The Legendary Female Strategi...

By Celestial_Immortal

1.3M 74.4K 20.4K

Eight years after the Great War, the world is now ruled by four kingdoms. On the surface, there is peace and... More

Chapter 1 - A Simple Peasant Girl
Chapter 2 - Facing fate with Steam Buns and Candied Apples
Chapter 3 - Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
Chapter 4 - With Silver Needles Comes Great Responsibility
Chapter 5 - The Faint Bitter Scent of Tea
Chapter 6 - When the Dragon Calls, There is No Choice But to Answer
Chapter 7 - Anything Can Happen During an Emperor's Banquet
Chapter 8 - The Person Called Hui Yi
Chapter 9 - The Meeting of Two Individuals
Chapter 10 - The Beginning of the Emperor's Game
Chapter 11 - A Morning in the City
Chapter 12 - Captured Once Again
Chapter 13 - Oranges and Food Brings Forth Friendships
Chapter 14 - A Familiar Face
Chapter 15 - The First Night with the Emperor
Chapter 16 - A Bright Sunny Day Often Brings Bad Memories
Chapter 17 - A Tale of Two Birds
Chapter 18 - Ru Qiang's Deal with the Devil
Chapter 19 - Fruit Dessert is Best Served Last
Chapter 20 - A Hint of the Calm Before the Storm
* Information List (Chapters 1 - 20) *
Chapter 21 - Behind a Mask Hides Another
Chapter 22 - A Dagger Hidden Within the Darkness and One's Heart
Chapter 23 - The Truth Behind Her Mask
Chapter 24 - The Illusion of Escape
Chapter 25 - The Lie of a Liar
Chapter 26 - Planning for Destruction
Chapter 27 - A Way to Trick Them All
Chapter 28 - Dutifully Carrying Out a Paid Service
Chapter 29 - Onward They Continue
Chapter 30 - Even the Quietest Man Can Be Quite Stubborn
Chapter 31 - Being A Potato Has Its Benefits
Chapter 32 - New Territory Always Brings New Troubles
Chapter 33 - Even the Scent of Flowers Can't Mask the Coldness of Winter
Chapter 34 - A Puzzle Without Its Pieces Are Unsolvable
Chapter 35 - The Color Of Black Hides Many Secrets
Chapter 36 - From A Fellow Stubborn Individual To Another
Chapter 38 - A Complete and Utter Mess
Chapter 39 - A Faint Flicker of the Past
Chapter 40 - The Self-Proclaimed Assassin
Chapter 41 - The Veiled Young Master
~Announcement~
Chapter 42 - A Fateful Encounter in a Small City
Chapter 43 - A Lonesome Heart
Chapter 44 - Poison of the Past
Chapter 45 - The Wandering Village
Chapter 46 - Secrets Buried Deeply in the Night
Chapter 47 - A Race Against Time
Chapter 48 - The Truth Intertwined with Despair

Chapter 37 - For Foodies Like Us

19.4K 1.1K 479
By Celestial_Immortal

Humming a happy tune, Feng Yao walked back down the winding corridors in search of Li Yue.

Hm? He should be around here somewhere...

She turned another corner, walking past the lit lanterns swaying lightly from the edges of the overhead. A soft golden light was cast upon her figure as she strolled past each one creating an illusion of dusk despite the moon already being high in the sky. 

Feng Yao continued walking, keeping an eye out for any sight for Ru Qiang's guard, but so far, there was no sign of him. In fact, there were no signs of anyone else around. 

Sigh...has everyone already gone to sleep? 

The corners of her lips were pointed down in a frown, but she continued walking. As she turned the corner, her entire body suddenly felt like it had run face-first into a wall.

"Ah?" She almost tumbled backwards at the abrupt force against her body when she felt a warm hand grab her by the arm and pull her back upright.

"Huh? Young Miss? What are you doing here?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Feng Yao finally looked up and realized that the person she had bumped into was exactly the man she was looking for.

"Li Yue! Great! I was just looking for you!"

She beamed at him, and he immediately got suspicious. He had been around her long enough to know that her cheerful smiles often had plans hidden behind them that were strong enough to demolish entire cities. 

