Page 15

But for some reason, she suddenly wanted to try these dishes today.

The sea bass was tender and sweet, the pumpkin richly fragrant, the lettuce crisp and refreshing, and the yam soft and tender... Even Yu Qing, for once, drank two mouthfuls of soup.

Her final conclusion was that her family's chef was also very skilled at making home-style dishes.

After Yu Qing finished eating, Aunt Yang was delighted to see that she had actually eaten some dinner tonight. She carried the leftovers back into the kitchen.

The moment she entered, Aunt Yang saw Xiang Changge sitting properly at the kitchen serving table, holding a tablet and apparently busy with something.

Aunt Yang hurriedly greeted her. "Steward, aren't you going to eat?"

Hearing her come in, Xiang Changge put away her tablet. She answered Aunt Yang first before shifting her gaze to the tray in her hands.

"I've already eaten."

Eating didn't take much time, after all, and eating was what she was best at.

After saying that, she carefully examined Yu Qing's leftovers.

Aunt Yang noticed Xiang Changge's gaze as well. A smile appeared on her face, and just as she was about to praise Yu Qing for actually having some dinner tonight, she heard Xiang Changge ask in confusion, "Is that being taken to feed flies?"

Knowing Yu Qing did not have much of an appetite, Aunt Yang had not prepared much food for her. Yet even with such a small portion, Yu Qing had only touched the food as if for show. Even birds ate more than that.

Aunt Yang's expression stiffened. The smile still on her face was neither here nor there.

After two seconds, she gave a dry laugh. "Ha, no, um..."

She did not know what to say.

In her eyes, Yu Qing had at least eaten something tonight. But judging from the steward's expression and words, she was clearly very dissatisfied with Yu Qing's appetite.

Although Aunt Yang felt the steward's words were somewhat offensive to Yu Qing, she also knew that this was because the steward was genuinely taking responsibility for the Yu Family and caring about Yu Qing's health.

After thinking it over, she explained while also introducing the situation to Xiang Changge. "Miss has always had a very small appetite, and she never eats on schedule. The fact that she ate some dinner tonight is already a considerable improvement."

Xiang Changge said nothing. She merely turned and left the kitchen. Aunt Yang craned her neck to peek after her and saw that she seemed to be heading toward the elevator.

Heading for the elevator... Was she going upstairs?

What was she going upstairs for? To find Miss? And why did she need to find Miss? She couldn't possibly be going to ask why she ate as little as a fly, could she?

Surely not. Miss was Miss, and the steward was the steward...

Feeling inexplicably worried, Aunt Yang stood there for a moment. In the end, she gritted her teeth, set down the tray, and followed after her.

When Xiang Changge stepped out of the elevator, she heard music. It was not being played live, but coming from high-quality speakers.

Following the music through the corridor, she soon reached the small sitting room in the middle of the third floor.

Beyond the small sitting room was a balcony. At the moment, the glass sliding doors of the sitting room were wide open, and the windows by the balcony had not been shut either.

The temperature in the mountains dropped at night. The night wind, carrying dampness, slipped through the windows into the room. Xiang Changge could clearly smell the scent of nature, tinged with a faint chill.

Yu Qing sat cross-legged on the wool rug in the small sitting room, her black hair falling loose behind her. The overhead light shone upon her, outlining her in a halo of light.

The speakers at the front of the room played a low, melodious tune. In the space where the notes drifted, Yu Qing sat alone, slowly piecing together the densely scattered jigsaw puzzle before her.

Xiang Changge stood in the shadows where the corridor connected to the small sitting room for quite some time before finally walking over.

She deliberately let her shoes make a little noise. The click-clack of her heels successfully drew Yu Qing's attention, allowing her to notice Xiang Changge's arrival without being startled.

Yu Qing turned around, her long, curled lashes casting shadows beneath her eyes.

Perhaps because she had just been immersed in her own world, her black eyes looked lifeless.

Only when she saw that it was Xiang Changge did the slightest ripple appear in them, before they returned to calm.

After glancing at Xiang Changge, Yu Qing lowered her head and continued her grand puzzle project, asking quietly, "Is something the matter?"

Xiang Changge did not stop until the tips of her shoes reached the edge of the wool rug.

She looked down at the person seated before her and asked, "Would you like to raise a pig or a dog?"

Yu Qing, who had finally found a suitable puzzle piece, froze with her hand in midair and blinked.

She suspected that she had misheard.

After a moment, she raised her head slightly and looked at Xiang Changge in confusion. "What did you say?"

Xiang Changge lowered her eyes, her lashes half-veiling them as she looked back at Yu Qing.

With great patience, she repeated herself. "I said, would you like to raise a pig or a dog?"

Yu Qing: "?"

What was that supposed to mean?

She could understand raising a dog, but why was a pig one of the options? Was there some necessary connection between the two?

