Fortunately, Zhou Yuesheng was quick to react. He used his shoulder to support her back and half-carried her out of the kitchen.
“Sister, what’s wrong?” Chen Zhao’s face went pale with worry, and he looked as though he wanted to slap himself ten times for bringing it up.
Hearing the commotion, Yu Yue hurriedly turned his wheelchair toward the kitchen. In his haste, he lost control of the direction, and the wheels caught on the doorframe. The momentum sent him flying forward, and he tumbled to the ground. Seeing Yu Zhile so close yet being unable to reach her, he struck the floor in frustration.
“Yu Yue!” Chen Zhao rushed over to lift him back into the wheelchair.
Meanwhile, the livestream exploded. Viewers were frantically asking what had happened. A user named “xxxx” had a peculiar idea: thinking the “Sea of Clouds” special effect music might act as a wake-up call, they dropped over a hundred “Seas of Clouds” in rapid succession.
A series of chimes rang out in Yu Zhile’s mind, slowly pulling her thoughts back together. Before they even made it out of the kitchen, she grabbed Zhou Yuesheng’s hand and snapped her eyes open, her gaze clear.
“I’m fine,” Yu Zhile said, smiling at the three worried faces. “I just remembered some things regarding Zhang Caihong.” As she spoke, she recalled the fragments of memory that had just flashed through her mind, her expression turning dark.
“Place ginger slices and scallions at the bottom of the pot, toss the mussels straight in, and start the fire.”
The three of them refused to let Yu Zhile lift another finger. Chen Zhao and Zhou Yuesheng took over the cooking duties. Since Chen Zhao had been a young master who never touched a chore before coming to the countryside, Yu Zhile gave him the two simplest dishes to handle.
Chen Zhao hesitated. “Sister, do we really not need to add water? Won’t the pot explode if we cook it dry?”
“No need. Mussels contain their own juices; cooking them dry makes them even sweeter,” Yu Zhile explained.
Chen Zhao lit the fire and kept a nervous eye on the pot. On the other side, the dough had finished resting. Zhou Yuesheng took it to the cutting board and kneaded it until smooth. The next step was to roll it out into even, thin sheets, fold them, and slice them into strips. His movements were skilled and fluid; as the knife rose and fell, the resulting noodles were as uniform as if they had been measured with a ruler. It certainly didn’t look like his first time making hand-pulled noodles.
The noodles went into a pot of warm water. During the process, he added cold water twice. Once cooked, he rinsed them in cold water and set them aside to drain.
“Xiao Zhao, blanch the Gracilaria for one minute, fish it out, rinse it in cold water, and then add the seasoning,” Yu Zhile said, amused by how intently Chen Zhao was staring at the pot.
“Huh?” Chen Zhao snapped out of his daze and looked at her blankly. She had to repeat the instructions for the salad. Chen Zhao fetched another clay pot, boiled the water, and tossed in the seaweed the moment the water bubbled. He timed it precisely, not missing a single second, and quickly finished the cold dish. Several viewers laughed, commenting that their own cooking attempts were just as tense as Chen Zhao’s.
Before long, the mussels were ready, and Zhou Yuesheng began the yellow croaker noodles. He heated oil in the wok, fried a third of the marinated yellow croaker until golden, mashed the meat, and added boiling water. Once the broth turned milky white, he added the noodles and simmered them on low heat for two minutes before dividing them into four bowls. In a separate pan, he fried the remaining croaker pieces until the surface was charred and crispy, then placed them atop the noodles.
When all the dishes were on the table, the blend of aromas made the viewers both love and hate Yu Zhile for the temptation.
“See you in the next livestream,” Yu Zhile said softly, trailing behind the others as she ended the broadcast. Zhou Yuesheng glanced back at her, and she gave him a quick wink.
Chen Zhao favored the spicy crabs. The delicate, sweet crab meat combined perfectly with the spice, causing him to eat piece after piece. Even as his lips turned red from the heat, he didn’t want to stop. The mussels were plump and juicy, and the Gracilaria salad was crisp and refreshing, but Yu Zhile preferred the yellow croaker noodles. The fish was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the noodles had a perfect chew, and the broth was seasoned just right. It was a masterpiece.
“You’re amazing to make it this well on your first try,” she praised Zhou Yuesheng, her face beaming with satisfaction. Zhou Yuesheng’s hand paused for a moment as he looked down to hide the slight upward curve of his lips.
