Chapter 586

She immediately took the somewhat thick notebook happily, and couldn’t wait to flip open the yellowed inner pages.

“Mapo Tofu… Japanese fried spring rolls… Curry chicken rice… Oyakodon… Potato stewed meat…”

She pointed at those familiar dish names with her finger while reading them out in a low voice, the more she looked, the more excited she became, swallowing her saliva involuntarily, her voice even raised a little.

“Wow! This recipe… is really not bad, I’m hungry just looking at it!”

“Many of the dishes recorded inside are what I like to eat! Just looking at the description makes me feel it’s so fragrant!”

Natsume Chikage looked at her appearance of almost drooling, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

In his impression, it seemed he hadn’t seen Fujiwara Aoi clearly express “dislike” for any kind of food.

He thought thoughtfully and put forward an idea.

“Speaking of which… I plan to borrow the school’s home economics classroom after school tomorrow afternoon and try making Mapo Tofu.”

“Fujiwara-san, when the time comes… can I ask you to help taste the taste and give some opinions?”

Fujiwara Aoi looked up in surprise.

“Of course! Very happy to!”

But immediately, she tilted her head in confusion.

“However… why did you suddenly think of making Mapo Tofu, Chikage-kun? Is it because you suddenly want to eat this yourself?”

Natsume Chikage shook his head and explained.

“That’s not it.”

He simply narrated the “challenge” of the old gentleman Ando Toshio and the fact that he could get the “Water-Chanting” kitchen knife as a reward after success to Fujiwara Aoi.

In the end, he added, his tone frank.

“And I, mainly want to collect that kitchen knife. It’s very special.”

After hearing this, Fujiwara Aoi suddenly realized, a more excited and expectant expression appeared on her face, and she clenched her small fist vigorously.

“So that’s how it is! It’s for a challenge!”

“Although in terms of the specific operation of cooking, I might not be able to help much…”

She puffed out her chest, her face overflowing with absolute confidence, her voice full of energy.

“But in terms of ‘tasting’ and ‘evaluating the taste,’ I dare to call myself second in school, absolutely no one dares to call themselves first! You can safely leave the tasting task to me!”

Natsume Chikage looked at her confident appearance, laughed dumbly, and nodded.

“Mm, then I’ll trouble you, Fujiwara-san.”

Fujiwara Aoi thought of another question and asked curiously.

“However… why not make it at home? Can’t your kitchen be used? Why do you have to go to school to borrow the classroom?”

Natsume Chikage smiled helplessly and explained.

“You know, most of the time, I’m only at home at night. It’s already very late by then, and making Mapo Tofu, a dish with a relatively stimulating taste and heavy oily smoke…”

He paused and imagined the scene.

“I feel it’s not very good for the neighbors, and my sister might have rested too, so it’s easy to disturb her.”

Fujiwara Aoi realized and patted her forehead.

“Ah, right! That’s true! You are indeed thoughtful, Chikage-kun!”

The two chatted while walking on the way home.

Natsume Chikage actually felt that when he was with Fujiwara Aoi, time always passed particularly fast, and his mood would relax involuntarily and become light.

The vitality that seemed to never run out and the straightforward personality she had had a unique infectious power.

However, the moment of parting would eventually come.

The two walked to the fork in the road leading to their respective apartments.

Natsume Chikage stopped and turned to face Fujiwara Aoi.

“Then, I’ll go from here. See you at school tomorrow, Fujiwara-san.”

Fujiwara Aoi still wore a high-energy smile, waving her hands continuously, her voice crisp.

“Mm-hmm! See you tomorrow, Chikage-kun! Take care on the way!”

After Natsume Chikage’s slender figure gradually merged into the night and disappeared around the corner of the street.

Fujiwara Aoi put down her waving arm, a satisfied smile on the corners of her mouth, and turned to skip toward the direction of her home.

She just felt that today was another day of spending a pleasant time with Chikage-kun, and her heart was sweet.

However.

