I'll give my daughter one more second.

That night, Yukino couldn't sleep.

…………

The next morning, Wu Shen was still sound asleep when a sudden, loud, and urgent knocking came from the door.

"Hmm...hmm?" Wu Shen opened his eyes and was awakened by the knocking on the door. Wu Yi, who was lying next to him, also wriggled her little body, but she seemed to be sleeping soundly and did not wake up.

Who is this? Waking me up so early in the morning, I was hoping to sleep a little longer. Wu Shen tidied his messy hair, checked the time on his phone, and realized it was just before six o'clock. He immediately felt like he'd been screwed.

"Who is it?" Wu Shen got out of bed, reached into his pajamas and scratched himself, then walked toward the door.

"It's me. I have a question I'd like to ask you." Yukino's cool voice came from outside the door. Hearing this, Wu Shen stopped his hand, which was reaching towards the door.

The icy tone was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, and Wu Shen felt as if he had been doused with ice water, jolting him awake. He quickly ran to the bathroom next door and tidied his appearance and attire in front of the mirror as fast as he could.

Although Yukino wasn't the girl he was trying to woo, Wu Shen didn't really want other girls to see him looking a bit disheveled after just waking up.

After straightening his wrinkled clothes and messy hair, Wu Shen finally opened the front door of his house.

"Yukino?" Wu Shengang sensed something was wrong as soon as he saw Yukino. Unlike usual, Yukino appeared extremely listless, and her legs were trembling slightly, as if she might collapse to the ground at any moment.

"What's wrong with you?" Wu Shen asked worriedly, and quickly stepped forward to support Yukino's shoulders, giving her swaying body a little support.

“It’s nothing serious, don’t worry about it. More importantly, I have a language question I’d like to ask you,” Yukino said, shaking her head with a determined expression.

"Feel free to ask me any questions. But please come in and have a seat."

Wu Shen knew Yukino's stubborn personality; once she made up her mind, she would never compromise. He even considered it a miracle that Yukino didn't refuse when Wu Shen went to help her up. Therefore, he didn't delve into the reasons behind Yukino's current situation.

"Wu Shen, you're an international student, right? In your country, what does the pronunciation of '小...埋' mean?" Yukino pretended to be deep in thought, and finally managed to pronounce the two words with a noticeably off-key tone.

"Xiao... Xiaomai?" Wu Shen frowned, rubbing his chin. As a Chinese, he really didn't know what the word composed of these two sounds meant.

“It could also be the pronunciation of ‘wheat’.” Seeing that Wu Shen didn’t respond for a long time, Yukino tried to change the pronunciation a second time. She changed it from the second tone to the fourth tone.

“Wheat? It’s very simple, it’s just a crop.” Wu Shen translated the word into Japanese, and Yukino immediately showed a look of understanding.

"Wheat, are there any Chinese dishes made with wheat?" Yukino asked tentatively.

"Wheat? That's way too much." Wu Shen was completely dumbfounded.

Taking just one grain as an example is too broad a scope. As we all know, flour is made from wheat as a raw material. And there are countless staple foods that can be made from white flour.

If we only consider Chinese food—steamed buns, noodles, fried dough sticks, fried cakes, baked flatbreads, baked flatbreads, pancakes, dumplings, fried dumplings, steamed buns, wontons, shumai, naan bread, and a whole host of other foods—all of them require flour.

Why is Yukino suddenly interested in wheat? This puzzled Wu Shen greatly.

"Yukino, why are you asking this? And so early in the morning?" Wu Shen voiced his doubts.

"It's nothing, just answer my question." Yukino turned her head to the side. By now, her legs had probably recovered, and she slowly broke free from Wu Shen's support.

"Yukino, to be honest, I'm very worried about your current state. If you don't tell me the truth, then I definitely won't answer this question." Wu Shen also became serious at this moment.

No matter how stubborn Yukino is, he can't just let her do whatever she wants when she's clearly not feeling well.

After a moment of silence, Yukino sighed softly, seemingly choosing to back down, and explained in a low voice, "Ayane recently wanted to try Chinese food, but I only vaguely remembered the pronunciation of the dish she mentioned. That's why I came to ask you."

"Oh? So you want to learn a trade?" Wu Shen became interested upon hearing this.

"No need to trouble you, I'd like to try it myself first. I'm quite confident in my cooking skills."

“I see. Doing it yourself is also an option.” Wu Shen nodded, without forcing Yukino to learn from him.

When Wu Shen first started learning to cook, his mother completely left him to his own devices, only giving him the most basic recipes and steps, and letting him try again and again.

