ICAWZ Chapter 24

Yusto appearing here isn’t surprising; after all, cooking is a required course for female zerg. However, it’s truly puzzling for Lu Yuan, a male zerg, to inexplicably show up here, leaving the Zerg community bewildered.

Yusto, with sharp eyes, noticed a chubby, red-haired male zerg beside Lu Yuan and slightly frowned, “Why are you guys here?”

Lu Yuan, not wanting to reveal the fact that he mistakenly chose the wrong course due to being illiterate, awkwardly cleared his throat and casually pointed at Reed, speaking vaguely, “I came with a friend; he’s more interested in cooking.”

Reed recognized Yusto, aware that he was the disciplinary committee president. He greeted him with a formal yet timid, “Hello, senior.”

Little did Reed know, Yusto’s mood turned exceptionally bad upon seeing him. It was strange enough for a male zerg to attend a cooking class, let alone two together. Lu Yuan had, on more than one occasion, hinted at his own homosexuality. Could it be true?

Unaware of Yusto’s thoughts, Lu Yuan, seeing him and Yulejia here, spoke up, “By the way, isn’t this the place for first-year classes? How did you guys end up here?”

Yusto remained silent, leaving Yulejia no choice but to awkwardly smile, “Your Excellency, we also have a great passion for cooking. However, we are not satisfied with our skills, so we thought of refining them a bit more. It’s quite a coincidence to meet here. Later, we would appreciate your guidance.”

Both of them were influential figures in the school, and admitting to retaking a course or exam was quite embarrassing, especially in front of Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan was skeptical about this response. He remembered that Yusto didn’t have any interest in cooking. At home, it was either canned food or instant noodles in the fridge. How could he willingly come to class here?

Lu Yuan was about to say something to Yusto when there was suddenly a commotion at the classroom door. He instinctively looked over and saw a young female entering, presumably the teacher in charge of their cooking class.

The female teacher had long, dark brown hair and a gentle, refined face, exuding an air of kindness. Standing at the podium, he lightly clapped his hands, signaling for the students to quiet down. “Hello, everyone. I am your cooking teacher, Rachia. I hope to have pleasant times with all of you in the days to come.”

He spoke with a constant smile on his lips and a gentle tone, “While military courses are crucial, cooking classes are equally important. According to the ‘Female Monarch Code’ after you match with your partner, you must prepare three meals a day for your male lord. If the food isn’t delicious, how can you win their hearts?”

Teacher Rachia was skilled at setting the classroom atmosphere. When he made that statement, the eyes of the female soldiers below lit up with enthusiasm. Some students were so excited that they raised their hands and asked, “Teacher, can mastering cooking capture the heart of a male zerg?”

Teacher Rachia smiled and nodded, “Certainly. To capture the heart of a male zerg, you must first capture his stomach.”

Lu Yuan scoffed at this notion, but Reed beside him kept nodding, finding the statement quite reasonable. His monarch might not care about many things, but cooking had to be mastered.

Yusto, on the other hand, seemed accustomed to the teacher’s brainwashing rhetoric, displaying an indifferent and numb expression. In a certain moment, he even bore a resemblance to Lu Yuan.

Yulejia lowered his voice to remind, “Hey, His Excellency Lu Yuan is right next to you. You better perform well later.”

Yusto furrowed his brow, “Perform? What do you mean?”

“Of course, your cooking skills,” Yulejia, successfully brainwashed by the teacher, clenched his right hand into a fist in the air, saying resolutely, “To capture the heart of a male zerg, you must first capture his stomach. If you don’t learn to cook, how will you win the heart of His Excellency Lu Yuan?”

Yusto cursed coldly, “Damn…”

Yulejia thought the next thing Yusto would say was, “Why should I win his heart?” However, Yusto instead muttered with a frown, “Why are male zergs so troublesome?”

Yulejia: “???”

Has Yusto taken the wrong medicine recently? Otherwise, why is he acting so unusually?

Before starting the class, Teacher Rachia would usually randomly call out a few students for attendance. Lu Yuan, succumbing to his “academic weakness” had lost control and started dozing off. Just when he was drifting into a drowsy state, Teacher Rachia, standing on the podium, suddenly and unexpectedly uttered his name, “Lu Yuan? Is Your Excellency Lu Yuan here?”

Military females: “?!”

The term “Your Excellency” is predominantly used for male zergs, especially considering that Lu Yuan’s recent notoriety for instigating brawls has made him quite well-known among the freshmen in the first year. Almost everyone in Class Three is aware of the handsome male zerg with black hair and eyes named Lu Yuan.

Now, not only Teacher Rachia but also the female soldiers started looking around, searching for Lu Yuan’s figure. Finally, they spotted him by the wall in the classroom.

