Peninsula: My cheat code is unscientific

The division of Chapter 164, "I".
"Of course—" she deliberately drew out her words, her eyes full of mischief:
"No one is watching you at night. If you sleepwalk somewhere in the middle of the night, no one can help you."

"Unnie!" Yoona's cheeks flushed instantly, and she glared at Sunny, embarrassed and annoyed. What sleepwalking? This unnie was clearly implying something!
She subconsciously looked at Jiang Che, but immediately looked away after meeting his gaze. However, she happened to run into Taeyeon's gaze. Their eyes met briefly in mid-air before quickly looking away as if they had been burned.

Yoona was the first to stand up, leaving behind a sentence:
"I'm going to sleep now! Goodnight!" After saying that, she walked towards the guest room without looking back.

Sunny looked at the closed guest room door, shook her head, and then pulled Taeyeon, who was still sitting on the sofa, to her feet.

"Let's go, let's go, don't dawdle," he said, leading Taeyeon into the master bedroom as well.

The living room fell silent instantly, leaving only Jiang Che. He glanced at the closed door of the master bedroom, then looked towards the guest room, smiled helplessly, and turned to go to the bathroom to wash up.

In the master bedroom, Sunny lay sprawled in the middle of the large bed, the blankets already kicked to the side. Beside her, Taeyeon lay with her eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling, wide awake.

The scene in the living room kept replaying in my mind—Jiang Cheol standing behind Yoon-ah, his fingers gently running through her long, black hair, while Yoon-ah looked relaxed and even dependent…

She knew she shouldn't be like this; all she wanted was a position. But if emotions could be completely controlled by reason, then they wouldn't be emotions.

"Sigh..." With a barely audible sigh, she turned over, trying to shake off the subtle bitterness in her heart, and began to force herself to count sheep, praying that sleep would come quickly.

Meanwhile, Yoona, in her guest room, was equally troubled. Lying on the soft bed, Sunny's teasing remark about "sleepwalking" seemed to still echo in her ears. She unconsciously pricked up her ears...

Listen carefully to the sounds outside the door—the sound of Jiang Che's footsteps walking towards the bathroom, the sound of running water, the sound of his footsteps returning to the room, and finally the sound of the door closing.

She only breathed a sigh of relief when the living room returned to complete silence, but a faint sense of loss also rose in the depths of her heart.

"Lim Yoona, you're really crazy..." She closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to clear her mind.

The next morning, Jiang Che yawned, rubbed his slightly messy hair, pushed open the door, and went out, ready to start his work as a zookeeper as usual.

But the faint sounds and aromas wafting from the kitchen made him stop in his tracks instantly, jolting him awake.
A familiar figure wearing an apron was bustling around the stove, and Jiang Che almost thought he was hallucinating. He blinked hard, walked into the kitchen, and said incredulously, "..."

"Yoona? Why are you up? Are you making breakfast?"

Based on his understanding of Yoona, shouldn't she still be sleeping right now?

Yoona turned her head at the sound, her face still showing the languor of someone who had just woken up. A few strands of hair fell beside her cheek, adding a touch of gentleness rarely seen on her face. Hearing Jiang Che's undisguised shock, she widened her doe eyes and said coquettishly:
"What? Can't I get up early to make breakfast?" She brandished the spatula in her hand, emphasizing:

"My cooking skills have improved a lot!"

She paused, her gaze shifting somewhat awkwardly elsewhere, and added:
"I just wanted you... to try my cooking." Midway through her sentence, she unconsciously changed her words.

Jiang Che's mind flashed back to when he first transmigrated, to that unforgettable bowl of undercooked porridge and fried egg with its shell still attached. He took two steps closer, looking at the presentably good-looking white porridge and fried egg in the pot, a smile appearing on his face, tinged with nostalgia and even more so with encouragement:
"Sure, this porridge smells delicious. It seems Yoona really put in a lot of effort. Don't worry, even if it's undercooked this time... I definitely won't do it like I did before."

The keywords "half-cooked" instantly brought up Yoona's embarrassing past, her cheeks flushed red, and she raised her hand (which wasn't holding the spatula) and lightly slapped his arm:
"Hey! Jiang Che! If you bring up that incident again, I'll fight you to the death!"

Just then, the master bedroom door opened. Sunny, her hair disheveled and eyes still sleepy, rubbed her eyes as she walked out. Seeing Yoona and Kang Cheol in the kitchen, she widened her eyes in surprise.

