Reborn to Stew Soup (GL) 17

Chapter 17: Scrambled Egg Rice

After pressing the call button, Ji Junxin became even more hesitant. But the call quickly connected, and there was no reason to hang up. Noisy chatter came from the receiver, instantly breaking the quiet of the small apartment, which was only filled with the gurgling of the rice cooker.

Judging by the background noise, the other party seemed to be in a very noisy place. She could vaguely hear people saying things like “a few more bottles” and “this dish is good.” They were eating out… In just a few seconds, Ji Junxin regretted making the call. Should she pretend she dialed the wrong number and hang up? This brilliant idea was interrupted by the voice on the other end.

“Hello, Xinxin.” A deep, mellow baritone voice came from the receiver, speaking standard Mandarin with clear pronunciation. Even just four words were spoken with cadence and charm.

Ji Junxin pursed her lips and softly called out, “Dad…” Then, she didn’t know what to say next. Why did she call again?

The person on the other end didn’t rush to speak. There was the sound of a chair being dragged, and then the noisy background chatter gradually faded, suggesting that the other party was looking for a quieter place. Sure enough, the receiver soon quieted down, and she could even hear the other party’s footsteps.

“Xinxin, what’s the matter?” Ji Yangde, accustomed to being a teacher, spoke with a certain authority.

What’s the matter? There really wasn’t anything… Ji Junxin suddenly felt a little foolish and rubbed her temples tiredly. “Nothing, I wanted to call Sister Lu, but I dialed the wrong number…” She had to use that brilliant excuse.

“Dialed the wrong number? Xinxin, you’re not a child anymore, how can you be so careless? Before making a call, you should confirm the person’s name and number. If you call someone and accidentally address them by another person’s name, that’s very impolite. You’re an actress now, more likely to be in the media spotlight than others. You can’t be so careless. I still say, you should come back to school and be a teacher…” Even without seeing him, Ji Junxin could imagine her father’s serious and disapproving expression.

No matter what excuse she used, the outcome probably wouldn’t be good. Ji Junxin listened to the lecture, her hand on her forehead. Seeing that the topic was about to shift back to urging her to become a teacher, she had to interrupt: “Dad, it sounded a bit noisy just now, are you not at home?”

“I’m eating out. A few former students came back to visit the school and insisted on taking a few of us teachers who taught them out for dinner.” This topic seemed to please Ji Yangde, and his tone changed from disapproval to joy. “We told them it wasn’t necessary, but they insisted that ‘a teacher for a day is a father for life,’ and they wanted to show their appreciation… Hehe, these kids are so persistent. That’s why I say, being a good teacher is the most rewarding thing. Tell me, can acting compare to being a teacher?”

“…” As expected, after just a few sentences, he was trying to persuade her to go back to school and be a teacher. Over the years, Ji Junxin had become accustomed to this kind of conversation, but today, she was particularly unhappy. “Then eat more, Dad… I’ll call Sister Lu first, there’s something work-related.”

So, Ji Yangde happily went back to his meal. In the apartment, the rice cooker beeped, signaling that the rice was done, but Ji Junxin had even less appetite now.

Opening the rice cooker, the rich aroma of rice wafted out. The slender grains of rice were crystal clear and distinct. She scooped the rice onto a plate. While waiting for it to cool, Ji Junxin, as if in defiance, dialed another number.

“Hello, Mom…”

“Xinxin, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing, I just called Dad. He’s eating out tonight, so I called to see if you’ve eaten.”

“I have. Let me see, oh, it’s past nine, I’m still at school. There’s a lot of work today, I’ll be back later.” Liu Shulei flipped through the two thick stacks of documents beside her. It seemed like it would take a while. “Xinxin, if there’s nothing else, Mom will go back to work. We can talk properly when you come home next time, okay?”

“…Okay.”

So, why did she make these calls… Ji Junxin felt tired. Ignoring whether she was hungry or not, she hugged a pillow, leaned back on the sofa, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

In the eyes of their students, Ji Yangde and Liu Shulei were knowledgeable and rigorous teachers. In the eyes of their colleagues, they were the backbone of the school and friendly seniors. In the eyes of their neighbors, they were cultured, polite, and a model couple. But in Ji Junxin’s eyes, Ji Yangde and Liu Shulei were the busiest people in the world. Their lives seemed to revolve around teaching, passionate to the point of tireless dedication, to the point of neglecting even their own daughter.

Most of the time, they lived at the school. Even when they were at home, their minds were still at school. Reading, grading papers, organizing materials… They had too much to do, so much so that as long as Ji Junxin didn’t speak up, they wouldn’t remember that they had a child at home.

Ji Junxin was a model of self-reliance and independence. Before kindergarten, she had a nanny to take care of her. After kindergarten, she became a latchkey kid with a key hanging around her neck. Although the kindergarten was very close to home, and they lived in a relatively safe university-allocated apartment building, from today’s perspective, letting such a young child be a latchkey kid showed how careless Ji Yangde and Liu Shulei were. If that was the case in kindergarten, it was even more so later.

