CHAPTER 114: CHAPTER 113: WHAT A WASTE

Mashed chili peppers with preserved eggs?

What kind of thing is that?

He Chen suddenly realized he was really quite dense. He looked at Ye Manman with some panic, not daring to ask how to make it.

This look of wanting to speak but holding back made Ye Manman even more annoyed.

"Didn’t you say you’re good at learning things?"

She poked his belly grumpily, finding it unyielding, then tightened her small fist and jabbed twice.

"I’ll only teach you once."

He Chen held her little hand, which had hurt itself when she hit him, and gently rubbed it, feeling sorry for her.

"Don’t hit me with your hand. You can use a cane or a stick, just don’t hurt your hand. I’ll learn, I promise I will if you teach me once."

He quickly prepared the chili peppers and preserved eggs, along with the simple seasonings Ye Manman mentioned, stealing occasional glances at the person beside him supervising nervously.

The first step was to wash the peppers and pan-fry them until tiger skin appeared; He Chen did this skillfully. The second step was to take the peppers out and grind them in a bowl.

There was no special pestle at home, so He Chen cleaned and dried a rolling pin to use in its place.

Just as he was about to start grinding the peppers, a soft, slender hand stretched out from the side.

"Let me try."

Ye Manman had long wanted to play with this.

She had never cooked before, and the first time she tried mashed chili peppers, she imagined it was such a simple dish; surely she could make it too.

So when she mentioned eating this just now, she had the idea of wanting to try it herself.

However, she really didn’t know how to handle the previous step of frying the peppers, so she let He Chen do it.

Noticing she seemed to be in a much better mood, He Chen realized she was interested now and quickly handed the rolling pin to her without delay.

But after all, it wasn’t a professional pestle, and the rolling pin was admittedly a bit too long and thick for her to handle while supporting the bowl.

Neither of them had experience doing this. Ye Manman thrust the rolling pin into the bowl, nearly sending it flying, but thankfully, He Chen reacted quickly and held it down.

Ye Manman was startled, almost uttering two words of traditional profanity, fearfully switching to gripping the rolling pin with both hands.

"He Chen, hold the bowl steady, okay? I’m going to exert some force~"

It was unclear whether she was reminding He Chen or reassuring herself, but the combined strength of her two hands was not even as much as He Chen’s one hand, and the rolling pin only slid harshly over the cooked peppers in the bowl.

However, Ye Manman found it fun, her face lighting up with a sweet and lovely smile.

He Chen was mesmerized, silently holding the bowl, his thoughts wandering, imagining himself holding her from behind, grinding the peppers together with her hand.

"Oh, it seems quite a lot got mashed! I’m so great at this!"

Ye Manman jabbed down several more times, and indeed considerably more chili had been mashed, her delicate white cheeks softly blushing with joy.

Hearing those words, He Chen instinctively looked into the bowl but was instead completely captivated by her hand holding the rolling pin.

Her fingers were beautiful, appearing small to him but already at a level that could model hand jewelry among women.

Her slender fingers, pale and smooth with no visible hair, barely tinted knuckles, tinged with pink, well-trimmed, smooth, rounded nails, and white crescents on the nail bed indicating their health.

And such an incredibly beautiful pair of little hands was currently holding the rolling pin.

This rolling pin had been used for a year or two; He Chen had originally cut and polished it himself from wood, and its color had darkened somewhat from its initial state.

The contrast of colors and shapes impacted He Chen’s vision, and he inexplicably recalled Ye Manman’s hand under the covers last night.

Wasn’t that scene similar to now?

He Chen’s ears quietly warmed, secretly comparing the size of the rolling pin in his mind, and then his ears turned entirely red.

After mashing for a short while, Ye Manman felt her hand growing sore, and seeing there were still plenty of whole peppers in the bowl, she pouted her lips.

"Ah, why are there so many? I don’t want to do this anymore, you do it."

Thinking she was quite capable, reality harshly slapped her in the face. Ye Manman decided she’d never attempt this again.

She handed the rolling pin back to He Chen, shook her somewhat sore hand, and began to sulk once more.

"I thought it was simple, but even with all my effort, I only did a little bit. It’s really hard."

Feeling particularly dejected, Ye Manman’s head drooped, looking pitifully at him from the side.

He Chen quickly reined in his wandering thoughts, intending to put the rolling pin down and comfort her, but Ye Manman noticed.

She pointed angrily at the bowl.

"Don’t worry about me, finish this first."

The cooked peppers were truly slippery and slick, slipping away at a jab. Ye Manman suspected it wasn’t her fault but that the peppers were cunning, wanting to see if He Chen could manage.

Seeing her staring, He Chen naturally didn’t dare stop. He quickly grabbed the bowl with one hand and took the rolling pin with the other, his hand’s veins popping with effort, oddly making him seem somewhat sensual.

Ye Manman glanced at his hand briefly and then looked into the bowl, finding the once slick chili peppers completely mashed.

"How did you finish so quickly? Were they targeting me on purpose?!"

Ye Manman widened her eyes, leaning closer to inspect.

How in He Chen’s hands were these slippery peppers so obedient and instantly mashed, yet she wasn’t able to?

"Silly girl, because I’m stronger. I’ll handle these tasks from now on. You don’t need your hands getting dirty."

"Also, if the peppers accidentally get on your hands, they’ll sting for quite a while. If you want to eat this again, just call me. Don’t try to do it yourself."

He Chen’s progress in cooking was genuinely swift. From complicated dishes like Sweet and Spicy Duck and fried chicken to simpler ones like grilled fish and mashed chili peppers with preserved eggs, he handled them all adeptly.

If he hadn’t been clueless about these things initially, Ye Manman would have suspected he’d learned them before.

But why is he so dense regarding that aspect?

Frustrated, Ye Manman ate the mashed chili peppers with preserved eggs, feeling the taste was excellent yet lamenting at the same time.

She raised her eyes again to glance at He Chen’s robust and commanding figure, feeling quite vexed inside.

Ah, what a waste.

He Chen didn’t understand what her complex gaze meant, but since she didn’t seem as angry as before, he felt somewhat relieved.

...

Since that incident on the thirtieth night, Gao Huifang had become much more restrained at the educated youth commune. Even when Yang Donglian arrogantly bossed everyone around every day as the identity of Lucky Baby, she didn’t utter a word in protest.

Song Kangcheng seemed to think she was ill; he brought her meals to the bedside for all three meals on the first day, even trying to feed her.

As night fell again, she saw Song Kangcheng approaching once more to express his concern, and Gao Huifang couldn’t bear it any longer. While Yang Donglian was away, she clutched her quilt and burst into tears.

"Cheng, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!"

She cried intensely, repeatedly apologizing. Song Kangcheng didn’t understand, but he gently patted her back, his tone soothing like speaking to a child.

"What’s wrong? Who made you cry so sadly?"