"What are you doing here?" Jian Ning stepped into the kitchen. He turned around when he heard some noise behind him. He saw the extra fallen leaves in the bamboo basket behind the door. He spoke again in a softer voice, "It's going to be smoky in here soon. If you need anything, tell me later. Go out first."

"If you're not afraid of the smoke, then I'm not afraid either." Duan Xinyan didn't understand why she said that. Having said that, she simply rolled up her sleeves and said, "I'll help you cook. I can do anything you can do, too."

Jian Ning looked her up and down. Has this person changed her personality or is she addicted to work?

"What will you do?" Jane Ning asked her.

She glanced around and said, "Let me make a fire." She thought making a fire should be easy. When she was in the military camp, she once caught a pheasant with Ma Xiaomai. She plucked the feathers, cut open the belly, and put a stick on it. Then she put it on the fire and a few soldiers sat around it to roast it. She even added a stick of firewood.

"Can you make a fire? Don't put out the fire halfway through cooking. Stop messing around." Qiaofeng didn't think she knew how to make a fire and couldn't help but roll her eyes at her.

Duan Xinyan immediately rolled her eyes back, "Who can do everything right after being born? My father wasn't born a general or a prince, and you didn't know how to light a fire and cook since you were a child. If you can learn it, do you think I can't learn it?"

Qiao Feng was speechless for a moment. Thinking about it, she realized that she hadn't been able to do it since she was a child. She learned it from the beggar grandfather later. So she said, "Okay, if you want to learn, I'll teach you."

Duan Xinyan was a bright and easygoing person who didn't hold grudges, and Qiaofeng wasn't one to be petty either. Furthermore, Duan Xinyan had a bit of her mother Min's unyielding personality in her bones. Since she had a positive attitude towards learning, Qiaofeng was happy to teach her. Besides, making a fire wasn't a very difficult task, she told Duan Xinyan, "Just remember that people need to be loyal, and fire needs to be hollow. That's what my grandfather taught me when he was alive."

"Is your grandfather gone?"

Jian Ning glared at Duan Xinyan, "I'm so angry, you're talking so much nonsense."

"Why are you glaring at me?" As soon as she said this, Duan Xinyan remembered that she seemed to have heard Ma Xiaomai mention that Qiaofeng was an orphan, but she had forgotten it long ago.

"It's okay, Master." Qiao Feng said, glancing at Duan Xinyan. "My grandfather is gone, and my parents are gone too. From now on, my master, my great-grandmaster, my younger brother Dabao, and my three younger sisters are my family, forever."

"I could be your relative too," Duan Xinyan blurted out. Thinking of Qiaofeng as an orphan, she felt genuine sympathy for her and added, "My mother is gone too."

Duan Xinyan's original intention of saying this was to comfort Qiaofeng, meaning that she had also lost a close relative, but Jian Ning was unhappy when she heard it and glared at her sideways.

"Why are you glaring at me again? I didn't say anything wrong. My mother is already dead. It's not... Never mind. I don't want to talk about it."

"If you don't want to talk, just shut up and get your temper right." Your mother deserves death, do you blame her? Jian Ning rolled his eyes inwardly, put down the kitchen knife, and went out for a walk, with half a trimmed rabbit meat in his hand.

The rabbit meat was placed in the armory by Ma Fuquan. He used spiritual spring water to trap wild animals in the suburbs of Beijing, and every time he did so, he would throw half of it into the armory for Jian Ning and the others to enjoy.

After Jian Ning chopped the rabbit meat, she poured the boiling water from the pot into a thermos, which she would use to make tea after dinner. She then scooped another pot of clean water. She added cold water to the pot and blanched the chopped rabbit meat. Once the water boiled, the blood was boiled out, and the foam was scooped off. Because rabbit meat has a strong fishy smell, she boiled it for two or three minutes until it was cooked through. She then removed the meat and rinsed it several times to remove any remaining blood and foam.

It was the first time for Duan Xinyan to see her cook seriously. She had occasionally seen her before in Huo Jincheng's side courtyard house, but she had just glanced at her and didn't think much of it. But now she saw her with a face that looked very much like the princess's mother, doing the rough work that was originally done by the servants in the mansion, but her hands and feet were extremely nimble, obviously she was used to it.

"Eldest sister!" She suddenly blurted out for some unknown reason, "You've suffered a lot these years, haven't you?"

Hearing her words, Jian Ning was stunned for a moment, then glared at her, "You talk too much."

"Staring at me again." Duan Xinyan muttered softly. Qiaofeng nudged her quietly with her elbow. She glanced at Qiaofeng and smiled secretly. Qiaofeng also pursed her lips and smiled softly. The two people who had just had a fight yesterday actually developed a glimmer of affection for each other as they looked at each other and smiled.

The oil heated up, and Jian Ning poured in the chopped ginger and garlic. With a sizzling sound, smoke rose from the wok. After frying the ginger and garlic until fragrant, Jian Ning poured the rabbit meat in. She liked spicy food, so she scooped out the bowl and left it for Erniu and Sanniu. Then she added the dried red chilies. After frying for a few times, Duan Xinyan choked and sneezed violently.

"Okay, just go out. Don't suffer here." Jian Ning was stir-frying the meat as if nothing had happened. He turned his head and raised his chin towards Duan Xinyan, asking her to go out.

"Go ahead." Qiaofeng also asked her to go out.

Duan Xinyan covered her mouth and nose, looked at the two of them, shook her head, put down her hands, and sneezed several times, "You can 'Ah-Sneeze'... so can I!"

Seeing that Jian Ning and Qiao Feng were fine, her competitive spirit was aroused. She also had the blood of her father, the God of War, flowing in her bones. In addition, her mother, Min, was a person who would never admit defeat. Moreover, she saw that Jian Ning was extremely skilled in cutting vegetables and cooking, and she respected him even more.

Originally, Duan Xinyan was extremely resistant to doing the work done by servants. She followed in only because she felt guilty. Today, the yard was not her job to clean, but Jian Ning unexpectedly treated her well, which made her inexplicably want to get closer to Jian Ning, so she followed in.

Duan Xinyan couldn't understand what was happening to her. Her mother and uncle had caused Jian Ning to suffer for years, and Jian Ning had killed her mother and uncle. She should hate Jian Ning! But her biological sister Duan Xinping advised her not to hate Jian Ning. Before her mother died, she also said that it was the world, not Jian Ning, that killed her, and she repeatedly told her not to hate Jian Ning.

At this moment, looking at Jian Ning busy in front of the stove, she felt very confused, not knowing whether she should hate her or get close to her?

"Miss, oh..." Chun'er stepped in and was startled to see her sitting in front of the stove. "Let me... let me do it."

"No, go set the table when you're free."

"Madam, what delicious dish are you cooking?" Ding Youtian's voice echoed from the courtyard. He was dressed in official uniform and came from the front yard with Erlangzi. "I can smell the fragrance from a long way off." He had already entered the kitchen as he spoke. "Hey, what's this opera?"

Seeing Duan Xinyan actually sitting on a small stool making a fire, Ding Youtian touched his nose and said jokingly with a smile: "I'm afraid it's going to rain tomorrow."

Duan Xinyan was about to say something when Erlangzi poked his head out from behind Ding Youtian, startling her so much that she jumped up and dropped the fire poker in her hand to the ground.