Chapter 34: Spicy, Numbing, and My Absolute Favorite!

Su Mu gave the word.

Xiao Sizi was the first to reach out, grabbing a bamboo skewer and pulling it free.

A trail of red oil droplets flicked up in its wake.

On it was a diced cube of chicken leg meat, thoroughly drenched in red chili oil and coated in white sesame seeds.

Not the least bit afraid of the spice, the little girl took a big bite.

“Sss-haah!”

Xiao Sizi sharply sucked in a breath of cool air, her little face instantly flushing bright red, yet her eyes shone with startling brilliance.

“Spicy! It’s so spicy!”

She stuck out her tongue and fanned it with her hand, but she still couldn’t resist taking a second bite. With her cheeks puffed out, she mumbled indistinctly, “B-but it’s so good! It’s cool, it’s numbing, and my tongue is dancing!”

Li Lizhi followed close behind.

She picked a skewer of tripe.

The tripe was swirled through the red oil, dripping with savory sauce.

It was crisp, tender, and smooth to the bite. The spicy, numbing flavor instantly exploded across her palate, followed by the rich, mellow fragrance of the red oil, and finally a faint, lingering sweetness.

“Whew…”

Li Lizhi exhaled a long breath, a fine layer of sweat instantly beading on her forehead. “So satisfying! Eating this in the sweltering heat is simply…”

Unable to find the right words, she could only bury her head and keep devouring skewer after skewer.

Watching the two of them cast aside all semblance of decorum, Fang Qingjun swallowed hard.

This bright red broth, slick with oil, looked genuinely intimidating.

“Aren’t you going to try it?” Su Mu asked, offering her a skewer from out of nowhere.

On it was a slice of lotus root.

The lotus root was pale and white, stained only at the rim with red oil, which made it look far less menacing.

Hesitating for a moment, Fang Qingjun took it.

Doing her best to maintain her ladylike poise, she took a gentle little bite.

Crunch!

Crisp!

The lotus root had been blanched with impeccable timing, perfectly crisp and fresh.

Then, the aroma that had been hovering beneath her nose finally materialized on the tip of her tongue.

There was none of the throat-scorching heat she had expected.

Because it was a chilled broth, the heat was far gentler, giving way to an intense fragrance and a tingling numbness. The toasted aroma of sesame blended with the rich depth of the red chili oil, enveloping the crisp, subtle sweetness of the lotus root.

Fang Qingjun’s eyes went wide.

This taste…

It was damn delicious!

Without even realizing it, she finished the entire slice, completely unaware of the sesame seed stuck to the corner of her mouth.

Before she could even savor the aftertaste, another skewer was placed in her hand.

This time, it was a boneless chicken foot.

“Try this one,” Su Mu said as he settled back into his reclining chair, watching the women fight over the food. “That one has the best chew.”

Fang Qingjun no longer cared about etiquette.

She took a bite of the chicken foot.

The skin was crisp, the meat springy, and the flavor refreshingly sour and spicy. With the bones completely removed, only the tender cartilage and meat remained, crunching satisfyingly in her mouth.

“This is just too…”

As Fang Qingjun chewed, she reached into the basin for another skewer. “Too… too delicious!”

The heat surged.

Her fair complexion quickly flushed crimson, tiny beads of sweat dotted the tip of her nose, and her lips swelled red from the spice, as though painted with the most vivid rouge.

Yet her hands refused to stop.

One skewer after another.

Where she had once looked down on this place as dirty and messy, she now felt it was the finest dining establishment in all of Chang’an City!

“Don’t snatch that! I had my eye on that kelp knot!” Li Lizhi smacked the back of Fang Qingjun’s hand with her chopsticks.

“Your Highness, I touched this piece first!”

Fang Qingjun grew frantic as well, tossing her usual gentle modesty to the wind as she parried Li Lizhi’s hand to protect the skewer. “You eat the bamboo shoots!”

“The bamboo shoots are spicy!”

“The kelp is spicy too!”

Back and forth they clashed, their bamboo skewers dueling in midair.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Xiao Sizi sneaked in for a raid. Shoving the pile of empty skewers in front of her aside, she went at it with both hands, snatching up every piece of meat poking out of the basin and clutching them together like a sword.

