Xu An felt like throwing up from Zhou Haimei’s shaking. He grabbed her tightly.
"Sis, you're my only sister, stop shaking me. If you keep shaking me, I'm going to puke."
"Then do you still feel sorry for men?"
Xu An scowled, looking like a bitter gourd. "I don't feel sorry for men! I swear, I'm fine. It's Chu Yu who has no shame, yes, it's him, he has no shame, he insisted on following us to freeload meals. It's not like I'm taking him in."
These words seemed to convince even Xu An himself.
The two chatted while preparing the ingredients.
"But Chu Yu's guts are really something, daring to show up so openly. What do you think his purpose is?"
Zhou Haimei asked, perplexed, as she picked vegetables.
Xu An rinsed the vegetables with clear water. "I don't know either. When Chu Yu saw me, he said he didn't do that thing. I asked the other party, but Chu Yu's answer was ambiguous, he just said he had no reason to do such a thing, with no benefit and only thankless effort. There hasn't been any progress until now. You guys just arrived, but looking at Chu Yu, it really doesn't seem like he did it."
Zhou Haimei, however, was clearly unconvinced. "I don't think so. Look how good Chu Yu is at pretending. When we were at the Southern Base and on the way back, he pretended so well. Who knows what bad ideas he's cooking up? Anyway, we shouldn't get involved in this. Let Qin Chuan handle whatever happens."
Mentioning Qin Chuan, Xu An furrowed his brow. "Speaking of which, why are you with Qin Chuan?"
"Ugh, don't even mention it." Zhou Haimei looked speechless and threw the vegetables in her hand into the sink forcefully.
"After you left, I thought I was a bit hungry, and it was just mealtime. I saw there was nothing at home, so I thought I'd look for you. As soon as I got downstairs, I saw Qin Chuan. I asked him, and he said he was also looking for you. But I had tried to find out why Qin Chuan was looking for you beforehand, but he refused to say, insisting he had to see you first before he could say anything."
Xu An was also curious what Qin Chuan wanted with her that he had to come in person.
He also remembered what Qin Chuan had said before about them needing to avoid suspicion.
Could it be that the forces monitoring Qin Chuan had been weakened?
Xu An didn't dwell on this issue for too long.
The two soon finished tidying up the vegetables. When they looked outside, they both wore expressions of speechlessness.
Qin Chuan and Chu Yu were each holding a cleaver, their gazes not looking like they were cutting meat, but rather like they were hacking people.
The atmosphere between them was tense, and they were clearly at odds.
Perhaps out of consideration that they were at someone else's house, their conflict was limited to glaring at each other and had not escalated to actual combat.
Zhou Haimei nudged Xu An with her shoulder, looking like she was enjoying the show. Xu An rubbed his forehead with his free hand, helpless.
"Can you two stop glaring and help out?"
He silently grumbled, thinking that from now on, whoever wanted to deal with this kind of hellscape could do so themselves!
Upon hearing this, the two temporarily stopped targeting each other.
Qin Chuan took the initiative and took the vegetables from Xu An and Zhou Haimei. The meat was also cut by then.
Xu An found a plate to put it on, and Zhou Haimei checked that the hot water in the pot had also boiled.
All four of them were clueless about cooking, so they didn't fuss much and just threw the ready-made hot pot base into the boiling water and cooked it.
Xu An couldn't help but chuckle at the reserved expressions on Qin Chuan and Chu Yu's faces. It seemed neither of them were the type to sit around a table and eat hot pot with their good friends.
"Sit down. You two are standing there like door gods. What's wrong, not hungry?"
Zhou Haimei said with a teasing tone. Unexpectedly, Chu Yu and Qin Chuan's stomachs actually rumbled loudly.
Xu An couldn't hold back his laughter, and the two of them laughed and embraced each other.
After a while, the four finally sat down to eat properly.
Perhaps it had been a long time since they had a proper meal, but Qin Chuan and Chu Yu both looked quite unfamiliar with the process.
Xu An knew immediately that these two must not have had a good meal in a long time.
She couldn't help but feel a little emotional inwardly. It was only here, on the lighthouse, that she could use her own supplies to host her friends like this. On the ground, such a scene would have been unthinkable.
Xu An was the first to pick up her chopsticks, and the rest of them began to eat in silence. In the steamy air, Zhou Haimei was the first to break the silence.
"An'an, when is Auntie coming back?"
Xu An: "Probably tomorrow. She went to visit friends."
Qin Chuan, who had been eating quietly all this time, spoke up at this moment. "When Auntie gets back, it's best to go out less."
As if a dam had burst, after Qin Chuan spoke, the other three at the table looked up at him.
"Did you find something?" Xu An asked softly.
Qin Chuan glanced at Chu Yu, and after receiving a confirming look from Xu An, he nodded.
"So, you know what happened with Weng Quan's attack on you?"
"It's not possible to determine who is behind it yet, but it's inseparable from Xia Jin. Moreover, we don't have any concrete evidence to prove that Xia Jin did it. Everything is too bizarre."
Xu An picked up a piece of boiled beef and put it in her mouth. Gou Dan also ran over and kept wagging its tail at Xu An's feet.
Xu An, seeing that the beef in the pot was too spicy, directly threw raw meat to Gou Dan. Gou Dan pawed at the meat, eating it with great relish.
After finishing, Xu An looked up at Qin Chuan.
"Is it inconvenient to talk about the content?"
Qin Chuan shook his head. "It's not that it's inconvenient to talk about, but I don't know how to say it. However, why is Chu Yu here with you?"
Xu An remained silent, and Zhou Haimei also pretended to be invisible.
Seeing that both of them were acting indifferent, Chu Yu had no choice but to resign himself and look at Qin Chuan. Facing Qin Chuan's eyes filled with anger, he could only face it alone.
"Captain Qin Chuan, you don't need to look at me like that. When we were at sea, that incident was not my intention. I was just acting on behalf of someone else, and I had no choice." Chu Yu seemed ready to be honest and confrontational.
Qin Chuan looked disbelieving. "You mean, someone wanted to buy my life through you?"
"You can understand it that way."
"Who exactly are you?" Qin Chuan asked this question strangely, but everyone present understood him.
In fact, it wasn't just Qin Chuan; Xu An and Zhou Haimei were also equally curious about Chu Yu's identity.
The other party was clearly from the Southern Base, but how had they managed to reach the lighthouse through some unknown means?
Furthermore, Chu Yu clearly had another identity on the lighthouse that was inscrutable.
"In any case, I am not your enemy, at least for now." Chu Yu looked at the people in front of him and could only give a wry smile.
Some things were simply beyond one's control.
"For now?" Qin Chuan keenly caught the loophole in Chu Yu's words. "Meaning, you might become our enemy one day?"