Only when he gradually became familiar with the process would his mother intervene, passing on the experience and skills passed down from generation to generation to him as Wu Shen completed each step.

Why does your smile look so lewd?

"It's an illusion, a complete illusion. I was just watching over you with gentle eyes," Wu Shen said with a chuckle. He felt a sense of wonder at being able to witness Yukino fall into the bottomless pit of Chinese cuisine.

"But after all this talk, Yukino, the way you asked the question is really problematic. Since Amane said it was a dish name, it couldn't possibly be wheat, right? Wheat has never been used as a dish name in China. Maybe you misheard and that's why your pronunciation isn't standard?" Wu Shen analyzed.

"What could that be the name of a dish?" Yukino was completely stumped this time.

"Can't we ask Yuyin again?"

"I...I want to give Amane a surprise," Yukino said firmly. To ensure the surprise would be effective, she seemed to want to keep it a secret from Amane.

"I see. Let me think about it some more. Xiaomai, Xiaomai..." Wu Shen began to mutter to himself.

"埋" and "麦" are homophones, just with different tones, so this two-character dish name must end with the pronunciation "mai". Therefore, the error in Yukino's tone must be in the first character. Wu Shen silently analyzed this in his mind.

The dish name had two characters, ending with the pronunciation "mai," and the first character sounded similar to "xiao" (small)... Wu Shen racked his brains and began searching his memory for dish names he could recall.

However, he couldn't guarantee that he could remember all the dish names. There are many different cuisines in China, and each cuisine has countless dishes and variations. Even the top chefs wouldn't dare say they've mastered all the cooking methods of every cuisine. Since he wasn't a professional chef, it was even less likely. Wu Shen couldn't even remember many dishes from a single cuisine.

"What Yuyin was talking about, could it be 'shumai'?" Wu Shen suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and a new idea popped into his mind.

Author's Note:

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A single successful raid can make one famous throughout the ages; who else could withstand the blade's edge for a thousand years! ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ

Two updates totaling 8000 words. No one's complaining about it being short and weak this time, right? o(*≧▽≦)ツ┏━┓

I need your monthly votes and even some harsh words! Help me get into the top three of the monthly vote rankings!!

Chapter 116 Coach, I want to learn how to cook!

“Shumai? Yes, that seems to be the name.” Upon hearing Wu Shen’s pronunciation, Yukino compared it with the vague voice of Yu Yin in her memory and immediately confirmed that Yu Yin had said this word.

"Oh, it's shumai." Wu Shen nodded in sudden realization.

The name "shumai" sounds roughly the same across regions, but it can be written in many different Chinese characters in various places—shumai, shumai, shaomei, etc.

"Shumai is probably quite famous in Japan, right? It's called 'shumai' and there are also modified versions to suit Japanese tastes."

"Japanese yakiniku... so that's what it is."

Although Yukino didn't know what "shumai" was, she had heard of "Japanese yakiniku," which was translated into Japanese and became widely popular after being modified.

“Knowing what kind of dish it is makes things easier. You can find Japanese yakitori at any big restaurant. And Yuyin is speaking in Mandarin, so she probably wants to eat shumai, which is the Chinese style,” Wu Shen analyzed.

"Yes, that should be it. I'll go search for a recipe for this dish online then." Yukino said, turning to leave.

"Yukino..." Wu Shen interrupted.

"It's okay, I can prepare it all by myself." Yukino smiled, her stubborn nature preventing her from relying on others for help. She wanted to try it all on her own.

“I’m not forcing you to learn from me.” Wu Shen stepped forward and blocked her path. “What I mean is, if you encounter any difficulties or have any questions, you can come to me for advice anytime. After all, I know far more about this than you do, Yukino.”

"Yes, I understand." Yukino nodded gently. Her face was expressionless, remaining calm and silent.

Wu Shen couldn't keep blocking Yukino from leaving indefinitely. After seeing her nod, he stepped aside to make way for Yukino to leave.

Not long after Yukino left, Mai gradually woke up. About half an hour later, Yukino knocked on the door again and brought Amane over for Wu Shen to look after, saying that Amane should play with Mai. Wu Shen could roughly guess that Yukino had deliberately sent Amane away to try cooking a dish and prepare a surprise for Amane.

After all, if Yuyin saw what dishes she had prepared, the surprise factor would be greatly reduced.

Therefore, although Wu Shen saw through her scheme, he did not expose her. Instead, he tried his best to cooperate with Yukino's actions.

In Yukino's kitchen, she was searching for recipes on her phone, somewhat perplexed. It sounded easy, but it was actually quite difficult, especially when she found out about the many different ways to make shumai and the various filling combinations. For the first time, Yukino vaguely understood why Wu Shen had shown that kind of expression and smile when she said she wanted to try it herself.

