On the fifth day of Cui Ciyou's "convalescence."
Alice came to "check on" Cui Ciyou again.
After the "wink gratitude ceremony" and the "Beastfolk surrender ritual," the red-haired young lady had come up with yet another way to "thank" him.
At noon that day, Alice hurried over with an enormous, steaming wooden bowl and once again kicked Cui Ciyou's door open with a bang.
Alice slammed the bowl of grilled meat over rice onto the table beside Cui Ciyou's bed. It was piled high as a small mountain and gave off an irresistible aroma.
The grilled meat gleamed a rich golden brown, its flesh firm and plump, with a fine dusting of unfamiliar spices over its surface.
An almost overpowering meaty fragrance instantly filled the room, enough to make anyone's mouth water and appetite stir.
Yet Alice, who had brought this seemingly extravagant lunch, kept her adorable little face stern and spoke in a textbook tsundere tone:
"Hey, this... this was just thrown together with some magic beast meat from Grandpa's storeroom that was about to go bad."
"I only used it because it was going bad, and throwing it away would've been a waste. I didn't... I didn't make it specially for you, so don't get the wrong idea!"
Cui Ciyou looked at the bowl of tender, fragrant grilled meat over rice, which bore absolutely no resemblance to anything "about to go bad," and silently grumbled:
Meat that's about to go bad... are you sure you should be feeding that to me? Are you repaying a favor or taking revenge, my dear young lady?
Still, no matter how I look at it, this doesn't seem spoiled.
Despite his inward complaints, Cui Ciyou happily enjoyed the delicious meal.
He had to admit that this unidentified magic beast meat surpassed every