And now when facing Pang Xiao, her taut heartstrings suddenly relaxed and she plopped her head on his shoulder, crying like a bullied child.
“Alright, alright, don’t cry. It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have scared you like that. How about you beat me up? Kick my butt!” The arrival of tears flustered Pang Xiao. He sat down on the wooden bed frame on the side and placed her on his lap, flailing around in an attempt to wipe her tears away.
* * *
Chapter 200: Understanding
Chapter 200: Understanding
Qin Yining only took note of Pang Xiao’s outfit when her cheeks were chafed by his coarse robes. Coarse indigo cloth with patched sleeves hung on his body. His hair was randomly tied up behind his head, a few strands escaping here and there. There was a tattered straw hat on his back.
“How dare you come into the city at a time like this!?” Qin Yining stopped crying and glared huffily at him.
Pang Xiao held her with one arm and took her wrist with the other hand. He lightly thumbed the red bean bracelet on her wrist and flashed a wide grin. “I missed you, so came to see you. Plus, I’ve come to do a spot of business so I’ll accrue more wealth for my future wife.”
Qin Yining snorted. “And aren’t you afraid that I’ll hand you over right now? I wonder how great a merit I’ll earn if I give you to our emperor.”
“Could you bear to do so?” Pang Xiao brought her hand up to his mouth for a kiss, brushing his slightly dry lips still bearing traces of blood over her fingers, then swept his tongue over the bracelet on her wrist.
The ticklish and electrifying sensation burned Qin Yining, making her tremble. “What are you doing!?”
“Can’t I express how I’ve missed you over these days? But really, if I let myself to be captured by you, would you really give me up?”
Qin Yining glared at him with slightly reddened eyes. She’d purposefully tried to avoid and refrained from even thinking about questions like that. How could he just ask it so casually?
The prince sighed when he looked at the girl’s eyes. “I was worried that you’d think too much. I know that thanks to your father, you’re slowly forgetting the years of suffering in your youth. The nation of your heart hasn’t given you any shelter, and the emperor you look up to is trash…”
“I know all of this already.” Qin Yining interrupted and lifted her eyes to look into his nearby face. “The emperor is trash and the country corrupt. But does that mean we deserve to be invaded by outside forces?”
“My dearest Yi…”
“Do you know what kind of lives people are living?! I’ve sold all the valuables in Ning Park and sank a lot more silver in to barely make sure that only a thousand people won’t starve to death. There are still so many more homeless on the streets! The weather has been unkind this year and no crops have been able to be planted because of the war. So many are abandoning their homes and selling houses and land to go on the run. I’m sure there will be people selling sons, daughters, and wives before long! This is all because of Great Zhou! Pang Zhixi, I really ought to hand you over to the emperor!”
Her harsh words were belied by the trickling of tears. Pang Xiao kissed her forehead, pulled her to his chest, and smoothed down her hair with his hand.
“If you really could’ve done it, you would’ve handed me over a long time ago. You have Miss Tang, she knows poison. You’re smart and crafty, and I’m not on my guard against you. You’ve had plenty of chances to hurt me.”
Qin Yining gave up on everything and buried herself soundlessly in his embrace. She would have a mental breakdown if torn between the greater good and personal feelings.
“But you need to know that I’m waging war so I can end these troubled times.”
This shook her heart and she raised her head to look at him again. The prince wiped off her face with his sleeve. “The sooner we end these troubled times, the sooner peace will descend for the people. It’s what I thought when I fought Northern Ji and it’s still what I think as I fight Great Yan. The people will have at least a hundred years of peace if all lands were united, no?”
“You…”
“Although a lot of people die in battle, the sacrifices of now are nothing when compared to eventual peace. Those who die leave this world so that everyone else can have a good future. I won’t shy away if even my life is demanded one day.”
Qin Yining looked down and leaned against his shoulder again, silently thinking over his words. Perhaps one unified land and world peace is the greatest good for everyone?
