Chapter 6

In the kitchen, Bai Jiaojiao looked at the pile of ingredients with a headache.

Back in the 21st century, her family wasn’t exactly rich, but they were fairly well-off. Her parents treated her very well, and she had never really entered a kitchen—at most, she’d wash some fruit.

As for the original Bai Jiaojiao, it was even worse. Before being exposed as a fake daughter, she lived in a military compound and didn’t even know what a kitchen looked like.

After marrying Xiao Zhou, he was usually the one who cooked, or they’d eat at Aunt Wang’s next door.

At first, Aunt Wang didn’t want to help, but Bai Jiaojiao was willing to pay, and when Xiao Zhou found out, he also gave Aunt Wang some money. So Aunt Wang agreed.

Bai Jiaojiao stared at the unfamiliar stove and didn’t even know where to begin.

Creak.

The door opened, and Bai Jiaojiao instantly tensed. The space was small—just a few steps and the man had already reached the kitchen.

Seeing the untouched ingredients, Xiao Zhou said, “You can go out first.”

Bai Jiaojiao shook her head. “I—I want to learn.”

“You’re a pampered young lady. Can you really learn?” he said.

Her body stiffened. She looked at the man’s calm, clever face. Though his smile didn’t reach his eyes, the pressure was overwhelming.

“You got your memory back?”

Xiao Zhou shook his head. “No, I just heard some things about you from the villagers.”

Bai Jiaojiao didn’t feel much about it. “Oh, that’s all in the past. If you’re curious, I can tell you everything slowly.” He’d remember sooner or later anyway.

Xiao Zhou stepped closer. Maybe because he’d kept a neutral face all day, Bai Jiaojiao wasn’t as scared of him now. But to her surprise, he suddenly pulled her into an embrace, making her body instantly go rigid.

Xiao Zhou leaned down slightly, inhaling the scent of her hair. Unconsciously, he held her tighter. When he sensed her discomfort, he eased up slightly, though he didn’t let go.

His voice was low and hoarse: “Being with me must be hard for you.”

“They said you’re from the military compound and never cooked before—didn’t know how to do anything.”

Bai Jiaojiao’s attention shifted. Although she thought what he said wasn’t wrong, could the villagers have really said just that?

“That’s all they said?”

She remembered that the original Bai Jiaojiao had done quite a few not-so-great things. Going from a pampered life to having no money or power would be hard for anyone, especially for someone spoiled from a young age.

“Mhm, that was the general idea.”
What Bai Jiaojiao didn’t see was the cold glint in Xiao Zhou’s eyes—he didn’t believe any of their words and had remembered every single person who spoke ill of her.

Earlier that day, outside the house, it was originally just Aunt Wang, but more people quickly showed up—men and women.

“Xiao Zhou, your wife is no saint. On her first day, she cursed all of us, saying she’s from the military compound and we’re just hillbillies, not even worthy to talk to her.”

“She even stole a new pair of shoes my daughter got from a friend abroad. You were the one who apologized and paid for them.”

“She loves eating meat but never cooks. One time we celebrated my son getting a job at the factory and killed a chicken—she shamelessly tried to freeload. When we refused, she smashed our pot.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. After that, they were too scared to cook meat with the windows open.

They had never met someone so mean-tempered and vicious. Now she was influencing an amnesiac Xiao Zhou to do bad things? Unacceptable!

Xiao Zhou politely sent them away and went back inside—just like before. The villagers finally relaxed. As long as Xiao Zhou saw her for who she really was, at least he wouldn’t help her cause trouble.

Back in the kitchen, Xiao Zhou looked down at the delicate woman in his arms and slowly let go. “Go on out.”

Bai Jiaojiao tried to protest, “That’s not right. I should at least try to learn…”

Before she finished speaking, her face suddenly felt warm. Her eyes widened in shock.

The man had backed up a little, but just barely. The sensation on her lips was softer and sweeter than he had imagined.

