The sickly one in F4 was the group's darling.

In the middle of the night, Bai Ci curled up in a ball for a short while before her stomach growled.

"Gurgle gurgle gurgle—"

In the quiet room, the sound was like thunder.

"What's that sound?" Xiaoqi asked alertly.

"It's nothing."

"Bai Bai, that's your stomach growling. You haven't eaten anything since noon."

Bai Ci fell silent. Yes, she hadn't eaten a single thing since the afternoon, and now she really missed carrots and fresh grass.

He sat up, turned on the light, and began rummaging through drawers and cabinets, searching for any food in the room.

There was a box of scallion-flavored cookies in the bedside table drawer, and a bag of ramen in the top compartment of the wardrobe, but the packaging was covered in a layer of dust, like an unearthed artifact.

There was a half-empty bottle of mineral water under the desk, I don't know when it was opened.

I looked under the pillow, but there was nothing there, not even a coin.

Bai Ci held the bag of cookies up to the light to look at it. The production date was March of last year, and the shelf life was twelve months. It had already expired for almost eight months.

"Is this edible?" he asked.

Xiaoqi said, "Bai Bai, are you serious?"

I'm very hungry.

"Cookies that expired eight months ago, and you're asking me if I can eat them?" Xiaoqi's voice rose. "You're a rabbit, not a trash can!"

Bai Ci examined the packaging bag repeatedly; the cookies were neither leaking air nor bulging.

He muttered to himself, "It doesn't look broken..."

"Even if it's not spoiled, you can't eat it! Do you know the risks of expired food? Excessive bacteria, mold toxins, vomiting and diarrhea, ending up in the emergency room in the middle of the night..."

"Okay, okay."

Bai Ci put the biscuits back, picked up the bag of ramen and looked at it. It was within the expiration date, and the packaging said "cook required". The noodles were raw, hard, and impossible to bite.

He put down the ramen, and his stomach growled again.

"Bye-bye," Xiaoqi hesitated for a moment, "How about... we go downstairs? There's a kitchen downstairs."

Bai Ci didn't move.

"There's hot water, a pot, and eggs."

Bai Ci still didn't move.

"You can't exactly eat raw bread, can you?"

Bai Ci glanced at her phone: It's past midnight.

"There shouldn't be anyone downstairs," Xiaoqi said.

"What if someone is there?"

Bai Ci thought about the other three people living here: Ji Huaizhou, Lu Ciyuan, and Shen Tinglan.

The light in Ji Huaizhou's room was always off, and Lu Ciyuan's door was also closed.

Shen Tinglan... Shen Tinglan's light was just on, but Shen Tinglan just picked him up from the window, so he probably won't go to the kitchen again, right?

"Let's take a gamble," Bai Ci said.

Bai Ci carefully packed the ramen, stood up from the bedside, and pushed open the door.

The corridor was pitch black, except for a wall lamp at the end of the corridor in the common area, which was still lit and emitted a dim yellow light.

Bai Ci was barefoot; his shoes had been kicked off when he climbed through the window, and he hadn't picked them up because he was too embarrassed to do so.

He moved step by step, close to the wall, toward the stairwell. When he passed Shen Tinglan's door, he held his breath. There was no light under the door; the light was off.

Bai Ci breathed a sigh of relief and carefully slid down the stairs.

The kitchen on the first floor of the villa is ridiculously large.

Bai Ci looked around the kitchen: stainless steel countertops, a built-in oven, a double-door refrigerator, a six-burner gas stove, and a row of gleaming cookware hanging on the wall.

Bai Ci felt that this kitchen was bigger than his entire cave in the mountains.

He didn't turn on the light, but rummaged around in the dark using the light from the streetlight coming through the window.

He opened the refrigerator, which was neatly filled with various ingredients: eggs, milk, vegetables, fruits, ham, cheese, and a box of handmade chocolates that looked very expensive.

A note from the housekeeper was stuck on the refrigerator door, written in neat handwriting: "Please take only what you need and avoid waste. Replenish every Monday and Thursday."

Bai Ci stared at the box of chocolates for two seconds, then swallowed.

"Bai Bai, that's not yours. You'll be found out if you eat it."

"I know." Bai Ci closed the refrigerator door.

