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The sky was already dark. There was no moon tonight, but the sky was full of bright stars. The Milky Way was clearly visible, shrouding the entire Tanghe County in a magnificent luster.
The stars in their eyes were shining brightly. They could see each other's expressions clearly even though they were separated by a door. They stared at each other for a while, and Yuan Cixian said first, "Minister Lu."
Lu Shiqing coughed lightly and said "hmm".
"Are you looking for me?" she continued.
He paused for a moment, the word "yes" slipped out of his mouth, and then said, "I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk."
He really rushed out in a fit of anger just now, and hadn't actually thought of a suitable excuse. In addition, Yuan Cihan appeared suddenly, so he wanted to use the excuse of "taking a walk" to slow down first.
After Lu Shiqing answered, he asked again: "What's wrong with you?"
Yuan Cixian curled her lips, hummed softly, looked at the tip of her shoes and said, "I can't sleep either, so I came out for a walk."
He said "Oh", "Let's go then." Then he turned and went out.
Yuan Cixian stood there for a few seconds, then realized that he seemed to be inviting her to take a walk together, and then she followed him. He seemed to deliberately slow down his steps, so she was soon on par with him.
The two of them were silent all the way until they crossed the entire yard, but suddenly they said in unison: "I..."
Lu Shiqing stopped and tilted his head to look at her, probably meaning to let her speak first.
Yuan Cixian turned around and faced him, hesitated and said, "I'm sorry, Minister Lu, I'm here to apologize to you."
Lu Shiqing was confused by her words: "What are you apologizing for?"
"I just heard from the servant in the courtyard that today is your birthday. If I had known earlier, I would not have been angry with you. After all, the birthday star is the most important. On your birthday, anything you do can be forgiven."
Her tone was muffled and she didn't sound very happy, as if she was just trying to accommodate him reluctantly.
Lu Shiqing felt a little amused and helpless: "Can anything be forgiven?"
Yuan Cixian nodded, glanced at the sky, and added: "It's okay before dawn. After dawn, I might get angry with you again."
She kept her head down while she spoke, leaving him with only her head to look at. Lu Shiqing looked down at her for a while, and smiled helplessly: "Don't be angry until dawn. What County Magistrate Zhu said is all false."
Yuan Cixian looked up in surprise. She did remember that he denied it in the afternoon, but she didn't believe it. After all, how could County Magistrate Zhu lie in front of the imperial envoy
"How dare he lie to me? How brave is he?"
Lu Shiqing couldn't explain, so he evaded the question by saying, "How would I know why he suddenly went crazy? You just need to know that I didn't agree to anything like that."
Yuan Cixian looked skeptical: "I don't believe it." Then he added, "Unless you swear an oath."
He choked: "What oath?"
"If you're lying to me now, you'll be covered in dog hair before daybreak."
It was really vicious. He was so angry that he laughed for a moment, but he still did what she said and swore word for word.
Yuan Cixian finally believed it reluctantly, and clapped her hands in a good mood and said, "Okay, I'll believe you for now."
Lu Shiqing glanced at her and was about to ask her to go back to her room to rest, but suddenly he heard a "gurgling" sound. His eyes moved down to where the sound came from - her stomach.
Yuan Cixian had already hugged her belly awkwardly when the "gulp" sound had stopped and before the "gulp" sound had started. Unexpectedly, he still noticed it. She could only smile awkwardly and said, "Minister Lu, I didn't eat enough for dinner. I was relying on you to hold me up. Now that I've forgiven you, my stomach is empty all of a sudden."
Lu Shiqing was both angry and amused: "I saw that you ate a lot for dinner. I guess it was me who didn't eat much, right?"
Yes. She nodded: "Aren't you hungry?"
He affirmed, "I'm not hungry." As soon as he finished speaking, the silence of the night was broken by a gurgling sound again.
Lu Shiqing was stunned. This sound couldn't be made by him. It must not be.
Yuan Cixian burst into laughter: "You are such a hypocrite!"