His eyes drifted to her rosy, full lips, growing darker for a moment before returning to normal.

“Be good.”

“Ah… okay.”

Bai Jiaojiao covered her face and ran off, her brain a mess, flopping onto the sofa in deep thought.

By all logic, the villain should never touch her. He should even dislike her. Even though the original’s body had an extremely seductive allure to men—even the male lead almost fell for it.

Could it be that since Xiao Zhou had no memory of the original, her body’s natural attraction was working on him now?

If Xiao Zhou never remembered, fine. But he was supposed to get his memory back in six months. If he recalled all this, he’d think she seduced him while he was vulnerable. What if he got mad and tore her apart?

Don’t even think about trying to make him fall in love while amnesiac. Bai Jiaojiao had considered it—but she didn’t dare gamble on that slim chance.

In the original story, the villain only ever loved the optimistic, sunshiny female lead. Bai Jiaojiao was just a vicious supporting role. She’d never been in love herself, had no experience, and couldn’t afford to bet on changing fate.

She just had to stay well-behaved, wait for him to regain his memory and divorce her. As long as she didn’t seduce anyone else and trigger his psychotic tendencies, she’d be fine.

No more trying to win Xiao Zhou over—or she’d lose everything.

Although Xiao Zhou had amnesia, his cooking instincts remained. He was clearly leagues ahead of Bai Jiaojiao.

Three dishes and a soup—one of which was sweet and sour fish, originally intended to be brought back to Xiao Zhou’s hometown the next day.

That’s what she thought.

But her hands had already picked up a piece and popped it into her mouth, eyes closing in happiness.

So good! So delicious!

Xiao Zhou smiled faintly and served her a bowl of rice. “If you like it, I’ll make more.”

Bai Jiaojiao immediately put on a cold face and huffed, “It’s alright, I guess. You country bumpkins act like you’ve never had good food. Just one fish and you think it’s amazing. Back home, I always had ten dishes per meal.”

That was exaggerated. In the military compound, they had more dishes only during New Year’s, and that was because there were more people around.

She shoved the plate toward Xiao Zhou with a proud tone, “Pick out the bones for me. Do it properly.

Also, this whole fish is mine—don’t even think about sneaking a bite.”

Xiao Zhou blinked, clearly surprised that the usually gentle “little bunny” had suddenly turned into a hissing cat.

Bai Jiaojiao avoided his eyes. She had no choice—this was how the original used to treat him.

By acting more like the original, maybe Xiao Zhou would start to dislike her again. Maybe it would even jog his memory—a win-win.

If this were the real, non-amnesiac Xiao Zhou, he’d definitely shove the plate back, say “eat it or don’t,” and go on eating, completely ignoring her drama.

Bai Jiaojiao looked eagerly at him, hoping he’d react just like that.

Xiao Zhou lowered his eyes. From the corner of his gaze, he saw the expectation sparkling in hers—and nearly laughed. He grabbed a clean bowl.

“Alright.”

He calmly picked up his chopsticks and started picking out the bones for her.

Bai Jiaojiao was confused, shocked, and completely defeated!

She wanted to stop him, but as she opened her mouth, she hesitated again.

Maybe she’d acted too unlike the original lately, and that’s why he’d changed so much. From now on, she needed to be as annoying and bad-tempered as the original. That would definitely bring back the “normal” Xiao Zhou.

Xiao Zhou really did debone the whole fish, didn’t eat a bite, and only picked at the vegetables on the side—looking rather pitiful.

Bai Jiaojiao, eating the fish he’d so carefully prepared, free of even a single bone, was silently crying inside.

I’m sorry, I really am. But the fish is so good.

She didn’t finish all of it. After forcefully poking the remaining fish with her chopsticks and mixing it with her leftover rice, she shoved the bowl at him with a haughty tilt of her chin.

“You have to eat every last bite.”