Chapter 218

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Protagonist:

Xuan Ge

Hei Ta's Kitchen.

Xuan Ge's gaze rested on Hei Ta.

Hei Ta had changed into a form-fitting casual outfit, a light-colored apron tied at her waist, her hair carefully pinned up by Ruan Mei, revealing her slender neck, looking exceptionally lovely.

In Xuan Ge's view, whether at first glance or after a long look, Hei Ta possessed a unique beauty.

If her chest were too large, it would instead ruin this clear and spirited charm, losing a few points of ultimate allure.

"Hmph~"

Hei Ta gripped the handle of the fully automatic dough mixer, her fingertips operating it skillfully; the corner of her eye caught Xuan Ge's gaze, and the corner of her mouth quietly hooked into a smile.

Being watched so intently by Xuan Ge, she couldn't hide the joy in her heart.

As expected, she is the best-looking.

Ruan Mei stood beside the operating table on the other side, lowering her head to carefully adjust the seasonings in the bowl.

She knew Xuan Ge inherently disliked eating sweet things; if he absolutely had to eat them, they had to be proportioned with tea fragrance and floral fragrance to suit his taste.

So she specially prepared a separate portion of seasoning, avoiding sweetness, adding a few points of elegant clarity.

Compared to exquisite desserts, Xuan Ge actually preferred another kind of snack.

He often shamelessly went to a certain Shen Wu army soldier's home to mooch two bags of dried meat jerky to satisfy his craving.

Later that family opened a jerky shop, and Xuan Ge even personally went to advertise for them, helping drum up business.

Ruan Mei had once tasted that kind of jerky; the ingredients were ordinary, just common pork cured with a little honey.

Yet such a simple flavor was exceptionally liked by Shen Wu soldiers and Xuan Ge, becoming a signature snack known throughout Shen Wu.

Several Mini Xiao Hei Tas surrounded Hei Ta, orderly helping her pass tools and arrange ingredients.

And Hei Ta herself was bowing her head flipping through a thick cookbook, her expression serious yet somewhat clumsy.

Xuan Ge saw through it at a glance — Hei Ta fundamentally couldn't cook.

But he wouldn't disdain it; as long as it was made with care by Hei Ta, regardless of the taste, he would eat it with care — that was Hei Ta's sentiment.

Xuan Ge had always been this way, never gentle only toward those with status and position.

The common people of Shen Wu often sent him vegetables they grew and food they made; he would always accept all of it.

He wouldn't immediately return the gift, but he always remembered this favor, and would always repay it one by one at a suitable time.

If a family's child wanted to serve in the Shen Wu army, he would personally arrange a suitable post, with both safety guarantees and opportunities for tempering.

If someone wanted to study at a Xian Zhou academy, he would personally test them; if qualified, he would personally write a letter, stamp it with his own seal, and send it to the academy's person in charge.

Even if a certain Shen Wu soldier fell into demonic possession, recognizing no kin, he would personally act, giving this soldier his final dignity.

Xuan Ge's pressure has never been smaller than anyone's.

From initially a tiny squad of private soldiers, to the current scale of Shen Wu, it was all cultivated by him single-handedly, fought for step by step.

Every household in Shen Wu, he knew them all; every face, every hope, he kept in his heart.

The Third Abundance War, seventy thousand Shen Wu officers and soldiers, only ten thousand left descendants.

These people were all from multi-child families, but they indeed obeyed the order to leave descendants, yet they sent away the youngest, letting the eldest go to the battlefield.

When he heard "only ten thousand," his Dao Heart nearly collapsed.

This pain was even more heart-wrenching than the death of all Six Generals on the battlefield, making it impossible to let go.

Hei Ta perceived Xuan Ge's trance; she extended a finger stained with flour, lightly poking Xuan Ge's cheek.

The pure white flour stuck to his majestic face, looking somewhat comical.

"Hehe~ What are you thinking about?"

Hei Ta's tone softened a few degrees, her eyes holding a trace of concern, yet she didn't ask further.

She could roughly guess Xuan Ge was thinking about Shen Wu army matters; this was the soft spot in his heart, she had no qualification to comment casually.

She had also never imagined that those who followed Xuan Ge could be this steadfast.

They were even more obsessive than those who believed in Aeons, willing to let their whole families face martyrdom, just to secure victory in the Third Abundance War, to protect Xuan Ge.

"Nothing."

Xuan Ge recovered, smiled at Hei Ta, didn't wipe the flour off his face, but instead felt it added a few points of everyday warmth.

His gaze fell on the high-tech oven beside Hei Ta, and an inexplicable bad premonition rose in his heart: "Hei Ta, is this something you created?"

"Of course."

Hei Ta received the seasoning Ruan Mei handed over, evenly spreading it on the pastries, her tone carrying a few points of pride.

"How come, now that you've become Emperor, you don't even recognize an oven?"

"I naturally recognize it."

Xuan Ge stood up, slowly leaned close to that oven, his gaze landing on the temperature knob, his pupils shrinking slightly.

The lowest temperature on the oven was actually one thousand degrees; he turned his head and looked at Hei Ta in puzzlement: "Are our ingredients a specialty from some star system?"

What kind of pasta can withstand a thousand degrees of high-temperature baking?

Is the thing baked out of this even edible by humans?

"Hehe~ You just don't understand."

