"Miss Su! Come, come, Sliced Pork in Hot Chili Oil! It's your favorite, and I specially added plenty of ingredients for you, guaranteed to whet your appetite!"
Li Kui loudly announced, holding a steaming, bright red basin of food. The moment the dish was placed on the table, the aroma of chili instantly permeated the air, making one's mouth water.
Su Wan's eyes lit up, "It smells so good! Li Kui, your cooking skills are amazing!"
She picked up her chopsticks and started eating. She was exhausted from her earlier outing and ate five bowls of rice in one go. The rice grains were almost licked clean from the bottom of the bowl; this hunger came on fiercely and strangely.
Li Kui leaned in close to examine Su Wan carefully, his eyes almost touching her face: "Miss Su, why do I think you look a bit thinner?"
"Your face looks like it's shrunk a size! With such a big appetite, you should be gaining weight, logically!"
"That's not right, this appetite, it shouldn't be like this!" He scratched the back of his head, deeply puzzled, and continued to mumble softly as he cleared the table: "How strange, how can she eat so much and still lose weight...?"
Li Kui was just a young man in his twenties, so how could he be mistaken...? Su Wan instinctively touched her lower abdomen; her waistband indeed felt a bit looser. Yet, her lower abdomen seemed a bit more distended than usual.
Her fingertips lightly touched her lower abdomen, and an unusual sensation came from there, as if something was quietly changing inside.
"Oh my!" She wailed inwardly, "Could everything written in those novels be true? Do you lose weight in early pregnancy? But my belly is clearly more distended! What kind of problem is this?!"
She recalled the melodramatic plots in those novels where pregnant women lose a lot of weight in the early stages because the fetus absorbs nutrients, becoming as thin as a stick. Her heart instantly panicked: "I won't be drained to death by this little thing in my belly, will I?!"
"Creak—" The door opened.
Lu Shiyan walked in, still carrying the chill from outside.
"Boss!" Li Kui darted over, deftly taking the overcoat Lu Shiyan took off. Li Xinhu in the corner rolled his eyes at his fawning manner, "You're back! You must be starving, right? Quick, quick, the food is still warm! Miss Su ate five big bowls!"
Li Xinhu in the corner's mouth twitched fiercely, and he rolled his eyes internally: "This brat, his flattery is deafening! He acts like he wants to worship Lu Shiyan as his own father!"
Lu Shiyan walked directly to the table and sat down, picking up his chopsticks. His gaze swept over Su Wan and paused slightly. The woman's face was indeed a bit pale, but her eyes were very bright, like a kitten that had just eaten its fill: "What's wrong? You don't look so good."
Su Wan jolted, came back to her senses, and quickly waved her hand: "Huh? Nothing, nothing! It's just... I ate too much! Look at my stomach!"
She instinctively patted her lower abdomen, then suddenly realized something and quickly withdrew her hand.
She quickly changed the subject: "By the way, how was your meeting today? Was that old man Lei Laohu easy to talk to?"
Lu Shiyan picked up a mouthful of food, swallowed it with a calm expression, and said in a quiet tone: "It went fairly smoothly. There's been a change in position."
He said a few simple sentences, and Su Wan was confused, but she firmly believed that the male lead's judgment was absolutely correct. Anyway, she just needed to cling to his leg, and Lu Shiyan would handle the rest.
A strong wave of drowsiness swept over her like a tidal wave. She yawned twice: "I... I'm going to sleep first. This drowsiness came on so strong."
No sooner had she spoken than Xiao Han's exasperated wail came from the inner room: "My porridge—! Is my health porridge ready yet?!"
"Ow, ow, ow! You're all busy serving the little pregnant woman, and you're not going to care about me, the patient, are you?! Su Wan, you heartless little thing!"
A Mo stood up with a "thump," his face apologetic: "Han Ge's porridge... I'll go check."
He quickly walked towards the inner room: "I've been watching the fire for the precious medicinal ingredients Miss Su gave, it should be almost ready."
Su Wan rubbed her temples and mumbled, "He dislikes the ready-made plain porridge from the space, saying it lacks nutrition, and insists on medicinal cuisine... Well, it's good, it will help his injuries recover."
She got up and walked towards her room, her steps a little unsteady. Lu Shiyan's gaze lingered on her back for a moment.
At the same time, in Zone B, Scorpion's lair.
In a basement that never saw sunlight, perpetually dark, damp, and emanating a strong smell of mold and blood.
"Bang—!!!"
A deafening crash!
The expensive mahogany table was smashed to smithereens by a large hand covered in hideous scars! Wood splinters mixed with broken teacup shards flew everywhere!
Scorpion's already fierce face was now ashen, his eyes bloodshot and crimson, as if he had just been pulled from a pool of blood, gleaming with a predatory ferocity! His entire aura was as chilling as a demon that had crawled out of hell.
On the ground, seven or eight trembling small leaders knelt, their heads practically buried in their crotches, not daring to even breathe heavily.
The air was filled with the smell of fear, and the crotches of several people were wet.
"Black Faced Wolf is dead?! The entire damn cannery was blown to smithereens?!"
Scorpion's voice was hoarse, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together, every word squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying intense murderous intent!
He suddenly kicked over a copper basin filled with ice cubes next to him. The ice cubes clattered across the floor, making crisp crashing sounds in the dim basement.
"My hard-earned fortune, accumulated over a decade! In one night! It's all gone to hell?!" Scorpion's roar echoed in the cramped space, "Those goods were all things I risked my life for! Dug out of piles of dead bodies, box by box!"
A small leader closest to him was shaking like a sieve from his roar, and he tremblingly, hesitantly looked up: "Bo... Boss... it... it was that newcomer Lu Shiyan who did it... We found Black Faced Wolf Ge's body, his throat was slit with one knife, he died a terrible death..."
"Lu Shiyan?!"
A fierce glint flashed in Scorpion's eyes; that name was like a sharp knife plunged into his heart!
He gnashed his teeth and hissed, "That old geezer Lei Laohu! What kind of trash did he find?! Daring to touch my Scorpion's territory!"
Another small leader kneeling on the ground added with a crying voice: "Boss, the cannery is just a pile of ruins now, not even a complete brick can be found. Our men... they're all gone too."
Scorpion, of course, knew what this meant! He had lost not only tangible weapons and supplies, but also the deterrent power he had established in this dog-eat-dog base! This explosion had almost broken his backbone!
"Very good! Very good!"
Scorpion suddenly grinned maniacally, letting out a series of "ho ho ho" strange laughs, "Lu Shiyan, is it? Capable! Truly capable!"
He suddenly raised his voice, "Too bad such a good sword is standing on my opposite side! Since that's the case..."
"Go find that kid! Tell him, there's a job!"