Ink Burns

Chapter 203 You have no sense of taste, do you?

The carriage traveled smoothly, passing over the silvery Milky Way and the distant, rolling mountains, heading into the deeper night.

The carriage stopped, and Shan Yue slowly woke up. Thinking she had arrived home, she gently lifted the carriage curtain, only to find that the carriage had stopped in front of an unfamiliar courtyard in a mountain valley.

Shan Yue lifted the carriage curtain completely, her eyes still glazed over from just waking up: "Where is this?"

Xue Xiao had already bent down to separate the horse from the carriage. He first tied the horse to the dismounting stone, and then reached out to lead Shan Yue: "This is my private residence. It's too far to go back to the city, and I'm using Xiao Po's travel permit. If I enter the city too late, it might attract unnecessary attention. Let's stay here for the night."

Shan Yue lowered her eyes and looked at the large hand in front of her. The index finger, the middle joint of the thumb, and the middle finger were all covered with a thick layer of calluses.

It embodies both the diligence of a scholar holding a pen and the hard work of a martial artist practicing archery and spear.

Xue Xiao's attitude was far too frank.

He was so calm that even if Xiao Po had lost an arm, he could still carry her in a princess carry without changing his expression.

Shan Yue pursed her lips, turned her eyes away, and placed her wrist in the man's large hand.

Xue Xiao exerted force with his arm, and Shan Yue landed steadily without aggravating the tear in her left shoulder.

"This is the house I built when I was studying. The Taoist temple was too noisy, so my master kicked me out to concentrate on my studies." Xue Xiao punched with his big hand, then found the right point of leverage and gently pulled, piling all of Shan Yue's weight onto himself.

It's as light as a bird.

Oh no, Snowball is as fat as a chicken, and looks much more robust than her.

Shan Yue couldn't avoid it in time, and staggered, half-leaning to Xue Xiao's side. Her hand instinctively braced itself on Xue Xiao's chest, and her palm felt like it was touching a warm stone—hard and hot.

Xue Xiao always preferred to wear the long robes of a civil official, hanging on his shoulders like a clear spring waterfall cascading down between rocks in a mountain stream, making him appear thin, aloof, silent, and mysterious.

Shan Yue knew he was no ordinary scholar, but she had no idea he could be so lean and strong.

Shan Yue choked, not wanting to question whether his actions were "appropriate" anymore, since the answer she would get in the end would only be nonsense like "...Wow, allies, that's how it should be, lalalala."

The fill-in-the-blank phrases with "wa la la la" can be handled randomly depending on the situation, but the word "ally" will definitely be mentioned repeatedly.

I'm sure this youngest scholar in the history of the Great Wei Dynasty, who passed the imperial examinations twice, could quote extensively from classical texts and leave her speechless.

Since questioning was pointless, Shan Yue shifted her gaze to the view beyond the courtyard fence.

In the dark twilight, wisps of white mist hung in the sky.

Here, the mountains are in front and the stream is behind, with crisscrossing paths all around. Orchards line the mountains, and at night, white mist, cooking smoke, and twinkling lights can be seen in the crisscrossing paths. There are at least seven or eight farmhouses living here in peace and contentment.

The charm of the mountains and fields, the simple joys, are mostly like this.

Pushing open the door and entering, the courtyard is not large, with thick pillars serving as beams and roofs. A few small yellow and white flowers sway in the cracks of the stone steps. There are single-story houses on three sides of the courtyard: one is a kitchen and stable, another is a bright and airy study with a row of open floors, and the last one is the bedroom.

The bedroom is a two-section room. The outer room contains only a short bamboo woven daybed, two tall and narrow bamboo platforms, and a narrow, small desk with a few books scattered on it. Passing through the bamboo woven curtain leads to the inner bedroom, which is even more simply furnished with only a bed.

Upon entering the inner room, Xue Xiao first examined Shan Yue's injured left shoulder.

Thankfully, it didn't crack again.

Xue Xiao took out strong liquor and gauze from the inner room and said to Shan Yue, "Clench your teeth." He then raised his hand and used the gauze soaked in strong liquor to wrap around the wound on the left shoulder, making the pinkish-red wound very conspicuous on the woman's shoulder.

Well, it's not exactly eye-catching.

It's not unique, at least not.

The woman's back was covered with old scars, some deep and some shallow.

Shan Yue gritted her teeth and endured the pain while waiting for Xue Xiao to ask a question.

