Chapter 9: Medicinal Bath

The cheap husband cooked for the first time. Not knowing how to add firewood, the fire in the stove went out three or four times during the cooking process.

Liu Changning had no choice but to squat by the stove and help him watch the fire herself.

After a busy time, when the meal was finally cooked, a full hour had already passed.

The large iron pot was emitting the fragrant aroma of cooked brown rice, wafting from afar. Liu Changning took a deep breath. Starving with her chest pressed against her back and seeing stars, even though there was only brown rice in the pot, the aroma of the steamed grain permeating the air was especially enticing.

She narrowed her eyes slightly, the corners of her lips curving upwards.

Since transmigrating to this place, it had been nearly two days, and apart from a stale steamed bun, she had barely eaten any cooked food.

In her three lifetimes, this life was the most miserable. Her body was so weakened from hunger that she had little strength left.

Pei Yuanshao turned his head and saw the farm girl’s originally lowered eyelids now lifted, a pair of moist eyes shining brightly, her gaze fixed on the steamed brown rice inside the iron pot.

He looked puzzled. Were mere coarse grains and vegetables worth staring at with glowing eyes like a ravenous wolf?

It seemed she truly was a farm girl who hadn’t seen much of the world.

Tidying his wrinkled clothes, he lowered his head, his eyes flickering. It was the first time in his life that someone was coveting not his body, but the food he had cooked. The feeling was quite novel.

He coughed and said softly, “Let’s eat!”

After saying that, he no longer paid attention to her and walked out of the kitchen.

The long-reigning Emperor had always loved cleanliness. Now that his clothes were stained with cooking smoke, no matter how much he patted them, he couldn’t get rid of the smoky smell on his body.

He turned and returned to the bedroom, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and dawdled for nearly half an hour before walking into the main hall.

Stepping over the threshold of the old wooden beams, he saw that the woman had already placed the rice bowls on the eight immortals table. With one hand holding a chipped porcelain bowl and the other lifting chopsticks, she was chewing rapidly like a hamster.

Although her eating speed was a bit fast, there was a rare, indescribable elegance in the way she held and used her chopsticks!

Pei Yuanshao frowned, a hint of complexity flashing in his peach blossom eyes.

In the past, she would rise early and work until late, while he was out all day. He really hadn’t noticed that she had some extraordinary qualities.

Though doubts lingered in his heart, he didn’t show it on his face.

Long legs strode into the room. He found a wooden stool on the other side of the eight immortals table and sat down.

Bowls and chopsticks were set on the table. A large bowl was filled to the brim with yellowed brown rice. In the center of the eight immortals table, there were three plates of blackened side dishes.

Pei Yuanshao’s face felt a bit hot. Judging from the appearance, one could tell the taste wouldn’t be good.

But the woman across from him was eating with great relish. He hesitated and glanced at her, asking, “Is it tasty?”

Liu Changning raised her head and swallowed the brown rice in her mouth. There was no disdainful expression on her face, only a slight nod. “It’s alright. Although the appearance isn’t good, it’s still edible. For the first time cooking, being able to make a table of dishes like this is quite impressive!”

Receiving such praise, Pei Yuanshao was stunned for a moment, his earlobes unconsciously heating up, a hint of delight rising in his heart.

He curled his lips and hesitantly picked up the wooden chopsticks placed on the side of the table, grabbing a chopstick-full of green vegetables.

As the green vegetables entered his mouth, a burnt taste filled his entire mouth. The supposedly excellent dish turned out to be bland and tasteless.

He resisted the urge to spit it out and swallowed it. He glanced at the person across from him again, but saw her eating slowly and methodically, unperturbed, as if she were consuming a delicacy!

Pei Yuanshao’s hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly. He tried a mouthful each of the other two dishes.

The same burnt taste, either too bland or too salty, was unappetizing.

He endured it, placed the chopsticks on the table with a “clack,” the smile at the corner of his lips vanishing, his voice low, tinged with a hint of embarrassed anger. “Stop eating!”

Seeing the woman in front of him raise her head, a pair of clear, rippling eyes looking at him, he felt a bit awkward and added grudgingly, “It tastes so bad, what if it upsets your stomach?”

Liu Changning’s lips curved slightly. She carefully observed him and discovered that when he wasn’t being pretentious, his genuine expression carried a hint of childishness.

Having lived for several hundred years, this person was still just a child in front of her.