Since everyone enjoyed the homemade snacks, I might as well make some Seven-colored Water Chestnut Cake too. My father-in-law, mother-in-law, and elder sister-in-law haven't had a chance to try it yet. Today, I'll let everyone have a taste of something new.

「Eight o'clock in the evening.」

Xie Baomin, the executive chef of Building Two, finished work unusually early. He drove to his apartment building and looked up at the lights on in his twenty-second-floor home. Knowing his wife had already finished work, he took a deep breath, opened the trunk, and retrieved a long flower box.

Well, after so many years of marriage, I haven't given my wife a decent surprise yet.

Xie Baomin didn't have a romantic bone in his body. He fundamentally believed that true happiness lay in a simple, ordinary life, so he'd never cared much for flashy things.

He'd rather spend the time grilling some kidney skewers and downing a couple of beers.

But today, seeing his junior brother and his wife's affectionate behavior while filming a video made Brother Xie quite envious. Plus, his wife had nagged about this too. So, on a whim, he had carved a bunch of roses.

However, now standing downstairs, Chef Xie from the Fishing Platform, usually so unrestrained there, suddenly felt timid.

Red beets are basically just radishes, after all. Isn't carving roses from radishes too stingy?

He remembered there was a flower shop by the entrance. Maybe I should buy a bouquet?

As he was pondering this, a neighbor carrying groceries walked over. Seeing Xie Baomin, the neighbor smiled and greeted him, "Chef Xie, you're off work quite early today! Shall we go up together?"

Xie Baomin had no choice but to cradle the long box in his arms and enter the building with his neighbor.

When they got on the elevator, the neighbor glanced at the box in his hand, "That's a long box, Chef Xie. What's inside?"

"Oh, a friend gave me some yams, and I didn't have anything to put them in, so I just found a random box and stuffed them inside."

Soon, the elevator reached the twenty-second floor. Xie Baomin said goodbye to his neighbor and stepped out when the doors opened.

As the elevator doors closed again, the neighbor muttered to himself, Using a rosewood box for yams? Chef Xie is really too extravagant, isn't he?

Arriving at his front door, Xie Baomin took a deep breath, entered a passcode, and unlocked the door.

Just as he stepped inside, he saw his wife, Su Peipei. She was sitting on the living room sofa, holding a pile of middle school reference books and preparing for lessons in advance. Summer break was ending soon, so she needed to prepare her lessons for the new semester to avoid last-minute panic.

"Why are you home so early today?" Su Peipei took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose before taking a sip of rose tea from the coffee table.

Xie Baomin cleared his throat and muttered, "Didn't I promise to give you a surprise..."

Saying so, he opened the box in his hand. Inside the long box were rows of fiery red roses, complete with long stems.

Su Peipei glanced at them. Just as she was about to ask why he'd spent money on flowers, she noticed something unusual: the green stems didn't look like those of typical roses.

Upon closer inspection, she realized the stems were actually Celery stalks.

This...

She then examined the vividly luscious blossoms more closely and realized they weren't roses at all but had been meticulously carved with a knife. When she gently squeezed one, red juice even oozed out.

A warmth instantly spread through Su Peipei's heart. That rascal of hers always claimed he didn't understand romance.

Was this not understanding romance? He was making her heart melt like magma!ŸŸŸ

She tossed aside her lesson plans, casually placed the box of roses on the coffee table, then grabbed the somewhat dumbfounded Xie Baomin by the hand and pulled him towards the bedroom, "Come on, into the room with me!"

"I haven't even changed my clothes! Peipei, what's gotten into you today..."

Xie Baomin's mutterings were cut off by the sound of the door slamming shut. SLAM!

CRACK!

Downstairs, at the billiards table in the basement, Lin Xu held his cue and struck forcefully, sending the red ball straight into a pocket.

"Nice! Sunk it in one!" Shen Guofu, a cigar in his mouth, chuckled as he watched his son-in-law play.

Putting down his cue, Lin Xu said, "Dad, you keep playing. I'm going to check on the Snacks in the kitchen. Sister Yan is waiting to take some home."

"Go on. I could use more practice anyway. That powerful shot of yours just now was exhilarating! I love that feeling of sinking it in one go."

Upstairs in the kitchen, Shen Baobao, Han Shuzhen, and Chen Yan were all gathered around the cooling Horse Hoof Cake, taking pictures.

"It's so pretty!"

"Brother-in-law is truly amazing! He can make food look this beautiful."

Han Shuzhen posted a photo to her social feed and said with a smile, "This, I suppose, is a chef's romance."

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