Taking advantage of the darkness to hide his blushing face, Mu Xing blurted out without thinking, "Okay, let's do it again. This time, let's use a pen to draw tally marks next to us..."
"What are you saying!" Bai Yan laughed, deliberately reaching under the covers, startling Mu Xing so much that he almost lost his grip on the blanket. (Free reading of "Wu Wu's Brother-in-Law" - Part 17, Part 17)
Bai Yan withdrew her hand and touched the gauze on Mu Xing's waist, saying, "Seriously, did you hurt your waist just now?"
Although Mu Xing had been the main force "opening up" the area, she still had to exert some force on her waist, inevitably aggravating her wound. But not wanting to show weakness, she stubbornly said, "I'm fine, my waist is great. But you... did I hurt you just now?" As she spoke, her voice softened, revealing a hint of concern.
At this point, Bai Yan couldn't help but feel a little shy. She shrank back under the covers and said, "I heard Fei Hua say that the first time is always a little uncomfortable..."
Mu Xing, being a medical student, had some knowledge of matters between men and women. She initially wanted to say that their situation was different, but then felt that the statement didn't quite fit. After thinking it over for a while without figuring it out, she said blankly, "Does it hurt? Or... or should I blow on it for you?"
"Blow..." Bai Yan almost choked. She tapped Mu Xing's forehead, both amused and exasperated. "Ah Xuan, did you injure your brain as well?"
Realizing what had happened, Mu Xing was immediately embarrassed. He buried his head in the blankets, curled up in a ball, and tried to play dead.
Bai Yan chuckled and poked her, "Is our Ah Xuan shy? Ah Xuan? Mu the puppy? Mu the caterpillar, Mu the little steamed bun..."
Mu Xing didn't react, so she reached under the covers and pressed her hand against Mu Xing's chest through the half-covered shirt. With a pinch of her fingers, a muffled gasp came from under the covers.
Bai Yan chuckled and was about to press on when the blanket was suddenly pulled off. Mu Xing rolled over and pinned her down, giving her a fierce kiss on the lips. His menacing look made Bai Yan burst into laughter.
Then came the rolling red waves, and another spring night.
The commotion continued until late at night before Mu Xing belatedly realized that it was well past the time for clearing away the dishes and washing up, but Fu Guang still hadn't appeared.
Bai Yan also thought of this, and she looked at Mu Xing: "What should we do?" At this moment, the passion had faded, and she felt a little guilty.
Mu Xingxin is so carefree; how come she joined in the unbridled chaos? If Fu Guang were to tell the Mu family elders about this, I'm afraid...
Seeing Bai Yan's concerns, Mu Xing said, "Shu Wan, don't worry. Fu Guang has been with me since she was little. She's a smart girl and knows what she's doing."
Bai Yanyou was a little uneasy: "Are you sure?"
Mu Xing held her hand: "Even if something does happen, we'll face it together, and it will pass."
Hearing her say that, Bai Yan gradually felt relieved. It wasn't that she could truly trust Fu Guang, but rather that Mu Xing's attitude made her feel at ease.
She got up, put on her clothes, turned on the light, and checked the time; it was almost ten o'clock. She glanced outside with the lamp; it was pitch black outside, everyone had gone to bed, and only two wall lamps were lit outside their door for illumination.
After informing Mu Xing, Bai Yan went to the kitchen where the water was boiling, intending to boil some water to wash herself. Unexpectedly, a light was on in the kitchen. She was puzzled and pushed the door open to find that the light was still in the kitchen.
Sitting on the kitchen footstool, Fu Guang was already dozing off, but the bright white light woke her up instantly: "Ah, Miss!"
Upon recognizing Bai Yan, an unnatural expression flashed across her face. She lowered her head, not daring to look at Bai Yan, and only said, "Yes, Miss Bai, would you like hot water? Hot water is always on hand. I... I'll bring it to you, Miss."