"Huh? Yoona, why are you up so early?"

When her gaze fell upon Yoona's apron and the spatula in her hand, she instantly snapped back to reality, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Lim Yoona?! You're not cooking, are you?!"

Yoona was both annoyed and amused by Sunny's exaggerated reaction, and helplessly picked up the spatula:

"Unnie! Yes! It's me cooking!"

Sunny curiously leaned closer and carefully examined the rather appealing breakfast in the pot. She couldn't help but marvel at it, and a look of motherly satisfaction spread across her face.
"Aigo, our Yoona has really grown up... She even knows how to get up early to make breakfast for her unnies?"

At that moment, Taeyeon rubbed her eyes and came out of the master bedroom. She looked at the three people gathered at the kitchen doorway, paused for a moment, and asked, bewildered:
"What...are you doing?"

sunny answered first:

"Yoona is cooking, I've come to check!"

When Taeyeon heard Sunny say that, a look of surprise flashed in her eyes:

"Yoona? You cooked this morning?" She curiously leaned over, looked at the fried eggs and rice porridge, nodded, and objectively commented:

"Hmm, I don't know how it tastes... but it looks very appealing."

Having gained everyone's initial approval, Yoona couldn't help but smile, but she still calmly said:
"Alright, alright, breakfast is almost ready!"

A moment later, the four of them sat around the dining table. Yoona brought out her carefully prepared breakfast—fried egg white porridge and several dishes of ready-made side dishes she found in Sunny's refrigerator—and then sat down next to Kang Cheol.

Seeing that no one had started eating, Jiang Che took the first spoonful of porridge and put it in his mouth—hmm, the rice was soft and tender, cooked to perfection, not undercooked at all. He then picked up a fried egg; the edges were crispy, the inside was smooth, and most importantly—it had no shell!
He raised an eyebrow in surprise, looked at Yoona who was nervously watching his reaction, gave her a thumbs up, and sincerely praised her:

"Wow, Yoona! You've improved so quickly!"

Seeing that the people who had tried the food had all eaten it without any problems, Taeyeon and Sunny also tried it and nodded in approval.

"Mmm, it tastes good," Taeyeon said with a smile.
Sunny mumbled in agreement as she chewed on her fried egg:

"Not bad, not bad, that really works."

With everyone's approval, Yoona finally relaxed and began to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Breakfast was proceeding in a harmonious atmosphere when, halfway through, Taeyeon seemed to suddenly remember something. She put down her spoon, looked at Kang Cheol, and asked in a natural tone:
"By the way, Jiang Che, that bank card I gave you before... you didn't lose it, did you?"

Jiang Che was drinking his porridge when he heard this. He nodded, swallowed his food, and replied:

"It's not lost, what's wrong?" "Bank card?" Sunny's ears perked up instantly, her gaze darting back and forth between Taeyeon and Kang Cheol:
"Huh? Bank card? What bank card? Jiang Che, you also have Taeyeon's bank card?" How come she didn't know about this? Even Yoona next to her stopped what she was doing and looked over with a puzzled look.

Taeyeon seemed to realize at this moment that she might have let something slip. A hint of panic flashed in her eyes, and she subconsciously pursed her lips, looking at Kang Cheol with some helplessness.

Jiang Che reacted quickly, taking over the conversation without changing his expression, his tone as relaxed as if discussing the weather:

"What's so strange about that? I also have Yoona's bank card. It's the card I used to pay my salary when I filled in for her on set."

Sunny subconsciously said "Oh," but seeing that Jiang Che already had two bank cards, she immediately asked:

"Then...should I give you one of my bank cards too?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Che's eyes lit up instantly, and he asked:

"Do you have 100 million in pocket money in your bank card? If so, you can give it to me!"

Sunny was amused by his shameless opportunism and rolled her eyes at him in annoyance.
"Oh! You wish! A hundred million in pocket money? You'd better work hard! Work hard at your shifts! You'll have everything you need in the future."

Jiang Che sighed dramatically:
"Sigh... indeed, empty promises are the primary source of productivity..."

His antics successfully made everyone laugh, and he also smoothly steered the conversation away from Taeyeon's bank card.

Taeyeon secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the topic had been changed, but she still had to say what needed to be said. She waited for the laughter to subside before continuing:
"Well, it's good that the card wasn't lost. I just remembered that the copyright revenue sharing for the song 'I' should be settled soon. The bank card number I filled in for you was the one I used to receive the payment."

