IUILBRC Chapter 27: Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs

Chapter 27: Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo wants to eat sweet and sour pork ribs TvT

 

After sending the video to Sugar Sugar, Gu YuMian began to prepare for the advertisement. Today was Friday and it was four o’clock in the afternoon.

“The location was Galaxy Tower in Area C…” Gu YuMian packed a small bag with a milk bottle, hot water bottle and other things, and lifted the baby panda into his arms. “YuanYuan, you’re going out with me today, and I’m going to work hard for a while.”

Last time when he sent the snow leopard to school, he had been gone for less than an hour, so Gu YuMian dared to leave little Tangyuan at home alone. But this time, he would be gone for at least several hours, so Gu YuMian thought about it and brought the baby panda with him.

“Chii?” The baby panda held the milk bottle and sucked in a daze. After Gu YuMian picked him up, he rubbed Gu YuMian’s cheek with his round head happily. Obviously, he didn’t understand what Gu YuMian was saying.

“Please ask the school to send Xue Tuan to the Galaxy Tower after classes. There will be no one at home.”

For more than a week since the snow leopard started attending school, Gu YuMian had tried his best to pick up the snow leopard in person every day, but occasionally he would ask the school for help. The high tuition included transportation, so there was no problem.

When everything was ready, Gu YuMian set out with the baby panda.

Half an hour later, Galaxy Tower.

Revolving door, smooth marble floor—the hall of the Galaxy Tower looked magnificent and bright. This was the most important shooting place for advertisements, magazines and photos in the Upper Urban District. There were many handsome men and beautiful women or animals with excellent appearances in their original shape.

Even in a place with such a high average face value, Gu YuMian’s appearance was outstanding — perhaps due to his special temperament.

Gu YuMian himself didn’t know that when he was standing out, he had a kind of atmosphere of being introverted, after years of working with animals. His crow-like eyelashes were drooping, gentle, but at the same time, he still looked a little fascinating.

As he stood in the hall waiting for a few minutes with the baby panda who looked like a human baby, the amount of people who stopped by him went up. Others came up and handed out business cards to ask him if he had signed on with another company, how old he was and whether he wanted to be an intern. After knowing that he was a human, they were shocked and embarrassed.

“Mr. Gu, come with me,” the advertising crew sent a staff member over to help relieve the siege. The man looked at the sleeping baby in his arms and asked, “This is Mr. Gu’s child? Do you need someone to accompany him later?”

Gu YuMian had to bring him to the studio because he was in a special situation and couldn’t keep the two children alone at home for a long period of time, and couldn’t find someone to trust with their care. He had said so in advance.

“Please, if you can, I hope Yuanyuan can be in my sight.” Gu YuMian nodded.

The staff originally had an inexplicable affection for Gu YuMian. Seeing that Gu YuMian himself was carrying a baby, they immediately filled in a sad script that his wife died of illness and this single father had to broadcast live to earn money for his son. The staff felt very sad.

“Mn, I’ll ask our life assistant to help you with the baby. She’s experienced.”

They chatted and walked into the elevator. Just as the door of the elevator was about to close, a man stepped in. The man’s appearance was a middle-aged man, with heavy lifting lines and a serious expression. He was saying, “… Ah, yes. It’s Takk. He should have been ejected. What, the record had been deleted again?!”

Hearing the word ‘Takk,’ Gu YuMian subconsciously raised his ears. Seeing someone else in the elevator, the man stopped talking and hung up.

“Mr. Xu.” The staff greeted the man.

Ershisi Guo had been missing for a long time. Xu Kelai was in a mess and had no time to spare with being polite. He nodded unconsciously. His line of vision passed over the staff member and landed on Gu YuMian’s face and then the baby in his arms, and quickly moved away.

Xu Kelai was Ershisi Guo’s agent.

