In the evening, Cheng Weicai peeled and boiled the remaining loquats into a pot of sweet soup.
First, after cooking them with water, they could eat their fill with “water fullness.”
Second, the temperature was getting lower and lower. Hot soup and water could warm people up.
After cooking the loquat sweet soup, he ladled it out bowl by bowl. Coincidentally, there were exactly ten bowls in the cupboard.
Golden-yellow fruit flesh, light orange-colored broth, served in pure white porcelain bowls—exceptionally appetizing.
Cheng Weicai used a spoon to distribute evenly, ensuring each bowl had roughly the same amount of soup. Then he brought them to the dining table and continued pondering what other methods could fill everyone’s stomachs.
Although this house had no food, the kitchen’s various jars and containers weren’t lacking in seasonings—a full jar of salt, a full jar of sugar, plus pepper, bay leaves, and other spices.
For lunch and dinner, everyone had gone two consecutive meals without properly eating. If they didn’t eat tomorrow either, it would definitely affect their stamina. After all, they’d only upgraded—their bodily functions weren’t completely transformed.
Cheng Weicai took out the instant noodles, thinking to himself that tomorrow he’d have to cook the noodles.
He had something to occupy himself with. The others seemed much more bored.
The places that should be searched had been searched repeatedly several times. They’d even tried moving sofas and cabinets to check, but nothing was discovered.
The rainstorm outside never stopped. Lü Ang tried braving the rain to go out, but came back soaked with nothing to show for it.
Besides this house, there was only the mountain slope and the forest below. The forest had no end, as if it were an independent world.
Shen Mo and Yan Qingwen were both at a loss.
They were trapped.
Besides waiting for the rain to stop and for the game to begin, there was nothing they could do.
…
After dinner, everyone arranged the night watch order and each returned to their rooms to rest.
One bedroom slept two people, the downstairs sofa slept one more—exactly leaving three people to keep watch.
When Shen Mo returned to the room, he discovered Bai Youwei wasn’t sleeping.
She sat by the window, her elbow propping up her cheek, silently watching the rain outside.
The room was crowded with various doll toys. It should have seemed cramped, but seeing her sitting alone among the pile of doll toys somehow made the room feel very spacious, very desolate.
Actually, by now Shen Mo’s anger had mostly dissipated. It was just that thinking back on it, his heart still felt slightly vexed.
He didn’t like Bai Youwei joking about such matters.
He looked at the bed, then at the wooden stool where she sat, and asked her, “How did you get over there?”
The wheelchair was downstairs, and they hadn’t brought crutches in. Unless someone carried her over.
Bai Youwei turned her face. Under her thick eyelashes were misty eyes. She leaned down lower, her face pillowed on her arm, eyes watching him quietly, silently, without speaking.
Shen Mo walked over.
She spoke softly: “I really didn’t do it on purpose.”
To be honest, Shen Mo didn’t quite believe this.
Her mischievous streak—he understood it better than anyone.
“I was sleeping very deeply. When you called me, I thought I was dreaming…” Bai Youwei explained in a delicate voice. “Later… I realized it wasn’t a dream and was about to respond to you…”
She stopped, an unidentifiable emotion flashing through her eyes.
Shen Mo asked patiently, “What happened?”
But Bai Youwei pursed her lips and said slowly, “At the time I thought, would you… secretly kiss me while I was asleep, so I hesitated for a moment.”
Shen Mo: “…”
Bai Youwei sighed again: “But I didn’t expect you’d react like that. You nearly crushed my shoulders.”
Shen Mo: “…”
He was speechless.
“Shen Mo, do you know?” She turned her face back, no longer looking at him. Her eyes gazed at the rainwater flowing down the glass window in streams, murmuring softly, “If you turned into a doll, I would definitely cry.”