Chapter 152 - 119: Cowpeas and Dreams

Chapter 152: Chapter 119: Cowpeas and Dreams

After crawling to the edge of the vegetable patch, it skillfully stood up on its hind legs. Its antennae curved toward the cowpeas in front of it, seemingly quite intrigued.

For some reason, seeing Ke Taichiro looking so eager to work first thing in the morning put Huai Yu in a remarkably good mood! Only a single night had passed, but she still managed to find two handfuls of cowpeas on the vines that had been missed during last night’s harvest. She generously handed them over.

"Here, for our Taichiro. Try it and see if you like it."

Although Ke Taichiro’s two front claws had mutated along with the rest of its body, it clearly still couldn’t hold onto the two heavy handfuls of fresh cowpeas. The moment Huai Yu let go, it flipped onto its back with all six legs pointing at the sky, clutching the cowpeas and kicking futilely. Its smooth carapace wobbled left and right on the grass, unable to right itself for a long time.

Huai Yu couldn’t hold it in. "HAHAHAHAHA!"

She was sorry; she had genuinely wanted to hold her laughter in and leave Ke Taichiro with a shred of dignity. Fortunately, Ke Taichiro was a very magnanimous bug. Even after Huai Yu laughed out loud at it, once it was picked up and rescued from its predicament, it simply looked at the cowpeas in front of it and devoted its full attention to working on today’s new species.

Since Ke Taichiro had started working, Huai Yu couldn’t slack off on her own tasks for the day either. After simply setting up the bamboo racks, she went back to bring out the cowpeas she had prepared last night and draped them one by one over the racks to dry in the sun. Only then did she start pondering today’s recovery meal.

She thought, "There isn’t much flour left. Should I just make rice today?"

She first steamed a pot of rice. Unfortunately, the rice water from the aged grains lacked that rich, fragrant aroma, so Huai Yu decided to keep it for herself to drink. Fortunately, if the rice simmered a bit longer, it would produce a fragrant and crispy layer of scorched rice at the bottom. It would be perfect to bring a portion for Zhou Qian!

Next up was making the extra-large recovery meal. The cowpeas were finely diced, and the pork cracklings were also chopped into small pieces. Once the cracklings were stir-fried in the pan to release their fat, the cowpeas were added in. Even though she didn’t have many seasonings and merely sprinkled some salt, eating the purified ingredients still brought out a distinct, delicious flavor.

When the food was ready, Huai Yu looked around the room and finally picked out a moderately sized stainless steel basin.

In the hospital room, Zhou Qian once again didn’t know what to say.

"A recovery meal... you didn’t have to bring something this exaggerated!"

In front of him was a stainless steel basin. Huai Yu had just pulled it out from a blanket and untied the sealed plastic bag, revealing enough food underneath to feed three people.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Have you not eaten either? Shall we eat together?"

"No, no." Huai Yu shook her head. "I ate before I came. These are all for you—you lost so much blood, you need to eat more to replenish it!"

Zhou Qian looked down at the basin again, but Huai Yu had already handed him a spoon. "Hurry up and eat. I insulated it really well today; it should still be hot."

Zhou Qian thought about how delicious yesterday’s recovery meal had been. Catching a whiff of the rich aroma wafting from the basin in front of him, he suddenly felt a surge of confidence. "I should be able to finish it."

He scooped a spoonful of food into his mouth. The savory aroma of the pork cracklings mixed with the finely diced cowpeas, paired perfectly with the sweet and fragrant white rice. With the delicious boost of having a Mutant Value absolutely below 5, no one could resist this taste.

Zhou Qian only had time to look up and say, "Is the ward door closed properly? Don’t let the smell drift out."

"It’s closed."

Huai Yu leaned against the edge of the bed, watching him wolf down the food with great relish. For some reason, it reminded her of the spiritual nourishment sitting by her own bedside.

She wondered, "What was it called again? ’Postpartum Care of Sows...’ Pah, no! It was ’Eight Treasures in One Pregnancy: An Innocent Girl’s Overbearing Control’!"

In that book, whenever the female lead watched her piglets eat, a profound sense of happiness would naturally well up from the bottom of her heart. Right now, Huai Yu felt like she was experiencing that exact same happiness.

As Zhou Qian ate, he couldn’t help but notice that Huai Yu’s gaze had become very strange, making it somewhat hard for him to swallow. Thinking for a moment, he offered some praise to break the tension. "Your cooking is really good."

Huai Yu immediately looked smug. "Of course! Just look at who I am. Is there anything I can’t do?"

"Yes, yes, yes..." Zhou Qian laughed, then buried his head back into his meal. After all, it was such a huge basin; he had to hurry up and eat.

He had just stuffed a large mouthful in when he suddenly heard Huai Yu speak.

"I had a dream last night. I think I dreamed about the past. In the dream, there was milk tea, roasted pig trotters, fried chicken, and skewers! And... Zhou Qian, it turns out I have a boyfriend!"

"PFFT! COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH!"