I Shouldn't Have Been So Curious!

Fang Jiaxue noticed that Qi Hao solved the problems faster than she answered questions on modern Chinese.

In less than twenty minutes, he finished all three problems.

Could my best friend have lied to me? Fang Jiaxue couldn't help wondering.

Her best friend was a math student at Sichuan University and was usually quite proud. How could problems she called difficult fail to last even half an hour in Qi Hao's hands?

Fang Jiaxue couldn't be sure.

After all, she studied Chinese. She had thrown math into the trash on the day she finished her college entrance exams, and the two had gone their separate ways, never to meet again.

"Done." Qi Hao handed the A4 sheet back to Fang Jiaxue.

Fang Jiaxue glanced down at the symbols and numbers dancing across the page.

Hmm.

She couldn't understand a single word.

She folded the paper and put it away. Just as she was about to thank him, Qi Hao added something.

"Oh, and tell your friend that if there's anything she doesn't understand after reading it, she can come ask me. My approach might be a little different from the standard solutions. If she's seeing some of the steps for the first time, she might find the jumps a bit abrupt."

"Oh... okay, I'll tell her."

Fang Jiaxue suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

He had already spent two hours teaching her younger brother, and she had asked him to help solve extra problems. That was a bit much of her.

"Qi Hao, why don't you stay for lunch?"

"Lunch?"

"Consider it my thanks for helping with the problems." As Fang Jiaxue said this, her gaze shifted slightly away, avoiding his eyes.

Qi Hao looked up at the clock nearby.

Eleven fifty.

He had arrived at nine thirty and taught for two hours, until eleven thirty. Then the three problems had taken him nearly another twenty minutes. It really was almost lunchtime.

Math really did take energy. After his brain had been working at full speed for over two hours, it had burned no less glucose than a three-kilometer run, and he was hungry now.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony." Qi Hao wasn't foolish enough to turn down a free lunch.

Besides, he was curious about what a wealthy family ate for lunch.

Fang Jiaxue told him to stay seated, then turned and headed for the kitchen.

Qi Hao followed her and said politely, "Tell the cook not to go to any extra trouble. I'm not a picky eater."

"The cook isn't here."

"Then who's cooking?"

Fang Jiaxue had reached the kitchen doorway. She glanced back at him and said matter-of-factly, "I am."

Qi Hao stopped in his tracks, a sudden sense of unease rising in his heart.

That unease became reality after he walked into the kitchen.

Fang Jiaxue certainly looked the part as she tied on her apron. The white apron went quite well with her light blue sweater.

But when she took the ingredients out of the fridge and began cutting them, Qi Hao was startled.

The way she held the potato with her left hand was completely wrong.

All five fingers were stretched straight out, her fingertips less than a centimeter from the blade. And when she cut, she pushed the knife forward instead of pressing it down. The cleaver in her hand looked less like it was cutting vegetables and more like it was sawing wood.

Rich people really did eat in a peculiar way.

Qi Hao thought he shouldn't have been so curious.

"Do you... know how to cook?" Qi Hao tried to make his voice sound a little more normal.

Without looking up, Fang Jiaxue said, "Of course I do. What, are you looking down on me?"

"Then are you planning to cut that potato into strips or chunks?"

"Slices."

Qi Hao looked at the potato slices on the cutting board, all different shapes. Some were thin enough to see through, while others were as thick as city-wall bricks. The only thing they had in common was that no two were the same size.

"Hmm... very artistic."

"Of course." Fang Jiaxue didn't catch what Qi Hao meant and was wholly absorbed in her art.

For the next few minutes, Qi Hao leaned against the kitchen doorframe, watching Fang Jiaxue do battle with the ingredients at the stove, unable to put his mind at ease.

When she cracked the eggs, she dropped some shell into the bowl and spent ages fishing it out. When she poured the oil, she accidentally added too much, leaving it deep enough in the pan to deep-fry something.

Worst of all, when she prepared to heat the pan, she turned the flame all the way up, then tossed in the potato slices before the oil was hot.

"Wait!" Qi Hao hurriedly warned her. "The oil isn't hot. If you put them in now-"

Before he finished speaking, a tragic sizzle rose from the pan. The spattering oil made Fang Jiaxue instinctively jump back, and the spatula nearly flew out of her hand.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Fang Jiaxue steadied herself and forced herself to look calm. "Standard procedure."

She stirred the food a few times with the spatula, then went to get the seasonings.

"Where's the salt again..."

She rummaged around the spice rack for a while, picked up a white jar, unscrewed the lid, and sprinkled a spoonful into the pan.

"That's sugar."

"..."

Fang Jiaxue froze for two seconds and looked down at the jar in her hand.

It was sugar.

Without a change of expression, she put down the sugar jar, picked up a jar of roughly the same size beside it, and added a spoonful of salt to the pan. Then she continued stir-frying, pretending nothing had happened.

Qi Hao really couldn't stand watching anymore.

"Turn them over on the right. They're about to burn underneath."

"Turn the heat down a little."

"Go easy on the soy sauce. You've poured in too much; it'll be salty."

Fang Jiaxue put down the soy sauce bottle. She turned to look at Qi Hao and suddenly blinked.

"Wait a minute."

"Hmm?"

Fang Jiaxue's delayed reaction had finally caught up.

"You can cook?!"

"You only just noticed?"

Fang Jiaxue decisively thrust the spatula into Qi Hao's hand.

"You'd better do it."

"Huh?" Qi Hao caught the spatula and paused. "You said you were treating me to a meal. How come you're making your guest cook?"

Fang Jiaxue lifted her chin slightly. "I'll treat you to a meal out next time, okay? Today's a special case. The cook went back to her hometown the day before yesterday, and there really isn't anyone at home who can cook... If you don't help, the three of us will have to go out to eat on empty stomachs."

Her voice softened a little as she said that last sentence. Qi Hao found it hard to refuse, so he resigned himself to it. "All right, I'll do it."

With that, he took the spatula, scooped out the potato slices that had been through a calamity, and threw them away. Then he washed the pan, heated it, and poured in oil.

Fang Jiaxue stood beside him and watched.

Qi Hao looked completely different from her when he cooked.

His movements weren't fast; they could even be called a little leisurely, but he was far more practiced than she was.

"What ingredients do you have?"

"There are eggs, tomatoes, green peppers, and a piece of pork belly in the fridge."

"That's enough."

Qi Hao opened the fridge, glanced inside, and took out the ingredients he needed.

Half an hour later.

Three dishes and a soup were set on the Fang Household's dining table.

Stir-fried tomatoes and eggs, shredded pork with green peppers, a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and a bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup.

They were all home-style dishes, nothing fancy.

But their color and presentation were from an entirely different dimension than what Fang Jiaxue had produced in the kitchen earlier.

"Fang Jiaze! Come down and eat!" Fang Jiaxue called upstairs.

The sound of slippers slapping against the floor came from upstairs. Fang Jiaze darted down the stairs, but his steps suddenly slowed when he reached the dining room doorway.

He stood in the doorway and cautiously craned his neck to glance at the table.

"Sis... did you cook today?"