Chapter 17: Made a Special Meal for Him

The kitchen was filled with a fragrant aroma. Feng Mian said, “You haven’t eaten yet, right? I just finished cooking—come have some food.”

Gu Yuelin was momentarily surprised. “You still haven’t eaten at this hour?”

“Ah? Well, I was held up with some things this afternoon.”

Actually, she was just used to eating late and going to bed late.

Normally, most families would have dinner around five o’clock, but now it was already past seven.

Gu Yuelin was cold and hungry, but he didn’t fuss; he followed her to the kitchen.

Under the dim kerosene lamp, there was a small rustic stove, with a wire mesh on top holding two clay pots—one large, one small. Around them were placed red dates, dried herbs, and some fruits he didn’t recognize.

Seeing all these things, Feng Mian froze for a moment, then felt overwhelmed.

Was her cooking too extravagant?

If they were going to live together in the future, did she have to secretly eat?

She had thought it would be easy to cover up her space abilities while traveling through time, but here she was, acting like a thief all day. During the daytime, she even had to lock the door to keep her secret safe.

Sigh! She felt like pulling out her hair.

“Sit down,” Feng Mian decided to play dumb.

She served Gu Yuelin some rice, took out chopsticks, and lifted the pot lid on the table to reveal steaming hot shredded pork with green peppers.

She smiled and said, “Our team slaughtered a pig the other day. I got a few pounds of meat and some ribs, so I cut some out to stir-fry, and the rest I cured.”

Then she picked up the large clay pot on the stove and placed it on the table. “This is soup… bird soup.”

“Bird soup? What kind of bird?”

“I don’t know. I found it in the back mountain. This unlucky bird got its foot tangled in wild grass.”

Feng Mian didn’t look at him and didn’t care whether he believed her. At least she had explained.

The smaller pot on the stove held hot milk.

Feng Mian twitched the corner of her mouth and blurted out another fib.

“I stole it from the cattle shed of our production team.”

Gu Yuelin: “…”

“You actually dared to steal the cow’s milk?”

This…

Feng Mian forced herself to nod. “Yeah, yeah, but don’t tell anyone.”

Gu Yuelin’s feelings were complicated. The more time he spent with her, the more confused he became.

How could she even dare to steal milk?

“Don’t steal anymore. Those cows aren’t easy to deal with. You might get into serious trouble.”

“Got it.”

While agreeing, Feng Mian took some dried longans, red dates, and herbs with chopsticks, placed them on a rough clay plate, and set it on the table.

She warmly invited Gu Yuelin to eat quickly.

Watching him eat heartily, Feng Mian felt especially comforted.

She used to love watching eating broadcasts and even gave tips when she was happy.

Gu Yuelin eating was even better than those broadcasts—he seemed to really enjoy the food, which gave her a great sense of accomplishment.

Gu Yuelin, embarrassed by her staring, blushed and put down his chopsticks shyly.

“Sorry, I guess I was just too hungry. I didn’t eat lunch,” he said softly, feeling awkward.

Feng Mian quickly reassured him, “It’s okay, it’s okay, eat up, don’t worry about me.”

He noticed she ate very little, but she hadn’t expected him to come, so all this food was originally prepared just for herself.

Gu Yuelin put down his chopsticks.

Feng Mian asked, “Why aren’t you eating anymore?”

“I’m full.”

“Nonsense, you haven’t even eaten half of what you did last time.”

Gu Yuelin: “…”

Feng Mian served all the rice in the pot into his bowl, then put the entire remaining pigeon into his bowl as well.

“Eat.”

Gu Yuelin looked at the pigeon. “You didn’t eat any of it.”

Feng Mian served herself a bowl of soup. “Mm, I don’t like eating meat. I’ll just drink the soup.”

She had planned on making it for drinking all along.

Feng Mian only ate half a bowl of rice mixed with shredded pork and felt full, and she also drank a bowl of soup.

After the meal, she drank some milk, peeled the roasted chestnuts and placed them on another clay plate along with peeled longans and red dates, then pushed the plate toward Gu Yuelin.

“For me to eat?”

“Yeah, you eat.”

At this moment, Gu Yuelin’s feelings were beyond words.

Probably… no one had ever treated him this well before.

“Why do you give all this to me? Aren’t you going to eat?”

Ah? How was she supposed to explain that?

Tell him she liked watching eating streams?

“You look so skinny, you need to eat more,” she said casually.

“You’re even skinnier.”

Uh…

“You’re different, you need to eat more to have strength to work.”

Gu Yuelin’s eyes darkened, making her avoid eye contact.

Hey, wait, why was the conversation getting weird?

She tossed aside the chestnut shells and said, “Hurry and eat. After you finish, get going—the snow outside is getting heavier.”

Gu Yuelin nodded and finished all the food.

Feng Mian opened the door to look outside. The wind was blowing the snowflakes in swirling patterns.

She was wearing thermal underwear and a down jacket, sticking heat pads on her body, yet still felt freezing cold.

Looking back at Gu Yuelin in the kitchen, he was still wearing a worn-out single layer of clothing.

Given how his stepmother exploited him, it was no wonder he had grown up like this.

Feeling pity, Feng Mian went to her bedroom and secretly ordered an old-fashioned military coat. Before giving it to him, she carefully cut off all the tags.

“Wear this when you go out.”

Gu Yuelin was slightly stunned. “New?”

Uh…

“Yes, new. I specially bought it for you.”

Holding the coat, Gu Yuelin’s emotions grew more complicated.

“Why are you so good to me?”

Huh?

“Didn’t we say this was just a marriage of convenience?”

This…

Could she say it was her compassion acting up?

In her previous life, she had money and donated plenty to impoverished mountainous areas. Seeing Gu Yuelin dressed so thinly in the bitter winter, she just wanted to give him some clothes. So what?

“If you’re going to pretend, at least do it properly. It’s just one coat; you can pay me back when you’re successful,” Feng Mian casually threw out.

Gu Yuelin stared at her for quite a while holding the coat, making Feng Mian very embarrassed.

“Hurry and put it on. It’s getting late,” she urged.

Only then did Gu Yuelin put on the coat. “Okay, I’m going now.”

“Mm.”

“This coat… the coat is really warm.”

Feng Mian smiled, “As long as it’s warm.”

Gu Yuelin turned and stepped into the wind and snow.

When he had gone far enough, Feng Mian closed the door and bolted it tightly.

Especially the back door of the kitchen—she wedged a thick piece of wood, about the thickness of an arm, against it.

An eighteen-year-old girl living alone was very vulnerable; she had to be careful.

Snow fell all night, covering the world in white, and Feng Mian’s little courtyard was piled with snow.

Next door, Feng Feng was building a snowman with his daughter, deliberately speaking and laughing loudly to catch the attention of his wife, Lu Lan.

What happened yesterday afternoon probably upset Lu Lan a lot, and she ignored Feng Feng no matter how much he pretended to be crazy.

He coaxed his daughter Feng Rongrong to try to cheer Lu Lan up, but Lu Lan ignored both of them and went back inside.

“Lanlan, wife, don’t be mad, I was wrong, okay?” Feng Feng held Feng Rongrong’s hand and followed her inside.

What kind of coaxing Feng Feng would do inside, and how long it would take before Sister Lan would talk to him again, Feng Mian didn’t know.