Xia Jiao racked her brain before finally settling on a name that didn’t make her feel embarrassed—Xia Mi, which followed her surname. Its nickname would be Xiao Xia Mi.

The little tabby kitten was lively and active, with a naturally robust physique and boundless energy. It hopped around noisily, able to keep its balance, though its head was still a bit dazed from Xia Jiao’s earlier shaking.

This kitten had a wild and untamed nature, always nosing around in the trash can, its curiosity insatiable. Though it was small in size, it harbored grand ambitions. It only behaved when it was feeding time, obediently snuggling close to drink the goat milk from the little bottle Xia Jiao held.

“I had a friend from the pet hospital check her out,” Wen Chongyue said as he poured the opened cat food into a sealed bag, using a vacuum sealer to neatly store it in the pantry. “You can start feeding Xiami some kitten food, but she still needs to drink goat milk.”

The kitten gripped the bottle’s nipple tightly with her tiny paws, which had black pads, and sucked hard.

When enough time had passed, Wen Chongyue gestured for Xia Jiao to remove the bottle. Xiami stood up and finally allowed Xia Jiao to touch its warm little paws and head.

Wen Chongyue was thorough in everything he did. Though the arrival of this kitten had been a surprise, by the time he had decided to “adopt” the stray cat, he had already prepared all the necessary supplies. The only thing left was for the kitten to receive her vaccines in a few days, which Wen Chongyue had already scheduled.

With the sudden addition of this little kitten, Xia Jiao’s joy increased tenfold.

Even though the sudden workload was overwhelming and made it hard to breathe, the thought of having a cat and a man waiting for her at home, no matter how late she returned, gave Xia Jiao a sense of comfort.

Perhaps it was due to having a culinary expert at home, but Xia Jiao’s weight was steadily increasing. Her weight gain chart was as red-hot as her underperforming investment fund was green, much to her dismay.

Xia Jiao sadly thought that if only her investment could be as red as her weight gain, or her weight as green as her fund. Unfortunately, the most frustrating scenario had occurred—her weight was rising, while her investment plummeted.

After discovering that she’d gained one more pound, Xia Jiao shyly asked Wen Chongyue, “Can you make more vegetarian dishes in the future?”

At that moment, Wen Chongyue was trimming Xia Mi’s claws. He had just finished one paw, and the little kitten obediently nestled in his arms, meowing twice at Xia Jiao.

Wen Chongyue asked, “Is it because the weather is getting hot, and you want something lighter?”

“Not really,” Xia Jiao hesitated for a long time before confessing, “I’ve gained weight, so I might need to lose some.”

Wen Chongyue disapproved of her idea. “Dieting harms your health. If you want to lose weight, you should exercise more.”

Xia Jiao pouted, “I don’t like exercising.”

Wen Chongyue, carefully clipping the kitten’s claws two millimeters away from the quick, thought for a moment. “Do you think we’re not getting enough exercise?”

Xia Jiao was confused. “When did we ever exercise togeth—”

The words got stuck in her throat, and she quickly changed the subject, placing a rose among some acacias. “Fine, I’ll eat more boiled vegetables from now on.”

Wen Chongyue kindly reminded her, “Jiao Jiao, humanity didn’t evolve to the top of the food chain just so you could eat boiled vegetables.”

Xia Jiao: “…”

Although they were joking, Wen Chongyue still prepared more low-fat meals for her, as per her request, reducing carbs while adding a couple of rice balls at most.

Grilled salmon salad, lemon-marinated seaweed with crabmeat, beef teriyaki patties with black vinegar, soy-braised eggs, vegetable-filled tamagoyaki, and shrimp preserved in olive oil—each meal was different. Every time Xia Jiao sat down with the resolve to eat only until she was 70% full, but Wen Chongyue’s cooking was so good that she couldn’t resist finishing every bite.

Wen Chongyue had a laid-back personality, and Xia Jiao was a typical introverted homebody. With such peaceful cohabitation, the two hardly ever had any disagreements.

After living together for a month, the most serious disagreement between the two was –

Should they eat yuanxiao or tangyuan for the Lantern Festival?

Wen Chongyue, a northerner, said, “We should eat sweet yuanxiao, filled with black sesame and rolled in glutinous rice flour.”

Xia Jiao, a southerner, was shocked. “Why eat yuanxiao? We should have tangyuan instead, and our family always eats the savory kind!”

Wen Chongyue was puzzled, “Savory tangyuan for Lantern Festival?”

Xia Mi wagged its tail and meowed, unable to participate in the couple’s first disagreement, as it couldn’t eat either sweet yuanxiao or savory tangyuan.

The poor little kitten’s dinner was a can of meat and some goat milk.

The sweet-versus-savory debate between the north and south has always been a sensitive issue, much like how the salty douhua lovers could never understand the sweet douhua enthusiasts, or how the sweet zongzi group could never reconcile with the savory zongzi faction.

Sweet or salty soy milk for breakfast?

Should tomatoes and scrambled eggs have sugar or not?

Should mooncakes be sweet or savory?

…

Fortunately, in all these debates, Wen Chongyue and Xia Jiao were able to reach a consensus: Xia Jiao firmly supported sweet douhua, savory zongzi, sweet soy milk, tomatoes with sugar in scrambled eggs, and both sweet and savory mooncakes.

As for Wen Chongyue—

He was equally fine with both sweet and salty douhua, could go either way with zongzi, preferred sweet soy milk, didn’t mind whether sugar was added to scrambled eggs, and embraced both sweet and savory mooncakes.

