After much thought, it seemed there was no one more trustworthy to replace them.
Normally, Long En rarely gets directly involved in the affairs of the Xiaolong Society, so basically all the people and things are managed by the deputy leader, Long Ye.
At this moment, the older guard looked troubled. Suddenly, he raised his head and vaguely saw two very familiar-looking people walking towards them from the archway. He was immediately startled, waved to the woman, and walked over with a puzzled smile, asking, "Hey, why are you two back again?"
Upon seeing this, the woman quickly and quietly hid the box of ginseng in her sleeve.
The two guards tilted their heads, scrutinizing the three of them carefully, as they walked to the study door. They then snorted and said, "You three are acting suspiciously. You wouldn't happen to be up to no good and trying to harm us, would you?"
“How could that be? It’s impossible,” the older guard hurriedly agreed.
Before the words had even finished, the two guards, without a trace of politeness, began to shoo them away, saying, "Hurry up, hurry up! It's the middle of the night, don't stay here any longer. We brothers should take over the guard duty ourselves. Look at you two, old and young, pale and thin, listless, your heads drooping like wilted eggplants. If anything happens to you, we'll all be punished. Go, go, go!"
Before they could even find out the truth, the three of them were kicked out of the East Courtyard.
"What on earth is going on?" The older guard and the younger guard looked at each other, completely bewildered.
However, this finally resolved their biggest problem at the moment. So, the two of them looked at each other and chuckled to themselves.
Meanwhile, the woman suddenly noticed a familiar male figure who abruptly darted past a pillar and walked down a corridor, disappearing into the distance.
She frowned and muttered in puzzlement, "That back view... it looks so much like the person I met by the lake!"
Just then, the young guard's stomach suddenly started rumbling loudly.
The woman suddenly turned around and looked at him, about to say something, when then, there was an even louder "rumbling". It turned out that the older guard's stomach was also beginning to send out signals of unbearable hunger.
The two immediately reached out and hugged their stomachs tightly, each showing an embarrassed expression.
Seeing this, the woman shook her head and said with a smile, "After all this commotion, I'm hungry too. Does anyone know where the kitchen is?"
As the woman spoke, she looked around, searching. The young guard, upon hearing this, immediately perked up and rushed forward, his face beaming with delight. "I know, I know! It's right next to the teahouse! Miss, you can cook?"
"Hehe!" The woman suddenly revealed a mysterious look, smiled faintly, and then followed closely behind the young guard, strolling towards the tea room.
Meanwhile, in the fragrant Xiaolong Club tea room, Yan'er, all alone, had finally managed to brew two cups of fine tea after tidying everything up.
Watching the tea leaves slowly unfurl in the boiling water, as beautiful and moving as a budding flower, I close my eyes, feel the silence around me, and only smell the aroma of the tea in my hand. I take a small sip and slowly swallow it. In an instant, the aroma of the tea lingers on my lips and teeth, bringing a unique sense of comfort.
It feels as if I'm standing amidst endless tea plantations embraced by verdant mountains. The winding paths through the ancient tea gardens offer breathtaking scenery. In that instant, all my worries and troubles seem to vanish, or perhaps simply disappear completely.
Slowly opening her eyes, Yan'er happily picked up the tea tray containing two teacups and strolled over to Lanxiang, who was resting her chin on her hands, staring blankly at a bamboo basket of herbs on the table.
Seeing that Lanxiang remained motionless, neither eating nor drinking, neither sleeping nor resting, Yan'er pouted and placed the other bowl of tea in front of Lanxiang, then sat down beside her and teased her with a smile:
"Sister Lanxiang, Yan'er had no idea that you'd become interested in these herbs. Ever since you came back from the mountains, you've been staring at them intently, examining them for so long. Have you figured out what they are yet?"
Upon hearing this, Lanxiang simply shook her head slightly, lost in thought, as if she were still pondering deeply, and did not speak.
So Yan'er smiled and said, "If this were our young lady, she would recognize all these flowers and plants at a glance. Not only that, she could also explain the medicinal properties, indications, and prescriptions of each one in great detail. Our young lady is practically a living encyclopedia of medicine, she..."
Just as Yan'er was getting into her story, Lanxiang suddenly snapped out of her daze and grabbed Yan'er's hand tightly, saying excitedly, "Yan'er, I'm sure the man who jumped into the lake to save people this evening was him, it really was him, it must be him!"
