Chapter 73 - Make One For Me Too

Li Caiyi stretched her sore arms and yawned. That should be enough writing for now. She was so into what she was doing she did not notice that it had already gone past dinner time. 

Li Chunhua did not come to remind her about dinner this time. Usually, she would always be the first to remind her, but she did not show up this time. Li Chunhua must be furious at her. It was an expected outcome, but Li Caiyi still felt it was unfortunate.

Her stomach was growling, so she rose from her seat and walked out of the room. However, different from her expectation, there was no food on top of the table. 

Su Suyin would usually prepare some food on the table and wrap it with aluminum foil if Li Junjie got hungry during his midnight study. But this time, there was no food left.

Li Caiyi was hungry, so she checked on the fridge to find some food wrapped in aluminum foil, but with some post-it pasted on it. It said: 'Ah Jie's portion, don't eat!'

After she read that, a realization sunk in. It seemed she was in the middle of punishment for disobeying her mother this afternoon. For her mother to resort to a tactic like this, she must have been enraged by her attitude this afternoon. It was like Su Suyin was trying to tell her not to eat her food unless Li Caiyi apologized or admitted her mistake.

It was a lie if Li Caiyi said she was unbothered by it. Unlike her father, she had not completely given up on her mother yet. She believed that her mother was also a victim of the whole situation, and thus, she could not hate her as much. However, being treated like this was still discouraging.

She could not help but wonder if what she was doing was correct or not, once again. 

Li Caiyi heaved a long sigh, lamenting why it was so hard to have a normal life. Then, she took some ingredients from the fridge, like eggs, green onion, sausage, and others. She planned to make a plate of simple fried rice for herself. Li Caiyi was relieved she learned how to cook after getting married in her previous life. She did not have to wait for her mother to feed her food because she could make it herself.

Li Caiyi began by slicing the ingredients and cracking the egg. Then she made sure the fire was on medium heat before she poured some cooking oil into the pan and waited until it heated a bit. She dumped the vegetables and stirred them until they cooked. Then, she poured the egg mixture with salt and seasoning into the pan until it became a scrambled egg. After that, she added a rice bowl, soy sauce, some salt, and pepper and stirred it together. 

It did not take much time. Li Caiyi turned off the stove and put the rice onto a plate after some pleasant aroma wafted from it. She brought them to the dining table with a glass of water and ate her self-made dinner. 

The taste was not bad at all. She could do better if there were more ingredients, though.

Li Caiyi was so into eating she did not notice that a figure had crept up behind her. 

"What are you eating?"

Li Caiyi was so surprised she choked on her rice and coughed violently. She quickly gulped down the water and inhaled a deep breath after she could breathe normally. 

"Brother Jie? Please don't show up from behind me like that. You scared me."

"What are you eating? It smells good." Li Junjie tilted his head and noticed what Li Caiyi was eating. "Did Mother make it for you?"

"No, I made it by myself."

"You are?" Li Junjie's brows raised slightly, but it quickly returned to its natural curve. "You gained a lot of new skills lately. It's a bit unbelievable."

Li Caiyi did not know whether her brother said that with some suspicion because his expression was too flat for her to make out anything, but it'd be better to play safe just in case!

"I learned it for a long time but did not have many chances to try it. I was the one who made this fried rice, but it actually didn't taste that good."

"Really?" Li Junjie looked down at the plate skeptically. "The smell was delicious, so I came out to check. I thought Mother came back earlier."

"Did Mother go somewhere?"

Li Junjie nodded. "Yeah. She went out with Xiaohua after dinner. They said they were going to watch a movie or something. I thought you were going to follow them. Since when did you come back?"

Li Caiyi smiled faintly. She had always been in her room all this time. Li Junjie rarely came out of his room after he got home, so it was inevitable if he did not know she was at home, but Li Chunhua and Su Suyin clearly knew she was in the house, yet they did not invite her to go with them. On top of that, Su Suyin also did not bother to prepare some food for her before she left. 

It appeared like they were working together to teach her a lesson. Li Caiyi felt uncomfortable inside, but this resulted from her choice. Even if they came to hate her, there was nothing she could do about that. She had decided that she would not live a miserable life anymore, so they were wrong if they thought they could force her to give up using this method.

But still, it stung a bit when she knew the truth.

Li Junjie noticed the sad look on Li Caiyi's face, and he just knew that something must have happened between the women in the house again. He did not like to get involved in women's fights because it was such a hassle, so he did not continue talking about this matter and sat on the chair across from Li Caiyi instead.

"Make a portion for me too, then."

"Ah?" Li Caiyi was astonished. "But Brother Jie, didn't you already have dinner before this?"

"I still have room for a portion. I'm curious about your cooking, so make a plate for me, too."

"Are you sure? The taste is okay, but it may not be to your taste."

"I know. I won't expect anything fancy from you. Just do your best to make it."

Li Caiyi did not know why her brother would suddenly make an arbitrary request like that. However, it was very rare to spend time with her brother alone like this, so Li Caiyi was elated. 

"Got it! I'll do my best!" Li Caiyi smiled before she walked to the kitchen. She used the leftover ingredients to save time and quickly made another portion of fried rice for her brother.

In less than 15 minutes, Li Caiyi came back with a warm plate of fried rice in her hand. "It's done! Try it, Brother!"

Li Junjie looked down at the fried rice in front of him. It did look like a normal, simple fried rice, but why did it smell so delicious? Li Junjie used a spoon to scoop some rice and ate it. Li Caiyi waited for his reaction, feeling a little nervous. 

"It's pretty good," Li Junjie said honestly before taking more bites of it. Li Caiyi sighed in relief. 

Li Junjie was not lying when he said he could still squeeze in a portion to his belly because he had cleaned his plate in a matter of minutes.