12
It wasn’t just the chili peppers.
The vibrant red caught Xie Zhengjie’s eye, making them easy to spot.
As he looked around the hotpot, his astonishment grew.
“What are you doing?!”
Xie Zhengjie reached directly into the boiling hotpot with his bare hands, grabbing out various vegetables.
His eyes filled with a pain Chen Linyao had never seen before.
Desperately, he tried summoning fire from his hands to dry the vegetables, but after a brief flicker, his expression turned to one of utter despair.
The young man slumped forward, resting his elbows on the table, his hands clasped together to support his forehead.
Silent and motionless, the only sounds in the room were the bubbling of the hotpot and the murmur of the television.
Xie Zhengjie sat like that for a long time, berating himself internally.
Acting this startled—what am I, some uncultured barbarian?
No matter how precious spirit herbs are, what of it?
I am Prince Xie Zhengjie of the Xie Kingdom.
Should I really be so bothered by such trivial things?
After forcing himself to suppress the turmoil in his heart, he finally raised his head, adjusted his posture to appear dignified once more, and said, “Do you know what these are?”
Chen Linyao looked at the shriveled vegetables on his plate, now resembling dried tea leaves.
Though they were somewhat mangled, their original shapes were still recognizable.
She answered, “There’s cabbage, water spinach, bok choy, and celery.”
“They’re spirit herbs!”
He glanced at Chen Linyao, then at the hotpot, as though staring at the destruction of countless small cities condensed into one pot.
Finally, he spoke, suppressing his frustration.
“Do you know how valuable they are?”
In his mind, Xie Zhengjie had just witnessed the devastation of spirit herbs equivalent to the destruction of ten small cities.
Meanwhile, Chen Linyao stared back at him in confusion.
Was this man trying to test her with some kind of riddle?
Though unsure, Chen Linyao decided to answer honestly.
“Including the delivery fee, about 150 yuan. But there was a promotion, so I only paid 100 yuan.”
Hearing this, the young man froze in shock.
A hundred yuan… that didn’t sound like much.
Not knowing the value of the local currency, Xie Zhengjie couldn’t properly gauge it.
Hesitantly, he asked, “Is that a lot?”
Chen Linyao thought about it.
It wasn’t much for one meal, but eating like this every day might drain her funds quickly.
She glanced at the water bottle he had been holding and explained,
“150 yuan is roughly the cost of 30 bottles of water like that one.”
Xie Zhengjie looked at the small plastic bottle in his hand, utterly baffled.
Thirty bottles of this… equaled spirit herbs worth the value of ten cities?
“Uh, if it’s just the vegetables, maybe… six bottles.”
“…”
“Are you serious?”
Seeing Xie Zhengjie appearing deep in thought, Chen Linyao decided to leave him be and focused on picking up a slice of meat from the hotpot to eat first.
“I just remembered that the clothes I ordered the other day cost 1,878 yuan.”
Chen Linyao froze before turning to look at the young man in confusion.
Why is he bringing this up out of nowhere?
“If I’m not mistaken, the hospital stay cost 2,000 yuan per night.”
Her mood took a nosedive.
His sudden talk of money seemed suspicious, as if it carried some hidden, sinister agenda.
“I feel like staying with you has put me at a disadvantage.”
There it was.
Chen Linyao’s eyes widened in alarm.
The young man’s words reeked of opportunism, and she immediately went on the defensive.
“How have you been at a disadvantage? Other people thought you had memory loss, so they let you stay at the hospital. But both you and I know full well there’s nothing wrong with your brain. Don’t try to take advantage of me.”
Chen Linyao cut him off before Xie Zhengjie could say anything more, watching as he clicked his tongue in annoyance before replying with mild irritation.
“Fine. Consider it a loss for me this time. Staying with you isn’t so bad anyway.”
Seeing Xie Zhengjie’s disgruntled expression, Chen Linyao felt triumphant.
She had defended herself in time and avoided being exploited again.
Relaxing, she helped herself to several more pieces of meat from the hotpot.
Hmm.
Why was he so easy to deal with this time?
Oh well.
Doesn’t matter.