"Yes!" Hong Xing hurried out to call for help. Thinking that Xiu'er had made a soup that the Second Young Master didn't like, and that she was about to be in trouble, she felt very happy. She trotted to the kitchen and shouted at Xie Nanjia who was busy in front of the stove, "Xiu'er, you're not in charge of cooking, why are you being so attentive here?"
Xie Nanjia glanced at her without saying a word. She put the prepared snacks on a plate and walked out.
Hong Xing snatched the plate and poured the snacks into the swill bucket, raising her eyebrows and saying, "Why are you so arrogant? The Second Young Master didn't like the food you cooked and got really angry, and now we are all going to suffer as a result."
The two cooks were shocked and regretted letting Xiu'er tinker with the cooking. She was just a little girl who had never seen the world and had never eaten meat all year round. They were really stupid to let her cook for the Second Young Master. Now they had angered the Second Young Master and would definitely suffer the consequences.
Xie Nanjia didn't believe it, so she untied her apron and went to the upper room without saying a word.
Zhao Jingyu sat in front of the desk with a calm expression, unable to tell whether he was happy or angry.
He had tasted the same pigeon soup at the Marquis's place before. It was cooked by the Crown Prince's wife herself and sent by a maid.
It was the most delicious soup he had ever tasted. He had asked the cooks in the courtyard and the chefs in major restaurants to make it, but no one could make it taste that good.
Later, he discovered a pattern: whenever the Marquis beat Zhao Jingping, the Crown Prince's wife would send someone to bring the Marquis pigeon soup. In order to drink the soup stewed by the Crown Prince's wife often, he deliberately led Zhao Jingping to make mistakes. Whenever Zhao Jingping was beaten, he could get a bowl of soup.
Now that the Crown Prince's wife is dead, he thought he would never be able to drink soup of that flavor again, but he didn't expect to drink it here again.
How could this girl Xiu'er make the same soup as the Crown Prince's wife
Zhao Jingyu felt that this was definitely not a coincidence.
There were footsteps outside the door, and Xie Nanjia walked in, bowing to him and saying, "Second Young Master, you called me?"
Zhao Jingyu looked at her scrutinizingly and asked, "Did you make this pigeon soup?"
"Yes." Xie Nanjia said.
"You are a country girl who can hardly even eat a chicken. How can you make pigeon soup?" Zhao Jingyu said calmly, "As far as I know, there are no less than ten kinds of medicinal herbs added to this soup. I'm afraid you can't even tell the herbs apart. How can you make such a delicious soup?"
Xie Nanjia also looked at him scrutinizingly.
The fact that he asked this question showed that he had not only tasted this soup, but was also deeply impressed by its taste.
Except for the Marquis, no one in the mansion had ever tasted the soup she made, so the only possibility was that he had tasted it at the Marquis's place.
But now, as far as he knew, the Crown Prince's wife was dead, so no one in the world could make a soup that tasted like this.
After realizing this, Xie Nanjia couldn't help but smile. She originally thought that she and Zhao Jingyu had never had any contact during her lifetime, but she never expected that they would have such a close relationship.
"What are you laughing at?" Zhao Jingyu asked.
Xie Nanjia quickly stopped laughing and replied, "Second Young Master, what you said is not true or false. Although the countryside is poor, we still have chickens, and there are many pheasants and birds in the back mountain. We often catch them and cook them during the slack season. I really don't recognize any of those herbs, but I just picked a few at random and didn't expect them to taste so good. This shows that you are using only top-quality herbs."
"..." Zhao Jingyu felt that this girl was talking nonsense, but he had no evidence. He was the second son of the family, and it was not right for him to keep asking questions about a bowl of soup. He had to give up. "Then did you cook these dishes too? You didn't come just now. Did you prepare something else?"
"Yes." Xie Nanjia said, "I also prepared snacks for you, but Hong Xing said you didn't like them, so she poured them into the swill bucket and said I was in big trouble."
Hong Xing's face changed drastically.
Seeing the Second Young Master's serious expression just now, she really thought that he complained that the soup was not tasty. She couldn't stand Xiu'er, so she couldn't wait to see Xiu'er make a fool of herself. Who knew that this would be the result.
And how could Xiu'er be so hateful that she actually exposed her in front of the Second Young Master without any regard for neighborliness.
"Second Young Master, I was wrong. I misunderstood what you meant." Hong Xing knelt down and begged for mercy.
Zhao Jingyu didn't take it seriously. He had seen many of these little tricks played by women to win favor. The women in the marquis's mansion were a thousand times smarter than them.
He waved his hand, letting Hong Xing and Chun Fang go down, leaving Xie Nanjia alone.
Xie Nanjia said timidly: "Second Master, you won't really punish me, right?"
Zhao Jingyu chuckled and shook her head, her face as beautiful as jade under the lamp: "Sir, not only will I not punish you, I am also planning to reward you."
"What's the reward?" Xie Nanjia asked.
"I'll reward you with sleeping with me tonight." Zhao Jingyu picked up the white jade wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. His pair of peach blossom eyes were stained with wine and sparkled.
(End of this chapter)