Then, whenever I cooked, he would always order that soup, saying that I should remember it so that I would be willing to work hard in the future.
After all, I was the one who threw that bowl of soup in his face.
However, there's one thing I've never dared to think about deeply: An said he fell in love with Tang Lei at first sight, but I've never dared to ask her which one it was at first glance.
And so things have developed to where they are now.
Now Tang Lei is drinking my soup with a look that's utterly despicable.
Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting...
Chapter Two
"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Show him what a culinary master is like." That was An's explanation to me afterward. I felt that arguing with her would lower my standards, so I just stood silently in a superior position and let her feel my heartfelt contempt.
However, Shao Yuzhe still praised my cooking skills, and although it was the truth, I was still happy for a long time.
Since his school days, Shao Yuzhe, the only student who would say "ladies first" when a bunch of boys were fighting with the girls for the water tap after PE class, has always been a very polite and gentlemanly person, and he has kept this virtue well.
So on Monday, he offered to treat me to a meal at his home.
Having been oppressed for so long, I had forgotten what it meant when someone invited me to their home for dinner, so I reflexively asked him what he wanted to eat and offered to cook it.
Then I gestured to him again with my eyes that he shouldn't laugh.
“I don’t know what you like, so I haven’t prepared much. If you don’t mind the hassle, let’s go to the supermarket together,” he suggested.
Of course I said no problem.
He pushed the cart, and we walked and discussed the menu, then decided what to buy. I suddenly felt that we looked a bit like newlyweds. I secretly glanced at Shao Yuzhe, who was picking out wine.
I guess I'm getting old; I was actually moved by this idea.
"Hi, Nuannuan, it really is you." I suddenly heard someone call my name from behind.
Even without seeing his face, just listening to his voice gives off an air of "expert yet difficult to deal with".
I remember the last time I used this adjective was to refer to the head chef at the restaurant. Yes, that's him. Kurosawa Yu.
"Nuan Nuan, what do you want to do today? Let's discuss it together." He looked at my stroller.
"And this is..." Shao Yuzhe asked, putting down his drink.
“The chef at the Andian restaurant, Kurosawa Yu, is Japanese.” I pointed to Kurosawa.
Then he turned around and pointed at Shao Yuzhe.
“My immediate supervisor, Shao Yuzhe, is Chinese.” I said this entirely to maintain the symmetry of the sentence.
"Nice to meet you. I've heard Dong mention you before. To be honest, I didn't expect you to be so young." Shao Yuzhe smiled and extended his hand.
"Winter?" Kurosawa repeated, somewhat reluctantly shaking Shao Yuzhe's hand.
Actually, people who know me are used to calling me Nuannuan, following An's lead. From Yu Mo, Luo Lin to Hei Ze, I've influenced a whole generation.
Only Shao Yuzhe calls me Dong. He once said it was because he felt that the words "Nuannuan" (warm) didn't suit my personality.
That's quite special.
Kurosawa looked at me and said, "Nuan Nuan, you two aren't together, are you?"
Listen to what kind of question that is.
Sensing the other party's unfriendly attitude, Shao Yuzhe chose to remain silent and leave the matter to me.
"Of course we're together, he treated me to dinner today." This implies that you have nothing to do with this.
"I've invited you to dinner before, but you're never available," Kurosawa said to me, glancing at Shao Yuzhe.
“You’re unlucky,” I said firmly. “Okay, nothing else, we need to pay the bill.”
Then I pulled Shao Yuzhe away.
"He's pursuing you." Shao Yuzhe remained silent for a long time before suddenly speaking as he started the car, probably considering whether or not he should say it.
"Haha, it's not funny at all." I chuckled dryly and made a face. "The first time he tried my cooking, he looked down on me from head to toe before even tasting it, saying that the kitchen is a sacred place and that an amateur like me shouldn't mess around, and so on. Please, I didn't ask him to eat it; he came over on his own." Recalling the past, it was all so vivid in my mind.
"It felt like some huge favor. He ate my food without my permission, and if he wanted to say it was good, he could have just said so. Why did he have to be so polite? He had to go through all that jargon about nutrition and aesthetics, and it took me ages to figure out he was praising me." Luckily, I'm smart and calm, otherwise anyone else would have flipped the table.
"From then on, whenever they saw me, they would say, 'Warm-san, let's explore the ultimate meaning of food culture together today,'" I said, mimicking Kurosawa's tone.
Shao Yuzhe chuckled and said, "Really? Is that true?"
"I helped him refine it and expressed it in the style of Japanese manga, and that's the gist of it." I tried to say it with a serious face, but I still couldn't pull it off.
"Haha, it's the same old story. Everything becomes funny when you talk about it," he said with a laugh.
I sighed dramatically and said, "Well, I'm not a chef. I'm just a little more qualified, a little more skilled, and a little more capable. He keeps talking about discussing things, which is really a headache."
"So he just wants to pursue you, and is looking for an excuse to get close to you," he said, still half-jokingly.
“If you keep saying that, I’ll think you have some ulterior motive,” I said, half-jokingly.
I was actually looking forward to his reaction.
He just gripped the steering wheel, smiling as he drove, staring at the road ahead. I was a little disappointed, so I stole a glance at his profile. His smile was exactly the same as the one in my mind. It turned out that I really hadn't forgotten him in seven years.
Thinking about it like that makes me sad, so I quickly dug up a bunch of gossip and jokes about Tang Lei and others to lighten the mood.