Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Tong Anan recounted the events of the afternoon with great drama and flair.

After hearing about what Su Xingyao had done, the guests were so shocked that their jaws dropped.

After learning Su Xingyao's method to expose rigged scales, the guests all pulled out their production-issued phones at the same time and turned eagerly to director Zhang Shanfeng, their eyes shining.

"Director, you're not going to take back the phones the sponsor gave us, are you?"

"I've already memorized it, our phone weighs exactly 250 grams without any case. I'll definitely carry it with me everywhere after the show."

Standing in front of the monitor, Zhang Shanfeng, who had unexpectedly lost six sponsored phones to the guests: ??????

Are they even trying to take the sponsored phones now????? Is there no law anymore!!

Before Zhang Shanfeng could speak, the assistant director ran over to him, bursting with excitement.

"Director Zhang, Director Zhang!!"

"The sponsor's representative just called, saying our advertising was really effective, and they're increasing the advertising fee by this much!!"

He then showed Zhang Shanfeng a number.

Seeing the number, Zhang Shanfeng's eyes lit up even brighter than the guests' had earlier!

!!!!

Well, six phones aren't that big of a deal... let the guests have them.

Thinking this, Zhang Shanfeng couldn't help but glance at Su Xingyao with a look of fondness.

Tsk tsk, Song Yingming really is a great buddy, recommending such a reliable guest~

After sharing the good news, the assistant director also relayed another message from the sponsor, "The sponsor boss also wants you to contact Su Xingyao after the recording and ask if he's interested in promoting our phone brand."

While the production team was discussing this on set, the phone brand had already boldly capitalized on the current top two hot topics.

They directly posted the hashtags #Su Xingyao, are you from the Market Supervision Bureau? #Su Xingyao, no escape for rigged scales# on Weibo, and even pinned a clip of Su Xingyao using the phone to test the scales at the top.

Sharp-eyed netizens noticed they had quickly updated their e-commerce site's banner at the same time.

They took a screenshot of the show where the phone weighed 380 grams, crossed it out with a big ×, and added in bold: Only 250 grams!

"Hahaha have you seen what the show's advertisers are up to? They're not missing a single opportunity to capitalize on the hype."

"Girls, their official website has already updated the slogan to: Bare phone 250 grams, instantly test if the scale is fair."

"Hahaha this slogan is so catchy, it's stuck in my head. After this show airs, the whole country will know their phone weighs 250 grams."

"Su Xingyao's endorsement effect is really strong. I just checked, and in just a few hours, the official live broadcast of this phone brand, which originally had only a few hundred viewers, now has nearly a million people watching."

"No no, there's something even funnier. Everyone in the live chat is asking the host, 'Is your phone 250?' and the host proudly says yes, yes, we are 250, and even emphasizes, 'Su Xingyao-certified 250!'"

"What on earth is 'Su Xingyao-certified 250'? Hahaha the brand is cracking me up."

Not only did the brand's popularity explode, but Su Xingyao himself also gained widespread attention online.

This kind of thing, which resonates with everyday life and is something almost everyone encounters, naturally draws a lot of attention.

The topic about Su Xingyao's first round of exposing the ghost scale in the afternoon had already started to gain traction.

By 6 PM, as most workers finished their day and had some free time, the incident exploded across the internet at an astonishing speed.

Apart from Weibo, every other online platform was basically discussing this matter.

Even middle-aged and elderly people who don't usually surf the internet forwarded various informative posts about Su Xingyao's ghost scale test in family group chats. They reminded the younger generation to be careful when shopping in the future, while also praising this vigilant and handsome young man.

With such a high level of discussion, after 6 PM, Su Xingyao's live streaming room began to flood with a large number of curious viewers.

The viewership of his live stream surged from a few thousand at the start, to tens of thousands, and now to over seven million.

Su Xingyao's personal live streaming room was actually the one with the lowest viewership among all the guests at the beginning.

But just a few hours after the live broadcast started, it directly became the live streaming room with the highest number of viewers among all the guests, thanks to the viewers who came because of the expose on the ghost scale.

There were many viewers, but most of them didn't know much about Su Xingyao.

Most of them learned from trending searches and videos that he was still recording the show, found his live stream, and clicked in after it started.

Originally, everyone thought that Su Xingyao, a lesser-known star who finally had a hot topic, would take advantage of the heat to talk extensively about the ghost scale incident in the live streaming room.

But who knew, after they clicked in, they found that what was being shown on screen was a handsome guy cooking dinner in an orderly manner.

The viewers who thought they had entered the wrong place couldn't help but look up at the name of the live streaming room.

"Su Xingyao's Personal Live Streaming Room"

This is the right place! Why is it a cooking stream?

The viewers were puzzled, but they couldn't help but be curious, so they simply stayed.

