Ancient Foodie Survival Guide Chapter 89
Translated by Serena Love
Edited by Azure
Chapter 89: Return to the Capital
Lian Liu's voice frightened the young lady. She couldn't control her expression and hid in her room in horror.
The next day, after she freshened up and got up, the sun was still not up. When she was about to go downstairs to eat some warm breakfast, her maid pushed the door and said, "Miss, it's not good. Even the general is gone."
The young lady stood up abruptly. Her sleeves overturned the teacup and wet her clothes.
She rushed out of the room. The lobby, which was crowded last night, was now empty.
"Where did they go?!" She was in disbelief—her sharp voice piercing the quiet morning in the inn.
Where did they go? Of course, they were gone.
Lian Liu walked in front of the group with a dark aura. He didn't eat the buns or drink water all morning. At first glance, he looked scary. His lieutenants evaded him and stayed at the back of the team.
Only at noon, when everyone stopped to rest, they discovered something that seemed to be wrong.
Lin Cheng nibbled on the dry food and looked around, "Hey, our tail seemed to disappear."
Everyone glanced at the back of the team and indeed did not see the young lady's carriage.
Lin Cheng thought that Lian Liu was defending the young lady last night. He was wondering what happened.
He nibbled on his homemade meat jerky and wandered to Lian Liu.
"General."
Lian Liu leaned on the tree trunk, gnawing dry buns dully. Hearing his voice, he raised his eyes and glanced at Lin Cheng. His tone was not very good, "Master Lin."
"Where is that lady?" Lin Cheng asked, "Why didn't I see her carriage?"
Lian Liu took a bite of a dry bun and said in a very plain tone, "Oh, I forgot to call her."
Lin Cheng's mouth twitched. This guy, he is too fake when he is lying. No matter what disputes occurred between them, Lin Cheng didn't care. He came here to show off, "Well, General Lian is really careless. If I didn’t know, I would have thought she offended General Lian."
This was a thorn in Lian Liu's heart. What you couldn’t eat was the most delicious. Last night, he lay down for six consecutive hours and couldn't sleep because of hunger.
Especially now, when he was hungry and he could only eat dry buns, he remembered the warm and fragrant bowl of meat porridge from last night. He was even more greedy.
Lin Cheng's heart was small. He knew that Lian Liu was greedy, but he didn't leave. He sat next to him and chewed the jerky with relish.
As he got closer, the meat smell became stronger.
Lin Cheng was still talking to him enthusiastically, "It’s rare that General Lian has come to the capital and can rest for a few days. Have you found a place to stay? These are difficult times, so you should take a few more days to relax and try some of the capital’s delicacies. I’m not boasting—let’s not talk about other things in the capital, but the food here is truly excellent."
Lian Liu was most uncomfortable with the people in the capital, who acted as if they had never tasted good food before. "Don’t worry, Master Lin. I’ll return after a day or two. The food in Chang’an probably won’t suit my taste."
To his surprise, Lin Cheng didn’t refute him but instead showed an extremely awkward smile. "Really? I hope General Lian will remember your words."
He finished speaking, stood up, patted the dust on his clothes, and walked away staggeringly.
Lian Liu put the buns into his clothes, fanned the dust away with his sleeves, and gritted his teeth as he watched his back. What is he so proud of?!
As Jiang Shuyao's "family," Lin Cheng couldn’t listen to others questioning her craftsmanship. He waited for Lian Liu to enter Chang’an, and then he would follow him to watch the jokes even if he had to ask for leave from work.
Afterward, they didn't like each other for a few more days. When they were about to reach the capital, the group stopped their pace.
Looking at the dark weather, Lian Liu shook his head and said, "It's going to rain. Let's stay at the inn tonight."
Although Lin Cheng likes to go against him, he had to agree on seeing the bad weather.
However, before arriving at the inn, a flash of lightning and thunder, followed by a violent storm and heavy rain, poured down.
Pouring rain when traveling was the worst.
The rain pounded on their body, weaving a fine rain curtain in front of their eyes. They couldn't even see the road.
Lian Liu was a person who had been on the battlefield and has an instinct for danger. He watched Lin Cheng and the others speed up their horses to the inn and he quickly stopped them.
Lin Cheng wanted to scold him for being insensitive and making them get caught in the rain, but when he saw that Lian Liu was serious, he shut up and looked around vigilantly.
