Moonlight spilled into the room through the papered window. Ji Rongxia’s eyelids trembled, and he suddenly opened his eyes. He instinctively turned his head to look, seeing Gu Tangjin’s handsome, serene profile.

He instantly felt relieved. He did not know why he would have such a strange dream. He remembered everything that happened in the dream clearly now, even the words of that little ghost were fresh in his memory. Usually, his dreams were hazy; never this clear.

Ji Rongxia reached out to rub his head, but as his hand moved, it touched something cold and smooth.

Click-clack, click-clack.

The strange, fragmented sounds made Ji Rongxia’s hand stop where it was.

He turned his head blankly to look at the object beside his hand. The bag of strange, beautiful fruit candies from his dream lay quietly beside him.

In the moonlight, the multicoloured fruit candies in the transparent bag looked even more dazzling, but Ji Rongxia’s heart was violently shaken.

Just now!

It was not a dream!!

It was actually real?!

“What’s wrong?”

A worried inquiry came from beside him. He had been woken up by the click-clack sounds, and his voice still carried a hint of hoarseness.

Ji Rongxia suddenly flipped over, carefully grabbed the candies beside his hand, and placed them stiffly between the two of them.

Gu Tangjin, who was half-turned and looking at Ji Rongxia with concern, was confused.

“What is this?” Gu Tangjin asked in bewilderment.

“I… I.” Ji Rongxia stammered for two sentences, truly not knowing what to say.

But when he tried to speak about the so-called Cooking God System, he found he couldn’t say anything at all.

He opened his mouth and found that it was as if some power was controlling him, preventing him from saying what was on his mind.

Ji Rongxia finally felt a hint of terror. He covered his mouth, shaking his head rapidly in panic.

“Don’t be afraid, speak slowly.” Gu Tangjin did not know what had happened and could only gently pat Ji Rongxia’s back to comfort him. “Did you have a nightmare?”

This question reminded Ji Rongxia. Ji Rongxia’s eyes lit up, and he tentatively said, “Yes, I just had a dream!”

Ah! He could say that sentence!!!

Ji Rongxia understood. He couldn’t speak of the so-called Cooking God System himself, but it wasn’t that he couldn’t say anything at all.

He licked his dry lips, recalling as he spoke: “I had a dream, I dreamed that the Lord of the Stove found a little ghost to teach me cooking. The reason I could hear the mixed noises was also that I was haunted by that little ghost. It said this was its compensation for me. It seems to be some kind of handmade fruit candy. It was very anxious, constantly telling me to work, making me learn cooking in the dream. I wasn’t happy, so I refused it in the dream and came out.”

“I thought it was fake, but I didn’t expect it to be real. I don’t like that little ghost, but looking at it, it should not be able to stop me. It couldn’t stop me whether I was dreaming or waking up, and it can’t harm me.”

No matter how intelligent Gu Tangjin was, hearing these incoherent words made him pause for a moment.

“How about this, I’ll ask, and you answer. Nod if it is, shake your head if it’s not,” Gu Tangjin held Ji Rongxia’s hand and organised his chaotic thoughts.

“Good!” Ji Rongxia quickly nodded.

Gu Tangjin: “Something found you, but you can’t say what it is?”

Ji Rongxia nodded eagerly.

Gu Tangjin: “I am a light sleeper. If you got up, I would definitely feel it, but you didn’t get up. You only saw that thing in your dream?”

Ji Rongxia was unsure, neither nodding nor shaking his head.

Seeing this, Gu Tangjin pondered for a moment and said, “That place feels very real. You can’t distinguish right now if it was a dream or not.”

Ji Rongxia quickly nodded. Yes! That’s what he wanted to say!

Gu Tangjin: “A little ghost created by the Lord of the Stove… if it was only that thing, you wouldn’t need to specifically say Lord of the Stove, Lord of the Stove, Stove, God? Did that little thing say it was made by a God?”

Ji Rongxia’s mouth opened slightly. He excitedly held Gu Tangjin’s long fingers in return.

