The Art of Teasing - Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Wen Zhengyu replied very calmly: "Fish doesn't seem to pair well with red wine."

Ye Ling nodded and said, "True." She gave Wen Zhengyu directions. "Take the stairs to the basement. The wine cellar's down there. I'll have to trouble Zhengyu to go pick a bottle for us."

Wen Zhengyu asked, "Does a simple home-cooked meal require drinking?"

Ye Ling chuckled softly and replied, "You brought wine, so having a little is fine. Even though the wine you brought isn't suitable, I have some here. It won't stop us from having a few small glasses."

Wen Zhengyu could tell Ye Ling was very much in the mood for drinking. She could still trust Ye Ling's character. Having a little wine with her was no big deal, so she went to Ye Ling's wine cellar and picked a bottle of dry white.

A simple home dinner, a few sips to lift the spirits.

Ye Ling was purely in a good mood, and seeing that Wen Zhengyu had brought wine, she felt like having a few glasses.

Ye Ling's cooking was decent, but her knife skills were ordinary. Getting her to cook in the kitchen was fine, but asking her to slice fish fillets and remove every bone—she simply didn't have the knife skills for that.

Since her knife skills fell short, she could only pick out the bones for Wen Zhengyu when serving her fish slices at the table.

Wen Zhengyu felt quite embarrassed and said, "I can do it myself."

Ye Ling had mooched meals at Wen Zhengyu's place for a year and knew the food at her house like the back of her hand.

The dishes were all quite ordinary home cooking, yet the methods revealed meticulous care everywhere. When her family made fish, apart from whole-fish preparations like steaming or red-braising, the fish was always deboned. You couldn't find a single bone in the entire dish.

Ye Ling glanced at Wen Zhengyu with amusement and told her to help herself to the water-boiled fish slices.

Wen Zhengyu picked up a slice of fish and put it in her mouth. Before she had chewed twice, she felt her mouth filled with tiny, fine, broken bits of bone. Her admiration for Ye Ling's knife skills and blunt honesty instantly soared to the heavens. The fish slice, not exactly thin, had all its bones broken right inside the flesh. Meat and bone mixed together completely, making it impossible to spit out the bones. Some restaurants use a rustic method when preparing fish, cutting the flesh into chunks without severing the bones. The fish is large, the bones long, making it easy to separate bone from meat. The fish slices Ye Ling had cut left her unable to swallow, yet unable to spit out either. If she swallowed, she risked a bone catching in her throat. If she spat it out, she'd be utterly slapping her host's face.

Ye Ling smiled, pulled out a few napkins, folded them, and spread them across her palm. She held it to Wen Zhengyu's lips and said, "Spit it out. Don't let it get stuck."

Wen Zhengyu held the fish in her mouth and silently glanced at Ye Ling, whose eyes had narrowed into smiling slits. She took out her own napkin and spat the fish out.

Ye Ling continued removing bones and picking fish meat for Wen Zhengyu.

Tonight's dishes were a full fish banquet. Three fish, prepared into sweet-and-sour, red-braised, and water-boiled slices, plus one vegetable dish.

The sweet-and-sour fish had been chopped into chunks, the bones broken inside.

The red-braised fish had also been chopped into chunks, the bones also broken inside.

The vegetable dish, garlic oyster sauce lettuce, was very heavy on both MSG flavor and oiliness.

Relatively speaking, Ye Ling's fish was better than her vegetables.

Wen Zhengyu considered herself not particularly picky, but she simply could not bring herself to love this vegetable dish. She couldn't say much about it, so she could only silently accept Ye Ling's feeding. Whatever Ye Ling picked up for her, she ate. There was no soup. When the food felt too heavy or greasy, she shared a little wine with Ye Ling. Setting aside the poor knife skills and excessive broken bones, Ye Ling's cooking was actually quite good. The water-boiled fish slices had a bit of chili and Sichuan peppercorn added, but within a range she could accept, and it tasted especially fragrant.

Unknowingly, the bottle of wine was empty, and she had eaten a little too much.

Her alcohol tolerance wasn't good. Half a bottle of wine down, she was slightly tipsy, yet she still felt fine.

She saw Ye Ling start clearing the dishes and got up to help tidy the table.

Ye Ling said, "Don't trouble yourself. I'll do it." She reached out to take the fish plate.

Wen Zhengyu said, "Clearing the table is no problem at all." As she collected the leftovers, the sauce seeped over the plate's edge, then ran across the table toward Wen Zhengyu's front.

