That mangy little thing was cute, but it had fleas and was just another mouth to feed. Tai Cheng and Yue Niang had to pry their daughter away from it, causing a week-long tantrum, but Xue Ning eventually accepted the truth - the puppy was not meant to be hers.
Now, they had to do something similar about the situation with Sun Jingwei. Sure, Jingwei wasn't some mangy puppy with fleas, but he certainly was ridden with scandal and possibly STDs! They had to dissuade her about his suitability as her husband!
"Well, I shall be the judge of whether he's good enough to join our family," Yue Niang declared imperiously, and Jingwei gulped in nervousness.
"If I find that you can't cook a good bowl of noodles, pack up and leave this town tonight!" Yue Niang declared with grim finality, looking every inch a regal queen about to sentence someone to execution. Or in this case, exile.
"Mom!" Xue Ning complained. "You're being unfair!"
"Don't worry, I'm sure my noodles will pass muster." Jingwei said, giving a polite smile, pulling himself to his full height as he met her gaze evenly.
He was trying to project confidence he wasn't feeling. He was more nervous now than his first attempt at public speaking, but he couldn't let Xue Ning's mom know! She was like a shark that sensed blood in the water. He could not show any weakness. It was strangely like dealing with his father.
"Here's your bowl," Jingwei continued, serving it along with a clean spoon and a pair of chopsticks artfully arranged on a platter. Thankfully, his fingers didn't shake.
"Would you like to have chili along with it?"
"No thank you," Yue Niang said, giving him a flinty glare as she picked up the offered chopsticks. At least his table service was acceptable.
The kitchen fell quiet as they watched her judgemental eyes peer into the bowl. Xin Yu, Wei Yan and Ming Guang were hovering right outside the kitchen, not wanting to interrupt the building tension.
Jingwei began to feel sweat forming on his palms as he watched Xue Ning's mom take a spoonful of soup and sniff it warily, her nose wrinkling.
That was not a good sign.
He tried his best with what he was given, but what if it wasn't good enough?
"I see you helped yourself to the chicken stock cubes," Xue Ning's mom commented, raising an eyebrow. Jingwei began sweating more heavily - was he not supposed to? But if he didn't, he'd be serving flour soup!
"Yes Auntie," Jingwei nodded evenly with a quick laugh. "I couldn't find any chickens to slaughter and turn into soup on such short notice, so I had to dip into your stock, my apologies."
"Yeah Mom, I told Jingwei he could use it," Xue Ning added as an extra defence. "If not, you'll be eating soy sauce flavoured flour soup!"
"Mmmm." Yue Niang hummed non-committedly as she blew gently at the spoonful, causing small ripples to appear.
Everyone held their breaths as Yue Niang spooned the first scoop of soup in her mouth, her eyes widening for a brief moment before it settled back to its judgemental gaze.
"Mom? How is it?" Tai Xuan asked eagerly. "If it sucks, you don't have to eat it - I'm sure I can cook something better for you!"
"It's…average," Yue Niang said as she scooped up a second mouthful to drink. "Nothing to brag about."
"Oh," Jingwei muttered in disappointment, deflating like a punctured balloon.
And he realised that even if it was good enough, he doubted that her parents would admit it, seeing that he got caught rutting against Xue Ning like a horndog!
'Sun Jingwei!' He mentally scolded himself.' Why do you love to sabotage yourself?!'
Xue Ning held his hand and squeezed in support.
"Mom's still eating, so it can't have been that bad," Xue Ning muttered in his ear. "Have more confidence."
Jingwei brightened at her words. Xue Ning had a point! For all her harsh critique, Xue Ning's mother was still sipping the soup with a strange complicated expression on her face.
Maybe she hated people using her chicken stock cubes without permission? Either way, it was too late for Jingwei to do anything about it. He couldn't possibly reform the dissolved cube from the soup! He was a billionaire's son, not a god.
She then used the chopsticks to grab a bunch of noodles, examining them from every angle.
"Mom, Jingwei actually made these noodles from scratch!" Xue Ning said proudly. "There were only two doughs left behind, he made six new doughs and turned them into noodles."
"You didn't pull them?" Yue Niang asked, even though she already knew the answer. "If you had, we would have gotten more noodles for the same amount of dough. Wasteful of you."
"No Ma'am - I mean yes Auntie," Jingwei said with a shamefaced look. "I don't know how to do that."
"Hmph," was Yue Niang's only response. Jingwei deflated even further, mentally kicking himself. Why hadn't he tried to create noodles via pulling? He could have searched for answers on the Internet.
"Mom, there's not much difference anyway. Noodles are noodles." Xue Ning said.
Her father let out a horrified gasp.
"Xue Ning, how can you say that? This is our family's pride and joy!"
"Are you really my daughter?" Yue Niang added, shaking her head in disappointment. "I can't believe such sacrilegious words came out of your mouth! Next thing I know you're going to be eating microwaveable ramen."
"I already do Mom," Xue Ning said, rolling her eyes. "I don't have time to cook! I'm sure our noodle ancestors will understand."
"I'll cook for you," Jingwei offered sweetly, squeezing her hand.
"Thanks," Xue Ning smiled back, giving him a quick peck in front of all her family members. Her supportive brother pretended to retch into the dustbin.
"Besides, there's no way Jingwei can master it in an evening. Would you rather have food or no food?" Xue Ning continued.
"Aish… this daughter of mine is arguing with me now that she has a boyfriend… kids these days…" Yue Niang grumbled and then took a bite of the noodles, freezing immediately as the familiar taste bloomed on her tongue, sending her on a merry trip down memory lane.
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