Chapter 36
Song Jinzhi was someone who loved catching up on sleep. Just because she woke up at a set time every day didn't mean she enjoyed lounging in bed. Even Song Jinzhi could feel irritated on a workday morning. Although she had chosen to work herself, what she loved was the feeling of enriching herself while working, definitely not the daily early rising.
Her skin brushed against the soft, skin friendly blanket, and Song Jinzhi let out a comfortable whimper. Then her nose suddenly twitched. A faint but familiar scent wafted in from outside the door, making Song Jinzhi open her eyes and quickly get out of bed. She walked into the bathroom to wash up, got herself ready, and headed downstairs as if she just happened to be passing by. Sure enough, as soon as she reached the staircase, she saw Gu Sijiu setting the breakfast she had prepared on the table.
This was a scene that had been appearing often lately, and it was also the reason Song Jinzhi had been coming downstairs on time these past few days. The servant Gu Sijiu had hired previously had suddenly resigned, and until a replacement was found, naturally there was no one to cook. Song Jinzhi hadn't minded at first, thinking she would just drink nutrient supplements until a new servant arrived. Gu Sijiu, however, couldn't tolerate it.
When she first arrived in this world, Gu Sijiu had been tormented by the food here for quite a while. Back then she had relied on nutrient supplements to stave off hunger. Although nutrient supplements were good for the body, eating them for three meals a day inevitably made a person yearn for normal food. Gu Sijiu was picky about the taste of food. She didn't want to eat at restaurants, and she also couldn't stand what AI robots or machines produced.
Gu Sijiu was spoiled, and even more finicky, especially when it came to her own tongue and stomach. As long as conditions permitted, she would never let them suffer. Remembering that she still had leftover ingredients from her last shopping trip, Gu Sijiu had been cooking for herself these past few days. The food was comfortable to eat, and with a dishwasher to handle the dishes, she was happy to do it. The biggest beneficiary of all this was Song Jinzhi, who got to freeload along with her.
"Wooden Face, morning. Come have breakfast." Gu Sijiu noticed Song Jinzhi's gaze. She turned, leaned against the edge of the table, and smiled as she took off her chef's hat. With that motion, her deep cherry pink hair cascaded down, and the light from the terrace beside her shone onto the top of her head, making her smile look impossibly beautiful. Gu Sijiu knew she must look stunning right now; after all, no one could resist coming downstairs every morning and seeing a beautiful woman cooking for them. Yet Song Jinzhi merely gave her a faint glance before focusing all her attention on the food on the table.
In Song Jinzhi's eyes, I'm less important than a piggy bun. Gu Sijiu thought helplessly. She turned to wash her hands and naturally didn't see that after she left, Song Jinzhi gazed at her retreating figure with somewhat unfocused eyes. The weather was very hot now. The air conditioning inside the room was sufficient, but cooking in the kitchen still carried a stifling, stuffy feeling.
Gu Sijiu liked wearing comfortable cotton nightgowns at home, ones with ingenious designs. The dress Gu Sijiu had been wearing just now was one Song Jinzhi was seeing for the first time. The pale pink, almost white dress was very thin, with a backless design that exposed a large expanse of the skin on her back. She certainly wasn't wearing any underwear. Due to her past military training, Gu Sijiu's bottom looked both pert and firm, and when she walked wrapped in that nightgown, one could see the full, rounded curve. On her slender waist, the two sunken dimples were also particularly prominent.
It wasn't that Song Jinzhi hadn't seen Gu Sijiu's pretty smile just now. The reason she had immediately averted her gaze was because that smile left her at a loss, even unsure of what kind of response to give. Even after the other had been gone for a while, thinking about it again still made her face feel hot. Song Jinzhi furrowed her brows slightly and walked over to sit at the table.
