Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Before starting, Yuan Zhou closed his eyes and focused, preparing to put on a good show. However, he suddenly recalled the scene earlier when he got in close contact with a woman.
When the makeup artist was working on him earlier, he had his eyes shut yet could still feel the ice-cold touch of her hand. At that moment, he became nervous and his nerves tensed.
Yuan Zhou cheered himself, telling himself to remain calm. He was a person who had experienced much and seen the world. He had to stay calm.
However, if “experienced much” and “the world” were humans, they would point out that they had nothing to do with Yuan Zhou at all.
To distract himself from his nervousness, Yuan Zhou had listened to the sounds within his restaurant while the makeup artist was working on him. He waited for the crew to complete their preparations.
As this was a filming at a fixed location, the equipment did not need to be moved around too much. They only needed to set up the equipment at suitable spots.
Therefore, only slight thuds could be heard. After the assistant director, Qiu Qiu, spent a few additional minutes adjusting the equipment, they were done. The camera was lowered as they had learned from the two videos they made previously that the hands of a master of cooked wheaten food were comparable to the hands of a magician.
As for the lighting equipment, they were rather troublesome to set up. They tried setting them up on multiple spots but none were suitable.
Lighting was very important during filming even if this was only a promotional video. Xiao Longren had only started looking for spots for the lighting equipment after everyone else was done. Because of this, he was reprimanded by the director, Da Hai.
Why was the gaffer nicknamed Xiao Longren 1 ? It was because he had a horn on his head. Or to be precise, he had a tiny protrusion on his head. In any case, Da Hai, Qiu Qiu, Ah Ken, Xiao Longren, Bai Li, and Xiao Dao ultimately finished all their preparations.
The filming was starting.
Yuan Zhou opened his eyes and cast away the messy thoughts in his mind. His eyes were a curtain of peace and his complexion was calm. He gazed at the camera lens with an absolute calmness.
Prior to this, Director Da Hai wanted to say something but before he could say anything, he saw Yuan Zhou shutting his eyes. This rendered him speechless as he was at a loss of what to say.
And when Yuan Zhou reopened his eyes with absolute calmness, the director had a feeling that if he did not start filming right this instant, the atmosphere would be spoiled. Therefore, he gave up on talking and yelled at the script supervisor instead.
“Start,” Da Hai shouted.
“Master Records, first scene, first shot, action,” the script supervisor immediately clapped the clapperboard and started filming.
As the sound and visual effects would be added during the editing stage, apart from the sound of the camera being moved, the restaurant was in complete silence.
Yuan Zhou only gave the camera one glance before lowering his head and started working.
The filming was conducted in a strict environment, to the point it became infectious and caused the liquor customers to all hold their breath while watching. As for Da Hai, he was looking through the camera screen.
On the screen, Yuan Zhou’s expression was no longer as strict. Rather, he appeared at ease. His brows were relaxed yet his hands did not stop moving.
“Lower the camera angle, aim at his hands,” Da Hai said towards Qiu Qiu who was in charge of the camera.
Of course, there were others helping Qiu Qiu with his task as well. Although Qiu Qiu was known as the assistant director, this was a crew for promotional videos. The crew was tiny and a lot of tasks overlapped. Therefore, Qiu Qiu was also taking on the role of the cameraman. One other reason he was taking on this task was due to the good teamwork he had with Da Hai.
The moment he heard Da Hai, Qiu Qiu adjusted the camera angle and focused on Yuan Zhou’s hands.
All seven of them were busy, each doing their own tasks.
As the filming was conducted during the night, Yuan Zhou had long prepared the ingredients in advance. After all, the rice grains used here needed to be soaked for an entire day before they could be used.
Therefore, Yuan Zhou took out a porcelain bowl containing clear water and rice grains that filled about 80% of the bowl.
Each grain of rice was spotlessly white and glossy. The grains of rice were bloated from being soaked, looking white and fat.
