I'm in Wuha, and the whole internet is shipping me and Song Yuqi as a couple.

As soon as Lu Han said this, the poolside fell silent.

What about the ingredients?

Lu Han tilted her head back and took a swig of juice, then raised her hand to wipe the water from her mouth.

"I knew it; Wu Zheng always digs deeper pits than we anticipate."

Deng Chao, Chen He, and Lu Han turned their heads at the same time, their eyes all falling on Jiang Che and Song Yuqi.

One manages the people, and the other manages the money.

Song Yuqi pulled the bath towel over her shoulders, meeting the gazes of the three people, her toes quietly curling up inside her slippers.

Wu Zheng's move was too swift; she hadn't even calculated her dinner budget.

Jiang Che picked up a towel from the recliner, dried his hair, walked up to her, and held her slightly cool wrist.

"Go inside, it's getting windy."

The warmth of his palm touched hers, and Song Yuqi looked up at him before following him into the villa.

As soon as Chen He entered the room, he collapsed onto the sofa, resting his hands on his stomach and sinking into the cushions.

"It's over, it's all over."

"My stomach is already growling. Are we really going to have to eat the grass in the yard tonight?"

Deng Chao paced back and forth in the living room, supporting his back, glancing out of the yard after each round.

"I should have known better. How could Wu Zheng possibly let us have a comfortable vacation?"

"Trap! These are all traps!"

Jiang Che ignored their words and walked straight into the open kitchen.

Deng Chao and the other two immediately followed, and even Chen He, who was slumped on the sofa, got up by supporting himself on the armrest.

Jiang Che opened the double-door refrigerator.

A blast of cold air hit me in the face; the room was so clean there wasn't even a bottle of mineral water.

There was only one lemon on the middle shelf, with a yellow sticky note on the peel, and Wu Zheng's handwriting taking up most of the paper.

Here, you can make some water to drink. You're welcome.

The signature reads: "You all love, Director Wu."

Chen He rushed over and slammed the refrigerator door shut, his jaw clenched so hard it was stiff.

"I'll shove this lemon up Wu Zheng's nose sooner or later!"

Song Yuqi's shoulders trembled slightly, then she quickly pursed her lips.

She opened the fund bag and glanced inside; there was still over eight thousand yuan left.

The amount of money wasn't small, but no one knew how many other hidden fees Wu Zheng was charging for.

Jiang Che picked up his phone from the table and turned on the screen.

Deng Chao peeked his head over.

"What are you doing?"

Order takeout.

Chen He rushed back from beside the refrigerator and immediately straightened his back.

"Yes, we can order takeout!"

"I remember there's a seafood delivery service in Sanya that can deliver by helicopter!"

Deng Chao also moved to Jiang Che's other side and tapped the screen twice with his finger.

"That's good, I want king crab, at least three pounds!"

Song Yuqi gripped the zipper of the fund bag, her brows gradually furrowing.

Will the production team let us order?

Jiang Che unlocked his phone and went through his contacts.

"The rules only say that we have to cook dinner ourselves, but they don't say that we have to buy the ingredients from the production team."

He found the number, and just as his finger was about to press it, the loudspeaker in the living room came on first.

Wu Zheng cleared his throat, his voice brimming with smugness.

"Friendly reminder to all guests: to ensure a good viewing experience, signal jamming has been activated on this island."

"All communication devices not provided by the production team are temporarily unavailable."

The signal bars at the top of Jiang Che's phone jumped twice before returning to zero.

Chen He stared at the screen, his lips moving for a long time.

Deng Chao looked up at the broadcast and pressed his hand to his chest.

"Absolutely amazing, truly amazing."

"He even blocked this road."

The only sound in the living room was the air conditioner blowing air.

A drone flew in through the open French windows, circled above the coffee table, and released its mechanical gripper.

A rolled-up map fell onto the carpet.

Wu Zheng's voice came over the radio again.

"Would you like some dinner?"

"Brave adventurers, please follow the map to the island's dark night market."

Good luck to everyone!

Chen He bent down to pick up the map, unfolded it, glanced at it, and his fingers had already crumpled the corner of the paper.

"A black market late at night?"

"Why doesn't he just call it a 'black-hearted market'?"

Despite their complaints, none of the five of them intended to go hungry.

Half an hour later, following the route on the map, the group arrived at the open beach on the other side of the island.

Colorful lanterns hung between several wooden frames, torches were lined up along the beach, and several log stalls were scattered around.

The program crew members, wearing straw hats, stood behind the booth, each with a tense expression, allowing the guests to scrutinize them.

Song Yuqi stopped in her tracks as soon as she reached the first stall.

A regular ear of corn costs fifty yuan.

A chicken skewer with only three pieces of meat costs eighty yuan.

A palm-sized steak costs 300 yuan.

The seafood stalls were even more outrageous, with a Boston lobster weighing just over a pound priced at 1,200 yuan.

Song Yuqi stared at the price list twice, then turned to look for the camera.

"This is what you call a black market?"

"You might as well just rob us!"

Behind the camera, the staff couldn't help but laugh.

Chen He and Deng Chao had moved to the seafood stall, each guarding one of the tanks on the left and right, their eyes following the lobster claws as they moved back and forth.

Chen He rubbed his hands together, turned around and forced a smile at Song Yuqi.

"Yuqi, my dear Yuqi, boss lady."

"Look at this lobster, it's reaching out its paw at me."

Deng Chao pointed to the scallops and abalone next to him and chimed in.

"And these too, they look so lonely sitting here all alone."

"Let's buy them and put them on the grill for a family reunion."

Song Yuqi tightened her grip on the budget bag, took out a notepad and pen, and turned her back to start calculating the accounts.

"No, the funds must be spent on legitimate purposes."

