From unemployment in crosstalk to top star in Chinese entertainment

The pond wasn't very big, just a square shape. The water in the pond was yellow and murky, almost like the water in the Yellow River.

"Are you sure there are fish?" Qiwei observed for a moment, then gestured with her chin towards Pengpeng.

"Of course," Peng Peng said confidently.

This morning, while brushing his teeth in the yard, he personally witnessed the production crew dumping two large buckets of lively fish into the pond.

As soon as Dahua entered the pond, he mischievously slapped the water's surface with the wooden handle of the fishing net, splashing water around.

With a "bang!", Qiwei, who was standing nearby, couldn't dodge in time, and several mud flowers appeared on her black waders.

"Dahua!" Qiwei exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Da Hua chuckled.

Pengpeng slipped and slid every few steps, as if he were walking on soap. After finally regaining his balance, he realized that he hadn't taken the fishing net.

"Teacher He, when you come down, could you pass me a fishing net?"

Peng Peng shouted loudly.

Tong Liya followed behind Yu Liang, holding a fishing net, walking very carefully. Her steps were small, and she would test the waters before taking each step, as if she were stepping on a landmine.

Qiwei walked beside her, shouting as she went, "Slow down, I can't keep up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his foot slipped.

"Why--!"

She leaned forward abruptly, her hands flailing wildly in the air, managing to grab Yu Liang's arm, her entire upper body resting on his shoulder.

Yu Liang was startled by Qi Wei's sudden hug and staggered.

Fortunately, he has a damper—Little Cool.

What struck him as odd was how small the home button on the Seven Micro tablet was.

"That was close." Qiwei breathed a sigh of relief, but instead of letting go, she squeezed his arm.

She looked up: "Wow, it's pretty sturdy."

Yu Liang subtly pulled her arm away: "Sister Qiwei, are you slacking off or touching me?"

"Aren't you just a 'Yu' fish too?" Qi Wei said without changing her expression. "And you're even bigger."

Tong Liya couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The mud at the bottom of the pond was of varying hardness, and it took a while to get used to each step. Tong Liya stepped into a deep pit, and her body subconsciously sank forward, her upturned buttocks bumping right into Yu Liang.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"It's alright, Sister Ya Ya."

"Why don't we travel side by side?" Yu Liang said, afraid that the two of them would run into each other again.

"Okay." Tong Liya nodded.

The two fished side by side, less than an arm's length apart. Occasionally their arms would touch, then they would move away. The reflection on the water was dazzling, but Tong Liya always felt that she could see that white shirt in her peripheral vision.

"There are fish here!" Da Hua suddenly shouted, so loudly that He Jiong on the pond embankment covered his ears.

He slammed the net down into the water, splashing water and splattering mud everywhere. When he lifted the net, a palm-sized crucian carp was thrashing its tail wildly at the bottom, its scales gleaming silver in the sunlight.

"Got it! Got it!" Da Hua held up the net, spun around in place, and splashed mud and water all over Peng Peng's face.

Peng Peng wiped his face, not to be outdone, and took two steps further into the water. He stretched the net into the water and slowly pushed it forward. After pushing it five or six meters, he suddenly lifted it up, looked down, and saw that it was empty.

They pushed and lifted it again, but it was still empty.

"No, where's the fish?" Pengpeng muttered.

"You're making too much noise," Yu Liang said casually from behind. "You scared all the fish away."

Pengpeng gave him a pitiful look, softened his movements, and tried again. This time, the bottom of the net finally had weight.

A crucian carp, even bigger than Da Hua's, was thrashing about in the net.

"I caught one too!" Pengpeng held up the net, his eyes narrowing into slits with a smile.

Yu Liang's side of the net also sank a bit.

He didn't rush to lift it; he first moved it forward half a meter, and then suddenly lifted his wrist.

A fairly large carp was scooped out of the water, its tail thrashing against the net frame as it struggled incessantly.

Water droplets splashed everywhere, landing right on Tong Liya's face.

"Ah." She instinctively closed her eyes for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Sister Ya Ya." Yu Liang quickly lowered the net.

"It's nothing." Tong Liya opened her eyes, wiped the water off her face, and looked down at the fish in the net. "This one is quite big."

"Sister Ya Ya, would you like to try lifting it?" Yu Liang handed the net handle to her.

Tong Liya hesitated for a second before reaching out to take it. The fish suddenly thrashed its tail in the net, causing the net frame to shake. She cried out "Ah!" and grabbed the net handle with both hands to steady it.

"It's so heavy."

Qiwei was not far away, and stirred the left side, but nothing happened.

I stirred the right side, but still nothing.

She lifted the net to look at it; the bottom of the net was clean, without even a speck of mud, sand, or small stones.

