The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

110 A Harsh Time Limit

E Cheng Jun turned to look around, trying to figure out who to talk to next. There were sixty-three people to choose from so it really shouldn't be a problem. She had already seen in the casting last week that not everybody was easy to talk to though and she didn't want to create a situation where she was having difficulties keeping the conversation going.

That'd make her a laughing stock online and she wouldn't be surprised if the producer kept such a scene in or published it as a gimmick just for some cheap laughs. After all, they didn't care about her and only the number of viewers they could get. If she wanted to make sure that she wasn't used as a prop, she had to prevent it herself. Thus, she had decided not to approach several of the contestants unless absolutely necessary as early on as the last weekend.

At the top of that list was definitely Si Jin. While she hadn't talked to him personally, she had seen the footage of how he behaved on stage. Seeing how he hardly said a word and seemed only interested in communicating with Xiao Ming, he wasn't the kind of person for a quick interview. No, rather than that, he was the kind of person not to approach as long as there was any other person in the room.

In the end, she still ended up picking one of the ninjas of the Si clan. In this case, she went for Si Qi. She had already talked to him at the casting and had a good impression of his ability to hold a good conversation while working. He was polite, would answer honestly, and the stories he had to tell were quite interesting.

Anyway, even if this was a cooking show, especially the viewers at home were also interested in some gossip. Hearing him talk about his unrequited love and how he wanted to get better at cooking and took part in the show to attract that person would resonate well with some of those people. Why shouldn't she make use of that?

Walking up to him, she gave a bright smile. "Mister Shi, I see you have already gotten quite a few ingredients. Have you decided what type of congee to make yet?"

Si Qi glanced up at her and smiled as well. "I have. Although I'm not quite sure if I really did it in the spirit of the task."

E Cheng Jun raised her brows, surprised by that response. But then, it was a good one in terms of engagement. "Oh? Why is that?"

Si Qi put on a pensive expression and glanced up at the table of the judges. "From how Mister Yu described the task, it is also to see what our philosophy in cooking is. Considering that I haven't been cooking for long, I'm not sure if I have something like that.

"When I thought about what to make just now, instead of thinking about cooking itself, I thought of the person I want to make this for and what type of congee I think they would like. I'm not sure if that is quite what we are expected to do but on short notice, that was the only way for me to come up with something."

E Cheng Jun's smile brightened, happy that she really made the right bet that he would once again talk about the same topic. "My, I already talked with Mister Shi at the casting and you mentioned that you learned how to cook for a very special person. I guess taking her likes into consideration is also a type of philosophy."

Si Qi chuckled and couldn't help but glance in the direction of the cooking station where Si Yi was currently soaking his rice. "Maybe it is. I guess making my cooking dependent on who is going to eat and making sure that they will enjoy it is indeed like that.

"I guess for today, it might be a bit of a problem. To make it work, you really need to know the person. Privately, I don't mind that and I think I would do well. But for 'Golden Spoon', I'm not sure if it will work. I catered this dish to his tastes but the ones I need to convince today are the judges, aren't they? I'm not sure if it's a good thing. Maybe I should have figured out what they like instead."