The request to see through the kitchen wall was coldly rejected by the system with a simple message: [Villainess level insufficient. This function is currently unavailable.]
‘Tch, if you can’t do it, just say so directly. What’s with the excuses…’
Su Wanli clicked her tongue in annoyance, then angrily kicked aside the redwood chair at the end of the banquet hall table—the one Su Heng had used just yesterday.
She threw herself into it, resting her chin on her arms atop the table.
Sigh, calm down, Su Wanli.
Honestly, this was a long-shot challenge from the start.
Cooking had never been her strength.
If Meng Wange hadn’t brought it up first, she might’ve considered postponing it again—or even switching to a different kind of challenge altogether.
Still, having a starting point was definitely a good thing.
Even if she lost to Meng Wange this time, it would give her plenty of justification to challenge her again in other ways—and it wouldn’t seem out of the blue, because Su Wanli was just that kind of person: someone who never let grudges slide…
‘But why?’
‘Why had Meng Wange brought up the topic during cooking class in the first place?’
‘Since we finally have a chance like this, how about we try exchanging dishes?’
Murmuring Meng Wange’s words to herself, Su Wanli felt as if a bit of the fog in her hazy mind was slowly beginning to lift.
The rest of the stakes had all been proposed by her, not Meng Wange.
But those few words—”exchanging dishes”—that particular concept had come straight from Meng Wange.
And more importantly, right after bringing it up, Meng Wange hadn’t taken even a moment to think before explaining all the detailed rules to both Zhang Ma and Su Wanli…
Even if she was a genius girl who could think of a hundred things in a second, surely her mental energy wouldn’t be spent preparing something as trivial as this?
Which meant this “dish exchange”—a challenge where they each prepared a dish for the other—must have been something Meng Wange had thought about in advance.
At the very least, she must’ve already had the idea in mind before they even came downstairs.
‘So then… what was the purpose?’
First of all, it was obvious that the idea wasn’t born out of some desperate desire to taste Su Wanli’s cooking.
Second, since it wasn’t that, then through the process of elimination, the answer became much clearer.
There had to be something off about the dish Meng Wange had prepared for her.
‘…Poison?’
‘No way, right?’ That wasn’t like Meng Wange at all.
She would never do something so reckless and self-sabotaging.
Besides, every move she made in the kitchen was under Zhang Ma’s watchful eye.
Even if they were somehow in on it together and managed to poison her into the hospital, what would they get out of it? Zhang Ma would be fired, and Meng Wange would lose her place in the Su household.
Not to mention, just during tutoring earlier, Meng Wange had said to her—so sincerely—
“Being able to join the Su family, to come to your side… it’s a blessing beyond anything I ever imagined.”
She wouldn’t possibly…
“……”
The image of Meng Wange’s delicate, backlit face floated into Su Wanli’s mind.
Her cheeks flushed, and she gently covered her lips with her hand.
[Host, it seems your memory is experiencing slight inconsistencies. The system has already logged the official record. The female lead Meng Wange’s original words were: “Being able to come to your side as your assistant.”]
“……”
Su Wanli clenched her fist, her face turning even redder.
“First, activate Silent Mode.”
“Second, refuse to switch to Do Not Disturb Mode.”
“Third, let me repeat—activate Silent Mode, and don’t you dare make a sound without my command!”
[…]
“[Ellipsis is also not allowed!]”
Fuming, Su Wanli swung her fist at the air, then gave her cheeks a few light slaps to calm herself down.
***
‘All right. Without the system interfering, I can finally think things through more rationally.’
Since Meng Wange’s goal is clearly not to poison her, then giving her something handmade must serve another purpose…
And what could that purpose possibly be? Either it tastes so awful that Su Wanli will scold and humiliate her, or it’s so average that she’ll just toss it aside in disgust, or—
‘…Or it tastes so good that Su Wanli can’t help but praise it, and ends up feeling satisfied with her?’
At that thought, Su Wanli suddenly felt everything click into place.
‘Of course! I’ve been trapped in a competitive mindset, but the answer should’ve been simple all along!’
Meng Wange just wants to win her over.
She’s putting all her effort into pleasing Su Wanli by capturing her stomach first—then her heart!
‘So that’s it. If this were just an ordinary cooking class, then fundamentally, it would be no different from any other class we take together at school. Each of us would cook under the teacher’s instruction, with no particular interaction between us.’
‘But in order to connect with me on a deeper level, Meng Wange deliberately came up with this plan…’
‘Heh. Who would’ve thought Meng Wange could be this cute? Just like a scheming little elementary school boy trying every trick just to get her attention.’
She didn’t even need to do all this—Su Wanli would’ve challenged her on her own eventually.
‘What a waste…’
Now that she had completely seen through Meng Wange’s scheme, Su Wanli let out a small smile and shrugged.
‘A misstep, Meng Wange. Even if you do manage to cook something delicious, there’s no way I’ll go easy on you.’
‘And as for why—it’s not even my intention to treat you badly in the first place. It’s all because of the system forcing my hand!’
‘Still, making me happy does matter quite a bit. So fine—I’ll give you a shot.’
[Host, you seem very relaxed right now, as if you’re not worried about Meng Wange’s cooking skills. But if what she makes holds up well even after sitting for a while—and ends up being on par with, or even better than, your dish—then this challenge will naturally be considered a failure, won’t it?]
“Dummy, you just don’t get it. Even if I end up making something that looks like a soggy lump, Meng Wange won’t say a word. Because victory isn’t even her real goal.”
Listening to the clueless system ramble, Su Wanli lazily stretched and glanced toward the kitchen, where Meng Wange was still hard at work.
She shook her head.
“She’s just struggling to survive in my shadow—trying to live a little better under my rule.”
Still, even if Meng Wange does go easy on her during the scoring phase, Su Wanli couldn’t afford to make something that looked totally unpresentable.
Especially with Zhang Ma as an unpredictable judge on the panel.
“All right, System. Just run a quick search and find me a dish that’s easy to make, convenient, and looks good on the plate.”
Su Wanli stood up from her chair in the banquet hall and snapped her fingers in the air.
“I just need to make a casual move—and that’ll be all it takes to win my second victory with ease!”