Adorable Food Goddess

Ye Jiayao proceeded to make some food while Xia Chunyu lied down on the bed, reading through her little booklet.

The booklet was filled with little scribbles of the positive and negative points of every type of dried fruits in detail.

Xia Chunyu admired how much thought and preparation she was putting on this feast. If it were others, they would’ve just definitely bought some from Bai Wei Zhai or Ju Xiang Yuan out of convenience. The guests would not say much about it either. There were only few who aim for perfection like her.

He was initially a little worried that she would not do well with this task. However, now, after seeing the lengths she was willing to go to, he knew that she would definitely do great.

Ye Jiayao carried the finished Yang Zhou fried rice up to her room. Just as she reached the second floor, she heard someone shout, “You think you are formidable with three Kings? I am gonna kill you with a bomb…”

Isn’t that Song Qi’s voice?

Ye Jiayao followed the voice to a room. She leaned forward to peer through the crack of the door and saw Song Qi and a few guards playing cards.

I thought this fellow was going to brew tea?

Ye Jiayao decided to leave this alone for now and continued to her room.

Xia Chunyu sat up upon smelling the fragrance of the fried rice. He moved the few things on the bed and said, “Eat here, by the window. It is cooler.”

“There isn’t any beef in the kitchen so I used pork. There is also no vegetables left so I added pickled cabbage. If you say anything bad about this, I’ll dump this over your head,” Ye Jiayao declared upfront, knowing that this chap was extremely picky about food.

Xia Chunyu shrugged. “So what? Before you came up the mountains, I ate worse food than that and survived.”

“I made so many delicious foods for you every day, but you always made it seem like you don’t like it!” Just thinking about it was making Ye Jiayao’s blood boil.

Xia Chunyu explained, “I am not clear about your background then! I thought you were a spy sent by First-in-charge! You have to admit that it’s strange that they didn’t keep a beautiful woman for themselves. First-in-charge has always been wary of me so I was naturally suspicious.”

Ye Jiayao cooled down a bit after hearing him praise her beauty. Still, she glared at him and said, “Excuses.”

Xia Chunyu didn’t say anything more. He told her the truth.

Although there wasn’t an abundance of ingredients, only pork cubes, and eggs, everything Yaoyao made was delicious.

He wasn’t actually hungry. He just missed her egg fried rice so he was able to clean his whole bowl out.

He glanced at her and noticed that the rice in her bowl hasn’t decreased much.

“If you’re not eating, just give it to me.” Xia Chunyu stared at her bowl.

Ye Jiayao covered her bowl quickly. “You have already eaten a lot! I especially gave you a big bowl.”

“Who said that every grain and meal does not come easy, that we shouldn’t waste food, hmm? Besides, I took a trip to the Purple Mountains today and I used up a lot of energy. I need to eat more.” Xia Chunyu snatched her bowl over and poured half of the rice into his bowl before promptly returning it to her.

“If there ever is a famine, whoever is with you will definitely starve to death,” Ye Jiayao said gloomily.

Xia Chunyu smiled as he looked at her, his eyes as dark as obsidians. “You don’t have to worry about that. I wouldn’t let you starve even if it means I have to cut my flesh out.”

Ye Jiayao was a little embarrassed. What does that mean? Was she really that important to him?

Ye Jiayao scooped rice into her mouth silently. She looked up when she felt a set of heavy eyes on her.

“Why are you staring at me?” Ye Jiayao snapped.

Xia Chunyu pointed at her cheek. “There’s a grain of rice.”

Ye Jiayao wiped it hurriedly. There isn’t any!

“Are you lying?” Ye Jiayao demanded, her eyes narrowing.

Xia Chunyu lowered his head and resumed eating his rice. “It was there just now. It’s gone already.”

His lips turned up into a faint smile. He was genuinely enjoying simple things like this. There was a time that he thought that there would never be a chance for them to eat face to face like this again. The scene right now was so similar to the night they got married. The only difference was Yaoyao was meeker then.

“Chunyu, guess where Song Qi went,” Ye Jiayao quizzed.

Xia Chunyu replied lazily, “He won’t be next door, definitely not sitting in the lobby downstairs… I would have to say that he is hiding somewhere playing Doubles.”

Ye Jiayao looked at him in surprise. It seemed like he knew his henchman well.

Xia Chunyu gave her a faint smile. “Are you going to Ju Xiang Yuan tomorrow?”

“Yes. I would have to take a look since you gave it such a high praise.”

“I’ll get Song Qi to accompany you there. I will fork out the money, you get Song Qi to try all the pastries there until he does not have the strength to play cards,” Xia Chunyu said.

That fellow is getting out of control. How dare he throw me, his boss, the tough job and sneak away to play cards?

Ye Jiayao found that a bit too mean, but she had to admit that it was a good idea.

Outside, the rain had already stopped.

“You should be going, it is very late,” Ye Jiayao urged.

Xia Chunyu seemed to sigh. “Yeah, it is time to go back.”

He knew that he should leave but he really didn’t want to go. However, he dared not stay either. Improving his relationship with Yaoyao was more of a hard work than he originally thought.

