98. Culinary Skills
19/20
Back in the Girls’ Dormitory, Ning Chu finally didn’t have to worry about being reported.
Although her new student ID hadn’t arrived yet, the instructor already knew she was a girl, so even if someone reported her, the instructor wouldn’t say much.
Yan Xinya’s dorm was as chaotic as ever.
Bottles, jars, clothes, and underwear were strewn everywhere, and just one glance made Ning Chu feel a wave of annoyance, itching to tidy up the mess.
Despite the disarray, at least it was relatively clean—except for the bathroom, of course, which didn’t exactly smell like roses, and there was no sign of any seductress lurking about the room.
“Lin Li went out to have fun. She loves to hit the bar on weekends. I don’t know what’s so great about it, but maybe the dance machines are fun.”
Yan Xinya chattered on, pulling out a folding table from the corner of the dorm. “Ning Chu~ Come help me!”
“Sure.”
She laid a thick blue cloth over the folding table and grabbed a deck of playing cards for scoring. The Wolf Girl dashed to the wardrobe and pulled out her beloved mahjong set.
“Come over, come over! Time for mahjong!” Yan Xinya glanced at the others. “Play for money?”
“Let’s not?”
Lily suddenly chimed in, “Strip mahjong?”
“……”
Everyone in the room turned silent, looking at Lily. Her icy face showed no sign of emotion, as if she hadn’t just suggested something outrageous. The room was momentarily filled with an awkward silence.
“I’m not against it!” Yan Xinya said, eyes glinting with mischief. After all, with Ning Chu covering her, she couldn’t possibly lose.
Ning Chu instinctively covered her coat, knowing with her skills, she’d be the first one stripped to the bare essentials.
She could already imagine herself covering her chest and lower half, face flushed, yet still determined to play mahjong… How humiliating!
“I have a huge objection!” she protested vigorously. “I don’t even know how to play mahjong! Is it really necessary to start off with something so insane?!”
Nana timidly nodded in agreement from the side.
“Well, we can just play for fun then.” Yan Xinya mumbled, clearly disappointed. “No stakes, no excitement~”
“I’ll consider it when I learn how to play…”
Ning Chu had grown up watching mahjong matches, as her mother and grandparents were big fans, but she only knew the rules; she had never actually played a game herself.
Sitting on the sidelines, she felt completely lost, clumsily shuffling and organizing the tiles. Compared to playing online, this part left her scratching her head. By the time Yan Xinya speedily organized her tiles and played the first tile, Ning Chu was still struggling with a messy line of mahjong tiles in front of her.
“Don’t rush me, just a moment…”
She fumbled under the watchful eyes of her friends and finally managed to play a tile in a panic.
Clearly, mahjong was not her forte…
By the end of the round, Ning Chu felt as if she was in prison, cluelessly playing tiles, hesitantly making melds, and not once achieving a win. She felt zero enjoyment.
Even when teaming up with her dormmates in games, losing all afternoon paled in comparison to the imprisonment of mahjong.
At least in video games, there was some sense of experience…
Lucky for them, Nana was doing quite well, winning consecutively despite her own clumsiness.
Thank goodness they hadn’t agreed to any strip mahjong…
“Time to cook.”
As noon approached, Lily stood up and turned to Ning Chu.
“I’ll help! Teach me a bit while you’re at it!”
“Sure.”
Lily was quite the cook, and while she wasn’t a certified teacher, she made an effort to slow down while cooking, allowing Ning Chu to take a good look.
Lunch was sweet-and-sour ribs, stir-fried Shanghai greens, and stir-fried meat with green peppers.
“I’ll take some back with me. Do we have any containers in the dorm?”
Ning Chu was busy mentally logging the steps and spices used while asking Yan Xinya.
“You’re taking some to eat?”
“Uh… yeah!”
Taking it back to show Wen Yang that she made it! She couldn’t wait to see his reaction.
Imagining Wen Yang’s incredulous expression made her chuckle out loud.
Yan Xinya suddenly leaned in, a teasing smile in her eyes.
“What?” Ning Chu touched her cheek, thinking something must have splashed on her while Lily was cooking.
“You look like you’ve been smiling a lot since you got close to Wen Yang~”
“Not at all!”
“About a month after school started, you always looked gloomy, like… you had the weight of the world on your shoulders,” Yan Xinya reminisced about late September. “Especially around then, you were just so down and out.”
During that time, Ning Chu had completely transformed into a girl.
The little bug had curled up and hidden away, her descriptors changed from length to depth.
She chose her words carefully: “Something unexpected happened back then… Once it was resolved, of course, my mood improved a bit.”
“Really?”
“Yep!”
“You’re really stubborn, huh~”
“……”
It had to be admitted that Ning Chu’s emotions had gradually improved as her relationship with Wen Yang grew closer and more ambiguous.
At least the immense pressure of being alone wasn’t there anymore.
In her current life, it seemed this was the most relaxed she’d felt…
“I’ll go fetch you a container!”
Yan Xinya giggled as she dashed into the room, returning a moment later with a plastic container. “Lily, help her pack it up.”
“Okay.”
“She’s definitely taking some back to feed Wen Yang!”
“Not at all!”
Ning Chu rolled her eyes at both of them. “Didn’t you say Shao Qing is easy to work with? Stop picking on me.”
She glanced at Lily’s actions and quickly reminded her, “Pack lots of rice, just a bit of the veggies, and pour some sauce from the ribs on top.”
Wen Yang had a big appetite, and he could easily finish all of Lily’s lunch, but she definitely couldn’t take everything.
“Sure.”
Lily handed the filled container to Ning Chu and asked with a straight face, “So, does my cooking feed the man?”
“……”
She glanced at the time and quickly changed the subject. “Wen Yang should be coming back soon.”
“Yep.”
Hastily leaving the girls’ dorm, she hopped on the bus back. When Ning Chu arrived at the rental apartment, she happened to see Wen Yang standing by the door, searching for his keys.
“Back already?”
On weekends, when he worked part-time, Wen Yang usually took a break and came back for an hour.
He turned to see the container Ning Chu was holding and paused for a moment. “What do you have there?”
“The food I made!” Ning Chu proclaimed proudly. “I cooked it at Xinya’s dorm! I even brought some back for you!”
Wen Yang didn’t know Ning Chu’s cooking skills, nor had he ever tasted her cuisine, so without hesitation, he believed her words. “Can’t wait to try it later.”
The two entered the apartment back-to-back. Ning Chu eagerly opened the container, handed Wen Yang a pair of chopsticks, and stared at him with wide eyes. “Hurry, eat! It’ll be bad if it gets cold.”
“Tasty!” Wen Yang just took a quick bite and immediately gave a thumbs up. “Better than anything from the restaurants!”
“Really?”
“You used to say you couldn’t cook,” he teased with a laugh. “Planning to slack off after marriage, huh?”
Ning Chu’s face turned beet red all of a sudden, stuttering, “M-marriage…”
She lowered her head, feeling a bit bashful as she mumbled, “That’s so far off, I’m not thinking about it yet!”
Wen Yang seemed to really enjoy Lily’s cooking.
Looks like she had a new task ahead! Time to learn cooking from Lily!
