Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak, my tears streamed down unexpectedly without control.

          Jiang Li squatted down and looked at my face with shock.  "You are……crying?"

          Nonsense, are you blind?!

          The tone of his voice became a bit softer.  "You look better when you are crying than laughing."

          I raised my eyes to look at his face that was in close proximity and nearly wanted to give him a punch in his face which could distort his facial features.

          He got up from his squatting position then sat down on the sofa and handed me a few paper tissues.  "Even with such thick skin, you are still able to cry to this state.  Who bullied you?"

          I took the paper tissues from him to wipe my tears but did not say anything.  Yeah, who am I crying for?  Who bullied me?  Nobody……and, who said I am thick-skinned?…..

          He leaned back on the sofa and said indifferently.  "Did you lose your job again?  It's not a big deal, I will support you."

          I felt he was gloating over my misery, so I retorted.  "Who needs you to support?!"

          Jiang Li replied.  "After getting bullied outside, now you come back to vent your anger on me……you are really something."

          Ignoring him, I got up and was about to go to the kitchen to cook as a way of distraction.

          JL:  "What do you want to do?"

          Me:  "Prepare dinner."

          Suddenly he grabbed my wrist, pulled me down and pushed me against the sofa.

          I was really angry.  "What are you doing?"

          He replied unhurriedly.  "I'm afraid you will burn down my kitchen."

          "Jiang Li!  Will you stop bullying me?  I'm not in a good mood!"

          "I'm not bullying you."  He thought for a moment, then suddenly got up and said.  "I'll cook and you supervise."

          I thought I heard wrongly.

          Jiang Li rarely cooks therefore, this time I cheered up and walked with him to the kitchen. 

          He pointed to the corner of the kitchen and said to me.  "Stay here and do not move.  Just supervise."

          I honestly did as told.

          Jiang Li removed all the fresh vegetables from the fridge, threw away those that were not fresh and put the rest into the washbasin, skillfully picking and washing the vegetables.

          I was in awe.  "You are very professional, not like someone who does not know how to cook."

          With his head lowered while washing the vegetables, he replied.   "I can only wash vegetables.  In the past, my mother did the cooking at home while I washed the vegetables and my father washed the dishes."

          Such a happy family.  I was a little jealous of him and he seemed to guess what I was thinking.  Suddenly he looked up at me and said.  "In the future, you can treat my father as your father.  You should not regard yourself as an outsider." 

          Although his words sounded out of place, I was touched.  Occasionally he is able to say something with compassion. 

          After washing the vegetables, Jiang Li piled up the carrots, spinach, and other vegetables together.  He placed his left hand behind his back and with his right hand, he started to chop up the vegetables. 

          I was shocked and stood rooted on the spot for a long time before I recovered. 

          Then trembling I said.  "Jiang Li, you are not chopping ribs……."

          He stopped and said in embarrassment.  "I……am afraid, I will cut my hand……."

          It seems Jiang Li is a good child who valued his life.  Although he had no experience in cutting vegetables, he was willing to do it and his willingness to cook was a rarity which I truly cherished at this moment.  Unconsciously I let out a light, unkind laugh.

          He did not appear to be angry and without any change in his expression nor was he breathless, he continued his 'chopping' of the poor vegetables. 

          Looking at the pile of multi-colored chopped up vegetables on the chopping board, in my mind, a scary image popped up with the words……..minced corpse.

          After chopping for a while, Jiang Li put down the kitchen knife then looked at me with satisfaction and asked.  "Not bad, right?"

          I shivered in my heart and replied.  "It's okay."

          "So, what should I do next?"

          I stared at the pile of vegetables and thought for a while, then finally decided.  "Why not just fry the vegetables?"

          So Jiang Li deftly turned on the fire with the frying pan sitting on top of the stove and held up the plate of chopped up vegetables in his hand.  After throwing all the vegetables into the frying pan he mimicked an expert cook and shoveled the vegetables messily around in the pan. 

          Unable to control my laughter, I hurriedly said.  "Not like that, not like that!  First, you have to wash the frying pan, then put in a little oil and then only put in the vegetables!"

          He switched off the gas and turned around to point at the corner where I had stood earlier and said.  "Stay back."

          Suddenly I stopped short and obediently went back to my corner.  Then I realized......His uncle…….why should I listen to him?

          Feeling displeased, I used his words to refute him.  "Jiang Li, I'm afraid you will burn down the kitchen."

          He replied indignantly.  "It doesn’t matter.  You are here!"

          What was that?!

          "Jiang Li, wait for the pan to heat up before putting in the oil!"

          "Aiya,ya……don’t put too much!"

          "Stupid……wait for a while before you put in the vegetables!"

          "Okay, okay……then put in soy sauce……no, that's vinegar!"

          "Fire! ! ! "  Immediately I squatted down on the ground.  Although I often cook, a fire in the kitchen is rare and I am afraid of fire.

          He hurriedly covered the pan with a lid without showing any panic at all.  He turned around to look at my bear-like stance and proudly said.  "I learned this trick in kindergarten."

          Me:  "……"

          I really did not understand.  Apparently, the person who did not know how to cook was him but...... why is the person being laughed at……is me?

          With a satisfied sense of accomplishment, Jiang Li dished up his vegetables into a basin…….yes….. that is correct, I did not say anything wrong.  It is indeed a basin because a plate is unable to hold all the vegetables! 

          After ladling the vegetables, he asked.  "What else is there to do?"

          "Er, why not steam egg custard?"  Failure in steaming egg custard was relatively low and of course, there was another reason……in addition to eggs, we had run out of raw ingredients…….

          He nodded to indicate his agreement to my suggestion of steamed egg custard.

