Xie Baotan's eyes widened. "Jiang Qianling! Are you an idiot? You grabbed some random person off the street, and you dared to take him as your teacher?"
Jiang Qianling stared at Xie Baotan for a while.
Smack!
Jiang Qianling slammed her spatula down again, startling the chubby boy beside her. Xie Baotan immediately shut his mouth, too.
"If he dares to teach me, why wouldn't I dare to learn?"
Yan Jinyue overheard their exchange. He could already imagine how Ji Hanxing had sat here eating before going over to help Jiang Qianling.
"Don't you dare to eat the egg fried rice I made, too?"
Xie Baotan looked at the blackened clump of egg fried rice Jiang Qianling had made. His pupils contracted, and he stammered, "Y-you don't know how to make it?"
Jiang Qianling also looked down at the egg fried rice on the griddle and frowned. "I'm learning."
She had followed the steps Ji Hanxing had taught her, so how had it turned out so black? She had watched Ji Hanxing add a spoonful of soy sauce and added a spoonful herself.
Jiang Qianling scooped the egg fried rice onto a plate. The chubby boy took two steps back and pointed at it with a trembling hand, his voice terrified. "Is that even edible?!"
"This one doesn't count. I'll make another."
Jiang Qianling set the plate aside, but the next second, a pair of slender hands picked it up. She followed the hands with her gaze and saw Xie Baotan.
Xie Baotan said, "I like mine with lots of soy sauce."
Jiang Qianling looked at Xie Baotan seriously. "You don't need to force yourself."
Xie Baotan gritted his teeth. "I'm not."
Jiang Qianling asked, "Really?"
Mustering the resolve of a warrior cutting off his own wrist, Xie Baotan nodded firmly. "Yes!"
The chubby boy beside them couldn't take it anymore. He looked pitifully at Jiang Qianling. "Top student, I-I..."
He desperately wanted to say he didn't want his anymore, but Xie Baotan clapped a hand straight over his mouth.
"Make another serving for him."
Xie Baotan dragged the chubby boy away.
Xie Baotan sat down across from Yan Jinyue and looked at the uncleared rubbish bag beside them. "Bro, why did you pick this table? The rubbish hasn't even been cleared."
Yan Jinyue had finished all the egg fried rice on his plate and was wiping his mouth with a tissue.
"To save the cleaning lady some work. This way, she only needs to wipe one table, doesn't she?"
When Xie Baotan heard that, it seemed to make sense. But why did it sound so strange coming from his brother?
Yan Jinyue pointed at the plate of egg fried rice in front of Xie Baotan. "Aren't you going to hurry up and try the egg fried rice your top student made?"
How could Xie Baotan miss Yan Jinyue's teasing? He pursed his lips. "Fine, I'll eat it!"
With the resolve of a man facing death, he scooped up a spoonful, closed his eyes, and shoved it straight into his mouth. Then he opened his eyes.
The chubby boy shouted, "Xie! Don't scare me!"
"If it's poisonous, spit it out right away!"
"Even sucking up to the top student shouldn't go this far. You can't stake your life on it!"
Xie Baotan began chewing and glared at the chubby boy. "Do you even know how to talk?"
"This rice tastes pretty good!"
"It might not look like much, but it really does taste good."
Xie Baotan scooped up another large spoonful and stuffed it into his mouth, but the chubby boy didn't believe him at all. He merely reached out to feel Xie Baotan's forehead, then looked at Yan Jinyue with a mournful expression.
"Yan, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder for Xie. He's so lovesick his brain's stopped working!"
Yan Jinyue only smiled without saying a word. He knew Xie Baotan well enough. The young master had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had always been picky about food and drink. If he could eat it and even praise it, it ought to be good.
"Enjoy."
Another plate of egg fried rice was set on the table. It was the third plate Jiang Qianling had made.
This plate of egg fried rice looked much more normal than the last one. Only after seeing Xie Baotan eat so many mouthfuls without anything unusual happening did the chubby boy pull the plate toward himself with trembling hands.
After delivering the food, Jiang Qianling was about to turn and leave when Xie Baotan suddenly looked up. "Top student, this egg fried rice really does taste good!"
"Really?"
Jiang Qianling's eyes brightened. She looked at the chubby boy beside him, who had already taken a bite and was also very surprised. He nodded at Jiang Qianling and said indistinctly, "It's good, it's good."
The corners of Jiang Qianling's mouth lifted slightly into a faint smile. Xie Baotan couldn't help staring in a daze.
Yan Jinyue took it all in from the side and shook his head gently. It seemed someone had fallen in love without even realizing it.
He stood up, took out his phone, and scanned the code. "Boss, how much?"
Jiang Qianling pointed at the plate of egg fried rice Yan Jinyue had eaten. "I'm only charging for the serving my teacher made."
"Ten yuan."
Yan Jinyue didn't ask why and simply paid.
Xie Baotan grew a little anxious. "You're here to do business. Why won't you take our money?"
Jiang Qianling said, "Consider it my thanks for helping me today."
She hesitated for a while before speaking again. "I don't owe Yue Feng any money."
"He's slandering me."
Seeing her bring it up herself, Xie Baotan was delighted. "It's all right. If he keeps harassing you, tell me. I'll teach him a lesson for you."
At his words, Jiang Qianling didn't agree. Instead, she said, "I've agreed to enter that competition you mentioned before."
"Really?"
Xie Baotan looked as though some wonderful stroke of luck had landed right on him.
Jiang Qianling nodded.
The chubby boy looked from one to the other, then lowered his head to eat his egg fried rice.
Burp. I'm full.
Meanwhile, Ji Hanxing, who had escaped the night market street, was subjected to a round of mockery from the system.
[That's what you get for not listening to this system, host. You nearly exposed yourself and broke character, didn't you?] [If someone had recognized you, hmph...]
What the system left unsaid was self-evident: if his character collapsed, the plot would collapse, and everything would be over.
Ji Hanxing understood, but refused to accept it. "Don't you think Yan Jinyue broke character, too?"
"Isn't he a domineering CEO? Isn't he a villainous big shot who radiates authority?"
"Why does he get to show up at a food stall in that night market?"
Ji Hanxing's string of questions silenced the system.
In the end, it could only offer a dry reply: [Please focus on yourself, host.]
Ji Hanxing snorted inwardly. The system simply couldn't control anyone else.
That also reassured Ji Hanxing considerably. The system wasn't powerful enough to alter everything. Right now, he was the only person it could restrict.
Everyone else in this world was a real person with independent thoughts, existing free of the plot's control.
For Ji Hanxing, that was very good news.
"Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz."
Ji Hanxing's phone vibrated a few times. When he opened it to check, it was actually a WeChat message from Yan Jinyue.
They hadn't chatted since adding each other on WeChat. This was the first message Yan Jinyue had sent him.
Yan Jinyue: Are you free tomorrow? Let's have a meal together.
Yan Jinyue actually invited me to dinner?
Ji Hanxing's fingers hovered over the keyboard for quite a while before he finally typed.
Ji Hanxing: Sure.