Chapter 3: This Is the Taste

Huang Wei’s gaze slipped from under her bangs onto the photograph. In the picture, Huang Chengcheng was still very small, cradled in Cheng Luyun’s arms. Huang Wei had never raised a child and didn’t know how old that size was, but she guessed around one year old.

The system was indeed meticulous, with every small detail perfectly filled in. The observant Huang Wei could glean a lot of information from just these details.

This guide of hers must have been away from home for many years.

When they first met, the big boss had said, “You’re finally back.” Huang Chengcheng had rushed over crying, “We’ve been waiting for you so painfully.” The photo wasn’t haphazardly placed. If they had really taken photos, they wouldn’t only display one from right after Chengcheng was born; they’d naturally put out the most recent ones. If a very old photo was displayed, then there should also be later photos surrounding it.

An old photo like this would never be displayed alone on the table.

Thus, the conclusion was obvious: they had only taken this one photo. Combined with the earlier information, Huang Wei had been away from home—or more precisely, Huang Family Village—for a very long time. A conservative estimate was five years, at minimum.

Based on this analysis, the person Cheng Luyun was waiting for at the gate was likely her. But the other party was the big boss, so she couldn’t be viewed as ordinary. It was possible the original design was that the players would kill her, and after scrambling to reach the village, they’d be ambushed by the big boss.

That design was just too absurd, though. The probability was low.

Huang Wei still leaned toward the theory that Cheng Luyun was waiting for her.

While Huang Wei was thinking, Huang Chengcheng wasn’t idle, bouncing around like a little rabbit.

Even though Huang Wei was deep in thought, except for the initial glance at the photo, her eyes never left Huang Chengcheng. She watched her closely, afraid the little boss might suddenly decide to stab her.

The little boss busied herself for quite a while, butt sticking up in the air, before bringing back a heap of things to Huang Wei and dumping them all onto the sofa.

Huang Wei took a look and saw quite the assortment: gold-foil chocolates, marshmallows, beef jerky, mandarin oranges, lollipops… a hodgepodge scattered across the sofa—a rather spectacular sight.

Even more spectacular was Huang Chengcheng pushing the pile toward Huang Wei, mouth working nonstop, urging her dad to eat.

Could this stuff really be eaten?

Huang Wei fell silent. She knew Huang Chengcheng was a ghost, and these things were brought by a ghost. Whether they were edible was a serious question mark. But if she steadfastly refused to eat, would the little boss fly into a rage, turn back into a ghost, and send her off to the afterlife?

So eating was a problem, and not eating was also a problem.

Meeting Huang Chengcheng’s hopeful gaze, Huang Wei thought it over and picked up a jelly cup to eat. She figured that whether it was Cheng Luyun or Huang Chengcheng, they had way too many chances to make a move on her. Besides, taking her out wouldn’t require either of them to lift a finger. She was just an ordinary person. If those battle-hardened players couldn’t handle these two bosses, could she? There was no need for them to go to the trouble of poisoning the food.

She peeled open an orange-flavored jelly, took a sip of the liquid around the jelly, then popped the whole thing into her mouth. She chewed a few times before swallowing.

If nothing else, at least it quenched her thirst. Huang Wei had walked such a long way on the road. Those players were all such tough folks they hadn’t even broken a sweat, leaving poor Huang Wei nearly collapsing from exhaustion. She’d led them all that time, and not one of them had thought to give her a drink of water.

Seeing Huang Wei eat the jelly, Huang Chengcheng’s smile grew even sweeter. “Dad, is it yummy?”

Huang Wei nodded. “Mm.” It actually tasted pretty good. Jelly wasn’t something she actively bought, but she liked eating it when she had it. She used to eat it a lot as a child, less so when she grew up.

Mainly because she had no money. Any spare cash for snacks was better saved for buying groceries.

Speaking of groceries, Cheng Luyun had been in the kitchen for a while now, though hardly enough time to cook a meal. Yet in this short span, she had already brought out three dishes and a soup. Cheng Luyun carried a tray stacked so full that some plates had to be balanced on top of others.

She held the tray as if it were a cloud, light as if weightless.

Huang Wei was startled when Cheng Luyun’s voice suddenly sounded right beside her. Cheng Luyun said, “Brother Wei, Chengcheng, come eat.”

Hearing this, Huang Wei’s heart was a tangle of emotions. When she reached the main hall, she saw Cheng Luyun had already set out the dishes along with three sets of bowls and chopsticks.

Cheng Luyun sent Huang Chengcheng to get the rice. Carrying three bowls, the little girl pattered off to the living room they’d just been in. Huang Wei had noticed the rice cooker there earlier, still in keep-warm mode, though it had been warming for far too long. The first digit on the display was 0 and then 5—she couldn’t make out the rest. She was sure it wasn’t 5 minutes, so it must have been 5 hours.

