Starting the fire, kneading the dough, washing the vegetables, and then pulling and cooking the noodles—the whole process took only about half an hour.

Cheng Ye’s efficiency was astonishingly fast. Jiang Shi’s legs, which were still a bit sore from climbing, hadn’t even fully recovered when he was already holding a bowl and scooping noodles for him.

Sun Jiayu’s eyes were practically falling into the pot with longing. Watching Cheng Ye finish scooping a bowl of noodles, he asked pitifully, “Can I eat now?”

Cheng Ye stepped aside to let him come over. He scanned the yard; this home was so dilapidated it didn’t even have a dining table.

He placed the bowl on the stove, then turned to the wall and brought over a few sand bricks. He also found a piece of wood that looked reasonably square, rinsed it with water, and the dust on top was washed away. He placed the wooden board on the sand bricks, creating a simple table.

Jiang Shi’s noodles were placed on the “table.” He pulled over a chair and sat down, finding the height to be just right.

Cheng Ye stuffed the chopsticks into his hand. “Eat.”

Although he had also had noodles for lunch, after such a long day, Jiang Shi was starving. Just the smell alone was making his mouth water.

The hand-pulled noodles were topped with a layer of green vegetables, so full they were almost overflowing. He used his chopsticks to stir them and found that the seemingly ordinary bowl was filled with almost half a bowl of beef at the bottom. Looking at the portion, probably half of the beef Sun Jiayu had contributed was in his bowl.

Jiang Shi looked up. The man was standing in front of the table, looking at him, his dark eyes filled with a hint of a smile.

Sun Jiayu passed behind Cheng Ye with his bowl, again looking pitiful. “Jiang Shi, can I sit with you?”

Cheng Ye’s smile faded from his eyes, and he glanced back.

Sun Jiayu felt his hair stand on end under his gaze and subconsciously changed his words, “Brother Cheng, can I sit with Teacher Jiang?”

This dilapidated house of theirs had only two stools in total. Jiang Shi had one, Sun Jiayu had one, and the remaining two men could only stand and eat.

Cheng Ye had made a lot of noodles. After the first three people had served themselves, there was still almost half a pot left.

Sun Jiayu and Zhao Chuan were both very hungry, and the noodles smelled delicious just by sniffing. But they were celebrities, after all, and had to maintain their image, so they were too embarrassed to take too much.

Zhao Chuan stood next to Cheng Ye, looking at the noodles in the pot, and suggested, “I don’t think we can finish this. Should we ask the other guests who haven’t eaten yet?”

“By the way, there’s another thing…” he added, “I just took a look around your house and didn’t see any extra bowls. Our place has some. Should I go get one?”

“No need.”

Cheng Ye’s expression was cold and stern, and he was wearing a black jacket. Zhao Chuan glanced at it; it was a brand name, worth tens of thousands.

After speaking, Cheng Ye rolled up the sleeves of his tens-of-thousands-yuan jacket, poured out the water from the stainless steel basin used for washing vegetables, and, holding the iron pot, poured the rest into the basin.

Unable to find chopsticks, he broke off a branch from the leafy persimmon tree in the yard, stripped it of its leaves, snapped it in half, and a simple pair of chopsticks was made.

There was no stool, so he sat on an unused sand brick next to Jiang Shi, holding the basin, and began to eat.

Sun Jiayu and Zhao Chuan, who had witnessed the whole process: “…”

Jiang Shi explained, “He eats a lot.”

This was no longer a matter of appetite…

Sun Jiayu was in a daze for a long time, finally saying as if in a dream, “CEO Cheng is truly one of a kind, hahaha…”

Compared to the CEO Cheng who was so different from the rumors, the noodles in his hand were more attractive. Perhaps influenced by Cheng Ye, Zhao Chuan, who had been standing reservedly, eventually also brought over a sand brick and sat down.

For a time, the only sound in the yard was that of eating.

Jiang Shi was hungry, but he had a small appetite. After eating half a bowl, he started to pick at his food.

This vegetable’s taste is off, into Cheng Ye’s basin.
These few strands of noodles are stuck together, into Cheng Ye’s basin.
This piece of beef has a tendon, into Cheng Ye’s basin.

Cheng Ye held the basin, and whatever Jiang Shi tossed in, he ate, refusing nothing.

Watching this, Sun Jiayu suddenly felt that the noodles in his bowl were no longer fragrant. He thought, Those online rumors are all lies. These two’s relationship looks incredibly good. How does this look like they’re just putting on a show?

He just hadn’t expected that the CEO of Hengyuan, with a net worth of over a hundred million, could not only cook, but also cook so well it was unbelievable.

Thinking about having to stay in this godforsaken place for three months, Sun Jiayu’s eyes darted around, and he began to have ideas of winning him over.

“Jiang Shi, ah, I saw when I was looking for a chair just now that your bedroom window is broken. Not only will it be drafty at night, but there will also be lots of mosquitoes. It’s so late today, why don’t you two come squeeze in with us?”

Jiang Shi was not used to sleeping with others. Just as he was about to refuse, Cheng Ye spoke up, “No need.”

He said, “I’ll fix the window.”

It was fine talking to Jiang Shi, but Sun Jiayu was a bit afraid of Cheng Ye. But tonight’s noodles were too delicious, so he couldn’t help but say, “Can we come to you for meals in the future? Don’t worry, we’ll give you our ingredients.”

After all, in a variety show like this, ingredients were the hard currency. Sun Jiayu felt he had shown enough sincerity. It was just two more pairs of chopsticks, a sure-win situation for Jiang Shi and the others.

Then Cheng Ye spoke, “This meal is payment for the ingredients. We’ll talk about the future later.”

