Chapter 33 Chapter 33 She is trying to cheer him up
It was spicy, too spicy, it almost killed her.
As Ji Chu stuffed the biscuit into his mouth, he felt as if his tongue had been pulled out and thrown into Laozi's alchemy furnace. Half of it had lost consciousness, while the other half could still feel the pain of the burning Three Flavors True Fire.
She painfully wiped away the tears caused by the spiciness, and glanced sideways to see "Yang Nianzhi" following her with a plate of tofu that was spicy enough to kill people.
Ji Chu's body suddenly trembled, and he took several steps back to keep a distance from him. He looked at him with suspicion, wondering how Yang Sisi grew up under the influence of "Yang Nianzhi's" cooking skills?
Meng Yuci's gaze fell on her forehead, which was covered in sweat from the spiciness, and her red eyes, and he could see through her suspicion and vigilance.
He frowned, not expecting that he would make such a big mistake.
Meng Yuci, who has been excellent all his life, will not allow such obvious omissions to exist in his life.
So he said to Ji Chu:
"I just made a mistake. Please go out and wait."
After saying that, he turned around and picked up the kitchen knife again, his expression serious and his eyes sharp, even with a murderous look in his eyes as he looked towards the stove.
Ji Chu felt the spiciness and choking, unable to speak. He walked out of the door with the pancake in his hand, feeling aggrieved.
Soon, Meng Yuci brought out a new plate of tofu.
Ji Chu looked at it warily, and after a long while of mental preparation, he picked up a piece of tofu and took a careful bite. He didn't dare to swallow it whole as before, but only dared to chew it carefully in his mouth.
Meng Yuci, who was standing opposite her, asked: "How is it?"
Ji Chu: "Hmm... not spicy anymore, but a little sour..."
The plate in front of him was taken away, and "Yang Nianzhi" threw down a word "wait" and went into the kitchen again.
Ji Chu: “…”
The third plate was a bit sweet and mushy.
The fourth plate tasted much more normal, and it was the last piece of tofu left in the house.
Ji Chu was very cautious.
"Yang Nianzhi" stood in front of her with a fierce look in his eyes, staring at her without blinking as she put the tofu into her mouth, as if to say, "If this dish doesn't work, I'll go out and buy a few more pounds of tofu."
Ji Chu: "...It's very good, a delicacy."
Meng Yuci sneered, and it was hard to tell whether he was laughing at her fake lies or at himself for being the first time to do something that he couldn't do over and over again.
He leaned over and reached out, ready to take the plate in front of Ji Chu.
But his hand was held down by someone.
Just now, Ji Chu looked at the food on the plate and suddenly had the illusion that he was bullying someone.
In fact, it doesn’t matter what the “braised tofu” tastes like. What matters is that Yang Nianzhi is Yang Sisi’s only relative.
Whether as Yang Sisi or as Ji Chu herself who replaced Yang Sisi's identity, she should not rely on the fact that she is an outsider cultivator and on Yang Nianzhi's patience and concern for her body to disturb others in the middle of the night.
She originally just wanted to find an excuse to trick him away, but instead caused Yang Nianzhi to not be able to rest all night... and he was still a patient!
I really deserve to die!
Besides, after tossing and turning for most of the night, she no longer wants to eat any tofu with weird taste!
So Ji Chu looked up, looked into his eyes and emphasized:
"It's really, really, really delicious! Brother, believe me!"
Meng Yuci's eyes met Ji Chu's. Despite the two unfamiliar faces, he couldn't help but think of the time when he was in the Fu Yu Immortal Sect.
She was tired from sword practice, so she sat on the ground beside his legs and refused to get up, looking up at him and talking to him:
"I'm really, really, really tired, brother. I'll definitely practice hard tomorrow. Believe me!"
Meng Yuci was in a daze for a moment, and the fingers she was holding moved slightly, and he subconsciously wanted to pull his hand away.
Ji Chu thought that he still insisted on going back to redo it, so he hurriedly pressed down his five fingers and couldn't wait to demonstrate to him that it was "especially delicious."
She held his hand tightly with one hand, and with the other hand, she used chopsticks to scoop tofu into her mouth. She didn't care whether it was salty, sweet, or tasteless. She stuffed it all into her mouth. Her cheeks were puffed up from eating, and she nodded firmly at him, with a look on her face that said:
"Look how delicious I am eating, so it must be really good!"
This time, Meng Yuci did not try to pull his hand away. He let her hold his five fingers, hold his hand together with the plate, and wolf down the food, pretending that it was delicious.
