I'll give my daughter one more second.

With Yukino helping out at home, there shouldn't be any problems, but it's better to check just in case. Isn't this the kind of time you spend so much money on a phone, for situations like this?

Soon after a series of beeping sounds, the call was connected.

"Hey, is this Mai? Have you eaten yet?"

"We finished eating a long time ago. Yukino-neechan made it for us," Mai said with a grin.

"I'm sorry, I have some things to take care of here today and I might be back a little late," Wu Shen said with a hint of guilt.

Sometimes, taking care of daughters and improving their mothers' favorability can lead to conflicts, like today. Just to be on the safe side, Wu Shen had no choice but to stay.

"Will you be back a little later? That's great! That way we'll have more time to carefully prepare for our masterpiece!" Contrary to her expectations of loneliness, Mai replied excitedly.

"A masterpiece? What masterpiece?"

"N-nothing! Dad, you misheard me!" Wu Yi's voice was a little stammering, and Wu Shen could even imagine the guilty look in Wu Yi's eyes.

"Have Wu Yi and the others caused trouble at home again? Or are they planning some kind of prank?" Wu Shen wondered.

"You silly dancer, you let it slip! What are we going to do now?" Rainy voices could be faintly heard from the other side.

Hmm? Is Yuyin at her own house? But considering that Yang Nai is coming, Wu Shen's house is a better hiding place for Yuyin. With that thought, he felt relieved.

"Forget it, whatever they're hiding from me, I'll deal with it when I get home." After Wu Shen finished speaking, he heard another series of ringing and banging sounds from the other end of the phone. Finally, it seemed that the other party had hung up on him.

"None of my daughters are ever peaceful," Wu Shen sighed as he put away his phone.

"Daughter? What daughter?" Just as Wu Shen finished speaking, someone walked into the kitchen and heard Wu Shen's mutterings.

Author's Note:

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No one is perfect, and everyone has a ticket.

(*￣(エ)￣)

Chapter 141 Studying at Home

Upon hearing this, Wu Shen turned around abruptly, and upon seeing the other person's face, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's Nanami. I'm focused on my work, don't scare me." Wu Shen patted his chest, still shaken.

Thankfully, it was Nanami. If Utaha and Mashiro had heard this, it would have been terrible if they had made any connections later. Mashiro is still relatively unharmed and easy to fool. But if Utaha discovers any clues, things will be really tough from now on.

"Sorry, I asked out of curiosity because I heard what you said." Upon hearing Wu Shen's words, Qi Hai quickly waved his hand and apologized.

"But Wu Shen, what exactly did you mean by 'daughter' just now?" Despite apologizing, Qi Hai couldn't resist his curiosity and continued to ask.

"Games, games. You see, these days mobile games where you raise a daughter are all the rage, right?" Wu Shen patted his phone. "It's kind of embarrassing to talk about this kind of thing with girls, can we please stop bringing it up?"

Having experienced so many unexpected events, Wu Shen's mental resilience is getting stronger and stronger, and he is becoming more and more adept at making up excuses.

However, Wu Shen is indeed raising a daughter now, and it's an absolutely real-life version.

"Oh, it was just a game. I thought you were up to something again, Wu Shen." Qi Hai knew that this kind of topic wasn't really appropriate for boys to talk to girls about, so after finding out the details, she didn't press for more information about the game.

"I'm only eighteen years old. How could I possibly have a daughter? Qingshan, your imagination is really too rich." Wu Shen put his phone in his pocket and said very casually.

The two chatted casually, but neither of them noticed that in the hallway outside the kitchen, Shiyu was leaning against the wall, seemingly listening and thinking about something.

"By the way, Nanami, is there something you need in the kitchen?" Wu Shen picked up a cleaver and continued processing the food while subtly changing the subject, preventing her from focusing on her daughter.

"Nothing serious. I just came to check on how the hot pot is going. Shangjingcao and the others are getting impatient."

"It'll be done soon. Just this last bit needs plating." Wu Shen began arranging the different ingredients on plates, then pointed to the other bowls filled with condiments and said, "That's the base sauce over there, and this is the dipping sauce. Most of them are already prepared. You can take them away first. I'll bring them over after I finish this last bit."

"Then I'll take them all over and get ready."

