Chapter 111: A Gift for You (4)

Only the one he loved could cure him. There was no medicine in this world that could heal him. Unless… she was alive.

“Commander…” Shen Zhongchen wanted to say more, but Beiming Qianye raised a hand to stop him.

“Secretary Shen, leave me for now. I want to be alone for a while.”

Shen Zhongchen was deeply worried about leaving Beiming Qianye alone in the room. It had been a year since the Commander’s last attack. At first, Shen Zhongchen had been secretly relieved, thinking that the passage of time had finally allowed Beiming Qianye to forget that woman. He never expected the condition to flare up again today.

“Secretary Shen?”

Seeing that Beiming Qianye did not want him to stay, Shen Zhongchen could only nod. “Understood, Commander. I’ll be right outside in the living room. Call me if you need anything.” With that, he quietly closed the door and left.

Beiming Qianye frowned, clutching his chest tightly. His mind was in turmoil. Only he knew that he was no majestic general. He was a patient with a missing piece in his heart.

There was a hole in his chest. A massive, gaping hole.

It had been there from the moment she died, and no one could mend it. No matter how many renowned doctors he saw across the country, no matter how many priceless medicines he consumed, nothing could fill that black void. He could only watch helplessly as it eroded his health and drained his vitality.

This hole was like a festering wound. Every night, it brought him agonizing chest pains, leaving him drenched in a cold sweat. He would toss and turn, unable to sleep.

***

Midnight.

Chen Momo sat cross-legged on the sofa in her fluffy white pajamas, a sheet mask resting on her face. She planned to stay up late binge-watching a show to unwind. The work pressure over the past few days had been immense, leaving her with no time to even catch her breath.

Some big shot from the headquarters—she didn’t even know his name—was coming to inspect the Han City Base, bringing a tremendous amount of pressure with him. To make matters worse, Gu Rongjin was a nitpicker who couldn’t tolerate the slightest mistake. As a result, the entire Han City Base was on high alert, preparing for this VIP’s arrival in three days.

Chen Momo had been working around the clock. She had already developed several improved versions of the pickled fish dish for Gu Rongjin to taste, but he had rejected every single one. Because of this, she was currently harboring a lot of resentment toward him.

Gu Rongjin had a terrible temper. He always wore a stone-cold expression, acting as if the whole world owed him a living. His tone was especially obnoxious when he rejected her culinary creations.

She still remembered how he had walked into the kitchen with that icy face and demanded, “The pickled fish. Is the improved version ready?”

Chen Momo had eagerly presented her dish to him. “Base Chief, this is my updated recipe. Please give it a try.”

While Gu Rongjin tasted the food, she enthusiastically explained her thought process. “My idea for this dish was to adapt it based on a poem. For example, I added fried tofu. Doesn’t it resemble the poetic imagery of ‘a myriad of ships docked at the gates of Wu’?”

But before she could even finish, Gu Rongjin spat the fish right into the nearby trash can, his brows furrowed tightly.

“Chen Momo, I asked you to improve the recipe, not to turn it into some flashy gimmick. If the Commander sees you wasting food like this, the consequences will be severe. If our base fails to secure the funding grant, can you bear the responsibility?”

His expression had been deadly serious, showing zero consideration for the fact that Chen Momo had worked continuously for over thirty hours to craft this poetic dish. He simply shot a disdainful glance at her food. “Remake it!”

Chen Momo had been furious. Sure, Gu Rongjin was undeniably handsome, but he was incredibly infuriating. Ever since she first went to the neighborhood committee office to get her residency certificate from him, she felt he was a pretentious jerk, putting on airs as if everyone was beneath him.

So what if he was handsome? Did that make him a big deal? If he weren’t the Base Chief, she would have loved nothing more than to smash that plate of pickled fish right into his face.

On second thought, she decided to let it go. Annoying as he was, Gu Rongjin held all the power in the base. Who knew? She might need his help in the future. Thus, Chen Momo swallowed the humiliation. She let her busy colleagues in the cafeteria share the rejected fish and immediately started preparing yet another version.

With only three days left until the VIP from headquarters arrived for his inspection, Chen Momo just hoped she could perfect the dish in time. She wanted the big shot to be amazed by the food, leaving him deeply impressed with their base so that he would allocate the funds needed to build their new production center.

Chen Momo peeled off her face mask. Seeing that Xiao Bao and Xiao Ka were both fast asleep, she activated her spatial dimension. There were still many features of this space she hadn’t thoroughly explored, and she figured this was the perfect time to do so.

As she was taking inventory of her supplies, her foot suddenly slipped. She almost fell and gasped in fright, instinctively reaching out to steady herself on the nearby table—only to find the table was gone!

When she regained her composure, she realized she was actually standing inside her spatial dimension!

Chen Momo was overjoyed. It turned out she could physically enter and exit her space at will! All this time, she had only been using it as a magical storage locker, completely unaware that she could step into it. Discovering this new ability filled her with excitement.

The dimension housed all her carefully stockpiled supplies, neatly categorized and arranged. Finally, she no longer had to count her inventory from the outside. She could actually walk around and physically interact with her items!

After finishing her inventory check, Chen Momo suddenly heard a SPLASHING sound. It sounded like flowing water!

She followed the noise. On the opposite side, she discovered a crystal-clear spring. Its source was nowhere to be seen, but the water babbled and flowed continuously through the space.

Because the stream was narrow and quiet, she had never noticed it before. Intrigued, she bent down, cupped her hands, and took a sip. The water was crisp, sweet, and incredibly refreshing. The moment she swallowed it, her mind cleared, and her senses sharpened. It felt entirely different from normal bottled water!

It was absolutely delicious—the best water she had ever tasted! Unable to resist, Chen Momo scooped up more water and drank it down, GULP GULP GULP.