Chapter 326: Cooking
When An Han returned to her rented place that evening, she immediately started cooking.
This meal was Su Peng’s birthday dinner, and Su Peng’s older cousin would also come, so she couldn’t make it too bad. Otherwise, it would ruin Su Yichang’s good impression of her.
At home, she sometimes cooked, but her mother would always pick the vegetable leaves, cut the meat into thin strips, and season everything first.
All she needed to do was fry it in the pan and add some seasoning, and her mother would help from the side. But this time, she had to handle everything by herself.
This made An Han extremely flustered. She was cutting the meat when she suddenly remembered that there were frozen chicken wings in the fridge that needed to be thawed. She had already started frying the vegetables when she realized she hadn’t even turned on the range hood.
Oil splashed everywhere, scaring her so much that she quickly grabbed the pot lid as a shield, stretching out her arms nervously to control the spatula. Her hand still got burned, and she almost shook so hard that she nearly knocked over the whole pan.
The door opened. Su Peng, who had just returned from the fitness club and felt weak all over, walked in while supporting himself against the wall.
“Do you want me to help?”
He immediately saw An Han cooking as if she was fighting a battle. He closed the door behind him and looked at the time. “It’s already after seven. My cousin will arrive around eight.”
“Help?”
An Han hesitated and looked at Su Peng, but she shook her head very fast. She could barely manage on her own, if Su Peng joined in, the two of them might end up destroying the entire kitchen.
“Right, what did the doctor say?”
“No problem, just too nervous.”
“I knew it~”
An Han realized she actually felt a bit relieved inside, but also a little sad that she couldn’t use this excuse to tease Su Peng anymore.
Hearing “one-second man” from his girlfriend hurt Su Peng like a knife to the chest.
She smelled a bit of burnt food and quickly focused back on cooking. She casually reminded him, “Go take a shower. You smell like sweat.”
“Okay.”
Not even ten minutes later, Su Peng had already showered and changed his clothes. Feeling greedy, he walked to the kitchen door, looking inside with eyes full of expectation.
“If you’re hungry, there’s still cake in the fridge. I bought it for you last night.”
The cake had been in the fridge for a whole day, so it should still be okay.
But An Han still didn’t feel fully assured and added, “If it tastes wrong, just throw it away. You throw it, so you won’t feel bad.”
She continued focusing on cooking, but after a moment, she turned and looked at Su Peng, who was still standing at the kitchen door without moving.
“What is it?”
Su Peng was craving the food but also seemed a bit shy. “Tonight...”
“We’re eating shrimp omelette, stir-fried water spinach, pan-fried tofu, braised pork, and green pepper stir-fried meat,” An Han sighed. “I don’t know if it suits your taste... but I think it tastes okay.”
“No, I mean... tonight, should we try again?”
This sentence immediately reminded An Han of that terrifying feeling from before. Her face turned bright red, and she shook her head without hesitation. “What are you thinking!”
“It’s my birthday today.”
“So what? Don’t push your luck!”
“This time I’ll definitely last longer!”
“Go away! Pervert!”
Looking disappointed, Su Peng went to clean up the table early.
Men really can't be given even the smallest advantage, give them a little sunshine and they immediately get too excited!
An Han grumbled in her heart, but then suddenly remembered the reward she had received.
Skills… could it mean that?
She didn’t think too much about it. Right now, her main focus was still on cooking.
Near eight o’clock, she finally put all the food on the table, dishes that contained all the cooking knowledge she had gained in more than twenty years of her life.
She looked at the table full of dishes and felt full of achievement. Her back straightened, and with both hands on her hips, she proudly asked Su Peng,
“Try it. How does it taste?”
“It looks okay.”
Su Peng had thought An Han’s cooking would be a disaster, but surprisingly, the appearance wasn’t bad at all. At least it wasn’t some horrible dish you couldn’t eat.
“Then why did you cook so badly last time when I was sick?” he muttered while picking up a piece of meat with his chopsticks.
“That time I only had one induction cooker. What did you expect me to do?”
An Han’s eyes were shining. A moment ago she looked very confident, but now, watching Su Peng taste the dishes, her heart suddenly tightened. She stared at him without blinking, full of expectation and worry. Her feet even lifted a little, and her body leaned forward.
It felt just like waiting for a teacher to mark your test paper, pure torture.
She stared at Su Peng and quickly asked, “How is it?”
“Hmm…”
Su Peng lifted his head and looked at her, looking unsure.
“Not good?”
“I’ll try another one.”
An Han nodded hard. “The scrambled eggs must be fine. Try the eggs!”
She had cooked scrambled eggs while standing on a stool when she was five. It was the dish she was most confident about. Even without seasoning, scrambled eggs shouldn’t taste too bad, right?
Su Peng tried every dish on the table with a serious expression. In the end, he sighed softly, sat down on the sofa, and frowned.
“Not to your taste?”
An Han didn’t know why she cared so much about his opinion. In fact, she had tasted every dish before serving. They weren’t amazing, but at least acceptable. Also, Su Peng was from southern, and his taste shouldn’t be too different from hers.
Su Peng looked up at her worried face and suddenly smiled. “Actually, it’s okay. Not bad.”
“Then why did you frown!”
“I was just thinking, you never cook at home, but your cooking is actually fine. Meanwhile, I can’t cook at all.” He shrugged helplessly. “I wanted to help, but you didn’t let me.”
“Well… you are a spoiled young master…” An Han muttered.
Su Peng was good in everything, studies, sports, looks, except household chores. He had never put any skill points into “home skills” since he was a kid, so chores were extra hard for him, and he often made things worse.
An Han, on the other hand, was balanced, everything was okay, but nothing was amazing.
“Right on time, my brother is here.” Su Peng suddenly answered a phone call, quickly stood up from the sofa, and said, “I’ll go downstairs to pick him up.”
“Go ahead…”
But only after he took a few hurried steps, his legs suddenly gave out, and he fell to the floor.
An Han panicked and rushed to him. “What’s wrong!?”
Su Peng tried several times but still couldn’t stand. He looked up and saw An Han’s eyes full of worry.
“It’s fine. I trained legs for an hour at the gym. It’s normal that I can’t walk.”
“……"
“My legs are just really sore and weak.” He simply sat down on the floor.
“So why did you go to the gym for no reason… Brother Long’s big-muscle-man body doesn’t even look good.”
Only now did An Han finally relax. She rolled her eyes at him. “Then I’ll go downstairs. Where is your cousin now?”
“At the entrance of the neighborhood.”