Chapter 7: Help me

Wen Ci walked into the kitchen and saw Huo Jingyuan preparing to add water to knead the dough. She scanned the kitchen, took an apron from the right side of the door, and said slowly, "Put this on; it’s not easy to get your clothes dirty that way."

It was easy to get flour on one's clothes while kneading dough.

Huo Jingyuan’s hands were already covered in flour. He looked up at Wen Ci, then raised his arms, a curve forming at the corners of his lips as he said in a low voice, "Help me."

Wen Ci walked behind Huo Jingyuan. The apron was of the old-fashioned half-length style. She tied the long straps around the man’s waist, pondered for a moment, and tied them into a bow.

At this moment, Wen Ci’s stomach let out an ill-timed growl.

She had just been dancing at Shichahai in the morning, and now she was famished.

Wen Ci suggested, "How about I help make some side dishes for the noodles?"

"Can you find the cafeteria?" Huo Jingyuan asked.

Wen Ci blinked, understanding what Huo Jingyuan meant. Besides, she also wanted to taste the cooking of an 80s military district cafeteria.

"Then I’ll go get some dishes."

Wen Ci had only recently been brought back to the Jiang family and was unfamiliar with the compound, so she could only identify the direction by following the paths of other family members carrying prepared meals.

"Where did this pretty girl come from?"

"Probably a relative of someone, right?"

"She’s such a good-looking girl!"

Although Wen Ci grew up in the countryside, she had inherited her looks from her parents in the Jiang family—naturally fair skin, thick eyebrows, and large eyes; she was very beautiful.

Wen Ci said politely, "Which direction is the cafeteria?"

"Huo’s wife, are you heading to the cafeteria to get food?" The aunties who had been chatting with Huo Jingyuan earlier walked over. Seeing the empty bowl in Wen Ci’s hand, they asked.

"Jingyuan said he’d make me some Northwest-style specialties, so I’m going to get some dishes to go with the noodles."

"Xiu’er, do you know this girl?" Liu Fang, the most talkative woman in the compound, asked with a puzzled face upon hearing the other old sisters say "Huo’s wife": "Which Huo family?"

"The old Chief’s Huo family!"

Everyone’s eyes widened. Everyone in the compound knew that the old Chief Huo’s family had a marriage contract with the Jiang family, and the Jiang family’s daughter had never shown her face in the compound before.

Seeing her in person, they couldn't help but praise, "As the old saying goes, a daughter is like her father. She really looks like she was carved from the same mold as Minister Jiang."

Wen Ci smiled gently and made an excuse: "Aunties, I have to go to the cafeteria to get food first, otherwise the good stuff will be gone."

The compound’s cafeteria prepared roughly the same amount of food every day; if you went too late, only leftovers would remain.

Following the directions given by the aunties, Wen Ci arrived at the military district cafeteria. There was a long line at the window; it was rare for a young woman to come to the military district cafeteria to get food.

Wen Ci attracted quite a few gazes.

Wen Ci held an enamel bowl in her hand, painted with exquisite bright red designs; one could tell at a glance that it was a reward issued to cadres by the military district unit.

Wen Ci’s gaze swept over the words on the small blackboard at the window.

Today’s specials: Sweet and sour pork ribs and tomato scrambled eggs.

"Why are you here?"

Suddenly, a voice came from behind Wen Ci. Before she could turn around, she heard a low, gritted-teeth threat: "Who told you to come to the cafeteria?"

Wen Ci rolled her eyes.

She didn't need to turn around to know who was standing behind her.

Her biological brother, Jiang Chen.

Wen Ci replied, "Why can’t I come to the cafeteria?"

"You promised!"

Wen Ci remembered. When the original owner was brought back to the military district compound, she was told she couldn't go out as she pleased, especially to crowded places like the cafeteria.

"Mind your own business," Wen Ci said in a flat tone.