168: Chapter 168 The Empress cried while eating braised pork: This is food from the divine realm!

Silence.

A suffocating silence spread throughout the dining room for a full ten seconds.

Jiang Wanqiu remained in the pose of chewing with her mouth open, her entire being as if pressed with a pause button. Those red eyes, which usually flickered with vigilance and killing intent, were now widening little by little, and the depths of her pupils were even trembling slightly from extreme shock.

That piece of braised pork melted in her mouth.

The aroma of the fat was like an explosive shockwave, instantly sweeping across her taste buds and rushing straight to her crown along her nerve endings. That soft, glutinous, salty-sweet, and rich texture that made one want to swallow their own tongue was like a warm current, instantly piercing through the hardened psychological defenses she held as a Wasteland warrior.

"Plop."

The first tear fell onto the dining table without warning. Followed by the second, then the third.

Jiang Wanqiu suddenly covered her mouth, her shoulders heaving violently as she let out a sob suppressed to the extreme.

"Th-this... what is this..."

Her voice trembled as she looked up at Jiang Chen. There was no longer the majesty of an Empress in her eyes, only the helplessness and panic of a lost child who had found candy: "It's too delicious... How can it be this delicious..."

"There's no sour, radioactive taste, no texture like sawdust from mutant beast meat... It's soft, it's sweet, it's alive!"

As she cried, she scrambled to swallow the meat in her mouth, fearing she would waste even a shred of the flavor: "Divine Father... So, is this the kind of elixir you eat every day in the Divine Realm?"

"No wonder your divine body is so pure, no wonder your power is so vast! This is... this is a gift from the Divine Realm!"

Jiang Chen looked at Jiang Wanqiu, who was crying until she was a tear-stained mess. His heart ached a little, but he also wanted to laugh.

A piece of braised pork has become an elixir?

What kind of life has this girl been living in the Wasteland?

"Don't cry, don't cry, it's just a piece of meat."

Jiang Chen pulled out a tissue and handed it to her, then casually picked up a piece of spare rib and placed it in her bowl. "If it's good, eat more. There's plenty. In the Divine Realm... ahem, here, this stuff isn't worth much."

"Not worth much?!"

Jiang Wanqiu widened her eyes, as if she had heard some unbelievable blasphemy.

She carefully held up the exquisite porcelain bowl as if she were holding the Imperial Seal. Looking at the golden-red spare rib in the bowl, she took a deep breath, and then—the cold and domineering Empress completely logged off.

Replacing her was a "glutton" who had been starved for three thousand years and had finally seen food.

"Nom!"

She didn't even use chopsticks—she wasn't used to them anyway. She simply reached out with her slender fingers, grabbed the spare rib, and shoved it into her mouth. Although the movement appeared somewhat crude due to her eagerness, the genuine sense of satisfaction from her heart made it impossible to feel any disgust.

She devoured it like a whirlwind.

It really was like a whirlwind.

That plate of braised pork, originally piled like a small mountain, was decreasing at a rate visible to the naked eye. Jiang Wanqiu ate with her cheeks puffed out, the corners of her mouth covered in sauce, completely disregarding her image. While eating, she would mumble praises:

"Mmm... this is also good... it's sweet... the bones are even crispy..."

"Divine Father... what is this white, grain-like stuff? (pointing at the rice) It's so fragrant... It smells ten thousand times better than the synthetic starch blocks in Dawn City!"

"Wuu wuu wuu... I'm not going back... You couldn't pay me to go back to the Wasteland..."

Sitting opposite her, Academician Chen Shuyin was holding her chopsticks, completely dumbfounded.

She had originally prepared a belly full of high-level vocabulary, ready to harshly look down on this "barbarian" regarding table manners and conversation, so that Jiang Chen would know who was the virtuous wife capable of being a proper hostess.

But now?

Looking at Jiang Wanqiu's "starving ghost reincarnated" appearance, Academician Chen Shuyin's mean words suddenly got stuck in her throat and couldn't be spoken.

How is this a love rival?

This is clearly just a poor child who ran out of a refugee camp!

