Chapter 9

The rain stopped, and the sky began to clear.

Ying Quhe pulled down his hood, glanced at the muddy mountain path, then looked down at the mud on his shoes, his brow furrowing. He didn’t answer Xi Mi’s question right away, instead taking out his phone to return a call.

With his back turned to Xi Mi, he spoke a few low words to the assistant on the line:

“I found her. Tell Tian Jian not to worry.”

“Mm. No need to come up the mountain. Just look after Tian Jian.”

After those brief words, he hung up, and Xi Mi realized what was going on.

So Mr. Ying had come up the mountain to look for her because of Tian Jian. Putting away his phone, Ying Quhe explained, “Jianjian was worried about you, and there were no other men at the inn right now, so I came up first.”

Xi Mi bowed to him at a formal ninety-degree angle. “I’m really sorry for causing you so much trouble. The mountain path is difficult, so why don’t you head down first while I go up on my own? You were right. The essence of good food lies in its flavor.”

“Mm, you’re quick to learn.” Ying Quhe looked down at her small head, the corners of his mouth curling into a smile for no apparent reason. “I’ll go with you.”

His arm twitched with the urge to reach out and ruffle her short hair, which had been blown messy by the wind.

His index finger twitched slightly as reason suppressed the urge.

He held back.

The tall man walked slowly ahead on the mountain trail. Xi Mi carried a small basket on her back and followed behind, gazing at his imposing silhouette. For some reason, she felt that this man with such a powerful aura was beginning to seem gentler.

In truth, he wasn’t as frightening as she had imagined.

Perhaps because of Tian Jian, this man was treating her a little more gently as well.

Feeling the silence between them was getting awkward, she jogged up beside him, looked up at his handsome, aloof profile, and plucked up the courage to ask, “Mr. Ying, why… didn’t you hire a nanny to take care of Tian Jian instead of me?”

Ying Quhe looked up at the long mountain path ahead and said, “A nanny with good cooking skills isn’t easy to find.”

His crisp, clear voice was like the cool breeze after the rain. Though his breathing carried a faint shortness of breath from exertion, his face showed no sign of fatigue. Beads of sweat at his temples glinted brightly in the post-rain sunlight, making his skin look like polished white jade.

Silence settled between them again, and Xi Mi was at a loss for words. She wasn’t close to Ying Quhe, and their statuses were worlds apart. He was the big boss of Ying Shi Pavilion, a legendary figure she had only ever heard other chefs speak of.

Now that she was actually interacting with him, she found he wasn’t as unreachable as the legends made him out to be.

He felt… surprisingly approachable.

“Mr. Ying, I think you’re different from the rumors.”

Ying Quhe glanced over at her. “Oh? How so?”

Trying to keep the conversation going, Xi Mi muttered, “You’re not that fierce. In my mind, a big boss travels with bodyguards and a couple of assistants. After all, big bosses have countless things to manage every day. Even if you didn’t have all that, you’d at least have a housekeeper.”

“Mm.” Ying Quhe said evenly, a playful glint in his eye as he looked at her. “Don’t I have a little nanny right here?”

Xi Mi blinked, startled.

She quickly realized that the “little nanny” Ying Quhe was referring to was her.

Being placed in that role stung her pride just a bit, but she quickly reined in the stray emotion. It was a legitimate business transaction; there was nothing to look down on.

She earned money through her own capabilities. She should respect herself and respect her work.

Ying Quhe had no idea what she was thinking, nor did he notice her slight change in mood. Coming to the ancient town to judge was a chance to take a vacation. He didn’t need bodyguards, and his assistants stayed on standby.

What he hated most on vacation was having assistants trailing behind him. It annoyed him just to look at them.

Relying on his years of experience foraging in the wild, he stopped at the entrance to a dense forest.

When he came to a sudden stop around a bend, Xi Mi accidentally crashed right into his sturdy back.

Xi Mi yelped, rubbing her forehead with a hiss of pain.

Ying Quhe kept his gaze fixed on the deep, dense forest. Looking at the mud everywhere, he frowned slightly. “Are you alright?” Though his voice habitually carried a chilly tone, beneath that icy exterior, Xi Mi caught a hint of genuine concern.

Following Ying Quhe’s gaze into the deep woods, Xi Mi said, “My grandmother used to say wild mushrooms are freshest after the rain. We should be able to find some in the forest.”

