Chapter 443: Steering Wheel
By the time the clock struck seven, Ning Chu’s busy day finally winded down.
A whole table of dishes, plus a hearty Pork Bone Soup and a bowl of Longevity Noodles—a testament to her day’s labor!
But she still couldn’t sit still. With a flurry of motion, she began cleaning up the area around the induction stove, where the chaos from her cooking had multiplied exponentially.
Wen Yang, shaking his head in resignation, approached and grabbed Little Succubus’s tail, guiding her towards the coffee table.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“First, we eat. After dinner, I’ll clean up.”
“Just don’t touch my tail!”
With no strength to resist, Ning Chu was dragged backwards by Wen Yang and plopped onto the sofa.
Her face flushed, she stole a glance at Wen Yang, mentally preparing herself to not become the next dish on the menu!
What a typical scene from a Little Emperor Wen story—full of embarrassing deliciousness!
Thoughts of a certain scene popped into her head: the female supporting character in a frilly apron, cooking for the male protagonist, who then devoured her whole.
It was her birthday, after all! She worked hard to prepare a feast!
Yet there sat Wen Yang beside her, casually handing her chopsticks, his demeanor softer than usual. “Take off the apron and try your own cooking.”
“Oh~”
Ning Chu removed her apron and neatly folded it, mumbling, “I’ve tasted it all, and it’s alright. Just a bit worse than my mom’s.”
Though her cooking skills were basic at best, she had managed to meet her mother’s standards during the winter holiday.
Glancing at Wen Yang, she saw he was already digging into the Longevity Noodles.
Wait, didn’t we agree I would be the first to eat?!
“Seems like the noodles are a bit overcooked.”
Suppressing her annoyance from having her tail pulled, she leaned over to inspect the noodles. “They were in for too long, and the noodles are too thin.”
“They taste pretty good.”
“Really? My mom’s Longevity Noodles used to taste awful. I never liked them—they were always so mushy.”
Wen Yang nodded with a smile. “They’re really good.”
“Maybe my mom was just trying to market a bad product to me…”
Having snacked while cooking, she was already half-full and picked at her food while rambling on.
“I was worried my cooking would turn out terrible! The last few times I tried to cook for myself, I almost made myself gag.”
“Luckily, I had Lily to help. If I didn’t know something, I could just call her.”
“Oh! I even bought a ring!”
“A ring?” Wen Yang glanced down at the silver ring now adorning Ning Chu’s right hand, a gift he had given her on her birthday.
At the time, Ning Chu was already a girl, but few knew it. And since Little Succubus wasn’t used to wearing accessories, she had tucked the ring away.
Bouncing over to her nightstand, Ning Chu excitedly retrieved the ring box. “It cost me a fortune! It’s practically a couple’s ring!”
“Very expensive?”
“Just a few bucks… Put it on and have a look.”
Before Wen Yang could react, she eagerly slipped the ring onto his finger.
“Doesn’t fit…”
Wen Yang’s long fingers could easily grasp a basketball, but were also bony enough that the ring got stuck at the second knuckle.
Those hands had made her swoon before, but now they were a ridiculous obstacle.
First her cake turned out to be a disaster, and now her carefully chosen ring wouldn’t fit? Her mood began to sour as she huffed, playing with the ring. “Planning a birthday for you is turning out to be a headache…”
Seeing her downturned face, Wen Yang chuckled even more. “Just get a bigger size.”
“I just wanted to throw you a nice birthday party…”
“This is already great! You’re supposed to be happy for my birthday too.”
“True.”
Ning Chu lifted her head and flashed a smile at Wen Yang, quickly returning to her lively demeanor. “Hey! You should try the Pork Bone Soup; it’s got marrow, and there’s loads of meat!”
“And this sweet and sour ribs… I took the lazy route and used sweet and sour fish sauce~ ”
While she initially wanted to create a surprising birthday memory for Wen Yang, she remembered the envy he displayed every time he had dinner at her home during winter break and thought that perhaps a warm birthday celebration was really what he needed most.
Channeling her inner devoted wife, she aimed to bring him that cozy family feeling~
Undeniably, Ning Chu felt a pang of guilt about Wen Yang’s family situation, especially since she had put all of herself into this.
Seeing Wen Yang’s ever-present smile made her feel she was doing well, despite her various blunders.
Too bad she didn’t have mind-reading abilities and had no idea what Wen Yang was really thinking at that moment.
“From now on, you can work part-time on weekends, and I’ll stay home cooking for you, waiting for your return~ I’ll take care of all your meals!”
Ning Chu declared triumphantly, “Starting tomorrow!”
“I doubt you’ll last until next week.”
“No way! I mean, I usually have nothing to do on weekends—just buying groceries and cooking!”
“Then I’ll handle the dishes and pots?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes! I absolutely hate doing dishes!”
In her childhood home, the slowest eater was responsible for washing up, which meant Ning Chu spent years scouring pots and plates until she developed a minor psychological trauma.
She rested her chin on her hands, elbows on her thighs, gazing eagerly at Wen Yang as he devoured her culinary creations.
Watching him relish the food she worked hard to make filled her with a sense of accomplishment that was almost akin to being a healer in a game, bringing a ‘dead’ teammate back to life with a potion!
All her exhaustion melted away!
“Eat slowly; don’t choke!”
Ning Chu even suspected Wen Yang might be pretending to enjoy her cooking. Sure, it was decent, but was it good enough to chow down like that?
Usually, Wen Yang had better table manners than Yan Xinya!
“What time is it?”
“Seven-thirty. Do you have plans tonight?”
“I have an event later.”
“What game are you playing?”
Wen Yang swallowed the food in his mouth, turned his gaze towards her, and suddenly his intense stare made Little Succubus shyly lower her head.
“I feel like I can speedrun you tonight,” he joked.
Ning Chu instantly turned competitive. “No way?!”
Not to mention squeezing the juice out of the male protagonist, she ought to be able to withstand a few rounds of attack, right?
“I’ve never used a steering wheel before.”
She froze for a moment, and in her mind’s eye, she pictured herself leaning over the bed while Wen Yang stood behind her, holding her horns, making her stick her tail out awkwardly.
Her face flushed hotter than before, and her legs squeezed tightly together, trapping her tail…
“Pervert! You still have cake to eat!”
“You seem pretty excited, though?”
“I, I need to take a shower first.”
Ning Chu jumped up from the sofa; tonight was Wen Yang’s birthday, and there was no avoiding it. Now the real question was whether she should wear the Emotional Maid Outfit that could boost Wen Yang’s attack speed—or just yell “Master!” a few times.
Hmm, calling him “dad” might excite him even more.
And it would get her even more excited…
