Chapter 17 – Friend

Before Xie Ling arrived on set, the others had also asked the same thing to Xie Qing in a joking manner.

But the answer they got was only a sentence, “Maybe we were from the same family eight hundred years ago.”

Previously, everyone just thought that it was a coincidence between Xie Qing and Xie Ling. But now that they noticed Xie Ling’s strange expression, a strange thought arose in their hearts——

Were they really brothers?

Gossip lovers like Yu Shu had already pricked up their ears, but the person who asked the question that changed Xie Ling’s expression, Zhao Jing, didn’t care about it at all. He didn’t really want to get an answer to his question.

After walking past Xie Ling, he went straight to the sofa and sat right down, just the opposite of Xie Qing.

Zhao Jing seemed to be a little tired. He closed his eyes to take a short break without even taking off his mask. Everyone in the lounge obediently shut up and began to communicate with each other silently. Xie Qing smiled and glanced at Xie Ling, who still held an ugly expression on his face. The tails of his eyes were slightly hooked up and his tear mole looked conspicuous.

Before the recording started, Xie Qing had gotten up to go to the bathroom. When he came out, he saw the big star Xie standing at the door and closing it without any surprise on his face. Xie Ling gave Xie Qing an extremely unkind look. The two of them just looked at each other for two to three minutes.

It was really strange to say. Clearly, they were brothers that shared the same blood, but one was calm while the other was full of hatred.

“Why are you here?”

“Why you’re here is the reason why I’m here.” Xie Qing walked towards the sink to wash his long and thin fingers. Turning off the faucet with his water-stained fingers, he turned his head to look at Xie Ling, “Is it really that hard to understand?”

Xie Ling’s face was still sullen.

“You seem to be quite unhappy.” Xie Qing sighed, “After ten years, your younger twin brother is finally standing in front of you. This matter doesn’t seem to make you feel happy.”

“Shut up, Xie Qing.” Xie Ling sneered, “Don’t try to make people feel disgusted here.”

The smile on Xie Qing’s face didn’t change. He passed by Xie Ling to open the door and asked softly, “Although twenty years have passed, I still want to ask you. Twenty years ago, at the age of seven or eight, what did I do to make you hate me to the point where you had to knock me out and abandon me?”

[Don’t answer him.]

The voice coming from his head suddenly woke Xie Ling up. The word ‘otherwise’ that had reached his throat was swallowed back by him once more. Xie Ling took a deep breath and said in a cold voice, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

After Xie Ling finished speaking, he turned around, opened the door first and left in big strides.

Xie Qing stood on the spot and looked at his back. He glanced aside at the slightly parted bathroom door and walked out.

About a minute or two later, Yu Shu opened the door of the bathroom compartment, revealing a face that contained the words ‘Who am I? Where am I? And What did I just hear?’

F*ck!

What brothers that might be related 800 years ago? These two were actually twins!

And… there seems to be a big secret between them.

Realizing this, Yu Shu whistled and walked slowly towards the set.

When Yu Shu arrived, a group of people were already on standby. Xie Qing stood with the other food anchors, chatting about common topics with them. Zhao Jing still looked sleepy as he leaned against the wall with closed eyes, it was unknown what he was thinking. When Xie Ling spotted Yu Shu, his expression suddenly froze.

Before Yu Shu could understand what his actions meant, Xie Ling took the initiative to speak, as if he was testing him, “I didn’t see Director Yu just now, I thought you had some matters to deal with.”

Yu Shu just gave him a smile, “It’s nothing, I just went to where Zeng Fu is.”

Zeng Fu, this was a person that Xie Ling knew a little of.

The other party was an anchor of the Beijing TV station. It was said that he and Yu Shu were college classmates and the two had a very good relationship.

So when he heard that Yu Shu had been with Zeng Fu, Xie Ling didn’t think too much about it.

As long as he wasn’t in the bathroom just now then it was all okay.

Little did he know, from his cautious appearance, Yu Shu had already formed a guess in his heart.

The recording started on schedule.

