Chapter 142: A Prelude to Doing Bad Things

Probably because of her mother's experience, Asaba Li Xiang is much more reserved and has not talked to Shen Yu for three whole hours.

Shen Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief and worked peacefully all afternoon, only to pick up his phone and check that Li Xiang hadn't called him at around 5pm in the evening.

The time in Japan is an hour faster than in China, and it should be evening on her side.

People are strange. If she keeps looking for him, Shen Yu feels nagging, and if she stops looking for him, Shen Yu gets uncomfortable.

His finger hovered in the input box, hesitating for a moment before sending her a message.

Sinking Fish: "Where did you put the rubbish bags from home?"

Li Xiang was quick to reply.

Luo Yan: "It's in the cupboard under the coffee table, the second one on the right."

Sinking Fish: "Oh, got it."

Sinking Fish: "Have you eaten?"

Luo Yan Voice: "I ate late for lunch, now I'm out shopping with my mum and will go back later to make dinner for dinner, Shen Yu are you going to make dinner?"

Sinking Fish: "I'll order takeaway."

She sent it by voice, so Shen Yu put the phone to her ear and listened to it twice.

He's not used to using voice over and he hates the long strings of tens of seconds of voice over that people send him, but he's listening to it with great interest at the moment.

Luo Yan's voice: "Don't order takeaway, I can teach you how to cook."

Sinking Fish: "You think I won't do it, I'm just too lazy to do it."

Shen Yu put away his mobile phone and took a trip to the fresh produce supermarket on his little electric donkey and came back with a little meat and vegetables.

Su Zhifu was watering her garlic and spring onions in the yard and subconsciously looked behind Shen Yu when she saw him coming back from grocery shopping, and then ran out to the door to look again.

"What are you looking for?"

"Brother Shen Yu, where is sister Li Xiang?"

"She went back to her mother's house ...... to go back to Japan for New Year's Eve."

Su Zhifu stared at him and made Shen Yu feel uncomfortable, so he rubbed her face with his palm, like a dough ball.

"Oops Oops ......"

Su Zhifu tossed his head and fled, before asking him from afar, " Brother Shen Yu did you have a fight with sister Li Xiang?"

Shen Yu, with his head full of questions, said breathlessly, "What am I arguing with her about ......"

"So, Li Xiang, why is your sister going back for New Year's Eve? ......"

"Aren't you going back to the country for New Year's too?"

"It's not the same!"

Su Zhifu said, "If my Mum and Dad had a fight, she would go back to Grandma's house and ignore my Dad! So Brother Shen Yu, did your wife run away?"

"She's not my wife."

"Aren't you going to pick her up and bring her back?"

"It's so far away, I'm not going."

Su Zhifu sighed and said, "If Sister Li Xiang doesn't come back, when I grow up, Brother Shen Yu will marry me because I won't fight with you and my house is close, so you can come and pick me up even if I run home."

Shen Yu shoos the Puffs away and carries the dishes up to the first floor kitchen.

She also has bacon in the fridge that she has stored, so let's make a simple bacon stir fry with Dutch beans.

Shen Yu can still peel the Dutch beans, pinch off the hard stalks at the ends, pull out the old tendons on both sides, clean them up and soak them in Qing Shui.

Even Shen Yu was a bit impressed that Li Xiang was able to cut such hard bacon, and that it was thin and evenly sliced, and then look at his cut, which was uneven and ugly.

After thinking about it, Shen Yu took another jar of pickled radish and took out a small dish to soak in Qing Shui for stir-frying later.

Although Li Xiang is not at home, these are the ones she has prepared for him.

After a lot of work, Shen Yu finally had all the ingredients ready, but before he could stir-fry them, he had a problem.

Li Xiang had thoughtfully labelled each spice with its usage and amount, but he still didn't know how to cook, so he took out his phone and sent her a message.

Sinking Fish: "Do you put the bacon or the beans first in a bacon stir-fry with Dutch beans?"

Luo Yan voice: "Bacon should be steamed first and then cut, and Dutch beans should also be blanched first, prepare two garlic should be chopped, put oil first and then put minced garlic, stir fry, then put bacon, then stir fry, then put Dutch beans stir fry, then put half a spoon of salt, because bacon is salty, and finally a little bit of soy sauce.... ..."

Shen Yu is confused, how can a dish that looks so simple be so complicated!

Now that he was busy, he didn't have time to type, so he asked by voice, "So I've got the bacon cut up, or is it raw, should I steam it?"

Luo Yan's voice: "You can do it without steaming, but you have to fry it for a long time, if you cut it very thick, it won't be easy to fry."

Shen Yu's face was so grave that he had to put the bacon on a plate and steam it in a pot first. No wonder he said that Li Xiang could cut such hard bacon, but it was steamed first.

