The ingredients for water chestnut cake are water chestnut flour, coconut milk, brown sugar, and white sugar.
In the kitchen, the boy recalled the recipe and prepared the ingredients accordingly.
He poured the water chestnut flour into two separate bowls. He dissolved the brown sugar in boiling water, stirring it into a brown sugar syrup. He added the white sugar to the coconut milk in the other bowl, mixed it with the water chestnut flour, and then added boiling water, stirring it into a coconut milk slurry.
He mixed the brown sugar water and the coconut milk sugar water into their respective bowls of water chestnut flour, stirring them until ready. First, he poured a thin layer of the brown sugar slurry into the steamer. Once steamed until translucent, he added a layer of the coconut milk slurry, repeating the process layer by layer until it was fully cooked.
Without much effort, a rather nice-looking water chestnut cake was fresh out of the steamer.
Then, the chef who had made the pastry picked up a piece from the platter and tossed it into his mouth.
The texture was sweet, melting instantly in his mouth.
It could be said that a pastry of this quality, with a proper arrangement on a platter, could be sold at a high price in some restaurants.
But—
The chef simply tossed it aside and started making a new water chestnut cake from scratch.
"But it seems there's still room for improvement."
"So, what in the world are you doing now?"
As if witnessing something utterly incomprehensible, Durandal—who had just beaten Otto to the point where he could only self-destruct, faked her own death during the explosion, grabbed the Gem of Serenity he dropped, and ran back—watched the certain someone tinkering with Shenzhou pastries in the kitchen, the corner of her eye twitching.
Li Zihan was not a picky eater.
This was obvious.
When he was with Seele, he would eat Russian dishes; with Mei, he would eat Japanese cuisine; if he was with her, he would make French or Italian food...
Clearly, what this guy cooked and what he ate depended on the preferences of the girl by his side.
Now, this guy was actually studying Shenzhou pastries. Such behavior inevitably made one think of some very infuriating things.
"Because Fu Hua isn't a big fan of Western or Japanese pastries, I'm trying to make some water chestnut cake."
In a matter-of-fact tone, a certain scum spoke another girl's name.
Crack—
The cup in Durandal's hand was crushed to pieces.
As expected, this guy had gotten entangled with another girl, again and again and again.
"What is your relationship with Miss Fu Hua now?"
The girl, her voice laced with deep resentment, looked at the certain guy and asked seriously.
"To put it simply, Fu Hua has promised that when everything is over, she will try dating me."
"Although we aren't officially dating yet, it's already a done deal. In order to make our future relationship go a little smoother, I should try making some Shenzhou pastries and things like that to warm up."
The boy, having made another plate of water chestnut cake, presented the freshly baked pastry to Miss Dull Goose.
"Want some?"
Durandal did not accept it.
"Captain, are you really not afraid of being chopped up by Raiden Mei and the others for messing around like this all day?"
Feeling more and more that a certain guy deserved a beating, Durandal took a deep breath and brought up a name she hadn't been very fond of recently.
Honestly, Durandal had always felt that it was a miracle Li Zihan was still alive and kicking.
She had seen, on more than one occasion, other girls staring grimly as a certain someone laughed and chatted with other girls, looking as if they were about to draw their blades.
If it weren't for this guy's astonishing strength, he probably would have been sliced into pieces and made into tripe soup long ago.
Roughly comparing her own strength with the Captain's, Durandal, who suddenly realized she probably couldn't even take one of his basic attacks, felt a bit depressed.
"Don't worry, Mei is a very gentle girl. She has already forgiven me."
Watching the girl who was clearly itching to punch him out of the corner of his eye, the boy shrugged and spoke.
"So that's the reas—"
Just as she was about to retort sarcastically, Durandal's eyes widened abruptly.
Wait, forgiven?
"What did you say?!?"
"I confessed my situation to Mei earlier."
The boy, who had laid everything bare before sharing a room with Miss Mei and had unsurprisingly received a series of slaps for it, reached up and pressed his own cheek, wincing as if the pain still lingered.
"Although my face hurt a bit from the slapping, it wasn't for nothing."
He settled it just like that?
Durandal's eyes widened.
Without me, his housemate, even knowing, she just forgave him?
"What on earth happened?"
"It's simple. Mei asked me how I would handle the girls who like me, and my answer was, 'I won't do multiple-choice questions'."
After speaking, Li Zihan, whose face had been slapped miserably, sighed.
"As you know, that answer wasn't to her liking, so I got several good slaps."
That answer clearly left Dull Goose silent.
She looked at the guy whose skin was probably thick enough to require a railgun bombardment and was speechless for a moment.
After a long while, she finally spoke.
"After she hit you, she just forgave you?"
"She had a premonition about it long ago, she was just pretending not to know."
"That round of slaps was an emotional outburst. After she let it all out, she basically forgave me."
The boy, who had been slapped by many girls because of his conduct but had managed to get them all into bed in the end, licked his lips and spoke.
"Otherwise, I'd definitely be spending these few days trying my best to salvage our relationship, not having the time to flirt with girls."
...
So because his relationship is proceeding normally, he goes and flirts with other girls?
What kind of epic-level scumbag is this?
Miss Dull Goose felt her worldview gradually shattering.
And—
Wasn't he just pursuing me a while ago? What's this about suddenly going after Fu Hua now?
Durandal inexplicably felt a wicked fire flaring up in her heart, and her fists clenched involuntarily.
I really want to hit this bastard.
But in the end, her tightly clenched fist was lowered once more.
She had no reason to hit this bastard.
Mei could slap this guy for his philandering because she was the Captain's fiancée and his future wife.
And herself...
To the Captain, she was just a girl he failed to win over and eventually gave up on.
From beginning to end, she had no right to be angry about this guy's promiscuity.
Thinking of this, Durandal exhaled and lowered her fist.
"Alright, let's not talk about this."
Looking at the girl who might jump up and pummel him at any moment, the boy still wore a death-courting smile.
"Next, could I trouble you to help me deliver this to Fu Hua?"
As if deliberately trying to provoke her, the boy packaged the freshly made water chestnut cake and handed it to Durandal.
Making me deliver it?!
The girl, who was vaguely aware of the kind of feelings she held for the Captain, felt as if her blood was flowing in reverse as she heard those words.
Her entire body began to burn, and her slender hands clenched into fists.
As expected, she couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Go die, Scumbag Captain!"