Chapter 162

Chapter 162: Foxy’s “Meal”

Water rushed into the tub, and steam slowly filled the bathroom. Irene sat on the washing machine with her cheeks in her hands, looking a bit bored.

Yu Sheng reached into the tub to test the temperature, then turned the hot water a little higher, thinking: [This doll is not afraid of heat anyway.]

Irene suddenly shouted from behind: “I want to use the shower too!”

Yu Sheng glanced back at her and said: “Can you even reach it? You can barely hold the showerhead with both hands, and you would need a ladder to turn the valve. Just soak in the tub. To be honest, you can even swim in there. Most people never get that kind of bath.”

Irene snapped right away: “It’s not like I chose to be this short! If you have the skill, make me a one-meter-sixty-seven body!”

Yu Sheng did not answer. He was used to this doll’s constant muttering.

Irene did not care whether he replied or not. Soon she brought up a new request: “Then make me a smaller showerhead, the kind for kids, and put an extra valve near the floor. Set up a set for me in the shower stall. That stuff is not even expensive.”

Yu Sheng waved it off and said: “One day, one day,” then stood and looked at her: “The water is ready. Get in. I hung a towel on the wall next to you.”

“I know,” Irene said, flapping her hand. She hopped down from the washing machine, then struggled her way up to the rim of the tub: “I’m going to bathe. Out, out.”

Yu Sheng flicked the little doll on the head and left the bathroom. He heard water running in the kitchen, so he went to look. Foxy was cleaning up. She had just finished clearing the mess Irene made and was now scrubbing a scorched spatula in the sink.

Seeing this warmed Yu Sheng’s heart. He thought: [Good thing the house doesn’t only have a professional troublemaker like Irene. At least there is one honest kid who helps.]

Foxy turned, saw him, quickly wiped her hands on her tail, then lifted a basin off the stove and carried it over like a treasure: “Benefactor, this is for you.”

Yu Sheng froze. He looked down into the basin. He stared for a long time and still could not tell what that lump of mixed stuff was. He looked back up at the fox girl and said: “…What?”

“Even though Irene burned the stir-fry, I already finished cooking the rice,” Foxy said with a bright smile: “Try it, try it.”

Yu Sheng was still thinking about what a good, honest kid she was. Hearing her cheerful tone as she looked for praise, his brain failed to process for a moment. After two seconds, he looked down into the basin again. This time he forced himself to connect that lump with the word “food.” Awe exploded in his mind like a geyser.

“This is the rice you cooked?” He took a small half step back, afraid that if he looked again he would see seven or eight eyes and a bunch of tentacles growing out of it: “What did you put in it?”

A flash from the basin lingered in his mind. He could not recall the full scene, only that a bowl of strange-colored thick soup held all kinds of floating lumps. Vegetables that died with open eyes, meat that died with open eyes, and who-knows-what that died with open eyes drifted up and down. Even from a meter away he felt the grudge that seemed to rise from the pot, as if the ingredients were still crying inside, mostly yelling they had been wronged.

Foxy did not see a problem. She explained: “Just all the things I like to eat.”

Yu Sheng realized she meant she had cooked all the things she liked into one pot.

The problem was she liked everything. If no one stopped her, she would even taste the packaging to see if it was salty.

Foxy carried the all-star mix to the dining room, happily filled two bowls, then turned with hopeful eyes to look at Yu Sheng.

For the first time, Yu Sheng learned that the simple, silly fox’s expectant gaze could be this heavy.

He forced himself to walk over. He struggled for a while and squeezed out half a sentence: “Actually I am not really…”

He could not say the rest.

Because Foxy was still looking at him with that bright, eager face, waiting for a word of praise.

He sat down with a numb face. After a long tangle, he clenched his teeth. [It all came from the kitchen anyway. No matter how bad it is, it should not kill me. This is the fox maiden’s first time cooking for me. The sanity cost on this might be low, but the heart behind it is big. At worst, I will risk it this once. If I still have a working mind afterward, I have to talk with Foxy. She needs to learn the basics of cooking in the normal order before trying a hard “feast” like this.]

