Chapter 29 Part 2

Lu Ping mumbled vaguely: “Well… I always get up this early. I saw the nanny auntie making breakfast, so I thought I’d show off a bit and let you try our local specialties.”

Last time Shen Yuze went to the North Shore, Lu Ping had taken him to the market for snacks, but his stomach was limited, and they hadn’t tried everything. This time, Lu Ping rolled up his sleeves and cooked chui yuan and mochi himself, planning to fill Shen Yuze’s belly with sticky carbs.

“So you’re pounding mochi?” Shen Yuze glanced at the milky white dough in the bowl. “How do you eat it once it’s done? With brown sugar?”

“Dipping in brown sugar is another way. Today, I’m planning to make egg mochi pancakes.”

After all that pounding, the mochi was formed—sticky and tough. Lu Ping shaped it into palm-sized round cakes.

He heated a nonstick pan over high heat. To the egg mixture, he added chopped green onions, minced meat, and some soaked and chopped preserved mustard greens, stirred it evenly, and poured half into the pan. The moment the egg hit the hot surface, it quickly set into a half-solidified pancake.

Unhurried, Lu Ping placed a mochi cake over the egg pancake, flipped it in the pan to crisp the mochi with the pan’s heat. Then he poured in the remaining egg mixture, letting the new egg pancake fuse with the mochi one before it fully set…

Cooking wasn’t hard for Lu Ping, let alone a simple egg mochi pancake. His movements were efficient, no wasted motion, but even the basics like pouring egg and placing mochi looked pleasing to Shen Yuze’s eyes.

In the blink of an eye, a steaming mochi pancake wrapped on both sides with plenty of egg emerged from the pan.

“You have to eat this hot.” Lu Ping handed Shen Yuze a plate and chopsticks, urging him to try it. “There’s an old lady at my elementary school gate who pushes a cart selling egg mochi. Back then, one cost just one yuan, or one-fifty with sausage. Every morning before school, I’d buy one from her to fill up. Once it was raining, and I thought she wouldn’t be out, but she still came. The rain was heavy that day, but I wasn’t cold at all—eating egg mochi under the eaves, splashing in puddles, my belly all warm.”

Back then, Lu Ping was a short little buzz-cut kid with nothing but his red scarf and house key around his neck. To him, happiness was having a yuan for pocket money each morning to buy chui yuan or egg mochi—simple and pure.

Standing by the stove to eat went against all the table manners Shen Yuze had learned growing up. But in front of Lu Ping, he didn’t want to live so rigidly.

Shen Yuze picked up a mochi pancake and took a bite. The mochi was soft and chewy, with crispy edges from the pan, and the preserved greens and onions in the egg added a unique flavor. Sweet glutinousness blended with the savory freshness of the egg into a simple, rustic taste.

The pancake wasn’t big, and Shen Yuze finished it in a few bites, just as Lu Ping’s second one came out of the pan.

The nanny nearby watched with her mouth agape: the young master, who was always so picky with his food, was actually standing by the stove eating, and eating so quickly at that! She couldn’t help but blame herself. Could it be that her skills and the chef’s weren’t refined enough?

Shen Yuze: “When can I have the second one?”

“Save some room in your stomach,” Lu Ping said as he flipped the egg pancake in the pan. “The chui yuan are almost ready!”

The electric steamer beside them beeped twice, signaling the end of the countdown. The nanny hurriedly lifted the lid, and steam mingled with the aroma of meat instantly filled the entire kitchen. The glistening chui yuan were pressed close together; the vegetarian ones drooped with little tails, while the meat-filled ones had small openings, all plump and swollen, sitting obediently in the steamer baskets.

The nanny carried the two baskets of chui yuan to the dining table and, following Lu Ping’s instructions, set out sweet soy sauce, chili, and a few pickled vegetables on the side.

Staring at the Jiao River delicacies he’d never seen before, Shen Yuze could hardly wait, but he’d just eaten one mochi egg pancake, so he held back for now. He sat quietly at the table, chopsticks in hand, waiting for Lu Ping to join him.

When Lu Ping emerged from the kitchen carrying the remaining mochi egg pancakes, he saw Shen Yuze sitting ramrod straight, eyes fixed unblinkingly on him.

