Outside, the cicadas chirped incessantly, while inside, the electric fan emitted a harsh, whirring sound.
Jiang Yanchen kept his head down. His left cheek bore a shocking, purplish bruise, and the corner of his mouth was split open, giving him an air of decadence and hostility.
Ji Zhaoxi carefully applied medicine to his wounds. Jiang Yanchen's body tensed, his subconscious reaction urging him to pull away.
"Don't move."
Jiang Yanchen stiffened, not daring to move another muscle.
As the iodine-soaked cotton swab neared his wound, Jiang Yanchen's Adam's apple bobbed. She was leaning in so close that their breaths intertwined.
Jiang Yanchen's face was completely flushed, though he maintained a calm expression. Ji Zhaoxi was already accustomed to his habit of blushing at the drop of a hat.
Ji Zhaoxi's hand gently supported his jaw as she focused on treating the cut at the corner of his lips.
Jiang Yanchen tilted his head up slightly, allowing her to do as she pleased. His gaze uncontrollably fell upon her face, first her eyes, then her nose, and finally lingering on her lips.
Her lips were slightly pursed from nervousness, revealing a natural pale pink. Under the light, her petals seemed coated with a faint, dewy gloss.
Jiang Yanchen's breathing grew heavy, his Adam's apple bobbing again involuntarily. A thin layer of sweat gradually formed on his forehead as he forced himself to look away.
"Did I hurt you?" Ji Zhaoxi noticed his reaction and furrowed her brows.
Jiang Yanchen lowered his eyes, too flustered to speak.
Ji Zhaoxi was a little worried. Cupping his face, she asked, "Does it hurt a lot? Should we go to the hospital?"
Jiang Yanchen did not dare to look at her at all. Right now, all he wanted to do was kiss her.
His mind was in utter chaos. If he played pitiful and begged her to kiss him, would she agree? What if she slapped him instead...
"Jiang Yanchen?"
Jiang Yanchen covered his face with one hand and simply rested his head on her shoulder. After a long time, he finally spoke, "It hurts."
"I'm sorry. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt." Ji Zhaoxi felt guilty.
"It has nothing to do with you. I've been wanting to beat him up for a long time," Jiang Yanchen's muffled voice sounded.
That night, when he saw Shen Huaiqiu sitting next to her, he had wanted to punch him right then and there.
The scent of her filled his nose, and he felt his palms sweating profusely.
"Could... could you hug me? I feel awful."
Jiang Yanchen stammered. He was not good at lying, so his face looked particularly guilty right now.
Ji Zhaoxi couldn't see the expression on his face and embraced him. Jiang Yanchen carefully wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. The sheer happiness allowed him to relax completely.
Jiang Yanchen wasn't angry at all anymore. He felt that the air around him was sweet. This feeling was incredibly addictive, and he held her contentedly.
He really wanted to just die in her arms like this.
Jiang Yanchen's hair was a little prickly. Ji Zhaoxi couldn't resist petting his head. Jiang Yanchen's ears instantly turned bright red, and he nuzzled against her shoulder.
Seeing him like this, Ji Zhaoxi couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Jiang Yanchen, are you a puppy?"
Hearing this, Jiang Yanchen's face burned so hot it felt like it was smoking.
There were no cameras rolling right now; only the director was sitting at the door.
Seeing the scene inside the room, his mouth twitched.
Seriously? Jiang Yanchen only took one punch, while God knows how many punches Shen Huaiqiu took, yet here Jiang Yanchen was, being all clingy and playing the victim.
It was too unbearable to watch.
Even though they were injured, the next segment had to continue.
Shen Huaiqiu's injuries were a bit more severe; once he finished applying his medicine, the show could resume.
[If it weren't for Ji Zhaoxi, these two wouldn't have started fighting]
[What does this have to do with Ji Zhaoxi? It's Shen Huaiqiu's fault for acting like a jerk first]
[Making a joke is acting like a jerk? If Ji Zhaoxi can't take a joke, why did she join a variety show?]
