The store manager, Bai Xiaoming, was tactful in handling matters and hurriedly tried to resolve the awkwardness. He knew that with Alex as KL’s editor-in-chief, his appearance would only bring an increase and not a decrease in the show’s viewership. It could even heighten the amount of discussion. Moreover, even the director didn’t mind, so what reason did he have to reject?

“Wow, isn’t this too fragrant? Let me guess… This, the crab, rice, and tofu are all made by Xu Le?”

Zhou Huangya was stunned. “How did you know? Did you come early and watch secretly behind the monitor?”

“Hmph, it looks good and smells delicious, so he must have made these.”

When he said this, he even shot Zhang Liang a disdainful look before continuing, “Where’s Xu Le?”

This time, Alex didn’t start eating in advance. Instead, he crossed his arms and wandered to the kitchen, wanting to help Xu Le serve the food.

In the kitchen, Xu Le swiftly washed the internal organs of a mandarin fish and removed the fish’s scales and gills.

Then, he changed the knife to cut the fish meat into pieces and marinated it with salt and pepper. Then, he removed the fish bones to make soup.

When the stage supervisor saw that he was already sweating profusely, not to mention that he was still a child, he reminded him with heartache, “Why aren’t you eating? Are you still cooking?”

“Yeah, I saw that the ingredients aren’t used up. There are so little of each of them that I couldn’t even piece together a single dish. So, I decided to make soup so that it’s not a waste.”

“Are you making fish soup?”

“Yes, fresh fish soup.”

After Xu Le answered, he placed a spoonful of lard in the boiling pot. After the lard melted and started emitting smoke, he added some ginger slices and scallions to enhance the fragrance. Then, he added the fish head and fish bones so that they were softened, forcing out the fragrance inside.

He poured water into the pot while it was still hot, producing a sizzling sound in the pot. The milky white soup was filled with fragrance.

After it was boiled, the residue was filtered and it was poured into the ceramic pot. Then, the clams, fish, marinated meat, fresh meat, tofu rolls, lettuce and spring bamboo shoots were placed inside to be simmered.

This soup was already fresh enough, so there was no need to add chicken essence. When it was ready to be served, he added a little salt and pepper, and the steaming fish soup would be ready.

He was about to carry it out when he heard an anxious voice behind him.

“Wait, wait, wait. Let me do it! It looks so hot!”

Alex dashed forward and was about to lift the ceramic pot but it was so scalding that he bared his teeth.

“Be careful.”

Xu Le was wearing a pair of heat-resistant gloves.

Alex pursed his lips and forced himself to say, “Humph, I wasn’t scalded.”

“You should use cold water to rinse your fingers. Why are you here?”

“Are you not welcoming me?”

In less than half a minute, Alex immediately went to rinse under the cold water. Thankfully, he was not scalded and his fingertips were only slightly red.

“What? You came at the right time. I made a new dish today.”

“Yes, I can smell it. The soup smells not bad, it seems fresh.”

There was a distance between the kitchen and the long dining table in the corridor outside. Alex insisted on helping Xu Le, so he did not refuse and handed over the heat-resistant gloves.

“The interview last night has been edited. The magazine will be released next week. Are you nervous?”

As Thailand’s trending magazine, it was extremely popular. Xu Le raised his eyebrows and said, “Shouldn’t you be worried about the

sales?”

“Haha, that’s true.”

Alex took a few more steps as he kept pursing his lips. Finally, he said softly, “I need to talk to you.”

He had a serious face, so Xu Le was slightly stunned and stopped in his tracks. “Go ahead.”

“I apologize for my attitude the past few days.”

“Huh?”

Xu Le waved his hand. He did not take it to heart at all.

“I know what I have done to bring KL from a less well-known magazine to the mainstream market. I’m just lucky to be able to bring it to its current position, but I’ve thought it through.”

At first, Alex was also a bookworm who was meek and obedient. Later on, he made use of all sort of means and gradually developed a very mean personality, causing him to become used to speaking harshly.

Because he felt that as long as there was viewership, nothing else mattered.

And now KL had everything. Alex realized that this could not go on.

“Sigh, you wouldn’t understand even if I said that. I’m here today to make a deal with you so that we can introduce your country’s famous cuisine and publish a special issue for you.”

“Oh?” Xu Le was not modest either. He smiled and said, “That’s too much. We can’t even finish that in one episode.”

“Hahaha…”

Alex smiled and said, “Then I look forward to our cooperation.”

“Let’s go and eat. The food will turn cold soon.”

Before sitting at the table, Xu Le put down the fish soup and Zhang Liang exclaimed, “Oh my, you even made another soup!”

Zhou Huangya clapped her hands and said, “Yay, Xu Le is still the best.”

Everyone couldn’t wait to serve the rice. Bai Xiaoming looked at the glistening yellow rice crust and licked his lips. “This rice crust looks too tempting. I’ll eat first.”

Zhou Huangya buried her head in her food and ate the rice in one bite.

The rice crust was very crispy and the heat control was just right. The burnt fragrance carried the freshness of the lard. He chewed on the bamboo shoots along with the meat. The tender and fresh taste of the bamboo shoots was refreshing and the plump pork was clear and hearty. It was an indescribable satisfaction!

She couldn’t stop eating and didn’t even have the time to comment.

The finishing touch was still the small savory meat. When wrapped in some rice, it would stimulate the fragrance of spring bamboo shoots. The fresh meat was delicate, and the crispiness of the lettuce was refreshing!

After finishing one bowl, Zhou Huangya said excitedly, “Awesome! This is the first time I’ve tasted such delicious food!”

Alex seemed to despise her simple choice of words, so he said with slight sarcasm, “This is pickled cabbage rice. It originated from Wannan Huizhou. It has a clear and hearty taste, and the marinated meat tastes rich and fragrant. The flavor is salty yet sweet. It’s a very successful dish.”

“Fine, I’m convinced. I lost.”

Zhang Liang said, “This can’t even be compared to the crayfish… But, the garlic crayfish I made isn’t bad either. Everyone, quickly try it.”

Xu Le thought in his heart: I never thought of competing with you.

The main point of eating the orchid crab was its fresh and tender crab meat. It was wrapped in starch and had a golden crispy fragrance after being deep-fried with oil. After adding wine to it, there was no fishy smell at all. All that was left was the fresh taste of the ginger and onion. It was tender and smooth after taking a bite, retaining the texture of the orchid crab.

The gravy was white, fresh, and delicious.

They finished the meal happily. Just as they were about to clear the plates, there was a commotion outside. The production team’s stage supervisor was arguing loudly with someone.

Alex tilted his head and listened for a while, then said, “I think a few customers came from far to eat. They saw that the restaurant was closed today, so they were very angry, and started fighting outside.”

“Is that so?” The manager crossed his arms and frowned. He said with a worried expression, “Without any ingredients prepared, there’s no way to serve them.”

The argument outside became more and more intense without any signs of stopping. In the end, as the manager, Bai Xiaoming had no choice but to get up and go out to take a look.

Xu Le said, “I’m preparing to make dessert. If there are customers, I can give them some later.”

It was also considered an appropriate solution.