Yes, yes, yes, yes! That’s right!

There was no need for Ji Rongxia to nod. Gu Tangjin knew his guess was correct.

“Although you came out, you don’t know if that little ghost has left?” Gu Tangjin asked again.

Ji Rongxia quickly nodded. He didn’t know; he just came out anyway.

Gu Tangjin: “Can you still hear the mixed noises now?”

Upon hearing this, Ji Rongxia really tilted his head and listened carefully for a while, but he didn’t hear anything at all.

He shook his head. He really hadn’t heard those noises again.

It was indeed that so-called Cooking God System that was causing trouble!

“It seems it didn’t lie to you about this matter.”

Gu Tangjin mused, “It gave you compensation. Xia-ger, it is reasonable. Even if it urged you to learn to cook, you shouldn’t be unhappy with it. But it relied on being made by a God, acting superior, and didn’t hold you in high regard.”

When Ji Rongxia heard his husband praise him for being reasonable, he couldn’t help but smile first and then nod heavily. Yes, that’s why! He wasn’t relying on that thing for help. It caused him tinnitus for so long, and only gave him a bag of candy without a sincere apology. How could he be happy?

“You got angry, and did that thing change its attitude?” Gu Tangjin massaged Ji Rongxia’s soft part of the hand with his thumb, reassuringly.

“Yes! It was so proud before and then so meek after!” Ji Rongxia quickly said.

“Arrogant at first, then respectful,” Gu Tangjin said with a smile. “I generally understand. That thing is probably requesting something from you, and what it said about teaching you is likely true.”

“Requesting something from me? Requesting what? Oh, I remember. It came here, it seems, to make me become a person who is especially, especially good at cooking.” Ji Rongxia wanted to say Chef God but couldn’t, feeling a little discouraged.

“And it rushed you to work for this reason?” Gu Tangjin asked with comprehension.

“Yes. Oh, I almost forgot to mention. It said something about only half an hour every day, that it didn’t have the energy or something. Also, if I work, it will give me some things, and the things it gives should be like this bag of candy. I didn’t ask for details; I just came out,” Ji Rongxia thought he should have asked clearly before coming out.

“That’s what it’s asking for. I guess it can only regain its energy or something else after helping you,” Gu Tangjin did not know if this thing was good or evil, but seeing that it currently seemed genuinely unable to harm Xia-ger, he felt slightly relieved.

“Mhm, if that’s the case, no wonder it was so scared when I said I was leaving, as if its life depended on it.” Ji Rongxia pursed his lips, his eyes shining as he looked at the fruit candies and said, “Can we taste this? I think they look nice.”

“Even though it can’t harm you, we shouldn’t eat this thing rashly. Hmm, how about this: tomorrow, Madam Zhou will deliver the chicken we ordered. Let’s test if the candy is safe to eat first.”

“But if it’s poisonous, we’ll lose a chicken. The strong roosters Madam Zhou’s family delivers are good ones. I’d hate to lose it. How about tomorrow we buy some small fish from Fisherman Wang to test it?” Ji Rongxia shook his head and said.

“Good, we’ll do that then.”

Ji Rongxia gently shook Gu Tangjin’s hand: “Aren’t you afraid?”

“Afraid of what?” Gu Tangjin looked at him against the moonlight. His handsome face looked somewhat ethereal.

Ji Rongxia blinked and said, “Of course, you should be afraid of me! I’ve been haunted by a strange thing. I don’t know if I’ll get better anytime soon. It’s quite scary.”

“If I knew nothing, I would naturally be worried, but since you’ve told me so much, why should I be afraid?” Gu Tangjin said. His eyes couldn’t help but fall on his lame left leg. Xia-ger told him everything. He hesitated for a moment about whether to tell Xia-ger the truth about his leg.

However, thinking that the most important thing now was to quickly confirm that the thing on Xia-ger would truly not harm him, Gu Tangjin still did not speak.

“I thought you were going to say, ‘I would never be afraid, ‘” Ji Rongxia teased with a smile.

