My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“You’re not imposing at all!” Xia Xingye said quickly. “How about you wait until your place is completely cleaned up before moving back?”

Jiang Yingyue shook her head: “I can’t keep taking up your bed.”

“So you want to sleep on the bed?” Xia Xingye realized. “It’s fine! Sleep on the bed if you want. I can sleep on the floor.”

“You’re willing to sleep on the floor?” Jiang Yingyue raised an eyebrow.

“Uh… actually, no,” Xia Xingye admitted honestly. “But there’s still dust in your place; it’s bad for your health. Besides, how will your bed even be moved in?”

As she spoke, she remembered something. She looked at the door, then at the large hole in the wall, and was silent for a moment before asking, “Do you really have to go back?”

“Do you want me to stay?” Jiang Yingyue countered.

Xia Xingye froze, recalling the kind of person she used to be.

She had always hated others invading her private space, but in the days Jiang Yingyue had been staying, she not only felt comfortable but had naturally invited her in from the very beginning.

Only now, when asked, did she realize her own anomaly.

Looking at Jiang Yingyue’s calm face, how could she bear to refuse such a person? Even if Jiang Yingyue hadn’t asked, she wanted to be kind to her.

It must be because Jiang Yingyue is so approachable that I can’t help but be nice to her.

Xia Xingye successfully convinced herself.

“It’s absolutely no trouble!” Seeing that Jiang Yingyue hadn’t responded and seemed about to leave, Xia Xingye blurted out, “It takes time to carefully choose a bed, right? It’s not too late to go back once the bed is chosen and the wall is fixed in a few days. Or are you saying you don’t like it here?”

“How could that be?” Jiang Yingyue smiled softly.

Xia Xingye was so kind to her, allowing her to use anything and even offering her the bed. She was just embarrassed to occupy someone else’s bed for so long.

“My bed is actually quite big,” Xia Xingye’s eyes sparkled. “Before, I slept on the floor because I thought you might be uncomfortable, but if you don’t mind, we can sleep together.”

Jiang Yingyue naturally didn’t object.

Seeing the matter settled, Xia Xingye happily said, “Let’s have hot pot tonight! I bought a lot of groceries this morning.”

She excitedly showed off the ingredients stuffed in the refrigerator. She had bought double portions of everything, enough for both of them to feast.

Jiang Yingyue didn’t care what they ate. Since Xia Xingye suggested hot pot, she agreed. Xia Xingye went out to get the hot pot stove and placed it on the table. When Xia Xingye went to wash the vegetables, Jiang Yingyue followed her.

They hadn’t known each other for long, and this was the first time they had done something like this together, but they had an unexpected natural synergy.

Just as Xia Xingye finished washing the vegetables and was about to plate them, Jiang Yingyue brought over the serving dishes.

Working together, they quickly prepared all the ingredients.

With everything ready, Xia Xingye realized she hadn’t started the soup base yet. She slapped her forehead and asked Jiang Yingyue, “Do you have any dietary restrictions? Spicy base or…”

Jiang Yingyue said, “I’m fine with anything.”

Xia Xingye insisted: “You must have a preference. Think about it. Do you like spicy food? You must know that.”

Jiang Yingyue thought for a moment and said, “Spicy or not, I’m okay.”

Xia Xingye stared intently at her, and Jiang Yingyue finally amended: “Slightly spicy.”

Xia Xingye was satisfied and cooked a mildly spicy soup base. Although Xia Xingye loved spicy food, it was okay to choose mildly spicy so they could share the same pot.

Xia Xingye knew Jiang Yingyue had strict eating habits, but she hadn’t expected them to be that strict.

While eating hot pot, Jiang Yingyue only ate the food she had personally placed in the pot. Xia Xingye looked at the food that had been put in earlier and put some into Jiang Yingyue’s bowl, saying, “Go on.”

Jiang Yingyue looked at the food in her bowl with confusion. Xia Xingye urged, “Eat quickly.”

Jiang Yingyue: “I’ll cook what I want to eat myself. You just cook yours.”

Xia Xingye blinked and said, “I want to share delicious food with you.”

Jiang Yingyue: “Thank you, but it’s not necessary.”

Xia Xingye paused, feeling a little wronged: “Are you saying you don’t like my food?”

Jiang Yingyue looked bewildered: “Dislike? I just think it’s easiest to pick up what I want myself. What if you pick something I don’t like, or I pick something you don’t like?”

Xia Xingye blurted out: “I’ll definitely like what you pick.”

Jiang Yingyue didn’t respond.

Xia Xingye said earnestly, “I chose the ingredients, so it might not suit your taste, but it definitely suits mine.”

“In that case, I’ll cook some for you to eat, but you don’t need to cook for me,” Jiang Yingyue suggested.

Xia Xingye smiled and nodded: “Deal.”

With that, Xia Xingye stopped picking up food herself and instead watched Jiang Yingyue with sparkling eyes. The latter hesitated and asked, “What do you want to eat?”

Xia Xingye laughed: “Anything you cook, I’ll eat.”

Jiang Yingyue glanced at the table: “Can I cook you a fish fillet?”

“Yes, you can!”

Jiang Yingyue picked up a raw fish fillet, swished it in the pot, and then took it out.

The moment it came out of the pot, Xia Xingye handed her bowl over. Jiang Yingyue placed the fish fillet into her bowl. Xia Xingye ate a piece in front of Jiang Yingyue, resting her chin in her hand, and said sweetly, “It really does taste better when you cook it.”

Jiang Yingyue laughed softly: “It’s the same.”

Xia Xingye said seriously, “Yours tastes better, which means you have better control over the heat. You cook it perfectly. If I cooked it, it would be overdone.”

