Lei Li left.
Taking with him a head full of questions and that now-empty lunchbox.
The room returned to its deathly silence.
Bai Luoluo slumped into her chair, rubbing her slightly swollen stomach, and let out a long sigh.
Finally, that feeling of almost starving to death subsided… a little.
But only a little.
It was like pouring a cup of water onto cracked, dry soil—instantly absorbed, leaving no trace, not even a splash.
“System, what on earth is going on?”
Bai Luoluo asked inside her mind.
“I’ve always loved to eat, but I’ve never been like this before. Right now… I’m just a bottomless pit!”
The system’s cold mechanical voice sounded emotionless.
【Host, please stay calm.】【This is a normal physiological need for a septuplet pregnancy.】【All seven fetuses are in a rapid development phase and require large amounts of protein and energy to build their bodies.】【Since the energy density of your food intake is too low (plain porridge and steamed buns), the system has forcibly activated the ‘gluttony mode’ to compensate with quantity.】
Bai Luoluo felt like crying.
Low energy density?
These days, just getting full is a luxury! Where is she supposed to get high-protein food?
She looked at the empty lunchbox, then at the bare walls of the room, and felt a surge of despair.
That meal had filled her… but what about the next one?
That bastard Lei Li hadn’t mentioned stopping food again, but according to military rations, it would just be coarse grains and pickles.
Not nearly enough to feed these seven little ancestors in her belly!
Time passed, minute by minute.
The sun dipped westward, and night fell.
The aroma of food wafted through the compound again.
That hunger—like a punctual devil—returned exactly on time.
And it was fiercer than it had been that morning.
Her stomach felt like it was on fire, leaving Bai Luoluo breathless and shaking.
She searched the house for anything edible.
Even picking up the tiny piece of bun that had fallen into the table crack yesterday, she ate it.
Still hungry.
So hungry her eyes seemed to go green, so hungry that reason fled her mind.
Late at night.
The compound was quiet, with only the occasional chirping of insects.
Bai Luoluo tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
Every time she moved, her stomach let out a thunderous “gurgle,” painfully loud in the silent night.
Then…
A gust of wind blew in through the window.
And with it came an overwhelmingly strong, irresistible aroma.
Chicken soup!
Long-simmered, with old ginger and red dates, made from an old hen!
Bai Luoluo’s nose twitched, and her whole body felt electrified. She shot upright from the bed like she had been struck.
【Beep—High-concentration premium protein detected!】【Just next door!】【Host is advised to ingest immediately! Ingest immediately!】
The system’s alert flashed in her mind like a death warning.
Bai Luoluo swallowed hard.
Reason told her it wasn’t hers, she shouldn’t touch it.
But her body seemed possessed by some mysterious force.
It was maternal instinct. Survival instinct.
She moved like a sleepwalker, stiff yet rapid, climbing out of bed.
She didn’t even have time for shoes, stepping barefoot on the cold cement.
Following the aroma, she pushed open the door.
Next door was Commander Zhang’s house.
Commander Zhang’s wife was a careful homemaker—normally frugal with food and clothing—but the past few days their youngest son had been sick, so she had finally sacrificed a laying hen to make nourishing soup.
The clay pot simmered on the coal stove in the yard. The fire had long been extinguished, but the residual heat drew out the full fragrance of the chicken.
Bai Luoluo moved like a ghost, drifting to the low wall that separated the two houses.
She didn’t even know how she climbed over it.
By the time she came to her senses, she was standing in front of the clay pot.
She lifted the lid.
The rich aroma hit her like a blast, and she felt as if her soul might leave her body.
In that instant, dignity, pride, and the airs of a rich heiress vanished entirely.
Her eyes fixed only on the perfectly cooked chicken leg.
Trembling, she reached into the pot.
Hot.
But she didn’t even feel it.
She grabbed the leg, ignored the dripping broth, and bit into it fiercely.
Fresh!
Tender!
Fragrant!
The long-missed taste of meat exploded in her mouth, and Bai Luoluo was so moved she almost cried.
She devoured it, finishing a whole chicken leg in a few bites.
Not enough.
She reached for the other wing.
Then…
“Creak—”
The main house door opened.
Commander Zhang’s wife, dressed in her nightclothes and holding a flashlight, sleepily came out to check on the yard.
The beam of her flashlight swept across the yard… and landed on a disheveled figure, hair in a mess, face and hands dripping oil.
