The leader of the cultivation alliance has a crush on me.

"Thanks."

Without batting an eye, Chu Tiancheng picked up his chopsticks and immediately took a bite.

After I finished eating a meatball, the aunt asked, "How was it? Did you like it? I made it the way we make it back home, with Sichuan peppercorns added."

Chu Tiancheng nodded: "It's alright, it has a lot of flavor."

Gu Qing glanced at Chu Tiancheng, then at the silent He Yunming, and reminded him, "Tiancheng, are these chopsticks for Song Ke?"

Chu Tiancheng listened, his eyebrows twitched as he looked at Song Ke. He seemed to realize what was happening and was about to hand over the chopsticks when He Yunming raised his other hand and handed Song Ke a pair of chopsticks. He had a faint smile on his lips, but Song Ke inexplicably felt that there was a hint of smugness in his smile.

There's another pair here.

Under Chu Tiancheng's indifferent yet somewhat cold gaze, Song Ke took the chopsticks, picked up a piece, and tasted it. It was truly delicious, deep-fried with Sichuan peppercorns—absolutely amazing!

The aunt went off to work again, but He Yunming was as comfortable as if he were at home. He presented Song Ke with a cup of flower tea as if it were a treasure: "Try this, Gu Qing just brewed it."

"With the addition of dried osmanthus flowers and honey grapefruit peel, it's not only delicious but also soothes the lungs and relieves dryness. It's very tasty."

Chu Tiancheng watched from the side, then calmly withdrew his gaze and began talking to Gu Qing about some work-related matters. Gu Qing, too, only reported good news and never bad news, and did not tattle on others. On the contrary, Song Ke couldn't stand it anymore.

She turned to look at Chu Tiancheng and said, "What can you possibly find out by asking like that? Sister Gu Qing isn't a gossip; she wouldn't talk behind people's backs."

"If you really care, you should go undercover and investigate her department. Their manager is so arrogant. You haven't forgotten the car accident, have you? If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have ended up like that."

Chu Tiancheng sneered: "Where did you hear this gossip from?"

Song Ke tapped on her phone, waved the screen, and said, "Of course I am, I have informants."

"Don't worry, Sister Gu Qing. If anyone bullies you, I'll definitely stand up for you."

Gu Qing smiled, touched, but still reassured her, "I'm fine. Besides, I'm an adult, and I have my own way of handling things. Don't worry, if I'm really wronged, I'll deal with it myself."

He Yunming then asked, "I heard you recently opened a shop. Would I have the honor of visiting it?"

Gu Qing listened and whispered to Song Ke, "Your senior has won a world award. His drawings are still in the collection of the Joint Exhibition Hall. Letting him see your aesthetic sense in architecture will only make things better."

Song Ke suddenly realized why Gu Qing liked He Yunming so much, but not Chu Tiancheng, the big CEO.

Ultimately, she also had a somewhat pretentious artistic belief, and in her eyes, He Yunming, who had a unique style and outstanding talent in this area, was naturally more appealing.

It's not that Chu Tiancheng isn't good enough, it's just that once someone has a god in their heart, everything around them becomes dim and insignificant.

Song Ke herself also had some ideas. After all, she had this dream before, but she didn't have the funds. Now that the time, place, and people were all in her favor, she would feel wronged if she didn't take advantage of it.

Therefore, her entire cultural and creative store was designed and imagined by herself. Most of the cultural and creative products nowadays are book-related products, customized book catalogs, celebrity merchandise, and the like. Song Ke felt that these products had their own traffic and popularity, but in reality, there was not much sense of accomplishment in making them.

What she thought of was that there was both traffic and traditional Chinese culture. In fact, many traditional crafts are worth promoting. Song Ke felt that there was nothing wrong with using traffic to drive tradition, and on the contrary, it could create a different kind of spark.

Speaking of flowers, Song Ke suddenly remembered what her neighbor aunt had just said: Gu Qing's house wasn't very big; it just had a living room, two bedrooms, and a small yard in front of it.