Because of her leaning posture, he was very close to her and could easily see her eat a very salty piece. She frowned, quickly covered it up by lowering her head to eat rice, and stuffed more into her mouth, while secretly observing whether he noticed.
——She was trying to cheer him up.
He should have sneered in his heart: Failure means incompetence. When did he become someone who couldn't bear the consequences of failure and needed a child to comfort him?
But looking at Ji Chu's appearance at this moment, he fell silent.
Maybe he really has no talent for cooking.
Meng Yuci couldn't help but think.
But Ji Chu ate the whole dish in one breath.
Then she looked at him with her round eyes:
"It's really delicious. I ate it all. Bro, you are the best chef in the world!"
Meng Yuci couldn't help but chuckle.
This straightforward, almost clumsy way of expressing goodwill always looks particularly silly and cute when done by Ji Chu, making it difficult for him to continue to maintain a cold expression.
So he lowered his eyes, his gaze softened, and he couldn't help but slow down his tone, and whispered a promise:
"Tomorrow, tomorrow will definitely be delicious."
*
At dawn, a sudden knock on the door next door woke Ji Chu from his dream.
Only then did she realize that she had taken the initiative to keep watch last night out of fear of danger, but she accidentally fell asleep leaning against the wall.
He was covered with a piece of clothing, and there was no sign of Yang Nianzhi in the yard.
The monkey in the dream that jumped up and down, said she was a special person, and warned her to win the competition finally calmed down.
Ji Chu suspected that it was because he was too obsessed, and coupled with the influence of the books he had read in the library before, that it was reflected in his dream.
But it was also strange. I always felt that the monkey's tone was a little familiar, as if I had heard it somewhere.
She couldn't remember, but the words "must win the competition" were like a spell, successfully engraved in her mind.
Ji Chu looked around.
The second half of the night was quiet and nothing happened.
Xu Ying was sleeping on the wall, with Qi Wenxuan's tall and thin body hung on the wall like a sack, his legs left in Aunt He's yard, his arms hanging above Ji Chu's head, swaying back and forth, and he was also sleeping soundly.
Hearing a knock on the door, she opened her eyes blankly.
Turning her head to look back, from her vantage point on the wall, Xu Ying saw several people dressed as servants standing outside the door.
The sleepiness disappeared immediately, and she quickly flapped her legs and kicked the wall to try to move herself to Ji Chu's side.
The moment the door was violently pushed open, Xu Ying missed a step and fell headfirst towards Ji Chu.
Ji Chu: “!”
She had just woken up and her mind was still in place when she watched a large black shadow fall from the sky.
After a dull thud, both of them collapsed to the ground beside the wall.
Ji Chu felt dizzy and as if he had lost all his strength.
She lay flat on the ground, half-opening her eyes as she watched the clouds in the sky distort and grow into silver stars. She thought to herself, why not just go back to sleep? Maybe this blow would eliminate her today...
Xu Ying beside her shook her shoulders vigorously and shouted at her in a low voice:
"Wake up! It's them! The ones who chased me yesterday!!!"
The yard next door, which had been quiet all night, became lively. First, Aunt He and her husband hurried out of the main house, and when they saw the messy yard, they screamed and shouted.
Then Niu Niu came out of the kitchen rubbing her eyes. Aunt He was surprised, "Why did you sleep so soundly last night?" and "Why is this child sleepwalking again?"
He seemed completely unaware of what happened last night.
Finally, the leading servant's voice came:
"Qi Wenxuan stole the Zhao family heirloom. Someone saw him sneaking into your yard last night! Tell the truth, are you guys in this together?"
Ji Chu looked at Xu Ying, and she immediately raised her hands and shook her head frantically to show that she was unaware.
"It's unfair! We are a small family, how dare we steal things from the Zhao Mansion!"
Aunt He next door shouted even louder:
"I was wondering why all the chickens ran away. It turns out they were robbed last night! It was that damned gigolo thief! This little thief must have gotten into the thief habit, stealing a bunch of chickens! Damn chicken thief! Who's going to help us?"
Niuniu also started crying: "The chicken is gone! The chicken is gone!"
Aunt He and Niuniu hugged each other and cried out, and the yard suddenly became very noisy.
In the chaos, Xu Ying and Ji Chu quietly retracted their heads from behind the courtyard wall.
"These people are completely different during the day and at night. There must be something wrong."
Xu Ying said, "How about I go out now and see what they want to do?"
Ji Chu shook his head:
"No, we just got here yesterday morning, so there's a lot we don't know yet. What if they kill people during the day?"
Xu Ying: "That's right. The Immortal Questioning Conference only takes place once every few years, and the prize is the Holy Yingyuan Pill... three in total, which means one hundred and fifty years of cultivation—I can't be eliminated right after entering!"
