Running a Food Stall to Support My Deceptive Omega - Chapter 24.2

Rong Heng nodded and zipped past Mu Jinyu, quickly placing the garlic pork cubes on the table and picking up her chopsticks to eat rapidly. Piece after piece of meat was put into her mouth, the kacha kacha sound becoming a beautiful melody playing around them.

Seeing that Rong Heng couldn’t stop eating, Mu Jinyu placed a flatbread in Rong Heng’s bowl for her to eat together. The slightly sweet, dry flatbread combined with the savory meat cubes was simply too amazing!

Mu Jinyu only ate two pieces of flatbread and some vegetables before she was full. The remaining food was cleared away by Rong Heng like a plague of locusts. After finishing, she patted her stomach and let out a burp, still feeling a bit unsatisfied.

After the meal, they both rested for a while. Mu Jinyu changed Rong Heng’s medicine and then started making hammered fish noodles. Rong Heng stayed by her side, looking quite eager to help. Mu Jinyu broke off a branch from the persimmon tree, washed it, and began teaching Rong Heng how to make the noodles. However, after learning for a while, Rong Heng found it boring and went off to play with the civet cat.

In the evening, after the two had finished their dinner, Mu Jinyu prepared her things to go to the night market stall. Before leaving, she said to Rong Heng, “Let the little civet cat rest for a while; she’s our little ancestor now.” It had been playing all afternoon, and it looked tired to her. With that, she left the cat at home and went to her stall.

Rest? Back at home, Rong Heng squatted in front of the civet cat and thought that it indeed should rest. She had slept too much last night, making her exceptionally energetic today, but now that night had fallen and she had just eaten, she felt a bit sleepy.

“Let’s go! Rest!” Rong Heng waved a soft branch with persimmon leaves in front of the cat and ran toward the room. The little cat excitedly chased the branch with a limp, as if playing with a teaser toy. The person and the cat jumped onto the bed together, rolled around comfortably several times, and then slowly began to quiet down, falling into a deep sleep.

Close to midnight, the entire house was pitch black. A sliver of cold, white moonlight filtered through a crack in the window, spilling into the room. The moonlight stretched indefinitely, like a thin, winding snake, dividing the space on the bed. The illuminated side was where Mu Jinyu usually slept, while the side still shrouded in darkness was Rong Heng’s territory.

Rong Heng, on the bed, unconsciously rolled over. Her face turned toward the window, partially illuminated by the cold moonlight. The two red moles under her right eye sparkled like two drops of blood, or perhaps two rubies.

After an unknown amount of time, Rong Heng’s eyelashes, long like raven feathers, slowly opened. In an instant, even the moonlight in the dark room lost its luster; only Rong Heng’s swirling black eyes remained the most brilliant light in the world.

She stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment before her gaze swept around, realizing that she was in Mu Jinyu’s house. She remembered who Mu Jinyu was, and she remembered why she was here.

She sat up on the bed, a smile appearing on the corners of her mouth, yet her eyes were like two blades tempered in a raging fire. She had truly… survived a great disaster…

Dressed in white with her black hair cascading down her back, she drifted toward the stove like a ghost. She picked up the kitchen knife resting there. Now, she would first deal with Mu Jinyu and then kill every single person who had dared to poison her.

She drifted to the courtyard gate. Instead of bothering to unlock the gate, she stood there silently, waiting. Waiting.

At the night market, Mu Jinyu had no idea what had happened. After finishing her work, she happily pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in. Rong Heng was waiting at the door as usual, but unlike before, she didn’t move away when she saw her return. She just stood there, watching her.

“Huh?” Mu Jinyu asked curiously. “Why didn’t you hide today?” She hadn’t expected Rong Heng to answer; she naturally assumed that Rong Heng now trusted her and thus no longer felt the need to avoid her.

It was too dark for Mu Jinyu to notice that Rong Heng was holding a knife, nor did she realize that anything was wrong with her. She walked inside on her own, talking about how busy she had been today, completely exposing her back to Rong Heng.

