The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

After opening the windows to ventilate for a while, the smell in the room became less pungent.

Xu Nian noticed the red and swollen patches on Xu Xi's arm caused by the hot oil burns, and felt a pang of heartache.

"Brother, try some!"

Xu Xi quickly found chopsticks and handed them to Xu Nian.

Xu Nian tasted each dish, her brows furrowing slightly.

He looked at Xu Xi's expectant eyes and sighed helplessly.

"The greens weren't salted, the shredded potatoes weren't cooked through, the tofu was too salty, and there was shell in the egg..."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xi's gaze instantly dimmed, and she lowered her head.

Like a wilted eggplant.

Xu Nian smiled, pulled Xu Xi to the tap to rinse her scalded skin, and comforted her.

"It's okay. If it's your first time cooking, just making a dish is a success."

"It doesn't matter how well it turns out. I'm glad you're taking the initiative to learn how to cook. I don't mean to blame you, but I still need to point out the problems."

Xu Xi nodded, her face regaining some confidence.

Xu Nian took out a potato and gestured for Xu Xi to come over.

"Slicing potatoes into thin strips requires good knife skills. You can cut them a little thicker, but the strips can't be uneven in thickness, otherwise the thinner strips will easily burn while the thicker ones are still raw."

Xu Xi watched intently as Xu Nian slowly shredded the potatoes.

Xu Nian's potato shreds weren't particularly thin, but they were fairly even.

"After chopping vegetables, be sure to dry the cutting board thoroughly. Water will splatter when it comes into contact with hot oil. Cooking is not a safe activity, so you must protect yourself."

Xu Xi nodded heavily, suddenly realizing why so much oil splattered out of the pan every time she put the food in.

Sure enough, after draining the water, Xu Nian poured the shredded potatoes into the pot, and almost no hot oil splattered.

Xu Nian kept stirring the shredded potatoes until they were slightly browned, then he turned off the heat and served the dish.

"Try it."

Xu Xi picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and slowly put it in her mouth.

"Brother, it tastes so good!"

Xu Nian nodded in satisfaction and then began to teach Xu Xi how to cook other dishes.

Finally, four dishes, each with its own unique color, aroma, and flavor, were served.

The dishes that Xu Xi cooked were not wasted; Xu Nian ate them all.

Although compared to Xu Nian's dishes, Xu Xi's stir-fries can only be described as culinary disasters.

But Xu Nian still had none left.

In his view, this half-cooked dish was the most precious food he had ever eaten.

......

As the days went by, Xu Nian gradually adapted to living with someone else.

When you leave home, someone sees you off; when you return home, there is a hot meal waiting for you.

No longer is it just about lying alone in a dark, damp rented room, spending day after day.

Xu Xi's cooking skills are getting better and better. She can imitate many dishes almost perfectly after watching Xu Nian make them just once.

In some dishes, Xu Xi even makes them taste better than Xu Nian.

Although I occasionally mess it up.

The job is relatively stable. Although the information on Xu Nian's fake ID card was registered some time ago, perhaps because there was no online verification, no one has bothered Xu Nian.

Life gradually began to look forward.

"Brother, be careful on the road."

Xu Xi hugged Xu Nian and affectionately rubbed her cheek against his chest.

Xu Nian stroked her hair, no longer finding Xu Xi's increasingly intimate behavior strange.

He accepted this younger sister from the bottom of his heart.

Xu Nian had only taken a few steps outside when he saw a figure he found extremely repulsive.

Old Li had probably been drinking all night; he lay in the stinking ditch on the street corner like a dead dog.

If it weren't for the slight movement of her belly, she would probably have been mistaken for a corpse.

Xu Nian frowned and quickly left.

After seeing Xu Nian off, Xu Xi made up the bed, picked up her vegetable basket, and went out to the market to buy groceries.

As soon as she stepped outside, Xu Xi felt a chill down her spine.

She turned around and nervously looked around, but found nothing unusual.

So they continued walking towards the vegetable market.

"Sister, how much are the potatoes today?"

When the middle-aged woman saw that it was Xu Xi, she quickly put on a kind smile.

"It's one yuan and fifty cents every day, but when you come, it's one yuan."

"Hehe, thank you, sister."

Green vegetables are two yuan per jin, and green beans are two yuan and fifty cents per jin...

On her way home, Xu Xi silently did the math in her mind.

Although I don't know what my brother does for a living, he always comes home exhausted from get off work, so earning money must be very difficult.

She was meticulous in her calculations, making sure every penny was spent wisely.

Thinking about how she had saved a few dollars by bargaining today, a smile appeared on Xu Xi's face.

"Hey girl, where are you going?"

As we passed through an alley, Li Laogui's voice came from ahead.

Xu Xi's smile froze, and she took a few steps back, trembling.

In an instant, she felt another person press against her back.

Xu Xi turned around in fright and found a smelly old man staring at her with ill intent.

"Son, you have good taste. This girl is really pretty."

The old man's lecherous eyes scoured Xu Xi, his filthy hands rubbing together as if he had spotted a prime prey.

Xu Xi was caught in the middle between the two, and was in a dilemma.

"Uncle... Uncle, I am Xu Nian's sister."

She trembled as she announced Xu Nian's name, hoping to intimidate Li Laogui.

After all, the look of terror on Li Laogui's face when he saw Xu Nian was genuine.

"Hahahaha..."

Old Li smiled maliciously.

"I know your brother is Xu Nian, so what?"

"Your brother went to work and won't be back until nine o'clock tonight. I saw him leave this morning."

"Before he gets back, I'll break your legs and take you home to be my wife, hehehe..."

As he spoke, Old Li, holding a stick, leered at Xu Xi as he walked towards her.

As Li Laogui drew closer, Xu Xi could almost smell the alcohol-laden vomit on him.

She felt a chill run down her spine and shakily squatted down.

"Uncle... Uncle, I'll go with you, please don't hurt me..."

"That's more like it, be a good girl and you'll suffer less, hahahahaha..."

Seeing that Xu Xi no longer resisted, Li Laogui laughed loudly, his face contorted in a terrifying grimace.

"Son, break her legs right away, lest she run away and cause trouble."

"It's okay, I wanted to try doing it with my feet anyway, interrupting means one less way to play..."

While Li Laogui was gloating, Xu Xi seized the opportunity to stand up and kick Li Laogui in the groin.

Old Li collapsed in agony, cursing under his breath.

"Damn it! You bitch, I'm going to rape you and then kill you!"

Before he could finish speaking, Xu Xi jumped over him and ran away in a flash.

"You piece of trash, you broke her legs, now look what happened, the girl ran away, and I was still hoping to have some fun."

Li Laogui lay there for a while before he recovered a little. He struggled to stand up, his face full of gritted teeth.

"It's okay, I know where she lives. She can run away, but she can't hide."