Her gaze settled upon the only man among the five who, though his expression was cold, held a relatively gentler look in his eyes.
He was dressed in apricot-colored casual loungewear, his light orange, semi-long curly hair softly framing his face. Gold-rimmed glasses rested delicately on his nose, and his clear blue eyes held the tranquil stillness of a serene lake.
This was none other than her fifth beast husband, Huai Qing.
Noticing Xiao Jinsheng's gaze, Huai Qing offered a warm smile and inquired, "Won't you join us for the meal?"
"Coming, coming," Xiao Jinsheng, who had been famished for half the day, hurried over. Given that four of the five men wore unfriendly expressions, she chose to sit beside Huai Qing.
As she settled beside him, Huai Qing's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly, but he quickly smoothed his expression, maintaining his gentle smile.
Using the pretense of getting up to pour himself some tea, when he returned to his seat, Huai Qing subtly shifted his chair, increasing the distance between himself and Xiao Jinsheng without making it obvious.
As a fragile college student who had innocently stumbled into this perilous apocalypse, now saddled with five husbands who, according to the storyline, would eventually kill her, Xiao Jinsheng was currently as vulnerable and sensitive as a little girl.
Even though Huai Qing's subtle distancing wasn't overtly hostile, she still keenly perceived it.
A wave of sadness washed over Xiao Jinsheng, and at the same time, she became even more resolute in her decision: she absolutely could not divorce Huai Qing either.
"Why aren't you all eating?" Xiao Jinsheng, after a few moments of internal coaxing, looked at the untouched dishes on the table.
"Without your presence, how would we dare to begin?" Su Ye remarked with a sardonic smile.
With that, he turned and went into the kitchen, returning with a covered dish that he placed before Xiao Jinsheng. "Here you are, the dinner you specifically requested me to prepare."
Dinner with a personal touch?
Xiao Jinsheng felt a flicker of pleasant surprise, which even seemed to soften the harshness of Su Ye's demeanor, leaving only his striking handsomeness.
She thought of Yu Yunxiao wanting a divorce, Mo Jiao wanting to kill her, Que Zelian ignoring her, and Huai Qing keeping his distance.
Now, these five butchers… no, five beast husbands. Su Ye might be fierce, but at least he was willing to engage, which was better than cold silence.
With a hint of anticipation, Xiao Jinsheng lifted the lid, only to be met with the horrifying sight of skinned rabbit heads arranged in a circle, adorned with white chrysanthemums and dripping with blood. She recoiled so violently that she tumbled off her chair.
"Why aren't you eating? Didn't you specifically ask me to cook for you?" Su Ye's smile turned wicked as he braced his large hands on the chair, leaning down to observe Xiao Jinsheng, whose face had paled with terror.
"You!" After the initial shock, all that remained for Xiao Jinsheng was a surge of anger towards Su Ye.
Su Ye cast a cold, condescending glance at her before arrogantly returning to his seat.
He had endured Xiao Jinsheng for half a year since their marriage. This woman was not only vicious but had even dared to sell off her own beast husband.
The five men's relationship could hardly be described as amicable.
After all, they had been strangers to one another before the terminal had bound them together in matrimony with Xiao Jinsheng.
Su Ye was simply feeling a sense of bleakness over Mo Jiao's being sold off today.
If Xiao Jinsheng could act so crazily as to sell Mo Jiao today, she could very well sell him tomorrow.
Su Ye's nature was inherently rebellious and independent. Enduring Xiao Jinsheng for half a year had already pushed him to his limit.
He thought that if he didn't teach Xiao Jinsheng a lesson now, the next thing he knew, this woman would be selling him off too.
Openly enjoying Xiao Jinsheng's terrified expression, Su Ye offered a satisfied smile.
Xiao Jinsheng was also sifting through her memories of Su Ye, simultaneously recalling the original owner's bizarre actions.
Driven by her competitive nature with the female lead Bai Yan, whose snow leopard beast husband was gentle and obedient, the original owner, seeing Su Ye as the black panther counterpart to the snow leopard, had disliked his aggressively handsome appearance and his nasty temperament.
So, she had devised a plan to temper Su Ye's personality by making Su Ye, the "kitchen killer," responsible for preparing everyone's dinner.
Good dinners received no praise, while bad ones resulted in beatings and scolding.