He looked at the person in front of him who was laughing so hard that he fell backwards, and sighed for a while: "I'll ask someone to bring some food and send one to your yard. You go back and wait."
Yuan Cixian waved her hand to stop him: "It's late at night, why bother others anymore, let's do it ourselves and have enough food and clothing."
Lu Shiqing suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.
*
After an incense stick of time, the two sneaked into the kitchen of Zhu's house. Yuan Cixian bent over and took the lead. Lu Shiqing couldn't resist her and was forced to stay behind. Outside, Xiao Hei, who was called by his master to keep watch, squatted at the door of the kitchen.
Yuan Cihan was puzzled. After all, the Zhu Mansion was a county magistrate's residence, so why were there so few servants? Especially around the kitchen, there was not even a gatekeeper.
Lu Shiqing understood. He guessed that County Magistrate Zhu wanted him and Yuan Cixian to have a carefree "wandering" in Zhu's mansion tonight, so he withdrew everyone. So when Yuan Cixian was groping in the dark in the kitchen, struggling to find food, he simply lit a fire.
Yuan Cixian was startled and raised her hand to put out the fire, lowering her voice and saying, "Someone will find out!"
He dodged sideways: "What if we are discovered? Can Magistrate Zhu report to the authorities and have you and me arrested?"
Oh, that’s true.
Seeing that she didn't object, Lu Shiqing used the light of the tinder to light the oil lamp in the room. The lights were bright all around, and on the clean stove were several baskets of fresh vegetables and kneaded dough, which seemed to be a little hard after being left for a long time.
Yuan Cixian was stunned and muttered, "Why is there no ready-made food?"
Lu Shiqing knew that this must be the work of County Magistrate Zhu, and glanced at her: "Who said just now that he wanted to do it himself?"
She frowned, "I'm right, but I thought just carrying a few plates would be enough. I can't cook." She said, looking at Lu Shiqing with a little expectation, "Maybe you can?"
Of course, her answer was a glare.
As a man with mysophobia, he must hate the smoky kitchen. Yuan Cixian understood this, but what should she do if she had no food? She was almost starving to death.
Seeing that she was pale from hunger, Lu Shiqing sighed and said, "Let's call someone." Then he turned around and left.
Yuan Cixian refused to listen to this and pulled his sleeve and said, "No, no, let me try. What if I have extraordinary talents?"
What if she was gifted with a bowl of noodles that was so delicious that it would be unforgettable, and she would capture Lu Shiqing's belly from then on, so that he would never be able to give her up? Moreover, today was his birthday, so making a bowl of noodles was the perfect opportunity, it was simply a godsend.
Thinking of this, Yuan Cixian's heart blossomed. She rolled up her sleeves with full enthusiasm and fetched water to wash her hands.
Seeing that she looked like she was about to hit someone, Lu Shiqing did not agree with her, but was curious about what she could do, so he stood aside without stopping her until he saw her pick up a kitchen knife and chop the dough with it.
With a "snap", the hard dough was cut in half.
“…” Although it was the first time for Lu Shiqing to enter the kitchen, he knew that this was definitely not the way to knead dough, otherwise why not call it chopping noodles
He recalled the last time he was in Chang'an West Market, watching the dim sum shop clerk making buns, and then said with dismay, "Let me do it, you go cut the vegetables."
She is so good with a knife, so she should be able to cut vegetables.
Yuan Cixian also felt that it was inappropriate to do it this way. After a moment of hesitation, he smiled and said, "Thank you for your help."
After Lu Shiqing washed his hands, he went to knead the dough, sighing as he kneaded it. How unlucky had he been to meet Yuan Cixian in several lifetimes, and now he had to do the work of a servant.
Yuan Cixian was washing amaranth nearby. She looked at him and praised his technique: "Minister Lu, this piece of dough is so lucky to be kneaded by you!"
Not knowing what important thought her words had touched upon, Lu Shiqing paused and suddenly began to think about many things.
He remembered that in that absurd dream, he had rubbed something like this.
