From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 55 - 52: To Each Their Own Master

It wasn’t until Shen Yue had finished plucking the two little hens clean that he belatedly realized something:

—’There’s something off about the logic of what Wei Heng just said.’

’Gu Xi was mulling over his situation, so she took Da Hong for a stroll in the mountains? What was the cause-and-effect relationship between those two things?’

That was what Shen Yue was thinking, and it was also what he asked.

Wei Heng, who had just put the sweet potato vermicelli into a bowl of water to soak, glanced at him. "You’re overthinking things. Gu Xi took Da Hong into the mountains to look for mushrooms to put in the chicken soup."

As for mulling over your situation, that was just something she did on the side.

’Stop with the self-important humblebragging.’

Shen Yue was speechless. "..."

He stood up, dried the water from his hands, and pulled off the apron he was wearing, handing it back to Wei Heng. He lounged beside him lazily and raised an eyebrow. "You really look down on me that much?"

Wei Heng lifted his eyes to look at him, and his gaze... how to put it? It was one of pure, unadulterated disdain.

Shen Yue wasn’t having it. "Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? I’m not that bad of a catch, am I?" ’Back in the day, plenty of girls at the military base liked me, alright!’

Wei Heng gave a dry chuckle, shot him a look without saying a word, then turned, tied on the apron, and picked up a large kitchen cleaver. He began to gut the two little hens.

His movements were clean and efficient, as smooth as flowing water. He exuded an invisible ruthlessness that had seen its share of blood, along with a faint, almost imperceptible killing intent...

Shen Yue rubbed his nose and silently took two steps back.

’Forget it. He was just a freeloader; he couldn’t afford to provoke the household’s head chef.’

Once the fragrant pickled pepper chicken gizzards hit the pot, a series of gulps could be heard from all around the kitchen.

Seeing this, Wei Heng felt extremely smug. ’He’d made the pickles, and he’d prepared the gizzards. It was obvious that Gu Xi’s little team could do without anyone, but they could never do without him, Mr. Wei!’

’Therefore, his position in Gu Xiaoxi’s heart was irreplaceable.’

’No matter how many new team members they got in the future, that would never change!’

Knowing that Gu Xi wouldn’t be back for breakfast, the group didn’t wait for her.

"Time to eat!" With a shout from Mr. Wei, everyone began to wolf down their food.

After finishing the fragrant chicken gizzards and vermicelli, a few of the girls rubbed their stuffed bellies and went back to catch up on sleep.

Wei Heng, however, was wide awake and wouldn’t have been able to sleep even if he went back. So, he simply stayed to watch over the chicken soup simmering on the earthen stove.

Poor Shen Yue, on the other hand, had been on edge all night. Now, full and satisfied, he was incredibly sleepy but still had to head back to the experimental fields, yawning all the way.

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to grab a small pot of chicken gizzards and vermicelli that had been packed up earlier—ostensibly to let the professors have a taste.

Wei Heng shot him a look but didn’t call him out on it. ’With the professors’ small appetites, that pot was enough to feed them for a whole day.’

When Shen Yue arrived at the experimental fields and had just stepped into the professors’ break room, a young man in glasses darted over. He enthusiastically took the pot from his hands and placed it on a nearby table.

"Bro, what’s in the pot? I could smell it from a mile away..." the young man asked, already retrieving a bowl and chopsticks from a nearby cabinet with practiced ease.

Shen Yue leaned lazily against a wall and said grumpily, "You and your dog’s nose. Where are the two professors?"

"The professors are busy right now. They probably won’t be out of the lab until noon..." After taking a bite of the chicken gizzards and vermicelli, the young man’s eyes lit up. He looked up and asked, "Who made this?"

’This is amazing.’

"Yang Chi, were you a starving ghost in your past life? Look at you, so pathetic. It’s like you haven’t eaten in eight hundred years!"

Shen Yue rolled his eyes at him, strode over, and moved the pot with the remaining vermicelli to the side, lest it be contaminated by someone’s flying spittle.

"Cousin, that’s easy for you to say." Yang Chi, holding his bowl, shoveled a large mouthful with his chopsticks and said indistinctly, "No, wait. It’s ’a full man never knows a hungry man’s plight’..."

