ALWARFC Chapter 72

As noon approached, the sunlight shining in felt especially hot and glaring. Su Weisheng, still half-asleep and groggy, turned over. With both hands, he pulled the curtain closed, blocking the sunlight outside, and the room returned to a cool shade.

Su Weisheng’s body moved slightly, but he didn’t open his eyes. He just yawned and lazily asked, “When did you get here?”

“I arrived in the morning. I was going to call you for breakfast, but I didn’t expect you to rarely sleep in.” You Sui sat at the edge of his bed, patiently brushing aside the messy long hair. He chuckled lightly, teasing, “Looks like being too filial to your descendants isn’t always a good thing.”

Su Weisheng rubbed his brow. As his sleepiness faded and his mind cleared, he recalled the terrible experience of last night being disturbed by the kitchen explosion, and was speechless. “I thought once I married off Zhaocai, I could relax. But who knew Lu Huanjin’s IQ dropped sharply when he was with him. Now, great, the number of immature kids went from one to two.”

“When people fall in love, their intelligence tends to infect each other.” You Sui rested his chin on his hand with interest and commented, “But generally, it’s the smart ones who get infected by the less smart. It’s rare for intelligence to improve the other way around.”

Su Weisheng got up, ready to wash up. Upon hearing this, he twitched the corner of his mouth. “Then we’re doomed. At home, we only have embarrassments or love-struck fools. No normal people at all.” He said this as he walked into the bathroom.

You Sui followed him in.

He brushed his teeth while You Sui squeezed out toothpaste. When he washed his face, You Sui handed him a towel. Su Wei-sheng glanced at him sideways.

You Sui looked completely innocent. “You already said I’m love-brained. It’s normal for me to be clingy, right?”

Su Weisheng snorted softly but didn’t say anything. Instead, he reached out, pinched You Sui’s chin, and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Love-brained or not, just don’t cause trouble for me outside.”

You Sui’s fox-like eyes curved happily. He reached around to hug Su Weisheng’s waist, resting his chin on Su Weisheng’s shoulder, rubbing back and forth in a spoiled manner. “How would I dare cause trouble for you? I’d rather be even better behaved, so you’d like me more.”

“Really, you’re not hiding something from me?” Su Weisheng asked in return.

You Sui’s voice suddenly stopped.

Su Weisheng calmly reminded him, “It’s better to be honest and get leniency than to have your credit score drop to zero.”

You Sui made a muffled sound, hugging his wife’s waist tighter, mumbling unclearly, “There really is a little secret I’ve been keeping from you, but it’s nothing serious. You’ll just have to discover it yourself, slowly…”

Su Weisheng slapped his hand away and, before leaving, tapped his head with his fingers meaningfully, “Better be nothing serious.”

Once he left, only You Sui remained alone in the bathroom. The man lazily leaned against the wall without moving, slightly lowering his head as if deep in thought: “After this is found out, will it be a surprise or a shock?”

Tsk, the feeling of unboxing a mystery box is really thrilling.

Su Weisheng changed clothes and opened the door to go out. The courtyard was unusually quiet. Old Lu and Sunny were cooling off in the pavilion, occasionally peeking in the direction of the kitchen.

“…What’s going on?” Su Weisheng had a bad feeling. Just as he took a step closer, before he could see what was happening inside the kitchen, he smelled a strong burnt odor coming from there, followed by a chorus of noisy arguments.

“See? I told you to add more water. Now look, it’s burnt. Lu Huanjin, you useless thing, do you even know how to cook?” Su Ran sounded very frustrated.

Lu Huanjin seriously corrected him, “The book says one bowl of rice to one and a half bowls of water. My measurements are correct, so it must be the pot’s fault. Don’t worry, the new pot I bought will arrive soon. We’ll try another batch.”

Su Weisheng: “…How many batches have they tried already?”

