Chapter 7

The door creaked softly as Jiang Ning silently slipped out of the room.

Liu Ming'an's house was modest: three thatched-roof huts comprising a main room, a kitchen, and a storage area filled with firewood and farming tools. Next to the storage room was a small outhouse. A wattle fence enclosed a yard where several plots of vegetables grew. Jiang Ning immediately spotted the bitter greens she had eaten for four meals straight; they were thriving, their leaves a lush green and their stems thick and sturdy—a pleasing sight.

The sky began to lighten, a faint blush of red appearing on the horizon. Jiang Ning looked up to see the village peacefully slumbering, with misty mountains looming in the distance and the occasional bark of a dog breaking the silence.

This scene perfectly matched Jiang Ning's imagined ideal of rural countryside living.

After observing for a moment, she returned to the house and entered the kitchen. In the dim light of dawn, she filled a basin with water and washed away the medicinal paste that had caked on her face.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" As daylight broke, the rooster from yesterday crowed right on schedule. Having lost her sense of time, Jiang Ning estimated it to be around 7:30 AM based on experience.

"Not bad, at least this rooster knows its place," Jiang Ning thought wryly. If it had dared to start crowing at five or six, she would have guaranteed to wring its neck.

The crowing roused Liu Ming'an, who had fallen asleep at the table. He rubbed his eyes and rotated his stiff, aching neck, instinctively glancing towards the bed. In an instant, all traces of sleepiness vanished.

The bed was empty!

All that remained were the turned-back covers and scattered splints and bandages. The injured person who should have been lying there had vanished.

Liu Ming'an took two steps forward, his face paling as he stared at the empty bed.

Where had she gone?

"Are you looking for me?" A cool female voice suddenly came from behind him. It was Jiang Ning!

Liu Ming'an quickly turned around, his eyes widening in disbelief at the sight before him.

This man is far too easy to deceive, Jiang Ning thought as her long eyelashes fluttered. "Thank you, Young Master Liu."

Having made up his mind and realizing they would be living together for some time, Liu Ming'an smiled and said, "You don't need to keep calling me 'Young Master.' I'm just a poor scholar. Please, call me by my name."

Jiang Ning nodded, then heard him say, "I'll go prepare breakfast now."

As Liu Ming'an was about to stand up, Jiang Ning appeared behind him and gently pressed him back down. "Let me do it. I know how to cook."

"That wouldn't be right," Liu Ming'an tried to refuse.

"It's perfectly fine. I'm staying in your home for free, so it's only right that I do what I can to help," Jiang Ning insisted.

More importantly, she didn't want to eat that bitter, astringent porridge again, Jiang Ning added silently to herself as she turned and ducked into the kitchen.

The kitchen had two doors: one connecting to the main room, covered by a cloth curtain, and another leading to the courtyard. Outside the courtyard door stood a large water vat. Liu Ming'an went outside, drew a basin of water to wash up, and then peered into the kitchen, concerned. Seeing that Jiang Ning seemed quite adept at cooking and household chores, he finally relaxed.

Indeed, Jiang Ning was an excellent cook. She had once obtained a chef's certificate for a mission. However, in modern times, she was accustomed to cooking with electricity and natural gas, rarely using a wood-fired stove. Fortunately, her survival skills came in handy, making it easy for her to start a fire. The only issue was her long hair—without a hair tie, it came dangerously close to being singed several times.

Jiang Ning washed two bowls of rice and put them in the pot, adding a handful of firewood to let it simmer. She then took down the steamer from the top of the cupboard, went outside to fetch a basin of water to clean it, and left it to dry for steaming rice later. Returning to the stove, she added another handful of firewood, stirred the pot with a spatula, and then left the kitchen to pick vegetables from the yard.

As Jiang Ning stepped into the courtyard, the sky was now ablaze with red clouds. Wisps of smoke rose from chimneys throughout the village, accompanied by a chorus of crowing roosters and barking dogs. Interspersed were the voices of men and women, as if the entire village was awakening with the sunrise.

The simple pleasure of everyday life was most soothing to the soul. Jiang Ning suddenly understood the appeal of "hanging up one's armor and returning to the farm." In that moment, her heart was filled with a profound sense of peace.

Jiang Ning stood still for a moment, then picked a few eggplants and peppers from the garden, pulled up some green onions, and paused when passing by a patch of bitter greens. She bent down and plucked two leaves almost as long as her arm.

These greens were growing well; just two leaves could fill a bowl. Although Jiang Ning had eaten them for four meals and had some complaints, ultimately, it wasn't the vegetable's fault but the cook's. With a bit of proper preparation, even these bitter and astringent greens could become a delicious dish.

Moreover, without comparison, there's no sense of loss. Using the same ingredients to create two different flavors should allow her to show off her skills a little, making Liu Ming'an realize just how poor his culinary abilities truly were.