The embers in the stove glowed a dark red. As Xin Yidao rolled up her wide, snow-white sleeves, the bodhi beads on her wrist tinkled against the rim of a celadon bowl. Jiang Songyi imitated him, kneading the dough, the flour on her fingertips gleaming white in the sunlight filtering in through the window.
"Too much water." Su Sheng suddenly leaned forward, pouring clear water from the copper ladle into the basin. The dough instantly turned into a sticky paste, which flowed down through Jiang Songyi's fingers. When she turned to glare at him, Xin Yi Daoyi had already taken a half-step in front of her, his moon-white sleeves spread out like a cloud curtain, and the falling flour all hit the corner of his robe.
"I'm so sorry, so sorry!" Su Sheng frantically tried to pull at the flour bag, his brocade waistband catching the gap in the linen. The entire bag of flour poured out, like a March peach blossom snowfall. Xin Yidao's back was instantly covered in frost, but she protected Jiang Songyi so tightly that not even the pearls on her temples were dusted.
Jiang Songyi peeked over his shoulder and saw Su Sheng sneezing with his head covered in flour. Just as she was about to laugh, she felt a warmth in her palm—Xin Yi Daoyi had grasped her wrist through the dough, and gently pressed his flour-soaked fingertips against her wrist pulse.
"To the granary." His voice was softer than flour, but his wide sleeves gripped her cuffs tightly. Jiang Songyi hurried after him, her embroidered shoes leaving white marks on the ground, like stepping on fresh snow in early winter. As they turned the moon-shaped door, Xin Yidao suddenly stumbled. She instinctively reached back to catch him, but he dragged her against the wooden door of the granary. The aroma of stale wheat mixed with the medicinal scent of his clothes, making her ears burn.
Suddenly, a muffled "bang" sounded from the kitchen. Su Sheng's scream startled the sparrows under the eaves: "My eyebrows!"
Jiang Songyi ran back, skirt in hand, to find Su Sheng slumped over the stove. The tinderbox had scorched black, leaving a hole in his front, the gold-embroidered cloud pattern curling around the edges, emitting smoke. Xinyi Daoyi stood behind him, carrying a wooden bucket. Clear water trickled down Su Sheng's dripping hair, forming a stream on the blue brick floor.
"My cousin is frightened." Xin Yidao coughed and handed over the handkerchief, water still dripping from his fingertips, "Clothes..." He hesitated to glance at Su Sheng's burnt front, revealing the pine-colored undergarment underneath.
Su Sheng suddenly covered his chest with his hands, his ears turned red as if blood was about to drip out: "I'll go back home to change clothes!" When he ran out of the door, he tripped over the threshold and the jade belt buckle fell on the stone steps with a "click".
Jiang Songyi bent down to pick up her belt and looked up to see Xinyi Daoyi pursing his lips and suppressing a smile. His eyes, reflecting the embers of the stove fire, were even more vivid than they had been at the palace banquet, when he wore the Nine Dragon Crown. Suddenly, she remembered that in her previous life, when he had personally taught her how to review memorials, his red brush had also stained the corners of his eyes like this.
"What are you looking at, my lady?" Xin Yidao said as he lifted the lid of the steamer. White mist rose, blurring his vision. The aroma of milk mixed with sweet-scented osmanthus honey wafted out. He picked up a piece of cake with his silver chopsticks and asked, "Would you like to try it?"
Jiang Songyi took a bite from his hand. The scalding milk numbed her tongue, yet it was a hundred times sweeter than the cold tribute from her previous life. She narrowed her eyes and smiled, "Your Highness, your cooking is excellent."
Xinyi Daoyi suddenly wiped the corner of her lips with a handkerchief: "It's stained with icing sugar." The ambergris on the handkerchief made people dizzy, and the temperature of his fingertips was hotter than the white mist from the steamer.
In the shadow of the granary, the eldest princess pinched off her third fingernail. She looked at the figure beside the stove and suddenly sighed to the nanny, "Go tell my brother that Daoyi's cough should be treated with a new doctor." After all, it would be insincere for someone who could stand in front of the stove for half an hour without coughing to pretend to be sick.
The flour in the kitchen floated like a thin mist. Su Sheng's hand, holding the tinder, reflected the sunlight filtering in through the window. Jiang Songyi stared at the sparks dancing on his fingertips, suddenly remembering what her master in her previous life had said about a "dust explosion." She instinctively grabbed Xinyi Daoyi's sleeve and said, "Get out of here!"
Before he finished speaking, the flames had already licked the flour.
With a loud bang, golden-red flames exploded in front of Su Sheng. Xin Yidao dragged Jiang Songyi back to the water tank and grabbed the gourd ladle when Su Sheng's screams, mixed with the smell of burning, rushed up to the beams.
"My eyebrows!" Su Sheng clutched his forehead as he collapsed to the ground, a charred hole forming on his front. Xin Yidao doused the embers with a splash of water, leaving a few wisps of burnt hair in the smoke.
The eldest princess came in and witnessed this scene. Her son sat in the water, his face covered in black ash, his left eyebrow missing, looking exactly like the Kitchen God in New Year pictures who had been blown off by firecrackers. "Puff!" The embroidered shoes inlaid with oriental pearls had just crossed the threshold when she retreated, holding onto the doorframe and laughing so hard that her hair trembled.
"Mother!" Su Sheng jumped up in anger, his scorched hem splashing water. Jiang Shu hurriedly pulled Jiang Songyi behind her, only to see the little girl standing on tiptoe to examine the back of the prince's hand—it was red from the scalding water he had just poured on it.
Xin Yidao lowered his eyes and let her examine him. Flour still stained his jade-white wrist. Jiang Songyi's fingertips brushed against his slightly red skin, and she suddenly remembered how she had applied the medicine so carefully when her master had been burned while collecting herbs in her previous life.
"Cousin, have you had enough fun?" Xin Yidao pulled back her hand, took out a porcelain bottle from her sleeve and threw it to Su Sheng, "Jade Skin Cream." The white porcelain bottle drew an arc in the air, and was angrily slapped away by Su Sheng, and rolled under the stove.
The eldest princess finally laughed enough and dragged her son out by the ear, "Go change!" Su Sheng struggled to turn around and saw Jiang Songyi tying a handkerchief for the prince. As the lilac silk handkerchief wrapped around the wrist, he suddenly felt his newly grown eyebrows itching.
Half a minute later, Su Sheng returned, his clothes changed, his eyebrows heavily redrawn. Jiang Shu stared at his thick charcoal-drawn eyebrows, her handkerchief covering her mouth as she trembled. Jiang Songyi turned her face away, her shoulders trembling slightly—his eyebrows looked like two crouching black caterpillars.
"Try again!" Su Sheng grabbed the flour bag desperately, "I must have not sprinkled enough just now!"
"No!" Three voices rang out simultaneously. Xin Yidaoyi protected Jiang Songyi behind her, and the eldest princess directly picked up the spatula: "If you dare to make trouble again, I will send you to the Imperial College tomorrow!"
Su Sheng stiffened his neck and shouted, "We have to figure out why it exploded!" He grabbed a handful of flour and threw it into the air, sending fine white powder swirling in the beam of light. Xin Yidao suddenly grabbed Jiang Songyi's hand and stepped back three steps. Sure enough, sparks flew into the mist, and with a "bang" another ball of fire exploded.
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