Xu Zifan was also surprised that Feng Xuanqi came to pick him up at the airport. After getting into the car, he put his hand on the window and looked at her speechlessly, asking, "You didn't come here for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall too, did you?"
Feng Xuanqi nodded honestly, her eyes shining. "You can actually make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall? Why didn't you tell me? Seeing the photos they posted makes me so hungry!"
Xu Zifan stroked his chin and laughed: "Actually, I can cook anything. I didn't think Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was anything special, so of course I wouldn't have mentioned it. Don't you like spicy food?"
"Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is different; just hearing the name makes my mouth water." Feng Xuanqi put the documents on her lap into her briefcase, placed it in the back seat, started the car, and drove away from the airport.
Xu Zifan took out pink sunglasses from the storage box and gave them to her, saying with a smile, "We don't have enough time today, let's eat something else first. We'll start making it tomorrow morning, and we can eat it tonight."
Feng Xuanqi's face clearly showed regret. After thinking for a moment, she said, "To compensate for my emotional distress, today I want to eat chopped chili fish head, Sichuan-style chicken, cold-served rabbit, spicy stir-fried beef, spicy squid, and flavorful bullfrog..."
She turned to look at Xu Zifan's expression and laughed, "Just kidding. You're so tired after getting off the plane. I've made a reservation at Zuixianglou for you. Go back and get some rest this afternoon. Just remember my Buddha Jumps Over the Wall tomorrow."
Xu Zifan smiled helplessly, "Now you have no scruples at all in front of me. Where has your chairman's authority gone?"
"I lost it a long time ago. Anyway, you can see right through me, so why should I pretend?" Feng Xuanqi patted his arm and joked with him, "You have to be careful. You're the only one who has seen the Iron-Blooded Queen's true face. If you ever reveal it, the Iron-Blooded Queen won't let you off the hook."
"Then I'm quite honored. It's enough that I'm enslaved; I won't give anyone else a chance to take it from me." Xu Zifan turned on the music and played a love song, replying to her with a hidden meaning.
Feng Xuanqi silently raised the corners of her lips, her eyes, hidden behind sunglasses, were full of smiles.
Over the past six months, their initial tentative contact has evolved into a natural intimacy, with growing affection for each other. Feng Xuanqi has completely revealed her true nature in front of him, no longer constantly asking him to cook, but instead feeling sorry for his tiredness and taking him out to eat.
Xu Zifan was always busy and often went on business trips, so there hadn't been a good opportunity to break the ice. The two of them had a feeling of being more than friends but less than lovers, and they could even taste a little bit of sweetness in it.
Feng Xuanqi ordered all his favorite dishes, six dishes and a soup, and the taste was very good.
Xu Zifan posted photos on Weibo: [A happy welcome dinner, delicious.]
At first, fans flocked to his Weibo to ask for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, but then they realized what was going on and started to reflect on their actions. It seems that every time Xu Zifan returned to Beijing, someone would throw him a welcome party. Is it not appropriate for them to ask for food every time?
Some people even dug up the photos Xu Zifan posted every time he returned to Beijing and made them into a nine-grid layout. They discovered that every welcome-back banquet featured dishes that Xu Zifan loved, which made them curious about who was hosting the banquets for him. They felt that this person was really good to him.
Many people tagged Chen Zaimin and Yi Xiao, members of "Plastic Brothers" and "Escape Room," but of course no one responded; it wasn't them at all. Chen Zaimin even sent Xu Zifan a WeChat message asking him, "Zifan, are you being mysterious because you have a girlfriend? You can't get her to go out on the first day you come back. You must be saving time for your girlfriend, right?"
Xu Zifan replied: "This time, I won't be able to get out on the second day either."
"!!! You're definitely going to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall the next day, right? You can not come out, but give me a serving!" Chen Zaimin sent a kneeling and crying emoji.
Xu Zifan thought for a moment and wondered if he should cook less delicious food on the show in the future. This was a big deal. How much Buddha Jumps Over the Wall should he have to cook at once?
He refused their wish to each have a portion, and decided to invite the Chen and Yi families one day, the members of "Plastic Brothers" one day, and the members of "Escape Room" one day. These were all people he had a very good relationship with, so he decided to invite them three times.
After he and Feng Xuanqi finished eating, Feng Xuanqi took him home to rest and then went to work at the company until late at night.
The next day, when Xu Zifan got up early to buy groceries, Feng Xuanqi was already there to pick him up in casual clothes.
Xu Zifan asked in surprise, "Aren't you busy today?"
"I worked overtime yesterday to prepare for today."
"Going to such lengths just for food? You could just go to work and come over to eat after get off work."
"No, I'm worried you'll exhaust yourself making eleven servings of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. I need to keep an eye on you."
Xu Zifan sensed her concern, smiled at her, and joked, "Then don't sneak any! Those ten portions are for the fans, only one is for you."
Feng Xuanqi glared at him: "I wouldn't steal food. Am I that greedy?"
Xu Zifan nodded very seriously, only to be glared at by her again.
They went to buy the freshest ingredients, and bought a huge amount, filling styrofoam boxes, which filled the trunk and back seat.
Xu Zifan rented a farmhouse restaurant with many stoves. Each stove was used to cook one dish, which would take a whole day to cook. It was impossible to do this at home.
Feng Xuanqi said she came to keep an eye on him, but she was actually helping him the whole time.