"Alright, enough fooling around." Shen Yue tapped his little cousin’s head with his chopsticks. "Let’s talk business."

Yang Chi finished his large bowl of vermicelli in no time. His gaze uncontrollably drifted back to what was left in the pot, full of longing.

But remembering the two professors hadn’t eaten yet, Yang Chi sighed, forced his eyes away, and after a moment’s thought, fished a large orange out of the cabinet.

Peeling the orange, Yang Chi said, "You didn’t come by last night. Number Three made contact with the other side. No movement from Number Five for now..."

The Number Three and Number Five he mentioned, like him, were ostensibly experimental assistants to the two professors.

Although they were all from the Central Base’s Agricultural University, in reality, each served a different master.

Shen Yue leaned against the table, his fingertips tapping gently on the surface. "Don’t worry about Number Three for now," he said slowly. ’Xv Yiyisan is keeping an eye on things over at the Abnormal Ability Research Institute, so nothing should go wrong for the time being.’

’But as for Number Five...’

Shen Yue’s tapping paused for a moment. "Find something for her to do. Figure out who’s behind her as soon as possible. And as for Number One..."

Yang Chi nodded and reluctantly broke off a small half of the peeled orange to offer him. ’You have to spend a sprat to catch a mackerel,’ he thought. ’If my cousin eats my orange this time, he’ll bring me more good food next time.’

But the small half of the orange he held out remained untouched.

Yang Chi paused, then looked up into Shen Yue’s eyes. "Cousin, aren’t you going to have some?"

As he spoke, he started to pull his hand back to pop it into his own mouth.

Swift as the wind, Shen Yue grabbed his wrist. He stared at the small half of the orange by Yang Chi’s mouth and sneered, "How generous of you." ’He was the one who brought this orange last time.’

’That time, Gu Xi hadn’t been able to resist. She’d snuck deep into the woods in the middle of the night to plant an orange tree, and afterward, everyone in the Farming Team got about thirty oranges each...’

’The next day, Shen Yue had brought this kid five of them. He never expected... Heh.’

Shen Yue mercilessly snatched the larger remaining half of the orange from his little cousin’s hand and stuffed it into his own mouth.

"My orange!" Yang Chi wailed, his heart aching beyond repair. ’That was the last one...’

"This is *my* orange," Shen Yue said, giving him a lazy glance before changing the subject. "Any new intel from the Central Base?"

"Yes. Zhou Jinyu secretly left the Central Base last night..." As Yang Chi spoke, he seemed to think of something, and his eyes suddenly lit up. "This time, he specifically requested to bring Ye Junhan and Ye Nan along..."

"Cousin, our dear Mr. Zhou has kept a low profile and avoided this for so many years. Don’t you think him suddenly seeking out Ye Nan means... he’s planning a father-daughter reunion with our ’Light of the Apocalypse,’ Miss Ye?"

He tilted his head as he asked, looking like someone who just loved to watch the world burn.

"You’re such a gossip," Shen Yue said, giving his little cousin a lazy glance.

But Yang Chi felt wronged. "Weren’t you the one who told me to keep an eye on the news from over there?" ’And now he’s calling me a gossip?’

Shen Yue, however, lowered his gaze, lost in thought.

’Zhou Jinyu had always been a low-key person. For years, he’d basically holed himself up in the Abnormal Ability Research Institute, never once stepping outside the Central Base. Yet this time, he was leaving so openly with Ye Nan and Ye Junhan...’

’Their Mr. Zhou was not one to ever make a pointless move.’

"Do you know his destination?" Shen Yue asked, looking up.

Yang Chi rubbed his nose and asked with great sincerity, "Cousin, do you really think that’s something I could find out?"

Yang Chi’s eyes sent a clear message to his cousin: the man was the head of a department at the Abnormal Ability Research Institute, while he himself was just an ordinary, unremarkable student from the Agricultural University.

Shen Yue thought about it. True enough.

So, he walked over to his little cousin, clapped him on the shoulder, and apologized with equal sincerity, "Sorry. It was my fault for overestimating you."

Yang Chi was speechless. "..." ’Hey, it’s one thing for me to be humble, but for you to say it like that? That’s just uncalled for, isn’t it?’