These words seemed like flattery to please Jiang Yingyue, but only Xia Xingye knew she genuinely believed it.

Perhaps it was psychological, but for the first time, Xia Xingye felt that eating with someone else was more enjoyable than eating alone.

She was never happy eating with her previous roommates. It wasn’t that she disliked them, but she felt more comfortable eating alone.

Once, when she ate with her roommates, she finished, and the other three had only eaten a little. She didn’t know if her roommates said they were full because they saw how fast she ate, but the vast majority of the remaining food was thrown away.

Since then, she refused to eat with her roommates, feeling it was better to eat by herself.

Looking at Jiang Yingyue sitting opposite her, Xia Xingye thought that if Jiang Yingyue ate slowly, she could slow down, too.

When eating with Jiang Yingyue, she couldn’t help but look at her from time to time.

In Xia Xingye’s heart, her roommates were nice, but Jiang Yingyue was better. Jiang Yingyue’s inherent approachability always made her want to look at her more.

If anyone told her that her kindness towards Jiang Yingyue wasn’t due to approachability, she would disbelieve it a hundred times over.

…

After dinner, the two washed the pot together, and then Jiang Yingyue went back to tidy up her things.

Xia Xingye took a shower and got into bed early. She had wanted to help Jiang Yingyue tidy up, but Jiang Yingyue said there weren’t many things and she didn’t need help.

Xia Xingye felt a bit disappointed. Lying in bed, she alternated between playing on her phone and looking towards Jiang Yingyue’s side, hoping she would finish quickly.

When Jiang Yingyue finished tidying up, she saw Xia Xingye lying in bed and went to take a shower first. When she returned, she tentatively asked, “I’m sleeping in this bed?”

Xia Xingye nodded, shifted inward, and patted the empty space beside her: “Hurry up! My bed is really big. If it’s not big enough, I can move over even more.”

The bed was huge. She had moved all the way to the edge, only taking up a small corner, leaving two-thirds of the space empty.

Seeing that if she didn’t speak soon, Xia Xingye seemed determined to curl up into a ball, Jiang Yingyue smiled helplessly: “That’s enough.”

Xia Xingye giggled, lay down, and said, “You’re so skinny, I figured it would be enough.”

Lying in the same bed, Xia Xingye stared at the ceiling and asked quietly, “Where is Little Jiang?”

Jiang Yingyue asked, “Do you need it for something?”

Xia Xingye shook her head: “No, I don’t need it for anything. I just remember you seemed to take it with you when you went to work before. Aren’t you afraid of losing it?”

Jiang Yingyue could forget where she put her phone. Taking the tiny Little Jiang out worried Xia Xingye that it would get lost.

When Jiang Yingyue was out working before, Xia Xingye suddenly remembered Little Jiang. She looked everywhere but couldn’t find it, belatedly realizing Jiang Yingyue had taken it with her.

Today, Jiang Yingyue was back. Xia Xingye had been so focused on her that she almost forgot about Little Jiang. Now that she remembered, she asked.

“I won’t lose it.”

Xia Xingye turned to face Jiang Yingyue, half-skeptical: “You can forget where you put your phone. Little Jiang is so small. Are you sure you won’t forget it?”

Jiang Yingyue said, “No, I won’t. It’s not like the phone. It’s more important than the phone.”

Xia Xingye rested her head on her arm and gently pulled on Jiang Yingyue’s sleeve, asking, “What exactly is Little Jiang?”

Jiang Yingyue turned to look at Xia Xingye. She met her gaze for a moment and said earnestly, “I can’t tell you that.”

Xia Xingye pouted: “You always have so many secrets. This you can’t tell me, that you can’t tell me. Am I a bad person?”

She felt a little unhappy. Although Jiang Yingyue was lying in the same bed as her now, if she thought about it carefully, she and Jiang Yingyue hadn’t known each other for long. Calling her a stranger wouldn’t be an exaggeration; they were, at best, relatively familiar neighbors.

Xia Xingye puffed out her cheeks and said childishly, “Then, once we’re closer, can you tell me?”

Jiang Yingyue was silent for a moment, staring into Xia Xingye’s moist eyes. She said hesitantly, “I can’t promise about the future.”

Even though Jiang Yingyue’s words were ambiguous, Xia Xingye took it as an agreement.

She can’t say now, but maybe she can say later.

“I have to go out tomorrow,” Jiang Yingyue suddenly said.

“Didn’t you say you weren’t working recently?”

“It’s not work.”

Xia Xingye realized and laughed: “I’ll go with you.”

“Don’t you have classes tomorrow?”

As soon as Jiang Yingyue asked, Xia Xingye froze. She had been so focused on Jiang Yingyue that she forgot tomorrow was Monday and she had morning classes.

She had exams coming up soon, and the teacher had specifically warned them not to skip class, as attendance would be taken, and anyone absent would lose marks on their participation grade.

Since the teacher had warned them in advance, no one would sympathize if she failed by skipping class.

Xia Xingye sighed with regret. Jiang Yingyue looked at her in confusion: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I have class tomorrow, and I really don’t want to go.”

Since childhood, Xia Xingye had always been punctual for school, never being late, even in a heavy rainstorm.

Going to school was her duty. This was the first time she found class boring and didn’t want to go to school.

Jiang Yingyue thought for a moment and said, “Good luck.”

Besides ‘good luck,’ she didn’t know what else to say.

“I will, I will.” Xia Xingye was just thinking out loud; she didn’t seriously plan to skip school.

“Let’s sleep.”

“Good night, see you tomorrow.”

…

Early the next morning, Xia Xingye was still half-asleep, staring blankly at the face in front of her. She only snapped back to reality when her eyes met a pair of dark pupils. Her brain was slow to catch up, and she opened her mouth to say, “You’re so beautiful.”