"Try this~", Long Jie put a piece of duck's flesh on top of Li Xi Rui's rice bowl.
Tasting the oily sweetened tough meat, Li Xi Rui struggled to chew it. After a long time, she finally could swallow the minced meat. Losing her appetite, she put down her chopsticks. She stared disdainfully at the food in front of her.
Sensing his wife displeasure, Long Jie also put down his chopsticks. "You don't have any appetite?", he asked with a hint of concern.
"I really admire you", Li Xi Rui said.
"... yes?", Long Jie is flabbergasted. It's not every day that his wife would praise him.
"For eating this tough meat often, you must have strong teeth", said Li Xi Rui as she drinks a cup of tea. The oily sweetened meat made her a bit nauseous. So she pushes the plate containing the duck meat far away as she can. Slowly, the plate is pushed to the end of table.
Long Jie could only stared at Li xi Rui pushing the plate away. She looks like a cat trying to swept away everything in front of them. 'Cute', he thought. While the man is watching a 'cat' playing with a plate of duck meat, the 'cat' come up with a new dish idea.
Suddenly standing up from her seat, Long Jie startled. "Be careful", he said. His heart nearly dropped. This man that could kill without batting an eye is startled just because his wife suddenly standing up. If the other disciples saw this, they would throw up blood from shock.
Without a word, Li Xi Rui take QiQi to the kitchen. She already knew the layout of the sect when they were exploring earlier. Long Jie could only watch her back as he suddenly felt like he was abandon. She didn't even take a glance at him before walking away. His appetite also gone with her presence. He thought that he could enjoy a nice lunch with her but Li Xi Rui didn't look like she enjoyed their alone time. Now, Long Jie is the one throwing daggers at the plate of duck meat. The gaze holds a resentment, accusing the roast duck of it offence.
The shadow guards can only felt pity of the dead duck's future. 'Even dead and eaten, a duck could offend the master. Master is really an other-worldly being', they thought.
"Take it away! Burn!", Long jie ordered.
The only servant in the vicinity is a mute boy. The sect master has only 3 male servants in his quarters for cooking, cleaning and do other menial tasks. These 3 servants are brothers who have been saved by him from getting killed by their former master. The servants either is a mute, a cripple or deaf.
"Jie, the duck has been roasted for half a day", Rui Sheng said while walking to the table. Is there a need to torture a roasted dead duck twice?
"So roast it the second time. Three, four or even five time till not even a bone left!", he ordered. If Li XI Rui saw this, she would certainly think that her future husband has lost his mind.
Chuckling, Rui Sheng couldn't come up with any retort. His cousin has definitely fall bottoms deep in love with Li Xi Rui. 'This time, make sure to chase her with all you might, Jie. This time chase your happiness and make her happy', thought Rui Sheng.
***
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Li Xi Rui have been looking for some ingredients to make some noodles. the lunch served consist of lamb soup, that tough oily roasted duck, stir fried vegetables and some glutinous rice peanut ball.
"Do we have some lamb soup left over?", Li Xi Rui asked the mute boy. The mute boy had just come to the kitchen to burn the roasted duck, while QiQi is kneading dough according to Li Xi Rui's instructions.
Nodding his head, he points to a big pot near the fire.
Opening the lid, Li Xi Rui smell the lamb soup. Without any spices, the lamb soup is just lamb meat soaked in water. 'How could he manage to eat this? Wasn't the palace food several times better than here? Did he have problem tasting food?', Li Xi Rui thought.
Asking for several spices from the boy, she quickly threw it into the lamb soup and let it simmered. As she waits for the dough to be cut off into strands, she saw the left over crushed peanuts. Suddenly a new recipe come into her mind. Taking a bowl of the rich lamb soup, she sprinkles some crushed peanuts and taste it. The peanuts provide a unique taste to the soup. It didn't taste anything like what she had so far.
Satisfied, she gives several more instruction to QiQi and the boy before sitting down at the wooden bench. She never tried making noodle dishes before as there had been too many of noodle dishes already invented. Imagining a slightly thick, sour and aromatic broth, Li Xi Rui couldn't help but feel hungry.