She tapped the balance on the notebook with her pen, then glanced back at the two of them.

"Seafood is too expensive; buying just two items can cost several thousand."

"Our priority is to ensure that all five of us are well-fed; potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn are the best choices."

Deng Chao grabbed the edge of the tank, still trying to give the lobster a chance.

"But we're here on vacation."

"If you go to an island and don't eat seafood, isn't your vacation a waste?"

Jiang Che walked to Song Yuqi's side, took the notepad from her hand, looked at the budget on it, and then looked up at Deng Chao and Chen He.

"Listen to our housekeeper."

Song Yuqi's fingers froze in mid-air, her earlobes rapidly heating up.

She glanced at Jiang Che, about to laugh, but quickly lowered her head to organize the funds bag.

The live stream chat immediately filled the screen with comments.

"Jiang Che, you really dare to call us 'our housekeeper'!"

[Song Yuqi just chuckled, I saw it!]

[Chao-ge and He-ge, stop arguing. You two have no standing in this family.]

Jiang Che returned the notebook to Song Yuqi and stood half a step behind her.

With his support, Song Yuqi slung the budget bag over her shoulder and turned a new page.

"Brother Chao, Brother He, go to the vegetable stall."

"We need to buy potatoes, eggplants, and enoki mushrooms. The budget is 500 yuan, and we can't spend more than one yuan."

She then turned to Lu Han.

"Lu Han, go to the butcher's stall and buy some pork belly and sausages. Ask the price first, don't rush to pay."

At the end, Song Yuqi paused, her pen still holding the words.

"Jiang Che and I went to buy seasonings and staple food."

Deng Chao and Chen He exchanged a glance, then looked at Jiang Che standing behind her, and could only turn around and walk towards the vegetable stall.

Deng Chao was still not giving up. He went to the stall, leaned on the edge of the table, and raised his eyebrows at the female director who was playing the stall owner.

"Little sister, do I look familiar?"

The female director nodded, pursing her lips.

Deng Chao casually picked up two potatoes and weighed them in his palm.

"It's not easy for us to record this show, can you give us a 20% discount?"

The female director took two steps back and protected the price list with both hands.

"No, Brother Chao."

"Director Wu has given instructions: anyone who dares to offer discounts without permission will have their entire bonus deducted this month."

Deng Chao stood there for a moment, holding the potato, then turned to look at Chen He.

"See? The fickleness of human relationships."

Chen He picked up a handful of enoki mushrooms and examined them carefully for two seconds.

"Stop pretending, ask how much this costs first."

On the other side, Song Yuqi had already filled half a page with the prices of several stalls.

She compared the quantities back and forth, and then put all the things she had bought on the same table.

"Boss, three servings of enoki mushrooms for 100 is too expensive."

"I'll take another serving of shiitake mushrooms. You can give me a hundred, will you sell it to me?"

The stall owner glanced at the camera and straightened his back.

"I can't make the decision on the price set by Director Wu."

Song Yuqi put the enoki mushrooms back and turned to leave.

"Then let's go to the next one."

The stall owner reached out to stop her, his serious expression instantly crumbling.

"Wait, we can talk."

Song Yuqi turned back, opened her notebook, and continued calculating.

"We also have barbecue sauce; buy two bottles and get a free packet of dry seasoning."

"We're buying so much at once, and you're not even giving us a free gift. Who's going to patronize our business in the future?"

The stall owner looked at the ingredients on the table, then at the ledger in her hand, and finally nodded.

"Okay, I'll send you one pack."

Song Yuqi immediately added the items to the list, trying to suppress her smile several times.

Jiang Che followed behind her the whole time, occasionally taking the bags full of ingredients from her.

She would look up to confirm the price before making a cut, and after calculating a more economical combination, she would write the price down quickly and heavily.

Jiang Che watched her busy herself, neither urging her nor interfering.

After the last payment was made, Song Yuqi handed the ledger to him.

"Look, two thousand dollars."

"This is enough for seven or eight people, and I also took two bottles of drinks."

Jiang Che glanced at the page of paper filled with numbers she had written on, and reached out to brush away the stray hairs that were sticking to her face.

"sharp."

Song Yuqi's ears started to burn again, and she immediately closed the notebook.

"Of course, look who's in charge of the money."

When the five people returned to the villa carrying the groceries, Deng Chao and Chen He had completely changed their attitudes.

Chen He placed several bags of vegetables on the kitchen counter and clasped his hands together in a fist salute.

"Yuqi, from today onwards, you are my idol."

Deng Chao nodded in agreement and glanced into the bag containing the meat again.

"From now on, the family funds will be handed over to you without any objection."

Song Yuqi took off the money bag and put it in Jiang Che's hand.

"Come on, wash the vegetables first."

"Whoever steals a bite will have one less skewer for dinner."

Chen Hegang immediately withdrew his hand from the sausage.

The group quickly got to work.

Deng Chao and Chen He were in charge of washing the vegetables, Lu Han sat at the table skewering meat, and Song Yuqi counted the ingredients in the ledger.

Jiang Che pushed the grill into the yard, laid out the charcoal, and bent down to light it.

Flames leaped from between the charcoal pieces, and white smoke drifted away with the sea breeze.

Chen He came out carrying a basin of washed potatoes, and just as he was about to put it next to Jiang Che, he stopped in his tracks.

The villa's butler walked out of the living room, carrying a dark blue velvet wooden box in both hands.

He walked past the barbecue grill, went straight to Jiang Che and Song Yuqi, and bowed.

"Mr. Jiang, Ms. Song."

Song Yuqi put down the account book and looked at the wooden box.

The butler placed the wooden box steadily on the stone table between the two of them, then withdrew his fingers along the lid of the box.

"This is a special gift prepared for the two of you."

"I hope you two will enjoy this appetizer."