Chapter 17: Got Yangzi So Mad He's Pouting Like a Sharp-Mouthed Fish!

"……?!"

Yangzi was stunned, unable to react in time.

"hhh! What a sharp tongue!"

"Dying of laughter, it took him that long to react."

"《Silly Dog Has Too Many Issues》"

"So satisfying! As expected of Chi Ye, the only man who can keep up with Yangzi's act!"

"Great roast! I feel refreshed; even if Chi Ye is just putting on a persona, I accept it."

"It's over, Chi Ye has gone mad. Is he not caring about the feelings of his anti-fans at all?"

"Although, but... Chi Ye is too daring, isn't he? Yangzi's face has turned green, hhh."

Inside the living room.

Everyone finally caught the drift. Chu Luanyu glanced at Chi Ye in surprise, while Yangzi looked displeased, appearing vaguely embarrassed.

Only Jin Xia was "very angry": "Mr. Yangzi, these are the good persimmons that Mr. Chi and I carefully picked. How could you do this!"

Everyone: "……"

"Hmph!"

Yangzi felt he had lost all face and regretted even more that his perfect script had been ruined by Chi Ye just like that.

He huffed in a fit of pique and turned back to his room.

"……Is he, alright?"

"He's fine." Chi Ye waved his hand dismissively: "Mr. Yangzi has gone to think of a new script; he'll come out once he's finished."

Chu Luanyu: "……"

"I looked at the persimmons the whole way, and he said they weren't good!"

Jin Xia was still in a state of petty rage.

Chi Ye sized her up: "I was the one who picked them."

"Exactly." Jin Xia said righteously: "That's why I said I 'looked' at them the whole way!"

Chi Ye: "……"

"Shall we tidy up and get ready to cook?"

He glanced at the two women and found that without Yangzi, the air in the living room felt much cleaner.

"……I'll go cook."

Chu Luanyu turned in silence and walked into the kitchen again to wash vegetables and prepare the meal.

Chi Ye thought for a moment and prepared to follow her in to help.

"I'm coming too, I'm coming too!"

The "brown bear" hopped and skipped, wanting to squeeze inside.

"Can you cook?" Chi Ye asked, surprised.

"Nope."

"Then why are you going in?"

"I'll help you plate the dishes, wash the vegetables, and sanitize things!"

Chi Ye pointed at the fluffy down jacket Jin Xia was wearing: "I think you should change your clothes first."

"Oh, right." Jin Xia slapped her forehead, flustered: "Wait for me, you must wait for me to come back before starting!"

After saying that, she controlled her wobbling "body" and turned to head toward the second floor.

Chi Ye watched her leave before shaking his head and walking into the kitchen to start assisting Chu Luanyu.

He wasn't actually very good at cooking either; he could manage noodles or scrambled eggs, but if you asked him to prepare a real feast, that was strictly at the level of 《Mentor Huang Jianfeng》.

Fortunately, Chu Luanyu was exceptionally capable; she clearly cooked for herself often and handled things in an orderly fashion, which greatly improved Chi Ye's impression of her.

Dai Fudai, foodies rejoice!

Before long, Jin Xia walked into the kitchen, now wearing a pink, fluffy rabbit loungewear set.

Seeing that Chu Luanyu and Chi Ye had already started cooking, her little face showed some unhappiness, and she grumbled to herself, though it was unclear what she was muttering.

Chi Ye glanced at her and casually assigned her a task: "Jin Xia, go peel the potatoes."

"Okay, okay!" Jin Xia's face immediately lit up with joy.

Chi Ye shook his head as he watched.

It really was a case of a small knife carving a butt—an eye-opener; this was the first time he'd seen someone unhappy because they had no work to do.

He really wanted to throw her into a 996 tech giant to work overtime every day.

Thinking back on Jin Xia's performance along the way, he felt a bit uneasy: "Do you know how to peel them?"

"I do!"

Chi Ye nodded: "Then I'll leave it to you."

"Mission guaranteed to be completed!"

Jin Xia saluted with her rabbit ears, then went to find the potatoes and started peeling.

Ten minutes later.

Chu Luanyu turned her head to look over, saying nothing.

Chi Ye, however, inexplicably understood what she meant and turned to ask Jin Xia: "Are the potatoes done?"

"Not yet."

"Still not done?" Chi Ye was puzzled: "It's been so long, you haven't even finished one?"

"Not yet, not yet, why are you rushing me?" The "rabbit" raised her head and said unhappily: "I've only peeled half of one!"

Chi Ye: "?"

He realized something was wrong, walked over to take a look, and his vision went black.

She really hadn't lied; half the potato skin, no more, no less, just right.

"So meticulous," Chi Ye sighed.

"Right? And look how beautifully I peeled it?" Jin Xia held up the potato, looking proud.

It had to be said, the potato she peeled was indeed smooth, without a single scrap of skin left, and even the shape looked round and beautiful.

"It's just..." Jin Xia looked slightly dissatisfied: "I feel like the shape of this potato is hard to peel; to make it look good, my arm is sore."

"The potato is being very unreasonable." Chi Ye sighed.

