Crashing Into You

"Okay, enough cla.s.s" Master Chef Li said when he noticed that Choi Mira"s face were all red due to embarra.s.sment. He continued with his lecture as he picked a piece of pork meat. "You"ll know that this meat is fresh because its skin is pinkish with a few strands of white. If the color of the meat became brownish or greyish, the meat is starting to spoil. You can also tell if the meat is not in good condition if it has a bad smell. So please ensure that before you buy the meat, to smell it first"

The student took a slab of meat and smelled it. "It doesn"t have a bad smell yet so this is still fresh." said Wong Mei Lei

"Right, you can also check if it"s fresh by the texture of the meat. Fresh meat tends to feel firm on the hand." Master Chef Li added.

"But what if the meat was inside the packaging and you don"t have a means of smelling it or touching it, how should we know if it"s still fresh?" Song Dei Si asked. 

Master Chef Li smiled. "Good question! Especially for those people who don"t usually go to the market because they are busy and tend to buy those pre-packaged meat. If this the case, we can check if it is not spoiling yet by it"s color or by simply look at the the Used by date on the packaging. To ensure its freshess, meat should not be stored in the refrigirator more than 4 days."

"So is it okay if we buy the meat now and put it on the fridge so we will not be coming back here tomorrow?" Choi Mira asked because she do not want to come back to the wet market again.

"Yes, you can, however it is more recommended to buy the meat on the day it has been slaughter to ensure good quality." 

"It"s okay if you don"t want to come back here tomorrow, me and Song Dei Si can go back here and buy the fresh meat for our group" Chun Ji said. 

Choi Mira did not like what she just heard. If she will let Song Dei Si and Chun Ji go the back to the market just by themselves, it looks like they were dating on the market and she didn"t like that " I"m going back! Beside we are the one who are partners in doing the main course." 

Song Dei Si curled up her lips "Yes, you are right, you two can just go back here tomorrow to buy the fresh meat." 

Choi Mira smiled at Song Dei Si for giving her and Chun Ji the opportunity to go to the market together. Just the two of them. "Thank you, Jie Jie"

Chun Ji knitted his brows. He cannot understand woman sometimes. They were all fickle-minded. Choi Mira was complaining earlier about the smells and sourroundings in the wet market and yet she has changed her mind in an instant and wanted to come back to the same place again. 

"Ma"am please give me a kilo of this meat!" said Master Chef Li to the sales lady before they left the pork meat section. 

They went to fish area and Master Chef Li has demonstrated to them on how to spot the fresh fish. Some of them have taken down notes. Master Chef Li bought a kilo of fresh fish too. After that, they went to the seafoods area too and lastly to the beef section. 

They went back to the Masters of Cookery school after their market session to stock the ingredients that they bought. 

Song Dei Si went home immediately right after the cla.s.s has been dismissed to take a quick shower and to change before she went to Yan High School. 

.....

Song Dei Si parked her car at the Yan High School parking lot. It was past 2 o"clock in the afternoon when she reached the school ground. She was a bit nervous when she was walking to the Directress office. She knocked softly on the door. Her heart was thumping when the door opened.

"Come on in" Mr. Chan told her with a friendly smile.

Song Dei Si nodded and went inside the office of her mother-in-law. She saw a new face was sitting on the table next to Mr. Chan, she a.s.sumed that it was the new a.s.sistant. She looked so young and if she were to based her age on how she looked, she must be around 24 years old. 

She looked at Madam Yan and smiled at her. 

"Apologies, if I came too late today. I went back to the mansion first to change after my cooking cla.s.s." 

Madam Yan nodded. "You may coordinate with Mr. Chan on the things that you need to do." 

Song Dei Si nodded. She looked at Mr. Chan and he guided her onto the seat next to him. She introduced her to the new a.s.sistant. 

" This is the daughter-in-law of the Song Family and her name is Song Dei Si She will be a.s.sisting us for a time being until such time that you can already work with minimum supervision. "Mr. Chan said to the new a.s.sistant.

"Good afternoon Young Madam" She acknowledged her and was too shy to greet her. 

She gave her a warm smile. 

"Young Madam, please meet the new a.s.sistant. Ms. Ju." 

"Glad to meet you Ms. Ju."

After the introduction, Mr. Chan has discussed the admin stuff that Song Dei Si needs to do. Mr. Chan and Ms. Ju were both impressed because Song Dei Si got the instruction easily. 

"She was the best a.s.sistant in town before she resigned as her husband"s PA at Yan Enterprise. You will learn a lot from her. But she was more than just an a.s.sistant because her role was that of a right hand of her husband. If her husband wasn"t around, she can decide on his behalf." Mr. Chan told Ms. Ju.

Song Dei Si"s face blushed because of the compliment that Mr. Chan gave her. But she was just a bit surprise because he didn.t expect that Mr. Chan would know this details about her. How did he knew that she also made some important decision when Yan Mor Tee wasn"t around? Their relations.h.i.+p wasn"t that close unless someone close to him told him those bits of information about her. She looked at her mother-in-law and could not help but think if she was the one who shared that details to Mr. Chan. But who else could it be? She smiled with that thought "Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Chan" 

"Don"t mention it. I am so shy to be infront of you now giving you instruction if I knew that you are way ahead of me in terms of knowledge and agility."

"You wouldn"t be my mother-in-law a.s.sistant for almost 2 decades now if you are not efficient too" she gave the compliment back to him. 

Mr. Chan smiled at her. He excused himself and continued the knowledge transfer session with Ms. Ju.

Song Dei Si has started her tasks quietly.

.....

Yan Mor Tee was sitting at his swivel chair and his day was about to end when he received PA Su"s report about Master Chef Li. 

"If you don"t need anything else, can I leave now?" PA Su asked her boss. 

Yan Mor Tee did not answer her. "PA Su, is it natural for a married woman to praise other guy other than his husband?" 

PA Su was stunned with her boss question. "Hmmm... yes especially if we found them amazing. We normally gave praises to celebrities and other known personalities mostly because of their achievements."

"And not because you find them attractive?"

PA Su chuckled. " In some occasion, we praise them too due to their good looks" 

Yan Mor Tee frowned. 

"But it doesn"t mean that we are attracted to them and would want them over our husband" PA SU said, she have a hunch that his boss was asking these questions because of Master Chef Li. Was her boss jealous over him? 

"I see" Yan Mor Tee said.

"Anything else, CEO Yan?" PA Su asked.

" You may leave now" Yan Mor Tee said and he started flipping pages of the report about Master Chef Li. What caught his attention was his relations.h.i.+p status. He was currently dating a news anchor at TVQ - Channel 10 and his heart suddenly felt at ease.