LRTH - 12

Li Yizhou returned a week later than she had expected. When she went to his house with Xu Tingyou and Xu Yuanhao this time, it had been three weeks since she last saw him.

After a long time, he had cut his hair, making him look cleaner and fresher. His eyes were as warm as ever, with a faint smile, but when he was explaining problems and scolding people, he still had a hint of sharpness.

The three of them followed their usual routine. First, their test papers from the past few weeks were checked, and then they sat in a row in the study to do their homework before he explained the problems.

“Where is he, Li Yizhou?”

“Brother Zhou! We’re here!”

Suddenly, there were voices from outside. Li Yizhou was explaining a problem to Xu Tingyou. Hearing the noise, he told her to think about it on her own for a moment and walked out to see what was going on.

Four people had arrived: Xu Yuanhe, Zhao Ke, Song Chuxuan, and their class president, Chen Kai. Each of them was carrying a lot of groceries.

They had heard he was back today and, remembering that they hadn’t gotten together in a while, they bought groceries and came right over.

Li Yizhou said, “I told you these kids weren’t finished yet. Why did you come so early?”

“We wanted to get a head start on preparing. After all, we have to cook ourselves,” Zhao Ke leaned his head forward. “Oh, you’re all still obediently doing your homework?”

“Mhm.”

Xu Yuanhe walked toward the study. “Are those two brats still behaving?”

Li Yizhou: “Barely.”

Xu Yuanhe stood at the door of the study. The other three were curious and also peeked their heads in. So, when Fang Nanzhi looked up, she saw several pairs of eyes at the study door and was so startled that she almost dropped her pen.

Xu Yuanhao was very happy. “Bro! Why are you here? What are you guys doing?”

Xu Yuanhe: “Doing what? Go do your homework.”

Xu Yuanhao wasn’t annoyed. He looked at the only girl at the door. “Sister Chu Xuan, what are you holding? Did you bring us some goodies?”

Song Chuxuan smiled at him. “Yes, I bought a lot of delicious food, and we’re going to cook it ourselves. Hurry up and finish your homework and come out to help.”

“Okay, okay!”

“Alright, all of you get out and stop distracting them,” Li Yizhou began to shoo them away. “Go use the kitchen.”

Zhao Ke: “Alright! Thanks for your hard work, Brother Zhou!”

The class president, Chen Kai, said, “I’ll go wash the vegetables first.”

Song Chuxuan said, “I’ll go wash the vegetables, too. Li Yizhou, you better hurry. You have to make two dishes today.”

Li Yizhou didn’t seem to mind. He pulled a chair over, sat down, and without looking at them, he raised a hand to signal for them to hurry up and leave.

Fang Nanzhi’s gaze lingered on Song Chuxuan for a moment. She was also wearing a very pretty dress today, an off-white one, which made her look very cute and lively.

She quietly lowered her head again.

After they left, the study door was closed.

Li Yizhou looked at the two of them, whose minds were clearly wandering, and tapped the desk. “Xu Tingyou, you go first.”

“Okay...”

The Xu siblings were clearly restless. Li Yizhou simply sped up and finished with the two of them so he could let them out.

It would save him a headache.

“Do you want to go out and play, too?” Li Yizhou asked Fang Nanzhi, who was the only one left.

Fang Nanzhi quickly said, “I don’t.”

Li Yizhou said calmly, “If those two were more like you, their grades wouldn’t improve so slowly.”

“...”

“You’ve been doing well on your weekly tests recently.”

Fang Nanzhi hadn’t seen him in so long, and being alone with him made her nervous again. “It’s... it’s alright.”

“Any problems with your homework?”

Actually... there were no problems. Today’s homework was quite easy.

But she didn’t want to leave so soon. Selfishly, she wanted to stay a little longer.

“I don’t know if I made any mistakes in English. Can you take a look for me?”

“Okay.”

Li Yizhou took her homework. After a quick look, he found that there were very few mistakes and was a little relieved. “Your English error rate has dropped a lot. You’ve improved.”

Fang Nanzhi’s eyes were filled with joy. “Mhm, you said to listen and memorize more, so I’ve been doing that.”

