Although the breakfast in front of him looked simple, an enticing aroma was drifting up from it. A memory from last night came unbidden to He Sanlang's mind: Laiyue squatting outside his study, wolfing down a certain bowl of food as if it was the last on Earth.
Sure, it smelled great, but was it really that tasty?
Despite his doubts, He Changdi couldn't help but to take up a spoon and stir the contents of the exquisite porcelain bowl before him. The ingot shaped wontons bobbed in the soup as he stirred, and the scattered pieces of emerald-green spring onions drifted near the top of the bowl like aquatic plants in a clear pool. The strong aroma filtered into his nose. Saliva began to gather in his mouth; it was becoming harder and harder to hold back his appetite.
He Changdi stared into the bowl like he was under some magic spell, spoon all but forgotten. His pupils began to darken as he was lost to his thoughts. Senior Servant Gui, Mingyan, and the rest of the servants waiting on him couldn't help but gulp at the tense atmosphere.
However, in the end, He Changdi still scooped up a wonton into his spoon and blew on it to cool it down before he moved it to his mouth.
His handsome face was tilted downwards by just the slightest amount as he bit into that plump, white wonton. The flavour and soup inside overwhelmed his taste buds and caused him to freeze for a moment. Then, the corners of his lips raised.
He Sanlang's gaze contained a swirling mixture of emotions. As his dark lashes cast a shadow over his eyes, no one noticed the glint of doubt that flitted through his gaze.
After eating two wontons, he pointed towards the scallion pancakes sitting off to the side.
His dining etiquette was impeccable, and his motions graceful. Senior Servant Gui and the other maidservants couldn't tell what he was thinking at all from his blank expression.
Upon seeing him point at the scallion pancakes, Mingyan could only gather up the courage to serve him. She cut up the golden brown pancake, put the pieces into a smaller dish, before placing it by his side.
He Changdi didn't speak and merely picked up a piece of pancake with his chopsticks. He brought it up to his nose and sniffed it first, as if one whiff could tell him if the flavour would be to his taste.
His sharp eyebrows furrowed a little, and then, he placed the pancake into his mouth.
This scallion pancake tasted very different from the hard flour pancakes and other similar dishes he had eaten in the past. It was thin, and the outer layer was slightly crispy while the inside was soft and savoury. Once you took a bite, you just had to have another.
He Sanlang was inwardly very satisfied, but he didn't show it on his face at all. He simply pointed at the pancakes again.
Mingyan slightly gaped, but she didn't dare to say a single word. She moved to prepare another pancake, once again serving the small pieces to him in a separate dish.
Thus, the handsome and unapproachable He Sanlang sat at the table with an unreadable expression, having the best breakfast of his life.
If not for the speed of his chopsticks and the movement of his mouth, as well as the rate at which the wontons and scallion pancakes were disappearing, no one would have suspected that this simple breakfast was, in fact, exactly to his taste.
Meanwhile, Chu Lian had changed into a light blue dress and tidied up her slightly messy hair. She used a wet handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her face and neck before sitting down by the bed and fanning herself, finally feeling a little more refreshed.
This wasn't even the hottest time of the year and it was already this tough to bear with the heat. Chu Lian sighed and thought about asking Senior Servant Gui if they could place some ice in the bedroom to cool it off after breakfast.
When Chu Lian finally rose and moved to the parlour again, the first thing she saw was the back of He Sanlang as he sat ramrod straight at the table.
Chu Lian frowned. She hadn't noticed it before, but now she realised that He Changdi was also wearing a light blue robe today.
With both of them dressed in the same colour, it looked like they had done it on purpose to look like a couple.
Chu Lian didn't fixate on the thought for long. As she waved away the curtsies from Senior Servant Gui and the other maidservants in the hall, she suddenly met with Senior Servant Gui's conflicted expression.
Chu Lian tilted her head in confusion. However, Senior Servant Gui pursed her lips and didn't say anything.
Seeing this, Chu Lian didn't think any more of it. She picked up her skirts and moved towards the table.
As she was approaching He Sanlang's back, she heard the sound of a spoon clinking against porcelain and quickly came to the realisation that he was eating her breakfast. She puffed up her cheeks and glared at his back.
Chu Lian suddenly had the urge to taunt him.
"Husband, are you" She began speaking while walking closer. However, when she finally reached the table, she was at a complete loss for words.
This He Sanlang was actually a greedy bastard!
Although his posture was elegant, his appetite was anything but. He had eaten more than half of the huge bowl of wontons, and there were only two out of the five pancakes left that she had made.
He was even starting on the fourth one right now!
No wonder Senior Servant Gui had given her such a weird look.
The corners of Chu Lian's mouth twitched.
She sat down by his side with a strange expression, her lips set in a thin, straight line. She quickly ordered Mingyan to serve her a bowl of wontons, afraid that there would be none left if she were a step late.
Mingyan also felt rather awkward over the whole situation. After serving the wontons to Chu Lian, she quickly retreated back into a corner.
Chu Lian took the last pancake and placed it onto her plate, complaining, "So all that food yesterday really went into that bottomless pit you call a stomach."
He Changdi was stunned. How could he not discern the meaning in her words? She was hinting that he ate too much!
He Sanlang cast a sideways glance in her direction. He was in a good mood from the delicious meal, so he would let her off this time.
