The delicious and tangy aroma of the fish kept wafting through the air, and the events that had just happened seemed like insignificant interludes.

In the next moment, the family at the dining table fell into bliss, savoring the flavor of the dish.

The old lady was so happy that when she spit out the fishbones, she also accidentally spat her dentures onto the table.

After a two-second pause, both she and the younger family members pointed at the dentures and burst into laughter.

Perhaps her granddaughter’s child was a little anxious: “Is grandma sick?”

The accent was no longer that of a Southwestern person but instead had the soft tone of the local dialect of Linjiang.

The old lady took a piece of tender fish belly, carefully removing the bones, and placed it on the child’s plate, gently touching her little face: “Grandma is getting old, so I need to exercise my body to stay healthy and enjoy delicious food every day.”

At that moment, Jia Bingyang had a sudden thought flash through his mind.

Since college, he had moved to the capital, while his parents back home were growing old as well.

They were thousands of miles apart and rarely able to reunite.

He had worked hard to settle in the competitive city and had developed a life there.

Now, he spoke the same as this little granddaughter, gradually losing the hometown accent that once seemed out of place in his social circles.

But food, he realized, is something that can easily evoke memories.

---

After filming the material, he softly thanked the guests at the table.

The old lady, still a little embarrassed, said, “Oh dear, we were so focused on eating that I didn’t get the chance to perform properly for you.”

Apparently, when you’re on TV, you need to speak from a script.

She had prepared a few cultured lines before the filming began to avoid embarrassing herself if a familiar face were to see her.

But when the fish was served, she forgot everything, eating several bowls of rice instead. Now she felt too full and kept burping.

The sour, tangy fish soup with pickled cabbage was truly irresistible.

It had been a long time since she had enjoyed a meal like this, and by the end, she even thought she might have overdone it.

Jia Bingyang shook his head and smiled, saying, “No, you did very well.”

At least, standing by the side, watching the family eat, he couldn’t stop the saliva from flowing in his mouth, and his heart felt warm.

The old lady knew he was the director and was very pleased with the compliment. She asked again, eagerly, the same question she had asked earlier when they were in line: “Can I really be on TV?”

Jia Bingyang had answered cautiously earlier, saying he wasn’t sure since he had just been kicked out of the filming crew by Lin Miao and was in a period of uncertainty.

But now, when asked again, he hesitated for a moment and then replied, his tone growing more confident: “Yes, you will. Give me a contact, and when the film is released, I’ll personally tell you.”

The old lady was overjoyed.

On the way out, she kept telling her son, “Your mother’s really lucky, at this age, she might even be on TV. I should’ve fixed my hair before coming. And this restaurant, the food is really great, but there are too many people waiting. When you’re not working overtime, let’s come back again.”

Jia Bingyang smiled as he sent them off, then sighed and relaxed.

His good friend, who was packing up the equipment, asked, “Old Jia, what do you think? Should we head back to the capital tonight or wait until tomorrow? I’ll book the tickets.”

Jia Bingyang shook his head. “We’re not leaving yet.”

His friend was confused. “What?”

Jia Bingyang pulled out his phone and started looking through his contacts for people he hadn’t planned to ask for favors.

He replied, “I didn’t think it was necessary before, but now that we’ve got this material, I’m not willing to give up. Even if I got kicked out of the crew, I’ll still finish this documentary.”

His friend was stunned, and Jia Bingyang continued, “Let me be honest with you. We’re short on staff, and there’s no investment. If you’re not willing to stay, I’ll understand, and I won’t blame you.”

The group fell silent for a moment.

After a while, the cameraman thought about the footage they had just filmed and, gritting his teeth, said:

“I’m staying! I don’t believe that the Chinese food we’ve grown up eating is the greasy stuff that Lin Miao’s grandson talked about!”

---

Despite saying he was leaving, Jia Bingyang didn’t leave.

He showed up at Mingde on time for several consecutive days.

He explained to Jin Yaotiao: “I asked the leaders at the station to set up a temporary team, just to film for a while at your house. It won’t take too long. After filming this part, I still have to take the crew to film across the country.”

Jin Yaotiao glanced at the team behind him. “How many of you are there?”

Filming across the country with just these people?

Most of the documentary team was still with Lin Miao, and now Jia Bingyang only had one cameraman. He was indeed worried, but his ambition remained undiminished: “There’s no other choice. It’ll be tough, but we can keep going.”

However, with insufficient funding and manpower, ensuring the quality was a huge challenge.

Jin Yaotiao looked at his bright eyes and probably understood why, even after being suppressed, he could still shine.

The crew had clearly prepared for hardship.

At this point, everyone was holding their breath, but it was obvious they had no idea if the road ahead would be smooth.

She, however, was confident in their abilities and asked, “Do you need investors?”

Jia Bingyang froze for a moment, nodding.

Of course, they needed investors.

Everyone in the crew was saying so; they had to pool money together just to fund the project. But documentaries were money-burning ventures, and the little bit of money they scraped together was far from enough.

When he submitted his application, even the leaders who usually held him in high regard at the station expressed pessimism about his stubbornness.

Expecting funding from above was unrealistic. As for finding investors, that seemed even more absurd. What investor would back an unknown, new director like him?

