The wind picked up, growing stronger and stronger.
It blew through the forest, making the leaves rustle loudly.
Jiang Nian held his sword-thrusting pose, staring steadily at Huang Lei.
Beside them, He Jiong and the others were dumbfounded.
The whole thing had happened so suddenly.
All they saw was a brown blur flash through the air.
And then everything turned into the scene before them.
He Jiong was flabbergasted: “Wha—what just happened?!”
Song Dandan replied instinctively: “It seems… Teacher Jiang attacked Teacher Huang?”
“Attacked? Teacher Song, are you joking? Teacher Jiang clearly has nothing in his hand.”
“No, there definitely was something. When we came over earlier, didn’t you see Teacher Jiang was still holding a branch? Isn’t his current pose exactly like someone holding a branch and thrusting it forward?”
“Now that you mention it, that does seem right. But I have a question—where’s the branch? How did it disappear?”
“Just now I saw black smoke rising from Teacher Jiang’s hand. It seemed like it self-combusted. Did it break?”
As Song Dandan’s uncertain words landed,
He Jiong’s face went completely blank.
He looked at Song Dandan with a suspicious gaze, as if asking: Are you sure you’re not mistaken?
A branch self-combusted?
You know, the ignition point of a branch is as high as 200 to 290 degrees Celsius!
And to carbonize it in an instant, the temperature would have to be several times higher than that.
What on earth did Jiang Nian do to make the internal temperature of that branch reach that level in an instant?!
Is that something a human can do?!
He Jiong was deeply shocked.
Meanwhile, up ahead, Huang Lei was completely frozen.
Jiang Nian’s sharp eyes were like a sword, piercing through his eyes and straight into his soul.
It made Huang Lei’s whole body go numb. He didn’t dare move a muscle.
His mind kept replaying Jiang Nian’s movements from just now, his heart full of shock!
Fast!
Way too fast!
He hadn’t even had time to react before Jiang Nian’s attack was already right in front of him.
“What kind of speed is this?!”
“Is this even human?”
Huang Lei’s heart was in turmoil, completely unable to calm down.
He realized that the martial arts Jiang Nian displayed were completely different from the traditional Chinese martial arts masters he’d known before—they weren’t even on the same level.
He strongly suspected that those masters he’d met before might all have been fakes.
Just then, Yang Mi jogged over.
“Jiang Nian, calm down, calm down!”
“This is Teacher Huang. Whatever you do, don’t attack.”
With that, she quickly reached out and pulled down Jiang Nian’s arm.
Seeing this, Jiang Nian finally put on a look of coming back to his senses, his face showing feigned anger:
“What are you doing?!”
“Didn’t you see I was practicing martial arts?”
Right from the start, Jiang Nian seized the initiative and gave Huang Lei a thorough scolding.
Hearing this, before Huang Lei could say anything, Yang Mi beside him said: “Oh, Jiang Nian, don’t say that. Teacher Huang just saw that you were practicing incorrectly and wanted to give you some guidance.”
As she spoke, she playfully winked at him from an angle only Jiang Nian could see.
Say what you will—after spending so much time together and falling in love, the chemistry between them was incredible.
Jiang Nian instantly understood Yang Mi’s meaning. He sneered and pointed at Huang Lei: “Him? Teach me? Does he even know martial arts?”
“How could he not? Teacher Huang just told us he knows many traditional martial arts masters and has some knowledge of martial arts.”
“If he has knowledge, then how come he doesn’t even know the most basic rule that you can’t disturb someone while they’re practicing?! Rushing up here recklessly—does he have a death wish or something!”
“Tsk, Jiang Nian, how are you talking? Are you saying Teacher Huang doesn’t understand?”
“Whether he understands or not isn’t for you to say. Facts speak louder than words. Huang Lei, you say you’ve practiced martial arts, right? Here, take this branch. Recreate what I just did, and I’ll believe you!”
With that, as if he’d lost his temper, Jiang Nian snapped a branch off the tree and thrust it toward Huang Lei.
But if you looked closely, you’d notice that beneath Jiang Nian’s feigned anger, there was a faint, barely perceptible smirk.
Yang Mi was the same.
Clearly, these two were scheming together, deliberately trying to embarrass Huang Lei.
“…”
Huang Lei said nothing.
Because he was now completely backed into a corner.
The earlier back-and-forth between Jiang Nian and Yang Mi was like slaps across his face, stinging badly.
Now Jiang Nian was asking him to recreate what Jiang Nian had just done.
Recreate my ass!
Although he really didn’t want to admit it, given the current situation, forget about him—a complete novice—even the masters he knew couldn’t possibly do it.
