The film and television city starts from the courtyard

Zhao Shucheng shook his head and said, "Of course not, it's just to observe the terrain first, so that we can choose the clothes for the shoot."

Xiao Mu asked in surprise, "Picking out clothes?"

"Of course, if you're doing farm work, your clothes can't be too plain, otherwise the dust will be very noticeable. You female celebrities need to pay even more attention to things, like whether the road surface is suitable for wearing high heels."

Xiao Mu said, "Director Gu, I didn't expect you to consider these things?"

"How can we not consider it? Even though it's just a variety show, we still need to pay attention to looking good on camera."

Just then, they arrived at the filming location.

There was another car parked in front of them, belonging to Yao Menggui.

Peng Fei panicked when he saw Yao Menggui. He squatted down and pretended to tie his shoelaces to avoid Yao Menggui's gaze.

Xiao Mu asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

My shoelaces are untied.

Zhao Shucheng said, "Xiao Mu, let's go! The director and the others are already waiting."

"Okay, right away!"

Peng Fei also said, "Director Gu, Sister Mu Mu, I'll be going now. I'll come pick you up later."

"Okay, be careful on the road."

Xiao Mu and Zhao Shucheng pushed their suitcases and walked towards the production crew.

Xiao Mu skipped and hopped all the way, like an elf, extremely happy.

"Are you so happy?"

"Yes, I was walking on the street like this when I was at home before, and Brother Lin even held my hand and we walked together."

"It seems you and your brother Lin have a very good relationship."

"Of course, Brother Lin is our neighbor. We've been playing together since we were kids."

As the two walked, they came to a set of steps and saw Yao Menggui standing below, struggling to carry her suitcase.

Zhao Shucheng helped Xiao Mu carry the suitcase upstairs. Seeing Yao Menggui struggling, Xiao Mu said, "Let me help you."

"No need, the camera isn't set up yet, you don't need to perform."

Xiao Mu was surprised that his sister would say that, so he picked up Yao Menggui's suitcase and helped carry it upstairs.

Yao Menggui followed, looked at Xiao Mu, and said, "What are you looking at?"

"Your makeup today seems to lack a little bit of fierceness."

"The production team told me that this is a program that brings us close to nature, so my makeup should be more natural."

After Yao Menggui finished speaking, she pushed her suitcase forward.

Xiao Mu, pushing his suitcase, was about to catch up when he glanced at Zhao Shucheng and said, "Director Gu, let's hurry over too."

"No need, you go after her. She must have a lot to say to your sister. I'll just go slowly."

Xiao Mu hesitated for a moment, but still followed Yao Menggui ahead.

When Yao Menggui arrived at the house chosen by the production team, she looked around and said, "We're going to stay here for three days? Is this place even habitable?"

"Not only can people live here, but pigs, horses, cattle, sheep, crickets, grasshoppers, and cockroaches can also live here."

Yao Menggui said, "That would suit you quite well."

Xiao Mu pouted when he heard Yao Menggui's words, thinking that Yao Menggui was at it again.

The production team didn't expect Yao Menggui and her group to arrive so early, so they quickly set up the equipment and prepared to film.

"Okay, the machine is ready, let's get started."

Yao Menggui immediately performed a classic Sichuan opera face-changing act, saying, "This wood and tree are quite a charming combination; they must be the same species. It's really beautiful."

Xiao Mu felt that Yao Menggui was being too fake, but he couldn't refute her in front of the camera, so he could only give an awkward laugh.

Following Song Ci out of the house, he said, "Hello everyone."

Yao Menggui asked, "What's going on?"

"Ah, our host was suddenly injured and hospitalized. We just received an urgent call from Song Ci, who happens to be filming nearby, so he's willing to come and fill in for him."

Xiao Mu felt that the program team's words were too fake. If he hadn't already known that the program team invited them to participate in order to promote the First Snowfall, he might have actually believed it.

Just then, Zhao Shucheng also came over pushing his suitcase.

Yao Menggui quickly greeted Song Ci, saying, "Director Gu, hello."

Zhao Shucheng said, "Meng Gui, Song Ci, hello. I never expected to meet you here again. It's like meeting old friends in a foreign land."

"Yes."

Zhao Shucheng asked, "So what's the next step?"

Song Ci said, "As the host, I will now issue the first order. Our guests, please go to the locker room to change into our team uniforms in preparation for the photoshoot."

