Chapter 59: On Dark Cuisine
Unfortunately for Yi Ning, just as she pretended not to understand Lu Zheng’s hint, Lu Zheng mirrored her behavior by feigning ignorance of her obvious “get lost” undertones.
“Driving all the way ho takes way too long, so how about letting mooch a al here?”
He rested his hands on the table, supporting his pixel-helted head, while the screen displayed a wide, toothy grin matching his tone.
“Scram!”
Yi Ning rolled her eyes and turned away, putting all her aning into that single word.
Faced with her blunt rejection, Lu Zheng’s expression didn’t change a bit.
He stood up, walked around to the chair facing Yi Ning, sat down, propped his head with one hand, and shalessly stared straight at her.
Seeing no reaction from Yi Ning, Lu Zheng started playing the pity card.
“This place is out in the middle of nowhere—there’s not a single restaurant around. If you don’t help , I might starve to death on the way back.”
“Heh~”
Yi Ning scoffed coldly.
She was a villain—“kindness” and “compassion” were not in her vocabulary.
To Lu Zheng’s heartfelt plea, her only reply was a look of contempt and disdain.
Maybe because there was a helt between them, Lu Zheng was outrageously thick-skinned, seemingly immune to the ssage in Yi Ning’s gaze, continuing to et her eyes without the slightest sha.
“I drove twenty or thirty kiloters just to see you. Giving a al isn’t too much to ask, right?”
He started flaunting his rits.
Not that he was wrong.
Thanks to his role in helping the Hero Association rescue Ye Qin, and his consistently well-behaved conduct, Yi Ning’s threat level in the Association had steadily dropped.
Even when signals of ability use were detected from her base, Qiu Yu, the branch director, didn’t think much of it and even considered ignoring it altogether.
Their relationship with Yi Ning was in a honeymoon phase—it wasn’t worth stirring trouble over minor issues.
Besides, it freed up manpower for Lu Zheng to deal with other tasks.
But after considering everything, Lu Zheng still chose to go check out Yi Ning’s base.
First, her file didn’t ntion any record of using abilities. Second, there were no other current alerts.
After yesterday’s events, they could be considered friends, so a visit would put his mind at ease.
Of course, Yi Ning couldn’t possibly know what was going through Lu Zheng’s mind or the twists behind his decision.
So her response was still a rejection.
“Is it really this hard being a supervillain these days? Not only do I have to get beat up by superheroes at the right ti, but now I also have to cook for them when they’re hungry? Are you people looking for arch-enemies or housekeepers?”
“So, that’s a no?”
Lu Zheng’s pixel screen showed a QAQ, then changed into a pair of glistening, pleading eyes made of pixel dots.
Unfortunately, this display didn’t match his 1.8-ter-tall build at all.
Yi Ning remained entirely unmoved.
“I’m a supervillain. Don’t even think about cooking for a superhero.”
“Well, alright then.”
Lu Zheng shrugged.
But there wasn’t a trace of disappointnt on his screen.
“How about… this?”
He took off his helt.
Not as Pixel Mask the hero, but as Lu Zheng the friend, he ca to bum a al.
“○ your mom.”
Yi Ning flipped him off.
It really was hard to refuse Lu Zheng when he ca as a friend.
Though still a bit reluctant, she sighed, pushed herself up from the table, walked over to the wall, took off her white lab coat, and put on an apron hanging there.
“I’ll say this up front—whatever I make, you eat. No complaints.”
She glanced at Lu Zheng.
“No problem, no problem! Whatever you cook, I’ll eat every last bite!”
Lu Zheng patted his chest in assurance.
He had tasted Yi Ning’s cooking before.
Even with high expectations and so margin for disappointnt, her skills were still way above his—he didn’t doubt her ability one bit.
Seeing his firm promise, Yi Ning nodded in satisfaction.
She closed the rice cooker lid, plugged it in again, then walked to the fridge and seriously checked the ingredients.
“Ahh~”
Looking at the fridge contents, a wicked idea suddenly popped into Yi Ning’s mind.
She curled her lips into a smirk, glanced sidelong at Lu Zheng, who was hunched over the table watching her eagerly, then discreetly covered the ingredients she selected with her body, washed them at the sink, chopped them at the cutting board, and moved to the stove to heat the oil.
“This kitchen was only temporarily assembled, so even with an exhaust fan, it might not clear out all the fus. If it gets smoky, bear with it.”
While stir-frying, Yi Ning made conversation to distract Lu Zheng.
“No problem, no problem!”
Lu Zheng rested his chin on the back of his hand on the table, bobbing his head.
Sitting up, he ran his fingers over the table’s surface and started counting the decorative patterns out of boredom.
Midway through counting, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Looking closer—Wasn’t this the sa table from yesterday, when he had co to Yi Ning for help? Even the chairs were identical.
Seeing the familiar item, Lu Zheng beca confused.
Didn’t he see this sa set in the entrance room earlier? How did it end up here again? Or did Yi Ning just buy two identical sets?
He fell into a ntal whirlwind.
Luckily, Yi Ning brought over the food in ti to break his chain of thought.
It slled amazing.
Lu Zheng sniffed and looked toward the scent.
It was a plate of… stir-fried shredded potatoes?
And not even enough to fill half the plate.
Seeing the thin yellow strips piled only in the center of the plate, Lu Zheng couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
He had hoped Yi Ning would make him sothing tasty.
But he quickly shook off the disappointnt.
He was just here mooching—having Yi Ning cook at all was already generous. What more could he ask for?
“Here.”
Yi Ning scooped out a bowl of rice, took out a pair of chopsticks, and handed them to Lu Zheng.
“Thanks.”
Lu Zheng took the bowl and chopsticks with both hands, scooped a bite of rice into his mouth, chewed briefly, and swallowed.
Then he picked up a bite of the shredded potatoes and put it in his mouth.
“Hm?”
As he chewed, a familiar spicy flavor suddenly spread through his mouth.
“Pffft—! Blegh! Blegh! Blegh!”
Lu Zheng reflexively spat out the food, gagging a few tis, then stared in horror at the “stir-fried shredded potatoes” on the table before looking up at Yi Ning.
This wasn’t stir-fried shredded potatoes at all—she’d cooked shredded potatoes mixed with shredded ginger!
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