Today's breakfast was also different from every other day. Song Jinzhi had long experienced Gu Sijiu's cooking skills. Although she was stubborn and refused to admit it aloud, the food Gu Sijiu made was indeed the most delicious she had ever tasted in her life. Compared to dinner, breakfast was not so complex, but the variety was still abundant. The simple shredded meat congee was fragrant, rich, and smooth, and there were also shrimp dumplings and buns. The buns were shaped like little pigs, which Song Jinzhi found very amusing.
Through Gu Sijiu's cooking, Song Jinzhi had discovered that this person's eccentricity scale was rather wide. No one would have imagined that someone as violent as Gu Sijiu would actually know how to cook, and that the food she made would even be a little cute. Song Jinzhi was holding a piggy bun in a daze. Coming out to see this scene, and recalling that Song Jinzhi hadn't even complimented her beautiful smile earlier but seemed utterly captivated by the piggy bun instead, Gu Sijiu gave a cold snort and decided she would replace the buns tomorrow.
"Here, for you. There were leftovers from the morning. Throwing them away would be wasteful, so just be a trash can and recycle it all," said Gu Sijiu after breakfast when she saw Song Jinzhi was about to leave for work. She handed her a thermal lunch container. The container was a richly assembled multi compartment type. It was the first time Song Jinzhi had received a lunch container from Gu Sijiu, and she froze slightly, even forgetting to reach out and take it.
"This is..." "I told you, it's just leftovers. If you don't want to eat it at lunchtime, just throw it away to some stray cats and dogs. Anyway, I hate waste. Better to give it to you than throw it away." Gu Sijiu finished speaking, turned around and went back to the kitchen, not even looking to see whether Song Jinzhi had taken it. Seeing her twist her waist, humming a song as she just walked off like that. Song Jinzhi looked at the lunch container in her hand, murmured a quiet thanks, took it, and left.
Gu Sijiu, still in the kitchen, heard the door close. She came out to check, confirmed that Song Jinzhi had taken the lunch container, and sprawled onto the sofa humming happily. She knew it: that twisted, stubborn woman Song Jinzhi, clearly loving her food but always acting indifferent. See, she still took the lunch container after all. Gu Sijiu felt smugly self satisfied, completely oblivious to who had been the twisted, stubborn one just now.
Song Jinzhi arrived a little earlier than usual today. That wasn't news at Song Corporation. But the receptionist noticed that President Song, who had always drunk nutrient supplements at lunchtime, had today for the first time ever brought a lunch container with her. The container was clearly the multi functional combination type too. What did that mean? It meant she had brought not only dishes but soup as well. For a time, speculation abounded as to why Song Jinzhi was bringing a lunch container instead of eating at a restaurant, and who exactly had made the food inside.
Everyone knew about the engagement between the Song and Gu families, but everyone was also well aware that Major General Gu was an Alpha in the military and absolutely could not be associated with personally making loving home cooked meals for a lover. And so, the gossipy enthusiasm was extinguished, and the conclusion that a servant had made the food in the lunch container was hammered into certainty. Song Jinzhi naturally knew nothing of her subordinates' gossipy minds. She simply harbored anticipation, finished her morning's official duties, and at the very first moment of her lunch break, opened the lunch container Gu Sijiu had given her.
This lunch container model had an excellent heat retention function, capable of keeping food in a just out of the pot state even in severe cold of minus forty degrees, let alone in the current summer heat. As soon as she opened it, a familiar aroma floated up with the steam and lingered at Song Jinzhi's nose. When she had received it in the morning, she had indeed assumed it was leftovers Gu Sijiu was getting rid of. But looking at it now, she understood this wasn't leftovers at all, it had been specially prepared.
Song Jinzhi was very picky about her choice of meat. Apart from beef and fish, she rarely ate other types of meat.
