The dishes were ordered, enough for at least ten people, along with an extra spicy hotpot base.

Brother Nan had no desire to listen to two foot-scratching cutesy girls and Huai Xu engage in affectatious conversation, so she took Zhou Li to get some dipping sauce.

A whole half-bowl of chili peppers.

Returning to her seat, she was quite content. Glancing at the server bringing over the hotpot base, she pondered for a moment, then turned to Baozi and said, "I remember there's a food stall next door. Go buy a portion of chopped chili carp, a portion of braised pork bones with sauce, and a portion of spicy fried yellow croaker. Front the money for now, and you will be reimbursed later."

Baozi sat there expressionlessly. "My leg was beaten today. Let Mianmian and Qian Qian go."

"Two yuan for a runner's fee, deducted from the club funds."

"!!"

Baozi immediately stood up and headed out, as if afraid someone would snatch the task from her.

Zhou Li observed quietly, his sharp senses noting that Little Cousin's leg might really be hurting, as her brisk walking posture seemed a bit off.

He couldn't help but speculate.

Could it be that Brother Nan found out about the video she sent him?

He glanced discreetly at the person beside him—

Brother Nan was stirring her dipping sauce with her chopsticks, seemingly in a good mood and nodding her head. He could faintly hear her humming a song.

It sounded like a nursery rhyme.

Something about the Milky Way in the sky...

At this moment, Tuanzi suddenly hugged his arm, appearing to be acting coquettishly, but her expression was serious. "Lord Dumpling has won~~"

"Oh!"

So he hurriedly made another call to Baozi, asking her to also bring back a portion of boiled fish.

In just a few minutes, Baozi returned.

Brother Nan blinked a couple of times.

Baozi explained calmly, "I asked them to cook it and bring it over."

"You're quite clever."

"A total of 102 yuan."

"We'll sort out the funds after the meal."

"I think we ordered a bit too much," Baozi glanced at the dishes being served, "and there are too many bones in the carp. Your tooth just healed."

"I want it with lots of bones! The more the better!"

"This behavior of yours is called 'revenge eating' in psychology," Zhou Li concluded from the side.

"Ever the psych committee member..."

At this, Little Cousin fell silent, as she was no longer the psychology committee member. She then lay down on the table, lowered her gaze, and stared unblinkingly at the slowly bubbling hotpot base, counting the floating peppers.

Speaking of which, she hadn't had a good meal in a long time.

Once the hotpot base began to boil, Cotton Swab took the initiative to add the food. The takeout from next door had also arrived, and Zhou Li started to prepare fish soup rice for Tuanzi.

This little creature was really a wonder cat. Logically, after so long, she should have realized what her 'royal special fish soup rice' was all about. Yet, she persistently treasured her fish soup rice as if it were something truly precious.

He wondered what the principle behind it was.

When the food was ready, Zhou Li's ears finally had peace.

Mainly because the Old Monster started busying himself with eating and had no interest in chatting with the two foot-scratching cutesy girls any longer.

After a few more attempts at engagement, upon realizing that Handsome Huai was only focused on eating and completely ignoring them, the cutesy girls temporarily ceased their endeavor. However, they didn't stop talking; instead, they switched to gossiping.

It seemed to be about the topic of scholarship funds.

Zhou Li hadn't completely filtered out their conversation. Catching snippets, he understood they seemed to be talking about the girls from his own class. They all wanted to apply for the substantial scholarship funds. However, they felt that the others, who had better family conditions and lacked nothing in daily life, were shameless for competing with them. This made their relationships sour and awkward.

Zhou Li found this somewhat incomprehensible.

His main confusion was how the two foot-scratching cutesy girls knew the gossip about the girls in his class?

And it's not like they fought...

With curiosity, he lowered the filter level to listen to the details of their gossip.

Turns out those two girls were even roommates.

Truly baffling.

Zhou Li thought of how Chang Xiaoxiang and Liu Zhengming not only applied for scholarships together but also encouraged each other and copied each other's application letters. He pondered for a long time and felt that this might be the differentiation between male and female individuals...

Fortunately, he found a big brother to be his girlfriend.

Eating hot pot naturally takes time. They ate a lot and gossiped even more, continuing to chat long after turning off the heat. By the time they left the restaurant, it was already past nine o'clock.

All in all, the evening was pleasant.

