The atmosphere in the kitchen was a bit awkward for a moment.

When Lort saw Gu Yanqing’s dark expression, he immediately realized that he had misunderstood his intentions.

Lort quickly explained, “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything else. I just purely admire Miss Qiao, without any inappropriate thoughts. I hope you don’t mind, Mr. Gu.”

Lort genuinely had a good first impression of Qiao Wanqing, thinking she was the kind of girl with a strong Oriental charm that he admired.

Therefore, he paid more attention to her, but he knew she had a boyfriend, and her child was quite big too.

Even if Lort had no shame, he wouldn’t actually hit on her.

Moreover, their companies were partners.

If he had any intentions towards Qiao Wanqing, it would ruin their cooperation, so his feelings were purely admiration.

Gu Yanqing, in his heart, had already stabbed a hundred little dolls of Lort, but on the surface, he calmly said, “It’s okay, even if you do have other thoughts, you can only think about them.”

Lort: “……”

Their kitchen wasn’t big, and four people made it feel a bit crowded.

Grandma Qiao had just finished lighting the stove and said, “I’ll head out first. The fire is ready, you can start cooking in a bit.”

“Okay.” Qiao Wanqing awkwardly nodded. The current atmosphere was so… how should she put it?

It made her want to run away from the scene.

Luckily, Lort walked over to Grandma Qiao and said, “I’ll go out with you.”

The kitchen suddenly had only the three of them left.

Kouko, not knowing what was happening between the adults, walked up to Qiao Wanqing, grabbed her clothes, and said, “Mom, cic… cic~”

Kouko forgot the full name of the cicada, he only knew cic-cic-cic.

“It’s a cicada.”

Qiao Wanqing told him, showing him a colander full of cicadas.

Each cicada was about the size of a thumb, and under the light, they glistened as if covered in water, making them look shiny.

“Cic-cic-cicada, pretty~”

Kouko was especially happy to see so many cicadas.

He was much braver than Lu Yunfei.

Looking at the cicadas, he wanted to reach out and grab them. Qiao Wanqing knew his usual moves: grab them to play, find them fun, taste them, and then stuff them in his mouth.

Eating these things raw was not a joke; they had just crawled out of the ground and could have parasites.

So she avoided Kouko’s hand and tricked him, saying, “These aren’t cooked yet. They can bite, so you can’t play with them.”

In fact, all the cicadas had already been soaked to death.

“Kouko wants to play!” Koko pouted.

It’s not easy to convince a child not to play with something they’re interested in.

Just as Qiao Wanqing was about to give him something and ask Gu Yanqing to keep an eye on him to prevent him from eating it, Gu Yanqing lowered his head and said, “Daddy’s hand got bitten by a cicada, and it hurts. Kouko, be good and don’t play.”

Seeing his dad’s hand wrapped in bandages, Kouko hesitated for a moment and finally gave up on the idea of playing.

But he soon found something new to entertain himself.

On the kitchen floor, Grandma Qiao had set a big watermelon down, and he went over to push it around, even pretending to ride it like a horse.

Qiao Wanqing moved closer to Gu Yanqing and whispered, “Are you angry?”

Gu Yanqing coldly huffed, clearly unhappy.

So proud, Qiao Wanqing thought.

She hooked her pinky with his and shook it, saying, “After tonight, we won’t have any more contact, and he hasn’t done anything to me, so don’t be angry, Mr. Gu.”

As she spoke, she tiptoed and gave him a kiss, saying, “Okay?”

“……”

Of course, Gu Yanqing wasn’t actually mad at her.

He was just furious at Lort’s blatant behavior, which was simply despicable.

Plus, he could tell that Lu Yunfei was interested in him, and her frequent attempts to be friendly with Qiao Wanqing were hurting Lu Yunfei’s feelings.

That’s why he was so angry.

Even though he knew that feelings couldn’t be forced, he stubbornly hated seeing his loved ones being wronged.

After comforting Gu Yanqing, Qiao Wanqing turned to prepare the cicadas.

She first deep-fried the cicadas in hot oil until crispy, then left some oil in the pan to sauté spices like chili, Sichuan pepper, and green onions until fragrant.

She tossed the crispy cicadas in for a quick stir, added a little soy sauce and seasoning, sprinkled some chopped green onions, and gave it a few more stirs.

Soon, a plate of spicy and fragrant cicadas was ready.

The cicadas turned out crispy and spicy, making a satisfying crunch with each bite, releasing a rich flavor that was appetizing and nutritious.

Lort was quite brave; it was his first time eating this, and he wasn’t afraid at all.

