Translator: Fan Translation Studio

  When the two pairs of eyes met, Xiao Baoshan was rather surprised as he did not expect that Ye Xiaoxian would look at him so boldly.

  At that moment Ye Xiaoxian had an impulse to give everything to him. They were husband and wife anyway, and, furthermore, in this era the possibility of her remarrying would be zero. As for Xiao Baoshan, if nothing else, judging by his characteristics he would be a good husband and father in the future.

  Moreover, Xiao Baoshan was a rather decisive man. He would tenaciously do whatever he though was right. When they were previously just a couple in name only, he had already treated her as his wife devotedly and let her take care of his money. If they were about to become a real couple, his heart would be tied to her tightly.

  She said to Xiao Baoshan, “Baoshan, the bed is quite big. Why don’t……you sleep with me tonight.”


  Xiao Baoshan understood Ye Xiaoxian’s meaning. At that moment the force accumulated in his body burst out like a volcanic eruption. He held Ye Xiaoxian down, panted and asked her, “Little Ye, you’ve really made up your mind?”


  Ye Xiaoxian closed her eyes, gesturing that she was ready.

  Xiao Baoshan observed Little Ye underneath him thoroughly. She closed her eyes and looked extremely beautiful lying on the bed quietly. He thought that he himself had been a fool in the past. He had got an unpolished jade by his side this whole time but did not know it, which was why that he had suffered a lot outside.

  He reached out his trembling hands to untie Ye Xiaoxian’s belt.

  Ye Xiaoxian felt that his movement was extremely slow and light and because of this her body could not help shaking.

  When Xiao Baoshan was about to take off her outerwear there suddenly came a knock at the door.

  “Who is it?” Xiao Baoshan asked harshly.

  At the same time he was also kind of put off. Why didn’t this person come either earlier or later? Why now at this particular moment?

  The person outside said, “I’m also a chef. Well, aren’t we going to attend to the contest tomorrow? I’d like to know how you are preparing?”


  Judging by the voice, it should be the short guy they saw in the hall of the hotel when they came back.

  Xiao Baoshan said annoyed, “Sorry, it’s not convenient now!”


  “Well, we’re in same industry anyway. Shall we just change some ideas? Also I know where you can buy fresh and cheap ingredients. I can let you know.”


  Xiao Baoshan looked at Ye Xiaoxian beneath his body and asked her thoughts with his eyes. Ye Xiaoxian had also been put off.

  She had already summoned up her courage was going to give herself away to Xiao Baoshan, but who would expect that someone would come to disturb them at that time.

  Her courage had nearly been used up, so she had no option but to say, “Baoshan, just open the door and see what he is up to.”


  Xiao Baoshan got up and also felt unwilling. Ye Xiaoxian tidied up her clothes. While she tidied herself up she smelled a tiny bit of sweat.

  They had traveled by ferry for such a long time and also had been out for a while but had not showered yet. Although it was still winter, she would smell of sweat a bit in the moist southern area. That was why the southerners had to shower everyday.

  Ye Xiaoxian thought: Luckily someone came, so she can take a shower later and wait until dark……and then do it……

  Xiao Baoshan let the short guy in. The short guy looked around the room and found there were only them two. He then chuckled. “Are you husband and wife? You must have just got married. Have I interrupted something just now?”


  Xiao Baoshan did not want to listen to his mumbling, so he only asked, “What on earth do you want?”


  The short guy said, “To be honest, I’m the chef from Heng. I’m extremely famous in Heng and our people there mainly eat fish. I can turn a fish into a hundred different dishes. But there’s only one thing……I don’t know how to make that damn dessert, so I’d like to ask you how to do desserts?”


  Ye Xiaoxian raised her eyebrows. “Before you knocked at our room, you must have asked everyone else, haven’t you? No one agreed to teach you?”


  “No, nobody.” The short guy smiled cheekily.

  “But why are you so sure that we’ll teach you?”


  “You and your husband just look like good people. We people from Heng not only know how to cook fish but also know fortune telling by face reading. Miss, you look kind and generous. Your face is that of a Buddha, and Sir, you’re really tall, tall……and lar……large……and strong.”


  Xiao Baoshan was staring at this short guy sharply which made him so scared that he could not speak properly.

  Ye Xiaoxian said, “Nonsense, everyone who knows me says I have the face of a fox.”


  She now had a tiny oval face and a pair of phoenix eyes. When she looked at herself in the mirror she found herself looking rather foxy.

  The short guy said, “The face reading in our town is not only about looks. As an old saying goes, the beauty of a girl lies in her bones, not her skin. Others tell fortunes by judging the surface of a person but we look through people’s heart because the face is the mirror of a person’s heart.”


  Ye Xiaoxian burst into laughter. “Enough, you just want to make desserts, don’t you? I’ll write a recipe for you. You just follow the recipe and you won’t make any mistakes.”


  There was a brush and ink in the room, so Ye Xiaoxian took the paper and the brush, dipped it into the ink and quickly wrote down a recipe for making a course of thick taro ball soup.

  The short guy looked at the recipe and then at Ye Xiaoxian with some suspicion.

  Ye Xiaoxian said, “If you believe in me, you just follow my method. If you don’t, feel free to turn to others. I can do loads of desserts and don’t care to give any of them to others.”