Li Xiang called him on a video call and Shen Yu answered it on a whim, wanting to cook a meal on his own, but now it seems that even Su Zhifu won't eat the food without her help.

Li Xiang has returned home and is sitting on the sofa videoing him, seeing Shen Yu in her apron, kitchen knife in hand and ingredients to be stir-fried on the chopping board.

Shen Yu placed the phone on the side and back counter top, "You can see it now, can't you?"

"Mmmmmm!"

At this angle, Li Xiang can see him clearly, the ingredients are not as clear, but that's okay, she doesn't need to see the ingredients to guide Shen Yu in making a meal.

"Shen Yu Let's start by sautéing pickled radish, this is easy, the pan is heated first ...... "

"Is it hot enough?"

"Just wait a little longer ...... Well, it's almost ready, put the oil in! One Diu Diu and you're done!"

"How many millilitres?"

"Probably a little more than a bottle cap?"

"That's fifteen millilitres ......"

Shen Yu poured some oil into the pan and stir-fried the shredded pickled radish as instructed by Li Xiang.

He then fumbled around with Li Xiang's instructions and made the bacon stir-fry with Dutch beans, which probably took too long to blanch and was a bit overcooked, becoming limp and not as crisp as it could have been.

"Shen Yu, add some water to the pan and soak it, and wipe the stove top first, otherwise it won't be easy to wipe for a long time."

"So much trouble ......"

Shen Yu feels like she has become the cooking man, it was always Li Xiang who cooked for him, until she got her hands on it herself and realised how much work she had to do for what seemed like a simple meal.

He came out with the dishes and washed a bowl to serve the rice, forgetting that she was not at home and that the rice was overcooked.

The video call had hung up and he sat quietly at the table to eat.

A plate of pickled radish and a plate of fried bacon with Dutch beans is not bad, but Shen Yu's is by no means good either, at least not compared to Li Xiang's.

Without anyone talking to him, he ate quickly and was pretty much just eating pickled radish and bacon, with the Dutch beans stopping after one piece.

Li Xiang Voice: " Is Shen Yu eating yet? How does it taste?"

Shen Yu wanted to say that it was delicious, that he made it better than she did, but he couldn't say it.

Sinking Fish: "It's far worse than what you do."

Li Xiang's voice: "It's okay! It's Shen Yu's first time to cook, and it will get better and better later!"

Sinking Fish: "I'd better wait for you to come back and cook for me."

It was a very subtle psychological change. Before this, Shen Yu had always held his anger in his heart, as if he was fighting with himself, thinking that if Li Xiang could do something well, he could also do it well, that he was not inseparable from her, and after cooking for the first time tonight, Shen Yu's confidence was shattered.

If she was not there, he would have to eat takeaway every day.

Why is it that before she came, she didn't feel bad about eating takeaway every day, but now, she's just gone back to the life she had four months ago and she can't adapt at all?

The brain is awake, but the body is being fed. With every bite of fast food, the brain is telling him it's just for energy and it doesn't matter what he eats, but the body is screaming that it's so bad, so greasy, so hungry for Li Xiang's nutritious meal.

After dinner, Shen Yu washed the dishes and pots and pans and put them away. It was already dark when he went to the balcony to help her collect her clothes.

The girls' underwear has to be changed every day, and both of them consciously wash their own personal clothes by hand, while the washing machine does the laundry together every time, and Li Xiang dries them for him when he wakes up in the morning.

The set that Shen Yu has now collected is a lovely lingerie set in cherry pink with lace trim, and the texture is very soft and comfortable when held in the hand.

So I remembered Li Xiang's advice: no looking, no smelling, no touching, no strange things ......

Shen Yu controlled his odd desire to smell it and helped her put her underwear away as if nothing had happened, but all he could think about was the wonderful sensation in his palm.

It can't be helped, it's bound to happen, she's collected his underwear too, why not if she changes it over.

The door to Li Xiang's room was unlocked, so he opened it and went in.

It was easy to smell a faint fragrance in the air, a scent similar to the one on the scarf Li Xiang had given him, a scent so pleasant that it seemed impossible to smell it when one smelled it carefully, but when one's attention was dispersed, the faint fragrance drifted to the tip of one's nose.

The house was empty until Li Xiang came to live in it, and after she moved in, Shen Yu never came in again.

Shen Yu put her underwear on the bed and was relieved that it was obviously just a piece of cloth, but just because it was functional, just holding it in your hand could make your blood run cold, like a hot potato.

Now that he was alone in the house, Shen Yu's heart beat faster as he realised this, and he felt a rapid rush of heat to his head.

This increased heart rate is often a prelude to doing something bad.

He stood still, took a deep breath, and gently closed the door to the room behind him.

Now he was left alone in the room ......