Along with his Young Master's sanity.

Secretly, he thought that this young woman in front of him was incredible. Both for being able to single-handedly bring chaos to the Wei Kingdom and for being able to force his Young Master to show so many new expressions with her absurd antics.

Of course, he enjoyed the second one a lot more than the first, but if his Young Master ever heard him say that, Li Yue was sure that he'd probably be immediately decapitated by his Young Master's death glare. Then, he'd really become the same as a dead chicken!

He shivered at his wandering thoughts. They were too scary. It was definitely better to stay silent and enjoy his master's sufferings from a distance.

Feng Yao was oblivious to his strange thoughts and continued excitedly speaking.

"Do you have time to show me to the kitchen? I just remembered a recipe that I once read in a book, and my fingers have been itching to try it out!"

She wiggled her fingers in front of his confused face to emphasize her words.

"See?" She added with a grave expression. "They're very impatient. And when that happens, scary things begin to occur. Oooo, scary~"

She even added in her own spooky sound effects to prove her point.

Li Yue, on the other hand, seemed completely dumbfounded. How was he supposed to respond? Join in and make spooky sound effects with her?

With a slight cough, he finally said, "Of course I wouldn't mind showing you to the kitchen. But will you require any assistance? I can go and wake the cook if you need some help?"

"Nope, I just need you to help me stir the pot while I chop up some things." She blinked innocently at him, putting away her wiggling fingers. 

Feng Yao already knew the way to the kitchen, but she still needed him to come so that he'd deliver the soup to Ru Qiang when she was done. She had a few more things that she needed to do tonight before returning to the Winter Garden. 

She watched as Li Yue took her bait as he nodded with a smile. 

"Sure, that's no problem! I may not be capable of cooking by myself, but I can definitely help you with this small task."

With light steps, she followed Li Yue down the corridors until they reached a separate building. 

As she stopped behind him, she raised an eyebrow as she studied his sturdy back.

As expected from Li Yue...his footsteps this entire time were completely soundless. No wonder I didn't hear him earlier before I ran into him.

"Young Miss, what exactly are you trying to make? Perhaps I might even recognize the name," Li Yue said as they both walked inside.

Around them were counters and shelves stocked full of herbs and dried ingredients. At the end of the wide area was a large clay stove with a pile of fresh wood stocked up near its side.

As she studied the area, she replied, "I'm pretty sure that you've never heard of it. But it's called..." She paused before grinning. "Heaven's Touch of Life!"

Li Yue was taken aback by the unusual title. It was clear that whoever named this dish was quite...prideful.

"Heaven's Touch of Life? Indeed, I've never heard of it..."

"Of course! I just made it up right now." Feng Yao casually answered before she turned towards the shelves and began grabbing ingredients. 

Meanwhile, Li Yue had become a frozen statue at her words. 

The Young Miss was the one who made this dish and named it such a ridiculous name? 

Heavens save me! I can't believe I accidentally insulted such a formidable person!

He wanted to cry. What would happen to him in the future if he ended up both as a decapitated chicken by the hands of his Young Master and a unfortunate victim from the Young Miss' schemes?

Ahhh, life was indeed quite hard for a poor guard like him...

"Li Yue, can you start a fire for me?"

Li Yue dejectedly went over and began wordlessly putting wood underneath the clay stove. Using a bit of forceful strength from his martial arts, he even created a spark large enough to flare into a fire on his first try. 

He turned around and was about to tell Feng Yao that he had the fire ready when he suddenly noticed the pile of ingredients she was carrying in her arms as she walked over.

"Young Miss...These couldn't be, by chance, the ingredients that you're planning on using...right?" A dry and hesitant laugh escaped his mouth, hoping that she'd laugh and shake her head at him, but to his shock, she actually nodded back with a serious expression.

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

She gave him a look as if he was crazy before placing her items at the table on her side. As soon as she was finished sorting through them, she brought over a clean pot that she had already previously filled with water.

Li Yue couldn't help but stare at her in shock as he watched her place the pot on top of the stove. Before he could protest, she had already begun dropping her ingredients one by one into the water.

