Translator: Mogumoguchan
Editor: Neirith
Yan Qiu brought out a cushion from the cupboard and placed the kitten temporarily beside the sofa. Then, he brought out a plate from the kitchen and gave it some clean water.
Once he was done, he felt guilty, so he went to the kitchen to help cut the ingredients, because he was thinking about currying favour to Ji Xinglan so that he would not turn against himself in the future. Regardless of whether Ji Xinglan will throw the kitten out, towards Yan Qiu, he remained an unreasonable tyrant.
Yan Qiu helped buy the base for the hotpot and the dipping sauce from the supermarket. They just needed to wash the ingredients and cut them a little before they would be able to start putting them into the hotpot.
Yan Qiu brought the shopping bags into the kitchen and stared at Ji Xinglan’s legs with slight envy. Ji Xinglan was good looking and, even when he wore an apron while he peeled a potato, he looked good. He didn’t look like a sissy at all. The sleeves of his high-class black shirt were rolled up to reveal a terminal that was specifically made for alphas, wrapped around his wrist.
Ji Xinglan organized the ingredients in the kitchen alone. In truth, Yan Qiu didn’t really need to help him, but since Yan Qiu had mentioned that he wanted to help him wash the ingredients, he would not refuse.
Yan Qiu rolled up his sleeves and fumbled about the shopping bag before he wrestled two potatoes out from it. He went to the sink to wash them based on Ji Xinglan’s instructions.
He wasn’t being humble when he said that he didn’t know how to cook. He had truly never touched any cooking utensils before. At that moment, he had brought out a potato peeler and began peeling a potato while he squatted beside the trash can.
Yan Qiu was usually not this meticulous. When he ate things, he never peeled them. He just washed them and ate them. Just now, when he peeled the potato, he ended up using too much strength and cutting out some parts of the potato. In the end, the round potato became smaller by an entire size.
Fortunately, Ji Xinglan was organizing the fridge, and paid no attention to him.
Yan Qiu pretended to be very familiar with this. He ended up making the two potatoes which were originally the size of his fist, much smaller.
He was originally worried that two potatoes would be too much and they would not be able to finish them, but now the problem was solved.
Yan Qiu washed the potatoes he had just peeled and threw them on the cutting board. Now, before Ji Xinglan noticed his “great” work, he intended to take action and cut them on his own.
He incidentally believed that if he cut them into slices, Ji Xinglan wouldn’t be able to tell that he had cut out too much of the potatoes.
The peeled potato he picked had a smooth surface, and its shape was so ugly that it was troublesome to handle it. He cut it a few times, and the knife tilted a little, making him nearly cut his own hand. It frustrated Yan Qiu so much that he started hacking at the potato, and he reduced the troublesome potato into smithereens.
By the looks of it, forthright, straight alphas like them were just not born to cook. He couldn’t even do something as simple as cutting a potato into slices.
Ji Xinglan brought over the lettuce he had just washed. When he saw Yan Qiu and the obliterated potato in front of him, he fell silent.
Yan Qiu coughed softly, feeling embarrassed. He grabbed the other potato and wanted to brace himself to continue cutting it. “What shape do you want for your potato? I’ll carve it for you…”
“Do you really know how to use a knife? Why are you holding it with a reverse grip?”
Ji Xinglan couldn’t bear with the sight anymore. He threw the lettuce in his hands into the sink and grabbed Yan Qiu’s hand to correct his grip.
“Give me your hand. You have to hold the knife like this.” Ji Xinglan gently removed Yan Qiu’s fingers and repositioned Yan Qiu’s hand on the hilt.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Ji Xinglan had his vision blocked by Yan Qiu’s head. So he bent down a little and placed his chin lightly on Yan Qiu’s shoulder. He held a potato in one hand and moved Yan Qiu’s hand with the other. He pushed Yan Qiu’s hand down. “Cut it like this. Don’t make the slices too thick, or else it’ll be difficult to make them cooked. But don’t cut them up too thinly either, or else it’ll be far too easy for them to fall to pieces in the pot.”