Rong Heng slowly turned around, looking at the incessant chatterer, Mu Jinyu, who was walking toward the stove. This was the Alpha who had dared to mark her. So noisy.

Rong Heng’s eyes narrowed, a look of pleasure appearing in them, and the two red moles under her eyes became even more sinister.

Xiu—

The kitchen knife flew out, the air letting out a mournful cry as it was sliced through.

Qiang!

Rong Heng, who had pleasure in her eyes, felt her brows furrow sharply the moment the knife left her hand, and a more violent anger surged in her eyes. The kitchen knife flew past Mu Jinyu’s head without cutting a single strand of hair and embedded itself into a pillar in the kitchen. The handle of the knife trembled incessantly.

Rong Heng hadn’t expected that at the moment the knife was thrown, she would subconsciously make it miss by an inch, sparing Mu Jinyu’s life. She actually… couldn’t bear to hurt the Alpha before her. This feeling disgusted her. It was because this Alpha had the audacity to mark her, and it was because of the influence of this Alpha’s pheromones that such detestable compassion had arisen. Truly, she deserved to die.

The fire in Rong Heng’s eyes burned even more intensely. She was very angry. From the moment someone dared to poison her, from the betrayal of those around her, to her being picked up by this Alpha, mistreated, and taken advantage of—she was very, very angry. She wanted nothing more than to tear the person in front of her to pieces.

Mu Jinyu had just walked to the stove when she heard a “xiu” sound near her ear. She looked to the side and saw a kitchen knife stuck in the kitchen pillar, its handle still vibrating.

“Eh, where did this come from?” A look of obvious confusion appeared in her amber eyes. She stared at the knife for a while and realized it was her own kitchen knife. How did it end up in the pillar?

Mu Jinyu set down the things she was carrying and took hold of the knife handle, preparing to pull it out. She asked, “Rong Heng, did you stick the knife here? You can play at home, but don’t touch dangerous things. Did you get hurt?”

Mu Jinyu pulled hard a few times but couldn’t get the knife out. She braced one foot against the pillar and used all her strength. She was quite afraid that if she used too much force, the knife would fly out and hurt one of them. So she was very careful, and after a great effort, she finally pulled the kitchen knife out. Looking at it, the blade was chipped and dulled.

“Sigh,” Mu Jinyu lamented. “There are so many things to play with; why did you have to play with the only knife in the house? Now we can’t have breakfast tomorrow; I’ll have to go buy a new knife first.”

Listening to Mu Jinyu’s endless chatter, Rong Heng silently came up behind her, considering whether she should just strangle her. Mu Jinyu put the knife on the stove and turned around, startled by the sudden appearance of Rong Heng. When did she get there?

She patted her chest and said, “You can light the oil lamp when you’re home alone; otherwise, how can you see in this pitch darkness? It’s late; let me make you something to eat, and then you should go to sleep.”

She went behind the stove, started a fire, and put a bit of lard in the pan. Once the lard melted and became hot, she cracked two eggs into the pan, scrambled them, and then added the leftover rice from dinner, stir-frying them together to make egg-fried rice. While the rice was cooking, Mu Jinyu pulled Rong Heng to the front of the stove. Using the orange-red light from the fire, she carefully examined Rong Heng’s face and hands. Seeing no new injuries, she still felt uneasy and asked, “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Rong Heng didn’t respond, merely looking at her with cold, dark eyes. Her fingers curled slightly, tempted to wrap around Mu Jinyu’s neck. But a string in her heart held her back, telling her she couldn’t kill Mu Jinyu, that the person before her could not die. There was the bond of the marking between them; as long as the thought of killing Mu Jinyu entered her mind, her heart would tremble and her eyes would feel slightly hot, as if she were about to cry.

The two stared at each other in silence, Rong Heng’s breathing becoming slightly rapid. She was fuming. Only after a while did she say, “No.”

Hearing Rong Heng’s answer, Mu Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief and continued stir-frying the rice with the spatula. She felt that Rong Heng was a bit strange tonight, very quiet, and showing no excitement even though she was making food. Did she not like egg-fried rice? Mu Jinyu firmly noted this in her mind, planning to make something else for Rong Heng tomorrow.

