Chapter 345: Hua Hai

"If you want to cook, I don’t mind at all. But I should warn you, I’m not very good at it."

Although Yun Zijin had grown up poor, her meals before high school were always at either the orphanage or the school cafeteria. Once she got to college, before she had Randomly Spend, she still ate mostly in the school cafeteria.

After getting Randomly Spend, she simply hired a chef, so the state of Yun Zijin’s culinary skills was easy to imagine.

"Don’t worry. I’ll do it. You can just wait for the food."

Lu Yunque had a fair bit of confidence in his own culinary abilities.

He first took a look inside the refrigerator. It was well-stocked with both meat and vegetables, and he quickly formed a menu in his mind.

"You should head out. The kitchen gets full of oily smoke, and that’s not good for your skin."

Seeing that Yun Zijin was planning to watch him for the entire duration, Lu Yunque suddenly felt a little self-conscious, so he tried to find an excuse to get her out of the kitchen.

"Let me help you wash and chop the vegetables."

Yun Zijin felt a little bad about just going out to wait for her meal.

"It’s okay. You have to use cold water to wash vegetables, and I don’t want your hands getting cold. As for chopping, I’d worry even more. What if you cut yourself? I’d be the one who feels terrible, wouldn’t I?

So... just be good and go wait outside to eat."

As he spoke, Lu Yunque scooped Yun Zijin up with one arm, placed her outside the kitchen, and then shut the door.

Yun Zijin: ...

’Fine, I’ll just wait to eat. Who wouldn’t love not having to do any work?’

Yun Zijin sat down on the living room sofa. The moment she unlocked her phone, she saw that many people had sent her messages.

Once all the messages had loaded, Yun Zijin started going through them one by one.

She glanced at the messages from her class group chat and, after confirming there was nothing important, ignored them.

Qin Sitong had sent her preview images for the special event’s store setup.

Yun Zijin opened the images, looked them over carefully, and sent her feedback to Qin Sitong.

Someone who had received an invitation to the South Suburb Manor’s groundbreaking ceremony sent her a picture of it.

Then, to Yun Zijin’s surprise, both Chen Xianfeng and Li Haichuan had sent her messages on WeChat, wanting to buy the shares she held.

However, because the Xia company had been reported for tax evasion, both men were lowballing her with their offers.

Yun Zijin didn’t give them a definitive answer, but she messaged both of them back, suggesting they could meet whenever they were free.

Lastly, there were people who didn’t have her on WeChat and could only send text messages.

These included Xia Zhengguang and Xia Zhiyun, whom she had blocked multiple times but who relentlessly kept trying.

But what really surprised Yun Zijin was that Situ Wenze and Situ Yunliang had also messaged her.

Everything they wrote, both explicitly and between the lines, was aimed at persuading her to go back to France with them to meet her maternal grandparents.

Their words were full of sincere emotion; if Yun Zijin were an ordinary girl, she might have been swayed by their performance.

Unfortunately for them, Yun Zijin was no ordinary girl. She had absolutely no interest in going back to the Situ Family with Situ Yunliang.

It took Yun Zijin over half an hour just to reply to her various messages, and by then, a delicious aroma was already wafting from the kitchen.

Yun Zijin looked at the fruit on the table and suddenly got a craving for juice.

So, Yun Zijin got up to knock on the kitchen door.

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"

"Just one more dish! It’ll be ready soon!"

"I’m not trying to rush you, I just want some juice!"

The sound of Lu Yunque stir-frying paused for a moment, and then the kitchen door opened.

"I’m still cooking, so my hands are full. Pick out what fruit you want, and I’ll make it for you after I finish this dish."

Lu Yunque didn’t even look up as he spoke.

Yun Zijin glanced at the dishes Lu Yunque had already finished cooking. They looked pretty good, but she had no idea how they would taste.

However, Yun Zijin didn’t disturb his cooking. She grabbed some fruit from the refrigerator, found the juicer, and started making the juice herself.

Yun Zijin may not have had a knack for cooking, but when it came to making juice, she knew what she was doing.

Lu Yunque glanced back and saw Yun Zijin already making the juice. After confirming she hadn’t cut herself while slicing the fruit, he turned his attention back to his cooking.

Yun Zijin didn’t like adding much else to her juice. Besides the fruit, she only threw a few ice cubes into the blender to be mixed with the pulp.

When the blender was done, the contents had turned into a fruit slushie. Yun Zijin found two glass tumblers, washed them, and poured the slushie from the blender into them.

She filled each glass three-quarters of the way, a perfect amount.

Just as Yun Zijin finished with the juice, Lu Yunque was done with all the dishes.

Yun Zijin put the two glasses of juice on a tray and carried them out to the root-carved table. Lu Yunque followed right behind, bringing out the dishes.

Although the root-carved table was outside, the courtyard was covered by a glass canopy, so they wouldn’t have to worry even if it started to rain mid-meal.

Once Lu Yunque had set down all the dishes, Yun Zijin stopped him just as he reached for his chopsticks.

"Hold on, let me take a picture first!"

Yun Zijin whipped out her phone and started snapping away, even pulling Lu Yunque in for a close-up selfie with their cheeks touching.

"I’m going to post it."

As someone who rarely posted online, Lu Yunque’s eyes lit up at her words, as if a whole new world had just opened up to him.

"Send the photos to me. I’ll post them too."

Yun Zijin was a good photographer, they were both stunning, and the scenery at her little cabin was lovely. Even the raw photos from her phone’s camera were instantly post-worthy.

"On it."

Yun Zijin sent the original photo files to Lu Yunque and then started composing her post.

—Qingqing Zijing: I guess I’m living the life of being waited on hand and foot now~ [Attached: Nine-photo grid].jpg

The moment Yun Zijin published her post, likes and comments started rolling in.

But when Lu Yunque unprecedentedly followed suit and made a post of his own, it sent shockwaves through the entire Dijing elite circle.

None of them had ever imagined that Lu Yunque would one day act like some head-over-heels kid, taking photos and posting them online after a simple date.

Then again, considering Lu Yunque’s age, perhaps it wasn’t so strange after all?

Yun Zijin and Lu Yunque, however, had no time to worry about anyone else. Once their posts were up, they began to feast.

The moment she took her first bite, Yun Zijin knew Lu Yunque’s claim that he couldn’t compare to a professional chef was just him being modest.

With skills like his, his cooking wouldn’t be out of place even in a five-star hotel.

After a few more bites, Yun Zijin gave Lu Yunque a thumbs-up.

"This is amazing! If you ever get tired of working for the Lu Family, you could open a restaurant. It would be a huge success!"

Hearing Yun Zijin’s sincere praise, Lu Yunque tried his best to hold it in, but he couldn’t stop the corners of his lips from turning up in a wild grin.

"If you like it so much, does that mean I get a reward?"

’You had to fight for the perks you wanted.’ After getting together with Yun Zijin, Lu Yunque understood this principle more deeply than ever.

Hearing Lu Yunque mention a reward, Yun Zijin gave him a sideways glance. "What kind of reward do you want? How about I..."

Yun Zijin said, picking up her phone.

’Freeloading wasn’t her style. Maybe she should send him a red packet?’