Chapter 51: Even a Forced Melon Is Sweet

[Help me, fam, what do I do when I'm shipping this so hard? The way Shen Mu looks at Xu Zhaozhao is so tender and affectionate.]

[I'm certain that ever since the dating show started, Shen Mu has never given that kind of look to any female guest, only to Xu Zhaozhao.]

[Seriously, the two of them fished all morning without even saying ten words to each other, yet I could literally feel the ambiguity flowing through the air.]

[What kind of one-sided desperate pursuit is this? I can't take it anymore, I want to force this ship to sail.]

[I want to force it too, what should I do?]

[A forced melon might actually turn out sweet. Xu Zhaozhao, take a look at Shen Mu, he's actually a great catch!]

While the live chat comments were overflowing with viewers eager to force the pairing between Xu Zhaozhao and Shen Mu, Xu Zhaozhao was carried back in her dreams to the island, specifically the first two days after she and Shen Mu had just obtained their marriage certificate.

Those had been the happiest two days of her life so far, and also the two days she least wanted to look back upon.

If she had never experienced such bliss and beauty, she wouldn't have found the subsequent pain so utterly unbearable.

She tossed and turned between happiness and despair, until her throat grew parched and she was forced to open her heavy eyelids and get up for a drink of water.

The moment she sat up, a coat slipped off her shoulders.

It was Shen Mu's coat.

Strictly speaking, it was Aunt Fu's son's coat.

On the first day of the dating show, after Shen Mu's suit got soiled, he had been wearing Aunt Fu's son's clothes ever since.

Later on, Aunt Fu had dug out several sets of clothes that fit him well and given them to Shen Mu.

This detail had also left Xu Zhaozhao puzzled as to why Shen Mu hadn't brought any luggage at all when coming on a dating show.

Aside from that one suit, he didn't have a single other change of clothes.

Returning the coat to Shen Mu, Xu Zhaozhao got up and straightened her inferior, high-imitation casual outfit.

Chen Sisi had worn a gray casual top and a white sports skirt today, and Xu Zhaozhao was dressed in something quite similar, except that the high-imitation material lacked the proper color tone and failed to hold its shape well.

Thanks to her decent figure and pretty face, however, her outfit didn't look completely cheap.

In fact, even though she had been wearing similar styles to Chen Sisi for so long, the audience rarely paid much attention to her clothes.

Setting aside the past when her agency deliberately made Xu Zhaozhao imitate Chen Sisi, in real life, Xu Zhaozhao was fundamentally a completely different type of person from Chen Sisi.

Chen Sisi was accustomed to portraying the helpless, fragile, innocent flower archetype, whereas Xu Zhaozhao possessed a bright and striking appearance.

Therefore, when Xu Zhaozhao stopped deliberately copying Chen Sisi's makeup and tone of voice, even when wearing the exact same clothes, no one viewed them as the same kind of person.

Moreover, right from the start of the dating show, their cooperative dynamic had fallen apart, and the audience was more focused on the awkward atmosphere of two people acting out a script while pretending the viewers didn't already know.

After returning the coat to Shen Mu, Xu Zhaozhao resumed her newly acquired fishing career.

Only, as a beginner, she could clearly feel the gap in skill between herself and Shen Mu.

By dusk, Shen Mu had caught a total of seven fish, while Xu Zhaozhao's harvest stood at zero.

Looking at a rather discouraged Xu Zhaozhao, Shen Mu comforted her, "Everyone is like this when they're first learning to fish."

"Don't get discouraged. With more practice in the future, you'll get results!"

[Ahhh, is this considered a new dating invitation?]

[For Shen Mu, yes. For Xu Zhaozhao, well, that depends on what Chen Sisi decides to do.]

[This is clearly a two-person affair, yet somehow an invisible third wheel has been wedged right in the middle.]

[Actually, figuring out what Chen Sisi will do is simple—just look at what the Best Actor is going to do.]

[Goodness gracious, we've got a whole skewer of candied haws going on here!]

Returning to the village with their haul, Xu Zhaozhao and Shen Mu didn't head straight back to the ancient courtyard, choosing instead to go to Aunt Fu's house.

The steamed pork with rice flour and the braised pork elbow that Xu Zhaozhao had packed to-go were both wonderfully tender and soft, making them ideal for the elderly.

As for Shen Mu, he gave six of the seven fish to Aunt Fu, keeping just one to take back.

