Chapter 143: Jiang Su, Happy New Year
Jiang Su counted on his fingers. It had been over four months since he last saw Huo Qingyan.
In fact, their last meeting had been a hasty one. If he calculated carefully, they had only seen each other a handful of times over the past six months.
Had Huo Qingyan actually become this human?
To the point where he’d care if Zhou Fu had eaten dumplings?
Jiang Su felt an inexplicable, strange sense of relief.
Suddenly, he somewhat understood why Huo Qingyan used to micromanage him in the past.
The common thread between these two things was likely that they both hoped the other person would be better off.
He scrolled to the bottom of his Moments feed and, upon returning to the top, noticed that Shen Xiumo and Zhou Fu had both posted new updates.
Jiang Su felt something was off.
He looked again and finally realized what it was.
Neither Shen Xiumo nor Zhou Fu had replied to Huo Qingyan’s comments.
Was it because he had been away from Qingyang City for too long?
Did Shen Xiumo and Zhou Fu now dare to blatantly ignore Huo Qingyan?
The phone vibrated, indicating a new message.
Jiang Su tapped back to check and saw a new message from Shen Xiumo.
Shen Xiumo: “Jiang Su, save me, please. I beg you to persuade Huo Qingyan to stop cooking for me. [Vomiting Blood.jpg]”
Jiang Su: “Cooking?”
He couldn’t imagine what Huo Qingyan looked like cooking.
Shen Xiumo: “I don’t know what kind of shock he’s received these past few months, but he’s started studying cooking. Before, he’d look for me a few times a month; now, he’s dragging me to the Qingyang Grand Hotel every other day to taste his dishes. Damn it, I just got out of the hospital and now I have to go back in… [Loud Crying.jpg]”
So… was this the reason Shen Xiumo wasn’t replying to Huo Qingyan?
Jiang Su seemed to understand why Zhou Fu wasn’t responding to Huo Qingyan either.
If even Shen Xiumo couldn’t be spared, let alone Zhou Fu.
His finger hovered over the screen for a long while before he slowly typed a sentence: “You can refuse.”
Shen Xiumo: “He offered conditions I couldn’t refuse, but I really can’t take it anymore. I want to survive the Spring Festival. [Weeping Bitterly.jpg]”
Jiang Su: “…”
Since he didn’t know what to say, he would just pretend he hadn’t seen that message.
Just as he exited the chat interface with Shen Xiumo, Zhou Fu’s message came through.
Zhou Fu: “Mr. Jiang, Happy New Year.”
Jiang Su guessed that Zhou Fu’s reason for messaging him was probably the same as Shen Xiumo’s.
Jiang Su: “Happy New Year, Special Assistant Zhou?”
Zhou Fu: “Mr. Jiang, did you eat dumplings for the New Year?”
Jiang Su: “I did.”
Zhou Fu: “I also ate them, but I never want to eat them again in this lifetime. [Image]”
Jiang Su tapped the image and saw it was a photo of an IV drip in a hospital.
On an IV drip in the hospital on New Year’s Eve…
Jiang Su: “What happened?”
Zhou Fu: “Huo Qingyan has recently become obsessed with cooking for some reason. Tonight, he asked me to pick up dumplings from the Qingyang Grand Hotel. I thought the hotel made them, but it turned out President Huo made them himself. There were green beans in the dumplings, and they weren’t cooked through.”
If green beans aren’t cooked thoroughly, eating them can cause poisoning.
Immediately after, Zhou Fu sent two emojis in a row: “[Sigh.jpg] [My Life Is So Hard.jpg]”
Jiang Su also felt that Zhou Fu’s life was indeed hard.
Zhou Fu: “Can you help me persuade President Huo, Mr. Jiang? I really don’t think he’s suited for cooking.”
Jiang Su hesitated for a moment. “Alright.”
Shen Xiumo brought it on himself, but Zhou Fu was innocent.
…
When he received Jiang Su’s WeChat message, Huo Qingyan was on his way to the hospital.
Zhou Fu had ended up in the hospital after eating his dumplings, so it was only right for him to go visit.
When he heard his phone vibrate, his hand on the steering wheel paused slightly.
The number of people on his WeChat could be counted on one hand. Shen Xiumo and Zhou Fu, whom he interacted with the most, were ignoring him. Who would be messaging him now?
When he arrived at the hospital and parked the car, he couldn’t wait to pick up his phone.
Lying quietly in the message bar was a single sentence: “Did you eat dumplings?”
Huo Qingyan stared at this message for a good while, repeatedly confirming that it was indeed sent by Jiang Su, before carefully replying: “I did, and you?”
Jiang Su: “I did too.”
The bells signaling midnight rang out at that exact moment.
Jiang Su sensed the crowd around him bubbling with excitement and looked up.
When he looked back down at his screen, he saw Huo Qingyan had sent: “Jiang Su, Happy New Year.”
It was exactly midnight.
Jiang Su: “Happy New Year.”
In past years, Huo Qingyan rarely said this to him.
He would only send Jiang Su a red packet during the New Year, the amount larger than what the Jiang family members gave him.
It was the same every year.
Jiang Su: “Did you make them yourself?”
Huo Qingyan guessed why Jiang Su was messaging him.
Huo Qingyan admitted frankly: “Mm. I sent a portion to Zhou Fu, but the green beans in the dumplings weren’t cooked through, and he ended up in the hospital.”
Jiang Su used to love using green beans as filling when he made dumplings. How come when he did it, they weren’t cooked?
Jiang Su: “You didn’t boil the green beans beforehand, did you?”
Huo Qingyan: “No…”
Jiang Su: “Next time, remember to boil them thoroughly beforehand.”
Huo Qingyan: “Okay.”
Jiang Su scrolled back through his conversation with Huo Qingyan, remembering that Zhou Fu had asked him to persuade Huo Qingyan not to cook anymore…
It seemed it was a bit too late to persuade him now.
At that moment, Huo Qingyan sent another message: “I only realized now that cooking is such a tedious thing. At first, my hands were clumsy, and I cut myself easily. I couldn’t control the heat, so I had to remake a dish many times. Stir-frying also splashes oil everywhere…”
Learning to cook wasn’t difficult; the hard part was the thought and effort required.
He hadn’t understood that before.
Thinking back on it now, he only felt that he had been a jerk.
This message was long and didn’t mention the word “sorry” at all, yet every character was filled with apology.
Jiang Su also replied with a long message:
[I once watched a foreign TV series, and there was a line that stuck with me: To eat is to acquire life. In other words, cooking is survival itself. Regardless of whether one gets married or not, please be someone who can cook.]
Back then, he had indeed learned to cook for Huo Qingyan.
Cooking itself wasn’t a bad thing.
It just shouldn’t be done with the sole purpose of pleasing someone else.
After a long time, Huo Qingyan sent another message: “Mm, I will learn properly.”
Jiang Su: “…” For a moment, he suspected the person on the other end wasn’t Huo Qingyan himself.
Fortunately, he finally had the chance to convey Zhou Fu’s thoughts: “With your current skills, you should probably refrain from cooking for others for the time being.”
Although it was indeed true that his skills were lacking, Huo Qingyan still felt a tiny bit of embarrassment.
“Then if there are dishes I don’t know how to make in the future, can I message you to ask?” Since he had already lost face, he didn’t mind losing it a few more times.
Jiang Su thought about it and replied: “You can.”
Just to prevent Huo Qingyan from poisoning himself with his own cooking.
He still had the massive Huo Corporation under him. If he kicked the bucket, the Huo Corporation would be leaderless.
He would just consider it an act of charity.
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