第11章 你只能嫁给我喽

Stepping out of the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Guidance Store, twilight was already spilling over the eaves of Shrek City.

The orange-red setting sun hung aslant in the sky, stretching the figures on the street into slender shapes.

The two had been strolling for most of the day, buying clothes and daily necessities while witnessing many novel soul guidance devices. With their stomachs long since empty, they walked along the street and found an elegant and clean-looking hotel to stay at.

"Please open two rooms," Lu Chen walked to the front desk and spoke.

The front desk receptionist flipped through the records, looked up with an apologetic expression, "I'm really sorry, you two. Right now happens to be Shrek's enrollment season, and guest rooms are tight. There is only one suite left, but the room is very spacious, with inner and outer chambers, and there's even a soft couch in the outer room. It's more than enough for the two of you to stay."

Rooms being hard to come by during the enrollment season was expected, so Lu Chen wasn't surprised. He turned and tugged at Qian Renxue's sleeve, "Forget it, let's go ask at another place."

The moment he took a step, his wrist was gently caught.

Qian Renxue slightly averted her face to avoid Lu Chen's gaze, her voice as light as an evening breeze sweeping past her ear, "Let's stay here."

Lu Chen's footsteps paused, and he turned to look at her in surprise.

Although their bodies had regressed to the age of twelve, their minds were still those of sixteen-year-old boys and girls, and sharing a room was inevitably inconvenient.

Lu Chen couldn't quite figure out what this young miss was getting at.

Seeming to sense Lu Chen's burning gaze, Qian Renxue's earlobes grew slightly warm. She turned her head to look at the twilight outside the window, explaining with a deliberately casual tone, "This is the busiest time in the city right now, and it's almost completely dark. If we keep searching house by house, there might not even be any empty rooms. We'll make do for a night, it's nothing."

Qian Renxue spoke lightly, but deep down she harbored a reliance she hadn't even fully realized.

"Alright, then we'll listen to you," Lu Chen smiled, didn't ask any more questions, and turned to pay the room fee.

The room was indeed as the receptionist had described, spacious and elegant.

There were inner and outer chambers. The inner room contained a wide, carved canopy bed, while the outer room held a round table and a soft couch. By the window, a desk was also set up, arranged neatly and properly.

The two of them simply settled their belongings, and Lu Chen ordered a table of food and wine to be brought up, intending to have a good hot meal to dispel the fatigue of the journey.

Before long, the wine and dishes were laid out across a full table, exquisite in appearance and rich in aroma.

Yet Qian Renxue picked up her jade chopsticks, tasted only a couple of light bites, and then gently put the chopsticks down, lowering her eyelids as a faint sense of disappointment spread between her brows.

"What, not to your taste?"

Seeing this, Lu Chen put down his chopsticks and asked with concern.

"It's not as good as the ones you make."

Qian Renxue's voice was very soft, and her soft, spoiled tone carried a hint of grievance she hadn't even noticed herself.

The dishes at this hotel actually tasted quite good, but compared to Lu Chen's, there was still a huge gap, failing to stir up her interest in the slightest.

Lu Chen was stunned, then let out a low chuckle and stood up to walk outside, "Wait."

The room door gently closed, and the room grew quiet.

Qian Renxue sat by the table, her fingertips rubbing against the edge of the chopsticks, her heart inexplicably burning a little.

She also felt she was being a bit delicate, but the memory of her taste buds couldn't be fooled; Lu Chen's cooking was simply better than what they had here.

Before long, a rich and enticing aroma drifted in through the gap in the door, fresh and mellow, instantly making the tip of one's tongue salivate.

From downstairs came the faint sounds of the chef's exclamation and the innkeeper's inquiries, bustling noisily for a good while before gradually subsiding.

Not long after, the room door was pushed open. Lu Chen walked in carrying two dishes covered with porcelain lids, the heat wrapped in aroma instantly filling the entire room.

"I just borrowed the kitchen to stir-fry these. Have a taste, I guarantee it's a delicacy you've never tried before." Lu Chen gently placed the dishes on the table and handed a pair of clean chopsticks to Qian Renxue.

Filled with a bit of curiosity, Qian Renxue reached out and lifted the porcelain lids.

Hum—

Two streams of soft golden light rose along the edges of the dishes, instantly dispersing back into the food.

Qian Renxue opened her eyes slightly, looking at Lu Chen in bewilderment, "This food... can glow?"

"Of course," Lu Chen sat down with a smug look and lifted his chin, "A true super cuisine has to be able to glow to be considered qualified."

Although the dishes he made earlier in the Star Dou Great Forest tasted good, they lacked too many things and weren't his true level.

Just now, making use of the hotel's kitchen, he had finally completed these two super dishes.