Understanding this, Huang Lei’s silence grew all the more deafening.
No matter what Jiang Nian said, he remained unmoved.
As if, as long as he didn’t face the problem directly, the problem would just pass, and he wouldn’t be affected at all—still the perfect Teacher Huang.
Seeing this, the mockery in Jiang Nian’s eyes grew stronger.
When in doubt, tuck your head in like a turtle.
Huang Lei’s way of handling problems was truly impressive!
No wonder he was still so “pure and innocent” up to now.
Not touching anything, pulling himself out of every situation—of course he’d be pure and innocent.
In the end, it was He Jiong, the eternal nice guy, who couldn’t stand it anymore and quickly came to Huang Lei’s rescue:
“Alright, alright, stop it. Mimi, stop egging them on.”
“Teacher Jiang, I’m sorry. Let me apologize to you on behalf of Teacher Huang. This was indeed our oversight. We shouldn’t have approached you without permission while you were practicing.”
“Also, Teacher Huang, don’t just stand there. Let’s go. It’s getting late. Lunch is in two hours.”
“Let’s go back and cook first, okay? Cook, alright?”
He Jiong said, feeling utterly exhausted.
First, out of nowhere, Huang Lei started targeting Jiang Nian—looking down on this, disdaining that, making all kinds of comments, acting all high and mighty, which caused their relationship to plummet.
Then they came to watch Jiang Nian practice martial arts.
Before he’d even finished, you went up and disturbed him, causing this whole mess.
If you, Huang Lei, could clean up after yourself, then He Jiong wouldn’t say anything.
But the problem was, you never cleaned up.
Every time you caused trouble, you just stood there like nothing happened.
Leaving He Jiong to follow behind you, desperately wiping your ass and cleaning up the messes you left behind.
“For the sake of filming this show, I’ve sacrificed way too much.”
He Jiong thought to himself.
And seeing that even this nice guy had spoken up,
Jiang Nian also felt he’d scolded enough. So he softened his tone and said: “Teacher He, for your sake, I won’t say anything more today. But if something like this happens again, don’t blame me for not being polite. After all, this kind of thing—at best, it’s peeking. At worst, it’s stealing techniques!”
At these words, Huang Lei—who had been silent and playing dead this whole time—immediately took offense.
He, Huang Lei, had such a high status in the industry. Why would he need to steal your techniques?
He hissed and opened his mouth to retort.
Seeing this, He Jiong’s eyes bulged.
Are you serious, Huang Lei?! You’re still not done?!
You caused trouble, stood there without a word like an idiot—fine.
Now, after all his coaxing and persuading, He Jiong had finally just about smoothed things over, and you’re gonna stir up trouble again?!
Are you really sent by heaven to torture him?!
So, to keep his efforts from going to waste,
He Jiong chose the simplest, most direct method.
He covered Huang Lei’s mouth before he could speak, smiling: “Teacher Huang, don’t say anything. Let’s go home, okay? Home?”
Huang Lei: “…”
Was it his imagination? In that instant, he actually saw an unprecedented threat in He Jiong’s eyes!
This was extremely bizarre.
Because He Jiong was famously known in the industry for his good temper. Hardly anyone had ever seen him angry.
And now, with that look in his eyes, it was clear—if Huang Lei kept talking, Huang Lei would get to witness that anger firsthand.
Understanding this, Huang Lei shut his mouth and didn’t dare say another word.
Seeing this, the anger in He Jiong’s eyes finally subsided a bit. Then he directly grabbed Huang Lei and left.
Watching them leave, and seeing there were no cameras around,
Jiang Nian turned to Yang Mi with a smile: “Well, well. When did you get so devious? You even know how to set traps for people now?”
Hearing this, Yang Mi put on an innocent look: “What are you talking about? Traps? I don’t understand.”
Jiang Nian rolled his eyes: “Still pretending. If I’m not mistaken, the reason Huang Lei came here was because you egged him on. And when you all arrived, I heard everything you said. You’re wicked, you know that? You literally maneuvered him into trapping himself.”
Seeing Jiang Nian call it out,
Yang Mi stopped playing innocent and spread her hands: “What could I do? He was bullying us too far. Making trouble for us for no reason, looking down on us at every turn. If I didn’t fight back, he’d think we’re easy to push around. So? How’d I do?”
“Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Especially when you came up to speak for him—I was having a bit of trouble finding my opening, but you just boosted my attack speed through the roof.” Jiang Nian gave her a thumbs up, expressing high approval.
Yang Mi giggled, thoroughly pleased.
