The two were silent for a while. Lu Yunchu suddenly slapped his head and took out the paper and pen he had prepared: "Here you go."
Wen Zhan looked at the small notebook and charcoal stick in her hand and didn't react for a moment.
Lu Yunchu took the charcoal pencil and drew two lines on the small book: "For writing, you can't carry a brush with you, but this can."
Wen Zhan was injured and moved slowly, but he was not a slow person. At this moment, he was stunned, his eyes fell on the small notebook, his eyelashes trembled, and he seemed to be thinking seriously.
After a few breaths, he pointed at himself hesitantly and tilted his head slightly.
Lu Yunchu handed over the paper and pen and said with a smile, "Of course it's for you!"
Wen Zhan took the paper and pen and looked at it carefully. The corners of his mouth gradually curled up. He was so unbelievable, and his eyes were full of restrained surprise.
There was a large blank space on the first page that Lu Yunchu had drawn, but he did not write there. Instead, he turned the page and wrote "Thank you" neatly in the upper right corner.
He had never used a hard pen and was not used to the touch of pen and paper. The words he wrote were not as beautiful as those written with a brush, but they were still elegant.
It was obvious that he liked this gift very much. Lu Yunchu grinned and said, "Come out to bask in the sun more often in the future. It's too stuffy in the house."
Wen Zhan wrote in the notebook: "OK."
"If you have anything to say to me, just write it to me."
-good.
He insisted on writing it down even though she could have just nodded to answer. She felt a little embarrassed that the gift that Lu Yunchu made on a whim was liked so much by him.
"Let's go. You've been standing outside for long enough. That's enough for today. You have an injury on your knee and you need to take care of it." She turned and walked into the house, and Wen Zhan followed her with big strides.
The sky was clear, the sun was warm, and even the falling dead leaves seemed alive.
Wen Zhan had a bad stomach, so Lu Yunchu could only cook porridge for him. He drank porridge while Lu Yunchu was eating spicy food on the other side, which was really a bit too much, so she decided to make some other liquid food for Wen Zhan to change his taste.
There is no entertainment here at night. She goes to bed early and gets up early in the morning. She goes to the kitchen and concentrates on preparing food, which is her only entertainment activity.
After she finished, she happily returned to the room, but found the door was slightly ajar.
Lu Yunchu looked up at the sky and estimated the time. It should be the 9th hour...
She opened the door and walked lightly into the house.
The house was as quiet as that day, and you could hear a pin drop.
She had a bad feeling in her heart. She was still in the kitchen at the hour of Si a few days ago. Today she came back early and just happened to catch him. Could it be that he would have an attack at the hour of Si every day
Sure enough, when she was about to walk into the inner room, she heard suppressed retching sounds.
Lu Yunchu paused and looked inside through the gap in the carved partition.
Wen Zhan hunched his waist and retched into the bowl, as if he wanted to vomit out all his internal organs, but there was no food in his stomach and he couldn't vomit anything.
His face turned pale, he broke out in a cold sweat, and he began to cough and choke. The pain in his body was magnified by the heart-wrenching cough, and he couldn't help but bend his back even lower.
Lu Yunchu wanted to step forward, but he suddenly turned around and looked over here.
He was in so much pain that his eyes began to blur and he could no longer hide the confusion and panic in his eyes.
Cold sweat wet his eyelashes, and a white light ball appeared in front of his eyes. He did not notice Lu Yunchu standing outside.
He visibly breathed a sigh of relief, swayed a bit, and was about to lose his balance.
The movement of turning back pinned Lu Yunchu to the spot.
She had been living a leisurely life these past few days, and she almost forgot that they were puppets of the plot, wearing the shackles of fate.
How ridiculous! Even the attacks occur on time.
She stepped out and waited in the corridor for a while. When she felt it was about time, she went back in.
Wen Zhan had washed up, his hair was wet, and he leaned against the window, quietly looking at the dead branches swaying in the wind outside the window.
Ever since she asked him to get more sun, he would sit here and bask in the sun every morning as long as there was sunshine.
He exuded a fragile and distant temperament. He leaned there loosely, like a landscape painting stained by mist, with a gray and calm beauty.
"Wen Zhan?" Lu Yunchu couldn't help but call him.
He turned around, a warm smile in his eyes.
The complicated emotions in Lu Yunchu's heart were instantly blown away by a spring breeze. She walked over quickly and asked, "Are you hungry?" He had just vomited and should not have much appetite. Lu Yunchu took out a porcelain bowl and said, "This is the sesame paste I ground. It may not make you full, but it can satisfy your craving."
Without waiting for Wen Zhan to answer, she dragged the porcelain bowl from the table and scooped a few spoonfuls of sesame paste into it.
Even before adding hot water, the long, lingering sweet aroma of sesame powder is already very strong.
Lu Yunchu has an obsession with "sweetness". When she suffered as a child, she would reward herself with a candy, so that she would be comforted and regain strength. She hopes Wen Zhan can feel the same.
First, dissolve the sesame flour with warm water, then add boiling water.
