Nie AnAn woke up at 6:30 AM the next morning.
She went to the kitchen after she had finished washing up.
It looked like someone had touched the items in the kitchen. The order of the bottles had been rearranged. She frowned slightly and rearranged them the back to her preference before she opened up the refrigerator.
Nie AnAn was a bit surprised when she noticed that her three plates of food from the night before had vanished.
But, she figured it out right away. Huo YanXiao must have gotten hungry after he worked till the wee hours of the night and ate them all.
Thinking about that, she lifted her head and looked toward upstairs.
She had noticed that Huo YanXiao's room door was still closed when she woke up. He must still be in bed, meaning that he'd probably need some breakfast after he got up.
Nie AnAn had already given it a thought how she could explain away when she has learned to cook. If Huo YanXiao ever got suspicious and asked, she'd tell him that she had heard over the news that eating out and/or having instant noodles long term could be detrimental to one's health.
Which was why she decided to start cooking.
'lo and behold, she was a genius when it came to cooking and this was what they tasted like that the very first time she tried to cook by following some recipes.
That wasn't entirely fabricated. Before the transmigration, Nie AnAn cooked for the first time when she was just 8 years old.
She could barely reach the stove at the time, yet she used a stool and made a dish of sweet and sour pork ribs.
She could still clearly remember the surprised look on her grandpa's face after he had tried the ribs. But being surprised by her talent was one thing, she still got a lecture about how dangerous it was and that the pan could have tipped and oil could have spilled out on it.
Thinking about her grandpa who had passed away when she was just 16, sadness filled Nie AnAn's eyes.
She recollected herself.
Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, so balancing the nutrition was very important.
Nie AnAn started kneading the dough. When it was rising, she started on other ingredients.
Soon, the bamboo fungus (also known as lamb's stomach) and Chinese olive soup was bubbling inside the rice cooker.
Nie AnAn had already prepared both meat and vegetable ingredients for dumplings and buns.
The top of the buns has exactly 18 identical folds each. Same for the dumplings, they were all identical as though she has obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The buns had vegetarian stuffing and the dumplings had meat stuffing.
After Nie AnAn had placed both the buns and dumplings inside the steamer, she made a few more chilled appetizers.
Finally, the main entrees were done and the soup was cooked to perfection. Once again, their aroma filled the air.
Right when Nie AnAn was about to set the table, a large silhouette entered the dining room.
Huo YanXiao had on a light grey casual outfit. His fierce aura made the cotton outfit look even more casual.
He seemed to have been attracted there by the ruckus in the kitchen. His face was still expressionless.
Nie AnAn tilted her head and smiled at him, "Good morning, big brother! Sit, sit! Let's have breakfast together!"
Huo YanXiao didn't move.
Nie AnAn had already walked up next to him. She hesitated for a bit, tugged on his arm gently and pulled him toward the chair.
He didn't object to that and sat down quietly.
Seeing that, Nie AnAn had a pretty good idea.
She didn't think this man could resist having breakfast after he had tried her cooking last night. See? He's already compromising.
As for why his attitude toward her was so odd, she'd need to find that out on at a later time.
Nie AnAn dished out the food and handed chopsticks and a bowl to Huo YanXiao. Her eyes curved from smiling. "Big brother, I've made a lot of food. Have as much as you want."
Huo YanXiao examined Nie AnAn expressionlessly for a little bit before he picked up the chopsticks. He tried the chilled bamboo shoots first.
It was just the perfect level of spiciness. Crunchy and very appetizing.
Sitting across from him, Nie AnAn pushed over the dumpling and buns over to him, "Big brother, these dumplings have a variety of ingredients. I have added shrimp, beef, mushrooms, glutinous rice, and celery. The buns are vegetarian, made from carrots and bean sprouts."
"Mmm," finally a nonchalant response from Huo YanXiao. He picked up a dumpling.
All men liked their meat. Nie AnAn wasn't surprised at his choice. She ate quietly and waited for Huo YanXiao to ask when she learned how to cook.
But, up until the point the two of them had finished their breakfast, the man never asked her anything.
Didn't he feel suspicious at all?
Plus, hasn't she been acting very differently than the original owner starting last night? And he didn't think something was off at all?
Nie AnAn was debating about whether she should casually mention her talent in cooking.
But Huo YanXiao's cellphone rang.
He picked it up. It appeared to be a work call. He seemed more solemn after he had answered the call.
Quickly, he walked away with his phone in hand.
Nothing more she could do about that, Nie AnAn started cleaning everything up. Again, she compulsively rearranged all the condiments in order of their height with no exceptions.
When she had finished cleaning up, Huo YanXiao had already changed into his suit and came back downstairs.
His chilled aura had returned immediately, and he seemed to be stirring up breezes as he walked.
When he walked past Nie AnAn, he said nonchalantly, "I am heading in to work."
"Okay, big brother. Have a nice day at work!" said Nie AnAn with a smile.
After she had seen him off, Nie AnAn did some after meal exercises. Afterwards, looking at the time, she changed into her going out clothes.
Cucumber arrived at the mansion exactly at 8:30 AM to pick Nie AnAn up to the tattoo salon.
When the owner of the shop spotted her, he came over and greeted her in a familiar manner, "Miss AnAn is here today? Where would you like to have tattooed today?"
"I'd like to remove all the tattoos on my face!" said Nie AnAn as she sat down.
The owner was very surprised, "Have them all removed? I thought these were your favorites?!"
Nie AnAn's mouth twitched. Favorites? It could scare the living daylight out of her in the middle of the night, alright?
She said, "Let have them removed first. I don't like them anymore. I'll replace them with something different when I see something that I like."
"Alright, alright." Of course the owner agreed to it right away and sent over Nie AnAn's regular tattoo artist.
Nie AnAn had heard that it was painful to have tattoos removed. This was the first time she had first hand experience with it, and sure enough, it was quite painful.
After being tortured for over an hour, she thought she was about to die here right after she had transmigrated over.
When the tattoo artist announced that he was "all done", his words sounded like music to her ears.
She sat up quickly and took the hand held mirror from the tattoo artist.