Gu Jiaojiao listened to the man, her round eyes darting back and forth.
"You don't have to doubt me, and you'd better not make stuff up either. That old man really is my Immortal master."
"Just because you say he's your master doesn't make it so. I could just as easily claim he's my master. How can you prove the stone is yours?"
In truth, Su Shuochi hoped the old man really was Gu Jiaojiao's master, but he was afraid of getting his hopes up only to be disappointed.
'I'll need to keep pulling things out of my space in the future,' Gu Jiaojiao thought. 'I have to come up with a good excuse.'
'Talk about a godsend. He's seen the pendant before, so I might as well tell him my Immortal master gave it to me.'
Although Gu Jiaojiao inwardly scorned the man for his ignorance—calling such a fine gemstone a "worthless rock"—she was too excited to fuss over the details. She leaned in close to his ear again.
"Look, the stone can make food appear."
With a thought, Gu Jiaojiao pulled a packet of honey-roasted chicken drumsticks and a packet of spicy and sour boneless lemon chicken feet from her space.
Even for a man like Su Shuochi, who had seen it all, the sight of the chicken drumsticks and chicken feet in the young woman's hands shook him to the core.
He covered her small hands with his large one and shot a cautious glance at the door before whispering in a stammer.
"Don't... ever... let anyone else see this. Not even my parents."
"I'm not an idiot. Why would I tell anyone else? It's your fault for not believing me in the first place. My master said I was exceptionally bright and beautiful, and that we were fated to be master and disciple. He taught me the Five Elements Transporting Skill and some medicine. These chicken drumsticks and chicken feet are from him, the Immortal."
She spouted this nonsense with a straight face, leaving the normally sharp Su Shuochi completely bewildered. For a moment, he didn't doubt a word she said.
Gu Jiaojiao was also afraid Su's mother might suddenly walk in, so she had leaned close to Su Shuochi's ear.
Her soft whisper, a gentle breath carrying a faint, fresh scent, drifted into his ear and nose.
Su Shuochi's face flushed red. His heart started to THUMP, and an endless joy he had never felt before surged through him.
'Ever since he was injured on a mission, both the military and his family had sought out every famous doctor they could find. They all said his leg was incurable. As a result, his personality had grown increasingly sensitive, gloomy, and irritable. That old man had said he would fall into a "mortal abyss." At the time, he'd scorned the old man for being intentionally cryptic. 'If you're so capable, why did you need me to save you?' he'd thought. But then he had fallen, and he had even been forced into a marriage. He started to wonder if tales like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, the Heavenly Fairy Match, could actually be real. Would a day come when an immortal might fall from the heavens to save him from his abyss...?'
"You eat the drumstick. I'll have the chicken feet."
Seeing the man remain silent, Gu Jiaojiao tore open the packaging for the drumstick and handed it to him.
She quietly went over, closed the door, and slid the bolt. The bowl of noodles she'd had for lunch was long gone.
Once the door was bolted, she sat on the edge of the bed and began to savor her favorite spicy and sour boneless lemon chicken feet.
Su Shuochi watched her eat with such focus. 'I should give the drumstick to her,' he thought, but then decided he was being too fussy.
'If an immortal wants to eat, she can probably conjure up more whenever she likes.' Though Su Shuochi had been reluctant to believe in Immortals, he now had no choice. He had just taken a huge bite of the drumstick, and it was a flavor unlike anything he had ever tasted.
'Made by an Immortal, so of course it's extraordinary,' he thought. 'It's really delicious.'
Su Shuochi devoured the drumstick in just a few bites, his eyes lingering on the immortal across from him, wanting more.
'So beautiful,' he thought. 'And she's my wife.'
Gu Jiaojiao had plenty more in her space. She took the empty wrapper from his hand, made it vanish back into her space, then pulled out a soy-braised pig's trotter, tore open the packaging, and handed it to him.
Su Shuochi stared at the young woman before him. 'She can even throw trash up into the heavens?'
'Even though she's an immortal, the old man did say the owner of the stone would be my wife. But... surely an immortal wouldn't be in love with Song Zijin, would she?'
On a sudden, strange impulse, Su Shuochi asked tentatively, "Would you give any of this to Song Zijin?"
"Who's Song Zijin? Why would I give him anything to eat?" Gu Jiaojiao was completely absorbed in her snack.
She was enjoying it so much that she'd momentarily forgotten she was now living inside a novel, and that Song Zijin was this world's male lead.
When Gu Jiaojiao saw the man's stunned silence, she clapped a hand over her mouth.
'Oh, crap!'
'He's not getting suspicious, is he?!'
"Heh heh, Song Zijin isn't my fiancé anymore, so..."
"You're my wife now. Don't talk about other men," Su Shuochi said, feeling a pang of discomfort at the word "fiancé."
He cut Gu Jiaojiao off, possessively stressing that she was his wife.
"What is wrong with you? I was happily eating my food, and you were the one who brought him up! You're seriously messed up."
Refusing to back down, Gu Jiaojiao muttered fiercely. 'This guy is seriously messed up.'
He found his pouting little wife incredibly cute.
In that instant, the cloud of gloom that always hung over Su Shuochi vanished. 'Before this, if anyone had dared to say I was "messed up," I would have crippled them. But hearing it from this immortal... I can only accept it calmly. Besides, being partially paralyzed... isn't that a serious condition?'
The two ate in comfortable silence, especially Su Shuochi. He had never tasted anything like the drumstick or the pig's trotter.
He'd seen raw chicken and pork, and he'd seen them cooked. But this was the first time he'd ever had chicken and pork from the heavens.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK...
"Chi, is Jiaojiao awake yet?" Su's mother's anxious voice called from the doorway.
"Mom, I'm awake! I'm just getting changed. Is it time to start dinner?"
Gu Jiaojiao had finished a packet of chicken feet, nibbled on some nuts, and was now sipping a fizzy yogurt drink.
She was in an excellent mood, and her voice was bright and cheerful.
"Jiaojiao, take your time getting changed. I've already put the rice on. I'm about to start the stir-fry, so you two can come out to eat soon."
"Mom, Jiaojiao's hungry," Su Shuochi said. "Go ahead and start cooking. We'll be right out."
Su Shuochi sent his mother away with a straight face. He had something he needed to impress upon his immortal wife.
'She doesn't understand the ways of the mortal world. If she gets scared off by its monsters and demons, where am I supposed to find another wife?'
Gu Jiaojiao looked at the man in the wheelchair. The way he looked at her was scorching, all traces of his previous coldness and gloom gone.
"What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a beautiful woman before?"
"No... This is the first time... You're so beautiful."
Gu Jiaojiao was speechless.
'What the hell?'
'Did one drumstick and one pig's trotter really win over this brooding, handsome psycho?'
'Then again, that might not be so bad. Having a handsome sidekick following me around... we'd be a beautiful sight wherever we went.'
'I have advanced equipment. I'm completely confident I can cure his paralysis.'
"From now on, you stick with me. I'm confident I can fix your leg."
"Okay. I believe you."
Gu Jiaojiao was speechless.
'I thought it would take a long time to convince him. He believed me just like that?'
"Jiaojiao, you can't just make things appear out of nowhere. It'll scare people. You don't understand how complicated people can be..."