"Let's see, maybe two of these things? And about three stalks of this one? Oh, and of course, I can't forget about this thing either..." Feng Yao muttered to herself as she began adding more and more items into the pot.

Li Yue could only helplessly watch as the bubbling water began turning an ominous shade of black. 

Um...Young Miss? Didn't you say that this was the recipe for Heaven's Touch of Life? Are you sure you didn't mix this recipe up with a Lethal Touch of Hell's Evil Souls recipe?

Feng Yao didn't seem to notice his darkening face as she continued happily humming and tossing more ingredients in the pot. 

At this point, Li Yue didn't dare say anything else in case she asked him to taste her soup. As he stared down at it, he could feel his stomach drop.

Little chopped up pieces of her ingredients were floating lifelessly in the dark liquid. How had a pot of water turned into this strange concoction?  

Perhaps this isn't for the Young Miss to eat? Maybe this is actually for some poor unfortunate soul that angered her to consume?

Li Yue nodded to himself. Yes, of course. That must be the reason why it looks so scary. As expected of the Young Miss! Even her poisoning skills are great!

At that moment, Feng Yao began to scoop some of the soup into a bowl using a wooden ladle. As the scent entered her nose, her eyes lit up in satisfaction. 

"Mhm! You must be a genius, Feng Yao! To have created such a successful dish for the first time ever cooking is no doubt only a feat that geniuses can claim to have done!"

Feng Yao praised herself with shining eyes as she gazed down fondly at her bubbling creation. Every once in a while, the thick and chunky liquid paste would form another bubble before popping violently again.

Li Yue smiled, now much calmer after realizing that she wasn't going to eat this herself. He was just about to praise her great poisoning skills when she spoke.

"Here, Li Yue! Take this to your Young Master."

"Sure! I don't mind serving this to the poor soul who angered you--I, wait, whaaat?" Li Yue's eyes bulged out. He almost fainted as her words finally registered in his brain.

"M-my Young Master?" 

His voice shook as he stared at her in fear. What had the Young Master done to incite her wrath this time? Even if the Young Master had angered her, did he really have to meet his demise through the means of such a cruel soup?

Feng Yao stared at him blankly. "You only have one Young Master right? Here," she shoved the bowl of soup into his hands before smiling brightly. "Take this to Ru Qiang to eat."

Li Yue vehemently shook his head as he immediately shoved the soup back into her hands.

"N-no matter how angry you are, Young Miss, I still think it's improper to feed such a cruel poison to the Young Master like this! His poor soul wouldn't be able to handle such roughness!"

His words made Feng Yao tilt her head at him, a confused look flitting across her features. 

"What poison are you talking about? This is an herbal soup that I came up with! It's perfect for nourishing the body. Now here," she forced him to take it again. "I'll be trusting you to give this to him."

Li Yue almost cried as he stared down at the deadly bowl of soup in his hand. Each time the dark paste bubbled up and popped, it felt as if it was whispering evil words into his mind.

You'll be fired if you give this to the Young Master, Li Yue...

No, forget fired! You'll be killed!

No, forget being killed! You'll be chopped up into little pieces before getting fed to the wolves by the Young Master personally!

With his imagination running wild, he quickly shook his head to shoo away the scary thoughts.

"Still, Young Miss! I think it's better if you personally deliver this to him instead of me!"

Feng Yao blinked at him. "Why?"

Her simple response made Li Yue really burst into tears this time.

Why do you need to ask why? Since you're insisting that he needs it, it's better if you give it to him! If you handed it to him, he'd simply look at it and sigh. 

But me on the other hand? It's obvious that if I give such a scary looking soup to the Young Master while boldly claiming that it's to help nourish his body, he'll definitely bury me alive for my nonsense!

He quickly handed over the warm bowl back into her hands. As soon as the item left his hands, he pretended to double over and cough violently.

"Cough, cough, cough! Ah, Young Miss! I seem to be catching a cold! I don't dare to be in your presence any longer in case I make you catch my sickness! I will have to trouble you to deliver this precious soup to the Young Master yourself. Please pardon me! Cough, cough, cough!"

Li Yue disappeared from the room so fast that Feng Yao could only stare blankly at the empty doorway.