Once she saw that he wasn't going to reply, Chu Lian felt that there was no point in taunting him further. She wasn't a petty person anyway.
Thus, she turned her attention to eating her breakfast.
In the time it had taken to change her clothes, the wontons had cooled down significantly, and it was just the right temperature to eat now.
The scallion pancakes were as big as her two palms, so Mingyan came over to help her tear them into smaller pieces. However, Chu Lian stopped her.
It was Third Young Madam who had taught her how to make the pancakes, so of course, there was no one who understood them better. Mingyan quietly retreated behind Third Young Madam.
There was a small dish filled with an unknown sauce and shredded radish on the table. Chu Lian took a small spoon and poured half a spoon of the sauce onto the golden pancakes. Then, she picked up some shredded radish and placed them on top. It was only then that she folded up the pancake and took a bite.
The couple sitting at the table didnt speak to each other; they simply ate their own dishes in peace or so it appeared. Actually, He Changdi was watching Chu Lians actions out of the corner of his eye.
He was baffled by her pancake-eating technique, which he had never seen before in his entire life. He Changdi turned his gaze back to the original serving plate, but unfortunately, it was empty.
The look in his eyes was deep and carried traces of disappointment.
Chu Lian was so focused on eating the pancake on her plate that she didnt notice He Sanlang's expression.
She hadn't been able to find a proper vegetable oil, and the quality of the flour here wasn't as good as back in the modern era, so the scallion pancakes weren't as tasty as she remembered. Chu Lian didn't like to eat oily foods, so she couldn't help wrinkling her brows as she ate.
He Sanlang, who was watching her every move, noticed the change in her expression.
Indignation on behalf of the pancake filled him to the brim.
With jade chopsticks in hand, He Changdi turned his attention back to the remaining pieces on his personal serving dish. After a moment of pause, he picked one up and reached out to dip it in the small dish of sauce, placing the piece of pancake in his mouth directly after.
Mmm! It was much tastier than eating the pancake by itself. Although the sauce was a little salty, it also tasted fresh somehow. He had no idea what the sauce was made of.
After learning the merits of this new technique, He Sanlang ate a few more pieces all in one go. When he ran out of pancake on his plate, he sent Mingyan, who was awaiting orders at the side, a meaningful look.
Mingyan trembled under his gaze. She hurriedly lowered her head and tried to erase her presence; even her breathing became lighter.
Chu Lian was focused on polishing off the wontons in her bowl and hadn't noticed his little actions.
However, she wasn't able to finish off the last piece of scallion pancake. After eating half of it, she placed it back onto her plate.
Seeing that Chu Lian had pushed her bowl away and was looking like she was full, Mingyan quickly brought her a warm handkerchief to clean her hands.
Without waiting for Chu Lian to take the handkerchief from Mingyan, He Changdi tapped on the surface in front of her and uttered a low command. "Finish it."
Chu Lian:.....
She looked down at the last piece of pancake on her plate. It was a little cold by now, and it definitely wouldn't taste as good as when it had been freshly made. Chu Lian thought it looked utterly unappetising and wasn't willing to eat it at all.
What was up with this He Sanlang? It was bad enough that he wasn't willing to talk to her, but at least whenever he did, she could just act like she hadn't heard anything. However, now he was even trying to control her meals. She hadn't forgotten that he had purposely taken away her dinner yesterday.
"I'm not eating that, I'm already full."
Actually, He Changdi wasn't trying to stop her from wasting food. It was just that leaving such a delicacy uneaten was equivalent to a grave crime in his eyes, so he refused to sit by and watch Chu Lian commit such a sin.
"Finish it. There are many people who don't even have the chance to eat such good food."
Chu Lian furrowed her brows, starting to feel annoyed. It was just a single piece of scallion pancake. What did it matter if she couldn't finish it? Did she absolutely need to force herself past her limits and make herself uncomfortable just to finish that one piece?
"I said I'm not eating it! If you want to finish it, finish it yourself!"
By now, Senior Servant Gui and the other maidservants were already wearing a set of strange expressions. Before they could properly recover, an even stranger scene began to play out before their very eyes.
He Sanlang didn't continue forcing Chu Lian to eat the remaining pancake. Instead, after giving her an unreadable glance, he reached over to the porcelain plate in front of Chu Lian and picked up the pancake with his jade chopsticks, placing the piece directly into his mouth.
The pancake was a little cold and wasn't as delicious as the rest he had eaten earlier. However, the taste of the sauce and the shredded radish on the pancake was even stronger.
He Changdi finished Chu Lian's leftover half in just a few bites
His sudden action caused Chu Lian and everyone else in the room to freeze and stare.
Chu Lian looked at him with a weird expression. Wasn't this guy disdainful of her? How could he just eat her leftover food without any care at all? She must be seeing things!
It was only after he had swallowed the last bite of pancake that He Sanlang finally realised what he had done. His originally cold expression stiffened. With one glance toward the wide-eyed Chu Lian, He Sanlang quickly stood up and tossed out, "I'm going to the outer court," before striding out of the room.
Chu Lian turned to watch him as he left. For some reason, he seemed like he was running away.
He Sanlang quickly stepped out of his courtyard and only slowed down when he finally reached his study in the outer court. There, he took the time to rub his stomach gingerly.
He Sanlang froze.
It began to dawn on him that he had somehow lost his usual restraint on his appetite, and had actually eaten too much.