While eating, Chu Ge still felt his scrambled eggs weren't quite right. Too little salt, too bland. While not terrible, they were far from Qiu Wuji's usual scrambled eggs.
He didn't eat much himself, focusing mainly on the twice-cooked pork and fried fish that Qiu Wuji had made after taking over.
Qiu Wuji, however, kept eating the scrambled eggs, finishing them in no time.
It was as if she were saying, "I'll eat yours, you eat mine..."
Chu Ge couldn't help but say, "These eggs aren't very good... eat more meat."
Qiu Wuji smiled slightly, "I think they're good. Maybe I ate too much sugar today; something light is good."
Chu Ge tilted his head and looked at her for a long time, not understanding.
Qiu Wuji smiled and lowered his head to eat.
He wasn't as good at it as the characters in his books, which was fine.
If it were one of his characters, they would probably have already taken advantage of the situation, but that wasn't what he was thinking. To do that would shatter the artistic conception. His silly, bewildered tilt of his head was so adorable. She slowly began, "I see you can cook too. If you help me with chores, does that mean I can help with cooking?"
Chu Ge replied apologetically, "To be honest, I'm really short on time right now. I'm afraid I can only do it occasionally."
Qiu Wuji thought for a moment, and although somewhat regretful, nodded in agreement.
He was currently juggling cultivation and writing, so his time was indeed quite limited. Actually, it had been the same before; he would go grocery shopping and cook for Chu Ge so that Chu Ge wouldn't be bothered by trivial matters and could focus on writing.
For the two of them, Chu Ge's work was truly paramount, not just about earning a living, but encompassing so much more. Qiu Wuji felt that, at least in this aspect, he had to support him.
What? She wanted to just kill him with a sword early on?
Did that even happen?
Chu Ge continued, "When I have time, I'll go grocery shopping and cook with you. After I finish writing, I can take you to other places to play. There are still many fun places you haven't been to yet. Oh, right, bring your laptop. Actually, we can consider going on a trip; now that you have your ID card..." Qiu Wuji chuckled, "With the pandemic, traveling? We'll see."
"Some places are still possible," Chu Ge said. "Also, I just checked, and my royalties arrived today. Including the income from Zhang Qiren's Golden Alliance, this month's income is extremely considerable. Adding the bonus that will arrive in a few days, I've never had such a substantial fortune... You can look into anything you like..." Seeing his boastful expression, Qiu Wuji shook his head, stood up to clear the dishes, and said, "That Golden Alliance and the bounty aren't regular income sources. Where would we get so many Zhang Qirens and Rong Fus? Calm down, you should go write. You haven't finished 10,000 words today, have you, Master?"
Chu Ge went back to his room to write, puzzled. He felt that Qiu Wuji's attitude was strange today... but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
But he didn't have the heart to think too much about it. He'd had too much to do today, and his tasks weren't finished—Chu Ge had even planned to write a little more, since he wanted to be featured today.
Besides, he'd already ranked somewhat on the popularity charts. These rankings were weighted by word count and performance, so although his 10,000-word update was far behind others with 20,000-30,000 words, his ranking wasn't low, and his exposure was decent. Chu Ge planned to maintain it.
The top recommendation in the bestseller selection and the considerable income he received today were clearly excellent boosts, enough to make him charge forward with great enthusiasm.
Chu Ge quickly immersed himself in the story. This time, he didn't go to chat with Qiu Wuji every few days… He couldn't do that often; it easily interrupted his train of thought. He'd done his best.
Qiu Wuji cleaned the dishes and tidied the kitchen, but didn't continue writing her autobiography.
She leaned against the door, quietly watching Chu Ge's focused writing. The keyboard moved rapidly and rhythmically, quite melodiously. Occasionally, she'd get stuck, lean back in her chair, and unconsciously grab the Coke from the table to drink.
After a sip, her thoughts seemed to flow again, and she quickly put it down and continued typing.
People say that men who are focused on their work are the most attractive, but Qiu Wuji didn't feel that way; she only thought he looked hard-working. After trying typing herself, she understood this even more deeply.
She thought for a moment, then suddenly turned and went to boil some water.