“Then I shall get going. Tomorrow, though, I might not have the time to come over.” Xia Chunyu rose, wishing to see a hint of disappointment from her expression, but he found none.

Ye Jiayao said, “Go do what you need to do. There isn’t much here, anyway.”

Xia Chunyu was melancholic and frustrated. How could he get through to her?

“Go, go! I am tired,” Ye Jiayao hurried him on continuously.

Xia Chunyu frowned, walking out quickly.

Ye Jiayao followed behind to walk him out the door for courtesy purposes. She was not really paying attention to him so she didn’t realize that he stopped just before the door. Her face smashed into his back unceremoniously.

Ye Jiayao covered her nose in pain, grumbling, “Why did you stop so suddenly?”

“I forgot something,” Xia Chunyu said thoughtfully.

Ye Jiayao was about to ask him what it was when he leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

He said in a calm, deep voice, “I’ll come again tomorrow.”

Then he turned around and walked out.

Ye Jiayao stared blankly at the open doorway for a long while.

Why did she let him kiss her? Why didn’t she slap him to the next continent? Didn’t all the dramas have that scene? Did he think that just by helping her out he gets to have some sort of payment? Did he think that just because she was nice to him this time, she has forgiven him completely?

Even if she has forgiven him, that does not mean that she has accepted him back.

There were too many problems between them. They weren’t even in the same social status! Even if they did end up together, what would become of her? His concubine? Always wary of the first wife?  No, thank you.  There was no meaning to a life like that.

Ye Jiayao closed the door angrily.

Early next morning, Ye Jiayao headed to Ju Xiang Yuan and bought a ton of pastries. Song Qi flinched the moment they entered the shop.

“Brother Yao, why do you have to buy so many pastries every day? Are you thinking of opening a pastry shop?” Song Qi sounded her out carefully.

Ye Jiayao smiled as though she was keeping a big secret. “I have plans for that!”

Song Qi resisted the urge to wail like a child. He was hoping that Sister-in-law would open a restaurant so he could get free meals. If she opened a pastry shop, would he be frequently asked over to do taste testing?

“Brother Yao, I think that a restaurant is better than a pastry shop. See, people would only buy one or two boxes of pastries at most. However, if they eat a meal, they would order a whole table of food. That is very lucrative. For things like pastries, they only attract women and not men.”

Ye Jiayao said leisurely, “Then I’ll set up both a restaurant and a pastry shop to accommodate all markets.”

You have such a huge appetite, Song Qi thought.

“Song Qi, after this, bring all these pastries…” Ye Jiayao trailed off, gleefully observing his face slowly crumble.

“Brother Yao, spare me, please. I had so much last night that I feel like I can go without food for the next seven days. Why don’t I find some servants for you to do the food tasting?” Song Qi pleaded.

Ye Jiayao could not resist her laughter. “I haven’t finished what I wanted to say, why are you in such a hurry? I want you to bring the pastries back to Heavenly Residence. Today, I want to treat the brothers.”

Song Qi immediately straightened his back, beaming into a smile. “I can do that.”

After the busy lunch hour, Ye Jiayao called everyone for a meeting. This meeting, however, has better welfare because other than tea, there were pastries.

“Come, all of you. Try these and tell me the unique qualities of each pastry.” Ye Jiayao opened up the boxes, taking the pastries out.

Deng Haichuan was bewildered. “Brother Yao, why did you get so many pastries? Aren’t the dishes more important?”

Ye Jiayao patted his shoulder endearingly. “Haichuan, that’s not all of it. Of course, you have to make good dishes, but there are already many people in Jin Ling who can cook very well. Pastries are in a different league. If you can come up with some innovative and unique flavors, guests will surely remember that. The brilliance often lies in the details. There is a saying that goes, ‘success or failure depends on the details’. Didn’t we say that our goal isn’t to just have a smooth-sailing, but to amaze the world?”

Everyone nodded pensively, seeming to have understood Ye Jiayao’s point.

“In a feast, the dishes are the key components, yes, but the arrangement of drinks, dried fruits, pastries, and desserts are important as well. Even the plate that you use, the chopsticks, and the spoons can become the determining factors of our success. We have to pay close attention to every detail and strive for perfection,” Ye Jiayao continued.

Zhong Xiang gave out the pastries to others. “Eat, taste them carefully, and we can all discuss the various opinions that we have.”

Zhong Xiang felt that compared to Li Yao, he was miles behind. Li Yao was someone with opinions, someone who controls the situation through the little details – just like a general devising a battle plan.

Ye Jiayao has already drafted out the dishes for the birthday feast and has also settled the dried fruits yesterday. Only the pastries were left. She was still undecided. She wanted to wait for everyone to finish eating and discussing before she finalized it.

She was considering four desserts: Split Yellow Pea Cake, Walnut Cakes, Thousand Layer Cake, and Kidney Bean Roll.

“Li Yao, these are all very common pastries. You said you are going to come up with something new, how are you planning to go about doing it?” Zhong Xiang was uncertain.

Ye Jiayao smiled. “Innovation comes from deep pondering. Everyone, think these all through. I am going to the Helian Mansion, and if the menu is settled, we can start tomorrow.”