Because she didn't know what flavors Amane liked, and due to the limited ingredients in the kitchen, Yukino could only try the most common pork and mushroom filling.

The actual process was even more difficult for Yukino. The dishes she usually worked on didn't involve rolling out dough. While kneading and mixing the dough was no problem, she was a bit clumsy when it came to using a rolling pin. The resulting shumai wrappers were uneven in thickness and the edges weren't very smooth.

However, Yukino is indeed skillful. After rolling out many unusable dough sheets, Yukino gathered them up again and continued to try. After practicing for about ten times, her movements and techniques finally improved.

While the skill level certainly can't compare to that of a skilled cook or chef, it's passable and not too bad.

After making a certain amount of shumai wrappers, she washed her hands, which were covered in starch and small sticky dough lumps, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had finally completed the first step of her task.

The subsequent steps weren't very technically demanding. Yukino was naturally adept at mixing the meat filling. It wasn't until she was stuffing the filling into the dough and shaping it into shumai flower clusters that Yukino encountered another challenge.

The dough was crooked and wrinkled, the filling was squeezed out because of too much force, and the opening was too big—all sorts of problems arose. It took Yukino an entire morning to make a steamer of shumai that barely looked presentable.

By the time they finished, it was already past one in the afternoon. Yukino hadn't slept all night, and this complicated and tiring task made her condition even worse.

However, it had been quite a while since lunchtime, and seeing this, Yukino didn't even give herself a break and immediately started the steaming and cooking process.

Because she made a promise with Yuyin that morning, she absolutely could not break her word.

On the other side, Wu Shen and Wu Yi had finished lunch and were about to clear the dishes when they saw Yu Yin, who hadn't touched her chopsticks. Wu Shen asked with concern, "There are still a lot of ingredients left. Do you need me to cook something for you? You'll be hungry if you don't eat lunch."

"It's okay. Before I came out today, my sister said she had a surprise for me at lunch. So I'll wait on an empty stomach!" Yuyin resisted the temptation of the dining table, not looking over here, and even pinching her nose to avoid smelling the aroma of the food.

"That's strange. Brother's cooking is so delicious, why don't you eat with me?" Wu Yi tilted her head in confusion. She had already tried to pull and persuade Yu Yin several times, but the other party remained unmoved.

In the end, Wu Shen scolded Wu Yi and brought her back. He knew part of the inside story; the so-called surprise was probably Yukino trying to prepare the shumai that Amane had been wanting to eat.

Knowing this, he didn't insist that Yuyin have lunch with them.

Sure enough, not long after, Yukino personally came to pick up Amane and take her home.

"I wonder if Yukino's first attempt will go smoothly. I hope she can meet Amane's requirements." Wu Shen was a little worried, but after thinking about it, he felt relieved.

Yukino's cooking skills are already quite good, and shumai isn't a dish that requires a high level of skill to make. Amane probably only saw it on TV or online and had never actually eaten shumai. So while Yukino's cooking might not reach Wu Shen's level, it should be enough to satisfy Amane, who was trying shumai for the first time.

"Huh? Mother, how did you know I like shumai? I don't think I mentioned it." Yu Yin looked surprised when she saw the dishes on the table.

“You were talking in your sleep last night, saying you wanted to eat this dish. So I just tried it out today, go ahead and give it a try.” Yukino tried her best to make her intentions sound natural.

Yuyin was already very hungry, and when she saw her favorite food in front of her, she immediately beamed with joy. She sat down happily, picked up a shumai with her chopsticks, and put it in her mouth to chew.

"How does it taste? This is my first time trying to make it."

"Mom's cooking is great, it's delicious!" Yu Yin smiled sweetly and continued eating one dish after another.

However, Yukino frowned slightly upon seeing this. Although Ayane appeared to be wolfing down her food, she was actually eating with great reluctance, more like forcing a smile. This was a stark contrast to Ayane's eating manner and expression when Wu Shen cooked for her last time. Clearly, Yukino's cooking this time did not suit Ayane's taste.

The reason why Amane praised her so much was probably because she didn't want her mother's hard work to go to waste and wanted to think about Yukino's well-being.

However, Yukino naturally saw through Ayane's little scheme.

Around two or three o'clock in the afternoon, while Wu Shen was playing computer games with Wu Yi, the familiar knocking sounded at the door again.

"Yukino? What brings you here now?" I opened the door and sure enough, it was Yukino Yukinoshita knocking on the door.

"I want to learn to cook with you." Yukino's voice was very soft, but her tone was unusually firm.