As it happened, the last dish was the very hamburgers Anby had been longing for all evening. If she hadn't shouted that one line, she wouldn't have missed out on them in the first place.
Ye Qingfeng took the prepared fish, pressed it into patties, and laid them in the pan to fry on low heat. Before long, a rich, toasty aroma drifted through the kitchen.
Anby, who had been quietly washing dishes, noticeably sped up the moment the smell reached her, her gaze drifting toward Ye Qingfeng with increasing frequency.
What should have taken three or four minutes was done in under one.
In a flash, she materialized behind Ye Qingfeng, her eyes locked onto the two patties sizzling in the pan with an almost supernatural intensity.
*No mistake about it — Qingfeng is making hamburgers!!*
*But the color is different this time. Why are they white?*
"Qingfeng, Qingfeng! Why are the patties white?"
Anby gently tugged at the corner of his shirt, asking with genuine curiosity.
"Because they're made of fish."
Ye Qingfeng had noticed her lurking behind him some time ago. Remembering the trouble she had caused, he had already decided she wasn't getting off easily.
*Naughty children need consequences.*
He had originally planned to make just one for himself, but knowing Anby's single-minded devotion to hamburgers, he had made an extra one. She would want it, no question — but that was exactly the point.
After receiving her answer, Anby went quiet and stood patiently behind him.
"Ah... since I didn't get enough at dinner," Ye Qingfeng said conversationally, as though thinking out loud, "I suppose I'll just make both fish burgers for myself."
*Crack.*
That was the sound of something in Anby breaking.
"Qingfeng... isn't one of those for me~?"
Anby tugged hard at the corner of his shirt. Unlike her usual tone, there was a distinct note of coyness in her voice.
This was Anby's strategy. She had watched many kinds of films — quite a few romance ones among them. The female lead always used a voice like that, and the male lead always gave in.
"No~"
Ye Qingfeng let the syllable trail off deliberately, his tone perfectly flat.
Anby, who had been brimming with confidence, went still.
*That isn't how it works in the films. He's supposed to say yes.*
Ye Qingfeng suppressed a smirk. He didn't need to think hard to know this was another trick Anby had picked up from a movie — and that she almost certainly had no idea why it had failed.
He wasn't truly angry anymore. With Anby's particular brand of obliviousness, it was difficult to stay mad at her for long.
But he wasn't about to let her have the hamburgers without some effort on her part.
"Anby — do you really want one?"
The corners of his mouth curved upward. He had already thought of exactly how to make this interesting.
"Yes!"
Anby's eyes lit up and she nodded emphatically.
"But because of what you shouted earlier, Nicole made me stand in the corner." Ye Qingfeng kept his tone reasonable — Anby wasn't likely to argue with the logic, and it served his purposes anyway. "So I didn't get enough to eat. Anby ate plenty, though, didn't she?"
"Hmm..."
Anby reached down and pressed her slightly rounded stomach thoughtfully. She wasn't hungry at all — that much was undeniable.
She was torn. On one hand, a fish burger she had never tried before. On the other, a stomach that genuinely did not need more food.
Ye Qingfeng quietly worried he had overplayed his hand — if Anby actually gave up, his whole plan would fall apart.
Anby assessed her stomach — perhaps eighty percent full — then drew in the aroma hanging in the air, and made her decision.
"Even though I'm not very hungry," she said with great seriousness, "I still want to eat the fish burger."
"But I'm really hungry." Ye Qingfeng put on a troubled expression. In truth he was around fifty percent full — one burger would bring him to a comfortable sixty or seventy. Entirely acceptable. "If Anby truly wants one... it's not impossible."
His hands kept moving as he spoke. He lifted the two golden-brown fish patties from the pan, nestled them into the prepared buns, laid a leaf of lettuce on each, and finished with a squeeze of mayonnaise.
Done.
Anby stared at the two burgers, swallowing involuntarily. "What's the condition?"
"You feed me." Ye Qingfeng held one burger up and gave it a small wave in front of her. "In all those films you've watched, there must be scenes where the female lead feeds the male lead, right?"
"There are." Anby's eyes tracked the burger's movement with absolute focus. "But they always use a spoon or chopsticks. Hamburgers have to be held by hand."
"Seems Anby has done her research." Ye Qingfeng smiled and drew the burger back. "So — can you do it?"
"No problem."
Anby agreed without a moment's hesitation.
"Then let's set the rules first."
To prevent any last-minute improvisation on Anby's part, Ye Qingfeng laid out his terms.
"First — you have to finish feeding me before you can touch yours."
"Second — you can't just shove the whole thing in my mouth. You feed me bite by bite, the same way you'd eat a burger yourself."
"Third, and most importantly — treat this like a commission. If anything displeases me, I'll have no choice but to sadly finish both burgers on my own."
That last condition was insurance. He wasn't entirely ruling out the possibility that Anby might lose patience and reach for her weapon.
"Any questions?"
"No questions."
Fair enough. There was nothing shameful about any of this. Ye Qingfeng carried the two burgers to the living room on a plate. He glanced around — no one else in sight.
He settled onto the sofa, set the plate on the coffee table, and leaned back comfortably.
"You can start."
Anby, who had followed close on his heels, received her instructions and reached out to pick up a burger, exerting considerable willpower to resist taking a bite herself.
She stood up, burger in hand — and then paused.
Not because she had second thoughts. She had agreed, and she would see it through like any other mission. She was simply running through the geometry of the situation.
The coffee table sat close to the sofa, and Ye Qingfeng was leaning back. Standing directly in front of him would mean holding her arm extended the entire time — inefficient and tiring.
That left two practical options.
Sitting beside him, or sitting on his lap.
Since Ye Qingfeng was the objective, Anby had no interest in wasting time deliberating. The burger would get cold.
"Should I stand in front of you, or sit beside you?" she asked, with complete seriousness. "Or sit on your lap? I think those three are the most practical options."
The first two were reasonable enough, and Ye Qingfeng barely reacted. But the third—
"Cough — cough!"
He nearly choked.
He looked up at Anby, expecting to find her smirking.
She was not smirking. Her expression was perfectly earnest.
*She isn't joking.*
*Well then. I won't be standing on ceremony either.*
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