Chapter 300 — Absolutely Inedible

"N... no..." Guan Xin stuck out her tongue, a little embarrassed. "Wei Zhao, do you feel like having instant noodles?"

"Me? I suppose I wouldn't mind..." Wei Zhao was rather puzzled. Why was Guan Xin so intent on making him eat instant noodles? Not wanting to embarrass her, he answered offhandedly.

"Then that's great! I like them too. Shall I go make two bowls?" Guan Xin was pleased by his answer. "I'll go right now..."

"Guan Xin, you sit right where you are!" Guan Xuewen was furious. He dropped even the affectionate "Xin-Xin" and used her full name.

"Oh..." Guan Xin felt aggrieved, but she could not very well explain the real reason, so she sat down in sullen silence. If only she had known—she would never have made the food taste so awful. Even a plain, careless dish, cooked without much effort at all, would have been very, very tasty...

"Ha... I haven't had instant noodles in ages. I've actually missed that flavor." Wei Zhao smiled. "Grandpa Guan, don't be angry. Guan Xin is just being a little too hospitable..."

Guan Xin threw Wei Zhao a grateful look. She had been about to poison him to death, and still he smoothed things over for her—what a good man he truly was! Yes, indeed: if he were not a good man, he would never have taken a bullet for her, and today he would never have risked his life to save her!

Girls in the flower of youth are always given to fantasy. To have a prince charming willing to stand guard beside her is the wish of every girl that age. Though Wei Zhao was plainly not as wonderful as she imagined, Guan Xin took it upon herself to perfect him into a prince charming...

In truth, Wei Zhao's blocking the bullet had been simple: whoever was behind him, he simply did not want to see an innocent hurt. And today, when he went to rescue Guan Xin—even if the hostage had not been Guan Xin, but anyone else Wei Zhao knew, he would have acted all the same... Besides, if Guan Xin knew that Wei Zhao had moved so fast in order to trade for a kiss from Tang Zhi, who knows how she would have felt?

Seeing his granddaughter cast Wei Zhao that grateful look, Guan Xuewen grew even more bewildered... These two did not seem to be at odds at all. Then what exactly was their relationship? Why was Xin-Xin so strange today? And Wei Zhao was actually playing along?

"All right, enough talk. Since you two are so familiar, let's just eat! I'll start!" Guan Xuewen picked up a bite of sweet-and-sour fish. Guan Xin tried to stop him, but it was too late. She could only wait in misery to be scolded...

"Mm... this fish is very tender, quite good... Pfft—" Guan Xuewen's eyes went wide. He spat the fish out in one mouthful and then stood there with his mouth open, gasping for breath. "What was put in this? Oh, my poor old life..."

When the fish first entered his mouth, Guan Xuewen had thought it tender and pleasant, but the very next moment a searing burn shot straight up his nose, and tears nearly burst from his eyes...

"Grandpa... I'm sorry." Guan Xin hurriedly fetched a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Guan Xuewen. "Earlier, I accidentally knocked over the mustard..."

"Knocked over the mustard?" Guan Xuewen took a drink and finally managed to catch his breath. "Then why did you still bring it to the table? Were you trying to do your grandfather in?"

"I said earlier I wanted to take it back and cook it again... but you wouldn't let me, Grandpa..." Guan Xin said cautiously.

"All right... forget it. One sweet-and-sour fish—we just won't eat it. Have Liu Ma take it away and we'll eat something else!" Guan Xuewen waved a hand in helpless resignation. "Little Yi, my apologies—you've had to witness a joke at our expense! Come, let's eat something else! Xin-Xin isn't usually like this. Perhaps today, hearing that a young man of such talent was coming, she got a little flustered. Her cooking really is excellent—why don't you try it?"

Wei Zhao gave the sweet-and-sour fish, now being carried off by Liu Ma, a peculiar look. Knocked over the mustard?

It would have been rude to refuse such warmth, so Wei Zhao picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of the bamboo shoots stir-fried with pork before him. Just as he was about to eat it, Guan Xin said, "Wait!"

"?" Wei Zhao turned to look at Guan Xin.

"Uh... maybe we should just have the instant noodles..." Guan Xin said weakly.

"Ha..." By now Wei Zhao had more or less guessed what was going on. He put the bamboo shoot on his chopsticks into his mouth. Mm, very salty... He tried a few more of the dishes closest at hand. Either too sweet or too spicy—in short, not a single one was palatable.

"Well? Not bad, eh?" Guan Xuewen was waiting smugly for Wei Zhao's praise. If he could capture Wei Zhao's appetite, then he need not worry that Wei Zhao would fail to come by often to discuss medical matters with him.

"It's... passable, I suppose..." Wei Zhao said with a wry smile.

"Eh?" Guan Xuewen was slightly taken aback. Were Wei Zhao's standards really so high? This was merely passable? Did he not know that every one of his old friends sang endless praises of his granddaughter Xin-Xin's cooking? Even their children and grandchildren shamelessly angled for invitations just to mooch a meal...

Their granddaughter was renowned throughout the family compound as the universe's one and only peerless little kitchen goddess!

Still, since it was Wei Zhao who had said so, Guan Xuewen had no way to argue with him—after all, Wei Zhao was in fact his teacher now!

"Heh, Little Yi, you've got some lofty tastes. This old man already thought it was pretty good!" Guan Xuewen said, reaching for another dish.

Lofty tastes? This was lofty? Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Saying it was "not bad" had already taken a great deal of resolve—he had spoken against his own conscience.

"Pff—" Guan Xuewen took a bite of the stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots and spat it straight out. He hurriedly gulped some water before saying, "Xinxin, did you beat the salt seller to death?"

Guan Xin hung her head in embarrassment, not daring to look at her grandfather or Wei Zhao. Today was simply too humiliating.

Guan Xuewen quickly used his chopsticks to taste the other dishes. After spitting those out as well, he finally understood—Wei Zhao's "not bad" had already been a very generous compliment to tonight's meal!

The food tonight could no longer be described as bad. It could only be called unspeakably awful!

"Xinxin, what happened to this food..." Guan Xuewen's eyes went wide. "This isn't how it usually tastes when you cook!"

"Heh... Grandpa Guan, perhaps Xinxin got a fright today..." Wei Zhao tried to put in a good word for Guan Xin, but she cut him off.

Guan Xin did not want her grandfather to learn what had happened at the hospital today—it would only worry him—so she had no choice but to interrupt Wei Zhao and state her true purpose: "Grandpa, I'm sorry... actually, I did it on purpose..."

"On purpose? You deliberately made it this awful? What in the world is going on?" Guan Xuewen was stunned. He had not expected Guan Xin to say such a thing.

"I heard Grandpa say some young man of outstanding talent was coming today, and that I was to get to know him and see if we might suit each other... I didn't want to, so I deliberately made the food a little worse..." Guan Xin said cautiously.