Jiang Shuxuan looked at the girl that was cooking in an orderly fashion as if she had made her way around the kitchen a thousand times before, sniffing the delicious scent that wafted out of the kitchen. He had never known that food could emit such a strong smell upon being prepared properly.
“Mr. Jiang, she’s really good!” Mrs. Zhang made her way to the kitchen upon smelling the savory scent, her expression impressed as she inhaled deeply, feeling her appetite rising as she did. She had always been proud of her cooking skills, but she felt as if those paled in comparison to Gu Xiqiao’s.
Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao sprinkled the hot oil in the pan onto the fish that had just been steamed, and the smell of garlic and fish wafted through the air, making the ones waiting outside gulp in hunger.
“Qiao Qiao, let me do it.” Mrs. Zhang saw that Gu Xiqiao was about to carry a bowl of soup out of the kitchen and immediately volunteered to help lest she burned herself. “Qiao Qiao, your soup looks absolutely delicious and it smells wonderful! How are you so good at everything?”
There was a thin film of oil on the soup, hiding the white soup that was held below it. Yin Shaoyuan filled up a bowl and handed it to Jiang Shuxuan, before filling a bowl for himself.
Jiang Shuxuan drank a small sip of the soup, and while it was understandably still quite hot, the taste of the soup itself was divine. Gu Xiqiao cooked it so that the soup itself not only had the sweetness and aroma of chicken, and wasn’t greasy in the least.
The others couldn’t care about their image anymore, their chopsticks picking at the fresh fish that didn’t have even the smallest hint of a stench, the braised pork that was packed full of flavor as well as the smashed cucumber that cut into the rich taste of the food and provided the senses reprieve.
Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao looked at the plates and bowls that emptied in a few seconds, and pet Haha’s fur wordlessly at the scene that could be compared to a war zone.
Hey hey, weren’t they supposed to be young masters and ladies?
The sun in the afternoon was quite bright, and it showered around the girl that sat in front of the window and made her seem like an angel that had descended onto the earth. At the moment, she was holding a charcoal pencil as she focused on the drawing board, her eyelashes fluttering slightly as she did.
After half an hour, Gu Xiqiao put down her pencil and stood up. Upon seeing this, Haha immediately made its way over to her and used its head to nudge at her leg, making Gu Xiqiao smile and show him the drawing that she made. “Do you think this looks like you?”
Haha widened its bright eyes as it looked at the chibi version of itself on the drawing paper, before barking in affirmation a few moments later.
“You done?” A deep and gentle voice came from beside her ear, and she turned her head to see Jiang Shuxuan’s sculpted chin and high nose, making her sit there stunned for a bit before handing her drawing board to him.
Gu Xiqiao had decided to sketch one drawing for Haha upon realizing that it was being sad that it didn’t even get to eat one piece of meat from earlier.
The sketch was pretty well done, making Jiang Shuxuan muse internally about how this girl in front of him was talented and had great learning ability in everything that she put her mind to.
Then, he looked at Haha that was nuzzling up to Gu Xiqiao affectionately and suddenly felt a dislike for the dog, wanting to pluck it up by the scruff of the neck.
Haha seemed to have felt the unfriendly gaze on it, and so it immediately shrunk into a corner and held Gu Xiqiao’s leg tightly.
“You continue relaxing, I have something to attend to.” Jiang Shuxuan shot a cold glance at Haha before telling Gu Xiqiao.
Gu Xiqiao nodded in confirmation, and Jiang Shuxuan couldn’t help but ruffle her hair affectionately before she walked out of the door.
The three forgotten visitors on the sofa finally dared to walk over to her, Yin Shaoyuan scrutinizing the sketch before nodding to himself. “You finished this in half an hour, and quite well at that. I finally understand why that principal of the art academy wanted to get Bro Jiang to let you go to an art school.”
Yin Shaoyuan himself had been praised all of his life, and while he was flamboyant, he learned everything that he had to properly and had always had good grades growing up. At the same time, he was well practiced in noble manners and was the most outstanding one back when he was in the army, but he never expected to meet someone like Gu Xiqiao.
In Jing Capital he was still considered quite capable, and back then he was very arrogant and confident before he met Jiang Shuxuan and promptly became humble.
Now, he was even introduced to this Gu Xiqiao…Did the universe want to tell him that he had nothing to be proud of?
Gu Xiqiao glanced at him before carrying Haha onto her lap and raising an eyebrow. You’re making too much of an exaggeration, this is just basic sketching. I’m only good at these things that enable me to show off you see? Just to amaze you people that don’t know that I’m just doing something basic.”
Yin Shaoyuan scoffed. Did she think that he was dumb? If this wasn’t called professional, then those national artists could pack their bags and leave!
Xiao Yun was expressionless as she stood at a side, thinking about Gu Xiqiao’s tea ceremony skills that she performed back at her place. Of course, she knew that it was extremely difficult to learn so many things at once, and even learn everything to such a great degree.
Honestly, it wasn’t hard for Gu Xiqiao to learn new things on account of both the virtual space and her enormous mental power. Back when she had first been trapped in the void, she could only use books to fill her time and attract her attention. If it were someone else that had been trapped in such a place for an uncountable amount of time, they would have already gone crazy!
Not only did she not go insane, but she even used all the time to read through all of the books in the void. If even such a person couldn’t get the recognition of the system, who could?
Under the bright exterior, was years upon years of hard work and study.
Her success was built entirely on endurance and willpower.
After Gu Xiqiao finished her sketch, they had nothing to do, and Yin Shaoyuan didn’t have the guts to bring Gu Xiqiao clubbing or to any of his usual hangouts without Jiang Shuxuan’s permission.
Xiao Yun walked around for a while before she spoke. “Qiao, come with me?”
“Alright, let me go change my clothes first.”
Meanwhile, Wu Hongwen that didn’t have a chance to speak immediately grabbed his phone and prepared to follow behind Gu Xiqiao, before Yin Shaoyuan hooked an arm around his neck with a devious smile. “Hey, why do you want to go? What if they go buy underwear?”
Wu Hongwen’s face immediately burst into a crimson red, thinking about the two of them shopping for underwear…But then, he thought of the robbery the last time the both of them met with when they went shopping last time, so he had to follow them! He had a bad foreboding feeling about it!
What if something happened and he wasn’t there?
But try as he could, Yin Shaoyuan simply wouldn’t let him leave…
Was this guy crazy?!