To be honest, when he came to ask Jin Yaoqiao for permission to shoot, he felt uncertain. After all, he was asking for help without being able to offer any immediate returns.

But Jin Yaoqiao said, “How much investment do you still need? Let me see if Mingde can squeeze out this money.”

Jia Bingyang was truly stunned.

He opened his mouth and cautiously quoted a number that he had scrimped and saved to lower.

Jin Yaoqiao paused for a moment, calculating, and decided he wasn’t trying to deceive her.

While Mingde’s finances were tight, with some pressure, they could come up with the money.

She nodded and said, “Okay, come by the company tomorrow. I’ll have the team prepare an investment contract. Once it’s signed, we’ll transfer the money.”

Her promptness left Jia Bingyang speechless, and for the first time, he became unsure of himself. “President Jin, this is such a large sum of money. What if I end up losing it for you?”

Jin Yaoqiao, thinking of the future legion of fans who would worship his work—passionate, arrogant, and unstoppable—was far more confident than him. “With your skills, it won’t happen.”

Jia Bingyang suddenly said, “I’ll go to the restroom.”

His friends waited for a while, but when he didn’t return, one of them followed to check on him. To their surprise, the tall, burly Northern man was crouched in a stall, crying so hard he couldn’t even stand.

His friends were choked up as well and comforted him for a long time.

---

Later, Jia Bingyang suggested to Jin Yaoqiao, “President Jin, Mingde is my inspiration muse. Our documentary needs a main storyline. I’ve been thinking—could we make the restaurants under your company the central theme, running through the entire film? Apart from providing a structure, it would also give Mingde some promotion.”

Of course, he wasn’t sure what kind of publicity effect this would have.

Jin Yaoqiao didn’t see any reason to disagree.

Also, thinking the documentary team lacked manpower, she offered Jia Bingyang a suggestion: “I have a friend at Linjiang Broadcasting who’s in a good position. Let me see if she can provide any photographers to help your team.”

The friend she referred to was Rachel.

Rachel was genuinely supportive of her, and now, with an opportunity, she wanted to create a chance for Rachel as well.

When Jin Yaoqiao reached out to Rachel, she learned that because Jia Bingyang had stubbornly set up a new filming team, the entire broadcasting building had been stirred up.

Rachel had been facing a lot of backlash these past few days and was a little speechless: “That guy, Lin, is about to go crazy.

He’s been causing so much trouble.

Even our leaders have been on the receiving end of his rants.”

What Jin Yaoqiao didn’t know was that, after the argument in the conference room, Lin had taken it out on Rachel as well.

It seemed like he had intentionally brought in that troublemaker, the Year-named guy, into the team.

The Year-named guy had lost to Rachel in a position dispute before and had been sulking for a while.

Now, he was holding his head high again, tail in the air, especially since he was now part of a team with a project from Beijing.

If it succeeded, he might have a chance to transfer to Beijing TV, a much better opportunity politically and professionally than staying at a local station like Linjiang.

Even though Rachel didn’t say it, Jin Yaoqiao could guess she had offended Lin Miao and would likely face some trouble. Rachel was righteous, but Jin Yaoqiao didn’t want her to suffer.

However, the problem at hand was that Jia Bingyang’s filming team was much smaller than Lin Miao’s.

But to her surprise, after hearing all this, Rachel seemed quite happy: “I didn’t expect that director Jia would cooperate with you. He’s an honest guy. I like him.”

Jin Yaoqiao said, “They only have one photographer right now. The scale isn’t big, definitely not on the same level as the original team. If you’re not willing to help…”

“It doesn’t matter. No matter the size, it’s a team from Beijing. Just being involved will look good on my resume,” Rachel said after considering her own resources. “I just got promoted recently, and I have more people under me. You remember that group that came to interview at your restaurant last time, right? The ones who filmed the ingredients? They’re now under my management. I think, instead of just providing a photographer, I’ll bring in the whole team to help out. I’ve been so sick of that Year guy lately. I need an excuse to get away from him.”

Rachel was quick and decisive. True to her word, she brought a whole team over, and Jia Bingyang’s documentary crew suddenly felt like they had divine assistance.

---

As the Spring Festival approached, Jin Yaoqiao’s father finally returned from Deep City through the snow.

It rarely snowed in Linjiang, but this year, for some unknown reason, the first snow came early. It didn’t accumulate, but the ground was damp and wet.

When Jin Yaoqiao heard her father was back, she immediately made a warming soup at home.

After consulting the doctor and learning that her father could eat some nourishing medicinal food, Jin Yaoqiao brought home a fat old hen, which she stewed until it was tender and oily, filling the house with a delicious fragrance.

Jin Father had traveled for so long, and even though he had been in the car for hours, just walking a few steps in the cold left his shoes wet.

He had recovered well after surgery, but his body was still weaker than before.

The cold wind made him feel uncomfortable, and when he stepped into the house and smelled the delicious scent, he felt momentarily dazed.

Aunt Cen took his coat while grumbling about the cold, and the sound of the TV echoed in the living room.

His wife came out to greet him, and his daughter poked her head out of the kitchen, smiling when she saw him: “Dad, you’re back?”

He couldn’t help but smile back: “Hmm, what’s cooking?”

After being away for so long, everything seemed fine out there. But at this moment, the smell of the soup suddenly made him feel nostalgic and miss home more than ever.