Chapter 37: Go Make Dinner

Sheng Hanyu actually followed her: "Have we met before? Why do I feel like I've seen you?"

Shi Youxuan shook her head like a rattle-drum, and kept it very, very low, almost touching the faucet.

Fortunately, he went out and didn't ask any more questions.

Shi Youxuan pricked up her ears to listen for movement outside, but there wasn't a sound. She thought, Sheng Hanyu must have left, right? After all, there is only "Achou" here; what is the point of staying?

Curiosity killed the cat; she walked out and immediately regretted it. Sheng Hanyu was still sitting upright on the sofa, with no intention of leaving at all.

Dinner time had passed. Shi Youxuan had been terrified and hadn't eaten lunch, and after doing so much work just now, her stomach began to growl ungraciously.

"I happen to be hungry too. Go make dinner. I don't like seafood, but I'm not picky about meat or vegetables."

Shi Youxuan was dumbfounded. Make dinner? She didn't know how.

But her current identity is a servant. The fact that Jian Yining could entrust his entire home to her shows that this servant's salary must not be low.

How was she supposed to say she didn't know how to cook?

But she couldn't say it either; wouldn't she blow her cover if she spoke?

She could only nod to indicate she understood, then bit the bullet and went to the kitchen to cook.

The refrigerator had all kinds of ingredients, but most of them were live shrimp, sea fish, crabs, and other such seafood.

Because Shi Youxuan liked to eat these things, Jian Yining would bring plenty whenever he came. Seafood can just be boiled, but Sheng Hanyu said he doesn't eat seafood, so none of the simple and delicious ingredients could be used.

She thought of the days she lived in the Villa, where every meal had seafood; it turned out it was all prepared for her.

Shi Youxuan turned on the stove, put a pot on, poured in some water, picked up a piece of meat, and threw it in to boil.

Then she took out some greens; the bright green little greens were very fresh. She washed them and likewise threw them into the pot to boil...

She washed the pot, rinsed the rice, and pressed the cook button on the rice cooker. At first, she was a little smug, feeling that cooking didn't seem like such a difficult thing after all.

Twenty minutes later.

The smell in the pot became increasingly foul. She turned off the heat, lifted the lid, and was dumbfounded: white foam was floating on the meat, there were blood streaks on top, it was burnt on the bottom, and it gave off a fishy stench. You didn't even need to eat it; one look was enough.

The greens were even more of a disaster; they were bright green when they went into the pot, but now they were a black, mushy lump!

She lifted the lid of the rice cooker; the rice was indeed distinct grain by grain, but it was too "distinct"—there was little difference from raw rice. Taking one taste confirmed it even more—it was undercooked rice, the very authentic kind.

Only then did Shi Youxuan remember that she hadn't added water when cooking the rice...

"Achou, is dinner ready?" Sheng Hanyu urged from the living room.

Shi Youxuan thought to herself, just let it be; maybe if he finds it tastes bad, he won't come back in the future.

She placed the food on the dining table. Sheng Hanyu didn't want to look at it a second time, let alone eat this stuff.

"What is this you've made? Is this for people to eat?" He said displeased.

He had noticed when Achou was working earlier that she was clumsy and didn't look like someone who knew how to do chores at all, and the food was made like this; he strongly suspected that Achou was doing it on purpose.

Achou nodded, her eyes filled with terror, and then she gestured with her hands to signal Sheng Hanyu to eat while it was hot, and not to be polite!

He didn't eat—it really wasn't out of politeness. He pointed at the things on the table and said to Achou: "You, eat all of this. I'll stay right here and watch you eat."

Shi Youxuan didn't stand steady and stumbled.

"Hah!"

Sheng Hanyu mocked: "You can't even swallow the things you've made yourself, yet you dare to serve them to me? Do you think I'll be angered away by you and then never come back?"

Shi Youxuan's thoughts were guessed by Sheng Hanyu. That's right, that was exactly what she was thinking.

It just wasn't that she made it like this on purpose, but that her skill level was lacking.

She shook her head like a rattle-drum and hurriedly denied it.

"Since it's not, then eat it all up. If you can't do it yourself, I can call someone over to help you."