It had just rained, so the dense forest was full of mud, making the going rough.

“Mm. Let me take a look inside.” Ying Quhe hesitated briefly before stepping forward, doing his best to step on patches of weeds to avoid the deep mud.

Xi Mi followed close behind as he headed deeper into the woods.

Washed clean by the rain, the forest plants looked as if coated in a thin sheen of olive oil, so green and fresh they seemed ready to eat with just a sprinkle of salt, chopped millet chili, and vinegar.

On a relatively open mound, Ying Quhe quickly spotted several clusters of white wild mushrooms with caps shaped like conical bamboo hats. At the sight of such fresh, rare wild ingredients, he was already imagining their taste, as though wisps of fragrance were already wafting through the damp air.

Xi Mi carefully dug the clusters of mushrooms out of the earth, looking up at him with a bright face. “Mr. Ying, look! These Jizong Mushrooms^[1] are so fresh! Stewing them right away would taste amazing. It’s already noon, are you hungry?”

Ying Quhe had completely forgotten about mealtime, but her question suddenly left his stomach feeling like a black hole. Before he could answer, Xi Mi was already gathering small stones to build a simple hearth, pulling a small iron pot out of her basket to set on top.

The firewood was damp after the rain and hard to light, so Xi Mi gathered a pile of dry straw and twigs, laying them out on a rock in the sun. While waiting for them to dry, she went to a nearby stream to wash the Jizong Mushrooms and filled her pot with water.

By the time she returned carrying the pot of water, Ying Quhe had taken off his raincoat. Dressed in a casual black jacket, his tall frame leaned comfortably against a tree. His narrow waist carved out a striking silhouette above his long, straight legs.

Holding a pocket knife, he was peeling garlic. His slender, well-defined fingers were fair as scallion stalks, his manner relaxed as he prepped the food, though a subtle cool aloofness still rested on his brow.

Even watching him peel garlic was such a feast for the eyes that Xi Mi felt she could finally understand fangirls. Men with handsome looks, beautiful hands, and a pleasant voice were rare indeed. At least, Ying Quhe was the first one she had ever met, and being around a man like him was truly a pleasure.

Xi Mi simply stared at his beautiful hands.

Suddenly, she felt they looked a bit like… Bastard Dao’s hands.

Ying Quhe noticed that Xi Mi was back. Without pausing his movements or even raising an eyelid, he asked, “How do you plan to prepare them?”

Judging by how he handled the garlic cloves, he clearly knew how to cook. With a tongue as sharp as his, his standards for his own culinary skills would never be low. As he asked Xi Mi how to prepare the Jizong Mushrooms, a sense of pride welled up from deep within her.

The firewood had dried in the sun.

Xi Mi first used an open flame to light the dry grass, which ignited the tree branches. Soon, the fire crackled between the stones. Setting the pot over the flame, she replied, “Out in the wild, we can’t aim for complex flavors, just the pure freshness of the ingredients. First, melt the lard in the pot, then toss in the garlic cloves and Jizong Mushrooms to stir-fry together. Before the garlic changes color, add water and simmer over low heat, adding salt right before serving. The ingredients were freshly picked in the wild, and the water is from a mountain spring. With such pure ingredients, the flavor shouldn’t disappoint.”

Ying Quhe had never tried such a simple, back-to-nature cooking style, nor had he ever experienced a “picnic” like this out in the wild.

As the Jizong Mushrooms simmered, Xi Mi pulled out her phone, took a photo, and posted it on Weibo with the caption “Picnic.”

Closing Weibo, she thought of Culinary Dao again. Stirring the thick, whitening wild mushroom soup rich with lard, she murmured softly, “Mr. Ying, do you know Culinary Dao?”

Ying Quhe’s eyes flickered slightly, but his voice remained calm. “Mhm.”

“I heard that his competition eligibility was revoked just because he didn’t follow your elder brother back on social media. You’re a judge who cares deeply about flavor. If someone can make delicious food, why not give him a chance? Besides, as far as I know, he’s the most popular person in the food influencer scene.”

She didn’t even need to say “as far as I know”; Culinary Dao’s follower count proved everything.

Ying Quhe asked, “Are you asking me to give him a chance?”

Xi Mi nodded.