Zhao Chuan asked, “What do you mean, ‘talk about it later’?”

Cheng Ye: “It depends on whether we need your things.”

In short, if you want to eat, you have to trade.

At this moment, Sun Jiayu and Zhao Chuan deeply felt the exploitation of capital.

The meal-sharing negotiation failed, but the house still needed to be cleaned up. After eating, Sun Jiayu went to clean up.

The yard quieted down. The mountain breeze whistled past them. The director came over and, seeing this, spoke, “Is this house very broken? Do you want to live in a more comfortable one?”

Without even thinking, Jiang Shi knew there was a trap waiting for them. “No, although this house is broken, it has a certain charm. We quite like it.”

Cheng Ye moved from the sand brick to the chair next to Jiang Shi. He asked the director, “What’s the price?”

The director coughed again, his face showing only the calculation of a scheme succeeding. “Your window is broken, isn’t it? The weather forecast says it will rain tonight. We have extra staff dormitories, but of course, we can’t give them to you for free.”

“If you just want to rent for one night, it’s three hundred. If you want to change houses completely, it’s a flat price of one thousand, deducted from your salary for the next three months.”

This was simply black-hearted to the extreme.

Jiang Shi thought that, according to Cheng Ye’s usual habits, he would never agree to such an unreasonable request from the director. But then he looked up at the sky, seeming to predict whether it would rain tonight.

After looking for a few seconds, he discussed with Jiang Shi, “Let’s rent for one night.”

“No,” Jiang Shi disagreed. “Three hundred for one night is too expensive. The prices here are decided by them. Who knows how long it will take to earn back these three hundred.”

Jiang Shi could still tell the difference between suffering for a moment and suffering forever.

Cheng Ye had finished the half-basin of noodles and finally ate what Jiang Shi had left over. He stood up to clean up and asked the director, “When does the weather forecast say it will rain?”

The director checked. “It’s 9 PM now. It shows it will rain at 11.”

He put the basin and bowl by the sink and washed them with nimble hands. “Then we’re not changing.”

The director was somewhat surprised.

The production team adhered to the principle of setting traps. Among the five groups of guests, all the houses had some problems, but Jiang Shi’s group’s was the worst. The production team was also prepared to fleece them mercilessly.

In fact, the lack of ingredients at the beginning was a trap they had set. The open-air, firewood-only stove was another. But they had never expected that the dignified CEO of Hengyuan would know how to start a fire and cook, and even know how to pull noodles.

They could only put in effort on the matter of changing rooms.

After all, who could stand such a dilapidated house? The director team was even prepared for them to pay a thousand to switch to another house. But in the end, forget switching, they weren’t even willing to rent for one night.

If anything happened, they would be responsible. The director’s face fell as he persuaded, “It’s only three hundred. You can earn it back by doing a few more tasks. At the very least, you can spend a thousand to switch to a better house once and for all. That window is so broken, you can’t sleep like that, can you?”

While he was talking, Cheng Ye had already finished washing the bowl and basin. He wiped his hands, walked around the house, and found a hammer.

The director couldn’t help but ask, “CEO Cheng, what are you going to do?”

Cheng Ye said, “Fix the window.”

It would rain at eleven. One hour was enough for him to fix it.

Director: “…”

Wait, you have this function too?

The temperature here wasn’t high, and it got a bit cold at night as the temperature dropped. Jiang Shi zipped up his jacket, stuck his hands in his pockets, and followed behind Cheng Ye. “How are you going to fix this?”

Cheng Ye stood by the bed and looked at it. He rummaged through his suitcase and pulled out a head-mounted miner’s lamp. He put it on his head, and from somewhere, he produced a juicy peach and placed it in Jiang Shi’s hand.

“A post-meal fruit. You can sleep after you finish it.”

The peach had just been washed, and it was cool with moisture. Jiang Shi touched it. “Where did you get this peach?”

A low laugh escaped Cheng Ye’s throat. “I met a local when I was picking wild vegetables just now. I asked him for it. I don’t know if the director team allows it. You can hide in the room and eat it secretly.”

With that, Cheng Ye went out with the hammer.

Fixing a window might be a bit difficult, but blocking a drafty one was much easier.

He removed all the old wooden boards, then found a piece of oilcloth from some corner of the house. He folded the oilcloth several times, used the hammer to remove the nails from the old wooden boards, and nailed the oilcloth to the wooden frame of the window.

In less than twenty minutes, the problem of the drafty window was solved.

The director team, who had watched the whole process: “…”

We should have just smashed the wall too.

The group of guests who arrived the latest were the first to go to bed.

The cameraman following Jiang Shi’s group took the footage back for a meeting.

In the conference room, the computer replayed the footage shot of Jiang Shi’s group today. The several directors fell into deep thought.

After a while, one of the assistant directors couldn’t help but speak, “To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen a guest like CEO Cheng.”

When they were initially confirming the guests, the one they were least optimistic about was Jiang Shi’s pair. Just looking at their public images, they didn’t feel much of a CP vibe. So, their initial focus was not on these two. Having them arrive last was just to create more buzz for them.

But things not only didn’t develop in the direction they had anticipated, but instead went in a strange direction…

Another assistant director also spoke up, “In this one day, every group of guests has been scammed out of money. We originally thought they were the big suckers, but in the end, we didn’t get a single cent from them.”

“This CEO Cheng is really…”

After thinking for a long time, he could only think of Sun Jiayu’s words.

“One of a kind.”

The chief director listened to them, then slapped his thigh. “Have the editors work overtime. Get this episode cut as fast as possible.”

He stared at the screen, at the scene where the two were leaning against each other talking while holding the peach, his eyes shining.

“Our show is going to be a hit…”