Amnesia Chapter 16: Brother Mu’s Cooking

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: SpringBreeze

 

Sensing that ZhiZhi had stopped crying as soon as Mu CangZhou returned, Jing Man’s gaze shuttled back and forth between the two, as if in thought. He asked Mu CangZhou, “What did you do just now?”

The latter was burying his head in thought about how to talk about living together, and said absentmindedly, “I went home to get the little clothes I bought for them.”

“Oh yeah, you’re a midwife, you can buy as many baby supplies as you want!” Jing Man laughed and pretended that nothing had happened, “So what are you waiting for? Let’s get their clothes on.”

There was a rustle, and ZhiZhi was put into a soft, light, white one-piece baby outfit. The little one secretly touched the clothes with their hands and found that it was not very tasty. So, they gave up and sat with their head cocked and yawned in Mu CangZhou’s hand.

Jing Man had the intention to verify his heart’s suspicions, so he opened his personal terminal to order food, “Let’s eat at home tonight, I’ll order a take-out.”

In a short time, the take-out arrived, and Mu CangZhou took the initiative to go downstairs to get it. After he left, Jing Man held ZhiZhi, his eyes unblinkingly observing the little treant.

Mu CangZhou’s first foot left the room, then the second foot and ZhiZhi’s face suddenly changed, eyes full of panic, trembling, and began to look all over the room. It turned out that it was not a coincidence that they would be afraid as soon as Mu CangZhou left.

Seeing this scene, Jing Man suddenly became enlightened.

Just as Xiao Jin began to cling to himself frantically as soon as he was born, this child seemed to have more affinity with Old Mu…

His heart was slightly sour when he thought about it. Blood ties could not lie, and he loved ZhiZhi, who could bloom and smelled of grass. But, as the co-parenting agreement said, parents could not interfere with their children’s nature and choices.

When Mu CangZhou came back with the take-out, the sun had gathered its last light and the house was dark.

Jing Man didn’t know why he didn’t turn on the light, but his whole body was stretched out in a big figure lying on the floor, and it was hard to see his expression. Xiao Jin shrank at his neck, and ZhiZhi was lying on his belly.

“ManMan! What’s wrong?” Fearing that he was sick, Mu CangZhou’s heart suddenly clenched.

He ran quickly to turn on the light. The room was once again illuminated, and Jing Man felt his eyes stinging a little, so he raised his wrists to cover them. His voice was slightly hoarse and nasally, “ZhiZhi seems to like you more, you take them to raise.”

So, you can’t let the child go? Mu CangZhou was relieved and found it interesting. He had never seen Jing Man do such a nonsensical thing, and thought about it and also followed to lie on the carpet. It wasn’t icy, but it was a little chilly. He turned his head to Jing Man, “I won’t take them away.”

Jing Man was surprised, in his mind the two were just foster partners before the babies were all hatched.

When the babies were born, it was time for one person to take their three children and go their separate ways for good.

“Hmm?” He turned to Mu CangZhou with wet eyes, wondering what the man was talking about.

Mu CangZhou’s throat rolled as his gaze traced Jing Man’s similar, yet somewhat younger, features to his lover’s. He closed his eyes slightly, “I will not take any of the children without your permission.”

The child is mine, and so are you.

Thinking it was just for show, Jing Man withdrew his gaze and slowly rose from the ground with the two sleeping children in his arms.

Jing Man, “Let’s eat first.”

Long’s did not provide take-out service, so dinner was bought from another restaurant. Jing Man poked it with his chopsticks, feeling little appetite.

Mu CangZhou sensed it and asked, “You don’t believe me?”

Jing Man shook his head and just smiled.

Mu CangZhou was in a hurry and blurted out, “Then let’s live together.”

“Hmm?” Jing Man had a question in his eyes as he pondered the possibility.

Since they met, Mu CangZhou had given him the impression that he was gentle, calm, and knew how to behave. This statement would obviously ruin the current simple and ordinary friend relationship, not like him.

Since he said that without thinking, Mu CangZhou regretted it for a moment. He was afraid that his fire would burn too much and scare Jing Man.

Who said warm water boiled frogs? How could he directly think about entering the house? The result was not quite what he had in mind.

Twenty-year-old Jing Man actually did not feel that he was too much and leave the table. 

When he thought of a possibility, Mu CangZhou’s heart warmed up.

He said stiffly, “May I? ManMan.” 

Jing Man looked at Mu CangZhou’s eyes and thought hard. Finally, he realized that it seemed like a very good suggestion!

First of all, the children would not be separated from him, and secondly, he could learn more about what the child’s father really looked like under the mask of his smile. Furthermore, he didn’t feel so attached when the child wasn’t born, but now his breath was going to freeze at the mere thought of being separated from ZhiZhi.

The idea that Mu CangZhou had been suffering in silence from a life separate from the dragon child made him feel even worse.

Today, it was time to end it.

His face blossomed into a smile, like a spark on a burning flame, hot and fleeting. Jing Man said, “Yes, you can stay in the room next to mine.”

With great joy, Mu CangZhou immediately agreed, “Okay!”

He didn’t know what was going on in Jing Man’s little mind. But, he hoped from the bottom of his heart that this cohabitation would last until the day when the invisible bond between him and ZhiZhi disappeared after a month.

After the meal, Mu CangZhou was ready to go home to get some toiletries, but then remembered that neither he nor Jing Man could leave ZhiZhi. So with some difficulty he said to Jing Man, “ManMan, I’m going home, can you bring the kids with me?”

