Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

At that moment, the situation in the kitchen had staggered Wang Hua. She had always assumed that she knew everything about her daughter. Feeling things had gone out of her control, however, she forcibly calmed herself down. She held on to her perpetual arrogance since her school days. Her tone of speaking was still so conceited, and her temper was terrible as ever, “I would rather eat this book in my hand than taking a bite of this little sloth’s cooking. I’m not risking my life! Anyone who wants to eat it, go ahead, but I will never!”

Never would Wang Hua believe that her maiden daughter could come up with anything delicious. Not only that the food would have a nasty appearance, but she would stir up a big mess in the kitchen. She was lying! It was impossible! Is tangent 90 degree possible in Mathematics?

That being said, she was peeking at her daughter. Based on her previous understanding of her own little sloth, if she was able to cook, she would jump out of astonishment. Because her daughter was a cute little sloth who would be boasting around of what she had learned albeit just half good at it, just to prove her existence in this world. Fortunately, this daughter was unremarkable in all aspects in comparison to her genius mother, otherwise she should have been flying in the sky!

Don’t think Wang Huo was just provoking her daughter unreasonably, she was actually trying to probe into her daughter. To her utter surprise, this little sloth who had fallen for her taunts more often than not, did not even bat an eye now. She looked very calm and serene.

“Oh, if you think it tastes bad, feel free to call for food delivery, mom.” Zhao Youyue responded meekly. A shred of gentleness showed on her deadpan face.

This must be her typical response with “Xu Jing’s possession” mode. Don’t forget, in manga, Xu Jing always gave her most beautiful smile to her mother. Hence, instead of getting restless like always, Zhao Youyue would not be enraged by all sorts of her mother’s ridicules. Out of her maximum devotion to her mother, she could even be Wang Hua’s full-time servant now, willingly.

“Hua Er, Hua Er [1], don’t treat Youyou so. Anyhow, this is Youyou first time volunteering to cook for us, and I’m very touched by her intention! You should really taste her dishes, let us wait patiently!” Zhao Jiayi comforted his wife naturally while putting her hands on his wife’s curvy waist.

As a rightful member of Zhao family, Zhao Jiayi was also born rich but his temper was way better than the rich daughter of Wang family who was full of herself. He was chronically the peacemaker of this family, and probably the most humble head of family ever. Without him, it was uncertain that how long the cold war between Wang Hua and Zhao Youyue would last after they falling out. This mother and daughter would be so attached to each other as if they were glued together when they got on well, but when they did not, the situation would turn insane, as if they wanted to end their mother-daughter relationship on the spot…

In Zhao Jiayi’s eyes, his wife was but a little princess who had never grown up. The boldness and petulance in her bone still existed, and so he had to tolerate with her. But he got along easily with his daughter who inherited his decent temper, and of course he would pamper this daughter of his. Never had he asked her to achieve any greatness in life, as long as she lived happily and healthily forever.

Very much the contrary, Wang Hua desired the best out of her daughter, hoping the daughter would surpass herself and become a spectacular woman, a phoenix [2] who amazed everyone. Unfortunately, as she grew bigger and bigger, this mother had pretty much resigned to her fate. She could do nothing except playing her, picking on her, and teasing her. “Blame herself to be so incompetent”…

On hearing Zhao Jiayi’s comfort, her tone remained harsh, “Touching? That’s you, I will not be touched so easily! I will rather eat this book in my hand than being touched by her! Mark my words, if she cooks some awful dishes, we will just eat outside and let her finish her own mess. I still don’t believe her!”

Remaining in the state of “cool man has no words”, Zhao Youyue paid no heed to her mother who had claimed that she would rather eat her book thrice! Whatever, a book girl who loves to eat her book, that was cute, wasn’t it? Her mother’s attitude was despicable as always…

She walked straight to the kitchen and started cooking in an adept way. It could be told that she was not a novice at first glance.

Meanwhile, Zhao Jiayi and Wang Hua who were observing her from outside, were dumbfounded. Zhao Jiayi especially, though he was touched and eager to have a taste of her daughter’s culinary skills, still he did not believe her genuinely. Her daughter might be easier to please than his wife, still she grew up being pampered all the way, all the clothes and food were always prepared for her. How could she learn to cook? Besides, the school had no cooking class, this was not a Japanese vassal anyway.

Looking at his daughter’s tidy and organized manoeuvres, just like a general who had fought a thousand battles, he could not help contemplating all possibilities. Perhaps my daughter is in love with a man thus learning to cook for him?

Thinking of which, an irksome feeling rose upon Zhao Jiayi. Which guy dares approach my cute daughter? I’m gonna break his legs!

“Mom, can you help me for a while? So I’m able to finish sooner.” Zhao Youyue subconsciously called for her mom, as only her “mother” could help her when she was “Xu Jing”, while her “father” was bedridden.

Wang Hua stepped into the kitchen without qualms, but she again grumbled, “Hmph, I don’t want to help actually. But I know my little sloth, she’s pretty cunning and has a lot of little tricks, despite having no great wisdom. Maybe you wanna blame me for not helping you when the food is not good later, don’t you? Haha, your intelligent mother had seen through your petty trick!”

Anyway, Wang Hua was unable to follow Zhao Youyue’s tempo, like a knucklehead, she was helping just to make matter worse…

At last, not only Zhao Youyue did not jeer at her, but she had guided her patiently instead. Zhao Jiayi had volunteered his assistance too, and so the efficiency increased significantly. Unlike Wang Hua, Zhao Jiayi was not that useless. Perhaps Wang Hua had spent all her life efforts in other talents, don’t forget she was the professor of Chinese Literature in Jiangnan University of the province, which was the most prestigious university after Capital University and Chung Hua University.

In addition, she was a literary writer with the pen name of “Ink stains the world”, the vice chairman of the Jiangnan Provincial Writers Association and the member of the Chinese Writers Association, many of the two or three streams of literature prize winners, but were all won via relationship.

Therefore, did not be afraid of these reputations of hers, she was inherently a failed writer. In recent years, the people who were involved in traditional literature, other than the famous writers such as Mo Yan, Jia Pingwa, Wang Meng, had all failed tremendously. As for Wang Hua, she had produced a book of which the sales volume was embarrassing. Basically, hundreds of copies had been printed but were all given to people as gifts in the end. They could only accept it while smirking politely, but did not know what to do with it later on, as even the paper quality was too rough to be toilet papers, sigh…. Her books ended up being sold on pounds along with the abandoned materials of the children.

But whenever she published a book, she could report it to the Writers Association to claim subsidies. Well, she was a traditional writer, a reputable status indeed, wasn’t it?

With the joint effort of the three family members, a hearty and complete dinner was finally ready.

Zhao Youyue then deactivated “Xu Jing’s possession” mode, and her face started regaining expressions. Mischievously, she gazed at her mother of stunning beauty and temperament, akin to a devil having his eyes on a beauty.

Translation Note:

[1] Chinese likes to call someone close by their first name appended with “Er(儿)”, which means little. Wang Hua’s husband calls her Hua Er, which means Little Hua for instance.

[2] Chinese describes a successful man as dragon (龙), a successful woman as phoenix (凤).