Chapter 91

But now, this man before her not only put on no airs whatsoever, but also, rare as it was, let slip a touch of foolishness, even growing flustered and anxious over her every half-word — utterly unlike the composed calm he had shown facing the gathered heroes atop Leigu Mountain.

This made her realize that this man had probably laid out every ounce of his tenderness before her alone.

By contrast, it felt all the more precious.

All sorts of thoughts flashed through her mind. Huang Rong shot him a glance and said, peeved: "What are you still standing there for, dumb? Go find a spot and bring out the food. If you're not hungry, I certainly am."

Jiang Sishui came to his senses, turned, and went off to find a big stone to serve as a dining table.

Huang Rong toyed idly with a strand of dark hair that fell to her chest, a smile playing at her lips, her steps light and airy, as she tugged Feng Heng along behind them.

Huang Yaoshi watched the retreating backs of Jiang Sishui and Huang Rong, his brows knitting.

After a brief hesitation, he ultimately said nothing.

A grown daughter cannot be kept at home; keep her and keep her and you'll end up enemies. Besides, this young man seemed... not bad?

Still, although he had no intention of meddling for now, he felt a certain discomfort in his heart.

Jiang Sishui carried over a few stones, the four of them sat around the "table," and he set out dish after dish of food.

Huang Rong's cooking had been taught by Feng Heng, yet the pupil surpassed the master.

Pity she only deigned to cook when in a good mood, so even Huang Yaoshi watched with envious eyes.

Jiang Sishui looked at the dishes. The ingredients used were nothing out of the ordinary — far less rare and refined than those in the imperial palace kitchens.

But he knew that a true master of cooking reveals wondrous skill all the more in the most ordinary of dishes.

And this spread before him needed only a single whiff for him to know they were not only fine in appearance, but golden and jade within.

While Jiang Sishui was still looking, Huang Yaoshi had already made his move, his chopsticks rising and falling across the dishes without the slightest ceremony.

Seeing this, Jiang Sishui sighed no more and hurried to pick up food himself.

He had just picked up a roll of silver-thread pastry when his motion suddenly paused, as if he hesitated a moment, and then placed the first piece into Huang Rong's bowl.

"Miss Huang, you've worked hard." Jiang Sishui's smile was sincere.

Huang Rong's face flushed crimson in an instant: "You... you just eat your own, don't keep serving me."

As she spoke, she Appears careless to glance at Huang Yaoshi and Feng Heng from the corner of her eye.

Jiang Sishui smiled, picked up another silver-thread roll, and popped it into his mouth.

With a single bite, a long-missed deliciousness spread across his lips and teeth, relaxing his entire body.

Ever since awakening his memories in this life, he had felt that compared to his previous life, most meals were nearly impossible to swallow.

Fortunately, he had now met Huang Rong — the bitter days were finally about to end!

Seeing that Huang Rong had made plenty of dishes, Jiang Sishui let himself eat freely, his chopsticks falling like rain, not treating himself as an outsider in the slightest.

Huang Rong watched from the side, thinking: "To catch a man's heart, first catch his stomach. Bai Feifei, the pitiful weakling? Hmph! Let's see how you little trollop can compete with me!"

At this thought, the smiling corners of the maiden's eyes gained a few more notes of delight.

100 Huang Rong faked it — did my protagonist halo just activate?

After the meal, Jiang Sishui hurried to help Huang Rong clear the bowls and chopsticks, then told Feng Heng to sit while he went with Huang Rong to the well to wash the dishes.

Huang Yaoshi saw at a glance that Jiang Sishui's "old man of the wineshop's heart was not in the cup." Though he was fairly satisfied with this young man, he still felt things were moving a touch too fast.

Just as he was wavering over whether to speak up and stop them, Feng Heng tugged his sleeve and shook her head at him.

Only then did Huang Yaoshi give up the idea.

……

Once outside the courtyard gate, Jiang Sishui walked along, silently turning ideas over in his mind.

Now that he had finished learning the "Flicking Finger Divine Skill," he had no reason to stay on, and besides, Huang Rong might not necessarily remain by Huang Yaoshi's side.

Therefore, he had to, in such a short time, hook Huang Rong — even run off with her.

"What excuse should I use?"

Jiang Sishui carefully weighed the various options.

Today was technically only their second meeting; of course the first had been from a distance, but it seemed Huang Rong's first impression of him was not bad.

Otherwise, given her temperament, she wouldn't have been so nice to a stranger.

Jiang Sishui was no fool, and naturally read many clues from today's events.

If that were truly so, the difficulty of his "abduction plan" would drop considerably!

At the thought, Jiang Sishui couldn't help but grin.

Huang Rong, walking half a pace ahead of him, heard his low chuckle, turned her head, and let her gaze circle Jiang Sishui's face: "Grinning like a fool as you walk — you really do look like a simpleton, not afraid others will laugh at you."