The recording set was very spacious and had been decorated as required by the program team. There was a table in the centre and the three MCs sat next to each other along with the three guests. On both sides of the table were two huge shelves which were filled with various ingredients. In the words of many fans, the program team of 《Quickly eat, it brings happiness》had probably moved an entire vegetable market there.

It felt like an exaggeration until you really saw it in person.

Xie Qing sat next to Zhao Jing and Yanyan. Before the recording officially started, the staff poured each guest a glass of water. Zhao Jing supported his head with an arm and took a sip. He frowned and turned his head to look at the young man that was sitting next to him. Xie Qing narrowed his eyes. From Zhao Jing’s angle, he happened to be able to see the delicate and beautiful tear mole on Xie Qing’s face which attracted all his attention.

Zhao Jing was suddenly stunned.

When he had previously noticed Xie Qing, he had just given him a casual glance. But now…

An unbelievable thought arose in Zhao Jing’s heart and his previously decadent appearance changed. His back straightened up and he seemed to chat with Xie Qing in a casual manner, “You said that your name is Xie Qing?”

“Hm.” Xie Qing was surprised by his question. He nodded his head but didn’t say anything else.

Zhao Jing held a thoughtful look on his face.

At the same time, Xie Ling, who was sitting beside Yu Shu and the opposite of Xie Qing, couldn’t help but give Zhao Jing a few more looks. Before his participation in the variety show, Ling Hongying had wanted him to form a good relationship with Yu Shu and Zhao Jing. Needless to say, he would occasionally try to form a good relationship with Yu Shu as well. Yu Shu had come to participate in this variety show to prepare for his next script. Although Zhao Jing was in a semi-retired state, he was a veteran actor after all. As long as he was willing to film, resources would immediately be delivered to his door.

Therefore, Xie Ling was also very enthusiastic towards Yu Shu and Zhao Jing during the first few recordings. At first, Zhao Jing’s attitude towards him could be said to be not bad. But after a few casual chats, he didn’t pay attention to him anymore and just pretended that he didn’t exist.

But today, Zhao Jing had actually chatted with Xie Qing.

This scene made Xie Ling feel a little uneasy. But he expected Xie Qing to experience the same thing as he did.

However, Xie Ling was disappointed.

Xie Qing and Zhao Jing chatted with each other enthusiastically. Even the director of the program team who was standing on the side was left speechless. Poking his head in front of the camera, the director wondered whether he should remind Zhao Jing and Xie Qing that there were still others there. But when he thought of Zhao Jing’s manager’s repeated instructions——Zhao Jing’s temper hasn’t been very good lately, please forgive him.

Forgiving him was fine, after all the director was also a fan of Zhao Jing.

However, it really wasn’t early anymore, they needed to start filming soon.

Just as he was hesitating to speak, Xie Qing reacted first. He softly said something to Zhao Jing and then Zhao Jing waved at the director, indicating that the filming could start.

Director: “…”

This didn’t look like someone who had a bad temper.

Muttering something in his heart, the filming was finally started by the director.

Today’s topic was called ‘Longing’.

Firstly, Xie Ling mentioned that he missed his mother very much. His fans knew that his mother passed away when he was three or four years old. Over the years, Xie Ling would occasionally mention that he missed his mother very much in front of the camera.

Today, he wanted to eat the braised pork1 that his mother had made before.

Xie Qing propped up his chin and thought about it. When did his dear mother cook braised pork? She was a highborn lady. She didn’t touch spring water with her ten fingers. She couldn’t even cook rice, let alone braised pork.

What Yu Shu missed was the street skewers that he ate while living in a small alley as a child. He mentioned that the aroma of cumin fascinated him and even though he had visited multiple barbecue stalls over the years, he couldn’t taste that previous taste.

As for Zhao Jing…

Zhao Jing faced the camera and dropped a huge bomb with a calm expression, “Braised lion head meatballs2. My lover used to make it for me. But…”

He paused and said softly, “But after my lover left, I’m unable to eat it anymore.”

