Sitting on the sofa, Mu Li buried his face in the throw pillow. Happiness had arrived too abruptly; just the previous day, he was still worrying over the fact that Xiao Yan did not like him, yet now Xiao Yan was already his boyfriend.
Watching Xiao Yan busy at work in the kitchen, Mu Li had a persistent, unreal illusion. This person was his boyfriend now, and his dream had come true. If he weren’t still mindful of Xiao Yan being right there, he would have wanted to roll around on the sofa a couple of times to celebrate.
A smile lingered at the corners of Xiao Yan’s lips as he meticulously prepared the food on the kitchen counter. Fortunately, he frequently came to stay here, so the food provisions were ample and fresh.
Xiao Yan usually enjoyed cooking for himself, knowing how to make both Western and Chinese dishes, so he considered his culinary skills to be quite decent. Cooking for his own wife for the very first time, he naturally wanted to prepare everything properly.
Yet the mere thought of food reminded him of the impending apocalypse.
In his past life, the apocalypse had arrived abruptly without any preparation from humanity, plunging the entire world into chaos. Later on, food shortages ensued, even giving rise to cannibalism.
This time, he had returned ahead of time. He knew the apocalypse would not fail to happen simply because of his rebirth, so only by making thorough preparations could he protect the person who mattered most to him.
With these thoughts, Xiao Yan looked toward Mu Li. Mu Li happened to be looking back at him at the exact same moment. As their gazes met, their faces flushed bright red all at once. They quickly averted their eyes, yet their glances couldn’t help drifting back toward Xiao Yan again.
“So cute!” Xiao Yan muttered under his breath. Mu Li did not hear him; he only saw the smile on Xiao Yan’s face widen, as if he had suddenly recalled something delightful.
The kitchen was open-concept, allowing Mu Li to see everything Xiao Yan was doing. Gripping his phone, he watched the busy Xiao Yan.
The man wore a dress shirt and slacks, tied with a simple black apron, and was lowering his head to sprinkle seasoned salt over a freshly seared steak.
With a click, a new photo was added to Mu Li’s phone. Hearing the sound, he immediately gripped his phone tightly. Crap, his stealthy photo had been discovered!
Mu Li looked guiltily toward Xiao Yan, only to find that the man showed no particular reaction, presumably having heard nothing. Mu Li let out a sigh of relief, switched his phone to silent mode, and continued searching for the right angle. Before long, a few more photos were added to a collection named “Big Brother” in his phone gallery.
Mu Li changed his previous blurry wallpaper to the photo he had just taken. On the discarded wallpaper, the figure was hazy, though one could still discern a youthful Xiao Yan.
Unrequited love was an inexpressible emotion; a seed takes root and sprouts in one’s heart. Some people perhaps never wait around for it to blossom and bear fruit in their entire lifetime. Fortunately, after six years, he had waited until his flower bloomed.
The little rascal who successfully took a stealthy photo felt secretly pleased, completely unaware that every single action of his was observed by the man. Refraining from calling out his little boyfriend’s minor actions, Xiao Yan brought the steak over to the dining table, along with a fruit and vegetable salad, a serving of pasta, and two bowls of creamy mushroom soup—simple yet exquisite.
Wearing Xiao Yan’s slippers, Mu Li pattered as he walked over, the footwear clearly a size too large. This time, he took photos openly and posted them to his moments with the caption: “Handcrafted by my big brother, pure bliss.”
Hardly had he posted it when comments from friends trickled in underneath. However, the word “brother” caused them to mistakenly assume this was Mu Li’s cousin, prompting teasing remarks about how the eldest young master of the Mu family possessed such culinary skills. Mu Li merely replied with a “nope,” leaving a trail of gossipy people with itching hearts, desperate to investigate and discuss it further.
Xiao Yan possessed no X-ray vision, so naturally, he knew nothing of this. Seated on the opposite end of the long table, he spoke in a gentle voice: “Let’s eat.”
Cooking for his wife for the first time still brought a certain level of nervous tension. No matter how steady he looked on the outside, his heart remained somewhat jittery, terrified that the food might not suit Mu Li’s palate.
Although Mu Li had been pampered since childhood, he was not a picky eater, and since the plating looked so exquisite and appetizing, the flavor certainly wouldn’t be bad. He picked up his knife and fork, intending to start eating, when Xiao Yan already held out a piece he had cut for him.
Hesitating for just a moment, Mu Li took a small bite, and his eyes lit up immediately. It was so tender—the kind that burst with juices upon biting into it. Truly fresh, tender, and juicy. If his memory served correctly, he had seen Xiao Yan take raw beef from the refrigerator rather than anything pre-prepared. To be able to make it turn out like this, rivaling the family’s personal chef—and considering their chef was specially flown in from Italy—was quite a feat.
Originally intending to maintain an air of refinement by taking tiny bites, Mu Li completely lost control and devoured the entire piece on his fork in one go. Chewing away, he mumbled indistinctly to Xiao Yan, “Delicious!”
Securing his wife’s approval caused Xiao Yan to breathe a sigh of relief internally. As the ancients said, if you want to capture a person’s heart, you must first capture their stomach. It seemed he needed to put more effort into this direction.
This time, without waiting for Xiao Yan, Mu Li wielded his own knife and fork. The steak was tender and easy to slice.
Mu Li moved with elegance, yet his eating style was ferocious. As he chewed the meat inside his mouth, his cheeks puffed out and twitched with every movement, his facial expression entirely serious. This prompted Xiao Yan to recall a stray cat he had adopted back in his university days, which also ate in that fiercely adorable manner.
While Mu Li ate happily, Xiao Yan ate very little. Moving slowly and chewing deliberately, he watched Mu Li. Having spent so many years in the apocalypse, he had long since forgotten the taste of food like this.
To survive in the apocalypse, during the hardest times, he had even consumed wild grass just to scrape by, purely to save rations for his parents and younger sister. Heh, the ending he received in return was hardly worth mentioning.
After the meal, Xiao Yan fetched a bottle of strawberry milk and poured it into a glass. Clutching the cup like a little hamster, Mu Li sipped it in tiny increments.
The strawberry milk contained fruit bits and tasted wonderfully sweet, sweet straight down into his heart. With Xiao Yan seated beside him, Mu Li grew absent-minded, his voice as soft as the buzzing of a mosquito: “This milk is quite sweet.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Xiao Yan’s handsome face suddenly loomed large before him. Immediately following that, his lips were covered by a warm, fleeting touch as he heard Xiao Yan’s satisfied, smiling voice: “It really is quite sweet.”
In that instant, fireworks seemed to explode inside Mu Li’s head, leaving him completely oblivious to everything else.