At the kitchen counter, Shen Yu stood with a cold and solemn expression as he was doing the preparation work before cooking – washing his hands.

Cool water flowed over his pale hands, revealing faint blue veins beneath the skin. At a glance, there was an ascetic beauty to it.

Qi Fang stood nearby, taking pictures of Shen Yu with his phone.

Shen Yu turned off the faucet and frowned slightly, clearly unable to comprehend Qi Fang’s actions. “What are you doing?”

Qi Fang’s voice was muffled behind his mask. “Documenting this momentous occasion—your second bold attempt at cooking after ten years, five months, and four days since your first try.”

Shen Yu: “…”

Although he had a good memory, he couldn’t possibly recall the exact date of his first cooking attempt. He vaguely remembered it was during his university years.

Shen Yu had always been a top student, skipping several grades in primary and secondary school. When he first entered university, he wasn’t even of legal age.

To stay in the same class as Shen Yu, Qi Fang followed suit in skipping grades. He barely scraped by to enter S University and continued to revolve around Shen Yu during their college years, often luring him to his off-campus apartment with the promise of delicious food.

After a few meals, Shen Yu felt indebted and offered to help with the cooking.

The result was a kitchen fire in Qi Fang’s small apartment that triggered the fire alarm, sending all the building’s residents fleeing in panic.

Shen Yu remembered that day. From afternoon until evening, Qi Fang had led him to apologize to each household. By the time they finished, it was already past eight o’clock.

The kitchen was in shambles, reeking of burnt odors. Qi Fang had crouched among the ruins, rummaging for a while before miraculously unearthing an intact steamer. Inside, he found a seemingly perfect bowl of steamed egg custard.

“There’s nothing left to eat tonight. We’ll order takeout later,” Qi Fang had said lightly, holding up the bowl of steamed eggs to show Shen Yu. He smiled and added, “But I did find something good. You made this steamed egg custard, right? Not bad. Let me have a taste.”

Shen Yu watched as Qi Fang found a spoon and ate a few bites. Half an hour later, Qi Fang was clutching his stomach in a hospital bed.

“…”

Shen Yu snapped out of his reminiscence, focusing on the task at hand.

——With the help of a smart cooking machine, it shouldn’t be as disastrous as before.

After all, operating machines was something he found easy and familiar.

With this thought in mind, Shen Yu solemnly opened the lid of the cooking machine and stared into it for a moment, his brow gradually furrowing.

“There’s no pot…?” Shen Yu mumbled.

How was this different from the instruction manual?

Qi Fang held up his phone, secretly grateful for the mask covering his face.

——This way, Shen Yu couldn’t see his widely upturned mouth.

Shen Yu stared silently at the cooking machine without its inner pot for a moment.

Qi Fang coughed, eagerly offering a way out. “Maybe the seller forgot to include it. Why don’t we call it off for today? I’ll make a few simple dishes, and we’ll see how to deal with this cooking machine tomorrow…”

After tomorrow, he would surely grind this thing to dust and destroy all evidence of its existence!

Shen Yu lowered his eyes, not speaking for a moment.

Seeing this, Qi Fang hesitated, worried he had dampened Shen Yu’s newly rekindled cooking enthusiasm too much. Just as he was about to speak up, he suddenly heard Shen Yu say, “Alright.”

“You go ahead.” He stepped back, making room. “Thank you.”

“No need for thanks.” Qi Fang said, rolling up his sleeves and chuckling behind his mask. “If you really want to thank me, just eat more later. That’s better than anything.”

*

The next day, Shen Yu had no classes, but a full morning of research group meetings.

When he arrived at the small conference room, his graduate students were already seated formally, waiting for him.

The small conference room was next to Shen Yu’s office. S University had excellent facilities, with professors having their own offices and meeting rooms. The floor below housed the laboratories and workstations used daily by the graduate students.

Shen Yu retrieved his computer from his office and entered the small conference room. As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw a male student stand up and walk over to pull out a chair for him.

“Good morning, Professor Shen,” he said with a bright smile, his features handsome and sunny.

Shen Yu’s gaze brushed over him indifferently, his expression unchanged as he took his seat.

This was the first-year graduate student who had accidentally ruined the lab specimens the other day, named Zhao Minqing.

“Professor, are you thirsty?” Halfway through the group discussion, Zhao Minqing suddenly spoke up. “I can bring some tea for everyone. Professor, would you like oolong or green tea?”

Shen Yu frowned slightly.

He disliked being interrupted during meetings, especially for trivial reasons—everyone had bottled water on their desks, why ask about tea?

Shen Yu remained silent, while the other students exchanged uneasy glances.

