Chapter 5

After eating breakfast, Chen Xiuxiu couldn't wait to run home to burn off the calories from the sinful steamed dumplings she had just eaten.

"You can't do intense exercise right after eating," Jiang Feng rejected her request without hesitation.

"What should I do then?" Chen Xiuxiu looked at the empty steamer basket on the table, a hint of frustration flashing across her face.

She had originally planned to stop after two, but ended up eating the whole basket without realizing it.

She even regretted listening to Jiang Feng's nonsense and coming out to run today.

"Let's take a slow walk. Do you want to go to my family's store later?" Jiang Feng asked.

"No way!"

Her plan had fallen through, but this was within Jiang Feng's expectations. It was easy to trick Chen Xiuxiu once, but to repeatedly lure her out for meals was much harder.

After walking for a while, Chen Xiuxiu started to have a stomachache.

Due to excessive dieting for weight loss, stomachaches were a common occurrence for Chen Xiuxiu, but this time it was more severe. Soon, her lips turned pale and she started to sweat profusely.

"Jiang Feng, my stomach hurts. Can you buy me some medicine? I'll wait here for you." Chen Xiuxiu couldn't hold on any longer, so she found a tree nearby, leaned against it, and squatted down, holding her stomach.

"Let's go to the hospital." Jiang Feng supported Chen Xiuxiu and said firmly.

There was a private hospital nearby where students often went for minor illnesses.

The doctor on duty today was someone Jiang Feng knew.

Back in high school, Chen Xiuxiu's stomach was invincible. She would drag Jiang Feng out to eat all sorts of things without any issues, while Jiang Feng would often end up with a stomachache and become a super VIP customer at this doctor's clinic.

Doctor Chen clearly recognized Jiang Feng, raising an eyebrow when he saw him. "Did you go out and eat with your little childhood friend again?"

"Doctor, it's me, I have a stomachache," Chen Xiuxiu said, holding her stomach.

After a diagnosis, Doctor Chen turned to Jiang Feng and scolded him, "How do you treat your girlfriend? Her stomach is so bad, and you still take her out to eat so much. She ate too much."

Jiang Feng: ???

Before he could explain that Chen Xiuxiu wasn't his girlfriend, Jiang Feng quickly defended himself, "She only ate a basket of steamed dumplings and a cup of soy milk."

"A basket of steamed dumplings?" Doctor Chen didn't believe Jiang Feng. "How big was the basket?"

"Just a regular basket." Jiang Feng felt that the tables had turned. In high school, it was always him who got a stomachache, and Chen Xiuxiu would accompany him to the hospital and get scolded by Doctor Chen. Now it was his turn to be scolded.

"Besides, Doctor Chen, don't you recognize her? She's Chen Xiuxiu!" Jiang Feng felt like he was the one being wronged.

How could he have guessed that a basket of steamed dumplings would cause Chen Xiuxiu such a stomachache?

"Xiuxiu?!" Doctor Chen was shocked, then frowned. "Have you been dieting?"

Chen Xiuxiu reluctantly nodded.

"Ridiculous!" Doctor Chen's frown deepened, and Jiang Feng sensed trouble.

Sure enough, the next moment, Doctor Chen began a lecture on healthy weight loss.

During the summer, Doctor Chen rarely had patients, so he was eager to give a thorough mental and ideological education to a familiar face.

"Go home and drink more porridge, and resume a normal diet. You're young, and you're already developing a stomach condition because of dieting. You'll regret it in the future." After half an hour, Doctor Chen finally said something useful, "Go get the medicine and take it on time, and eat regular meals."

Chen Xiuxiu looked extremely unhappy.

Jiang Feng guessed she was probably remembering the fear of being scolded by Doctor Chen in high school.

With a stomachache, exercise was out of the question. Jiang Feng and Chen Xiuxiu took the bus home. After sending Chen Xiuxiu upstairs, Jiang Feng went to the store to get some ingredients.

He explained the situation to Wang Xiulian and Jiang Jiankang, then picked out a bag of carefully selected vegetables and went to Chen Xiuxiu's house.

When Chen Xiuxiu opened the door, she had already changed into a different outfit. A purple yoga mat was laid out in the living room, indicating she was preparing to do yoga.