"This knife isn't easy to use either."

"The knife is being unreasonable too."

Jin Xia tilted her neck, her loose loungewear slipping to reveal her snow-white, delicate swan neck, her peach-blossom eyes filled with dissatisfaction: "Mr. Chi, you're being sarcastic again!"

"No, no." Chi Ye shook his head and asked sincerely: "Do you like peeling potatoes?"

"Of course!"

"No, I think with your talent, peeling potatoes is a waste of your potential."

"Hm?" Jin Xia was suspicious: "What do you mean?"

Chi Ye looked at her: "If you really want to peel something, peel me."

"In your hands, even a potato gets a beauty treatment; peel me so I can get one too."

"Mr. Chi!" Jin Xia felt very aggrieved and huffed: "You don't need peeling, because your jawline is sharper than a blade!!"

Chi Ye: "?"

It's over, the kid has been pushed to the edge.

Jin Xia ignored him, and seeing that Chu Luanyu had already finished one dish, she got up and walked toward the cabinets inside the kitchen.

Not very bright, but diligent.

Chi Ye shook his head, just about to take over the potato-peeling job.

"Why isn't there even a sterilizer cabinet here?"

A dainty, whiny voice came from inside.

Chi Ye paused and pointed at the production crew members outside: "Production crew, find the reason yourselves—why is there no sterilizer cabinet?"

Jin Xia turned back to add: "It has to be a Morphy Richards sterilizer, the one that integrates knife and chopstick sterilization!"

"I can't take it anymore, these two are killing me with laughter."

"You're just bullying Xiaxia because she's silly."

"Oh no! This kid actually managed to mooch his way in!"

"Ahhh! Xiaxia is so cute, her personality in private is completely different!"

"I'm starting to ship them."

Neither Chi Ye nor Jin Xia knew that their pair of "bad luck" combinations with explosive reputations now actually had "CP fans."

Chi Ye quickly finished peeling the potatoes, and with Chu Luanyu's swift knife work, half an hour later, the first dinner at the 《See You》 cottage was finally served.

Four dishes and one soup, for four people—that was about right.

"By the way, Mr. Yangzi still hasn't come out."

Jin Xia happily arranged all the bowls and chopsticks into a pretty pattern, only then remembering that Yangzi hadn't come out since returning to his room.

"Then go call him," Chi Ye said.

Jin Xia instinctively stood up, but suddenly thought of something, sat back down with a thud, "hmph-ed" at Chi Ye, and turned her head to signal she wasn't going.

Fine, the Empress Dowager is still in a "petty rage."

Chi Ye took another look at the expressionless Shi Daifu.

"……Fine, I'll go call them."

Chi Ye felt he was truly too kind, kinder than an ox; he stood up and strolled over to the entrance of Yang Zi’s room: "Teacher Yang Zi, time to eat."

There was no movement inside.

Chi Ye thought for a moment and changed his approach: "Teacher Yang Zi, there will be fifty close-up shots during the meal."

Click.

The door opened, and Yang Zi walked out with a calm face; his eyes darted quickly toward the dining table in the distance, discovering there were only six camera angles.

His expression turned displeased.

"Let's go."

Chi Ye had already turned back, returning to the dining table as if nothing had happened.

"Hhh, dying of laughter."

"Yang Zi: Are you trying to fish for me here, kid?"

"They’ve fished Yang Zi into a topmouth culter!"

"Yang Zi: Can't beat them, absolutely can't beat them."

"Yang Zi now has that helpless look of someone who just soiled their pants."

Yang Zi said nothing, just kept looking displeased, came to the dining table to sit down, lowered his head, and started eating.

The other three were actually starving too; Chi Ye and Jin Xia were fine, but Shi Daifu had first worked for half a day under the guidance of the "elder," and then personally manned the stove to cook, evolving from a female boxing champion to a female chef champion—the number one laborer of *Seeing You*—and being famished, she ate a bit faster.

As such, the atmosphere at the dining table was somewhat cold.

Li Dao, sitting behind the camera, saw this and gave a light cough, signaling everyone to talk and not just stuff their faces, damn it!

But the four people present, if nothing else, were all at the level of veteran artists when it came to being eccentric; one by one, they completely ignored the production team.

Li Dao felt discouraged and used his eyes to signal the PD beside him.

The PD was silent for two seconds, then looked at Jin Xia, who had long since put down her chopsticks and was only taking small sips from her thermos: "Teacher Jin Xia, are you only eating this much?"

"Eh, can the people from the production team talk?" Jin Xia asked in surprise.

"Just have post-production edit it and dub the sound onto my face, won't that work?" Chi Ye replied.

PD: "……"

"Hh, do you have to be like this."

"Have you two started living together?"

Hearing Chi Ye's voice, Jin Xia gave him a sly glance with her peach-blossom eyes, then pretended to be nonchalant and said to the PD: "I don't have a big appetite."

She picked up her high-end thermos and said in a coy, affected voice: "I have to drink underground spring water after every meal, steeped with health tea; this kind of dietary habit is the healthiest and helps with post-meal digestion."