With his head full of random thoughts, Yu Sheng took a breath, scooped a spoonful of soup, and put it in his mouth.

He froze.

Foxy watched him with bright eyes: “Benefactor, how is it? My mother taught me this. The ingredients are different here, so I used my own understanding and made changes.”

Yu Sheng still said nothing, because his head was full of surprise.

The taste was not terrible.

It was not very good either. It was just strange. He did not know how to describe this gap. It was like you look at the food and think, I am doomed, then you take a bite and cannot help but cry out in shock: Wow. It is actual food. [If you close your eyes, it tastes like food.]

“It is… not bad?” He took another sip and said, while Foxy stared at him with hopeful eyes: “The flavor is new. I have never had it, but I think it is okay.”

As he spoke, he slowly got used to ignoring the bowl’s shifting colors and the lumps that kept rolling. He even started to find a bit of good taste in it.

Foxy broke into a smile at once. It was not high praise, but she clearly took it as real approval. She reached into her tail, took out two fluffy Chicklings, and set them on the table. Then she used a small bowl to give them a little of the solid stuff from the soup: “You eat too.”

Yu Sheng stared: “…Can they eat this? You just feed it to them?”

“They should be fine,” Foxy said: “We fed the family’s Mystic Plume Sparrow like this.”

Something felt off to Yu Sheng, but before he could speak, the two clueless Chicklings were already crowding together to eat. They chirped as they ate, sounding excited.

It looked fine.

Yu Sheng glanced at the table and decided not to say more. He lowered his head and kept eating.

Foxy also checked the table, smiled with relief, and kept eating.

She was actually worried. She feared that the thing she made by barely following a method from decades-old memories would be a total failure. The ingredients here were strange, the tools were strange, the place was strange, and even the final food looked strange.

Her mother’s cooking came out of the stove as small golden balls. For some reason, hers became a pot of soup.

Luckily, the benefactor seemed to like it.

Bai Qie and Yan Ju liked it too.

After the meal, Yu Sheng rubbed his belly and let out a satisfied burp. Maybe the nap earlier helped, because he felt full of energy.

The two Chicklings paced on the table to digest. Sometimes they stopped at the edge, looked up at Yu Sheng, then looked at Foxy. When they were happy, they chirped. They looked carefree.

Foxy waved, and the two little ones ran to her and were tucked into her tail.

“Is Irene still not done?” Yu Sheng looked toward the bathroom: “She won’t drown in the tub, right?”

Right as he spoke, Irene shouted from the living room, where she was watching TV: “You are the one drowning! I am drying my hair. You know my hair is long!”

Yu Sheng blinked and turned in surprise: “Right, I forgot there was another you in the living room. Why did you not come to eat?”

Irene strolled over from the living room and rolled her eyes from the dining room doorway: “I looked from far away and decided that thing does not count as food.”

“Actually it tastes okay…”

Yu Sheng mumbled, a bit embarrassed. He saw Irene go to the bathroom doorway, drag over a small stool, climb up, and yank hard on the handle to open the door. The Irene inside came out wrapped in a towel. Her hair was damp, and she held her black dress in her arms. She pattered to the table and said: “Yu Sheng, I am done.”

“Sometimes I still cannot get used to having two of you at home,” Yu Sheng muttered, then looked at the little doll’s dress: “What happened to the clothes?”

“Burned a few holes. Fix it for me,” she said, sticking the dress out.

“Aren’t those clothes made by your mimicry? Can’t you change them back yourself?” he asked.

“Once I mimic it, it becomes normal clothing,” Irene said, as if it was obvious: “Do you have any common sense?”

[Is this really normal human common sense?] Yu Sheng looked at the doll with a strange face and took the dress: “Give it here first. But I will say it up front. You know my skills. After I patch it, it will not look great. I should go to the mall and buy you a couple of new ones. The doll shop has clothes for one-third dolls. They should fit you.”

“Okay, okay, you finally want to buy me things,” Irene cheered, then ran back to the bathroom and came out with a hair dryer: “Blow my hair!”

“I really owe you,” Yu Sheng said.