Ye Chen responded to Su Ningwei while keeping his hands busy, already starting on the soy-braised ribs.
Taking advantage of the time while the seafood platter baked in the oven.
Ye Chen poured an appropriate amount of vegetable oil into a wok, added several spoonfuls of white sugar, and heated it over medium-low heat until the sugar melted. Once the sugar began bubbling and darkening, he quickly added two or three spoonfuls of chili bean paste and rapidly stirred it evenly with the sugar.
Once the sauce was evenly mixed, he poured the marinated ribs into the wok and stir-fried them until the sauce coated every rib. Then he added enough water to cover the ribs, along with the scallions, ginger, and garlic Su Ningwei had chopped, as well as light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, a little aged vinegar, star anise... and other spices.
Su Ningwei looked shocked. "What? One of your novels is getting adapted into an animated series? Which one? How come I didn't know?"
"Oh, I wrote Battle Through the Heavens under another pen name at the time. The deal was just finalized, so I hadn't gotten around to telling you yet," Ye Chen replied.
Su Ningwei's eyes widened even further. "What?!! You wrote Battle Through the Heavens? It's so good! Although the male lead has more than one wife, the plot is really great. Even a girl like me loves reading it."
"Let me make this clear first: the male lead's views on love in the novel don't represent mine. I'm very devoted. I'll only ever have one wife in this life, and that's you," Ye Chen said, his survival instincts in full force.
Su Ningwei's eyes curved into crescents as she gazed at him worshipfully. "I know. Novels are novels, and life