Chapter 13: Reduced to Catching Chickens

Shu Qian quickly glanced at the mission card, then instinctively looked at Song Xun.

Clearing her throat, she read aloud clearly: “Mission one, the female guest is to cook a dish for the male guest. During lunchtime, the show team will evaluate and rank all the dishes.”

Shu Qian’s heart stirred — just as she was dozing off, someone handed her a pillow.

Wasn’t this an opportunity?

She pressed her lips into a slight smile: “Teacher Song, the production team wants me to cook you a dish. What would you like to eat? I’ll make it for you.”

Maybe after tasting her delicious cooking, Song Xun would forget all about that matter completely.

Song Xun folded up the newspaper, his face showing no reaction.

“No need, thank you,” he said, then stood and went back to his room.

Shu Qian was left speechless, awkwardly scratching her head and helplessly shrugging at the camera.

“Teacher Song seems to still be mad.”

“Well then, today I’ll show off my cooking skills as a sincere apology.”

Suddenly she remembered how bad her cooking skills actually were, and the smile on her face faded a bit.

She had to think of a simple dish.

To reduce the chance of embarrassing herself on live TV.

After a moment, Shu Qian’s eyes brightened as they landed on the fruit plate.

Right! She could make coconut chicken.

Just put everything in the pot and cook together. As long as the heat was controlled, how hard could it be?

A bright, radiant smile blossomed on her face, the corners of her lips lifting slightly, bringing a touch of brightness to the entire villa.

Decided, Shu Qian immediately went out next door to buy a chicken.

The neighbors raised quite a few chickens, and when they heard Shu Qian was here to buy one, they led her straight to the chicken coop gate.

“Here, there are plenty. Pick whichever you want.”

Shu Qian hesitated, uncertain: “Do I catch it myself?”

But she didn’t know how!

“You pick whichever one you want. I’ve got things cooking in my pot, can’t help you.” The neighbor rushed back to the kitchen.

Leaving Shu Qian and the cameraman staring at each other.

Shu Qian quickly turned to the cameraman.

“Hey, do you know how to catch chickens?”

The cameraman instinctively wanted to nod, but then remembered the director’s strict order in his earpiece.

“No helping Shu Qian catch the chicken. She has to do it herself. The audience will love this shot.”

For the sake of the show…

So the cameraman quietly shut his mouth and shook his head.

Shu Qian gave up completely, her face ashen as she stared at the clucking chicken flock.

A female celebrity like her had actually been reduced to catching chickens.

If it weren’t to make amends to Song Xun, how could she have fallen so low?

Shu Qian took a deep breath and, like a warrior cutting off her own wrist, stepped into the chicken coop.

Viewers watched Shu Qian chasing the chickens around, with loud chicken squawks and flapping wings filling the air.

After a chaotic mess of feathers and noise, Shu Qian finally caught a chicken.

She held the chicken’s wing proudly, waving excitedly at the camera.

[Wow, didn’t expect her to catch a chicken wearing high heels!]

[Eye-opener! The real chicken wrangler—Shu Qian.]

[For the sake of the show, she really has no sense of being a celebrity.]

All the comments didn’t bother Shu Qian at all; she was happily carrying the chicken back to the villa.

“Shu Qian? What happened to you?”

An Jing saw Shu Qian coming from afar with the chicken, looking a bit disheveled compared to her usual delicate self.

She covered her mouth to suppress a smile and waved a hand in front of her nose, pretending to be concerned.

“What’s that smell? Don’t tell me you caught the chicken yourself?”

Shu Qian smiled—who couldn’t pretend?

“Yeah, to show I take yesterday’s mission seriously, I went and caught the chicken myself.”

“But…” An Jing hesitated.

“Didn’t you know Teacher Song doesn’t eat meat?”

Shu Qian raised an eyebrow: “So what? Can’t I eat it myself?”

“But the mission is for the female guest to cook a dish for the male guest. Aren’t you disrespecting Teacher Song by doing that?” An Jing held back her anger and said calmly again.

Her words triggered an explosion in the livestream chat.

[Shu Qian is so selfish. Yesterday she had Song Emperor cook ribs for her, and today she’s catching a chicken herself. Couldn’t she have made a vegetarian dish so Song could eat more?]

[Exactly. She only thinks about herself. Yesterday at the supermarket she only bought what she liked, never considering others.]

[Are we even watching the same livestream? Song Xun offered to buy the ribs yesterday, didn’t he?]

[See? Song Emperor cares so much about her feelings, but Shu Qian doesn’t care about him at all.]

Shu Qian sneered lightly.

“Thanks for the reminder, Teacher An. I still have to kill the chicken, so I won’t chat with you anymore.”

“You—”

An Jing watched Shu Qian walk away, sighed helplessly.

“Shu Qian is always like this. When others kindly remind her, she just…”

Then she showed a hurt smile.

At that moment, the fans in An Jing’s livestream chat began criticizing Shu Qian, causing a surge in the topic’s heat.

Back at the villa.

Shu Qian held a kitchen knife, staring at the motionless hen and swallowing nervously.

Though it looked easy on video, killing a chicken was really hard.

The chicken’s neck was soft and floppy; even a little pressure and it started struggling.

Only after the cameraman reminded her did Shu Qian learn where to strike.

Half an hour later, Shu Qian nodded heavily, looking at the prepared ingredients.

This was the crucial moment.

Following the steps, she put the chicken pieces and coconut meat into the clay pot simultaneously, then carefully poured in the coconut juice and cautiously turned on the gas stove.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Cooking didn’t seem that hard.

Shu Qian raised her eyebrows a little proudly and brought a stool to sit by the kitchen door, waiting for the meal to cook.

The sunlight was soft; half of her body bathed in the warmth.

She closed her eyes contentedly.

Time passed by slowly, and Shu Qian’s nose twitched.

Hmm… why was there a burning smell?

She went over and lifted the pot lid, finding that most of the water had evaporated, and the chicken at the bottom was slightly charred.

“Oh no, the water’s gone dry!” Shu Qian hurriedly grabbed a cup to get some water.

But just as she went to get water, there was a sharp cracking sound—the bottom of the clay pot cracked.

Shu Qian gasped and rushed over to turn off the gas.

What she hadn’t expected was that she had left the rag used to wipe the table next to the stove, and there was quite a bit of cooking oil spilled on the countertop.

A gust of wind suddenly made the flames flare up.

Shu Qian dared not get close to the stove, watching the fire spread, heart pounding, wanting to rush over.

But before she could get near, a pair of pale, slender hands pulled her behind someone.

“What are you doing?” Song Xun asked coldly.

He first turned off the gas stove, then grabbed an apron and quickly smothered the flames, repeatedly until the fire was out.

By then, the kitchen was filled with black smoke and a mess.

Shu Qian patted her chest nervously, then her eyes landed on the charred chicken.

“Ah, my chicken!” she said regretfully, looking at the stove with a wronged expression.

It was so close to success, where had she gone wrong…

Frowning, Shu Qian carefully reviewed the whole process, completely unaware that Song Xun’s face was even darker than the burnt chicken.

“Do you want to take everyone down with you?”