Sheng Hanyu says what he means and does what he says.

He really called the bodyguards from outside in. The bodyguards held her arms from left and right, forcing her to sit at the dining table; they were just short of taking a spoon and feeding it to her.

Shi Youxuan didn't dare to struggle hard, afraid that if she used too much force, the "hunchback" on her back and the pimples on her face would fall off!

The "hunchback" was a stainless steel bowl she had wrapped on her back with tape and cloth strips.

The "pimples" were also stuck on her face with glue. They didn't need to be many; as long as one fell off, all her hard work would be in vain.

Just as she was prepared to resign herself to her fate and eat the black, mushy food in front of her, Sheng Hanyu gave her another "chance!"

"Answer a few questions for me, and you won't have to eat this. I'll even have people send you something delicious. How about that?"

Shi Youxuan nodded almost without thinking, agreeing.

Just answer, she thought. At worst, she wouldn't tell the truth or would play dumb! Shi Youxuan made up her mind.

Sheng Hanyu signaled the bodyguards to let her go, and after letting them go outside, he asked the first question: "Who are you?"

Shi Youxuan dipped her finger in the vegetable soup on the plate and wrote on the table: Servant.

Sheng Hanyu frowned: "You can't speak, so who was the person talking to me in the room?"

"I can!" Shi Youxuan deliberately lowered her voice, emitting a hoarse sound from deep in her throat.

Although she had tried her best to make the voice sound unpleasant, it was still much more pleasant than a voice produced by a voice changer.

Sheng Hanyu felt the voice was familiar, a bit like his missing wife.

He couldn't help but stare at her, trying to find commonalities between the two, but after a few glances, he gave up.

Their appearances were too different. Shi Youxuan was very beautiful, with fair skin, delicate features, a hot figure, and a tall stature. And the Achou before him was ugly, just as her name suggested—ugly beyond belief.

"If you can speak, why were you just nodding and shaking your head without making a sound? What are you trying to hide?"

Shi Youxuan said: "My throat is ruined, it hurts to talk." As she said it, she put on a very painful expression, looking very aggrieved.

Sheng Hanyu stared at her intently, making Shi Youxuan feel a chill in her heart.

She didn't know that the small, unconscious movements she made had betrayed her again, and Sheng Hanyu's suspicions deepened.

He had always held deep suspicions about Achou, at one point believing she was Yixin in disguise, because the aura she exuded was very familiar.

But he soon gave up on this idea; Achou could not be Jian Yixin, yet now he felt she and Shi Youxuan had something in common, which had nothing to do with their appearance.

After staring for a long while, he finally spoke: "Has Jian Yining told you about sending anyone over?"

Achou shook her head, indicating he had not.

Sheng Hanyu was about to ask a fourth question when his phone suddenly rang; it was Sheng Zerong calling.

"Big Brother, I heard you are going to open Yixin's coffin. Is this true?"

Sheng Hanyu admitted: "It is true."

Sheng Zerong became anxious: "Big Brother, have you gone mad? By doing this, aren't you just handing people ammunition? Second Brother is currently worried about not being able to catch you in a mistake, and you are handing him such a huge loophole?"

"If it is empty inside, then opening the coffin will not be a cause for criticism," Sheng Hanyu said.

He did not find it strange that no one understood, but he would not easily change what he had decided.

Sheng Zerong was almost choked with anger by his big brother: "What if it isn't empty? Have you thought about that, Big Brother? What will you do afterward? The Jian Family will never let this go after suffering such a great humiliation, and Second Brother will certainly not pass up such a golden opportunity to strike at you."

"I won't hide the truth from you; the huge commotion on the internet this time was stirred up by my mother and Second Brother. This time it was suppressed by Grandfather, but what about next time? Next time it will be solid proof, and no matter how capable Grandfather is, he won't be able to silence everyone. Everyone in Jiangzhou will think you are a madman..."

Sheng Zerong's words were heartfelt and spoken for his own good, but Sheng Hanyu would not change his mind because of them. So what if he had to stand against the whole world? He had to prove to everyone that they were wrong: Jian Yixin was still alive!