This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 214 A Kitchen, Three Girls
The vegetable market is located near Jiahe Residential Area, and Chen Shi'an and Li Wanyin are both regulars at the market.

However, this was the first time Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu had visited this market.

Watching the annoying cicada's curiosity about everything in the market, constantly asking the Taoist priest all sorts of questions, Lin Mengqiu secretly curled the corners of her mouth.

Ah.

You don't even know which piece of meat is tenderloin, but I do!
You probably don't know how to remove the white veins from green peppers, but I do!

You probably can't cook rice, but I can!

If it weren't for Sister Wanyin saying she wanted to eat hot pot, Lin Mengqiu would have already asked Chen Shian to come home and cook together.

Eating hot pot is also a good idea. She hasn't had it in a long time, and now that it's getting cold, hot pot is just right.

Li Wanyin walked ahead of the four, taking the initiative to buy groceries. Watching how skillfully Wanyin picked out vegetables and bargained, the class monitor, who had been so proud just moments before, fell silent...

"Shi'an, what kind of hot pot broth do you want to have tonight? Clear broth or spicy broth?"

"I also can."

Wen Zhixia immediately squeezed next to Chen Shi'an and said eagerly, "Spicy! Hot pot has to be spicy to be flavorful! Sister Wanyin, let's have spicy tonight!"

Li Wanyin didn't rush to agree. Seeing Lin Mengqiu's furrowed brows, she asked her, "Zhizhi said she wants spicy food. Mengqiu, can you handle spicy food?"

"...I can't eat too much spicy food."

"Hmm... how about we make a hot pot with two broths, one half clear broth and the other half spicy broth? We haven't bought a pot yet, we can buy one at the department store later."

"Okay." Lin Mengqiu nodded.

"Okay~"

Wen Zhixia sighed, "A yin-yang hot pot it is then~"

"XXX!"

Lin Mengqiu rolled her eyes at her, "Eating so much spicy food every day, be careful you don't get pimples!"
Chen Shi'an didn't care about the broth; he could switch between the two flavors.

"Okay, let's make a hot pot with two broths, one half spicy and the other half clear."

Li Wanyin made the decision, "Let's go over there and buy some meat and vegetables, meatballs, tofu, fresh mushrooms... Zhizhi wants to eat meat, right? Then let's buy more meat."

"it is good!"

Wen Zhixia cheered and, linking arms with Li Wanyin, began to imagine the taste of feasting on meat.

"Boss, two boxes of beef rolls, fresh ones, please."

"Shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, lettuce... and some tofu skin too."

"Shrimp paste! Sister Wanyin, I want to eat shrimp paste!" Wen Zhixia pointed to the freezer.

"Okay, take one box."

"How about a meatball platter? We have all kinds of flavors," Chen Shi'an suggested.

"Row."

Li Wanyin skillfully selected the ingredients, Wen Zhixia excitedly added to them, while Lin Mengqiu quietly followed behind, occasionally nodding or shaking her head when Li Wanyin asked, "Do you want this?"

Although Li Wanyin had taken the initiative to treat everyone to hot pot tonight, when it came time to pay the bill after buying the groceries, the two girls both insisted on paying.

Lin Mengqiu, who had been quiet all along, was obviously faster. She had scanned the code early on and paid immediately the moment she heard the shopkeeper announce the price.

Wen Zhixia had just taken out her phone when Lin Mengqiu had already successfully scanned the code and paid.

"Hey! Mengqiu, you paid? I said I'd treat you, but I'll pay instead..."

"fine."

"..."

Seeing the Ice Cube Spirit's smug look, with a "I'll treat you to meat and shrimp balls tonight" kind of look in his eyes, Wen Zhixia puffed out her cheeks.

Fortunately, there were quite a few things to buy, and Wen Zhixia managed to get the chance to pay first.

When buying a hot pot with two broths at the department store, Wen Zhixia successfully secured the right to pay for the pot.

"Zhizhi, you don't need to pay for this... I'll pay!"

