Cooking Dinner

Yes, she was going to cook tonight!

Si Mu was always the one to cook, but he wasn't home yet tonight so Xu Anyi suddenly had the idea to surprise him by cooking for him.

She rarely cooked, mostly because she didn't need to growing up, and she looked through several recipes before finding an easy one she thought she could make.

Pasta! That shouldn't be too bad.

First, fill the water. . .

Xu Anyi opened the drawer with the pots and pans inside and her eyes widened at the variety of large cooking pots inside. Which one should she use?!

In the end, she looked at the picture in the recipe and picked out the largest metal pot she could find, and she could barely carry it after it was filled with water all the way.

Then, it took her another five minutes before she figured out how to turn the fire on, as it was a very fancy inductive cooktop she had never seen before.

After the water was heating on the stove, she found the pasta noodles. Should she wash it? It didn't say on the recipe, but she always saw Si Mu washing his ingredients, so she probably should too, right?!

Xu Anyi hummed as she took the whole bunch of noodles out from the bag and began washing it under the running faucet. This didn't seem like enough! She could hold the bunch of noodles in both hands, but the finished pasta looked much more than this.

So, Xu Anyi took out another bag and began washing that too.

It was almost six by now and Xu Anyi realized she had to hurry up so she could have the meal prepared before Si Mu comes back. She smiled with excitement as she imagined his reaction.

He would be very happy, right?

Xu Anyi reached for the lid of the pot and hissed in pain when she realized how burning hot it was, and she immediately went over to the faucet to wash her finger under the running water. Why was the lid so hot?

The water helped for a bit but the pain didn't go away as she carefully opened the lid with a towel and looked at the water in the pot.

The directions said to put the noodles in after the water boils. . . How would she know when the water is boiled? Should there be bubbles?

She decided to wait for a few more minutes, but as the time quickly ticked by, she could not wait any longer so she dumped the wet noodles in. Luckily, the noodles seemed to soften after she put them into the water, and she closed the lid again and began making the sauce.

She grabbed two tomatoes from the fridge and washed them under the water before beginning to slice them. She chopped it up into uneven chunks and looked at her work. . . This didn't seem very right.

However, she had no time to care anymore and she grabbed another pot, opened the fire much more easily this time, and dumped the tomatoes into the pan.

Nothing happened. Was the fire not big enough?

She turned up the heat and grabbed a spatula, turning the tomatoes around and breaking it with the spatula into smaller pieces. She remembered that pasta sauce should be more thick than these chunky tomatoes she was looking at right now. . .

She dropped the spatula and went over to her phone, picking it up to look at the recipe again.

Maybe would a video recipe be better?

She began looking for videos and looked through several of them before she found one that matched mostly with the directions she had been reading.

Next. . . shrimp. There should be shrimp in the house.

As she was watching how the person in the video took care of the shrimp, there was a sudden popping sound from behind her and she shrieked as she turned around to see the lid of the pot with the pasta noodles inside almost falling over the top of the stove.

The water bubbles were leaking out from the top and she quickly dropped her phone and ran over to take the lid off. She was in such a hurry that she forgot the temperature of the lid again and she screamed again when she felt the burning sensation on her finger.

"Ah!" She hissed in pain, scrunching her face together as she twisted her body around, bringing her fingers up to her ears to relieve the pain.

She didn't know if she was hearing things, but she heard the sound of the rustling of keys and the next second, she realized that she had heard correctly as Si Mu rushed into the room and froze when he saw her.

Xu Anyi looked into his eyes and she did not why but she felt like a little kid getting caught doing something bad as she looked at him guiltily.

He immediately rushed over and first grabbed onto her hand, walking over to the faucet and placing her hand under the cold running water. Then, he turned off the fire and used the towel to remove the lid from the pot.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I. . . I was trying to cook dinner for you," Xu Anyi replied as she looked around the kitchen, gulping as she looked at the mess she had created.

Yeah, that was a bad idea.

Si Mu didn't know what to say as he looked at her, and he took a deep breath helplessly. He couldn't possibly scold her, but he was also mad at her, but she did it out of good will, so what could he say?

In the end, he lifted his hand up and gently flicked her on the forehead, "Didn't I tell you before that I don't want to see you entering the kitchen? This is why."

Xu Anyi frowned and she nodded her head like a little kid who had made a mistake.

Si Mu shook his head as he bent down slightly and lifted her finger up, looking at it, "The burn shouldn't be too bad? Go sit outside. I'll go get the medicine."

Xu Anyi obediently went outside and sat down at the dining table and waited for Si Mu to clean up the kitchen.

"How much noodles did you cook?!" She heard him exclaim as he dumped all of the noodles into the sink along with the water.

"Just two packs."

"Two whole packs?!" Si Mu looked over at her from the kitchen, his eyes wide in disbelief. He did not even know if he should be surprised at this point.

After he had cleaned the entire kitchen up and all of Xu Anyi's "hard work" had gone to waste, he came out and grabbed the first aid kit, taking out a burn relief ointment and helping her apply it onto her fingers.

"See how dangerous that was? Don't enter the kitchen again, okay? You aren't meant to cook."

Although he had a serious expression and was scolding her, Xu Anyi pressed her lips into a smile as she watched him carefully apply the medicine, "Okay."

Si Mu closed the ointment and put the first aid kit away, "Let's order takeout tonight."

—

Half an hour later, a delicious meal was in front of them and Xu Anyi was feeling extra hungry, maybe from all the energy she had used up trying to cook.

It was past seven already when they ate dinner, and Xu Anyi felt a little guilty as she continued to put food on Si Mu's plate.

Si Mu looked at her and smiled softly, taking the large piece of meat she had put onto his plate and giving it back to her, "Eat."

Xu Anyi smiled sheepishly and took a large bite. As she ate, her eyes landed on the clock across the room and she remembered the party again, which she had forgotten about while cooking.

She put down her chopsticks and sat up straight, "Si Mu. . . You know Xia Yiwei?"

He thought about it for a few seconds, and then frowned with a nod.

"Her birthday party is tomorrow at 7 P.M. She invited me. . ." Her voice slowly died down as she spoke.

Si Mu looked up at her and he nodded, "Are you going to go?"

Xu Anyi was silent for a moment as she considered his question.

Then, she nodded.