Time passed until it was finally noon. Bai Chen was invited to the dining room. Of course, the one who had invited him was Xu Xue Ning, who had just finished preparing the meal a little while before that.
Bai Chen was sitting at the dining table inside the room. In front of him was a round dining table with a lazy Susan. The lazy Susan was not big, but it was large enough to hold several types of food.
The dining table was not empty. It was full of various types of food. There were five different dishes on it.
There was Peking duck with a sauce, roasted chicken wings with a red sauce, mapo tofu, stir-fried bok choy, and boiled five-spice eggs. It could be seen that the food that Xu Xue Ning made usually did not contain soup.
Maybe she was more of an expert in this kind of food.
The smell of her food filled the dining room. Everyone was quite ready to taste it.
Bai Chen was no exception. He looked at each plate with longing eyes.
He was not alone in the dining room. On his left was Xu Xue Ning and on his right was the cute little Xu Er Er, who was also looking at all the food with sparkly eyes, and opposite to him was Xu Xin Tong.
Xu Xin Tong’s eyes were fixed not on the food, but on Bai Chen. She truly liked her big sister’s food, but her interest in Bai Chen was stronger than her appetite.
Even though Xu Xue Ning had already explained everything to her, she still could not let go of her interest in Bai Chen.
It was because he looked so like the middle-aged man who had saved her life from the great assassin Hei Chang, she still thought that he might be her savior’s relative or nephew for sure.
She finally decided to ask him right after the meal.
“Would you like to start now?”
Not only Bai Chen, Xu Xue Ning, Xu Xin Tong, and Xu Er Er were in the room, Auntie Yi was also present. She was standing beside the dining table and a trolley with a serving bowl of rice on it.
“Auntie Yi, could you please serve us rice?” Xu Xue Ning nodded.
Auntie Yi quickly served rice to everyone at the dining table.
After the rice had been served, she excused herself from the room to do her other chores.
Xu Xue Ning had actually invited Auntie Yi to eat with everyone, but Auntie Yi rejected the offer because she had already eaten.
Even though Auntie Yi was merely someone who took care of all the household chores, Xu Xue Ning and the others still treated her well. They saw her as their blood-related aunt.
After Auntie Yi left, Xu Xue Ning told Bai Chen to start eating the food that she had made by herself.
Of course, at this time, Bai Chen had started to feel hungry, so he did not hesitate to accept the invitation and nodded. He used his chopsticks to grab the Peking duck and put it in his mouth.
He began to chew and taste the food in his mouth. Then, his eyes shone with happiness.
“Very delicious!” He could not help but blurt this out after he had swallowed the Peking duck.
He thought that this Peking duck with sauce was truly delicious; it could be said that he had almost never tasted any Peking duck dish this good before.
However, he still thought that the very same dish his mother made was the most delicious for him. Xu Xue Ning was the second best after his mother’s in his opinion.
Hearing what Bai Chen said, Xu Xue Ning suddenly felt happiness in her heart. It was so new to her because this was the very first time a man who was not one of her family members had complimented her cooking.
One could say that Bai Chen was the very first man who had an opportunity to taste her home-cooked food, other than her father and grandfather.
‘Why do I have to feel happy that he complimented my food?’
After feeling the happiness in her heart, Xu Xue Ning could not help but feel curious about her complicated feelings.
‘Have I fallen in love with Elder Chen Bai?’
She was confused. She had never been in love with nor liked any man, a member of the opposite gender, before. She knew what love was because she had studied it from the Internet and television series that she had watched.
If one were to ask her if she had ever loved anyone, the answer would be ‘no’.
‘No... I don’t think I’m in love with him. I just respect him. And he even told me that he likes Long Xu In...’
Xu Xue Ning decided to believe in her own thoughts. She did not like Bai Chen, as it was impossible—because they had known each other for only a short while.
The reason why she had been feeling all these complicated things was because of Zheng Fang’s words. Even though Bai Chen seemed to act like he was interested in her, there was no proof whatsoever.
After thinking this, the complicated feelings that she had felt suddenly vanished into thin air. They were replaced with a feeling that was slowly and quietly building up in her heart. A feeling that even Xu Xue Ning herself could not understand at the moment.
“I told you that my big sister cooks really delicious food.” The cute little Xu Er Er laughed happily. She talked while she was eating the food joyfully.
All the time that Bai Chen was in the living room with her, their bond had gotten much stronger than before.
“Mm-hmm... I believe you now.” Bai Chen smiled and started to enjoy everything that Xu Xue Ning had cooked. This meal was such a treat for him.
Xu Xin Tong ate quietly. She did not say anything. Her coolness had returned to her once again after it had crumbled into ruins.
It was the same with Xu Xue Ning. She also ate quietly while dealing with the complicated feelings that she felt, even though she was sure that she had already understood everything.
However, she felt like there was something amiss in her heart. Of course, she did not know what it was. Thus, she decided to pay no mind to it.
About forty-five minutes later, everyone was full. Bai Chen was the biggest eater at the table. He was so full because he had asked for more rice three times.
Auntie Yi collected all the plates to wash them. Bai Chen walked over to the front door because he was ready to leave.
“Thank you very much for the food.” Bai Chen expressed his gratitude to Xu Xue Ning.
Xu Xue Ning shook her head. It was actually she who should be thanking him.
“I’ll drive you back,” she blurted out.
“Okay.” Bai Chen did not have any reason to reject the offer.
Suddenly, Xu Xin Tong walked up to them and held out a landline phone to Xu Xue Ning. “Big sister, it’s mother. She asked for you.”
“Mother?” Xu Xue Ning listened to what her mother had to say on the phone, then her facial expression changed. End of Chapter 158
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