A soft gleam appeared in Qin Yuchen's eyes as he picked up a tissue and wiped his fingers. "Still mad at me?"
Gu Qinghe paused, knowing he was referring to her earlier wild bicycle ride. She took an indignant bite of an apple and snapped, "Am I that petty?"
Watching her puffed-up expression, Qin Yuchen had a strong urge to say yes, but fearing he might really tick her off, he kept his mouth shut and said nothing more.
After taking a bite, Gu Qinghe didn't keep the rest to herself. Instead, she passed the plate of fruit to the others around her.
Su Xiaotang didn't stand on ceremony at all, picking up a piece and eating it immediately. She felt that Gu Qinghe shouldn't be allowed to monopolize everything. Since Gu Qinghe could eat, she certainly could too.
Fang Min, being young and carefree, completely missed the undercurrents swirling among the group. She snatched a piece without hesitation and beamed stupidly. "These apples must have just arrived at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative not long ago. They really taste great."
Guo Jingming snatched two pieces at once, shoved them both into his mouth, and shook his head with a sigh. "I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd eat an apple peeled by old second Qin himself. Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
Qin Yuchen shot him a cool glance, crumpled his tissue into a ball, and threw it at him with a cold snort. "Not even food can shut your mouth, Guo Jingming. You truly live up to your reputation as the biggest gossip in our compound."
"Ahem, who's a gossip!" Guo Jingming coughed in protest and glared at him with dissatisfaction. He was just being sentimental and speaking off the top of his head—did Qin Yuchen have to roast him this badly?
Unable to hear the surrounding commotion, Fang Ya kept her gaze fixed on the fruit plate Gu Qinghe held out to her, lingering without a move.
Seeing this, Gu Qinghe raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Won't Comrade Fang try a piece? These are apples Brother Yuchen peeled with his own hands, you know."
Her tone was completely flat, a calm statement of fact, but to Fang Ya's ears, it sounded exceptionally grating and provocative.
Fang Ya locked eyes with Gu Qinghe. Looking into those clear, bright eyes devoid of any emotional fluctuation, she became absolutely certain that Gu Qinghe was doing this on purpose! She was deliberately using Qin Yuchen's special treatment of her to provoke, taunt, and humiliate her!
A trace of viciousness flickered in Fang Ya's eyes. No matter how much hatred she harbored in her heart, she still took a piece and took a small bite. Yet she couldn't taste the sweetness Fang Min had mentioned at all; her mouth was filled only with a sour, astringent taste that was hard to swallow.
What a formidable Gu Qinghe—the grudge between them was now officially set in stone!
Before long, Gu Xiuyuan and Qin Hongying finished preparing dinner, served the dishes, and called everyone to the table.
Gu Qinghe walked at the very back of the group, picking up the two bottles of Fen wine she had bought from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, while communicating with Xiao Ba through her consciousness: [Are there any good liquors in the mall?]
Xiao Ba scanned the inventory and replied honestly: [Yes, sauce-aroma Moutai.]
[Then give me two bottles and swap out the Fen wine.] Gu Qinghe instructed briskly.
Xiao Ba gasped in astonishment, chattering away: [Host, Moutai isn't cheap in your current plane. Can you really bear to part with it?]
Seeing that everyone had already taken their seats and was waiting for her, Gu Qinghe had no time to waste talking nonsense with Xiao Ba and urged, [The coins I earned are meant to be spent anyway. What is there to bear or not bear?]
Without further nagging, Xiao Ba readily swapped the wine inside the bottles for Moutai. Because the value difference between the two was quite large, Gu Qinghe had to spend 10 plane coins to complete the exchange. It certainly pinched her heart a bit, but she could barely manage to swallow the loss—after all, it was a token of filial respect for Qin Hongying.
"Hurry up and come sit down for dinner, Qinghe. What are you standing there blankly for?" Qin Hongying called out aloud.
"Coming," Gu Qinghe responded with a smile, placing the bottles—packaged as Fen wine but containing Moutai—onto the table. "Aunt Qin, I didn't have time yesterday to prepare a welcome gift for you. I just bought these from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and I hope you won't disdain them."
Fen wine cost four yuan a bottle and was already considered a rare, fine liquor. Even someone of Qin Hongying's status couldn't afford to drink it every day, so how could she possibly disdain it?
"You child, this must have cost a pretty penny, right?" Qin Hongying's strong, straight brows furrowed as she felt Gu Qinghe was being too polite. Since they were soon to become a family, there was no need to prepare such things.
Gu Xiuyuan was slightly stunned. Usually so well-mannered, he had completely forgotten about this detail, and he was glad Gu Qinghe had remembered. He cast a grateful and comforting smile at her and took the bottles. "Hongying, this is Qinghe's gesture. Just accept it!" As for the money spent, he would reimburse her double.
Since Gu Xiuyuan had put it that way, Qin Hongying naturally wouldn't strip him of his face. She picked up one of the bottles and laughed heartily, "Hahaha, fine, then let me try the wine my dear daughter gave me."
Su Xiaotang, who was also a daughter, wore a complicated expression and felt a pang of jealousy. She couldn't help feeling that in Qin Hongying's heart, she and Gu Qinghe were ultimately different.
Aside from Fang Ya, no one else noticed Su Xiaotang's fluctuating emotions. Fang Ya's gaze flickered slightly, and a cold smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
When Qin Hongying uncorked the bottle, instead of the crisp fragrance of Fen wine, a rich sauce aroma drifted out and lingered around the tip of her nose, causing her movements to pause.
"Why does the smell of this wine seem a bit strange?" Qin Hongying was a veteran drinker and possessed an extremely sharp sense for alcohol. Moreover, with a rich and fragrant liquor like Moutai, she caught the difference from the Fen wine she usually drank with a single sniff.
Gu Qinghe hadn't expected her cover to be blown so quickly, but she blinked without changing her expression and asked, "What's strange about it? Brother Yuchen and I bought this together at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so logically there shouldn't be any problem!"
"Mmm," Qin Yuchen nodded in agreement, asking with a puzzled tone, "Mom, do you think something is wrong with it?"
Seizing the opening, Su Xiaotang chimed in with a half-joking tone from the side, "Qinghe, you couldn't have been ripped off and bought water instead of wine, could you?"
Ignoring the taunt, Gu Qinghe simply smiled at Mother Gu. "Why don't you taste a sip and see?"
Mother Gu poured out a cup, brought it beneath her nose to sniff, and knitted her brows even deeper. "No need, this scent... I feel like I've smelled it somewhere before."
Guo Jingming handed over his own wine glass with a beaming smile. "Pour me a cup to taste, Aunt Qin." His mother was the director of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, so he could tell at a single taste if there was anything wrong with liquor from the cooperative.
Looking at the bottle of intensely fragrant liquor, Qin Hongying suddenly felt a bit reluctant. If this really was Moutai, casually pouring it out to drink just like this would simply be too much of a waste of heavenly things. Yet looking at Guo Jingming's expectant gaze, she couldn't very well refuse, so she had no choice but to pour him a cup.
The aroma of sauce grew even more intense in the air. Guo Jingming sniffed it, detected its extraordinary quality, and took a light sip from his glass. In an instant, his suspicion was confirmed, and he let out a loud shout:
"This isn't Fen wine at all, it's clearly Moutai!"
"Really Moutai?" Qin Hongying gasped in shock and hurriedly took a sip. Sure enough, it tasted exactly like the one she had drunk before!
Unlike the others who were stunned, Qin Yuchen furrowed his brows tightly, casting a suspicious and probing gaze at Gu Qinghe. How did perfectly fine Fen wine turn into Moutai just by passing through her hands?