Lu Ping: “…”

Well… what could he say…

That stray cat Zhaocai by the school back gate might act like the boss of the cat pack, bossing the other strays around, but every time Lu Ping went to feed it snacks, the expression on that black cat’s face was exactly like Shen Yuze’s right now.

[Though I really want to eat the food you made, I’m super cool about it oh].jpg

Lu Ping thought, what to do—he actually found the current Shen Yuze so adorable.

How could someone have such great contrast charm? He could be the rich young master galloping on a million-yuan prized horse along the racetrack, the temperamental, picky eater with frequent allergies who was as fragile as glass, the lone dweller in a lavish mansion… or, like now, just an ordinary boy eager to share breakfast with a friend.

Lu Ping realized once again, profoundly: Shen Yuze wasn’t the perfect male god he’d imagined.

The boy he’d yearned for had long since descended to the mortal world.

…

The breakfast Lu Ping made himself opened up Shen Yuze’s appetite completely. Neither held back for the other, and they polished off both baskets of chui yuan and all the egg mochi pancakes on the table.

The nanny jumped in surprise while clearing the dishes. Normally, when she made breakfast for Shen Yuze, he always left half of it. He was fussy and never ate more than seventy percent full, so she was used to seeing leftovers. She never expected the two young men to eat so cleanly today.

After breakfast, Lu Ping changed back into his own clothes.

He took off the sea-blue striped pajamas, folded them neatly, and placed them on the bed. This set of pajamas was the same style as the ones Shen Yuze was wearing, though Shen Yuze’s were light gray. With his tall stature and broad shoulders, even a silk pajama set looked like it belonged on a runway model.

At 175 cm, Lu Ping wasn’t particularly short for the South. Lu Dad was even shorter, under 170 cm, so Lu Ping’s height was purely winning the genetic lottery. Sometimes, if he wore thick-soled sneakers and styled his hair up, he could claim to be 178 cm outside. If he stretched the truth a bit more, he could round up to 180 cm.

But his “fake prosperous 180 cm” was utterly dwarfed by Shen Yuze’s true god-tier proportions, making him look like a hobbit.

Standing together with Shen Yuze, his legs weren’t as long, his face wasn’t as small, his skin wasn’t as fair… Sigh, he’d just thought Shen Yuze wasn’t a god, but now how could someone built like this not be one?

However, Lu Ping’s “god filter” on Shen Yuze didn’t last long before Shen Yuze shattered it himself.

—”Lu Ping, translate this paragraph for me again. Tell me, what does this word mean??”

—”Tenses, tenses!!! This is past continuous!!! Not past perfect!!!!!”

—”Are you trying to piss me off? Did you even look at the question? I told you to!”

—”What part of this don’t you get? Did I not read the listening comprehension slowly enough? Can you only understand that the shirt costs nine pounds fifteen pence!!!”

Lu Ping: “…”

Lu Ping: “…………”

Lu Ping: “………………”

The little mouse trembled as he sat at the desk, gripping his pen, the tip tracing a shaky line across the English test paper.

Shen Yuze had volunteered to tutor his English, so why was he flying off the handle like this? QAQ

What kind of god was this? He was a total demon!

Shen Yuze’s chest heaved up and down. He’d thought doing English papers together would bring them closer… but after an hour of explaining, he now just wanted to fly back to the Capital and part ways forever with this dense little mouse!

Lu Ping felt wronged: English was the only subject he struggled with, but Shen Yuze sucked at several others. He hadn’t complained about Shen Yuze yet, and here Shen Yuze was, complaining first!

Lu Ping wasn’t made of dough; he had a temper too.

After being unilaterally scolded for so long, Lu Ping wasn’t having it.

He stood up, packed his schoolbag, and swept the test papers and reference books into it as well.

Seeing his sullen little face, Shen Yuze of course wouldn’t let him leave. “I already told Auntie Lu I’d tutor your English today. If you leave now, how do I explain it to her?”

“You don’t need to explain to her.” Lu Ping said, “I’ll just say I’m too dumb and you couldn’t teach me… I’ll head back to University City. Even without Eric, I can find other college students to tutor English. It won’t cost much per session.”

The mention of Eric immediately sent Shen Yuze into crisis mode.

“Come back.” Shen Yuze snatched Lu Ping’s schoolbag back and took a deep breath. “Who said you’re dumb? I just didn’t find the right approach earlier. Let me explain the questions from another angle.”

No matter what, he couldn’t let Lu Ping go find that foreigner again!