Stunning Check-in: A Carefree Life Begins in the Countryside

Everyone sat down.

Seeing Xia An start eating, Jiang Mengmeng couldn't wait to pick up a piece of meat and put it in her mouth.

The moment it entered my mouth, the aroma of the meat exploded, rich and full-bodied.

The meat is delicate and tender, with just the right amount of chewiness, and has no fishy smell whatsoever.

Jiang Mengmeng's eyes widened instantly, her pretty face filled with surprise.

"Mmm~, this is so delicious."

The women thought her behavior was a bit exaggerated and assumed she was flattering Xia An.

But as they all picked up their chopsticks, they couldn't help but show expressions of shock.

Immediately afterwards, all the women lowered their heads and began eating, at an absurdly fast pace.

Even those who are easily embarrassed and eat slowly, like Shen Nian'an and Ye Wan'er, are no exception.

It was as if they were fighting over food!

Seeing this, Xia An couldn't help but smile and joined in the rice-eating.

It has to be said that tonight's meal was worlds apart from what they had made before.

A moment later,

The meal was completely finished, not even a scrap was left.

The soup bowl was so clean it looked as if it had just been washed.

Luo Yunshu patted her round little belly and exclaimed in surprise:

"I think I know why Brother Xia An stopped cooking before. After eating such a delicious meal, who could possibly eat anything else?"

All the women nodded in agreement. If Xia An's cooking skills were exposed, would they still be able to cook?

They would never believe it if Xia An didn't insist on cooking for them every single meal.

Ye Qingxuan laughed and said, "So, Mengmeng guessed it all right just now."

Jiang Mengmeng's eyes darted around, and she snuggled up to hug Xia An's neck, her breath sweet as orchids.

"Xia An, you're such a good cook, how can you bear to let us not eat well?"

The women's eyes lit up, and they all looked at Xia An with expectant expressions.

You don't need to cook it every meal; you can have one like this every day... no, every three days.

That's definitely worth it.

Xia An shook her head and chuckled, "Mengmeng's guess was pretty accurate; I'm just a little lazy."

"Before, my puppetry techniques weren't exposed. I didn't want to cause trouble, nor did I want to work too hard."

"But now that the puppet has been exposed before you, you can naturally let the puppet do the work later."

"Yay, that's great!" Jiang Mengmeng cheered, her eyes full of surprise.

The others also looked at Xia An with delight and affection.

Xia An smiled, gently rubbed Jiang Mengmeng in his arms, and then continued:

"But the puppet must never be shown to anyone, so while the puppet is cooking, the person whose image corresponds to it must stay indoors."

The women nodded quickly; they understood this perfectly well and had no objections.

Jiang Mengmeng hesitated and asked, "Xia An, can't we use another image?"

But upon hearing this, before Xia An could speak, Ye Qingxuan shook her head and said:

"Mengmeng, you've misunderstood."

"Do you think it's reasonable for other people to be in this yard and even cook for us?"

Jiang Mengmeng was slightly taken aback, but quickly realized what she meant and smiled sheepishly.

"I misunderstood."

The women all nodded in agreement.

Having puppets cook, and appearing in their likeness, is undoubtedly the safest option.

Xia An smiled and asked, "I think we could use a few puppets with fixed appearances to cook, so we don't have to change them so often. What do you guys think?"

Ye Qingxuan nodded in agreement.

"That's certainly the case. Ideally, those people could learn a skill from you, Xia An."

"If there are outsiders present, do not use the puppets to cook, to avoid causing trouble."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over the women, and she saw that they were all tempted.

Learning a skill seems like a good idea.

If I could make such delicious food myself, wouldn't I be able to cook for Xia An again?

In addition,

If Xia An is away from the courtyard, they can still have a slightly better meal, right?

Thinking this, the women all raised their hands, their faces filled with anticipation:

"I want to learn!"

Xia An's gaze swept over the women, she shook her head and chuckled softly, her voice gentle and refined.

"When I have some free time later, I'll teach you some cooking skills all at once."

"As for fixed puppets, we don't need too many, four or five to rotate will suffice."

Ye Qingxuan hesitated slightly before speaking.

"Actually, it doesn't need to be that complicated. Set work hours for Qingci and Yunshu."

"At other times, it can be me, Nianchu, Anlan, or Yuxue."

"Whatever," Xia An thought for a moment, then shook her head and smiled.

"Anyway, creating this puppet isn't difficult; let's just use whoever is most convenient."

Everyone laughed.

"You've just finished eating, so move around a bit and then go rest."

"good…"

The women nodded.

But then Shen Nianchu stood up. "We're leaving. Nian'an misses you."

As soon as she finished speaking, her face flushed red, and she quickly pulled the blushing Shen Nian'an away.

The women all smiled, and Jiang Mengmeng touched her lower abdomen with a hint of envy in her eyes.

Today should have been her turn too, but because of...

Xia An seemed to notice her disappointment and gently patted her shoulder.

Jiang Mengmeng blushed and quickly tried to remove his hand, but couldn't bear to.

Her gaze swept over the group of people who seemed to be smiling, but she lowered her head and remained silent.