And just as they were chatting and laughing here, having a great time—
On the other side, after being led away by He Jiong for a while, seeing that He Jiong’s anger had subsided,
Huang Lei said: “Teacher He, why won’t you let me speak?”
Seeing how clueless Huang Lei was, the fire in He Jiong that had just died down flared up again.
But considering they’d already entered the village, with so many eyes around,
He Jiong didn’t blow up. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked at Huang Lei with a frown: “What do you want to say? This whole thing was your fault!”
“What do you mean my fault? Clearly, there was something wrong with his practice. I was kind enough to go up and guide him. How is that my fault?”
Huang Lei didn’t think he had any problem at all.
He even felt that returning good for evil was a great virtue.
Jiang Nian should be thanking him!
Hearing this, He Jiong’s breath caught. He looked at Huang Lei, his pupils shaking violently.
Are you serious?! How can you have such a high opinion of yourself?!
Do you really think the world revolves around you, that you’re always right and everyone else is wrong?!
He Jiong fell silent.
He Jiong was trying to organize his words.
But he failed.
He Jiong’s momentum deflated.
“You’re right!”
Looking at Huang Lei’s oblivious expression, He Jiong gave him a thumbs up and gave up arguing.
Just this one morning had shown him what kind of person Huang Lei was.
An extremely self-centered person.
His world contained only himself.
This meant that reasoning with him was completely useless. He could always find an answer that benefited him to use as a rebuttal.
This made He Jiong feel extremely frustrated.
Because he realized something.
That for the foreseeable future, he’d have to work with this kind of person for a long time, until this show finished filming.
“You really are sent by heaven to torture me!”
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, it was noon.
After seeing Huang Lei off, He Jiong came back and took Jiang Nian and Yang Mi to work in the fields for over an hour, planting some vegetables, before finally returning to the Mushroom House.
It could be said to be expected, or it could be said to be fate.
Huang Lei started making his signature dish—”Pesticide Special.”
Watching the undercooked green beans being fished out,
Jiang Nian’s eyelid twitched. With the philosophy of saving whoever he could, he lowered his voice and said to Song Dandan beside him: “Teacher Song, a friendly reminder—if you don’t want to end up in the hospital, I personally recommend that when he calls you over to taste the green beans later, you don’t eat them.”
Hearing this, Song Dandan was slightly stunned: “Why?”
“You’ll find out soon. Oh, and another reminder—undercooked green beans are toxic, and they’re impossible to chew through.”
Jiang Nian indicated that was all he could say.
After all, he couldn’t exactly tell her that he’d seen this on TV in his past life.
She’d probably think he was crazy.
And even setting aside the past life, just based on the personality Huang Lei had shown so far, one could already see the signs.
This man was too greedy. Ever since he’d set up a perfect persona for himself, he’d become obsessed, wanting to grab everything.
Especially when it came to cooking.
Huang Lei seemed to want to create a different style, to show a gap between himself and ordinary chefs.
So he often had “brilliant inspirations,” making weird concoctions for people to eat.
Like sweet-and-sour pork with hawthorn, braised pork knuckle with two jin of cooking wine and not a single drop of water, pure ginger “crab,” and pepper-and-chili rice porridge.
If it were just that, it would be one thing.
The key was that he couldn’t accept criticism or tolerate being contradicted.
In one episode in the past life, over building a shed, He Jiong had a disagreement with him, and Huang Lei immediately threw a tantrum at his colleague of several seasons, threatening to quit.
Not to mention now, when his cooking had actually gone wrong.
He would never consider whether it was because he hadn’t cooked it long enough.
He’d only shift the blame onto others, pulling himself out clean—like a pure, flawless white lotus.
Sure enough.
After Huang Lei took a bite of the undercooked green beans, his brow immediately furrowed. He said unhappily: “These green beans are really old.”
Then he chewed a couple more times, confirmed they were impossible to chew through, and looked at Song Dandan: “Changying, did you not remove the strings when you picked them?”
“Impossible. I did remove them.” Song Dandan looked confused.
“Then why are there still strings? Here, try one if you don’t believe me.”
Huang Lei grabbed a pair of chopsticks from nearby and offered them to her.
Hearing this, Song Dandan instinctively was about to agree. But before the words left her mouth, she suddenly paused, then looked at Jiang Nian in disbelief.
Jiang Nian wore a faint smile, watching her quietly.
He said nothing, but in that moment, his voice echoed in Song Dandan’s mind.
“Don’t eat it. Hospital. Undercooked is toxic. Can’t chew through.”
“Gulp~”
Song Dandan swallowed.
She couldn’t understand how Jiang Nian knew about this.