Although she was shocked by Lanxiang's actions, Yan'er thought about it seriously and said, "The man who jumped into the lake to save people is...you mean, he's the one you said looks different from the others here, doesn't seem like a bad person, and can help us leave this place?"
Lanxiang pursed her lips tightly and nodded frantically.
"So what? Didn't we agree to finish your business first before leaving?... However, I admire the woman in pink who jumped into the lake first even more. She's much better than those men who just stand by and watch the show, making sarcastic remarks. She's really something, daring to jump from such a height!"
As Yan'er pulled her hand away from Lanxiang's and propped her pointed chin up, she smiled wistfully as she recalled the thrilling scene from earlier that day, and said with a look of adoration.
Just as Yan'er was daydreaming like a lovesick girl, Lanxiang suddenly squinted and stared blankly at the herb basket on the table, muttering to herself, "So, besides the two of us, there are other women in the Xiaolong Society. I wonder who that woman is, that she has such amazing courage!"
Upon hearing this, Yan'er gradually lost her silly smile and slowly came back to her senses, also becoming extremely curious.
At this moment, Lanxiang suddenly got up, picked up the herb basket in one hand and the veiled hat she had found in the mountains in the other, and ran swiftly out of the teahouse while telling Yan'er behind her, "Go back and rest first, I'll come back later."
"Are you going to find the woman who jumped into the lake to save someone and return her things? Sister Lanxiang, Sister Lanxiang..." By the time Yan'er got up and hurriedly chased after her out of the teahouse, Lanxiang had already disappeared without a trace.
Yan'er could only pout and sigh. She turned around, extinguished the oil lamp, and headed back to her residence.
As soon as Yan'er left, the young guard, accompanied by the woman and followed by the older guard, quietly slipped into the kitchen next to the teahouse.
With the candles lit, the two guards, one old and one young, began impatiently searching the large kitchen for anything that could fill their stomachs, looking like two truly starving ghosts reincarnated.
"How infuriating! They didn't leave us a single grain of rice!" After a long while, the two finally slumped back to back on the ground, sighing in utter disappointment. Clearly, after a great deal of searching, they hadn't found anything edible.
Helpless, the two could only listlessly glance at the woman's current culinary accomplishments. They found her busily fiddling with something in various bottles and jars on the nearby food shelf.
"Fortunately, all the herbs we usually use for making soup in the kitchen are still available. So, there's no problem. Let's get started now!" the woman said, rolling up her sleeves and rubbing her hands together to get to work.
She deftly reached for a plate on the nearby cabinet shelf, and began grabbing items from the bottles and jars in front of her, muttering to herself, "Angelica sinensis, Poria cocos, tangerine peel, Atractylodes macrocephala..."
At this moment, the young guard, who had been slumped on the ground with great curiosity, was suddenly overjoyed. He quickly stood up and moved closer to the woman, asking with a grin, "Miss Ruoxi, what are you doing?"
"Of course, it's to make ginseng soup to replenish the body of the man who fell into the water. Otherwise, why would we worry and go to all that trouble to get this wild ginseng?" the woman replied with a smile as she continued what she was doing.
"Huh? So you didn't come to the kitchen to cook for us! How can you be so heartless? We've only come here today because of you... Sigh!" The young guard's face immediately fell, his expression as gloomy as if a torrential downpour was about to begin.
The woman glanced at his exasperated expression and secretly rejoiced. Suddenly, she said, "Go, you two, mince that meat over there, then finely chop that pile of celery and scallions, and also chop some shiitake mushrooms, ginger, and garlic. Then, start a fire and boil some water. Once you've done everything, come and call me, and I'll make you something delicious."
Upon hearing this, the gloomy look on the young guard's face suddenly vanished, replaced by a bright smile. He excitedly replied, "Yes, I'll go right away, I'll go right now."
He stumbled along, glancing back at the woman with a silly grin. As soon as he got there, he tugged at the shoulder of the older guard who was still resting by the stove and urged him sternly, "Did you hear me? Get up and get to work! There's something good to eat!"
Seeing the two of them looking so adorably funny, the woman shook her head and smiled at them. Then, she quickly snapped out of her reverie and sped up her work: "Oh, right, and this treasure too, it's an essential ingredient for ginseng soup!"
Soon, all the ingredients were ready. The woman instructed the two men who were busy at work, "You two do this here first, I'll go to the tea room next door to simmer the ginseng soup!"
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