What a waste of electricity.

Though short-legged, Huang Chengcheng moved quickly, returning soon with two bowls of rice. After making another trip to fill her own small bowl, she climbed onto her specially raised chair and settled down to eat.

Huang Wei didn’t have many children around her, but she knew that a child as well-behaved as Huang Chengcheng was extremely rare. She hadn’t even seen such good behavior online. Brats were everywhere, needing a whole family to chase them around just to coax them into eating a few bites.

Huang Chengcheng was only about five or six, yet she could not only feed herself properly but also help her mom with chores.

If she weren’t a ghost, she’d genuinely be a wonderful little girl.

The rice and dishes before her steamed with heat. Staring at them, Huang Wei’s stomach began to rumble.

She hadn’t eaten much the night before. After waking, she’d been leading players all over the mountains, and now she’d spent this time in nervous fear. With hot food laid out in front of her, how could her stomach not rebel?

Her stomach’s protests made Cheng Luyun laugh. She urged Huang Wei to eat quickly and not starve herself.

At that moment, Huang Wei felt a pang of being touched. She was an orphan; her parents had died early. Her grandparents didn’t want her and sent her to a family in the same village who couldn’t have children. But soon after she arrived, her adoptive parents conceived, and later they had their own child. From then on, they couldn’t stand the sight of her. Even at meals, she had to take her bowl and chopsticks to a small room to eat.

Although her adoptive parents treated her and their own child differently, at least she was never starved or left cold. After finishing her studies, she moved out to live on her own, though she still had to send some of her earnings back home.

When she first arrived at her adoptive parents’ home, they had been quite good to her. But those memories were too far away now, to the point she couldn’t even recall them clearly. The only thing she remembered was: no one had ever cooked a meal just for her.

To be precise, still no one, since this meal was cooked by a ghost.

Yet this sudden little bit of warmth still stirred Huang Wei’s heart. She was good at observing and thinking, and she saw herself clearly. She knew she had some psychological issues, but she had no money for a therapist.

She’d flipped through books on her own and figured she was probably a people-pleaser. She also knew she fell too easily and had zero resistance to others’ kindness, falling for people so fast.

From this little bit of goodwill, Huang Wei already felt she was starting to like this beautiful female ghost before her.

Part of the reason for this stirring heart might also be that the female ghost was just too beautiful.

This wasn’t good… Huang Wei mentally warned herself and honestly picked up her chopsticks to start shoveling rice into her mouth.

The rice tasted normal, even fragrant, no different from home. She breathed a sigh of relief and took another bite. As Huang Wei took two bites of plain rice, Cheng Luyun reached out with her chopsticks and put some food into her bowl.

“Thank you.”

Huang Wei murmured her thanks, feeling moved again. This was the first time someone—a ghost—had ever served her food.

She took a bite of the dish, and the slowly spreading warmth in her heart instantly vanished.

Huang Wei’s expression turned very ugly. She was good at holding things in. Logically, in this situation, no matter what was in her mouth, she should smile and swallow it. But this dish was truly hard to get down.

No other reason: it was just too disgusting.

Cheng Luyun’s face showed confusion. “Brother Wei, what’s wrong?”

Huang Wei’s expression was complicated. She chewed twice more, then gave up on swallowing the food. Sure, she was starved for love, but even though she was poor, her basic meals were guaranteed. Growing up doing farmwork at her adoptive parents’ home, her cooking skills had also been honed.

She wasn’t actually a picky eater and could stomach most ordinary food. But she really hadn’t expected the dish to be this revolting.

Each dish looked fantastic, but the moment they entered her mouth, it was a different story. What looked like a bite of leafy greens tasted like crispy, withered straw once in her mouth. That braised pork belly that made her mouth water? The moment it hit her tongue, it made her suspect Cheng Luyun’s household sold salt.

Just two bites gave Huang Wei a glimpse of her deceased parents.

For a split second, she wavered: were the mother-daughter pair actually trying to poison her?

She set down her chopsticks and glanced at Huang Chengcheng. The little girl was eating with great relish. Huang Wei wondered if her own taste buds were the problem. The two before her were ghosts, so it wouldn’t be strange if they used some supernatural method.

She looked at Cheng Luyun again and remembered the blood-red name hovering above her head when she’d first seen her.

For the sake of her life, she had better eat.

Huang Wei picked up her chopsticks again, shook her head, and answered Cheng Luyun’s earlier question. “I haven’t eaten your cooking in so long…” Trembling, she reached for another dish and, suppressing her disgust, put it in her mouth.

This tofu… why did it taste like pig slop…

Facing Cheng Luyun’s smiling face, Huang Wei finally couldn’t hold it in. Tears of being moved streamed down her face. “I missed it so much… This is the taste.”