With Yue Ling’s help, Yu Xia managed to escape her brother’s "clutches" and hurried back to her single apartment.

There was an hour left before Xie Qingci returned, so with nothing else to do, she tidied up the house a bit and then went to the neighborhood’s fresh supermarket to buy some groceries. She planned to make some hometown dishes for someone who had been away from home for a month and a half, as a sort of welcome home ceremony.

However, she got too carried away in the supermarket and bought too many things. When she ran into Yuan Wang out for a stroll, she asked him for help but ended up getting a package of frozen stuffed buns. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

After a lot of effort carrying them back home, she had no desire to cook anymore. She finally found a packet of colorful butterfly pasta from the cabinet, intending to use it to make do for Xie Qingci.

This pasta was bought last time Yu Yue came; she went to the supermarket to buy it, saying it could supplement vitamins, seeing how colorful it was...

"Knock knock—" There was a sound at the door outside.

Yu Xia was still studying the colorful butterfly pasta. When she heard the sound, she paused for a few seconds, then reacted, tossed the pasta aside, and went to open the door with light steps, a smile unconsciously appearing on her face.

As soon as the door opened, she was hugged by Xie Qingci, who was pushing a suitcase.

The directionless suitcase was kicked to the side, tumbling over and hitting the hallway cabinet with a "bang" sound, and the door was elbowed shut.

Their breaths intertwined, but neither spoke.

Xie Qingci turned around holding her, pressing her against the door, and sighed as he kissed her.

The surge of dopamine and hormones caused them to lose sensitivity to pain and surroundings. Yu Xia’s mind had only one thought—respond to him.

Water traces that couldn’t be wiped away, hands climbing the neck, breaths lingering with sweet fragrance, arms tightly controlling the slender waist—they communicated their longing in a more forthright way.

"Bang—"

The suitcase was kicked open again, and the people behind the door moved to another place.

It wasn’t until late at night that the bedroom door opened again.

Xie Qingci was shirtless, carrying her out like a child, and the hand resting on his shoulder accidentally touched his back wound, causing a soft "hiss."

Yu Xia became a little more awake and asked him, "Does it hurt?"

"A bit."

"Serves you right."

"Yes, I deserve it—" He carried her to the kitchen, seeing a pile of unsorted groceries, lifted her face and asked, "What, were you planning to cook me a meal?"

Yu Xia casually pointed at the packet of colorful butterfly pasta beside them.

"There, your meal."

Xie Qingci leaned in closer to look at it: "What’s this? Children’s nutritious butterfly pasta? For me to eat?"

"You’re complaining? Dumplings when going out, pasta when home, this is already the highest courtesy."

She was weak, speaking two sentences and panting three times, lazily glancing at him.

"Sigh, I thought there would be some lavish meal. I’ve been abroad for so long, and you say you miss me every day—in the end, your longing is only worth a packet of children’s pasta?"

He pretended to sigh with disappointment, then thoughtfully said, "No wait, you prepared a lavish meal, I already tasted it. Indeed, very delicious."

Yu Xia just silently watched him act cheeky, waiting for him to finish before patting his arm and saying, "Hurry up and cook me some noodles. I’m starving."

"Okay—how about we cook together?" He didn’t want to let her go.

"Just cooking noodles, why would two people do it together, got nothing to do..."

The complaint lasted no more than two minutes before she was in Xie Qingci’s embrace, standing in front of the kitchen counter. Two people, hand in hand, went to add water to the pot.

Like executing some sacred ribbon-cutting ceremony.

And while waiting for the water to boil, they engaged in endless kissing.

Xie Qingci never gave her a chance to say friendly greetings such as "Welcome back" or "I miss you" or "Is work tiring" since entering the door till now; she couldn’t find a moment to say anything decent.

It truly fulfilled the saying about a little separation being better than a newlywed; suppressing feelings was like igniting a fire under a pressure cooker, bound to explode sooner or later.

She was the one hit by this pressure cooker.

Just about to suffocate from kissing, the water in the pot coincidentally bubbled, and Yu Xia hurriedly patted him to get the butterfly pasta in.

"Aren’t you hungry? Hurry up and put the pasta in."

"Human instincts also have priorities," he insisted on hugging her, resting his chin on her shoulder, his hand reaching from her waist to unwrap the packet of butterfly pasta, "Which color do you want to eat?"

"Is there a need to ask so much? A whole pack isn’t even enough for you; put it all in!"

She helped lift the packaging and poured all the pasta into the pot.

Xie Qingci kissed her neck, pulled out several boxes of pork belly rolls from the fridge.

"It’s not enough for me, so this is for you to eat. I’ll make a small hotpot; would you like that?"

"I respect the chef’s labor results." After all, she wasn’t doing any work.

He chuckled in a low voice: "So you do want to eat? I came back from abroad with difficulty and still have to cook for you late at night—shouldn’t you reward me a bit?"

Yu Xia snorted with laughter.

"Who was it, so driven by lust they ended up eating this late? You even have the cheek to ask for a reward? How about a slap for a reward?"

Xie Qingci turned his face towards her.

"I want it."

"...Shameless!" She slapped his face away, glaring at him indignantly.

He pretended to sigh again: "You hit me. I had only been abroad a month and a half, yet you don’t care about me. When you say you miss me, was it just talk? I’m so hurt—kiss me to make it better."

Yu Xia was amused by him, looking at his handsome eyes, and couldn’t help but soften. So she held his face and gave him two kisses.

"Buy one get one free, you’re making a big profit. Hurry up and make that hotpot, I’m really hungry."

"At your service—" he said lazily with a smile.

On such a night, thousands of lights were framed within the glass windows, and only the aroma of food seeped out from crevices, letting others know that inside those glass panes, someone was laughing, eating and drinking.

The electric cooker was placed on the table, neatly arranged meat rolls and chopped vegetables on the side.

When the spicy soup bubbled, Yu Xia put the first piece of meat in, scalded it for a few seconds, and placed it in Xie Qingci’s bowl.

"Hard work, welcome back."

Xie Qingci kissed her before eating that piece of meat.

"Thank you, it’s particularly delicious."

"You’re welcome, I don’t want to lift my hand—serve me the vegetables."

Xie Qingci: "...Okay, willing to serve the lady."

Then he went to the kitchen and found the set of Chibi Maruko Chan children’s dinnerware that Yu Xia had hidden, placed the familiar spoon in her hand, and took her chopsticks away.

"Since that’s the case, follow my lead; I will certainly serve you well."

Yu Xia’s mouth twitched.

"So you’ve been abroad for quite a while, but you still haven’t changed this habit that hinders human evolution?"

Despite hiding it deeply, how could he find it so easily?

Xie Qingci placed the cooked meat in her spoon, elongated his voice:

"Can’t change it anymore, you’ll have to endure it. Come, ao wu, eat it up."

"...You’re insane, ao wu your ghost!"