"It's alright, Sister Wanyin. We live close by, so consider this pot my payment for food. Remember to call me next time you and the Taoist have hot pot."

"Okay, sure."

"XXX!"

The three girls insisted on paying for the groceries and the pot, so Chen Shi'an took on the manual labor, carrying the heavy load of things in both hands.

Fat Cat also made a contribution, jumping out of his backpack to lighten his load.

As they left the market, the streetlights were already on, casting long shadows of the four people walking home together.

In the end, the older sister couldn't bear to let Chen Shi'an carry so many things, and took some of them herself.

Seeing this, the two girls also came forward to share the meat and vegetables in Chen Shi'an's hands.

Just moments ago, Chen Shi'an's hands were full, but in no time they were empty, and he felt incredibly free.

Seeing this, Fei Mo jumped back onto his shoulder.

……

back home.

The fat cat, who ran into the house from the balcony first, had already turned on the lights.

The three girls carried the groceries into the kitchen together.

The house where the siblings originally lived suddenly became lively after the two girls joined, making the already small kitchen even more crowded.

"Zhizhi, Mengqiu, you two go and rest first. I'll take care of cleaning up the dishes. It's just a matter of cleaning up the dishes for hot pot, it'll be quick."

"It's okay, Sister Wanyin, I'll help you!" Wen Zhixia rolled up her sleeves, revealing a section of her fair and tender arm.

Lin Mengqiu demonstrated her willingness to help by carrying a large number of bags filled with vegetables, lifting one here and putting another there, seemingly busy with something.

Wen Zhixia couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Do you know how to do this? If you don't, just go out and rest. What are you doing carrying that bag around?"

"...If I can't, do you think you can?"

"I'm definitely better at it than you, since all these vegetables need to be washed."

"Everyone knows they need to wash."

Seeing that the two girls were about to come to blows again, Li Wanyin was startled and quickly came over to assign them tasks. "Zhizhi, could you help me wash these two heads of lettuce? Just separate the leaves, wash off the dirt, and then put them in a basket to drain."

"it is good!"

"Mengqiu, could you peel this radish for me? I have a peeler here. Peel it like this... and then cut it into pieces for me."

"Ah."

After clearly assigning tasks to the two of them, they finally stopped arguing about who should do what.

Just as the weary older sister was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Chen Shi'an walked into the kitchen and asked:
"Would you like to cook some rice? If we don't order any staple food, we're afraid we'll get hungry again soon."

“…Cook!” Wen Zhixia put down the lettuce in her hand. “I’ll cook! I’m really good at making rice!”

Before she could even come over to get the pot, Lin Mengqiu, who had just been squatting on the ground peeling radishes, had already stood up and taken the pot out of the rice cooker first.

"Give it to me, I'll cook it. You don't know how." Wen Zhixia reached out her hand.

"Who doesn't know how to cook rice?" Lin Mengqiu refused.

Li Wanyin: "..."

wanna die!

Ahhhhh!
You brat! I just calmed them both down, and you came along and stirred things up again!

"That's why they say my sister is a master at maintaining stability," Li Wanyin said, giving Chen Shi'an a disgruntled look. She stopped what she was doing, walked over, took the rice cooker that Lin Mengqiu was holding tightly, and handed it to Chen Shi'an.

"Shi'an, you cook. Mengqiu and Zhizhi are busy."

"Okay, I was originally planning to cook it myself."

After Chen Shi'an took the rice cooker, the two girls calmed down and continued with their work.

"So, who wants to eat?"

"I won't eat—" *3
"Aren't you going to eat? I was thinking of making a mixed fried rice while there are so many dishes. Well, I'll just cook one for me and Fei Mo. We'll get hungry quickly if we don't eat some rice."

"I want to eat—" *3
Upon hearing that Chen Shi'an was going to make fried rice, the three girls quickly changed their minds.

"..."

Because there were many dishes in the hot pot, Chen Shi'an didn't add too much rice; just enough fried rice for each person as a staple food.

