Chapter 162
True to his promise, the first batch of seafood porridge was given to the servants of the Jian family villa to taste.
Jian Yunlan served a bowl to each of them, and of course, he also gave bowls to Taotie and Niu Tou. As for Hu Danggui… she hadn’t returned all day, likely caught up with something at the nursery, so she unfortunately missed out.
The rich aroma of the seafood porridge filled the entire Jian family villa.
Soon, waves of praise echoed through the house.
“Ahhh, this porridge is so incredibly fresh—it’s like my tongue is about to melt!”
“The texture is so smooth and velvety, every bite is infused with the flavors of the seafood oils… it’s unbelievably good…”
“If I can drink porridge this delicious, I can die without regrets QAQ”
“Young Master, Young Master, I miss you so much—I’ll work for you for the rest of my life!” The butler even rushed over and hugged Jian Yunlan’s leg, though Taotie mercilessly pulled him away.
Jian Yunlan found it both amusing and exasperating.
He served himself a bowl as well and stood to the side, sipping it slowly. As he drank, he watched the smiling faces around the villa, and for some reason, he felt a warmth in his own heart.
A low voice sounded beside him:
“Human, are you happy?”
Jian Yunlan paused for a moment before admitting, “Yes, I am.”
This lively atmosphere in the villa, cooking and sharing food with everyone, felt like a long-lost joy. There was no denying it—seeing everyone’s happy expressions made him genuinely happy too.
Taotie didn’t respond.
After a long while, the beast finally murmured, “This one is also happy.”
Jian Yunlan froze, then turned to look—
Taotie’s face still wore its usual haughty expression, but his dark golden eyes shimmered with warmth, and the corners of his lips slowly curled upward.
Taotie was smiling.
And honestly? It looked pretty good.
*
9:00 PM.
With everyone’s help, Jian Yunlan loaded two large buckets of porridge onto the tricycle, and Taotie, now in his dog form, leaped onto the back seat.
“Young Master, please be careful in the apocalyptic world,” the butler and servants urged tearfully. “If there’s any danger, teleport back immediately. Don’t take risks, okay?”
Jian Yunlan nodded.
Reluctant to see him go, they followed behind, sniffing the air incessantly—though, unfortunately, the porridge buckets were so well-sealed and insulated that no matter how hard they tried, not a whiff of the aroma escaped.
Jian Yunlan almost laughed. Their expressions were just too funny.
He mounted the tricycle, and as the electric engine hummed to life, the vehicle gradually picked up speed. With a determined shout, he declared:
“Time to open shop!”
This feeling of setting out from the Jian family villa was also something he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
As the tricycle passed through the gates, the surroundings began to shift rapidly.
The gentle breeze and bright moon of the villa faded away. The further he rode, the colder the air became, and the sky darkened into a deep, ominous red. Distant rumbles echoed faintly, as if some catastrophe was looming.
It began to snow again.
The ground was already covered in a thick layer of snow, and under the blood-red sky, the apocalyptic world appeared both freezing and perilous.
…Thankfully, the tricycle provided by the Chef God System activated a barrier. As the small lanterns lit up and translucent curtains unfurled, the vehicle was enveloped in an invisible, warm pocket of space.
Inside this cozy bubble, Jian Yunlan felt no cold—only a comfortable warmth, as if he were riding in a carriage.
His mind began to wander as he pedaled.
Glancing at the two large porridge buckets, a hint of worry crept in:
…Did I cook too much? What if it doesn’t all sell?
After all, the Death Desert was usually deserted, and today, with the sky an eerie blood-red, it looked even more dangerous. That would surely deter even more people from coming.
Yesterday, he had spent hours at his stall but only served three customers. Though each had bought eight or nine bowls, three people alone wouldn’t be enough to finish these two massive buckets. He’d need at least a few dozen customers to sell out… If it didn’t sell, it’d be such a waste.
But the porridge was already made—there was no point worrying now.
…Little did Jian Yunlan know, the siblings Wang Rong and Wang Tao, whom he had served the night before, had set off a terrifying butterfly effect in the Eastern Base.
“Sigh.” Shaking his head, Jian Yunlan steadied his thoughts and began to pray. “Just one customer is enough. As long as even one person comes, the porridge won’t have been cooked in vain…!”
Technically, Jian Yunlan could set up his stall anywhere.
Since he had promised the last customer from yesterday that he would set up his stall in the same location today, Jian Yunlan had marked the spot the night before to avoid disappointing anyone who might come looking.
Soon, he arrived at his destination from the previous day.
—Before him stretched a vast expanse of white, thick snow under a desolate, blood-red sky.
A cold wind blew.
Not a single person was in sight.
Perhaps because he had already braced himself for this, Jian Yunlan felt only a slight disappointment rather than deep discouragement.
He parked the tricycle, lit the charcoal stove, unfolded the extension table, and began preparing for the day’s business.
A warm lantern glowed in the snowy expanse.
The stove’s charcoal fire burned steadily, sending a gentle breeze through the curtains—a breeze carrying the warm, savory aroma of porridge out into the cold.