“All mine!”

With red oil smeared all over her mouth, the little girl beamed so widely her eyes crinkled shut.

Watching the basin of red broth empty at a rate visible to the naked eye, Su Mu shook his head.

“Eat slower. No one is fighting you for it.”

He popped a handful of raisins into his mouth. “This stuff has a delayed kick. Be careful, or your stomachs will hurt tomorrow.”

“I’m gonna eat it even if my tummy hurts!”

With a piece of chicken stuffed in her mouth, Xiao Sizi mumbled through her food, “Tomorrow, I’m bringing Sister Fang to eat again! Sister Fang said earlier she wants to carry this whole pot home on her back!”

Fang Qingjun was currently gasping from the heat of a potato slice. Hearing this, her face burned even redder.

Had she… really said that earlier?

It seemed she had.

She looked at the bare bamboo skewers in her hand, then glanced at Su Mu, who was watching her with an amused look.

She was doomed!

Her persona as a dignified, virtuous lady had completely collapsed today in front of this handyman.

Then again…

Fang Qingjun licked the remaining red oil from her lips.

If she could eat this every day, who cared if her persona collapsed?

“Su… Young Master Su.”

Summoning her courage, Fang Qingjun slapped the skewers in her hand down on the table, her eyes shining bright. “Tomorrow… could you put in more lotus root slices tomorrow? I want to pack a portion… for my father to taste.”

Beside them, Li Lizhi doubled over with laughter, slapping her thigh. “It’s over, it’s over! Chancellor Fang’s lifelong reputation is going to be dragged down by a few skewers of lotus root!”

Su Mu chuckled, waving his cattail leaf fan with even greater vigor.

“Sure.”

“Bring your own ingredients, and strictly no credit.”

Beneath the setting sun in the backyard of the Imperial Kitchen, there sat a chancellor’s daughter with her mouth slick with red oil, devoid of all composure, yet wearing an expression of pure bliss.

And as for that gleaming red basin of cold pot skewers, broth and all, in the end, not even a single sesame seed remained.

…

…

Deep night settled over Chang’an City, and the night watchman’s clapper had already sounded past the second watch^[1].

Inside the study of the Duke of Liang Residence, the candlelight flickered.

Fang Xuanling sat behind a large desk of red sandalwood, holding a draft scroll of 《Essentials of Governance in the Zhenguan Era》, his brow furrowed into a tight knot.

The tea beside his desk had long gone cold, but he had no mood to drink it.

His own daughter, that Fang Qingjun who usually never stepped past the front gates and had nothing on her mind but zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, had actually not returned to the manor at this late hour.

Even though she had gone out with Princess Changle, what hour was it already?

“Master, the young lady has returned.”

The old steward reported in a low voice at the door, a strange note in his tone. “It’s just…”

“Just what?” Fang Xuanling set down the scroll and rubbed his throbbing brow. “Did someone mistreat her? Or did she get into trouble?”

“Not quite that, either…”

The old steward sniffed, as if trying to distinguish a certain smell in the air. “The young lady… she returned carrying a food box, and that smell…”

Before he could finish speaking, a flurry of hurried footsteps sounded.

Fang Qingjun pushed the door open and entered.

The noble lady who was usually so dignified and gentle looked somewhat disheveled at the moment.

Her bun was slightly loose, her dangling hairpin askew, and on her pale green dress, one could faintly spot a few specks of red oil that had not been wiped clean.

Worst of all, the moment she walked in, an overbearing, spicy aroma mingled with the nutty fragrance of toasted sesame instantly overwhelmed the dull smell of ink in the study.

Fang Xuanling froze.

The scent was far too aggressive.

It was as if a troupe of red-clad Hu dancing girls^[2] had suddenly barged into the solemn imperial court, launching into a fiery, whirling dance.

“Father…”

Feeling a bit guilty, Fang Qingjun hid the food box behind her back, the lingering flush on her face not yet faded. “You haven’t rested yet?”

“Where on earth have you been?”

Fang Xuanling put on a stern face, his gaze falling upon his daughter’s red, swollen lips. “What happened to your lips? Did an insect sting you?”