[Jiang Yanchen was just joking with Shen Huaiqiu too. Shen Huaiqiu is the one who can't take it, sneaking an attack from behind after losing]
[And they call him a gentle and elegant Best Actor? Smiling one second, throwing punches the next. He looks like a sinister creep to me!]
Ji Zhaoxi and Jiang Yanchen planned to make two dishes. One was lotus-scented Beggar's Chicken, which happened to be perfect for tossing in some potatoes; the other was candied sweet lotus root.
Ji Zhaoxi squatted in front of the stove, trying to start a fire. She carefully poked at the kindling with the tongs. Seeing no reaction, she blew into it a few times.
As a result, the fire didn't catch, but the thick smoke made her choke and tear up.
"Cough, cough... cough..."
Jiang Yanchen had just walked in holding lotus flowers when he saw Ji Zhaoxi looking like a mess.
He quickly grabbed a wet towel to wipe her face. The clean towel instantly turned black. Ji Zhaoxi dejectedly let him wipe her.
Suddenly, she felt something was off. Jiang Yanchen kept turning his head away, and his shoulders were shaking non-stop.
Ji Zhaoxi frowned, keenly sensing something was wrong. She tilted her head to look at Jiang Yanchen's face.
She discovered that Jiang Yanchen was actually holding back laughter!
His face was red from the effort, and his eyes were brimming with amusement.
A sense of embarrassment instantly surged up. Ji Zhaoxi's ears turned red, and she pushed him away hard. "Go away, I don't need you to wipe my face!"
Jiang Yanchen grabbed her hand, looking serious with tightly furrowed brows. "I'm not laughing anymore."
But a moment later, his shoulders started shaking again.
Ji Zhaoxi: ...
She really wanted to hit him.
[Has anyone noticed these two seem a bit different now?]
[Wait, wasn't their physical contact pretty minimal when they were fighting over groceries earlier? They got this close just from applying medicine for a bit?]
[Mom and Dad, I am born!]
[They are totally acting like a little couple messing around]
[Excuse me, everyone else is cooking, what are you two doing here?]
Later, Jiang Yanchen also squatted down to start the fire, and he ended up coming out with a blackened face too.
The cameraman behind them looked speechless as he watched the two soot-covered faces laughing together.
Didn't these two feel that this scene was a bit bizarre?
They finally got the fire going.
Ji Zhaoxi wrapped the chicken in lotus leaves, stuffed the potatoes inside, coated the outside with yellow mud from the doorway, and threw it directly into the stove to bake.
Next, they continued making the candied sweet lotus root.
Neither of them knew how to make it, but a highly difficult dish should make them stand out, so they bit the bullet and tried anyway.
By "they," it actually just meant Ji Zhaoxi.
Jiang Yanchen had almost no opinions; he just did whatever Ji Zhaoxi told him to do.
Ji Zhaoxi carefully boiled the sugar on top, while Jiang Yanchen, with his blackened face, controlled the fire underneath.
The two of them worked in a seemingly professional manner with very serious expressions. However, perhaps because it was boiled for too long, the resulting sugar wasn't golden yellow, but rather a charred black.
They looked at each other in dismay over the charred black sugar in the pot.
The charred black sugar threads hung on the lotus roots, rock-hard, looking a bit like a steel wool scrubber.
Ji Zhaoxi held up this steel wool scrubber to the camera. "This is a form of art."
The Beggar's Chicken was also done.
Jiang Yanchen pulled the Beggar's Chicken out. It emerged as a black lump of coal. He smashed it with a hammer, and the mud shell instantly shattered.
As soon as Ji Zhaoxi reached out her hand, Jiang Yanchen lowered his head, allowing Ji Zhaoxi to pick off the pieces of mud shell that had just splattered into his hair.
Although it looked like a complete disaster on the outside, the moment the lotus leaves were unwrapped, a refreshing fragrance immediately wafted out. The chicken was incredibly tender, and it looked absolutely perfect.