Gu Tangjin asked, “If I didn’t ask anything and just said that, would you believe it?”

Ji Rongxia tossed his head: “Hmph, I wouldn’t believe it!”

“Do you believe it now?” Gu Tangjin asked again.

This time, Ji Rongxia did not speak, but nodded heavily.

“You sleep first. I’ll watch over you,” Gu Tangjin gently pressed Ji Rongxia’s shoulder. After a day of work, if he didn’t sleep well, he would definitely feel unwell tomorrow.

“You watch over me? Afraid I’ll run away?” Ji Rongxia said this, but still obediently lay down.

Gu Tangjin lay on his side next to Ji Rongxia and tucked in the corner of his quilt: “Mhm, afraid you’ll run away.”

“I can’t sleep if you’re watching me,” Ji Rongxia grasped the thin quilt, revealing a pair of eyes.

“Then I’ll close my eyes,” Gu Tangjin said, closing his eyes.

Ji Rongxia stared at Gu Tangjin for a long time. When Gu Tangjin couldn’t help but open his eyes from being watched, Ji Rongxia quickly pinched the corner of the quilt, closed his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.

Gu Tangjin opened his eyes and saw the “soundly sleeping” Ji Rongxia.

He smiled helplessly. In fact, he wasn’t without worry in his heart, after all, that thing was invisible and untouchable, but he didn’t want Xia-ger to find out his anxiety and become more uneasy.

Ji Rongxia was very carefree. Knowing he wouldn’t be harmed, and with his husband accompanying him, he quickly fell asleep with steady breathing.

Gu Tangjin, however, did not sleep all night, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes.

He couldn’t sleep, so he got up early to boil hot water in the stove room.

When Ji Rongxia woke up and didn’t see Gu Tangjin, he was startled. He quickly tidied up and rushed out of the room. He only let out a sigh of relief when he entered the stove room and saw Gu Tangjin.

“Didn’t you sleep last night?” Ji Rongxia looked at the dark circles under Gu Tangjin’s eyes with concern.

Gu Tangjin was quite impressed with his little fulang. Even after encountering such a major event, he could still fall asleep, and so sweetly at that.

“I got up early and used that… candy to dissolve into water. We’ll buy some small fish later and put them in,” Gu Tangjin pointed to the clean, cracked pottery basin beside his hand.

They were in the food business, and there were many old and broken pots, bowls, and basins in the stove room. Those that could be mended were naturally mended and used again. Those that truly couldn’t be mended, Yao Tianlan was also reluctant to throw them away and had washed and stored them. Now they could be used perfectly. This way, even if there was poison, the neat basins wouldn’t be contaminated.

“Mhm, it really smells of fruit. I wonder how this candy is made.” Ji Rongxia, standing by the door, gently sniffed. His eyes brightened, and he walked a few steps to the pottery basin, leaned down, and smelled the pale orange water in the basin.

It smelled quite good.

“I can’t smell it very clearly. Your nose is sharper,” Gu Tangjin could smell it, but the smell was too faint, yet Xia-ger could smell it right from the stove room entrance.

“This is a good method, dissolving the candy in water to test it. I was thinking, how would we feed the fish the candy?” Ji Rongxia smiled and leaned in, lowering his voice, “I just hid the candy in the box at our bedside. If this is edible, how about we turn it into a fruit drink? There are a lot of cheap fruits now. We can mash them into juice, add this sugar water, and when customers drink it, they will only notice the fruit fragrance. What do you think?”

“If so, how about you sell it at a low price of one or two wen when you sell breakfast, to gain popularity? The eatery shouldn’t sell these usually. The candy is limited, and if you sell it all day, these candies probably won’t last long,” Gu Tangjin suggested tactfully.

“Hmph, I know what you’re thinking. You must be thinking that this is my property and shouldn’t be used for public business, or the accounting will be unclear, and I’ll lose out. Am I right?!” Ji Rongxia tilted his head, not falling for Gu Tangjin’s tactic. His mind was very clear!