“That’s good,” Li Yizhou said. “I’ll go over your mistakes with you.”

“Okay.”

But she had only made a few mistakes, so he was done explaining in just a few minutes.

He asked her if she had any other questions.

She really didn’t, but... a voice in her heart was faintly saying, Think, think again.

She didn’t want him to leave so soon. That voice was even darkly suggesting that once he went out, he would be with Song Chuxuan, they would laugh and talk, and they would discuss many topics, and she would once again become a marginal person.

“I...”

“What?”

“There’s a math problem,” she finally said.

Li Yizhou understood, propping his head with one hand, looking a little lazy. “Okay, let me see.”

Fang Nanzhi almost instantly regretted it, but since she had already said it, she had to follow through.

Luckily, there was a big problem in her book that she hadn’t started yet. It wasn’t that she couldn’t solve it; she just hadn’t started. She could only bite the bullet and tell him that she couldn’t figure it out.

Li Yizhou didn’t find anything wrong. Fang Nanzhi was too obedient. He didn’t think she would lie.

He took the book and bent his head to start calculating.

The study was very quiet, with only occasional laughter seeping in from outside.

She watched Li Yizhou’s profile without a sound, feeling terrible about herself.

But when it was just her and his breathing in the small space, that subtle happiness comforted her heart every single moment.

She really felt so conflicted.

“I, I get it now!”

“Huh?” Li Yizhou was only halfway through the calculation.

Fang Nanzhi felt bad for “dragging” him on, so she said, “I didn’t know how to approach it before, but after seeing your approach, I think I know how to solve it now.”

Li Yizhou raised an eyebrow slightly and smiled. “You’re quick.”

Fang Nanzhi lowered her eyes, her ears a little red. “Then you can go out and help them. I’ll do it myself.”

Li Yizhou: “Alright. Go through it from the beginning again. If you still can’t get it, let me know.”

Fang Nanzhi nodded repeatedly.

After Li Yizhou left, Fang Nanzhi let out a long sigh of relief.

Later, she spent about ten minutes calculating the answer to that problem.

At this time, the restaurant outside was lively. Someone was washing ingredients, someone was cooking, and someone was arranging cold dishes.

“Fang Liaoliao, you’re done! Come look, isn’t my plating good?” Xu Tingyou said.

Zhao Ke: “Little sister, if a stranger heard your tone, they’d think you made some kind of signature dish.”

Xu Tingyou frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying plating doesn’t require any skill? I’m the one who cut this watermelon, too. I have knife skills.”

Zhao Ke chuckled. “Alright, alright, you’re right.”

Fang Nanzhi walked over. “The watermelon is cut very well.”

Xu Tingyou was happy again. “Right?”

Fang Nanzhi looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Tingyou, should I... go now?”

This was their get-together, and Fang Nanzhi didn’t know if she should stay.

Zhao Ke said, “Go? Why? We’re cooking here today. Don’t go. Eat with us.”

“My family probably... cooked at home, too.”

Zhao Ke: “What does that matter? Just call home and say you’re eating at our Brother Yizhou’s house today.”

Xu Tingyou said, “Don’t worry, I already called. When I called my mom, your mom was also there. I told her we’re all eating here today.”

Fang Nanzhi: “Oh... okay.”

Zhao Ke: “By the way, junior, can you cook? Everyone who can cook here has to make a couple of dishes.”

Li Yizhou walked by. “You get your own stuff ready. Don’t order the little ones around.”

Zhao Ke: “Oh, come on. One more person, one more dish. We bought so many ingredients.”

Fang Nanzhi blinked. “It’s okay. I can do it.”

Li Yizhou stopped. “Are you sure?”

Fang Nanzhi nodded obediently. “I can do simple things.”

The other two brats were either cutting fruit or playing on the side, so Li Yizhou didn’t mean to ask Fang Nanzhi to cook, but he didn’t expect her to willingly jump into Zhao Ke’s trap.

Zhao Ke: “Alright, simple is fine. There’s fish, beef, seafood, and vegetables on the floor of the kitchen. Pick whatever you want!”