As Chu Ge typed, a fragrant breeze wafted past, and a cup of tea sat steaming on the table.
Chu Ge turned around in surprise, meeting Qiu Wuji's smiling face: "Drink less cola, tea is better. I'll go to the tea shop tomorrow and buy some decent tea; this ten-yuan pack really isn't good..." Chu Ge was still confused. Qiu Wuji hadn't offered to pour tea for so long...
"What kind of expression is that?" Qiu Wuji snorted, turning to leave: "Your apprentice, employee, assistant... isn't that what you're supposed to do? Oh right, Panda's injured, I need to go and check on the profile picture again, it's been so long..." Chu Ge's mouth was half-open. He said I was addicted to stacking buffs, but his addiction to cosplaying employees and assistants wasn't bad either.
It's a pity he's wearing pajamas; if he were wearing that early OL short skirt and black stockings, it would look more like it.
Hmm... is it possible it's not cosplay?
At least getting a profile picture for himself isn't cosplay! Qiu Wuji stormed back to his computer, opened QQ, and was about to curse some effeminate characters. It's been so many days, and this is still just one profile picture! Other people making figurines have already made several! If the profile pictures are like this, what are we going to do with birthdays and cards later?!
As soon as I opened QQ, a message flashed in the pinned group chat:
Blue Pill: "Is my profile picture awesome?"
A group member replied: "Yes."
Blue Pill: "?"
Blue Pill: "This is our Qiuqiu's chibi profile picture!"
A group member: "Holy crap? You're abusing your power! It hasn't even been changed on the app, and you're already using it?"
Panda sent a hands-on-hip emoji: "I'm working while injured, still beating up characters even in the hospital, isn't this a bit of personal gain?"
No one paid attention to his hospitalization, nor did they know that his so-called "beating up" was actually real beatings. They all commented on the profile picture: "Isn't it a bit too cute? Qiuqiu's domineering aura isn't showing."
Some objected: "It's hard for a chibi version to be very domineering. If you emphasize domineering, you lose the intelligence of our Qiuqiu!"
"Get lost, who's your Qiuqiu?"
"Our Qiuqiu is cute too, that image of her crashing into the stone gate is still etched in my heart..."
The group chat started to go off-topic.
Qiu Wuji: "..." She clicked on Panda's profile picture, and sure enough, the previous panda head had been replaced by a chibi-style woman in ancient costume, carrying a long sword, with a big head and big eyes, trying hard to exude domineering power, but instead looking more like a spoiled little brat, quite adorable.
Is this me?
Qiu Wuji was somewhat dazed.
So cute of me.
"Beep beep beep," a private chat notification sounded. Qiu Wuji dazedly clicked on it and saw Panda asking for instructions: "Sect Leader Qiu, what do you think of this profile picture?"
Qiu Wuji saw his finger moving: "It's good, this one will do."
"Great!" Panda said happily, "I think Sect Leader Qiu is just so cute!"
Qiu Wuji typed: "How's your injury?" Realizing what he'd typed, he deleted it and replaced it with: "Why are you in the hospital?"
"Waaaaah, Sect Leader Qiu is so kind, caring about me being in the hospital. Those heartless bastards..."
Qiu Wuji: "Of course. Are you alright?"
Panda said: "I'm fine, just a minor injury. This grandpa has the Calabash Brothers helping me fight monsters, crossing water is like stepping on flat ground."
Qiu Wuji: "?"
"Qiu Qiu, do you want to comfort me..." A red exclamation mark appeared. Sending failed, please add the other party as a friend first.
Panda: "?" Sitting on his hospital bed, Panda was utterly bewildered. How did he get blocked? "I was just helping you with your profile picture! One minute you were concerned about me, the next you've blocked me..." Qiu Wuji, with a stern face, saved the profile picture, first changing it in the author's backend, then changing it on all his own QQ and WeChat profile pictures.
Finally, someone with a profile picture! He didn't want to use that female penguin anymore.
Blocked? You want to be the grandpa of the Calabash Brothers? I'm the sixth Calabash Brother! If I don't block you, you'll be waiting until New Year's!