After the meal, Yu Zhile went to her room and lay on the bed to check her livestream data. Cooking with clay pots was far too inconvenient; she needed to unlock the platform’s mall to see if she could buy an iron pot. Her accumulated popularity had reached 300,000, which happened to be the requirement to unlock the primary mall.
“Xiao Yun, how do I unlock the mall?” Yu Zhile asked. An option appeared in the center of the screen, and she selected “Yes.”
Learning that the mall would take six hours to unlock, Yu Zhile browsed a few other livestreams on the homepage before preparing to sign off and sleep.
Xiao Yun stopped her. “Host, the platform is holding the first-quarter Anchor PK Competition. The grand prize is unlocking the intermediate mall. Would you like to participate?” A registration window occupied the entire screen.
Yu Zhile checked the rules. The ranking was based on popularity accumulation over the fifteen days following registration. Since the intermediate mall required 5,000,000 points to unlock normally, she went ahead and clicked “Join.”
“I wish the host a triumphant victory,” Xiao Yun cheered.
Not long after, Yu Zhile fell into a deep sleep. By the time she opened her eyes again, the sky was pitch black, and the sound of hushed arguing came from the courtyard.
“Let me do it! I know how to kill a fish—like this, then like this!” Chen Zhao gesticulated wildly.
Zhou Yuesheng glanced at him and then proceeded to scale, gut, de-bone, and fillet the fish in one continuous, perfect motion.
“Exactly! That’s it! Brother-in-law, you’re so smart!” Chen Zhao said excitedly. “Now it can go in the pot to steam.”
A bed of ginger slices and scallion sections was laid down, and the fish was steamed on high heat for about six minutes. A light, fresh fragrance filled the courtyard, drawing Crawly toward the stove.
“Chop some scallions, add soy sauce after it’s out, then pour over some hot oil,” Chen Zhao murmured, reinforcing the steps he had struggled to recall. Yu Zhile let out a chuckle, and it was only then that they noticed her standing by the door.
Tonight’s main course was yellow croaker noodles again, paired with the savory, sweet, and silky steamed sea bass.
Late that night, Zhou Yuesheng headed out again. Today was the day he was set to meet his retired comrade in town. His friend came from a family of five where four had died as martyrs; he himself had lost a leg during a mission and retired to the Haidong Town Armed Forces Department, where he also oversaw the police station. Zhou Yuesheng had saved his life, and he trusted him implicitly.
“Her aunt, Yu Peilan, is a workshop director at a provincial canning factory. Her uncle, He Youan, is retired from a special forces unit; his codename is unknown.”
“Yu Zhile has been raised in the He family since she was a child and had little contact with her parents. She attended No. 1 High School in the provincial capital and has been back in Haiyu Village for less than a month.”
“She has had excellent grades since childhood. Her only close male friend is Sheng Lanyue; we checked, and there’s nothing suspicious.”
“As for the high-quality rice in her house, I personally think it’s Yu Haiguang’s doing.”
As he spoke, Ning Tan handed Zhou Yuesheng a cigarette. He struck a match, lit his own, and didn’t speak again until a cloud of smoke enveloped his face. He added, “There are no visual records of Yu Haiguang on file.”
Zhou Yuesheng rubbed the tobacco between his fingers, the rich scent helping him stay calm. Both he and Ning Tan knew exactly what a lack of visual records implied.
“In short, the possibility of Yu Zhile being a spy is low, but Yu Haiguang might be the one who stabbed you in the back,” Ning Tan guessed.
Zhou Yuesheng fell into deep thought, connecting the known clues. Most of the time, the background noise when Yu Zhile talked to herself was too chaotic for a bugging device to be practical. Jumping into the sea, talking to herself at specific times, hallucinations… words popped into his mind, and his gaze darkened.
Seeing this, Ning Tan patted Zhou Yuesheng’s shoulder. He was also from the special forces and understood the pain of being betrayed by a comrade.
“Investigate Zhang Caihong from Haiyu Village and Jiang Shangqing from the cowshed as well,” Zhou Yuesheng said, his expression calm.
Ning Tan stubbed out his cigarette and nodded. “Alright. Come see me in five days.”
Zhou Yuesheng rose to leave but stopped at the door.
“What is it?” Ning Tan asked.
“Send an iron pot to the Yu family tomorrow. Put it on my tab; I’ll pay you back later,” Zhou Yuesheng said before disappearing into the night. Ning Tan stood there, stunned, and then broke into a laugh.
Over the next two days, as the tide receded at inconvenient times, Yu Zhile decided to do a mountain foraging livestream. The wild vegetables on the back slope had been picked clean, and without rain, mushrooms were scarce. She wanted to pick some mugwort to make Qingtuan, so the two of them took a different path up the mountain.
