Still, he pressed on. According to the video, he was asked to heat the oil. But it was weird—why was it popping and cracking louder than he expected? The sound made him flinch back, dropping the garlic he held in his hand. The sudden sizzle had him leaping backwards.
"Are you trying to kill me?" He shouted at the pan like it was alive.
He threw in the sliced carrots and cabbage he had cut into shapes that looked strange to the human eye. "It's art," Zixuan told himself. Only for a splash of oil to sting his wrist. He hissed, waving his hand in the air dramatically.
He had never been treated like this before.
Within a few minutes, the kitchen looked like a battlefield. Carrot peels were scattered across the floor, cabbage leaves stuck to the counter, and a faint smoky smell lingered everywhere from where he had left the pork belly too long on one side. The smoke curled up, making Zixuan anxious as he grabbed a towel to calm it down.
