Wen Niao looked at the two vegetarian dishes in front of him, which looked reasonably presentable and smelled quite appetizing. He felt genuinely surprised.
“Wow, Brother Jin, did you make all of these? That’s amazing! I initially thought the servants had prepared dinner.”
Hearing Wen Niao’s praise, Luo Jin felt a slight flush of heat on his face and humbly explained:
“Actually, I haven’t really cooked much before. At most, all I could manage was boiling a bowl of noodles.
However, that phone you gave me earlier really has a lot of useful features. I searched for tutorials on Douyin and followed them step by step.
Ahem, though it took a few failed attempts, the final result turned out pretty decent.”
Luo Jin pointed helplessly toward the trash can beneath the counter.
Inside the trash can lay a few failed attempts, blackened and utterly unappetizing.
“Regardless, Brother Jin, you’re still amazing. If I were home alone today, I probably would have just had to resign myself to starving.
Even though I know how to look up tutorials online too, I feel like if I ever stepped foot in a kitchen, our family’s kitchen would have its life cut tragically short.”
Actually, in his previous life when his grandmother’s health wasn’t doing well, Wen Niao had learned how to cook. After many failures, he could still pull off basic dishes, and back then, his grandmother had praised his cooking skills to no end.
What a pity. To avoid breaking his character setting, he wouldn’t be able to show off his cooking skills to Luo Jin in the future. Ah, what a shame!
Pulling his thoughts back to the present:
“Brother Jin, how many dishes are left?”
“Just two more, and the rice is already done.”
“Great! Brother, is there anything I can help with?”
Looking at Wen Niao’s tender skin and innocent, clueless gaze, Luo Jin figured that the person in front of him was just a young master who had never lifted a finger in the kitchen. So, he assigned him an easy and approachable task: washing vegetables.
“Then why don’t you help me wash the vegetables over there?” Luo Jin pointed at the celery, potatoes, and mushrooms resting on the counter.
“Alright, task guaranteed to be completed!”
Wen Niao earnestly picked through the vegetables in his hands, discarding the withered leaves before placing the mushrooms and potatoes into the sink to wash them thoroughly.
Luo Jin took the washed vegetables from Wen Niao, peeled and shredded the potatoes, chopped the celery, and sliced the mushrooms, placing them all into a bowl.
Following the steps in the online cooking tutorial, Luo Jin studied them carefully before getting to work.
Tossing the wok, stir-frying.
Shouldn’t the first time cooking involve a chaotic explosion and a disaster zone? How was it possible that someone could be this ridiculously good on their first try?
Wen Niao thought that he was truly jealous and shedding tears of bitter regret.
Not long after, two simple and unpretentious home-cooked dishes, shredded potatoes and stir-fried celery with mushrooms, were complete.
“Wen Niao, go wash your hands first. I’ll bring the food out in a moment.”
“Got it!” Hearing Luo Jin say that, Wen Niao rushed toward the bathroom in his slippers with a swift whoosh, while Yuanyuan caught the scent and hurried downstairs.
Yuanyuan thought: “Master, wait for me! Awooo!”
After washing his hands, Wen Niao sat obediently at the dining table, awaiting the arrival of Chef Luo.
Inhaling the floating aroma, Wen Niao soothed his eager appetite.
Yuanyuan trotted in circles around the dining table, panting heavily with a huff and a puff.
Man and dog suppressed their impending drool, fixing their unblinking gazes entirely on the direction of the kitchen.
Finally, amid mounting anticipation, Luo Jin emerged carrying the dishes.
Rice paired with stir-fried dishes, and even though Wen Niao’s palate had been thoroughly spoiled ever since coming to this plane, he still found this meal deeply satisfying. Having something was better than nothing.
Because Yuanyuan was a pet and couldn’t eat human food, Luo Jin had roasted a pig’s trotter especially for it, even though it came out a bit burnt.
Yet our foodie Yuanyuan didn’t mind at all, instead viewing it as a novel style of pork trotter preparation and eating it with absolute contentment.
After the meal, Wen Niao voluntarily took on the task of washing the dishes. Seeing the look on Wen Niao’s face that clearly said if you don’t agree I’m not leaving today, Luo Jin simply let him be.
Once he finished washing the dishes, Wen Niao stared straight at Luo Jin with an expression practically begging for praise.
