Ji Rongxia logged out of the system and sat up excitedly.

Gu Tangjin reached out and took Ji Rongxia’s hand.

“What delicious food did you get today?” Gu Tangjin opened his eyes only after grasping Ji Rongxia’s hand.

Ji Rongxia shook the hands they were holding in surprise.

“How did you know where my hand was without looking? Do you have eyes on your forehead?”

“Wouldn’t that make me the Second Lord of the Heavens?” Gu Tangjin laughed as he slowly sat up. “I just grabbed it by instinct.”

“Oh, so it’s not that you’ve grown extra eyes, but rather that we’re on the same wavelength.” Ji Rongxia hadn’t been reading all those books for nothing; he’d even picked up a knack for literary flourishes.

“Exactly so.” Gu Tangjin replied with ‘brazen’ confidence.

Ji Rongxia’s smile grew even brighter. “I actually managed to get some food today. I didn’t get it right last night, so I didn’t want to tell you, and with so much going on during the day, it all got delayed. I’ve learned how to make braised meat, and I even got the recipe and the marinade.”

“With the marinade, our restaurant can start selling braised meat and side dishes!” Ji Rongxia’s eyes twinkled as he said, “Oh, and remember yesterday when I mentioned putting meat in the buns? We can use the braised meat for that, too.”

Ji Rongxia leaned against Gu Tangjin and told him how difficult it was to prepare the marinade.

Gu Tangjin took a palm fan and fanned the sweat-drenched Ji Rongxia.

“Also, isn’t Officer Tao coming over for a drink? Braised meat and vegetables go perfectly with alcohol. We can make some for Officer Tao when he arrives.” As he spoke, Ji Rongxia reached into the Cooking God System to pull out some braised meat for Gu Tangjin to taste.

Gu Tangjin spoke first: “Let’s eat later. It’s already very late. You’ve been gone for nearly three hours. You should get some sleep first.”

“Have I really been gone that long?” Ji Rongxia scratched his face. He wasn’t very good at estimating time by the moonlight, so he hadn’t realized he’d been gone for so long.

The Cooking God System replied, “Yes, Host. This time, you spent nearly three hours in the system space.”

Ji Rongxia: “……”

He really had been gone that long!

He’d been so eager to perfect the marinade that he’d completely lost track of time.

“Go to sleep first.” Gu Tangjin gently wiped the sweat from Ji Rongxia’s forehead with a handkerchief.

Ji Rongxia obediently lay down: “You’re not mad, are you?”

“I’m not mad, I’m just worried about you working yourself so hard. Once or twice is fine, but you can’t keep doing this all the time.” Gu Tangjin gently fanned him.

Ji Rongxia yawned and nodded obediently: “Okay, okay. I promise I won’t stay up this late anymore.”

“Mm-hmm.” Gu Tangjin knew that once he got absorbed in cooking, he’d likely forget all about it, but he still pretended to trust him completely.

Only then did Ji Rongxia close his eyes and drift off to sleep, content.

He was indeed exhausted. Although he hadn’t entered the system space in his physical form, it had still been mentally taxing. The mental fatigue was so intense that the moment he closed his eyes, Ji Rongxia fell asleep.

The next day, Gu Tangjin looked at Ji Rongxia, who was still fast asleep, and tiptoed out of bed.

After thinking for a moment, he took out some fruit syrup, went out again to buy some fruit, and made two bowls of fruit drink.

Yesterday, he had just announced that Pan-fried buns would be sold for two wen.

Today, there were bound to be quite a few people coming to buy them. Since Xia-ger had slept in so late, Gu Tangjin didn’t want him to get up early to make the buns.

He knew how to make fruit drinks, and even if customers couldn’t get pan-fried buns, having fruit drinks to drink wasn’t bad either.

Gu Tangjin set up his stall outside.

Lin Dongshan had originally come early to buy Pan-fried buns. Seeing the fruit drinks instead, he was first surprised and delighted, then puzzled: “Xiucai Gu, why are you selling fruit drinks? Didn’t you run out of sugar?”

Gu Tangjin deliberately raised his voice and said, “Didn’t I say the pan-fried buns would be two wen each today? Yesterday, Xia-ger got so upset over my situation that he couldn’t sleep all night. He only just fell asleep this morning, so I didn’t have time to make the buns. I used the leftover sugar from the syrup I made for myself to make this fruit drink instead. It’s still two wen per scoop, and each person can buy a maximum of two scoops.”