"Um..."

Academician Chen Shuyin pushed up her glasses, the hostility in her eyes unconsciously dissipating by more than half, replaced by a complex emotion known as "caring for a mentally challenged child."

She silently pushed the plate of steamed fish in front of her, which she hadn't touched yet, toward Jiang Wanqiu: "Eat slowly, no one is going to snatch it from you."

"Don't choke... have some soup."

Jiang Wanqiu's movements paused.

She looked up and glanced at Academician Chen Shuyin vigilantly, with half a piece of meat still dangling from her mouth.

It seemed she was judging whether this "vixen" had poisoned the meat. But soon, the aroma of the food overcame her reason. She mumbled an indistinct "You're sensible," and then unceremoniously claimed the plate of fish for herself.

A Shura field that should have been a collision between Mars and Earth was, just like that, under the offensive of a plate of braised pork, extremely bizarrely... extinguished.

Jiang Chen sat in the head seat, watching these two women who had finally settled down, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"The ancients did not deceive me."

He sighed silently in his heart, "There is nothing that a barbecue can't solve; if there is, then just add another serving of braised pork."

Half an hour later.

The plates on the table were cleaner than a face, and even the sauce had been wiped clean by Jiang Wanqiu with a steamed bun.

She slumped in her chair, rubbing her slightly bulging little belly without any regard for her image, and let out a satisfied burp that smelled like braised pork, her face glowing with a sense of happiness as if she had ascended to heaven.

"Divine Father... I feel my strength recovering."

Jiang Wanqiu squinted her eyes like a lazy cat, "The bio-energy contained in this food, although not as pure as high-level nutrient solution, has a kind of... power that can soothe the soul."

"That's right, this is called the scent of ordinary life."

Jiang Chen smiled and handed her a cup of tea to help with digestion.

At this moment, Jiang Wanqiu seemed to have finally recovered from the dizziness of the delicious food. She lowered her head and took a look at herself.

That set of black nano combat armor, originally majestic but now tattered, was covered in dust, bloodstains, and even oil stains that had accidentally splashed on it while eating earlier.

Looking across again.

Although Academician Chen Shuyin hadn't eaten much, her neat loungewear and that intellectual, elegant temperament blended perfectly with this luxurious villa environment.

And herself...

She was like a beggar who had broken into a royal palace.

A strong sense of inferiority, mixed with jealousy that hadn't completely dissipated, welled up in Jiang Wanqiu's heart.

"Divine Father..."

She shrank her body, trying to cover the holes in her armor with her arms, her voice becoming somewhat dejected: "Has Wanqiu... embarrassed you?"

"This outfit... it's too tattered."

"In your Divine Realm, do only beggars dress like this?"

Her red eyes dimmed like a dust-covered gemstone, "I don't want others to think... that your follower is a beggar."

Jiang Chen was stunned for a moment.

He looked at Jiang Wanqiu's cautious, even somewhat uneasy appearance, and his heart ached sharply. This was the decisive and ruthless Empress he knew in the Wasteland. To come and see him, she had gotten herself covered in wounds, and now she felt inferior because of a tattered outfit.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Jiang Chen stood up, walked over to Jiang Wanqiu, and grabbed her hand. His palm was warm and strong, instantly dispelling the chill in her heart.

"You are an Empress, a King who commands ten thousand armies."

Jiang Chen looked into her eyes, his tone revealing an unquestionable dominance and doting: "In my world, you can wear whatever you want; no one dares to laugh at you."

"However..."

He looked up and down at the armor that was indeed a bit overly "battle-damaged," especially those holes that revealed large patches of skin. Although it was pleasing to the eye, if she went out like this, it would probably cause traffic paralysis.

"Since you're here, you should follow the local customs."

"Just right, after eating, we need to get some exercise."

Jiang Chen waved his hand and took the unlimited black card out of his pocket, spinning it stylishly on his fingertips: "Let's go!"

"Divine Father will take you to a good place."

"We're going—shopping spree!"

"Take off your broken tin armor. Tonight, I will let everyone in Tianhai City know what real... divine beauty is!"