Having already prepared herself mentally, Bai Yan calmly said, "No need. It's late, and I've troubled you to wait here for half a day. You should go to sleep first; I'll take care of Ah Xuan." Her indifference to the situation was one thing, but how could she possibly let Fu Guang see the mess they had made!
Fu Guang was worried about Mu Xing, but she couldn't disobey Bai Yan, so she reluctantly agreed and hurriedly returned to her room.
Although she lived a life of luxury in the brothel and didn't do any manual labor, Bai Yan wasn't some pampered young lady who never lifted a finger. She quickly carried several buckets of hot water to the room.
She cleaned herself first, then helped Mu Xing to wipe her clean.
Although they had already been "open and honest" with each other, being served a bath and wiped down was a different matter. Mu Xing felt a little awkward, but since he was weak in the waist, he could only awkwardly follow Bai Yan's lead and let her wash him.
After finally finishing everything and lying back in bed, Mu Xing felt refreshed and invigorated. The night was pleasant, and the slight heat in her palms had long since dissipated. She lay in bed like a little tiger who had just had a good meal…
No, I'm suddenly a little hungry...
After tidying up the clutter, Bai Yan sat back on the bed and saw Mu Xing lying there with a sad expression.
Thinking her wound was uncomfortable, Bai Yan hurriedly checked her over: "What's wrong? Did you tear the wound again? I just checked and it was fine..."
Mu Xing shyly pulled the blanket over her face and said in a muffled voice, "Shu Wan, I'm hungry."
Bai Yan then remembered that Mu Xing had only eaten a little porridge at dinner before she started fooling around with her. And now that Mu Xing had said that, she suddenly felt a little hungry herself.
However… she said, “Aunt Li has already gone home, and I… am not very good at cooking.”
Aunt Li was the cook who had been coming to the old house to prepare meals for Mu Xing these past few days, and she would go home after cooking three meals a day. Now, it would be rather inconsiderate to wake up Grandpa Han and Fu Guang to cook as well.
Upon hearing this, Mu Xing immediately buried herself in the blankets, on the verge of tears. She murmured, "I really want to eat braised chicken, cured pork, eight-treasure duck, drunken shrimp, squid, steamed crab, pudding, sundae, plum blossom cake, and two ounces of osmanthus wine..."
Heaven knows, Aunt Li, under the pretext that she needed to recuperate, made her various kinds of porridge for several days in a row. And if she showed the slightest sign that she didn't want to eat, Grandpa Han would immediately reveal that he had failed his ancestors and heaven and earth in serving his daughter well. Mu Xing had no choice but to obediently drink the porridge with tears in her eyes, and she almost cried the porridge out of the porridge.
At this point, being able to order a dish to satisfy one's cravings is already a luxury.
Bai Yan had often eaten congee and salad in the restaurant, so she naturally knew about Mu Xing's hardships. But for Mu Xing's sake, she had no choice.
Seeing Mu Xing's pitiful appearance, she couldn't help but soften. She gritted her teeth and said, "How about this, you think of a simple and light dish, I'll cook it for you, and I'll have some too."
Hearing her say that, Mu Xing perked up again, her tiger tail wagging wildly. She said happily, "Okay, I also have plenty of experience in instructing people on how to cook!"
Bai Yan was skeptical: "Instructing someone on cooking? How do you instruct them?"
Mu Xing proudly declared, "I guide you with my mouth!"
Chapter Sixty-Eight
A coal stove had to be left burning in the kitchen every night, which was convenient for the two gluttonous cats.
Despite the waves of back pain, Mu Xing first led Bai Yan to a small pot to boil water. Then, he rummaged through the kitchen and found a handful of leftover scallions from the morning and some newly delivered dried shrimp. Bai Yan also found half a packet of noodles wrapped in dried lotus leaves on the stove.
She asked Mu Xing, "Aunt Li made these noodles this afternoon. She said she was going to take them home, but she seems to have forgotten. They should still be edible, right?"