Under the violent storm, the crown prince's carriage was also soaked.
He covered the wooden box with a cushion and muttered, "We can't get it wet."
As soon he finished talking, a sharp howling cut through the sky and accompanied by the sound of swords being unsheathed. A group of black-clothed assassins emerged from the back of the mountain and rushed towards the crown prince.
Their killing intent was fierce, and the sound of rain covered the sound of swords colliding. The crown prince raised the curtain and roared, "Are you crazy! Assassinating people in such a heavy rain?!" The rain soaked both sides. Did the assassins think they were better than them??
As soon as he emerged, Xie Xun, who was guarding the carriage, led the horse over. He raised his hand and pressed his head back, "Your Highness stay inside."
The crown prince gritted his teeth, "It was them last time!" He would never forget the pain of losing the sauce.
Xie Xun drew his sword, went silent, and said solemnly, "It's not them."
The heavy rain would make the arrows miss their targets, but the assassins still kept shooting arrows. No matter who they were shooting, they had no intention to stop.
Lian Liu's people stopped the assassin in the outer circle, but the opponent had no rules in the fight. It was purely fighting for a life and death to force them back.
Lian Liu felt something was wrong, but the heavy rain disturbed his thoughts. He couldn't figure it out, but he killed the enemy while thinking hard.
There was a faint sound of breaking through the air suddenly reaching his ears. He was about to lift his sword to resist, but a light flashed from a sword on his side. The arrow was blocked by the person who rode over.
Xie Xun said, "We can't retreat anymore. They want to force us into the valley."
Lian Liu looked back and saw what appeared to be a massive boulder perched atop the valley behind them, seemingly ready to be dislodged at any moment. He shouted orders, and the soldiers responded in unison, swiftly changing their tactics and charging forward to engage the enemy.
At that moment, thunder roared across the sky, and the ground shook violently. Amid the terrifying noise, huge rocks began tumbling down the valley in waves.
*
Looking at the foggy sky, Jiang Shuyao felt unspeakable anxiety.
Zhou-shi patted her on the shoulder, "What are you thinking about?"
She returned to her senses and shook her head, "Nothing."
"Before you could think that the weather will change, it will change. Remember to add a piece of clothing to avoid catching a cold."
Jiang Shuyao nodded and continued to discuss business matters with Zhou-shi.
When they were talking about a certain point, Xu-shi ran in from outside, followed by a bunch of maids who couldn't catch up with her.
It is rare for Jiang Shuyao to see her unruly appearance. She was about to make fun of her when she heard her tremblingly say, "Your Royal Highness had an accident!"
The tension in Jiang Shuyao's heart suddenly broke. Her mind was blank, and she subconsciously said, "What about him?"
There was no need to name and surname. Xu-shi also knows who she was talking about. She gasped and said, "He is on the way back to the house right now. They said that he was injured. The Emperor sent a doctor over..."
Before she finished speaking, Jiang Shuyao picked up her skirt and ran out.
This incident will inevitably alarm the old madam. When Jiang Shuyao ran to the mansion gate, the old madam, Xie Lang and Xie Li were already waiting there.
The gate of the mansion opened, and two soldiers carried Xie Xun in. His face was pale, his body was simply bandaged, his eyes are closed, and he seemed unconscious.
The old madam fainted immediately, and a group of people hurriedly supported her.
They were all taking care of the old madam. Only Jiang Shuyao was eager to look after Xie Xun and hurriedly led the soldiers to the third branch's courtyard.
"Was he badly hurt?"
The soldier bowed his head and replied, "It's not bad. But it was raining, and now he is getting hot."
Jiang Shuyao trembled. A fever in ancient times was a terrifying ordeal. Suppressing the panic in her heart, she calmly instructed the maids to clean the bed and move Xie Xun to the east wing.
The imperial doctor arrived shortly after. First, he prescribed antipyretic medicine and then re-dressed Xie Xun’s wound. Once the fever-reducing medicinal soup was prepared, Jiang Shuyao helped feed it to him. Though Xie Xun was delirious, he could still swallow and managed to finish nearly the entire bowl.
After a few hours, the heat on his forehead finally subsided. Jiang Shuyao just breathed a sigh of relief, but he started to burn again in the middle of the night.
Surprisingly, Xie Xun’s fever had completely subsided by the second night.
