My Lovely Wife is a Forensic Doctor - Chapter 210
Chapter 210 A Series of Surprises
“Okay.” After the series of surprises that came before this, Mu Yu was in high spirits. She ran downstairs with a grin on her face, picturing the sort of surprises that might await her as she made her way down. But when she arrived at the living hall, it was empty. She curiously glanced toward the entrance that was tightly shut. “Huan?” she called.
“Over here.” His voice came from the dining area. She quickly followed his voice and went over.
“You must be hungry, right?” He embraced her with a grin.
“It smells great!” She greedily sniffed the tasty aroma of the dishes. “Where’s your surprise?” she asked, not forgetting what he had mentioned. Although she was starving, the idea of getting a surprise was much more attractive. “There.” He pointed toward the four dishes and a pot of soup that still had steam coming out of it.
Mu Yu stared at him in disbelief and asked, “Are you saying that you prepared all of this?!” Although the dishes didn’t have visuals as attractive as the food served in a hotel, it appeared to be pretty decently prepared. The food looked a little overcooked, but it was evident that he had attempted to match the color of the dishes in order to stimulate one’s appetite. This worked especially well for Mu Yu, who was already starving. Even a regular girl like me seldom enters the kitchen. He’s the son of a rich family who has probably never washed a single bowl before this; how could he possibly cook up all these dishes? Mu Yu was still a little suspicious of him.
“It’s not that hard.” He brushed her compliment off although he wore a complacent look on his face. After she washed her hands, he seated her down in front of the dining table and prepared her napkins, cutleries and bowls before politely handing her some chopsticks. “Please enjoy your meal, darling,” he said as he acted like a waiter.
Mu Yu leaned herself forward to inhale the scrumptious aroma of all the dishes. “Did you really prepare all of this?” She was still rather skeptical about it, even after she realized that he was wearing an apron.
“Yes, darling. Go ahead and devour it.” Judging by the sincere gaze in his eyes, she decided that this must really be his own ‘masterpiece’. She burst into laughter then. “Devour? It looks like I’ll only be taste-testing this; I bet it’s going to taste like a newbie’s cooking.” Had it been someone else who prepared the meal, she would’ve already dug into her food. After Qin Jinhuan revealed that he was the cook, she was a little hesitant. Although she was touched by the fact that he had personally prepared the whole meal, she simply didn’t trust the cooking skills of a CEO like him.
He seemed a little hurt when he saw her hesitating. “Please trust my skills, darling.”
She shook her head before she attempted to question him again. “Do you know the difference between salt and chicken essence? What about soy sauce and vinegar?” It was just two of them in the huge villa—if this man who couldn’t differentiate between his seasonings was actually the one who cooked these dishes, the taste of it would probably be worse than herbal medicine despite its decent and appetizing appearance.
“I can manage the whole Qing Tian Group; do you think differentiating these seasonings would be an issue for me?”
“That’s not an accurate comparison, President Qin. Managing a company has always been your forte, but cooking, on the other hand… You’re completely…!” She made a gagging sound.
“Don’t you dare spit this out!” Qin Jinhuan had already stuffed food into her mouth and was pointing his chopsticks at her. As a result of his firm orders, she didn’t dare to spit the food that he had just forced into her mouth. However, she didn’t dare to chew it either; she was afraid to taste a mouthful of bitter or sour tastes the minute she did so. She wasn’t doing this to disrespect him; she was simply afraid that she wouldn’t have any appetite for the next few days if she actually ate it.
“Hmph.” He put on an angry face as he knocked his knuckles against her head lightly. He then moved all the dishes from her end of the table over to the furthest corner away from her, where he sat down and poured himself a bowl of soup. In an elegant manner, he took a few sips of the soup before bringing his bowl of rice up and placing some food into it.
She only dared to chew the food in her mouth once she watched him eat it. Hmm? It tastes pretty good—it doesn’t taste as bad as I thought it’d be! It seems like he didn’t actually prepare this himself. How dare this guy fool me?! Mu Yu then picked her own chopsticks up before making her way next to him, pulling a chair along with her. She then took his bowl of soup and sipped on it. Once she tasted the rich and scrumptious taste of the broth, she drank the rest of it in one sitting. This was followed by her taste-test of each dish on the table, which assured her that all the dishes did indeed taste good. She finally reached her hands over to snatch the bowl of rice from him before she began to gobble her food down. She did this while throwing him a resentful glare. “Big fat liar,” she mumbled.
“Who are you calling a liar?” He had an innocent look on his face.
“You! You were the one that lied and said that you made these dishes; that was why I didn’t dare to eat any of it,” she mumbled as she continued to munch on her food. She was starving and the dishes were actually tasty.
