Chapter 27

This was no longer about the pastries! Jing Yi was not stingy. Though those pastries took time and effort to make, feeding them to people he liked was also a pleasure. He had often made them for the children at the orphanage before, and thanks to this skill, Jing Yi had long monopolized the title of "Most Popular with Children"! Whenever he saw the food he had worked so hard to make receive everyone's praise, he felt as though he had been embraced by the kindness of the world. It was practically a spa for the soul—especially addictive.

But was Grey Eagle someone he liked? Not only was he not, he did not even qualify as a passerby. He could only be classified as an annoying passerby!

This kind of taking without asking absolutely could not be indulged. Otherwise, not only would he grow more and more shamelessly entitled, he probably would not think Jing Yi was kind and decent. He would think Jing Yi was just a dumbass.

Just like he had seen it.

Jing Yi carried the fruit platter—his anger had risen too quickly for him to even have time to put it down—and stormed off to settle accounts with the pastry thief!

...Yet he could not find him for the moment.

Eventually, he found Grey Eagle in the back garden of the General's residence, where he was pretending to be a gardener trimming the flowers and grass.

Grey Eagle held a pair of garden shears, slowly snipping here and there. It looked completely haphazard, but the result was actually rather nice... Apparently, this guy was not entirely useless.

Though he did not want to admit it, when he looked at the man's backlit figure from behind, Jing Yi suddenly thought, well, it was rather pleasing to the eye.

When it came to picking a fight, the first attempt was strong, the second weaker, and the third exhausted. Most of Jing Yi's anger had worn away on the way there, and by the time he found the culprit, he had deflated. But to give himself an explanation, he still walked over, frowned, and demanded, "Were you the one who stole the pastries from the kitchen?"

Grey Eagle turned around. He was more than half a head taller than Jing Yi, and he was also standing on a step. With a shift of his gaze, he looked down at him in the most standard sense of the word.

Jing Yi felt that he had miscalculated. He should have gone around to higher ground instead of saving a few steps and putting himself at such a disadvantage...

Then he saw the man looking down at him shamelessly shake his head.

He actually dared to do it but refuse to admit it!

Jing Yi glared at him. "Who else could it have been if not you? There's no one else in the house!"

Grey Eagle retorted with remarkably thick skin, "How would I know? Anyway, it wasn't me. I don't even like that sickeningly sweet stuff!"

Jing Yi wanted nothing more than to smash the fruit platter into his face! Ha. If he had not stolen any, how did he know the pastries Jing Yi made were sweet?!

But he still swallowed the impulse.

Because he had thought of a better way to strike back.

Jing Yi adjusted his tone and said somewhat mournfully, "Actually, I'm not upset over those little things. I'm just... sigh, it was my fault for leaving them there instead of putting them away..."

Grey Eagle's ears twitched.

Jing Yi was wearing white linen today.

To be honest, there had previously been quite a few naïve people who had confidently argued that the reason Jing Yi looked so vividly alluring was entirely because the crimson formalwear was doing all the work! Put on clothing with such outrageously powerful buff effects, and even three parts beauty would rise to seven. Every frown and smile would become dazzlingly radiant... and that was not even the main point.

But if they saw Jing Yi's look today, they would know just how unfairly that crimson formalwear had been blamed.

White linen was fresh and innocent enough, right? In a novel, it was practically standard issue for a delicate little white flower!

This was the costume Jing Yi had prepared for his "performance," meant to emphasize the bleak loneliness and helplessness of a bereaved spouse. Then, against the backdrop of black-and-white photographs, an offering table, incense burners, and gauze curtains, he would be like a mournful yet unbroken elegy. His pretended strength was so devoted and beautiful that his first viral hit would definitely be a smashing success!

...Jing Xiaoyi, you really ought to look in a mirror. White linen could not conceal the seductive aura of a fox spirit around you. You were not remotely suited to the delicate-white-flower persona you had imagined for yourself!

Standing there, he continued clutching his heart and said, "You really weren't the one who ate them? Then I'm relieved. I... I'll tell you the truth... Those pastries were actually offerings I specially made for my dear one!"

Grey Eagle's body jolted. "Your dear one? Offerings?"

"Qin Meng, of course!" Jing Yi nodded. "I wanted to properly pay my respects to him. You don't know this, but he even came to me in a dream last night. He said he wasn't eating well over there and was always going hungry. It was heartbreaking. When I woke up this morning, I made a batch of pastries, planning to prepare them and offer them to him. So those pastries were specially made for the dead... for the deceased. It's good that you didn't eat them. I was afraid something might happen to you if you did."

With a relieved smile on his face, Jing Yi did not linger to fight. He turned and left.

Serves you right for stealing food! Think I can't handle you?

Go ahead and guess what I added to them! And after stealing a dead man's offerings, even if you do not end up traumatized, you had better watch out for your good brother coming to visit you tonight!

Behind him, Major Qin, disguised as Grey Eagle, wore an expression that changed like the weather. It was almost too terrible to look at.

As for Jing Yi, who had just won a battle, he happily went back to the kitchen and made another batch. His hands were quick, and he had everything planned out. In less than an hour, another fragrant batch was ready. After carefully arranging them on the plates, he carried them back to his room and set them on either side of the offering table, meticulously adjusting their angles to achieve the best possible effect.