All afternoon, the group washed vegetables, chopped ingredients, and helped with preparations. Wang Che took on the role of head chef. He normally cooked Michelin-level fine dining, but today it felt like he was running a canteen for a field kitchen.
His obsessive-compulsive tendencies were nearly triggered. Large pots of mixed dishes looked completely unappetizing to him.
The others, however, had no such concerns. Seeing the finished dishes—fragrant, colorful, and appetizing—they became even more motivated, their washing and chopping getting faster and more skillful.
Gu Cheng and Wei Jiawen circled around Wang Che constantly praising him. Wang Che felt a headache coming on and eventually kicked Wei Jiawen out of the kitchen. Things immediately became much quieter.
Meanwhile, Jiang Li and her group had no induction cookers or portable gas stoves. After the gas supply was cut off, they could only rotate between instant noodles, self-heating hot pots, and self-heating rice. They were already getting sick of it.
At dusk, Ye Wen went out fully prepared just to throw away some trash. The moment she stepped outside, she caught a strong aroma of cooking food drifting through the air.
She couldn’t help complaining when she returned.
“Don’t know which house is cooking, but it smells amazing.”
Jiang Li leaned out the window immediately after hearing this.
“It really does. It smells like sweet and sour pork ribs.”
Ye Wen added softly, “I think I also smelled chestnut chicken and stir-fried pork with chili just now.”
The other two said nothing, but their mouths were already watering uncontrollably.
A while later, Zhou Tong opened the window again.
The smell this time was crab stir-fried with scallions and ginger, oil-splashed shrimp, and boiled fish slices.
“Which house is it? Their food is too good. Some people are starving while others are feasting.”
Chu Xiuyuan, usually extremely patient and capable of enduring anything due to his complicated family background and long-term scheming mindset, had always believed that endurance was essential for success. Nothing could be rushed.
He opened the window and sniffed the air.
“Zhou Tong, do you know which house it is?”
Zhou Tong carefully identified the direction.
“It’s coming from the right side of the opposite row. It seems to be the group of men and women who had that conflict the other day.”
There were only twenty-one households in the villa district. After moving in, Zhou Tong had basically mapped out who lived where.
Hearing it was them, Chu Xiuyuan immediately recalled Wang Che’s presence. That young man had an imposing aura—clearly not someone easy to deal with. The two girls, however, looked simpler.
“Jiang Li, aren’t you Gu Cheng’s cousin? Go ask them to lend us an induction cooker.”
The moment Jiang Li heard Gu Cheng’s name, she could no longer sit still.
Again her?
Since childhood, she had always been the one suppressing Gu Cheng. How had Gu Cheng suddenly started living better than her?
Why should she?
She didn’t even bother taking a flashlight and rushed out into the heat and darkness.
The other three quickly grabbed flashlights and followed her.
Inside the villa, Gu Cheng already understood Wang Che’s obsessive tendencies. She took out an elegant set of plates, served the dishes from the pot, plated them properly, labeled each container, and stored them into her Storage Space.
Eight dishes and one soup were placed on the table.
Just then, Wang Che came downstairs after showering. The group chatted and ate happily.
Gu Cheng immediately switched into “bootlicker mode” and poured him a glass of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice with ice.
“Older Brother, I specially made this for you. You worked hard. I’ll massage your shoulders later and rub your legs.”
Wang Che glanced at her with a faint smile.
“You just wanted to drink pomegranate juice yourself and are pretending it’s for me. Not sincere at all. No need for shoulder rub—just wash my feet later.”
Gu Cheng immediately went silent.
“When eating, don’t talk about disgusting things like feet or butts.”
She buried her head and continued eating.
She quickly noticed something: Gu Cheng didn’t like rice. She preferred seafood, bones, crab, chicken feet, and snacks.
She ate everything slowly and carefully, gnawing methodically. By the time others had eaten half, Wang Che had already been helping her put food into her empty bowl so she wouldn’t miss out.
Wang Xin didn’t need attention—Fu Zhe had already piled food for her into a small mountain.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Who had such poor timing?
None of them moved to open it. Not even their chopsticks stopped.
Wei Jiawen stood up. Everyone thought he was going to open the door—but instead, he went to the kitchen to refill his rice.
Wang Che finally sighed in defeat and went to open the door himself.
At the entrance stood the four people.
He immediately regretted it.
Expressionless, he asked, “What is it?”
Seeing him, Jiang Li was once again struck by how unaffected he looked despite the heat—still like a rich young master. Her jealousy toward Gu Cheng flared again.
Then she smelled the strong aroma of food.
“I’m looking for Gu Cheng.”
“She’s eating,” Wang Che said flatly, showing no intention of letting them in.
He was about to close the door when Jiang Li hurriedly spoke.
“Gu Cheng! I came to ask to borrow an induction cooker. We can’t cook without one.”
Gu Cheng ignored her completely.
After a glance exchanged between Wang Che and Fu Zhe, Wang Che said, “Wait.”
He turned back inside.
Gu Cheng immediately exploded.
“How can you agree to lend it to them?”
Wang Che gestured for her to calm down and passed by her, lowering his voice.
“I’ll explain later.”
He took an induction cooker from the kitchen and handed it to Jiang Li.
Seeing that this man ignored Gu Cheng’s objections and still helped her, Jiang Li immediately felt a surge of satisfaction. She believed she was clearly more sensible—more obedient women were more attractive.
She quickly fixed her hair and clothes.
If only she had known Gu Cheng’s “backer” had interest in her, she would have dressed better.
Smiling softly, she asked, “Thank you, Older Brother. May I ask your name?”
Wang Che looked at her greasy attempt at charm and felt disgusted. He placed the induction cooker into her hands while avoiding her deliberately leaning body.
“No need to return it.”
Then he shut the door directly.
Blocking out their prying eyes.
Back at the table, seeing Gu Cheng still fuming, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Fu Zhe’s grandfather called and gave a reminder. The online orders you placed when you were being lazy made it easy to trace you as the person with foresight he mentioned. Since they want to be the ‘first ones to stick their heads out,’ let them. As long as they survive, it’s fine—they can take the attention. We just push the problem onto them.”
Gu Cheng suddenly understood.
So that was it.
As expected, the “thigh” was extremely scheming.
A chill ran through her.
“So… they can actually trace that?”
Wang Che said sarcastically, “You took the easy route. Everything under your own name, selling your house, living with us now. But don’t worry—right now only Fu Zhe’s elder family knows. Just in case.”
Gu Cheng sighed deeply.
“Being lazy is so hard. Lying flat is so hard. Why do humans have to have intelligence? And why does intelligence even have levels?”
Wei Jiawen couldn’t help commenting, “I think not everyone has much intelligence.”
Gu Cheng ignored him and looked at Wang Che.
“So… am I safe now?”
Wang Che couldn’t help laughing.
“Yeah. Intelligence levels do matter. Someone lower than you just saved you.”
Gu Cheng went silent and focused on eating.
She couldn’t argue—so she might as well eat more.
Outside, Jiang Li happily brought the induction cooker back to her villa. Ye Wen cooked, while Zhou Tong helped.
Meanwhile, because it was late, the group of gangsters who had originally planned to go out for supplies smelled the aroma of food drifting through the air and quietly made their way toward Chu Xiuyuan’s villa.
They exchanged sly glances.
They decided not to go out today.
They would first go back and discuss.
This household definitely had abundant supplies.