She identified as a Great Yan citizen, so she hated Great Zhou’s invasion. She hadn’t thought that Pang Xiao wasn’t fighting the war to conquer and dominate, but for the good of the world. He held not only his country in his heart, but all the people beneath the heavens. She didn’t doubt the truthfulness of his words at all. Compared to him, her thoughts had been much too limited.
The prince knew that Qin Yining had lost her earlier anger and resentment when she laid docilely in his arms. He wouldn’t be Pang Zhixi if he didn’t take advantage of this to get a few kisses in! As she thought over things, he quickly kissed her cheek and snow-white neck, then buried his face in her hair, breathing in the faint jasmine fragrance wreathing her and refusing to lift his head.
The hot huffs of his breaths brought Qin Yining back to herself. She pushed him away and jumped down from his lap with a bright red face. “Don’t you think it’s too hot?”
Pang Xiao was indeed very hot. All of the warmth in his body was surging to one place and it was taking a lot of energy to maintain control over himself. Therefore, he didn’t stop her when she walked away.
The Qin fourth miss fanned herself furiously before remembering why she’d come today. “You’re here to buy some shops?”
“That’s right. I ordered some men to buy some property in secret, but they somehow got in touch with Steward Zhong instead.”
She narrowed her eyes in thought. Enlightenment suddenly struck. “You’re so devious!”
“What?”
“What really happened at Xihua must not be what the rumors say. You didn’t raze the city at all, did you?”
“Mmhmm. I only killed some landlords who specialize in fleecing the people and some corrupt officials.”
“But you displayed their heads and spread news that you were about to raze the entire city.” Qin Yining leaned over to whack the prince’s head with her velvet fan. “You did all this to add to your own coffers! No wonder the steward was so happy. If the commander-in-chief of the enemy army is buying property in the capital, that means you’re not going to raid and loot when you enter the capital. It’s a guarantee that everything will be as usual.”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Pang Xiao smiled. “I’m not a serial killer. Am I fighting so I can slaughter people? We want to conquer Great Yan so we can add to Great Zhou’s economy and help the people live better lives.”
The prince shook his head with a tsk. “It looks like you don’t know me well enough, since you’re affected by those rumors. You actually think I’m a demon murderer!”
“You might think so, but your emperor doesn’t necessary think so.”
The prince fell into momentary silence. The two thought of how Pang Xiao had once refused to follow an imperial order to raze a city, resulting in his demotion.
Pang Xiao propped his chin up with a hand and looked at her merrily. “Are you worried about me?”
Qin Yining started and her blush deepened. “No.”
“Really~?”
The girl was uncomfortable by the gaze and decided to turn in another direction. Pang Xiao burst out laughing and decided not to tease her anymore. He took her hand. “Come, let’s have share a meal. I prepared some food.”
“You? Prepared food?” Qin Yining was very surprised.
“Yep.” Pang Xiao turned back with a smile. “Why are you so surprised? Don’t you know that my grandfather used to own a restaurant?”
* * *
&n
bsp; Chapter 201: I’ll Wait For You
Chapter 201: I’ll Wait For You
She naturally knew of his past. Ever since she’d realized that she didn’t dislike this person barging into her life, and in fact didn’t want to reject him, she’d tried to learn more about his past. She knew that he’d been forced into the army and that he’d grown up in his grandfather’s house.
But, just because his grandfather owned a restaurant didn’t mean that Pang Xiao knew how to cook. This tall, strapping man was normally domineering and high-handed. Anyone would believe that he knew how to scheme and kill, but it was tough to imagine what he’d look like in the kitchen.
Pang Xiao tugged the girl to the rear kitchen. Qin Yining had just neared the door when she smelled a particularly fragrant smell.
“Is that beef?”
“Mm. It’s a hot day, so I chilled the beef tendon after cooking it. You can try my cold noodles in a moment.”
