Chapter 37
Chapter 37
"Jiang Li, be gentle..."
"Oww... that hurts."
Defeated by the sizzling oil's sneak-attack, Kakayan finally triggered her loss sound-effect and dropped obediently into the chair, eyes closed while Jiang Li fussed over her.
"There's barely a scratch—just dab a little saliva on it and you'll be fine."
After a careful inspection, Jiang Li delivered his verdict.
"How can it be nothing? What if it blisters?"
Kakayan cupped her face, delicate brows drawn together.
"You've got thick skin."
She kept yelping in pain, but Jiang Li couldn't find a single mark on her cheeks.
Seen this close, Witch Miss Kakayan's complexion really was flawless—pale and poreless.
"Take another look."
She tilted her head, afraid he might miss something.
"Chin up."
Since he'd be filming her tomorrow, Jiang Li humored her with one last check.
Oil-splash burns were common in any kitchen; most of the time you rinsed them with cold water and forgot about them. As long as you didn't smear random toothpaste on the spot, the skin would heal on its own.
"All good—nothing there."
Standing in front of her, Jiang Li swept his gaze over her face once more and confirmed it was unmarred.
"Really?"
Kakayan opened her eyes. Through the fringe of her bangs their gazes met—her violet pupils flickered, then steadied.
"If you don't believe me, go look in the bathroom mirror." Jiang Li was done arguing. "I'm eating."
"I want food too."
She blinked, spun back to the table.
Jiang Li went to the kitchen and brought out the two dishes he'd just finished. Lunch was hot-and-sour shredded potatoes and pork with green peppers, plus an entire rice cooker of steamed rice. If that wasn't enough, they'd just keep eating tonight.
"It smells amazing."
Using the shortened training chopsticks, Kakayan lifted a huge bite of potato.
She'd assumed the bland tuber would taste like nothing, but after Jiang Li's quick toss in the wok it had turned sweet-and-sour and irresistible—like magic.
"Jiang Li, is that black pot in your kitchen a magic artifact?"
Between bites she kept sneaking glances at it.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because anything tasteless goes in that pot and comes out edible. And it attacked me," she added.
"That's called oil."
Jiang Li tapped the table with a forefinger. "I told you to watch—what exactly were you watching?"
"I got attacked, so I stopped watching." Kakayan muttered, cheeks puffed as she viciously chewed another mouthful of potato.
After swallowing, she said, "It's all this dish's fault."
"You're blaming the wrong culprit." Jiang Li snorted and pointed his chopsticks at the pork with green peppers. "That's what attacked you."
"Oh..."
Realization dawned; she stabbed another mountain of pork and peppers.
Watching her inhale the food, Jiang Li suddenly noticed something off.
"Don't just eat the dishes—eat them with rice. They're meant to go together."
"...I already ate rice this morning."
"Now you're getting picky? Finish every grain in this pot—orders."
Jiang Li had seen picky eaters, but never anyone picky about rice.
...
After lunch Jiang Li sat back at the laptop. To prepare for tomorrow's trip to the city museum, he wanted to look up some guides.
He opened a browser and, beneath the search bar, spotted a string of questionable search history. He figured it must have been from boredom before the transmigration; the computer had kindly saved it all.
He suddenly understood why the algorithm kept feeding him borderline videos when he let Kakayan swipe through clips. Good thing he caught it—once she could read better, this search log would become his black history, item by item.
While the clatter of dishes came from the kitchen, Jiang Li deleted each entry. The thought struck him that Kakayan needed to learn how to use a search engine. She could ask him anything when he was around, but if she was going to live long-term on Earth, information retrieval was essential. Otherwise she'd treat him like a walking encyclopedia.
Just then Kakayan finished washing up and stepped out. Jiang Li beckoned her, but she ignored him, turned into the bathroom, and spent a while examining her reflection before emerging.
Her temperament really was as fickle as a cat's.
"What is it?"
She sat beside him and looked at the screen.
"This is a search engine. After you open it, you can look up whatever you want to know."
He walked her through the process, fingers guiding hers.
Typing with two careful index fingers, she slowly pecked out four characters: "Ai Ze Continent."
Jiang Li silently corrected the typos and hit Enter. The results were novels, game links, videos—nothing she actually wanted to see.
He closed the page, opened a video site, and the two of them sat scrolling through short videos in silence. Colorful light reflected in her clear eyes, but Jiang Li couldn't tell whether she was still thinking of home.