Thud. Yuan Zhou took out a grindstone from below the countertop. The grindstone was green in color, but at the same time, it looked extremely refined. If it wasn’t for the tiny gears below it, the grindstone would look more like a top-quality jade.
“Tsk. Boss Yuan got himself a new grindstone again. How many times has he changed his grindstone?” Chen Wei muttered.
“You sure have a good memory. This is his fifth grindstone. Each grindstone will have some differences in size and color. The previous grindstone was yellow in color,” Jiang Changxi gave a measured reply.
“Wow, you have an even better memory than me,” Chen Wei glared at Jiang Changxi.
This fellow would take any chance she got to tease him. However, it was obvious that Chen Wei was becoming braver as of late. He even dared to speak up against Jiang Changxi nowadays.
While the customers discussed, they restrained the volume of their voice. Therefore, the sound engineer’s task was not interrupted by them. Moreover, the customers would only speak when there was a slight pause in the filming. Therefore, the director did not mind having these spectators at the side.
“Boss Yuan’s hands are so pretty,” Jiang Changxi said in astonishment. She had been paying attention to Yuan Zhou’s hands as the camera had been aiming at his hands all along.
“Yeah. I have never seen a man with such pretty hands,” Chen Wei nodded in agreement.
Even Da Hai nodded in agreement. Even though the other masters he had seen all had pretty hands as well, none had hands as pretty as Yuan Zhou’s.
After all, those masters were about 50 or 60 years old. Even the youngest of them was 46 years old. As for Yuan Zhou, he was only in his twenties. It was natural that his hands looked prettier.
Yuan Zhou’s fingers were at perfect length compared to the size of his palm, and the thickness of the flesh on his hand was perfect for his size as well. Moreover, his fingernails were short and neat, and when he was holding onto the grindstone, the muscles on his arms could be clearly seen. In fact, the current him indeed looked like a prince charming.
The reveal of his hands alone could qualify as fan-service to his fans.
Yuan Zhou was currently working on the grindstone, putting all his focus on grinding rice milk out of the rice grains. Every now and then, he would add some water. Everyone else was deeply engrossed in watching Yuan Zhou working.
“I have never thought that watching someone preparing food could be such a pleasant experience,” these were the inner thoughts of everyone in the filming crew. Their feeling wasn’t as intense even when filming the other masters previously.
As for the customers, they had long been used to this as they were regulars here. Since the filming crew was here for the first time, they were all watching in full attention.
“Why are you being so silent? You are normally very talkative,” Chen Wei asked Fang Heng who had remained in silence for a long time.
That’s right. Fang Heng had been staring at Yuan Zhou in silence since the start of the filming.
“There’s no way I’m as talkative as you,” Fang Heng countered by reflex.
“If my guess is correct, Boss Yuan is making Steamed Cold Noodles today,” Fang Heng said.
Everyone focused their gazes on Fang Heng. In situations like this, there would always be a data freak appearing. This time, Fang Heng had appeared to assume that role.
“Steamed Cold Noodles? I heard of Cold Noodles before. They are commonly sold on the streets of Chengdu. But what is Steamed Cold Noodles?”
“Cold Noodles can be steamed as well?”
Cold Noodles were an extremely common snack. Everyone here had heard of this snack before. At the same time, they were also aware that if cold noodles were kept at room temperature for a prolonged period of time, it would start melting. If so, how could Cold Noodles be steamed?
It would definitely taste terrible after steaming.
“It’s normal that none of you have heard of it. Steamed Cold Noodles is a snack unique to my hometown, Guangyuan. It is also known as the Empress Cold Noodles. I heard it has a story with Empress Wu Zetian, but I am not sure on the exact details,” Fang Heng came from Guangyuan. Although he rarely returned nowadays, he still knew about the snacks he had eaten while growing up.
Fang Heng did not say anything too important from his introduction. What he said next was the crucial point.
“I don’t think Boss Yuan can successfully make the Steamed Cold Noodles.”