Ye Ling cried out, "Watch out." She quickly pulled out napkins to block the sauce on the table. Her speed was fast, and for a moment she didn't notice that as she grabbed the napkins, she knocked over the vinegar bottle sitting on the dining table.

She didn't cook at home. She barely used the dining table. Occasionally, her bodyguards would eat late-night snacks here, sometimes leaving behind things like pickles, soy sauce, aged vinegar, and chili paste. She didn't know whose vinegar this was and figured leaving it there didn't matter, so she ignored it. This vinegar bottle wasn't even the original store-bought bottle. It was a porcelain condiment cruet with a porcelain lid on top and a little spout on the side. When using it, you poured from the spout. The vinegar bottle tipped over and the porcelain lid clattered off. A full bottle of vinegar splashed out, flowing over half the table.

Even Wen Zhengyu's plain-colored dress was speckled with quite a few spots of vinegar.

Wen Zhengyu smelled the vinegar, then looked down at her dress, then looked at Ye Ling. A thought flashed through her mind: The jealous little vinegar bottle tipped over. Is this retaliation?

She righted the vinegar bottle, then pulled out napkins to soak up the vinegar on the table.

Ye Ling looked at Wen Zhengyu's dress and said, "I didn't do it on purpose."

Wen Zhengyu said, "I'll go to the restroom."

Ye Ling said, "Uh, use the one in my bedroom on the second floor."

Wen Zhengyu stared at Ye Ling in astonishment.

Ye Ling said, "The shared one on the first floor is used by the bodyguards. Use the restroom in my bedroom." She glanced again at Wen Zhengyu's dress. The vinegar stains on it would be very hard to wash out with just water. She said, "Change into something else. I'll go find you something." She turned and went to the kitchen to wash her hands, dried them with a paper towel, then led Wen Zhengyu to her bedroom.

She entered the bedroom, pointed toward the master bathroom, and said, "The shower's there." Thinking Wen Zhengyu might want to brush her teeth after eating, she went to the cabinet next to the vanity mirror and found a brand-new toothbrush and towel for Wen Zhengyu, saying, "Toothbrush and towel. I'll leave them on the vanity." After speaking, she went to the adjacent walk-in closet to find clothes. She picked a casual outfit with the tags still on for Wen Zhengyu and said, "Zhengyu, see if this fits—" As she spoke, she emerged from the closet to find Wen Zhengyu staring at the photo frame on her nightstand.

That photo frame held the group picture she had pulled Wen Zhengyu into taking when the art studio opened.

Ye Ling's gaze flickered guiltily, but she steadied herself quickly and said, as if it were nothing, "This group photo is pretty nice, isn't it?" She handed the clothes to Wen Zhengyu and said, "Our heights are about the same. You should be able to wear these."

Wen Zhengyu said thanks and took the clothes Ye Ling gave her.

Ye Ling said, "I'll go wash the dishes." She left the bedroom.

Wen Zhengyu changed her clothes. Because she had eaten fish and her mouth had a fishy taste, she brushed her teeth afterward. Only then did she fold her dress and drape it over her arm before going downstairs.

Ye Ling was still in the kitchen washing dishes. Hearing the sound of Ye Ling washing dishes, she felt embarrassed to sit around idly and went to ask if there was anything she could help with.

Ye Ling looked back at Wen Zhengyu. She saw the faint pink flush that the alcohol had spread across Wen Zhengyu's face, the tipsiness faintly visible in her brows and eyes. She said, "Go sit in the living room and wait for me. It'll just be a moment."

Wen Zhengyu worried about getting in Ye Ling's way and had no choice but to go to the living room. She turned on the television, her eyes fixed on the screen, but her thoughts kept being pulled away by the sound of bowls and plates gently clinking from the kitchen. She thought again of the photo frame Ye Ling had placed on her nightstand. Judging by the timing and how new the frame looked, Ye Ling had probably put it there not long after the studio opened.

She couldn't quite say why, but sitting here made her feel a little uneasy, a little awkward, yet not displeased. Her attention also kept drifting toward Ye Ling.

After she sat for a while, Ye Ling came out carrying watermelon.

Today's dishes were a bit salty. The watermelon was perfectly timed. Even though Wen Zhengyu had eaten a bit too much, she couldn't resist eating two slices.

Ye Ling said, "Sit a while. I need the restroom."

After using the restroom, she washed the oily cooking residue off her face and brushed her teeth before coming back downstairs.

Wen Zhengyu was sitting on the sofa, hugging a throw pillow and watching television, not having moved an inch.

That quiet, well-behaved look gently plucked at Ye Ling's heartstrings again. A desire to stir up mischief, to disturb this tranquility, surfaced in her mind, yet she also couldn't bear to intrude.

