After repeatedly going back and forth with the doctor for half an hour, Bai Liu was finally required to stay in the hospital for at least a week—not even one day early return to work would be allowed.

Watching his usually invincible sister’s face turn iron-blue as she leaned back against the pillow in rare defeat, Bai Yang was in great spirits as he peeled an apple and laughed: “CEO Bai finally has vacation time, congratulations.”

Bai Liu glared at him fiercely: “You brat, do you know how much work I have on my hands? If I rest here for even one day, those old codgers at the company might start getting restless.”

“Even if they make you stay in the hospital, you can’t possibly not handle business, you’ll just not be physically present. They can’t possibly stage a coup and steal the company seal, can they?”

Bai Yang cut the apple into small pieces and fed them to Bai Liu’s lips, his voice softening as he said coquettishly: “Sister, just rest and recover for a few days. Look, I properly attended the launch event, solved the troubles at the shop, and now I’ve left the shop to Old Han and the others specifically to come take care of you. Just think of it as spending more time with your dear brother, okay?”

Bai Liu looked at him sideways with amusement: “I’ve never seen you be clingy since childhood, what’s this, feeling sorry for me?”

“Mm.”

Unexpectedly, Bai Yang didn’t try to act tough at all, or perhaps even if he wanted to, his reaction when he came to the hospital that day had already exposed everything.

Initially, he had almost thought that Bai Liu had contracted some serious illness like their mother… and that had nearly scared him out of his wits. Even now, thinking about it still made his heart race.

Bai Yang fed her another piece of apple: “After eating and using your money for so many years, I still have the conscience to take care of your daily needs for a few days… I’ve already rented a guesthouse next to the hospital. I’ll handle all your meals these days, and I’ll sleep here at night too.”

Only then did Bai Liu remember that it seemed ever since Bai Yang graduated from college and started his business, they had never lived together again.

Not to mention how busy her work was—she came home in the middle of the night every day. On Bai Yang’s side, because he was using her money for business ventures that repeatedly failed, he felt too guilty to ask to stay with her anymore. So no matter how tight money was, he would always rent a place outside.

So for over six whole years, aside from occasionally getting to eat a cake that Bai Yang filially offered her, Bai Liu hadn’t eaten food cooked by her brother in a very long time.

If that was the case, staying in the hospital seemed kind of interesting.

Bai Liu watched her brother skillfully gnaw the apple core clean and couldn’t help laughing: “Boss Bai is still so stingy even after making money.”

Bai Yang paused, then irritably threw away the apple core: “That’s a habit you created in me. When we were little, you always threw the apple core to me and made me gnaw it clean… and lied to me saying apple cores contained apple seeds, which were the most nutritious part of the apple.”

Near eleven o’clock, Bai Yang gave a few instructions to the caregiver and quickly went to the guesthouse to prepare food. When he returned carrying two dishes and a soup, Bai Liu’s bedside table was already filled with a large pile of project documents.

“Can’t you hire a secretary? Do you have to handle everything personally?”

Bai Yang went over to help organize them, discovering that the stacked materials were already thicker than his baking books. The top document was a contract for entering the Japanese market, and he couldn’t help rolling his eyes: “Is your next step going to be personally working the production line to make chili sauce?”

Although it was only the third day after surgery, apart from wearing hospital clothes, Bai Liu looked no different from usual. She said indifferently: “Hiring people isn’t as easy for me as it is for you, just posting a notice at the door. The secretaries I hired before had loose mouths and dirty hands. Either they were conspiring with those old bastards in the company to undermine me, or they had private contact with our dad. Their methods were even more despicable than Han Laosan’s, so I kicked them all out.”

Bai Liu’s tone was casual, but it made Bai Yang’s heart tighten.

After this negotiation with Guan Yinli, he had somewhat seen the dirty side of this business. Thinking about how just eating one Hongmen banquet could disgust him for half a day, while Bai Liu experienced these things almost every day…

This also made it easy to understand why the doctor repeatedly emphasized to Bai Liu that she couldn’t get angry with this condition.

Bai Yang sighed and finally decided out of sight, out of mind, temporarily moving that pile of materials to the nightstand, saying helplessly: “He still hasn’t given up? I haven’t been home in two years.”