“So that’s how it is. Oh my, I’ve been craving this. I’ll take two scoops of fruit drink first.” Lin Dongshan thought to himself that Xia-ger really doted on his husband. He could eat the Pan-fried buns tomorrow; after all, there was a fruit drink—something he hadn’t had in days.

“Right away.” Gu Tangjin said, scooping out two scoops of fruit drink for him.

Those who came for the pan-fried buns were slightly disappointed to find none, but since there was fruit punch today, they didn’t feel shortchanged.

Even Guan Hongchi came over to buy two scoops of fruit punch for his younger brother and sister to drink.

The fruit punch sold out quickly.

When Gu Tangjin packed up his stall and returned to the courtyard, Ji Rongxia hadn’t woken up yet.

Gu Tangjin went through the back door to the rear of the Guan family’s noodle shop and bought four bowls of shredded chicken noodles from Guan Hongchi.

“Don’t put these noodles in the soup just yet. Keep them separate like this and add them to the soup when you’re ready to eat; otherwise, they won’t taste good.” Guan Hongchi knew Gu Tangjin wasn’t good at cooking, so he made a point of serving the noodles and soup separately.

Gu Tangjin: “Okay.”

He returned to the courtyard, set the noodles and broth aside, then fed the leftover food from yesterday to Xiao Hei and Xiao Huang.

Gu Tangjin pulled up a small stool and sat in the courtyard. He didn’t want to do noisy chores like picking vegetables or chopping wood, as he was afraid of waking Ji Rongxia.

Ji Rongxia slept fitfully.

When he came to, he was still a bit dazed.

His head felt heavy.

Ji Rongxia thought hazily, Is this what it feels like to stay up too late?

It’s not very pleasant.

I’d better go to bed earlier from now on.

He reached out to touch Gu Tangjin, but didn’t feel him there. He snapped awake instantly.

He rolled over and sat up, asking the system in his mind, “Little Master, what time is it now?”

“7:50 a.m., which is just past the third hour of the Chen hour,” the Cooking God System replied.

“The third hour of the Chen hour?!” Ji Rongxia exclaimed excitedly.

Hearing the commotion, Gu Tangjin walked in to find Ji Rongxia frantically getting dressed.

“I overslept. There’s bound to be a crowd for the Pan-fried buns today. I don’t know if I’ll have time to make them now. Why didn’t you wake me up?” Ji Rongxia asked anxiously.

“We don’t need to set up the stall. I made some fruit punch today. I told everyone it was made from the sugar we set aside for our own sugar water. Since everyone had the fruit punch to drink, they didn’t bring up the Pan-fried buns anymore,” Gu Tangjin quickly explained.

Upon hearing this, Ji Rongxia immediately calmed down.

“You really know how to handle things, Tangjin.”

“How did you sleep?” Gu Tangjin took a comb and began brushing his hair.

Ji Rongxia shook his head. “Not great. I slept for so long, but I’m still tired, and my head feels heavy. Looks like I really need to go to bed earlier. Oh, and I haven’t made breakfast yet!”

“I bought four bowls of shredded chicken noodles from Brother Guan. You should try his cooking—his chicken broth is excellent. He’s always buying things from our stall, so we should buy something from his shop too, shouldn’t we?” Gu Tangjin pressed his hand on Ji Rongxia’s shoulder, urging him to relax.

“Yes, of course.” Ji Rongxia felt a warm glow in his heart; his head didn’t seem so heavy anymore.

Gu Tangjin gently smoothed out Ji Rongxia’s slightly disheveled hair: “It’s too late at night, and I haven’t discussed this with you yet. If you want to bring out the marinade, you’ll need a reason. Even if you say you saw it in a book, you’ll still have to actually make it.”

“Right, I can’t just pull it out of thin air.” Ji Rongxia stretched lazily. “I should be able to get the marinade mostly right, but I’m not sure if I can find all the right spices.”

“When the time comes, you can say you miss the braised meat from the capital and ask me to make it for you,” Gu Tangjin said.

“Is there braised meat in the capital? ” Ji Rongxia asked curiously; before the Cooking God System taught him, he had never even seen braised meat.

“Yes, there is. Fewer people make it around here, but it’s still available,” Gu Tangjin laughed.

“But, come to think of it, doesn’t that make me sound a bit greedy?” Ji Rongxia turned to Gu Tangjin and said.

Gu Tangjin retorted, “Not at all. Mom and Dad will just think we’re a close little couple.”

Ji Rongxia was convinced and said happily, “Alright, let’s put it that way. We’ll go buy the ingredients later!”

