If It’s Wrong, Then It’s Wrong - Chapter 34
Chapter 34: The Eleventh Day
In the private room, Ji Chaozhou occasionally glanced at Cheng Liu across from him, making sure she was still breathing.
She had been slumped over the table, motionless, for an hour and a half.
If it weren’t for the slight rise and fall of her chest, it would be easy to assume something was wrong.
The waiter had come in three times, the last time to inform them that the food had gone cold, some dishes couldn't be reheated, and the kitchen staff were about to leave.
Ji Chaozhou simply dismissed the waiter and waited quietly for Cheng Liu to wake up.
Cheng Liu’s face rested on her arm, a strand of hair falling across her cheek, her long, thick eyelashes like two small fans, giving her a childish look.
Not that Ji Chaozhou had ever considered Cheng Liu particularly mature.
Suddenly, Cheng Liu opened her eyes, instantly alert, as if she had simply blinked. Meeting Ji Chaozhou's gaze, she asked casually, “Is the performance over?”
CEO Cheng still thought she had only dozed off for a moment.
Ji Chaozhou, looking at her bright, alert eyes: “…”
Some people were truly gifted.
Ji Chaozhou stood up, his tall, slender figure accentuated by the candlelight. He turned to Cheng Liu, who was still sitting at the table, and said softly, “They’re about to close.”
Cheng Liu, confused, asked, “Close?”
Finally, she seemed to realize something and took out her phone to check the time.
Cheng Liu abruptly stood up, pushing her chair back with a loud screech, her eyes fixed on her phone screen.
9:56!
She had slept through two of the most important hours of her life!
CEO Cheng was stunned. She had only closed her eyes for a moment, how had she missed the entire date?
Guyu Restaurant was open from 7 to 10 pm, with the kitchen closing half an hour earlier.
She had missed her chance!
By the time Cheng Liu had come to terms with the time, Ji Chaozhou had already left. She hurriedly followed him.
The restaurant staff were turning off the lights.
Cheng Liu trailed behind Ji Chaozhou, asking cautiously, “Are you going home?”
Ji Chaozhou slowed down, turned to her, and said, “Yes.”
“Oh,” Cheng Liu said, feeling disappointed, and quietly followed him out.
CEO Cheng, usually so resourceful, was now deflated after her first disastrous “date,” like a wilted eggplant.
The car ride was unusually quiet.
Until, near their villas, a loud growl broke the silence.
Ji Chaozhou turned to look at Cheng Liu, who was driving, his gaze falling to her stomach.
Cheng Liu: “…” Her useless brain and her even more useless stomach!
Ji Chaozhou looked away, towards a supermarket in the distance: “You can buy something to cook at home.”
Cheng Liu’s eyes lit up: “Can I?”
Ji Chaozhou, assuming she was asking about parking, nodded in agreement.
Cheng Liu immediately pulled over, saying cheerfully, “Wait for me here.”
Ten minutes later, she emerged from the supermarket, arms laden with bags, which she placed in the trunk before getting back in the car and saying to Ji Chaozhou, “Let’s go home.”
Ji Chaozhou, looking at the suddenly revitalized Cheng Liu: “…”
Was she this happy just from buying groceries?
They soon arrived at their villas. Cheng Liu parked in front of Villa Number Five, and Ji Chaozhou got out of the car.
He took out his key and pressed the button to open the gate.
Ji Chaozhou had barely taken two steps inside when Cheng Liu followed, carrying the grocery bags, saying excitedly, “I haven’t cooked much before, but I can learn.”
Ji Chaozhou suddenly stopped and turned to Cheng Liu: “Are you determined to have dinner with me tonight?”
Cheng Liu, surprised, said, “You said I could cook at home.”
CEO Cheng subconsciously considered them a family unit.
Ji Chaozhou: “…”
He pressed the button to close the gate, walked into the living room, and ignored her.
To Cheng Liu, Ji Chaozhou’s silence was consent.
She followed him inside, went into the kitchen, put on an apron, searched for recipes on her phone, and started cooking.
The groceries she had bought were pre-washed and pre-cut, ready to be cooked.
Cheng Liu watched a cooking video and memorized all the steps.
At first, everything went smoothly. Cheng Liu, smelling the fragrant aroma, felt confident and decided to improvise, adding her own creative flair.
Ji Chaozhou sat on the sofa in the living room, picking up the book he had been reading. He flipped through a few pages, until a strange, indescribable smell drifted in from the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Ji Chaozhou asked, walking into the kitchen and looking at Cheng Liu, who was standing by the stove, looking dazed.
Cheng Liu turned to him, stammering. She shouldn’t have improvised.
Ji Chaozhou first frowned at her pink cartoon apron, then, as he got closer, saw the black, unidentifiable mass in the pot, emitting a strange, burnt smell: “…”
“There must have been some kind of chemical reaction,” Cheng Liu said, offering a weak explanation.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Ji Chaozhou dumped the contents of the pot, washed it, and placed it back on the stove.
Cheng Liu squatted beside him, taking out her phone and searching for the reason behind her culinary failure.
Ji Chaozhou, holding a container of pre-cut vegetables, closed his eyes and said, “Cheng Liu, the video.”
He shouldn't have let her into the kitchen in the first place.
Cheng Liu looked up, immediately understanding, and stood up to open the cooking video, showing it to him.
She then took a blue apron from a bag on the counter: “Do you want this? There might be oil splatters.” She had bought a pair at the supermarket, not forgetting him.
Ji Chaozhou stared at the cartoon cat on the blue apron for a long time, then finally took it.