“…”

Lu Yuan snapped out of his drowsiness instantly, and all traces of sleepiness vanished. With a brave face, he raised his hand and said, “Teacher, I’m here.”

Teacher Rachia, a hint of surprise in his eyes, had noticed that two male zergs had signed up for the cooking class from the registration list. He thought it was a system error, but to his astonishment, it turned out to be true. “And Your Excellency Reed? Is Your Excellency Reed here too?”

Reed raised his hand high, his eyes sparkling, “Teacher, I’m here!”

The classroom erupted into a commotion. It was unimaginable that two male zergs would attend a class predominantly filled with females. Countless eyes were now fixed on them, and what was once a secluded corner of the classroom suddenly became a “hotspot”. The room buzzed with discussions:

“Oh heavens, I can’t believe His Excellency Lu Yuan is here!”

“Zerg God, pinch me, this must be unreal!”

“I’ve never seen such a handsome male zerg. Which class is he from? Even more beautiful than Dalaimin!”

Teacher Rachia looked delighted, applauding with a smile. “I didn’t expect both Your Excellencies to be interested in trying the cooking class. This is wonderful! Later, if your classmates prepare something, you can have them taste it. We have two ready-made ‘teachers’ here.”

Upon hearing the words, Lu Yuan’s face turned green, and a subtle ache started in his stomach. The cafeteria food was already barely tolerable, not to mention the dishes prepared by these newly learning female soldiers. He made up his mind; during the lunch break, he would go to the administration office and request a class change. No one could stop him.

Little did he know that his presence had energized the female zergs, turning them into bustling chefs. The sound of chopping vegetables and clattering kitchenware nearly drowned out Teacher Rachia’s teaching voice, “Today, we will be learning how to make Lutu Fish Soup. The fish has delicious meat and is well-loved by male zergs. First, we need to scale and clean the fish, removing the innards…”

Reed imitated the actions, attempting to scale the fish. However, not only did the scales remain intact, but he also nearly injured his hand in the process.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan’s patience reached its limit, and he couldn’t help but speak up, “You’re holding the knife the wrong way!”

How could the back of the knife possibly scrape off fish scales?!

Upon hearing this, Reed hastily and clumsily changed the direction of the knife, “Oh, oh, like this?”

Yusto was sitting at the adjacent table, unable to hear clearly what Lu Yuan and Reed were saying due to the noisy environment. He could only see the two of them huddled together, whispering intimately. Without making a sound, he narrowed his eyes:

Could it be that Lu Yuan likes that chubby guy with red hair?

This speculation made Yusto furrow his brows. Even if Lu Yuan were truly homosexual, he should find a more suitable partner. How could that silly chubby guy be worthy of him?

Yulejia, struggling to scale the fish next to him, noticed Yusto’s inaction and urged, “What are you staring at? Come over and help!”

Yusto gave him a glare, “Damn it, what help can I offer? My cooking skills are worse than yours!”

Despite his words, he reluctantly took off his military jacket and rolled up his sleeves, starting to cook.

Lu Yuan had been secretly observing Yusto. For no particular reason, he was just curious about what the other could actually cook. However, Yusto seemed to shatter Lu Yuan’s image of him as a top student. The fish cleaning was a mess, and the chopping board echoed with the forceful strikes of the knife, causing a fish tail to fly off.

“Bang!”

The fish tail dropped right in front of Lu Yuan, perfectly centered. It even twitched slightly, sending a few fish scales fluttering.

Lu Yuan: “…”

Seeing this, Yusto’s fish-cleaning movements froze for a moment. He immediately walked forward to retrieve the fish. However, Lu Yuan, sitting with crossed legs, casually lifted the fish tail with two fingers, examined it carefully, and clicked his tongue, “You didn’t pass cooking class and had to retake it, did you?”

Yusto didn’t look like someone who could cook, after all.

Yusto hesitated at the question, “What if I did?”

Lu Yuan shook his head, “Not good at all.”

Lu Yuan just had a feeling that Yusto would probably fail, but uttering such words would surely result in a punch.

Uninterested in watching Reed struggle with the knife, Lu Yuan directly stood up and walked to Yusto’s desk. He tossed the fish tail back onto the chopping board and smirked, “Hey, want me to teach you?”

He expected Yusto to refuse, but to his surprise, Yusto gave him a glance and unprecedentedly agreed, “Sure.”

Yulejia, hearing this, wore a strange expression. He thought Yusto must have lost his mind; how could a male zerg ever cook? Allowing Lu Yuan to teach him would probably end up being a failure of epic proportions.

Lu Yuan carefully recalled the course content, “What are you making? Fish soup?”

Yusto nodded, “Lutu Fish Soup, it’s Teacher Rachia’s specialty.”

