Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
She poured the essential seasonings into small saucers and re-arranged the saucers, so that it would look better in the pictures that they took.
Ye Xiaomo did not idle around either. He ran out to grab the SLR camera and skillfully set it up in the videotape mode.
It was obvious that this wasn’t his first time doing this.
After Ye Fei had arranged everything properly, she went over to fix the camera on a tripod stand.
Ye Xiaomo brought his footstool over.
Because he was short, he couldn’t reach the height that the camera was adjusted to.
However, he still insisted on participating from Ye Fei’s field of vision.
As a result, Ye Fei ordered a custom-made footstool for him.
The footstool was pre-installed with its own flight of steps, which were as wide as a small platform. This way, she would not have to worry about Ye Xiaomo falling off the footstool due to a moment of carelessness.
The materials of the footstool were very light; even Ye Xiaomo was able to carry it around easily.
When the preparations were done, Ye Xiaomo stood behind the SLR camera in a very professional manner.
Ye Fei reminded him, “Remember not to shoot my face, just shoot the hands.”
Since the video would be uploaded onto the internet, she was afraid that Xu Huizhen and Ye Ning would chance upon it.
As a result, from the very first time she started uploading videos, she insisted on not revealing her face—she didn’t even dare to speak. She relied on adding subtitles in the later editing phase. She relied on adding in subtitles during post-production. She had always been cautious like this from the very beginning.
But unexpectedly, this made her videos look fresh and clean. With the addition of the subtitles, her fans were also able to take down notes more conveniently.
This editing style of hers made her fans like her even more.
“I know that. I still remember,” Ye Xiaomo adjusted the angle of the camera lens skillfully.
It was just right for shooting Ye Fei’s hand movements and the chopping board.
Ye Fei placed the already thawed chicken wings on the chopping board, then she sliced two or three cuts on each side of the chicken wings—that were covered with skin—so that it would be easier to marinate.
Afterwards, she put the chicken wings into a small basin and added salt, cooking wine, dark soy sauce and white ground pepper.
Ye Xiaomo reminded her behind the camera, “Chilli powder! I want to eat it spicy.”
“I know,” Ye Fei complied and sprinkled some chilli powder into the mixture.
She didn’t know what was the matter with Ye Xiaomo either. Other people’s children didn’t dare to eat spicy stuff at this young age but this child, Ye Xiaomo, accepted everything—sour, sweet, bitter and spicy—in his food.
Subsequently, Ye Fei placed chopped-up spring onions and sliced ginger pieces into the chicken wings in order to remove any fishy smell.
After marinating the chicken wings for 10 minutes, she squeezed a few drops of lemon juice into it before lowering them into a frying pan, sautéing them till both sides had turned golden.
However, Ye Fei added an additional step—which was to fry both sides of the chicken wings again so that they would turn out crispy and golden. This would elevate the texture of it.
Then, she added a little bit of salt and light soy sauce inside before putting in a whole can of coca-cola.
Layering it with three to four pieces of rock sugar made the chicken wings look even better.
After that, she started lowering the intensity of the fire to retain its juiciness. Once they were done waiting for the broth to thicken, she brushed the enticing color onto the chicken wings.
Using tongs, Ye Fei picked up the chicken wings and arranged them neatly in the center of the plate.
Ye Xiaomo immediately brought the camera over and took a close-up shot of the chicken wings professionally.
As Ye Fei looked at Ye Xiaomo’s proficient movements, she couldn’t help but think that her fans would probably never imagine that those so-called compelling videos were all recorded by Ye Xiaomo.
“Ye Xiaofei, quickly tear a chicken wing apart!” Ye Xiaomo reminded.
Ye Fei picked up a piping-hot wing and tore it apart from the middle.
They watched the crispy skin—wrapped in an enticing caramel-colored paste—separate slowly, bit by bit, to reveal the tender flesh inside.
Ye Fei could even hear the sound of Ye Xiaomo swallowing his saliva so she said, “I’ll bring the rice out and stir-fry another dish of vegetables so that we can start eating already.”
Ye Xiaomo went off to store the camera and footstool properly.
