Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 86: Cooking is all about practice

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Cooking is all about practice

The kitchen was bustling with sounds as Qin Guanglin, using the method his mom had taught him the previous two times, shuffled a spatula around the pan. At first glance, he looked somewhat like a professional chef—if only his expression weren’t so tense.

"Mom, how much salt should I put in the daikon?" he yelled from the kitchen.

"Haven’t I taught you that already?"

Qin’s Mom threw the shell of the seeds into the trash bin and stood up to walk toward the kitchen.

"..."

Aunt stared blankly at the kitchen. "Is this what you call learning quickly?"

With Qin’s Mom’s guidance nearby, Qin Guanglin quickly stir-fried four dishes, steaming as he brought them to the table then stepped back to take a careful look.

Not bad; it was getting better with each attempt, at least it wasn’t scorched black anymore.

"Aunt, come and eat." Qin’s Mom called, scooping half a bowl of rice for herself first.

"Oh."

Aunt had already come to the table, looking hesitantly at the dishes. She took a small half-bowl of rice, not daring to take more.

Qin Guanglin took a bite and was somewhat pleased, turning to Qin’s Mom, "It tastes not bad, don’t you think I’ve improved a lot?"

"It’s so-so." Qin’s Mom showed some disdain. It wasn’t just about comparing him with He Fang; even compared to herself, he was far behind.

But it was indeed better than last time. She guessed in a few days she could let him handle dinner preparation. After all, greens are easy to stir-fry, as long as they aren’t burnt, no matter how bad they are, they won’t be too hard to swallow.

She needed to encourage him to learn and practice more. Cooking needed hands-on practice to improve, and if he got better, it would make her life easier too.

Aunt was picky, grabbing a piece of vegetable to try and immediately grimaced. "Improvement? You better stop cooking."

"Then you do it?" Qin Guanglin asked.

"..."

Aunt didn’t respond and continued picking at the food on the table with her chopsticks.

This nephew really was annoying!

"How do you talk to your aunt like that, with no respect?" Qin’s Mom scolded him.

"I think it’s quite tasty." Qin Guanglin took another big bite of his food.

Eating his own cooking gave him a sense of achievement; thinking about showing off his skills at his father-in-law’s house made him excited.

With that thought, he got a bit excited, quickly finished his bowl of rice, and went for another big bowl to continue eating.

"Aunt, eat more." Qin’s Mom finished her half bowl of rice, called out, then left the dining table, not wanting to watch her poke around with her chopsticks.

"I’m full too." Aunt set down her utensils, got up, and went to grab a cup of water to drink.

"With so much food left, we can eat it again tomorrow." Qin Guanglin spoke while eating.

Aunt’s action of drinking water stopped for a moment, "Guanglin, you eat more."

She originally came to the city to check on her health and thought to enjoy a few days of peace, but the situation turned out a bit different from what she had imagined.

Qin Guanglin quietly finished his meal alone, cleared the table, then returned to his room, out of sight, out of mind.

Relatives are really frustrating, something ordained by fate, not chosen like friends. If you’re lucky to have normal relatives, it’s a blessing—they help like friends. But when you encounter troublesome relatives, it’s really bad luck.

It’s hard not to interact considering the blood relation; holding your nose and dealing with them can drive you crazy.

Luckily, it was just her, without bringing along any annoying kids, which made Qin Guanglin feel a bit better.

Children follow their parents’ leads, this saying is quite absolute, but not unreasonable. Just thinking about her troublesome child gave Qin Guanglin a headache. He wished he could kick him into the Luo River to swim dozens of rounds until he was too tired to misbehave.

Qin Guanglin plugged his phone into the computer to organize the photos he had taken over the past few days, picked one he liked for his computer wallpaper, then browsed for a while before climbing back into bed to rest.

Having slept outside for a few days, Qin Guanglin found lying in his familiar bed comfortable, but it felt like something was missing... He stretched his arms limply, reminiscing about the feeling of hugging Teacher He, before he drifted off to sleep with a trace of sadness.

