"Do you really want to know?" Yan Yifei looked at Gan Lan’s expression, full of curiosity, and his heart softened a bit.
Gan Lan nodded vigorously. She wanted to know so badly!
Yan Yifei pondered for a moment and replied, "Originally, I didn’t plan on coming. But I accidentally saw Wu Mingyu’s comment on the stream asking for your location. I guessed he probably wanted to fly his family’s starship over to find you. I wanted to hitch a ride, but he refused."
"I wasn’t surprised by his rejection. I just had Gao Haiyang and Lu Ziyu stall Wu Mingyu so he couldn’t leave first, while I took a trip to his house," Yan Yifei said, before adding, "His mother likes me very much."
He then chuckled softly. "Well... to be precise, his mother has always liked my... face since I was a child. As soon as she saw it was me, she warmly invited me in. I told her I wanted to take a look around her son’s Phoenix nest.
"While looking around, I sent a video to Wu Mingyu, and then he compromised. It’s that simple." He specifically justified his actions to Gan Lan, "That was a tactical maneuver, not being shameless."
"So your tactic was just playing the honey-trap card?" Gan Lan burst out laughing, a soft PFFT escaping her lips. She hadn’t expected Boss Yan to resort to selling his looks just to hitch a ride on a starship—and on someone from the older generation, no less. Suddenly, she found it both hilarious and a bit endearing. What should she do?
"You’re just shameless!" Hearing this, Wu Mingyu became agitated and furious. "Did you merely shoot a video? You shamelessly told my mom that you wanted to take my precious Phoenix home to admire for a few days before returning it! The scariest part is that my mom actually agreed! Weren’t you threatening me? You’re just shameless, shameless, shameless!"
Lu Ziyu and Gao Haiyang couldn’t help but nod in agreement. Yes, it was too shameless. To achieve his goal, he had actually sold out his own dignity. Was there anything he wouldn’t sell out in the future? Wu Mingyu was absolutely right.
"And you two!" Wu Mingyu’s face flushed red with anger as he pointed at the two nodding in agreement. "Do you think you can escape your status as accomplices just by widening your eyes and playing dumb? You two are equally shameless! You’re all in this together!"
Lu Ziyu and Gao Haiyang were speechless. They had been threatened too. They believed the most shameless one was the mastermind, but they didn’t dare say it out loud. They knew that if they did, they might not live to see the sun rise tomorrow once they got back.
"Junior, you have to stand up for me! Yan Yifei actually used the precious Phoenix you gave me to threaten me. WAAAH!" After condemning the three of them, Wu Mingyu turned to Gan Lan and began to cry. It was too hard for him. It was one thing to be bullied by them when they were in the same academy, but now they were in university and didn’t even attend the same school, yet he was still being bullied. He felt incredibly wronged.
"Me!?" Gan Lan pointed at herself, her eyes wide with disbelief as she looked at Wu Mingyu, who was nodding at her. "But I... I can’t beat them in a fight either..."
"You don’t need to fight them. Just stop sending them food in the future, and that will be standing up for me!" Wu Mingyu thought his idea was absolutely brilliant, firmly believing he was a genius for coming up with it!
Gao Haiyang and Lu Ziyu couldn’t hold back anymore. They stood up and started arguing with Wu Mingyu. "Don’t think that just because we indulged you earlier, you can push your luck!"
"You’re not really going to agree to his request, are you?" Yan Yifei asked a stunned Gan Lan, his tone aggrieved and his expression pitiful.
Gan Lan felt like Yan Yifei was a completely different person today. She wondered if his body had been taken over by another transmigrated soul too, or if he was simply sick. She knew that sometimes, patients would unconsciously act needy and aggrieved.
"Lower your head for a second."
Although confused, Yan Yifei obediently lowered his head. A cool palm suddenly pressed against his forehead.
"You don’t have a fever, do you?" Gan Lan placed her other hand on her own forehead to compare her temperature with Boss Yan’s.
Yan Yifei was speechless. He wasn’t sick.
"PFFT— HAHAHAHAHA!" A loud burst of laughter suddenly rang out.
The six of them simultaneously turned their heads to look at the person laughing.
"I’m sorry, I really couldn’t hold it in!" Wen Ningyue covered her mouth, waving her hand hastily. "It’s just that Junior is too cute! Hahahaha! She actually thought Boss Yan had a fever! Hahahahaha!"
The six of them stared at her in confusion, wondering if it was really funny enough to bring her to tears.
Gan Lan lowered her hand, also realizing her actions were a bit comical. She had genuinely felt that Boss Yan was acting extremely out of character today, which was why she wanted to check his temperature.
She then looked at the cleared plates on the table. The piles of lovely crayfish had been reduced to nothing but shells. Wang Bin was currently pouring the last bit of broth from the plate onto his rice, acting as if the rest of the world had nothing to do with him; he only had eyes for good food. Gulu had finished eating and wandered off somewhere unknown.
Looking at the other five people who were still staring at her, she realized she had to say something. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she said, "I just thought Yan Yifei was acting a bit strange today. I assumed he was sick, so I..."
"Junior, he’s not sick. This is his true personality! He was faking it before, and now he finally can’t keep up the act anymore, which is why he seems abnormal. Would a normal person sell out their dignity just to hitch a ride on a starship? You’ve been deceived!" Wu Mingyu looked at Gan Lan pitifully. "So, are you going to accept my suggestion from earlier? Let that be the price for his deception, and those of his two accomplices!"
As soon as Wu Mingyu finished speaking, a new round of arguing broke out. Gan Lan massaged her temples.
"Well, he’s not wrong. This is my true personality." Yan Yifei looked at Gan Lan, his gaze burning bright.
Gan Lan felt like she understood that look, wondering if Boss Yan had a thing for her. They had barely interacted, having only eaten together a few times with plenty of other people present. Even in private messages, they had only exchanged a few extra words when he asked for her Super VIP address. She had no idea how it had suddenly escalated to him having feelings for her.
Deciding that it was best not to dwell on things she couldn’t figure out, Gan Lan dropped her hand from her forehead and tried to change the subject. "When are you guys heading back? If I remember correctly, you all skipped class to come here today, right? You have classes again tomorrow. Is it okay if you don’t head back now?"
The friends hadn’t seen each other in a long time and were deep in passionate conversation. Well... arguing counted too, right?
Meanwhile, the all-crayfish banquet across the room was nowhere near as cheerful.
At first, it had indeed been quite pleasant, but one of the Culinary Masters suddenly made a remark that caused the atmosphere to freeze.
"I’ve looked into Gan Lan’s school records and found many suspicious points. As teachers, don’t you find it strange? How could a total failure in practical application suddenly advance by leaps and bounds after just a few days of practice? Let’s start with the grilled meat. If it were just the grilled meat, you could say she finally had an epiphany. But then she introduced a whole series of recipes right after, which really makes you think. Her personality has changed a lot too... For instance..." The Culinary Master began to analyze all the anomalies surrounding Gan Lan for everyone seated.
Chu Yuanyi didn’t wait for him to finish his analysis. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up, while the other teachers’ faces also darkened.
"You think you’re the only smart one here? You think you’re the only one who can see this? Makes you look really capable, doesn’t it? Huh?!" Chu Yuanyi angrily rebuked the Culinary Master. Gan Lan’s changes were an open secret among the other teachers. The reason no one spoke about it was that they wanted to protect the person who could bring the academy back to its peak and who held the hope of shattering the current structure of the Culinary World.
Now that it was being blatantly laid out on the table, it was a good thing that everyone present was from the academy. Otherwise, Chu Yuanyi would have had the urge to murder someone!