Chapter 6 Fragrant Cheeks and Pretty Faces
Two days later, Zang Fan went up the mountain to buy more medicinal herbs to heal Ning Jue's wounds and relieve pain, and also brought some meat and vegetables.
Ning Jue is a sword fanatic and not very good at taking care of himself. If it weren't for his occasional care, he would eat whatever was simple and make do with what he could on a daily basis, and his health would be ruined.
Hiring a cook would be easy, but Ning Jue has many quirks and dislikes being disturbed by strangers. He used to have a trustworthy servant by his side, but that servant got married a few months ago and can no longer follow Ning Jue around without a fixed address.
If the cook isn't suitable, then we'll find a younger maid. Zang Fan earnestly wanted to find a caring person to look after Ning Jue, but he never expected that the Ji Ling Sword Sect would find out about this and try to take advantage of the situation to plant spies. Just thinking about it made him feel unlucky.
Unable to find a suitable candidate immediately, he had to shuttle between the two places. Although it was troublesome, it was worth it for his brother.
In a few days, he would be going on a delivery mission for his father, a long journey that would take at least a month to complete. Unfortunately, Ning Jue was injured, and those hypocritical gentlemen of the Sword Sect were deeply wary of him. He couldn't bear to leave Jiling at this time.
With his mind preoccupied, Zang Fan entered the bamboo forest. As he walked, he glanced sideways and noticed that the bamboo arrow trap he and Ning Jue had set up had its hidden threads cut. After looking around, he discovered that this wasn't the only place that had been cut, and he immediately narrowed his eyes warily.
He quickened his pace, wanting to find Ning Jue to ask him some questions. But before he could even open the door and speak, his eyes were drawn to a large table of steaming dishes. There was meat, fish, soup, and dessert—all kinds of food, with perfect color, aroma, and taste.
Zang Fan raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself—well, he's wasting his time.
He didn't seem too surprised. He casually put the things he brought on the edge of the table and said with a hint of schadenfreude, "You're eating such a lavish meal behind my back? It must have been Aunt Li from Green Ivy Village who came to make it for you. She's taken a liking to you and wants to marry her daughter to you. She's treating you like a son-in-law in advance."
Ning Jue was about to sit down when she heard this and glanced at him, reminding him in a tone that, "I've already made things clear with Aunt Li, so don't keep your mouth shut."
Zang Fan smiled, treating Ning Jue's little house as his own. After washing his hands briefly, he sat down next to him and replied as he prepared to start eating, "It's not that easy to explain. That was a life-saving grace. It's perfectly reasonable for him to want to repay the debt with his daughter."
Ning Jue lowered his eyes: "If it were anyone else, I would have saved that wicked, domineering woman." Zang Fan shrugged and stopped talking to him about it. His eyes were fixed on the crispy crucian carp placed in the center of the table. The aroma had been tempting him for so long, and he was determined to eat the first bite.
Ning Jue, with her sharp eyes, saw this and raised her chopsticks to block Zang Fan's movement with a swift motion. Then, she reacted quickly, picking up the most delicious piece of meat from the middle of the fish's belly and eating it.
Zang Fan's expression froze for a moment, then he snorted and said, "Ning Jue, are you serious? You're going to fight me for a piece of fish?"
Ning Jue remained unmoved, slowly chewing and swallowing the delicious fish, and replied, "Let me try it first, then you can eat it."
Zang Fan was speechless: "What kind of weird habit is this?"
Ning Jue did not respond.
Regardless, we were fortunate enough to enjoy this delicious food; it was beautifully presented, fragrant, and flavorful, and lived up to our expectations.
Zang Fan narrowed his eyes in satisfaction and clicked his tongue in comment: "The meat is really fresh, the sour and spicy flavor is well-infused, and the bones are tender. However, it's not quite the same as Aunt Li's previous cooking methods. She has improved a lot."
Ning Jue asked, "Did you pass the passing grade?"
Zang Fan praised without reservation, affirming, "Absolutely! This crispy fish is almost as good as the chef at Wangyue Tower. To make such an extraordinary flavor from such a simple crucian carp, Aunt Li is truly worthy of her title. I'd like to try some more."
Ning Jue hummed in agreement, gave a faint smile, and a fleeting, barely perceptible look of smugness crossed his face.
Zang Fan noticed and didn't understand what it had to do with him praising Aunt Li's cooking skills. Did he really want to become her son-in-law?
While he was eating heartily, he couldn't stop talking about the food: "If you ask me, why don't you just hire Aunt Li to cook you a meal every noon? Give her more money to compensate for the effort of walking up the mountain. That way you can eat better, your injuries can recover faster, and I can leave Jiling with peace of mind."