After Ji Rongxia finished washing up, Gu Chuncai and Yao Tianlan got up not long after.

“We’re having shredded chicken noodles today. I’m really craving Guan Dalang’s cooking,” Gu Tangjin said as he brought the noodles over.

“Alright,” Gu Chuncai replied casually, not taking it seriously.

Yao Tianlan was quite pleased; she truly missed the taste of the Guan family’s shredded chicken noodles: “Guan Dalang learned his craft from his parents—the flavor is spot on.”

The noodles had clumped a bit after sitting for a while, but they were still chewy and satisfying. The chicken broth was rich and aromatic, and the thin strips of chicken were savory. Taking a bite of noodles followed by a bite of chicken—the combination was quite delicious.

After the meal, Ji Rongxia told Gu Chuncai he was going out, then took Gu Tangjin with him to buy seasonings.

Yao Tianlan picked up the greens Gu Tangjin hadn’t finished picking: “I never saw Tangjin love to eat this much before. Now he really wants Xia-ger to cook everything for him.”

“It’s just different with a Fulang now,” Gu Chuncai remarked with a rare smile. “He’s got someone to dote on him. Of course, he’s become a bit spoiled.”

“True. The way a Fulang shows affection is quite different from how we parents do it.” Yao Tianlan shook her head with a smile.

Tangjin had been away studying for so many years. When he was little, he could still act spoiled, but as he grew older, there always seemed to be a barrier between him and them—he was dutiful but not particularly close, and he came across as rather cold. Now, though, he’s actually quite lovely.

Ji Rongxia and Gu Tangjin had to visit several grain shops, general stores, and herbal pharmacies before they’d gathered most of the ingredients.

First, since the recipe shouldn’t be leaked, it was better to buy the ingredients in separate places; second, there were indeed so many different items that they wouldn’t have been able to gather everything without visiting so many places.

Even after visiting all those places, they were still missing several spices.

Once back home, Ji Rongxia helped Gu Chuncai with the prep work while simmering the clear broth and preparing the marinade.

He had watched this entire process a full forty-seven times in the system, not to mention that he now had the recipe for perfect braised pork in his hands—so he was quite adept at doing it himself.

Ji Rongxia planned to secretly swap out the marinade later, or perhaps mix some of the better marinade into this rough version.

Even though it was a rough version, Ji Rongxia prepared it with great care.

“It smells so good! Your cooking skills are getting better and better, Xia-ger,” Yao Tianlan said, taking a deep breath of the aroma.

“It’s not bad,” Ji Rongxia replied, a bit embarrassed.

It was far from a perfectly finished product; it was just passable.

In the end, he decided to secretly mix in some of the high-quality marinade instead of replacing the rough version entirely.

He hadn’t made pan-fried buns today, so since the pork meant for them went unused, Ji Rongxia decided to whip up some braised pork instead.

The aroma of the marinade and pork quickly wafted out.

Ge Fulang walked in through the back door, holding Qian-ger in one arm and leading Huzi by the hand: “What’s the delicious smell? The two kids are drooling with hunger, so I’ve come over to ask—please don’t mind me.”

Yao Tianlan set down the greens, stood up, and smiled at Ge Fulang: “Not at all. Tangjin wants some braised pork, so Xia-ger is trying his hand at making it for him.”

“Uncle Ge, it’ll be a little while yet. Have a seat—once the braised pork is ready, we’ll be happy to give you a bowl.” Ji Rongxia poked his head out from the kitchen and called out.

Ge Fulang’s face flushed: “Oh my, I’m so embarrassed. We’ll pay for it.”

“Not at all, Uncle Ge. I still need to thank Brother Liu for helping me guard the stall yesterday. It wouldn’t sit right with us to take your money.” Gu Tangjin, who had been chopping wood, set down his axe and said with a smile, “If anyone bullies us again in the future, I’ll have to trouble Brother Liu to help me hold the fort.”

“Don’t be silly, Xiucai Gu. You’re making a big deal out of nothing. Big Brother Liu just stood there yesterday; he didn’t really help much.” Ge Fulang realized that Xiucai was actually quite good at joking—he’d never noticed that before!

Yao Tianlan pulled him down to sit, then handed some fruit to the two children.

The two children spotted the puppies and crouched by the doghouse, refusing to leave—they didn’t even eat the fruit. The two puppies weren’t shy at all; they ran around the children, and the courtyard was filled with the children’s laughter and the puppies’ yapping.