"The copyright revenue sharing for 'I'?" Jiang Che was taken aback. His first thought was that Taeyeon might have filled in the wrong card number and that he needed that card to process the payment, so he naturally replied:

"Oh, okay, I'll find the card and give it to you in a bit."

Taeyeon looked at him and gently shook her head:
"No need to give it to me, you can keep it. The money inside is yours too."

"Huh?" Jiang Che was completely stunned. He repeated incredulously.

"I'll keep it? You gave it to me?"

He felt he might not be fully awake yet; that bank card was the same one he used to convince Taeyeon to invest in BitTorrent.
The initial 100 million had already been circulating in the Bitcoin market. He thought the task behind that card was just to receive the substitute's salary, but now Taeyeon was actually planning to give him the copyright income from "I" as well.

Taeyeon, seeing Kang Cheol's shocked expression, smiled slightly and said calmly:
"Hey, when we registered the copyright, I listed 'C' as the lyricist and composer. You wrote the song too, so who else should get the copyright revenue if not you?"

A seemingly casual remark stirred up a storm in Jiang Che's heart.

He wrote the song to fulfill a promise to Taeyeon and to help her; he never intended to profit from it, let alone receive any copyright revenue.

In his view, it was just "returning the item to its rightful owner," and even had a bit of a "borrowing flowers to present to Buddha" nature, but Taeyeon did such a big thing directly without even consulting him.

It feels like you just helped your neighbor water their flowers, and they immediately pulled out their property certificate and stuffed it into your pocket.

Upon hearing this, Sunny's eyes widened. She glanced at Taeyeon, then at Kang Cheol, internally screaming:

"Kim Tae-yeon, you're too ruthless! I just told this kid to work hard and not think about getting something for nothing, and you turn around and shove a mountain of gold into his hands?!"

Yoona was stunned, a mix of emotions welling up inside her, a vague feeling that she had been... outdone. But as soon as this thought crossed her mind, she immediately tried to reassure herself:
It's all because Jiang Che can't write scripts. If he could write them and act in them himself, he might be able to help Jiang Che get a share of the box office profits.

As she thought about it, she unconsciously turned her head to look at Jiang Che, who was still processing the information beside her.

Jiang Che finally snapped out of his shock and looked at Taeyeon, his tone hesitant:
"Taeyeon, isn't this... a bit inappropriate?" He tried to clear his mind.

"It's true that I wrote the song, but it was supposed to be a solo song for you..." He always felt that this pie was too hot to handle, and he felt uneasy about taking it.

"What's inappropriate?" Taeyeon interrupted him, her eyes clear and firm.
“I was just a singer, not a songwriter.”

She paused, then softened her voice:
"Without you, there would be no song. So, stop refusing."

Looking at her unwavering expression, Jiang Che thought for a moment:
In this world, I did write this song, so it seems only natural that I would get a share of the profits. Even without me, the song might still have been released eventually, but that's what happens when nothing happens.

Moreover, they've already "polished" out "Rain," so who knows, they might be able to produce even more works in the future. Who knows, the name C might actually become a household name in the music industry.

Thinking about it this way, he stopped insisting and readily agreed:
"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony. From now on, I'll be your go-to lyricist and composer!"

Taeyeon's eyes crinkled into crescents at his words, a bright smile blooming on her face, and she nodded vigorously.
"Yes! It's a deal!"

Sunny felt a pang of jealousy watching the atmosphere between the two, then glanced at Yoona beside her, who seemed to be plotting something, and quickly clapped her hands:
"Alright, alright! Hurry up and eat, we still have to get on our schedule after we finish eating!"

With Sunny urging them on, breakfast was almost over.

As everyone finished getting ready to leave, Taeyeon quietly lagged behind, took a small USB drive from her pocket, quickly slipped it into Kang Cheol's hand, and whispered:
"this is for you."

Jiang Che was taken aback. "What is this?"

“The master tape of ‘I’,” Taeyeon looked up, a hint of shyness hidden in her bright eyes:
"I'll keep this as a souvenir for you."

The master tape? Jiang Che immediately understood the significance of this gift, his heart warmed, and he unconsciously reached out to ruffle her hair, his tone gentle:

"I understand, I will treasure it."

Taeyeon felt the warmth coming from the top of her head, smiled contentedly, and then turned and left.

(End of this chapter)