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Ye Wanqing merely glared at him before entering the supermarket. Xiao He locked his bicycle off to the side, then followed behind Ye Wanqing and held out his hand to her.

"Want to hold hands?" Xiao He asked tentatively. Ye Wanqing gave him a sidelong glance and pursed her lips, but still handed him her hand.

But honestly, Xiao He felt that holding hands only made things more awkward.

Her hand was so small... Xiao He thought. With a casual grip, he could completely envelop her little fist.

"Easy... You're going to crush my bones." Ye Wanqing suddenly complained. "You're so strong..."

"Um, maybe I should get a cart." Xiao He said awkwardly, pushing over a shopping cart from the side. Ye Wanqing said nothing and walked ahead to lead the way, scanning the various ingredients on display.

"Broccoli... cucumbers, cabbage." Ye Wanqing tossed the ingredients she wanted into the cart while complaining, "Supermarket produce is so expensive, and the quality isn't even that good... If I were buying it myself, I'd definitely get up early and go to the market."

"By the way, you're really good at housework." Xiao He asked with interest. "Even though you're pretty messy, you're great at cooking."

"How am I that messy? I told you those bottles were for the old lady who collects recyclables." Ye Wanqing said irritably.

"Then what about all those clothes on your bed and the blanket you never fold?" Xiao He pressed. Ye Wanqing's beautiful eyes widened, but her words lacked the confidence her expression suggested. "Th-that's... for convenience! I take naps at noon, and I go to bed really early at night, so, so..."

"So you can't keep making excuses?" Xiao He asked, holding back a laugh.

"You're awful!" Ye Wanqing angrily punched him, but it had no effect. She could only press her attack, unleashing a flurry of punches.

"Oh my, what a loving little couple," an uncle and auntie passing by teased them.

"Alright, alright, back to business." Xiao He caught her little fist and took her hand as he led her onward. "So how did you learn to cook?"

"My home is in Long River City, a second-tier city next to West Terrace City." Ye Wanqing examined the ingredients on the shelves as she spoke. "My family was just getting by. Before I was sixteen, I lived with my parents in a tiny apartment of just over forty square meters. I didn't have my own room; only a curtain separated my bed from my parents'. But as I got older, living like that became increasingly inconvenient."

"Mm, it affected your parents' married life too." Xiao He nodded.

"Tch... Don't interrupt." Ye Wanqing said unhappily. "When I was twelve, my mom realized that too and wanted to move into a bigger place. She scrimped and saved desperately, but making money was still too hard. And the economy was bad at the time, so she got laid off and went out to find work. She'd leave very early in the morning to sell breakfast until nine, then go do hourly housekeeping jobs with one of the neighborhood aunties."

"That sounds really hard..." Xiao He frowned. Ye Wanqing nodded. "Yeah, she had to get up at five every morning to prepare ingredients for breakfast. After selling breakfast, she'd go clean other people's homes as an hourly worker, and she wouldn't get back until nearly seven at night. After she came home and ate, she would rest. During that period, she could barely talk to my dad or me because she was just too tired..."

"Then what about your dad!? What was he doing?" Xiao He asked indignantly. Ye Wanqing sighed. "The factory my dad worked at wasn't doing well either, so all he could do was try not to get laid off. Besides, most of our family's income came from him. The odd jobs my mom did paid very little."

"Fine..." Xiao He muttered. Ye Wanqing continued, "Since my mom was busy, and my dad didn't get home until six thirty every evening, I was the only one who could make dinner. During that time, I'd go to the market to buy groceries before school in the morning, then cook after school and wait for my parents to come home so we could eat together."

"That must have been hard for you, right?" Xiao He asked sympathetically.

"It was alright. My mom had it much harder." Ye Wanqing smiled. "Every time I saw her lying on the couch, her sleeping face full of exhaustion, my heart ached for her. So I decided that I had to take good care of my mom."

"You moved into a bigger home when you were sixteen?" Xiao He asked with a smile. "Did things get better?"

"Yeah." Ye Wanqing smiled. "But it actually wasn't because of my mom's efforts. Our old home was being demolished for redevelopment, so my family added a little over a hundred thousand yuan and traded up for a bigger place. I finally got my own room."

Xiao He reached out and patted her little head. He did not know why he did it, but he simply wanted to.

"Tch." Ye Wanqing glared at him, then grabbed several chicken drumsticks and put them into the cart. "But things are good now. With these two million, I can help support my family, and my mom won't have to work outside anymore."

"Yeah, things will keep getting better." Xiao He nodded. "By the way, is it okay to use chicken drumsticks? Sister Man's recipe says chicken breast."

"It's fine. Just remove the skin, and the calories aren't that different from chicken breast," Ye Wanqing replied.

After buying everything, Xiao He rode his bike and took Ye Wanqing home, where they began preparing lunch.

Soon, a plate of cucumber scrambled eggs and a serving of teriyaki chicken drumsticks were set before him.

"This is delicious..." Xiao He could not help exclaiming after tasting a drumstick. "Did you teach yourself how to cook?"

"I learned from my mom." Ye Wanqing said as she ate. "The food where I'm from is a little sweeter, but people don't really eat spicy food. If you want it spicy, I can add some chili separately for you."

"I'm fine either way. I can eat spicy food, but I don't need every meal to be spicy," Xiao He replied. Then he swept all the food from the plate into his bowl and began wolfing it down. Ye Wanqing watched him from beside him and suddenly smiled.

"What?" Xiao He asked Ye Wanqing suspiciously, because she rarely smiled around him.

"Nothing. You eat so enthusiastically. You're like one of those food livestreamers," Ye Wanqing replied.

"Too bad food livestreaming has been banned. Otherwise, after I quit this line of work, I could switch careers and become a food streamer." Xiao He shrugged. Ye Wanqing was about to respond when there was suddenly a knock at the door, followed by Cui Man opening it and walking in herself.

"Sister Man, you can't just knock and then open the door and come in yourself. At least wait for someone to answer," Xiao He said with a frown. Cui Man smiled. "Once you two become a real couple, I won't do that anymore."

"Sister Man, what is it?" Ye Wanqing asked curiously. "How is that spider girl doing?"

"That's what I came to tell you about, along with something else..." Cui Man said, handing Ye Wanqing a phone. "Take this. Its processing chip was made using the new algorithm for the 'NP=P?' problem that Xiao He researched a few days ago. The programs inside are more intelligent. It's only a trial version, but it should be helpful."

"Ah, thank you, Sister Man..." Ye Wanqing said, taking it from Cui Man.

Xiao He continued eating and asked, "So, did that girl agree to join?"

"Of course." Cui Man smiled smugly. "After all, the terms we offered were excellent. So we have a new member now, right?"