Lu Yuan looked at Yusto’s chopping board and noticed that he had already minced the fish into bits. Without hesitation, he picked up the fish from his own table, “Alright, let’s start by scaling and gutting.”

He thought this should be easy for Yusto, considering he was a battle-hardened soldier. Handling a knife should be a piece of cake.

However, Yusto, intentionally or not, seemed to be doing even worse than Reed: “Scaling fish? How do you do that? Like this?”

Lu Yuan directly grabbed his hand, adjusting the direction of the knife, “You need to scale against the grain; scaling along the grain won’t get them off.”

Lu Yuan’s entire focus was on cooking, causing him to overlook the appropriate distance that should be maintained between him and Yusto. Their posture appeared a bit too intimate.

Yusto, subtly glancing at Lu Yuan, saw him earnestly guiding him in cooking. A possessive feeling arose within him, and he suddenly felt the need to make a move on this male zerg. The surrounding prying eyes were becoming increasingly annoying.

Yusto tilted his head slightly, lowering his voice as he spoke to Lu Yuan. The scorching warmth of his breath sprayed on Lu Yuan’s ear, silently stirring the deepest desires within: “Your Excellency, you owe me two meals.”

Lu Yuan felt an unexpected itch in his ear, and he uncomfortably tilted his head, “What?”

A hint of a smile flashed in Yusto’s dark red eyes, a magnificent and crimson color like poppies, carrying a seductive charm. He spoke with profound implications, “You promised to treat me to two meals, Your Excellency. Do you remember?”

Lu Yuan remembered, “We can go to the mall this weekend. You can choose the place.”

Upon hearing this, Yusto’s slender eyebrows slightly furrowed. He felt like he had been deceived, “Aren’t you cooking yourself?”

Lu Yuan replied, “I did want to cook myself, but I don’t have a place outside of school. I can’t just go to your place, can I?”

The last time Yusto let him stay overnight, he turned pale when he found out Lu Yuan was a male zerg. Lu Yuan thought Yusto wouldn’t invite any male zerg to that place again.

However, Yusto raised an eyebrow and asked back, “Why not?”

Lu Yuan was taken aback, “Don’t you dislike male zergs going to your place?”

“Yes, but…”

Yusto smirked slightly, elongating his tone, “You can be an exception.”

Whether it was an illusion or not, Lu Yuan felt that Yusto was getting closer. He finally realized that something was off, subconsciously stepping back to create some distance. However, Yusto was one step ahead, and with a slight movement of his black military boots, he pressed them against the back of Lu Yuan’s heels.

Yusto seemed to smile faintly, turning to face Lu Yuan. Leaning against the table behind him, the white military shirt tucked into his waist with a belt highlighted his slim waist even more. He casually asked, “Aren’t you going to continue teaching me how to cook? After all, I’m your senior.”

Lu Yuan silently stared at Yusto, not saying a word. His gaze gradually lowered, only to see the female zerg lightly tapping his shoe tip with his military boot under the table. Yusto’s long legs slightly parted, facing directly towards Lu Yuan, as if discreetly inviting something.

Yusto always exuded a lazy and casual aura. He squinted his dark red eyes, his silver hair somewhat disheveled. At this moment, he didn’t seem like a rabbit but more like a noble breed of cat. With a voice only the two of them could hear, he curved his lips and said, “Perhaps there, you can teach me how to cook better…”

As he spoke, the lingering tone carried a hint of alluring charm and sensuality, as if they were not discussing cooking but rather discussing something intimate.

Lu Yuan withdrew his foot without any change in expression, taking a small step backward, “Let’s talk about that later.”

He suddenly felt that something was off, and it wasn’t just a minor issue; it was quite serious. Intuition told Lu Yuan that it would be better not to go to Yusto’s place, or there might be no return.

Yusto chuckled lightly at Lu Yuan’s response, showing no sign of anger. Instead, he shrugged, “Alright then. Will you still teach me how to cook?”

Lu Yuan, with a forced smile, replied, “I will.”

Words spoken are like water poured; they cannot be easily taken back. However, in the subsequent teaching process, Lu Yuan tried his best to avoid any physical contact with Yusto, attempting to dispel the ambiguous atmosphere.

Yusto gave him a sidelong glance, half-smiling, “You seem a bit resistant to me.”

Lu Yuan adamantly denied, “No.”

Yusto raised an eyebrow faintly, “Then, could you hold my hand and teach me how to use the floral knife? I’m not very good at it.”

Lu Yuan: “No.”

Yusto: “Why?”

Lu Yuan: “…”

Because he really was gay, just not very obvious about it.

 

 

 

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Author’s note:

Yusto: slyly eating melon seeds.jpeg