“There’s really nothing I can hide from you,” Gu Tangjin bowed with clasped hands. “Please forgive me, my husband.”

Ji Rongxia chuckled: “Alright, alright, I’ll listen to you.”

“This matter should indeed be handled this way. It’s perfect that Dad and Mom agreed that you and I can run a food business independently. When the time comes, we will just say that I found some connections in the prefectural city and can get some novel goods. You just use the things you acquire for the breakfast business.”

Ji Rongxia listened quietly to Gu Tangjin’s cultured reasoning, feeling warm in his heart.

Mhm, his husband looked even more handsome today.

“Okay,” Ji Rongxia nodded gently. With Gu Tangjin being so considerate and even finding an excuse for him, how could he bear to refuse?

“Then we will use the money we earn to show filial respect to both our parents,” Ji Rongxia shook Gu Tangjin’s hand.

Once the two agreed, they settled down to tidy up the courtyard.

Buying water, receiving vegetables, planting vegetables, cooking… Today, they also needed to inform the vegetable and meat vendors that they needed to buy extra vegetables and meat tomorrow to use for the breakfast business.

After not waiting long, Fisherman Wang came over to deliver the fish the eatery needed for the day. Qingchi County was close to the Qingchi River, so most vendors sold river fish. Fisherman Wang was shrewd and honest in business. He would always give some fresh small fish as a bonus when selling fish. Hearing Gu Tangjin say they wanted to buy some small fish for soup, Fisherman Wang gave them quite a few, both selling and giving.

Small fish were difficult to process. Although they taste good whether stewed in soup or deep-fried, they are too much trouble to prepare. The eatery was short-handed, and summer was hot and dry, making these things annoying to deal with. Therefore, they did not make such troublesome side dishes in the summer. Fisherman Wang just assumed they wanted to cook it for themselves. Even though small fish are troublesome to prepare, they are still meat, and quite tasty.

After sending the man off, Ji Rongxia immediately placed the still-living small fish into the cracked pottery basin.

“Sugar water can’t keep fish alive for long, but as long as these fish don’t die immediately after being put in, we can feed the sugar water to the rooster. If everything is fine, we’ll eat it ourselves,” Ji Rongxia said, watching the cracked pottery basin with excitement.

The small fish did not die immediately and were swimming back and forth in the sugar water.

Ji Rongxia and Gu Tangjin exchanged a look, and with unspoken understanding, one went to catch the chicken, and the other made a bamboo cup of sugar water.

Gu Tangjin poured half a cup of the sugar water into the rooster.

The two watched for a long time, but the rooster showed no ill effects at all.

“Let me taste it.” Ji Rongxia was quick. Before Gu Tangjin noticed, he was about to grab the half-finished cup of sugar water. Gu Tangjin helplessly spread out his palm, placing a pale green candy block into his mouth!

Ji Rongxia: “!!!”

“Spit it out quickly! You said I was bold, but I think you are much bolder than I!! At least eat less. Drinking a sip of sugar water would be enough. Why did you eat it directly?!” Ji Rongxia grabbed Gu Tangjin’s sleeve and said anxiously.

Gu Tangjin smiled: “It’s fine. This candy is truly delicious. The thing that attached itself to you is probably not an ordinary object.”

The candy tasted sweet and pure, with a rich fruit aroma. He couldn’t even distinguish the flavour of the fruit. This fruit candy was much better than the candy in the prefectural city.

“Hmph, you scared me to death,” Ji Rongxia patted his chest and glared at Gu Tangjin.

Gu Tangjin smiled and took out a piece of candy from his sleeve. He peeled off the transparent candy wrapper. He carefully put the strange wrapper away and then held the pale orange candy to Ji Rongxia’s mouth: “Don’t be angry. Quickly taste it.”

Ji Rongxia wasn’t angry; he was mostly worried. He lowered his head and took the candy block into his mouth.

His eyes brightened: “It’s orange-flavoured! It’s so delicious!”