. After checking her phone, she bought a fish and asked the vendor to clean it, planning to steam it later.
Upon returning to the open kitchen prepared by the production team, each group began to get busy.
"Oh dear, Senior Brother, how do you make smashed cucumber salad? I really don't know how!" Ding Xiang started acting coy again, her voice high-pitched.
Situ Chen's brow furrowed unconsciously. "Haven't you eaten it before? Just smash it and mix it with minced garlic, vinegar, sugar, and peanut oil."
"But I'm afraid to use a knife! What if I cut my hand?"
This time, Situ Chen didn't bother to hide his exasperation and rolled his eyes. He directly took the cleaver and began to chop off the ends of the cucumber before silently proceeding to smash it.
After this segment was aired, it sparked a heated discussion online...
The camera then shifted to Xiao Wenqiang and Wei Yizhou's group.
Xiao Wenqiang was seen blanching the thoroughly washed pork ribs in a pot with ginger, scallions, and cooking wine in cold water. Once the water boiled, she used a ladle to remove the scum floating on the surface. Then, she added the completely cleaned and sliced lotus root to the pot. Simultaneously, she added peanuts and ginger slices, brought it to a boil over high heat, then reduced to low heat for slow simmering.
"Alright, after simmering for over an hour, adding some salt and chopped scallions will be just about right." Xiao Wenqiang covered the pot and smiled at the camera filming her, saying.
Xiao Wenqiang took this opportunity to go over to Wei Yizhou's station. She saw he had already beaten several eggs and was mixing them with warm water and salt.
"What kind of egg soup are you making?" Xiao Wenqiang asked somewhat confusedly.
"It's the kind that's like pudding, smooth and slippery," Wei Yizhou said sheepishly, "I think it's called egg soup? My parents used to call it that when I was a child."
"Oh, I see. It's like steamed egg custard or stewed egg, right?" Xiao Wenqiang understood instantly. "It's normal for different places to have different names."
Wei Yizhou became visibly happier and quickly put it into the steamer. After estimating the right amount of time, he took it out, sprinkled it with chopped scallions, soy sauce, and sesame oil. A bowl of steaming egg custard was ready.
Wei Yizhou smiled and said to Xiao Wenqiang, "This is the only dish I can make. I'm just using it to fill in the numbers today."
After all the dishes were ready, the production team mixed up the dishes from each team and invited 25 villagers to taste and vote. Since it wasn't revealed which guest made which dish, there was no voting based on popularity.
In the end, Xiao Wenqiang and Wei Yizhou's team scored the highest with their two dishes combined. Second place went to Wei Yutong and Kong Yunshan's team for their steamed fish and tomato salad. The last place naturally went to the esteemed actor's team.
The guests were unaware of the netizens' thoughts. It was now time for Xiao Wenqiang and Wei Yizhou to choose their partners.
"Director, can we choose female guests we've partnered with before?" Wei Yizhou raised his hand and asked.
"Yes! But it's best to choose someone you haven't partnered with before, to see if there's any new chemistry," Director Zhou suggested.
"Then I'll choose Wei Yutong. Our song from last time isn't fully composed yet, and I want to spend more time on it." Wei Yizhou chose his initial partner without hesitation.
"Then I'll choose..." Xiao Wenqiang's eyes swept over the remaining two male guests. She noticed Situ Chen looking at her with an expression that clearly said, "Choose me quickly!" So, she called out his name.
Upon hearing this, Situ Chen's face lit up with joy, and he quickly walked over to Xiao Wenqiang's side.