Bringing up such a famous star as Ershisi Guo was the peak of his career and it brought him numerous honors and benefits, but recently he had suffered an unprecedented crisis. There was already a clue, but a week ago, all relevant information and records were suddenly deleted, and the clue was broken again. Ershisi Guo had been missing for so long. It was reasonable to call the police, but…

Alarming the police would surely result in the public coming to know of his disappearance, and various public opinions would be harmful to the reputation and commercial value of Ershisi Guo. Finally, Xu Kelai pressed on, and continued to secretly search for him.

Seeing that he had been able to schedule Ershisi Guo’s schedule out for two months without taking a break, Xu Kelai was more like a businessman who worked for the benefit of himself rather than for the sake of the artist.

“…”

The elevator got to the 13th floor where the man got off. Gu YuMian couldn’t help looking back.

The staff looked at him curiously and explained, “That’s Mr. Xu, very strict… But also very powerful, he brought out the current most popular superstar.”

“The most popular superstar?”

“Yeah, Danny.” People and fans in their circle didn’t like Ershisi Guo’s real name, because it was too weird. Danny was the character name from Ershisi Guo’s famous movie, which later became his nickname. The staff raised their chin to the huge billboard outside the window and was a little proud, “That one.”

Gu YuMian took a look at the billboard. He didn’t expect that the pop star was a little boy of nine years old. He was wearing braces and pants, and a pair of cool sunglasses to represent a luxury brand.

“He’s lovely,” Gu YuMian poked the soft cheek of the sleeping baby, and Tangyuan snored and blew a snot bubble. “My little Tangyuan looks a little like this big star.”

“Don’t say that. He looks a little more like you.” The staff member laughed, “Your child is also very cute, lucky.”

Gu YuMian was very happy and hugged little Tangyuan. He wished the staff could say more. Others praising his cubs made him several times happier than himself being praised, which was the same for all parents in the world.

The studio had been set up, but the director seemed to have some delays and hadn’t arrived yet. The coordinator took a look at him and said, “Here’s the anchor from Starry Sky, the makeup artist… Oh, he doesn’t need makeup. It’s all right.”

Gu YuMian, “???”

“If you grow up looking like this, we don’t need to waste our foundation.” The person next to Gu YuMian explained in good faith.

Gu YuMian, “……” If they said so…

The script had been sent to Gu YuMian two days in advance. He had seen it many times. At this time, he opened the document on his optical computer and began to read while waiting. After a while, the director still hadn’t arrived. Instead, a call came to his optical computer first.

“Hello?”

“Galaxy Tower, is it? Your child is here too,” said the other side, and after a moment’s silence, “We’re almost there. Come downstairs.”

Gu YuMian didn’t respond for a second, “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“…”

On the other end of the phone, cold sweat slipped down Fennick’s forehead — as soon as this sentence came out, he could clearly see with his naked eye that the air pressure around His Majesty had dropped a little lower and his thin lips were tightened. Just after a video conference, he had been annoyed by the old men in the cabinet. Now he was grumpy.

“Shuo Han.” The man said coldly, “Forgot?”

Gu YuMian remembered, but he was very wronged. He took a look around him, held his cell phone, went to the stairway and pressed the button for the elevator, “Mr. Shuo, I haven’t forgotten. It’s because you said so little to me and I didn’t hear from you for a while — I don’t mind if you talk more to me in the future.”

Shuo Han, “……”

In the future?

His human… wanted to stick to him?

Shuo Han held his optical computer in one hand, his eyelids drooped lazily, his appearance was still careless, and the satisfaction that emerged in his grey blue eyes was inadvertently revealed.

It was much like a beast that was about to get angry being suddenly comforted in an instant, and couldn’t help showing a little satisfaction of a big cat.

Fennick, “……”

Once again, Mr. Gu had a high EQ. The ability of crisis management was excellent.

 

Five minutes later.

“Xue Tuan.” The little snow leopard sat at the front desk waiting for Gu YuMian, like a rich cat, and yawned lazily. The look in his eyes when he glanced over made Gu YuMian think he was adorable.

