An Empress's Return to the Present: The Real Young Lady's Strong Comeback

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒑𝒊 𝒔𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝙛𝒓𝙚𝙚𝒘𝒆𝒃𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎 𝙬𝙚𝙗𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚.

Chapter 4

At the side, Ji Yao did not move, but her gaze followed Lin Xue.

Her eyes were dark and unreadable.

Gu Xiao closed the bathroom door, turned on the tap, and started turning on the hot water. Looking at herself in the mirror, she still felt like a lifetime had passed. However, she was back, and everything that had happened in the past would never happen again.

The current her was strong and intelligent. She was no longer the silly girl who could be bullied by others.

With that thought in mind, the hot water flowed out of the tap.

Not long after, the few of them had gradually finished washing up and came to the sofa in the living room.

Although the ice-breaking program was scheduled for tomorrow, girls were always the most gossipy. They had already started chatting. One of the girls from the countryside began to introduce herself. “My name is Chen Li. What are your names?”

“My name is Gu Xiao.”

“My name is An Yang.”

“My name is Lin Xue.”

“I’ve already introduced myself. My name is Ji Yao.”

“My name is Meng Fei.”

SIlence fell again.

After a while, they started chatting again, their topics ranging from their daily lives to this program. Not long after, they returned to their rooms to rest. The sound of light breathing was soon heard from their rooms.

The first episode ended here.

After yesterday’s show was broadcasted, it obtained a good viewership rating. The show even arranged for a popularity vote. Ji Yao got the first place, as she wished. She was followed by Lin Xue, Gu Xiao, An Yang, Chen Li, and Meng Fei.

The audience did not have a good impression of Meng Fei. It was mainly because of how she did not care about other people’s opinions and snatched the bathroom first yesterday. Although her behaviour was not that terrible, she seemed very insensible compared to her companions who looked like obedient girls.

The next day’s program had yet to begin. The production team had already recorded the scene of them getting up and washing up in advance and was preparing to edit it into the live broadcast. In view that everything that happened yesterday was not what the director wanted to see at all, this time, he did not give them the script directly. Instead, he called the children from the countryside to his room, one by one, and told them that they had to serve as a foil for Ji Yao this time. He even threatened them to send them home.

Besides Gu Xiao, the other two children were afraid and nodded repeatedly.

Not long after, the program began.

“There are poached eggs for breakfast this morning!” Everyone had just washed up when they saw Ji Yao walking out of the kitchen with six plates of poached eggs. They looked and smelled good.

When everyone arrived at the dining table, Ji Yao served each of them a plate of poached eggs. Needless to say, she received a bunch of good reviews and fans in the comments.

But she didn’t look very happy. The reason she was up so early was firstly, to steady her image, and secondly, to see if the jars of sugar and salt had been switched. She remembered confirming it many times yesterday. There shouldn’t be a mistake.

However, after she checked today, sugar was sugar and salt was salt. There were no signs of them being swapped.

Furthermore, when she came downstairs, the staff had already prepared breakfast for her. They were afraid that she would make another mistake. Besides, she didn’t know how to fry eggs herself.

It was also because of this that Gu Xiao was surprised to see plates of fried eggs on the table. In her memory, Ji Yao was very afraid of frying and deep-frying because they had to use more oil. She had been scalded by hot oil when she was young and was almost disfigured, so it was impossible for her to fry eggs at all.

Then there was only one possibility. Someone else had done it in her place.

At the thought of this, an idea popped up in Gu Xiao’s mind. She waved at the other two girls. “Chen Li, An Yang, come here.”

At this moment, the cameramen were all filming the poached eggs, and paid no attention to their small meeting.

“Does the director want you girls to set Ji Yao off?”

“That’s right!”

“Does that poached egg smell good?”

“Smells good!”

“Later, just say that you still want to eat another one. That way, won’t you be able to give Ji Yao a chance to perform her culinary skills in front of everyone, and at the same time, eat another egg as well?” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸𝑒𝘣𝘯𝘰𝑣𝑒𝘭.𝑐𝑜𝘮

An Yang was shocked. Why didn’t she think of this?! She would have created a chance for Ji Yao to show off so naturally!

‘I’ll do that!’

They sat down. At first, it was very normal, and no one said anything. When An Yang finished eating, she stared at Ji Yao with bright eyes, making Ji Yao feel a little scared.

“It’s delicious! I want another serving!” she shouted.

Ji Yao panicked. Was a single poached egg not enough for breakfast? Did rural people have such good appetites? Besides, she didn’t know how to fry eggs at all!

“I-”

“This is the first time I’ve eaten such delicious eggs, and I want to eat another portion. Please.”

Since she had already said so, Ji Yao had no choice but to smile awkwardly and nod. She walked into the kitchen again.

The director’s palms were sweating from anxiety.

The comments section were originally filled with “I really want to try Ji Yao’s cooking”, but Ji Yao did not come out of the kitchen even after a long time. The comments gradually became suspicious.