Behind her was the searing stove, and before her was his burning-hot body. He had her trapped completely, pinned between the stove and his embrace. But more intense than either was his gaze, which felt as if it could pierce right through her clothes and skin...

Chen Wanqing couldn’t help but turn her head to look away. "I know, I know..." she whispered.

Just then, De’an’s voice called out from outside. "Jing, come quick! I’ve got something cool to show you."

"Jing! Jing..."

Hearing no response from Zhao Jing, De’an walked down the steps and headed for the kitchen.

Panicked, Chen Wanqing gave Zhao Jing a hard shove. "Hurry up and go!"

Zhao Jing let out a muffled grunt. Chen Wanqing worried she had used too much force and hurt him.

She turned her head to look and saw Zhao Jing clutching his chest, a pained expression on his face.

"Where are you hurt? I-I don’t think I pushed that hard. Jing, you’re so fragile..."

Zhao Jing, who had been about to complain, suddenly lowered the hand on his chest. Even his tightly furrowed brow relaxed.

He said, "Wanqing, I’d advise you to think thrice before you speak in the future..."

"Never mind thrice, I’ll think five times! Okay, okay, just go. De’an is already here."

De’an had already reached the kitchen door, so of course he saw his sister pushing Zhao Jing out.

He asked casually, "What are you two doing?"

Without waiting for an answer, he excitedly held up the object in his hand for Zhao Jing to see. "Jing, look! I got a new set of nine-linked rings. It’s really interesting. I was too busy with the county exam before to play with it, so let’s play together now. Let me tell you, this interlocking puzzle is super hard to solve. You try. If you can’t solve it, you’ll have to start calling me ’big brother’!"

Never mind the cryptic smile Zhao Jing gave as he hauled De’an back to his room.

Chen Wanqing was so distracted that the meal she cooked was anything but delicious.

She had mistaken the sugar for salt, and ended up putting two portions of salt in the sweet and sour pork ribs. They were so salty they could kill someone.

Meanwhile, she put a lot of sugar in the stir-fried greens, making them sickeningly sweet. They tasted strange no matter how you ate them.

Xu Suying tentatively asked her daughter, "Qing’er, dear, if you really don’t want to cook, you can just ask me. I can do it."

Chen De’an said, "Sis, is this how you’re celebrating Jing and me passing the Child Examination? BLECH! These super-sweet greens... the taste is just out of this world. Jing, how can you still eat this? Aren’t you afraid of being poisoned?"

Zhao Jing continued to pick up the food at an unhurried pace. He ate with gusto, taking a bite of a dish, then a bite of rice.

Seeing this, De’an began to wonder if they were even eating the same food. Refusing to believe it, he picked up another piece of pork rib and popped it into his mouth. It was so salty he suspected his sister had murdered the salt merchant.

Chen De’an quickly spat out the rib. He then said to Zhao Jing, "Even if my sis made this, you don’t have to risk your life to be polite! We have things to do later. If you actually get sick from this, it’ll hold us up, won’t it?"

Chen Wanqing rubbed her nose sheepishly and quickly reached out to stop Zhao Jing. "It’s too awful, stop eating. Come on, let’s go get wontons on the street. My treat."

"It’s edible, Wanqing. You can just rinse it in some water, and it’s fine to eat."

The last sentence was directed at De’an, but De’an just scoffed. He couldn’t stand the alternating sweet and salty flavors.

If his sister hadn’t cooked this meal with her own hands, he would have suspected someone was trying to poison him.

In the end, they couldn’t eat the dishes. The pork ribs were put away in the cupboard to be steamed. Later in the afternoon, they could be rinsed, re-seasoned, and eaten. The greens, however, were thrown out. They had plenty of greens at home anyway, and they would get old if not eaten soon.

So, the group ended up going out for wontons. When they returned, they were surprised to find Chen Song at home.

"We have two promising boys in the family now, and all my colleagues came over to congratulate me. My face is stiff from smiling so much. I had to come home to hide for a bit, or I wouldn’t be able to take it."

Chen Song said this with a shake of his head, as if it were a serious problem. But who couldn’t tell how pleased he really was?

And why wouldn’t he be? The family had produced a top scorer and a thirteenth-place finisher. With a little more effort, they would have two Scholars on their hands.

For a family to suddenly have two such promising young men was cause for celebration with firecrackers, no matter where you were.

"Every last one of them tried to push their daughters on me, saying they’re a good match for De’an in age and looks, and that they’re skilled in needlework. If I agreed to one, I’d offend another, so I didn’t agree to any of them. I just pushed the matter back onto De’an, saying he’s still young and restless, and should wait a couple more years to get married."

Xu Suying nodded. "De’an is indeed still very childish. There’s no rush for him to get married."