Chapter 8 Where Should This Medicine Be Applied?

"Do you really want to eat?" Mu Keren bit her lower lip, her face filled with reluctance.

She had cooked enough dumplings for one person. The rest were her meals for the next day.

When Huang Qingtian suddenly asked to eat, it meant that her food for tomorrow was gone.

"Mhm!" Huang Qingtian didn't consider that much.

Having not eaten for nearly 18 hours, he was ravenous. Right now, anything placed in front of him would be devoured completely.

"Make more!" he emphasized before leaving the kitchen.

Mu Keren, left alone in the kitchen, was on the verge of tears.

But in the end, Mu Keren still bit the bullet and cooked the entire bag of extra-large dumplings she had struggled to buy.

She had no choice, who asked her to be living under someone else's roof?

Huang Qingtian had let her stay without charging rent or restricting her use of electricity and water. She just considered these dumplings a way to repay him...

A few minutes later, Mu Keren emerged with a pot of fragrant dumplings.

At that moment, Huang Qingtian leaned on the sofa holding an iPad, deep in whatever he was watching. Frameless glasses sat on his face. The orange light from the lamp on the side of the living room cast a soft glow on his side profile, making Qingtian look extraordinarily refined and graceful.

Perhaps, that was the reason Mu Keren froze in place.

Hearing the noise, Qingtian looked up, "Ready?"

"Yes, come and eat!" Keren's senses were pulled back by his timely voice.

By this time, she had already brought the pot of dumplings to the dining table.

When Qingtian sat down, Keren had already served a bowl for each of them, placed on opposite sides of the table.

Honestly, the portion in each bowl was a bit small. Each bowl only had a few dumplings, hardly enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

Perhaps sensing the dissatisfaction in his eyes, Keren spoke up, "If you don't think it's enough, there's more here in the pot!"

Following that, Qingtian started to eat. But after the very first bite, he regretted it.

He should have never let Keren cook his share. And he definitely should have not complained about the bowl being too small! Just from that first mouthful, he already felt full.

These kinds of frozen dumplings are actually simple; you just boil them casually and they're usually decent enough.

However, this seemingly foolproof ingredient, in the hands of Keren, still turned into a culinary disaster.

If he didn't know she was a delicate, pampered young mistress, unfamiliar with pots and pans, he might have thought she deliberately made these awful dumplings to spite him!

Meanwhile, Keren, glancing up, noticed Qingtian holding a dumpling, seemingly lost in thought, and quickly urged him, "Come on, eat up..."

She had made these dumplings the day before yesterday too. Back then, she forgot to add salt, which made them taste bland. But today, she had kept it in mind all along. So, in her opinion, the taste should be pretty good.

After taking a bite, though, she nervously scratched her head, "It seems a bit too salty..."

A bit too salty? He guessed she must have used almost half a bag of salt. Watching Keren blush and fumble for an excuse, Qingtian silently complained to himself.

But in the end, he picked up his chopsticks and started to eat. Being hungry for that long, he really didn't have the energy to think about anything else.

Watching Qingtian eat the dumplings one after another, Keren, feeling a sudden surge of pride in her cooking skills, also lifted her chopsticks and began to eat.

This batch of dumplings was indeed finished by both of them. But as a consequence, they found themselves opening the fridge constantly throughout the evening.

Mu Keren fumbled in the dark to open the refrigerator and was about to take out the last bottle of mineral water when something cold touched her arm.

The unpleasant chill made her frown. When she turned around, she saw Huang Qingtian, dressed in a shirt and dress pants, suitable for going out, handing her something.

"What's this?" she took it and looked around.

This item resembled an ointment, but there were no identifying marks on it.

"It's a bruise ointment," Huang Qingtian said as he slipped his wristwatch onto his left hand.

Seeing this, Mu Keren asked, "Are you going out?"

"Yeah, something came up suddenly, probably for a few days!" after pleasing the wristwatch, Huang Qingtian's gaze returned to her.

"Make sure to lock the doors and windows at night. Remember to apply the ointment, the injury should heal in about two days!"

His instructions before leaving made Mu Keren feel inexplicably warm. But following that warmth was confusion.

"Where should I apply this ointment?" Mu Keren held the tube, blinking her innocent large eyes with a naive and unknowing look.

Huang Qingtian did not give her a direct answer.

But just before he left, his eyes swept over her perky butt. That glance was innocuous in itself.

But in that moment, the corners of Huang Qingtian's lips curled into a faint, almost imperceptible smile, making Mu Keren suddenly realize that the "injury" he referred to was the palm print on her bottom!

Now, she was both embarrassed and annoyed, and without even saying goodbye to Huang Qingtian, she scurried into her bedroom, covering her little behind.

Meanwhile, Huang Qingtian, after seeing the adorable way the woman scuttled into the bedroom with her hand on her butt, allowed his lips to curl up a bit more. Although subtle, the smile was a few degrees more genuine than usual.

Wait for me to return, little one! he thought to himself.

Then, he left the apartment, vanishing into the night...

*

Mu Keren's landing a gig as a model for a shampoo advertisement was purely by chance.

That day, she had just seen on her computer that the official website of the renowned shampoo brand, Bawanghua, was recruiting spokespersons.

By that time, Mu Keren had already sent out several resumes, all without a response. As she was about to run out of supplies, Mu Keren took a chance and applied everywhere she could.

Included among these was the role of spokesperson for Bawanghua shampoo.

She had thought it would be another lost cause. But to her surprise, that very morning Mu Keren received a phone call for an audition.

With a little bit of secret delight, Mu Keren arrived at Times Square where the advertisement was being shot.

Upon arrival, she had her hair blown out and then made a few moves in front of the camera.

"Not bad! Now walk around the fountain..." the director instructed.

And Mu Keren, new to all this, simply followed the director's instructions in a naive fashion.

When he asked her to smile, she smiled. Bathing in the sunlight, her smile shone brighter than anyone else's, her little tiger teeth showing too.

Such a smile, captured on camera, immediately dazzled everyone present.

As a result, Mu Keren easily secured the shampoo advertisement deal. Although the payment was not substantial, it was enough to solve her sustenance worries for the time being.

"Miss Mu, my name is Xia Houjia. Here's my business card." As Mu Keren finished collecting her pay and was about to leave Times Square, a woman dressed in a gray ladies' suit, with a neat appearance, handed her a business card.