The man raised an eyebrow slightly, a subtle change coming over his expression. “I have a question.”

“Please go ahead.”

The small iron pot began to bubble vigorously, sending up milky-white crests. The mouthwatering aroma of the Jizong Mushrooms rose with the swirling steam, whetting the appetite.

“He’s talented. If he enters the competition, you’ll have one more rival. What do you think about that?”

Xi Mi scooped up a small wooden spoon of milky-white broth and blew on the hot steam. “If I can persuade you to give him a chance, Mr. Ying, I’ll have repaid a favor. If he hadn’t lent me money, I might not have been able to run away from my wedding.”

Ying Quhe feigned ignorance. “Run away from your wedding?”

She sampled a spoonful of soup, added a bit more seasoning to the pot, and bounced the wooden spoon in her hand. “Mhm. My parents died young, and my grandmother passed away because of me, so my grandfather didn’t care for me much. He ran an eatery in the ancient town, keeping the ancestral business alive, and took in many apprentices to pass down our Xi Family’s cooking techniques. When I was fifteen, the eatery held an internal selection for executive chef, and whoever won would become the Chef God of the Ancient Town. I entered too, and no one expected me to win. After I took the title, my grandfather gave me a new name: Sanchuan. The Xi Family Culinary God had always been male, and my grandfather thought having a girl take the title was embarrassing, so he never revealed my real gender to the outside world.”

As she spoke, Xi Mi’s eyes grew slightly moist. A sudden pang of sympathy hit Ying Quhe. Growing up in a traditional, patriarchal family and reaching where she was today must have involved more hardship than he could ever imagine.

What shocked Ying Quhe even more was something else.

At just twenty-five years old, Xi Mi was already the Xi Family Culinary God. Even less expected was that Sanchuan, the legendary Chef God of Jialing Ancient Town whispered about by everyone, was actually her.

“My grandfather planned to marry me off to my First Senior Brother. After marrying me, my First Senior Brother would change his surname to Xi and marry into the family, taking over the title of Chef God of the Ancient Town from me fair and square.” Xi Mi snapped a tree branch in two and tossed it into the fire. “First Senior Brother is nineteen years older than me, so I refused.”

Ying Quhe was stunned.

Ying Shengnan was twelve years older than Tian Jian, which had already drawn widespread condemnation and disdain. Xi Wendao held some status in the culinary world; Ying Quhe’s impression of him had been nothing beyond strict and old-fashioned. Hearing Xi Mi’s account, an inexplicable anger towards the old man surged within him. Pushing a young girl into a fire pit for no reason was certainly not the act of a family member.

As she spoke of these things, Xi Mi’s gaze grew unfocused. She gave a bitter smile. “Mr. Ying, do you think I’m ridiculous? In this day and age, how can things like this still happen?”

Saying this, she lowered her head. Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to spill at the slightest nudge of emotion.

“Hey,” Ying Quhe called to her.

“Hmm?” Xi Mi raised a pair of wet eyes to look at him.

He explained, “It’s not that we didn’t invite Culinary Dao; he simply refused to show his face. He has his own life and wants to live as Culinary Dao in the online world without stepping into the offline world under that identity.”

“Really?”

“There’s no reason for me to lie to you.”

The soup in the iron pot had turned milky white. When stirred with the wooden spoon, it looked like thick milk. Xi Mi had only brought one bowl, so she filled it to the brim and handed it to Ying Quhe first. “Mr. Ying, I only brought one bowl. You drink first, and once you’ve had your fill, I’ll drink.”

Ying Quhe took the soup and took a slow sip. The thick, white vegetarian soup surprisingly tasted of savory meat. The texture was velvety, rich in flavor with a sweet aftertaste, leaving him craving another sip.

Raising his eyes, he saw the young girl swallowing her saliva, watching the bowl like a hungry wolf. He handed the bowl back to her. “We’ll share.”

The man’s eyes seemed coated in a layer of soft warmth, and even his deep, pleasant voice carried a trace of gentleness.

Xi Mi reached out to take the bowl. When her fingertips brushed against his skin, the warm sensation felt inexplicably comforting. In an instant, a wave of heat flushed behind her ears and quickly spread across her cheeks.

Her heart fluttered wildly, as though a little deer was pounding against her chest^[2], desperate to break free.