Gu Zhenyang looked at Su Yiyi suspiciously, feeling that her words weren’t entirely trustworthy. But the facts were right in front of him—she had indeed earned royalties, and a single payment was almost comparable to his monthly allowance.
“Mm. Then what kind of house are you planning to find?”
Actually, this wasn’t that important to Su Yiyi, but if she had a choice, she would definitely prefer a bigger house. Ideally, she’d want to buy it outright, and if it came with a storefront, even better—then in a couple of years when she started doing business, it would come in handy.
Su Yiyi thought for a moment and decided to look on her own first.
“No need to trouble you for now. I’ll go check it out myself once the snow eases up. If I really can’t find anything suitable, then we’ll talk.”
Gu Zhenyang stared at her for a few seconds, as if trying to read something from her face. But no matter how he looked, there was no sign of disguise—yet Su Yiyi felt like a completely different person.
The way she spoke now was nothing like before.
And the previous Su Yiyi definitely didn’t seem capable of writing good articles, let alone getting published by a newspaper.
A thought surfaced in Gu Zhenyang’s mind—could his nominal wife have been replaced?
After all, enemy agents were known to be skilled at disguise. It seemed that before the divorce, he would need to investigate her thoroughly.
Su Yiyi had already sensed his suspicion, but she wasn’t worried in the slightest.
She was Su Yiyi.
No matter how clever Gu Zhenyang was, he would never guess that her soul had changed. Even if he investigated, he wouldn’t find anything.
So she ignored him and went about preparing ingredients.
Meanwhile, Gu Zhenyang kept observing her every move, trying to find any clues.
When Su Yiyi turned around and saw he still hadn’t left, she was puzzled.
Don’t tell me he wants to freeload a meal again?
So she probed, “Staying for dinner?”
Thinking of her cooking skills, Gu Zhenyang had to admit they were excellent.
Besides, if he wanted to determine whether she was an enemy agent in disguise, he needed more interaction.
With that perfectly justified excuse in mind, he nodded proudly.
“I’ll eat.”
Su Yiyi: …
Right. This guy clearly doesn’t know what “being polite” means.
Whatever.
She’ll just treat it as repaying the original host’s debt to him.
Su Yiyi worked quickly, heading outside to retrieve a piece of frozen fresh meat from the small box. She had actually put it there just last night—luckily she did, or she wouldn’t have had anything to cook now that Gu Zhenyang suddenly returned.
Gu Zhenyang wasn’t surprised to see the meat. In his eyes, Su Yiyi was now quite capable of earning money. One article brought in a hundred yuan—of course she could afford meat. Not to mention he also gave her ten yuan a month.
Unaware of his wandering thoughts, Su Yiyi focused on cooking.
Even with an extra person, she wouldn’t compromise on food.
She made a dish of stir-fried pork with chili. She wasn’t sure if Gu Zhenyang could handle spicy food, but coming from a Sichuan-Chongqing background in her previous life, she loved spicy flavors.
She used Erjingtiao peppers—long, slender green chilies known for their strong heat.
She also steamed a plate of cured sausage and cured meat, and cooked a cabbage and egg soup.
She actually preferred tomato and egg soup, but in the northern winter, tomatoes were impossible to find. This wasn’t the modern era with greenhouses everywhere. In this place, being able to buy cabbage and radishes was already considered good.
If Gu Zhenyang hadn’t been home, she could’ve secretly taken tomatoes out—but with him here, she had to be cautious.
Even so, this meal was quite lavish.
Even though it was already 1978, many people still couldn’t afford meat. Outside of holidays, few households would eat like this.
Looking at the spread—and smelling how good it was—Gu Zhenyang, despite himself, felt a bit tempted.
This time, he didn’t need reminding. He went to get the bowls and chopsticks on his own.
After Su Yiyi sat down, the two began eating in silence. The atmosphere was somewhat awkward.
“Ahem… your cooking is really good.”
Even Gu Zhenyang found the silence strange, so he took the initiative to compliment her.
“I know.”
Su Yiyi showed no modesty at all.
Honestly, she believed her cooking was excellent.
In her previous life, she had reached a level where she didn’t need to cook herself—but she liked it. She had even studied under chefs from various countries.
Not just Chinese cuisine—even Western or Japanese dishes—she could make them well if she wanted to.
It was just that the current circumstances didn’t allow it.
Gu Zhenyang was caught off guard by her directness.
For some reason, he felt that this version of Su Yiyi was… shining.
Quickly lowering his head, he focused on eating, reminding himself not to be fooled by appearances.
People don’t change their nature easily.
Su Yiyi would never truly settle down with him.
Having developed habits in the army, Gu Zhenyang ate quickly. But his movements weren’t crude—just efficient, even somewhat pleasing to watch.
Truthfully, Su Yiyi didn’t mind interacting with him that much.
After all, good-looking people were popular in any era.
Aside from his slightly tanned skin from training, Gu Zhenyang was practically her ideal type.
It was just a pity—he wasn’t hers.
After the meal, Gu Zhenyang took the initiative to wash the dishes. Su Yiyi didn’t stop him.
She cooked, he cleaned—it was only fair.
After tidying up the kitchen, Gu Zhenyang came out holding his coat.
“I’ll stay here tonight. We’ll go to the army together tomorrow.”
Of course, his real intention was to observe her more closely.
Yes—that was definitely the reason.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t want to stay here.
Su Yiyi didn’t object.
To be blunt, the house was assigned to Gu Zhenyang by the army—she was just temporarily staying there.
And his request was reasonable.
If he went back to the barracks tonight, he’d have to come back in the morning to pick her up anyway. Staying here was simply more convenient.