He stared straight at the snow-white dough in his hands, quickly suppressed the slightest feeling in his body, and continued kneading it silently.
Yuan Cixian managed to finish cutting the vegetables. Apart from swinging the knife a little too hard and almost splitting the chopping board, there were no other accidents. But when she finished the work and turned her head to look, she was startled by the noodles in Lu Shiqing's hand, each strand was as thick as her little finger.
She seemed to have never eaten noodles like this before.
But she was too embarrassed to be picky, so she praised him against her will: "Minister Lu, you are really amazing. This work is so exquisite."
Lu Shiqing could hear what she was thinking. He glanced at her but didn't want to be modest. After all, it was his first time trying it, and it was not easy to figure it out like this. So he said, "Okay, you go down."
She nodded encouragedly, and after arranging the ingredients and noodles one by one and picking up the spatula, she was suddenly stunned.
She frowned and thought for a while, and couldn't help asking: "Did we miss something?"
After washing his hands, Lu Shiqing looked back and lowered his gaze to the stove hole filled with firewood. He said tiredly, "I forgot to light the fire."
He had no choice but to rush back to the stove.
Soon, the kitchen was filled with the smell of fire. Lu Shiqing sat on a small stool and burned firewood while asking Yuan Cixian, "Is the fire enough?"
Yuan Cixian had no idea how to handle the situation. Seeing that the pot of water hadn't boiled for a long time, she kept saying, "Not enough, not enough, keep adding more!"
Lu Shiqing threw firewood in bundles, and by the time she said "enough", his handsome face had already been smoked and ashes, and he was so disheveled that it was unrecognizable.
When Yuan Cixian saw this, she laughed so hard that she almost spilled a shovel of salt into the pot. Lu Shiqing was so angry that he dived into the water and wiped his face.
Although the process was a bit chaotic, when the bland amaranth noodles came out of the pot, the two actually still held out a little hope. One of them took a pair of chopsticks, stood in front of the stove, holding a porcelain bowl and looking at each other face to face, as if waiting for the other to try it first.
After hesitating for a while, Yuan Cixian said, "How about I count to three and we start eating together?"
It's just a bowl of noodles, it's not poisonous, why bother with so much trouble. Lu Shiqing frowned: "No need, I'll eat first." After he finished speaking, he picked up a few thick noodles and stuffed them into his mouth.
Yuan Cixian stared at his face without blinking, feeling a little scared and a little expectant, but she saw that his expression remained the same without any change.
She asked anxiously, "How is it?"
Lu Shiqing swallowed the noodles slowly and said calmly, "It's good. You'll know after you eat it."
Yuan Cixian was delighted and quickly picked up her chopsticks. But as soon as she put a piece of noodle into her mouth, her face froze.
Too, too salty! Damn it!
Lu Shiqing looked at her with a smile, pretending to be questioning.
She looked at him and continued to try to chew it.
Ugh, it’s too hard!
Yuan Cixian was about to cry. So he pretended to be calm and nonchalant in order to trick her into eating the noodles
She turned her head and wanted to spit out the thing, but she heard the person opposite her coughing heavily, as if warning her.
He worked so hard to make this noodle, and she just vomited it. Isn't that inappropriate
Yuan Cixian naturally understood what he meant, but the saltiness made her tears overflow. She bit the noodles and said vaguely and aggrievedly: "If you have the ability to finish it, I will never waste it."
"you said?"
Seeing her nod, Lu Shiqing sneered, lowered his head and started eating.
Yuan Cihan was stunned, but the words were spoken and the water was spilled, which could not be taken back, so she could only lower her head and follow his footsteps.
Lu Shiqing was calm at first, but he couldn't act anymore, his brows furrowed and his mouth twitched. Yuan Cixian was even more exaggerated, tears welling up in her eyes as she gritted her teeth and gulped down the liquid.
Not until both bowls of amaranth noodles were empty did the two of them put down their porcelain bowls together, chewing the noodles that were still half done in their mouths while staring at each other angrily.
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