The Dagger Revealed

"Mom? Where are you going?"

"Shh—"

Mrs. Mursey turned and gestured to her son.

"I’m going to see how good your classmates are at cooking."

Mrs. Mursey then walked to the kitchen door. Though she found the three people standing there somewhat strange, she said nothing and walked straight past them into the kitchen.

Bernard and the others had been peering into the kitchen. Seeing Mrs. Mursey walk right in, they were just about to say something when a sharp reprimand came from inside.

"No sneaking bites!"

That was immediately followed by the sound of a long, thin object swishing through the air, along with a startled cry.

"Ah!"

"Hiss—"

Bernard rubbed his teeth, while Uther and Eugene had already charged straight into the kitchen.

"This is Klon’s house, not the dorm. What will it look like if a piece is missing when the dish is brought to the table… huh?"

Adam used his chopsticks to stir the bite-sized crispy pork bubbling in the oil, then unhurriedly turned around. He was immediately stunned to discover that the person who had reached toward the plate beside him and gotten a tap from his chopsticks was actually Mrs. Mursey.

!!!

"Ah! I’m sorry, Auntie! I didn’t see you just now…"

"It’s fine…"

Mrs. Mursey rubbed the slightly reddened back of her hand, a blush rising to her cheeks as well.

Adam had not used much force. Her cry had mainly been from fright. At first, she had not thought much of it—she had only found the food on the plate so fragrant that she wanted to take one to try. It was only after being stopped that she realized the dishes had not even been served yet…

Besides the embarrassment of being caught sneaking a bite, she could not help nodding to herself. Her son and his roommates really did get along well, or that scene just now would never have happened.

As Mrs. Mursey nodded inwardly, she outwardly appeared to be staring blankly at the ribs on the plate. Adam hurriedly nudged the plate toward her.

"I think they’re about done at this point. Auntie, would you like to try one and see if anything needs adjusting?"

Mrs. Mursey came back to herself and realized Adam seemed to have misunderstood something. However, as the plate drew closer, the scent of fat and spices grew even richer. So rather than clear up the misunderstanding, she smiled and nodded.

"Then I won’t stand on ceremony…"

"Careful, they’re hot."

After reminding Mrs. Mursey, Adam went back to watching the crispy pork in the wok.

This plate was a fried appetizer platter, containing red yeast rice ribs, fried five-spice rolls, salt-and-pepper pork strips, crispy fried small yellow croaker, fried potato wedges, bite-sized crispy pork, and fried sausage.

Although the crispy pork and fried sausage had yet to be plated, the platter was already beginning to take shape. Mrs. Mursey picked for quite a while, feeling too embarrassed to take anything.

After all, Adam had just said that it would be rather impolite if a piece were missing when the plate reached the table.

"Auntie, why don’t we just finish this whole plate in the kitchen?"

Uther, who had long since followed Mrs. Mursey into the kitchen and had been eyeing that fried platter for ages, quietly suggested.

"Ah? That… wouldn’t that be inappropriate… gulp—"

"There’s nothing inappropriate about it. If we ruin the presentation, then we just don’t bring it to the table."

Eugene added.

Bernard glanced at the pots on the other two burners.

"Fried food is supposed to be an appetizer snack anyway. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make it to the table."

Back at the dorm, the fried appetizer platter almost never survived until it was served. Though Adam would smack them with the end of his chopsticks for sneaking bites, he never really used any force. Usually, the four of them would keep eating and eating and eating while enduring Adam’s chopstick attacks!

The worst consequence had only been that the backs of their hands were reddened from the taps. Once Adam got used to it, he no longer kept watching them and smacking them either.

"It’s fine, Auntie. Go ahead and eat. Remember to call Klon over too."

Rolling his eyes, Adam waited until Mrs. Mursey left the kitchen to call Klon. Then he scooped up the crispy pork with a wire skimmer, drained off the oil, and neatly dumped it onto the platter.

"You bunch of gluttons. Eat up, eat up. Careful, they’re hot!"

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm!"

Eugene nodded repeatedly as he gnawed on a small yellow croaker whose bones had been fried crisp.

After the fried appetizer platter sacrificed itself, the other dishes were safely brought to the table.

"Creamy mushroom soup in puff pastry!"

"Deluxe hot pot!"

"Crispy fried fish!"

"Pan-seared beef chuck!"

"Thirteen-spice Provencal Stew!"

With each dish announced and set on the table, everyone could not help swallowing in unison.

Adam had originally planned to serve the dishes according to the dining order, but the appetizer had died before making it to the table. This was not some formal dining occasion either, so he simply served everything at once.

Mrs. Mursey looked around the table, then could not resist nudging her son beside her with her elbow.

"This is what you eat at school?"

She had even worried at one point about whether her son could get used to the food at school. But this was a little too good…

Klon thought, How could that be possible? Even they could not eat Adam’s cooking every day. Usually, they still had to make do with things like grilled sausages, toast, and baked potatoes in the Great Hall…

"There wasn’t enough time to prepare much, so I just made a few simple home-style dishes. Please, help yourselves~"

Adam sighed somewhat regretfully.

He was not being modest. The deluxe hot pot and crispy fried fish had both been semi-finished dishes prepared for tomorrow’s banquet. He only needed to duplicate them, process them, and heat them up. As for the other three Western dishes… together, they had taken less than an hour.

"…And you call this simple home cooking?"

Mrs. Mursey looked at her son in disbelief. What exactly did they usually eat at school?!

"Uh…"

Klon wanted to say that it did not count as simple for him either, but when he thought about the "grand dishes" Adam mentioned, which often required half a day, a full day, or even several days of preparation, he could only answer vaguely.

"Adam has very high standards for food."

"Oh… high standards are good. High standards are a good thing."

Mrs. Mursey nodded, looking thoughtful.

Seeing this, Klon hurriedly reminded his mother, who seemed to be drifting off.

"Mom, hurry up and start eating. Everyone’s been waiting."

Mrs. Mursey looked up and found everyone watching her. She quickly picked up her fork.

"Everyone, dig in~"

As Mrs. Mursey lifted a piece of puff pastry covering the mouth of a ceramic pot and placed it into her mouth, everyone raised their chopsticks in unison, baring their fangs.

Before Mrs. Mursey could maintain her composure for long, she saw the pan-seared beef chuck was nearly gone. She immediately cast aside her restraint and joined the battle.

After an intense battle for delicious food, Mrs. Mursey was at a slight disadvantage because her utensil was less flexible, yet she was still thoroughly satisfied. She raised her cola and shared stories of her days at Hogwarts with everyone.

"So Auntie was a Hufflepuff senior too!"

Klon could not help glancing at Adam. He remembered telling Adam about this.

"Yes, so seeing all of you now is like seeing my younger self…"

Mrs. Mursey smiled and looked at the spirited young boys before her.

"Time~ It really slips through your fingers before you know it. The days when I helped Susan come up with ways to pursue that big dumb Gryffindor boy feel as though they happened only yesterday…"

Klon could not help taking a sip of cola.

Susan… was she the owner of Elegant Wizarding Attire? But he remembered that her husband was not from Gryffindor, and he even claimed to be Aunt Susan’s first love.

Hiss—

Before Klon could finish marveling at how complicated the adult world was, he heard what his mother said next.

"Come to think of it, you’re all at the age when love first begins to bloom. Do you all have girlfriends?"

Though Mrs. Mursey’s posture was casual, her smiling eyes were fixed on Adam’s reaction.

"Pfft—cough, cough!"