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Their first anniversary as an official couple is right around the corner and Lan Xichen decides to do something for his partner.
As the old saying goes, in order to capture a man’s heart, one must capture their stomach first.
In their case, things are reversed. Lan Xichen has already captured Jiang Cheng’s heart through an extensive period of courtship. Now he sets out to conquer the other’s stomach as well.
Contrary to popular beliefs, Lan Xichen isn’t skilled in everything, no matter how his image as a successful businessman in charge of a multibillion-dollar company may scream.
Also contrary to beliefs, he is a simple man. Oh no, none of that Crazy Rich Asian shebang for him. He is a simple man who is simply head over heels in love with his partner.
At first glance, onlookers might mistake the dynamic of their relationship. The young billionaire of one of the most well-known franchises is a treasure. His popularity is almost on par with trending celebrities. His presence in a room is enough to command the attention of everybody else. Surely, women flock to him like fruit flies to a fruit. His partner must be one of them, a lucky one that scored the ultimate prize.
After all, Jiang Cheng is hardly known outside of the business circle. And even then, he is recognized as ‘that one Jiang heir who did not inherit his family’s business but was replaced instead by the adopted son’. To put it mildly, he is not gifted for leadership. To put it viciously, he is but a spare tyre, heck – the third spare – because his father always places Wei Wuxian first, followed by Jiang Yanli, and only then, when all options have been exhausted, Jiang Cheng.
So it is not surprising that people assumed that Jiang Cheng got into Lan Xichen’s favour through dirty and low-handed methods.
In reality, the pair’s dynamic is very much the other way around. The young billionaire fell in love with his grumpy, frumpy, and perpetually tired-looking assistant who always looks like the world has done him wrong. Mind you, this is an assistant that you do not want to cross, because he won’t hold his tongue (and literally punches) back when provoked.
Even if said target is one of the most eligible businessmen out there.
Perhaps that was what caught Lan Xichen’s undivided attention. Having been in a position of power for long and constantly commanding the people – people who bows in reverence or coddle up to him – around him, being on the receiving end of a barked command is like a refreshing breeze.
One that smelled of the spring rain and lotus mud.
Gods, did he mention that he loves – absolutely adores – his partner’s cologne?
He never knew that he had it in him to enjoy being bossed around. But here he is, boss of a company, thinking about preparing food for his own boss – the boss of his house, his heart, and his entire being.
It had taken a long period of constant (read: shameless and borderline harassment) courting before he finally got the man of his dreams. His dear, dear, Jiang Cheng, who holds nothing but truth for him and doesn’t sugar-coat his words.
Jiang Cheng had been wary at first. Who wouldn’t be when they were constantly on the receiving end of unfounded rumors and gossips? (Jiang Cheng even confessed to his partner after they were together that he thought Lan Xichen was out to shame him in front of others.) But those rumors are what they are, absolutely unfounded. Jiang Cheng did not leave his family business because he was forced to. If anything, he left it on his own accord because he simply didn’t want to deal with the whole publicity-thing and being the image for a company. He would rather that he works from behind, being able to command people while not being concerned with maintaining a public image.
But let us get back on-track: soon, it will be their first anniversary.
As we’ve mentioned before, Lan Xichen is a simple man. He doesn’t ponder too long about setting a meaningful date to propose to his partner. No, he chooses to propose on Valentines, because it is a day to celebrate romantic love. But also because it is easy for him to remember, and the chocolates and roses were on sale (he knows how much his partner hates it when he spends unnecessarily. See? He does take the costs into account!).
For their first anniversary, Lan Xichen decides to cook a hearty meal for his partner. He’d imagined it all: candle-lit table underneath the constellations, soft music serenading in the background, and rose petals in abundance as decorations. All 999 roses. The two of them would sit across each other and stare into each other’s eyes, getting lost within one another and reminiscing about the past, celebrating the present, and even discussing the future.
The plan is beautiful.
It is perfect.
Except for one thing.
Lan Xichen doesn’t know how to cook, even if it costs him his life.
But he is also adamant about making food for his partner to show his sincerity.
Yet worry not, he is a successful businessman, is he not? Where he lacks in culinary skills, he compensates with a healthy dose of confidence. It shouldn’t take him long to learn how to cook. He’d seen Jiang Cheng cook before, so he should be able to do it as well.
