On the drive back, Gu Yuanting was uncharacteristically quiet.

Su Yiran noticed something was off. While they were waiting at a red light, he heard Gu Yuanting suddenly ask, “That person earlier… he was a former classmate?”

Su Yiran replied, “Yeah, he was our classmate from middle school. Don’t you remember him? Qian Xiaoming. We were pretty close back then, but unfortunately lost contact later.” Come to think of it, it was understandable that Ting-ge didn’t remember. After all, it had been so long. Even he forgot some of his own middle or college classmates if they weren’t that close.

Gu Yuanting kept his eyes on the road ahead and asked in an even tone, “Why did he say that he always knew you and… I would end up getting married?”

That one sentence from Qian Xiaoming had been looping in his mind ever since. He couldn’t stop wondering—what exactly had happened between the original host and Su Yiran during those teenage years?

Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen-year-old Su Yiran.

Gu Yuanting glanced over at Su Yiran and imagined what he must have looked like back then.

“Huh?” Su Yiran hadn’t expected that question. Honestly, he was puzzled by it too. Back then, he and Ting-ge hadn’t even defined their relationship yet—there had only been some faint, ambiguous feelings between them. It wasn’t until the summer after sophomore year in high school that Ting-ge confessed to him, and only then did things become clear.

But even after that, Su Yiran had avoided things for a while. They didn’t officially get together until they were in college.

As far as he remembered, they never acted out of the ordinary in front of others.

He tried to guess, “I’m not sure either. Maybe we just seemed close? Like, we had that kind of… vibe? Other people must’ve picked up on it—I only realized that today.” He was a bit embarrassed. Was it really that obvious?

Gu Yuanting’s hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel. His jaw tensed. “Close? A vibe?”

Su Yiran blushed a little under the repeated questioning and mumbled, “Something like that, I guess. Just my guess.”

Trying to change the subject, he said, “I wonder when the class reunion will be. If we’re both busy, we might not be able to go.”

Gu Yuanting replied calmly, “Mm.” But his mind was still stuck on Qian Xiaoming’s words and Su Yiran’s explanation.

His jaw clenched harder. For some reason, his molars ached, and he had to bite down to relieve the sour feeling.

Su Yiran was still sitting in the passenger seat. He had to restrain the urge to floor the gas pedal—couldn’t risk scaring him.

—

Back at the dessert shop, Gu Yuanting didn’t return to work. He was still on leave and just stayed to help out in the store.

It was Monday and Tuesday, and he had already arranged the time off. Su Yiran had tried hard to dissuade him, but once Gu Yuanting showed him the approved leave request, Su Yiran had no choice but to accept it.

Still, he made him promise not to do this again. “We need to live with structure. If you have a job, you need to work properly. You can’t just take leave for small, unnecessary things.”

They had gone to the hospital in the morning, so they were back at the shop before 10 a.m. Once the lunchtime rush passed, Su Yiran found himself with some free time and started thinking about signature desserts for the store.

The shop’s reputation had already spread within a decent radius of A City, but to truly establish themselves and grow, they needed something unique—something that gave customers a reason to choose this place over any other.

At the moment, the store’s best-selling desserts were popular classics. While Su Yiran had improved and refined the recipes, making them taste better than average, it still wasn’t enough.

In his previous life, Su Yiran had developed a few original desserts for his shop, which became extremely popular—one of them even went viral online for a time.

What’s more, he’d noticed that although this world was similar to his past one, it wasn’t identical. Place names, celebrities—even those viral desserts from his past life didn’t exist here.

That was his opportunity.

He also genuinely loved those desserts, and now he could share them in this world. It would be a way to connect this life with his previous one.

Su Yiran sat at a table in the back office, jotting down ideas as they came to him, occasionally turning to Gu Yuanting to ask for his opinion.

Gu Yuanting stood nearby, watching Su Yiran work with such dedication, and couldn’t help but feel a wave of tenderness. He reached out and gently ruffled his hair.

But as his mind replayed the conversation from the hospital and the car ride, his eyes darkened and his jaw tensed again.

His hand, which had been tousling Su Yiran’s hair, slid down to the side of his neck. The skin there was warm and soft, and he could faintly feel the pulse of the carotid artery.

He rubbed that spot several times, feeling a strange satisfaction—like he could completely control this person.

Su Yiran squirmed a little at the ticklish touch and laughed. “Stop it, that tickles.” He tried to push his hand away.

Gu Yuanting caught his hand mid-motion and pressed a deep kiss into his palm.

Su Yiran smiled up at him—then noticed an employee ducking in and out of the back room. Flustered, he quickly pulled his hand back. “People are around,” he whispered.

Gu Yuanting didn’t respond—just kept gazing at him with intense eyes.

Su Yiran’s face flushed under the stare. “Let me make a couple of test versions of the specialty desserts for you to try, okay? See what you think.”

He figured he’d make extra and divide them into small portions. In the evening, he’d offer them as complimentary samples and collect customer feedback.

He planned to roll out more than twenty specialty items: internet-famous ones like the dirty buns, tofu cream boxes, molten lava cakes, and matcha towel rolls, plus original creations like the cheese macaron cups and rainbow soybean cakes. He’d release them slowly by season.

