Chapter 22

Chapter 22

At five o'clock, all the celebrity guests had completed their tasks.

The money they earned from selling loaches would be converted into points, which they would use to purchase ingredients for dinner that evening.

Tonight's dinner was entirely up to the guests to prepare for themselves.

The weight of the loaches was directly proportional to the money earned.

Tang Zhixiao earned 537 points, Meng Feihang 456, Gu Jinghe 370, and Su Yuecheng 321.

Overall, Wen Yuchen had the least, with only 200 points.

Dinner ingredients could only be exchanged at the program's designated store.

"How much? You're selling me a cucumber for 25 points?" Meng Feihang exclaimed in disbelief. "What grocery store sells cucumbers for 25 yuan each?"

Staff: "Sorry, this is Director Pan's arrangement."

Meng Feihang: ......

The live comments were buzzing.

"Wow, a sky-high cucumber!"

"25 points for a cucumber? The production team must be terrified the guests will save too much money."

"It's all about the thrill. If prices were too low, guests would have enough points, and there'd be no motivation for tasks."

"That makes sense."

"The production team is so tricky. Luckily, Xiao Xiao earned a lot of points, otherwise, he'd be in trouble."

"Ahhh, Brother Jing has two money pits at home. This is going to bankrupt him."

"If a cucumber is 25, everything else will only be more expensive. Wen Yuchen, you slacked off all afternoon; you'd better not let our little Zhengzheng suffer."

In the end, Meng Feihang bought two cucumbers (-50 points), some ribs (-100 points), and a pound of eggs (-70 points), leaving him with 236 points.

Tang Zhixiao had a small appetite, and while Xixi was growing, he was still young and didn't eat much either.

He bought a bunch of greens, two potatoes, and a chicken, spending 25+40+100 points, and had 372 points remaining.

The other guests had all earned varying amounts.

Gu Jinghe, with two children at home, bought more, ending up with only 125 points.

Su Yuecheng and Xiao Moli, neither of whom ate much, had 221 points left.

Finally, only Wen Yuchen hadn't made his selection. He stood at the program team's small shop, browsing, and eventually chose two pounds of fresh shrimp.

Zhengzheng loved eating shrimp. When he saw Wen Yuchen carrying a bag of shrimp, his little mouth watered.

Seeing how much Zhengzheng craved them, Wen Yuchen added another pound. If the child loves it, he should have plenty.

Besides that, Wen Yuchen also picked two boxes of blueberries.

Seeing him buy so much, everyone wondered if he had enough points.

The staff weighed the shrimp for him: "Shrimp is 65 points per pound. You have three pounds, totaling 195 points. Blueberries are 40 points per box, two boxes are 80 points. That comes to a total of 275 points."

"Ahhh, it's not enough! You only have 200 points. Why did you buy so much?"

"Return two pounds of shrimp and one box of blueberries. Zhengzheng will have enough to eat."

"Exactly, Zhengzheng can't eat that much by himself."

"You slacked off, and now you don't even have dinner."

The comments were full of criticism towards Wen Yuchen, blaming him for buying too much and for slacking off that afternoon.

If Wen Yuchen saw this, he'd probably just retort: "None of your business!"

Not just the comments, but the other guests were also watching.

They wanted to know how Wen Yuchen would manage to buy these items with only 200 points.

Some were purely curious, while others considered whether to lend Wen Yuchen points, perhaps with some added interest.

Jinjin also understood. He knew that Zhengzheng's dad didn't have enough points, and Zhengzheng might not have food to eat.

Zhengzheng was very cute and had even shared his milk powder with him. He didn't want his little brother to go hungry.

So, Jinjin tugged on his daddy's sleeve and whispered, "Daddy, can't we lend some points to Zhengzheng?"

Gu Jinghe was touched by how kind his little Jinjin was, but he sighed and said, "Sorry, Jinjin, we don't have that many points. If we lend points to Zhengzheng tonight, you and your brother will go hungry tomorrow morning."

Hearing this, Jinjin lowered his head sadly and let out a small "Oh."

Gu Jinghe gently patted his head and said, "Daddy knows you want to help Zhengzheng, but Jinjin, we can barely take care of ourselves. How can we help Zhengzheng?"

Jinjin was silent, then nodded and said, "I understand."

At that moment, Xixi's voice boomed: "Zhengzheng, come to my house for dinner tonight!"

Zhengzheng: "No."