First thing first, figuring out his partner’s favorite dishes. This isn’t hard, Jiang Cheng is known for his love of lotus pork rib soup. It has something to do with the nostalgia for his sister, before she married the heir of the Jin Bank.
With that set, the next step is Bilibili – the wonders of modern invention and self-taught tutorials.
Lan Xichen scrolls through the seemingly endless list of video tutorials regarding recipes for making lotus pork rib soup, right down to the harvesting of the lotus root.
Well……that shouldn’t be that hard, should it?
~oOo~
“Uh…boss, what are we doing here?”
“Harvesting lotus roots.”
“But it’s not the right season yet……”
“……I thought they are just roots?” And aren't roots always available? Like the one from the Bilibili video with a girl living in a nice village in the rurals? [1]
The two men – the boss and his second-in-command assistant – made an odd sight – they stand in the middle of a lotus farm, amidst very much dead and withered stalks of lotuses, dressed in pristine business suits that are very much unsuitable for the place and occasion.
“I don’t think the owner wants anyone killing their lotus before they can harvest the seeds.” The second-in-command knows he’ll have a lot of explaining to do later to a certain Mr. Jiang.
Jiang Cheng will always remain the main assistant, but he couldn’t handle the amount of work, hence he needs to have someone down the chain of command in order to help him. An assistant of an assistant, if you will.
Correction, Jiang Cheng could technically complete his work if a certain boss hasn’t been constantly distracting and romancing him. But who is the second-in-command to complain? If not for his boss’s silly antics, he would not have gotten his current job with such high pays.
“I can buy the whole lotus farm, then I’m the owner!”
“Mr. Jiang would be furious if you’d done that,” The second-in-command sighs. As the second-in-command, he’d heard enough times where Jiang Cheng complained and pulled his hair out over unnecessary spending. Despite being a successful businessman (or because he is successful with too much money on his hand), their boss can be very generous, if not overly so, in their spending. Moreover, being a gentleman, his boss rarely haggles for prices during contract signing. It is a wonder how the company manages to survive so far before Mr. Jiang came in.
Mr. Jiang is the complete opposite of his boss. Wherever possible, he would cut costs, but not so much as to mistreat the employees and their potential business partners. He would do away with extras. Cross it off the list with big, red, permanent markers. The results are clear: the amount that the company lost have more than halved since Mr. Jiang arrived.
Lan Xichen looks visibly deflated. Try as he might at wooing Jiang Cheng, the last thing he wants is to upset his partner (no matter how cute it might be seeing the frown on said man’s face and having his undivided – albeit angry – attention).
“I guess we can try buying them from the mall.” He really wants fresh lotus roots, though. Those at the malls are usually packaged for god knows how long.
“What if we try the wet market?”
Lan Xichen perks up immediately. “Wet market?” He’d heard of wet markets, seen them on TV shows and news, but hadn’t visited one before.
~oOo~
“Boss, I can take care of it, really…”
Under the protests of the second-in-command, Lan Xichen ventures his first step inside the wet market. It is his duty as a loving partner to ensure the best, and only the best, for his other half. One way to do so is through carefully choosing the ingredients for their dinner.
The wet market is…overwhelming to say the least, in sight, sound, touch, and smell. People are shouting everywhere, hawkers shouting for their produce to be noticed and buyers shouting back to haggle their prices. It is as if whoever shouts the loudest will be the arbiter of the sales. Moreover, the smell is outright pungent. Why anyone would combine fish, meat, vegetables, and clothing stalls in one cramped space is beyond his understanding.
But most of all, the people! So, so many people all packed into one space, but somehow still managing to manoeuvre themselves skilfully. There is an unseen system here which Lan Xichen couldn’t figure out: the aisles are technically wide enough only for two people to pass through, yet they have to somehow not only fit in a two-way flow, but also accommodate people lugging big shopping bags buying things in front of the stalls, which takes up at least a one-way space.
“Oh. Sorry, I didn’t mean to! Pardon me. Watch out!”
Lan Xichen squeezes through the throng of people – it takes a few attempts – but he finally breaks through and falls in step with the aisle system. The constant pushing and rubbing against other – mostly middle-aged to old women – had him blushing.
“Handsome boy, look at my beans!” “Son, be careful of dirtying your clothes.” “Come here, pretty boy, it’s only five yuan for a slab of chicken meat!”