This little expression softened Luo Jin’s heart immensely, and with a slightly unnatural expression, he praised:
“Niao Niao did a wonderful job. The dishes are washed so cleanly, simply terrific!”
Wen Niao beamed with triumphant pride at the praise.
I’m the best little kid in the entire world. Lalala!
Tonight, the villa was left with only Wen Niao and Luo Jin.
Oh wait, no! There was also a dog. Though it could basically be ignored.
Yuanyuan thought: “Wang wang wang! Why? How can you engage in racial discrimination?”
Wen Niao stared blankly into space, lying flat on the bed in a starfish position. The glaring lights were a bit blinding, so he raised a hand to block the glare, leaving a patch of shadow.
During the quiet stillness of the night, one naturally had to find some entertainment.
With that thought, Wen Niao bounced back with full vitality and wanted to drag Luo Jin along to go play, possessing the typical case of someone who simply couldn’t stay still.
Wen Niao thought: “Come on, let’s have some fun!”
Wen Niao pushed open the door, leaning against the frame in a pose he assumed looked exceptionally cool, reached up to flick his hair, and looked toward Luo Jin inside the room.
Meanwhile, Luo Jin was currently locked in a battle of wits and courage with Yuanyuan. After tasting the food Luo Jin cooked, Yuanyuan had become utterly obsessed with currying favor with this human. After all, following Luo Jin meant there was meat to eat!
One moment Yuanyuan was proactively licking Luo Jin’s cheek, the next it was rolling over to expose its belly for Luo Jin to pet, and then rubbing its head against Luo Jin’s hand.
It played the role of a bootlicking dog to absolute perfection!
Even the penguin plush toy Wen Niao had gifted Luo Jin was falling out of favor, cast coldly aside to the side.
The plush toy thought: “It’s finally my turn to shine, my life is so hard.”
Luo Jin was being temporarily favored by Yuanyuan and hadn’t even reacted yet before he was tackled onto the bed by the hundred-plus-pound Yuanyuan, which kept huffing and puffing as it rubbed coquettishly against his chest.
At that moment, Luo Jin felt he finally understood what Wen Niao meant by a love as deep as the sea and the crushing weight of Mount Tai.
Two people who had both been tackled and fawned over by the exact same dog suddenly experienced a moment of deep resonance.
Beep, kindred spirit detected!
As for Wen Niao, looking at the scene between Luo Jin and Yuanyuan, he fluttered about in a mess of wind.
Oh my god! Is this something I’m allowed to watch?
Wuwuwu, Mommy, I’m tainted!
System 101: “Please! You were never clean to begin with, young man!”
Wen Niao covered his eyes in a shy, coy display, while secretly peeking through a gap between his fingers. He definitely had no idea how wretched his smile looked right then.
Seeing Wen Niao arrive, Luo Jin pushed Yuanyuan aside, got up, smoothed down his clothes, and asked what he needed.
Yuanyuan thought: “Am I no longer your favorite little darling?”
“Hmph! Men, you loved me so much just a second ago, and now look at that, hearts change so fast. As expected, all men are big cabbages!”
Wen Niao cleared the messy scrapings out of his head and proposed going out to the courtyard to play with handheld sparklers.
“Brother Jin, these sparklers look gorgeous once you light them, just like their name suggests. They’re especially great for taking photos. But since nobody else is home today, what a pity, we won’t be able to take pictures.”
Seeing Wen Niao look a bit disappointed, Luo Jin began racking his brains for a way to make photo-taking possible. He scanned his surroundings around the room before his eyes suddenly lit up.
“Niao Niao, don’t worry, I have a way!”
Yuanyuan thought: “I have a vague feeling a chill is running down my spine.”
Under the starry night sky, gods descended to the mortal realm. The young man’s eyes were dotted with starlight, and a flick of his wrist traced a beautiful arc, dancing gracefully like a fairy’s trailing skirt.
After setting the phone’s photo timer, Luo Jin propped the phone upright right between Yuanyuan’s jaws.
To make Yuanyuan cooperate, Luo Jin used a fried chicken drumstick as its reward.
Yuanyuan thought: “A bitter wage-slave shedding the poor tears of a working stiff. A human tool, a tool’s soul!”
Once finished, Luo Jin sent the captured photos straight to Wen Niao’s WeChat. From that moment on, the two of them shared their very first joint photograph.