Live Streaming Food Stall… But in Dog-Blooded Novels – CH157

Chapter 157

Though it was a hot spring, unlike most, this pool was quite deep.

Taotie thrashed underwater like a fish out of water.

Jian Yunlan: “…”

Let’s be real—can a legendary Taotie actually drown? Physically or metaphysically, it made no sense.

But as a benevolent boss, Jian Yunlan couldn’t just watch a top-tier employee die before his eyes.

So he wrapped his arms around Taotie’s waist and began paddling toward the edge.

Since Taotie was a full size larger, even as Jian Yunlan dragged him upward, it somehow looked more like Taotie was cradling him.

Once out of the water, both finally caught their breath.

Taotie’s silver hair clung to his face, revealing a smooth forehead. His chest heaved dramatically.

Jian Yunlan muttered absently: “Lord Taotie, you’re still panting… so you’re alive… no mouth-to-mouth needed. Phew.”

The next second, Taotie’s chest stopped moving.

Jian Yunlan: “?”

At first, he thought he’d imagined it—but no, Taotie had genuinely ceased breathing.

No inhales, no exhales. His chest was utterly still.

Jian Yunlan: “…”

D-did he just… die?!

Half-doubting, Jian Yunlan checked his pulse, then pressed an ear to his chest.

Silence.

Jian Yunlan gasped, whispering to himself:

“Oh no, Lord Taotie’s kicked the bucket! …Looks like he’s been gone a while. What now… If he’s already dead, mouth-to-mouth is pointless. Should I call the crematorium for a one-stop service?”

Taotie: “…”

Taotie: “…………”

His chest abruptly rose again.

Jian Yunlan cheered: “A medical miracle!”

Taotie’s eyes flew open. Furious, he grabbed Jian Yunlan’s waist, yanked him close, and growled through gritted teeth: “Human, you dare mock this lord! You—”

Suddenly, both fell silent.

Too… close.

Way too close.

Underwater, it hadn’t registered—but now, the proximity was overwhelming.

Jian Yunlan’s damp lashes. Taotie’s dripping silver hair. And their lips—

Jian Yunlan’s, naturally curved like a smile. Taotie’s, sharp and aloof.

Two people who were never at a loss for words now stood breathless, as if something unspoken hovered between them.

Maybe a tease. A jab. A joke to lighten the tension. Or… something real.

But in the end, neither spoke.

So those slightly parted lips took on another meaning entirely.

As if waiting for a kiss.

Snow slid from barren branches with a whisper. The moon glowed softly through the mist.

The lanterns burned quietly.

Jian Yunlan closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly—when—

“THUD!!!”

An earth-shaking crash came from nearby.

Jian Yunlan & Taotie: “???”

They turned in unison.

Niu Tou—built like a brick wall—stood there in a T-shirt and shorts, a towel over his shoulder. He’d slipped and face-planted, a huge bump swelling on his forehead.

Tears welled in his eyes as he clutched his head: “Sorry, Boss Jian, Lord Taotie… bad timing.”

Jian Yunlan’s gaze drifted away: “…Really bad timing.”

Taotie, however, had turned pale with rage, his face twisted in frustration: “Damn it!”

At the same time, from behind a small grove of trees not far away, came a chorus of dismayed exclamations: “Damn it!”

“???” Jian Yunlan and Taotie exchanged glances.

The two swiftly threw on their bathrobes and hurried over to the grove. Pushing aside the branches, they peered inside—

The butler, dressed in camouflage and holding branches to disguise himself as a potted plant, the driver Xiao Li, Auntie Wang… and a whole crowd of servants were either covering their eyes, whistling while looking up at the sky, or pretending to mop the floor—all putting on an act of just happening to pass by, though their performances were particularly clumsy.

Finally, the butler could no longer keep up the act. Wiping away tears of joy, he exclaimed, “Young Master, you’ve grown up, wuwuwu! We didn’t mean to spy, but we just wanted to see you happy! What’s wrong with us servants shipping you two?!”

Jian Yunlan: “…”

Tao Tie: “…………”

After a long silence, thud—

Birds perched on the branches shrieked and flapped their wings in panic, their cries echoing: “Caw—caw—caw—”

Accompanying the birds’ cries was a deafening roar:

“EVERYONE!! PAY CUT!!!”

*

After much chaos, Jian Yunlan decided to kick out all the onlookers, including Taotie and Niu Tou, so he could finally relax and enjoy a proper soak in the hot spring.

An hour later, freshly bathed and clad in a robe, Jian Yunlan emerged, feeling refreshed.

…As for what had just happened, he could simply pretend to have amnesia. After all, if he wasn’t embarrassed, then the embarrassment belonged to someone else.

Jian Yunlan entered the dining room, where the butler had already arranged a late-night feast. The table was laden with all kinds of delicacies—grilled meat, hot pot, seafood, and an assortment of desserts.