In the past six months, she initially waited to eat and helped Xu Zifan record videos. Later, feeling embarrassed, she started helping Xu Zifan with the cooking. Over time, she became very skilled at handling the ingredients and was able to help a lot.
Xu Zifan remembered that his fans said they wanted to get together for a meal, so he simply opened...
I took a bunch of pictures of the ingredients and posted them online when I first started making them. [Let's start voting now, the deadline is half an hour. We'll choose the ten cities with the most votes, and everyone has one more day to get together. Remember, chasing stars and eating are not as important as yourself, and be careful. [heart]]
After Xu Zifan returned from filming, his fans kept an eye on his Weibo. As soon as they saw the post, they rallied everyone in various fan groups, and the number of votes skyrocketed.
Some passersby who were foodies were disappointed when they saw this. This was a special treat for fans. If you weren't a fan, you wouldn't know where to gather. Many people became fans of Xu Zifan because of this. His foodie fans are already quite large, and most of them will eventually become true fans.
Voting closed, and the number of votes in each city was very high. Bystanders joked that Xu Zifan's influence on the entire internet was probably the strongest. Every time he held these polls or giveaways, a huge number of people would immediately respond. It was a phenomenon. Some experts even analyzed this situation and called it the "Zifan effect," which is unique to him.
Xu Zifan put eleven jars of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall on the stove, and that was about it for the day. He only needed to check the fire every now and then. He found some of the latest toys and games to play with Feng Xuanqi, like a biting shark, a pirate barrel, and a Jenga set. He had them all in his spatial storage, and he pretended to take them out of his bag and played with them with Feng Xuanqi all day.
Feng Xuanqi's childhood games were completely different from these. She was incredibly focused the first time she played, a happy smile constantly on her face. When the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup was ready that evening, she and Xu Zifan sat at the table eating it, feeling as if they were tasting happiness itself.
She looked up at Xu Zifan across from her, deeply moved. Her life had become much happier because of Xu Zifan's presence. She smiled more, felt less pressure, and found work easier. Even her career had taken a big step forward because of Xu Zifan, which had helped Li Hua overcome her initial setback. She wished this kind of life could continue forever.
The deliciousness of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was so tempting that people wanted to eat more. Feng Xuanqi was so full that she rested for a long time that night. Xu Zifan sent out the other ten portions, and those in Yanjing ate them that very night. They gathered in a restaurant, eating and waiting.
Everyone likes to look at faces, likes to eat, and likes Xu Zifan's works. They have so much in common that they can talk endlessly, and they became close in no time.
For them, a pot of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is just enough for one bite each, but even one bite is worth it, because it's a particularly delicious Buddha Jumps Over the Wall made by their idol!
Their first wave of posts showing off Buddha Jumps Over the Wall online sparked intense jealousy among fans in nine other cities, who all clamored to move to Beijing and live in the same city as their idol.
The next day, people from different cities posted pictures of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup they had received in the morning, noon, and afternoon. Then, Xu Zifan's friends started posting pictures of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall soup they had eaten at gatherings with Xu Zifan, indicating that they had not been abandoned by Xu Zifan.
A craze for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall has swept the internet, with the official Weibo account of the show "Farmhouse Courtyard" even jokingly commenting, "[The show hasn't even aired yet, but viewers have already tasted Zifan's Buddha Jumps Over the Wall! We really want to tie Zifan to 'Farmhouse Courtyard' as a permanent fixture.]"
Looking at the group photo of Chen Zaimin, Yi Xiao's family, and Xu Zifan, Song Yunjian deeply regretted not keeping his distance from Xu Zifan back then. Otherwise, he would be one of Xu Zifan's friends now, and be trending on social media.
It's a pity that he participated in "Survival on a Desert Island" for nothing. He worked himself to the bone, but became the most unoriginal and least noticeable person on the show. After returning, he remained a lukewarm host. At his age, his career is likely to decline.
But he still had some pride. After testing Xu Zifan twice and finding that she ignored him, he stopped trying to get close to her and only regretted missing the best opportunity.
Xue Ninglu is shameless. Half a year ago, she was paired with Su Yanchen in a romantic drama. After Su Yanchen's career collapsed, netizens sympathized with her, which boosted her popularity. She even landed a few advertising deals, but nothing really took off. Now that her modeling career is over, without any exposure, even if she wanted to marry a wealthy businessman, she wouldn't have a chance.
She studied it carefully and found that Xu Zifan had always had zero scandals. The variety shows he participated in and the dramas he acted in were all male-dominated, with little interaction with women and no ambiguity whatsoever. She couldn't help but think of the ambiguous scenes she deliberately created when filming "Man vs. Wild," which were cut from the show but must still be on file.
Xue Ninglu bought these shots at a high price and then posted them online, which led to a wave of online trolls stirring up controversy. She not only posted her own footage but also Xu Zifan's interactions with others on other variety shows, ostensibly to recount the touching moments Xu Zifan showed to those around him. In doing so, she subtly included her own personal agenda in the post.
A group of men, with her being the only woman, naturally stood out. Some uninformed passersby even remarked on Xue Ninglu's good looks and asked about her relationship with Xu Zifan.
Then, with the help of online trolls, the claim that Xue Ninglu was the only woman Xu Zifan was close to on screen came about.
After arriving at work, Feng Xuanqi casually browsed the trending topics and frowned upon seeing this. She dialed the public relations department: "Handle the online issues. Don't let anyone ride on Zifan's coattails."