Gu Wancheng felt awkward. It felt like feeding pigs-they were the pigs, and Chen Liqing was the one feeding them. Wasn't that how people called out in those videos?
Chaochao tugged him toward the door. "Daddy, hurry up and eat. What if there's nothing left by the time we get there?"
"Don't worry. There'll be food for you." Gu Wancheng let himself be pulled along, looking helpless at how anxious he was. This child really thought about nothing but food. Missing a single meal would leave him starving.
When they reached the dining table the production team had prepared, everyone else was already there.
They were last again. How did everyone else get here so quickly every time?
"Mr. Gu, you're here." Chu Yi'an raised a hand and waved at Gu Wancheng.
Gu Wancheng answered and sat down beside him, sounding slightly apologetic. "Sorry we're late."
Zhao Chengyu waved it off, looking completely unconcerned. "We only just got here ourselves. You're not late or anything."
Xu Xiashi nodded. "Exactly. We just happened to be outside."
Gu Wancheng nodded lightly and let it pass with a smile.
Jiang Yu's gaze darkened. That damned Gu Wancheng did nothing but draw attention to himself every day. He had wanted to say something, but there was no opening at all. Looking at the table laden with dishes, he lost his appetite entirely, feeling as sick as if he had swallowed a bug.
Looking at the dishes on the table, Gu Wancheng: (´⊙ω⊙`)
Since when had Chen Liqing become so generous? This wasn't how the book described him.
Bo Yizhou: Take a guess | ᐕ)⁾⁾
Possibly their best meal, today's spread was particularly lavish: squab soup, Sichuan pepper chicken, crab casserole, steamed pork belly with preserved mustard greens, clear-stewed lion's head meatballs, braised pork belly with abalone, vegetable and potato pancakes, and steamed grouper.
There was also steamed egg custard, a favorite with the children.
Seeing Gu Wancheng's astonishment, Jian Yue raised an eyebrow. "Surprised? We were the same when we got here. No idea when that miser started loosening his purse strings."
Chen Liqing: "..." Only because I've got two almighty troublemakers to deal with.
[Hahahahaha, everyone knows Director Chen's stinginess is just as famous as his reputation as the biggest dog of a man.]
[I'm dying. What a weird way to describe a miser spending money.]
[Brother Jian sure has a way with words.]
"Wow! So much yummy food!" Chaochao couldn't tear his eyes away.
Seeing this, Gu Wancheng teased him. "You're about to drool."
Chaochao immediately wiped his mouth. Finding nothing suspicious, he instantly realized he had been tricked. Hmph, mean Daddy.
He put a lion's head meatball in Chaochao's bowl. "Go ahead and eat."
Won over by a single lion's head meatball, Chaochao immediately beamed and picked up his spoon to scoop it up. Unfortunately, the meatball was too big and the spoon too small. He tried repeatedly, but it kept rolling off the spoon.
Watching this, Gu Wancheng took a clean chopstick, skewered the meatball for him, and handed it over.
"Be careful. Put the chopstick down when you're done. No playing with it."
"Mm-hmm."
Holding his meatball skewer, Chaochao eagerly took a bite. He had finally gotten it into his mouth, and his eyes narrowed into happy little slits.
"I want a lion's head meatball too." Watching Chaochao enjoy his so much, Zuozuo swallowed and directed his older brother to make him a meatball skewer.
Jian Yue glanced over and skewered one for him. "Eat. No talking."
Then the other children, tempted by the sight, also clamored for lion's head meatballs. Jiang Yu looked at Xiaoxiao, who hadn't made a peep, gritted his teeth, and skewered one for him too.
"Xiaoxiao, would you like a lion's head meatball?"
Looking at the meatball in front of him, Xiaoxiao nodded. "Thank you, Brother Jiang Yu."
In the end, all six children had a meatball skewer each and ate with great relish.
Thinking of this as their last lunch, everyone ate heartily. Even Xu Xiashi, who had to watch her figure, ate plenty. It was only one meal; she could lose it again by going hungry for half a month.
[They're enjoying that so much. Watching them made me hungry.]
[How could they not? If they don't fill up, where will they find the strength to suffer?]
[I literally just ate. Why am I hungry again?]
[Honestly, they'd be huge if they did eating streams.]
"It's been ages since I ate this much." Xu Xiashi gently held her stomach, looking thoroughly satisfied.
"Yeah, I'm about to burst."
"Can this meal keep us going until tomorrow?" Chu Yi'an got a headache at the thought of having to find their own ingredients.
The moment he finished speaking, everyone turned to look at him, a trace of resentment in their eyes.
"Yi'an, let's not talk about such miserable things right after eating," Zhao Chengyu said gloomily.
Jian Yue looked around and raised a question he pondered every day. "What's for dinner?"
Everyone: ...No idea. They hadn't even found any ingredients.
Their newly relaxed mood immediately soured. It was fine for the adults to miss a meal, but not the little ones.
Zhao Chengyu thought for a moment. "Why don't we check the woods first? Find some fresh water. There should be some wild vegetables in there too. We can look for boxes while we're at it and make do for now."
With that, he looked at everyone.
As the oldest among them, no one objected to what he said. Besides, his suggestion made sense.
Seeing that everyone agreed, Zhao Chengyu said, "Since no one has any objections, let's go now."
Gu Wancheng took Chaochao, who had grown sleepy after eating and drinking his fill, and picked a direction at random. The others left too, the six adults heading in six different directions.
[Wonder who'll find fresh water first.]
[Can't they drink seawater?]
[No, not unless they distill it. That's difficult without equipment.]
"Where are we going?"
"To find food, or we'll go hungry tonight."
!!!
Chaochao's drowsiness vanished instantly, and he said urgently, "Then let's hurry and find some."
His hard tug nearly sent Gu Wancheng stumbling. Gu Wancheng quickly pulled him back and said helplessly, "Easy, easy."
[Chaochao: This is an emergency! We're going to starve!]
[Our Chaochao just loves eating.]
[Chaochao ate every bite of that chubbiness himself. We can't let him lose it.]
Hearing this, Chaochao pouted unhappily, but slowed his steps.
The corners of Gu Wancheng's mouth lifted as he gazed at that fluffy little head. It seemed he was getting addicted to raising a child, but it wasn't a bad feeling.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves onto his face, making the fine hairs clearly visible. His skin glowed white, the wisps of hair over his forehead were tinged with gold, and he looked utterly gentle with his eyes lowered.
[Slurp, slurp. My screen's a little dirty. Let me lick it clean.]
[My heart's run away.]
[My wife is so gorgeous.]
[He's obviously my wife.]
[This is all your fault. Chengcheng had to comfort me in bed for ages.]
[I took a screenshot. My new wallpaper.]
[Holy shit, person above, DM me please.]
[DM me too +1]
[DM me too +2]
[+10086]
In an instant, the viewers switched to horny talk. Li Xiao stood beside Bo Yizhou, trembling. Heaven knew what had gotten into his boss. He was pumping out cold air so relentlessly that the air conditioner could retire.
Summoning his courage, he stole a glance to the side, only to find that his boss actually had the boss's wife's livestream playing on his computer.
Li Xiao: ...Oh my dear lord.
He glanced over again with his perfect vision and clearly saw a string of "wife" comments scrolling across the screen.
Mystery solved. The boss's wife had become the internet's wife. No wonder his boss was churning out cold air, nearly freezing him to death.
He kept sneaking sideways glances, almost unable to pull his eyes back, but didn't dare say a word for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.
"Li Xiao."
"Here, boss."
Li Xiao reacted swiftly, immediately straightening up with an expressionless face.