“Sure.” Jing Man had no doubt about it. He didn’t realize that if Mu CangZhou and ZhiZhi alone had a relationship, he wouldn’t have to join at all…

 

The next day, Jing Man was a bit confused when he heard footsteps outside the door, Big Bear was clearly not home. Only when he heard the faint sound of Mu CangZhou talking to someone did he realize that he was not the only one in the house now.

Wearing his pajamas, he sleepily pulled the bedroom door open a crack to see what was going on. Coincidentally, Mu CangZhou spotted him and their eyes locked. Mu CangZhou generously showed what was in his hand. The delivery bag was filled with all kinds of seasonal vegetables and what seemed to be raw meat.

Mu CangZhou, “ManMan, the stove works, right? I’ll let you try my cooking today.”

Jing Man was surprised. The stove at home had not been used for a long time, “Alright.”

By the time Jing Man finished washing up and helping the two waking children to clean up, Old Mu had already finished cooking breakfast. When he saw him coming downstairs, he immediately greeted him.

The food on the table was not much, but there was enough for the two of them to eat. Jing Man saw that there was also a bowl of tender egg custard, which he thought was for Xiao Jin to add to his meal.

Under Mu CangZhou’s expectant gaze, he took a small spoon and scooped up a bite of the skinny egg congee.

It was salty and tasty, with two kinds of small dishes on the side.

A bowl of thin congee warmed his stomach, and could mobilize his good mood all day. He bit into the fresh shrimp pancake, which was fried golden brown on both sides and made his fingers tingle. Jing Man’s eyes widened in surprise as he nodded at Mu CangZhou with the pancake in his mouth.

Whenever he bit into the sweet shrimp meat, he was as happy as if he had won the jackpot!

Jing Man did not hesitate to praise him, “Old Mu, I did not expect you to have this skill!”

Mu CangZhou pursed his lips and smiled.

Not every transmigration world had take-out to order and restaurants to order from. So, the person who first became interested in cooking was Jing Man, but he had trouble controlling the heat and always came up with some strange recipes, and they had run out of food every now and then.

So, Mu CangZhou had to take the lead.

The result was… he had talent for this.

Jing Man put down his chopsticks after two tastes, “Old Mu, you eat first, I’ll feed Xiao Jin the egg custard.”

The man who used to be 100% compliant with his wishes now seemed to have developed a backbone in vain.

“I already ate two bites when I was cooking just now, you eat first.” After that, Mu CangZhou walked straight to the other side of the table and sat down with Xiao Jin in his arms.

Little ZhiZhi sat at the table, taking a deep breath of the aroma from the food on the side, holding the unabsorbed eggshell in their hand to digest it.

In addition to the ‘roots’ in their hands, they actually had them under their feet too, but ZhiZhi didn’t think it would look good to step on the food with their feet.

Of course, they didn’t think so when they drank from the ‘roots’ on their feet.

After the meal, Jing Man volunteered to wash the dishes. Mu CangZhou pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled, “Okay, then I’ll ask ManMan to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.”

Jing Man then remembered that his house was installed with this thing, not like his high school dinner at his classmate’s house. His cheeks burst red swiftly, he felt that Mu CangZhou had changed a lot since he moved in.

From the original, tepid, nice man, he became a lot more real. However, he was not as simple as he thought.

After staying at Jing Man’s house last night with trepidation, Mu CangZhou could not analyze what he really meant. He contacted the Tian Yuan robot in the Tianhu District’s Egg Breeding Base. He seeked the opinion of the absolutely neutral AI.

As a result, after stating what he had done in the past few days, he was scolded by Tian Yuan.

Of course, he really couldn’t call it scolding. After all, there were no swear words in the core of the AI, but it just sounded very solid. 

[The only way to get love is to pursue it with sincerity, Mu CangZhou has already concealed Jing Man’s memory loss, so why disguise himself? Mu CangZhou is cheating Jing Man!]

[Tian Yuan feels ashamed for Mu CangZhou, what Mu CangZhou took off to do was not done well at all.]

[Please, Mu CangZhou, do not continue to deceive Jing Man. Otherwise, when Jing Man’s memory comes back, he certainly cannot spare Mu CangZhou. Then, Tian Yuan will watch live, and absolutely not help Mu CangZhou.]

[…]

Tian Yuan would not use ‘you,’ ‘I,’ ‘he/she’ such personal pronouns, and would directly use full names.

Mu CangZhou felt like everything was in vain, and he felt that the words sounded exceedingly serious.

That night, his plan to pursue his man was revised intensively, from boiling a frog in warm water to helping cure his amnesia and never hiding his thoughts. Of course, he couldn’t do anything too out of the ordinary. Otherwise, his position as his children’s father would not be able to continue.

He thought about it painfully.

He wanted to be good to Jing Man. He wanted to raise his children with Jing Man. He wanted to be with Jing Man forever.

That really couldn’t go on like this.

According to the current pattern of the two getting along, they would only travel more and more in the direction of friends, gradually deviating from the love track! He might as well be himself. Suddenly, their personal terminals rang almost simultaneously.

Mu CangZhou’s eyes brought up a touch of imperceptible joy.

Jing Man read the message and shouted, “Brother Mu, great! The egg breeding base in Tianhu District said they want to give our kids replacement egg breeding serial numbers!”