Hei Ta smiled mysteriously, a trace of complacency flashing in her eyes; this was something she casually produced.

Although this was a whim, the first time she used it for making pastries, she firmly believed she could do it well.

Ruan Mei glanced at that oven, but did not speak up to dissuade.

She placed her own finished pastries into the ordinary oven next to it, carefully adding a layer of protection, then slowly walked to Xuan Ge's side.

She said not a word, merely lightly pulled Xuan Ge's hand, signaling him to leave this place.

"What's wrong, Ruan Mei?"

Xuan Ge did not leave along with her as Ruan Mei wished, looking at her in confusion.

Ruan Mei smiled helplessly, released his hand, picked up the coffee cup to the side, and stood elegantly behind Xuan Ge, maintaining a distance of two body lengths.

Hei Ta did not perceive any anomaly in the slightest, carefully placed her own made pastries into the oven, then lightly turned the temperature knob.

Xuan Ge's heart tightened, and he immediately shielded Hei Ta behind himself.

"Bang!"

A huge boom, towering flames instantly erupted from inside the oven, a scorching heat wave rushing straight at them.

Fortunately Xuan Ge reacted extremely fast; at the instant the explosion occurred, he forcefully compressed the explosion's range, condensing it into a tiny sphere of light.

His fingertips exerted slight force, and that small ball condensed with the explosion's power was instantly crushed to dust by him, dissipating into the air, causing not the slightest damage.

"Whose flour is this, how can it still explode?"

Hei Ta poked her head out from behind Xuan Ge, frowning at the scrapped stove, a face full of puzzlement.

When she made it before, at most it would be burnt or carbonized; this time the temperature was only a thousand degrees, already very low, how could it explode.

Hearing these words, Xuan Ge smiled in relief.

Hei Ta's first reaction was actually to suspect the flour had a problem, rather than her own oven and the thousand-degree high temperature having a problem.

He instantly understood just how Hei Ta's thousand-degree high temperature came about.

Xuan Ge turned his head to glance at the oven on Ruan Mei's side; the needle was slowly rotating, baking the pastries at a normal temperature, steady and peaceful.

Whereas Hei Ta probably wanted to use a stabilizer injected into the ingredients to make the food cook rapidly within one minute, so she deliberately set the temperature this high.

Xuan Ge stepped forward, fingertips lightly pinching up a piece of pastry that was still relatively intact.

The pastry's surface was somewhat blackened, obviously burnt, but Hei Ta's approach was actually not wrong, it just needs more repeated practice and adjustment.

"Don't... don't eat it..."

Hei Ta saw Xuan Ge about to put the pastry into his mouth, hurriedly called out to stop him, yet did not reach out to block.

In the bottom of her heart, she hid a tiny bit of selfish desire, anticipating Xuan Ge's evaluation, even knowing the probability was high it would not taste good.

Xuan Ge did not stop his movement, lightly bit a mouthful of the pastry.

The texture was indeed somewhat burnt, carrying a hint of charred flavor, but the aroma inside the pastry was very rich, enough to cover part of the burnt taste, not difficult to swallow.

He bit another mouthful, turned his head toward Hei Ta and revealed a smile, sincerely praising and suggesting: "It's okay, just make the heat a little smaller."

"Really?"

Hei Ta's eyes lit up, she hurriedly leaned in close, slightly opened her mouth, signaling Xuan Ge to feed her.

Seeing this, Xuan Ge passed the remaining small piece of pastry to Hei Ta's mouth.

Hei Ta opened her mouth and bit the pastry, accidentally also biting Xuan Ge's fingertips.

Her heartbeat instantly sped up, her cheeks instantly flushed red, her heart a burst of panic.

Such close contact was too ambiguous; she really did not deliberately intend to bite Xuan Ge's fingers.

Ruan Mei saw this, her face still bearing a shallow smile, walked forward, left hand lightly pinching Hei Ta's two cheeks, right hand grasping Xuan Ge's hand.

She lightly pulled once, and separated the two people.

"Mmph, uh...."

Hei Ta chewed the pastry in her mouth, her complexion instantly collapsed.

Only now did she discover this pastry was actually this unpalatable, the burnt taste exceptionally obvious; before she had truly overestimated herself.

Ruan Mei handed the coffee cup in her hand to Hei Ta.

Hei Ta received the coffee, drank a mouthful, nearly spat it out directly.

The pastry's burnt taste combined with the coffee's bitter taste, the two flavors intertwined, nearly made her dizzy, hard to swallow.

"Alright, you also understand Xuan Ge's intentions." Ruan Mei looked at Hei Ta's embarrassed appearance, spoke to untie Hei Ta's heart knot.

"If you truly like him, Xuan Ge will naturally also treat you sincerely, no need to be this deliberate."

From the very beginning, Ruan Mei had seen through Hei Ta's thoughts.

Inviting Xuan Ge to come here as a guest, letting him watch her cook, was nothing more than wanting Xuan Ge to understand her more, pay more attention to her.

Hei Ta received the tissue Ruan Mei handed over, wiped the corner of her mouth, her cheeks red even more severely.

She lowered her head, softly mumbling: "I'm not a Dahlia flower, I wouldn't deliberately curry favor with him...."

Xuan Ge watched Hei Ta reveal such an appearance, couldn't help laughing out loud, reached out and smoothed a strand of hair by her ear.