The hot water had just boiled, and white steam was still coming out of the teapot. Lu Yunchu picked up the teapot and poured it into the porcelain bowl. The sesame powder was dispersed by the water, and the hot steam rose upwards with a strong sweet fragrance.
Sesame powder is mixed with coix seed, lily, sunflower seeds, red dates, walnuts, and dried mulberries, all of which are dried and ground into extremely fine powder. The ingredients are fried properly to bring out their own aroma without being oily or bitter. Only a little bit of brown sugar is needed to ensure the sweetness.
Sesame and sunflower seeds have a silky and rich oily smell, nuts have a mellow aroma, red dates and mulberries have a fruity sweetness, and the slightly astringent bitter taste of lily and brown sugar removes the greasiness of the ingredients. Take a slight breath, and the sweet heat goes straight into your nose, making your heart soft.
"Try it." Lu Yunchu handed the spoon to Wen Zhan.
Wen Zhan took it, and although his movements were as slow as usual, Lu Yunchu could see a hint of dullness and recklessness in them.
"Hey!" She stopped Wen Zhan's action, "It's hot, blow it."
Wen Zhan was stunned for a moment, his ears turned slightly red, he blew a few breaths awkwardly, then looked up at Lu Yunchu, as if to confirm if this was okay.
Lu Yunchu suppressed his laughter and nodded.
Only then did Wen Zhan dare to put it in his mouth.
She ground the sesame flour very finely, so that you could hardly taste the grains. The aroma of all the ingredients blended together, rippling at the root of your tongue, and the sweetness curled up like smoke, lingering on the tip of your tongue for a long time.
He couldn't help but widen his eyes, his clear eyes full of surprise.
Lu Yunchu couldn't help but laugh. She remembered that when she first met Wen Zhan, she thought the supporting actor was a wooden beauty, delicate and hollow, like a lifeless beautiful doll.
Looking back now, it’s hard to remember why I felt that way.
“Sweet?”
Wen Zhan nodded, put down the spoon, took out a pen and paper from his sleeve, and wrote neatly - very sweet.
Lu Yunchu shook his head. It’s not sweet actually.
She had tasted it, and compared to modern sesame paste, it tasted as light as boiled water, with more of the original aroma of the food. There was no honey, and she didn't dare to put too much traditional brown sugar, otherwise the bitter taste would cover all the sweetness, so this bowl of sesame paste was at most fragrant, not sweet at all.
Seeing her shaking her head, Wen Zhan didn't understand what she meant. He wondered if he had answered wrongly and didn't know whether he should continue eating.
"I want to give you a present."
Wen Zhan looked at the paper and pen in his hand. Didn’t he have a gift
Lu Yunchu took out a small wooden box and took out a stick of maltose from it.
The top of the small bamboo stick is wrapped with circles of crystal clear yellow maltose and hooked with white filaments, shaped like amber, layered one on top of the other.
She held it in front of Wen Zhan, who didn't know whether he should take it or not, and wrote in confusion:
—What is this
"Maltose." Lu Yunchu replied. This was the most lollipop-like food she could make.
Wen Zhan was confused for a moment, his mind was still confused.
—What is it used for
Lu Yunchu grinned: "Candy, of course it's for eating."
Wen Zhan felt embarrassed by her laughter. He took the bamboo stick, stared at the maltose for a few seconds, and put it into his mouth hesitantly.
Lu Yunchu sat next to him, supporting his head with his hands and looking at him expectantly, with a smile on his face.
When the maltose is stirred, it is stretched and mixed with air. It has a light taste and melts in the mouth. It has a light rice aroma and is very pure sweet. Pure to the point of being strange.
Lu Yunchu was smiling at first, but as he watched Wen Zhan's expression gradually become serious, his smile slowly faded.
Wen Zhan lowered his eyes, frowned slightly, and silently savored the taste in his mouth. After the surprise faded, only confusion remained in his eyes.
He hesitated for a while, and finally picked up the pen and asked:
—What does this smell like
Lu Yunchu could no longer laugh. She didn't understand why this seemingly stupid and ignorant question made her so uncomfortable.
"Sweet." She didn't even know how to answer, "It tastes sweet."
Wen Zhan blinked after hearing the answer, lowered his head again, and carefully savored the aroma of maltose in his mouth.
The sunlight passed through the strands of hair on his temples and fell on his long eyelashes, illuminating the surprise that was slowly welling up in his eyes, like the rising sun, driving away the waning moon, and illuminating the calm and mirror-like surface of the lake.
He narrowed his eyes and a smile of surprise appeared on his brows.
He used a charcoal pencil to cross out the answer he had just given, "very sweet," and wrote again at the bottom: "very sweet." So this was what sweet was. He was very happy. After he finished writing, he was not satisfied, so he added another sentence, "very sweet."
The pure joy that burst out from him was as pure as the sweetness he just tasted, but this joy made Lu Yunchu feel bitter in his mouth.
"As long as it's sweet," she said.
Wen Zhan wrote: Thank you.
Lu Yunchu tried hard to curl the corners of her mouth and nodded: "Well, eat more, there's plenty of maltose." She quickly took out a stick of maltose and stuffed it into her mouth to eliminate the sour feeling in her heart.