An Nuan looked at the text Ye Jinghuai had sent over.
She thought for a moment and replied, "Wrong number."
"Don't dress like that again, you hear me?" he sternly warned from the other end.
An Nuan didn't reply.
Ye Jinghuai sent another text over, "If you're going to dress like that, it can only be in front of me."
What a pervert.
An Nuan wrinkled her nose.
Just then the takeout arrived, so An Nuan sent a message, "Takeout's here, I'm going to eat."
"Are you dressed properly?"
"I am!"
How can men be so domineering!
An Nuan put her phone down and walked to the door. As she took the takeout from the delivery person, she suddenly thought of something and asked, "Do you know if there are any supermarkets around here? Places I can buy groceries?"
"If you take a car, there's a huge supermarket about twenty minutes away. If that's too much trouble, if you go out the back gate of your complex and turn right, there's a wet market where you can also buy groceries," the delivery person quickly replied.
"Oh, great, thanks!" An Nuan said gratefully.
"You're welcome, don't forget to give me a five-star rating."
"Will do."
The delivery person left, and An Nuan closed the door.
As she ate her lunch, she wondered if she should cook dinner for Ye Jinghuai later.
Somehow, away from the glitz of the big city, there was a cozy, homey feel to this place.
She quickly finished her meal.
Then she changed clothes and went out.
She would just do whatever she felt like doing.
It was so rare to get a second chance at life, she didn't want to leave behind any regrets.
She went to the wet market the delivery person had mentioned.
She had only ever seen places like this on TV before, the noisy chaos really made her uncomfortable, yet she still wanted to try to get used to it.
"Excuse me, is this vegetable in the picture the same as this one?" An Nuan showed the stall owner a picture on her phone.
The picture showed a vegetable that was already stir-fried.
An Nuan really couldn't tell the difference.
The owner took one glance and his eyes clearly showed some contempt. "No, it's this one," he said, pointing at the napa cabbage next to him.
An Nuan felt a little embarrassed. She said, "Then I'll take one."
"12 yuan," the owner said after weighing it.
An Nuan quickly paid.
And so, by showing pictures and asking, An Nuan finally bought all the vegetables and meat she wanted.
By the time she got back home, it was already 5pm.
Time really flew by.
Ye Jinghuai would be back soon.
She had to get dinner ready before he came back, to surprise him.
She could even imagine how happy Ye Jinghuai would be.
Following the steps in a cooking app, An Nuan first washed the vegetables and meat, then cut them into the required shapes with a knife.
Cutting the vegetables was easy enough.
Slicing the beef really stumped An Nuan.
No matter how she tried, she couldn't cut it into strips, so she figured cube shapes should work too.
Oh well.
An Nuan felt as long as it was edible, that was good enough.
Somehow managing to get everything prepared, An Nuan started heating up the wok.
And that's when the problems started.
She had no idea how to light the stove.
After puzzling over it for a while, An Nuan called Zhongshu.
When Zhongshu heard she was trying to cook, he was so alarmed he tried every way to dissuade her, saying cooking was dangerous and told her not to attempt it. Finally, unable to resist An Nuan's determination, Zhongshu had no choice but to teach her how to light the stove, repeatedly emphasizing that if there was a kitchen fire she had to get out of the kitchen right away and call emergency services.
An Nuan was a little speechless.
What a low opinion Zhongshu had of her abilities.
She lit the stove and immediately hung up.
Following the app's instructions, she first added oil.
Then some seasonings.
When the time indicated in the app came, she added the meat.
Right after putting it in -
"Ah!" An Nuan shrieked.
The sudden sizzling sound from the wok scared her badly.
What's more, oil was popping out everywhere, some droplets hitting the back of her hand and stinging painfully...
In her shock she threw the spatula in her hand out of the kitchen...
Ye Jinghuai had left work right on time.
So he was home a little early.
Just as he opened the door, his arms full of flowers and holding a shopping bag, some unidentified object came flying right at him. He immediately dropped the shopping bag and deftly caught the spatula.
Then he saw the woman curled up in fright in the corner of the kitchen.
Ye Jinghuai's eyes flickered.
So An Nuan had wanted to make dinner for him.
He really was quite touched.
He quickly put down the flowers, strode over, turned off the stove, and saw the pot was full of blackened, burned remains.
Ye Jinghuai turned to look at An Nuan.
Seeing how badly frightened she was, he couldn't help laughing. "Were you planning to make me dinner?"
Looking at Ye Jinghuai's laughter, An Nuan felt a little aggrieved. "But I don't know how!"
"Did you buy all this yourself?" Ye Jinghuai looked at the ingredients laid out in the kitchen.
An Nuan nodded.
"Where did you buy them?" Ye Jinghuai asked, already starting to clean out the pot An Nuan had burned black.
"The wet market outside the complex."
"You went to a lot of trouble." Ye Jinghuai scrubbed the pot diligently.
He kept up a conversation with An Nuan, seemingly to put her at ease over her embarrassment.
"I thought cooking would be easy." An Nuan was still frustrated.
She felt that as long as she tried her best, there was nothing she couldn't do well.
"It is pretty easy," Ye Jinghuai agreed.
"So you're saying I'm stupid," An Nuan said.
"..." Ye Jinghuai laughed lightly. "I'm just saying, how could our little fairy lower herself to deal with such earthly matters, just leave this mundane work to this worldly mortal."
An Nuan wrinkled her nose.
This Ye Jinghuai really had amazing reflexes.
He could make even failure sound like success.
But she had to admit, being called his "little fairy" by Ye Jinghuai really made her heart race.
It was as if she was truly spoiled by him.
An Nuan stood behind Ye Jinghuai, watching his skilled movements as he tidied up the kitchen, deftly picked up a knife, and prepared the ingredients again.
Seeing Ye Jinghuai's knifework, An Nuan really wanted to hide her face in shame.
Those strips she had found so difficult, flowed smoothly and prettily from his hands like magic.
An Nuan watched, a little spellbound.
How did Ye Jinghuai come to possess so many skills?
This man who was seen by others as a playboy, this seemingly unrestrained man, was actually a treasure trove of surprises.
An Nuan felt the more she understood Ye Jinghuai, the more deeply she would fall in love with him.
A helpless, irredeemable love.
"Done." Once Ye Jinghuai had processed all the ingredients, it looked like he was ready to start cooking.
He said to An Nuan, "Mrs. Ye, come here a moment."
"No," An Nuan refused.
Although she had wanted to learn cooking, after getting splashed with hot oil she didn't dare go near the stove.
"Come here, darling," Ye Jinghuai said gently.
"I'm scared of the oil," An Nuan stubbornly stayed put.
Ye Jinghuai had no choice but to put down the spatula first, walk over to An Nuan, and take her little hand in his.
Every cell in An Nuan's body resisted.
But in that moment she still let Ye Jinghuai lead her over. She heard his magnetic voice say, "Hug me from behind."