But she knew one thing—those green beans absolutely could not enter her mouth.
So she stood her ground and looked at Huang Lei: “Teacher Huang, is it possible that you just didn’t cook them thoroughly?”
“How is that possible? Either you didn’t remove the strings properly, or these beans are just old. Try one if you don’t believe me.” Huang Lei insisted on his view.
Song Dandan waved her hands repeatedly: “No, no, no. I’ll pass on tasting.”
Are you kidding? Knowing full well this stuff was toxic, how could she fall for it?
Just as the two were talking—
“What’s going on? What happened? What’s wrong?”
He Jiong, having adjusted his mood, walked over from the side and asked curiously.
Chewing on a green bean, Huang Lei complained: “These beans are old. I’ve never had such old ones. What kind of beans did the production team buy?”
“Huh?” He Jiong was stunned. He said instinctively: “Is it possible that these aren’t eating beans, but ornamental ones?”
Huang Lei immediately retorted: “No, they’ve just grown old.”
“Then what about stewing them longer? I think…”
Da Hua, busy helping nearby, offered his opinion.
Huang Lei’s brow furrowed, impatience creeping into his tone:
“They won’t soften. Green beans don’t soften when you stew them. I already said they’re just old! Old!”
“What’s wrong with you all? Have you all been corrupted by that Jiang Nian?”
“I’ve made it this clear—why are you still asking?”
“Then you guys make the food!”
He’d already been in a terrible mood from being retorted by Jiang Nian all morning.
And now, one after another, you’re all jumping out to contradict him.
He, Huang Lei, was a teacher, and also a chef.
Didn’t he understand these things better than you?!
Hearing this, Da Hua immediately shut his mouth, too scared to make a sound.
As for Jiang Nian, he raised an eyebrow.
He’d originally decided not to bother with Huang Lei anymore. But who would’ve thought—when he stopped engaging, Huang Lei came to him instead.
If that’s how you want to play it…
“Alright then, let’s make our own food. What ingredients are there? What does everyone want to eat?”
Jiang Nian stood up and said.
He’d just been thinking about how, given how much energy he’d expended, if he didn’t eat, he’d have to figure out how to get through the rest of the day.
Well, problem solved.
At these words, Huang Lei’s expression froze. He turned his head and glared at Jiang Nian.
The emotions he’d suppressed all morning could no longer be contained and exploded:
“Jiang Nian, don’t go too far!”
“Is being this aggressive fun for you?!”
“Do you have a problem with me? Are you deliberately looking for trouble?!”
Back when they were first guessing the guest, Jiang Nian had played him, and that had already annoyed him greatly.
After that, Jiang Nian kept retorting him, not giving him any face. Considering the show, he’d endured it.
But now, you won’t even spare his position on this show—you want to take it away.
This directly touched Huang Lei’s reverse scale!
Because this was the show he was counting on to establish his title as the God of Cooking.
If Jiang Nian took it away, how would he establish it?!
To this, Jiang Nian—very unusually—didn’t snap back. Instead, he looked at Huang Lei with a strange expression:
“First of all, I admit that some of the things I did and said today were excessive. But I wasn’t being aggressive—you’re the one who’s been aggressive all along.”
“Second, you were the one who told us to make our own food. So why, when we’re about to do it, are you suddenly not okay with it?”
“Do you insist on watching us work all day and then, because of you, go hungry all afternoon just to be happy? Or do we all have to pamper you, go along with you in everything, follow your lead?”
“If that’s the case, then don’t be a chef. You’re insulting the profession. If you want people to pamper you, just go to a nursing home.”
“Lastly, you’re right—I do have a problem with you. But you brought it on yourself. Is that a problem?”
This was the first time since their feud began that Jiang Nian didn’t just yell and snap back, but actually reasoned with him.
But this seemingly calm, extremely restrained reasoning,
when it landed on everyone else’s ears, made them tremble with fear—it felt even more vicious than a direct argument!
Because Jiang Nian’s mouth was just too damn sharp!
One could say that aside from not pointing at Huang Lei’s nose and calling him an idiot,
he’d said everything else.
“Holy crap, Teacher Jiang is that fierce?!”
Da Hua was in awe.
Because after Jiang Nian and Huang Lei first met and clashed, he’d been sent by the production team to pick up Song Dandan’s son.
So he didn’t know that Jiang Nian had already completely torn off any pretense with Huang Lei.
He thought the two still maintained a surface-level friendliness.
He never expected Jiang Nian to be this fierce.
As for He Jiong, he was secretly cheering inside.
Because on the way back just now, he’d nearly cursed Huang Lei out from anger.
