Qian Huang felt a bit like crying when he glanced at the screen of the notebook. "Xiao Ming, everyone is saying Li Shui and I don’t treat you well enough because you are always the last one to eat. They’re saying we should help you more in the kitchen."

Xiao Ming laughed. "Actually, I’m quite happy that the two of you don’t even try that. I remember when we started out, you would still think that you should do some more. In the end, I never knew where to find anything because you were putting it in other places. And if you actually tried to help with the dishes, something would inevitably start burning up or you would add some spice to something because you thought I had forgotten."

While Xiao Ming had on a reminiscent look that was a little bit teasing but mostly happy, the other two hurriedly lowered their heads, not daring to look at either him, the camera, or the laptop screen. Anyway, they already knew that they had done something wrong.

Needless to say, Si Jin felt that this was a great moment to drive his value home.

Nin Sha: [Actually, I’m an excellent kitchen aid.]

The rest of the audience was already howling with laughter after Xiao Ming had ruthlessly exposed his two roommates. They didn’t even have the energy to spare for Si Jin’s self-praise.

Meanwhile, Xiao Ming just continued to eat but couldn’t help but glance over at the camera. "Seriously though, I do like doing my own thing in the kitchen. It’s not that having help isn’t nice. Actually, I think that cooking together can be fun if done with the right person.

"But for the three of us, I think it’s better everybody stays to what they can do well. Also, these two always pretend that they are starving here as if I would only ever give them food when we’re doing a live stream. So I feel like tidying up the kitchen first and then going to get some food myself is for the best. Then I won’t have to fight with them over anything. Also, I think it’s good to always tidy up the kitchen when you can to make sure that everything stays in order."

Si Jin generously praised him in the chat.

Nin Sha: [Xiao Ming, you are really conscientious. You know, I’m also a great housekeeper.]

At this point, there were a few gazes focused at the back of his head but he didn’t bother about it. No matter that he actually paid somebody to do these things in his house, he was sure that he would be able to learn it if it was for Xiao Ming. He could do anything for Xiao Ming.

The other two finally revived from their embarrassment and Qian Huang put some more effort into his actual job as an assistant and looked through the new comments. Seeing Nin Sha’s, his lips twitched and he skipped it. Instead, he picked out a few good comments from the newer viewer. "'Parsley and Sage' is saying that she knows exactly what you mean. She has been cooking with her mother from a young age and even now that she is married, she really likes to meet up and do some cooking together. She says that she can’t stand it if her husband is in the kitchen though."

Xiao Ming smiled. "I can imagine. When I was young, I was also cooking with my parents a lot. They actually both liked cooking very much so I grew up around all of this."

This naturally piqued the interest of the audience.

Qian Huang scrolled past a few of them and then picked out another new name. "The user 'Eighty MG' is actually asking about Li Shui and me." He threw Li Shui a glance and then raised his brows at the camera. "They want to know whether nobody in our family was cooking that we need to rely on Xiao Ming."

Xiao Ming laughed but then just went back and continued to eat. "I’ll let the two of you answer that yourself."

Li Shui usually didn’t care too much about face anyway so he had no trouble admitting the truth. "My dad knew how to cook a little. But he was always busy and my mom couldn’t cook at all. So she would always send me over to Xiao Ming’s family to eat."

Qian Huang facepalmed but couldn’t help but finally admit that it was pretty much the same at his place as well. "My parents always said that since the Xiaos are cooking anyway, I might as well go over there and have a play date."

Xiao Ming laughed when the two of them confessed like this. "I think we’ve mentioned it a few times before but we’ve actually all grown up together. We were living in the same street, Qian Huang in the house to the left of mine, and Li Shui two houses down on the other side of the street. We were all the same age and even went to the same school, so we were spending a lot of time together. I think it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it was actually every waking minute."

Li Shui nodded while continuing to spoon some soup into his mouth. "Not just the waking ones."

The two of them gave him a look but Xiao Ming didn’t mind too much and readily admitted to it. "Yes, sometimes, these two would actually even sleep over."

Qian Huang couldn’t help but seem a little nostalgic at that. "Thinking back now, we must have made a whole lot of trouble for auntie and uncle."

Xiao Ming shook his head. "I think you’re old enough to tell you the truth: My parents never complained. In fact, they were quite happy that you were always over. They said it made the house a lot more lively."

There was some cooing in the chat, and some viewers were asking them to tell some more stories from their childhood.

Qian Huang didn’t do so though. In fact, he did not even read the comments out loud. While it was nice reminiscing a bit, he didn’t want to do too much of that. It wasn’t that he didn’t value that time but he knew that it was still a bit of a sore subject to Xiao Ming. Thus, he couldn’t help but change the topic.

He didn’t know what to do at first but looking at the person that was once again leaving shameless comments in the chat, he finally just picked him. Anyway, Xiao Ming had a special interest in Nin Sha so this was likely to pull his thoughts somewhere else.

"You know what I’ve been wondering … I don’t know if everyone has seen it but yesterday, somebody sent a picture on Weibo, claiming that they had chopped ten-thousand onions in preparation for today’s live stream. I actually think the number is a bit high but, apparently, there are some sources that have verified it. Anyway, I wonder if the user in question has been cutting alongside us. He must be pretty pissed now that there wasn’t a single onion." He couldn’t help but laugh heartily at that. Just imagining some guy with a sour expression because he didn’t get to show off his onion-chopping skills … Sorry, but that was hilarious!

The audience members couldn’t help but laugh at Nin Sha as well that he was actually brought up in the live stream like this. He had tried to show off but now look at this! Bright Yellow Water was making fun of him!

Si Jin was not bothered at all though. Anyway, he didn’t care about Qian Huang’s opinion. He was instead just interested in what Xiao Ming thought. And anyway, just being mentioned in front of him was already pretty good.

Xiao Ming smiled faintly at that. "It looked like a lot of onions. Actually, I’m really surprised he had the patience for that. Even I wouldn’t want to cut ten-thousand onions. In fact, don’t even speak of a thousand, I wouldn’t even want to cut a hundred onions in a row.

"Everyone, you can believe me when I say that nobody at 'Golden Spoon' will ask you to do this. It’s a bit of an overkill. While I think that practice is important, there’s also something that is called being too much. Make sure that you always have enough rest. Considering that I mentioned sharpening knives today and that you will always need a sharp blade … Please don’t cut anything when you’re too tired. It can be dangerous."

Seeing that he was back on the subject, Xiao Ming’s expression turned thoughtful. "Actually, since I am at the topic again, there’s something else that I want to say: If you sharpen your knives or maybe you are using a new one that is very sharp and you want to practice but are a bit afraid of cutting yourself, then you can maybe look for a knife-resistant glove. I think that there are some pretty inexpensive ones around. You don’t necessarily need them and if you have a good grip on the vegetable, nothing should happen to you but just in case — maybe even just for the first few tries — this is a good idea to ensure you won’t hurt yourself. Anyway, safety should always come first. A very sharp knife could actually cut off the tip of a finger. That is something that should never happen."

Si Jin couldn’t help but profess his admiration in the chat.

Nin Sha: [Xiao Ming, you are too nice. Don’t worry, whether it is my eyes or my hands, everything is without injury. I always pay attention to safety.]

There were a few rows of ellipses in the chat and Qian Huang actually couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.

"This guy, he really thinks Xiao Ming is just speaking to him."

The audience could only quietly nod, lacking the words to describe what they thought of Nin Sha’s behavior.