He headed toward the kitchen, and as soon as he approached the kitchen doorway, he saw steam rising and heard a "thunk thunk" as if something was being chopped.
The man, who was clueless about kitchens, was somewhat drawn by the sound, so with his hands tucked into his pockets, he sauntered in, "What are you doing?"
Ye Ning was busily chopping meat for making hundun (wontons), when suddenly she heard someone talking to her, she looked up, "Why did you come in? It’s very dirty in here, get out quickly, lest you feel unwell."
She remembered well that he was a person with a serious obsession for cleanliness.
Yet strangely, the man who usually couldn’t stand a speck of dust in his eyes, now faced with the messy kitchen, didn’t show a look of disgust. Instead, he walked in with curiosity upon seeing her chopping meat on the cutting board and the neatly laid square wonton wrappers beside it.
"This!" He stretched out a hand towards the wonton wrappers, his slender, distinct fingers seemingly competing in fairness with the pale dough.
Ye Ning turned to look at what he was pointing to, realizing it was the wrapper for hundun, she casually answered, "That’s for making hundun, aren’t you the one who wanted to eat them?"
Ou Mucen paused immediately!
So this was what he had eaten that morning.
He looked down at the squares of dough, hesitated for quite a while, and finally picked up the top one to examine it closely in his hand.
Ye Ning, who was chopping the filling, suddenly saw him pick up a wrapper, her eyes bulging in surprise, "Aren’t you afraid of dirt?"
The man, who was intently studying the object, gave her a blank look upon hearing this, "Didn’t you say this is edible?"
Ye Ning was at a loss for words!
Wasn’t it edible? These were the wrappers for tonight’s hundun.
She had to suppress a laugh and bent her head back down to chop the meat. Just as she was about to add some spices, the soup on the stove suddenly started boiling, prompting her to put down the knife and rush over to tend to it.
Ginger slices, Sichuan peppercorns, green onions...
She carefully recalled the ingredients for the soup base that the cleaner had used last time, so she recited and tossed each one into the bowl beside her until she was done, when she suddenly realized—
"I chopped up all the meat, forgetting that the soup base needed some too!"
Just staring at her, Ou Mucen stood at the kitchen counter for quite some time before he twitched the corner of his eyes fiercely and then picked up the knife from the cutting board where she had been chopping and moved some of the minced meat over.
"What... What are you doing?"
"Didn’t you need meat?"
"But... but it’s all minced!"
"Once it’s eaten, doesn’t it all end up the same?"
What he said... really made sense, and she couldn’t argue against it at all.
So she watched him toss the meat into the pot, and sure enough, the minced meat released its aroma even faster. As soon as it was poured in, a cream-colored broth emerged from the meat, and immediately, the soup gave off a rich meaty scent.
"It’s really true, this seems even more fragrant..."
Ou Mucen couldn’t be bothered with her, gave her a disdainful glance, and with the cleaver in hand, he returned to the counter. Before that, he had completely forgotten that the cleaver was greasy in every part, with a distinct pork smell all over.
PS: I have a fever, apologies, and also, guess what’s going to happen tonight?