Chapter 270: Tonight...
Lily Hart, eating an orange, handed a piece to Frost Shaw. "Here. Yeah, they’re outside the shop, watching our every move."
’Paparazzi. Textbook paparazzi.’
Frost Shaw glanced outside, trying to spot the hidden eyes in the shadows. Lily Hart leaned back. "Don’t bother looking. I just went down and convinced a batch of them to leave."
"Plus, I’ve now activated the soundproofing and visual shielding. People outside can’t see in, so they’ll just assume no one’s home."
Lily Hart had a fair amount of confidence in the items her system provided. Still, you can’t be on guard forever. With that in mind...
Lily Hart raised an eyebrow at Frost Shaw and beckoned him with a finger. He obediently leaned in, and she moved close to his ear. "Tonight..."
The more Frost Shaw listened, the brighter his eyes grew and the redder his ears became. Her warm breath and soft voice tickled his ear, like a spring breeze brushing against his heart.
A moment later, Lily Hart finished and straightened up. Seeing his dazed expression, she waved a hand in front of his face in dissatisfaction. "Hey, did you get all that?"
She didn’t snap Frost Shaw out of it, but she did get Roman Rowe’s attention.
He asked hurriedly, "Get what? What were you two talking about? Let me in on it!" His curiosity was piqued.
Frost Shaw snapped out of it as well, nodding repeatedly. "Got it, got it."
Lily Hart rolled her eyes at them. ’Not a single one of them is low-maintenance!’
Roman Rowe grew anxious, looking from Lily Hart to Frost Shaw. He had a feeling they were hiding something from him. Just as he was about to ask, she beat him to the punch. "Frank O’Malley’s eyes are practically glued to your cards!"
"..." Frank O’Malley silently averted his gaze, sat up straight, and pretended nothing had happened.
"..." Ash O’Malley sighed and facepalmed. ’This foolish brother of mine... He’s being way too obvious.’
"Aha! So you were looking at my cards while I wasn’t paying attention!" Roman Rowe immediately clutched his cards to his chest, scolding Frank O’Malley huffily. His attention was successfully diverted.
Frost Shaw breathed a sigh of relief. If Roman Rowe knew their secret, the whole world would know.
He couldn’t help but exchange a glance with Lily Hart, and the two shared a knowing smile.
Frank O’Malley was having so much fun he didn’t want to leave. Seeing that Lily Hart didn’t object, Ash O’Malley indulged his foolish younger brother and stayed to play with him. A smile was plastered on Frank’s face, and seeing it, Ash’s heart lightened considerably.
The group played boisterously until sunset. Elder Shaw had returned to Central Command shortly after lunch, and Lily Hart had sent him off with a large watermelon.
She’d listened to him complain that he could never get anything during the daily sales rush; the quantities were just too limited.
As for the supplies he needed to procure, Lily Hart had bought everything his budget allowed: two pistols with a hundred rounds of ammunition, a few grenades and smoke bombs, a sniper rifle, and so on.
After buying these firearms, the budget was essentially depleted, just as Elder Shaw had expected. He left with a modest amount of supplies and one large watermelon.
As dinner time approached, Roman Rowe shot the O’Malley brothers a disdainful look. "You two aren’t planning on staying for dinner, are you?"
’I don’t want to cook for this many people! Tossing a wok is exhausting, you know? And Boss Hart isn’t here watching, so I have zero motivation...’
The moment he heard that, Frank O’Malley immediately turned to the person in the RV with the most authority: Lily Hart!
He gave her a pitiful, puppy-dog look, his face and eyes practically screaming, ’I want to stay for dinner, please, please, say yes~’
Lily Hart’s heart softened, and she nodded in agreement. Then, seeing Roman Rowe’s "the-sky-is-falling" expression, she quickly added, "We’ll have hot pot tonight. No stir-frying needed."
"OH YEAH! I love hot pot!" Roman Rowe jumped up in excitement.
