Inside the live stream room, besides the viewers who were woken up in the middle of the night by the little milky voice, there was a portion who deliberately woke up early to see what kind of shenanigans the production team would pull today.
Although they could hear the little milky voice, Lu Aotian, when not actively controlling it, spoke very unclearly. After being picked up by a receiver some distance away, it was just humming, hawing, and mumbling. Aside from the childish tone, the audience couldn’t make out a single clear word.
But the voice alone was enough to melt everyone’s hearts.
[AAAAAAHHHH Ao’ao’s little milky voice is way too cute!]
[Could it be he’s sleepy and acting spoiled with Ji Nuo? Boohoo, don’t try to trick me into having a baby!]
[What is Ji Nuo blocking?]
[Hahaha, is he protecting our cub Ao’ao’s modesty? Oh no, this is the first time I’ve wanted to see something so badly hehehehe, I’m such a wicked auntie~]
After that, Ji Nuo was seen efficiently washing and airing the bedding by the well in the yard. Perhaps the anti-fans hadn’t woken up yet, but the atmosphere in the Danmaku comments was very harmonious at the start. It wasn’t until almost seven o’clock that a batch of comments suddenly appeared, finding all sorts of ways to say Ji Nuo was just putting on a show, desperate to whitewash his image.
When Ji Nuo came back holding a huge clump of Thelephora ganbajun, the Danmaku immediately became even more energized.
[That looks like it could be edible? Ji Nuo, don’t tell me you’re trying to pull a food poisoning stunt to get out of today’s tasks. /eating melon]
[Is Ji Nuo really that scheming?]
[Even locals don’t dare to just pick random mushrooms, yet he wants to cook them for a child. He’s either malicious or stupid!]
Although the production team hadn’t confiscated the guests’ phones—it was fine to reply to work messages during breaks while avoiding the cameras—they were also required not to use them in front of the live stream unless absolutely necessary.
The father and son couldn’t see the comments, but the staff members following them could. Seeing the situation, a staff member came over to ask, “Little Teacher Ji, are you sure this is edible?”
Ji Nuo stood by the kitchen window, tearing the mushroom apart. The more he tore, the more certain he became. At first glance, the thing looked black with white edges, but upon closer inspection in good light, it was actually a grayish-brown color leaning towards green. The torn layers were filled with grit, soil, wild grass, and dead twigs, making it very difficult to clean. Before cooking, it needed to be torn into pieces the thickness of crab legs and all the dirt trapped inside had to be meticulously cleaned out.
Seeing Ji Nuo so certain and already handling it deftly, the staff member was still a bit uneasy. Ji Nuo’s group was a major selling point of this kid variety show. If they ended up in the hospital getting their stomachs pumped on the very first day, what would be left to film?
The production team found the temporary worker they had hired locally. With one look, he confirmed, “It’s Thelephora ganbajun!”
Twenty or thirty years ago, locals ate this stuff all the time, but now its price had soared out of reach. Occasionally having some to satisfy a craving was already quite nice.
He excitedly picked up the more intact half, weighed it in his hand, and estimated the total weight. “This is at least a full jin. This one here is a bit old, turned black, so the quality’s a bit lower, but for eating yourself, it all tastes the same. You’re really lucky!”
This was the first time Ji Nuo had ever been called lucky. He glanced at the “Lucky Koi Little Pufferfish” standing not far away and still felt that if Ao’ao hadn’t been squatting over there pulling weeds for fun, he would never have noticed such a treasure hidden among the undergrowth.
Ji Nuo smiled faintly and asked, “I read earlier introductions saying it tastes best stir-fried with green chili peppers, but I don’t have any here. Is it okay to just fry it in oil?”
The local temp worker frowned slightly. “It’ll still be tasty, but it’s a bit of a waste. Add some green chili peppers, and the flavor… just incredible.”
Before leaving, the man asked Ji Nuo where he’d found it, saying he’d come by to have a look in his free time. There was a certain chance the spot he dug it from might grow more in a month or two.
The Danmaku exploded with comments of “666” (Pro skills):
[Good heavens, it really is Thelephora ganbajun. I went and did a quick search, and now tears of frustration are already dripping from the corner of my mouth QAQ]
[Can it really be that delicious? The descriptions online are so exaggerated. But even if it’s super tasty, the price is insane! That little bit costs over a thousand yuan??]
After the man left, a production staff member, who had prepared breakfast ingredients planning to price-gouge the guests, asked somewhat awkwardly, “So… Little Teacher Ji, you’re planning to just make this for breakfast?”
