Chapter 35 - New Year Gifts (1/2)

When he bought this place, Adrian never expected that he would see something like this happening here.

At three in the morning, he sat at the dining table, handling the news he received from Headquarters while Zhong Yan was busy cooking noodles for him in the open kitchen.

The aroma of food slowly wafted out from the kitchen. Adrian had been hungry, but now, he was starting to get a little restless from the tempting smell. When he failed to process that piece of information on his screen that he had looked over more than three times, he decided to shut off his terminal screen.

His efficacy was too low at the moment. It would be best if he ate before he went back to work.

He walked into the kitchen separated by the bar. He stood by Zhong Yan’s side and watched as he sliced ham. He asked, “How much longer?”

“It’s almost ready. Five minutes.” After slicing the ham, Zhong Yan stacked them neatly on the chopping board. Just as he was about to grab the kettle, he noticed that Adrian was standing in the way, so he gave him a light push. “Don’t block the cabinet door.”

Adrian made way and retreated to the chopping board.

There was a row of ham on it. Ham was a cooked food, which meant it was ready-to-eat, and he really was very hungry at the moment. He stared at the tempting row of sliced ham.

Zhong Yan boiled the water and heated up the pan. He pushed away Adrian who was blocking the chopping board, and just as he was about to fry the ham, he suddenly paused.

“Where’s my ham?!” asked Zhong Yan as he pointed to the empty chopping board.

Without a change in expression, Adrian replied, “I was testing it for poison.”

“Get out, don’t mess around.” With a headache, Zhong Yan drove him out.

Whenever he cooked, he would have to spend twice the effort whenever Adrian was in the kitchen; if the ingredients weren’t going missing, then the young master who, volunteering to help but could not differentiate between sugar and salt, would add the wrong seasoning; or, he would latch onto him regardlessly to watch him cook, making it hard for him to move.

Adrian was unwillingly driven out of his own kitchen, and could only watch from outside by the bar.

“Aren’t you cooking for two?” He saw Zhong Yan put only a single portion of noodles into the pot, so he asked.

“I’ll split them into two bowls. I’m just taking a bite.” Zhong Yan slowly stirred the noodles in the pot while he spoke, “It’s the middle of the night and we’re heading to bed after this, so it’ll be better if you don’t eat too much either. It’s bad for your stomach, so it’ll be just right after I take some.”

As he spoke, he started staring at the noodles for some reason, and a look of confusion formed in his eyes. Then, he quickly turned on his terminal and typed something in.

Adrian could not understand what he was doing. “What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t cooked noodles for too long. I forgot how long I need to cook it for.” Zhong Yan’s fingers slid over the screen and found the corresponding guide. He mouthed the words as he read, and then he turned off his terminal.

Adrian was puzzled. “Do you not cook noodles in the Capital?”

“I don’t cook when I’m by myself. I usually just buy take out,” Zhong Yan responded.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?” Zhong Yan was confused. “I’ve only cooked for you. I never cooked when I was by myself. It’s too troublesome, and it’s a waste of time.”

It seemed to be somewhat different from what Adrian had imagined. He asked, “What about when you entered the Supreme Institution?”

“I didn’t know how to cook before I met you. I was either living in an orphanage or the dormitory of compulsory schools. I would also live short-term with a few adoptive families when I was younger. I didn’t have the chance to enter a kitchen. From where would I learn to cook?”

Adrian was truly shocked by this revelation. He had always thought for sure that Zhong Yan definitely belonged to the “poor kids who handled the household early” group. He never thought that Zhong Yan would tell him so many years later that he actually had not known how to cook even during the days when they first met.

“You said the food in the canteen was unpalatable, so I learned from guides. Actually, I was quite unfamiliar with it the first month I started, so I only cooked simple things.” When the noodles were done, Zhong Yan scooped them up with a skimmer and casually said, “Later, I thought that if I could cook even better, that you might be even more willing to stay with me, so I kept learning to improve my skills. Didn’t you notice that my cooking skills soared in our third year?”

Adrian: “…” He was completely unaware. At that time, he was watching Zhong Yan through the eyes of a lover, and thought from the first moment that his cooking was the best. It was the food prepared by the person he liked. How could he have any attention left to think about the taste?

“And just a few days ago…” Which was the time when Adrian had suddenly gotten angry and ruined the half-cooked soup in the pot. Zhong Yan paused and tried to avoid bringing up the awkwardness of that day. “That was the first time in seven years that I’ve cooked since graduation.”

So it turns out that he was the only person in this world who had tried Zhong Yan’s cooking skills. Adrian tried to control his emotions, but he could not stop himself from feeling overjoyed.

While filling up the bowls, Zhong Yan tried to probe in a subtle way, “If you’re coming home during New Year’s Eve, should I cook dinner? Just…Just take it as a New Year’s gift.”

They had once gone through two New Year’s Eves together. School starts for the Supreme Institution at the start of the year and ends at the end of the year, with two holidays in between. Due to Adrian having completely thrown the towel with Stalvern, he did not return to the Capital, while Zhong Yan did not even take that small planet as his hometown. With the two left with no home to return to, and with the school unaccepting of stragglers, they went to a tourist planet nearby and rented a room to spend their holidays.

Friends with good relationships would send each other New Year’s gifts, and during those two nights, they waited together for the clock to strike zero, exchanged gifts, and fell asleep.

Adrian knew that he should give a firm rejection to his proposal. He should tell Zhong Yan that there was no need for that. They were not friends anymore. They did not need to exchange any more gifts for New Year’s. He had already reached the edge of the cliff, and he should not let himself come any closer, but…Zhong Yan was leaving soon.

Why not just indulge for a few days? Zhong Yan would not be staying for long anyway. After the New Year’s, Zhong Yan’s assistant will set off from the Capital to come pick him up, and there was only two days before then.

It was a moment of the calm before the storm, it should be fine to indulge himself a little, right? When Zhong Yan leaves, he’ll pay the fines. Then they will have no more reasons for any more private contact. Everything will go back on track.

“Whatever you want,” Adrian heard himself say.

……

Even though Adrian did not give him a definite answer, Zhong Yan had still bought a lavish selection of ingredients early in the last day of the year.