Siheyuan: I will never tolerate gambling and drugs!

The west wing of the courtyard house

Xu Lin and Madam Tan were busy in the kitchen. To be precise, it was Madam Tan who was busy; Xu Lin was only good at hindering them and couldn't do anything else.

"Who picks vegetables like that? The way you're picking them, the parts you're cutting off are enough for someone else to eat for two meals..."

My goodness, you don't mean for me to stir-fry these potato chunks into potato shreds in the pan, do you...?

"Stop adding firewood, it's going to burn..." Mrs. Tan frantically tried to salvage the lunch, shouting loudly as she did so.

Lou Xiao'e and Yu Shui watched the two people's performance in the kitchen from the living room.

"Rain, do you think we can still eat lunch?" Lou Xiao'e asked Rain with a worried expression.

Xiao Yushui also covered her eyes, unable to bear watching Xu Lin helping so much in the kitchen. "Auntie's cooking skills are definitely not a problem, but with Brother Xu added... well, it's hard to say."

Before liberation, He Daqing worked as a kitchen helper for Tan's father. Although he wasn't a formal apprentice, he did receive some pointers from Tan's father.

Sha Zhu and Yu Shui's cooking skills came from He Daqing, so although Tan Shi was much younger than He Daqing, they were of the same generation.

Therefore, when they first met that morning, after Xu Lin introduced Yu Shui to her background, Madam Tan asked Yu Shui to call her "Shi Gu" (a term of respect for a senior female disciple), and the young girl happily accepted.

Lou Xiao'e agreed with He Yushui's point of view. After watching for a while and getting bored, Lou Xiao'e took He Yushui up to Xu Lin's attic to show her his precious dolls.

Lou Xiao'e had almost no friends because she was the daughter of a capitalist. Yu Shui also had few friends because she was often bullied after losing her parents.

Furthermore, since the two were only three or four years apart in age, they quickly became acquainted and good friends. The reason they went up to the attic was simply because the little girl fell in love with Xu Lin's small room at first sight.

They insisted on living in the attic, and Madam Tan couldn't refuse, while Xu Lin was more than happy to oblige. So, before the house in the backyard was fully renovated, the mother and son moved in.

To avoid suspicion, Madam Tan lived in the master bedroom, the two young maids lived in the side bedroom, and Xu Lin temporarily lived in a bed in the back room where he had previously stored miscellaneous items.

Of course, no one could know how excited Xu Lin was after he had meticulously arranged everything...

"Sister Tan, you're amazing! You don't even need to taste it; just by smelling it, you can tell it's a delicacy. If you worked in the kitchen of a steel mill, even the head chef of the canteen would be fired!"

When Xu Lin realized that he could only make things worse when it came to cooking, he decisively changed his strategy and began to provide emotional support to Tan.

After hearing Xu Lin's words, Tan rolled her eyes at him and slapped away his mischievous hand: "I can understand the steel mill's head chef leaving, but why are you slapping my butt all the time!"

Xu Lin chuckled sheepishly and withdrew his hand sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry. It was just a reflex, an unconscious action. I was just trying to explain to you what 'leaving without a care' means, hehehe..."

"I'm a grown man, why do you need to describe me? If you don't like it, get out of here and stop causing trouble. If it weren't for your kind help and guidance, I reckon I'd have finished my lunch by now..."

Tan, still annoyed, tapped Xu Lin's forehead and said with a hint of reproach.

Xu Lin, in a cheeky manner, seized the opportunity to grab Tan's soft, fair hand and place it on his cheek.

"I just spilled a bowl of your braised pork. I've already washed and eaten the whole dirty bowl. There's still half a clean bowl left, so you can eat it without worry."

"I can't speak for everything else, but when it comes to health, you can't go wrong with my advice as a doctor! If anything really goes wrong, hehe, don't worry, I'll just compensate you for one night! I definitely won't let you suffer any loss!"