When the egg-fried rice was ready, she added a handful of chopped lettuce. The yellow and green fried rice was fragrant and brightly colored, looking very appetizing. At that moment, the little civet cat, who had been sleeping in the room, woke up and ran to Mu Jinyu’s feet, meowing and circling around her.

Seeing it, Mu Jinyu was naturally happy. She picked up the little cat with one hand and said, “Ancestor, you’re awake? Are you hungry too? Perfect, you two can have a late-night snack together.”

Hearing this, Rong Heng looked at the bowl in her hand, her face darkening. Was this person treating her like a pet cat? Rong Heng was displeased and said, “Heat some water. I want to bathe.” She really didn’t like the scent on her own body—dead wood, it smelled awful.

Mu Jinyu was a bit surprised; Rong Heng could express her thoughts so smoothly now? But she didn’t fulfill the request immediately. Instead, she made some clicking sounds at the cat and said, “I’ll feed the ancestor first and then heat the water.”

Rong Heng’s brow furrowed deeper, her sharp eyes piercing into Mu Jinyu. This person didn’t listen to her orders, yet she couldn’t kill her. Truly frustrating. Rong Heng held the bowl and turned her body away, out of sight, out of mind. She didn’t let it get between her and the food; she had known when she had lost her memory that Mu Jinyu’s cooking was good. Now that she was actually tasting it, the flavor was indeed excellent. Even a simple stir-fry of eggs, vegetables, and rice could be made so impressively.

Beside her, Mu Jinyu put the civet cat on the stove, poured the fish heads and bones she had brought back into a bowl, and began carefully deboning the fish for the cat. During the day, the cat could eat fresh fish, but at night, it could only have boiled fish as a snack. Mu Jinyu picked all the meat off the bones, rinsed it with water to remove the salt and other flavors, and then put it into the cat’s wooden bowl, watching it eat greedily.

The cat’s bowl had been made from wood scraps by the carpenter when she was getting the small table made. It had only been a few days ago, and at the time, the bowl was large enough to fit the entire cat. Now, the cat was growing so fast that the bowl was only half its size. By the time the cat reached adulthood, it would probably be just a tiny bowl for it.

Mu Jinyu’s gaze shifted back and forth between the cat and Rong Heng, seeing both of them eating without even looking up. She felt very satisfied, the corners of her mouth curling into a smile, her eight teeth reflecting the light from the stove.

After feeding the cat, Mu Jinyu cleaned the pan, added water, and added a few more pieces of firewood to the stove. While waiting for the water to heat, she didn’t hide anything from Rong Heng as she placed copper coins on the stove and began counting them one by one. Once she reached a hundred, she strung them together. Today she had earned more than five strings, which was very good.

Rong Heng, eating the fried rice, saw Mu Jinyu so happy over a few copper coins and felt quite disdainful. But she couldn’t leave this place yet; she had injuries and needed time to recover. Furthermore, she didn’t know why she had lost her memory, nor why she had suddenly regained it. If she went back now and lost her memory again, it would be like walking into a lion’s den.

After finishing her meal, Rong Heng followed Mu Jinyu to the storage room. She watched as Mu Jinyu filled the tub with bucket after bucket of water. White steam rose, soon filling the entire room and making everything look hazy. Water droplets condensed on the edge of the wooden tub, gathered into large drops, and slowly slid back into the water.

Seeing Mu Jinyu’s hard-working appearance, Rong Heng felt the urge to kill her again. She placed her hand on Mu Jinyu’s back. Mu Jinyu was a bit taller than her, with a larger frame. Her hand on the other’s body created a stark contrast. Rong Heng slowly applied pressure, wanting to push Mu Jinyu into the tub to drown. What a beautiful way to die.

Just as Rong Heng was imagining how Mu Jinyu would struggle, Mu Jinyu, who had been touched, shivered and turned around quickly, saying to Rong Heng, “Don’t touch me! I won’t bathe with you!”

“I won’t help you wash either!”

Rong Heng: …?