And Su Xingyao on screen was also very skilled at cooking dinner for everyone.

Because of the time spent on exposing the ghost scale in the afternoon, and Tong Anan's explanation about this matter, it was almost 6 PM when everyone started to prepare dinner.

Out of the six, only Su Xingyao was familiar with shopping, let alone cooking.

So Su Xingyao took charge of cooking dinner alone.

Su Xingyao has been cooking for a family of four since he was eight years old, so this was not difficult for him.

Since Su Xingyao was cooking dinner for all six people, the guests felt somewhat embarrassed.

Feng Han, in particular, volunteered to help Su Xingyao cut vegetables.

Soon, when he saw his potato strips that looked like French fries, compared to Su Xingyao's artful cuts...

Feng Han silently retreated from the kitchen in shame, and quietly joined the group of washing vegetables and dishes for Su Xingyao, not daring to cause any more trouble in the kitchen.

While Su Xingyao was patiently cooking, the viewers started to worry for him.

"Su Xingyao, stop cooking!! Your expose on the ghost scale is trending!!"

"You've been on hundreds of negative trends, and finally got a positive one this time, seize the heat and share your experience with us quickly!"

"Dude, don't you want to be popular!!"

While the eager netizens were on edge, Su Xingyao, who had just finished cooking a home-style fish on camera, turned around and took out a piece of tofu, completely oblivious to the trending hashtags.

Although the netizens were anxious, they couldn't tear their eyes away from the screen.

They found that watching Su Xingyao cook was actually quite enjoyable.

"Ah, forget it, guys. He probably has no clue he's trending. Let him just keep cooking."

"But you gotta admit, his cooking is pretty fascinating. I've been glued to this for an hour."

After some hesitation, the netizens gave up and started casually chatting in Su Xingyao's live stream.

As they chatted, Su Xingyao had already diced the tofu into neat squares and started slicing it with steady, quick strokes.

At first, viewers thought Su Xingyao was just cubing the tofu.

The camera was too far out, so they couldn't make out the details.

But soon, the director caught on and abruptly zoomed in on the cutting board.

Suddenly, Su Xingyao's slender, pale fingers filled the center of the screen.

Piled at his fingertips were tightly packed slices of tofu.

"Whoa... judging by the shape and the number of cuts... is he about to make Wensi tofu???"

Su Xingyao's live stream already had a huge audience, and with the camera zooming in, the dish he was prepping was instantly recognized by the viewers.

The moment "Wensi tofu" was mentioned, the chat exploded with question marks.

"Is that the legendary Wensi tofu that takes hundreds of cuts?"

"Is that the legendary Wensi tofu that's a true test of knife skills?"

"Is that the legendary Wensi tofu where if you can't cut it right, you're no pro chef?"

"No way..."

"Su Xingyao, aren't you the guy exposing fake scales? Since when do you cook like a pro??"

While few netizens knew how to make Wensi tofu, pretty much everyone had heard of it.

After all, it's notorious for being ridiculously hard for amateurs and a serious test of knife skills.

Most people bomb their first try.

Yet here was Su Xingyao, tackling this beast of a dish, already halfway done.

The netizens were instantly hooked, their eyes glued to Su Xingyao's hands and knife, dying to see if he'd pull it off.

Su Xingyao had no idea that millions of eyes were watching him.

He kept his head down, steady and focused, patiently turning the tofu into delicate strands.

Initially, he hadn't planned to make this dish, but after finishing the other dishes, he suddenly noticed that Cen Yi and the others had brought back a piece of tofu while shopping.

If the tofu wasn't used today, it would go bad tomorrow. Following the principle of not wasting food, he decided to process it on the spot.

He had made this dish many times before, and although it had been a while, he wasn't too rusty. Before long, the tofu was perfectly sliced.

He carefully transferred them into clear water, and with a gentle stir of his fingers, hundreds of thin, thread-like tofu strands instantly dispersed in the water.

The live stream viewers, seeing this, felt their emotions explode just like the tofu.

"66666"

"He actually... succeeded! And he cut it so finely!"

"Can someone tell me how Su Xingyao has so many skills!!!!"

"Is he really a star? I've been watching variety shows for five, six, seven, or eight years, and this is the first time I've seen someone successfully cut Wensi tofu (a finely sliced tofu dish) live..."

"Who would’ve thought? I came here to see the fake ghost scale, but ended up being impressed by this handsome guy again."

"Su Xingyao is amazing—give me more, I love it!"

"Promise me, Su Xingyao, you’ll appear on more variety shows in the future—don’t make me beg you!"

"Seriously though, Su Xingyao, stop cooking!! You're trending!!"

"Here comes the trending guy again, haha—are you here to clock in?"