If he's that sick, then he should at least take some of this herbal soup with him to nourish his body. That fool...

Shaking her head, Feng Yao blew out the fire underneath the stove before making her way back to Ru Qiang's study. 

She was feeling pretty excited about her creation. This was the first time she had attempted to cook, and it actually turned out quite nice! If she knew that she had this much talent in cooking, she would have given up her identity as a beggar years ago in exchange for the title of a chef!

Humming, she opened the door of Ru Qiang's study and noticed that he was currently closing one of the drawers on the side of the room. 

Upon noticing her return, he scrunched up his face in confusion.

"You're back? I thought you had gone to look for Li Yue?"

Feng Yao sighed. "I found him...but since he wasn't willing to deliver you this soup, I decided to do it myself. And so," she motioned towards her body with her free hand, "I'm back."

"But look at this!" Her eyes lit up in excitement as she scurried over towards him, setting the bowl on the table between them. "My very first cooking creation, and it turned out quite well!"

Ru Qiang looked down at the soup, but when he did, he couldn't help but feel a cold sweat run down his back.

"This is...?" He cautiously asked, although he had a sinking feeling that he already knew what this was.

"This? Fu fu fu!" She proudly grinned. "It's an herbal soup I created! Now drink it up!"

He blinked blankly at the black liquid with unidentifiable floating chunks. Each time it bubbled and popped, a hot breath of air would forcible brush against his cheeks like a monster breathing in his face.

Was she secretly holding a grudge against him? Or perhaps...did he do something to made her hate him? But that was impossible...he had literally just seen her half an hour ago...

Ru Qiang raised his head and was just about to say something when he noticed her shining eyes full of childlike enthusiasm. He could almost see the excitement radiating off of her. Almost like she was a young child waiting patiently for a present.

A moment passed before he finally let out a heavy sigh in defeat. Underneath the heat of her sparkling gaze, he slowly reached down and grasped the spoon that had almost fully submerged into the black goo.

Feng Yao, immediately noticing that he intended to eat it, broke out into a happy smile. She watched in anticipation as he quietly raised the spoon up to his lips. Discreetly, he let out one last sigh from behind the spoon so that she couldn't see.

And then...

He took a sip.

Feng Yao hesitated, showing a trace of doubt for the first time. "How is it? Is it good?"

"...En."

Ru Qiang's answer made her doubts finally melt away. She grinned as she patted herself on the back, abandoning any sense of humility she may have had. 

"Not to mention the fact that its aroma smells exquisitely delightful, it probably even surpasses the medicines created by Doctor Yi! It makes even me, one of the pickiest foodies on this planet, bow down to it and worship its greatness! Of course, I was the one that made it, but still--" 

She continued excitedly rambling on with her chin proudly tilted upward and chest puffed out.

"I knew that it would turn out great! Fu fu fu, although this was my first time cooking, I just knew that my foodie instincts wouldn't lead me wrong!"

Ru Qiang didn't say anything as he continued to silently eat.

"I put rice in it--"

He slowly chewed on the chunky goo.

"--and potatoes, oh forgive me my poor potato people,--"

He chewed some more.

"--plus a few mint leaves and onions--"

He finally managed to break down the chunks in his mouth and swallowed them.

"--along with some orange slices, pickled eggs, and minced garlic--"

Another bite entered his mouth.

"--not to mention dried chicken and peaches--"

And another bite.

"--and some fermented fish and, ah? Are you already done eating?"

Ru Qiang calmly set down his spoon next to his empty bowl and nodded. "En."

Feng Yao beamed from where she was sitting cross-legged in front of him. "See! I just knew that it'd be delicious!"

Ru Qiang looked like he was about to say something. But noticing the cheerful look on her face, he ended up closing his mouth and nodded instead.

"Make sure not to neglect food anymore okay?" 

Feng Yao began to lecture him, mimicking the action of a wise teacher by holding up her finger in the air. 

"To see a fellow foodie suffer from hunger makes my poor heart hurt. Even if you're going to be stuck in a dangerous situation, at least keep yourself prepared for it on a full stomach! That's the one important lesson I've learned and stubbornly stuck to."

