There was excitement on Fang Shi’s face. She nudged Chen Yulan. “You go, lend a hand.”

Eventually, wouldn’t it be embarrassing for the Gu family if they had to eat together? They couldn’t ask them, mother and daughter, to eat together, could they?

Chen Yulan turned and hurried to the kitchen. She had intended to tell them where to find the water, but they had already started cooking.

Looking at the dumplings placed on the wicker basket, Chen Yulan’s face turned red.

Dumplings, oh, they were white, plump, and had a lot of filling. Just looking at them made her mouth water.

She forcefully tore her gaze away and said warmly, “Yundong, sister, are you cooking dinner? Let me help you light the fire.”

“No need, my mother is here. Just a little while longer, you go about your business.” Seeing that the water was boiling, Gu Yundong added oil, salt, and chopped scallions to a large ceramic bowl, adjusting the flavor. Then, she poured the boiling water into the bowl, instantly making it oily.

Chen Yulan tightened her grip on her hands, took a few steps forward instead of leaving, and said with a smile, “Eating dumplings? Why didn’t I see you making dumplings earlier? It smells really good. My mother and I had some porridge earlier, but smelling this now makes me hungry.”

Hadn’t they cooked dinner yet? Gu Yundong wasn’t stupid. She could see through Chen Yulan’s obvious intention to come and help.

If you want to eat, just eat. But at least tell the truth. Saying you had porridge earlier and now you’re hungry? Aren’t you just waiting for us to cook dinner so you can come over and eat?

Who indulges your bad habits? She wasn’t asking her to be like Aunt Ke, but at least behave like a normal landlord and tenant. She had paid the rent and didn’t owe them anything.

Gu Yundong smiled and watched as the plump dumplings floated up in the pot, feeling even happier. “Yes, dumplings. I thought it was getting late, so why bother cooking more dishes?”

With that, she scooped all the dumplings into the large bowl with the prepared sauce. This bowl was the one she had bought when she was in the capital, very large, just like the one used to eat sour fish in the restaurant in her previous life.

Now that all the dumplings were scooped up, Gu Yundong said to Chen Yulan, “I’m done cooking. You can use the kitchen. We’ll go back to our room to eat, so as not to disturb you. It’s still early, so if you’re hungry, you can make some noodles or something, which is also convenient and won’t take up much time.”

She padded the edge of the bowl with a cloth, picked it up, and walked away. From a distance, she said, “Mom, turn off the fire and clean the pot quickly and come back to eat dumplings. There aren’t many dumplings. They’ll be finished by the time we finish eating.”

“I’ll be right there.” Yang Shi moved quickly and swiftly cleaned the pot before following her into the room.

The kitchen still had the smell of dumplings lingering in the air, but Chen Yulan stood in front of the dark stove, her face turning pale.

When Fang Shi came in, she happened to hear Chen Yulan kick the table leg hard, causing her to cry out in pain.

“What’s going on? What’s the matter?”

Chen Yulan felt extremely wronged. She had helped her so much before, running around with her on the site, even kindly warning her to stay away from Shao Qing. She had even told her who was a gossip in the village, but what happened? Gu Yundong turned out to be an ungrateful wolf.