The next day, Qiao Sheng was sneaking around in the kitchen, busying herself for quite a while when she was startled by someone suddenly walking in. She flailed her arms and retreated into a corner, her little face pale with fright.
But she wasn’t the only one startled.
The kitchen was tacitly considered Gu Huo’s territory, and Qiao Sheng rarely appeared there, especially early in the morning.
Gu Huo, who had no mental preparation, pushed the door open and was also startled to see an extra person inside.
However, he rarely showed his emotions. Even when startled, it only manifested as a slight pause in his steps, appearing calm and composed.
Qiao Sheng silently put down the spoon she had raised mid-air in a defensive posture, feeling extremely awkward.
Living in this fifty-square-meter space were only her and him, and he was a frequent visitor to the kitchen. So, by adopting this defensive posture, would he misunderstand it as her distrusting his character?
But they had lived under the same roof for ten years, and it had been two years since they started living alone together. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they depended on each other for survival.
Even if they weren’t close, they were the most important people in each other’s world at the moment.
If she couldn’t even trust Gu Huo’s character, it would be a blatant insult to him.
“I didn’t mean any—”
“Sorry for startling you.”
They spoke in unison, then both paused, staring wide-eyed at each other for a moment before Qiao Sheng broke the silence with a smile: “Good morning.”
A night had passed, but Gu Huo still hadn’t quite gotten used to her changes.
He wasn’t good at communicating with others, but he wasn’t dull either. In short, he was just a man of few words. Facing Qiao Sheng’s smiling, crescent-eyed expression, he stiffly replied, “Good morning—why are you up so early?”
The original owner loved sleeping in, which might be the only similarity between Qiao Sheng and her aside from gender, appearance, and name.
Qiao Sheng absolutely adored sleeping in. Her greatest wish in life was to wake up naturally every day.
Unfortunately, as the saying goes, she didn’t have that kind of luck.
Survival forced her, a low-level office worker, to rise early and work late, bustling about for a few measly coins.
But today, she had willingly gotten up early.
Last night, she had specifically noted the time—Gu Huo didn’t return home from work until after ten o’clock. How exhausting.
If it weren’t for her, he could live quite comfortably on his scholarship alone.
She couldn’t shamelessly enjoy his efforts; she wanted to do something for him.
As someone with plenty of free time, she had already done all the household chores she could while he was away, but it wasn’t enough. It still wasn’t enough.
And so, today, before dawn even broke, the diligent little bee was up, washing her hands to prepare a meal.
Qiao Sheng had deliberately woken up at five, thinking that surely Gu Huo couldn’t possibly be up earlier than her, right?
Especially since he had slept so late the night before.
In her imagination, she would calmly finish making breakfast just as he was waking up. After washing up, he would habitually enter the kitchen, lift the lid of the pot, and—voilà! Breakfast would already be steaming hot inside!
He would surely be stunned, and at that moment, she would say, “Oh, I couldn’t sleep. Since I had nothing better to do, I just went ahead and made breakfast.”
But plans often don’t keep up with changes.
Qiao Sheng thought she had gotten up early enough, but she hadn’t expected Gu Huo to be up just as early…
Under Gu Huo’s puzzled gaze, Qiao Sheng’s mind went blank, and all the words she had prepared earlier were completely forgotten.
“Um, I…”
Was it because I thought you were working too hard and wanted to share your burdens?
It was the truth, but saying it out loud was rather embarrassing; she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Suddenly, an idea struck her: “I’m hungry, so hungry I can’t sleep. I got up to make something to eat.”
Qiao Sheng felt relieved and secretly gave herself a thumbs-up—what a quick-witted little genius, staying calm under pressure.
Gu Huo believed this explanation and naturally walked in: “Go wait outside. I’ll handle it.”
Qiao Sheng almost obediently replied with an “Oh,” but then she thought, wait, that’s not right. How could she be so unprincipled? She had promised to make this breakfast herself, and she needed to stick to her post.
“Anyway, I have nothing else to do. I’ll make it. You… go do your own thing.”
“I have nothing to do.”
Gu Huo’s tone was calm but carried an undeniable firmness, leaving Qiao Sheng somewhat unable to resist.
Seeing that she was about to lose her post, Qiao Sheng had another flash of inspiration: “Aren’t you going to the competition selection today? You should take some time to review your materials.”
Today was the school’s preliminary selection. After the preliminaries, there would be competitions at the city level, then the provincial level, followed by national and even international stages.
In short, it was a highly prestigious competition.
Passing the preliminary selection and achieving good results in each subsequent competition would earn decent prize money and irreplaceable honors, greatly benefiting the winners’ future development.
The school took this very seriously. If any student achieved notable results, it would naturally bring glory to the school.
Dozens of capable students were selected for intensive training at the school. Gu Huo was one of them, but he didn’t participate in the training, citing lack of time.
He had to earn money to support his family and take care of the original host, so of course, he had no time.
During the winter break, while other students immersed themselves in the ocean of knowledge, he was busy just putting food on the table.
It seemed he had no time at all to study.
After much persuasion, Qiao Sheng finally managed to reclaim the use of the kitchen.
She cooked white rice porridge in the morning and fried two egg pancakes. Once everything was ready, she looked at the fruits of her morning labor, first feeling a sense of accomplishment—thinking she was so capable, no, so diligent, like a hardworking little bee. But the next moment, she grew anxious. Would Gu Huo like it?
She quickly realized she was overthinking it. At this stage, it was already remarkable for him to ensure he had three meals a day on time and ate enough. How could he afford to be picky?
This sudden realization struck Qiao Sheng like an unexpected embroidery needle piercing her heart, leaving her breathless with pain.
For other high school students, their biggest task was studying, and doing that well was already impressive enough.
Qiao Sheng sighed silently.
Her mood grew heavy.
Gu Huo carried too much on his shoulders; he was too tired.
But what weighed on her even more was that, just as she finished cooking, Gu Huo received a phone call, put on his padded coat, and left in such a hurry that Qiao Sheng didn’t even have time to ask what had happened.
She hurriedly chased after him, calling out to his retreating figure in the hallway to remind him to buy something to eat on the way.
Gu Huo stopped and turned to look back.
“Mhm.”
A simple syllable was his response.
Qiao Sheng stared blankly as his figure disappeared from sight.
Did he… just smile at her?
Did that mean their relationship had taken a qualitative leap compared to the previous mode of being the most familiar strangers?
Could it also mean they might even have a chance to become friends in the future?
Yet Qiao Sheng did not let the unexpected joy overwhelm her.
Her heart remained heavy.
Gu Huo would not buy breakfast.
He often skipped breakfast and would never be so “extravagant.”
Although spring had already arrived, the temperature still lingered below zero.
The wind rattled the windows somewhere, making intermittent “tap-tap” sounds.
With the weather so cold and his stomach empty, how could he withstand the bitter chill?
Qiao Shen wished her stomach had the ability to share—she would have given him every bite of food she ate.