"I give up." She slung the net over her shoulder and announced loudly, "This pond is incompatible with me. I'll just eat it all."

He was in a bind and didn't manage to get anything. He glanced around.

It was observed that Liang, Pengpeng, and Dahua had all caught fish.

"Three is more than enough."

"Let's go upstairs, Teacher Huang is waiting for the fish to be cooked."

The group, carrying their fishing nets, trudged back through the deep water. Yu Liang found some grass and twisted it into a rope.

The fish was then threaded onto the rope.

The fish occasionally flicked its tail, slapping it against his leather trousers.

Pengpeng walked ahead of him, glanced back, and said enviously, "Your fish is a whole size bigger than mine."

"I was lucky," Yu Liang said.

Not far away, two girls had just gotten out of the show's SUV, each carrying a suitcase.

"Sister Honey, the environment here is really nice." Dilireba, wearing a black tank top and a short cardigan, looked around.

Yang Mi frowned slightly. Because the sunlight was too bright, she couldn't help but put her left hand above her forehead and looked into the distance: "It's okay, it's just a bit sunny."

Yang Mi was wearing a plaid shirt and high-waisted straight-leg jeans, with her hair tied in a ponytail. She didn't look like she was rushing to a job, but rather like she was on vacation.

He Jiong was the first to see two people dragging suitcases at the end of the path, and said warmly, "Hey, where did you two come from?"

"Teacher He!" Yang Mi walked over quickly and opened her arms.

"No, no, no, I'm still dirty," He Jiong hurriedly waved his hand as he approached.

He had just come out of the pond, covered in mud.

Yang Mi didn't care about any of that; she leaned in and gave him a quick hug.

Reba then greeted him with "Hello, Teacher He".

"Hey, you must be so hot," He said with an embarrassed smile.

"Welcome to the Mushroom House."

"Mimi." Tong Liya walked onto the ridge, her rain boots crunching on the dry mud.

"Ya Ya." Yang Mi smiled and went over, and the two naturally hugged.

Qiwei popped up from behind: "Mimi!"

"Seventh Sister!" Yang Mi released Tong Liya and turned to Qi Wei, "Why are you so tanned?"

"What did you say!" Qiwei pretended to be angry.

Then he pretended to smear the mud on his hands onto Yang Mi's face.

The group burst into laughter.

Da Hua and Peng Peng went up to greet her, and Reba smiled and replied "Hello," but her gaze had already passed over the crowd and landed on Yu Liang.

Yang Mi turned around, her gaze sweeping across the crowd before settling on Yu Liang.

Yu Liang was seen with a blade of grass in his hand and mouth, and the carp tied with a rope was still in his hand.

"Yu Liang, why are you here so early?" Yang Mi called out.

"Yeah, Yu Liang, I thought you'd wait for me and Sister Mi," Reba chimed in.

"I just wanted to experience the life I've always longed for as soon as possible," Yu Liang said with a smile.

"You know each other?" Tong Liya looked at Yu Liang, then at Yang Mi and Reba, quite surprised.

Judging from their tone of voice, the three seemed to know each other quite well.

"I was a judge on 'The Actor's Singing,' and he was a contestant," Yang Mi said casually. "I originally wanted to sign him because we were close by, but Xin Li beat me to it."

She glanced at Yu Liang, a half-smile playing on her lips.

Yu Liang was speechless. Wasn't this issue settled that very night?

Why bring it up again?

"Alright, alright, let's go inside and talk," He Jiong said at the right moment. "Teacher Huang is waiting for the fish to cook."

Da Hua was very good at handling things. Seeing that Reba was carrying her own suitcase, he quickly went up to her and said, "Reba, wow, you look so beautiful."

"Let me carry your suitcase for you."

"Oh, thank you," Reba quickly thanked him.

"Sister Honey, I'll carry yours too." Da Hua stretched out another hand.

"No need, you can't carry both of them." After saying that, Yang Mi turned to Yu Liang, "Yu Liang, can you help me carry them?"

Yu Liang exclaimed, "Sister Mi, you're new here, you don't know, I chopped firewood all morning, and now my back is a bit sore, I can't lift anything."

"Besides, I'm still carrying fish in my hand."

The fish flicked its tail, splashing water onto Yang Mi's shoes.

Yang Mi looked down at her shoes, then looked up at Yu Liang.

"Dahua is strong," Yu Liang gestured towards Dahua, "Let him carry it. He'll be happy to carry two, since it's the same as carrying one."

Yang Mi glanced at Yu Liang but didn't say anything.

But Dahua, who was carrying the suitcase, reacted very strongly.

He couldn't help but glance back at Yu Liang, thinking:

No, bro, what's wrong with you? So you're saying I wasn't carrying any fish?