"By the way, about those flowers we were talking about earlier, you said they weren't from He Yunming, so who were they from?"

After saying that, she covered her mouth in surprise, then stared straight at Gu Qing, her eyes wide with shock: "Sister Gu Qing, do you have other suitors?"

Gu Qing poked her head and chuckled, "What are you thinking about all day long?"

Song Ke asked, unwilling to give up, "Is it? Is it?"

He Yunming answered, smiling as he glanced at Chu Tiancheng: "A huge bouquet of red roses. I really didn't expect Chu Tiancheng to have such good taste. Anyone who didn't know better would think it was a marriage proposal."

Upon hearing this, Song Ke felt something was amiss, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"It was just sitting on the table in the living room, but when I came back from the bathroom, the flower was gone."

“And then you came.”

Song Ke chuckled: "That's quite a coincidence, I've never seen it before."

Then, looking at Chu Tiancheng, she asked, "Chu Tiancheng, you didn't actually send the fifty-two flowers, did you?"

Chu Tiancheng glanced at him indifferently, not getting involved in the topic. He turned to eat fruit, which was quite rare. Seeing Chu Tiancheng eating, he seemed not to have seen clearly and actually ate a slice of sour lemon. His eyes narrowed from the sourness, and he swallowed it with a furrowed brow, neither spitting it out nor spitting it out. His appearance was somewhat comical.

Song Ke couldn't help but laugh: "Why did you even cut a lemon for him?"

Gu Qing took a look and sure enough, there was a large slice of lemon there, mixed in with the orange, and it was still easily visible.

Gu Qing asked with some suspicion, "Tiancheng, can't you tell the difference between an orange and a lemon?"

Chu Tiancheng took a deep breath, and after getting used to the sour taste, he said softly, "No, I did it on purpose. Eating lemons is much better."

Song Ke smacked her lips while eating a nut: "Eating lemons is no fun, you might as well drink vinegar."

Pshaw, he's just jealous because He Yunming is there, interrupting his chance to be alone with Gu Qing.

Even during meals, when Gu Qing arranged for the two of them to sit together, Chu Tiancheng actually said nonsense, "The lighting in this spot is bad, I'll sit opposite you."

Then, to Song Ke's astonishment, she sat down opposite her, next to Gu Qing.

He Yunming smiled and naturally sat down next to Song Ke.

Gu Qing stared blankly for a moment, then asked Chu Tiancheng in a low voice, "What happened between you and Song Ke?"

"Did you have a fight?"

Chu Tiancheng shook his head: "What's the point of arguing with her?"

Gu Qing was puzzled: "Didn't you use a self-inflicted injury to deceive her a while ago? Don't tell me you've changed your mind so quickly."

Chu Tiancheng looked at her sharply: "Changed your mind again?"

Gu Qing was straightforward: "Didn't you like me before?"

Chu Tiancheng whispered, "You're overthinking it."

Gu Qing said, "Then I'm not the only one who's overthinking this."

The aunt took a glass jar from the cabinet next to her, put it on the table, and said with a smile, "This is osmanthus wine that was brewed last year. You must have never tasted it before. I'm taking it out for you to try."

"I originally wanted you to eat out today, but after thinking about it, I realized that the atmosphere outside is not like this. I'm so glad you didn't mind and came to try my cooking."

As she spoke, she poured a cup and handed it to Chu Tiancheng: "The person I should thank the most for my illness is Xiao Chu. Without your help, I wouldn't be able to stand here properly to distribute osmanthus wine to you all."

"And the way you've taken care of Gu Qing. I've heard all of that from Gu Qing. It's such a blessing for my daughter and me to have met you."

"I can't drink today, so let Gu Qing have a couple of drinks with you."

Chu Tiancheng listened with a serious expression and said, "Auntie, you're too kind. You are a benefactor to our Chu family, and we feel it's only right to repay you in any way we can."