Seth and Stan Sterling were just then coming up into the RV, and were rather surprised to see the room full of people.
Stan Sterling said, "Weird, it looked like no one was here from the outside. I was about to ask where everyone went, right, Seth? From the outside, it looks completely empty!"
Seeking validation, Stan Sterling turned to Seth, who had come up with him.
Seth nodded very seriously. "Yeah, I thought you all had gone out. I was just going to come up and wait for you."
Lily Hart grinned smugly.
Everyone except Frost Shaw was clueless.
Roman Rowe scratched his head in confusion. "But we’ve been in here the whole time. The whole afternoon. How could it look like we weren’t here?"
Seth nodded affirmatively. "It’s true. If you don’t believe me, go take a look for yourself. You’ll get it once you see."
Convinced, Roman Rowe got up and went down out of the RV. Frank O’Malley, curious, followed him. The two of them stepped outside and looked back in. Holy cow, it really was completely empty.
From the outside, they could only see the empty first floor of the RV. The sofa and dining table were faintly visible, as was a corner of the refrigerator inside the glass-walled kitchen.
But strangely, there was no one on the sofa and no one on the chairs...
’But Lily Hart was just sitting on the sofa, wasn’t she? And that pest Frost Shaw was right next to her!’
Roman Rowe rubbed his eyes and looked again. Still no one. He looked again. Still no one.
He poked Frank O’Malley and asked uncertainly, "Do you see anyone in there?"
His voice wasn’t quiet, and a nearby customer overheard, chiming in, "Nope, not a soul. Is there something wrong with your eyes?"
Frank O’Malley snapped out of his shock and shook his head in a daze. "No one... there’s no one... but that’s not right. Didn’t we just come down from there?"
The dazed look on their faces made Lily Hart laugh uncontrollably. ’How can they be so ridiculous? Hahaha.’
Roman Rowe and Frank O’Malley dazedly went back up. Seeing the room full of people, they froze, their minds flashing back to the scene they had just witnessed.
’It’s like something out of sci-fi! Boss Hart must have used some kind of illusion!’ Roman Rowe thought. Seeing Boss Hart laughing so hard confirmed it. ’That’s definitely it!’
They both figured it out, annoyed at their own foolishness. No one else had gone down to check—just the two of them. They shared a sudden, inexplicable sense of camaraderie.
Once she’d had her laugh, Lily Hart called out, "Alright, come on, time to stir-fry the soup base."
Hearing that, Roman Rowe abandoned his newfound camaraderie with Frank O’Malley and scurried eagerly into the kitchen.
After shouting, Lily Hart placed an order for ingredients in her system’s shop, then began setting out plates of washed and sliced ingredients on the table.
Luckily, the table was large enough to just barely hold everything. Whatever didn’t fit went onto a serving cart.
The table was laden with food, creating a powerful sense of abundance and happiness. Standing at the end of the table, Ash O’Malley couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.
’How long has it been since I’ve seen a sight like this?’
Three hot pots in total were arranged in a line down the center of the table, ensuring everyone had easy access.
Lily Hart took a seat in the middle, where she could reach the ingredients on both sides, and everyone else soon took their places as well.
First, they added the ingredients that took longer to cook, like duck feet, pieces of corn on the cob, and meatballs.
While those simmered in the pot, they would add and eat the quick-cooking items, like thin-sliced fatty beef and shrimp paste.
When eating hot pot, everyone is generally quite busy—busy fishing food out, busy putting food in, and busy eating.
The only person with any downtime was Lily Hart. She was only responsible for eating, while Frost Shaw and Roman Rowe practically monopolized the serving chopsticks for her.
They both knew what she liked to eat, and as soon as something was cooked, they would immediately place it in her bowl to cool.
By the end of the meal, Frank O’Malley had successfully stuffed himself silly, even more so than at lunch, but he still wanted to eat more.
’Who knows when the next meal like this will be...’