Everyone else left, leaving only Xia An, Ye Qingxuan, and one other person in the main room.

Jiang Mengmeng stood up and said, "You guys play, I'm going back to rest first."

With that, he strode into the inner room.

Xia An released his true form and went into the courtyard, closed the door, and picked up Ye Qingxuan.

"Qingxuan, did you miss me?"

Ye Qingxuan rolled her eyes.

"I do want to, but not that kind of thing, after all, we just... "

Her expression showed a slight struggle, and she shook her head.

"I have to go to work tomorrow, so I really can't stay with you today. You should go to Nianchu's place."

"Are you sure?" Xia An asked with a half-smile, then lowered her head and gently bit her earlobe.

"Mmm~"

Ye Qingxuan felt her body go weak, and her eyes became somewhat dazed.

Just once~

"good!"

Xia An smiled slightly, carried her into the inner room, and gently placed her on the kang (a heated brick bed).

"An~ Love me~"

……

More than half an hour later,

Ye Qingxuan nestled in Xia An's arms, her slender, white fingers tracing circles on his chest.

"Xia An, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"So... what's going on with Lu Xingyuan and Qin Yu? What did you promise them?"

Xia An remained silent for a moment, then looked down at the woman who was devoted to him and whose heart and eyes were filled with him.

"If you can't say, then don't say," Ye Qingxuan said with a smile, shaking her head when she saw his silence.

Xia An continued working, then shook his head.

"I can tell you about this, but you can't tell anyone else. I'm afraid they'll worry, because concern can lead to confusion."

Ye Qingxuan was slightly taken aback, feeling inexplicably uneasy.

"Xia An, what happened?"

Xia An hesitated for a moment, then said, "Qingxuan, I killed them."

Ye Qingxuan was startled. Her doubts had barely formed in her mind when she realized what had happened.

"Are they... puppets?"

Xia An nodded slightly.

"I left your room three nights ago, and Lu Xingyuan came looking for me."

"He saw me going in and out of your house and used that to threaten me."

"I was worried that he would be greedy and cause us trouble, so I killed him."

As he spoke, he looked at Ye Qingxuan, feeling inexplicably worried that she might be offended.

But Ye Qingxuan, after a brief moment of surprise, regained her composure, took his hand, and whispered,

"Xia An, you did the right thing."

"Anyone who wants to threaten us or put us in danger should not be allowed to live."

Her voice was gentle, yet it carried a hint of murderous intent.

Xia An was slightly taken aback, not expecting that his woman could be so decisive and ruthless!

But that's fine too. He's really afraid that his woman is a saint, and even more afraid of a saintly bitch!

He gently held her, a warm smile on his face.

At this moment, Ye Qingxuan seemed to have thought of something, and said with a worried expression:

"But Xia An, doesn't your puppet have a weakness?"

Xia An shook her head and smiled, "You don't need to worry about that. It's the lack of memory that creates flaws; if you have memories, there are naturally no flaws."

"Coincidentally, I know a special method that allows puppets to inherit their memories."

"This is also why Lu Xingyuan threatened me, and why Qin Yu was killed."

"Because he was involved too?" Ye Qingxuan asked, surprised and uncertain, after realizing what had happened.

"Um!"

Xia An nodded. "Lu Xingyuan told him about this, saying he would threaten us."

"He not only acquiesced, but also promised to report us if anything happened to Lu Xingyuan."

"Under these circumstances, I naturally cannot keep him here; I must send him down to accompany Lu Xingyuan."

"That's certainly how it should be," Ye Qingxuan nodded slightly, then said with some concern:

"Is there anyone else?"

"No," Xia An shook her head.

"The puppets inherited their memories, which I can access. Only the two of them knew about and were involved in this matter."

But upon hearing this, Ye Qingxuan shook her head, seemingly lost in thought, and said...

"Not necessarily. Maybe others saw it too, but didn't want to cause trouble for themselves."

Xia An nodded slightly, "That's what I was thinking, but we have no leads, and no one has provoked us."

"We can ignore this for now," Ye Qingxuan said, shaking her head.

"But you need to be more careful in your actions from now on, and make sure no one sees you again."

Xia An nodded quickly, "I know!"

"Oh, right."

As if remembering something, Ye Qingxuan's face showed surprise and doubt, and even more so, deep worry.

"Since the ones with memories are flawless, your other puppets wouldn't...?"

Xia An shook his head and smiled, ruffled her hair, and explained with a soft laugh:

"You don't need to worry about that. Those identities were indeed fabricated by the people behind me, and they also fabricated the experiences and connections."

"I then fabricated a memory based on my past experiences, making it so convincing that it was indistinguishable from the real thing."

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan breathed a sigh of relief, but also became more curious about the person behind Xia An.

What kind of person could have the ability to create a fake identity and build connections?

However, she didn't think much of it.

As long as her husband is alright, and as long as their little family doesn't have any problems, that's all that matters.

"Xia An, promise me you'll never take any more risks, okay?"

Xia An saw the worry in her eyes, and his heart skipped a beat. He nodded solemnly.