Their eyes met.
Time froze for three seconds.
Commander Zhang’s wife rubbed her eyes, thinking she must be seeing things.
It was the middle of the night… and in her yard crouched a female ghost?
Looking more closely…
That “female ghost” was holding the chicken wing that Commander Zhang’s wife had cooked to save her son!
“Ah——!!!”
A sharp, piercing scream cut through the silent night sky.
“Thief! There’s a thief! Someone’s stealing the chicken!”
That scream was even more ear-splitting than an air raid siren.
The entire compound erupted instantly.
Lights in all the houses flicked on with a “pop, pop, pop.”
Adults in robes, crying children, and barking guard dogs all poured out.
Bai Luoluo was stunned by the sudden shouting.
The chicken wing in her hand “plop!” fell back into the clay pot, splashing broth everywhere.
She stood there dumbly, her mouth greasy, still clutching the chicken leg bone she had gnawed clean.
Like a child caught red-handed doing something wrong.
“Who is it? Who’s stealing?”
“Looks like it’s the commander’s house!”
“Go check!”
In less than two minutes, Commander Zhang’s small yard was surrounded, no gaps left.
Flashlights from all directions shone on Bai Luoluo, leaving her nowhere to hide.
“Oh my! Isn’t this Chief Lei’s new wife?”
Wang Cuihua, ever the gossip, was always in the front line.
She recognized Bai Luoluo instantly and shouted as if she had discovered a new world.
“Heavens! It really is her!”
“The proud heiress of a wealthy family, sneaking over the wall at midnight to steal chicken?”
“This is too shameless!”
“Tsk tsk tsk… all that pretentious refinement was just an act—she’s a thief!”
The crowd’s chatter surged like a tide.
Every word felt like a slap, striking Bai Luoluo’s face with humiliation.
Commander Zhang’s wife was trembling with anger.
She rushed over, pointing at Bai Luoluo’s nose:
“You greedy woman! That was a life-saving soup for my son!”
“Don’t you have food at home? Why come pilfer ours?”
“Chief Lei gets a decent allowance every month—why are you starving to death?”
“Is this how rich people raise their children? Stealing like a thief!”
Bai Luoluo stood in the center of the crowd.
The dazzling flashlight beams made it impossible for her to open her eyes.
The contempt, ridicule, and disgust in everyone’s gaze were like knives, shredding her dignity.
She wanted to explain.
To say it wasn’t intentional, that she had been starving and fainted.
To say she would compensate—tenfold, a hundredfold.
But her throat felt stuffed with cotton, and not a word could come out.
Only tears poured down, large and unrestrained.
Mixed with the grease on her lips, it looked both ridiculous and pitiful.
At that moment…
She wished she could find a hole in the ground and crawl in, never to come out.
It was too humiliating.
She had never been so embarrassed in her life.
Just as she was about to break down completely…
A commotion erupted at the edge of the crowd.
Immediately, a cold and powerful aura swept over the entire scene.
The once-chatty crowd fell silent, like ducks with their necks choked.
People instinctively cleared a path.
At the end of it…
Lei Li appeared, dressed in his training uniform, shoulders still wet with dew, obviously having rushed back from outside.
His expression was terrifyingly dark.
His deep eyes roiled with a storm ready to explode.
He walked step by step toward the center.
The military boots hit the ground with a heavy thud, each step striking at the hearts of the onlookers.
His gaze swept across the mess.
Across the chicken bone gnawed clean.
Finally, it fixed on the small woman curled into a trembling ball.
In that instant…
Lei Li felt the veins at his temples threatening to burst.
Shame.
Unprecedented shame.
His family, his wife…
Caught red-handed in public, treated like a thief over a chicken leg!
If this got out, how could Lei Li ever lead troops in the military district again? How could he maintain his dignity?
“Lei… Lei Li…”
Bai Luoluo saw him.
It was like seeing a savior… and like seeing the King of Hell.
She timidly called out, her voice trembling beyond recognition.
Lei Li stared at her, unblinking.
At her pitiful expression, at the streak of grease at her mouth.
The anger that had been building in him… froze in his throat when he saw the fear and helplessness in her eyes.
Instead…
An inexplicable bitterness and… a sense of tenderness took its place.
Damn it!
Even now, he was feeling tender toward the woman who had just embarrassed him beyond measure?