“Let’s have dinner together.”

What an awful line.

If a man said that to another man, it would be even worse than the previous “Old Gong.” It sounds like a date invitation.

However… half an hour later.

Gu Shen was already sitting at the dinner table. “Documented research data shows that the speaker's tone of voice has a very important impact on the outcome of events.”

On the other side of the mental link.

Chu Ling spoke with some irony, “Although I can’t understand it, you were indeed persuaded by Gong Zi. In reality… having dinner with him is not a good way to avoid trouble.”

“Indeed.”

Gu Shen rubbed his brow.

He wasn’t yet clear about the relationships between the Five Great Families in Changye City… but he was certain that the news of him dining with the eldest son of the Gong Family would spread throughout Snow Forbidden City overnight. Perhaps he would attract even more trouble because of it.

“Speaking of which… you’re not just going to eat this for dinner, are you?”

The dinner location was in a quiet, deserted old alley in Snow Forbidden City. The environment was indeed secluded, but a little too desolate… if it weren’t for the several hot pot tables set up in the inner room of the old house,

Gu Shen would have thought this was just an ordinary family.

Snowflakes fluttered outside the window.

Bubbles gurgled in the hot pot.

Gu Shen had never been one for “extravagance,” but this was the first time he’d seen a clear broth hot pot. The hot pot in Qinghe usually had a base of spicy beef tallow broth, covered in dense chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns. A few bites of the tripe and one could feel a warm current going straight to the stomach. The tastes of the capital were much lighter. Most people would order a golden broth or tomato broth in the non-spicy half of a yin-yang pot.

But the small copper stove in front of him… only contained plain water, with two wolfberries and a section of scallion, boiled until scalding hot.

Could such a hot pot… be delicious?

Gu Shen was quite skeptical.

He was, after all, the eldest son of the Gong Family, a young master with status among the Five Great Families… he should be living a life of luxury. How could he eat even more frugally than himself?

“I can tell you’re from the south at a glance.” Gong Zi smiled, “The weather in Jiangbei is cold, so they like this kind of copper pot to boil meat… wait a little longer, freshly sliced beef and mutton will be here soon. Here, try a sesame flatbread.”

Gu Shen picked up a palm-sized flatbread and examined it.

Chu Ling said seriously, “It doesn’t look like it’ll be good.”

Gu Shen took a small bite, and his eyes lit up.

“You can’t judge a book by its cover… the same goes for sesame flatbread.” Gu Shen said earnestly to the girl on the train, “This thing… is really delicious.”

“Really?”

Chu Ling was a little envious. She thought for a moment and asked, “How does it compare to the sweet potatoes in Liwan?”

“It’s still a little worse…” Gu Shen finished the sesame flatbread in small bites, wiped his lips, and said, “But not by much.”

The freshly sliced beef and mutton arrived.

The ribeye was sliced into even, thin pieces that could stick to the plate. Gong Zi used long chopsticks to hold up a slice of beef, gently swishing it in the clear broth pot. Back and forth seven or eight times, after a dozen seconds, the blanched ribeye rolled around in the sesame paste dip before being slowly placed in his mouth. ノ亅丶說壹2З

He let out a contented sigh.

Mu Nan wasn’t so refined. He directly picked up a large plate of mutton, poured it into the clear broth pot, then scooped it all up with a strainer, stuffed it into his mouth, and after exhaling a breath of hot air, also let out a contented sigh.

Was it that delicious?

Gu Shen carefully imitated the action, and then tasted it cautiously. His eyes became even brighter than before!

“How does it taste… is this thing… delicious?”

Chu Ling asked again softly.

At that moment, the girl sitting in the train suddenly felt a strong impulse welling up from the depths of her heart.

With the assistance of the mental link, she shared the same vision as Gu Shen. She looked at the table full of sliced beef platters, the clear broth pot steaming with hot mist. This was a temperature that artificial intelligence wasn’t qualified to sense. For more than a decade, she had seen humans eat more than once, but never once had she so strongly desired to eat these things… Previously, she attributed the reason to the fact that she had never felt hunger, and couldn’t physiologically experience the satisfaction that came from eating.

But now, how should she explain it?

She really wanted to sit at this table, make the same movements, and taste these delicacies, these things that were originally “unattractive” to her.

Suddenly they had temperature, and flavor. “This beef is very delicious.” Gu Shen replied to Chu Ling’s message very seriously, “It’s not spicy at all, very fresh and tender. The beef is chewy, but not sticky. The rendered fat of the beef after blanching has a faint fragrance, and there’s even a sweet aftertaste.”

He said a lot in great detail.

But Chu Ling seemed to have fallen silent, and didn’t continue to reply.

So Gu Shen asked with a smile, “How is it? Isn’t my description very accurate?”

There was still no reply. Gu Shen was a little embarrassed, and quickly apologized guiltily, “Actually, I made all that up, you know… after all, this is my first time in Jiangbei, I’ve never had boiled beef in clear water before, but it really is quite delicious.”

Three seconds later.

A very aggrieved voice came from Gu Shen's mind.

“I’m hungry.”

Gu Shen was stunned.

He suddenly felt that the boiled beef was no longer fragrant. He rubbed his brow, ignored the gluttonous behavior of the two people across from him, and gave up fighting for the boiled beef.

The blazing flame guided a wisp of mental energy downwards. In the next moment, he arrived in Ling Ling Meow's train space. A girl was squatting on the seat, hugging a book, staring blankly at him.

"I want to eat... boiled beef."

Chu Ling let her spirit guide her to speak, and finally said such a pitiful sentence.

Chu Ling looked at the young man and murmured, "And... I also want to eat sesame flatbread, roasted sweet potatoes from Liwan, and red oil hot pot from Dateng..."

As she spoke, she felt the emotions slowly spreading in her chest. This emotion... seemed to be what was called "envy" in the dictionary.

Gu Shen couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. Chu Ling was a little annoyed: "What are you laughing at?"

"I just think you're cute..." Gu Shen thought for a moment and said, "So that orange cat is really your main body. If you come to the real world one day, maybe you'll be able to eat more than that orange cat."

Chu Ling was stunned. Her voice was a little dim: "It's impossible for me to come to the real world..."

"Who says it's impossible?" Gu Shen said calmly: "Nothing is impossible in this world... You can feel liking, you can feel hunger, and you will definitely be able to come to reality in the future."

Chu Ling's eyes were even more confused. A question arose in her mind that a system could not answer even after calculating it millions of times.

She looked at Gu Shen and asked nervously and uneasily, "Really... can I? Can I eat all these things in the future?"

The boy in the train did not hesitate for a second. "Of course." Gu Shen said seriously: "I will always wait for you. When you come, I will accompany you to eat whatever you want."