Chapter 205: A Bloody Calamity Awaits You Tonight

Chapter 205: A Bloody Calamity Awaits You Tonight

Li Ruobing wore a long aqua-blue dress. Her straight black hair had clearly been styled and carried a faint fragrance, while a diamond necklace glittered at her throat.

She had obviously taken great care with her appearance before coming over.

Holding her in his arms, Wu Chen gazed into her eyes with a smile. Today, she had even applied a touch of pale eyeshadow, lending her features greater definition.

She rarely dressed up like this. With her natural beauty, she had no need to. She only went to such lengths for important occasions, such as formal banquets.

Wu Chen rated Li Ruobing’s looks a nine out of ten. His ratings were based on two fundamental requirements: no makeup and no cosmetic surgery.

In other words, Li Ruobing was a nine even bare-faced.

Now, held in his arms and wearing makeup unlike her usual style, she looked even more beautiful—at least a 9.5, perhaps higher.

Makeup truly could transform a person’s appearance.

It could turn even an ugly woman into a beauty.

Let alone a woman who was already beautiful.

“When did you realize I was here?” Li Ruobing did not answer Wu Chen’s question. Instead, she smiled and spoke softly.

They were close enough that neither needed to raise their voice.

“Your heels aren’t exactly silent. You tried to walk quietly, but…” Wu Chen lowered his voice, smiling. “I woke up when you reached the bedroom door.”

Li Ruobing had tried to launch a “surprise attack” while he was asleep.

She did not have a key to the villa. It had originally belonged to Li Ruotai, and after the ownership was transferred to Wu Chen, all the keys had been handed over as well.

The front door to the first-floor living room, however, used a keypad and fingerprint lock.

Wu Chen had never changed the code.

He knew that before coming over, Li Ruobing must have called Li Ruotai and asked for it.

“You were already awake, yet you pretended to be asleep? Weren’t you afraid it might be an intruder?” Li Ruobing asked with another soft laugh.

“I know your footsteps,” Wu Chen replied.

“You can recognize my footsteps?” she asked at once.

She knew it was possible to identify someone by the sound of their steps, but only after becoming intimately familiar with them and hearing them countless times. Everyone had a different weight, posture, stride, and way of starting and stopping, all of which affected the sound they made while walking.

Li Ruobing herself could recognize her younger brother’s footsteps because she knew him well enough.

But this genuinely struck her as strange.

She admitted that Wu Chen was extraordinary, yet they had known each other for only eight or nine days.

How could he possibly be so familiar with her?

“If I told you I knew everything about you, would you believe me?” Wu Chen asked with a smile.

“For example?” Li Ruobing raised an eyebrow.

“For example, I know a ‘bloody calamity’ awaits you—and that you came here to tease me.”

Something peculiar crossed Li Ruobing’s smile. With a trace of feigned annoyance, she said, “I wouldn’t call it teasing you. You make it sound so awful…”

Wu Chen said nothing, merely smiling at her with a look she understood perfectly.

They leaned toward each other and kissed.

It was not passionate.

It was slow.

As though both of them had lost themselves in the moment.

For Li Ruobing, this truly felt like being in love.

Only after a long while did they part.

“A-Tai is coming over tonight,” Li Ruobing said softly, pressing her lips together.

“I’m really not angry,” Wu Chen replied with another smile.

He understood perfectly well why Li Ruobing had appeared so suddenly.

Showing up unannounced like this, almost as though she had delivered herself to his door, was entirely unlike her.

It was because of what had happened that afternoon.

Li Ruotai had naturally already confessed what he had done and how it had driven Old Dao to risk his life escaping. Although Wu Chen had stepped in and resolved everything, Li Ruotai had undeniably caused trouble—serious enough that Wu Chen might mistakenly believe Li Ruotai did not trust him as his brother-in-law.

Li Ruobing did not want Wu Chen to hold anything against her younger brother.

Even though Wu Chen had repeatedly said that he was not angry, she still felt she ought to do what needed to be done.

Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

The doorbell suddenly rang, its chime sounding throughout every floor of the villa.