Ye Ling walked over and sat down beside Wen Zhengyu. She picked up a piece of watermelon and brought it to Wen Zhengyu's lips.

Accustomed to being fed, Wen Zhengyu opened her mouth and took a bite before realizing what was happening. She glanced sidelong at Ye Ling, took the watermelon, and said, "Thank you. This one doesn't need the bones picked out."

Ye Ling said, "It needs the seeds removed." As she spoke, she pulled out a napkin and spread it in her palm for Wen Zhengyu to spit the watermelon seeds onto.

Wen Zhengyu pulled out her own napkin and spat into her own palm.

Ye Ling's drifting, ethereal voice sounded: "You're not this formal with Qi Wei."

Wen Zhengyu cast a faint glance at Ye Ling and continued staring at the television screen. "The vinegar bottle just tipped over today."

She knows I'm jealous.

Ye Ling hid the smile at the corner of her lips, her tone unchanged: "I don't quite understand what you mean by that."

Wen Zhengyu ignored Ye Ling playing dumb. She had known Ye Ling this long; she was clear on what kind of person Ye Ling was. She picked up her phone to check the time. It was only just past eight in the evening. There were still an hour or two before Wen Jing and the others came to get her. She put her phone down and continued watching television. From beside her came Ye Ling's low call: "Zhengyu." The voice was spoken lightly, carrying a trace of something murmured intimately. She turned toward Ye Ling with slight puzzlement and saw a gentle smile appear on Ye Ling's face. That expression was as soft as the return of spring in March, like green willow branches swaying along the bank under bright, radiant sunshine.

"Be my girlfriend, okay?" That voice was light as a willow catkin drifting past, settling gently onto the surface of a calm, clear lake, stirring faint ripples.

Is Ye Ling confessing?

Wen Zhengyu stared blankly at Ye Ling, her mind momentarily unable to process this. Isn't this a bit too early for a confession?

She was still spacing out when she saw Ye Ling drawing closer and closer. Soft lips pressed against hers.

Is this a kiss?

Wen Zhengyu blinked in confusion, thinking: This counts as a kiss, right? She reacted immediately after, jerking backward to avoid Ye Ling's lips, and turned her head to continue staring at the television. A scorching, burning sensation spread from her face all the way to her ears, as if catching fire. She tightened her face and replied in the steadiest tone she could muster: "No."

Just after she finished speaking, she heard Ye Ling's low laugh. She turned her head toward Ye Ling in bafflement: Going crazy? So happy after being rejected?

Ye Ling laughed and asked, "No? Why is your face red? Shouldn't you be very angry and slap me across the face?"

Wen Zhengyu paused before catching on. She said, "I haven't thought it through." Then she raised her hand, intending to make up for it by slapping Ye Ling, but felt that slapping someone in the face was going too far. She silently lowered her hand and continued watching television.

Ye Ling laughed so hard her shoulders shook, her whole body pressing against Wen Zhengyu's shoulder. She said, "Zhengyu, you should hit the pervert."

Wen Zhengyu shifted away, but a shameless person actually hugged her arm. She thought: Slap her?

She again felt that slapping Ye Ling wasn't quite right. But if she didn't slap Ye Ling, Ye Ling was simply going too far.

To slap or not to slap?

Suddenly, a question occurred to Wen Zhengyu: This counts as losing my first kiss, doesn't it?

She widened her eyes and turned to look at Ye Ling, who was laughing utterly irresponsibly. She was a bit angry, yet a bit unsure how to be angry. She tightened her face and said, "I haven't kissed anyone before. CEO Ye, you've gone a bit too far."

Ye Ling saw the spark of fire in Wen Zhengyu's eyes. She was first taken aback, then understood what Wen Zhengyu was upset about. She said hesitantly, "Then should I do it again seriously?"

Wen Zhengyu was a little angry. Her heart was also pounding rapidly, beyond her control. She was very nervous, her mind a tangled mess.

Kissing again was definitely not appropriate.

She turned her head to look at Ye Ling and saw Ye Ling watching her with eyes full of seriousness. She shook her head and was about to move further away, but her arm was still being held by Ye Ling. She said, "CEO Ye, please let go."

Ye Ling didn't dare go too far and meekly released her hand.

Wen Zhengyu hugged the throw pillow and moved to the single armchair beside her, continuing to stare fixedly at the television screen.

A red flush spread across her face. The throw pillow in her arms was held so tightly it was nearly deformed from the squeezing.

Get instant access to all chapters now.

Previous Table of Contents Next