Old Lu gestured to him, “Just the rice alone, they steamed four pots. Two pots weren’t cooked and had to be steamed again. They picked and ate from the two burnt batches. If the fifth batch burns again…”

Sunny sympathetically finished the sentence, “They’ll probably die from overeating.”

Su Weisheng silently rubbed his forehead and sighed, “Didn’t I already say there’s no need to keep learning?”

Sunny said, “They’re not convinced. They feel that all the sympathy they get from blowing up the kitchen isn’t enough. They have to personally make a pot of rice and four dishes before you can truly appreciate them.”

Old Lu sighed, “It really takes courage for two kitchen killers to study cooking together. That’s something to admire.”

While they were chatting here, over there, they had already started steaming the fifth pot of rice. Su Weisheng could only respect the fate of the embarrassment package and stay far away from the scene.

Just then, Jiang Yimian arrived.

“Great-grandfather!” Jiang Yimian cheerfully came forward holding several brocade boxes to greet him. He complained, “If I had known you took on my cousin’s immersive escape room ad, I would have joined in the fun. Too bad I found out late. I was sent here by him and my uncle to thank you in person…”

At this, he looked around with a puzzled expression, “Where’s Zhaocai? I called him, but he didn’t answer. What’s going on? Is our Zhaocai and Jinbao duo not going to be together today?”

Su Weisheng quietly shifted his steps aside without a word. Not only did he not answer the question about Su Ran, he casually changed the subject: “What did they have you bring?”

“Oh, oh, oh, I’ll show you as I unpack.”

Jiang Yimian followed Great-grandfather into the study while carrying the brocade boxes, completely unaware that he was just a door away from the embarrassment package Zhaocai. After entering, he opened the boxes. The bank cards were gifts from Jiang Qiuxin, tasteful antique treasures were prepared by Jiang Qiao, and the luxury watches were gifts from Jiang Yimian himself—easy to tell apart.

After introducing these, Jiang Yimian couldn’t help but complain, “My uncle said the thank-you gifts had to be prepared thoughtfully. I said I wanted to bring all my published books along, too. But right after I said that, he beat me up. Not only did he not appreciate my effort, but he also called me brain-damaged. What kind of uncle is that?”

Su Weisheng laughed, “Published books? The ‘Haunted Soul’ that scared Zhaocai and Song Qing to death on the livestream?”

“Not just that, there are also some previously published ones. These books are the fruits of my hard work over the years!” Jiang Yimian sighed, “It’s a pity I put so much effort into writing them, and the online data is great, too. But because I have this jinx teammate curse, every book turned into a drama ended up flopping.”

At this, he sadly beat his chest and stomped his feet, “Great-grandfather, you don’t know—”The Legend of the High Priest”, that I worked on with Zhaocai, took me several years to write. It’s the essence of my efforts, with serious archaeological research, countless official histories, unofficial records, and miscellaneous notes consulted. I was full of confidence when writing it. But after filming, it actually won a Golden Broom Award. At that moment, I seriously thought about quitting writing!”

Jiang Yimian was tearful and heartfelt, completely unaware of Su Weisheng’s strange gaze.

Good, now it’s clear why Jiang Yimian said he got beaten up by his uncle for giving books as gifts. Yet this fool was completely clueless and still dared to boast nonstop about how meticulous he was.

Just as You Sui stepped out, he caught Jiang Yimian’s words and leisurely chimed in, “So, your meticulousness means you listened to Zhaocai and wrote a female lead named Le’er who died for Su Tiao, and a high priest who avenged Le’er by pacifying the world and ultimately died with her, right?”

He slowly clapped his hands, half-smiling, half-teasing, “This Le’er really is a divine stroke of the pen.”

Jiang Yimian froze when he saw him come out of the bedroom, then honestly nodded, “Yeah, Zhaocai showed me the genealogy, and there really is a record of Le’er. This is the Su family’s unique, authentic history!”

You Sui narrowed his eyes and stared deeply at Jiang Yimian.

