By the time Bai Ye woke up again, it was nearly noon. Not because she’d had enough sleep, but because hunger had woken her.

She hadn’t had time to make dinner last night while taking care of Meijie. She’d just picked at some leftovers from lunch, and they hadn’t filled her up.

Now that noon was drawing near, she really couldn’t take it much longer.

“Phew... I’d better go find something to eat.”

Come to think of it, Bai Ye had promised Meijie that she’d handle the cooking for as long as Meijie was staying with her. It was nearly noon now, so she had to keep her promise.

Bai Ye first put the blanket, pillow, towel, and washbasin back where they belonged. Then she took the chance to straighten out the quilt Meijie had left in a mess before heading downstairs to make food.

But when she reached the bottom of the stairs, she was stunned to find a steaming meal already laid out on the table.

“Oh? You’re awake! Perfect timing. Come eat.”

Meijie had been about to go upstairs and wake Bai Ye, but Bai Ye had come down on her own. That saved her the trouble.

“Where did you get all this food?”

Just from how it looked, the food on the table seemed like it had been made by following a recipe to the letter. It was the complete opposite of that plate of “charred lumps” Meijie had stir-fried, so there was no way she’d made it herself.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? You didn’t even ask if I made it!”

Bai Ye shrugged at Meijie’s protest.

“Why would I need to ask? There’s no way you made this.”

“...”

Meijie was a little unhappy at Bai Ye’s dismissal of her cooking, but she had no way to argue back. The food on the table really wasn’t something she’d made.

“Fine, I admit it. I bought it from a restaurant.”

Meijie pouted.

“But even so, couldn’t you at least act a little touched? I may not know how to cook, but at least I made sure you’d have something to eat as soon as you woke up. Can’t you say a couple of nice things about me?”

Meijie looked so petulant that Bai Ye found it amusing. She smiled and answered in a perfunctory tone.

“Sure, sure. You’re amazing.”

“Tch~ You don’t mean a word of it!”

Bai Ye ignored Meijie’s complaint and went straight to the table to sit down.

“Thanks for the food.”

Bai Ye was genuinely starving. She hadn’t eaten anything decent since yesterday afternoon, and if she didn’t get some food into her soon, she really wouldn’t be able to keep going.

“You couldn’t at least act touched before you start eating?!”

“...Mmph... not hungry...”

Seeing Bai Ye with her mouth stuffed full, Meijie knew there was no way she’d get her to stop eating.

Then again, Meijie was starving too. She’d thrown up the little she’d eaten at the banquet after getting drunk, so her stomach was empty as well.

She wasn’t as hungry as Bai Ye, but Meijie needed to get some food into her stomach too.

Meijie sat down beside Bai Ye. As she ate, she watched Bai Ye’s profile.

“Even like this, she’s so cute...” Meijie thought to herself.

For some reason, even though Bai Ye was eating in a really inelegant way, Meijie didn’t find it unpleasant at all. She actually thought Bai Ye looked kind of cute.

Before she knew it, Meijie was staring in a daze.

“Why do you keep staring at me?”

Bai Ye noticed Meijie watching her and felt a little puzzled. Why wasn’t Meijie eating? Why was she staring at her?

“Huh? Um... I...”

Faced with Bai Ye’s question, Meijie didn’t know how to answer. Could she really say she’d been entranced by Bai Ye’s profile?

Obviously not. If she did, wouldn’t Bai Ye get even more wary of her?

Bai Ye’s question had come out of nowhere, but luckily, Meijie quickly found an excuse. She noticed a small red mark on the side of Bai Ye’s neck, and it was just the thing to bring up.

“I was just wondering what that red mark on your neck is. It kind of looks like...”

Meijie had wanted to say the mark looked like a hickey, but she immediately dismissed the thought. How could she have left a hickey on Bai Ye’s neck?

After all, she’d been stopped even when she tried to sneak a kiss from Bai Ye. In the entire empire, An Jieli was probably the only one who could do something like that to Bai Ye...

“A red mark? What red—”

Bai Ye froze for a moment. Then she seemed to remember something, her eyes widening as she hurriedly covered the red mark on the side of her neck with her hand.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Meijie froze. She didn’t understand why Bai Ye was reacting so strongly.

Bai Ye looked as if someone had caught her with something to hide. She seemed flustered, and there was even a trace of embarrassed anger in her eyes as she looked at Meijie.

Seeing her expression, Meijie sensed that something was off.

Bai Ye was so flustered. Could the mark on her neck really be...? If it was, who could’ve left it?

“Damn it, I was drunk last night. I don’t know what happened, or else I... Wait, could I have been the one who did it...?”

With that thought, Meijie decided to cautiously test the waters.

“Um... when I was drunk last night, did I do anything to you...?”

Before Meijie could finish, Bai Ye shot her a cold, sharp glare.

“Shut up! Say another word, and you can forget about ever eating anything I cook again!”