His refusal was firm and decisive.

Xixi said sadly, "Why not? Your dad doesn't have money to buy you good food. I have delicious ribs here."

Zhengzheng shook his little head like a rattle drum: "No. Daddy has shrimp."

The staff looked at Wen Yuchen's points and said awkwardly, "Mr. Wen, it seems your points aren't enough. Perhaps you should choose less?"

Wen Yuchen glanced up at him and said, "Who said I'm wasting points?"

Then, he pulled two coupons out of his pocket with a flourish: "Here, redeem them."

Staff: "...... Redemption successful."

After the two coupons were redeemed, Wen Yuchen took his child's hand and the bag of shrimp, nodded to everyone, and said, "I have coupons. You all voted and agreed to this. Goodbye."

Then, he walked away leisurely towards his country cottage.

Watching his confident silhouette disappear into the distance, everyone: ......

It sure is great to have coupons!

"What a false alarm—I completely forgot he had coupons."

"Hahaha, look at the other guests' expressions!"

"No choice but to accept it—absolutely no choice."

"Nothing to be done—they voted and agreed to this themselves."

"Can't wait to see how their cooking turns out!"

"Sitting back and waiting for Wen to make a fool of himself."

"Looks like you're late to the party, sis—not only can Wen cook, but his dishes are a feast for both eyes and palate."

"True—the stuffed pancakes he made this afternoon had me drooling."

"Whether Wen makes a fool of himself or not, you'd better pray your precious little young master knows how to turn on the gas stove."

Guests cooking for themselves is a fan-favorite segment in variety shows—some whip up mouthwatering late-night delicacies, while others deliver pure comedy.

Wen Yuchen still had some leftover stuffed pancakes. He reheated them and prepared a light soup using the greens Zhao Hong had given him earlier.

Three pounds of prawns were far too much to finish in one night, so Wen Yuchen found a large bucket, filled it with water, and kept the prawns swimming inside.

Meanwhile, Xiao Zhengzheng bent over with his little bottom sticking up, peering into the bucket at the prawns—even reaching in to swirl them around.

Kitty wasn’t afraid of prawns at all. Calmly, Wen Yuchen scooped out seven or eight, peeled them, and minced them into a fine paste.

He mixed the prawn paste with leftover diced carrots from lunch and freshly chopped greens, then added light soy sauce, a pinch of salt, and starch. Since Zhengzheng was still young, Wen Yuchen carefully limited the seasoning.

He lightly oiled a pan, shaped the mixture into small prawn cakes, and pan-fried them—each taking five to six minutes until both sides turned golden brown.

He made five prawn cakes in total—more than enough for the little one to eat his fill.

Father and son sat at the dining table—one munching on stuffed pancakes, the other on prawn cakes.

Zhengzheng loved the prawn cakes. After finishing one, he held up another and offered it to Wen Yuchen: "So good—Daddy, try it too!"

Wen Yuchen: *Be the parent who doesn't disappoint.*

He opened his mouth and took the whole prawn cake in one bite—it was just the right size.

The delicious cakes paired perfectly with the fragrant green soup—warm, comforting, and deeply satisfying.

"Those prawn cakes look amazing! Can a 20-month-old baby eat them? What about a 210-month-old baby—that's me!"

"Of course—I'm already eating them."

"Alright, time to shout the magic words into the kitchen: Papa—"

"Over here—it's all peaceful and cozy, while the other guests are running around chaotically. It's hilarious."

"Gotta admit, Meng Feihang and Tang Zhixiao's cooking is a pleasure to watch—though that's about all it is."

Watching father and son enjoy their meal on screen, Lu Chenghe wished he could crawl right into the screen and sit beside them, watching them eat.

With the variety show playing on his computer, Lu Chenghe couldn't resist scrolling through Weibo for photos. For some reason, fan-posted pictures always looked better than his own screenshots.

As he scrolled, he stumbled upon a still-viral hashtag: "Wen Yuchen's Husband Is Dead."

Lu Chenghe: (╬▔皿▔)╯ What kind of rubbish is this post spewing?!

When he clicked in and heard Wen Yuchen say "dead" with his own ears, it felt as though his soul had left his body.

His gaze darkened as he stared at the screen—then, finally, he let out a heavy sigh.

He couldn't blame Xiao Li for saying that. It was all because he'd been too young and impulsive back then. If only he'd handled things better at the time.