“Okay.” She turned around and went in. Li Yizhou casually picked up a strawberry and threw it at Zhao Ke. “Don’t just stand there. Go work.”

Zhao Ke caught it steadily. “Yes, sir!”

Fang Nanzhi did know how to cook. When she was a child, her family wasn’t wealthy, and children of the poor have to grow up fast. When her grandparents were busy, she, at a young age, could already cook a meal and wait for them to come home.

She picked out some beef and some ingredients to go with it from the bags and walked into the kitchen.

There were two people in the kitchen at the moment. Song Chuxuan was washing the ingredients for her dish, and Xu Yuanhe was cooking. This surprised Fang Nanzhi a little. In her impression, Xu Yuanhe was the “young master” type who couldn’t tell the difference between grains.

“Do you need to wash things? Do you want me to help you?” Song Chuxuan noticed her coming in and asked enthusiastically.

Her voice was sweet and comfortable to listen to.

Fang Nanzhi: “I can do it myself, thank you.”

“Okay, junior. Let me know if you need any help,” Song Chuxuan said. “I’m not very good. I only know one or two dishes, but I can help with prep work.”

“Mhm, thank you.”

The two of them stood side-by-side at the counter, washing the ingredients they needed. Song Chuxuan was a little shorter than her and very thin. Up close, she looked very delicate and cute.

Fang Nanzhi felt envious and thought that a girl like her must be very likable.

And she had a great personality.

This made Fang Nanzhi feel even more terrible about her earlier thought of deliberately keeping Li Yizhou inside so he wouldn’t come out to talk and laugh with Song Chuxuan...

________________________________________

Li Yizhou’s kitchen had three places to put a pot. Xu Yuanhe and Song Chuxuan were currently each in control of one pot, stir-frying.

Fang Nanzhi was preparing a dish of braised beef with tomatoes and potatoes. After cutting and preparing all the ingredients, she used a clay pot and took the last spot.

She poured cooking wine and ginger slices into the pot, then put the beef in to blanch it.

While waiting, she stood by and watched the other two cook.

Song Chuxuan was stir-frying shredded potatoes, which was a relatively simple dish.

Xu Yuanhe’s dish was a little more difficult. He was frying a fish. He probably didn’t have much cooking experience, as he had poured in a little too much oil.

But he was cooking very leisurely.

Xu Yuanhe didn’t think cooking was difficult. Just like him, he didn’t usually cook, but he could make a decent dish by just following a recipe. He believed that the fish he was braising today would be very delicious.

He flipped the fish again and, when he thought it was about done, he picked up the water on the side and poured it all into the pot.

“Wait—” Fang Nanzhi’s heart tightened when she glanced over, and she immediately shouted, but it was already too late.

After Xu Yuanhe poured the water in, the fire from the pot shot up. Song Chuxuan screamed and was so scared that she abandoned her shredded potatoes and ran far away.

The back of Xu Yuanhe’s hand was instantly stung by a burning sensation. He was stunned for a moment before he reacted and went to grab the pot lid.

But someone had already rushed over faster than him. That person pushed him aside, took the oil pan, and without hesitation, put the lid she was holding down on it!

The fire on the edge still flickered for a while, but the person was very calm. She held the handle until the fire died down right in front of her, then she let go and turned to him. “There was too much oil. You have to be careful when you pour water.”

There was a thin layer of sweat on Xu Yuanhe’s forehead. He glanced at her and, after a long while, said, “Oh.”

The people outside heard the commotion and came in.

Zhao Ke: “Holy cow! Was the kitchen on fire just now?!”

Xu Tingyou: “Bro, are you okay? Your hand is red.”

Some oil had splashed out, and Xu Yuanhe had a small burn.

Li Yizhou pushed the onlookers away and frowned. “Go rinse it with cold water first, and then go put some medicine on it outside.”

He then looked down and said to Fang Nanzhi, “You go rinse your hand, too.”

Xu Yuanhe had already turned to the sink but stopped when he heard that. He looked down at Fang Nanzhi’s hand.

It was only then that he realized that she, who had rushed to take the pot, had also been splashed with oil. There were two red spots on the back of her hand.