Zhao Shucheng nodded and said, "Okay, by the way, is our production team just a few of us?"

"This episode is currently featuring just the few of us, but there may be guest appearances later on, so please stay tuned."

Xiao Mu whispered, "Once we're all in our team uniforms, will we still be able to tell who's who?"

As he spoke, he and Yao Menggui entered the dressing room together to change their clothes.

Zhao Shucheng looked at the environment in the courtyard, smiled, and then went into the changing room.

After changing clothes, the filming of the program officially began.

Zhao Shucheng slacked off the whole time, giving Xiao Mu and Yao Menggui more opportunities to shine.

Song Ci was initially a little worried, but when she saw that Zhao Shucheng really didn't care and even deliberately let Xiao Mu and Yao Menggui interact, she was relieved.

However, as filming progressed, Zhao Shucheng noticed something strange: Xiao Mu often ordered Song Ci to do things, and the other party never refused.

Of course, Yao Menggui was not to be outdone, and asked Song Ci to help carry things. This made Song Ci spin like a top, unable to stop.

Zhao Shucheng looked at Song Ci curiously, then at Yao Menggui, feeling that something had happened that he didn't know about while he was changing clothes.

Soon, the daytime filming ended, and Zhao Shucheng and the others returned to their rooms to rest.

Just as Zhao Shucheng was about to fall asleep, he heard a shrill scream. He quickly ran out and saw Yao Menggui standing in the corridor in her pajamas.

"what's the situation?"

Hearing the noise, the others came out and asked, "What's wrong?" "There's a cockroach this big in my room," Yao Menggui said, gesturing with her hand to show its size.

Zhao Shucheng almost burst out laughing when he heard this. He thought something terrible had happened, but it turned out to be just a cockroach.

Song Ci offered, "Don't be afraid, I'll help you catch it."

But after a short while, Song Ci came out and said, "It's really big!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Mu went into Yao Menggui's room, found the cockroach, and grabbed it.

"How big did you say the cockroach was?"

Seeing Song Ci and Yao Menggui comparing the sizes, he said, "So, according to that logic, the one I found isn't the one you're looking for. Xiao Qiang, you should go home now."

Song Ci and Yao Menggui exchanged glances, both knowing that this was actually the same one they had seen, but their fear had made them unconsciously exaggerate it.

Even so, seeing Yao Menggui's still shaken appearance, Xiao Mu still spoke up:
"Are you scared? If you are, come stay in my room."

"What a joke, what do I have to be afraid of?"

Seeing that Yao Menggui was still being stubborn, Xiao Mu said, "Alright then, I'm going back to sleep. But I heard that cockroaches come out in broods, and we haven't found any as big as the ones you saw earlier."

Upon hearing Xiao Mu's words, Yao Menggui glanced at Song Ci, who was equally frightened, and quickly said, "Wait a minute!"

Zhao Shucheng shook his head helplessly and said to Song Ci, "Alright, let's go back and rest too."

"Okay, okay!" Song Ci looked back at Yao Menggui's room, still feeling lingering fear.

The next day.

Filming proceeded as scheduled. The crew announced today's task early in the morning: to prepare dinner for 100 people and treat the entire village to a meal tomorrow. Today's task was to prepare the ingredients.

Yao Menggui said, "We have to prepare dinner for a hundred people ourselves. We agreed in advance that each person would prepare their own 25-person portion, so no one would be a burden to anyone else."

Xiao Mu said, "Okay!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shucheng looked at the two of them and said, "Do you really think that way?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "If we divide the work like this, although we only need to cook for 25 people and we can divide it into three tables, we still need to prepare food for each table. In fact, the workload is no less than that of cooking together as a group."

Yao Menggui felt that Zhao Shucheng was deliberately helping Xiao Mu, and said, "I don't think it will be much more. I'm confident that I can complete my share."

Zhao Shucheng could only say that Yao Menggui truly lacked life experience and had no idea about the portions of a large rural feast.

He shook his head, knowing that relying on these two people would definitely not be enough to complete the day's work, so he went directly to the production team and started listing the ingredients and quantities needed.

Upon seeing Zhao Shucheng's menu, the production team hesitated for a moment and asked, "Director Gu, are you sure you need this much? And there are a lot of ingredients that the guests will need to prepare themselves."

"Don't worry, you guys just need to prepare. Even though they're preparing separately now, they'll see how difficult it is soon enough. They can just divide the work and work together."

"OK then!"

