Translator: Atlas StudiosEditor: Atlas Studios

“Hi, this is for you.”

The couple who brought a skinny child along the day before had just sat down. He still remembered Xu Le and smiled.

He then lowered his head, looking sullen and expressionless.

The middle-aged woman sighed and frowned worriedly. She said, “Bring the menu over and order the dishes first, okay? Every time it’s time to eat… I’m always so anxious. What are you going to do in the future? If this

goes on, no amount of medicine will help.”

She rambled on for a while before pointing to the new dishes on the menu and asked, “Are the Sesame Oil chicken and chicken wing balls freshly added today? I didn’t see them yesterday.”

“Yes, but they’re all quite spicy. You should order based on your preference.”

“Alright, our whole family can eat spicy food.” When the woman said this, she glanced at her son beside her and said, “Want to eat some also?”

The little boy shook his head stubbornly with a disgusted expression. He took the Mango Sago Dew and said, “I’ll drink this.”

“Then…” The woman gave Xu Le a look and said,” Give me another serving of the soy milk he drank yesterday. ”

The “soy milk” referred to the filtered crucian carp soup. Xu Le didn’t agree immediately. “Did you bring him to see a psychiatrist?”

As soon as he asked, the woman seemed to have been pried open. She patted her right palm with the back of her left hand and said worriedly, “You don’t know! I spent a lot of money and effort to help him get over this

hurdle!”

As she spoke, she suddenly turned around and pointed at Xu Le and said to her son, “Look, this little boy doesn’t look much older than you. He’s so promising, but what about you? You look malnourished…”

“Alright.”

Xu Le stopped her and took a deep breath. He finally understood why the child became like this.

The child seemed to be used to this kind of scene. He lowered his head and silently drank the Mango Sago Dew. The smooth and mellow mango flavor was mixed with sweet and sour pomelo grains. It was so delicious

that his eyes widened in delight.

Xu Le said, “Do you want to follow me to the kitchen? There’s good food there. I’ll bring you to scoop yesterday’s soy milk.”

The child’s eyes lit up and he immediately agreed.

Xu Le brought the boy to the kitchen, where they fried, dried, steamed, and mixed all kinds of meat and condiments. Xu Le saw him secretly gulping.

So he picked up a chicken wing ball and said, “There’s no one here, and your mother won’t know.”

The child was stunned. He stood rooted to the ground and did not react.

Xu Le lowered his voice and said, “Just eat it if you want. Don’t worry, I won’t say to anyone. The soy milk you drank yesterday is fish soup.”

The child’s expression changed and he retched before raising his eyes to look at him timidly.

Xu Le’s wrist was sore from holding the chopsticks for two whole minutes. He thought that he had made a mistake and was about to put them down when the child tiptoed and ate the chicken wing ball.

The chicken skin was soft and crispy, while the green peppers and carrot strips were crispy and refreshing. The spiciness was very appetizing.

“If you want to retaliate her, you should never have taken the path of self-destruction.”

Xu Le said calmly. Afraid that the child wouldn’t understand, he immediately added, “Actually, this matter isn’t difficult to resolve, but you must tell her your true feelings. Otherwise, no matter how much your mother

cares about you, there’s no way you can communicate with her.”

The child nodded and stared at the plate behind him. Xu Le turned around and scooped a bow! of rice for him. “Sit down and eat slowly.”

He scooped a few mouthfuls of each dish. There was a dazzling array of dishes placed in front of him. The child held his chopsticks and carefully tasted the pot of vegetables. The residual flavor of the pork belly had

permeated the vegetable. It was crispy, refreshing, spicy, and fresh. His appetite was instantly whetted, and he lowered his head to eat.

Alex turned to Xu Le and said, “I’ll shoot photos for two culinary magazines for you later. That’s great, we’ll finally be able to settle on the cover character this time.”

“Huh?”

“Trust me, I’m the editor-in-chief of this issue of the magazine. It’s not even a problem to internally appoint you as the cover.”

Alex made a joke that was not funny. Seeing that Xu Le was not laughing, he rubbed his nose awkwardly and said, “What are we having for lunch?”

“Uh…” Xu Le looked at the table and said,” There are still chicken wings that were chopped off. I’ll cook chicken wings with garlic. Ask the others if they have anything that they want to eat.”

“Ah, I know a dish. I wonder if you know how to cook it?”

“Are you trying to goad me?”

Xu Le smiled. Alex’s trick was seen through. He said with his tongue tied, “I think it’s a, a Sichuan dish. It’s sweet. What’s it called? Snowflake Crisp… It doesn’t seem right.”

“Snowflake Peach Paste?”

“Yes, yes, yes, this is it!”

“Oh.”

Xu Le had seen the cooking method of this dish in the system. Sichuan Cuisine was famous for its spiciness, but there were also non-spicy dishes in it. The cooking method was very complicated and had high

requirements for the culinary skills.

“late at the roadside a few years ago when I returned to my hometown. I couldn’t forget about it after that, but I couldn’t find the same taste no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to ask if you know how to cook it to

make up for my regret.”

“I don’t know.”

Xu Le said honestly.

But I have a recipe. I can just learn how to cook it. Make sure you eat it.”

nowflake Peach Paste was a traditional dessert that was soft and sweet.

Forget it.” Alex suddenly changed his mind and explained, “That dessert is quite troublesome to make. If you start learning now, I’m afraid you won’t be able to make it well. You might even ruin your reputation as the

Master Chef.”

Xu Le laughed and said, “That’s not necessary.”

After the child had eaten his fill, Xu Le turned around and saw the couple leaning against the window. They were so shocked that their eyebrows were raised and they gestured for him to keep quiet before they left.

The woman covered the lower half of her face with her hands, and tears welled up in her eyes as she said, “Little Master Chef, you really do have a way. I don’t even know how to…”

Before she could finish, she fell into her husband’s arms with a whimper.

“Don’t mention this later.”

Xu Le furrowed his brows. He did not want to rat on the boy, but the couple had already seen him. He could only remind them, “Let him be. Although the child is still young, you have to respect his choice. Otherwise,

he will have to use this kind of self-harming method to resist.”

“Alright, we understand.”

The man who had been silent all this while took out his business card from his pocket and said, “I wonder if you’re interested in joining…”

“I don’t work as a family cook. Sorry about that.”

Xu Le didn’t even look at it and directly rejected him. He turned to the woman and said, “When you go back, don’t expose what happened today. You can carefully raise another pet for the child.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that my husband is slightly allergic to animal hair. It’s very troublesome to raise it.”

“Oh.” Xu Le suggested casually, “Raising a Siberian cat is a good choice. Anyway, there will be a solution. Instead of forcing the child to eat meat, you should respect his wishes and let go of your enstranged

relationships. If that doesn’t work out, you should spend more time with him.”.