Ning Jue paused in his chopsticks, looked up and asked, "Hire a cook?"
Zang Fan nodded his chin, chewing as he ate: "She has this skill and is grateful to you, so who else would you hire if not her? There's no one more suitable."
Ning Jue recalled.
That day, she did indeed cry her heart out, pleading and whispering that if anyone would take her in, they would be her benefactor.
Skilled and grateful...
Ning Jue's thoughts drifted away, and he said slowly, "I'll think about it."
Zang Fan, ever impatient, said, "What are you still considering? If you ask me, just make a decision. Then I can come over to your place for meals all the time and enjoy your delicious food. This whole table of dishes, besides the crispy fish with its beautiful color, aroma, and taste, the spring cocoon wrapped meat, the honey-fried kumquats, and the five-spice cake are all excellent. Where else can you find such skillful hands?"
Ning Jue tucked his sleeves in, stretched out his chopsticks, and politely tasted each bite in turn, offering a fair assessment: "It's not bad."
Zang Fan clicked his tongue: "Don't be so ungrateful. If you keep delaying, I'll bring her to our kitchen. The old man has been picky lately, so I'll just do my filial duty."
Ning Jue replied, "I didn't say I didn't want it."
Zang Fan urged, "Okay, let's decide as soon as possible. Do you want me to go and talk to them for you?"
Ning Jue shook his head: "That's not necessary."
Zang Fan: "Okay."
After chatting for a while, the two of them simultaneously increased the speed at which they ate their meat.
Zang Fan had a poor appetite at noon and didn't eat much at home. Afterwards, he traveled along mountain roads, which was exhausting. Now he was starving and his mind was entirely on the table, his eyes glued to the delicious food.
Ning Jue was also savoring the moment, but unlike Zang Fan's focus, he would occasionally glance outwards, seemingly unintentionally looking towards the inner room behind the screen.
He nodded and smiled.
He found it amusing to see how the other party would cleverly play a cat-and-mouse game.
Normally, the two brothers don't follow the rules of not talking while eating or sleeping at the dinner table. In particular, Zang Fan is a chatterbox and his mouth is never still when he's drinking and having fun. But today, the food was probably too delicious for him, so he chewed faster and naturally took up the time to talk.
Ning Jue was happy to have some peace and quiet, but Bai Hua, who was eavesdropping in the inner room, was straining her ears and craning her neck, trying to hear something but couldn't hear anything, and felt a sense of helplessness and anxiety.
Zang Fan's face was intimidating when he was stern, and he had even been violent towards her, leaving Bai Hua with a lingering trauma that she still finds hard to shake off.
Therefore, out of fear of Zang Fan, the moment Bai Hua recognized his voice, her subconscious reaction was to hide and not see any guests. Fortunately, Young Master Ning did not mind, nor did he insist that she come out to serve the dishes.
Since hiding in the inner room was with Young Master Ning's tacit approval, her eavesdropping was not a sneaky act.
Bai Hua stood there for a long time with a sliver of hope and a purpose in mind, but to her surprise, eight out of ten sentences of their conversation revolved around her cooking skills. In fact, by sheer chance, Zang Fan even pleaded for her to stay several times.
If he knew that he had misunderstood and that the dishes he was enjoying were not made by Aunt Li, but by someone he was wary of, would he suspect that the food was poisoned and thus gag himself?
Just imagine the scene—chaotic yet quite entertaining to watch.
However, she could only gloat in her heart; she dared not flirt with death right now.
...
Standing for too long made her legs go numb. Bai Hua couldn't help but bend down carefully, not daring to make any big movements, so she reached out and rubbed her calves.
After rubbing it a few times, it provided some relief, but my feet started to feel numb again.
She managed to stand up, gently lifted her left foot, twisted her ankle, put it down, then lifted her right foot and rotated twice in the same way.
After feeling a little better, she regained her balance, breathed a sigh of relief, and lamented her difficult situation.
However, despite her already being so cautious, bad luck still found its way to her—beside her, a rather large black spider was weaving its web along the edge of the display shelf. Suddenly, one end of the web broke, and the other end of the web, still attached to the spider's abdomen, swung right in front of Bai Hua.
So close, so clear, in that moment of stunned silence, she could even make out the colorful patterns on the spider's abdomen and the distinctive color of its pincers.
Bai Hua has been terrified of these spiders since she was a child. She barely managed to hold back her scream, but due to the brief tremor, she still lost her balance and her center of gravity shifted unexpectedly.
