Chapter 319 Song Ni Cooks (2)

Song Ni raised her knife high and then chopped down with clean, decisive strokes. The sound of the knife striking the cutting board was crisp. Hearing this, Madam Song on the other end of the phone was startled. "Oh dear, my darling, be careful, don't scare your mother!" Song Ni looked at her creation with great satisfaction and took the phone off its stand. The screen flickered a few times, and Madam Song finally saw the situation on the cutting board. After seeing the lump of ginger bisected in the middle, she was silent for a long time. Cutting it like this... might work, but it would make dicing and shredding it later much more difficult. "Darling, you're..." Madam Song hesitated for a moment, then finally forced herself to say, "Not bad." As a mother, she couldn't help but encourage her daughter when she was trying to learn to cook. Song Ni was very good at reading people, and she knew her mother like the back of her hand. Her mother's reaction didn't quite sound like praise. Tsk, was this not okay? So simple and straightforward. Half a minute later, Song Ni regretted it. As expected, the steps figured out by her predecessors had their reasons. Cutting ginger into shreds wasn't a complicated task, so the steps and procedures were highly unchangeable. Her method just now had indeed made the first step easier, but it had increased the difficulty of the subsequent steps. Song Ni pursed her lips and finally put down the knife. "Mom, can't I just put it in like this?" Anyway, as long as it had the flavor of ginger, wasn't that enough? So if she threw the ginger chunk in to boil for a while, it would have the flavor, right? Madam Song was a meticulous person when it came to cooking. Not only did it have to taste good, but it also had to look good. She wouldn't keep anything that wasn't a perfect blend of color, aroma, and taste. Hearing Song Ni's idea made her feel uneasy, but what made her more uneasy was that she couldn't stop Song Ni and had to agree and encourage her. From another perspective, it was great that her Ni Ni had the idea to cook. Everything had to be done slowly; no skill could be learned overnight. What was the big deal? She could still teach Ni Ni in detail after she returned from abroad. Besides... judging by Song Ni's posture when cutting things just now, Madam Song was genuinely afraid Song Ni would cut her own hand. So, the meticulous Madam Song finally compromised. "Then just put it in like this, but remember to take it out after boiling." Otherwise, it would look too unappealing. Song Ni was somewhat perfunctory in preparing the rest of the ingredients. After all this, the one who was most tired was not Song Ni, but Madam Song, who had to teach Song Ni and constantly compromise. Sensing that her mother's patience had reached its limit, Song Ni hung up the phone to maintain their close mother-daughter relationship. All that remained was to wait for it to be cooked. It had not yet dawned when she had just finished preparing the ingredients and started cooking, but now the sky was faintly showing signs of light. Tan Zheng, who had been in the study all night, finally came out. Hearing the commotion from the kitchen, he changed direction. The aunt they had hired wouldn't be coming to make breakfast. When he saw Song Ni busy in the kitchen, Tan Zheng's fatigue instantly eased. Song Ni truly couldn't cook; she could even be called a kitchen disaster. The large countertop was a mess because of her, and even though she was just boiling soup, she was flustered. But even so, Tan Zheng watched with great interest. His brow, furrowed from a night of exhaustion, completely relaxed because of Song Ni. Perhaps because she was in a new domain, Song Ni wasn't as adept, and she kept muttering to herself. "Why hasn't my fish soup turned white yet?" "When should this ginger piece be taken out?" "Should the heat always be this high? Won't the water evaporate if it boils too vigorously?" "How big is a two-spoonful of salt?" "Do I put the noodles in directly to cook, or do I need another pot?" With every sentence, Song Ni's frown deepened. Cooking was not a simple matter, yet why did it seem so easy when Tan Zheng did it? Song Ni sighed deeply, stirring listlessly with the spoon. Seeing this, Tan Zheng couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle. "If you keep stirring like that, the fish will turn to mush." Song Ni was startled and turned around to see Tan Zheng leaning by the door. She raised her hand to pat her chest. "When did you come down? How come there was no sound." Song Ni was still holding the spoon as she spoke, and the water was filled to the brim. It was now boiling, and it looked dangerous. Tan Zheng stepped forward and took the spoon from Song Ni's hand. "You were too focused." Song Ni looked closely at Tan Zheng and noticed the bloodshot veins in his eyes, feeling a pang of concern. "Are you going for training today?" Tan Zheng shook his head. "One more day of rest." "I'm not going to class today either." She wanted to go to the hospital again to check on Sheng Jiang and make sure he was truly alright before she could rest easy. Tan Zheng looked down at the fish soup in the pot and chuckled softly. "What made you suddenly decide to cook?" Song Ni looked a little embarrassed. "Isn't this also fulfilling my duties as a wife? You've cooked so many meals for me; I want to cook one for you too." Tan Zheng raised his eyebrows slightly and happened to fish out the ginger piece that Song Ni had bisected. Song Ni: ... "Ahem, it's my first time, so a few imperfections are normal." Hearing this, Tan Zheng chuckled, placed the ginger piece into an empty bowl, and then used a slotted spoon to remove another piece of ginger. Song Ni raised her hand and touched her nose. "As long as it brings out the ginger flavor, is that enough?" Tan Zheng didn't dampen Song Ni's confidence. "Mm, indeed." Song Ni's eyes lit up. "So, it's been boiling for a while now, can I drink it?" Tan Zheng asked with a smile. "Have you added salt yet?" As he spoke, Tan Zheng paused and added, "Two spoonfuls with this spoon, or two spoonfuls with a soup ladle?" Hearing this, Song Ni realized Tan Zheng had heard all her mutterings. "I used the small one." Tan Zheng nodded. "Very good." Song Ni's face turned slightly red. Could she be praised for getting even one thing right, like the salt? "So, can I drink it now?" Tan Zheng looked at the situation in the pot and shook his head. "Wait a little longer." With that, the man picked up a spoon and pressed it into the pot. Song Ni frowned. "Didn't you say not to make the fish mushy? What are you doing now?" Tan Zheng mashed the fish meat after pressing it, then used the slotted spoon to remove the dregs. "I didn't want you to mush it earlier because there's a way to eat the fish meat separately, but the fish meat had already broken up quite a bit, so I might as well mash it and get the essence into the fish soup. This is another way of eating it." Song Ni nodded as if she understood. Seeing Tan Zheng filter the soup clean, she quickly urged him, "Hurry up and taste it! This is my first time cooking!" The man couldn't resist her enthusiasm and took a spoonful to taste. "......"