”Mr. Shi, when you can’t do it, don’t give others hope.”

　　Several people were sitting alone at a dining table, and Ying Heng suddenly said.

　　”I didn’t!” Shi Jiasen retorted subconsciously, but as soon as he finished speaking, he remembered the scene just now and closed his mouth in disappointment.

　　Wen Hongjuan noticed that there seemed to be some discord between the two of them, so she came out to smooth things over, “It’s okay, it’s okay, Xiaosen, the children understand your good intentions, and I’ll tell them when you go back.”

　　Shi Jiasen lowered his head slightly, “Thank you for your help, Mother Wen.”

　　From beginning to end, Tan Li did not make any comments.

　　She just quietly ate the chestnut roast chicken that Shi Jiasen specially made for the children in the orphanage.

　　Shi Jiasen raised his eyes quietly, from taking a short glance every 5 minutes to 5 or 6 glances every 3 minutes, and later he just stared at Tan Li’s face.

　　”How is it?” he asked cautiously.

　　Tan Li: “It’s OK.”

　　”How come it’s OK again?” Shi Jiasen was anxious. “Although it’s made for children, I didn’t make it casually. Even if I take this dish to Y’M, I can serve it as a main dish!”

　　Tan Li: …

　　”Why are you so excited?” Tan Li suspected that the man in front of him had mania.

　　How come you’re so… jumping up and down when we’ve only known each other for a short while?

　　Shi Jiasen was speechless. Tan Li had forgotten about him twice. He couldn’t explain clearly what this obsession in his heart was.

　　”Then tell me, what’s wrong with it?” Shi Jiasen has been doing well and smoothly since he entered the culinary industry.

　　There are countless people who praise him, but there has never been anyone like Tan Li, who every time you eat his food, the review is either not good or just okay.

　　Moreover, this is based on the premise that she forgets himself every time!

　　This shows that in Tan Li’s opinion, there are indeed some shortcomings in his cooking.

　　Shi Jiasen has always felt that he has hit a bottleneck in cooking over the years, but the people around him just praise him mindlessly, and he himself cannot figure out where his problem lies, so he is inevitably anxious.

　　”I didn’t say no, did I?” Although Tan Li had a bad memory, she still remembered what she said just now, “I said it’s okay.”

　　She said earnestly, “Young man, don’t be so irritable.”

　　”There are so many people in the world, and everyone’s tastes may be different. If you quibble with them one by one, you will only get mad at yourself.”

　　Shi Jiasen: …

　　Although Tan Li had completely forgotten about him, what she said every time was almost the same.

　　Recalling that not-so-pleasant first encounter, Shi Jiasen suppressed his impatience and said, “I’m not in a hurry. I just want to know why you think it’s okay.”

　　Shi Jiasen pointed at the chestnut roasted chicken in front of Tan Li and asked, “Where on earth is it? Why do you think it doesn’t meet your standard of deliciousness?”

　　Since he asked sincerely, Tan Li answered.

　　”It’s very bland.” Tan Li said bluntly, “I’ve had delicious food, and this is far inferior to it.”

　　The dishes made by Da Shao Zi were much more delicious back then.

　　The infinite flow world is different from the real world. There is only one kind of food that can be obtained through official channels – nutrient solution.

　　Simple, convenient, and contains all the nutrients needed to maintain human functions.

　　At the same time, it tastes bad and is expensive.

　　The Lord God system is stingy, only giving a few points for each copy. Even for an elite team like Tan Li who survived to the end, the points they received were only enough for everyone to eat unlimited nutrient solution every day.

　　But if this is the case, other superpowers, weapons, etc. cannot be replaced.

　　What’s more, the nutrient solution tastes bad.

　　But it’s different when you enter the dungeon world.

　　Some people are lucky enough to enter a dungeon that is more similar to the real world, and can use local materials to fill their stomachs.

　　If you are unlucky and enter a dungeon like [Falling Star Sea] or [Quick Sands], it will be quite miserable. If you don’t prepare nutrient solution in your backpack in advance, you may starve to death before being killed by the dungeon.

　　Therefore, in the infinite flow world, nutrient solution is an emergency supply that no one wants to buy, but they have to prepare a little bit.

　　Tan Li’s team had been like this before, but at that time there were only three people in their team. Every day they either fought or saved up points to buy a bottle of unpalatable nutrient solution and shared it among the three of them to save their lives. Their life was meaningless.

　　Until they met the Big Spoon^[1]Da Shao Zi.

　　That time, they were lucky and entered a copy of [Apocalypse Hundred Years].

　　Although zombies are running all over the ground, alien plants are easier to string people than candied haws, and human civilization is completely destroyed, it is at least based on the real world, and you can still dig wild vegetables.

　　There, they met Big Spoon.

　　He is round and plump, and can cook a pot of wild vegetables to make it taste like a full banquet.

　　Thinking of this, Tan Li subconsciously raised the corners of her mouth.

　　At that time, she, Letong and Binghuaer were like hungry wolves pouncing on wild vegetables. Their eyes almost turned green. The honest Dashaozi was so scared that he shrank to the side and trembled.

　　It was a long time later that she heard Big Spoon say that he almost thought he was going to die because of a pot of wild vegetable soup.

　　After all, in an infinite world, being killed by a copy or being killed by other players is almost the same thing.

　　Tan Li’s mouth corners slowly retracted.

　　Shi Jiasen was still waiting for Tan Li to explain in detail. After waiting for a long time, he saw that she hadn’t replied yet. He couldn’t help but anxiously wanted to ask again –

　　”Mr. Shi,” Ying Heng suddenly said, “Don’t talk while eating. Can you please let us eat first?”