Gu YuMian also held the sleeping little Tangyuan in his arms, let the snow leopard jump onto his shoulder, and then asked the front desk lady with a little doubt, “Has the gentleman who dropped off my child left?”

The girl was stunned. Gentleman? Was that the man with sunglasses who looked like Mr. Fennick? She nodded, “Just left.”

“Mn, thank you.” Gu YuMian nodded and took the children back to the elevator. He could not help sighing. He had wanted to thank Shuo Han face to face. Maybe he was really angry?

Back on the thirteenth floor, the director had arrived. The director’s appearance was a mature woman with big wavy, curly hair, and flaming red lips. She didn’t look as picky and mean as the legend said, but her gaze when she looked at Gu YuMian didn’t seem friendly.

“Gu YuMian.” She flipped through Gu YuMian’s information at will and threw it aside, “Aren’t you a human anchor? Single with children, too. Such vulnerable things. Before shooting, I will say that there will be no green lights for you, no matter whether you are a vulnerable group or not. I don’t care if you are famous online or not. If you don’t meet my expectations, you can go away.”

Gu YuMian, “……”

The surrounding staff immediately cast the eyes of heartache and sympathy, while some looked on like they were watching a good play.

The little snow leopard sitting on Gu YuMian’s shoulder was not happy. He sat up straight and looked at the director coldly. Gu YuMian quickly pacified him.

Actually, the director was right. Gu YuMian guessed that she represented the voice of many people.

That’s right.

At this moment, the internal discussion group of the advertising group was also constantly giving hints — there was such a live director sitting in the town, and they usually didn’t dare to speak loudly at work, so they just quietly set up a group to gossip online.

[Lu Daxian (lights): This anchor just came here and was beaten by the Queen. It’s terrible. OTZ]

[Anna (make-up): I like him so much. When I just got close to him, my tail almost couldn’t hide. His face and temperament are amazing. I really want a way of communication! But in a word, how long can he last? Last little star’s record was half an hour.]

[Blue Blue (logistics): Although he looks okay, I really don’t like humans. The Queen’s words are not wrong. Many human beings have no ability to rely on the weak groups to treat them well. PS, I guess twenty minutes.]

[A Salted Fish (props): 35 minutes.]

…

Gu YuMian carefully listened to the requirements and interpretation of the guide speech, prepared a little and started shooting. In the interstellar era, the threshold for advertising had also declined, and the system automatically captured the angle and did the fine-tuning, which did not require a high displacement for an actor.

They start shooting for the first time.

This was an advertisement to promote the fully automatic kitchen system. The studio was also built into a semi-open kitchen like the one he had at home. Gu YuMian put on his apron, and put an onion, ginger, garlic, radish and various other ingredients in front of him.

The shooting adapted as he moved to complete the segment first, then there would be the dubbing, editing and processing later.

Xiao Dao made a circle with her fingers and Gu YuMian smiled at the camera, “Hello, everyone, I’m here to make dinner for my children today. This dish is called sweet and sour ribs.”

This was what he had discussed with the crew in advance, and the kitchen system had been set up for him.

Gu YuMian washed the prepared spare ribs with water, put them into the pot, let the kitchen system automatically fill the pot with water to boil, and then he held a big spoon to skim the floating froth. The spring onion and ginger were prepared early. After the spring onion was washed, it was cut into segments. The ginger was cut into slices and neatly stacked in a bowl for later use.

The kitchen system automatically poured out the water for the ribs, and then added fresh water. Gu YuMian bent his eyes to the light screen of the kitchen system beside the kitchen counter and said, “Thank you.”

The two words “thank you” appeared on the screen.

The added clear water in the pot gradually started to heat up. Gu YuMian then put in the spare ribs. He put the sliced onion and ginger into the pot and continued to cook for a set time.

“While we cook the ribs, we’ll mix the juice we’ll use later.”

The assistant director, wearing a holographic device, looked at the picture with great concentration. And the director leaned back a little bit, her face was not clear.

