Chapter 10

Footsteps echoed in the bedroom; it was Li Ye doing his pre-sleep exercises.

We ate way too much for dinner. Half a six-inch fruit cream cake, a plate of grilled skewers, a plate of fried skewers, and two pots of tea were all shared among the three of us and we managed to finish it all.

As a consequence, Ms. Li, who doesn't usually do square dancing, dragged Mr. Li downstairs to do friendly dancing after dinner. Now the music has been turned off, and the couple still haven't returned.

Winter nights are windy, and Li Ye doesn't want to go out, so she can only exercise at home. She can't do strenuous exercise, since she just wants to sleep comfortably, not that she doesn't want to sleep at all.

After pacing around the bedroom a few times, Li Ye suddenly remembered the digestive tablets. He went to the living room to find the medicine box and remembered that there was still a strip of digestive tablets that he hadn't finished.

For a family that eats out at least once a week, this is a staple medication. But for the same reason, we rarely eat this much. Most of the time, going out for a walk makes us feel much better, so we often forget that we have this medication.

The medicine box was placed on the coffee table in the living room, with digestive tablets on top of it. Seeing that there were only two tablets left, Li Ye knew that the adults had specially saved them for her, and she also knew that the two of them had gone out to play again since they were not home yet.

After quickly chewing the two pills, Li Ye put the medicine box back in its place and went back to his bedroom. He estimated that he had about two hours left to sleep, so he turned on his computer and started processing the photos he had taken that day.

Aside from the group photos featuring himself, which were taken in burst mode, the other two food photos were simply imported and saved to the computer. Li Ye's tricky subjects have always been portraits, whether it's painting or photography. He often spends more effort on them but never achieves the desired results, which can be described as doing twice the work for half the result.

This situation is actually somewhat better when Li Ye himself is unable to control everything, as is the group photo currently displayed on the computer.

The continuous photos can be played back with effects. Li Ye just looked at Zhou Yuan like this. Frame by frame on the computer, Zhou Yuan shifted his gaze from the camera he was facing to Li Ye's face, and then returned to the camera in the last few frames.

He knew that Li Ye would look back at the photos and select some to share. Just like many times in the past, Zhou Yuan knew what others would do and would intentionally take advantage of it to achieve his own goals.

Zhou Yuan did it on purpose.

Slightly annoyed, Li Ye canceled the effect and picked out the photos with the most obvious differences to put side by side. She needed to know what the other party was trying to do in order to respond accordingly.

Circle the eyes and the corners of the mouth, these are the most obvious parts that are moving. After finding the differences, blur and overlay the image. The more you look at it, the weaker Li Ye's insignificant anger becomes.

When Li Ye realized that Zhou Yuan's smile was widest when he was looking at her, she slumped over the computer. After so many years, she felt a surge of heat in her blood as she looked at Zhou Yuan again, her face burning red, and she didn't dare to touch him.

What should I do?

Unable to face his feelings, Li Ye buried his head and muttered to himself.

Waking up to several alarms in a row, Zhou Yuan got out of bed at seven o'clock and sneaked to the dining room, intending to finish the cake left over from yesterday. However, he saw his mother also appearing in the dining room, wearing pajamas and holding a piece of cake that Li Ye had cut from her portion.

Without saying a word, Zhou Yuan opened the refrigerator. Inside, there was only half of the cake that Li Ye had made, the half that he had eaten himself. He took it out and sat down at the table with his mother to eat it in silence.

Zhou's mother calmly finished the last bite of cake. She didn't feel uncomfortable eating the cream on an empty stomach in the morning, and it was still delicious even after a night. She concluded that...

"Ono's cooking is better than yours."

The sweetness of other people's good harvest, compared to the bitterness of one's own, is so bittersweet it makes one's heart ache.

"Young people should find their own way. I'll just watch from the sidelines and won't interfere."

There was no way to avoid the gaze. As soon as Li Ye entered the Zhou family home, he saw the two elders sitting in the living room. Zhou Yuan hadn't mentioned that there were other people in the house, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and greet them.

"Good afternoon, Uncle and Aunt. I'm here to see Zhou Yuan, about making the cake again."

"I know, I know. Yuan Yuan told us that he deliberately stayed at home because he wanted to see what he was like in the kitchen."

"Don't feel awkward, just stay in the living room like you're at home. We won't go into the kitchen."

Li Ye went to find Zhou Yuan with a stiff face. He was already in the kitchen wearing an apron. When he saw Li Ye coming over, he handed him a newly bought apron and leaned in to apologize in a low voice: "I just found out that Mom and Dad were home this afternoon."

Taking a few deep breaths, Li Ye tried to calm himself down, and while putting on his apron, asked Zhou Yuan, "What do you want to do today?"

"Chocolate cake. All ingredients are ready, and the recipe is here."

Zhou Yuan remembered that the only time Li Ye ever had a double-layered birthday cake was a chocolate one, and it was also unusual for him to share it with the neighbors on the upper and lower floors of the apartment building who were celebrating the New Year at home. His family received three cakes, which was said to be Li Ye's idea.

Taking the recipe, which was clearly copied from somewhere, Li Ye decided that Zhou Yuan would be the only one to make it today; one chocolate cake would be enough.

"This is a sponge cake. The method is different from the chiffon cake we used before. This one is a bit more difficult."

I think I saw this food video somewhere. The recipe I copied seemed pretty normal. I bought double the ingredients. I've never made it before, but I can give it a try. Zhou Yuan even bought a measuring cup, so there's still hope for success.

"First, cut the chocolate. Make sure you bought the right cocoa concentration for the dark chocolate. Chop it into two equal portions. Also, make two portions of the heavy cream."