After receiving Wu Shen's signal, Qi Hai began bustling in and out of the kitchen, carrying out all the plates, bowls, chopsticks, and hot pot utensils.

Seeing how hard she works, Wu Shen felt that Qi Hai would definitely be the type of wife and mother in the future.

When Wu Shen finished processing the last of the ingredients and carried the plate to the living room of Sakura Manor, all kinds of tableware were already neatly arranged on the dining table, the hot pot stove was placed in the center, the food was arranged around it, and each person's bowl was filled with dipping sauce.

The soup had already begun to boil, and the cooked food emitted an enticing aroma, but no one had started eating yet, seemingly waiting for Wu Shen to arrive.

Upon seeing Wu Shen appear, Misaki Ueiso was the first to raise her hand and say, "Great! The last guest has arrived. Now let's enjoy the hot pot party to our hearts' content!"

Without further ado, a grand dinner commenced. Wu Shen's culinary skills were beyond question; Misaki took only one bite and couldn't help but nod in praise, saying, "I have to admit, you're better now. How are these base sauce and dipping sauce made? Can you tell me?"

Wu Shen always enjoyed teaching others how to cook, so he leaned over to Misaki and whispered a few words to her, telling her how to make the relevant ingredients.

After finishing his explanation, Wu Shen felt a bit hungry. Having gone through so much, he needed a delicious dinner to reward himself. So he began to eat heartily.

However, he couldn't just focus on eating himself; he also needed to occasionally refill Mashiro's bowl. The way Mashiro ate with such relish made Wu Shen very pleased.

However, every time Wu Shen helped Mashiro, who was sitting on the left, serve food, Shiyu, who was sitting on the right, would rest her chin on her hand and watch this scene meaningfully, making Wu Shen feel a lot of pressure.

"Shiyu, is something wrong? Why are you looking this way?" Because of the hot pot meal and his nervousness, Wu Shen wiped his sweat.

"It's nothing, I just didn't expect you to be so helpful," Shi Yu said with a smile, her thoughts unreadable.

"There's no other way. You know that Mashiro might not be able to handle all this alone." Wu Shen was telling the truth. Given Mashiro's self-care abilities, it was unlikely that she could eat hot pot normally by herself. Rather than waiting for Mashiro to cause trouble, it was safer for him to help her throughout the process.

Aoyama Nanami had been keeping an eye on the situation here. When she saw that Wu Shen and Shi Yu were acting strangely, she quickly came over and took the small white bowl from Wu Shen before he could react.

"Wu Shen, you've worked hard enough preparing the ingredients. Now enjoy your meal. Leave the task of helping Mashiro to me," Nanami said, gently shaking the small bowl in her hand.

"Are you alright?"

"It was just a small favor," Nanami smiled. She was quite perceptive; she could clearly see the tiny bit of reluctance in Shiyu's heart that she didn't want to show.

"That's a huge help." Wu Shen didn't hesitate to refuse Qi Hai's kindness, but nodded frankly.

He was inwardly grateful for Aoyama Nanami's divine intervention. If Nanami hadn't helped, he would have had to take care of Mashiro himself. And if Utaha had been watching this whole situation, who knows what might have happened.

Nanami is clearly the type who excels at taking care of people, and in some ways, she even does it better than Wu Shen. After explaining to Mashiro, she nodded in agreement that Nanami would take over feeding the baby.

"Phew... I'm finally temporarily relieved." Wu Shen breathed a sigh of relief. Besides being able to rest for a while, the most important thing was that the spiritual pressure from Shi Yu had decreased significantly. This immediately relieved his pressure.

To be honest, is Shi Yu really an ordinary person? She possesses both dark fighting spirit and spiritual pressure. Wu Shen almost had such doubts.

"You must be very disappointed now that you've lost the chance to feed the pretty girl and take advantage of her again, right?" Shi Yu said with a smile, one hand supporting her on the table and the other gently moving the chopsticks lying on the bowl.

"Shiyu, what kind of person do you think I am?" Wu Shen complained.

While taking care of a beautiful girl like Mashiro can certainly bring mental pleasure, no matter how pleasant it is, the body will still get tired.

Wu Shen had spent the entire afternoon working hard, and his body was extremely tired. It was only thanks to the delicious food and energy he received that he regained his strength.

