Jiang Hezhou returned from getting food with several colleagues and naturally took the seat next to Chu Luyu.
When Yao Meng saw him push a tray piled high with food toward Chu Luyu, she laughed and teased him: “Are you that afraid of letting your wife go hungry? You got a girl this much food? I’m telling you, wasting food is a serious crime. If she can’t finish it, you’re on cleanup duty!”
Having spent so many days with Chu Luyu, Jiang Hezhou naturally knew her appetite well.
But with so many people around, he was worried she might feel shy. He glanced sideways at her and replied leisurely: “Whatever she leaves, I’ll finish for her.”
“Ohhh, so now that you’re in front of your wife, you don’t have that ‘I have OCD’ thing anymore?”
“Well duh—what couple actually finds the other gross?”
The teasing chatter around them never stopped, but Chu Luyu barely registered any of it. She was too busy thinking hard about how to cause trouble.
She’d never been a drama queen before, nor had she ever encountered anyone like that in real life. At this moment, just sitting there having a simple meal, she had no idea how to act obnoxious in a way that felt believable and genuinely annoying.
After racking her brain, her gaze landed on the tray in front of her.
It was a stainless steel partitioned tray, now piled high with a full serving of food.
Besides the crispy meatballs and sweet-and-sour pork ribs that Jiang Hezhou had mentioned earlier, there were also a few cooked dishes and two cold salads.
Chu Luyu: 【Cuihua!!! Look at those cold dishes—are those fish mint and tofu with century egg?? Huh? I’m not wrong, am I?!】
System Cuihua: 【You’re not wrong. That’s fish mint mixed with beef, and stinky century egg tofu with old tofu. Ugh, I hate both of these—they both have that weird funky smell.】
Chu Luyu’s eyes suddenly lit up. A plan formed in her mind.
Picking up her chopsticks, without a second thought, she picked out all the fish mint from the beef salad and dropped it into Jiang Hezhou’s bowl. Then she took the three pieces of century egg from the tofu dish and tossed them onto his tray as well.
“These two things are absolutely disgusting. Why did you get them for me? I don’t like them at all!” With that, she pursed her lips and shot him a fierce, angry look. “You don’t even know what I like—I bet you did this on purpose! As punishment, you have to eat all of them!”
The moment she finished speaking, the table fell silent.
One officer, who had been starving and stuffing his face with ribs, froze mid-bite with his chopsticks hovering by his mouth. He looked at Chu Luyu with a complicated expression.
Exactly the effect she wanted!
Feeling the surprised stares around her, Chu Luyu was thrilled inside. She shot Jiang Hezhou an even “fiercer” look than before.
“What are you waiting for? Eat up! This is punishment—so you remember this!”
Then she boasted to the system internally: 【Cuihua, see that? All his colleagues are definitely shocked by my behavior! Fish mint and century egg—two ultimate bombs in the food world—and I’m using them as punishment, making him eat all of them! Right now, they must think I’m absolutely vicious!】
System Cuihua: 【So vicious!!! But I think you can be even more vicious. See those same two dishes on everyone else’s trays? You could take theirs and pile them onto the male lead’s plate too. Seven or eight servings of fish mint and century egg—even if it doesn’t make him sick from disgust, it’ll at least stuff him to death! And if he gets angry and refuses, you can throw a fit right then and there!】
Chu Luyu: 【Ooh! That’s a great idea!】
Meanwhile, a few of the officers huddled together and whispered among themselves—
“Xiao Jiang’s fiancée is hilarious, isn’t she? Doesn’t everyone on the team know that Xiao Jiang loves fish mint and century egg? Why is she saying eating them is punishment?”
“What do you know? Young girls are shy. She wants her fiancé to eat more of what he likes, but with all of us watching, she can’t exactly be obvious about it. So she pretends to be throwing a little tantrum!”
“This little sister-in-law is so adorable! I like her more and more!”
Chu Luyu had no idea what they were saying. She was completely focused on the plan she’d just cooked up with the system.
She put on a magnanimous air, picked up her chopsticks, and looked across the table.
“Everyone probably hates these two foods too, right? But because of your positions, you can’t waste food. So here’s what—today, to make sure Jiang Hezhou really remembers this lesson, I’ll take charge and have him eat all the portions you don’t want!”
Before anyone could react, Chu Luyu quickly went around, picking out the fish mint and century egg from everyone’s trays and depositing them onto Jiang Hezhou’s plate.
In no time, what had been a half-full tray now had two extra “mountains”—one pale white and one pitch black.
She was having a blast. When she got to the last officer, the guy looked so terrified that he frantically started shoveling the two cold dishes into his mouth with his chopsticks.
Between bites, he hurriedly said: “That’s enough, that’s enough—any more and Xiao Jiang won’t be able to finish it!”
The way he stared at Chu Luyu as he spoke was as if he were looking at some terrifying femme fatale.
Chu Luyu: 【Cuihua! See that?! The male lead’s colleagues can’t handle my viciousness—they’re starting to feel sorry for him!】
System Cuihua: 【No kidding. Look at that guy—he’s practically choking, terrified that you’ll add more of those two “poisons” to the male lead’s plate.】
Yao Meng, who happened to be sitting next to that officer, leaned over and quietly reminded him: “Slow down, you’ll choke. Don’t scare Xiao Jiang’s fiancée.”