"Is your stomach better?" Jiang Feng put the vegetables in the kitchen and saw the bowl of cold porridge still on the table. "What are you planning to eat for lunch?"

"Medicine." It seemed she wasn't planning to eat anything.

Jiang Feng didn't say anything more and started cooking porridge.

"I'm not eating lunch," Chen Xiuxiu tried to stop him.

"I just messaged Doctor Chen, and he only works in the morning. If you don't eat anything, I'll call him," Jiang Feng threatened, knowing that Doctor Chen lived in their neighborhood.

The memory of Doctor Chen's scolding in high school was still vivid for Chen Xiuxiu, and she immediately fell silent.

"I'll only have a small bowl," Chen Xiuxiu emphasized, watching as Jiang Feng took out glutinous rice, sticky rice, red dates, black beans, millet, and two small bags of meat from the bag. "What kind of porridge are you making?"

"Stomach-soothing porridge." Jiang Feng had always had a weak stomach, and Jiang Jiankang would often make him stomach-soothing porridge. Jiang Jiankang's version was quite elaborate, with ingredients like ham, chicken, shrimp, and beef.

Jiang Feng remembered that he didn't like drinking stomach-soothing porridge when he was young, and he would bring it to Chen Xiuxiu as soon as Jiang Jiankang left.

"I don't eat meat!" Chen Xiuxiu emphasized, knowing the richness of the Jiang family's stomach-soothing porridge.

"Okay." Jiang Feng decided to compromise. As for what the stomach-soothing porridge without ham, chicken, shrimp, and beef would taste like with his poor cooking skills...

Well, he wouldn't be the one eating it.

The porridge was cooking in the pressure cooker, which would take a while. Jiang Feng looked at the remaining ingredients and decided to stir-fry a dish of mixed corn kernels with corn, chicken, and ham.

The rest could be taken back to the store in the afternoon.

In the bag, there was a long, plump cucumber, carefully selected from several and washed by him.

As for why he specifically chose a cucumber...

Maybe chopping cucumbers was really addictive!

Chop, chop, chop!

Chen Xiuxiu, who had only planned to drink a bowl of porridge, was drawn to the kitchen by the sound of chopping cucumbers. She couldn't resist trying a piece of the chopped cucumber on the counter.

"Ding, gained 2 experience points."

"It's too sour." Chen Xiuxiu looked disappointed.

Jiang Feng: ...

[A plate of overly vinegared chopped cucumber]

[A plate of improperly cooked mixed corn kernels]

The trash appraisal skill couldn't even determine how much vinegar was too much!

Chen Xiuxiu wasn't interested in the mixed corn kernels next to the chopped cucumber. "When did you start liking corn kernels?"

"Just making something random." Jiang Feng explained, not wanting to tell Chen Xiuxiu that he didn't dare drink the porridge in the pressure cooker.

After waiting for another half hour, Jiang Feng estimated the porridge was ready. He turned off the heat, opened the pressure cooker, and served a bowl of porridge.

[A bowl of strangely flavored stomach-soothing porridge]

Silently, he brought the porridge out and started eating the corn kernels.

"Aren't you drinking?" Chen Xiuxiu asked.

No way!

"I don't like porridge."

"Ding, gained 1 experience point."

Chen Xiuxiu put down her spoon and, after a long silence, asked, "Did you put salt in it?"

Jiang Feng: ...

"Too much salt is bad for the stomach."

Chen Xiuxiu: ???

Chen Xiuxiu, out of respect for her friend's hard work, reluctantly drank a small bowl of the strangely flavored health porridge and looked at the pressure cooker on the stove. "Aren't you drinking?"

"I don't like porridge." Jiang Feng was firm.

"What about the rest of the porridge?" Chen Xiuxiu pointed out the serious issue.

Jiang Feng thought for a moment and came up with a brilliant idea: "I'll take it to the store as a freebie in the afternoon."

He walked to the kitchen and put the lid back on the pressure cooker.

"Ding, gained 9 experience points."

Jiang Feng turned around, and on the table, there was only the plate of mixed corn kernels. Chen Xiuxiu was looking down at her empty bowl.

Was she... sneaking a bite?