Noticing the tense atmosphere, Lu Youling—who had been trying to bury his head so low it nearly touched his chest—was startled. He looked up sharply at the man beside him.
The old woman’s eyes nearly popped out when she saw the egg in Lu Youling’s bowl. She clutched her chest in distress.
“He can’t have it!”
The old woman howled: “That’s my family’s egg! Why should it go to this jinx? If it weren’t for him, my son—”
Before she could finish, Gong Ze swiftly grabbed two fine cornbread buns and placed them in Lu Youling’s bowl. He picked up the stir-fried dish, tipped half onto Lu Youling’s plate, and gave the remaining half to himself. He did the same with the tofu and peanuts, splitting them evenly and piling both portions into their large bowls.
By the time the old woman started wailing, the table had already been cleared.
Old woman: …
Her eyes bulged as she stared at Gong Ze in shock.
Gong Ze picked up his bowl, downed an egg in two bites, then gave the old woman a gentle smile. “So this is why there was so little food today. Since you, Auntie, had such a big bowl of noodles, you probably couldn’t eat anything else anyway. That means all the leftover dishes on the table are for us.”
Old woman: …
Furious, the old woman clutched her chest, trembling with rage. Shuisheng and several servants covered their mouths, struggling to hold back laughter. As for Lu Youling, he looked at Gong Ze with pure admiration and gave him a thumbs-up.
“I… I… you… you—!” The old woman pointed at Gong Ze, then after a long pause, slammed down her chopsticks. “I’m not eating anymore!”
She wore an expression that said she would starve herself unless Gong Ze knelt and apologized to her. The others dared not laugh anymore and nervously shut their mouths.
But Gong Ze simply said, “That’s great.”
Old woman: …
Gong Ze reached over and pulled the bowl of oily, glossy Yangchun noodles in front of her straight to the space between him and Lu Youling. “To be honest, I’ve wanted to eat these noodles for a long time. Since you’re not eating anymore, Auntie, I’ll finish them with Miss Lu. It would be a waste otherwise.”
Old woman: …
Not only had she failed to make her enemy uncomfortable, but she had also lost her meal. The old woman wanted to flip the table. But there were only empty plates left on it.
She then tried to snatch Gong Ze’s bowl away to stop him from eating. Gong Ze looked up, and in a corner where Lu Youling couldn’t see, gave the old woman a cold, half-smiling expression that made her freeze. Her fiery arrogance instantly deflated.
Finally, her face turning green, the old woman rose and stormed off in a huff.
Gong Ze picked up his bowl and gently clinked it against Lu Youling’s. He turned his head, revealing his flawlessly handsome profile, and smiled warmly. “Now we have three eggs.”
Before Lu Youling could laugh, Gong Ze quietly confessed: “Actually, I really hate my aunt.”
He said it in a low voice as Lu Youling watched him in surprise.
“When I was little, she bullied me like this every day. Now I’ve finally gotten my revenge.”
Lu Youling looked at his playful expression—so different from his usual gentle, refined demeanor—and couldn’t help but curve his lips. Yet he also felt heartache for Gong Ze’s childhood. Not only did he not find Gong Ze’s behavior unfilial, but he could actually understand Gong Ze’s feelings and struggles.
And Gong Ze’s small act of defiance, pretending not to understand the old woman’s snide remarks, made him feel more vivid and alive to Lu Youling.
“You’re amazing,” Lu Youling whispered as well.
“Thank you,” Gong Ze replied, pressing his lips together as they curled upward. He then gave the Yangchun noodles to Lu Youling.
[Ding—Protagonist bottom Lu Youling’s favorability +5.]
“If the old woman bullies you again, just tell me. She’s really difficult to deal with, but no matter how fierce she is, she’s just an old lady.”
Gong Ze continued, “And don’t feel like you’re living under someone else’s roof and let guilt stop you from fighting back when she makes things hard for you. She knew full well what disease my eldest brother had, that he didn’t have long to live, yet she still went looking for a good family’s daughter to perform a ‘chongxi’ forced marriage. She was wrong to begin with. Did she ever consider that she’d be ruining an innocent woman’s entire life?”
“I only tolerate this level of difficulty,” Lu Youling said seriously. “If she goes too far, I’ll definitely run away. And if she hits me, I’ll hit back.”
“Then I’m relieved.”
Gong Ze wasn’t angry when he heard this. Instead, he nodded in agreement.
Lu Youling felt that Gong Ze’s way of thinking truly surpassed that of most people in this era. When talking with Gong Ze, Lu Youling—who was a modern person—felt no sense of disconnect.
Gong Ze also protected him and listened to his thoughts.
This made Lu Youling feel even closer to Gong Ze.
The meal left Lu Youling’s belly round and full. The Yangchun noodles were truly delicious—one sip of the broth filled his mouth with a savory richness that instantly nourished every taste bud.
Gong Ze had given him the soft-boiled egg entirely, smiling as he watched Lu Youling wolf down the food with tears nearly forming in his eyes.
Lu Youling truly knew what it felt like to starve nearly to death.
The burning acid in his stomach felt like it was melting a hole right through him. When hunger reached its peak, the pain would make him dry heave.
It felt like his entire stomach was twisting into knots.
That experience had left Lu Youling with a deep fear of going hungry.
Eating had become almost an obsession for him.
Fortunately, Lu Youling had studied medicine, so even as his hunger-driven anxiety nearly drove him mad, he still used his trembling fingers to carefully tear the egg into tiny pieces with his nails, eating them bit by bit, crushing the food with his tongue and palate to savor every morsel.
Eating too fast or too much would put a huge burden on his stomach.
And his stomach, after years of chronic hunger, was already in a terrible state.
After finishing a whole bowl of noodles and one egg, his stomach was visibly distended—he was no longer hungry—but psychologically, he felt a nagging anxiety: Not enough, not enough, I need to eat more.
He ate another fine cornbread bun and half a block of tofu.
When even one more sip of water felt like it would spill from his throat, Lu Youling finally stopped eating. As he clutched his belly and struggled to breathe, his eyes accidentally met Gong Ze’s pitying gaze.
Only then did Lu Youling remember that someone else was there. Once he started eating, his focus became overwhelming.
Realizing that Gong Ze had witnessed him eating like a starving ghost, Lu Youling’s face flushed red. Embarrassed, he parted his lips to explain, but Gong Ze shook his head. “I understand.”
The man looked at him seriously and said, “You must have suffered a lot. From now on, as long as I’m here, I won’t let you go through that kind of life again—where you never have enough to eat.”
Lu Youling: “……”
Lu Youling fidgeted with his fingers, at a loss in the face of Gong Ze’s vow-like words.
He joked, “I’m touched and all, but even if you’re this good to me, I’m still not going to marry you.”
Gong Ze replied, “Is that so? Then I’ll definitely be very heartbroken.”
Lu Youling froze. He looked at Gong Ze’s expression and realized that the man was teasing him back. Yet his heart kept pounding, unable to calm down.
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