Chapter 354

Chapter 354: Chapter 353

“Well, Miss Kennedy wasn’t looking at me,” Liam Valentine said with sincerity.

Joanna Kennedy: “…”

She felt like killing Liam Valentine. In her haste, she tugged on Simon Lockwood’s sleeve, and his expression softened almost imperceptibly.

Liam Valentine took it all in, the amusement in his eyes deepening. He seemed to have no concept of being a pest. Simon Lockwood furrowed his brow. “What exactly are you doing here?”

Liam Valentine said, “If I recall correctly, tomorrow is Chinese New Year.”

Simon Lockwood: “?”

Liam Valentine slowly uttered two words: “New Year’s call.”

Simon Lockwood, Joanna Kennedy: “…”

Valentine, off to the side: “?”

Just imagine: what did it mean for a man who once toyed with everyone in the palm of his hand to say he was making a “New Year’s call”? It was no different from a wolf paying a New Year’s visit to a chicken—he was clearly up to no good.

Simon Lockwood had no idea when Liam Valentine had started acting so… conventional. He sneered, “You can come back tomorrow.”

Joanna Kennedy swallowed the “Who needs you to make a New Year’s call?” on the tip of her tongue and chimed in, “That’s right. You should leave. If you want to pay your respects, come early tomorrow.”

The young couple went back and forth, the word “unwelcome” written all over their faces. Any normal person would have taken the hint and left, but as it happened, no one present was normal.

Liam Valentine turned slightly to Valentine, who had her head down and was fiddling with her fingers. “Did you hear that? Your former master and Joanna don’t welcome you. They don’t want you to come back.”

“Huh?” Valentine, who was crouched in a corner of the sofa chattering away with 166, looked up with a dumbfounded expression. Her eyes met Liam Valentine’s flat, emotionless black gaze, and she shivered. Tears immediately welled up in her eyes. “Joanna…”

The sight of a cute girl crying could melt a heart of stone. Joanna Kennedy had a huge soft spot for girls acting cute toward her. She shot a glare at Liam Valentine, but her tone immediately softened when she looked at Valentine. “I wasn’t talking about you…”

Valentine didn’t say anything. She glanced at Simon Lockwood, then lowered her head in fear, her body trembling slightly. To look at her, you’d think Simon Lockwood was about to eat her alive.

“Simon Lockwood wasn’t talking about you either,” Joanna Kennedy said immediately.

“Really?” Valentine blinked her tears away and asked cautiously, “So, can… can we stay for New Year’s Eve dinner?”

Joanna Kennedy choked, unable to answer before Valentine delivered another blow. “I’ve never had New Year’s Eve dinner before. I don’t even know what it’s like…”

“…” A feeling of kinship with a fellow sufferer instantly softened Joanna Kennedy’s heart. “Of course, you can.”

She had a vague idea of Valentine’s identity and believed her completely. ‘The long, lonely life of a system… It’s only natural for her to yearn for a human experience,’ she thought.

Joanna Kennedy genuinely felt sorry for Valentine, but she’d forgotten one crucial detail: Valentine had only taken human form. At her core, she was still a system and had no concept of a “human New Year’s Eve dinner.”

The moment Joanna Kennedy agreed, the tears in Valentine’s eyes vanished. The speed at which her expression changed was breathtaking. “Yay! I knew Joanna was the best to me!”

Joanna Kennedy: “…”

“…Ah…haha…” Feeling as if her kindness had been completely played, Joanna Kennedy forced a laugh that looked worse than crying. Beside her, Simon Lockwood’s face was terrifyingly dark. Only Liam Valentine, having achieved his goal, looked completely unperturbed.

In the end, they stayed for New Year’s Eve dinner. Liam Valentine looked refined and gentle, but he ate more than anyone. Valentine was not to be outdone.

Watching Valentine gobble down one dumpling after another, Joanna Kennedy seriously suspected she couldn’t even tell if they tasted good or not—she was probably just doing it for fun.

New Year’s Eve dinner wasn’t just dumplings; they had stir-fried dishes as well. Of the eight dishes, Simon Lockwood had cooked six. The remaining two vegetable dishes were Joanna Kennedy’s handiwork.

It wasn’t that Joanna Kennedy and Simon Lockwood had a strong sense of hospitality; it was mainly that the other two couldn’t cook to save their lives!

Liam Valentine was ushered into the kitchen. He unhurriedly picked up a kitchen knife, his posture as steady and composed as a master chef’s. But with a single cut, Simon Lockwood fell silent, staring at the potato “shreds” that were as thick as his fingers.

“You wash the vegetables,” Simon Lockwood said.

Liam Valentine raised an eyebrow, took the spinach, and began to wash it. He was extremely meticulous. A minute passed. Then two.

Ten minutes later, one small bunch of spinach was finally, barely washed. Liam Valentine gazed at the bright green, dripping leaves and nodded in satisfaction. He looked up to meet a pair of dark, grim eyes and asked quizzically, “What’s wrong?”

“You threw out all the stems?”

“Aren’t we supposed to eat the leaves?”

“…”

Simon Lockwood took a deep breath, his hand clenching into a fist at his side. His face was cold as ice. Liam Valentine said, “Oh,” as if in sudden realization. “I thought only the leaves were edible.”

“…How about I wash another bunch?”

“That was the last bunch.”

Liam Valentine: “…”

Liam Valentine rubbed his nose, looking uncharacteristically awkward.

The two men, roughly the same height, stared at each other in silence. The eerily quiet atmosphere startled Joanna Kennedy, who had just walked in to grab a small bowl.

Joanna Kennedy, a half-peeled garlic clove in hand, looked from one man to the other. She was just about to ask what was wrong when she caught sight of the spinach in the basket. Her eyes instantly lit up.

“Wow! Simon Lockwood, you’ve finally seen the light! You actually got rid of the spinach stems! I told you they don’t taste good, but you kept insisting they were nutritious. You finally get me, don’t you? I knew it, you do love me!”

Joanna Kennedy was a bit of a picky eater. She didn’t like carrots, though she’d eat them in scrambled eggs. She hated celery, both the leaves and the stalks. But most of all, she despised spinach stems. She thought they were sweet, which tasted strange and out of place when cooked with salt.

She used to always order takeout or eat out. But ever since Simon Lockwood started cooking for her, he loved to make spinach, always saying the stems were more nutritious than the leaves. Joanna Kennedy figured the person being cooked for shouldn’t criticize the chef, so she always ate it without complaint.

‘She couldn’t believe Simon Lockwood was being so considerate this time! How thoughtful of him! Truly, how thoughtful!’

Her delight was plain to see as she rattled on and on. It was only after she’d said her piece that she realized something wasn’t right.

‘Why does Simon Lockwood look so furious? His face is blacker than the bottom of a wok. Did I say something wrong?’

Joanna Kennedy was bewildered. Liam Valentine cleared his throat, his voice thick with unconcealed amusement. “I washed the spinach.”

“…”

“…No wonder the spinach was washed so poorly, haha.”

Liam Valentine: “…”

Liam Valentine said, “It seems Miss Kennedy truly detests spinach stems. No need to thank me so profusely. Just consider it my way of repaying you for the meal.”

“…”

Liam Valentine seemed not to notice the icy, grim expression on the man across from him. He even asked, “Is there anything else I can help with?”

“Get out,” Simon Lockwood’s voice was frigid.

Liam Valentine: “Alright.”

The troublemaker who had sown discord with just a few sentences dusted himself off and left, leaving Joanna Kennedy afraid to even look at Simon Lockwood. “I’ll, uh, I’ll just go back to peeling the garlic.”