As their hands moved, Yan Qiu sensed Ji Xinglan’s hair brushing his ear and cheek. There was also an itchy feeling on the side of his neck. His hand, which had never had a steady grip over the knife to begin with, instantly slipped.
Ji Xinglan stood in a relaxed manner behind Yan Qiu. With natural movements, he grabbed Yan Qiu’s hand. Yan Qiu’s back became tense, and he dared not move around, worried that Ji Xinglan would be up to some other tricks.
However, Ji Xinglan didn’t seem to be thinking anything strange. It was as if he simply couldn’t bear to see his knife skills anymore and was only focused on teaching him how to cut vegetables.
Yan Qiu’s hands trembled, but Ji Xinglan’s control was good enough. He managed to guide his hand and teach him how to cut the potato.
“Okay.” Ji Xinglan released his hand.
Yan Qiu thought that he was praising him for cutting the potato well, but the bastard actually lowered his head and stared at his hand before he mumbled softly, “Your hand is pretty smooth.”
Yan Qiu was so angry that he kicked Ji Xinglan.
He went back to the cutting board and stared at the batch of evenly cut potato slices. Yan Qiu felt that he had figured some of the tricks to this and wanted to get another potato to practice with, but Ji Xinglan sent him off to wash vegetables.
Ji Xinglan was worried that he would cut his hand and refused to let Yan Qiu pick up the knife again. Thus, he handed the vegetable basket to him.
Yan Qiu obediently went to the sink to wash vegetables. As Ji Xinglan listened to the water gushing out of the tap behind him, he stared at the potato Yan Qiu had cut, feeling troubled.
He had cut it to the point that there was simply no way he could throw it into the pot. Normally, he would definitely throw it away, but since Yan Qiu was the one who cut it, no matter what, he would not toss it away.
In the end, he didn’t waste it. He cleaned it up a little and placed it on a plate, thinking about using it to make mashed potatoes tomorrow.
They couldn’t eat too much, so they only cut up a few plates of vegetables and ham. The beef rolls and cooked food were all takeaways from the supermarket.
Yan Qiu didn’t eat anything spicy, so he had bought a seafood base for the hotpot. They placed the induction cooker on the dining table and sat down around it. Once the water boiled, they placed the food inside.
The dining table in the apartment was a normal, six-person dining table. It was much smaller than the stupidly long table at Ji Xinglan’s home. There were no servants standing by the side, and the pressure when they ate was instantly reduced by a large degree.
Yan Qiu picked up a beef roll and put it in the pot to rinse it a bit.
The soup base of the hotpot was mixed with the smell of meat that traveled from the dining hall to the living room, alerting the kitten in the living room.
Just as Yan Qiu dipped the beef in sauce and bit down on it, he suddenly felt something paw at his trousers.
He looked down in time to see the kitten’s black and round eyes. It was using its paws to hook on his trousers, appearing as if it wanted to climb up his trousers.
Yan Qiu brought the kitten up on his knees and wanted to feed it beef, but Ji Xinglan stopped him.
Ji Xinglan pushed his hand—the one holding the chopsticks—down. When the kitten saw that the food that was about to reach its mouth leave, it started meowing anxiously. “It’s too young. Don’t feed it random food. I’ll buy a few bags of cat food for it later.”
Yan Qiu nodded and casually tossed the beef into Ji Xinglan’s bowl. “For you.”
The kitten laid on Yan Qiu’s knees and watched them eat with a pitiful look on its face. It started pawing at Yan Qiu’s shirt to vent its anger, feeling wronged.
Ji Xinglan stared at the beef in front of him and carefully picked up his chopsticks. This could be considered the first time Yan Qiu grabbed food for him.
After their meal, Ji Xinglan put the plates and utensils into the dishwashing machine, picked up the car keys and went out to buy cat food.
Yan Qiu brought the kitten into the toilet. He put warm water into the washbasin and was prepared to bathe it.