While waiting for him to return, Ye Fei had already finished frying the vegetables and taken out a cold salad dish from the refrigerator.
Both of their dinners were just that simple.
Ye Xiaomo picked up a chicken wing eagerly and took a big bite from it. The corners of his mouth were all covered with juices.
“It’s so yummy! I love to eat the crispy sides of fried chicken wings the most!” Ye Xiaomo had just finished speaking when he stopped all of a sudden.
He looked at Ye Fei with a pleasantly surprised expression, “There’s the taste of lemon inside! Sour and fragrant, it removes the greasiness so well!”
Ye Fei chuckled. “This is my secret recipe! Other people don’t cook it like this, but since I added coca-cola and rock sugar inside, the chicken wings lean towards the sweeter side. However, by putting a little lemon juice into the mixture, it will taste fresher and tastier!”
Ye Xiaomo shook his head as he said, “What a pity! Others won’t be able to eat this.”
“Didn’t I just record a video? As long as they follow my method, they will be able to put together the same dish,” Ye Fei said with a smile.
“It’s not the same. It definitely won’t be the same taste as the ones you make,” Ye Xiaomo was somewhat regretful.
He wanted to let more people know just how delicious Ye Fei’s cooking was.
After eating, Ye Fei put all of the frying pan and plates into the dishwasher.
Ye Xiaomo nestled on the sofa to watch his favorite cartoon while Ye Fei sat next to him with her laptop and edited the video that they had just shot today.
Just as she muted her chatter with Ye Xiaomo in the original video, the house doorbell rang.
Ye Fei hurriedly rose up to open the door. She saw her good friend Li Xiaoyun appear at the entrance.
Li Xiaoyun was older than her by two years. She used to be Ye Fei’s customer and loved eating the dishes that Ye Fei made the most, so she always ordered from her.
Over time, the two of them grew closer to each other and even became good friends.
When Ye Fei was raising Ye Xiaomo alone in B City, Li Xiaoyun helped her out a lot.
When Ye Fei was about to give birth, it was Li Xiaoyun who accompanied her.
It was also Li Xiaoyun who handled the task of entrusting someone else with doing Ye Xiaomo’s household registration.
Upon seeing her, Li Xiaoyun huffed angrily, “Ye Fei, you must fight to the end with Shi Jiumei this time!”
“What’s wrong?” Ye Fei was curious. What did Shi Jiumei do again?
Shi Jiumei was the same as her—she was also a culinary vlogger.
“Godmother!” Ye Xiaomo also ran over while yelling.
“Oh, my baby!” Upon seeing Ye Xiaomo, Li Xiaoyun’s heart melted.
She carried Ye Xiaomo up and gave him a big kiss on his tiny face.
While carrying Ye Xiaomo into the living room, she told Ye Fei, “That Shi Jiumei entered the industry later than you and had to copy you in all areas. She just had to pit her videos against yours. Whenever you get a good response from a dish, she just has to produce a so-called high-end version, as though hers is more premium than what you made.”
“Today, someone suddenly mentioned that the food isn’t delicious at all when they followed the method that you taught them in the videos,” Li Xiaoyun ranted. “Moreover, it wasn’t just one person saying such a thing. This person started it, but afterwards—many people with the same mindset joined the fray, saying that the food only looked good in the shots, but wasn’t edible at all.”
“The dishes that Xiao Fei cooks are certainly delicious!” Ye Xiaomo was outraged on Ye Xiaofei’s behalf.
“Of course, I eat them often too. How can I not know?” Li Xiaoyun agreed. “Those people must be the Internet Water Army1 that were employed by Shi Jiumei because they even said that with the same dish, when they followed Shi Jiumei’s method, it was much tastier than yours.”
Li Xiaoyun was furious, “Shi Jiumei cooks by copying your methods! Now they say that Shi Jiumei’s cooking is tastier than yours? They must be crazy! The most disgusting thing is that Shi Jiumei actually replied to thank them and that in the future, she will definitely put in more effort to research the cuisines and teach them to everyone. What kind of research can she do? She’s been researching your cuisines!”