　　Although he was talking to Shi Jiasen, his eyes were on Tan Li.

　　Only then did Shi Jiasen realize that Tan Li’s eyes were a little vague, as if she was lost in some memory.

　　That expression…

　　When Shi Jiasen suspected that he had seen it wrong and wondered how a woman like Tan Li, who seemed to look down on everything and was extremely high-profile and arrogant, could have such a sad expression, Tan Li had already returned to normal.

　　She was thinking of some past events, but she was not lost in the memories.

　　She only keeps a 0.01% corner in her heart, and the other 99.9% is focused on being alert to the outside world. This can be considered a minor occupational disease that she has developed since coming out of the infinite flow world.

　　Tan Li sensed Shi Jiasen’s seriousness and thought for a moment, “I think delicious food has a taste that warms the heart, and yours is just fancy.”

　　“But there’s no heart.”

　　Tan Li’s explanation was very abstract, after all, her feelings were very abstract.

　　”Well…” Tan Li was a little surprised at her own patience. She was willing to explain so much to Shi Jiasen. “Take this roast chicken for example. It feels like it was made for you, not for the people who eat it.”

　　Shi Jiasen was stunned.

　　The words that Tan Li said when they first met once again echoed in his mind –

　　In Tan Li’s perception, his dishes have always been filled with his self-satisfied arrogance.

　　As if sensing something, Shi Jiasen lowered his eyes.

　　Tan Li was not lost in memories, but was actually deep in thought at this moment.

　　Tan Li put down her cutlery after taking two bites. Ying Heng couldn’t help but ask, “Are you full?”

　　”You don’t understand this,” Tan Li shook her head, “We are all like this, we just eat a few bites and throw away the rest, this is how we behave.”

　　Ying Heng: …

　　”That’s not called a rich lady,” Ying Heng said bluntly, “that’s called anorexia.”

　　Tan Li squinted at him.

　　Ying Heng didn’t dodge or evade. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to protect me if something happens to me. Eat more.”

　　Tan Li doesn’t want to eat.

　　As soon as she thought of Big Spoon, she couldn’t help but think of the scene before his death.

　　Although the people who were instantly swallowed up by the lava hell did not even have time to scream, a smell of barbecue was left in the air. Although it disappeared quickly, she felt nauseous whenever she thought about it.

　　Tong Jing on the side was also worried that Tan Li would not eat enough for such a small amount. She was about to join in persuading Tan Li to eat more, but Ying Heng became as fickle as the rain in June.

　　”Okay,” he pulled the plate in front of Tan Li to his side, “If you don’t want to eat, then don’t eat.”

　　Tong Jing: ???

　　Why did you suddenly stop trying to persuade her?

　　She’s all ready!

　　How could Ying Heng be so unprincipled?

　　The unprincipled Ying Heng quickened his eating speed, “This roast chicken is indeed average, it’s normal that you don’t want to eat it.”

　　Tan Li stopped eating, but Ying Heng ate so fast that the assistant Tong Jing didn’t feel comfortable continuing to eat slowly. She swallowed the meal in front of her in no time.

　　Tong Jing: “Dean Wen, let’s go check the donation list, shall we?”

　　Before Wen Hongjuan could react, everyone stopped what they were doing.

　　If Shi Jiasen was not still lost in thought, he would have been pissed off to death by these people who were chewing on a peony and did not know how to appreciate it.

　　Although Wen Hongjuan could not see anything unusual on Tan Li’s calm face, she could see Ying Heng’s protection and Tong Jing’s anxiety.

　　After thinking for a while, he responded, “Okay, let’s go to the office to talk?”

　　Everyone agreed.

　　Except for Shi Jiasen who remained there thinking about the deeper meaning of Tan Li’s words, everyone left the restaurant and went to the dean’s office.

　　**

　　Checking the donation list is a tedious and mechanical task. As Tan Li’s all-round life assistant, Tong Jing didn’t even think of asking for help. She directly communicated with Wen Hongjuan on her own and was very organized.

　　Tan Li and Ying Heng just sat aside, one of them crossed his legs and played with her mobile phone, and the other stared at the dead leaves on the window screen with empty eyes.

　　For a moment, the only sounds in the entire office, apart from the voices of Tong Jing and Wen Hongjuan, were the game music coming from Tan Li’s phone.

　　The tune is quite lively.

　　”Um…” Wen Hongjuan felt that although the two people behind her didn’t speak, their presence was getting stronger and stronger, so she couldn’t help but say, “Let’s check the list here. Xiaoli and Mr. Ying should be bored too.”

　　She found a few photo albums from the bookcase and handed them to Tan Li. “These are some photos taken when you were still here. Do you want to see them?”

　　Tan Li was not interested at first.

　　After all, for her, the years in the orphanage were so long ago that she almost didn’t remember them.

　　But when her eyes fell on Le Tong on the phone, her thoughts changed again.

　　”Okay, thank you.” Tan Li took the photo album and said thank you politely.

　　Wen Hongjuan was slightly startled, and looked at Tan Li with a slightly sad look.

　　When Ying Heng saw that Tan Li wanted to look at the photo album, he also pulled his eyes back from staring at the dead branches outside the window.

　　He moved the joystick of his wheelchair and moved closer to Tan Li.

　　Tan Li:?

　　Tan Li looked at him.

　　Ying Heng also looked at Tan Li.

　　He seemed to be trying to say “Let’s watch this together” with his eyes.

　　Although Tan Li had a hard time explaining this attempt to speak with eyes, she finally sighed and said, “…then let’s watch it together.”