Playing the Eighth Route Army, the system is forcing this on me?

"Can you cook chicken?"

"Hmm!"

Director Ning raised an eyebrow and looked at Yi Zheng, who was wearing a coarse military uniform.

To be honest, it's really hard to find someone in Hengdian who can cook.

After all, once you enter this industry, you're basically destined to eat boxed lunches in Hengdian for the rest of your life.

Director Ning scratched his head.

I thought to myself, "I've lost so much money."

I thought this pretty boy was acting out a script during his live stream yesterday.

If I had known he was really good at cooking, I wouldn't have spent money to hire a chef today.

Director Ning pulled Yi Zheng to a corner.

"So, what happened during Li Sisi's live stream yesterday wasn't a script you guys orchestrated?"

Yi shook his head, his tone sincere.

"No, I was stewing chicken in the house yesterday when they just barged in."

"Not only did they smash the door to pieces, they also drank all the chicken soup."

Yi Zheng still finds the scene of the special police breaking down the door last night outrageous.

The room was filled with fully armed special police officers, drooling like babies who weren't even a month old.

If it weren't for the system's skills, he wouldn't have been able to trigger such a mass loss of control.

Director Ning exhaled a smoke ring and chuckled.

"But it doesn't really matter whether you can stew chicken or not, just leave that to the props team."

"I originally wanted the chef to stew it together, so that it could not only be used as a prop, but the brothers could also have a drink after the performance."

After Director Ning finished speaking, he took out a clay pot from behind him.

"Teacher Yi doesn't need to do this kind of rough work herself."

That's what they said.

Before he could finish speaking, Director Ning shoved the black clay pot into Yi Zheng's arms.

The production assistant instinctively facepalmed when she saw this.

Again.

Director Ning, that old fox, was being polite on the surface, but in reality, he wanted to save a hundred or so yuan by charging the chef extra.

Every penny saved on the production budget is a penny earned.

Since this kid offered to do the work, we might as well take advantage of it.

Yi Zheng caught the casserole steadily.

He was curious about it too.

The system actually said that you can make the most delicious chicken soup by simmering it in water.

Even he himself found it hard to believe.

This is a perfect opportunity to test the waters.

Yi Zheng followed the staff, turned around, walked to the corner, and set up the induction cooker.

I filled the pot halfway with water, pressed the start button, and fine bubbles rose from the bottom of the pot, with steam gradually rising.

This time, he didn't add any seasonings and just threw the cleaned whole chicken in.

On the other side, Director Ning was shouting instructions to the entire audience.

"Lights in position! Move the microphone half an inch to the left!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Yi Zheng was still sitting upright, staring intently at the water bubbling in the pot.

He walked over and patted Yi Zheng on the shoulder.

"Teacher Yi, just make a simple stew, it's just for show. We're just using it as a prop, no need to be so serious."

Yi Zheng glanced into the void.

The progress bar on the system interface emitted a faint blue glow, hovering just at seventy percent.

It's still 30% undercooked; the umami molecules haven't been fully extracted.

It's really a shame to remove the stove now.

After all, Yi Zheng had personally witnessed the quality of the chicken soup that was stewed yesterday.

But the director is right, it's just a prop.

It's just for show; there's no need to strive for perfection.

And if it's stewed too perfectly, it might tempt everyone's appetite.

Snap.

Thinking of this, he quickly turned off the induction cooker.

Before the steam had dissipated, Yi was carrying the casserole back to the center of the film set.

As soon as they got close, the main actors gathered around the octagonal table all stared intently at the clear chicken soup in the pot, which hadn't yet had its foam skimmed off.

Several male actors exaggeratedly pinched their noses.

The group had been harboring resentment since morning when they saw that Director Ning had hired a cook to stand in for Yi Zheng.

He's a young upstart; I don't know how well he acts, but he certainly has a big attitude.

Before the person even arrived at the film set, a stunt double was already in use.

Therefore, the group had no intention of giving Yi any face at this moment.

And there it was again, a pot of boiled pork belly with a few specks of oil floating on top, neither blanched nor cleaned of any unpleasant odor.

The group pretended to pinch their noses and sneered.

Is this supposed to be chicken soup?

"This is the chicken stew he was talking about? Is it really poisonous?"

Captain Wang squinted, toying with a prop teacup in his hand, his face full of mockery.

"Yeah, I just simmer it in a kettle for a couple of seconds and it'll be better than his."

The political commissar next to him chimed in.

"These young people nowadays will boast about anything to steal the spotlight."

"Sigh, it's really tough on him just for a little bit of traffic."

They were already resentful of Yi Zheng, who had suddenly appeared and stolen the spotlight.

Having finally caught the other party making a fool of themselves, they naturally wanted to kick them while they were down, showcasing their seniority and superiority.

The fat chef leaned against the wall outside the venue, arms crossed, laughing so hard his fat jiggled.

He yelled at Director Ning at the top of his lungs.

"Director, I said I'd do it. What's wrong with you spending an extra hundred or so dollars?"

"Look at his behavior, is that what you call knowing how to stew chicken?"

"You just boiled it all in water? You didn't even bother adding a single scallion!"

The cook felt relieved.

Trying to steal my job?

The footage will turn out terribly; let's see how the director handles it.

Li Sisi stood behind the monitor, her gaze never leaving Yi Zheng.

She drank the chicken soup that Yi Zheng stewed yesterday.

However, judging from today's level, it's not even in the same league as yesterday.

At this moment, she was also full of doubts and even a little disappointed.

Her nails dug into her palms as she recalled the uncontrollable heat she felt last night, and a blush rose to her cheeks.

I glanced down at my phone screen.

The chat room was already buzzing with excitement.

Is this all there is to it? Just a pot of boiled meat?

[Was yesterday's scene of a room full of police officers lining up to lick the bottom of a pot a scripted performance, paid for?]

[They've really gone to any lengths to get more views, it's disgusting!]

Director Ning glanced at the Rolex with annoyance.

The progress is behind schedule.

"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense!"

"No time for that. All departments, get ready, let's start filming!"

With the crisp sound of the clapperboard striking.

The atmosphere on set suddenly changed.

The actors, who had just been grinning and joking, lost their playful expressions like the tide receding.

Everyone instantly got into character, their faces serious as they waited for Yi Zheng to enter.

In this scene, Yi Zheng's character, Lao Feng, a cook, has his identity as a spy from the island nation completely exposed.

Commander Xue, seizing the opportunity, set up a trap, specifically requesting that Old Feng prepare chicken soup and add other dishes.

Old Feng mistakenly believed this was the perfect opportunity to wipe out the high command of the Eighth Route Army, so he secretly poisoned the chicken soup.

According to the script, everyone should have taken down Lao Feng in one fell swoop.

"Action!"

With Director Ning's shout of "Action!"

The camera zooms in.

Beside the Eight Immortals Table.

Several officials sat around the table, their faces seemingly smiling, but in reality, they exuded a murderous aura.

The curtain was lifted by a series of hurried footsteps.

The camera quickly panned, precisely capturing the dusty figure at the doorway.

Yi Zheng came running in, carrying a pot of plain chicken soup without even scallions.

Seeing that the atmosphere in the room was not right, all the cadres stood around the dining table with stern faces.

Yi Zheng's eyebrows twitched.

He forced a fawning smile onto his thick-browed, large-eyed face.

His back was hunched over in a humble curve.

The sound was so loud it echoed throughout the entire room.

"Haha, here comes the chicken soup!"