Chapter 162: The

Water was rushing into the bathtub, heat gradually filling the bathroom; Erin sat on the nearby washing machine with her hands cupping her cheeks, looking a bit bored from waiting.

Yu Sheng reached into the bathtub to test the water temperature, then turned up the hot water a bit more—after all, this doll wasn't afraid of scalding.

"I want to use the shower too!" Erin suddenly shouted from behind.

"Can you even reach it?" Yu Sheng turned his head to glance at the creature, "Holding the showerhead with both hands is already a struggle; you'd need a ladder just to turn the valve—so just stay put and soak in the tub. And honestly, you can even swim in there; most people don't get that experience when taking a bath..."

"It's not like I chose to be this tall!" Erin immediately got angry, "If you're so capable, go mold me a body that's one meter sixty-seven!"

Yu Sheng didn't respond at all; he was used to this doll's constant chatter anyway.

Erin didn't care whether Yu Sheng acknowledged her or not; soon she popped up with a new request: "Then get me a smaller showerhead, the kind used for bathing children, and install an extra valve near the floor; set up a whole shower system for me in the shower room, that stuff isn't expensive..."

"Someday, someday," Yu Sheng casually brushed it off, stood up and looked at Erin, "The water's ready, go in—I've hung the towel on the wall nearby for you."

"Got it," Erin waved her hand impatiently, jumped down from the washing machine, then struggled to climb onto the edge of the bathtub, "I'm going to bathe now, get out, get out—"

Yu Sheng flicked the little doll's forehead casually, walked out of the bathroom, and then heard the sound of water coming from the kitchen; going over to check, he found Hu Lizheng was cleaning up—she had just cleared the accident scene caused by Erin and was now scrubbing a burnt pot and spatula in the sink.

Seeing this situation, Yu Sheng immediately felt a wave of relief in his heart, thinking to himself that at least the house had not only Erin, the professional troublemaker, but also a reliable, honest child like this one to help...

Then he saw Hu Lizheng turn her head to look at him, quickly wipe her hands on her tail, and bring a basin of something from the stove, holding it like a treasure as she approached him: "Benefactor, here, take this."

Yu Sheng was momentarily stunned; he looked down at the contents of the basin and couldn't figure out what that lump of mixture was for after a long pause, so he just stared blankly up at the Miss in front of him: "... What?"

"Even though Erin burned the stir-fry, I've actually finished cooking the rice!" Hu Lizheng said with a bright smile on her face, "Taste it, taste it..."

Yu Sheng's feeling of Hu Lizheng being an "honest child" hadn't faded yet; hearing the other party happily claim credit, his brain didn't react for a moment. After being stunned for two seconds, he looked down at the basin again—this time he finally forced himself to associate that lump of stuff with "food," and the next second, awe surged up in his mind like a geyser.

"Is this the rice you cooked?!" He instinctively stepped back half a pace, afraid that if he looked into the basin again, the contents would sprout seven or eight eyes and a bunch of tentacles, "What did you put in there to cook?"

As he spoke, the impression left by his brief glance into the basin earlier still lingered in his mind; he couldn't recall the specific image clearly, only remembering that various lumps were soaking in a pot of strangely colored thick soup, with vegetables, meat chunks, and whatever the hell else that refused to die bobbing around inside. Even from a meter away, he felt the resentment emanating from the basin—as if the ingredients that had been boiled were still screaming inside, mostly protesting their innocence.

However, Hu Lizheng didn't feel anything was wrong at all and even explained it to Yu Sheng: "Just all the things I love to eat."

Yu Sheng paused there for a moment, realizing the other party meant she had cooked everything she loved to eat into the pot.

And the key issue was that she loved to eat everything—put it this way, if someone hadn't stopped her, she would even taste the packaging paper when buying things to check the saltiness...

While speaking, Hu Lizheng had already carried the basin of the eclectic mixture to the dining room; she happily ladled two bowls, then turned her head to look at Yu Sheng with full expectation.

For the first time, Yu Sheng discovered that the expectant gaze from this simple "foolish fox" could be so oppressive.

He forced himself to walk over, struggled for a long time, and finally blurted out half a sentence: "Actually, I'm not yet..."

The second half of the sentence just wouldn't come out.

Because Hu Lizheng was still looking over here happily, waiting for a compliment.

Yu Sheng sat down with a numb expression, struggled for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth—after all, it was all cooked from things in the kitchen, so even if it was serious, it shouldn't kill anyone; the fox Miss was cooking for him for the first time, this substance might have low sanity value, but the sincerity content was high; at worst, he would risk it this once.

Just after finishing the meal, if he still had consciousness, he would have to communicate well with Hu Lizheng; at the very least, he needed to let her know she should learn the basic knowledge of cooking according to the normal process first before challenging such a difficult "grand meal"...

