“Taking a bowl takes that long?”
In the living room, Zhou Muyang shouted at the top of his voice.
Yu Huan moved her lips away from Zhu Heqing’s and patted his face. “I’m hungry.”
The corners of Zhu Heqing’s eyes carried a faint reddish tint. He closed his eyes, restraining the surging emotions, his clear voice slightly hoarse.
“Alright, we’ll go eat.”
The two of them returned to the living room.
Zhu Heqing placed her on the sofa, set out the bowls, and opened the insulated thermos. Immediately, the aroma of corn and pork rib soup filled the room.
The ribs and corn had been air-freighted in. After being slowly simmered over low heat, only an appropriate amount of salt was added when it came out of the pot—no other seasoning—preserving the original flavor of the ingredients as much as possible.
He scooped half a bowl of soup, then picked out the best ribs and corn kernels and placed them into a small bowl.
He was very courteous and did not forget to call out to the side. “Little Zhou, help yourself.”
Zhou Muyang very much did not want to eat. He was about to refuse by saying he had already ordered takeout, but his stomach betrayed him with a loud growl.
“…”
He lowered his head and glared fiercely at it.
This traitorous stomach always failed him at critical moments.
“…Ahem. Thanks,” he said stiffly.
There was still a lot of soup in the thermos. At first, Zhou Muyang only intended to have a small bowl.
But the soup was too delicious, and he had a big appetite. After finishing one bowl, he went for another.
Unknowingly, he had eaten quite a lot.
When he finally came to his senses and saw the thermos half empty, his lost self-control finally returned.
He stiffly stared at the small pile of rib bones on the coffee table.
“…”
Was he a pig?!
He slowly looked up at Yu Huan and Zhu Heqing.
Yu Huan had opened another game and was operating rapidly with both hands.
Zhu Heqing sat beside her, holding a bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, patiently and meticulously feeding her soup like a servant.
Neither of them paid attention to him.
Only then did Zhou Muyang let out a breath of relief. Guiltily, he wrapped the bones on the table with a piece of tissue and threw them into the trash.
Yu Huan recalled her low health back under the tower, tapped return, then looked at the spoonful of ribs and said with obvious disgust as she turned her head, “No. I don’t want ribs.”
Compared to ribs, she preferred corn kernels.
Zhu Heqing indulged her completely, placing the ribs into his own bowl and replacing them with corn kernels to continue feeding her.
When she had eaten almost enough and shook her head refusing more, he quickly finished the small portion she left.
There was still quite a lot of soup left in the thermos. Zhu Heqing asked if Zhou Muyang wanted more, and after receiving a refusal, he closed the lid and set it aside.
The doorbell rang again—this time it was the delivery rider.
Zhou Muyang had ordered beef knife-shaved noodles from the Lanzhou Lamian shop downstairs in the residential community.
“Yu Huan, do you still want noodles?” he asked, holding up the takeout.
“Which shop?”
“The Lanzhou Lamian downstairs.”
The shop had been open for many years, its taste was authentic, and the price was reasonable—one of the long-standing popular restaurants in the community.
Even a picky eater like Yu Huan liked it.
She had not eaten it since returning, and just hearing it made her crave it again.
She nodded. “I want it.”
Zhu Heqing looked at the takeout—only a plastic box containing soup noodles, with just a plastic bag as packaging—and frowned almost imperceptibly.
He seemed about to say something, but ultimately restrained himself.
He took the takeout from Zhou Muyang, opened the bag, took out the noodles, and threw the plastic bag straight into the trash.
Then he went to the kitchen to wash his hands, dried them with tissues, and only then opened the lid.
The shop had provided disposable utensils. He only used the disposable chopsticks inside.
The soft black spoon, however, he truly could not understand how to use, so he left it aside.
“Beef,” Yu Huan ordered naturally. “I want beef.”
Holding the thin disposable chopsticks, Zhu Heqing picked up a slice of beef and fell into rare silence.
Yu Huan was still waiting to be fed. Seeing him freeze after picking up a piece, she kicked him. “What are you looking at? I want it.”
“It looks like he’s shocked by how thin the beef slices are,” Zhou Muyang said while slurping his noodles.
“I’m afraid President Zhu has never seen beef sliced this thin before.”
He was right.
Although Zhu Heqing liked noodles, whether Chinese-style or Western-style, the ingredients he was used to were always substantial. He truly had never seen beef this thin.
He fed the beef to Yu Huan and said in a more tactful tone, “I just think the chef’s knife skills are impressive.”
“Pfft… cough cough…” Zhou Muyang choked, coughing violently.
Yu Huan leaned back in disgust. “Zhou Muyang, you’re so stupid. You can choke just from eating noodles.”
Tears came out of Zhou Muyang’s eyes as he coughed. He felt more wronged than Dou E.
If your boyfriend didn’t say such bizarre things, would I have choked?!
Yu Huan ate only half of her noodles before stopping, leaving the rest to Zhu Heqing.
It was the first time he had eaten Lanzhou noodles from outside. He had originally expected it to be inferior to the professional chefs at home.
But after tasting it, he realized there was a reason Yu Huan liked it. Ignoring the small amount of beef, the flavor was indeed good.
After finishing the meal, Zhu Heqing cleaned up and went to wash his hands again.
Zhou Muyang silently counted how many times he washed his hands and felt the man was a bit excessive.
Washing so many times—he didn’t cherish water resources at all.
That said, after throwing away the takeout, he also went to wash his hands.
In August, Beijing temperatures were almost always above thirty-five degrees. Most people stayed home with air conditioning unless they had to work.
Even when going out, it was usually just to malls—no one did outdoor activities.
Yu Huan lay on the sofa, glanced at the two of them, and suddenly had an idea.
“Zhou Muyang, go get your computer. We’re playing PC games.”
Zhou Muyang eyed her suspiciously. “You usually only play single-player games. Since when did you start playing online games?”
“I play everything. Hurry up.”
“Then tell me the game first,” he insisted.
While Yu Huan was ordering Zhu Heqing to fetch her laptop, she casually named a game.
Zhu Heqing didn’t pay attention to this genre and only felt the name sounded a bit strange.
But Zhou Muyang understood immediately.
The moment he heard it, he knew why she wanted him to join.
“I knew it!” he shouted. “You only ever think of dragging people into horror games!”
What Yu Huan had mentioned was a newly released horror game.