The production team and the guests were all stunned.

They subconsciously looked at Chi Ye, who had been "hanging out" with Jin Xia ever since joining the show.

"Mm." Chi Ye nodded calmly: "The Empress Dowager's meals are always like this."

Everyone: "……"

"Crunch."

Shi Daifu, with half an apple stuffed in her mouth, noticed the strange looks cast by everyone.

"Mm… I'm full."

She suddenly stood up and left the dining table without looking back.

"……What’s wrong with her?" Chi Ye didn't quite understand.

"Maybe it's embarrassment," Yang Zi said, only realizing after he finished that he had actually responded to Chi Ye, and cursed his bad luck!

"Mm…" Chi Ye glanced at the innocent-looking Jin Xia and remained silent.

A "martial arts practitioner" eating a bit more is normal, right?

……

Dinner ended; originally, the first day of moving into the *Seeing You* cabin included a "late-night heart-to-heart" session.

But the guests were all very tired today, and with the Yang Zi performance incident having occurred, naturally, no one was in the mood for heart-to-hearts with people they weren't familiar with.

It was just that, hindered by the production team's schedule, they could only wander around the living room.

Jin Xia clamored to go out for a stroll because the production team had hung many beautiful colored lights in the small courtyard.

But Chi Ye felt it was too much trouble for the Empress Dowager to leave the palace, having to be bundled up like a "brown bear," so he stopped her from making such a big fuss.

This scene made Yang Zi’s eyes split with rage; he wished he could swap roles with Chi Ye and shout: Agree to her! Agree to her! Go out for a two-person world and ride the hype!

Unfortunately, he wasn't Chi Ye, so he could only shout wildly in his heart, and then… stay in the living room himself, ready to find an opportunity to latch onto Jin Xia at any time.

"Teacher Chi, what are you doing?"

Jin Xia was still holding her thermos, taking light sips from time to time, and noticing Chi Ye's "oddity," she asked curiously.

"Hm?" Chi Ye was startled and shook his head: "Nothing, just resting for a bit."

In reality, his attention had just been on the system space, checking the growth of his Favorability points.

Having joined *Seeing You* for the first day, and seeing the day about to end, he didn't know if it was his own doing or because he had spent a long time with Jin Xia, but in any case, he found the growth of his Favorability points very gratifying.

It had already reached over 530,000.

Back in *How to Evaluate*, the total Favorability points had only increased by about 20,000.

One could imagine the popularity of *Seeing You* and… Jin Xia's traffic.

The Empress Dowager deserves the greatest credit!

Chi Ye glanced at Jin Xia, who was making a "slurping" sound with her thermos and then inexplicably giggling.

Mm…

500,000 Favorability points meant he had five opportunities to copy intermediate talent skills.

As for not wanting intermediate ones and converting them into fifty primary ones… Chi Ye felt it wasn't necessary.

'So, whose talent skill should I copy?'

Chi Ye's gaze landed once again on the Empress Dowager, who looked a bit "dull."

Among the current guests of *Seeing You*, Yang Zi was out of the question; calling him a veteran actor would make even the veteran actor feel unlucky.

Jin Xia was definitely the primary target.

Don't let the "silly, sweet, and innocent" act the Empress Dowager put on fool you; in reality, Jin Xia should be considered one of the best among the young generation of actors in the domestic entertainment industry in terms of acting talent.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have reached the position of a top-tier celebrity based solely on looks and family background.

Besides the Empress Dowager, Shi Daifu was naturally also an optimal target.

Whether in his past life or the present, Chi Ye had a plain voice and was tone-deaf; the original owner’s albums relied entirely on million-dollar tuners—he was a true recording studio warrior.

Although Shi Daifu's career was basically ruined now, she was, after all, a former "little pop diva," and her singing technique was beyond doubt.

'Then let's settle on the Empress Dowager and Miss Shi first.'

Chi Ye had his preliminary targets; he sat up, preparing to redeem the scroll for copying.

Hope he wasn't a "non-chief" (unlucky person)!

"Hm?"

Jin Xia seemed to sense something; her peach-blossom eyes looked over, and she asked naively: "Teacher Chi, what are you doing?"

"Nothing…"

Chi Ye shifted his butt and had just prepared to speak when his gaze suddenly paused.

It landed on the thermos Jin Xia had just put down.

He had been too far away to notice before, but after getting closer, he saw that the thermos in her hand was filled with black "spring water," with dense little bubbles faintly rising.

A familiar scent drifted out, now and then.

Jin Xia noticed Chi Ye's gaze and was startled; she hurriedly picked up the thermos to take a sip to cover it up, but then remembered something, blew on it feignedly, took a "slurp," and snuck a glance at Chi Ye: "Teacher Chi, why are you looking at me?"

Chi Ye was silent: "You're drinking cola out of a thermos?"

Jin Xia: "!!!"

She hurriedly looked left and right; fortunately, the production team thought they had abandoned this segment and only left the fixed cameras in the living room.

"Teacher Chi, keep your voice down!"

Chi Ye: "……"

"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely: "My eyes were dull; this must be cola-flavored underground spring water!"