“I am the one who made all these dishes!” He protested.
“That’s impossible! Do you think I can be fooled so easily? You’re someone who has never entered the kitchen; someone who even gets others to put rice into a bowl for you; how could you possibly prepare such yummy dishes?” she asked.
“What do you mean I’ve never entered the kitchen?! I’ve been in there countless times!”
“I don’t believe you! I’ve been staying in your house for the past few months, but I haven’t seen you stepping foot into the kitchen once!” she said.
“I haven’t been into the kitchen at home, but I always come into this one.” He pointed toward the kitchen behind her. She had to swallow her mouthful of rice before she burst out in laughter as she was afraid that she’d choke otherwise. “This kitchen? No one stays here on a daily basis; why would you enter this kitchen? Do you come here just to cook dishes for yourself?”
“Yes. I came here just to cook—no, to learn how to cook. I don’t cook for myself; I learned to cook so that I could cook for you.”
“You learned this just to cook for me?!” Mu Yu was shocked by his words.
“How else could I have prepared this surprise for you?” He raised his eyebrows as he beamed gleefully. “How is it? Are you surprised? Shocked?”
“D-Did you really make this?!” She was still in disbelief.
He shrugged. “Darling, the dishes are getting cold. Why don’t we discuss this topic after we finish eating?”
“Did someone teach you how to cook?” She threw him a question as she was too impatient to find out about his cooking.
“The executive chef of Gloria Hotel was the one who taught me.” He spoke while scooping her another bowl of soup. “I can’t prepare really complicated dishes for now, so I got him to teach me a few simpler ones. What do you think?”
She didn’t take the bowl from him; she simply stared at him. “How long have you been learning?”
“About 2 weeks. But I don’t come here every day—I just come whenever I’m free. Hurry up and eat it. You’re going to think it’s terrible cooking again if it turns cold.” He chuckled as he placed more food onto her plate.
She continued to remain still and stared at him. “You went through so much trouble to learn how to cook just because you wanted to make this for me?”
“Why else would I learn to cook?” he asked.
“Why cooking?” she asked in return.
“That’s because you mentioned that you wanted a husband who can cook.”
“What? When did I tell you that?” She was puzzled.
“You wrote it in your notebook,” he explained. Mu Yu thought about this for a while before she finally understood what was going on. She had once played a word game with Jiang Wenwen, and there was a question about her ideal future husband. At that point, she was thinking about how Xin Yihan made really yummy food, so she listed cooking as one of her ideal traits. Jiang Wenwen then told her that successful men who knew how to cook were practically extinct, so she suggested for Mu Yu to change her preferences. Back then, Yin Xiaotian hadn’t come between her and Xin Yihan, so she still had huge hopes for him. She kept the piece of paper where she wrote the words, ‘My future husband must be able to cook’ so that she could show it off to her friends when she finally got together with Xin Yihan—the husband who’s a good cook. She was especially heartbroken when Xin Yihan eventually got married to Yin Xiaotian, yet she couldn’t bear to throw the piece of paper away. Instead, she kept it in a notebook that she brought around with her every day. Upon realizing this, she thought of another question. “When did you go through my bag?”
“Some other day. Try this soup; I took a long time to make it and it’s really fresh.”
“Which other day? Why did you go through my belongings?” She then realized that he was even well-aware of the pads that she kept in her bag—those were hidden in the deepest layer of the bag, so he must’ve gone through it thoroughly! Mu Yu intentionally darkened her face and raised her voice when she saw that Qin Jinhuan’s gaze was twinkling although he didn’t explain himself. “Tell me! Why did you go through my bag? What were you looking for? Were you trying to do something bad to me?”
“Why would I do anything bad to you?” His smile was a little pretentious. “I’m just curious about my wife’s bag, alright?”
She glared at him and frowned as she thought about it for a few seconds. She then found her answer. “You must’ve gone through my bag because you wanted to take away my little weapon that I use for self-defense, right?! Where did you keep my silver scalpel?” The last time she asked him this question, he said that he had thrown it away. She didn’t continue to ask him about it as things were rather awkward between them back then, but she simply returned the gold scalpel he had gifted her back to him.
“Don’t you already have another one for self-defense?” He was trying to avoid the topic.
“I do, but you can’t just throw my old one out…”
“I didn’t,” he said.
“Where is it then?” she asked.
“I’ve kept it for you.” Then, he let out a huge sigh. “The dishes are cold. I’ll go heat them up.”
“Huan…” she uttered.
“I put so much effort into making these dishes, yet there isn’t anyone who appreciates them.” He sighed yet again. Seeing how his ego might have been hurt, Mu Yu realized that she might have strayed too far away from the main topic of the day by focusing on other things. “I love it! I just…” she quickly explained.
