Chapter 155: Pleasure
Thinking that he had worked here for so long without ever seeing Lady Shang cook, He SIZhi asked: “Why isn’t Young Lady Xiao Huan cooking today?”
Lady Shang pointed to the wooden shed. “Those three started arguing while I was away, arguing turned to fighting, fighting turned to using a knife, all got seriously injured, they’re resting in the house now, only me and the two kids can move.”
He couldn’t possibly let two kids who together weren’t even ten years old be the head chef, right?
Otherwise, they’d blow up the kitchen.
Even if she was a cooking killer, she could at least manage to make two plates of side dishes.
Hearing this powerful reason, He SIZhi swallowed hard.
What grudge did this family have? Arguing was one thing, but beating each other to serious injury? Were they enemies?
“Lady Shang, these dishes you made might not be suitable for them to eat.”
Lady Shang tsked lightly. “I know I need to make convalescent meals, I’m just trying them out, right? I used four different cooking methods just for the rabbit meat, hurry and help me pick which one tastes good.”
He SIZhi now understood how this large table of dark, unappetizing dishes came about. If your cooking skills were no good, don’t cook, this was just pure waste of things.
Tasting the dishes was impossible, he hadn’t lived enough yet.
He SIZhi pointed at his apprentice. “Gao Yan was an apprentice at a restaurant for a month, he can make some home-style side dishes.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier.” Lady Shang beckoned to Gao Yan and pointed to the kitchen. “It’s yours now, use whatever things are inside.”
To avoid being poisoned to death by that large pile of vegetable-like things on the table, Gao Yan resolutely took on the arduous task of cooking.
Ma Jieyong had only just recovered, he had nearly been choked to death by that bowl of soup earlier.
Liang Liang considerately brought him water, and halfway through drinking, Ma Jieyong remembered to ask: “Where did this water come from?”
Liang Liang pointed to the well.
Ma Jieyong: …He shouldn’t have asked!
The movement Ma Jieyong made earlier wasn’t small, it woke Lu Chengjing, who put on his outer garment and came out to see.
As soon as he appeared, the sight of the three from the He family all focused on him, looking him up and down, his arm was even in a sling, it seemed the injury was indeed serious.
Lady Shang quickly walked over and touched his forehead, the fever had gone down.
“Dinner’s not for a bit, go back and lie down.”
Lu Chengjing shook his head. “If I sleep more, I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
He saw the large pile of dishes on the table, calculated the time, and looked down at Lady Shang. “You made them?”
Lady Shang nodded.
“Let me taste.” Lu Chengjing stepped over, picked up a pair of clean chopsticks, and from the nearest plate, picked up a black square, putting it into his mouth without hesitation.
The raw material should be meat, burnt and hard, overly salty with a bit of sweetness, a bit of bitterness, the flavor was really strange.
He put down the chopsticks and calmly drank some water, then continued tasting the next plate.
One chopstick of dish, one sip of water, at an unhurried pace.
Lady Shang was sure she had washed the dishes very clean and hadn’t put any strange things in them, but with Lu Chengjing eating like this, she really worried he’d get diarrhea later.
“Enough, stop eating.” She reached out and snatched Lu Chengjing’s chopsticks.
“It’s edible, just the cooking time was a bit over, too much salt, some dishes don’t need sugar.”
Lu Chengjing drank some more water and pointed out the few dishes with sugar. “If no sugar, then less salt, it should taste good.”
“These dishes have too much oil, they’re greasy, just use less oil.”
“The chicken is over-fried, all burnt, can’t bite it.”
Lu Chengjing had tasted more than half the dishes on the table, seriously pointing out the pros and cons of each.
Lady Shang felt complicated, not happy exactly, but not unhappy either, almost but not quite.
Like opening a bottle of soda, bubbles kept rising.
Her gaze swept over Lu Chengjing’s side face still with two thin wounds, and Lady Shang tentatively defined this mood as pleasure.
She coughed lightly. “Next time, only praise allowed.”
“Good.” Lu Chengjing’s eyes curved, pointing to the dragon carved from radish in the middle. “Niangzi’s knife skills are impressive.”
Lady Shang: Cooking skills no good, plating makes up for it.
Under Gao Yan’s efforts, dinner was served.
The taste wasn’t great but not bad either, anyway, passably edible.
After seeing Lady Shang’s cooking skills, no one dared demand more, as long as they ate and stayed alive, it was fine.
After dinner, the four from the He family washed up early and went to rest, but Lady Shang’s family, because the injured had slept too long in the afternoon, weren’t sleepy.
Xiao Huan woke once, groggily drank her medicine, and fell asleep again.
Shi Tou sat at the table edge, and after learning from Lady Shang that the peddler’s corpse had been buried, he fell silent and tilted his head back to look at the stars in the sky.
Yuan Yuan hugging her milk bottle also imitated him, tilting up her little head to look at the stars.
After looking for a moment, feeling that the stars from this position were different from what Uncle Shi Tou saw, the little one climbed into Shi Tou’s lap to sit properly, tilting her head back with him to look at the same stars.
Feeling the soft little bundle on his leg, Shi Tou gently pinched Yuan Yuan’s little face, lifted his finger to point at star after star, teaching her all the ones he knew.
Yuan Yuan listened with wide eyes seriously, occasionally taking a sip of milk, then nodding her little head seriously.
Chu Xu holding his tea cup kept sneaking glances at Lu Chengjing, and every time Lu Chengjing looked over, he immediately turned away, after three or four times like this, when he looked again, Lu Chengjing directly asked him: “What do you want to say?”
Chu Xu blurted out, “Is your leg actually good or bad?”
His gaze moved from the wheelchair Lu Chengjing was sitting in to his legs. This afternoon the man had clearly stood up, walking briskly, so why was he sitting in the wheelchair again now?
Lu Chengjing said: “It was injured before and couldn’t stand, just healed.”
Chu Xu nodded, muttering softly, “No wonder you want the Imperial Academy spot.”
“You saved me again today, don’t worry, even if I throw a tantrum and get spanked, I’ll definitely get the Imperial Academy spot for you.”
Lu Chengjing: “…”
Chu Xu glared at him, his cat-like eyes holding some dissatisfaction. “Do you also think I’m a kid and look down on me?”
Lu Chengjing: “No.”
Chu Xu didn’t understand. “Then why aren’t you happy? Don’t all scholars want to enter the Imperial Academy?”
Lu Chengjing didn’t answer but asked back: “Have you finished writing your letter?”
“Finished before dinner.” Chu Xu pulled the envelope from his bosom and pushed it to Lu Chengjing’s hand for him to see.
The envelope was thick, bulging.
Lu Chengjing didn’t open it, pushing the envelope back as is.
Chu Xu couldn’t help muttering: “Aren’t you just worried I wrote something I shouldn’t in the letter? You let you see but don’t, how are you so weird?”
Lu Chengjing took a sip of plain water, glanced at him. “What you wrote is a secret letter.”
Chu Xu: “…”
Right, he forgot about that.
The kid’s little face reddened, he stuffed the envelope back into his bosom, and went to listen to Shi Tou talk about the stars in the sky.
Unfortunately, the two disagreed on the stars, and talking led to arguing.
Ten years apart in age, yet they argued back and forth, evenly matched.
Yuan Yuan clenched her small hands, her little head looking left then right, cheeks puffed in dilemma, finally helping neither, climbing along the stool to find her own daddy to listen to stories.