Mu Xing came over and took a look: "It's alright. Although it's fresh dough, it's well preserved and still edible. Hmm... how about we make dried shrimp and egg noodles?"
Although the old house had few people and not much food, it was not lacking in various dried and fresh goods. However, Mu Xing's back injury had not yet healed, so he had to abstain from certain foods. Now, when he craved fresh food, he could only satisfy his craving with eggs and dried shrimp.
Bai Yan had never cooked before, so naturally she listened to Mu Xing in everything.
Mu Xing then asked Bai Yan to find some fire tongs to loosen the coal in the stove. Once the small fire had grown larger, he placed a small iron pot on top and poured in hot water.
"Wait until the water boils before adding the noodles. Now, I'll chop up the ingredients first," Mu Xing said, washing the scallions and bok choy she had found and placing them on the cutting board.
Bai Yan hurried over: "I'll cut it."
Mu Xing glanced at her: "Do you know how to use a knife?"
Bai Yan really didn't know how to use it, but she was worried that Mu Xing's back would hurt, so she said, "You'll learn after a while. It's probably not much different from an eyebrow razor or a pencil sharpener." As she spoke, she went to get the cutting board.
Mu Xing reacted quickly, raising the chopping board to avoid Bai Yan's hand. She laughed and said, "According to you, from now on, when slaughtering cattle for the New Year, the slaughterhouse won't have to worry about it. We can just leave it all to our Bai Da Shou."
Bai Yan couldn't reach the cutting board, and seeing such a large animal, she stomped her foot and said, "Watch your back!"
Deliberately using her waist to push Bai Yan past, Mu Xing said, "You go first, there's still a knife here." Putting down the cutting board, she added, "Your back isn't feeling well either, you just carried water. I'm just chopping some vegetables, you'll have to do the other things later. The water over there is almost boiling, go check it out."
Hearing her say that, Bai Yan felt a warmth in her heart and stopped trying to take it. She went back to the stove to watch over the water and watched Mu Xing skillfully chop the vegetables.
With a series of sharp cuts, evenly sized scallions rolled out from under the blade, gradually piling up into a small, verdant mountain.
Mu Xing paused for a moment, then turned to Bai Yan, raising an eyebrow and saying smugly, "How about it? Weren't you amazed by my swordsmanship?" He was practically wagging his tail with pride.
Bai Yan was genuinely surprised by her knife skills and exclaimed, "Incredible, Chef Mu! I'm absolutely stunned. Shall we give you a round of applause?"
Mu Xing raised her chin, adopting a reserved demeanor: "Thank you, Miss Bai, you flatter me. My knife skills are just average, at most at the level of a head chef."
Bai Yan laughed and said, "That's enough, you're being too cheeky."
Taking the bok choy, Mu Xing said as he chopped, "My knife skills are really good. Back in school, when my classmates and I got tired of the cafeteria food, we cooked in our old apartment. I was always in charge of chopping the vegetables when we made hot pot. You won't see it today, but my veal slicing skills are absolutely amazing..."
Listening to her boasting, Bai Yan couldn't help but ask, "But with so many chefs serving at Mu Garden, you can't expect the young lady to cook, can you? How did you learn such knife skills?"
Mu Xing said, "I learned it from my aunt at first. My aunt is quite particular about food. She not only loves to eat herself, but she also loves to cook. I was so lucky back then. Later, when she was lazy, she would ask me to help her. That's when I learned some things."
She put the food into a bowl, then turned to look at Bai Yan: "As for my knife skills, I actually practiced them by cutting specimens and boiling bones at medical school..."
Before she could finish speaking, Bai Yan immediately covered her face and mouth, saying, "Stop talking!"
Mu Xing laughed loudly.
After chopping the side dishes, the water boiled. Estimating the amount, Bai Yan added a handful of noodles.