As he spoke, Lu Chen pointed at the two dishes and introduced them one by one, "The one on the left is called Yu Xiang Rou Si, salty, fresh, sour, and sweet, with a tender and smooth texture; the one on the right is Gong Bao Ji Ding, spicy, crispy, and tender, perfect for going with rice. These are both dishes from my hometown, and you can't eat them in this place."

The ingredients for the two dishes were ordinary, but their colors were bright red, and the aroma was enticing, making one's mouth water just looking at them.

Qian Renxue picked up a chopstick full of Yu Xiang Rou Si and put it into her mouth. The sweet, sour, salty, and fresh flavors instantly burst on the tip of her tongue. The shredded meat was tender and flavorful, and even the shredded bamboo shoots used as a side dish were crisp and delicious.

Qian Renxue's eyes lit up a fraction, and the chopsticks in her hand instinctively moved a bit faster.

Seeing her eat with such relish, Lu Chen felt much more at ease inside. He leaned back against the back of the chair and said with a very serious air, "You didn't see it, but the head chef downstairs tasted a bite of the dish I stir-fried and almost knelt on the spot to take me as his master. The innkeeper also grabbed onto me and wouldn't let go, saying he wanted to offer me a high salary to hire me as the head chef, which I also righteously and sternly refused."

"Bragger," Qian Renxue muttered indistinctly with her mouth full of food, a faint smile hanging on the corners of her lips as the depression and confusion of the past few days faded quite a bit.

"I'm not bragging," Lu Chen raised an eyebrow and teased along with the topic, "Look at this, my culinary skills have spoiled your appetite. If you can't get used to anyone else's cooking in the future, what will you do? In the end, the only way you can eat such delicious food every day is by marrying me."

As soon as the words fell, Qian Renxue's cheeks turned completely red in a "whoosh."

She instinctively raised her left hand, her fingertips touching the silver storage ring she had just put on not long ago, and her heartbeat skipped half a beat.

Qian Renxue raised her eyes and glared fiercely at Lu Chen, both shy and annoyed, "In your dreams!"

After saying that, she lowered her head and focused on shoveling the rice in her bowl, but her earlobes turned so red they were almost dripping with blood, and even her fingertips grew slightly warm.

Watching her shy appearance, Lu Chen chuckled softly and didn't continue teasing her. Instead, he stood up and walked to the outer room, pillowing his head with both hands as he lay down on the soft couch, staring blankly at the ceiling.

In the past, his view of Qian Renxue was merely that of a character from the original work.

Yet after spending these days together, watching her fragility beneath her pride, her gentleness within her aloofness, and her shy, flushed earlobes at this very moment,

a certain corner of Lu Chen's heart grew softer and softer, and he actually gave rise to a bit of different affection.

The room grew quiet for a moment, save for the occasional light sound of chopsticks striking bowls and dishes from the inner room.

Halfway through the meal, Qian Renxue suddenly stopped her movements. After falling silent for a few seconds, she raised her eyes to look at the young man's back on the soft couch and spoke softly, "Lu Chen."

"Hm?" Lu Chen turned his head to look at her.

"Earlier in the Star Dou Great Forest..." Qian Renxue bit her lip, still asking the question that had been hidden in her heart for a long time, "If I recover my strength and don't help you, but leave on my own, what will you do?"

Lu Chen straightened his body and looked at her serious expression, deliberately putting on a fierce and ruffian look, "What else could I do? I'd turn into a malicious ghost and haunt you every day. When you eat, I'll stand right beside you and watch; when you sleep, I'll float by the bedside, making it so you can't eat or sleep well, following you wherever you go."

"Childish," Qian Renxue gave him a sideways glance, lowering her head again to shovel her rice, but her earlobes quietly turned even redder.

Then she silently added in her heart: Idiot, my martial soul is the Six-Winged Angel, I'm not afraid of ghosts and monsters at all.

Lu Chen lay back down on the soft couch, looking at the carved patterns on the ceiling with a trace of gentle amusement flashing in the depths of his eyes.

From the very beginning, he had known the answer.

He had risked his life to save Qian Renxue, and with Qian Renxue's pride, she certainly wouldn't have fled alone.

Night deepened, and the lights outside the window spilled in through the lattice.

Lying on the bed, Qian Renxue looked in Lu Chen's direction and spoke softly, "Lu Chen, tell me about your past."

She wanted to understand this boy more, the one who would mutually depend on her in the future.

"Me?"

"What's there to tell about me? My parents passed away early, and I'm a lonely person."

"You, on the other hand—do you want to know who your grandfather's dream lover was? I happen to know quite a few deep secrets, you know."

"I don't want to!"

"I'm going to sleep, stop talking to me!"

Hearing this, Qian Renxue glared fiercely at Lu Chen in the dark.

She had zero interest in her grandfather's romantic scandals.