The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

107 Still There

When Xiao Ming bit into the quenelle, his expression was pretty underwhelmed.

Even though Li Shui didn't really care, he still couldn't help but look at Xiao Ming to see how he would react. Anyway, this was the first dish he had ever made! That was still something that held some kind of significance, right?

Well, seeing Xiao Ming's expression, he crossed that thought out of his mind. No, that held no significance at all. Otherwise, he'd have to admit that he had sucked really badly. He was just hoping that he wouldn't give Xiao Ming any food poisoning or something. They definitely couldn't use that right now.

Xiao Ming chewed for a moment before he swallowed, his expression not getting any better. He rubbed his fingers together as if he wanted to get rid of the whole experience before he turned to Li Shui. "Well, I guess I do owe you feedback then. First things first, you forgot the fish."

Li Shui looked at him, not seeming to get what he meant. "Fish?"

Xiao Ming leaned forward and motioned over to the plate Li Shui had put the fish on when he had originally gathered the ingredients.

Li Shui looked over and his face fell. "Oh."

Xiao Ming nodded and then turned the quenelle between his fingers, motioning at the charred edges. "Well, I guess there's no need to say much about the looks. Clearly, these were far too long in the oven. They are more than just slightly burnt at the edges which really doesn't help the taste. In regard to that ... I feel like apologizing to goddess Tao. Mister Yu and I said that the quenelles were a little bland but, really, compared to this, they were actually really nice. I'm not sure if you might have mismeasured one of the ingredients when you had to redo the first step."

Li Shui rubbed his neck and then just reached over, taking the quenelle from Xiao Ming's fingers. "Aiya, don't eat them! I know they're bad anyway, if I really was a contestant, they would've thrown me out before I could even approach the stage in the casting. Anyway, don't try more than that. I don't want to give you food poisoning or something. Otherwise, they'll switch you out like that guy Miss E took over for."

Qian Huang and Xiao Ming looked at him, a little puzzled. After a moment, they exchanged a glance before looking back at.

Qian Huang raised his brows. "You mean Ren Ya Hui?"

Li Shui immediately nodded. "Right! That was his name!"

Qian Huang rubbed his forehead, not even knowing what to say anymore. This ... was this guy for real? Had he seriously forgotten the moderator of the show that they were a part of? Well, Xiao Ming was the only one with an actual part in it but still.

Xiao Ming just gave an embarrassed smile sitting between the two of them and then cleared his throat. "Well, it's a pity that Mister Ren can't be part of the show anymore but Miss E is very nice. I had the chance to talk with her a bit behind the scenes and I'm sure that with her, the show will be a lot of fun."

Qian Huang jumped at the chance to make this less embarrassing. "Honestly, I can believe that at once. Just look at yesterday's episode! She and goddess Tao got along so well. I had the feeling they were secretly best friends."

Xiao Ming chuckled. "It wouldn't be all that secretive if they showed it in front of everyone. But anyway, I think that whether it's goddess Tao or Miss E, they are both people that are very easy to get along with. It's something you might not expect since we see them on TV so often, making it seem like they are these far-away stars that are completely different from us but I think, privately, they are much more approachable.

"As a live streamer, I never thought I'd have a chance to meet either of them but now that I have, I'm surprised in a good way. I'm sure that the contestants will also be very happy to see Miss E on the show. While neither Mister Yu nor I are trying to cut anyone down, we do have to say the truth which might hurt sometimes. That means that if a task isn't done all that well, we will have to be honest and can't sugarcoat it. Some contestants might take that harder than others. I'm happy that we have Miss E on the show to comfort them a little."