CHAPTER 1873: CHAPTER 885: HARDWORKING AND FRUGAL YAN XIAOFEI_2

Those who have spent a long time on the ranch all know that, in fact, Yan Fei doesn’t demand much on a regular basis. If they can’t even meet this small request, they might as well go survive in the wilderness.

When Chen He came in with a reporter, a photographer, and two assistants, he saw that Xu Xiaoyan had probably finished eating and was sitting beside Yan Fei, chatting. Yan Fei, meanwhile, was having a feast—which he considered a few small dishes. But for others, two people having a meal with a table full of dishes, including fish, meat, and vegetables, along with a fruit platter that’s exceptionally rare for this season, surely met the standard of a feast.

The key was that the fruit platter included peaches, which left Chen He a bit dumbfounded: "Where did you get these things from?"

Yan Fei grinned at him: "If you have money, are you afraid of not being able to buy things?"

Envy flashed in Chen He’s eyes like a thousand knives and ten thousand jealousies pierced through the nouveau riche Boss Yan, muttering sourly, "Is having money really that great?"

"Yes, it is!" Yan Fei nodded. "Do you have any doubts about that?"

Chen He thought for a long time, then shook his head: "No more!"

In fact, his family’s financial condition in the Provincial City could make quite a few people envious. But it’s all due to his family, and regardless of their circumstances, they couldn’t be as ’luxurious’ as Yan Fei— even if they could hire a nanny, they couldn’t guarantee eating meals at this standard regularly!

Only then did Yan Fei cheerfully offer, "Why don’t you all try my cooking? I am a professional, after all."

As Xu Xiaoyan had eaten already, he didn’t mind sharing the leftover dishes—especially with company, he would feel embarrassed to finish a whole table of dishes by himself.

"I’ve just eaten..." Chen He responded instinctively but regretted it immediately. "But I’ll have a taste. It’s not like the two of you can finish all that. I’ll see how your cooking is?"

He then turned the tables and asked the others with him, "You guys want to try too?"

While he and Yan Fei were old friends, the others didn’t dare and quickly shook their heads.

Picking up the chopsticks, he savored a bite and exclaimed, "Not bad, not bad! Good color, aroma, and taste. What meat is this?"

"Oh, that’s bullfrog," Yan Fei, familiar with these questions, gave a smooth answer, almost believing his own lies, not fearing any inquiries.

Being a lover of meat, Chen He went for another piece of fish, continuing to ask, "And this is?"

"Sturgeon," Yan Fei replied without a change in expression.

There are many types of sturgeon, but Chen He was too embarrassed to continue questioning. Despite eating at many restaurants, he seldom found ones that tasted as good and had such a texture.

"What about this?"

"Beef tendon!"

"And this..."

"Just wild vegetables, they have different names everywhere. You wouldn’t know even if I told you, call them whatever you like."

...

The reporter and cameraman nearby were a bit dumbfounded, racking their brains on how to write the article.

Nowadays, the mainstream interview articles aim to highlight simplicity—for instance, even if some CEO has immense wealth, he lives modestly in a seventy or eighty square meter apartment, usually having simple home-cooked meals like green vegetables and radishes.

Similar to Yan Fei, he’s been featured in newspapers many times, and people tend to inadvertently overlook certain things. No one mentions that he lives in a villa with ancient architectural style, originally buying the land as a backyard—these days, promoting a lavish lifestyle isn’t in vogue.

Now, these journalists sat inside, looking at Boss Yan’s dining table, suddenly feeling stumped on how to write it up.

Even if they overlook the Mercedes-Benz outside, the few large German Shepherds, the obviously rare trees in the yard, and the house with its facilities... but this table of dishes, most hotels probably wouldn’t even come close.

Bullfrog and sturgeon are newly emerging farming projects, and that’s only in places with suitable climates. The other dishes he mentioned, even a fool could tell that claims like beef tendon are bogus, including the so-called wild vegetables which are really uncommon, aren’t they?

Hmm, there are two soups here, one with meat and one vegetarian.

Chen He tasted them; the vegetarian one, he could tell, had some mushrooms. Apart from enoki mushrooms, he couldn’t identify the others. As for the meat one, anyway, the flavor was outstanding. Even though he’d already eaten earlier, after having some of the leftovers and half a bowl of soup, he ended up full to the brim and had to sit clutching his stomach.

Yet, he couldn’t quite figure out what it was he had eaten.

By the time the interview started, the reporter had made up their mind not to ask questions they shouldn’t, to avoid being in a quandary.

When asked about the creation process, Yan Fei mentioned that while attending a friend’s wedding, he came across this news and had the idea to write a novel that very night, beginning the writing immediately—causing the reporter to immediately draft in their mind how the young writer Yan Fei, due to insufficient free time, even spent countless nights creating this novel.

Yan Fei mentioned he revised a certain scene, which promptly translated in the reporter’s imaginary draft to Yan the writer revisiting the manuscript three times to create a satisfactory novel.

In the end, the simple interview only took a little over ten minutes, because they had conducted interviews when the novel first gained popularity. The highlight was how this book got noticed by a major director and subsequently adapted to the big screen.

Of course, Yan Fei gave a simple account, saying he and Will contacted a publisher in America. After the novel was sold, the director got in touch with Will, and so on. However, the reporter immediately allowed their imagination to run wild, suggesting how this director learned about the novel by chance, bought a copy out of admiration, realized its excellence, and foresaw its tremendous box office success in America as a film...