Chapter 163: Gentle as Water

Su Wanning used a single sentence to chase everyone out of the kitchen. Tian Boyu had originally not intended to leave, but Yu Xin, having already walked to the door, suddenly turned back and said to him, "The dumpling wrappers are all done, let's go outside and wait together!"

Tian Boyu instinctively looked back. Qin Jingchen was still standing by the stove at that moment, looking as calm as ever, with no intention of leaving whatsoever.

Su Wanning was also standing nearby. As the head chef for today, naturally she couldn't leave this early.

"Let's go."

Yu Xin urged in a low voice. Tian Boyu turned his head expressionlessly and left the kitchen. In an instant, the kitchen, which had just been crowded with people, was left with only the two of them and the cameraman.

Su Wanning took several bowls out of the cabinet, placed seasonings at the bottom of each one while casually instructing, "Add a bit of soup base to each bowl first."

"How much?"

Qin Jingchen asked cautiously, holding a ladle.

"An appropriate amount," Su Wanning replied without lifting her head.

A row of bowls was laid out in front of them. Counting adults and children, there were more than a dozen people. Su Wanning added some chopped scallions and lard to each bowl, followed by seaweed and dried shrimp.

When she walked back to the first bowl, she frowned, noticing that no soup had been added to this one.

"Half a ladle or a full one? Is this ladle okay?"

Qin Jingchen continued to ask. Hearing this, Su Wanning raised her head somewhat impatiently and glanced at him casually.

"Fine, half a ladle."

She spoke as if words were gold, little knowing that Qin Jingchen let out a sigh of relief. Holding the ladle, he precisely added half a ladle of soup to each bowl. The cameraman operated the camera to take a close-up shot. Looking across them, the soup levels in those rows of bowls were almost perfectly even, as precise as if they had been weighed on a scale.

The audience in the live streaming room let out cries of amazement.

[President Qin's hand is so steady!]

[Simply as steady as an old dog.]

[Yet the way he cautiously asked Su Wanning how much water to add was also so humble.]

[Sure enough, no matter how powerful a man is outside, when he comes home he still has to face a tigress and act all submissive.]

[Why is Su Wanning so fierce!]

[Exactly! President Qin is gentle and attentive, and even came to the kitchen specifically to help her work. Why does she look like everyone owes her money?]

[I think a woman like Su Wanning, who is spoiled by a lack of favor, will be abandoned sooner or later.]

[Turns out she doesn't just put on airs on the show; she's like this facing her own husband too. Hah, a woman like this.]

[This is just playful banter between a husband and wife. President Qin hasn't said anything, so what are you people jumping for joy and getting worked up over? Delusional men.]

Su Wanning finally finished adding seasonings to all the bowls. Just as she patted her hands in satisfaction and looked up, she saw that pile of abusive comments directed at her in the streaming chat.

The smile on Su Wanning's face vanished in an instant. Taking a deep breath, her gaze slowly turned toward Qin Jingchen standing beside her.

Very well, she just knew this man had malicious intentions. No wonder he ran into the kitchen to curry favor early in the morning—it turned out to be just to deliberately smear her reputation!

Su Wanning had completely misinterpreted Qin Jingchen's original intent. In her view, something like how much soup to add to the bowls didn't need to be asked as meticulously as Qin Jingchen did; he only did it to deliberately test her patience, and then put on a gentle and virtuous act to maliciously slander her.

Su Wanning silently made up her mind in her heart. Since that was the case, she would give him a taste of his own medicine. Wasn't it just about putting on an act? She was a professional at this!

Gradually, Qin Jingchen, who was meticulously adding soup to the bowls, sensed the intense gaze fixed on his back.

His figure paused for a split second, but he still didn't turn around.

Little did he know that at this very moment, Su Wanning behind him had made up her mind to be a thousand or ten thousand times more gentle and patient than him.

After adding equal amounts of soup to all the bowls, Qin Jingchen turned around again: "The wontons are cooked. How many should go in each bowl?"

Hearing this, Su Wanning nearly couldn't suppress her impulse to roll her eyes. Fortunately, relying on her strong self-control, she held back the mocking words she wanted to hurl at him, stepped forward, and took the ladle from his hand.

"I'll do it. You've worked too hard boiling the wontons. Go outside and sit down to wait, I'll take care of it."

Su Wanning said this with extraordinary patience, even maintaining a faint, ambiguous smile on her face all the while. It gave Qin Jingchen the creeps, causing him to frown and defensively ask in return, "Are you sure? There are so many, or should I stay and help you?"

Su Wanning continued to smile, thinking to herself that if she let him stay and help any longer, the netizens would probably curse her out even more fiercely.

"No need, go take a rest first."

Only then did Qin Jingchen turn to leave, though he still looked back every few steps. Having finally watched his figure disappear through the doorway, Su Wanning rubbed her somewhat stiff cheeks from all that smiling, turned around, and aggressively scooped up the wontons.

As if venting her anger, Su Wanning scooped up the wontons and tossed them into the bowls with great boldness. The soup that Qin Jingchen had so precisely measured moments ago splashed out more or less, instantly taking on a rather heroic and unrestrained style.

[What is going on here? Did Su Wanning suddenly change her personality?]

[Why do I feel like there's a chilly breeze blowing behind my back?]

[I even got goosebumps all over. Sister Su, I'm begging you, please don't be like this!]

[Starting to put on an act all of a sudden, is there any point? Don't think we don't know your true colors.]

[It's very obvious she saw us cursing at her, isn't it!]

[President Qin is so pitiful. He was just yelled at by her earlier, and now he still has to listen to her passive-aggressive sarcasm.]

Su Wanning's teeth were once again made to itch with anger by the chat comments.

Right now, the chat comments were overwhelmingly in full support of Qin Jingchen, making Su Wanning look like the ultimate villain in a story, the wicked witch bullying Snow White.

Are they kidding? She was the main character of this show!

Su Wanning viciously added a note of sinister scheming to her evaluation of Qin Jingchen in her heart.

On the other side, seeing Qin Jingchen come out alone, everyone had been chatting normally beforehand, but suddenly, Tian Boyu interjected and asked, "President Qin, is Sister Xiaoning busy inside by herself? Do we need to go in and help?"

The name "Sister Xiaoning" replayed in Qin Jingchen's mind. He licked the roof of his mouth and spoke expressionlessly, "She doesn't like others disturbing her when she cooks."

Tian Boyu was momentarily stunned: "Really? But before, we—"

Yu Xin, sitting beside him, kicked Tian Boyu hard under the table and spoke with a smile to smooth things over: "Previously, the production team filmed with a whole group of people, so none of us knew Sister Su had this kind of habit. As expected, only her own husband understands her clearly."

After Yu Xin said this, Tian Boyu had nothing more to say, though his complexion looked much worse than before.

Until two minutes later, when everyone saw Su Wanning walking out carrying two bowls of wontons.

One bowl was placed at her own seat, and the other was placed right in front of Qin Jingchen next to her.

"Sister Su, where are our wontons?" Yu Xin asked.