Mrs. Tan was at her wits' end with Xu Lin's shamelessness. After understanding the unspoken meaning in Xu Lin's words, she was too lazy to reply. Finally, after finishing the last soup, lunch of four dishes and a soup was complete.

After clearing the table, just as he was about to call the two girls down to eat, Xu Lin stopped him.

"They just ate a lot of candy, and the food is still very hot from the freshly made meal. Why don't you let it cool down for a bit? Let me take you to wash your face first. It's so hot, you must have worked hard making this whole meal."

Upon hearing this, Madam Tan agreed, touched by Xu Lin's gentleness. In this era when many people struggled to get enough to eat, who would complain about the heat of cooking? Although Madam Tan had previously been Lou Bancheng's concubine, she had experienced hardship herself. Nevertheless, she obediently followed Xu Lin to wash her face first.

Xu Lin got Tan a new towel and opened a separate bar of soap for her. Although they weren't expensive items, these thoughtful gestures were something she never expected a man would do for her.

So Tan's gaze toward Xu Lin became even more infatuated.

Xu Lin noticed Tan's gaze and immediately pulled her into his arms. "What's wrong? Have you become hopelessly infatuated with me...?"

Tan gently punched Xu Lin's chest with her small fist, looking into his eyes.

"Who praises themselves like that? Bah! How shameless!"

Looking at Tan's beautiful, delicate face, and feeling the intense sensation in his arms, Xu Lin lowered his head and whispered something in Tan's ear.

"I'll see who's shameless enough to do that later!"

Tan felt a tickling sensation in her ears, which felt quite comfortable as Xu Lin breathed into them. She didn't quite hear what Xu Lin was saying, but simply murmured sweetly, "It tickles~"

Xu Lin was instantly ignited by that word. He closed the bathroom door, pressed Tan Shi down onto the bathroom chair, and swiftly lowered his head, forcefully kissing her lips despite her strong objections.

Ms. Tan had never encountered anything like this before; her mind went completely blank, and everything she felt in her body told her that it was all real.

"Xiao Xu, please...please don't do this...I was wrong, okay...?"

Ignoring Madam Tan's pleas, Xu Lin continued to do as he pleased...

Only after feeling the pressure from Tan's fingertips on his head suddenly decrease did Xu Lin give up the idea of ​​continuing his investigation.

Seeing the bewildered look in Tan's eyes, he stopped what he was doing. Xu Lin said with a wicked grin.

"Alright, I'll call Xiao'e and Yushui down for dinner. You should wash your face now."

Tan's face suddenly flushed, like the sunset glow brushed by the evening breeze, layers of pink softening her features. She seemed not to have heard Xu Lin's words, her eyes slightly narrowed, somewhat dazed.

It wasn't until she saw Xu Lin turn and leave the restroom that Madam Tan realized what was happening. She immediately stood up from her chair and shouted...

"Xu Lin! You! You! You bastard..." Then she slammed the bathroom door shut again.

Xu Lin laughed heartily and ran up to the attic to knock on the door. He called the two girls to come downstairs for dinner, and they immediately opened the door and followed him downstairs.

"Brother Xu, where's my mom?" Lou Xiao'e asked, puzzled, not seeing Tan Shi at the dining table.

"Your mom's cooking is too hot, she's washing her face in the bathroom right now. You guys go wash your hands too, there's a faucet in the bathroom in the yard," Xu Lin glanced in the direction of the bathroom, gave a meaningful look, and then answered Lou Xiao'e's question.

Lou Xiao'e didn't suspect anything after hearing this, and took Yushui to the yard to wash her hands. When she passed the bathroom, she knocked on the door and urged Tan Shi to hurry up.

"Mom, hurry up and wash. We're waiting for you to eat..."

"Okay, I'm coming! You guys eat first, don't wait for me," Mrs. Tan replied hastily upon hearing her daughter's words.

Knowing the whole story, Xu Lin was secretly overjoyed. Then, after a moment of stunned silence, he adjusted his posture and inwardly groaned.

"Well, it's a Pyrrhic victory..."