Aren't you going to reward me?

After reading the messages, Gu Shang looked into the young man's sparkling eyes, full of anticipation and a hint of grievance, and sighed helplessly.

He took a long look at the young man before him. Only after confirming that he really had nothing to say did Gu Shang reluctantly accept the bowl and chopsticks.

Well, perhaps Ji Mingzhu was very confident in his cooking.

Besides, accepting someone's food made it harder to refuse them. Perhaps he planned to wait until Gu Shang had eaten his cooking before telling him how he had just been wronged, then use the opportunity to make a request and coax him into agreeing.

Gu Shang wanted to tell him there was no need for this-he could just ask, and Gu Shang would agree. He really did not feel like eating right now.

Gu Shang sighed and said, "I have no appetite."

This was indeed a longstanding problem of his. Whenever he was in a foul mood after a meeting, forcing himself to eat would leave him feeling nauseated a little later, which would affect his work that afternoon.

The moment those words left his mouth, the young man before him looked as though he had suffered a terrible injustice.

His dark, glistening eyes stared straight at Gu Shang. Their outer corners, usually tilted upward with the proud elegance of a little phoenix, now drooped slightly. Those soft, warm lips that had pressed against Gu Shang several times pursed gently.

He looked like a kitten who had caught some prey and laid it at his owner's feet, only to have it flatly rejected, leaving even his furry ears drooping.

Gu Shang: "..."

Now he's upset again.

Resigned, Gu Shang scooped up a small spoonful of jade tofu and put it into his mouth.

The instant it touched his tongue, his pupils contracted.

The silky, tender tofu needed no chewing. It slipped into his mouth as smoothly and nimbly as a fish darting into a clear spring. Gu Shang had eaten countless delicacies, but never tofu with this texture!

The finest tofu he had eaten before had, at most, been so soft and delicate it seemed barely there, dissolving into liquid with a press of his tongue. But it had never been like this-smooth and tender, yet even a little springy, with a texture somewhat like pudding.

Gu Shang actually preferred meat to vegetables.

Yet this plate of tofu was far from bland. The tofu, tender as tofu pudding, was coated in a thin glaze dotted with tiny crumbs of minced beef that crunched between his teeth. The beef had a little fat in it, which rendered into rich, fragrant tallow when fried.

Savory flavor and silky freshness, all in a single spoonful.

Once that spoonful of hot tofu soup reached his stomach, the organ that had been protesting moments earlier seemed instantly soothed, warm and comfortably settled.

Gu Shang had just put down his spoon when a little face, as fair and soft as tofu pudding, edged close. Smiling, the young man asked, "How is it? Is it to your taste?"

Gu Shang: "..."

He had just said he did not want to eat. Changing his mind so abruptly now felt a little embarrassing, so he said rather awkwardly, "...It's all right."

In truth, it was far more than all right.

Gu Shang reflected privately that the more time he spent with the young man, the more he felt there was one mystery after another about him.

Could it be that his adoptive father had neglected him, leaving him to learn all sorts of life skills on his own as a child?

But even so, it should not taste this good... If Gu Shang had been blindfolded and told that Ji Mingzhu's food was a signature dish prepared by the head chef of a Black Pearl three-diamond restaurant, he would have believed it.

The young man's eyes glistened, making him look like a puppy yearning for praise.

Just looking at him made one want to give him a pinch, to see whether water might squeeze out.

Rumor had it that he was an uncouth little delinquent, but to Gu Shang, he looked even more delicate and pampered than someone like himself, who had been raised in a proper wealthy family.

Ji Mingzhu smiled and good-naturedly sought credit for his work. "I spent a long time making this, you know. It was a lot of hard work."

In fact, these few dishes were quite simple for him. The only difficulty had been working out how to cook with unfamiliar kitchen equipment. He had spent far more time figuring out the equipment than studying the cauliflower.

The young man leaned gently closer, as though waiting for a kiss. "Hubby, aren't you going to reward me?"

Gu Shang froze, then his ears began to burn.

He had only just spoken to him about this, yet Ji Mingzhu was being shameless again!

Gu Shang did not even know what to say to him anymore.

An inexplicable heat surged through him, making him want to gulp down a glass of cold water, or bury himself in piles of paperwork to suppress that restlessness.

Just as he was about to say something, a knock suddenly came at the door.

"Come in," Gu Shang said immediately.

The visitor was Wang Chuan.

Gu Shang's long, narrow phoenix eyes narrowed slightly.

So this was the man Secretary Chen had just reported-the one who bullied Ji Mingzhu in the first-floor lobby?

After returning to his desk in a fury, Wang Chuan had opened his chat with his nephew.

[Wang Chuan: Went to see that little seductress.]

[Wang Ke: How did it go, Uncle? My friends are waiting for a good laugh.]

[Wang Chuan: How did it go? Hmph, just what you'd expect. Nothing but a pretty face. You have no idea how shameless he is. Typical of someone from a backwater-he'll blab about anything. The moment he arrived, he started throwing his weight around, bragging about how he'd grabbed Mr. Gu's collar and wrinkled it. Just listen to that. Would any decent person say something like that?]

[Wang Ke: Damn... He really knows how to play.]

[Wang Chuan: I was going to have the security guards humiliate that slut, but that dog Secretary Chen stopped me.]

[Fuck, I honestly can't stand it. Mr. Gu doesn't even care about his own wife, so why does he care so much? It's not like he'll get a raise for it.]

[Wang Ke: Ahahahahaha, how little does he care? Come on, tell me.]

[Wang Chuan: That little tramp snuck over here without giving anyone advance notice. Mr. Gu didn't even know he was coming, and reception stopped him! Clearly he has no standing at all. He doesn't even dare openly suck up to his man.]

[Wang Ke: Priceless, absolutely priceless. Let me know if anything else happens. I'm going to tell the others first. This is too funny.]

When break time arrived, Wang Chuan, whom Secretary Chen had thoroughly humiliated, was about to go out to eat when Secretary Chen suddenly stopped him and told him to report to the president's office.

Please. As if I'd be scared.