Ji Nuo nodded while rapidly cleaning the Thelephora ganbajun in his hands. This was enough to make a large jar of noodle sauce. Combined with the flour and rice in the house, he and Ao’ao could eat many meals for free.
This deviated completely from the production team’s original plan. In reality, they intended to use accommodation and meal costs to force the guests to work and earn money.
The richest family’s small western-style building cost 120 yuan/day; the local inn was 80 yuan/day; the wealthy household’s traditional courtyard house was 60 yuan/day; the ordinary farmer’s large single-story house was 40 yuan/day.
The “condemned house” Ji Nuo lived in was, according to the setup, an abandoned, rundown house, so it required no rent. But to move in, you not only had to clean and tidy it yourself, you also had to deal with the doors, windows, and walls. Just to get settled on the first day, you’d inevitably have to spend thirty yuan on duct tape.
And most normal people wouldn’t be able to stand this house. After one night, they’d move out even if it meant borrowing money. Even in the worst-case scenario, there were still three meals a day to solve, so working for money during the day was absolutely mandatory for the guests.
Moreover, the guests would find that slaving away for a whole day barely earned them any money at all. These were all old tricks of kid variety shows. The bigger the stars invited, the better the effect would be.
But what was the deal with this Ji Nuo? He got up before six AM to do a massive cleaning and air out the bedding. It looked like not only did he not want to move out, but he was actually planning to settle in long-term?!
And that junk in the kitchen wasn’t originally prepared for the guests at all. It was the production team’s excuse prepared in case fans rose up in protest.
The stuff looked dirty and worn, but none of it was expired. The greasy iron pot and tools were all coated in grease to prevent rust. This free house was the “hidden welfare” set up in case the guests were useless. But since the guests were all utterly ignorant of practical life skills and couldn’t tell grains apart, they couldn’t discover it—so who could they blame?
And now? When the houses were distributed the previous night, the production team had smugly told Ji Nuo that though the Mystery Suite was a bit lacking, it was a suite—a whole set—all his, completely free. The schadenfreude they felt then was exactly matched by the regret they felt now.
At the same time, the other guest families, upon learning the accommodation fees, had already started wailing in despair. After getting breakfast on credit, they wolfed down their food, preparing for today’s arduous labor.
But over on Ji Nuo’s side, the staff member holding the ingredients couldn’t even manage to extend credit.
Many viewers bounced between several live stream rooms, while some watched together but only kept one stream’s audio on. Comparing the four families, Ji Nuo, the unlucky soul who drew the condemned house, had actually ended up living the best. The anti-fans absolutely couldn’t stand this.
[Ji Nuo’s script is so tough. First, they purposely gave him a crappy house the night before to let him show off, and now today, they slip him a Thelephora ganbajun away from the cameras?]
[+1, I’m from Province A. Thelephora ganbajun is a very rare, wild, edible mushroom. Most of the time, even locals going up the mountain can’t find one. Ji Nuo, an outsider, finds it in his yard? Who’d believe that!]
[Exactly, purposely hanging the quilt to block the camera, right…]
Meanwhile, Ji Nuo finished processing the over-one-jin clump of Thelephora ganbajun. He looked up at the somewhat pitiful staff member standing outside the camera’s view, then lowered his eyes to glance at the ingredients the staff offered.
Staff member: “You really don’t want this? Didn’t Little Hu just say green peppers and mushrooms are a match made in heaven…” He had already given up on getting “loan shark” deals from Ji Nuo. Settling for the next best thing, selling him a few side vegetables would be enough to make him obediently go work.
Ji Nuo nodded thoughtfully. “How much?”
The staff member’s eyes lit up. “Not expensive. Fifteen yuan per jin, or three yuan for one pepper alone. I can even throw in two cloves of garlic for stir-frying.”
Ji Nuo smiled. “Forget it then.”
Saying this, he picked up the basin of Thelephora ganbajun and took the hand of Lu Aotian, who had just finished his milk. The others couldn’t borrow money from anyone outside the production team, but he had Thelephora ganbajun.
The father and son walked just over three hundred meters before finding a local’s house with a vegetable garden. Not only did they get two chili peppers and two garlic cloves for free, but they also sold a third of the yet-to-be-made Thelephora ganbajun sauce.
Ji Nuo was handsome, and the warm, simple villager woman simply couldn’t refuse. Ji Nuo didn’t cheat her, either: the market price for Thelephora ganbajun was nearly a thousand yuan. Even excluding the other ingredients, a third of it was worth three hundred. Ji Nuo named his price at two hundred, and the villager elder woman happily agreed, quickly fetching her own empty jar for Ji Nuo.
The production team was completely dumbfounded. With this, could Ji Nuo still be forced to go dig dirt on the mountain today?