"Little Xu, Little Shen, I never would have thought you'd still be thinking of an old lady like me!"

Ever since her son left to work away from home, Aunt Fu had been living alone, and to say she wasn't lonely would be a lie.

Ever since the production crew arrived, Xu Zhaozhao and Shen Mu had constantly been bringing things over to her, making her eyes brim with tears of gratitude.

From start to finish, she had only ever treated them to a single dinner and some simple flatbreads.

Yet the things the two of them had given her far exceeded that value many times over.

Seeing the two of them put down their items and prepare to leave, she stopped them.

"You've brought the things over, don't be in such a hurry to leave. Stay and eat at my house tonight!"

She pointed toward the steaming stove, "I made vegetable buns with wild greens I picked from the back mountain. If you don't mind, sit down and eat with me."

"What other dishes would you like to eat? I'll go make them for you."

"There's no need for that," Xu Zhaozhao told Aunt Fu to rest. "Shen Mu and I will make them."

While speaking with Aunt Fu, she had already caught the alluring fragrance of the wild green buns.

Since they were staying for dinner at Aunt Fu's house, how could they possibly let her go to any more trouble?

Thus, she had Shen Mu use the gas stove to reheat the steamed pork and braised pork elbow, while she used the traditional wood-fired stove to cook a fish soup.

In the intervals of tending to the fish soup, she also prepared a cold dish of cucumbers, black fungus, and peanuts dressed in aged vinegar, alongside a plate of shredded potatoes in spicy and sour sauce.

Just like that, four dishes and one soup were ready. Paired with Aunt Fu's wild vegetable buns, the three of them enjoyed a wonderfully fragrant meal.

[I've been saying that even if Xu Zhaozhao couldn't make money, she would never starve to death. Not only does she know how to eat well, she actually knows how to cook.]

[Fam, just watching her cook fish, I've already seen Xu Zhaozhao make three different styles: steamed, braised, and boiled in soup.]

[Four styles, did you forget the grilled fish they ate on their very first fishing trip?]

[Weren't those made by Shen Mu though?]

[When it came to adding the seasonings later, Xu Zhaozhao added every single one of them. If she didn't know how to cook, how would she know how to balance flavors?]

[I truly admire Xu Zhaozhao's formidable social skills. I remember the village chief also asked her what she liked to eat last night, mentioning he'd invite her to dinner in a couple of days, and Xu Zhaozhao didn't even refuse.]

[The new era's master of dining at a hundred different households!]

[Those wild vegetable buns look so fragrant. I can find all the other dishes elsewhere, but where can I go to eat those wild vegetable buns?]

[This is a travel show, a food show, but absolutely not a dating show!]

After finishing dinner, Xu Zhaozhao chatted a bit longer with Aunt Fu to keep her company before she and Shen Mu headed back to the ancient courtyard just as night fell.

Upon entering the small courtyard, the other guests were already having their dinner.

It was a simple meal of plain rice, stewed potatoes, and stir-fried greens.

The greens were what Ke Hao had bought from the villagers today.

Today, all the other guests had been in tacit agreement with their partners, leaving only him and Song Qing behind.

Throughout the morning, the two of them hadn't exchanged many words.

Mostly because it was far too awkward.

Ke Hao also knew that his repeated vacillations had likely hurt Song Qing's feelings to some extent.

However, he would rather keep his title as the master of balancing relationships than exclusively cultivate ambiguity with a single female guest.

The first priority in his life was his career, his second priority was his career, and his third priority was still his career.

Having completely excluded romance from his life, it was naturally impossible for him to genuinely become entangled in romantic gossip with a female guest on a television show.

He might get married and have children in the future, but those were private matters that must never be exposed to the public eye.

Fearing the awkwardness of staying alone with Song Qing, he had gone out for a walk in the morning and casually bought a large batch of vegetables from the villagers on his way back.

At noon, as he was prepping the vegetables to cook, Song Qing saw him busy and took the initiative to come over and help.

With that, the ice between the two of them was effectively broken.

In the afternoon, the two of them even cooperated to prepare dinner for everyone.

Combined with the food brought back by the other dating couples, they had barely managed to assemble a reasonably abundant dinner table.

"Where on earth did you two go on your date?"

Seeing Xu Zhaozhao and Shen Mu returning at this late hour, everyone was filled with curiosity about where they had gone.