The two entered the kitchen to see a ceramic bowl placed on the cutting board. A lump of dough was resting within it. Pang Xiao washed his hands with a ladle of water and lifted the wooden cover of a great iron pot to fill it with water. He flashed a smile at the girl. “Just a moment. The fire’s already lit, we can eat shortly.”
He put the dough on the cutting board and made it stretchy and elastic with a few powerful kneads. The prince rolled the dough into a cylindrical shape. He shook his arms and thwacked the dough onto the cutting board. One large cylinder became two, two became four, four became eight…
Qin Yining stood at the kitchen door, watching the man’’s adroit movements. Thin noodles had emerged from the lump of dough in the end and the water in the pot was at a boil. Pang Xiao pinched off the ends and evenly placed the noodles into the pot. The frothing water calmed down as the noodles entered it.
Pang Xiao stirred the pot with a long spoon and then turned his attention to preparing two basins of cold water. He washed cucumbers and pears, adroitly turning them into thin strips. He fished out the chilled, seasoned beef and cut it into thin slices, then chopped a few more pieces of watermelon.
From her position at the door, Qin Yining noted that the prince’s movements were well-rehearsed and skillful. His knife work was top class, an obvious sign that he used to cook a lot. He really did have a few hints of a master chef in the making.
The noodles were ready before long, to which Pang Xiao dunked them in cold water and split the portion into two nearby rough, but clean ceramic bowls. He hauled up a clay pot that had been lowered into the well this morning to be chilled, revealing pre-made soup to go with the cold noodles. He plucked out the spring onion and ginger chunks floating in the soup and poured the liquid over the noodles.
Cucumber and pear strips were placed on top, and triangular watermelon and sliced beef rounded out the side dishes. Coriander and sesame were the finishing touches, and a wide smile flashed on the prince’s face as he placed the bowls on the table outside the kitchen.
“Come, come. Come try my food.” Pang Xiao merrily offered a pair of chopsticks to the Qin fourth miss.
The girl had long been stunned by the prince’s deft actions, the delicious smell, and plating of the bowl of cold noodles. The thin noodles were of uniform thickness and tasty aromas of beef soup wafted towards the nose. The soup itself was translucent, with the jade green of cucumber strips, snow-white pear strips, red watermelon chunks, and beef equally distributed between meat and tendon forming a perfect, tantalizing picture.
Qin Yining tried a mouthful of soup. It was coolly refreshing with none of the gaminess of meat. Instead, there was a fortifying fragrance of vegetables, fruit, and seasoned beef.
She then tried a mouthful of noodles. They were chewy without being undercooked. The thin noodles had completely absorbed the flavors of the dish. When paired with a mouthful of cucumber and pear, and another of watermelon, then washing it all down with another mouthful of soup — the bites completely vanquished the summer heat and humidity. She unconsciously drained half a bowl of noodles as she marveled at its tastiness.
Pang Xiao was holding a larger bowl and shoveling noodles in with a pair of chopsticks, but he kept an eye on his girl all the while. Although she was eating very daintily, her curved eyebrows were evidence of her happiness, which in turn brought him joy as well.
Qin Yining had spent recent days fretting over matters of home. That combined with the scorching summer days had effectively killed most of her usual appetite. This was the most she’d eaten in a while, but the bowl was too large for her to finish.
When the prince saw her half-eaten bowl, he put down his own. “What’s wrong? Do you not like it?”
“No, it’s delicious. I like it a lot, I just can’t eat anymore.” Qin Yining looked at Pang Xiao with sparkling eyes. “I didn’t know you could cook so well!”
“This is nothing. We’re short on time, so I could only throw together a quick bowl of noodles for you. Next time, when we have more free time and more ingredients, I’ll make you something really good.” He picked up Qin Yining’s bowl in a smooth motion and slurped down the rest of the noodles.
She lowered the hand that she’d raised to stop him with. “Those are my leftovers…”
Pang Xiao put down the bowl with a smile. “I don’t see a problem. Do you like watermelon? It’s been chilling in the well all day and it’s still cool.”