Ru Qiang paused before he hesitantly asked, "Did you learn that as a child?"

His question made her blink before she slowly lowered her hand back into her lap. With a small chuckle, although it sounded a bit forced, she nonchalantly replied, "Sadly no. I was too stupid as a child to recognize the difference between hunger pain and body pain."

After she finished speaking, an awkward silence overtook the room. Feng Yao was just about to say something to get rid of the silence when she heard his quiet voice.

"I was the same."

Her eyes flickered up and met his in surprise. This was the first time that he was telling her something about his past.

Ru Qiang held her gaze for a moment before sighing. "I also couldn't tell the difference between internal pain and external pain. All I knew was that..."

"That it hurt. Everything did." Feng Yao finished for him, knowing exactly what he meant. There was something that had shifted in her tone, making Ru Qiang subconsciously search her eyes.

They were still the same as usual. Bright and clear. Large and full of hidden thoughts. But when he looked past his reflection in her unwavering eyes, he could see things silently simmering underneath her calmness that she had never allowed him to see before.

Pain. Regret. Sadness. Self-hatred.

And in that instant, he knew.

She was just like him.

"...It did hurt. A lot." He replied softly, letting his voice trail off, but Feng Yao could still immediately hear the hidden message behind it.

It hurt. And it still does.

Perhaps it was because she felt the same that she could tell so quickly what he was feeling. His unspoken words filled the room like a heavy silence, but surprisingly, she didn't mind.

Previously, she had always hated even having to think about her past. It made her remember and feel things that she didn't want to. But somehow, being with him made it a bit easier to breath when reliving the scenes of her childhood in her head.

Her expression softened as she let out a small smile. Reaching out, she grasped one of his hands on the table with both of hers.

"You're strong. Really strong."

Ru Qiang looked up at her, stunned with surprise. Her eyes was filled with warmth, giving him a sense of encouragement that he'd never felt before. 

"But I'm sure you already knew that, right?"

He couldn't seem to take his eyes away from her teasing smile. How was it that she could still be so full of warmth despite the pain that had obviously been in her eyes seconds ago?

"You are too." Ru Qiang replied after a moment, holding her gaze. "You're really strong too."

His words made her smile slightly widen before she released his gaze and let out a laugh.

"Haha, why thank you! That's the first time I've gotten such a nice compliment."

He seemed like he wanted to smile too, but he held it back. Instead, his eyes softened as he replied.

"En."

Feng Yao grinned at him, immediately brightening up the atmosphere. But suddenly, as if she noticed something, she frowned.

Ru Qiang was confused at how fast her emotions were changing on her face, but before he could ask why, she had already reached up and poked his cheek.

"Hey. When's the last time you properly slept?"

He blinked before he sheepishly turned away. Seeing that he refused to answer, Feng Yao sighed.

"Let me guess...three days?"

He shook his head.

"Four?"

Another shake.

"A week?"

He sighed before he finally answered her question. "It's...been a while..."

Hearing this, her frown deepened. "So you were just planning on secretly leaving again tonight as soon as Li Yue checked up on you without even sleeping?"

Ru Qiang's mouth slightly opened in shock, but Feng Yao didn't give him a chance to protest.

"Don't lie to me. I know that you were waiting for Li Yue to come in and check on you so that you could pretend to be fine. After that, you were planing to go right back out again, weren't you?"

"I--" He began, but she immediately cut him off.

"No excuses. I saw a flash of black fabric as you closed your drawer as you came in. That drawer was the same one I had opened earlier to look for medical supplies meaning that you had just managed to place it in there during the time that I was gone. You were definitely planning to go back out!"

Ru Qiang had no way of refuting her words. He could only avoid her gaze and pretend not to know what he did wrong. 

"Seriously Ru Qiang. You were just injured. Really badly too! You need to recover first. Didn't you hear what I told you earlier about facing problems on a full stomach?" Feng Yao sighed. "This is the same. You need to have adequate sleep and rest before rushing back out there to do whatever you're doing."

"But I--"

"No buts. You are going to sleep. No wonder your bedroom is so dusty. You probably never use it, huh?"

