Xue Chen had already witnessed the average cooking skills of the Douluo Continent's people on his journey to Shrek City with Ling Luochеn.
All he could say was that these people on the Douluo Continent had no sense of taste whatsoever!
No wonder Huo Yuhao's grilled fish with a little seasoning could taste so good it was as though it had been drugged.
Inside the room, the aroma of barbecue grew increasingly tempting.
Wang Dong buried her face in her arms and took two deep sniffs.
As fat dripped onto the charcoal with a sizzle, the fragrance mingled with spices kept burrowing into her nose.
The one-third little princess was, after all, the apple of the Clear Sky Sect's eye. What delicacies from mountain and sea hadn't she tasted?
Yet her stomach happened to be empty right now. Not only had she eaten nothing since arriving at Shrek Academy, but she had also had a fight with Xue Chen.
Grrrrrr!
Just as Wang Dong was frantically swallowing her saliva, a strange, ill-timed noise suddenly came from her stomach.
Wang Dong froze on the bed, her pretty face, hidden in a corner where Xue Chen couldn't see it, turning scarlet again.
How humiliating!
I want to die!
Wang Dong clenched her teeth, her face red enough to cook an egg.
She was the grand little princess of the Clear Sky Sect. Back in the sect, a single sneeze from her brought countless people fussing over her, yet now her stomach was growling with hunger in front of a bastard who had just bullied her.
Humiliation, indignation, and all manner of complicated emotions surged into her heart at once. Two streams of hot tears once again flowed uncontrollably from her phoenix eyes.
Xue Chen paused slightly as he turned the barbecue. Glancing at the one-third little princess, who seemed to have started sobbing again, he shook his head somewhat helplessly.
In the original story, Wang Dong hadn't been this much of a crybaby.
A few breaths later, the various Soul Beast meat skewers on Xue Chen's grill were sizzling with fat, at the perfect stage for eating.
Placing the cooked skewers and seasonal vegetables onto a plate beside him, Xue Chen suddenly spoke.
"I grilled a little too much. Want some?"
Wang Dong, lying on her side on the bed, didn't move.
"I can't eat all this myself. Throwing it away would be a waste."
Wang Dong stirred, but still said nothing.
"Whatever else happened, I was partly in the wrong today too."
After thinking it over, Xue Chen spoke again.
"Consider this meal my apology."
Leaving aside their fight, although this one-third little princess was a boy dressed as a girl, he couldn't really treat her as a boy.
After all, a first kiss meant very different things to boys and girls.
Wang Dong shifted more noticeably on the bed, and he could faintly hear a soft huff, but she still said nothing.
Xue Chen shrugged. Since Wang Dong wouldn't appreciate the gesture, he couldn't keep pressing his warm face against her cold backside.
Reaching for a cooked meat skewer and some seasonal vegetables from the plate, Xue Chen began chewing in big mouthfuls.
Rich meat juices, carrying the distinctive charred fragrance of barbecue and the flavor of spices, blossomed in Xue Chen's mouth, making him hum softly despite himself.
Wang Dong lay on her side, but her ears were pricked up even more sharply than those of her mother's true form, the Soft Bone Rabbit.
She heard the clink of skewers against the plate, heard Xue Chen chewing in big mouthfuls, and could even hear his pleased little hums.
Bastard!
Wang Dong swallowed and cursed inwardly.
If that bastard had just said a few more nice words, she would have temporarily forgiven him for the food's sake!
As everyone knew, humans simply couldn't control certain bodily functions through willpower alone.
Things like diarrhea, vomiting, hiccups, and, of course, stomach growls.
Just as Wang Dong was frantically swallowing her saliva, her stomach once again betrayed her with a string of noises.
Grrrrrrrr!
"Pfft!"
This time, Xue Chen really couldn't hold it in and let out a snicker.
"What are you laughing at?!"
Mortified enough to die, Wang Dong sprang up from the bed and glared at Xue Chen with reddened eyes, her expression already twisted into a murderous look.
"I remembered something happy!"
Xue Chen fought down his laughter. The one-third little princess looked as though she wanted to eat him alive right now, which was rather intimidating.
"What happy thing?"
Wang Dong continued glaring at Xue Chen. If looks could kill, he would have died countless times already.
"Shouldn't joining Shrek Academy be something to be happy about?"
Xue Chen stopped teasing Wang Dong and instead held the plate of barbecue out in front of her.
"Let's call a temporary truce. Whatever it is, we can talk after we've eaten."
Wang Dong shot Xue Chen a resentful glare, snatched the plate, and set it on her lap. Grabbing a meat skewer, she took a huge bite, as though she were treating that skewer of grilled meat as Xue Chen himself.
But after just two chews, Wang Dong's eyes unwittingly went wide.
Even though Wang Dong had eaten plenty and seen plenty, she had never tasted barbecue this delicious.
The outer crust crunched between her teeth, and fat and rich, meaty fragrance poured out from beneath the broken crust.
Despite the incredibly crisp exterior, the meat inside was unbelievably tender, every strand of fiber seemingly brimming with juice.
Together with the perfectly judged sprinkling of spices on the surface, it nearly made Wang Dong swallow her own tongue.
"Sho yummy!"
Wang Dong's eyes shone. Abandoning all pretense of composure, she kept stuffing her mouth with different grilled meats and seasonal vegetables that cut through the richness.
With both cheeks bulging round, she looked just like a hamster.
In the end, she's only a child of ten or so.
Watching Wang Dong's downright wild table manners, Xue Chen merely smiled and shook his head.
All the women he had encountered over the years had been older sisters ripe all over. This was his first time spending time with a peer like the one-third little princess.
Before long, the two of them had polished off every last bit of barbecue on the table.
With her appetite thoroughly satisfied, Wang Dong lay on the bed and patted her bulging little belly, her expression much more relaxed.
She seemed to have temporarily put aside the unhappy events of the day.
After putting away the barbecue utensils on the table, Xue Chen sat cross-legged on his bed again, ready to resume cultivating.
"Don't start cultivating just yet. Let's... let's talk."
Seeing that Xue Chen was about to enter meditation, Wang Dong, who had been hesitating beside him for a long while, finally spoke.
"All right. What do you want to talk about?"
Xue Chen looked with some curiosity at Wang Dong, who was sitting in a W-sit on her own bed.
"From now on, you're not allowed to strip naked and change in front of me!"
Perhaps she had thought of something, for Wang Dong flushed slightly, but she still forced herself to say it.
"Sure."
Xue Chen nodded.
Boys really do need to protect themselves out in the world.
The odds might be slim, but what if Wang Dong saw me changing one day and her animal instincts took over?
Would I accept it then, or be forced to accept it?
Life's choices really are too hard.
"Then you'll also be responsible for keeping the dorm clean from now on!"
Seeing Xue Chen agree to her first demand without even thinking, Wang Dong's expression softened further, and she hurriedly voiced her second demand.