Lu Qi, who had slept coiled around Yun Manman all night, felt much better the next day. The turbulent psychic power in his mental sea had calmed significantly, returning to its previously stable state.
After this experience, Lu Qi became even more convinced that Yun Manman's psychic power had a soothing effect. Although her psychic strength wasn't high, Lu Qi suspected that the purity of her psychic power was extremely high.
As soon as Yun Manman woke up, she immediately looked at the coiled little snake. Seeing that he had stopped bleeding and regained his spirits, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had been very worried the night before, fearing he might die, and had gotten up several times during the night to check on the little snake's condition.
She reached out to stroke the snake's head. "Qiqi, I'm so glad you're okay."
Surprisingly, the little snake didn't shy away. Instead, he stayed still, his bright red eyes fixed unblinkingly on her.
Yun Manman was overjoyed. Had Qiqi finally grown accustomed to her touch?
In reality, that wasn't the case.
Lu Qi simply felt that she had saved him so many times, and now he had no way to repay her. He couldn't even leave her side for half an hour.
Since she wanted to pet his animal form, he'd let her do it for half a minute... no, fifteen seconds. Not a second more.
The little white snake held his head rigid as Yun Manman gently stroked him, silently counting the seconds in his mind.
As soon as fifteen seconds passed, he darted away like a spring.
Thank goodness she hadn't used her animal form to touch him, otherwise he really wouldn't have been able to resist running away.
Yun Manman had only managed to pet him for a moment before the little white snake withdrew, leaving her feeling a bit disappointed.
But she quickly perked up. The little snake was now able to accept her touch, so she believed it wouldn't be long before they could return to their former closeness!
Having cuddled a snake early in the morning, Ms. Yun felt energized and ready to tackle a busy day at the dessert shop.
But first, breakfast.
Yun Manman put the pre-soaked white fungus into a slow cooker, added snow pears and sugar, and set the timer.
By the time she finished washing up, the white fungus and snow pear soup was ready.
The entire room was filled with the sweet aroma of snow pears.
She steamed two vegetable buns to complete the perfect breakfast.
Having suffered enough from low blood sugar in her previous life, Yun Manman now always ate a hearty breakfast and kept candy in her pocket.
Although this body didn't have low blood sugar and was quite healthy.
Lu Qi flicked his tongue, sniffing the warm, comforting sweet fragrance in the air. He couldn't help but wonder if these desserts really tasted as good as everyone said.
Every time he saw customers coming and going in the dessert shop, almost everyone praised the food there.
Lu Qi himself had no interest in sweets; he was content with just eating meat.
In fact, he had little interest in many things.
Moreover, since Yun Manman's psychic power could soothe him, he didn't care about the minimal soothing effect in the desserts.
But now he was a bit curious about these foods with their unique fragrances.
Lu Qi lifted his head and secretly glanced at Yun Manman, who was looking at her contact list, then slithered into the kitchen.
Seeing that there was still a layer of white fungus and snow pear soup in the slow cooker, he felt delighted.
That's right, he wanted to taste if the desserts made by Yun Manman really had a soothing effect.
Once he confirmed this point, as a general, he could better protect Yun Manman and safeguard the hope of Kashida.
When Yun Manman looked up from her contact list and saw the scene in the kitchen, her heart nearly stopped.
On the meter-high countertop, the little white snake had half of his body submerged in the transparent slow cooker, with the other half outside.
Yun Manman rushed over in fright, grabbing him by the tail and pulling him out of the slow cooker. "Qiqi, what are you doing?!"
"Are you trying to cook yourself? I don't want to eat snake soup!"
The white fungus soup in the slow cooker was already gone. The little white snake licked his mouth, seeming displeased at being held like this, and hissed twice.
Yun Manman, still shaken, stroked the entire snake from head to tail, only relaxing when she saw he hadn't been scalded.
Thankfully, the slow cooker had been turned off long ago, and the soup inside wasn't very hot.
Yun Manman was so angry that her tail fur bristled and her ears stood straight up. "Qiqi, how can you be so greedy! White fungus soup isn't something you can eat! It could kill you!"
"It was the same with the beef last time! You ate it without saying a word to me!"
Lu Qi, uncomfortable with being stroked from head to tail, repeatedly tried to wriggle free from her grasp.
Hearing her words, he felt a mix of exasperation and helplessness.
Well, even if he could speak, she wouldn't understand him.
He hadn't expected the white fungus soup to taste so good. He had only intended to take a sip and run, but before he knew it, he had hung there and finished the rest.
It was truly a lapse in decorum.
And he had been caught by Yun Manman.
Lu Qi originally didn't care; being discovered was being discovered. After all, no one around knew his beastman form.
He had a purely nonchalant attitude.
But seeing Yun Manman's puffed-up cheeks and the barely concealed anxiety as she contacted the doctor on her communication device, he felt a bit guilty.
She had saved him just last night. Although she didn't know it.
Now he had done something wrong again.
Yun Manman also didn't know he wasn't a real pet snake, which was part of the reason.
Lu Qi might not have a conscience, but he did have morals.
He hesitated for a few seconds, then coiled his body around Yun Manman's wrist, gently patting her hand with the tip of his tail.
"Hiss, hiss."
It's fine, this general won't die so easily. I survived a psychic power outburst, how could this little white fungus soup do anything to me?
Moreover, Lu Qi had already sensed the soothing effect contained in the white fungus soup.
The effect was very subtle, but it was still detected by Lu Qi's highly sensitive psychic power.
Eating such desserts, although it couldn't immediately increase psychic purity, could make one's mind feel relaxed and joyful, soothing the mental sea.
This tiny soothing effect was crucial, such as pulling Yuan Qing back from the brink of turning dark.
So eating it for a long time would definitely have an effect on improving psychic purity.
The exact principles behind it would require Yun Manman's cooperation and research back in the capital to understand.
He had really sacrificed too much for Kashida.
He had almost lost his body.
He needed to quickly have Lu Xi bring the desserts back for verification. If it was true, he would negotiate directly with Yun Manman herself, whatever the cost, to get her to cooperate with the empire.
Lu Qi comfortingly patted Yun Manman with the tip of his tail, thinking resentfully to himself.
Yun Manman was sending a message to the alpaca doctor when she looked down to see the little snake docilely tilting his head, his round eyes filled with guilt, looking as if he knew he had done wrong. Half of her anger dissipated.
It was all because he was too cute.
The alpaca doctor on the other end of the communication device also seemed surprised that a pet snake would steal sweets: "...Just observe his condition. If he doesn't seem uncomfortable, don't worry about it."
Finally, he reassured Yun Manman: "Don't worry, maybe his digestive system is quite strong. Being able to eat is a blessing."
Yun Manman looked at the message on the screen and choked: Do you want this blessing? It's nerve-wracking.
She glanced at the little snake, who still seemed fine, and sighed: "Come on, we need to go open the shop."
Getting such a fright early in the morning, pets really weren't easy to keep.
Seeing that Yun Manman was no longer scolding him, Lu Qi's half-suspended heart also settled down.
This cat was quite easy to coax.
He'd compensate her more money in the future, and if that wasn't enough, he'd add even more.
The wealthy General Lu silently added another sum to Yun Manman's compensation in his mind.