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Chapter 40.3
After buying everything, Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan hurried to check out and drove back home.
Even though they had breakfast in the morning, who knew when lunch would be ready?
Once they got home, they stood in front of the kitchen, staring at each other, not knowing how to use the ingredients they had bought.
Luckily, they had at least seen others cooking before. After a few attempts, they finally figured out how to use the kitchen tools.
“How do you cut this meat?” Xu Yuan frowned at a package of lean meat. To cook, they needed to cut the meat into shreds or slices, but how exactly?
Meng Zhengrong glanced at the kitchen knife, then at Xu Yuan’s delicate hands. Without thinking, he said, “You just leave it to me.”
Cutting meat required skill and luck; a small mistake could easily lead to a cut.
If he hurt his hand, it was no big deal, but she couldn’t afford to.
“What should I do then?”
Meng Zhengrong handed her his phone. “Just follow the instructions to marinate the chicken wings. And wash the green peppers.”
It didn’t sound difficult.
She stepped aside, starting to prepare the marinade for the chicken wings.
While doing so, Xu Yuan accidentally caught a glimpse of Meng Zhengrong directly cutting the meat. She remembered that when she passed by the kitchen before, the housekeeper always wore an apron to avoid dirtying her clothes. With this thought, she found an apron in the corner of the kitchen and walked over to Meng Zhengrong. “Here, put on this apron.”
Meng Zhengrong looked at the apron with a bow on it and felt a bit resistant, but he didn’t want to say anything that would ruin the mood, so he reluctantly lowered his head…
Strangely enough, while Meng Zhengrong cut the meat carefully, even though it didn’t look as good as what the housekeeper would do, it was passable, and he didn’t hurt himself. However, after cutting a large piece of meat into slices, he straightened up and felt his waist ache and his hands sore.
By the time they were ready to cook, it was almost one in the afternoon.
The rice was already cooked; today’s rice cooker had all the functions displayed clearly. After glancing at it, they basically knew how to operate it.
Meng Zhengrong thought he could handle everything well, and Xu Yuan thought so too.
However, whether it was Meng Zhengrong, who was decisive in business, or Xu Yuan, who was confident in court, they both found themselves at a loss in the kitchen.
In the end, they managed to put the dishes together, but their presentation was poor. When they finally sat at the table to eat lunch, Xu Yuan looked up at the exhausted Meng Zhengrong and weakly said, “This is the first and last time.”
Meng Zhengrong understood what she meant and nodded, “Don’t worry.”
After experiencing it once, he didn’t want to do it again.
Cooking was indeed tiring; several times, oil splattered onto the back of his hand, and he couldn’t express how much it hurt.
Exhausted and without much energy to complain, Xu Yuan picked up a chopstick full of the green pepper and meat strips he made. She graciously didn’t spit it out.
Meng Zhengrong guessed he had to be delusional to think he was a culinary genius.
“How does it taste?” Meng Zhengrong asked expectantly.
Xu Yuan glanced at him, hesitating, “Do you want the truth or a lie?”
What a coincidence, he had said the same thing to Song Yu yesterday.
Now he finally understood what Song Yu must have felt yesterday.
The cola chicken wings were made by Xu Yuan. When Meng Zhengrong tried a bite, he found she had some talent in this area. In her previous life, she had a decent relationship with a young chef from the imperial kitchen and had spent time with him, so although it didn’t taste exceptional, it was still edible.
Originally, they planned to fry an egg, but after finishing these two dishes, they were too exhausted to cook anymore.
Fortunately, they were genuinely hungry and didn’t have time to be picky about the food.
Anyone who has cooked knows the real challenge isn’t the cooking itself but the cleanup afterward— washing the dishes.
Many people choose to cook not for any other reason but to avoid washing dishes.
Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan collapsed on the sofa, neither wanting to move, but they couldn’t just leave the dishes.
“Can we leave it for tomorrow for the housekeeper to wash?” Xu Yuan asked.
“What do you think?”
“That doesn’t seem right. They’ll definitely know we cooked for ourselves, and seeing that mess, who knows what they’ll think?”
Meng Zhengrong replied, “Actually, it took me a lot of time just to cut the meat. You handled everything else, and I haven’t even finished cutting yet.”
He meant that he had already completed such a difficult task; would it be fair to pass on the dishes to him?
“Do you think making cola chicken wings is really as simple as what’s said online? Let’s not even talk about that; my chicken wings taste better than your green pepper and meat strips, right? No, your dish isn’t even strips; it’s just chunks of meat,” Xu Yuan retorted without holding back.
When it came to the matter of washing dishes, Meng Zhengrong couldn’t afford to be gentle. He quickly countered, “Your chicken wings aren’t even fully cooked; eating them might be a health risk. It’s been said that undercooked meat should be eaten sparingly. You just saw it; there were still traces of blood in there.”
“Then who was the one who liked eating sashimi? Isn’t that raw fish?” Xu Yuan shot back.
“That’s different.”
“How is it different?”
Meng Zhengrong made a stop gesture, looking at Xu Yuan, “Why are we arguing about this? Let’s just hire someone to clean up, and that’s enough.”
Xu Yuan was taken aback, “Yeah, you’re right.”
When the hired help came and was busy in the kitchen, Meng Zhengrong and Xu Yuan each took a cup of tea and comfortably sat in the living room watching TV.
Meng Zhengrong suddenly thought, thankfully, he and Xu Yuan weren’t a couple struggling for life. Otherwise, they would probably argue about washing dishes every day.
He began to understand why the divorce rate was so high now.
Some people genuinely enjoy cooking, but no one really likes washing dishes. Meng Zhengrong couldn’t help but wonder where those men who want wives busy with work also expected to come home and cook and wash dishes found such partners.
If he had to work, come home, cook, and wash dishes, he certainly wouldn’t do it; he could only endure it for a while, no matter how beautiful the partner might be.
Xu Yuan certainly wouldn’t do it either.
From this, he inferred that he and Xu Yuan were truly a perfect match.
In fact, Meng Zhengrong thought it was quite nice to occasionally bicker with Xu Yuan over trivial matters in life.
Isn’t that what life is all about?
==
For ordinary office workers, Monday is often a day filled with despair.
However, for Xu Yuan and Meng Zhengrong, it marked the beginning of a turning point.
Usually, Xu Yuan would first go to the finance department to handle some matters before finding time to visit the public welfare project department. The project department was filled with young people who were passionate, energetic, and full of dreams. In the past, when Shen Ming was around, unless it was an urgent issue or a major project, the projects seeking help from socially disadvantaged individuals would generally be put on hold. Now, with the department being revamped, things were finally back on track, and there were many projects to address.
Around 9:30, the office landline rang. Xu Yuan answered, “Hello?”
“Manager Xu, it’s Xiao Pan.”
Xu Yuan recognized the voice. Although she hadn’t officially been appointed as a manager, her colleagues in the project department had started calling her that.
“Ah, Xiao Pan, good morning! What’s up?”
“Manager Zhang from the HR department mentioned that a new employee would be starting today. The onboarding is completed, and the newcomer is in our office. Manager Xu, do you want to come over and make some arrangements?”
Xu Yuan suddenly remembered this matter. She hadn’t had a chance to look at the new employee’s profile yet. Now that she was in charge of the public welfare project department, she definitely needed to go over and make some arrangements.
“Okay, I’ll head over right now.”
**
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