Confusion, incomprehension, hesitation, shock—

In the end, Yu Qing asked the question from the depths of her soul. "Why would I want to raise one?"

The moment Yu Qing said that, she saw a vaguely mocking smile appear on Xiang Changge's face. "You leave so many leftovers every day. It would be such a waste not to raise a pig."

Yu Qing: "..."

Was she insane? So what if she had leftovers? She had been leaving food behind like this for years. It wasn't as if she couldn't afford it. Besides, wasn't there someone specially assigned to handle kitchen scraps? It wasn't like she dumped them into the trash. So what if she left food behind?

No wonder. She had listened to Xiang Changge and eaten on time. Although she had not gone to the dining room, she had still eaten at the proper time. Xiang Changge should not have come upstairs to find her again.

So she had come to mock her for eating too little and leaving too much behind.

Yu Qing had not even held it against her for preparing three dishes and a soup today, yet she was going to complain about her leftovers? Wasn't that going too far? Wasn't she getting far too pushy?

Seeing that Yu Qing remained silent and merely looked at her as if she were sick, Xiang Changge did not mind.

She continued analyzing the matter on her own. "But if you raise a pig, once it grows up, your leftovers might not be enough to feed it. And when the pig grows up, it would be wasteful not to slaughter it for meat. But after all, it would have been raised on every bite of leftovers and every sip of leftover soup from you, Miss. You might develop some feelings for it, and slaughtering it for meat would seem rather cruel."

"Why not raise a dog instead? Since your tastes are bland anyway, Miss, an ordinary mutt that can eat leftovers would be quite suitable."

Listening to Xiang Changge, Yu Qing could not tell whether she was seriously discussing the matter of raising pigs and dogs with her or simply expressing dissatisfaction with how much food she had left behind.

Subconsciously, Yu Qing remembered how Xiang Changge had eaten the two mouthfuls of lily-and-lotus-seed congee she had left behind.

Her mouth moved faster than her brain, and Yu Qing retorted, "What, Steward Xiang? Can't you eat it?"

After saying that, Xiang Changge had not even reacted yet, but Yu Qing herself froze.

How had she said something so random and insulting?

Yu Qing opened her mouth, wanting to say something, yet not knowing how to begin.

Xiang Changge, however, did not seem to notice at all. She merely tilted her head, seeming to think for a moment before saying, "I can, but what if I'm full sometimes?"

For example, tonight, she had already eaten a very lavish staff meal in the employee cafeteria. For the time being, she had no room left for Yu Qing's three dishes and one soup.

It would be nice if she had four stomachs like a cow.

The system, listening to the conversation between the two and Xiang Changge's thoughts: "..."

What kind of host was this?!

The supporting female character was so pitiful, sob sob. A young miss was actually being mocked for leaving too many leftovers. How could she be made to suffer such a huge grievance? So what if she left food behind? It wasn't as if she couldn't afford to!

Unable to hold back, the system reminded Xiang Changge, "8802, Tongtong has to remind you that the supporting female character is a young miss..."

"What does being a young miss have to do with it?"

Xiang Changge replied inwardly, "Does being a young miss mean she can waste food?"

Perhaps because Xiang Changge's question was too righteous, the system suddenly felt a tiny bit guilty by comparison. "...N-no, she can't?"

The system fell into thought.

Yu Qing also fell into thought.

She tilted her head up and stared at Xiang Changge's face for a long while. At last, she determined that Xiang Changge did not seem to be mocking her. She was sincerely asking what they should do if she was full and could not eat Yu Qing's leftovers.

Yu Qing: "..."

Yu Qing had been leaving food behind for so many years, and now someone had suddenly appeared to tell her she could not leave leftovers... Yu Qing took a deep breath and tried to reason with Xiang Changge. "I remember someone comes to collect the kitchen scraps, right?"

Just as garbage trucks came up every day to take away the trash, someone also collected the kitchen scraps. As for whether they were used to feed pigs or made into fertilizer, she did not know.

"So, Miss, you think it's fine to leave leftovers every day?" Xiang Changge asked in return.

Yu Qing was rendered speechless again.

Back when she had been reading the novel, Xiang Changge had been very angry that Yu Qing left untouched feasts fit for an emperor every day. Now that she could finally face her in person, of course she had to stop such a thing from happening.

Although food would not be scarce in modern society as long as one had money, "abundant food" had nothing to do with "wasting food at will." There were still countless people in the world going hungry.

Besides, if she truly could not finish it, couldn't she make fewer dishes, save some money, and donate it to charity? Why insist on wasting it?

Xiang Changge had not asked Yu Qing whether she wanted to raise a dog or a pig to mock her. She genuinely wanted her to think about it.

Didn't modern society have things like therapy dogs? Keeping pets and growing plants could both heal the heart. It would be good if Yu Qing really raised some kind of pet.