Clo did not stop him but simply watched Jiang Shu’s figure growing increasingly distant. He pondered for a mont before turning and walking toward the deeper darkness on the other side.
Jiang Shu poked his head out and looked toward the fork in the path to his left, but there was no one in sight.
There was just a closed door and a faint light coming through a small window.
He slowly approached and soon reached the door, peering into the small window.
In the first instant of his gaze, there was only one word in Jiang Shu’s heart.
Chaos.
The room was simply furnished, much like a bachelor’s apartnt, with its sole characteristic being untidiness—and a familiar kind of ssiness at that.
Jiang Shu often cleaned Sister Ruo’s room and knew well that even though her room was ssy, there was order in the disarray.
For instance, there was no trash in the bin, no clothes in the wardrobe, no blankets on the bed, and so on.
The scene before him wasn’t as extre as when he lived with Sister Ruo, but it had her style.
In one corner on a wireless charging pad, Jiang Shu spotted two devices, Xiao Ba and Xiao Wu, quietly sitting on the pad, their four ears flashing with weak red and blue lights.
And at the mont he saw them, they also saw him. Their eyes imdiately turned red and flew over, but after one second, as if they recognized Jiang Shu, they hovered in mid-air, unsure of what to do.
Do you still recognize ?
Jiang Shu breathed a sigh of relief.
That ant Sister Ruo was definitely inside, and Sister Ruo had not deleted Xiao Ba and Xiao Wu’s mory of him.
Still harboring old affections.
So he waved, and Xiao Ba and Xiao Wu imdiately ca buzzing over, staring at him through the small glass window.
Jiang Shu tried pushing and pulling on the door to no avail, so he gestured toward the lock.
Xiao Ba and Xiao Wu exchanged looks, blinking their adorably large eyes, and after a little thought, they unlocked the door.
Jiang Shu steadied the door, carefully opened it, and then just as carefully closed it. He gestured for Xiao Ba and Xiao Wu to keep quiet, then entered the single-room dwelling.
The interior of the room was in a monochro minimalist style, much warr than the icy exterior.
The room wasn’t large but had all the essentials: bedroom, bathroom, and living room. As for the partitioned area...
Jiang Shu heard a strange sound, sowhat familiar, like the scraping of a spatula against a frying pan.
Hmm, and there was also a faint odd sll.
He walked into the partition where the kitchen was, and the person furrowing their brow in deep thought in front of the electric wok was none other than Liu Tingruo, who had suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Sensing movent behind her, Liu Tingruo swiftly drew a handgun from her bosom and spun around, aiming it at Jiang Shu.
But when she saw the face of the person who had co, her gaze froze.
Jiang Shu simply pushed her hand down with a calm expression, directing the gun toward the ground, and continued to look straight at Sister Ruo without saying a word.
"You... Jiang Shu... you..." Liu Tingruo muttered, her mind in disarray, finding it unbelievable that Jiang Shu had appeared here.
"So why did you leave?" Jiang Shu asked the first question since his arrival.
"Did they... Did they catch you and bring you here?" Liu Tingruo noticed the prison uniform on him, "What did you do... you..."
"Are those live experints related to you?" Jiang Shu similarly did not reply to her but asked his second question.
"Did they hurt you? Have you..." Liu Tingruo stepped forward, intent on checking Jiang Shu for any unusual wounds or needle marks.
Jiang Shu simply shook his head and brushed her hands away, and Liu Tingruo also dropped her gaze with a helpless expression.
Each asking their own questions, neither answering the other’s.
So he didn’t ask any further, just walked over to the electric frying pan, peeked at the thick, dark brown liquid inside, and tasted a bit with a spoon on the side.
Jiang Shu’s eyes lit up, surprisingly finding this semi-solid, semi-liquid substance novel. He praised, "This caralization is done well, it even tastes like at. How did you do that?"
"This... this is the finished dish, it’s braised pork," Liu Tingruo said, sowhat disheartened. Then she raised her voice, "You’re going to finish eating before you leave."
"..." Jiang Shu’s face froze in surprise, turning to look at her, "Hungry again? Are there any other dishes? Bring them here."
"Oh." Liu Tingruo nodded, naturally forgetting the matter of making Jiang Shu finish the caral, and like an obedient little wife, went to the living room to get him vegetables and raw at.
That was because she knew she was at fault for her "disappearance from the world"; otherwise, such docility would never have been seen in her.
Jiang Shu tidied up the ssy kitchen a bit, stored the aty caral in a container, then washed and scrubbed the pot, checking all the seasonings around.
In a corner, the corner of the stove, he found the dumplings he had wrapped earlier, carefully stored in a box with a small note attached.
The note read: 7.30~8.19, two per day, no more!
Jiang Shu did the math; today was only August 9. Half the ti had passed, but there were only a few dumplings left in the box.
Clearly, soone had been sneaking extras.
He rinsed the rice and started cooking it, for without rice, stir-fry dishes lack soul.
"Here we go, this is all there is." Liu Tingruo placed so lean at, half a head of cabbage, and a few green and red chili peppers in front of Jiang Shu.
"That’s enough." Jiang Shu nodded and began heating oil with a tossing of his spoon, "You better go out, the kitchen is not a place for you."
"Okay." Liu Tingruo obediently left again, muttering under her breath, "Just a cook..."
Jiang Shu then shut the kitchen door, turned on the mini smoke extractor, God knows why Liu Tingruo managed to install such a thing four floors underground.
Soon, he walked into the living room with two plates of food and two bowls of rice, setting them on the coffee table, and looking at Liu Tingruo, who sat bored stiff on a small stool, "Eat up."
"Okay." Liu Tingruo took the bowl and spoon, hmm, she still couldn’t use chopsticks.
"Hold on, when did you start smoking?" Jiang Shu asked with a stern face. "You didn’t smoke at ho before."
"Just... lady’s cigarettes," Liu Tingruo tried to avoid his gaze, defending herself, "The stress has been a bit much lately."
"Open your mouth," Jiang Shu ordered.
"Huh?" Liu Tingruo didn’t understand what he was up to, but did as she was told regardless.
Jiang Shu leaned in.
Visible panic crossed Liu Tingruo’s face, but she didn’t dodge.
Jiang Shu rely sniffed and complained, "Slls like smoke."
"No more smoking, go get your cigarettes, hand them all over to ," he continued, his tone leaving no room for argunt.
"Pfft, just a..." Liu Tingruo hesitated her response, unable to find a suitable term to describe Jiang Shu, and gave up.
Then she scampered into the bedroom, bringing a pack of cigarettes back to Jiang Shu.
Jiang Shu put them down at his feet, then picked up a slice of at and, to Liu Tingruo’s incredulous gaze, stuffed it into his own mouth.
"???"
But Liu Tingruo just sulkily picked up a chopstick full of chili peppers and swallowed them whole.
"Cough, cough." She was choked, perhaps the spicy juice hit her throat, and she coughed twice sharply.
"Take it easy, eating chilies when you can’t handle them," Jiang Shu said without sympathy, quickly passing her a glass of water.
"Oh." Liu Tingruo drank the water, her large, grievous eyes peering over the rim of her cup, staring mournfully at Jiang Shu.
"Alright, alright." Jiang Shu gave in and served her a few more slices of at with his chopsticks.
Content, Liu Tingruo humd contentedly as she tucked into her al, just like she had half a month ago.
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