“She’s the one scaring me, okay? You guys might not eat those, but I’m just like Xiao Jiang—I love fish mint and century egg! And now she’s trying to take them all away from him! Don’t talk to me right now—I need to eat fast, or she might come back for mine too!”
In Chu Luyu’s eyes, the officer’s frantic eating was clearly out of fear that she’d keep tormenting Jiang Hezhou.
At this moment, she felt a great sense of accomplishment. When she turned to look at the man beside her, her gaze was full of provocation and smugness.
“What are you looking at? Hurry up and eat!”
Jiang Hezhou had no idea what was really going through her mind.
Right now, in his eyes, the girl looking at him was like a proud, tsundere cat that had gone hunting, brought back a full bag of prey, and was now strutting around with her little head held high, waiting for praise.
His heart melted completely.
“Alright. Let’s eat.”
Jiang Hezhou tore his gaze away from Chu Luyu. As he lowered his eyes, he couldn’t help but think to himself:
How did she know that he liked fish mint and century egg?
Could it be that she, like him, had been quietly keeping track of each other’s habits and preferences?
This cafeteria meal left Chu Luyu thoroughly satisfied.
As Jiang Hezhou had said, the city bureau’s chef was truly skilled. She’d finished almost every last bite of the food he’d brought back for her.
If it weren’t for the fear that her stomach would be too full to sleep comfortably, she might have asked him to get her another plate.
On the way back, she was planning to lounge comfortably in the passenger seat and enjoy the evening breeze. Then, without warning, that damned task system notification rang out in her head again—
【Ding, new task! Have the male lead hand-wash the lingerie you bought today, and say the key line: “Big brother, from now on, I’m covered inside and out with your scent—you have to take responsibility for me.”】
Chu Luyu: ????
She roared at the system: 【Three tasks in one day! Are you guys insane?!】
Even the system sounded a bit guilty for once: 【Ahem, well, that’s all on the original owner, isn’t it? After buying that lingerie, she went home and waited until nighttime to come up with this ridiculous scheme, which is why you’re getting this task now… But don’t worry—this one doesn’t have an urgent time limit. In the original plot, the male lead ignored the original owner at first and busied himself with his own things for a few days. It wasn’t until about four or five days later that he reluctantly gave in to her request. So you just need to get the male lead to hand-wash those pieces for you within four or five days and say those key lines.】
Chu Luyu slumped back in her seat, looking half-dead.
Chu Luyu: 【That doesn’t make it any better, okay? No, I seriously can’t help but complain again—making a restrained, celibate male lead hand-wash lingerie? This plot is downright inhumane!】
System Cuihua: 【Sigh! You’ve hit the nail on the head! In the original owner’s mind, the more the male lead did things that went against his character and persona, the more it proved he liked her. She wanted to conquer him, to get as much of his love and attention as possible. So in a sense, the more he loathed something, the more she wanted to make him do it!】
Chu Luyu: 【…………】
Chu Luyu: 【Isn’t that just pure insanity?】
System Cuihua: 【No way around it—that’s just how the original owner’s character was written.】
Chu Luyu felt utterly defeated.
When they got home, she didn’t even feel like saying another word. After a brief greeting to Jiang Hezhou, she retreated to her bedroom.
Jiang Hezhou noticed she seemed a little off, but since nothing unusual had happened along the way, he didn’t think much of it. He assumed she’d eaten too much and was experiencing belated stomach discomfort, so he found two stomach pills and brought her a glass of water.
The next morning, Jiang Hezhou had early classes and couldn’t wait for Chu Luyu to wake up. Coincidentally, it was the day the housekeeper came by on her regular schedule. After letting her in, he pointed toward the master bedroom and said, “The person in the master bedroom is still asleep. Just clean the rest of the place for now. If she wakes up later, please make her breakfast as well.”
The housekeeper nodded and said she understood.
Jiang Hezhou returned to his room, showered, changed into clean clothes, and was about to head out with his laptop.
As he walked out, he saw the housekeeper holding a bag and flipping through it. The bag was Barbie pink—an obnoxiously garish shade.
He recognized it immediately as the bag from the lingerie shop yesterday.
“Mr. Jiang, would you like me to wash these for you?”
Jiang Hezhou replied calmly: “No need. We’ll handle those ourselves.”
After all, lingerie was intimate clothing. If the girl found out the housekeeper had washed them for her, she’d probably feel embarrassed.
With that thought, Jiang Hezhou picked up the bag and tucked it away in a cabinet in his own room.
On his way to work, Jiang Hezhou received a message from his friend Ji Chen.
Ji Chen: 【Free tonight? Let’s meet up. That thing you asked me to look into abroad—I finally have some leads.】
Jiang Hezhou’s expression turned serious, his handsome face cooling into a grave composure.
Jiang Hezhou: 【I’ll call you after work.】
Perhaps because she’d heard news about Jiang Hezhou yesterday, Meng Wantian couldn’t sleep well into the night, her mind constantly occupied with memories of him from her past life.
The next day, she couldn’t resist. She found a friend in the forensic medicine department and managed to sit in on one of Jiang Hezhou’s classes.
Jiang Hezhou was always very popular among students at the school. His classes were never late or left early, and they were always full.
When Meng Wantian walked into the classroom with her friend, most of the seats were already taken. They barely managed to grab two empty spots in the fourth row by the window, which meant they’d have to turn their heads to see the podium.
But Meng Wantian didn’t mind at all. Just thinking about seeing Jiang Hezhou soon made her so excited that every cell in her body seemed to tremble.
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