The other thing that Lan Xichen learns, is that the wet market is no place for ‘young’, ‘handsome’ and ‘pretty’ men like him. In a matter of seconds, he became the centre of attention, the object of ogling and verbal harassments (it’s considered harassment if they kept calling him names that one would use at a night stripper club, right?) by the old ladies. A few of them even copped some touches – mind you, nothing too scandalous and may just be unintentional rubbings – but he is sure at least some of them are feeling him up. Behind him, his second-in-command fares no better.
Finally, they found the stall where lotus roots are sold. The woman behind the stall brightens up at Lan Xichen’s appearance; after an intense interrogation about his age, marriage status, and whatnot, she finally lets him examine the lotus root in peace.
“Sir, is something the problem?” The second-in-command watches as his boss prods as the lotus roots, takes them up gingerly, and then plops one after the other down again. He couldn’t see anything wrong with the roots – they are plump and young-looking.
“It’s…they look so dirty,” Lan Xichen leans in, voice in a whisper so the stall owner couldn’t hear them. “Just look at this.” He points to a cake of mud stuck within one of the lotus roots’ holes. “How does anyone eat this?”
The stall owner, however, has a sharp ear, honed after years of trying to hear above the din of the market. “Aiya, pretty boy, you never cook before? These are fresh lotus roots, right from the pond. All organic and certified! (Lan Xichen is certain he doesn’t recognize the logo of the certification company, and this is coming from him, a vegetarian who eats only organic food). It comes from the pristine Pearl River in Guangdong province. If you wash away the mud early on, the lotus roots won’t preserve for long [2].”
“I see…thanks for letting me know. In that case, can you help me choose the roots? For two people, please. I’m afraid I’m not too knowledgeable about the ways of lotus roots.”
“Sure thing, handsome boy! You are making lotus pork rib soup?” The woman expertly picks up a few lotus roots, taps them, and then decides on one that satisfies her auditory scale.
“Yes. How’d you know?”
“Tis’ the season for some lotus pork rib soup. Warm and nice for the weather. While you’re at it, you could add some goji berries – for better blood circulation. Also, some honey dates to add sweetness. Maybe large dates. Some wood ear would be great as well……”
By the time they walk away from the stall, Lan Xichen’s ears are ringing from the nonstop promotional chatter of the woman. He makes a mental note to recruit that woman into the sales department. Beside him, the second-in-command lugs an impressive number of bags that may-or-may-not be actually useful for the final product.
The next stop: the pork stall.
Lan Xichen stands in awe at the cross-section of a pig slung across a large metal hook, dangling at the back of the stall. Even in his biology class back in the days, he doesn’t recall having seen such a detailed dissected image of a pig. The rest of the intestines, brains, and even a certain reproductive organ are displayed across the table in their full, bloody glory. The stench? Surprisingly little to none. Although he isn’t sure if it’s because his nose has already gotten numb since he entered the market.
“Whaddya want?” The butcher casually flicks his cigarette into the drain nearby, mixed with blood and all sorts of internal organ pieces and paraphernalia.
Lan Xichen gingerly steps further away from the drain, mindful not to accidentally crash into anyone behind him and get swept away by the flow of the wet market traffic.
“Some pork ribs please.”
“How much?” The butcher proceeds to pick up his large (very dangerous looking) knife.
“Enough for two. In a soup, that is.”
The man asks no more. In a fluid motion, he unhooks part of the pig, slams it on a round wooden cutting board, and hits downward with his knife. Thunk!
Of course, being so thick, the first knife doesn’t cut through the entire pig. It only buries itself halfway through the ribs. The man then picks up a hammer-like tool and begins slamming it on the back of his knife, driving it further and further downward into and through the meat.
The noise is deafening. Lan Xichen leans even further back (as back as he could without being caught into market traffic) but swears he could feel a few pieces of the flesh hitting him in their flight trajectory.
Finally, with a sharp twist and a good crack, the man finishes chopping and hands the ribs in two layers of plastic bag to Lan Xichen.
“Thirty-two yuan.”
Lan Xichen hands over a hundred. The second-in-command’s eyes bulged.
When the change is returned, there are light smears of old blood on it.
“…Keep the change.” Lan Xichen hurries out of the market, unwilling to accept the bloodied notes, face pale after witnessing the gruesome scene.
The outside air is so fresh compared to the inside of the market. For the first time, Lan Xichen savors the polluted city air with so much reverence.
“Boss…Mr. Jiang is going to be unhappy about you over-spending your money.” You should have kept the change is the implied accusation.