Wu Chen released Li Ruobing and drew back. She sat up, rose, and straightened her dress.

“It’s the bodyguards…” she said, already heading out.

Still in his pajamas, Wu Chen sat up as well, slipped into his house slippers, and followed her at an unhurried pace.

Li Ruobing went downstairs first and opened the front door.

Two of her bodyguards stood outside, both carrying armfuls of bags filled with all kinds of ingredients. It looked as though they had just returned from the market.

“Which way is the kitchen?” Li Ruobing let them in, then turned to ask Wu Chen, who had just shuffled downstairs in his slippers.

She truly was unfamiliar with the villa.

This was only her second time here. Her first had been yesterday.

After all, Li Ruotai had had the villa renovated but had never lived in it himself.

“Over there.” Wu Chen gestured.

The two bodyguards quickly carried the groceries into the kitchen, with Li Ruobing following behind. A moment later, they hurried back out and left the villa.

Wu Chen walked to the kitchen doorway, folded his arms, and leaned against the frame, tilting his head as he watched Li Ruobing with a smile.

She was putting everything away.

The kitchen had a complete set of cookware and tableware, but because no one had ever cooked there, it did not even contain basic seasonings.

Li Ruobing had instructed her bodyguards to buy those as well. She was now taking the items out of the bags one by one.

“Cooking?” Wu Chen asked with a smile.

“Yes. I’ll let you try my cooking.” Li Ruobing glanced at him.

Wu Chen’s expression turned faintly peculiar.

Li Ruobing knew how to cook.

Because of her years studying abroad, she could prepare both Chinese and Western food. For an independent, strong-willed woman like her, it would have been stranger if she could not cook.

But as far as Wu Chen knew, she had barely cooked at all in recent years—or rather, since she had formally started working.

She was bound to be rusty.

Her cooking had only ever been average to begin with, not as good as Su Qingying’s. Add several years of rust to that…

Wu Chen genuinely did not expect much from whatever she made tonight.

It would probably be edible, at least.

“What’s that expression supposed to mean?” Li Ruobing glanced at him again. “You look as though you don’t believe me.”

“I know you can cook,” Wu Chen said, smiling.

“Do you?” She sounded suspicious.

She had the distinct impression that he had no confidence in her. His eyes had betrayed him.

“I may not have cooked much in the past few years, but once you learn, you don’t simply forget…” As she spoke, Li Ruobing emptied a gutted fish from one of the bags into a basin.

“I won’t claim I’m better than Qingying, but I’m certainly better than a grown man like you… By the way, can you cook?”

As she finished, she shifted the basin containing the fish to one side.

Clang!

She had not set it down securely. It was too close to the edge and tipped straight over, crashing loudly to the floor.

The basin was stainless steel, so it did not break.

But the sound was startling.

The fish went flying as well.

Silence.

The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

Li Ruobing possessed exceptional composure and showed no hint of embarrassment.

She bent to pick up the fish.

Although it had already been gutted, its nerves had not completely died, so it could still move. The moment Li Ruobing picked up the plump carp, it suddenly twisted.

It slipped from her hands, flopped against her body, then fell to the floor again.

Bloody water splashed across her dress, staining it.

Li Ruobing had not thought to put on an apron.

The atmosphere grew awkward all over again.

Normally so capable and decisive, Li Ruobing somehow appeared clumsy in the face of a single gutted fish.

She did not even dare look at Wu Chen.

She was afraid he would give her a teasing look, and that would truly irritate her.

“I’ve got pajamas in my room. Mine…” Wu Chen said with a smile.

Li Ruobing looked down at her dress, then at her hands.

She turned on the faucet, rinsed them, shook off the water, then click-clacked out of the kitchen in her heels.

As she passed Wu Chen, she did not look at him.

Li Ruobing went upstairs to change.

Wu Chen listened to her footsteps recede up the stairs, then looked back into the kitchen.

The fish was still flopping on the floor.

He considered it for a moment, walked into the kitchen while rolling up his pajama sleeves, then picked up an apron and put it on.

Wu Chen felt that tonight he could grant himself an absurdly grand title.

Something like—

God of Cooking.