          I kindly reminded him.  "Jiang Li, you still have not steamed rice yet."

          "Right, I have to steam rice."  He looked at the eggs in his hands and mumbled to himself.  "Steam egg custard first, or steam rice first?....."

          "You can steam them together."  Steam together…….don't we all understand the meaning of this?

         (A steamed egg custard dish is cooked by steaming whisked egg in a deep plate over boiling water.)

          He looked at me incredulously and asked with uncertainty.  "Can we really do that?"

          "Nonsense, of course!"

          Then he washed the rice, put the rice in the cooker, added water, plugged in the cooker and started the cooking process.

          He cracked a few eggs into a bowl, gave the eggs a few stirs with a spoon (I sweated profusely), whisked a few times (which I taught him), and then added sesame oil and salt (which I also taught him).  Then he made an extremely astonishing move that I did not even have time to react. 

          He held up the bowl of whisked eggs that was ready for steaming and lifted up the cover of the rice cooker.  With a flick of his wrist, he neatly poured the beaten eggs into the uncooked rice..........       

          I stood frozen on the spot as I stared at the gurgling boiling water together with bits of eggs and rice that was bubbling in the rice cooker and laughed at the madness in this world.

          It was ruined, completely ruined……..

          He proudly used a pair of chopsticks to stir the mixture in the rice cooker and looked back at me.  Seeing that something was not right, he asked cautiously.  "What…… what did I do wrong?"

          He must be joking…….what is wrong?......

          Jiang Li thought carefully for a moment and said righteously.  "There is nothing wrong.  I had done everything as you had instructed.  Wash rice, beat eggs and steam together….."

          Steam together……so that was what he understood?  I paused for a moment, leaned against the wall behind me and could barely stand steadily.

          When Jiang Li laid out the appalling food that he had personally prepared on the dining table, I still stood stupidly in the corner of the kitchen.  In my head, I heard a voice echoed ……this is not true......not true…….

          After he had laid out the table with food, he led me to the dining room and said.  "Come and eat.  Don’t be shy or are you waiting for me to feed you?"

          I desperately resisted.  "No, no…..I don’t want to eat!"

          Impatiently he dragged me along and said.  "I have already cooked for you, so don’t be choosy.  Do you see me being choosy about the food when I eat?"

          Hey, hey…..that is because the food I cooked is normal!

          Jiang Li pushed me onto a chair and placed a bowl of boiled rice with egg in front of me.  I picked up the chopsticks, stabbed into the bowl of rice......stab, stab, stab…….I refused to eat.

          Jiang Li got angry, sat down beside me and grabbed the chopsticks from my hand.  I thought he was going to throw the rice away......good, throw it away then I don’t have to eat.

          However, he used the chopsticks to pick up a mixture of rice and egg, then held my neck firmly and lifted up the rice and egg mixture in front of me.  In a low voice, he said. "Come, eat this."

          I had always thought that the slightly hoarse, low-tone male voice was used to seduce a woman (or man), but I did not expect it could actually be used to coax someone to eat. 

          Unfortunately, my resistance to charms had increased so even if he could muster such a seductive voice to tempt me, I still refused to eat. 

          However, he did not give up but instead lowered his head and said faintly into my ear.  "If you refuse to eat, the consequences will be very serious……"

          I laughed.  "For example?" 

          Paper tiger, I don’t believe you can do anything to me!

          "For example……"  Jiang Li muttered and suddenly his voice became cold.  "For example, bursting your chrysanthemum!"

          I shivered and nearly fell off my chair.

          Jiang Li, you are too evil!

          He rested his hands on my shoulder then smiled and said.  "Come, eat this.  This is delicious."

          Trembling, I opened my mouth and bite into the rice and egg mixture.

          Unexpectedly it was not as unpleasant as I had thought.  Although the eggs were overcooked, the rice tasted fairly normal.  Of course, it was not really delicious but it could still be eaten.

          "Delicious?"

          I nodded while holding back my tears.  Do I dare to say otherwise?

          He nodded with satisfaction and picked up a piece of carrot.   "Come, eat some vegetables."

          I looked at the odd-looking, blackish colored carrot and cried in my heart without tears.

          Under Jiang Li's coaxing and persuasion which in fact was a threat, I ate half a bowl of the rice and egg mixture and also some vegetables which were over seasoned with soy sauce and salt (could be referred to as salt fried with vegetables).  With my obedient cooperation, Jiang Li finally released me.  He looked at his accomplishment with satisfaction and asked.  "Is it delicious?"

          He had asked no less than 200 times.  I nodded fiercely…..delicious, delicious, argh!

          Jiang Li smiled modestly and said.  "Good isn’t it?  Then why don’t you eat some more?"

          I desperately shook my head…..don’t want to eat…….Uncle Jiang, please let this little one go!…..

          Jiang Li amicably patted my head.  "Wife, now I realized my cooking is really not bad.  Why don’t I cook starting from today?"

          I was scared stiff and shook my head continuously……Uncle Jiang, you should take a rest!

          Jiang Li's face showed a troubled expression.  "But you don’t want to cook."

          "I will, I will do the cooking, I swear!"  My eyes were full of sincerity and my expression was serious. 

          You must be kidding, you don’t have to torture me this way!

          Jiang Li under the pretense of being embarrassed nodded his head.  I let out a sigh of relief……Oh my God, my old bones can’t stand any more abuse.

          Jiang Li picked up a piece of vegetable cooked in salt and without even chewing, he had spat out the vegetable.

          And in my heart, my tears were flowing in rivers.

          Ever since then, I firmly believed in my heart that Jiang Li is not a human but a scum!