During the meal, they encountered two students who came to hit on them at their table. They also met a food vlogger who invited them to be in a TikTok advertisement—a clear testament to the average attractiveness of their group. But none of these drew as much attention as Lord Dumpling did.

"It's already dark..."

Brother Nan touched her stomach and started to do the math.

The eateries around the school were relatively cheap. They ordered a lot of dishes, added a few more later on, and even drank alcohol, but the bill only came to a little over six hundred yuan.

Add on the two yuan delivery fee for Baozi and the food stall, which was all taken from the club's funds.

As for where the club funds came from...

Well, the Probability Society, of course. It's from various probabilistic events.

「Half an hour later.」

Zhou Li returned home. He buried his face into Lord Dumpling and took a deep breath, saying, "Lord Dumpling, you reek of hot pot... Quickly transform into Little Cat Girl and get rid of that smell hidden in your fur!"

"MEOW~"

"Alright, enough~~"

Lord Dumpling had become fragrant. She approached Zhou Li, sniffed gently, looked up at him, then turned her head and glanced towards the bathroom.

"MEOW-WOW!"

By the time Zhou Li realized, the little creature was already sitting on the bathroom floor waiting for him. Her large eyes stared unblinkingly at him, seeming to say that today she had to see what he was up to when hiding in the bathroom alone.

Zhou Li felt a headache coming on.

Luckily, there were two bathrooms.

He quickly grabbed his clothes and went to the other bathroom, ignoring the sound of scratching paws on the door glass and Lord Dumpling's meowing outside.

Twenty minutes later, Zhou Li came out of the shower. He picked up Lord Dumpling from the doorway. He saw her looking at him with scrutinizing and puzzled eyes, even craning her neck trying to peer into the bathroom past him, which was somewhat amusing.

The TV in the living room was on, broadcasting the news.

Huai Xu sat on the couch, hugging a pillow. He glanced briefly at Zhou Li, who was covered in water vapor, and said, "There have been unending disasters and calamities this year. At this rate, it won't be long before humanity becomes extinct."

Zhou Li tuned out his words, sat down beside him, and noticed that not a hint of hot pot scent lingered on the Old Monster.

The Old Monster frowned at his reaction. "Why aren't you concerned at all? I'm serious. When humans start waging war and 'dark weapons' are fired all over, we demons will all hide in the Old Land. We'll wait until you've all fought to extinction, and then we'll come out on top."

He paused, then added, "Well, maybe not exactly on top..."

"What are 'dark weapons'?"

"You don't even know that! It's that stuff with radiation, the kind that makes mushrooms," Huai Xu curled his lips. "You don't care about national affairs at all..."

"Ah, nuclear weapons."

"...You and Li Daimao have been dating for so long, how come you two still don't sleep together?" the Old Monster asked, dead serious.

"...That was a sharp change of topic."

Zhou Li showed no embarrassment as the Old Monster had expected, but rather a face that said 'I can understand where you're coming from,' calmly saying, "If needed, I can explain to you the principles of nuclear weapons."

The Old Monster grew even more serious. "I'm asking you!"

"Nuclear reactions, fission and fusion..."

"I don't care about that stuff! I think you should ask Li Daimao to come over and live with you. Times have changed, no need to be so conservative," the Old Monster stubbornly held onto his ego. "Stop beating around the bush."

"We're not at that stage yet." Zhou Li, ultimately a good person, decided not to trouble him anymore.

"I have an idea." Huai Xu was confident. "You guys can get bunk beds, like we did in Yan City, one on the top bunk and one on the bottom."

"..."

"Hey, don't look at me with that face! Listen to me, you're young and inexperienced, but after you're married for some time, you'll realize – bunk beds can really help maintain a marital relationship. I've seen a lot," Huai Xu rambled on ethereally. "Actually, you're different from what you think you are; you are a big machine made of many components. You may think your thoughts are your own, but they're just the influence of a component. This component, with time, wears out, malfunctions, or even fails. Then you'll find your thoughts completely different from before..."

"..."

"Unless you become a demon, all your preferences are impure. I'm a demon; you should listen to my advice more."

"..."

"Where are you going! I haven't finished talking!"

Huai Xu frowned deeply, watching Zhou Li leave without looking back. He rarely shared his millennia of experience and unique insights with anyone, only to find this person not only ignored him but was also so rude.

He had no choice but to shake his head, look away, and mutter under his breath, "Not listening to an elder's advice..."

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