Jiang Yimian was so unnerved by his gaze that he shivered all over and couldn’t help but turn to Su Weisheng for backup, “Great-grandfather, you must have seen the genealogy too, right? There really is a girl named Le’er in the high priest’s life story. But who knows what netizens think. They don’t believe it and even accuse me of making it all up!”

Su Weisheng, playing with an antique, paused slightly. He looked at the reckless Jiang Yimian and slowly said, “Is it possible that the Le’er in the genealogy and the Le’er girl you imagined aren’t the same person?”

“For example?” Jiang Yimian humbly asked.

You Sui said, “For example, Le’er might not be a young lady.”

“That’s impossible!” Jiang Yimian firmly objected, sticking to his theory. “How could Le’er not be a young lady? The genealogy clearly says she was a soulmate met in chaotic times!”

You Sui recalled the words in the genealogy, smiling faintly but with murderous intent in his eyes. He had already started thinking about how to help Su Laijin die again.

Su Weisheng reminded Jiang Yimian, “Another example: the genealogy says the marriage was never completed. That doesn’t necessarily mean Le’er died.”

Jiang Yimian looked innocent. “If it’s a matter of life and death, does that mean the high priest died instead?” Seeing their doubts about his plot, Jiang Yimian grew a bit anxious and earnestly advised, “The genealogy only has this one passage. We’re not the people involved, so we can only interpret the literal meaning. What I understand might not be entirely correct, but it might not be wrong either, right?”

The two involved parties looked at him meaningfully.

Jiang Yimian really was stubborn even when death was near.

At that moment, a loud, ecstatic voice came from outside: “Damn it!! I finally did it! I did it! This pot of rice is cooked!”

Everyone: …?

In the kitchen, Su Ran and Lu Huanjin, who hadn’t slept all night, sat on stools, staring at the steamed rice and four decent-tasting homemade dishes. They were still in shock.

They had actually created a miracle.

To be precise, Lu—the kitchen killer with no cooking genes, a family hereditary kitchen disaster—had spent the entire night cooking with the eldest great-grandson. In the end, the eldest great-grandson had no achievement at all but had forced Lu Huanjin to produce four dishes and one pot of rice.

Of course, the eldest great-grandson himself wouldn’t admit that the meal had anything to do with him.

He excitedly stepped forward, tasting each dish one by one to confirm they were edible. Then he smacked Lu Huanjin hard on the shoulder, grabbing him and shaking him back and forth with joy. “Ah Jin, Ah Jin, we did it! As expected of the top strategist under me, the legitimate eldest great-grandson! You really have some skills. I’m going to bring the rice up to Great-grandfather right now and let him taste it…”

As he spoke, in his excitement, he smacked a kiss right onto Lu Huanjin’s forehead.

Lu Huanjin froze, staring at him in disbelief.

Su Ran, completely unaware that his action might’ve crossed a line, happily ran off to serve the dishes, utterly immersed in the joy of his household power struggle victory. But before he could even pick up the plate, his wrist was seized by Lu Huanjin.

He looked back in confusion, just about to ask what Lu Huanjin was doing, only to find the man’s deep, dark gaze fixed on him.

“What’s wrong with you? Are you trying to steal credit from the eldest great-grandson, strategist?” he asked warily.

Lu Huanjin stared at him, voice hoarse, “Just a strategist?”

“If… if not that, then what?” Su Ran grew even more wary. “Don’t tell me you also want to be Great-grandfather’s real great-grandson? I’m telling you, that’s not happening—mmph…”

Lu Huanjin gripped his neck and bent down, pressing his lips against that utterly oblivious mouth.

Su Ran was stunned.

The crowd that had come over to see what the commotion in the kitchen was about… was also stunned.

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Moonlit: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! THE GENERATION ENDING WITH SU RAN DIDN’T MEAN SU RAN WOULD DIE!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!!!!