The quiet night sky wore a gown of powdery stars; as the night breeze flowed through the city, it brought with it the scent of sweetness.
Yun Xiangxiang sat in the garden, playing with the scented ball. She fell into silence after listening to Song Mian.
“What’s the matter?” Song Mian asked gently when he noticed Yun Xiangxiang being troubled.
Song Mian was also outdoors. Beneath the gleaming moonlight, the undulating mountain range was faintly visible.
The moonlight seemed to cast a sheen of light upon him, making him look taller and more muscular.
“I feel proud that my girlfriend looks at me like this.” Yun Xiangxiang’s eyes were full of sparkling stars, just like the night sky behind her.
Yun Xiangxiang glanced at him. “Are you trying to do whatever you want just because you’re handsome?”
“Compared to that, I want to seduce…” Song Mian lowered his voice as he tried to hook Yun Xiangxiang in.
“When will you arrive tomorrow, Mr. Song?” Yun Xiangxiang diverted the topic again.
Song Mian was used to Yun Xiangxiang escaping during moments like these. “I will be setting off at nine in the morning and land in Paris at about seven.”
“We can have dinner together so that I can prepare it for you. What do you want to eat?” Yun Xiangxiang then added, “It must be something I can make!”
Song Mian chuckled. “I’m not a picky eater, so you can do whatever you want. If you don’t feel like doing it, I can do it for you when I get there.
Yun Xiangxiang was touched. She held her cheek with one hand. “If I have to wait until you get here, dinner will be delayed until nine.”
“I will make you a cake during the flight, so you can have it when I make dinner for you.” Song Mian had put some thought into this.
Yun Xiangxiang was speechless.
“Okay, okay, so there’s nothing you cannot do. Get some rest, and don’t stay up during the flight. You’ve worked hard there. I’ll be going to the market tomorrow to get some ingredients for making my best dishes.”
It had been a long while since Yun Xiangxiang went to a market; her past life was a lifetime ago.
Yun Xiangxiang had never once stepped into a market in this life, especially foreign markets. She was looking forward to it.
She could buy it and put it in her room before going to CX’s company for the shoot.
After she was done chatting with Song Mian, Yun Xiangxiang went back to her room and noticed that her friends were already lying on their beds. One of them was trying to sleep, while the other was scrolling her phone.
Yun Xiangxiang went to Song Meng’s side and snatched her phone just to toss it at her. “Stop scrolling through your phone and get some sleep.”
“I don’t need to sleep. A single lady like me has nothing to look forward to, and I’m not sleepy.” Song Meng took her phone back and continued scrolling.
Yun Xiangxiang powered off her phone and went to bed. She turned off the bedside lamp. “Get some sleep. I’ll make you some nice food tomorrow.”
Song Meng clutched her phone and looked at Yun Xiangxiang. “You’re cooking?”
They grew up together, so they knew the skills their friends had well.
“En.” Yun Xiangxiang nodded.
“Is it edible?” Song Meng doubted her friend’s cooking skills.
When she stayed at Yun Xiangxiang’s place, either Wang Yong or Song Mian did the cooking, while Yun Xiangxiang was just an assistant.
“It’s inedible, so you better not eat it tomorrow.” Yun Xiangxiang quickly turned to her side and showed her back to Song Meng.”
Song Meng made a face at her, but she still powered off her phone, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.
Since her appointment with CX was at ten, Yun Xiangxiang woke up early and asked Qi Jun where the market was.
“You’re going to the market?” Qi Jun was shocked.
“Yeah, I’m going there to get some ingredients so I can make dinner for Song Mian.” Yun Xiangxiang was sporting a high ponytail today that made her look energetic.
Qi Jun was inexplicably jealous. “Write down the ingredients you need, and I’ll get someone to buy them for you. They are guaranteed fresh.”
“I don’t want to do it myself, but since the things I can cook and the things I know about this place are limited, I need to go to the market to see what I can do tonight,” Yun Xiangxiang explained awkwardly.
“Then I’ll drive you there. The nearest market is operating today.” Qi Jun took Yun Xiangxiang to his garage.
Yun Xiangxiang told He Wei about where she was going. She then took Song Qian and caught up with Qi Jun. “Did you say they’re operating today?”
“Yeah, the markets here don’t open every day. If we’re lucky, they’ll be open five days a week; if we’re not, we get two days a week.” Qi Jun explained as he drove.
Yun Xiangxiang didn’t expect this. “Then wouldn’t the people who live near markets that are open for two days go crazy?”
“We have supermarkets here; they can go there to buy their stuff,” Qi Jun explained smilingly. “But they prefer buying in bulk when the markets are open, and the whole family would go there most of the time.”
“So, the market will be crowded?”
“There will be more people there. The market offers more variety of ingredients for a cheaper price.” Qi Jun nodded.
When Yun Xiangxiang arrived at the market, she found out that it wasn’t as noisy as the ones back in China, but many people jostled around. Whole families were in there, just like what Qi Jun said.
One glance and she saw couples bringing their parents and kids. There were elderly husbands and wives, and young couples too.
Unlike the buyers in Chinese markets where they were usually alone, the ones here came in pairs.
It wasn’t an open-air market, and every stall had a roof. Raw ingredients were displayed in glass cabinets, and this place didn’t sell living things.
The fish and poultry were processed well and placed on crushed ice.
Yun Xiangxiang saw a whole rabbit displayed on the ice in the glass cabinet, and there was turkey meat that had the shape of a melon.
She bought them while Qi Jun took it for her. “You sure you know how to make these?”
Yun Xiangxiang rolled her eyes. “I can ask the Internet.”
If she couldn’t make it, she could surf the net for answers. Since the seller who sold turkey meat knew some Mandarin, he earnestly told Yun Xiangxiang a few ways to cook the meat.
Yun Xiangxiang immediately whipped out her phone and jotted down the steps in her memo.
After that, she would try to talk with the seller of every stall she bought ingredients from. To her surprise, every seller was a chef who had their recipes.
She bought a lot of candied fruits and homemade yogurt too. When they returned, Qi Jun had to ask a couple of his men to make two trips to get everything Yun Xiangxiang brought inside.
Seeing that she had some time left, she pickled the ingredients that had to be pickled before changing into the clothes for her shoot.
When she was going to leave, He Wei received a call. “S.Q called. They need me there for something. Can you do this alone?”
Every time Yun Xiangxiang went to shoot for a promo photo or ad, He Wei would follow along to see what the video looked like.
“Yes, I can.” Yun Xiangxiang nodded. Putting her past life’s experience aside, this wasn’t the first time she was going for a promo shoot in her current life.
He Wei went to S.Q, while Song Qian drove Qi Jun’s car and took Yun Xiangxiang and Ai Li to the shooting venue.
As this was a rented studio, every minute of work meant money. The work with the photographer started smooth enough.
But after the photographer went to take a phone call, he came back looking distracted. As he kept on shooting, he became grumpier, and Yun Xiangxiang suffered as a result.