He let out a sigh. She had him there. He had stopped sleeping in his room years ago.

Before he could come up with a reply, she had already walked over and plopped herself right next to him on his side of the table. 

"I won't leave until I see you sound asleep, you got that?" She glared at him. "So you better start trying."

Ignoring his shocked look, she picked up his brush and placed a clean sheet of paper in front of her. Since she was probably going to be here a while, she might as well draw to relieve herself of her boredom.

"Feng Yao..."

She refused to answer him and instead continued to doodle. 

What should I draw? How about a chicken? If I do that, then I can give it to Li Yue! Wasn't he muttering something underneath his breath about decapitated chickens earlier tonight?

Satisfied with her decision, she began to trace the outline of the animal on the white paper with her brush.

"Feng Yao..." Ru Qiang dejectedly called out again, but she again acted as if he wasn't even there.

With small brush strokes, she continued to draw. Before long, the outline of a chicken appeared on her paper. She was having so much fun that she actually almost forgot about the man sitting next to her. 

But suddenly, his next words shattered her calm. 

In a soft voice, he hesitantly called out to her in a way that was so bashful and shy that she almost fainted from shock right then and there. 

"Yao Yao..."

Hearing the affectionate nickname come out of Ru Qiang's mouth made Feng Yao almost burst out in a coughing fit from surprise. 

No doubt that he was using her usual tactic to get back at her. It's just that...she never knew that it was this powerful! No wonder he usually glared at her when she did this same thing to him...

If it wasn't for the fact that they were the only two people in this room, she would have never believed that he'd be capable of such a sweet sounding voice. It was so absurdly cute that she almost wanted to hit him.

Almost.

It took all of her willpower to continue ignoring him. Even after that bombshell he dropped on her, she forced herself to pretend not to hear him and continue working on her chicken.

Then again...she really wanted to see what his face looked like right now...

No! Feng Yao! Ignore the temptation! Remember the chicken! Yes, the chicken!

Chicken. Chicken. Chicken. Only a chicken. Nothing else but a chicken. Abandon the potato people for now and become one with the chickens.

At this point, she was almost religiously chanting in her mind to ignore Ru Qiang. It seemed to actually work though because after a while, she managed to completely have forgotten about the man next to her.

Almost an hour later, she finally finished her masterpiece. Although, it didn't really look like a chicken, at least to her, she could tell that it was a chicken. 

Thinking for a second, she decided to write the word 'chicken' at the top too. Just in case Li Yue wasn't able to realize what kind of masterpiece she had painted for him.

At that moment, she finally remembered about Ru Qiang. She hadn't heard him call her name anymore after that heart attack he gave her. If he did, then she had been too involved in her painting to hear.

When she turned her head to look, she realized that he had finally fallen asleep with his head resting on his arms right next to her at the table.

She paused, taking the opportunity to study his face.

His skin was pale and smooth like usual, but they were marred by the dark bags under his eyes. But still, that wasn't enough to hide his beauty. Long and dark eyelashes fluttered across his cheeks as he slowly breathed in and out.

He looked a lot younger than usual without the blank mask he usually liked to hide his thoughts behind. His cheeks and nose were slightly tinged with pink from the night chill, making him look like an obedient child quietly sleeping. 

Feng Yao couldn't help but reach out with her fingers to move away a stray strand of hair that had fallen over his face. But when she touched it, she realized that it was still wet from his earlier bath. 

Sighing, she realized that he hadn't even tried to dry his hair before falling asleep so carelessly.

Is he trying to catch a cold in this chilly weather?

From where she sat next to him, she began to detangle stands of his long hair that had become clumped on his back. At first, she had been surprised at how soft his hair was, but after a while, it felt normal feeling the sensation of silky threads in between her fingers. 

As she finished allowing his hair to finally spread out to dry, she look around the room once more. Her gaze eventually stopped at the spot that Ru Qiang had hid the paper from earlier when she had first come in this afternoon. 

Although she was curious at what he had quickly tried to hide from her, she didn't want to sneak behind his back, so she immediately moved her gaze away. Her eyes finally landed on the drawer from earlier where she had seen him hide his black uniform.