Just as she was humming a tune and about to reach the door of her apartment building.

A familiar figure swayed out quietly.

At the same time, a voice carrying a teasing smile sounded faintly in her ear.

“If you go on like this, I don’t know when you’ll be able to ‘chase’ Natsume-kun to hand… my silly daughter.”

Fujiwara Aoi was startled by this sudden voice and almost jumped on the spot.

She looked closely and found it was her mother, Fujiwara Yui, who was looking at her with her arms crossed and a teasing smile of “I know everything.”

Fujiwara Aoi’s face turned red “whoosh,” like a ripe apple, both shy and annoyed.

“Mom! You… how could you be here?! You scared me to death!”

Fujiwara Yui spread her hands helplessly.

“Startled, you silly girl. Your mom is down here to throw out the trash, and just happened to see you two ‘bidding farewell’ at the intersection.”

Saying this, she shook her head, with an expression of “hating iron for not becoming steel,” and began to pass on her “experience.”

“If you ask me, in the situation just now, I should have walked out directly and called Natsume-kun.”

“Then just say… ah, something in the house is broken, a light bulb or a water pipe or something, and your dad is on a business trip, I can’t fix it alone, could you please trouble Natsume-kun to come up and help?”

Fujiwara Yui’s eyes drifted into the distance, as if falling into memory, her tone carrying a bit of pride.

“Back in the day, your old man was like this, by me…”

“Stop——!!!”

Fujiwara Aoi didn’t wait for her mother to finish, covered her ears in shame and anger, her whole person almost smoking, and shouted to stop her.

“Enough, Mom! Stop! I have no interest in hearing the detailed process of how you ‘conquered’ Dad! Too shameful!”

Fujiwara Yui looked at her daughter’s appearance, both angry and amused, reached out her finger, and tapped her forehead gently.

“You silly girl, Mom is teaching you ‘combat skills’ hand-in-hand, and you’re not happy to learn?”

She sighed and said earnestly.

“According to your current lukewarm progress, when Natsume-kun is ‘snatched away’ by other more active girls, I’ll see where you go to cry.”

Fujiwara Aoi was a bit unconvinced by what she said, pouted, and retorted in a low voice, trying to cheer herself up.

“N-no way! I’m watching ‘very well’ right now!”

“And… and I can feel that the relationship between me and Natsume-kun is slowly improving ‘steadily’! Developing steadily like this, one day I will ‘conquer’ successfully!”

Hearing this, Fujiwara Yui rolled her eyes directly, spread her hands, and complained mercilessly.

“Still ‘steadily’?”

“Did you hold hands? Did you hug? Did you go further… kiss?”

Every word was like a small hammer, knocking on Fujiwara Aoi’s fragile sense of shame.

Her whole face turned red, and steam almost came out of the top of her head, and she stomped her feet in shame and anger.

“Th-those things… what’s the rush! It has to be natural!”

“Your daughter… has her own sense of proportion!”

Fujiwara Yui looked at her daughter’s pure and stubborn appearance, and shook her head helplessly.

“Silly girl, being too ‘steady’ sometimes isn’t a good thing. Feelings also need a bit of ‘catalyst’ and ‘fierce attack’!”

Her eyes rolled, and she continued to “offer advice.”

“If you ask me, you should find a suitable opportunity to create some ‘accidental,’ distant physical contact.”

“For example, pretend to trip and lean toward him; or when crossing the road, ‘naturally’ pull his sleeve…”

“Slowly ‘stir’ his emotions like this, let him realize your existence is not just a ‘friend,’ and then…”

“Enough, enough! So shameful!!”

Fujiwara Aoi was blushing, and couldn’t hold it anymore, pushing her mother’s back with both hands, pushing her into the apartment building like pushing a small cart.

“People are coming and going here! What if the neighbors passing by hear it?!”

Fujiwara Yui was pushed by her daughter while still not forgetting to look back and ask.

“Hey, silly girl, did you understand or not? Mom’s are all precious combat experience!”