After joining the PK competition, Yu Zhile received a promotion on the platform’s homepage, bringing in many new viewers. The lush green scenery caused a stir in the chat, with dense bullet comments filling the screen.
“Mugwort,” Yu Zhile said, bending down to touch the fine fuzz on the leaves. The camera switched to a first-person perspective, and the rich herbal fragrance seemed to spread around her.
[It smells good. I like it.]
[Host, I want to buy some.]
[Host, is it edible?]
“Yes, it’s edible. We use it to make Qingtuan,” Yu Zhile said, straightening up. They planned to return the same way, so they could gather the mugwort on their way down.
Further up, they passed through a flat bamboo forest where the melodious chirping of birds mingled with a lingering fragrance. Yu Zhile’s pace slowed.
“Honeysuckle. We can transplant this into our courtyard; it clears heat and detoxifies,” she said, pointing to a corner of the brush. Zhou Yuesheng followed her gaze and found a flowering plant. The white and yellow flowers were in full bloom, reflecting each other’s beauty as a faint scent drifted toward them. He dug it up carefully to avoid damaging the roots, then wrapped the base in damp mud.
“This increases the plant’s survival rate,” Zhou Yuesheng remarked suddenly. Yu Zhile agreed with a smile, her eyes bright.
Leaving the bamboo forest, the trees became taller and more dense. Sunlight occasionally filtered through the leaves to illuminate the brown earth. In the thick woods, Yu Zhile spotted a Moraceae plant with a striking appearance. Upon closer inspection, it was a mulberry tree laden with fruit. The shiny, purplish-black berries hung from the branches, emitting an inviting sweetness.
“These are mulberries. The black ones are fully ripe, and the reddish-purple ones are edible too, though they’re a bit tart,” Yu Zhile said, popping one into her mouth. The perfect balance of sweet and sour quickly spread across her taste buds. Since mulberries were fragile, she wrapped several large bundles in mulberry leaves and placed them carefully in her basket.
“These are wolfberry leaves. They’re slightly bitter and can be used in pork offal soup or fish head soup.”
“Bracken fern—best stir-fried with cured meat, but we don’t have any at home, so we won’t pick them today.”
“That’s a raisin tree fruit. It’s a bit astringent and not my favorite, so we’ll skip it.”
Along the gentle slope, Yu Zhile stopped and started, introducing many edible plants, though their baskets still only contained mulberries.
[Host, tell me the location! Let me at it! I love this!]
[Crying in ‘poor person who can’t afford a botanical garden ticket’.]
[Why are there so many plants on the host’s planet? And they’re all edible! I want to move there!]
Yu Zhile squinted at the comments for a moment, then pointed to another tree. “That’s what I really want to pick.”
Clusters of dense black fruits were growing directly on the tree trunk, looking slightly eerie.
“These are jaboticabas, or tree grapes. When they’re soft to the touch, they’re ripe and sweet,” Yu Zhile said, picking the nearest one to demonstrate. Zhou Yuesheng climbed the tree while Yu Zhile stayed below. They picked only the ripe ones, filling half a basket.
They wandered the mountain for a while longer, introducing more edible plants. Zhou Yuesheng occasionally added a comment or two, playing the role of a perfect supporting companion. Yu Zhile didn’t take much this time, only adding a few passion fruits later on before leading Zhou Yuesheng back to gather the mugwort and heading down.
“Yu Zhile.”
Near the cowshed, a girl called out to her. Yu Zhile turned to see a girl with short, neat hair. She recognized her—Zhang Wenxin, the granddaughter of the old village Party Secretary, who had also previously studied in the provincial capital.
“Yu Zhile, let’s be friends,” Zhang Wenxin said brightly. She was a woman of high ambition, determined to improve the cultural and spiritual level of Haiyu Village. She had returned to the village before Yu Zhile and was currently planning to hold literacy classes, though things weren’t going smoothly.
Yu Zhile caught sight of a flickering shadow nearby. She curled her lips slightly and shook Zhang Wenxin’s hand.
“I’ll be waiting to see the show you put on,” Zhang Wenxin said before leaving. Yu Zhile looked toward where Zhang Caihong was hiding and gave a chilling smile. Her smile was different from her usual warmth; it looked somewhat haunting, making Zhou Yuesheng feel a strange tightness in his chest.
A moment later, Yu Zhile spotted the iron pot sitting in front of her door, and her face lit up with surprise. She immediately looked toward Zhou Yuesheng.