He hurriedly came to the rescue, saying, "You are both guests. How can you expect a guest to pull another guest's suitcase?"

"Give it to me, I'll do it, Mimi," He said with a embarrassed smile.

Peng Peng happened to see this and hurriedly ran forward. "Teacher He, let me do it. You can help me get the fish."

"Okay, sure." He Jiong nodded and was about to reach out his hand.

"Never mind, you shouldn't get involved, just give it to me, Teacher He."

Yu Liang took Peng Peng's fish from his hands.

And so, Yu Liang followed behind carrying the two fish, and Reba somehow ended up next to him.

"Liang-ge," she whispered, "is the Mushroom House fun?"

Yu Liang glanced at her. "Not bad, quite interesting."

"What's wrong!"

Reba looked around and whispered again, "I've heard that Teacher Huang Lei is an exceptional cook."

She couldn't help but swallow as she spoke.

Yu Liang glanced at her, then exclaimed in surprise, "No, it's hot, isn't it? Turns out you're quite the glutton!"

The group, carrying fish, nets, and suitcases, chatted and laughed as they entered the courtyard of the Mushroom House. Huang Lei was standing in front of the earthen stove, frying tofu, the spatula clattering against the iron pan.

"Teacher Huang, look who's here!" He Jiong pushed open the courtyard gate, his voice three octaves higher than usual.

Huang Lei looked up and saw Yang Mi's smiling face through the cooking fumes. He smiled too: "Oh, Mimi's here?"

"Welcome, welcome!"

"Hello, Teacher Huang!" Yang Mi walked over quickly, stood by the stove and glanced inside. "What are you making? Teacher Huang, it smells so good!"

"Braised tofu." Huang Lei flipped the pan. "You guys go wash up first, the rice will be ready in a bit."

Reba called out "Hello, Teacher Huang" from behind, and Huang Lei nodded to her, "Hello, Reba."

Then he glanced at the group of people who had just come out of the pond: "Did you catch any fish?"

Yu Liang held up the carp in her hand: "It's right here, Teacher Huang."

"Not small." Huang Lei nodded in satisfaction. "Put it in the kitchen sink, I'll deal with it later."

Several people washed their hands and feet, rinsing off the mud. As Tong Liya bent down to wash her hands, Yu Liang was squatting by the sink putting fish in, their shoulders less than an arm's length apart.

Tong Liya suddenly said, "Thanks for what I said earlier in the pond."

Yu Liang looked up: "What are you thanking me for?"

"They helped me up."

Yu Liang smiled, recalling the scene of Qi Wei hanging on his arm. He thought to himself that Qi Wei almost couldn't even turn on her tablet, and she didn't even come to thank him.

By the time he had washed all three fish and brought them to Huang Lei, Huang Lei had already plated the braised tofu and was cracking eggs into a bowl.

"What are you doing, Teacher Huang?" Yu Liang asked curiously.

Huang Lei stirred the egg mixture loudly, then looked up at him and said, "Sweet and sour pork."

Yu Liang stood by the stove and watched as Huang Lei poured the egg mixture over the half-cooked meat slices and put them in the pot.

"Salt."

"sugar."

"vinegar."

Huang Lei moved nimbly.

Then he frowned, feeling that something was missing.

"Give me some more hawthorn berries."

Yu Liang watched helplessly as the hawthorns, which were originally meant to be made into candied hawthorns, were thrown into the pot and rolled around with the meat slices.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then he noticed the cameras set up not far away.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "Teacher Huang Lei, your cooking looks so delicious! It reminds me of the taste of home."

"Oh? You're from Northeast China?" Huang Lei became interested when he heard someone praise his cooking skills.

"No, my hometown is Ciqikou in the south of the city."

Upon hearing this, Qi Wei immediately became interested, "Then you must have beaten up Da Zhang Wei a lot when you were kids!"

In the courtyard, Yang Mi and Tong Liya were sitting side by side on a bench talking.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two people across the courtyard wall. Reba squatted a short distance away, playing with the two Shiba Inus.

Pengpeng handed the washed scallions, ginger, and garlic to Teacher Huang.

"Just put it on that table, Pengpeng."

"Teacher He, could you please bring out the smoked fish sauce that I prepared inside?" Huang Lei looked up and said to He Jiong.

Smoked fish!

Upon hearing that delicious food was coming soon, Reba's eyes lit up instantly.

"Sister Qiwei, I heard you ordered the smoked fish?"

Qiwei nodded. "Yes, I loved smoked fish when I was little."

Before long, Huang Lei had prepared a meal.

Pengpeng and Dahua served rice to everyone.

Everyone took their seats.