The imperial doctor, growing older and lacking energy, was relieved to see Xie Xun’s condition improve. He prepared to leave the house, saying, "Now that the fever is gone, there should be no serious issues. It’s best for him to rest and recover. I’ll return tomorrow to change his dressing and medicine."
Jiang Shuyao hurriedly expressed her gratitude and handed the doctor some silver as a token of appreciation.
Although the doctor said that Xie Xun was fine, Jiang Shuyao was still worried. She sat in front of Xie Xun's bed and constantly checked his forehead's temperature with the back of her hand.
Bai Zhi persuaded her a few times, but Jiang Shuyao refused to go, so she left silently.
In the second half of the night, when Jiang Shuyao was about to fall asleep, Xie Xun woke up.
When he moved, Jiang Shuyao immediately woke up. When she was about to call someone, she saw his confused eyes.
"Why are you in my dream again?"
Jiang Shuyao's fear suddenly fell to the ground, and she said with a smile, "What dream, go to sleep."
Xie Xun muttered something and fell asleep again.
When Xie Xun woke up the next day, Jiang Shuyao was already asleep on the side of the bed.
He blinked, looked at the bedsheet, and did not know where he was. He subconsciously reached out to touch the letter in his chest.
As soon as he raised his hand, he touched his wound and he gasped with pain.
Jiang Shuyao woke up in shock. As soon as she looked up, she saw Xie Xun staring at her, a little dumbfounded.
"How's it going? Is there any discomfort?"
Jiang Shuyao reached out to touch Xie Xun's forehead, but he turned his head to avoid her.
She was taken aback, but before she could, she heard Xie Xun's words, "You go out first and let my servant boy come in."
After seeing him again after a long absence, Jiang Shuyao didn't expect that his first sentence after he woke up would be this.
"What happened?"
Xie Xun turned his head even further.
Jiang Shuyao was confused. Though puzzled, she still followed Xie Xun’s wishes. Xie Xun had been lying down for two days, consuming nothing but medicine. After giving instructions, Jiang Shuyao went to the kitchen to prepare porridge for him.
When the porridge was ready, she returned to the room and found Xie Xun already halfway up. He looked refreshed, his ink-like hair half-tied, and his collar neatly arranged, as if he had just freshened up and dressed himself.
Jiang Shuyao walked over questioningly and put the bowl down.
Xie Xun spoke first, "Long time no see."
"You asked the servant to come in... to get them to help you freshen up?"
Xie Xun's smile froze on his face, and the roots of his ears gradually turned red. Thinking of his embarrassed appearance being seen by Jiang Shuyao, he wished to carry the sword back and slaughter those assassins.
"What the hell, did you forget that you were hurt?"
Seeing that she was angry, Xie Xun said hurriedly, "It's just a small injury." When he was excited, his face became pale when the wound was moved.
Seeing her like this, Jiang Shuyao couldn't get angry anymore. She sat down beside his bed with a bowl in her hand and said, "You haven't eaten for two days. Drink some plain porridge to cushion your stomach."
She didn't say anything wrong, but in Xie Xun's ears, he suddenly felt hollow.
After making do with eating outside for so long, he finally went home and could finally get some good food. But in the end, he was injured and could only drink some plain porridge.
Xie Xun looked at the bowl of plain porridge, feeling a little wronged.
Jiang Shuyao didn't know what he was thinking. She scooped up the porridge and blew on it, then handed the spoon to his mouth.
Xie Xun opened his mouth obediently. The white porridge was extremely soft with rice's pure aroma—sliding down from his throat, making his stomach full of warmth.
"It's tasteless," he complained.
Jiang Shuyao raised her eyes and glanced at him. Xie Xun felt something in his heart, and his chaotic mind became sober.
He secretly scolded himself for being childish. It was really shameful to talk nonsense to her.
When he was about to explain, Jiang Shuyao suddenly leaned over. He watched her face magnify in front of his eyes, and his mind fell into chaos again, only feeling the softness that fell on his lips flickered away.
Jiang Shuyao sat back down again, and as if nothing happened, she scooped a spoonful of porridge again and handed it to his mouth.
Xie Xun opened his mouth to drink it.
"What about now?"
Xie Xun was taken aback for a while and said, "Sweet."
"Do you want to drink more?"
"Yes." Xie Xun replied without hesitation.
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