CHAPTER 161: CHAPTER 56: PAN-FRIED BUNS (PART 2)

Even if I can’t learn it, that’s okay. After thousands of years of tradition, is the only easy thing to make just plain steamed buns? Soy milk, deep-fried dough sticks, glutinous rice cakes, sugar cakes...

Du Xixi felt a surge of determination, shaking her head confidently. She refused to believe she could teach Ke Lian to make plain steamed buns but couldn’t teach him anything else?

There’s nothing difficult in the world as long as you are willing to try hard!

But the next morning, Du Xixi got up early on purpose to call Ke Lian into the kitchen. The moment Ke Lian started working, Du Xixi realized her thoughts from yesterday were wrong.

Kneading dough, fermenting, chopping filling, mixing filling, under Du Xixi’s guidance... Ke Lian messed them all up completely!

The dough turned into a sticky mess, the yeast was poured directly into a huge basin, and though the filling was chopped finely, Ke Lian managed to chop up the entire cutting board along with it while Du Xixi wasn’t looking.

As for mixing the filling...

Du Xixi looked at the bowl which clearly had a controlled amount of green onions, ginger, and garlic, yet no matter how she looked, it seemed off. She thought it might be better for Ke Lian to leave the kitchen.

"Ke Lian..."

"Xixi..."

"Tell me, why..."

"Huh?"

"Why! Why can you reach this point in the kitchen!" Du Xixi patted Ke Lian’s shoulder, her facial expression uncertain whether to laugh or cry, "Use some of your steamed bun savvy, will you?"

"Xixi!" Ke Lian also patted Du Xixi’s shoulder lightly, "You should know, back when I was making steamed buns, I failed many times too."

Du Xixi: ...

Ke Lian hadn’t finished talking, he said earnestly, while holding a large bowl of filling, "There’s an old saying, if I put in effort, I’m sure to reap proportional rewards. Xixi, failure is the mother of success..."

"Success my ass!" Du Xixi had reached her limit, and directly pushed Ke Lian out of the kitchen while he wasn’t paying attention.

Open the door, push him out, close the door; three actions done smoothly. By the time Ke Lian realized, he was shut out of the kitchen again.

On the sofa, Ke Xing revealed a familiar smile, sipped some tea that Miao Miao had helped pour, and said, "Is this the fifth time this month? Or the sixth? Oh dear, it’s been so many times I’ve lost track!"

Ke Lian angrily shoved the bowl of filling into 2569’s hands, turned around with a cold face, and after staring at the tightly shut kitchen door for a while, he clenched his fist tightly and... ever so gently knocked on the door: "Xixi~ I was wrong~ Let me in~"

"Get lost! Try stepping in and see what happens!" Du Xixi had no plans of letting Ke Lian into the kitchen before the pan-fried buns were done, "2569, come in!"

was free labor; Du Xixi wasn’t sure how long it would take her alone to chop and mix fillings, so having 2569 help was perfect—one to chop the filling, the other to knead the dough, improving efficiency.

responded promptly, and under Ke Lian’s envious and jealous gaze, slipped into the kitchen, and shut the door firmly again amidst Ke Lian’s wistful gaze.

Listening to Du Xixi’s words, Ke Lian dared not sneak in, so he sat down by the kitchen door and sighed for quite some time.

Ke Xing and Miao Miao had long been used to Ke Lian’s pitiful ’little wife’ look, only snickering a little when they saw him squatting at the door. However, Chen Yin, who had never seen this, turned and leaned over the back of the sofa mischievously, laughing, "Oh, isn’t this our Marshal Ke? So pitiful, squatting at the door like this!"

Ke Lian’s pitiful little eyes instantly turned icy cold, glaring at Chen Yin as if he wanted to freeze him with his gaze.

Chen Yin, unaware of the danger approaching, stood up and walked towards the kitchen, but couldn’t resist provoking, "Oh dear, it’s such a shame, Xixi surely won’t refuse her dear brother in the kitchen. I’ll just go in for a bit!"

Of course, Chen Yin had no intention of going in, nor did Du Xixi plan to let him in, since Chen Yin’s kitchen disaster skills weren’t much better than Ke Lian’s.

Chen Yin said it just to irritate Ke Lian; as someone who never got along with him, any chance to ’bully’ Ke Lian wasn’t one he’d pass up.

"It’s steaming hot in the kitchen, it would be too much for Your Majesty, best not go in," Ke Lian slowly stood up, fixing a dangerous gaze on Chen Yin. When he mentioned "Your Majesty," his tone was particularly heavy, "The Ke Family’s training room is outfitted according to Military Department standards, why not have Your Majesty take a look there!"