Of course, when I say it's quite awful, I refer to the dishes Lin Jiaxue makes. Without a comparison, there's no harm done. If a dish is properly cooked and the other ingredients are not wildly strewn in or are too scant, the taste won't be too dreadful and, by suppressing the gag reflex, it's mostly edible.
Therefore, in order to attend to Qin Shiqi's zeal, everyone would pick at her food now and then, quickly swallowing it down as they ate the rice. Shiqi didn't act up about this but continued to consume her own cooking in a gloomy silence. Without Shiqi's incessant chattering, the dinner table felt unusually quiet.
Seeing the offbeat ambience, Tang Qing wanted to liven things up a bit, trying to find a conversation starter.
"Shiqi, it's alright, although it was a bit hard to swallow this time, don't worry, it could get worse next time, this time wasn't too bad." Tang Qing jokingly 'comforted' her.