He opened the cupboard: rice, flour, pasta, various seasonings, and a neat row of instant noodles. Not the kind of ramen he had in his room, but imported ones, the kind with all Japanese on the packaging, one box of which could probably buy him ten packs.

Bai Ci picked up a box, glanced at the price tag on the back, and silently put it back.

Finally, Bai Ci took an egg from the refrigerator and a small stainless steel pot from the shelf.

Bai Ci carefully turned the tap to its lowest setting, letting the water flow along the side of the pot with almost no sound.

Very good, now it's time to fire.

"Bai Bai, be careful, don't burn the kitchen down."

"I've started fires in the mountains."

"That was in a cave. This is a modern kitchen. The stove uses a knob to start the fire, not by rubbing sticks together."

Bai Ci squatted down and studied the knob on the stove for half a minute. The knob said "Turn left for high heat, turn right for low heat". He tentatively turned it to the left.

"puff."

Blue flames shot up.

Bai Ci was startled, her hand trembled, and the water in the pot spilled out, splashing onto the stove with a "sizzle" and a puff of white smoke.

He quickly placed the pot securely.

"Bai Bai, be careful!" Xiao Qi exclaimed anxiously.

The bottom of the pot pressed against the flames, emitting a slight "humming" sound. He squatted beside it, staring at it as if guarding something important.

"Stand up, the water needs to boil before you can go down."

"I know."

"Then why are you squatting?"

"observe."

Xiao Qi didn't say anything more. Bai Ci squatted in front of the stove, hugging his knees with both hands, staring intently at the water in the pot.

The light from the streetlamp shone through the window and fell on his fair, glowing face. If he were squatting on the grass sunbathing instead of cooking noodles in the kitchen, the scene would be quite harmonious.

The water boiled, and he put the dough in, gently stirring it with chopsticks. The noodles spread out in the boiling water, like a flower blooming.

Then he cracked an egg. He tapped the egg on the edge of the pot once, but it didn't crack. He tapped it again, but it still didn't crack. On the third tap, he used too much force, and the egg broke in his hand. The egg liquid flowed through his fingers and dripped onto the stove and the floor.

Bai Ci: "..."

He threw the remaining eggshells into the trash can, wiped the stove with his sleeve, and then squatted down to wipe the floor.

"Bai Bai, just touch it gently and it won't break."

Bai Ci took another egg. This time, learning from his mistake, he gently tapped it on the edge of the pot, causing a crack to appear. He broke it open with his thumb, and the yolk fell perfectly into the pot, encased by the egg white.

The aroma of egg ramen gradually filled the air. Bai Ci sniffed and swallowed.

"When would be a good time?"

"Soon."

"Turn off the heat quickly, the noodles are overcooked!"

Bai Ci frantically tried to turn the knob, but he turned it in the wrong direction, and the fire suddenly flared up, almost causing the water in the pot to boil over. He turned it in the opposite direction again, and the fire went out.

Bai Ci carried the pot to the small dining table in the corner of the kitchen, turned around to get chopsticks, and then his elbow bumped into a stainless steel bowl on the stove.

The bowl had been used by someone that afternoon and was left upside down on the stove to dry. Bai Ci gently touched it with her elbow, and the bowl tipped over, rolling once on the stove.

"Clang—clang—clang—"

The sound of the stainless steel bowl rolling on the stovetop, in the quiet night, was like someone tolling a bell, and then it fell down.

"Bang!!!"

The sound of the bowl hitting the floor shook the entire kitchen.

Bai Ci froze.

He was still holding chopsticks in his hand, remaining motionless in his turned-around position.

"..."

"Bye-bye." Xiao Qi's voice had changed.

"Um."

"You're finished."

Before Bai Ci could react, a soft "click" came from upstairs as a door opened, followed by footsteps. The footsteps were unhurried, conveying an air of "I'll see who it is."

Bai Ci's mind raced. Run? Too late. Hide? Where to hide? Play dead? He glanced at the stainless steel bowl on the ground, which was still spinning and making a fainter buzzing sound.

The footsteps grew closer. Bai Ci took a deep breath, squatted down, picked up the bowl and put it back on the stove. Then she turned around, sat back down at the dining table, picked up her chopsticks, scooped up a mouthful of noodles, and put it in her mouth.

He wanted to pretend that nothing had happened.

The kitchen light suddenly turned on.