In the eyes of young Junxin, life was waking up, getting ready, and eating the toast and milk on the table. Sometimes, the toast was burnt, and sometimes, the milk was cold. But it didn’t matter, it was better than having nothing on the table. What did you say? People? Where were the people… When she woke up in the morning, she was alone. Then, she would change into the new clothes by her bed, hang the key around her neck, and go to kindergarten. Compared to forgetting her key and having to wait at the door from three or four in the afternoon until eight or nine in the evening, being scolded by the teacher for wearing slippers to kindergarten because she forgot to change her shoes was nothing. Every day, it was very late, usually after dark, before Ji Yangde and Liu Shulei would come home with takeout boxes. They would scold Junxin for turning on too many lights at home, wasting electricity and not being environmentally friendly. As for whether it was too cruel to leave a kindergarten child alone at home until late at night and not let her turn on all the lights, they didn’t think about it. But that was the extent of their daily communication. After a quiet dinner, Ji Yangde and Liu Shulei would go to the study and continue their work. Their communication with Ji Junxin for the day would end there.

Young Ji Junxin once thought that all families were like this. It wasn’t until she grew up, her mind matured, and she could understand TV shows and books that she realized it wasn’t so. The families on TV had arguments, crying, but also hugs and laughter. It wasn’t like her own home, which only had the same daily busyness. She also wanted to act like the children on TV, clinging to her parents’ legs and acting spoiled. She didn’t need to go to time-consuming places like amusement parks, just playing in the community green space for a while would be fine. Last time, on her way home, she saw several kindergarten classmates flying kites with their parents. The kites flew high, colorful and beautiful. In the afternoon, there would be many food stalls next to the green space, smelling fragrant and looking delicious. Many parents from the kindergarten would take their children there to eat… If only her parents could take her there once… However, perhaps because Ji Junxin was naturally quiet, the idea of imitating the children on TV and acting spoiled to get more attention from her parents lingered in her mind for years, but she never put it into action. Ji Yangde and Liu Shulei would never know that their child was so considerate that even in her wishes, she considered not taking up too much of their time.

Because she was used to this indifferent way of interaction, even as a child, she couldn’t take that step to change things. Whether she couldn’t take that step, or subconsciously felt that she would be rejected and didn’t dare to, the grown-up Ji Junxin could no longer tell.

She woke up close to midnight, having slept for more than two hours. Ji Junxin wasn’t aware that her tendency to fall asleep whenever she encountered something unpleasant or didn’t want to face was a form of escapism. She had slept well, but her mood still seemed a little low.

She hovered her hand over the plate of rice. With enough time, the rice should have completely cooled.

Ji Junxin opened the cupboard, looked at the electronic scale and measuring cup inside, thought for a moment, then closed the cupboard door without taking anything out. Ji Junxin wasn’t a good cook. All she could make was simple fried rice or scrambled eggs. And she needed to use the electronic scale and measuring cup to precisely measure the ingredients according to the recipe to make it taste good. For example, if she wanted to make egg fried rice now, she had to weigh the cold rice, salt, and MSG, then measure the oil and egg mixture with the measuring cup, and finally adjust the heat according to the recipe, down to the second. Usually, when she wanted to cook something herself, she would follow the recipe precisely. It might not be delicious, but at least it was edible. But today, she was really too tired. Especially since she had dreamt of many childhood memories while sleeping, which made her even more tired. So, she would make an exception and deviate from the recipe this time. It was just egg fried rice, she had made it a few times before.

She loosened the cold rice, mixed it with the egg mixture, heated the oil in the wok, and stir-fried it over high heat…

Soon…

The burnt smell quickly overpowered the fragrance of fruit, rice, and egg…

The finished product – a plate of burnt scrambled egg rice.

So, Ji Junxin, who had been a little unhappy, became very unhappy, especially at this hour, when there was basically no food delivery available!

How did her day become like this? Ji Junxin, with a cold expression, scooped a spoonful of burnt scrambled egg rice into her mouth and chewed, chewed, chewed… It was a bit bitter from being burnt.

“What if, in reality, there is nothing you love, care about, or are most reluctant to part with?”

“…Then, in reality, there must be something you want the most. The desire to possess is also a kind of attachment. You can use the desire to return to reality to possess that thing to detach from the immersed state.”

Heh, what if the thing you want to possess can only be possessed in the drama? Ji Junxin thought of that silly little empress. Perhaps, she didn’t realize that some people didn’t like their real lives, didn’t like their real selves, which was why they became immersed in their roles so easily. In the drama, there were people who cared, people who loved, people who hated, how wonderful… It was better than being alone at night, in an empty house, turning on all the lights. It was better than having three people at home but not saying a word to each other. In the drama, she could see love, see hate, feel happy, or sad… Even if it was all fake, it was so attractive.

Ji Junxin ate the burnt scrambled egg rice spoonful by spoonful, her eyes inexplicably welling up. Perhaps… it was the burnt rice, it was too bitter…