The Villain's Younger Sister

Chapter 19

Nie AnAn was a little stunned by his statement. When she was still trying to recall when the original owner had saved this person in her head, Ji YunChuan already carried on.

"When I was 11 years old and visiting Capital City for the first time, I was separated from my parents briefly. I accidentally came across a group of boys who were gathering around doing something when I was on my way looking for police officers and they all came after me." Ji YunChuan paused when he got there and his eyes brightened. "And that's when you showed up. Even though you were just 10 years old, you came running over and didn't take long to have them all pinned to the ground. You saved me and you even told me your name was Nie AnAn."

Nie AnAn had no idea if that side plot was mentioned in the original novel. But that certainly fitted the original owner's style. She looked down at her small and light-colored hands. She has yet to figure out how they could contain such tremendous strength.

"It's been so long. I don't really recall it," said Nie AnAn as she smiled at Ji YunChuan. "But I am really glad to meet you!" said Nie AnAn as she shook his hand. After everybody had arrived after a few hours by flight, they had arrived at their filming location.

Nie AnAn entered the drawing, and this time she was assigned to Yue Lai Inn. She didn't have much to do today so she went to watch others taking turns drawing. And that was when she noticed that Li ManGe wasn't there. Right when she was pondering whether the production crew has switched out some of the guests, she heard Qin Ziyi said, "Then Li MenGe is the only one left. Let me see which one she will be going to. Ah, it's Yue Lai Inn!"

Nie AnAn lowered her head when she heard that. She had a slight suspicion that Li ManGe had a lot to do with her identity being exposed the other day, but she didn't have any proof. She only joined this show in the hope to help out Huo YanXiao so his next project could go smoothly. She wasn't at all interested in being dragged into some silly lover's quarrel.

Li ManGe arrived at the filming location at 9 PM. She had just flown in from her shooting location and walked inside the inn when she ran into Nie AnAn coming down the stairs looking for water. Nie AnAn didn't expect to run into Li ManGe either. She put on a smile and nodded at her, "Good evening, Li-jie." Li ManGe nodded graciously as the two passed on by.

Live streaming of the show started the very next day with a special on breakfast. On the Yue Lai's side, AnAn's style was obvious. She didn't make her signature buns today, but her obsessive-compulsive disorder made all her pastries extremely uniform and lined up in terms of their sizes. Even the number of green onions sprinkled on the top of the porridge were even.

Over on the Yun Lai Inn side, breakfast was equally grand. A far cry from the cooking of the comedian from last season. Texts scrolled like mad over the screen from very early on, "OMG, had 'Gold Medal Inn' turned into 'Hell's Kitchen'? I haven't even had breakfast yet. Gosh, this is making me so hungry!"

"I shall continue to support AnAn without fail!" "Please let me see the full frontal of the other nutritionist! I've heard it's a boy. I want to see if he's a handsome boy or a middle-aged chubby man!" The guests at Yun Lai all picked up their chopsticks under the anticipation of their viewers.

Qin Ziyi was assigned to a different inn than Nie AnAn this time, and she felt very down because of that. Slowly but surely, her intention of being on the show had switched from Nie ChengFeng to Nie AnAn. Her disappointment was even more obvious after she had tried a bite of Ji YunChuan's cooking.

It was good, better than most breakfasts, but it lacked the certain something in Nie AnAn's cooking that she couldn't put her fingers on. Take singing as an example. Many can sing well, but some are only good with technique when others sing from their souls. Nonetheless, compared to the guest last season, Ji YunChuan was surely leaps and bounds better so the food on the dinner table didn't last very long.

Over at Yue Lai, a few of the guests were on Nie AnAn's side last season, but there were also a few new guests who had just joined. The three of them were a bit shy at the beginning, but as soon as they saw the viciousness of the others, they jumped straight into the battle for food.

Everybody enjoyed their meal. After Ji YunChuan had finished eating and came looking for Nie AnAn, hoping to get a taste of her food, dishes had already been done over at Yue Lai. Ji YunChuan was a little stunned, but he recovered quickly and said, "AnAn, this is my first time here, and I would like to go for a walk. Would you like to come with me if you have some free time?"

Nie AnAn nodded, "Sure! I am just about to go take a look over at the market to see if they have anything new." The two of them chatted and laughed on their way out. From behind them, Li ManGe watched thoughtfully as they took off.

Nie AnAn had been going to the grocery shop with Ji YunChuan in the next few days that followed. Even though the two inns were competing, the variety of dishes that could be made from the same ingredients were limitless.

Huo YanXiao arrived on Thursday. Arriving at the same time as him was Qin ZiMing. Normally, the secret guests would be different individuals every season; others just assumed that Qin ZiMing returned because of Le ManGe. The guests must do the drawing as well. Huo YanXiao drew a number and was assigned to Yun Lai Inn.

As he walked inside the inn, the other guests were all paused for a little bit before they greeted him one by one. Truth be told, many actors/actresses wanted to get close with the Huo's, but Huo YanXiao's reputation online was so poor that most were intimidated.

Right now, the man exuded a cold and fierce aura and his indifference to everything was obvious from his eyes. He came across as very standoffish. Nobody knew why he was on the show nor how to interact with him. The aura from him was clear – I am not a pushover.

As such, when Huo YanXiao asked Feng Wei where Nie AnAn was, even this new and upcoming star felt a little uneasy, "Mr. Huo, AnAn was assigned to Yue Lai Inn this time. She probably went to buy ingredients with our nutritionist Ji YunChuan somewhere nearby. They had been going out and buying ingredients together lately."

Huo YanXiao nodded nonchalantly and said, "Okay. Thank you." Having said that, he turned and headed upstairs with his suitcase. The atmosphere returned to its initial liveliness two minutes after he was gone. Except that Huo YanXiao returned shortly, he was still in his elite businessman outfit. As he walked, the low atmospheric pressure seemed to have left an invisible trail behind him.

When Huo YanXiao reached the front of the inn and was about to go and wait for Nie AnAn at Yue Lai Inn across from them, he saw two people walking back under the sunset, chatting and chuckling with each other. Nie AnAn was in a light-blue dress with her ponytail behind her was rocking back and forth behind her head.

Next to her, there was a man, towering at 1.8 meter, carrying two full bags of items. He had just turned to talk to her. His smile was bright, and his eyes were beaming. The setting sun stretched their shadows out way long.

What Feng Wei said earlier rang in Huo YanXiao's ears again. "They have been going out and buying ingredients together lately."