On his side, Ji Nuo cooked efficiently. He started the wok with generous oil, fried the garlic slices until fragrant, then scooped them out and set them aside. He’d tasted the villager’s chili peppers beforehand; they weren’t very spicy. Considering a child couldn’t eat anything too hot, he only used two to borrow the flavor.
When it was almost cooked, he removed two-thirds of the mixture, put the garlic slices back in, and packed everything into the villager’s jar.
A full jar, though half of it was oil. There was no helping it; it inevitably shrank a lot when cooked. But Thelephora ganbajun carried its own unique meaty aroma. Even the leftover oil from the stir-fry could be eaten with rice and a few side vegetables.
This was the first time Lu Aotian heard Ji Nuo use the words “super delicious” to describe a dish. He might doubt other things, but he had absolute trust in Ji Nuo’s cooking skills.
Still, he was miffed inside. His expression was a constant: “I’ll be the judge of how delicious you can really make this.” He stood not far away with his arms crossed, looking milk-cool—utterly moe and melting a barrage of Danmaku.
When the Thelephora ganbajun came out of the wok, Lu Aotian was practically knocked over by the aroma. Saliva rushed uncontrollably to his mouth, transforming him instantly from an arrogant cat into a dog wagging its tail like a propeller.
Because of the generous amount of oil, it was slow to cool down. Ji Nuo smiled and picked up a bite for him with his chopsticks, letting him blow on it five or six times himself before feeding it into that small, lick-shiny mouth.
It smelled fragrant, and eating it was even more exquisitely savory.
The mushroom’s rich aroma was intense, mellow, and robustly chewy, as if it had condensed within it all the sunshine, rain, dew, and nature’s freshness it had experienced from a spore to a complete fungus. The exquisite flavor, draped in rich oil, bloomed anew on the tip of the tongue.
The brightness in Lu Aotian’s round, peach-blossom eyes could no longer be described as just a small lightbulb; they were like two oversized, high-powered bathroom heat lamps.
He immediately wanted a second bite, but Ji Nuo put down his chopsticks. “Wait a bit, Uncle will make the noodle slices right away.”
Ji Nuo was hungry too, so he chose the simplest way to make noodles. He boiled water and kneaded dough. Once the water boiled, he tore pieces of dough right into the bubbling water, each one thumb-sized and pinched thin by Ji Nuo. In three to five minutes, he scooped them out and rinsed them twice through cool boiled water, making them even more refreshing and chewy.
The noodle slices went into two cleaned, broken bowls—one big, one small. Three large spoonfuls of Thelephora ganbajun sauce were added to each bowl. After mixing, even the staff member standing guard nearby had to wipe the corner of his mouth.
Lu Aotian grabbed his spoon and started a storm inhalation. He’d always thought these edible mushrooms carried an earthy, raw smell, but now it seemed he just hadn’t eaten the good stuff.
Fragrant! Truly fragrant!
~
After breakfast, Ji Nuo led his “little frog,” whose little belly was stuffed round and bulging, to deliver the finished Thelephora ganbajun to the villager woman.
The older woman was more than satisfied upon receiving it. Not only did she promptly pay two hundred yuan, but she also picked him a whole bag of vegetables. Besides the essential scallions, ginger, and garlic, there were also tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and cucumbers.
Ji Nuo was overjoyed. “Thank you so much! With this, I just need to buy some meat for the child.”
Hearing this, the older woman told him where in town to buy fresh and cheap meat. If he could get up early enough, he could also check the market; often, people came to sell freshly slaughtered yellow cattle beef, a unique local breed. He would absolutely never taste meat this delicious anywhere else.
Lu Aotian’s eyes shone like searchlights. He could perfectly imagine what kind of ultimate delicacy the already fresh and delicious ingredients could become in Ji Nuo’s hands.
Ji Nuo thanked her repeatedly again, saying he would certainly buy some to try. After all, he came on this show with zero desire to show off; if he could eat more delicious food before leaving, that wouldn’t be a life lived in vain.
After waving goodbye to the older woman, Ji Nuo carried vegetables in his left hand and his cub in his right, humming a little tune on the way back.
Lu Aotian was congenitally tone-deaf, never sang, and rarely listened to music. Hearing Ji Nuo hum so nicely made his mood soar a bit more. He suddenly felt that coming to this variety show might not be so terrible after all.
When the two happily returned with two hundred yuan in hand, the staff member in charge of Ji Nuo’s group already had a face full of utter despair.
Who could have imagined that giving Ji Nuo a crappy house would end up breaking the production team instead?
No way, he absolutely had to find a way to make Ji Nuo take the kid to dig dirt on the mountain.
