Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The man had a look of utter bliss on his face. “Wifey's cooking is the best,” he declared with a smile.

 “Enough of your honeyed words,” she chided him sweetly as she took the vacuum flask from his hand.

 She had yet to taste the broth that she had brewed for him. The servant had filled up the flask before she'd had a chance to try it.

 “It tastes funny…” She complained with furrowed brows. Did I use the wrong ingredients?

 “How can that be?” He reached over, s.n.a.t.c.hed the flash from her, and gobbled down the entire content in one breath.

 “We have arrived, Young Master.”

 The man closed the flask and got out of the car with the woman.

 The hotpot business was briskly popular in cold weather, and snowflakes were currently falling freely outside the window.

 “Let's go!” The woman grabbed his hand in a hurry and ran for the store.

 “Slow down.” He tried to calm her down with a hint of resignation.

“Grandpa Lin, it looks like Brother Jiangye is here to have hotpot. Let's go in now.”

 While a servant was shading him with an umbrella, Old Master Lin leaned on his cane and slowly made his way into the hotpot place with Qing Ning.

 A luxury car came rolling into the garage without warning before coming to a loud halt.

 “I was told that this store is the new kid on the block and serves excellent hotpot. Let's try it.”

 Yu Lingfeng got out of the pa.s.senger seat with a lazy snort. “Boring.”

 Bo Jinyan smiled to himself. He knew they wouldn't stay bored for long.

 “Xiao Ruo, over here!” Yao Tiao waved at the couple.

 “Tsk, why are you wrapped up like a ball? Is it that cold?” the protagonist's good friend could not help asking her when she walked over.

The woman replied in resignation, “I didn't want to come out looking like this either.”

But what could she do? It was not up to her to determine how many layers of clothing she wanted to pile on herself.

 The man beside her only allowed her to remove the outer coat after he felt her small palm sweating profusely in his large hand.

“What Xiao Ruo needs is warmth. She isn't like you. She doesn't insist on not wearing extra clothes even when her teeth are chattering in the cold. You'll suffer the consequences when you get older.” Ji Sichen mocked her.

 “Yo, I'm willing to take the risk.” Yao Tiao argued in return.

 “I know. You don't feel cold at all. You are just a man trapped in a woman's body.”

“I dare you to say that again, Ji Sichen!”

 The man merely snorted and said, “I can't be bothered.”

 “W-Watch what I can do to you with chopsticks!” Yao Tiao picked up a pair of chopsticks and started to attack the man.

 “Hmph! You're just a d.y.k.e, so don't think I won't punch you for doing this!”

 “I'm gonna poke you with the chopsticks until you stop your nonsense!”

 Ye Erruo could not help beaming at her two friends. Their relations.h.i.+p seemed to run deeper than it looked.

 “Sir, please have a look.” The server brought the menu over.

 “Which stock do you prefer?” the woman asked her man as she flipped through the menu.

 The man replied softly, “Double hotpot.”

 “What about the two of you?”

 Ji Sichen, who was busy dodging Yao Tiao's attack, told the woman, “This… Let's have this!”

 Mo Jiangye knocked his knuckles against the table, which got the attention of the quizzical server. He bent over as the man whispered something into his ear.

 “Sir, I'm sorry, but we only serve hotpot in this place. We don't have what you want.”

 Looking displeased, he laid a card swiftly on the plate that she had in her hand and ordered, “You can get ready what I want now.”

 The server answered with a wide smile, “Please give me a minute.”

 Twenty minutes later, their stock was served to their table along with the ingredients for the hotpot.

 “Sir, this is the food you wanted. Here is your card.”

 The man reached for the soybean drink and the bag of dumplings in the server's hands and placed them in front of the woman. “Eat these first.”

The woman had not had breakfast before they had come over and thus shouldn't be having hotpot on an empty stomach.

 Her friends peered at her when they heard that.

 She looked down. There was only one portion of soy drink and six mini crystal dumplings in it. She could easily finish these in a mouthful.

 “Is this only for me?” she asked.

“I'm not eating,” he told her.

 Ye Erruo's mouth twitched momentarily. What she meant was: Had he gotten breakfast for her friends too?