A Skill of One's Own

Despite her confidence, Zhu Juntang had no chance to realize her plan to cooperate with Bai Hui to take revenge on Liu Chang'an today.

After class, she received a call from Zhong Qing, asking her to go to Su Nanxiu's place.

If it were Su Nanxiu calling her, Zhu Juntang would definitely ignore her... She usually enjoyed playing with Su Nanxiu, but today she had planned to deal with Liu Chang'an.

Zhong Qing's notification meant that this was the Third Mistress's request, so Zhu Juntang had no choice but to let Liu Chang'an go for the time being.

"You're lucky today." Zhu Juntang said to Liu Chang'an with an air of authority, then got into the car Zhong Qing had sent and left, followed by her own Cullinan, her nanny van, and the Bread Man.

"This person asked me to keep her company, but she ran off as soon as class was over." Bai Hui waved her hand and watched the convoy leave, then said to Zhu Juntang with great resentment, twisting her body to show her unhappiness.

Fortunately, Liu Chang'an and I are friends, so it doesn't really matter... If the three of us are hanging out together, and two of us are strangers who are just friends, Zhu Juntang suddenly runs away, how awkward would it be for the remaining two?

"That's because she considers you a friend. Friends who can be there for each other when needed are easier to get along with, and there's less pressure when making plans," Liu Chang'an replied casually.

"I was just saying... so... so shall we still play Dou Dizhu?" Bai Hui made an impossible suggestion to show that she had no preparation or plans for the upcoming activities or itinerary.

"You're practically a landlady now, do you think I'd challenge you?" Liu Chang'an offered a feasible suggestion.

"Fight my ass... Forget it, didn't you say you were going to treat me to something?" Bai Hui said helplessly. If she couldn't play Dou Dizhu, she could only go get something to eat.

To be honest, it's more fun to play Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game) with three people, since you can eat anytime.

"Let's go get some congee," Liu Chang'an said after a moment's thought. "I know a congee shop that's pretty nice. I can also take a look at the photos and learn from your photo editing skills."

"Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me. "Liu Chang'an has always been willing to ask questions, even though he genuinely doesn't know how to use the current photo editing software.

When people see old photos, they are often amazed by the good looks of the people in them... They often add that there was no Photoshop or beauty filters in that era.

This is actually a misunderstanding. Photos were edited in the past, but the process was done in a darkroom, unlike now where they are edited using computer or mobile phone programs.

Liu Chang'an was proficient in darkroom retouching techniques, but Liu Chang'an had not studied how to retouch images using software such as Photoshop.

People need to keep up with the times.

"Okay, do you like porridge?" Bai Hui nodded. When girls talk about eating, they usually mean desserts, snacks, barbecue, or something similar, not a proper meal.

Drinking porridge is somewhere in between, and I can also accept Bai Hui.

"Tender water pepper and artemisia shoots grace the spring platter; true joy lies in simple pleasures." Liu Chang'an recited a line from a poem. "Our traditional culture has always valued purity and elegance, and porridge has always been a favorite among cultured people because of its light and mild nature. Especially when flowers are added to porridge, it's considered a refined affair. During the Cold Food Festival, we drink Cold Food Porridge with almonds and flowers; in summer, there's lotus leaf, mung bean, and lotus seed porridge; in August, there's osmanthus porridge; on Double Ninth Festival, there's chrysanthemum porridge..."

"Wait... Liu Chang'an, I was just asking if you like porridge." Bai Hui quickly stopped her. Unlike An Nuan, she couldn't flatter Liu Chang'an. Liu Chang'an's pedantry always made Bai Hui feel uncultured, as if she wasn't even worthy of being his friend.

"I was just subtly implying that I'm a cultured person, and cultured people like to drink porridge, so naturally I like to drink porridge too, which answers your question." Liu Chang'an looked at Bai Hui regretfully, "Can't you even understand that? Zhu Juntang used to give you the nickname 'Little White Pig,' and you really live up to it."

"When did she give me such a nickname!" Bai Hui was quite angry, because "Little White Pig" sounded a little cute. If the nickname was something like "Stupid Pig," "Dumb Pig," "Wild Boar," or "Lazy Pig," she would be very angry.

"You weren't familiar with each other back then, right? Forget it, there's no such thing as a wrong nickname, only a wrong name." Liu Chang'an glanced at Bai Hui. Hmm, Little White Pig, not bad... It's just as good as "Immortal Sheep" or "Mie Mie Baa".

"I'm never going to come to class with her again," Bai Hui said indignantly. If Zhu Juntang asked her to come to class again... unless Liu Chang'an also came to class, Bai Hui would reluctantly come to accompany her, since they might be able to play a game of Dou Dizhu together. After Zhu Juntang explained the rules, Bai Hui was somewhat looking forward to it.

They arrived at the porridge shop together. It was actually Liu Chang'an's first time here; he had only passed by it before and thought it looked pretty good.

Bai Hui ordered the most common preserved egg and lean pork congee, a plate of edamame, and a plate of pig tails. Liu Chang'an saw that there was also plum blossom congee, so he ordered that as well, and also ordered a side of pickled radish, pickled chili peppers, and fried peanuts.

"The book 'Shan Jia Qing Gong' records a recipe for plum blossom porridge. Sweep up the fallen plum blossoms, pick them clean, and wash them. Cook the porridge with snow water and white rice. When it's done, add the plum blossoms and cook together. Plum blossom porridge is what you drink in winter," Liu Chang'an explained why he ordered plum blossom porridge.

Bai Hui tilted her head to look at Liu Chang'an. Was he trying to say that cultured people are cultured people, even ordering food casually is very particular, while she could only order a congee with preserved egg and lean pork?

Bai Hui thought that if Liu Chang'an had ordered the preserved egg and lean meat congee, he might have been able to explain why.

"My preserved egg and lean pork congee... I chose preserved eggs, washed them, peeled them, and cooked them with tap water and white rice. Once cooked, I added shredded pork and cooked it together. Being uncultured means I have to drink preserved egg and lean pork congee." After Bai Hui finished speaking, she puffed out her cheeks and glared at Liu Chang'an. How about that? Satisfied now? She willingly used her uncultured behavior to highlight your shortcomings!

"In the 'Record of Raising Young Children,' a similar plum blossom porridge is named 'Hidden Fragrance Porridge,' which is even more poetic." Liu Chang'an laughed, and then wondered if Bai Hui could continue the story and come up with a similar allusion for her century egg and lean porridge.

"I know that Dark Fragrance is..." Bai Hui couldn't help but reveal a retaliatory smile.

"That's called night soil," Liu Chang'an interrupted promptly.

"Ugh, saying that while we're eating." Even though she misunderstood first, getting the wrong idea about the smelly stuff, it was still his fault—he started the conversation.

The porridge couldn't have been freshly cooked, so it was served quickly. Liu Chang'an ate the porridge with some side dishes, while Bai Hui turned on her computer and explained her photo editing ideas to Liu Chang'an. After discovering that Liu Chang'an was unfamiliar with image processing software such as Lightroom, she focused intently on explaining it to him. Bai Hui was quite excited; she had finally found an area where she was good at something that Liu Chang'an was not.

From now on, he probably won't think she's useless and only cares about material things anymore, right? In his eyes, she should be a girl with a skill, just like An Nuan, right?