Actually, she hadn't really seen him hide his uniform. 

Ru Qiang hadn't noticed, but there was a very small piece of black fabric caught on the bottom edge. Knowing him though, she had been pretty sure that he was probably going to try again and head out soon since his wound was bandaged. 

She had just been guessing, but seeing his reaction, she'd been spot on with her accusation.  

Sigh...You seem even crazier than me you know?

Feng Yao shook her head in exasperation before folding her now-dried chicken painting into her robes. As she glanced out the window, she suddenly realized that the moon was already beginning to come back down

She didn't have much time left before the sun came up since there was still something that she wanted to investigate before the servants awoke in the estate. 

But as she stood up, she felt something lightly tug on the bottom of her robes. Glancing down, she noticed that Ru Qiang was unconsciously holding onto the fabric of her clothing. 

As if he could sense her leaving, he slightly shifted in his sleep as his eyebrows creased.

Well...maybe I can spare a few more minutes. If it brings comfort to a fellow foodie, then I don't mind.

Satisfied with that thought, she quietly sat back down at the desk. As soon as she settled in right next to him, Ru Qiang immediately shifted closer.

Feng Yao didn't mind how close he was, so she decided to pick up the brush again and continue her doodles. 

But after finishing her masterpiece from earlier, she was out of ideas for what to draw. Suddenly, as she glanced at the peaceful face of the man sleeping next to her arm, a flash of inspiration struck her.

Oh? Of course! Why didn't I think of this idea earlier?

With a small grin, she dipped the brush in ink and began writing and drawing.


By the time that Ru Qiang woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. He stared blankly at his bright surroundings, stunned that he had managed to sleep for so long without waking up. 

Usually, he was sensitive to even the slightest movement or change in light. That was the reason behind why he never usually found much success with sleeping for normal periods of time.

How did this happen?

He glanced around the room as if in search for someone, but he already knew that he was the only person inside of his study. With a small sigh, he was just about to get up when he noticed something sitting on his desk in front of him that hadn't been there yesterday.

A small hand-made book?

Confused, he reached over to pick it up. But as he read the title, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

A List of Yummy Food: A Guide for Foodies Like Us.

Ru Qiang instantly knew who was the author of this little book. With a delicate movement of his fingers, the front cover was carefully opened. Scanning through the pages, he realized that they were filled with recipes and pitiful little drawings of animated food.

But although the drawings were indeed quite pitiful scraggly looking things, he still had to admit that they were a bit cute. 

As his eyes flitted back up to read the various names of the recipes, he suddenly felt at a lost of what to say.

Reaching Tiger's Claw of Enlightenment? Sparrow's Wings That Bring Goodwill? Dancing Crane With A Thousand Flying Feathers Of Luck?

Feng Yao...Were you trying to name food recipes or martial art techniques?

He let out a exasperated sigh as he read the ingredients underneath each one. As expected, they were all as nonsensical as the list of ingredients she had recited out-loud earlier that she had used in the gooey soup he ate. 

If anyone else had eaten that creation of hers, no doubt they'd probably be dying from stomach pain already. But in other words, that probably meant that this book was also a good weapon to keep in handy. 

Ru Qiang nodded to himself, feeling satisfied at that thought. Swiftly, he tucked the little recipe book safely into his inner pocket, keeping it right next to the small container of medicine she'd given him previously.

Mhm. Very handy. I'll have to keep it safe with me.  

*   *   *   *   *

Author's Note:

Hello my fellow bookworms!

₊·*◟(˶╹̆ꇴ╹̆˵)◜‧*・

Here's another chapter for you all to devour! Go! Do it! Quick! Before it expires like Feng Yao's spoiled orange~

Fu fu fu, but anyways, sorry for a slightly later update than usual! But it's here now! 

Woohoo! Success!

(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

By the way, does anyone else ever realize that they've accidentally been creepily smiling as they read through Feng Yao and Ru Qiang's antics? I'm quite shameless for saying that I, the author, end up doing this quite a lot...

...My roommate must think I'm crazy...

Hahaha, but anyways, until the next update! I'll see you guys then~

ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁)


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