Wen Qing saw He Zhuo walking towards the kitchen island and immediately stopped chopping vegetables. "Xiao He, take a break first. The meal will be ready soon."

He Zhuo rolled up his sleeves and said, "Sister Wen Qing, I'm really not tired. Let me lend a hand."

Wen Qing hesitated for a moment and handed over a basket of vegetables: "Then... you should wash these vegetables."

"Okay!" He Zhuo took the basket, his eyes lighting up: "By the way, Sister Wen Qing, how about I..."

"No!" Wen Qing interrupted, and the kitchen knife slammed down on the chopping board.

He Zhuo hung his head, like a dog drenched in rain. "Sister Wen Qing, I haven't even finished what I'm saying..."

Wen Qing pulled out the kitchen knife, and without even looking up, he chopped even louder: "Xiao He, just wash those vegetables!"

He Zhuo: "Sister Wen Qing, can I cook two more dishes?"

Lu Nange and the others all raised their heads and said in unison: "No!"

He Zhuo turned to Chi Yanzhou and looked at him for help: "Brother Yan, Brother Ci, are the dishes I cook really that bad?"

Everyone shook their heads in unison.

"Look!" He Zhuogang raised a proud smile.

"It's extremely unpalatable!" The voices of the crowd almost blew the roof off the car.

Gu Qi: "Old He, I asked you to help me, not to poison us."

Gu Wan counted on her fingers: "Ever since that salty eggplant dish, you've been trying to prove your cooking skills every day. We didn't stop you, but this morning Sister Wen Qing just asked you to watch over the wontons, and you—"

She suddenly raised her voice: "A bottle of pepper! Just pour it in. Do you really want to send us away?"

He Zhuo quietly defended himself: "It's so cold... I just thought eating more pepper would warm me up."

Luo Xingyou said quietly, "What about the vegetables you stir-fried yesterday? They were as black as charcoal, and you insisted it was a secret recipe...and you insisted we try it."

He Zhuo slumped his shoulders: "Is it really that unpalatable?"

Lu Beiye: "Brother He Zhuo, your vegetables are so delicious that even zombies would run away if they smelled them."

Everyone nodded in unison.

"I just... really have no talent at all?" He Zhuo asked unwillingly.

Shi Xu: "If I asked you to stand by and follow the seasoning step by step, and you put sugar instead of salt, what would you say?"

Lu Nange: "Brother Zhuo, why bother?"

Gu Qi patted his shoulder and said earnestly: "Brother, why do you want to humiliate yourself?"

He Zhuo washed the vegetables obediently, although he still stood beside Wen Qing and Luo Xingyou and tried to learn from them. No matter how much he persuaded them, he stopped silently adding seasonings or asking them to cook a dish.

......

After dinner, Lu Nange poured all the high-level crystal cores he had harvested today onto the table.

The yellow and green crystal cores shimmered in the light...

"Today's harvest is not bad." She tapped the crystal core with her fingertips. "Sister Wen Qing, Sister Wan Wan, and Brother Ji Xian are all stuck at level three. Should we push these three to level four first?"

Everyone has long been accustomed to this distribution method - when there are enough crystal cores, everyone will share them equally; when there are not enough, they will be distributed according to demand based on the actual situation.

No one had any objections and everyone nodded in unison.

Wen Qing and the other two did not refuse. They each took the crystal core and placed it on their desk.