Bundled in his down jacket, Jian Yunlan stood in front of the tricycle, eagerly scanning the surroundings.
…Even the cloaked customer who had sworn yesterday that they would definitely return was nowhere to be seen.
Was it because of the terrible weather? Or had something delayed them?
Just as Jian Yunlan was lost in thought, the snow beneath his feet suddenly shifted.
The large silver dog pricked its ears, trotted forward to sniff the ground, and then let out a couple of unhappy barks: “Woof! Woof!”
Jian Yunlan: “???”
Baffled, Jian Yunlan quickly took two steps back.
The next second, something unbelievable unfolded before his eyes—
The snow where he had just been standing began to bulge upward, as if something buried beneath it had suddenly awakened.
The bulge grew taller, larger, and then—
Rustle—!
A figure emerged from the snow.
It was a tall, slender figure wrapped in a cloak, now completely dusted with snow from head to toe after digging their way out.
As they brushed off the snow and pulled back their hood, a clean, strikingly beautiful face was revealed.
Snowflakes still clung to their lashes.
They smiled at Jian Yunlan, eyes curving gently, their voice soft but tinged with a hint of grievance:
“Boss Jian, you’re finally here! I’ve been waiting for you for so long!”
Yesterday, Jian Yunlan had mentioned he would return the next day but hadn’t specified a time. So, Yun Wen—now inhabiting Mu Dongsheng’s body—had arrived over ten hours ago, terrified of missing the porridge stall’s opening.
In the meantime, Mu Dongsheng and Yun Wen had fought for control of the body multiple times, with Mu Dongsheng ultimately winning.
The reason was simple.
—After crying all night in despair over not getting to eat the porridge, Yun Wen had exhausted himself, leaving him vulnerable. Mu Dongsheng seized the opportunity to reclaim control at the last moment.
“……”
Jian Yunlan stared at Mu Dongsheng, then at the human-shaped snow hole at his feet.
Just how long had he been waiting?!
To be honest, Mu Dongsheng had waited an incredibly long time.
Let’s rewind a bit.
Last night, Yun Wen—heartbroken and furious over missing the porridge—had thrown a massive tantrum in the Death Desert. The sky and wasteland resonated with the rage of a top-tier pollutant: the horizon burned crimson, and fissures split the barren earth.
Only at dawn, after his outburst had run its course, did Yun Wen finally calm down, utterly spent.
Pulling his cloak tight, he trudged slowly toward the spot where Jian’s Simple Porridge Stall had been the night before.
—Wherever Yun Wen passed, a bloodstained trail unfurled in his wake.
The blood belonged to all manner of low-level pollutants.
Mutant bats, human-faced spiders, ten-eyed vines… All the creatures that had long terrorized the Death Desert immediately fled, burrowing underground or hiding deep in the clouds.
Yet even so, as Yun Wen walked by—without lifting a finger—they instantly burst apart, vanishing into bloody mist without so much as a whimper.
Actually, if you think about it carefully, it’s quite easy to understand.
As a top-tier pollutant, Yun Wen was practically an existence capable of rewriting the rules of the entire world. When his emotions were stable and calm, the entire Death Desert naturally remained peaceful.
But when he fell into extreme despair and sorrow, the sheer magnitude of his emotional entropy alone affected the entire wasteland, becoming a scythe of death looming over the heads of all pollutants.
When Yun Wen wept, the entire earth wailed along with his tears.
And so, Yun Wen—occupying Mu Dongsheng’s body—trudged forward slowly.
…In truth, just as dawn was breaking, right before Yun Wen reached the spot where Jian’s Simple Porridge Stall had been set up, his footsteps suddenly halted.
He looked around, taking in the bloody mist blooming in the air, the filthy landscape, and the rotting flesh of various pollutants strewn across the ground.
Yun Wen frowned and murmured:
“So dirty… so dirty, so dirty, so dirty, so dirty, so dirty… disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting, disgusting…”
In his memory, that little porridge stall, glowing with warm light, should have been clean and tidy, warm and soft, serving the most fragrant hot porridge in the world.
Would Boss Jian, the owner of the stall, also prefer cleanliness?
The pollutant Yun Wen fell into a very human-like contemplation:
—What if Boss Jian saw how filthy the surroundings were, disliked it, and decided not to set up his stall and sell porridge anymore?
Beneath the cloak, Yun Wen’s countless lips parted in distress, while the other half of his beautiful face twisted into a deep frown.
“……”
After a moment of thought, Yun Wen waved his hand lightly.
And so, a long, heavy snowfall began.
Before continuing forward, Yun Wen hesitated, then pulled up the hood of his cloak, lowering it further to conceal the half of his face that belonged to the pollutant.
“Ugly,” Yun Wen muttered. “Filthy.”
He tugged the hood down until it nearly covered his eyes, then hunched his back, curling his entire body into a small, shivering ball as he sat down where the porridge stall had been the day before.
…Amid the endless snowfall, Yun Wen waited for Boss Jian to arrive.
He waited… and waited… until he eventually fell asleep.