Now Jiang Nian was going off on Huang Lei. Honestly, if the situation allowed, he’d want to give Jiang Nian a “Best Roast” award.
But even so, surface-level niceties still had to be maintained.
He Jiong half-heartedly pulled at Jiang Nian: “Teacher Jiang, stop. Teacher Huang was just speaking out of anger.”
Jiang Nian could tell this was just for show, so he didn’t stop his output:
“So what?”
“Teacher He, if you ask me, you’re just too good-tempered!”
“We worked hard in the fields all morning, exhausted, and couldn’t even get a hot meal. How sad is that? How bitter? And him? Not a care in the world. Just sitting in the yard, drinking tea, playing with the dog. And when he’s unhappy, he takes it out on us.”
“Do we owe him something? Is it his due?”
“I’ll say it again—if you want people to pamper you, go to a nursing home, understand?”
“Oh, and one more thing—if the green beans are impossible to chew, they’re not cooked. And undercooked green beans are toxic!”
With that last sentence delivered,
Jiang Nian landed the finishing blow!
Da Hua, who’d originally wanted to say something for Huang Lei, immediately shut his mouth. Looking at Huang Lei and that pot of stewed green beans, his face was full of terror!
Wait, what?!
Toxic?!
Huang Lei had just tried to make them eat that?!
What the hell.
How much grudge, how much hatred is that?
Are you sure you weren’t sent by the King of Hell to boost the underworld’s performance quota?!
Sensing Da Hua’s gaze, Huang Lei’s expression also turned unnatural. Humiliated and enraged, he craned his neck and roared: “Bullshit! How could my cooking not be done?! These beans are just old! Old!”
Seeing this, Jiang Nian shrugged:
“Say whatever you want. I’ve said everything I can say. You can’t talk sense into a doomed ghost. If you think it’s fine to eat, then eat it. I’m not eating it, anyway.”
“After all, I came here to film a variety show, not to eat myself into the hospital.”
With that, Jiang Nian didn’t bother with Huang Lei’s reaction. He walked right past him, went to another stove, looked at the vegetables piled nearby, picked some out, and started washing them.
Actually, to be fair, Jiang Nian’s cooking skills weren’t anything extraordinary—just an ordinary person’s level.
But he had the memories of ‘Yu Huatian’ and others.
Aside from Lin Pingzhi, the others had all served the emperor in the palace. More or less, they’d picked up some skills from the imperial chefs.
Maybe to them, these skills weren’t very useful.
But for Jiang Nian, they were quite comfortable to have.
Seeing this, Yang Mi stood up and was about to come over: “Let me help you.”
Jiang Nian waved his hand: “No need. Just rest. I’ve been cooking for myself for who knows how many years. I’m not a kid—I don’t need a bunch of people surrounding me to help.”
“Oh, okay.”
Yang Mi nodded obediently and sat back down.
But beside them, Huang Lei’s face was dark as ink.
Because he was exactly the “kid” Jiang Nian was talking about—the kind who needed a whole crowd surrounding him just to cook!
“Let’s see what you can possibly make!”
Gripping the spatula tightly, Huang Lei thought to himself.
Then he turned around and looked at the pot of stewed green beans that was bubbling away.
After thinking for a moment, he steeled himself and picked it up.
He refused to believe that this pot of stewed green beans was really as problematic as Jiang Nian said!
It was clearly the beans’ fault!
They were just old. No matter who cooked them, the result would be the same!
Huang Lei had completely locked horns with Jiang Nian.
Jiang Nian, for his part, neither knew nor cared.
Because he was now fully immersed in cooking.
Jiang Nian was also making stewed green beans.
What could he do?
Under the production team’s control, there were simply too few ingredients available.
And green beans—there weren’t many ways to prepare them.
Stir-fried with meat, stewed with meat, braised noodles, braised eggplant, stewed potatoes…
But with the ingredients currently left, it was clear they weren’t enough to make a proper dish.
They could only be thrown together.
“Tsk, somehow we ended up competing.”
“This really wasn’t my intention.”
“If there were any other vegetables, I wouldn’t have made the same dish!”
“Still, Lei-zi is impressive in his own way. So many good ingredients, and in his hands, he somehow turns them into a pile of crap.”
“In a way, that’s also a kind of natural talent.”
Jiang Nian murmured to himself, his hands never stopping.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the green beans, meat, potatoes, and everything else were prepped.
Swift and efficient.
Everyone watched, dumbfounded, unable to help comparing it to Huang Lei’s bossy, commanding manner when he cooked.
Mm… one could only say, without comparison, there’s no harm.
