Chapter 310: Chapter 288: Burning the House Together

Translator: 549690339 |

How bad was Xiao Qian’s cooking?

This topic was something her family didn’t want to discuss.

When she was young, her family wasn’t wealthy. As the eldest sister, Jia Xiufang was busy with her business, and Chen Lin would often play cards. Thus, Jia Xiufang trained Xiao Qian to help her out in the kitchen. Normally, eldest daughters in small business families would learn to cook simple noodles by the age of 10.

Jia Xiufang let her try making fried eggs when she was 12.

The pan got burnt.

The result was a black, lumpy mess.

Chen Zilong was frightened and burst into tears when he saw it.

The neighbor’s dog wouldn’t even touch it, and in the end, it all had to be thrown away.

No one knew how she could have such talent – she managed to make even the simplest dish so horribly wrong. The pan was so black that Jia Xiufang had to scrub with a steel wool ball for half an hour to clean it up.

Not giving up, Jia Xiufang taught her step by step again. However, for some reason, this little girl could learn everything quickly, but when it came to cooking, she just couldn’t get it.

Xiao Qian later thought that she might have some dark talent in cooking. People have innate factors when it comes to cooking skills. Some can cook great food without much effort, but she just couldn’t do it no matter how hard she tried.

For a while, she secretly practiced when Jia Xiufang was not around. Boss Qian had always been a hardworking and competitive little girl since she was young.

After many failed attempts, she hid her failed dishes under the tree in the yard – the area where her family planted flowers. There once was a persimmon tree there, but it mysteriously withered after she buried several of her failed dishes beneath it.

Chen Lin and Jia Xiufang couldn’t figure out why. The tree had been there since they built the house, and after two years of grafting, it was about to bear fruit when it suddenly died.

Xiao Qian pretended to know nothing about it, but she went back and researched the issue. She concluded that there might be something harmful in the food she made, which caused the tree to die.

Since then, she rarely cooked, probably aware that her cooking could be lethal.

In her past life, she had raised her daughter Xiao Wei and wanted to be like other mothers who would cook for their children. But when she finally made time to prepare a plate of fried rice, Xiao Wei ended up having diarrhea for days.

From then on, the mother and daughter relied on meal delivery services.

Perhaps because of Xiao Qian’s inadequacy, her daughter learned to cook instant noodles while standing on a stool at the age of 5, could chop shredded potatoes at 6, make cola chicken wings at 8, and was all-around skilled by 10.

As Xiao Qian thought of her daughter, her heart softened, and her thoughts drifted far away.

Yu Minglang saw Xiao Qian in the apron, her head wrapped in Jia Xiufang’s scarf, as their house didn’t have a smoke extractor and she didn’t want the smoke to damage her freshly washed hair.

She looked demure, but watching her handle the knife made Yu Minglang very nervous.

This didn’t look like the work of someone who could cook!

And what was with that distant look in her eyes?

Xiao Qian was reminiscing about her past life when Yu Minglang, unable to bear it any longer, nudged her.

“Oh, let’s get started.”

Xiao Qian snapped out of her reverie, raised the knife, and chopped with a determined expression. Yu Minglang’s heart skipped a beat.

Before them, the poor potato was split into two uneven pieces – one quite large and the other very small.

Four chunks of unevenly sized potatoes lined up neatly on the cutting board. Yu Minglang estimated the size difference to be significant. Boss Qian could calculate wind speed and the ignition point of fire, so how did cutting potatoes turn out like this?

Seeing her determined expression, Yu Minglang didn’t dare to take the knife and cut the larger pieces smaller, afraid of hurting her self-esteem. Instead, he held his tongue and watched her ruin one potato after another.

He couldn’t stand it any longer and finally asked cautiously.

“Qian Bao, when you chop like this, the force from the knife makes the food roll, and the cuts turn out uneven. Use your hand to hold it down.”

“No, if I hold it down, I’ll definitely cut my hand. I’ve tried this several times.” Xiao Qian said seriously, nodding her head solemnly to prove her point.

Yu Minglang swallowed hard. Fine, having uneven slices was better than bloody ones.

Xiao Qian used a similar technique to chop a large white radish.

She was planning to make a stew with potatoes and white radish.

The large white radish, after a few chops, ended up in even larger pieces than the potatoes.

“Qian Bao… Isn’t it hard to cook like this?” Yu Minglang didn’t want to say it. He should be silently eating the food his girlfriend worked so hard to make, but he couldn’t help it when he saw her extraordinarily bold cutting technique.

Xiao Qian explained with a professional tone.

“I’ve done some research, and white radish is easier to cook than potatoes, so I have to cut it into larger pieces. This way, both vegetables can be cooked at the same time, preserving their nutritional content – although I don’t know why, the potatoes I make always turn out raw in the center.”

Yu Minglang glanced at the items she had cut – some were as large as a baby’s fist, while others were smaller than a thumbnail. He couldn’t help but wonder if any wood chips from the cutting board had found their way in…

Of course the potatoes would be raw!

But at this moment, Yu Minglang still naively thought that poor knife skills wouldn’t matter as long as the food was cooked. He could eat a few bites to comfort Xiao Mei, so she wouldn’t take this matter too hard. However, he was clearly too naive…

When Jia Xiufang returned from shopping, she hadn’t even entered the yard when she smelled a burnt scent. As she walked in, she saw Yu Minglang opening the door, and a cloud of black smoke engulfed the room…

Xiao Qian came out with a towel over her nose, taking deep breaths of fresh air.

Yu Minglang wiped the sweat from his forehead, still in shock from the near disaster.

He had survived dangerous situations as a rescuer, but he almost died from smoke inhalation from his girlfriend’s cooking – now, that was a dark history indeed!

“What are you two doing at home? Trying to burn the house down?”

Jia Xiufang pushed open the door and entered, only to be greeted by a chaotic scene.

Her stove, her pots, her kitchen!

Strong, unpleasant smells, black smoke, and a burnt wall filled the room. A bunch of vegetable scraps were thrown to the side, and an unknown oily or watery substance lingered on the stove.

Were these two trying to burn down the house while no one was home?

Jia Xiufang pointed to the pitiful stove, but couldn’t find the words to express her disbelief.

Knowing she was in the wrong, Xiao Qian lowered her head, still trying to save face.

“Well, the house is going to be demolished anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit damaged…”