"Didn't we agree at the restaurant yesterday?" he reminded her kindly. "I marry you, you teach me how to pursue girls. Now we're married—when does your 'love tutorial' start?"
Hearing this, Yu Wanwan suddenly remembered the marriage condition she had proposed yesterday.
She immediately tossed the apple core away, pulled two tissues to wipe her hands, straightened her back, and put on a serious expression like a seasoned professor: "Oh right, the tutorial. Looks like Student Zhang is really enthusiastic about learning."
She cleared her throat: "But before the formal teaching begins, I need to test whether you have the aptitude for this. You must pass this test before I can tailor a teaching plan for you."
Zhang Jingxu listened patiently: "How do we test it?"
Yu Wanwan asked, "Can you cook?"
"Yes."
Yu Wanwan continued with her associate professor demeanor: "As the saying goes, to capture a woman's heart, first capture her stomach. Especially in this era of ready-made meals, if you can cook, you've already eliminated half your rivals. Think about it: if a guy can cook really well, even if his girlfriend breaks up with him in the future, she'll still remember him fondly because of that. But if you can't cook..."
At this point, Yu Wanwan deliberately made a meaningful disgusted face, spread her hands, and said, "Then I guess you'd have to become gay."
"In short, an excellent man must be able to cook well. Your appearance is already top-tier. If you're handsome and can cook too, you'll be 50% ahead of others in pursuing a girl."
Zhang Jingxu thought seriously about her words and nodded in full agreement: "That makes sense."
Seeing that he approved of her statement, a hint of pride showed on Yu Wanwan's face: "Then go to the kitchen now and show me your skills—let me see what kind of aptitude you have."
Hearing this, Zhang Jingxu looked a bit troubled: "I can, but I just came back to the country. There's not much food in the house. Can I make you a bowl of noodles for now, and we can do the aptitude test after we go to the supermarket to buy ingredients tonight?"
Yu Wanwan was already starving by now, so she immediately agreed: "Sure, you can make noodles as a warm-up."
With that, Zhang Jingxu slowly stood up and walked efficiently toward the kitchen.
Soon, a fragrant aroma drifted out from the kitchen.
Zhang Jingxu came out with two bowls of visually appealing and delicious tomato-egg noodles, placing them in front of Yu Wanwan and thoughtfully handing her chopsticks.
"So fragrant," Yu Wanwan said, taking a deep sniff. She immediately made the snake in her game, which she'd kept alive for over half an hour, crash into the wall, then picked up her chopsticks and started eating.
The tomato broth was rich, tangy, and appetizing. Every strand of noodle was coated in the soup. Being already hungry, Yu Wanwan couldn't help but slurp down several mouthfuls.
Who would have thought? His cooking skills were actually quite good.
Seeing her eating with gusto, Zhang Jingxu held his chopsticks and tentatively asked, "How is it? Is it good?"
"It's okay," Yu Wanwan said while slurping noodles. To prevent him from getting too cocky, she downplayed it: "Actually, noodles are something anyone with hands can make. You'd have to cook something more challenging for me to make a proper judgment."
Zhang Jingxu asked, "So, what counts as challenging?"
Yu Wanwan thought for a moment and began giving him difficult tasks: "For example, Pagoda Pork, Wensi Tofu, Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish. If you can master these three dishes, which test both cooking skills and knife skills, then you'd truly have aptitude."
After saying this, she looked up at the man across from her, who was deep in thought. Afraid she might have set the bar too high, she comforted him: "Don't stress too much. Actually, from this bowl of noodles, I can roughly tell you have aptitude. Even if you can't make those three dishes I mentioned, it's fine. Just being good at common home cooking is already excellent."
Zhang Jingxu didn't say anything. After a long silence, he suddenly accepted the challenge seriously, saying, "I'll try tonight."
Yu Wanwan: "Huh?"
No way? She had just said it casually, and he actually wanted to do it?
This guy was just like in his school days—the harder the challenge, the more he wanted to take it on.
But thinking about eating those three national banquet-level dishes tonight, even if their success wasn't guaranteed, Yu Wanwan didn't discourage him. Instead, she cheered him on.
The two ate their noodles for a while. After Yu Wanwan finished her bowl, including the soup, the taciturn Zhang Jingxu across from her suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, I have a client coming over this afternoon to discuss business."
"Oh," Yu Wanwan said, wiping her mouth, then asked, "So... should I go out this afternoon?"
"No," Zhang Jingxu said, looking up with gentle eyes. "I'm just letting you know."
Yu Wanwan simply said "Oh" again, then got up and went to lie on the couch to help digestion.
As the old saying goes, lie down after a meal, live to ten thousand eight.
Since there wasn't much food in Zhang Jingxu's house, Yu Wanwan watched some dramas in the afternoon, but soon a craving hit her.
She hesitated on the couch for a long time, then decided to go to the nearby convenience store to buy some chips.
Without further ado, Yu Wanwan grabbed her phone, slipped on her slippers, and headed out.
But just as she stepped out of the yard, she suddenly saw a handsome but annoying face at the gate.
The moment their eyes met, both were shocked.
Even the words they spoke were exactly the same.
"What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
Yu Wanwan bit her lower lip, annoyed that she had spoken in sync with him.
After a moment, she lifted her graceful neck and said haughtily, "This is my home. Isn't it normal for me to be here?"
"Your home?" Lu Peizhi was so shocked his pupils dilated. He looked up at the house number, confirmed he hadn't made a mistake, then asked incredulously, "How could this possibly be your home?"
Yu Wanwan's eyes narrowed, and she immediately understood—this guy was the client Zhang Jingxu was waiting for.
"Why couldn't it be?" She crossed her arms arrogantly. "I married the man of this house. This is my home now."
Lu Peizhi laughed scornfully, as if hearing the biggest joke: "Yu Wanwan, just to spite me, you'd lie like this? Hiring an actor to film a video is one thing, but now you dare to come here and act it out?"
"Who's acting with you?" Yu Wanwan couldn't be bothered to waste words. She directly pulled out her marriage certificate from her bag and slapped it in front of his eyes: "See clearly. Stamped by the Civil Affairs Bureau. I'm married!"