Chapter 256: Not Mature Enough ①
Zhang Haiyang and the others pursed their lips in contempt, tidied up the medicine box on the table, and then went to the kitchen to wash their hands and eat.
Li Kai held Nie Qiu’s hand while eating pan-fried dumplings with chopsticks, and after Zhang Haiyang and the others left, he quickly picked up a pan-fried dumpling from the disposable food container and brought it to Nie Qiu’s mouth.
Nie Qiu glanced at Li Kai, opened her mouth, and ate the pan-fried dumpling.
Li Kai smiled with satisfaction, squeezed Nie Qiu’s hand, and continued eating. While eating, he asked, “Nie Qiu, have you eaten? If not, shall we make deep-fried potatoes? We still have plenty of time before class!”
He just wanted to eat deep-fried potatoes, didn’t he?
“Then won’t you let go of me?” Nie Qiu stood up and asked, seeing that Li Kai was still holding her hand.
Li Kai finished the last pan-fried dumpling, stood up with a smile, “I was just afraid you’d run away! Come on, let’s go to the kitchen together.”
Saying that, he pulled Nie Qiu towards the kitchen. Li Ying was stir-frying, and when she saw Nie Qiu and Li Kai enter, she was stunned, “Xiao Kai? Is something wrong?”
“Aunt Li, do we have any potatoes at home? I want Nie Qiu to make potatoes for me,” Li Kai asked with a smile.
Li Ying listened, looked at Nie Qiu, and seeing Nie Qiu nod, she smiled and said, “There are potatoes in the cabinet below.”
Upon hearing this, Li Kai hurried to rummage through the cabinet below.
Nie Qiu hadn’t stood in a kitchen like this for a long time. It was as large as the house they rented. Various metal cooking appliances gleamed brightly: ovens, microwaves, range hoods, induction cooktops, and gas stoves… everything was there, and it was clean everywhere. Even the cut vegetables were neatly arranged on the cutting board.
After Nie Qiu surveyed the kitchen, she saw Li Kai still rummaging in the cabinet. She squatted down, took a few potatoes from in front of Li Kai, then picked up a scraper hanging on the utensil wall and began to peel them by the trash can. After peeling, she began to cut them on the cutting board into long strips the size of a little finger.
Li Ying finished stir-frying and served the dishes. She washed the pot under the faucet and then handed the kitchen over to Nie Qiu.
Nie Qiu placed the pot on the gas stove and turned it on. Just as she was about to get some boiling water, Li Kai, standing beside her, said, “Didn’t you say deep-fried is tastier? Let’s make deep-fried today!”
Nie Qiu nodded. When the pot was hot enough, Nie Qiu picked up the oil and poured an appropriate amount into the pot. Seeing the oil start to smoke, she poured the cut potatoes into the hot oil, and the ‘sizzling’ sound of deep-frying began.
Nie Qiu took out a large bowl from the kitchen cabinet, cut two scallions, and put various seasonings in the bowl. Deep-fried potatoes don’t need to be fried until fully cooked, just three to five minutes. The fried potatoes are crispy and delicious with seasoning.
Li Kai’s family had more complete seasonings than Nie Qiu’s. After adding the seasonings, she turned off the heat and used a slotted spoon to scoop the potatoes out of the oil. After most of the oil had dripped off, she poured them into the bowl. She repeated this a few times until all the potatoes were scooped out and poured into the bowl.
She took a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick holder and began to mix the seasonings evenly with the potatoes. Soon, the deep-fried potatoes were ready.
Zhang Haiyang, like Huang Yan, had no resistance to gourmet food. As soon as he smelled the aroma, he, sitting at the dining table, picked up his bowl and came to the kitchen. Seeing Nie Qiu seasoning the deep-fried potatoes, he hurried over. Without regard for whether the seasoning was even, he picked up a chopstickful of potatoes and put it in his mouth.
As soon as he tasted it, he loved it. He was also someone who liked to eat deep-fried food at the night market and had eaten deep-fried potatoes before. But whether it was the flavor or the different location, the taste was similar, yet he felt there was something different. Perhaps it was because homemade food was much more hygienic than what was sold outside, he just found it delicious! He nodded and gave Nie Qiu a thumbs-up, “Delicious, Nie Qiu! It’s so delicious, I have to let Huang Yan learn from you, and we can make it together in the future.”
Li Kai, who was waiting to be fed by Nie Qiu, became angry and unhappy. He pushed Zhang Haiyang away and opened his mouth towards Nie Qiu, who was diligently seasoning the food.
Seeing this, Nie Qiu shook her head helplessly. She picked up a chopstickful of potatoes with the chopsticks she was using for seasoning and extended it to Li Kai’s mouth. Li Kai didn’t open his mouth to take it; instead, he stared at Nie Qiu’s mouth.
The potatoes were cut into strips. He wanted Nie Qiu to feed him, with her mouth.
Nie Qiu’s face instantly turned red. She stuffed the potato on the chopsticks into Li Kai’s open mouth and then stopped looking at Li Kai.
Zhang Haiyang chuckled twice, squeezed back in, picked up a few more chopsticksful of potatoes from Nie Qiu’s bowl, and walked out with the bowl.
Li Kai looked at Nie Qiu and asked wistfully, “Nie Qiu, are you mine?” When he fought with Ye Haifei, he had been thinking that he and Nie Qiu were boyfriend and girlfriend, so why was Ye Haifei so ignorant?
He just wanted to be close to Nie Qiu now, just to confirm that Nie Qiu was truly his girlfriend, not someone else’s, but his, and no one could take her away.
Nie Qiu, “…”
She really didn’t know how to answer such a childish question. She was angry that Li Kai had fought with Ye Haifei, but she also knew that if it weren’t for her, Li Kai and Ye Haifei wouldn’t have fought.
This simple jealousy and childish affection made her chest feel a little sore. She put down the bowl in her hand, reached out, placed her hand on Li Kai’s face, and brought her index finger and thumb together, “What are you talking about?”
“Are you my… mine?” The flesh on his cheeks was pinched by Nie Qiu, and his pronunciation was a bit unclear, but Li Kai stubbornly repeated the sentence.
“I’m not yours, I’m my own.” Nie Qiu lowered her hand, her eyes cast down. She picked up the bowl, stuffed it into Li Kai’s hand, “Eat quickly, and then we have to go to evening self-study! I haven’t eaten yet!”
“Oh…” Li Kai was a little disappointed, but then he became happy again. At least Nie Qiu hadn’t said he belonged to someone else. Happily, he took Nie Qiu’s hand and walked towards the restaurant. He pushed Nie Qiu into a chair at the dining table, placed the bowl of deep-fried potatoes on the table, took a rice bowl, got a bowl of rice from the rice cooker for Nie Qiu, took a pair of chopsticks from the disinfection cabinet, and handed them to Nie Qiu.
The few people eating lowered their heads in unison. They had… never seen Li Kai act so subservient, not even when he was pursuing Nie Qiu!
However… when they saw Nie Qiu take the bowl and chopsticks from Li Kai’s hand, they all felt… they all felt an inexplicable sense of happiness, an inexplicable sense of warmth, as if… this was how it should be.
Li Ying, who was cutting fruit in the kitchen, smiled. It seemed that son and father were alike. Such people should all find happiness, shouldn’t they?