After having two, he gave a thumbs up and said, “Awesome, delicious!”

Little Kouko didn’t know to be scared either.

Gu Yanqing peeled some for him, and he ate it with great enjoyment, smiling and saying, “Good, good!”

On the other hand, Lu Yunfei looked at the dark plate of bugs and couldn’t bring herself to compliment it.

No matter how others encouraged her, she just couldn’t eat.

Lort picked up one with the head and legs removed and offered it to Lu Yunfei, saying, “Just try it; the taste and texture are amazing. It’s a delicacy.”

Lu Yunfei hesitated.

Lort raised his chin encouragingly and said, “Don’t be afraid; there’s nothing scary about it.”

Reluctantly, Lu Yunfei took it, but just as she was about to put it in her mouth under Lort’s eager gaze, Gu Yanqing snatched it away and said, “If you’re scared, don’t force yourself.”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Lu Yunfei sighed in relief and said, “If I hadn’t seen it when it was alive, maybe I would’ve eaten it.”

The main issue was seeing it alive, with all those legs climbing around, which had scared her and left her with some trauma.

Now, even though it looked delicious and appetizing, she couldn’t bring herself to eat it.

Qiao Wanqing felt the atmosphere between them was a bit strange, but she quietly continued eating without getting involved.

After finishing the cicadas, they headed to the hotel to rest.

They had arrived in Feng Qi’s car, and since they didn’t drive themselves, Gu Yanqing asked Chen Feng to come pick them up.

As they were seeing them off, it seemed Gu Yanqing said a couple of words to Lu Yunfei, who playfully hit him and then waved goodbye to Qiao Wanqing and Kouko, saying, “We’re leaving now! Bye, cousin and cute Koko!”

It was almost ten o’clock, and Kouko, who usually went to bed early, was getting sleepy.

With his little eyelids drooping, he was held in his mother’s arms.

When he heard his auntie call him, he barely opened his eyes and couldn’t even lift his little hands, responding with a soft, nasal voice, “Bye, bye.”

Lu Yunfei couldn’t help but come over and give his cheek a kiss.

Once they left, Qiao Wanqing helped Kouko to sleep while Gu Yanqing went to take a shower.

Their home wasn’t like those in the city, with ensuite bathrooms; they only had one shared bathroom, but it was fine since they were family.

It just got a bit crowded when everyone needed to shower.

To prevent his wound from getting wet, Qiao Wanqing wrapped his hand in plastic wrap first.

After coaxing Kouko to sleep and tidying up the messy bed he had made, Qiao Wanqing noted how restless he was, especially during summer when the cool mat made it easy for him to move around.

Sometimes, when she woke up at night, she’d find him curled up in the corner of the bed, his little legs pressed against the wall, with his tiny fists balled up, looking like a little abandoned kitten, which was both heartwarming and amusing.

He also liked to play with toys on the bed, making quite a mess of everything.

After tidying up the bed, she stepped out to find Gu Yanqing had finished showering too.

They bumped into each other, and Qiao Wanqing saw him in black shorts and a white shirt, the buttons undone and the shirt wide open, revealing a large expanse of skin.

He actually had abs!

This was Qiao Wanqing’s first reaction, and then her face turned red.

Gu Yanqing looked too sexy like this. She said, “Why didn’t you button up!”

Gu Yanqing casually shook his injured hand. “It’s hard to button.”

“…But don’t you have pajamas?”

Instead of wearing proper pajamas, he chose to wear a shirt on purpose!

“I washed them during the day. I don’t know where they went,” Gu Yanqing said without a hint of embarrassment, as if it were true.

Qiao Wanqing: “…”

“Anyway, I always sleep without clothes, so it doesn’t matter. Just go wash up,” Gu Yanqing said, letting her use the bathroom.

With that, Qiao Wanqing didn’t know what else to say.

She grabbed her pajamas and went into the bathroom, completely missing the fact that Gu Yanqing didn’t go back to his room but instead entered hers.

After her shower, Qiao Wanqing threw her clothes into the washing machine.

Grandma liked to wash clothes by hand, so she usually didn’t use the machine in summer.

She couldn’t put Kouko’s clothes in the machine, either, because she was worried about germs.

So, only her and Gu Yanqing’s outerwear needed washing.

She stuffed both their clothes in, along with Koko’s and her underwear, then hung them up to dry.

When she returned to her room, she saw that Gu Yanqing hadn’t gone back to his room but was standing at her desk, looking at her things.

On the desk was the box of sweet treats from Lort.

Kouko insisted on seeing what was inside during his nap, so Qiao Wanqing had opened it and left it there.