Zhou Yuan was cutting chocolate on a small cutting board, while Li Ye read the recipe aloud beside him, watching to see if he was making any mistakes.

"To heat the heavy cream, first pour a little heavy cream into the chocolate and stir. Continue heating the heavy cream, and when it's almost boiling, slowly pour it into the chocolate while stirring constantly."

Zhou Yuan took out a small pot to cook the light cream. He had watched the video too many times in the past two days and remembered every step. He was still worried that there would be problems with the coordination of both hands when he actually did it. Fortunately, there were no problems.

"This is chocolate ganache. Let it cool down a bit, then cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it. It will be used as a filling for cakes."

"Now let's start making the sponge cake base. First, beat the eggs, one by one into a small bowl to prevent the use of spoiled or less fresh eggs. Egg yolks from eggs that have been stored for a long time are too easy to break apart. This recipe requires six egg yolks and two whole eggs."

"Hmm? Oh. It's nothing, I just noticed it's the size for an eight-inch cake."

Zhou Yuan had separated egg whites and yolks when he made a cake last time, and now he was even more skilled at it. The eggs were fresh, and the yolks were easy to separate.

"Boil water, then whisk the eggs over the hot water until they form a ribbon-like shape when lifted. Continue whisking until doubled in size. Add the melted butter, cocoa powder, and cake flour. It's best to sift the dry ingredients first. Mix them well."

The troublesome part of this step is that you have to prepare the materials first, otherwise it's easy to get flustered. Fortunately, Zhou Yuan has a good memory and steady hands.

"Stir until there is no dry powder, then pour it into the mold. Line the bottom of the mold with parchment paper, grease the sides with butter, preheat the oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Adjust the time according to your oven."

At this point, Zhou Yuan could finally relax a little. He looked at Li Ye, then at the unused whipped cream and the six egg whites, and then back at Li Ye.

Li Ye said, "Let's wait for the oven to finish cooking."

"Soufflé, pudding, and crispy cookies all require an oven. Pudding doesn't need an oven, but you can replace it with steamed eggs."

Zhou Yuan opened the cabinet where the tea was stored and let her choose the tea she wanted to drink. Considering that she would be eating a lot of chocolate later, Li Ye chose traditional black tea to go with it and planned to boil milk when she got home.

After the black tea was brewed, Li Ye, who hadn't lifted a finger today, stayed in the kitchen. She didn't really want to go to the living room to sit. When Zhou Yuan returned with the tea for his parents, she handed him a cup as well. The two of them held their teacups and stared at the cake in the oven.

Time flies when you're daydreaming. The cake was baked and cooled quickly. After slicing it into three pieces, I started assembling it. I took out the chocolate ganache from the refrigerator and layered the cake and chocolate to make five layers. Then I made the ganache I made earlier again to use as a glaze.

Zhou Yuan went to look at the chocolates that had spilled onto the tray. Li Ye almost laughed, but there were still people around, so he held back.

"Put the cake in the refrigerator first, then put the extra chocolate into a piping bag. We can use it up when we're decorating."

Have you figured out how to use up the egg whites and heavy cream yet?

Zhou Yuan was tidying up the kitchen, and since he didn't know much about desserts, he entrusted the choice to Li Ye: "Just use them all up."

"Take four oven-safe bowls and make soufflés. These can be eaten while they're hot."

Once Li Ye decided what to do, he acted extremely quickly. With his skilled work, he even had the leisure to remind Zhou Yuan that he could take out the cake to decorate it. In the end, four bowls of soufflé and the decorated chocolate cake were placed on the table at the same time.

Taking off the apron is a declaration that the kitchen work is over. Zhou's parents can finally move from the living room to the dining room. However, due to Zhou Yuan's not-so-distant criminal record, no one is the first to say that they want to cut it open and taste it.

"Snap!"

After taking a picture of the chocolate cake with his phone, Li Ye said, "Zhou Yuan, come cut the cake. Cut me a small piece, or I won't be able to sleep at night if I eat too much chocolate."

Zhou Yuan was clearly stunned for a moment before cutting the cake into eight pieces. He then cut half of the cake for Li Ye and put it on his own plate.

It seems Zhou Yuan didn't make many mistakes today. Li Ye was the first to eat the cake. She didn't dislike the chocolate flavor, but she thought the cake was a bit too sweet, though that was a problem with the recipe.

"It's delicious. Did you find a foreign recipe? It's a bit too sweet for domestic tastes."

I scooped up another spoonful of her soufflé. Judging from its appearance, it was a success. One bite revealed it to be as soft and fluffy as a cloud. This time, it was a success too.

Seeing that Li Ye didn't go for tea after finishing his meal, the three of them went to eat their own chocolates. They had expected it to be sweet, but it tasted unexpectedly delicious.

"Yuanyuan is very serious about his work and studies." This was the praise from Zhou's father.

"You did a good job this time." came the encouragement from Zhou's mother.

"It's a success." Zhou Yuan thought it was only half successful, but having known Li Ye's attitude towards the chocolate cake beforehand, it was a success overall.

When Zhou Yuan helped deliver two cakes to Li Ye's house, he asked about the chocolate cakes he used to send during Chinese New Year. Li Ye confirmed his guess.

"It was that time that I realized how sensitive I was to chocolate products. What's worse, Ms. Li also baked a small one, which led to the two-layer cake you mentioned."

"The amount of food prepared for the New Year was not reduced, but it was not given away to people everywhere. I did not expect it to cause such a misunderstanding for you."

Zhou Yuan didn't ask why he didn't tell him these things. He just said in a very ordinary tone, "In the future, we will discover pasts that are different from our memories, and we will have a deeper understanding of each other. Let's work hard together."

"Oh." Li Ye was puzzled, but felt that Zhou Yuan had suddenly become more motivated.