Chapter 1257 - 1261: Misunderstanding
That night a cold front blew in, and a chilly rain started pattering down from the sky. Through the slightly fogged-up window, the sky outside was a sheet of gloom, cold wind swept past mixed with falling leaves, as if the whole world had reached its end.
Even though it was cold outside, it didn’t affect the warm mood Lin Feng and Ning Yujiao were in at all.
The gas stove burned with a dim blue flame, the frying pan was sizzling, and the peanut oil at the bottom was giving off an enticing aroma. Lin Feng deftly cracked an egg into the pan, then quickly turned the heat down, explaining to Ning Yujiao with some pride, "When it comes to frying eggs, controlling the heat is crucial. First you use high heat to get the pan and oil really hot, then after you put the egg in you turn the heat down and let the residual heat of the pan do the work..."
"So you’re supposed to turn the heat down afterward... Big Brother Lin Feng, you’re amazing. No wonder I always burned my eggs before..." Ning Yujiao looked at Lin Feng with a face full of admiration and said with a playful little laugh.
At first, Ning Yujiao had only asked Lin Feng to make her breakfast. But after Lin Feng skillfully fried an egg, put it together with bread and lettuce, and made a sandwich, Ning Yujiao realized his fried eggs looked really pretty. She got all excited and wanted to learn how to fry eggs from him...
"Then you try making one yourself... I’ve already fried more than ten eggs!" Lin Feng sprinkled a bit of salt on the egg in the pan, slid it lightly onto a plate, and encouraged Ning Yujiao to give it a shot herself. At the same time, he snuck a quick glance toward the living room sofa.
When he discovered that Ning Aoxue, Su Zi, and Tang Rou had at some point quietly left the living room, Lin Feng finally breathed a sigh of relief. Feeling secretly pleased, he thought, Good thing I slipped away fast enough. They probably still don’t know I spent the night with them yesterday, right!
"Okay, I’ll fry one! Something this simple, there’s no way I can’t learn it!" Full of enthusiasm, Ning Yujiao took the frying pan from Lin Feng, brought it over to the sink to rinse it, then put it back on the stove and turned on the flame...
Cooking is something that really depends on intuition. Ning Yujiao thought she’d already mastered the whole process, but didn’t know that between turning on the flame and adding oil, you need to wait a bit and let the moisture burn off first... She made a wrong move: before the water in the pan had evaporated, she poured oil directly into it!
And right at that moment, Lin Feng had turned his head to look toward the living room and didn’t notice what Ning Yujiao was doing...
Ning Yujiao had no idea this move would have any consequences. She kept her eyes on the hot oil in the pan while getting ready to crack the egg...
The flame under the stove was blazing, and suddenly, with a pop, the water trapped under the hot oil at the bottom of the pan couldn’t withstand the intense heat and vaporized into steam, exploding all at once... A sizable plume of hot oil was instantly flung out and with a hiss splashed right onto Ning Yujiao’s flawless, fair face.
"Ah..."
Ning Yujiao let out a sharp scream, the egg in her hand slipping and smashing onto the floor with a crack. She instinctively reached up to touch her face. The hot oil had landed right near her eyelid, already blistering. In an instant, the pain had her nose running and tears streaming down her face.
Lin Feng’s face drained of color. He spun around and, seeing the pan still splattering oil outward, immediately reached out to shut off the gas. Then he grabbed hold of Ning Yujiao, a little flustered as he asked, "Yu Jiao, what happened? Where did you get hurt?"
"Big Brother Lin Feng... I... my eyes are blind... wuuuu..." Ning Yujiao let go of her hand so Lin Feng could see the injury, and burst into tears.
Lin Feng got an even bigger fright, but once he looked closely he realized this girl had only gotten a small patch of skin burned. He couldn’t help finding it a bit funny as he reached out to gently wipe the hot oil from her eyelid, smiling as he said, "What nonsense are you talking about? It’s just a little bit of skin burned—how is that being blinded?!"
"Burned the skin? Ah... doesn’t that mean my face is ruined?" Ning Yujiao gasped, and with a sob caught in her throat she started crying even harder. "Then I might as well just die..."
Lin Feng was speechless again. Did I mention anything about her face being ruined? Just as he was holding onto Ning Yujiao’s fragrant shoulders and thinking about how he should comfort her, he suddenly heard Ning Aoxue’s furious voice from behind!
"Lin Feng, what did you do to Yu Jiao?! Why is she crying?!"
Ning Aoxue bit down on her pearly teeth and glared at Lin Feng with deep resentment. You couldn’t exactly blame her for misunderstanding—at this moment Lin Feng had his hands on her younger sister Ning Yujiao’s shoulders, and Ning Yujiao was crying her eyes out like a pear blossom in the rain... It completely looked like the scene of a man bullying a woman. As for how he bullied her? It had to be something like forcing a kiss or groping her chest...
Lin Feng jumped in shock. He turned around and saw Ning Aoxue, now changed into a very conservative loose nightgown, glaring at him with a face full of anger...
"What did I do? I didn’t do anything!" Lin Feng still hadn’t caught up to what was going on. He looked at Ning Aoxue with a strange expression and muttered this sentence.
When Ning Yujiao heard Ning Aoxue’s voice, it was like she’d found a lifeline. She flung herself straight into Ning Aoxue’s arms, her voice trembling as she said, "Sis, you have to help me... I... wuuuu..."
Hearing Ning Yujiao’s heart‑wrenching sobs only stoked Ning Aoxue’s anger. She glared at Lin Feng and asked in a deep voice, "Lin Feng, you bullied Yu Jiao to this point and you still won’t admit it! And to think I treated you as a friend. I must have been blind—you beast! Out with it, what exactly did you do to Yu Jiao?!"
Ning Aoxue felt so furious she was about to lose it. She’d already been taken advantage of all night by Lin Feng in that muddled way, so she hadn’t been in a great mood to begin with. Now, hearing her own little sister crying like that, Ning Aoxue’s irritation spiked to the extreme... Even though she and Ning Yujiao weren’t that close emotionally, Ning Yujiao was still her biological sister. How could Ning Aoxue not care about her own sister?!
The noise had also drawn Tang Rou and Su Zi out of their rooms. They first glanced at the crying Ning Yujiao, then at the raging Ning Aoxue, and finally let their eyes settle on Lin Feng.
"What on earth happened? Lin Feng, did you bully Miss Ning’er?" Su Zi asked in some confusion.
Tang Rou didn’t say anything, just fixed Lin Feng with a burning stare... Tang Rou believed Lin Feng was innocent; she was waiting for him to explain.
Lin Feng shot a helpless look at the inexplicably hysterical Ning Aoxue, a wry smile tugging at his lips as he countered, "Ning Aoxue, in your mind, am I really such a shameless person?"
Ning Aoxue’s expression stiffened slightly. Of course she didn’t truly think Lin Feng’s character was that despicable—otherwise she wouldn’t have carved his shadow into her heart... But this guy was such a lech that you really couldn’t be sure. Last night he’d even done something like that!
"Lin Feng, don’t try to change the subject. I only want to know whether you bullied Yu Jiao or not. Why else would she be crying this hard?" Ning Aoxue glared at Lin Feng and asked mercilessly.