The netizens never expected that, in just a few hours, they’d be wowed by Su Xingyao twice.

But even so, they couldn’t bring themselves to leave the live stream, and even hoped he’d keep showing off more tricks.

As the final dish, Su Xingyao announced that they could eat once the Wensi tofu was done.

The guests, who’d been busy all day and were starving, had tidied up the living room and rushed in to serve the dishes.

The moment they saw the Wensi tofu, the guests were just as shocked as the netizens.

"Xing Yao, you can actually make this dish?!"

As soon as the dishes were set, Cen Yi quickly served everyone a bit of tofu.

After everyone had a small bowl, they all turned to Su Xingyao.

Cen Yi: "Xing Yao, are you free? You have to come back next time, okay?!"

Xu Xiang: "Bro, this soup is so good..."

Shi Hongyu: "Bro, this family can’t function without you!"

Tong Anan: "I’ve decided to skip my diet tonight."

Feng Han: "Can I... have another bowl?"

As soon as Feng Han finished speaking, he received Xu Xiang's objection.

"Nope!"

Wensi tofu is hard to cut and time-consuming, so Su Xingyao only made one bowl. After everyone had a small serving, there was only a little left.

Feng Han wanted a second bowl, and Xu Xiang was craving it too.

Xu Xiang immediately negotiated with him, "Bro, I’m still growing—let me have more."

Feng Han, holding his bowl, looked at the last bit of soup, "I'm only two years older than you, I'm still growing too!"

The audience in the live comments were amused by the two fighting over food.

"You guys shouldn’t drink it, because I haven’t tried it yet."

"Is it really that good? I won’t believe it unless I get a taste."

Shi Hongyu, who was beside them, sneakily poured the soup into his bowl while the two kids were arguing.

"Hehe, stop fighting, I’ll take care of it for you."

After saying that, he kindly suggested to the two, "This fish smells amazing, and the sweet and sour ribs are fantastic, and that... hey, if you don’t dig in now, it’ll be gone."

Xu Xiang and Feng Han, reminded by Shi Hongyu, turned their attention back to the food on the table.

Then they found that the other three guests had stopped talking and were quietly shoveling food into their mouths.

Xu Xiang & Feng Han: We messed up!

Seeing the guests eating so deliciously, some viewers were drooling with envy, while others couldn’t help but become suspicious again.

"Is it really that delicious? Are they just pretending to like it for Su Xingyao’s sake?"

"Doesn’t this feel like it’s scripted for Su Xingyao?"

"What script? I’ve been watching Su Xingyao cook all day, he's really good at cooking, it had me drooling the whole time, I'm so envious of the guests."

"I can’t speak for other shows, but this deliciousness must be real—even Tong Anan broke her diet to eat meat tonight, you know it’s gotta be good."

"Su Xingyao is really amazing, he can buy groceries, cook, and even call out dishonest vendors."

"Now I only want to watch Su Xingyao—anyone else feel the same?"

"Any fans out there who can tell us more about Su Xingyao’s skills? Really curious!!"

"Don’t bother asking, no one knows—he doesn’t have fans."

New fans felt a little heartbroken reading this.

In their eyes, Su Xingyao is good-looking and has many skills, it’s such a shame he doesn’t have fans.

But before they could feel sorry for too long, they noticed something odd again.

After dinner and a quick cleanup, it was almost eleven o'clock.

After everyone washed up, they got ready to hit the hay.

But then the production team sprung another task on them.

"Decorate your own rooms."

After assigning the task, Zhang Shanfeng said to the guests, "Of course, the program team can provide some help tonight, but we will check tomorrow morning."

"Seriously, Director Zhang? More tasks this late?"

"I’m tempted to yank all your hair out!"

Facing the threats from the guests, Zhang Shanfeng fearlessly waved his hand.

"Alright, tell me what you need, but each guest can only request up to two things."

After Zhang Shanfeng had finished speaking, Xu Xiang spoke up first.

"I'd like a bouquet and a vase."

After Xu Xiang spoke, Shi Hongyu and Tong Anan also shared their wishes.

Soon, after all five guests had stated their desired items, Zhang Shanfeng looked over at Su Xingyao.

"What about you, Xiao Su?"

Su Xingyao smiled at Zhang Shanfeng before speaking.

The netizens had stayed up until 11:30 PM, keeping an eye on the live stream room. They eagerly listened in, wanting to hear what Su Xingyao would choose to decorate his rundown house.

But just at that moment...

The show's director playfully ended the live broadcast.

The live stream screen instantly went black, with a line of incredibly frustrating text scrolling across the top.

"Dear viewers, that's all for today's live broadcast. Catch you tomorrow~"

Netizens were like: ...

Has your production team never been on the receiving end of a beatdown before!! (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