Ah. Jiang Cheng is going to be upset about it, but hopefully nothing a good bowl of pork rib soup won’t fix!
~oOo~
Certainly, lotus pork rib soup doesn’t take that much effort. Or so the second-in-command thinks as he follows his boss to an antique auction.
Everything is in excess in this place, where money is thrown willy-nilly in exchange for items. Decors of gold and silver line the walls, the intricate patterns converging together on the ceiling, ending in mini crystal chandeliers hanging delicately off golden chains. Expensive – and endangered – woods cover every millimetre the floorings, a testament to the establishment’s wealth.
They have a room reserved for themselves, with a balcony overlooking the stage below. On each balcony there is a table, on top of which sits a silver bell.
Lan Xichen flips through the menu for tonight’s auction items and lands on the one he desires. This will do.
The auction process is simple: auctioneers merely try to outbid the other, made known by ringing a small bell placed on their table. Each bell signifies the addition of 1,000 yen. A lady standing next to the stage listens to the bells and calls out the bid amount each time a bell resounds.
When the item he desires is brought out on a small satin-covered platform, Lan Xichen enters into the bidding competition with fervour. The item isn’t terribly old, it merely dates back to the Qing dynasty, but is one of the items purportedly used by the last emperor.
His Jiang Cheng deserves the best, including using things only fit for royalties.
~oOo~
“Boss……” the second-in-command looks at a clearly exuberant man who had just successfully won the auction. It wasn’t a tough bidding process, not many people were interested in the item, so thankfully the price hadn’t been jacked up to impossible levels.
“Yes?”
“May I know what you intend to do with your auctioned item?”
“Make lotus pork rib soup in it. Is something the matter? You don’t look so good.”
“……sir, with all due respect, you do realize this is a chamber pot, right?”
Lan Xichen stops.
He thinks about the intricate dragons carved onto the pot. Why would any sane person shower so much attention and details on a chamber pot?
Then again, it was a chamber pot fit for the Emperor.
“Please don’t tell Jiang Cheng about this.” His partner doesn’t need to know that he had just thrown a couple million yuans into buying a chamber pot.
“……yes boss,” even if he doesn’t say anything, Mr. Jiang will learn about it. The man oversees the accounting book after all.
~oOo~
With the chamber pot fiasco out of the way, they are still short of a pot to make the soup in.
This is how they found themselves at Pan Jia Yuan [3], one of the most well-known antique markets in the city. Near the front are lines of shops designed as traditional, but elaborate, Chinese houses to fit in with the theme of antiquity and history. At the back is a large open area where people with antiques of less-class (sometimes even fake ones) can set up their sales on the ground. The open nature of the market meant that it is frequented constantly by tourists and genuine antique buyers alike.
Unlike the wet market, Lan Xichen has visited the place on numerous occasions, so he knows his way around the area. He indicates for the second-in-command to wait outside one of the shops.
The inside looks far more spacious than its exterior lets out to be. Shelves filled with old-looking items line the walls. None of them contain what Lan Xichen is looking for.
He addresses a bored-looking accountant toying around with an abacus.
“Any good items?”
“On the shelves, sir.”
“I want the Dragon’s Spine.” [4]
Satisfied with the answer to the secret code, the accountant uses a stick to tap at the ceiling. A small hole fit for one person opens up and a flight of wooden steps unfold downwards.
“Please.”
Lan Xichen enters the loft area, where another woman awaits him. This is how Pan Jia Yuan makes its business. The shopfront and sales outside merely contain the duplicates, mimics, and low-quality antiques. In order to access the real deal, one must know the secret codes. Here, in the loft, are where most of the valuables are, some of which were freshly dug out of graves.
“What are you looking for, Mr. Lan?” The woman all but purrs at the young businessman, propping herself in such a way as to look demure while showing off her assets.
But Lan Xichen only has eyes for a certain item. “Do you have pots?”
“Pots?” The woman repeats dumbly, uncertain if she had heard him right.
“Yes, pots, used for cooking. Ceramics ones.” Lan Xichen scans the shelves for a cooking pot. This time, he makes sure to check with the seller and his second-in-command before buying anything. On the way here he’d searched the internet and concluded that only old ceramic pots work because they can retain the tastes of soups from days bygone.
The woman looks at him strangely – who comes here to buy something like a pot? Most people are interested in jewellery and ornaments, not actual household items – those are usually reserved for museums!