But when it came to Lantern Festival dishes, Wen Chongyue and Xia Jiao sadly could not agree.

This was the first major issue their new household faced that required serious discussion.

They debated for half an hour without reaching a conclusion, so Xia Jiao suggested calling their mutual friend Jiang Wanju to decide the outcome of the yuanxiao versus tangyuan debate.

Jiang Wanju casually said, “I’m having dumplings for Lantern Festival this year.”

Xia Jiao blurted out, “You devil!”

Wen Chongyue sighed, “Oh dear.”

The two, who couldn’t accept eating dumplings on Lantern Festival, reluctantly reached an agreement: they would use a divided hotpot tonight—one side for Wen Chongyue’s black sesame yuanxiao, and the other for Xia Jiao’s savory pork tangyuan.

After a friendly negotiation, the first crisis of their marriage was successfully resolved.

Other than that, no further disagreements had arisen between them for the time being.

Xia Jiao was quite content.

Wen Chongyue was equally satisfied.

As spring tiptoed back along the treetops, the east wind stirred up a sea of reeds, and the forsythia outside their building bloomed in brilliant golden clusters, resembling streams of flowing gold, or perhaps delicate yellow velvet.

Wen Chongyue had initially planned to visit Xia Jiao’s parents with her, but the opportunity never arose.

Xia Jiao’s work had kept her too busy, leaving her with no energy to visit home. Besides, taking time off was impossible right now; she simply couldn’t get away.

The Valentine’s Day incident with the spokeperson had forced Xia Jiao and her entire team into overtime, working through sleepless nights with bloodshot eyes, barely managing to resolve the issue.

Even the nourishing eight-treasure soup couldn’t soothe her weary heart. The only consolation was the hefty overtime pay, but no amount of money could compensate for the physical and mental exhaustion.

Xia Jiao wasn’t someone who chased after money. In fact, she was on the verge of quitting.

But she just couldn’t bring herself to make the decision.

She wished someone could give her a push, even just a little nudge.

Under these circumstances, Wen Chongyue had to adjust his routine from cooking three meals a day to just two. However, that was the least of his concerns. What he noticed first was Xia Jiao’s constant exhaustion.

Wen Chongyue understood where this fatigue came from.

Overtime work.

Originally, the standard eight-hour workday and five-day workweek were already exhausting enough, not to mention Xia Jiao’s recent week of intensive overtime.

On top of that, there were the work groups on WeChat.

Even during her breaks, Xia Jiao was bombarded with various notifications and messages, intruding on her personal time and making her feel even more unhappy, especially when Wen Chongyue was there to play Luigi’s Mansion with her, or when Xia Jiao was munching on snacks prepared by him.

Xia Jiao simply didn’t have enough time to spend with her adorable Xia Mi.

On the third of March, the fresh shepherd’s purse was in season.

When spring brought the tender new shepherd’s purse, Xia Jiao’s mouth watered, and she eagerly volunteered to go shopping for groceries with Wen Chongyue, finally managing to buy some fresh shepherd’s purse for the new spring.

“When I was a child, my mom loved making me egg pancakes,” Xia Jiao said to Wen Chongyue. “The first dish I learned to cook was this. You have to try my cooking.”

Wen Chongyue asked with a friendly smile, “Do I need to buy an accident insurance policy before tasting?”

Xia Jiao playfully slapped his arm, “As long as you don’t die, eat as much as you want!”

Xia Jiao is not an idiot when it comes to cooking.

She could still manage the simplest egg pancake—blanching the shepherd’s purse in boiling water, squeezing out the water, and chopping it into fine pieces. The spring shepherd’s purse was the freshest, and even when chopped, it still retained that vibrant spring flavor.

Wen Chongyue brought back some roasted meat from an old shop—this was pork belly, carefully washed, boiled, caramelized, and then slowly smoked over fruit wood in a hanging oven.

There was an old saying, “Southern roasted duck, roasted pig, hanging oven meat.” The southern roasted duck had gained increasing fame, but nowadays, there were not many places that specialized in roasting meat, and one could only buy it from some braised meat shops.

The roasted meat smelled delicious. Xia Mi had been meowing for a long time, but unfortunately, the cat couldn’t eat overly salty food. After chopping the shepherd’s purse, Xia Jiao ran out to open a can of deer meat for kittens for Xia Mi.

The piece of roasted meat was large, needing to be cut. Wen Chongyue was preparing to steam the roasted meat. As he was focused on slicing, he suddenly heard Xia Jiao exclaim, “Who is Bai Ruolang? They just called you! Do you need me to answer?”

That was when Wen Chongyue remembered his phone was on the counter.

With a slip of his hand, he accidentally cut his finger. Furrowing his brows, he replied, “No need.”

Saying this, he walked over and declined the call.

The annoying ringtone finally stopped.

Xia Jiao gasped, “Teacher Wen, your hand—”

Wen Chongyue’s finger was bleeding. He didn’t say anything and looked down. Xia Jiao rushed over and held his finger with heartache.

Fortunately, the cut wasn’t deep.

“How did you cut your finger?” Xia Jiao murmured. She turned to glance at the pork Wen Chongyue had just cut. A drop of his blood had landed on the meat, and another had dripped onto the cutting board.

Boldly, Xia Jiao joked, “Are you planning to recognize relatives by blood?”

Wen Chongyue replied calmly, “Do you want to add more to your meals every day?”