For now, he’d start with the tofu cream box and the rainbow soybean cake—both easy to make and easy to portion.

He gathered the ingredients for the tofu cream box: chiffon cake, soy milk, whipped cream, roasted soybean flour, and so on. The combo of roasted soybean flour and soy milk gave the dessert a rich flavor without being overly sweet, and the sponge added a nostalgic, old-school vibe.

Chiffon cake and soy milk were already staples in the shop. The only thing he had to freshly prepare was the soy milk custard mixture.

“Help me out, Ting-ge—crack five eggs and separate the whites from the yolks.”

Gu Yuanting obediently went to work.

Su Yiran began roasting the soybeans. Once they were done, he let them cool and ground them into a fine powder.

Gu Yuanting finished separating the eggs. Su Yiran mixed sugar into the yolks and stirred until smooth, then called out, “Ting-ge, grab the soy milk from the fridge.”

Gu Yuanting retrieved the soy milk and brought it over.

Su Yiran sifted cake flour into the yolks, mixing well. Then he added the soy milk in four batches, whisking constantly until the batter was smooth and lump-free.

He poured it into a nonstick pan over low heat, gently stirring with chopsticks. After half an hour, with Ting-ge helping here and there, the tofu cream boxes were done.

Normally, it would be served as a single portion in a big box, but for sampling, Su Yiran packed them into small, disposable containers. He handed one to Gu Yuanting. “Try it.”

Gu Yuanting took a spoonful and tasted it. “Delicious.” And he meant it.

Su Yiran swallowed involuntarily and looked at him with puppy eyes. “Is it really that good?”

If only he’d let me have a bite. Just one spoonful. I won’t be greedy. Just one bite…

Gu Yuanting gave him a flat look—then ruthlessly polished off the rest of the container. “Really good.”

Su Yiran: “……” Sobs internally.

He sullenly put the remaining tofu cream boxes in the fridge. Only one small box was left in his hand. He stared at it, then slowly, longingly, began to open the lid.

Before he could take a bite, the box was snatched from his hand. Gu Yuanting stuffed it into the fridge and shut the door in his face. “No.”

Su Yiran: “……” SOBS INTERNALLY HARDER.

Gu Yuanting looked at his pitiful, snack-hungry face and sighed. He rubbed the top of his head. “Be good. Your teeth just healed. Don’t rush it. You can have a little… in one month.”

“One month? That long?” Su Yiran’s eyes widened.

Gu Yuanting stroked his cheek. “Be patient. Listen.”

Su Yiran knew he was right. That toothache from a few days ago was still fresh in his mind. He pouted but agreed, “Okay.”

Next, he made the rainbow soybean cake. This time, he started a livestream.

The tofu cream box was going to be a highlight product, so he didn’t want to reveal it yet—he had online marketing plans for that.

In the livestream, he demonstrated how to make the rainbow cake and even showed viewers how to bake a simple sponge using just a rice cooker. Meanwhile, Gu Yuanting silently assisted him off-camera.

While reading comments during the stream, Su Yiran noticed the chat scrolling non-stop with messages like:
“So sweet!”
“Too much sugar, I’m gonna die from it!”
“Another bowl of dog food!”
“CP fans are living their best life!”

cough cough He hadn’t bothered to block the term “CP” this time. Ting-ge hadn’t said anything about it, and Su Yiran could tell he actually seemed to enjoy all the couple content.

Honestly… Su Yiran was starting to enjoy it too.

He happily continued baking with Ting-ge. The livestream lasted over an hour before he finally waved goodbye to the audience and ended the session.

The rainbow soybean cake was a hit—many viewers commented how new and interesting it looked and said they’d try making it at home.

Su Yiran packaged both the tofu cream box and the rainbow cake into sample portions and gave one to every table during the dinner rush. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive—several customers even asked to buy a full-size version right on the spot.

He told them when the official release would be, and they all promised to come back for it.

—

When the shop closed and they got home, Su Yiran was still on a congee-only diet per the doctor’s orders. The only difference now was that he didn’t need everything lukewarm and soft to the extreme.

So, Gu Yuanting had no excuse to keep feeding him by hand.

Watching Su Yiran quietly eat his own bowl of porridge, Gu Yuanting’s fingers twitched. He missed it already.

After dinner, Su Yiran curled up in Ting-ge’s arms to watch TV.

Gu Yuanting cradled him with one arm, eyes half on the screen, while the other hand absentmindedly ran through Su Yiran’s hair.

Suddenly, he asked, “By the way, where did we put our photo albums?”

Su Yiran blinked. “What photo albums?”

Gu Yuanting said casually, “From when we were little.”

Su Yiran thought for a moment. “Oh… from when we were kids? We barely took any photos back then. If there were any, they’d still be back home at the old house.” Their family hadn’t been well-off, and smartphones weren’t a thing yet, so there weren’t many pictures.

It wasn’t until middle school that things improved and his parents got him and his siblings basic phones—just enough for calls and texts.

After a pause, Gu Yuanting asked, “What about from middle school?”