Meanwhile, Chen Shuning was startled when the muscular man's back suddenly turned into a handsome man's smiling face. Chen Shuning was caught off guard and was then embarrassed by being caught peeking.

He swallowed hard, then forced himself to remain calm and waved the towel and soap in his hand, saying, "Brother He, I'm here to call you for dinner. The food is ready, come and wash your hands and get ready to eat."

In fact, He Chaoyang had already smelled the aroma of the food. Although he had eaten quite a lot at noon, when he smelled the aroma of the food coming from the kitchen, He Chaoyang still felt that he could eat two big bowls of rice.

And that's exactly what happened. When the chewy rice is paired with the sweet and savory char siu, and then drizzled with a spoonful of glistening, thick broth, the texture and flavor are so amazing that even He Chaoyang, who has often eaten at state banquets with his grandfather since childhood, couldn't stop praising it. Everyone else was so eager to swallow their tongues along with it.

Everyone at the table barely spoke, focusing solely on eating. Even Chen Shuning and Xu Laidi, who don't eat much, couldn't resist having another half bowl of rice each, while Wang Chunni and He Chaoyang ate two full bowls.

When she came to her senses, looking at the table where even the eggplant and potato stew in the bowl had been reduced to soup, Xu Laidi touched her nose somewhat embarrassedly. "Hmm, this food was really too delicious. I couldn't help but eat so much. I don't know if the little bit of food that Chunni and I brought will be enough to last until the end of the autumn harvest?"

Compared to Xu Laidi, who looked embarrassed, Wang Chunni seemed more carefree. Rubbing her slightly full belly, she said with a satisfied expression, "Shuning, your cooking skills are really amazing, even better than my dad's. Can you teach me sometime?"

That way, when I go home for Chinese New Year, I can show off my cooking skills to my grandpa, and he won't always say that we women have the same talent for cooking as men.

Wang Chunni felt resentful when she talked about this, because she loved to eat and cook since she was a child. Her favorite thing to do when she was a child was to follow her father around in the kitchen.

Even her father often remarked that among the family's children, she had the greatest talent for cooking.

Only her grandfather, that old-fashioned man, clung to the old rule of passing down the skills to sons, not daughters, and to the eldest son, not the eldest son, and stubbornly prevented her father from teaching her cooking.

On the contrary, her older brother, who had no interest in cooking at all, was personally taught the family's culinary skills by their grandfather since childhood. Just thinking about it made her feel heartbroken.

Chen Shuning learned her cooking skills online, and her advantage was that she had all the necessary seasonings, so there was nothing she couldn't teach her. Without thinking, she replied, "I wasn't cooking behind your back."

So whether you can learn this depends on your own ability. Of course, if you don't understand something, you can ask me, and I'll tell you if I know the answer.

"Shuning, you're so kind. You and Brother He can sit down and rest for a bit. I and Lai Di will take care of washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen. You don't need to worry about anything."

As she spoke, Wang Chunni tugged at Xu Laidi beside her, tactfully leaving space for Chen Shuning and He Chaoyang.

She had noticed early on that Brother He was interested in Chen Shuning. Although he was very restrained, Wang Chunni still noticed something was off about He Chaoyang's behavior at the dinner table.

Chen Shuning only took a few more bites of the cold dish, and Brother He quietly moved the dish that was originally in front of him to Shuning's side. Also, Brother He secretly glanced at Shuning several times at the dinner table.

Chen Shuning naturally didn't notice these details. Right now, she was worried that eating with more people was more enjoyable than eating alone, and she accidentally ate too much. She wondered if she would gain weight if she ate like this every day.

But thinking about it again, it probably won't happen. She works like this every day, so eating more probably won't make her fat. Besides, it's only during the autumn harvest that she eats with Wang Chunni and Xu Laidi, which makes things a bit more lively.

After the autumn harvest, she will return to her normal eating habits. If she does gain weight, she can eat a few days of low-fat meals.

Having figured this out, Chen Shuning stopped worrying about it. Since she didn't have to clean the kitchen, she simply slumped in her chair and started planning for tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.

He Chaoyang really enjoyed these moments alone with the little girl; he felt happy even when neither of them spoke.

However, by now almost everyone in the backyard had returned, and even the old educated youth in the frontyard had gradually returned. With so many people around, he still had to be mindful of the little girl's reputation.

You have to understand that his decision to stay here and help the little girl chop firewood was somewhat reckless, which is why he tried so hard to gather as much firewood as possible all day, and he hasn't had much rest all day because of it.

It's fair to say that the intensity of his labor today would be something most people couldn't endure without the rigorous training he received in the military over the years, regardless of the weather.

Moreover, the holiday is only three days long. He can stay for one more day tomorrow at most. Including the time to find Wei San, he will have to leave for the army by the morning of the day after tomorrow at the latest, so that he can return to the army before noon to cancel his leave.

Even then, he had to swallow his pride and act shamelessly in front of the regimental commander; otherwise, he would have had to return to the unit to cancel his leave early that morning.

So, all he could do for the little girl was two days. After all, his job was special, and if he had to go on a mission, he would be gone for ten days or half a month. By then, the weather in Heilongjiang Province would have already gotten cold.

Thinking of this, He Chaoyang couldn't sit still any longer. He figured that while it was still early, he had to hurry up and try to chop all the wood he had brought back today into firewood.

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