Yao Menggui was preparing in the kitchen, but she didn't have much life experience. While she could handle the ingredients well, cooking was a real challenge.

A moment later, screams and thick smoke came from the kitchen, almost burning it down.

Xiao Mu was busy with his own things, but when he saw that something had happened to Yao Menggui, he couldn't help but feel nervous and quickly ran over to check on his sister.

Yao Menggui hadn't expected Xiao Mu to care about her so much. Thinking about the previous conflict between the two of them, she was overwhelmed with emotions.

After this experience, she realized that she was not suited to cooking. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to prepare the ingredients first.

Seeing that Yao Menggui was alright, Xiao Mu went out to do his own work, seemingly forgetting that they came to participate in the variety show for promotion and to interact with Yao Menggui, not to actually do farm work.

When Xiao Mu went to the river to set out fish traps, a sudden downpour forced her to run under the eaves to take shelter.

Yao Menggui was very worried when she saw that Xiao Mu had not returned for a long time, and insisted on going out to look for him.

"Don't go. What if the rain gets even heavier later?" Song Ci said, not wanting Yao Menggui to go out in the rain to look for someone.

What if something happens to my sister?

"Why are you so nervous? What could possibly happen here? There are crew members with us."

Yao Menggui ignored Song Ci and was about to leave when she saw Zhao Shucheng still sitting there calmly. She said:
"Director Gu, your employees haven't come back after going out, aren't you going to ask them anything?"

Zhao Shucheng said, "Xiao Mu has just gone to set the fish traps. He'll be back when the rain stops."

"If you don't go, I will!"

The production team thought this was great material, so they followed Yao Menggui to find Xiao Mu.

Yao Menggui searched around but couldn't find Xiao Mu. Returning to the farmhouse where the production crew was located, she finally saw Xiao Mu and, disregarding the fact that the cameras were still rolling, immediately began to loudly berate him:
Where did you go?

"Sister!" Xiao Mu hugged Yao Menggui tightly.

Yao Menggui pushed Xiao Mu away and said, "Where have you been in the middle of the night, in this heavy rain? What if you die out there?"

Xiao Mu said, "The higher the ratings, the better if they die out there. Sis, I was just talking nonsense, don't be angry. Don't be sad, I'm back now."

"Don't overthink it, I did it for the show!"

Zhao Shucheng came out of the courtyard at this time. Seeing that the two sisters had made up, he said, "Now that you're both back, let's talk about the division of labor for tomorrow."

"Director Gu, you are really cold-blooded."

“I’m not cold-blooded, but I know that Xiao Mu has the ability to protect herself. After all, she has experience living in the countryside before.”

As he spoke, Zhao Shucheng led them directly to the kitchen, took out the menu, and said, "I've already decided what dishes to make. Xiao Mu and Yao Menggui, you two are mainly responsible for cleaning, and also make some of your own specialty dishes. But tomorrow's meal isn't for a few people, but for a large banquet, so we can't use small pots to stir-fry the dishes, but have to make large pots of dishes so that we can supply them and there won't be enough time."

"But none of us know how."

Zhao Shucheng said, "It's alright, you just need to take care of the logistics. I'll handle the main dishes. If you have any specialties, you can make some for them to try."

Hearing Zhao Shucheng say that, Xiao Mu was somewhat unconvinced and said, "Director Gu, you underestimate us too much. I used to run a restaurant with my dad, and I cooked there too."

Zhao Shucheng said, "Of course I know what you're saying, but your father's restaurant mainly serves stir-fries. There's a big difference between large-pot dishes and stir-fries. If you don't believe me, you can try it tomorrow."

At this moment, Yao Menggui and Xiao Mu suddenly felt a sense of shared indignation, thinking that Zhao Shucheng had underestimated them and that they were determined to show Zhao Shucheng that they could do just as well.

the next day.

As Zhao Shucheng said before, they can handle some dishes, but for some meat dishes and hearty dishes, their small-pot cooking method simply won't work.

So when they were preparing ingredients, they found that they couldn't manage it all. Either they needed to operate a lot of kitchen utensils at the same time, or they simply couldn't fit them in and didn't have enough time.

After thinking it over, the two discussed it and finally decided to only cook some of their specialties, while Zhao Shucheng would be responsible for the main dishes.

Zhao Shucheng was not afraid at all. After all, his culinary skills were at least at the master level, if not divine. A small banquet was a piece of cake for him. (End of this chapter)