It’s over, they could feel an invisible pressure spreading… Xiao Shidi¹Little junior brother; 师弟 (shī dì) – young disciple (of the same master) / younger or junior male schoolmate was in danger.

Shen Yu closed his pen cap and placed the pen on the table.

At the soft click, all the students except Zhao Minqing held their breath, lowering their heads to avoid eye contact with Shen Yu.

It was well known that Professor Shen had an extremely cold personality and rarely lost his temper.

However, once he did get angry, the consequences were severe.

A legend circulated within the academic department. It spoke of a student who once forgot to submit their thesis on time and attempted to bluff their way through. That very day, Shen Yu unceremoniously kicked them out of the research group.

Later, despite the unfortunate soul’s desperate pleas and begging, they were unable to return to the group and had to transfer to another advisor.

Following Shen Yu promised a bright future—an extremely high publication rate within the research group, cutting-edge research directions and techniques, professional connections both domestically and internationally, and opportunities for conferences at various levels.

Shen Yu would even personally write letters of recommendation for graduating students, recommending them to partner research institutions or foreign companies for employment, with competitive salaries to boot.

Except for the slight suffering during thesis revisions, the exhaustion during experiments, and the moments of despair when scorned for low work efficiency…

At other times, the students willingly played the role of quails, diligently working under Professor Shen’s harsh rule.

Yet this newly arrived junior didn’t seem content with being a quail.

He wanted to be a peacock with its tail fanned out.

While the other senior students kept their heads down, not daring to make a sound, Zhao Minqing held his head high, gazing intently at Shen Yu. One hand rested on the edge of the table, as if ready to stand up and pour tea at the slightest response.

Shen Yu opened his mouth, about to speak, when the phone on the conference table suddenly vibrated.

The phone was on Do Not Disturb mode and would only alert for consecutive calls from the same number. Shen Yu paused, picked up the phone, and pushed back his chair to step out and answer the call.

As soon as Shen Yu left, the atmosphere in the conference room instantly livened up.

“Wow, Minqing, you’re too bold! How dare you interrupt Professor Shen during a meeting?” sighed a senior female student who was quite fond of Zhao Minqing.

“I noticed the professor seemed uncomfortable today,” Zhao Minqing nodded at her, smiling as he explained softly, “We’ve been in the meeting for an hour, and the professor has furrowed his brow several times. Usually, he shows no expression at all.”

“Oh, really?”

Shen Yu took the call in the long corridor outside the conference room.

“Hello, are you Mr. Qi’s family member? You’re listed as ‘wife’ in his contacts.”

“…” Shen Yu: “Yes, what’s the matter?”

“Mr. Qi has been in an accident at the intersection of Qianhong Road and South West Avenue. Please come to Room 603 on the third floor of the Surgery Building at S City First People’s Hospital as soon as possible. Mr. Qi has just been sent for a full-body examination. We have his phone here and are calling to inform you.”

Shen Yu froze for a moment, caught off guard.

How could there be a car accident? Qi Fang wasn’t the careless type.

Shen Yu remained silent for a moment before asking, “Do we need to contact the funeral home?”

The person on the other end: “Huh? Ah… no need. Mr. Qi’s external injuries don’t appear to be very serious…”

Shen Yu, having confirmed the extent of the injuries, replied with relief, “Alright, I’ll be there shortly.”

After hanging up, Shen Yu stood in the corridor for two minutes.

He did not get a good rest last night, and he still felt very tired. When he woke up this morning, he didn’t notice it, but now it gradually worsened. Even his temples were feeling a slight tingling ache.

“Today’s group meeting will be held online. I’ll notify you later,” Shen Yu announced as he returned to the conference room, grabbing his coat. “I have an urgent matter to attend to and need to leave now. My apologies.”

The students stood up, assuring him it was fine. Zhao Minqing observed Shen Yu’s expression and suddenly asked, “Professor, would you like me to drive you?”

Shen Yu flatly refused, “No need.”

Zhao Minqing, however, followed him a few steps, saying, “At this hour, it’ll take ten minutes to get a taxi.”

This was true. S University wasn’t located in the city center, and during class hours, there weren’t many empty cabs roaming the area. Usually, they had to come from two or three kilometers away, waiting through several red lights, which easily took ten minutes. Plus, one had to walk out of the campus to catch the ride.

Shen Yu’s steps halted as he pushed open the door.

“My car is parked downstairs,” Zhao Minqing held the conference room door open for him. “Professor, please take my car. I don’t have any urgent matters this morning anyway.”

Raine: If this Zhao Minqing continues to irritate me, I will drop this novel.

TL Notes

• 1
  Little junior brother; 师弟 (shī dì) – young disciple (of the same master) / younger or junior male schoolmate