“Mr. Lan……we don’t have anything like that here. If you want, I can help keep a lookout?”
“I am in a hurry and would need it soon.”
“Very well, perhaps you could try the outside? I'm sure they have a lot of...pots.”
And that is how Lan Xichen and his second-in-command found themselves squatting by the set-up stalls outside, perusing through endless old-looking pots.
“This looks sturdy and big, it’s also quite cheap as well! I should’ve started my search from here.” Lan Xichen happily pays for the new pot. It fits all his requirements: made from ceramic, cheap, and big enough to put in all those ingredients that he purchased. It also looked extremely old and thoroughly used.
His second-in-command doesn’t even have the heart to tell him that the pot is most likely a fake and the price is considered expensive relative to their actual market or production price.
~oOo~
Now that the materials are (finally) gathered, it is time to get to business. On the day of their anniversary, Lan Xichen sends his partner off on a task that will take him out of town for the day. He needs to prepare everything in secret.
But when he is finally alone in the house and faced with the vast space called the kitchen, Lan Xichen hesitates. He has been in the kitchen numerous times before, but often only to make simple sandwiches, grab a snack, or to pester his adorably grumpy partner who would try to chase him off with a ladle or spatula and groundless threats (to no avail, of course).
Lan Xichen grips the knife in his hand as he tries to imagine how best to cut up the lotus and meat. Diagonal slices? Straight-down? Or go excessive and make them into decorative shapes?
The answer is clear. For his partner, the last option is a must.
Except that he has no experience with handling the knife. After multiple slashes, a delicately bleeding finger (and temporary panic), and panic (again) when he realizes that the lotus roots have not been properly washed, Lan Xichen ends up with pieces of lotus and pork ribs that are uneven in size and resembles no specific shape.
He guesses it would be fine if everything eventually ends up in the pot, right? Jiang Cheng won’t be that picky, right? Right?
Talking of which, should the meat go in first or the lotus? Probably the meat, so that it can stew longer and add more taste to the soup before adding in the lotus. But how long should he stew it for? And under what fire – small, medium, large? At this point the Bilibili videos are not much help because he realizes that the stove in his house is far fancier than those shown in videos. It has far more settings than he’d like.
Besides, none of the videos seem to agree on the specific steps to take.
Well, here goes nothing. Lan Xichen turns on the stove, presses a few buttons, and watches in satisfaction as the heat climbs up and nothing explodes. He goes back to washing the other ingredients.
Only to hear sizzling water as the soup overflows and drips onto the stove.
“Oh dear, oh dear!” Lan Xichen grabs at the lid in panic and yelps in pain as it burns him. The lid falls onto the floor, shattering into dozens of little pieces. “Oh no, what is this?”
The soup has a coat of foam at the top that looks utterly disgusting! It’s like those bubble foam that you see in rivers with severe pollution. You know, the type of chemical foam you might see floating along the surface of the ‘pristine’ Pearl River (where the lotus roots he bought allegedly came from). Is the meat spoilt? It is certainly looking quite grey and unappetizing now. But then again, he couldn’t really judge because he has been a vegetarian all his life.
“Is this normal?”
The second-in-command looks at the photo of the foaming pot of soup. Somehow, he could tell that his boss is panicking on the other side of the phone, because right away the text is followed by several others: “the color doesn’t look quite right.” “it smells horrible as well.” “I just poked at it with a fork, the meat is really hard.”
“Sir, let me assure you that this is normal as the protein in the meat undergoes a process of alteration due to the high temperatures. The white ‘foam’ is oil from the meat, you can just scrape it off.”
Lan Xichen sighs in relief and immediately follows suit. He then places the lotus and other ingredients in.
“The lid is broken, what do I do?”
Already? The second-in-command laments for the money wasted. “Sir, please find something else to cover the top. Remember to leave some space open to let the boiling air escape or else the soup will overflow. After you bring it to a boil, turn to a smaller fire and leave it for one hour.” Given how clueless his boss seems to be, he might as well leave more instructions about how to make the soup.
“Is something the matter?” Jiang Cheng looks up from across the table where they are having a meeting. He notices that his assistant had been typing on his phone furiously for the past few minutes. It is an unacceptable behaviour considering the setting, but he knows that his assistant must have his reasons for doing so.
“Just answering to boss’ inquiries,” the second-in-command responds honestly.
“What is it about?”