Niu Tou, his massive frame awkwardly squeezed into a corner of the table like a guilty child, occasionally peeked at Jian Yunlan while cautiously nibbling on a plate of salad and corn.

Taotie sat in the center with a dark expression, arms crossed, criticizing the spread: “What kind of garbage is this? So low-class! I refuse to eat this! I want Mixue Ice Cream & Tea and Fried Rice!” Meanwhile, the butler stood beside him, weakly trying to explain.

And on the other side of the table, Jian Yunlan spotted an unexpected figure—

Hu Danggui.

Clad in cartoon bunny pajamas, her once fair and delicate face was now smudged like a refugee’s, and her formerly smooth black hair had turned into a wild, frizzy mess.

Jian Yunlan was slightly startled—wasn’t Hu Danggui supposed to be at the Eastern Base’s childcare center?

But then he recalled that Tao Tie had mentioned earlier, when talking about the Jian family villa, that “both he and Hu Danggui occasionally returned to the villa.” That meant Hu Danggui also knew how to get back. So her appearance here wasn’t entirely surprising… right?

At the moment, Hu Danggui was wolfing down food at the table, her mouth stretched wide as if she hadn’t eaten in days. She devoured an entire chicken leg in two or three bites and was still sucking her fingers clean. Auntie Wang sat behind her, heartbroken, carefully combing through her tangled, frizzy hair.

Beside Hu Danggui, a mountain of empty plates had already piled up.

When she saw Jian Yunlan, her eyes welled up with tears of excitement.

Her cheeks still bulging with food, the little girl looked up and mumbled incoherently:

“Master, wuwuwuwu, I’m back!!! @!@@#$…” After pounding her chest to swallow the food, she dashed over and clung to Jian Yunlan’s leg, wailing:

“Life in the childcare center is unbearable for a fox! Master—no, Boss—please let me come back to work at the food stall! I don’t want to go back to that horrible childcare center ever again!!!”

Jian Yunlan quickly handed her a glass of water. “Take your time. What happened at the childcare center?”

Hu Danggui gulped down several mouthfuls before sitting down and recounting her experiences over the past few days:

The Eastern Base’s childcare center, though affiliated with the base, wasn’t actually located inside it. Instead, it was a separate facility on another elevated area outside the base.

Most of the children in the center were around Hu Danggui’s apparent age—the youngest being three or four, the oldest no more than nine or ten. Once children turned ten, they could return to the base and start doing simple logistical work, or even begin training to become mercenaries.

Such was life in the apocalypse—kids had to grow up fast.

Hearing this, Jian Yunlan felt a flicker of doubt. He vaguely remembered someone mentioning, when he first arrived at the base, that most people had lost the ability to reproduce in the apocalypse. So where did all these children come from?

Hu Danggui, however, didn’t seem to share his confusion.

Her grievances about the Eastern Base’s childcare center mainly revolved around the living conditions.

“The teachers at the center are awful! They’re always scowling, punishing kids by making them stand or hitting their palms—it’s like prison!”

“And the conditions are terrible! Every day, we got watery porridge with barely any rice,” Hu Danggui sobbed between huge bites of food.

“Everyone’s starving! We’re all growing, and that kind of broth isn’t enough. Some kids were so hungry they started biting their classmates!”

Jian Yunlan nodded sympathetically. “Ah, Xiao Hu, you’ve really suffered. That does sound tough—wait, what? Biting their classmates??!!!”

His eyes widened—surely he’d misheard.

But Hu Danggui nodded matter-of-factly.

“Yeah! Some kids had huge mouths full of vines. They’d open wide and swallow their classmates whole. Others had seven pairs of rotting wings—they’d grab a classmate, fly up high, drop them, and then eat them…”

Taotie and Niu Tou: “?”

Jian Yunlan: “???”

What kind of horror-movie kindergarten was this?!

“Too barbaric,” Taotie remarked objectively, his expression full of disdain. “This lord would never stoop to the level of such lowly creatures. The food I consume must at least be prepared by a professional chef…”

He then launched into a detailed critique of various dishes, sounding like a Shan Hai Realm-version of food critic.

Jian Yunlan’s brain buzzed from the barrage of culinary terms, his thoughts growing sluggish.

After a long moment, he finally grasped the key point and shook Hu Danggui by the shoulders: “Xiao Hu! That childcare center of yours is not normal! You absolutely can’t go back—”

But before he could finish—

Hu Danggui’s ears suddenly perked up, as if she’d heard something. Her face paled. “Oh no, lights-out! The dorm supervisor’s coming to check the rooms! If they find out I’m not in bed, they’ll skin my nine-thousand-year-old fox hide…”

In the next second, she vanished without a trace.

Jian Yunlan: “…”

Tao Tie: “…”

After a long silence, Niu Tou cautiously raised his phone. “Mr. Jian, should I help you post a BOSS Zhipin job listing… to recruit a new employee?”