The kitten appeared to be quite clean. Regardless, he picked it up by a trash can, and Lord only knew whether it had actually dug through the trash can before.
Yan Qiu originally wanted to soak it in water to bathe it, but the kitten seemed to be truly averse to water. When it saw that Yan Qiu was about to dunk it in water, it was so terrified that its fur stood up, and there was no way it would work together with Yan Qiu obediently. Yan Qiu wondered where it got such a great explosive force from its tiny body. It nearly toppled over the washbasin. The water splashed on the top half of Yan Qiu’s body. His shirt was drenched.
Yan Qiu watched the kitten as it hid in a corner and shuddered. He was unable to catch it and wash it. He found himself troubled, not knowing what he should do.
Suddenly, he remembered that Xie Yu kept a cat. So he called Xie Yu, wanting to ask him how he should bathe a kitten.
“Boss, you’re rearing a kitten now?”
Xie Yu was surprised and curious. Yan Qiu had been terrified of kittens since he was young, so why would he keep a kitten now?
Yan Qiu gave him the simple version. “I picked it up.”
“You picked it up? Seriously? How old is it? What breed is it? Is it a male or female? Ah, I seriously didn’t think you’d rear a cat one day. Didn’t you use to dislike cats? Logically speaking, with your personality, there’s no way you’d pick up a cat? Do you remember how you nearly had your face destroyed when you were kind enough to feed a stray when you were four—”
When this boy started talking, he wouldn’t shut up. Yan Qiu saw that the water in the bin was about to get cold, so he couldn’t help but interrupt him. “Enough with the nonsense. So, how am I supposed to bathe it?”
“Ah!” Xie Yu said, “Just use a hot towel and wipe its body.”
Yan Qiu quickly hung up and grabbed the kitten hiding in the corner.
He was worried that it was too dirty and would cause Ji Xinglan to regard it with scorn. Hence, before Ji Xinglan came back, he used a hot towel to wipe it until it was clean. He wiped it until its fur was snow white and glossy, making its eyes appear even more lush and shiny. It looked adorable.
When Ji Xinglan entered through the door, he saw no one. He went to the bathroom and saw Yan Qiu pouring away the water in the washbasin. By his feet was the kitten, which had been cleaned to the point that it was sparkling.
Yan Qiu’s shirt was slightly soaked. The soaked parts of his shirt appeared to be a tad transparent, and it stuck to his skin on his waist. Ji Xinglan’s gaze turned a little dark. He couldn’t help but stare at the soaked part of his shirt for a while, as if he could see his skin through the wet fabric.
“Go and change.” Ji Xinglan bent down and picked up the kitten.
This was the first time he had held it properly. The kitten wasn’t quite accustomed to it, and it struggled, wanting to run.
Yan Qiu looked down at his lapels. He tugged at his shirt while he was at it, wanting to make it dry faster.
“I only brought one shirt. I’ll just blow dry it with a hair dryer later.”
“You can wear my shirt.” Yan Qiu didn’t know what nefarious plot Ji Xinglan was cooking, because he was being really generous.
Nonetheless, Yan Qiu still decided to don the shirt. The brand was a series of letters forming a long phrase, and while he couldn’t read it, he could tell with just a glance that it was worth a price he couldn’t afford.
And Yan Qiu also knew that this was a shirt Ji Xinglan always wore, so he said, “Give me something cheaper. If I end up ruining it, I can’t pay for it.”
Ji Xinglan didn’t allow any room for argument and unbuttoned his shirt. He stared at his collarbone and neck for a while before he said airily, “You’ll be able to pay for it. You have what I want on you.”
Yan Qiu didn’t understand what he meant, but he instinctively tugged his collar around his neck.
What he wanted…?
What… is it? His virtue?
Yan Qiu pushed Ji Xinglan out of the bathroom, since he continued causing trouble by the side. He closed the door and quickly changed in the bathroom before he came out.
The shirt was a little too big. The hem almost reached his knees. Since Yan Qiu was in a hurry to check on the kitten, he walked out without even wearing his pants.
