After the two finished fooling around, they returned to the courtyard. Their clothes were soaked with snow and were half-dry.

With the help of the maids, the two changed their clothes and warmed themselves up before returning to the room.

The little ones have eaten their fill and slept enough; they're playing with their wet nurse on the kang (heated brick bed).

Li Hua and Gan Qiongying got onto the kang (heated brick bed) together to play with the two children. The children were still very young; they could hold an object in their hands and play with it for a long time without crying or fussing, which made them very easy to take care of.

Li Hua then carefully picked up one of them. The soft body was clearly very light in his arms, yet it felt like the heaviest weight in the world, making his back bend involuntarily.

After admiring this one for a while, he picked up the other one.

Gan Qiongying also held him dear, having not seen him for over three months. She cherished him dearly, as if he were her own flesh and blood, and Li Hua found it hard to put him down either.

The two of them took turns holding each other, until the sun set. When the two little ones got hungry again, they finally reluctantly handed them over to the wet nurse to be fed.

"I bought them some things and toys, and they should be delivered in another four or five days." Li Hua sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), her face full of gentle smiles as she spoke of these things.

Gan Qiongying also sat cross-legged opposite Li Hua. Both of them had their long hair loose. They sat by the window with their knees touching, in an intimate posture. Gan Qiongying placed her hands on Li Hua's knees, lifted her body slightly, pouted her lips, and leaned closer to Li Hua.

Li Hua lowered his head and kissed Gan Qiongying's cherry-red lips almost without hesitation.

When the wet nurse, who had come in to get the baby's clothes, saw this, she exclaimed "Oh dear!" and quickly walked out with a smile.

After they went outside, they spoke quite loudly to people, saying, "It's rare to see such a loving young couple. Sitting by the window, they look like a pair of jade sculptures..."

Both of them were wearing soft, close-fitting clothes that they would only wear indoors, and they looked extremely relaxed and at ease.

Gan Qiongying took a kiss, and after succeeding, she happily fell into Li Hua's arms.

It's amazing how Gan Qiongying only truly relaxes and becomes dependent on Li Hua when she's with him. She always feels that as long as Li Hua is there, there's nothing in this world that can't be solved.

Even when sleeping next to Li Hua at night, she felt exceptionally peaceful.

"It's almost dinner time, so we can't eat at the temple tonight. The temple's vegetarian meals are only good at lunchtime."

Gan Qiongying said, "They eat the leftovers from lunch in the evening, and we cook special meals for them here in the evening, but apart from some wild delicacies, there is nothing of value in the mountains."

Gan Qiongying actually wanted to eat roast duck; she could never get tired of it.

Moreover, the roast duck made by Li Hua has even more flavor than that of Phoenix Restaurant, which is hard to describe, but it is very addictive.

However, there was no oven or live ducks to kill, so Gan Qiongying could only swallow her saliva and look at Li Hua with expectant eyes.

Li Hua said, "Some wild game can be cooked very well. I'll cook it for you for dinner."

Gan Qiongying was waiting for these words. The food cooked by the cooks around her was simply not in the same league as Li Hua's.

Li Hua had studied cooking, not just roast duck, but also other dishes. Gan Qiongying knew that Li Hua had been cooking before. He had traveled all over the country when he was young, and he was not a noble person at heart. He did not follow the principle of a gentleman keeping away from the kitchen.

But Gan Qiongying knew that Li Hua had learned to make roast duck specifically for her.

Moreover, it was during a time of great misunderstanding between the two, when they were separated by mountains and seas, when Li Hua was desperately searching for Gan Qiongying, and when Li Hua was even unsure whether he had been abandoned, that he began to learn how to make roast duck.

Gan Qiongying was always able to touch Li Hua's heart. What moved Gan Qiongying the most in this matter was not that Li Hua learned to roast duck in preparation for pleasing her in the future when there was a misunderstanding between the two of them.