Neither of them had much cooking experience.
Cheng Liu held the phone, playing the cooking video, while Ji Chaozhou followed the instructions step by step.
No improvisation, no creative flair, just following the recipe.
“Success!” Cheng Liu said triumphantly, watching the vegetables in the pot. She closed the video, took several photos of the dish, and added, “This will definitely be delicious.”
Seeing that the dish hadn’t been ruined, Ji Chaozhou’s tightly pursed lips relaxed slightly. He glanced at the cheerful Cheng Liu and, for some reason, felt a flicker of annoyance.
Normally, at this hour, he would be alone in his room, not in the kitchen with her, discussing cooking.
“Two more dishes to go,” Cheng Liu said, having finished taking photos. She opened the next video, handed the phone to Ji Chaozhou, and said, “I’ll cook the next one.”
She had read online that household chores should be shared.
So he cooked one dish, and she would cook another.
Cheng Liu confidently added the ingredients to the pot and started stir-frying.
Ji Chaozhou stood beside her, holding the phone and silently watching the video: “One spoonful of salt, one spoonful of MSG…”
As a perfumer, accustomed to precise measurements, Ji Chaozhou could tell exactly how much salt the “one spoonful” in the video was.
He saw Cheng Liu scoop a heaping spoonful of salt, about to add it to the pot, and instinctively grabbed her wrist.
Cheng Liu had pushed up her sleeves earlier, revealing her forearm. Ji Chaozhou's fingers brushed against her skin.
—Slightly cool, not as warm as her palms.
Ji Chaozhou paused, startled by the contact, and quickly withdrew his hand.
“What’s wrong?” Cheng Liu asked, turning to him, puzzled.
Ji Chaozhou looked away: “Too much salt.”
He put the phone on the kitchen island and was about to leave when Cheng Liu grabbed his hand, showing him the spoonful of salt: “How about this? Is this too much?”
“…Too little,” Ji Chaozhou said, pulling his hand away.
“Then you add the seasonings, and I’ll stir-fry,” Cheng Liu said, quickly assigning tasks and firmly placing the spoon back in Ji Chaozhou’s hand.
Ji Chaozhou’s hand was enveloped by her warm palm. The heat spread from his hand to his arm, then to his chest, a tingling warmth that sparked a flicker of…annoyance.
Perhaps the challenging cooking process had lowered CEO Cheng’s guard, because she looked at Ji Chaozhou and, without thinking, blurted out, “Why are you glaring at me?”
Ji Chaozhou, exasperated, said coldly, “…Be quiet.”
“Okay,” Cheng Liu said, stirring the vegetables in the pot, then urging him, “Hurry up and add the salt.”
She was about to succeed!
CEO Cheng, focused on her culinary victory, didn’t notice the icy look on Ji Chaozhou’s face.
“Done,” Cheng Liu said, transferring the cooked vegetables to a plate. Savoring her success, she moved on to the next dish.
Ji Chaozhou was forced to stand beside her, controlling the amount of seasonings.
“Three dishes and a soup. We still need a soup,” Cheng Liu said, still enthusiastic.
“I don’t want soup,” Ji Chaozhou said, suddenly refusing.
“You don’t?” Cheng Liu hesitated for a moment, then said, “Then let’s not make it.”
By the time they finished cooking and brought the food to the dining table, it was past 11 pm.
Cheng Liu wasn’t bothered; she was used to eating at odd hours due to her busy schedule.
But this was the first time Ji Chaozhou had eaten so late.
Ji Chaozhou looked at Cheng Liu across from him, his expression neutral. He should have woken her up at the restaurant; that would have saved them all this trouble.
Perhaps because he was too tired, or perhaps influenced by Cheng Liu, who was eating enthusiastically, Ji Chaozhou actually ate the food.
“I think this is better than Guyu Restaurant,” Cheng Liu said after finishing her meal, offering her honest opinion. “Especially the dish you cooked.”
Ji Chaozhou didn’t comment, looking down at his empty bowl, a sense of inexplicable restlessness growing within him.
Cheng Liu had already cleared the table and loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. She came back and said to Ji Chaozhou, “I’ll be going back now. See you tomorrow.”
Although her “date” had been ruined by sleep, they had spent the rest of the evening together, which CEO Cheng considered a different kind of date. She was quite pleased and, after returning to her villa, immediately posted a photo on her WeChat Moments.
Number Six: [Dishes cooked with my neighbor :D]
It was late, and most of her middle-aged business partners were asleep, but Li Dong, banished to the sofa, was still awake. He saw Cheng Liu’s post, paused for a moment, then sat up abruptly.
CEO Ji's son was notoriously aloof. As expected of CEO Cheng, she could befriend anyone.
Li Dong commented: [CEO Cheng, as expected! You can build rapport with anyone!]
Ji Mushan, having just finished working, frowned, looking at the familiar stove in the photo and commenting incredulously: [?] Cheng Liu and Chaozhou had cooked together? That was impossible. Even Yun Se hadn't eaten anything cooked by Chaozhou.
He Bai, also still awake, saw the post. Cheng Liu rarely posted on Moments, but this was her second post this year.
Judging by Li Dong's comment, it seemed her neighbor was someone difficult to get along with.
He Bai thought for a moment and figured out what was probably happening: Cheng Liu had moved specifically to build a relationship with someone, probably for a collaboration.
He would ask Cheng Liu about it tomorrow and prepare accordingly.
Meanwhile, back in her villa, CEO Cheng, having posted on Moments, went to wash up and happily drifted off to sleep, her dreams filled with…everything.
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