No matter how calm Zhao Jing was when dropping this bomb, the surrounding guests and members of the film crew were stunned with their mouths open. It was as if they learned an important secret.

Of course, it was a huge secret!

Zhao Jing, an actor who debuted as a child star, was already in his thirties this year. But he had never been in any scandals.

He was really clean, living a simple life with only work in his schedule.

In the past, multiple media outlets and paparazzi wanted to dig up Zhao Jing’s scandal. But after several years of digging, they gave up.

But now, Zhao Jing himself dropped the bomb that he had a lover!

If this was recorded, this matter would be absolutely popular. It wasn’t a problem for this topic to be in the trending search.

The director didn’t dare to interrupt Zhao Jing’s reminiscing. So he just quickly took out his mobile phone and found Zhao Jing’s manager’s WeChat. He asked about what happened to Zhao Jing’s lover and asked if Zhao Jing would like to change his story.

When Zhao Jing’s manager received such a message, her expression suddenly became lifeless.

Look! This matter was still exposed!

Yes, Zhao Jing had been inactive for a few years. There was nothing in particular, he had just been hospitalized for a few years. The manager had originally thought that Zhao Jing’s awakening from his coma was a new beginning for him, but who would have thought that Zhao Jing’s condition would worsen?

He had been diagnosed with several hallucinations.

He had hallucinated that he had a lover. The lover was a very handsome male. He liked to cook and had won some gold medals in several competitions.

But his manager knew that there was no such person.

She had been working with Zhao Jing for twenty years. To put it bluntly, they had been close to each other like relatives for the past twenty years. After all, she had been with him most of the time due to work. But in all these years, she had never heard that Zhao Jing had found a boyfriend.

Not to mention the years that he spent hospitalized.

The manager sighed and replied, ‘Let him talk. Anyways, I’m unable to control him.’

The helplessness and despair of his manager could be seen in between the lines.

Director: ‘… then that’s fine.’

So the filming continued on.

After Zhao Jing finished telling his story, it was the turn of the three guests to choose which MC they were going to make delicious food for. For the first three episodes, they were selected independently. But today, the team decided to draw lots which would make it even more interesting.

Yanyan and Gu Sanshun looked at each other, feeling a little uneasy in their hearts. Although the braised lion’s head meatballs proposed by Zhao Jing wasn’t difficult to make, Zhao Jing had a picky mouth after all. So it was better to not draw him.

With this in mind, the three of them reached into the small box.

Yanyan held up the note and muttered for a while. With one eye closed, Yanayan carefully unravelled the note: Xie Ling.

Yanyan breathed a sigh of relief.

The second person to reveal their lot was Gu Sanshun.

Gu Sanshun was a little older than Yanyan and Xie Qing, so no matter how nervous he felt, he still had to act calm. However, the fingers that were holding onto the paper in the palm of his hand were trembling. Yu Shu gave him a thoughtful glance and said with a smile, “Don’t be so nervous, Sanshun. Let me see who you got——”

With a flick of a finger, Yu Shu’s name was revealed.

In an instant, the eyes of several people fell on Xie Qing.

In contrast to everyone else, Xie Qing was very calm. He flipped open the paper in a casual manner and smiled at Zhao Jing, “Coincidentally, I’m good at making braised lion’s head meatballs.”

Zhao Jing became interested in this and a smile overflowed from the corner of his mouth, “Oh?”

Xie Qing nodded his head, it was obvious that he was confident in his skills. He said softly, “A friend I knew a while back was a chef. He taught me how to make this. I hope that it can satisfy Jing-ge.” 

Hong shao rou, aka. Dongpo rou   Good stuff. Very greasy if not done right tho. Best paired with plain mantou or white rice. Ah I’m hungry… I’m translating at like 11:30pm and my stomach is grumbling

A huge meatball that resembles the shape of a lion’s head. My mother makes it occasionally… I really love eating this too!! Well meat is good!! I added the word meatball cuz it would sound strange to some people if I just wrote lion’s head