Mu Xing washed his hands and couldn't help but chuckle when he saw Bai Yan looking anxiously at the soup pot. After washing his hands, he handed Bai Yan a pair of long chopsticks: "You don't need to stare like that. If you scare the noodles away and they don't dare to float, we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning. Just use the chopsticks to stir them so they don't stick to the pot."
Bai Yan immediately grabbed her chopsticks and started stirring.
As Mu Xing prepared the cold water for rinsing the noodles, he looked for oil and a frying pan to fry the eggs, saying, "It's a pity that I have such good cooking skills, but I don't usually have time to show them off."
Bai Yan said, "That's great! Does this mean I've gotten a cook for free? We won't need to hire a cook anymore, which will save us money."
She had only said it casually, but Mu Xing paused and then suddenly asked, "Shu Wan, do you want a home?"
Bai Yan's heart skipped a beat as she stirred the noodles, not immediately understanding the meaning of Mu Xing's words.
She said slowly, "Of course I want to."
Mu Xing walked over and hugged her from behind: "What kind of home do you want?" As she spoke, she reached out and massaged Bai Yan's aching back.
The steaming soup pot enveloped the two people lying on top of each other, imbuing them with the warmth of cooking.
Bai Yan stirred her noodles, thought for a moment, and said, "Speaking of houses? I think a house doesn't need to be too big, two bedrooms and a living room is enough."
"To be honest, I've always wanted to live in an apartment building with an elevator like those in Shanghai. Small courtyards are too noisy and damp. Ideally, it would be on the third floor, so that I wouldn't get tired from walking up and down the stairs occasionally, and it would also be safer."
She scooped up the noodles and rinsed them in cold water, then put the small pot that Mu Xing had prepared on the stove and poured in the oil.
Mu Xing asked, "Anything else? What kind of decoration will it be?"
It was just casual conversation, so Bai Yan went along with her and said, "Hmm... how about the off-white wallpaper on the wall? It goes well with the light gray floor tiles. Wenjiang has a good climate, so the wallpaper won't get damp. If you ever don't like it anymore, it'll be easy to change it."
Mu Xing nodded: "That's good. We can put wallpaper in the bedroom and paint the living room. Actually, I've always liked grass-green sofas."
"A grass-green sofa? Then it can be paired with a light-colored coffee table. I'm really tired of those rosewood and mahogany ones."
The two then discussed the furniture seriously for a while. Finally, Bai Yan laughed and said, "You're talking so seriously, as if there really is such a place that can be furnished."
Just as Mu Xing was about to speak, Bai Yan casually poured the beaten eggs into the smoking pan. Unexpectedly, the oil in the pan was too hot, and the eggs immediately splattered and popped as they hit the pan.
Caught off guard, Bai Yan screamed in fright.
Thinking she had been burned by the oil, Mu Xing immediately threw the pot aside, pulled Bai Yan back several meters, and asked her repeatedly if she was burned: "How are you? Where did you get burned?"
Bai Yan was still in shock, unsure if she had been burned. After confirming that she hadn't, the two looked at each other in dismay at the pot lying on the ground and the broken eggs scattered everywhere.
Mu Xing said regretfully, "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have talked to you."
Bai Yan comforted her, "It's okay, it's okay, just fry one more."
Mu Xing ate another bowl of eggs. This time, he didn't dare to gossip. He demonstrated for Bai Yan and personally fried a pot of fluffy and fragrant eggs.
After frying the eggs, stir-fry dried shrimp and bok choy until fragrant, add hot broth, and then add noodles that have been rinsed in cold water for a chewier texture. Cook for one minute, then pour into bowls, sprinkle with bright green scallions, and two bowls of egg and shrimp noodles are ready.
Too lazy to move to the dining room, the two sat in the kitchen and ate noodles. Holding the fragrant noodles, Mu Xing almost burst into tears: "I finally don't have to eat porridge anymore."