While his mind was wandering with random thoughts, Yu Sheng took a deep breath, picked up a spoon, scooped a mouthful of soup, and put it into his mouth.

Then he froze.

Hu Lizheng watched with full expectation from the side: "How is it, Benefactor? This is what Mom taught me to make—since the materials here are quite different, I just improvised according to my own understanding..."

Yu Sheng still didn't make a sound, because at this moment his mind was filled only with surprise.

The taste of this thing... wasn't actually that bad?

Of course, it couldn't be called delicious either; it just gave people a strange feeling. Yu Sheng didn't know how to describe this contrast; roughly speaking, you took one look at this thing and immediately thought your life was over, but after taking one bite, you couldn't help but exclaim—Holy crap! It's human food!

It was the kind of thing you could eat with your eyes closed as if it were normal rice. "It's... not bad?" Yu Sheng took another bite and said hesitantly under Hu Lizheng's expectant gaze, "The taste is very novel, I've never eaten it, but I feel it's okay."

While speaking, he gradually got used to ignoring the strange scene in the bowl where the colors kept changing and the lumps kept rolling, and even started to savor a little bit of good flavor from this thing.

Upon hearing Yu Sheng's words, Hu Lizheng immediately showed a smiling face; although this didn't count as much of a compliment, she obviously took it as a recognition worth being happy about. Then she turned around, fished around in her tail, took out two fluffy little chicks, placed them on the table, and used a small bowl to serve them a tiny bit of the solid matter from the thick soup: "You two eat too~"

Yu Sheng looked at her in astonishment: "... Can they eat this? You're just feeding them?"

"They should be able to," Hu Lizheng said casually, "Anyway, the Black-Feathered Phoenixes raised at home used to be fed this way."

Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng felt something was wrong, but before he could speak, those two clueless little chicks had already started squeezing together to eat—eating while chirping, sounding quite cheerful.

It seemed like there was no problem.

Yu Sheng looked at the situation on the table, decided not to speak up, lowered his head, and continued eating.

Hu Lizheng also looked at the situation on the table, smiled happily, lowered her head, and continued eating.

She was actually a bit worried, worried that the thing she had barely made according to the method from her memory decades ago was too much of a failure; after all, the materials here were strange, the tools were strange, the environment was strange, and even the thing she made... the final appearance was also strange.

After Mom cooked, she would take out some golden little balls from the stove, but the thing she made for some reason was a pot of soup.

!.

But fortunately, the Benefactor seemed to like it quite a bit.

Bai Qie and Yan Ju also liked it.

After finishing the meal, Yu Sheng patted his belly contentedly and let out a burp; whether it was because he had taken a nap before or not, he now felt very energetic and vigorous.

The two little chicks were also walking around on the table digesting; occasionally stopping at the edge of the table, they curiously looked up at Yu Sheng, then at Hu Lizheng, and chirped a couple of times when happy, appearing very leisurely.

Hu Lizheng waved her hand, and the two of them obediently ran over to be caught into her tail.

"Hasn't Erin finished bathing yet?" Yu Sheng looked up in the direction of the bathroom, "She didn't drown in the bathtub, did she..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Erin, who was watching TV in the living room, shout: "You're the one who drowned! I'm just drying my hair! You know my hair is long!"

Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment and turned his head in surprise: "Whoa, I forgot there was another you in the living room! Why didn't you come to eat today?"

Erin strolled over from the living room, stood by the door jamb of the dining room, and rolled her eyes: "I took a look from afar and decided that thing can't be counted as food."

"Actually, the taste was okay..."

Yu Sheng muttered awkwardly, and then saw Erin walk to the bathroom door, move a small stool to step on, pull the handle hard to open the door, and let the Erin inside the bathroom out—the latter wrapped in a towel, her hair still wet, holding her black skirt in her hands, came to the dining table with a pitter-patter: "Yu Sheng, I'm done bathing!"

"... Sometimes I still don't get used to having two of you in the house," Yu Sheng muttered, his gaze falling on the clothes in the little doll's hands, "What happened to the clothes?"

"It burned several holes, you help me mend them..."

"Isn't this a mimicked outfit?! Can't you just change it back?"

"Once mimicked, it becomes ordinary clothes," Erin said with a look of obvious reason, "Don't you have common sense?"

Yu Sheng: "...?"

Is this common sense for a human?!

He gave the doll a strange look, then reluctantly reached out to take the dress the other offered: "Fine, give it to me... but I'm warning you ahead of time— you know how bad my sewing is. After I fix it, it'll still look like crap— I'll just go buy you two new ones from the mall later. Doll shops sell clothes for one-third-sized dolls; there should be a size that fits you."

"Great, great! You finally agree to buy me stuff!" Ailin perked up at once, then turned and dashed back into the bathroom, rushing out again with a hair dryer in hand: "Dry my hair!"

Yu Sheng: "... I really owe you!"

(End of Chapter)