Instead, Li Hua, like Gan Qiongying, never considered truly separating from each other, no matter how many misunderstandings or how far apart they were, even if they hadn't seen each other for months.

Li Hua's decision to learn how to make roast duck stemmed from his unwavering belief that they would meet again and be together again; it was Li Hua's way of preparing for their future together.

This feeling of being completely included in someone's life is infinitely more moving than any verbal expression of love.

The two of them cuddled together on the kang (heated brick bed) for a while, and then the two little ones came back after finishing their milk and went to sleep again.

"If I sleep now, won't I have to get up at night? This isn't a good time to rest."

Gan Qiongying watched as the two wet nurses gently rocked the baby on the ground and said to them, "The baby will be fine after a little adjustment. You don't need to spoil them by making them wake up in the middle of the night to nurse."

"It's good for them to get a full night's sleep. Play with them more and don't let them go to bed too early."

The two wet nurses responded in unison. Li Hua put on her shoes, found the kitchen, and began preparing the food.

The two cooks on Gan Qiongying's side were found among the disaster victims. They didn't know what had happened in the front yard, but they had heard that the male head of the household had returned.

Tonight's dinner was prepared in a very lavish manner, specifically to welcome the male host back.

As soon as the male homeowner returned, he rushed into the kitchen and tried to take over their jobs. The two chefs were quite flustered and quietly tried to dissuade Li Hua from entering the dirty place.

"Uncle Chen, Uncle Yao, don't worry about him." Gan Qiongying stood by the kitchen door and smiled at the two cooks. "My husband is a very good cook. I want to eat his cooking tonight. You two can go and rest for a while and go home to visit your families."

The two of them had no choice but to take off their aprons with some unease and hand over the kitchen to Li Hua.

Gan Qiongying, worried that the two of them might be uneasy, said, "Don't worry, my husband is usually very busy and can't cook every day. Just think of today as a holiday..."

Upon hearing Gan Qiongying's words, the two men immediately beamed with joy and happily left the kitchen, as they were on their way to visit their relatives at the temple.

Li Hua stood by the extremely simple kitchen and deftly began preparing the food.

There were wild pheasants hunted in the mountains, dried mushrooms dried in the summer, Chinese cabbage stored in cellars for the winter as a vegetable, as well as venison and roe deer meat, and cured meat and salted fish.

After tidying up, there are five or six dishes, which is quite a feast.

When Li Hua made his move, Gan Qiongying stood behind him watching. She now truly understood the meaning of "the mundane realities of life."

Li Hua is her world; only when two people are together can it be called fireworks.

Thinking of fireworks... Gan Qiongying walked up behind Li Hua, hugged him from behind as he bent over slightly, and pressed herself against his back.

Wherever Li Hua went, Gan Qiongying followed like a little tail.

"Now that I've finally brought you home, I feel much more at ease. There's some wine in the cellar that I bought from the foot of the mountain last summer. Ganlin will be back tonight, shall we have a drink together?"

Li Hua smiled. Although the tail hanging on his body was a bit of a nuisance, Li Hua dragged Gan Qiongying along slowly without driving her away.

“Okay.” Li Hua couldn’t help but say, “My drinking manners are already quite good now, and I can drink quite a lot.”

Gan Qiongying pressed her face against Li Hua's back and chuckled softly. She didn't tell Li Hua that the reason the wine she bought in the summer was still in the cellar was because it was too strong. It was a Tujia wine brewed by an old man at the foot of the mountain, and all the heavy drinkers in the surrounding villages would buy it from him privately. It was famous for its strength.

Even Gan Lin's eyes turned red after taking two sips.

Although Li Hua had learned to drink some alcohol in the palace, the wine in the palace was all fine brew, and some of it was mixed with fruit wine and honey to make it taste better. How could it compare to this strong wine that was not diluted and was fermented from pure grains?

However, Gan Qiongying had ulterior motives and did not warn Li Hua.