He rose to pick up a knife and chopped the watermelon into smaller pieces. He looked back to see Qin Yining, her beauty a living painting. He made a few more slices and handed her bite-sized bits.
“Many thanks.” Qin Yining bit into one of the chunks she was offered. Given the lack of water this summer, the watermelons were small, concentrating the sweetness.
Pang Xiao sat on a stool across from the fourth miss with his legs apart, chomping into the watermelon and looking at her. His cheeks bulged with fruit, but he still insisted on smiling at her. The girl was mysteriously in a lighthearted mood, eating two more pieces than she would’ve because of her good spirits.
After the meal, the prince drew a basin of water for her to wash her hands. He splashed the water on his face when she was done. Off to the side, Qin Yining looked at his motions and suddenly had the disorienting feeling that they were just an ordinary family.
Pang Xiao wiped off his face, carelessly slicking back his wet hair with a smile. “My dear Yi, what do you think about my cooking skills?”
She nodded seriously with approval. “Your cooking skills are quite wonderful. You’re better than the chefs at the manor! I’m so much worse compared to you. To be honest, the best I can manage now is grilled meat. I used to make that a lot and learned a bit of how to cook it after returning to the manor, so it’s the only food I make that’s barely edible.”
Pang Xiao chuckled. “No worries, it doesn’t matter if you don't know how to cook. I’ll cook for you in the future.”
Infected by his smile, a ‘yes’ almost escaped Qin Yining. She immediately caught the undertones of his offer and blushed furiously. This man was willing to take a risk to come see her and never put on the airs of a prince with her. He was tremendously attentive and even ate her leftovers as well as use water she’d already used. They were so like a family. Perhaps the rest of my life really is with him…
Her thoughts took another turn. Outsiders thought that she’d already given her chastity to him and they had indeed kissed and hugged. It really did look like she could only be his. Even if she disregarded all this, it would be difficult to pay him back for saving her life so many times.
The more Qin Yining thought about this, the more her blush crept until her neck and ears were bright red as well.
Pang Xiao cracked a smile and wrapped his arms around the girl. “What’s going on with our darling Yi? Have you been cooked through and through? Why are you all red?”
Qin Yining burst out laughing and pounded him with a fist. “What are you talking about? I’m not a shrimp.”
“Are you not? Let me ha
ve a taste.” The prince pretended to go in for a bite. Qin Yining pushed him away with a chuckle.
“Stop playing around. Don’t we have business to discuss?”
“There’s no rush. Since I know who owns the shops, the transaction will be easy. It was so difficult for us to meet up and I don’t know when our next meeting is. I can’t come see you all the time. The tenser the war becomes, the more difficult it is for me to visit. Let me hug you for a bit longer, alright?”
What’s he talking about! He has absolutely no sense of shame!
“What’s all this? We’re not married yet!”
“So does this mean that I can do whatever I want once we’re married?” Pang Xiao looked at her with sparkling eyes.
Qin Yining blinked, stunned, and forgot to struggle. She responded after a long beat, “Who — who said they’re marrying you!”
“Tsk tsk, our darling Yi is such a villain. You’ve eaten my noodles and taken advantage of me. Are you trying to pretend all of that didn’t happen?”
“When did I take advantage of you?!” Qin Yining widened her eyes.
“And you say you didn’t? You bit a hole in my tongue! Now you want to forget it all and pretend you don’t know me? My reputation is ruined because of you. Whatever will I do if you don’t take responsibility for all this?”
Qin Yining pushed at his chest with both hands, looking wordlessly at his ever-so-close face. This man really was something else when he put on that shameless act.
“Your men really ought to see how you get when you act so shamelessly.” This was all she could settle for in the end.
Pang Xiao laughed heartily. “Do you take all soldiers to be coarse, brusque men? They owe their mothers and wives a great amount given their long years away from home. Us northern men are honest folk who love our family. We might act like miniature tigers outside, but we turn into cats when facing our mothers and wives. Each fears his wife more than the man before. I’m actually not that bad.”
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