Just then, Wu Shen's cell phone rang.

"Excuse me, Shiyu, I need to take this call." The sudden voice drew everyone's attention. Wu Shen had to interrupt his conversation with Shiyu and get up to answer the call outside.

Stepping out of the living room into the hallway, Wu Shen took out his phone and realized there were no incoming calls; the phone was just playing the ringtone for no apparent reason.

"What's going on? Is it broken again?" Wu Shen was embarrassed. He pressed the screen but there was no response. Just as he was about to try turning it off and on to see if it would be fixed, a cartoon character suddenly popped up on the screen.

Upon closer inspection, it appears to be a chibi-style cartoon character with pink hair and a maid-like appearance.

"What's this? A new type of advertisement?"

Just as Wu Shen was trying to find a button to turn it off, the little maid in the center of the screen suddenly typed out a message: "Message from Master Ryunosuke: Please put a hot pot meal on the door of room 102."

"Ryunosuke?" Wu Shen stroked his chin with one hand as he pondered.

Is there a Ryunosuke in Sakura-sou? Could he be the Akasaka that Misaki mentioned earlier who rarely leaves his house?

"Are you surnamed Akasaka?" Wu Shen pressed the reply button and quickly typed a line of text.

"Yes, that's me. I'm the guest in room 102. Since I don't want to leave my room, could you please prepare a copy and send it to me?" The other party replied quickly.

Just as Misaki said, this guy's NEET symptoms seem to be quite severe; he doesn't even want to leave the house to eat!

"Aren't you going to come out and eat with us?" Wu Shen asked tentatively.

"There's no need for that. I don't like joining in the fun. I also don't want to leave the house."

After Ryunosuke sent his message, the maid immediately followed up with another: "Hurry up and complete Master's task! Otherwise, I might accidentally put a virus on your phone and it'll explode instantly!"

"Is this artificial intelligence?" Wu Shen wasn't angry at what the maid said; instead, he asked with great interest.

"It's not at the level of artificial intelligence yet. It's just a very rudimentary AI framework. This guy went a bit too far, don't mind him. Anyway, I'm counting on you for the hotpot."

"Okay, is there anything else you need..." Before Wu Shen could finish speaking, the little maid suddenly disappeared, and the screen went black again.

"He's really impatient." Wu Shen sighed, then put away his phone.

Back in the living room, Wu Shen, at Ryunosuke's request, prepared a separate serving and placed it at the door of room 102.

After he finished preparing the food and placed it at the door, he returned to the living room. Suddenly, Misaki slammed her hand on the table, looked around, and then gave everyone a bright, energetic smile: "Everyone! Don't you think just eating hot pot is a bit boring?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Wu Shen felt a sense of foreboding. Sure enough, none of the problem children at Sakura-sou were easy to deal with. Was Misaki about to cause trouble?

"I suggest we hold another 'Dark Hot Pot' event!" Misaki proposed, hands on her hips, head held high, brimming with energy.

Author's Note:

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We've fought a hundred battles, our golden armor worn through the desert; those who don't vote will never have their votes returned!

(＠￣ー￣＠) These are the last few days of the month, please give me some monthly votes and sword strikes! Look at me, I've been writing 6000 words every day without fail, I'm such a conscientious writer~~

Chapter 142 The Dark Cooking World

Dark Hot Pot is a kind of special game. Although he had never experienced it himself, Wu Shen had probably seen countless anime about it and knew what kind of game it was.

As a game of cooking hot pot among a group or close friends, the rules are that each person brings at least one ingredient into a dark room, and then, without knowing what ingredients others have brought, they put all the hot pot ingredients prepared by everyone into the pot to cook. After it is cooked, each person has to eat whatever they have picked up.

The game itself isn't the problem. The real issue lies in players who aren't honest and bring in unpalatable ingredients to the hot pot. Then the "dark hot pot" would truly become a culinary disaster.

"Please raise your hand to vote if you really want to participate in this Dark Hot Pot game!"

After Misaki finished speaking, she was the first to raise her hand. Mashiro originally wanted to join in the fun and raise her hand, but Nanami persuaded her to put her hand back down. "Nanami, good job!" Wu Shen thanked her in his heart.