Ji Xinglan was feeding the kitten in the living room. He had bought the kitten some kitten food and canned food, but it stopped eating after taking a few bites, though Ji Xinglan didn’t know whether it was because it was full or just picky.
He looked up and saw Yan Qiu coming out. He sized him up and smiled at him, apparently satisfied.
It was still raining outside. The air condition was turned on, and the apartment was rather warm. Yan Qiu stepped on the carpet with bare feet and played with the kitten. There was a variety show playing on the television. Ji Xinglan just sat on the couch and read a book.
Yan Qiu was the restless type. After a short while, he slid down from the couch and laid on the carpet to play with the kitten. He had managed to procure a fur ball from somewhere. When he tossed it, the kitten would jump after it and retrieve it.
The kitten seemed to love the fur ball a lot. Yan Qiu touched the tips of its ears and said affectionately, “Lan Lan, you’re such a good kitty.”
Ji Xinglan didn’t know exactly who those words were directed to, but he immediately turned his head over to look at Yan Qiu and he frowned a little while he remained seated on the couch.
Yan Qiu lowered his head and scratched the kitten’s chin as he endured his laughter. He pretended that he didn’t see Ji Xinglan’s sharp gaze and continued focusing on using the fur ball to play with the kitten.
Quietly, Ji Xinglan watched the boy and the kitten giggling and falling into a heap together on the floor. He slowly shut the book in his hands.
Oh well, he wouldn’t sink to the level of a kitten.
Author: Lan Lan is playing with a ball!
Mogumoguchan: I’m gonna start a Yan Qiu Dense Counter. Counter: 1+++.
Neirith: I was really worried he might actually cut off one of his fingers along with the potato… Luckily, we have Ji Xinglan the voice of reason…
Aww Yan Qiu and Lan Lan are so cute !!
Thank you for the chapter ❤
Cute!
Thank you for the chapter
Not to be dramatic, but I would die for Lan Lan xD
I know I keep repeating this, but perhaps if Xinglan gave him some money to buy clothes and underwear he actually likes and doesn’t force him all the time and gets to know him as a person (and lets Yan Qiu know him as a person), everything would be so much better, allowing them both to let go of the past as much as possible…Thanks for the chapter <3
LanLan🤣🤣🤣
i was waiting for yan qiu to get a tiny cut from the knife and ji xinglan calls over 5 of the best medical professionals in the field bc he panicked. x’D
the fluffy little kitten sounds so cute. i miss having cats they’re so much fun to have around the house. and the fluff ball reminds me of my first cat bc she had a fluff ball from the shelter that was her favorite toy. yan qiu you’re in for an emotional rollercoaster but i promise u it will be worth it :’)
I didn’t understand why Xinglan was acting weird about the kitten’s name 🤣 now I know Xing-lan, Lan Lan lolz
I just noticed Ji Xing(lan)😂 is this intentional?
What’s the meaning of LanLan?
Yes, JXL, the voice of reason who is also jealous of a kitten.
If there was a counter for how dense Yan Qiu is that would be too little it should be +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
I too was very concerned for is fingers.. whew!
his
YQ courting trouble unconciously and blame JXL for it 🤧… soon hooman Lan Lan will play with balls too.. 😏👌
I have to say the author achieved quite the ordeal by making MC pull out a cat toy in a house where there has never been any pets. Would it have been to difficult to just say the toy was bought by ML? If the author felt it didn’t go with his persona, it could have mentioned he saw it and thought of MC playing with the cat and that’s that. 🤦🏻♀️
Surely you don’t expect logic from this author lol
As someone who actually does cook on a regular basis I have to mention that it’s actually impossible to cut too much of a potato when peeling it with a potato peeler. The peeler has only so much space between the blade and the frame, thus it can only ‘shave’ against the surface. It really isn’t possible to shrink a potato using a peeler. Unless you peel and peel and peel even after the skin is off 🤷🏻♀️
I’m not gonna believe it if Someone tells me the editor doesn’t have something against Yan Qui.