The first day without Teacher He’s embrace, he missed her.

...

When he woke up in the morning, Qin’s Mom had already gone out for her walk. As usual, there were two steamed buns on the table, which Qin Guanglin grabbed to eat on his way out the door.

It was still a clear, beautiful day, and he arrived at the office full of energy. Sun Wen was already at his desk having breakfast. The egg-stuffed pancake in his hand looked like a small spring roll, diminishing significantly with each bite.

"You’ve finally deigned to come to work." Sun Wen greeted him immediately.

"It was just three days off. You make it sound like it’s been ages."

"It’s not just three days, nearly a week including the weekend."

"Didn’t you say there was good news?" Qin Guanglin sat down and tidied up his desk. "So, what’s the happy news? You got a promotion?"

"Promotion my ass." Sun Wen curled his lip. "That ugly drawing of yours seems to be quite popular. We’ll try running it for two more issues, and if it keeps up the popularity, we can make it into its own series."

"That one?" Qin Guanglin realized. "Oh, I handed it off to what’s-her-name. It’s not my problem."

He scolded himself silently for even forgetting his assistant’s name after only a few days away. Such an attitude wouldn’t do for work.

"She just helped out a bit, it’s still your work." Sun Wen explained nonchalantly: "If we can make it a series, you could be fast-tracked to a permanent position and stop loafing around all day."

To him, Qin Guanglin’s workday seemed idle, despite producing numerous four-paneled and six-paneled comics, but to Sun Wen those were just trivial tasks that even a couple of assistants could handle in no time.

"I just got the ball rolling, it’s hardly my work."

Qin Guanglin wasn’t in a rush about getting a permanent position. Mainly, if advancing depended on taking charge of that series, it didn’t align with his plans. He had his sights set on creating warm, adorable love stories.

"Big boss is here." Jiang Lingling called out as soon as she entered the office, and then turned to greet Sun Wen: "Morning, Brother Wen."

"Morning."

"Morning."

They responded briefly and Sun Wen didn’t speak further to Qin Guanglin. He crammed the last bite of his pancake into his mouth and moved back to his own desk, since Jiang Lingling would handle the talking.

"Where did you go over these past few days?" Jiang Lingling unwrapped her breakfast as she chatted with Qin Guanglin.

"Just wandered around," Qin Guanglin replied casually, searching his desk for the story he was working on last time.

After five days off, he felt somewhat out of the loop and wasn’t sure what he should be doing.

"I envy you. We went to Luobei for a day and wondered why you didn’t join us. Then we came back to work and didn’t see you. I only learned from Brother Wen that you took time off."

Jiang Lingling, chatty as ever, continued babbling while eating, "You know? That ugly comic was tested on the platform on Friday. By the time we got to work on Monday, it had already hit tens of thousands of views, now it’s over one hundred thousand..."

"I know," Qin Guanglin interrupted her, "Sounds like they want to make it a series, right?"

"Yeah, big boss, you’re amazing. But it’s not decided yet. They want a couple more issues to see how it goes. So far, it looks like it shouldn’t be a problem," Jiang Lingling explained, pulling out a piece of paper from her desk, "This is from yesterday, I..."

"Hold on."

Qin Guanglin, slightly overwhelmed by her rapid speech, concluded, "So, it’s likely to become a series, right?"

"Yep," Jiang Lingling nodded.

"I just started it, you did the rest, so you should keep handling it. I won’t interfere."

"Oh? But..."

"Unless the company assigns it to me," Qin Guanglin waved his hand dismissively. "Otherwise, it’s your work, nothing to do with me, okay?"

He had merely initiated the idea, and most of it was completed by this assistant. Taking it over now would feel like stealing someone else’s fruit, which wasn’t right.

And the style of the drawing was just peculiar. Anyone could imitate it without much difficulty. Even if it became popular, it wouldn’t last, and it did nothing for his skills—just a waste of time.

Jiang Lingling appeared stunned, "Big boss, you’re really letting me continue with it? This could really turn into a series."