“Not surprising. His little schemes now aren’t about getting the company back to give to you, but just wanting to keep some power in his own hands so I won’t really kick him out later.”

Bai Liu snorted coldly and opened the lunch box lid. A fragrant aroma of pig’s trotters wafted up, and she raised her eyebrows: “Not bad, Yang Zi, where did you buy this?”

Bai Yang said helplessly: “What buy? I bought the ingredients early this morning and started stewing them. The doctor said your digestive system hasn’t fully recovered yet, so you need to eat softer, more nutritious food.”

He helped Bai Liu open another bowl containing steamed pumpkin: “Think of it as a budget version of steamed pork. I know you don’t like sweet dishes, so I made it savory to go with rice.”

Speaking, Bai Yang handed Bai Liu chopsticks: “You eat first, the rest is mine. Try to finish it in one meal, I’ll cook new dishes for you tonight.”

Although she had long known that Bai Yang could cook, when Bai Liu actually tasted the food, she felt that between the two of them, Bai Yang was indeed the one who was more like their mother.

She quickly tasted the familiar flavors from their childhood dining table in these two dishes… Even though it was invalid food without a single chili pepper, the taste was still so good that she couldn’t bear to put down her chopsticks.

“Mom’s recipe book has these two dishes too.”

Bai Liu said nostalgically: “Looks like I copied them for nothing back then. You can make them without copying.”

Bai Yang laughed: “That’s because all the dishes Mom made were for both of us. Have you forgotten? The pig’s trotters were specifically made by Mom for me because I don’t eat spicy food… When I made it this time, I still adjusted the flavor. Originally, to coax me, Mom’s special pig’s trotter soup should have had rice wine, but I used less because I was afraid it wouldn’t be good for your wound recovery.”

“Now that you mention it, it seems Mom made steamed pumpkin like steamed pork because I don’t like sweet things.”

Suddenly, Bai Liu was stunned.

Although she knew that Mom loved her too, ever since her brother was born, Mom’s “special treatment” always seemed to go to Bai Yang—this had once stuck there like an inconspicuous fishbone. It didn’t hurt, but Bai Liu often thought about it.

Because of this, she always showed off Mom’s chili sauce mixed rice to her brother, which led to Bai Yang hoarding sweets everywhere like a little hamster to compete with her, eventually getting to the point where he had to see the dentist every month.

It turned out that in the past, Mom’s scales had also tilted toward her.

Bai Liu looked at the crushed pumpkin on her chopstick tips and belatedly smiled, while Bai Yang looked completely baffled: “Damn, don’t suddenly smile like that… whenever you smiled like this before, you were planning to mess with me.”

Of course, Bai Liu didn’t plan to tell him about this emotional journey, lest the kid start settling old scores with her. She sipped half a bowl of pig’s trotter soup in small mouthfuls and thought for a moment: “Speaking of which, Mom’s recipe book is still with me. I originally wanted to open a chain restaurant after the chili sauce business stabilized, but now it seems like you’d be more suitable as the owner of that shop.”

“What?”

Bai Yang was shocked: “I know you want to train me, but I can’t possibly instantly ascend from a cake maker to Ma Yun… Just preparing for a branch shop is already giving me a huge headache. Sister, please don’t lose your mind and expect me to make big money.”

Hearing this, Bai Liu just looked at him indifferently: “If you want more people to eat Mom’s cakes, this current small-scale business approach definitely won’t work. Sooner or later you’ll have to expand and strengthen your business, develop the demeanor of a boss… This can’t be rushed in practical terms, but you at least need to have this awareness first. Don’t always think of yourself as just a cake maker, or else any random demons and monsters will think they can take advantage of you.”

“…Got it, Sister. I’ll listen to you about these things from now on, okay? I was wrong.”

Bai Yang knew that Bai Liu was still talking about the launch event incident. Just as he was thinking of taking this opportunity to act cute and apologize properly, Bai Liu’s phone suddenly started buzzing frantically. She answered it, and after listening for two seconds, her brow furrowed.

“Wait, when did you say the people from Japan are coming?”