Gu Sijiu had noticed this and mostly chose beef when cooking. The lunch container held extremely tender roasted beef, seasoned with specially blended spices that made it smell irresistibly enticing. The meat was fresh and tender, with each slice nearly identical in thickness. The beef was chewy without being greasy or gamey, carrying a faint, clean sweetness. On the side of the container were golden egg rolls and stir fried seasonal vegetables. It was clearly ordinary home cooking, yet it gave Song Jinzhi, for the first time, the thought that eating could be something wonderful.
She couldn't wait to take a bite. The taste was just as she had imagined, excessively good, surpassing any restaurant she had ever been to.
Song Jinzhi rarely ate so cleanly, consuming every bit of that full container of food. Then she opened the thermal jar.
Inside was a sweet, clear vegetable and fruit soup. Song Jinzhi took a sip, and the fresh, savory fragrance of the soup lingered on her lips and teeth. She glanced at it and realized that Gu Sijiu had packed quite a lot of soup, something she certainly couldn't finish in one lunch break, but she absolutely couldn't bear to pour it out either. Song Jinzhi thought for a moment and finally found a compromise. She closed the thermal jar tightly and set it back to heat retention mode, so she could slowly sip it through the afternoon.
Song Jinzhi rarely ate this much at lunch, and even after eating, she still felt like she wanted more. She got up and walked slowly around her office, but her thoughts involuntarily drifted to Gu Sijiu, her mind wandering further and further. It seemed that ever since Gu Sijiu's car accident, the relationship between the two of them had been developing in a positive direction.
Gu Sijiu's amnesia from the accident had made Song Jinzhi its greatest beneficiary without a doubt. The former Gu Sijiu had been violent and gloomy. Even a single extra second spent with her had been an unbearable torment for Song Jinzhi. But after this amnesia, Gu Sijiu had completely changed, like a different person. Not only her clothing preferences, but even her personality had softened considerably. The old Gu Sijiu had been a volatile madwoman, temperamental and unpredictable, blaming others for her own flaws, believing the entire world owed her something.
But the current Gu Sijiu... Song Jinzhi couldn't come up with a precise adjective. When a person is bad, you can very simply summarize all the wicked things they have done. But when a person is good, it's truly hard to describe clearly. This was the first time Song Jinzhi admitted that the current Gu Sijiu was very pleasant to be around. She could not bring herself to feel disgust for this Gu Sijiu. She even felt that if Gu Sijiu could stay amnesiac like this forever, marrying and even living with this Gu Sijiu; the days ahead would not be too difficult to endure.
Once that thought emerged, it troubled Song Jinzhi. She felt she was somewhat fickle, having once loathed and detested Gu Sijiu, only to change her view because of a simple change in the other. But Gu Sijiu truly was different now. On that point, Song Jinzhi was certain. She spent the entire afternoon leisurely handling work, drinking Gu Sijiu's soup, and gradually finished it all.
When it was time to leave work, Song Jinzhi carried the lunch container home, her heart carrying a trace of expectation. She didn't know whether Gu Sijiu would make dinner tonight. If she did, should she eat it or not? Since she had drunk quite a bit of soup all afternoon, Song Jinzhi was still a little full. But... if Gu Sijiu really had cooked, she should still eat, right? After all, eating alone could be a bit lonely.
Song Jinzhi had found several justifications in her mind. But when she got home and saw that Gu Sijiu hadn't cooked, she was still somewhat disappointed. She greeted Gu Sijiu, then placed the lunch container on the table and immediately headed upstairs without another word. Seeing how hurried she was, Gu Sijiu was puzzled. She got up, opened the lunch container, and upon seeing its spotlessly clean interior, finally understood why Song Jinzhi had rushed upstairs so urgently.
She had known, of course, that Song Jinzhi loved eating her food, and had expected the other wouldn't leave leftovers. But... the soup was actually all gone too? That much soup, and she drank it all by herself? Gu Sijiu stared blankly, then laughed. Fine, having a good appetite wasn't bad either. If Song Jinzhi were to eat herself plump while staying here, that image actually seemed rather adorable.
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