Although he lost the opportunity to see the divine bones, he was able to obtain the rare "holy elixir". Ji Chu felt lost but also full of fighting spirit:
"That's right! I can't be eliminated either!"
The two of them encouraged each other, and the farce next door had quieted down.
The servants walked towards the Yang family's yard, apparently intending to ask each family about the whereabouts of "Qi Wenxuan".
Xu Ying mouthed: "What should I do?"
Ji Chu thought for a moment and said:
"At least we need to find out first: Did Qi Wenxuan steal the Zhao family heirloom?"
The two of them climbed over the wall and left the yard before there was a knock on the door.
*
Qi Wenxuan was a scholar from a poor family. He was penniless and lived in a dilapidated old house with a broken courtyard wall. One could see the end of the house at a glance. It could even be described as "bare walls".
There were only a lot of calligraphy and paintings piled up. Ji Chu and Xu Ying searched around but didn't see any "treasures".
But the people in the Zhao Mansion swore that they were convinced. When the two of them came over, they saw some people dressed as officials patrolling in front of Qi Wenxuan's house, as if they were ready to arrest anyone they saw on the spot.
The two men didn't even dare to show their faces and climbed over the wall again.
If this goes on, Xu Ying will have no chance of catching the monster and will be caught as soon as she shows up.
As it concerns the ranking of the Immortal Questioning Conference and the "Holy Elixir" worth 150 years of cultivation, Xu Ying cannot stop for a moment.
She unfolded a scroll, as if she had mistaken Qi Wenxuan for the treasure thief himself, and made a guess:
"Maybe he hid it somewhere else, and these calligraphy and paintings are the code for the hidden treasure. Quick, let's look through his poems!"
Ji Chu: “…I don’t want to read poetry.”
Finally, she opened a scroll of calligraphy and began to carefully read the poem next to it. After a while, she began to feel sleepy and yawn.
Xu Ying was also troubled.
She could still cheer herself up when reading a storybook, but reading these confusing poems was almost killing her!
The two men sat back to back in the middle of a pile of calligraphy and paintings, their faces pale, their eyes dull, and their eyelids heavy.
Suddenly, Ji Chu exclaimed "Ah" and stood up holding a painting.
Xu Ying, who was slacking off and yawning, lost her backrest and fell backwards suddenly, and most of the sleepiness disappeared.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? Did you find the heirloom?"
"No."
While Xu Ying was disappointed, she heard Ji Chu say:
"But I saw someone I know."
She turned around, showed the scroll to Xu Ying who was lying on the ground, pointed at the person on it and said:
"Xue Chen, the cousin of the Zhao family."
The reason why I was so impressed by him was that in the two blind date booklets Aunt He gave me, the portraits and descriptions of each person were similar.
But only this person named "Xue Chen", with his high-definition portrait and heaps of praise, stands out among a crowd of mediocre people, and it's almost as if the words "Choose him" are written on his forehead.
The paper and ink of Qi Wenxuan's painting are much more exquisite than those of other paintings. Even the scroll used for mounting exudes a faint woody fragrance. It must be very valuable, which shows the importance of this painting.
There are two people in the painting. The woman in the center has a beautiful face and is playing chess with "Xue Chen" in the pavilion.
The title of the painting is written in the upper right corner: "Yulin and Cousin Playing Chess".
"I see……"
Xu Ying first opened her eyes wide, then suddenly lowered them, put one arm around Ji Chu's shoulders, pointed her other hand forward, and her expression became leisurely and intoxicated:
"I am a poor scholar whose family has fallen on hard times. A young lady from a wealthy family has a secret crush on me, but I only dare to take a picture of her while she is playing chess with her cousin..."
"But I couldn't help myself. When I titled the painting, I wrote down my deep love..."
Ji Chu understood, and she immediately took up the role:
"But you developed a thief's heart and stole the Zhao family's treasure. From now on, you will never be able to face Zhao Yulin again."
"Nonsense! No matter how poor I am, there is no way I could possibly hurt Yulin's heart!"
Xu Ying was too immersed in the role, and after being slandered, she frowned:
"Besides, I'm a coward who can't even paint a solo painting. I don't have the guts to steal!"
Reasoning interrupted.
Ji Chu pushed Xu Ying's arm away:
"It seems that the Zhao family heirloom may not really have been stolen by Qi Wenxuan."
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The author has something to say: Senior Brother (on the surface): Failure means incompetence.
(Behind the scenes): The spatula smokes when it is swung, a real man can’t have any shortcomings [spreading hands]
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