“So, it turns out that men who cook aren’t that attractive after all.” He interrupted her while bringing the dishes back into the kitchen. Mu Yu quickly tagged along once she saw that he was in a bad mood. “Don’t say that—what do you mean they aren’t attractive? I love it.”
He ignored her and lowered his head as he placed cling wrap over the plates before putting it into the microwave. He jabbed a few buttons on the microwave; his familiarity with the appliance showed that this wasn’t his first time doing so.
“Hey.” Mu Yu leaned toward him and tugged on his sleeve with a fawning smile on her face. “You can even use the microwave? That’s impressive.” He continued to ignore her as he stood right in front of the microwave and stared at it as it spun.
“I heard that the microwave’s radiation is really strong; you should move here a little,” she said. As soon as she said that, he quickly pushed her out of the kitchen.
“Hey! What are you doing?” she cried.
“You should go out if the radiation’s strong.”
“No!” She quickly stopped on her spot before wrapping both her arms around him. “I want to enjoy the microwave’s radiation with you.”
“Enjoy? Do you even know English? How did you learn how to speak?” He simply picked her up in his arms before he brought her out to the dining area. She rubbed her face into his chest as she chuckled. “I’m bad at languages, so you should teach me.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?” she asked.
He pressed her down into her seat. “Stay put. I’ll go heat the dishes up.” He then took the remaining dishes on the dining table and brought them back into the kitchen. Soon, he brought the two dishes that had been heated up over and placed it in front of her before he went back into the kitchen. She tore the cling wrap off and got herself another bowl of warm rice before she picked her chopsticks up and began eating. She knew that the best way to lighten his mood now would be to finish all the dishes that he had worked so hard to prepare.
Despite his busy schedule, he was a man who was willing to put in so much effort just to make her happy; he was a man who diligently learned how to cook just because of something she had mentioned in passing; he was a man who loved and cared for her like no other. She had no reason not to cherish him and she had no reason to throw a tantrum at him over such tiny matters.
She felt tears forming at her eyes as she ate. As she sniffled, she tried her best to continue eating. When he brought the other two dishes out, he finally cracked a smile as he saw that the first two dishes were already half gone. However, he got nervous when he saw her red-rimmed eyes and asked, “What is it, Yu?”
“It’s nothing. I’m just happy that you made such a delicious meal for me.” She blinked hard and forced her vision to clear up by pushing her tears away. She then got up and scooped him a bowl of rice. He was relieved to hear this, and he pushed her back into her seat. “Well, have more of it then. I’ll get my own rice.”
With her chopsticks between her teeth, she tilted her head and glanced at him. “Let’s learn how to cook together.”
“You don’t need to learn how to do it.”
She pouted. “Do you think I’m too dumb to learn?”
“The oil and smoke from cooking forms a really terrible stench.” As he said this, he placed his right hand in front of her face. “I’ve washed my hands three or four times, but I just can’t get rid of it.” She quickly grabbed his hand and sniffed it. It’s true—there is an oily stench that I can smell even beneath the scent of the hand soap.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” he asked.
“No. It’s a smell that reminds me of daily life; why would it be bad?” She gently kissed his palm. “I like it even more since it’s a daily smell that’s there because of me,” she said sincerely.
“What about my dishes? How do they taste?”
“10 out of 10! I’m serious!” To prove her point, she let go of his hand and continued eating after she placed some food into his bowl. “Dig in.”
“It’s great that you like it. I’ll make you some sweet and sour pork ribs in the future,” he uttered.
“What? You know how to make that as well?” That was one of her favorite dishes.
He gave her a rather awkward smile. “I’ve tried it a lot of times, but I still can’t get the right ratio of sugar to vinegar. The chef said that I’ve shown great improvement, so I’m sure I’ll be able to serve it to you really soon.”
“Huan…” She felt her chest bursting with warmth as her eyes gleamed from the tears that were forming.
“I haven’t exactly learnt the dish, have I? You don’t have to be so touched just yet, you…” His words were cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. He narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the phone on the dining table. With a grim smile, he ended the call. Mu Yu already saw the name on the screen—it was Yin Anran. She frowned a little as she thought of how that woman had wanted to kick her in the guts.
“Yu, we…” Qin Jinhuan had just begun to speak when the phone rang again. His face darkened when he saw that it was still Yin Anran.
“Pick it up. There’s probably an important reason as to why she’s looking for you,” Mu Yu said in her most neutral tone before she lowered her head to continue her meal. Qin Jinhuan hesitated a little before he finally picked it up.