After putting the rice into the pot, Chen Shi'an wanted to stay in the kitchen to help, but there was no room for him in the cramped kitchen. Under Li Wanyin's arrangement and guidance, even the two housework idiots found something they could do.

"Then I'll go out and set the table first, and start the pot on fire. Didn't Sister Wanyin buy an induction cooker last time?"

"Hmm! In the storage room, if the power cord isn't long enough, there seems to be a power strip there."

"it is good."

Chen Shi'an went out to set the table.

Li Wanyin was in charge of tasks that required using a knife, such as finely slicing uncut meat and arranging the prepared ingredients on clean plates.

Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu were helping out, but they didn't know how to do many things, so Li Wanyin had to teach them step by step.

But Sister Wanyin was really patient. Although her sister had some strange feelings for that stinky Taoist priest, she couldn't deny that even she herself felt a very close sisterly glow from Sister Wanyin.

Seeing Li Wanyin's skillful knife work, the two girls were both envious and admiring.

"Wanyin, you're so amazing! You don't even feel how heavy the cleaver is. I'm so afraid you'll cut yourself..."

"I'm used to it. If I'm careful and attentive, I won't be afraid."

"How long have you been learning to cook, Sister Wanyin?"

"Me? Well... I started cooking when I was twelve or thirteen. My parents worked in a factory, and during summer vacation when I had free time, I would cook meals in advance and wait for them to come home. Back then, our kitchen still had a wood-fired stove, so I had to watch the fire and cook the vegetables. I remember I even burned the vegetables."

The two girls felt somewhat ashamed upon hearing this.

At twelve or thirteen years old... I was still feeling smug about having learned how to cook rice, while Wanyin was already able to cook for the whole family, and not only that, she also had to take care of her younger sister.

When I was twelve or thirteen, I still thought of myself as a baby who needed to be taken care of. I didn't understand the responsibility of taking care of others.

"What are Wanyin's parents doing now?"

"They..."

The two girls asked their questions without any inhibitions, and Li Wanyin answered them honestly and calmly.

All along, the two girls' contact with Li Wanyin had been through Chen Shi'an as an intermediary, and their understanding of her was limited.

Now that the three of them are sharing a space, the two girls finally have a better understanding of Chen Shi'an, their roommate.

No wonder Sister Wanyin worked so hard to set up a stall to earn money after work every day. For two girls from well-off families who had not yet entered society, such a non-stop life was simply unimaginable. At that time, I thought she was too worldly, but now I just think she is amazing.

Seeing that the two girls were becoming increasingly silent, Li Wanyin quickly tried to liven up the atmosphere.

"Zhizhi, Mengqiu, would you like some milk tea? I'll make you a cup in a bit."

"Okay! Thank you, Sister Wanyin!"

"Sister Xie Wanyin."

Wen Zhixia also became more obedient and stopped asking so many questions that stirred up memories. She asked curiously, "Sister Wanyin, I heard from the Taoist priest that you are planning to resign?"

"Yes, I've already submitted my resignation. After I finish handing over my work next week, I'll be selling bubble tea full-time from now on~"

"Sister Wanyin's milk tea is so delicious, her business is sure to boom. Xiaoyan and the others said they've never had such delicious milk tea before!"

"Really."

Li Wanyin was also happy to hear this, "Actually, it's all thanks to Shi An. He's the one who researched the formula. Otherwise, how could it be selling so well now?"

She paused for a moment, then sighed, "I was thinking about whether I could earn more money and open a milk tea shop next year."

"Definitely! Sister Wanyin is the first girl I've ever felt could do anything she sets her mind to!" Wen Zhixia said earnestly.

"Hmm." Lin Mengqiu nodded, unusually agreeing with the assessment of the annoying cicada.

Of course, the two girls also had their own doubts...

I just hope that Sister Wanyin's feelings for that stinky Taoist priest are truly innocent, like siblings...

Otherwise, it would be a real crisis!

(Thank you again to Cangcang Jianjiaxian for the generous donation of 100,000! You're so generous, boss! May you prosper! Thank you so much for your support!)

(End of this chapter)