The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

The security door slammed shut, the click of the latch echoing in the empty living room.

Chen Zhi stood in the entryway and listened intently for a while.

The footsteps in the hallway gradually faded into the distance until they disappeared completely.

The two big shots in the house have finally gone to work.

Chen Zhi turned around, his slippers making a light, rhythmic slapping sound on the floor, and headed straight for the delivery box that had been stuffed under the bed.

Tear off the tape.

He dragged out a simple stainless steel barbecue grill.

I ordered this on Taobao a few days ago when my mom wasn't looking. It included two bags of starch sausage and a pack of dried gluten, and I've been hiding it ever since.

In the summer of 2014, the number and variety of street vendors were both small.

Since his rebirth, he has been craving rice noodle rolls and grilled gluten.

If you want to satisfy your craving, you have to make it yourself.

Chen Zhi set up the shelf on the balcony.

Several pieces of charcoal were lit, and orange-red sparks spread across the black charcoal surface, instantly distorting the air on the balcony with heat.

He smuggled his mother's spice box from the kitchen.

I added the sauce recipe I learned from the music in my past life.

The chopsticks stirred rapidly in the bowl, and the bright red sauce gleamed enticingly.

This is the "Hextech" recipe that later garnered millions of likes on TikTok, featuring a MSG-based meeting that's inexplicably delicious.

Chen Zhi decorated each starch sausage with a decorative cut.

Apply oil.

Shelf.

"Sizzle—"

The grease dripped onto the glowing red-hot charcoal, instantly bursting into a cloud of white smoke.

The overpowering aroma of meat, mixed with the smell of charred fat, rampaged through the cramped balcony space, drifting unchecked towards the neighbors on the wind.

Chen Zhi held a palm-leaf fan in his hand, fanning himself slowly and deliberately.

The gluten skewers gradually puffed up under the heat of the charcoal fire, and the surface became golden brown and crispy.

Brush on the sauce.

The bowl of bright red, secret-recipe sauce was thickly spread over the sizzling, oily gluten.

The aroma underwent a qualitative change at that moment.

Chen Zhi swallowed hard, just about to pick up a skewer to taste the saltiness.

Suddenly, a dark head popped out from the gap in the railing of the balcony next door.

Lin Wanwan, like a cat smelling fish, leaned most of her body out of the railing, her nose twitching incessantly.

She was watching TV in the living room when an alluring fragrance, like a hook, pulled her up from the sofa.

The balconies of the two houses are very close to each other.

Lin Wanwan spotted Chen Zhi squatting on the ground, holding a skewer of barbecue.

Chen Zhi paused in his movements.

Eyes facing each other.

A smug look of "I've got you" quickly appeared on Lin Wanwan's pretty face.

She didn't say a word, simply pulled her head back, turned around, and ran away.

Chen Zhi sighed, looked at the freshly baked gluten in his hand, and then at the tightly closed door.

Three seconds later.

"Bang bang bang!"

The security door was smashed with a deafening roar.

The force was so strong that someone who didn't know better would have thought it was a creditor coming to their door.

"Chen Zhi! Open the door!"

The girl's clear shout pierced through the door, carrying a sense of self-righteousness.

Chen Zhi put down the gluten in his hand and slowly moved to the doorway.

The door was just opened a crack.

A white figure slipped in like an eel.

Lin Wanwan was wearing a bear-patterned pajama set and a pair of classic Adidas Superstar sneakers.

She took a deep sniff, and the strong smell of barbecue made her throat involuntarily move.

"Alright, Chen Zhi!"

Lin Wanwan stood with her hands on her hips, blocking the entrance with a menacing air. "I knew it smelled so good! You were secretly eating it all by yourself behind my back! That's so unfair!"

As she complained, she craned her neck to look towards the balcony.

With that greedy look, there wasn't a trace of the aloofness that would make her a future national goddess.

Chen Zhi closed the door and gave her a disgruntled look.

"You have such a keen sense of smell, you could smell the charcoal as soon as it lit."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Lin Wanwan expertly rummaged through the shoe cabinet, pulled out her own slippers, put them on, and swaggered towards the balcony. "Everyone gets a share! If you don't give me some, I'll tell Aunt Zhang you're playing with fire in the house!"

"..."

On the balcony, the charcoal fire was burning brightly.

Several skewers of starch sausage had already been grilled until they were blooming, and with the help of the secret sauce, they smelled incredibly tempting.

Lin Wanwan didn't stand on ceremony. She moved a small stool and sat opposite the grill, resting her chin on her hands and staring intently at the food on the shelf.

"Is it cooked yet? Is it cooked yet?"

She urged him on, her mouth practically watering.

Chen Zhi flipped the skewers in his hand and sprinkled them with cumin powder.

"What's the rush? Haste makes waste."

He picked up a skewer of gluten that was grilled to a deep reddish-brown and glistening with oil, and handed it over.

Lin Wanwan snatched it away, not caring that it was hot, and took a big bite.

"Ouch—it's so hot!"

She gasped for breath from the heat, making indistinct noises, but she just couldn't bear to spit it out.

As you cut through the crispy outer layer with your teeth, the soft and chewy gluten inside bursts out, soaking up all the sauce.

Sweet, spicy, fresh, and fragrant.

Four flavors exploded in my mouth, instantly taking over all my taste buds.

Lin Wanwan's eyes widened suddenly.

This taste...

It's completely different from the ones sold from carts outside the school!

