Overnight Hit: Vicious Stepmother and Genius Son
Chapter 430: No Outside Help Allowed

Chapter 430: Chapter 430: No Outside Help Allowed

Song Jinze took the ingredients back and, after placing them on the table, he glanced at the mother and son sleeping in the tent.

Ye Zhenzhen and Xiao Chen were sleeping soundly; he curled his thin lips into a faint smile and, without disturbing them, returned to the table to sit. He opened the box provided by the production team and took out each ingredient one by one.

There was flour, round cabbage, scallions, carrots, and minced meat.

Upon seeing these, Song Jinze felt somewhat baffled and unsure of what to make for breakfast.

The cameraman brother, seeing the man motionless before the camera, couldn’t help but ask, "What are you planning to make for breakfast, President Song?"

"What can I make with these?" Song Jinze countered.

"You can make noodles. Do you know how to roll out dough? You could also make dumplings."

Ye Zhenzhen used similar ingredients in the first episode to make dumplings.

[These ingredients are great. You can make dumplings, noodles, dough drop soup, pan-fried bread, steamed buns, and baozi!]

[President Song probably hasn’t made these before; his expression looks a bit like he wants to laugh!]

After hearing the cameraman brother’s words, Song Jinze slightly raised an eyebrow; he didn’t know how to make any of it.

Having lived so long, he had cooked only twice, and both times he had prepared breakfast for Ye Zhenzhen and a late-night noodle snack at home. The key was, he cooked by watching video tutorials on a tablet, and that too with ready-made ingredients at his disposal.

Now, with kneading dough and rolling out skins, he indeed faced some difficulty, especially without access to a phone or a tablet, he didn’t know how to begin.

After some thought, Song Jinze decided to ask the cameraman brother, "Can I borrow your phone for a moment?"

The cameraman brother was taken aback, thinking that President Song wouldn’t be planning to call for help again, would he? Last night he summoned the head chef from Haicheng Grand Hotel; surely he wasn’t planning to call someone else over so early in the morning?

He shook his head immediately, "I’m sorry, President Song, but the production team doesn’t allow you to ask for external help anymore; you need to complete the breakfast on your own."

He had to refuse; Director Fei had said that the main task this morning was to film the dads cooking. If the guests kept asking for outside help, what would there be for the audience to watch?

[Hahaha, Is President Song feeling desperate now that the production team won’t let him ask for external help?]

[President Song was too carefree last night, getting a feast without lifting a finger; this morning’s breakfast won’t be overlooked by the production team.]

[I feel like the production team is kind of putting them in a tough spot, giving all these complicated ingredients to the guys; how are they supposed to cook with them?]

[It’s a variety show, after all. Isn’t this the effect they want? Couldn’t they just give you a finished product to heat and eat?]

Faced with the cameraman brother’s refusal, Song Jinze simply smiled, "I’m not asking for outside help; I just want to search and see how to turn these ingredients into breakfast."

While the man he asked hesitated, another cameraman brother spoke up, "No, President Song, that would be cheating. The production team wants you to be creative with these ingredients; we can’t lend you our phones."

No outside help, and watching videos was out of the question, too.

The main focus was to see how the dads could make breakfast out of these ingredients.

Song Jinze smiled helplessly, "Alright then, I won’t trouble you guys; I’ll figure it out myself."

The Huanya Group employees, who were early risers in the live broadcast room, began instructing their CEO in the comment section after they saw him facing difficulties:

[CEO, there’s no yeast among these ingredients, so you can only make dumplings, noodles, or stuffed pancakes. Start by mixing flour with water, then mince the vegetables, and mix the meat filling...]

[Why don’t you just make the simplest stuffed pancakes? After kneading the dough, just wrap it around the meat filling and cook it in the pan.]

[Is the person commenting before Director Zhang? Why does it feel like it’s our Huanya people?]

[Oh my, so this is the Overbearing CEO, appearing on a variety show, with all the company employees leaving comments with advice below]

Secretary Zhang, who was watching the live broadcast, naturally saw these comments too, but the person who left the comments definitely wasn’t him; he knew that the president wouldn’t see them, and leaving a comment himself would be in vain.

He had seen the ingredients the president had taken out a while ago, and he had tried to find a way to help him, but the person he found told him that the show crew wouldn’t let them go over.

With no other options available, he could only rely on the president to figure out a solution by himself.

Not to mention, Secretary Zhang was actually quite looking forward to seeing what the president could make with those ingredients.

Even if Song Jinze hadn’t made it before, he had eaten it; recalling how Xiao Chen had mentioned how delicious Zhenzhen’s dumplings were, he decided to make dumplings for breakfast.

They would get to taste the dumplings he made.

"If I’m going to make dumplings, I should start with the dough, right?" he asked the cameraman brother beside him.

"Yeah, start with the dough, and then prepare the fillings. Later, roll the dough into small dumpling wrappers and wrap them with the meat filling, and you’re good to go."

Song Jinze understood, "Hmm, sounds simple yet complicated, I’ll give it a try."

"Right, actually it’s not difficult, you’ll finish it in no time."

[This cameraman brother is quite comforting, aren’t dumplings hard to make? You guys tell me, isn’t making dumplings difficult?]

[I think anything involving kneading flour isn’t simple, but I’m really looking forward to President Song making the finished product.]

Xiao Yi had been standing on the yacht waiting until 10 minutes past 7, and still hadn’t seen Gu Liangjun come to collect the ingredients. After asking around, he learned that the Gu family was still asleep and hadn’t gotten up yet.

Since the other party hadn’t woken up, he didn’t want to wait anymore. It would be better to get off the yacht and go find Xiao Chen for some fun.

He instructed the yacht staff, "When Gu Liangjun arrives, let him take the ingredients."

After all, the ingredients were the same for everyone, so there was no mystery in who came first or last.

Originally, the show crew had planned to let the guests take whatever ingredients they arrived at first, but the previous night they received a call from the station, informing them that the Gu Family had gone to the station to speak with them.

The general message was that participating in the show was fine, but they shouldn’t go overboard—it wouldn’t do to let their son and grandson go hungry.

Upon hearing this, Director Fei discussed with the program logistics, and decided that if the Gu Family had made such a request, then all the guests would receive the same ingredients and cook for themselves. Whatever they managed to make would be their meal, and this way, the family certainly couldn’t have anything to complain about.

The show might be popular now, but they still needed to bow to capital after all, especially since the Gu family was a major behind-the-scenes sponsor.

...

When Xiao Yi arrived at Song Jinze’s side, Song Jinze was in the middle of kneading dough.

His hands were fair and the joints well-defined. As he kneaded the dough steadily, it didn’t seem like he was making dough but rather like he was playing with putty.

"What are you doing?" Xiao Yi plopped down beside him and asked.

Song Jinze appeared calm on the surface, but inside, he was filled with doubts. He kept feeling that the dough was especially sticky, sticking all over his hands and not coming together no matter how much he kneaded it.

"Can’t you see? Kneading dough." he replied impatiently to Xiao Yi’s question, then picked up a water cup from the table to pour into the mixture.

"Hey! What are you doing!"