An Junlie never expected a casual remark to strike such a raw nerve. He quickly apologized, “I’m sorry. Let’s drop that. To make a cake, we need ingredients. You get them ready: three Three-tailed Sparrow Eggs, one spoonful of sugar, salad oil, Purple Heng Tiger milk, and a measure of Dragon Bone Flour.”

“Three Three-tailed Sparrow Eggs…” Zi Ye murmured, repeating the quantity after him. She searched the cold storage for a long time but found no eggs. She looked up innocently, “There are no eggs. What should we do?”

An Junlie pointed toward the uppermost shelf in the cold storage. “Isn’t that one?”

Zi Ye’s eyes widened in surprise. “This is an egg? Why is it black? I thought—”

An Junlie twitched the corner of his mouth silently. Having lived on Silver Rune Star for two years, and yet not knowing what a Three-tailed Sparrow Egg looked like—what was there for him to say? After retrieving the eggs, Zi Ye placed them on a dish and turned to fetch… what was she fetching next? She looked bewildered. “What else do you need me to get?”

“Sugar.”

Zi Ye nodded and began rummaging through drawers and cupboards for the sugar.

Watching her flustered state, he couldn't help but laugh and sigh, “Watch what’s near your hands!”

Zi Ye spun around sharply, her arm sweeping past the edge of the counter. She accidentally bumped the dish holding the Three-tailed Sparrow Eggs. With a loud clatter, the dish tumbled to the floor, the shells shattered, and the attempt was ruined.

Zi Ye, having just secured the sugar, saw the mess and quickly dropped the sugar bag to try and salvage the eggs.

An Junlie, anticipating the sugar bag’s fate, snatched it out of the air mid-fall. The sugar was packed in a tough kraft paper bag; if it tore open, he’d have a lengthy cleanup ahead.

Zi Ye picked up the broken shells, looking at him pitifully. “The eggs are broken. Can we still eat them?”

An Junlie shook his head. “Forget it. Let’s get new ones.”

—If Zi Ye weren't a complete novice in the kitchen, if she weren’t the student he intended to take on, he would truly have strangled her! His teacher once told him: waste nothing, especially food, or one day, food will mercilessly abandon you. This girl had barely stepped into the kitchen and had already ruined so much; it was truly unbearable.

However, seeing Zi Ye’s innocent expression made the idea of physical chastisement rather difficult. With no other choice, he could only lecture her on the principle of “every grain of food is hard-earned,” demanding she prepare the ingredients anew.

Finally, the eggs, milk, sugar, oil, and Dragon Bone Flour were assembled. An Junlie moved to her side and instructed, “Crack the eggs into a dish, add the sugar and oil, and mix thoroughly.”

Zi Ye followed his words with her actions. Her stirring was entirely arbitrary—three clockwise rotations, then three counter-clockwise, punctuated by a few up-and-down jabs. An Junlie watched, utterly speechless.

Even stirring required finesse, much like stir-frying; a master chef watches the heat and direction with every turn of the spatula, requiring precise control. But Zi Ye wasn't at that level yet; explaining too much now was useless. An Junlie simply shut up and waited. When she finally managed a rough mix, he told her to pour the resulting batter into the Dragon Bone Flour.

Currently, the common edible starches across the galaxy included wheat flour, rice flour, cornstarch, and various others, adjusted according to different galactic tastes. But on Silver Rune Star, Dragon Bone Flour was the only consumable starch available. Dragon Bone Flour had a peculiar texture—slightly slick, snow-white, a bit translucent, and exceptionally light; any sudden movement would send it airborne. The foolish Zi Ye, unaware of this property, simply tilted her hand, not controlling the force at all. Whoosh! A cascade of flour erupted into the air.

Zi Ye, standing close by, was instantly dusted head to toe. Her nose tickled, and she couldn't help but sneeze—A-choo!

Tragedy struck. The entire basin of Dragon Bone Flour billowed upward, plastering itself across her face.

“What happened?” Zi Ye cried out, taken by surprise. She reflexively rubbed her eyes, grinding the flour into them. Her vision turned stark white; she could see absolutely nothing.

An Junlie was taken aback by this sudden turn of events, feeling both annoyed and amused, unsure how to handle the situation. She called out a few times, realized no one was near, and panicked, “Alien, where are you? Can you check my eyes?”

“It’s alright, close your eyes.” An Junlie reached over, took the bowl of Dragon Bone Flour from her hand, set it on the counter, took her elbow, and guided her to the sink. He dampened a towel and began carefully wiping the powder from her face.

“Is it better?”

Zi Ye blinked, and tears immediately streamed out again. She tried to reach up and wipe them, but An Junlie swiftly held her hand down, preventing her from moving and potentially getting more grit in her eyes. Looking at the tear-streaked figure before him—her face still coated in Dragon Bone Flour, the tears carving two ‘gullies’ through the white powder—he let out a silent sigh. He steadied her shoulders. “Stay still. I’ll blow whatever’s in your eyes out.”

Zi Ye obediently nodded.

She dared not open her eyes, only feeling An Junlie lean very close. His breath, warm and gentle, was right there, seemingly within arm's reach.

Such a vibrantly real person standing before her—this was unimaginable just two months ago. For a fleeting moment, Zi Ye wanted to reach out, to truly savor the feeling of having someone near.

An Junlie finished blowing her eyes out. Seeing them red and swollen like a rabbit’s, he couldn't help but offer a wry smile. “There. You go outside and wash your face. I’ll take care of the rest here.”

Zi Ye lowered her head sheepishly. “Are we still learning to make the cake?”

An Junlie rubbed his forehead. “We’ll talk about it when there’s time later.”

Given a reprieve, Zi Ye happily bolted from the kitchen to wash her face.

Cooking truly was not her forte. Rather than standing in an apron wrestling with a pile of eggs and powders by the stove, she much preferred facing the cold, hard metal in her workshop.

At least those things obeyed; she only needed a few lines of code and a single command to get the job done. It was nothing like preparing breakfast, which required adding so many irregular ingredients and mixing them just so. Honestly, she didn’t even need this much meticulous stirring to forge Three-Titanium Alloy.

After this ordeal, Student Zi Ye became firmly convinced that she possessed zero talent for cooking.

In truth, it wasn't just her; even Tang Shan lacked culinary talent.

All the food they ate was ordered from the Silver Rune Hotel. On this planet, where they only stayed for one year, the Silver Rune Hotel relied entirely on catering services—ordering fresh produce from various cultivators, preparing meals, and delivering them to residents at maximum speed. Zi Ye rarely ordered meals later on primarily because it felt inconvenient to order for one person, so she simply switched to eating steamed buns.

After washing her face, she sat in the dining room waiting for breakfast, musing glumly that she wouldn't attempt cake again. Eating Rose Rock Sugar and Purple Rice Porridge would suffice.

Since she could endure eating Rose Buns every day, alternating between the two should keep her going for a while.