“Nothing of particular concern. Just your favorite cologne brand.” The second-in-command knows that his boss wants to keep the whole thing a secret, so he comes up with a plausible excuse. Lan Xichen has been known to asks silly questions related to Jiang Cheng, after all.
“Next time, don’t indulge him so.” Jiang Cheng said as he resumed the meeting.
At the same time, a text from Lan Xichen comes in.
“Thanks!” Accompanied by a lot of smiling emotes.
Somehow the second-in-command feels a sense of dread. His instructions are clear enough, right? There’s no way boss can mess it up anymore…right?
At home, Lan Xichen takes the nearest bowl to cover the top of the pot.
~oOo~
“Oh god, something died in here.” Jiang Cheng is about to take off his coat after a long day of work (really, has his partner already forgotten what day this is? Sending him off to work like this?) when he smelt something pungent in the house. He couldn’t quite place the source of the smell, but it feels a bit plastic-like, with a vague resemblance to lotus pork rib soup? “Lan Xichen, what did you do?” He knows too well how much trouble his partner gets into, despite being so successful. The man has virtually no survival skills.
He finds his partner in the kitchen, panicking and trying to scrape something off the top of a pot that he most hadn’t seen before (which meant that the man bought it recently, and he doesn’t want to see the price tag. Not right now, not after a whole day at work). The man’s fingers are red from trying to pry whatever off the top of the scorching pot.
“Close the fire, you dimwit!” Jiang Cheng shoves aside his partner lest the man burns himself further. “Just…what did you do?”
There, on the pot, is a layer of purple. It is only by virtue of being familiar with this house after cleaning it up once-too-many that he recognizes the purple glob as the bowl that he has gotten from a supermarket’s promotional offer.
You know, one of those cheap plastic bowls.
Right now, it looks less like a bowl than melted glue stuck to the surface of the pot. This is where the source of the strange smell comes from.
“Oh god, tell me you didn’t just place plastic over a hot surface…never mind, you most probably did. What are you trying to do? Make toxic fume?”
Lan Xichen has the decency to look slightly embarrassed. “I was trying to make lotus pork rib soup for you? It’s our anniversary.” He indicates sheepishly to the dining area, where bouquets of roses and candles have been ordered, but for which he hasn’t found the chance to actually set up because he was busy trying to rescue the remnant of his ‘soup’.
And with that, Jiang Cheng feels his annoyance seeps out of him. It has already been a year and his partner is still finding ways to romance him – putting aside all the disasters and troubles that Lan Xichen has wreaked (and the money wasted) – it is a really endearing gesture. Damn, he could already feel a smile trying to force itself onto his face.
“You could have just taken me out.” But he knows, Lan Xichen is a romantic, and would want to make something special. They have had many dinners outside before – both for work and leisure purposes – but rarely do the both of them find time to cook at home. “Why don’t you just go and decorate the dining area while I…salvage whatever is left of this.”
Lan Xichen is about to protest that this is his idea so he should bear the consequences but is effectively silenced by a peck on the cheek from Jiang Cheng.
“Be good, okay?”
And with that, the successful businessman is coaxed by his partner out of the kitchen and into the dining area, feeling all mushy inside. At least when it comes to decorations, he has much more experience.
Surprisingly, Jiang Cheng does manage to somehow scrape some of the lotus pork rib soup from the pot. He also manages to use the leftover (more like excess) ingredients to make a few other simple dishes.
Contrary to popular beliefs, Jiang Cheng is a decent cook, courtesy of lessons from his sister.
By the time the cooking is done, the dining area has already transformed into a romantic space of dim light, candles, roses, and light music, just like how Lan Xichen envisions. There’s no alcohol, but that’s mostly because the Lans have a remarkably low tolerance of alcohol, despite what their work may require.
“Here’s to our first anniversary, cheers.” Jiang Cheng raises the bowl of lotus pork rib soup.
“Cheers.”
“……”
“This taste horrible.” The meat is too hard from overcooking, and the lotus too hard from undercooking. “Next year, leave it for me to cook please.”
“There’s a next year?”
“Pft,” Jiang Cheng snorts, “what? You think I’m going to abandon you after your horrible cooking? There will be a next anniversary of course. And one after that, and another. On and on…But most of all, thanks for leaving an impressionable first anniversary.”
“And Happy Valentines?”
“Yes, and Happy Valentines, you romantic sap.”