In the past half-year, although the dinners Su Ye had made were unappetizing, at least they hadn't been this gruesome.
Xiao Jinsheng understood that clearly, after Mo Jiao was sold and harbored murderous intent, the other four beast husbands were no longer willing to tolerate her either.
At this moment, Xiao Jinsheng just wanted to deliver a swift kick to Su Ye's face.
But as a fragile individual, she really didn't possess that ability in the short term. If she actually fought back and pushed these five men too far, what if they chose mutual destruction with her?
Her husbands dying was one thing; she could always find new ones. But if her own life was gone, it might not return.
Seeing that Su Ye was clearly teasing and intimidating her, Xiao Jinsheng gritted her teeth in anger, and a plan formed in her mind.
She directly picked up the plate with the bloody rabbit heads and slammed it down in front of Su Ye. "Remake it. I want spicy rabbit head."
"You're even ordering dishes now," Su Ye sneered. "My culinary skills are just like this. Eat it if you want, or feed it to the dogs if you don't."
"So you're not going to remake it?" Xiao Jinsheng retorted with an equally cold smile, gesturing towards the other four men. "If you don't remake it, I'll divorce all four of them except you."
Su Ye's fierce, cold gaze instantly froze.
The other four men displayed various expressions. Yu Yunxiao was even surprised and delighted. "Really?"
"If you don't remake it, I'll divorce, starting with Mo Jiao!" Xiao Jinsheng warned, her eyes fixed on Su Ye.
"Why divorce Mo Jiao first? If anyone should be divorced first, it should be me," Yu Yunxiao protested, clearly dissatisfied.
"Because Mo Jiao wants to kill me." Xiao Jinsheng glanced back at Mo Jiao and indeed found the undisguised killing intent in his amused purple eyes.
The confident and arrogant Su Ye was so amused by her outrageous behavior that he laughed. "Good! Very good! Xiao Jinsheng, you are truly wicked!"
"Very good, my foot! Stop with the pleasantries. Are you going to remake it or not?" Xiao Jinsheng lifted her chin defiantly.
Su Ye gritted his teeth in anger, his golden eyes fiercely raking over her. He stood up, the chair scraping loudly against the floor, and reluctantly took the plate of bloody rabbit heads.
"Spicy rabbit head, is it? I'll spice you to death!" He crushed the rabbit heads with his bare hands, heated oil in the wok, and directly poured a lethal amount of chili peppers into the pan.
Everyone in the house was immediately choked by the burning chili fumes from the kitchen and fled the dining room.
The pungent, spicy smell wafted out of Xiao Jinsheng's house, even affecting the Bai Yan family next door.
"Are they fighting again next door?" The snow leopard Xue Ruiyang quickly soaked a handkerchief with water and covered Bai Yan's mouth and nose to prevent her from being choked by the acrid smell.
"When aren't they arguing and fighting next door?" The Jiaolong Jin Ao scoffed.
"Everyone, please be assured that I would never treat my beast husbands the way Jinsheng treats hers. You are all very important to me, and you hold a very deep place within my heart." Bai Yan clutched her chest, tears welling up. "If any of you were to be hurt, it would break my heart."
"All six of you are my precious darlings."
"All five of you! You all want to divorce me and want me dead, don't you!" The kitchen had become a smoky disaster. Xiao Jinsheng scanned the living room, her fair face smudged with soot but still retaining its beauty, then looked at the other four men who seemed unconcerned.
"I'm laying it all out on the table today."
"I admit that I haven't been good to you in the past, I've been a bit harsh. After today, I've realized my mistakes and I'm willing to change. So, I implore you to give me a chance to make amends. You have to agree, whether you wish to or not."
"You all kneel down, I beg you…" Realizing her slip of the tongue, Xiao Jinsheng quickly corrected herself, "You all sit down, I have something to ask of you."
"From now on, let's live together harmoniously and have a good life. Whoever behaves the worst, I will divorce the other four besides him."
The five men were so taken aback by her words that they were rendered speechless with anger.
This was the first time they had encountered someone apologizing with such an arrogant demeanor.
"From now on, you don't have to sleep in the living room anymore. This house has so many empty rooms, please choose one for yourselves," Xiao Jinsheng stated.
Because the original owner had disliked these five men, she hadn't allowed them to have their own rooms. Four of them slept on makeshift beds in the living room, and one slept in the basement.