"Uh, no. I just accidentally bumped into the corner of the table!" Leng Xuan hastily made up an excuse.
Li Mengjie wasn’t very scheming and believed him right away, saying, "Then hurry up and cook, I’ll help you rub some alcohol on it in a bit!"
A warm feeling unexpectedly flashed through Leng Xuan’s heart as he thought, "When did this girl become so kind-hearted?" But outwardly, he wore a mischievous smile and asked, "Why are you being so nice to me?"
Li Mengjie’s concern was genuine, but upon hearing this, her face turned red, though she tried to cover it up with a giggly response, "Of course I am, don’t you forget, you’re the Empress’s slave. If you get hurt, who’s going to protect me in the future?"
"Slave?" Black lines filled Leng Xuan’s forehead as he thought ’So what if you caught me in a little slip? Are you really taking that as an imperial edict? Besides, I’m clearly Ling Xuejiu’s bodyguard, how did it become my job to protect you in the future?’ Yet outwardly, he could only force a wry smile and say, "Yes, yes, my dear Her Majesty the Empress, could you please go wait outside and stop causing trouble here?"
"What’s that?" Li Mengjie chuckled, "The Empress herself has come to inspect the Imperial Kitchen, this is a blessing you, little chef, have cultivated in your eight past lives. You’re such a blockhead, how can you be so clueless?"
Leng Xuan truly wanted to laugh but couldn’t, just then a sweet and sour carp was ready, so he said, "Your Majesty the Empress, could you please take this dish out for me?"
"This..." Li Mengjie paused for a moment and then said, "Alright, Her Majesty is in a good mood right now, so I’ll help you out with some work."
In the living room, Ling Xuejiu occasionally heard laughter coming from the kitchen, and saw Li Mengjie carrying dishes out and then quickly returning back to the kitchen. Unsettled, she felt as if she was becoming redundant in this household, no, to be more precise, like she had become a glaring light bulb.
Before long, Leng Xuan had finished cooking the meal – three dishes and one soup: sweet and sour carp, stir-fried pork with green peppers, sautéed bok choy, and a triple delight soup made of mushrooms, egg, and lean meat!
For the rich and famous like Ling Xuejiu and Li Mengjie, such dishes were far too ordinary. Thus, Ling Xuejiu frowned upon seeing the dishes on the table, saying, "Leng Xuan, can’t you buy something better? Is this all you got?"
Leng Xuan replied, "Uh, there’s also some vegetables and lean meat, all in the fridge. There are only three of us. If I make too much, I’m afraid it’ll go to waste since we can’t eat that much!"
Ling Xuejiu said, "I’m not talking about whether there’s too much or too little food, I mean, why didn’t you buy some nicer ingredients?"
Leng Xuan paused, then suddenly as if remembering something, he said, "You didn’t bring it up, and I’d forgotten all about it. The money for today’s groceries was all fronted by me, actually—16 Yuan and 98 cents in total." His tone suggested that he wanted Ling Xuejiu to reimburse him!
Li Mengjie burst out laughing, bending over with mirth. In today’s economy, even to a commoner, a little over ten yuan wasn’t much. Besides, with Ling Xuejiu’s beauty, countless men would be willing to go bankrupt for her. Yet there was Leng Xuan, utterly oblivious to Ms. Ling’s beauty and taking stinginess to a whole new level!
Ling Xuejiu was so frustrated she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, ’What kind of person has grandpa found for me? I’ve seen stingy, but never someone this stingy!’