Jiang Sishui came back to himself, not the least embarrassed, and countered: "Then will Miss Huang laugh?"

Huang Rong giggled: "What do you think?"

Jiang Sishui also laughed: "If I can earn a smile from Miss Huang, then no matter how many others laugh at me, it doesn't matter."

Huang Rong's face reddened slightly. She quickly turned around, her back to Jiang Sishui, but her clear, girlish voice drifted back: "During that meal just now, were you picking out only the sweet things to eat?"

Jiang Sishui nodded, looking perfectly serious: "I've lived twenty years, and rarely come across hands as clever as yours — such skill in cooking, the dishes are sweet and delicious, I just couldn't help eating a bit more."

Huang Rong, hearing his answer, inwardly spat: "So glib with his sweet talk — wonder how many girls he's going to trick."

But even as she cursed him in her heart, the corners of her mouth unconsciously curved into an arc.

Afraid Jiang Sishui might see, her steps quickened again, like a merry lark beating the wings of freedom — innocent and carefree.

Jiang Sishui gazed at the maiden's back as though he were looking at a sprite from the human world.

He steadied himself and hurried after her.

When they reached the inn where Huang Yaoshi's family was staying, Huang Rong shoved the food box straight into the waiter's hands, then handed the latter a letter and asked him to deliver it on her behalf.

After that, she tilted her chin up at Jiang Sishui: "Let's go!"

Jiang Sishui was taken aback: "Where to?"

Even as he asked, his gaze drifted involuntarily to the letter in the waiter's hand, and a vague guess stirred in his heart.

Huang Rong stood with her hands behind her back, chin lifted, face bare to the sky: "I've long wanted to go out and roam the jianghu, but unfortunately that stinky daddy of mine keeps watching me and won't let me run around everywhere. Now that heaven has sent such a perfect chance, how could I possibly miss it?"

Saying so, she turned her head to look at Jiang Sishui: "Hey, this Miss is going the same way as you — you got a problem with that? Don't even think about running, I'm telling you — you still owe this Miss a million taels of silver!"

Jiang Sishui heard that Huang Rong was going to travel with him, and before he could even recover from this unexpected joy, her last sentence knocked him dumb again.

"I owe you a million taels of silver? Since when did I owe you that?" Jiang Sishui was utterly bewildered.

Huang Rong counted on her fingers, puffed up with pride: "Silver-thread rolls, dumplings, Eight-Treasure Fat Duck… all in all you've eaten ten of my dishes, front and back, ten thousand taels each."

"What? Trying to welch on the bill?"

Saying so, she tilted her upper body toward him, glared at Jiang Sishui, her eyes full of threat.

Crash!

Clatter-clatter—

The heavy thud of something hitting the ground and a string of bowls and dishes shattering rang out — it turned out the waiter had been so startled by Huang Rong's "bill" that the food box in his hands slipped and fell, the plates inside smashing to smithereens.

Without time to fret over the wages his boss would dock him, the waiter hurriedly grabbed the food box and ran, clutching tightly the letter Huang Rong had given him, terrified of losing it.

"Miss, rest assured! This one will definitely deliver the letter to your esteemed father and mother — this one still has things to do, so I'll be off first!"

The waiter left without looking back.

He was terrified that if he lingered to hear two more sentences, he'd get caught by Huang Rong and charged an "audience fee" too.

By that little granny's accounting, even if he went bankrupt and worked for someone else for eighteen lifetimes, he still couldn't pay it all back!

Can't afford to provoke, can't afford to provoke; scared, scared.

Huang Rong watched him flee in such a sorry state and couldn't help but snort with laughter.

Jiang Sishui also found it amusing and smiled as well.

?? Asking for flowers?????????

Huang Rong caught a glimpse and said, annoyed: "You owe me a million taels, and you still have the nerve to laugh."

Jiang Sishui said helplessly: "Whether I laugh or cry, I can't pay it back anyway — of course I'd rather laugh."

"If you can't pay it back, then pay it back slowly, until you've paid a full million taels — don't even think about welching on it! Now stop talking, hurry up and run, or that stinky daddy and mama of mine will be back." Huang Rong reached out and pushed him from behind.

Jiang Sishui heard this and agreed wholeheartedly — best not let Huang Yaoshi spoil this good thing.

So he grabbed Huang Rong's arm in turn, leaped up, and in a flash vanished from the inn.

On the road back to Leigu Mountain, the joy in Jiang Sishui's heart could not be contained no matter what — he was bursting with vigor, as if his whole body was about to laugh out loud.

He had never imagined that, while he was still mulling over how to trick and lure Huang Rong, this girl would actually take the initiative and leave with him.

This truly was: gained without the slightest effort.