I controlled the entire Zerg race with my superb culinary skills.

Song Liluo's expression changed from disappointment to anticipation, and she subconsciously clenched the small hand in her palm.

“Yes, Your Excellency, I am willing to do it.”

So Chu Yang sent him photos of mushrooms and chestnuts he had taken on the mountain and told them how to remove the thorns from the chestnuts.

“There are plenty of these things on the mountain. You can go and pick them up. I’ll collect them. I’ll take as many as you can, by weight.”

Looking at the pictures transmitted to the computer, Song Liluo was overjoyed. These kinds of insects were everywhere in the mountains, and no other insects would bother to collect them.

"By the way, you need to be especially careful. Don't touch those mushrooms that are the prettiest or most vibrant in color. They are highly poisonous. Just pick the ones shown in my photos."

If it weren't for the fact that the new store was almost finished with renovations and there were many things to do, Chu Yang would have loved to live in the mountains. Just thinking about those delicious mushrooms would make his mouth water.

Song Liluo led Song Ya back to his small, dilapidated house, and as soon as they entered, he happily called out to the door.

"Little ones, come out quickly, we have food."

The dilapidated wooden door of the room was pushed open by three small insects about the same size as Song Ya. Seeing that they had returned safely, they happily rushed out and hugged Song Liluo's legs.

"The female father met a noble insect. He not only gave us food, but also gave us a job to earn star coins. Everyone, eat quickly, and after we finish eating, we will go to earn star coins."

The little ones obediently climbed onto the chairs and sat down. Song Liluo opened the steamed buns, which contained ten buns, two for each of the insects. However, he couldn't bear to eat his own two, so he gave them to the two youngest ones.

"Father, this little bun is so delicious! It tastes just as good as the one Brother Song Ya brought back last night."

Watching them eat the xiaolongbao in small bites, Song Liluo also showed a gratified smile.

Song Ya secretly glanced at the female father out of the corner of his eye. This was the first time he had seen the female father show such an expression since he was abandoned by the male father.

The little insect secretly made up its mind that it must earn lots of money so that its female father and brothers could eat this delicious bun every day.

After the cubs finished eating, Song Liluo gave them a large basket and led the four cubs to the nearby mountains.

Following Chu Yang's instructions, they quickly found a place where mushrooms were growing.

"Remember? We'll only pick these few mushrooms; don't touch the others, they're highly poisonous. And this thorny stalk, use the sticks you have to drive it over to me."

"Understood, Father."

After the four cubs answered in their childish voices, they happily scattered to pick mushrooms and thorny bushes.

As evening approached and the sun began to set, Song Liluo looked at the large basket full of mushrooms and peeled black fruits, and patted the heads of the cubs with satisfaction.

"Let's go, let's take it and sell it, then we won't go hungry tonight."

"Great! Father, let's hurry up and go."

At the back door of the steamed bun shop, Song Liluo brought over mushrooms and chestnuts. Besides Song Ya, he was accompanied by three little insects.

"Sir, these are freshly picked from the mountain."

Chu Yang looked at the small pile of mushrooms and chestnuts on the ground, and then at the four little cubs behind him.

"You have four cubs. To be able to have so many cubs, your master must treat you quite well."

Upon hearing the words "powerful ruler," Song Liluo's eyes flashed with disdain and disgust, but he quickly put on a fawning smile.

“Song Ya and I were kicked out. The other three insect cubs were abandoned insect cubs that we found later. We felt sorry for them, so we decided to take them with us.”

Upon hearing his words, Chu Yang immediately dropped his playful expression, looked at the three cubs who were even younger than Song Ya, and felt a pang of sadness.

The amount of mushrooms and chestnuts they brought was considerable, and Xu Le paid a total of 5 star coins at a price of 5 star coins per kilogram.

"If you're not too busy, could you help me clean these mushrooms? I can offer you a free meal in return."

Unable to bear it any longer, Chu Yang came up with another way to help them.

"Really? We're free."

Song Liluo looked at Chu Yang and Xu Le excitedly, while the cubs behind her also looked up happily with bright eyes.

They could smell the aroma of steamed buns even before they entered the door, and their stomachs were already rumbling with anticipation.

"Yes, it's very simple, just wash it clean like this."

Chu Yang gave them a demonstration: the roots of the mushrooms need to be washed clean of dirt, and then they can be torn into small pieces.

Because there were baby insects among the insects that came, Pan Cheng and his group would always run over to look at them out of curiosity, and sometimes they would feed the baby insects some food.

"Thank you, brother."

The little ones spoke in their sweet, childlike voices, instantly melting the hearts of Pan Cheng and the others.

"Oh, they're so cute!"

Pan Cheng peered out the window at the few insects washing mushrooms in the backyard, a look of envy on his face.

"It's really cute."

Pete came over and watched along with him.

For every female insect, the most important thing in her life is her offspring.

They either find a male to conceive naturally and lay eggs, or they go to a research institute to create an offspring using their own genes, but this method is very expensive and not something ordinary insects can afford.

After washing the mushrooms, Chu Yang cooked a large bowl of wonton noodles for the insects, and added poached eggs for the four cubs separately.

Seeing steaming hot food for the first time, the little ones were so hungry their mouths were practically watering.

"My lord, aren't those little insects adorable?"

Chu Xinhang linked arms with Chu Yang, rested his head on his shoulder, and looked at the warm scene at the table.

"Hmm, quite cute."

Seeing the happy smiles on their faces, Chu Yang felt gratified and didn't notice the burning gaze of Chu Xinhang beside him.

As the weather gets colder, prices are slowly rising. Xu Le took out a new price list and placed it next to Chu Yang.

"Boss, we're going to raise prices too. As per your request, the increase won't be significant; we'll still offer a 20% discount to healthcare workers."

After looking at the menu, I saw that the items were mostly common wheat-based foods: steamed buns, mantou (steamed bread), noodles, and porridge.

"Shouldn't we be releasing some new products?"

Chu Yang looked at Xu Le. With him around, he felt much more relaxed, as Xu Le had thought things through quite thoroughly.

"We definitely need to launch new products. The renovation next door is almost finished, and we also need to develop a new menu."

"Then I need to start recruiting employees on my side. I wonder if Song Liluo would be willing to come."

Upon hearing that he wanted to recruit Song Li, Luo Chuyang quickly interrupted him.

“Xinhang, we can’t hire Song Liluo right now. If he comes to work, then the four cubs will have no guardian worms.”

Xu Le nodded in agreement. He couldn't exactly bring the bug to work, could he?

"The lord is right, I didn't think it through."

The three insects discussed it together for a while until Shen Nanxi came over.

"Did you work overtime today? It's much later than usual."

Chu Yang pulled out a chair for him to sit down, and then brought out a bowl of braised beef wonton noodles that had been reserved for him.

Looking at the bowl full of braised pork and beef cubes, Shen Nanxi greedily picked up a big mouthful of noodles and put it in her mouth.

"Eat slowly and don't choke."

Then I brought him a bowl of shrimp soup and gently blew on it to cool it down.

"The military is going to the front-line planet in a couple of days, so our hospital needs to prepare inhibitors and some wound medicines in advance."

Hearing that the war was about to begin, Chu Yang looked at Shen Nanxi with worry, the images of those wounded female soldiers from last time still vivid in his mind.

Not only Chu Yang, but also Xu Le and Chu Xinhang became nervous.

War is a heavy topic, and the previously lively atmosphere suddenly became somber, with only the sound of Shen Nanxi and Hulun eating noodles.