Unlike the salty and spicy flavor of street-side barbecue stalls that only have cumin and chili powder, this one has a rich and impactful aroma.

Especially the sauce.

Sweet with a hint of spiciness, and a lingering sweetness after the spiciness, along with an indescribable garlic aroma, it's as if it has breathed life into this ordinary skewer of gluten.

"Mmm! Delicious!"

Lin Wanwan swallowed a skewer of gluten in a few bites, her mouth covered in red sauce, looking like a little kitten who had successfully stolen a bite.

She tossed the bare bamboo skewers aside and reached for the starch sausage on the shelf.

"I want this one too!"

Chen Zhi reluctantly handed her the freshly grilled sausage he was holding.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

This starchy sausage is a real delicacy.

The outer skin is baked until it forms a hard crust, making a crunchy sound when you bite into it, while the inside is soft and chewy like rice cake.

Combined with Chen Zhi's specially formulated brushing agent, it's absolutely deadly.

Lin Wanwan ate without looking up, her cheeks bulging, and mumbled, "Chen Zhi, your cooking is amazing! It's a million times better than the one at the back gate of the school!"

She swallowed the food in her mouth and stuck out her pink tongue to lick the sesame seeds on her lips.

"Really, I'm not lying to you."

Lin Wanwan looked at Chen Zhi earnestly, pointing at the half-eaten starch sausage in her hand, "If you set up a stall, you'd definitely make a fortune! I'll be your cashier, and we'll split the profits fifty-fifty!"

Chen Zhizheng was using a brush to apply oil to the remaining gluten.

"Okay."

Chen Zhi placed the grilled gluten on a plate and said lazily, "When I go bankrupt someday, I'll push a cart and sell barbecue. Just don't be ashamed of me then."

"How could that be!"

Lin Wanwan reached out and grabbed another skewer, her mouth greasy as she ate. "If you can grill this for me every day, I'll follow you even if I have to pick up trash, let alone set up a stall!"

Chen Zhi did not respond.

He leaned against the balcony railing, holding a can of iced cola in his hand.

The pull ring pops open.

"laugh--"

White, cold air wafted out.

He tilted his head back and took a swig; the cool liquid slid down his esophagus into his stomach, relieving the greasiness and heat in his mouth.

Sunlight streamed through the glass windows of the balcony, illuminating Lin Wanwan's unsuspecting, food-loving face.

The fine downy hairs are clearly visible in the light.

She ate with such focus and such joy.

It was as if what they were holding in their hands was not a two-yuan starch sausage, but some rare delicacy.

Many years later, even with countless riches, Chen Zhi could no longer experience this kind of pure, inexpensive joy.

In the adult world, happiness has a price.

For Lin Wanwan now, happiness only requires a skewer of burnt starch sausage.

"Grow up slowly," Chen Zhi thought to himself.

"Want more?"

Chen Zhi shook the empty slip of paper in his hand.

"want!"

Lin Wanwan swallowed what was in her mouth, raised her hand, and said, "Two more skewers! No, three! I want the extra spicy one!"

"Eat less spicy food, or you'll get pimples."

Despite his complaints, Chen Zhi honestly grabbed a handful of chili powder and sprinkled it evenly over the sizzling, oily gluten.

The red powder landed on the golden surface, instantly releasing a pungent, spicy aroma when heated by the oil.

"Cough cough..."

Lin Wanwan coughed twice from the choking, but still stared longingly at the oven.

Chen Zhi looked at her pathetic state and his lips twitched almost imperceptibly.

Just then.

My Nokia phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket.

Chen Zhi took out his phone.

A text message from David was displayed on the screen.

[Boss, Sequoia Capital is making a move. They're trying to find out about the background of Goodnight Capital through various channels.]

Chen Zhi glanced at it and casually stuffed the phone back into his pocket.

"Whose message is this?"

With her mouth full of gluten, Lin Wanwan asked indistinctly, "It's not that Li Sisi from the next class, is it? Let me tell you, the whole school knows she wrote you a love letter, so don't make a mistake!"

As she spoke, she scrutinized Chen Zhi from head to toe with a critical gaze, as if looking at an ignorant boy about to go astray.

Chen Zhi stuffed the grilled, insanely spicy gluten into her hand.

"Just eat yours."

"Spam text messages. Asking me if I want to buy a house."

Lin Wanwan gasped for breath from the spiciness, but still couldn't resist gossiping: "Really? I don't believe it. The way you looked just now, it didn't look like you were reading spam."

"What does that look like?"

"picture……"

Lin Wanwan tilted her head and thought for a moment, seemingly searching for a suitable adjective, "Like those villains in TV dramas who hide behind the scenes and scheme against others!"

Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow.

My intuition is pretty accurate.

He picked up the tongs, grabbed a piece of glowing red charcoal, and threw it into the bucket next to him.

"Sizzle—"

White smoke rose.

"Watch less melodramatic TV shows, they'll ruin your brain."

Chen Zhi patted the charcoal ash off his hands and said calmly, "Hurry up and eat, then do your homework. If your mom finds out you ran out to play before finishing your homework, see if she doesn't scold you."

When homework was mentioned, Lin Wanwan's previously high spirits instantly collapsed.

She made a face and took a big bite of the gluten in her hand, as if that skewer of gluten was the dreaded summer homework.

"Chen Zhi, you're such a spoilsport!"

"Can we not talk about homework? We can still be friends."

Chen Zhi ignored her and turned to clean up the mess.

The cicadas outside the balcony were still chirping loudly.