Ruling the Historical Romance Novel as the Female Supporting Character-Chapter 265: The Unreliable Old Husband
"Yes, so dishes at Huzhou Restaurant are quite expensive," Qin Kaize replied. That restaurant wasn’t just any state-owned establishment. At the time, their team wanted to improve relations with the local communities on nearby islands and find ways to generate income.
Seafood, which spoiled quickly, had limited sales opportunities beyond the city. When someone heard about oyster sauce and wanted to explore, they discovered that the village producing it was unwilling to share the recipe. Eventually, the matter was dropped.
Su Yijia noticed that Qin Kaize seemed a bit serious. "Is there something wrong with the oyster sauce?" she asked.
"No, I was just thinking about other things," Qin Kaize said, shaking his head. He knew how valuable the recipe was and didn’t want to bring it up with Su Yijia, fearing she might consider his and Uncle Xia’s position and voluntarily hand over the recipe.
Seeing that she couldn’t pry any more information out of him, Su Yijia let it go. "Let’s buy some ceramic jars. I’ll make fruit wine with the fruit."
"Sure," Qin Kaize said, placing a straw hat on her head.
Although Su Yijia found it a bit silly, she still enjoyed Qin Kaize’s attentiveness and allowed him to fuss over her.
They bought three knee-high ceramic jars, and Su Yijia used only half of the fruit to brew wine, saving the other half for later when they would sit together and listen to the radio in the evening.
Dinner, as usual, was cooked by Qin Kaize, with her helping on the side. Though "helping" might be a bit of an exaggeration--she was more like sticking close to him.
Qin Kaize wouldn’t let her chop bones or even cut vegetables, treating her as if she didn’t know how to do anything at all. He would take breaks every now and then, stealing a kiss from her, leaving Su Yijia blushing furiously, but she couldn’t bring herself to move away.
This peaceful and leisurely life felt almost unreal to her, especially after the chaotic days she’d experienced before.
After a while, Su Yijia couldn’t hold back her curiosity and asked, "666, why haven’t you been giving out tasks?"
[Can I?] 666 didn’t feel excited at all; instead, it asked with a hint of caution.
In the past, whenever it issued tasks, it felt like it was digging a pit for Su Yijia to fall into. Now that Su Yijia wanted it to send out tasks, it seemed like she was annoyed with it, wanting the readers to dislike it completely.
"You can give it a try? There are simple and easy tasks with good rewards that you can send out. But for things like rescuing a professor or finding hidden evidence, you should probably skip those," Su Yijia said, laying out her concerns right from the start.
After spending so much time together, she had figured this system out. When it came to the final rewards, it was a bit stricter. However, it seemed that 666 was the one who selected what tasks to give and what rewards could be earned. The freedom it offered was quite high.
Besides, 666 wasn’t bad, just plain silly. It thought that the harder the tasks were, the more exciting they would be, completely forgetting to consider whether the host could actually handle them or if they might end up in trouble.
[Until the toxins in Qin Kaize are completely eliminated, the host will need to stay in the team. After completing the task, I can provide a remedy for bad breath,] 666 tentatively offered a task.
"Can’t you give me some more impressive rewards? I’m not going to accept something like that," Su Yijia complained, clearly unimpressed.
Without waiting for 666 to respond, she made her own request. "I want the ability to study ancient books!"
Her intuition told her that there must be valuable things in that box of ancient texts. Rather than waiting for 666 to send out tasks for items, she figured it would be better to take the opportunity to thoroughly study the contents of those books while she was in the team. She could always say she was preparing for the college entrance exam.
[Okay then...] 666 agreed, sounding pitiful, like a little dog that had been bullied.
Su Yijia didn’t care about it; having gotten what she wanted, she eagerly returned to her room to read the books.
"Honey, it’s getting late. Let’s go to sleep," Qin Kaize said, wrapping his arms around Su Yijia from behind and placing a cool kiss on her ear.
The sensation made Su Yijia shiver. "Wait, I’ll finish this last bit, then we can sleep," she said, trying to nudge him away.
Instead, Qin Kaize became more persistent, showering her with delicate kisses. Su Yijia’s strength seemed to drain away, and she melted into his embrace. He lifted her effortlessly, carrying her to bed, where he silenced her complaints with his passionate touch.
The room was filled with a heated, almost oppressive atmosphere. After both of them finally reached their peak, Qin Kaize withdrew slightly, his eyes still burning with desire. Even from a distance, his gaze remained intensely focused on Su Yijia.
"Move away! Don’t tease me anymore!" Su Yijia said with a mix of irritation and embarrassment, lightly kicking him.
"I’m going to take a shower," Qin Kaize said hoarsely, despite his best efforts to restrain himself, some of his urgency still evident.
Su Yijia chose to ignore him, turning into the covers. She felt a gentle kiss on the back of her head and buried herself deeper in the blankets. Once she heard the door close, she peeked out, rolling from one end of the bed to the other like a cocoon, wishing she could take a cold shower to cool off.
It wasn’t until Qin Kaize returned, half an hour later, with a damp, relaxed demeanor, that he gently pulled her back into his arms. Though Su Yijia initially resisted, he comforted her with soft pats on her back.
"Be good, no more fuss. Let’s just sleep," he said tenderly.
"Hmm!" Su Yijia grumbled but ultimately settled down, not wanting to rekindle the desires she had just managed to quell. She wondered why the time in the bathroom seemed so short and resolved to give him a little extra compensation in the future.
Meanwhile, Qin Kaize, unaware of Su Yijia’s dissatisfaction, smiled gently. He kissed her forehead and turned off the bedside lamp. Even though the room was no longer sweltering, the steady rhythm of their breathing created a warm and comforting atmosphere.
The next morning, Qin Kaize started preparing lunch, which included two large dishes, three small meat dishes, five vegetable dishes, and a soup for each table. Though the dishes weren’t particularly complex, the quantity required a lot of work.
After a light lunch, Qin Kaize took Su Yijia by the hand, carrying the fish sauce and other ingredients she had prepared, and headed to the team’s cafeteria. At this time, the cafeteria’s chef had already finished work, leaving only two aunties washing the lunch dishes.
The team members usually cleaned up after themselves, but the aunties used hot water to do a more thorough cleaning.
