If Gu An'an had known that the person knocking on the door was the young Long Aotian, she would never have let Jiang Mingzhu open the door.

However, she couldn't predict the future, so how could she know that the person outside the door was Young Master Ning?

Seeing the two people swaggering in, Gu An'an was momentarily distracted and accidentally burned the egg skin on the pancake griddle, making it a slightly darker color.

"Mother," Jiang Mingzhu whispered, "why don't you go and rest, I'll take care of it?"

My mother has been working very hard lately to prepare for the New Year.

Jiang Mingzhu felt a pang of sympathy.

Gu An'an suddenly came to her senses and peeled off the burnt eggshell. "It's alright. Go and pour Young Master Lin a cup of tea."

Although Jiang Mingzhu disliked Lin Zixing's behavior of forcibly coming to her door to ask for water, she still obediently went to pour the water.

Lin Zixing, however, found the people busy at work rather intriguing. "Madam Gu has so many novel ideas. What delicious food are you making this time? I wonder if I, Lin, will have the pleasure of trying it?"

Gu An'an glanced at it, scooped a spoonful of egg liquid from the bowl, and swirled it in a circle from the inside out. A round pancake, as if drawn with a compass, immediately appeared on the pancake griddle.

She carefully controlled the fire below, pulled out a piece of firewood that wasn't burning very brightly and casually tossed it aside. "It's just some food from a rural family. I'm afraid Young Master Lin won't take it seriously."

"Eating too much delicacies can get tiresome. Sometimes, it's nice to eat some simple mountain vegetables. What do you think, Fourth Young Master?"

Ning Si looked at the young woman sitting there busily working and felt a little strange.

The woman's technique was extremely skillful, as if she possessed martial arts abilities.

However, his aura was completely ordinary, not that of someone who practiced martial arts at all.

He had met her once before in Anping County, but he didn't remember her at all.

Looking at her again now, I realized that this young lady didn't seem to be very old. She was quite pretty, and her eyes were particularly striking. Her demeanor was neither humble nor arrogant, quite unlike the family I lived in.

"I apologize for disturbing you, and I hope you will not take offense, Madam."

The arrogant and domineering male lead was actually quite polite at this moment, but Gu An'an really had no intention of getting involved with him. She wanted to stay as far away from him as possible and keep her Zhu'er at bay.

"What if I take offense?"

Ning Si was used to people, men and women, fawning over him.

He had previously looked down on Gu An'an, who was fawning over him, but now her eyes and brows were full of disdain, leaving him speechless for a moment.

Lin Zixing was not at all surprised to hear such a reply, and gently waved the folding fan in his hand, "Then I will have to trouble Madam Gu to bear with it."

But there was not a trace of apology in his words.

It's clearly meant to provoke people.

Gu An'an peeled off the shell of the seven-tenths cooked egg and threw it into the basket, which was already covered with a thick layer of shells.

Lin Zixing took a piece without any politeness, held it between his hands and put it in his mouth. "This tastes pretty good. Madam Gu, there's no need to be angry. I'm not one to eat and drink for free."

As he spoke, he took out a silver ingot and placed it beside the basket. "I wonder if this is enough?"

A long, long time ago, Gu An'an had pondered a question: if one day the domineering CEO's mother found her and said, "Here's 50 million to leave my son," then Gu An'an would definitely find a lawyer to confirm that the 50 million gift was legitimate, and then neatly take the check and leave.

Now, when a richly dressed young man holds up a silver ingot and asks her if it's enough, Gu An'an's answer is the same as her thoughts back then: "Young Master Lin is indeed generous, giving me this much money for just an eggshell, then I won't be polite."

Lin Zixing: "..." Did he say that this was the price of an eggshell?

However, seeing the cunning glint in the man's eyes, Lin Zixing didn't pursue the matter any further.

It's just a few taels of silver, so it doesn't really matter.

"What does Madam Gu want to make with this?"

"We need to get something to eat for the children. Celebrating the Lunar New Year in the countryside is usually quite boring, so we can only try to find something to eat."

"Boring?" Lin Zixing's gaze fell on Jiang Mingyi, who was standing to the side.

The young man seemed to deliberately ignore their arrival, focusing intently on tending the fire.

How could anyone ignore such a handsome face?

Even in coarse cloth clothes, his dignified bearing cannot be concealed.

Can't Gu An'an really see that this child is definitely not from the mountains?

Is she tormenting herself, or did she already know the child's identity and thus conceal it from her?

Lin Zixing's mind raced. When he saw the teacup being handed to him, he extended his folding fan and gestured slightly, "Thank you for your trouble."

Jiang Mingzhu placed the teacup on the fan and was about to go back inside when she heard the person mention her, "Judging from the fact that your daughter doesn't have any scars on her face, it seems that the scar-reducing cream is still effective."

Scar-reducing cream.

Ning Si, who was standing there staring at Gu An'an making egg pancakes, suddenly looked up at Jiang Mingzhu.

The girl only showed half of her profile, but her skin was smooth and beautiful, like solidified cream.

"Fourth Young Master, you may not know this, but I, Lin, went to great lengths to obtain Lady Gu's musk. The scar-reducing cream I finally found was given to Lady Gu. As the saying goes, a fine sword is given to a hero. Seeing that your daughter has preserved her beautiful appearance, I, Lin, am very gratified."

Upon hearing this, Ning Si silently withdrew his gaze. The scar-reducing ointment was a secret recipe from the palace, and even noble families could not easily obtain it.

It's not surprising that the Lin family, now that they have a daughter who is favored in the palace, obtained this scar-reducing cream.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!