To everyone's surprise, Xue Xiao kept his eyes straight ahead and moved gently, as if he only had eyes for that fresh wound—just like when he helped apply medicine the day before.

Xue Xiao didn't ask any questions.

He didn't ask, but she did.

The bedding on the bed was neat and dry, and the pillowcases were clearly changed frequently. "Do you live here permanently?" Shan Yue looked up.

"It's close to Tianbao Temple, so I can come here to stretch my legs and rest after my shift. It's much more comfortable than curling up to sleep in the cold, damp dungeon."

Xue Xiao lifted the silk covering the bedding, his voice inexplicably softening: "After we got married, I rarely lived here anymore."

No matter how late it was, he would always ride his horse home as long as he could get back.

Shan Yue looked up at him, her expression serious and focused.

Xue Xiao's voice suddenly stopped, his volume rose, and he turned his head: "Are you hungry? Shall I cook you a bowl of noodles? There's always food prepared here, just in case my good-for-nothing senior brothers starve to death after being locked up by Master."

Shan Yue smiled and Xue Xiao went to the kitchen. He returned shortly afterward with two bowls of noodle soup.

The noodles are very plain, with soybean oil as the base, boiling water to dissolve the lard, and a few bright green scallions sprinkled on the slightly yellow noodles.

There wasn't much meat, probably because the weather was hot and meat wouldn't keep for long.

Under the lamp, Shan Yue was picking out noodles when she discovered a poached egg lying at the bottom of the bowl.

The poached egg was also fried in lard, with a crispy ring and the yolk shining in the center, like a small sun.

Shan Yue looked up and saw that Xue Xiao was eating very politely, but not slowly. He finished his food in four or five bites with a few chopsticks and was now drinking soup.

His bowl didn't have any.

It was a very down-to-earth action, but when Xue Xiao did it, it had a calm and unhurried demeanor and a completely different kind of carefree spirit.

Shan Yue lowered her head again to look at the sun in the bowl: she had never eaten eggs from home.

Back in Hetou Village, if there was only one egg in the house, it would be given to my father, He Qingshu; if there were two, we would save them for him to eat for two days; if Shuiguang insisted on eating them, we would beat the eggs, add water, and make egg custard so that both my father and Shuiguang could eat them.
Only she and her mother, Qiu Erniang, never ate this "precious stuff".

She was precocious from a young age. She couldn't articulate profound truths, but she always vaguely understood that "egg" equals "love," and that "love" is wherever the "egg" is.
The only egg left is in her bowl.

Shan Yue blinked, holding chopsticks in her right hand but not moving them for a long time.

"I just borrowed these eggs from a fellow villager. I'll return them next time."

Xue Xiao assumed that Shan Yue was pondering the origin of the egg, so he said, "My fellow villager trusts me a little, but not much, so he only gave me one. It's fresh, so you can eat it without worry."

After Xue Xiao finished eating, he stood up and consciously cleared away the dishes, showing no arrogance of a noble family, as if he was used to doing such things.

Seeing that Shan Yue hadn't picked up her chopsticks yet, Xue Xiao frowned slightly: "Is it not to your liking? Although it's not as good as the mutton noodles at Bai Xiang Lou, it's not that bad either—Master has eaten it, and Senior Brother has eaten it, and neither of them found it hard to swallow."

Shan Yue's mind was a bit muddled. She nodded and blurted out, "Bai Xiang Lou's mutton noodles are light and fragrant, and your vegetarian broth is also quite good."

As soon as Shan Yue finished speaking, Xue Xiao suddenly calmed down and fell silent.

After a short while, Shan Yue came to her senses, slowly raised her head, and smiled, a smile that was both helpless and bitter: "The taste of Bai Xiang Lou's mutton noodles is not bland, is it?"

Silence again.

He remained silent for a few moments.

Xue Xiao slowly raised his head, his voice calm and quiet: "No—although Bai Xiang Lou's mutton soup looks white, thick, and sticky, it contains a lot of spices, such as powdered malt extract."

"Therefore, Baixianglou mutton soup has a mild spiciness—it is by no means a light and fresh flavor."

"—Shanyue, do you also lack a sense of taste?"

Just like her back.

Is her sense of taste also riddled with flaws?
anything else?
what else?
What else has she suffered?
he wanted to know.

He was frantically trying to find out.

Xue Xiao slightly lowered his chin, his gaze focused and honest, staring directly into Shan Yue's deep brown eyes, like amber fallen into a well.

Xue Xiao finally asked, "Is there anything you're willing to tell me?"