She hurriedly reached out and grabbed the screen holder, causing the screen to scrape against the ground with its four legs, making an unusual, piercing noise.
"..."
Seriously... incredibly unlucky.
No other word can accurately describe her helpless, frustrated, and indignant state of mind at this moment.
Sure enough, the commotion drew the attention of the two experts outside, especially Zang Fan, whose voice was tense and clearly wary.
Is someone inside?
He coldly swept his gaze toward the source of the sound, without exchanging a glance with Ning Jue, and stood up directly. With practiced and fluid movements, he took out a weapon, a throwing dart, from his pocket, gathered its strength, and waited to aim and strike.
"Wait," Ning Jue called out, standing up to block the dart and prevent it from accidentally injuring anyone.
Zang Fan was taken aback and quickly withdrew his strength, shouting, "What are you doing?"
At the same time, he gave Ning Jue a look, reminding him that there might be outsiders in the inner room.
Ning Jue remained unmoved, simply turning to look at the landscape screen and reminding him, "Come out."
Zang Fan was taken aback and before he could react, a timid woman's figure slowly appeared behind the screen.
Once the other woman's face was fully revealed, she looked somewhat familiar. His mind raced, and he recognized her instantly. In a flash, the grip on the dart tightened, and his eyes flashed with a scrutinizing light.
"What's going on? How did she end up here?"
Zang Fan's voice was barbed, and he adopted a defensive posture.
Ning Jue reached out and pressed down on Zang Fan's arm, saying, "She is determined to follow me. We'll try to persuade her again when we come to her door."
Two pairs of eyes were fixed on her. Bai Hua steeled herself and walked forward, trying her best to appear calm despite the pressure of fear, without showing too much panic or guilt.
"Greetings, Young Master Zang."
She bowed politely, but the other party completely ignored her.
Looking back on the whole process of getting close to Ning Jue, the most unsuccessful thing was Zang Fan's interference. Recalling the times he targeted her, Bai Hua felt secretly annoyed.
She glanced at the few remaining scraps on the table and said insincerely, "I, A Peng, prepared this meal for you, young master, to test my culinary skills. I was quite worried that the dishes I made would not be to your liking, but I did not expect that you would be so kind as to eat them all up and give me such high praise. So I am relieved."
Upon hearing this, Zang Fan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but then swallowed it back, feeling a stifling sense of frustration with nowhere to vent his anger.
He swept his fierce gaze over Bai Hua, then glared at Ning Jue, before grabbing his own throat and striking a comical pose as if he had taken poison and was about to die.
Seeing that the two remained unmoved and unresponsive, he simply ran outside to retch.
Ning Jue and Bai Hua exchanged a glance. One shook her head helplessly, while the other's eyes gleamed with an undisguised cunning.
When Ning Jue squinted at her as a warning, Bai Hua immediately knew when to stop and obediently lowered her head, not daring to be presumptuous.
Ning Jue didn't argue with her and stepped out the door.
Bai Hua was perceptive and knew when to advance and when to retreat. She immediately poured a glass of water for Ning Jue and followed him out.
However, having just provoked Zang Fan, she dared not approach him now. She could only hand the water to Ning Jue and stand silently to the side, waiting for orders.
Zang Fan bent over and tried to vomit for a long time but couldn't. He felt terrible and took the water glass to rinse his mouth. His face looked very pale.
After straightening up, he noticed Bai Hua standing to the side watching him make a fool of himself. He was instantly furious and was about to explode when he heard the other person speak first.
"Young Master Zang, please don't be impatient. Please allow me to explain."
Bai Hua stood beside Ning Jue, her eyes looking dejected. But now she had restrained her temper and lowered her stance: "It was agreed with Young Master Ning that we would have seven days. If I can pass all the tests, I can stay. Today's test was my cooking skills. Fortunately, the simple meal suited the tastes of both of you. I will do my best to face the other tests in the future."
Zang Fan didn't respond to Bai Hua, but instead looked at Ning Jue and asked to confirm, "Is what she said true?"
Ning Jue nodded, affirming frankly, "Yes."
Zang Fan wiped his mouth with his sleeve, his phoenix eyes glaring angrily: "You completely ignored what I said! She clearly is..."
Let's stop here.
There's no need for him to pointlessly bring up things that are already out in the open.
Faced with his friend's displeasure, Ning Jue remained indifferent, as if his face was naturally devoid of any emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.
His gaze swept over Bai Hua again; her cheeks were delicate and pretty, her eyelashes were lowered and curled, and she looked both timid and fearful.
Withdrawing his gaze, Ning Jue calmly replied to Zang Fan, "I know what I'm doing."
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