  The short guy thanked Ye Xiaoxian. Reciprocally he said to Ye Xiaoxian in a low voice, reminding her, “Miss, there’s something I have to remind you about. I’ve knocked on all the doors just now, right? I heard that those guys from Meng plan to damage others’ good ingredients tomorrow morning. If you’ve bought some already, one of you must stay here to guard them. Never leave them alone.”


  “Are those people from Meng that evil?” asked Ye Xiaoxian.

  The short guy frowned. “I’ve come here to attend to the contest for three years. Every year there would be various accidents happening. This year is not that bad, however, we have to make desserts this time. It’s really a setback for rough folk like us. Well, I won’t occupy your time any longer. I’m going back to study the recipe.”
……

  The short guy left and the room became quiet once again.

  After such a disturbance Xiao Baoshan and Ye Xiaoxian had been prevented from a certain kind of sensation so far. It was just a bit awkward between them.

  As expected, it required a certain atmosphere to do that kind of thing. Under particular conditions, once dry wood and fierce fire met they would ignite immediately, but if there was no atmosphere, it would be useless even if the wood and the fire burned down into charcoal.

  Ye Xiaoxian sat on the bed and said to Xiao Baoshan, “Baoshan, it’s my first time living in a hotel. Do you know what to do if I want to wash myself?”


  Ye Xiaoxian had watched period dramas before. When they lived in a hotel or a lodge, someone would carry a big basin and put it on the floor in the room.

  Xiao Baoshan said, “We need to ask the attendant. Wait here a moment and I’ll call for someone.”


  It did not take long before some of the attendants of the hotel came in. One of them was carrying a big basin and the others carried hot water, all of which was chargeable. It cost fifty coins to take a bath. It equaled around fifty modern yuan.

  Ye Xiaoxian thought the price was pretty reasonable. They were away from home anyway and it was tiresome for the attendants to carry water upstairs.

  Xiao Baoshan was very thrifty and said to Ye Xiaoxian, “Little Ye, you wash first. I’ll wash after you.”


  Was he going to wash in her leftover water?

  Ye Xiaoxian blushed. What if the water smelled or was dirty?

  But Xiao Baoshan was a coarse man and she guessed that he would not mind that much.

  After a short while the attendant happened to bring the zaojiao (a fruit of a plant used as soap) over. He heard Xiao Baoshan’s words and could not help but say, “Aren’t you two a couple? Just wash together. The basin is big enough to hold both of you.”


  Ye Xiaoxian’s face became redder. They did not reply but closed the door and Baoshan guarded outside.

  Ye Xiaoxian was worried that the water might go cold, so she did not bathe long. She simply rubbed and wiped herself down. After she finished, she called Xiao Baoshan to come in.

  She was about to go out as Xiao Baoshan had, guarding outside, but Xiao Baoshan called her to stop. “Little Ye, you don’t have to go out. It’s cold outside. Just turning around is fine.”


  He was right. How would it look for her, a woman, to be standing outside and waiting? What if she got teased by passers-by?

  Ye Xiaoxian took Xiao Baoshan’s book and started reading on the other side of the room.

  To be honest, this kind of book was very obscure. There was no punctuation in the whole book, which was also written in traditional Chinese, along with the terminology for all kinds of acupuncture points. She found it so difficult to get into.

  Behind her came the rustling noise of Xiao Baoshan taking his clothes off and then of him entering the water. The room was full of vapor and steam. Ye Xiaoxian felt it was a bit difficult to breathe.

  He washed for about fifteen minutes and she heard him getting out of the basin. She hurriedly focused on reading the book and whispered, “Use the fingertip to press acupoint and then……”


  She then felt that Xiao Baoshan approaching behind her, drawing near to her. Then, holding her waist, he gently lifted her up and then put her on the bed.

  Ye Xiaoxian was trembling all over. Just……just like this?

  As if experiencing a fierce rainstorm, Ye Xiaoxian collapsed in bed.

  Later she stared at the beam above her head in a daze. The guy lying beside her really had become her man……

  Ye Xiaoxian heard from others that once a couple consummated their relationship, they would become sweeter than honey. However, she did not feel that way at all. She just felt relieved, as if she had accomplished a great mission in her life.

  She and Xiao Baoshan were originally husband and wife, so it was only a matter of time before they would do this. Apart from their physical intimacy their lives would just go on as usual, wouldn’t they?

  Ye was so exhausted that she went to sleep early that night.

  Xiao Baoshan had tasted the fruit for the first time and surely thought of having several more rounds, but seeing that Ye Xiaoxian was worn-out and had rather a fragile body, he did not feel right to force her to do anything. He then also decided to go to bed earlier.

  The next day Ye Xiaoxian got up early in the morning and was going to buy some ingredients.

  She remembered what the short guy had told her; that the gang of people from Meng were going to do something nasty to their ingredients. Ye Xiaoxian wanted to ask Xiao Baoshan to stay in the hotel to look after the food.

  However, Xiao Baoshan did not feel comfortable with letting Ye Xiaoxian go out alone, so he just carried the ingredients on his back. He was strong anyway and would not feel burdened even if more were added.

  Ye Xiaoxian and Xiao Baoshan had just left when some people quietly sneaked into their room.