Gu YuMian added cooking wine, three spoonfuls of soy sauce, a little sugar and vinegar into the bowl, then added some water, and mixed them well. When a ‘ding dong’ sound prompted, signalling that the ribs were cooked for enough time, Gu YuMian marinated them in the sauce and quickly tasted them.

With the help of the kitchen system, all the steps were going fast. Gu YuMian’s action was not tight or slow, everything was handled in order. It was a pleasure to watch the white and slender fingers holding the knife and cutting the onion, ginger and garlic.

Gu YuMian added a proper amount of olive oil into the hot pot, and directly fried the ribs until they were slightly golden on both sides. The marinated ribs made a sizzling sound when they came in contact with the hot oil. The hot steam floated up, and the sweet and sour fragrance was mixed with the smell of fried ribs which were slightly crispy on the surface.  ¹

Even people who didn’t wear a holographic device could smell it directly.

[Anna (make-up): It’s a little fragrant now. Saliva can’t help but secrete.]

[Pudding Meow (photography assistant): I just wore a holographic device. He smiled and said thank you to the light screen of the kitchen system. I was really electrified! There is a kind of feeling that the heartbeat slows down for a while. It’s lovely. I hope the later clip can keep this shot.]

[Lu Daxian (light): I’m really hungry!! And just looking at his movements are good for the heart and steady. I want to live with him, I’m going to have a meal after work.]

[A Salted Fish (props): It’s almost been five minutes. I haven’t called the card yet. Can I extend my time?]

At present, everything seemed to be going very smooth. It was a little inconceivable.

This was not the case. The assistant director could see the director’s expression at a glance and knew that she was already thinking about when to call the card. It was just a matter of time.

But…

“I think we can use this,” the assistant director lowered his voice and played it back to a certain second for the director to see. “Here, the interaction with the kitchen system is not in the script, but he thought about it. It worked, didn’t it?”

In that lens, the golden red light came in from the side. The young man in a white shirt held the spoon in his hand and bent down to thank the light screen with a smile.

Gu YuMian was born with a beautiful appearance full of smoke and fire. The glow of the setting sun on his eyes and brows was blooming, and the color was steaming. The whole picture had an extremely moving beauty.

In particular, the kitchen system timely said “thank you” in return. The interaction of just two or three seconds suddenly brought the cold conceptual system to life.

There was no lack of a sense of life, a sense of humanity, a sense of technology.

Director, “No need, it’s a waste of time.”

It was true that those two or three seconds were very good, but the whole thing did not meet her expectations.

At this time, there was a shooting accident.

The albino beast brought by Gu YuMian, despite the obstruction of the life assistant, slowly stepped into the camera from the side, and his tail swept over Gu YuMian’s ankle. Suddenly, he jumped onto the cooking platform, and lazily jumped up to Gu YuMian’s shoulder.

Director: “…”

She had been tired and fidgety for a long time due to this small advertisement. She had eaten fast food for several days and just wanted to finish work soon. She couldn’t help pinching the bridge of her nose. The sound of “Cut!” was just stuck in her throat and her hands raised——

In the shot, Gu YuMian scooped out the fried ribs until they were golden and crisp. Boiled the jujube red sugar and rice vinegar directly under the low heat in the pot to make the sugar vinegar juice. The crystal clear sugar vinegar juice was spread on a layer in the pot, and he put the fried ribs directly into the pot and stir fried them, before he added a small half-spoon of salt to improve the taste.

Gu YuMian’s wrists slightly moved, so that the ribs were evenly wrapped with the sweet and sour juice. Finally, he collected the juice. When collecting the juice, he added a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, and the dish was about to be completed.

The whole dish was bright and attractive. The sweet and sour flavor of the pork ribs spread in the air with the sound of residual hot oil bubbling making a ‘zizi’ noise. Just one breath could make people’s stomach full of greedy insects!

“…”

The director’s hand fell down.

No, no calling cut. Just for this dish, she wanted to at least wait for him to dish it out.

She swallowed and slowly sat back in place.