Ming Lan's Mansion in Capital.

Throughout the afternoon, Gu Yunxi was supervised by Shiliu, who forced her to soak in a spiced bath to cleanse her body thoroughly.

During the period, the bathwater and coal were changed four times.

Xiao Nianzi once instructed Shiliu and the others not to spare water, charcoal, or spices. In short, they were to get rid of the odor of onion and garlic on Gu Yunxi.

The servants in the Mansion were classified. Xiao Nianzi was a close attendant for Master Ming Lan, so he naturally ranked much higher than those who labored in the kitchen.

The Master had just warned him that he wished not to smell the odor when he saw Gu Yunxi again.

If Nianzi failed at the task, he would be "beheaded" by the Master.

Hence, when he dispensed jobs to Shiliu and the others, he naturally passed down the order to the lower ranks.

"Beheaded" was merely a way of expression, meaning shaming and severe punishment.

The kitchen servants wanted none of that. Therefore, they could only be cruel to Gu Yunxi.

After long torments, Gu Yunxi had exfoliated her skin in the hot water.

Just sitting in the tub without moving exhausted her.

Her whole body seemed to be falling apart, roasted tender by the steam rising from the bathtub.

Shiliu figured it was time, so she leaned to Gu Yunxi and sniffed.

For caution's sake, she asked every maid to gather around her and smell.

When it was agreed that Gu Yunxi smelled nothing but of spices, Shiliu took her out of the bath.

They put Gu Yunxi in a blue satin dress embroidered with flowers and clouds and dressed her up.

Looking at the slender girl with her worn-up hair and delicate appearance, Shiliu was ignited by jealousy in the depths of her heart, which was soon consumed by flames.

Turning her beady eyes away immediately, Shiliu snorted and grinned resentfully.

Gu Yunxi was escorted by Shiliu and two maids back to her room, which had been furnished anew.

Shiliu dismissed all the maids and stayed with Gu Yunxi, monitoring her every move.

"Shiliu, please go on with your work. You don't have to watch me. I won't run."

Sitting on the bed, Gu Yunxi said to her with arms wrapping around her curled legs.

"No. The Master wants me to guard here in the room. Wherever you go, I'll follow you."

Shiliu sat at the table and answered impatiently, with no expression on her ugly face.

Gu Yunxi found that Shiliu was fascinated by a banana left in the rattan plate as if she was hungry for it.

This could be the breach point.

Gu Yunxi said to Shiliu smilingly.

"Shiliu, you may eat the sugar-coated icy banana."

Her voice was limpid and sweet. One could feel the warmth in her smile without even looking at her.

Shiliu eyebrows seemed to twitch, but there was no response.

Gu Yunxi continued.

"I originally saved it for our Master. Now he is out on his business, and the icing of the banana will melt soon and won't be eatable. You should have it before it turns bad. If the Master wants it, I can make it again."

Provoked somehow, Shiliu grabbed the icy banana and pigged out on it, her eyes shining coldly.

"How is it? Delicious?"

Gu Yunxi smiled at her on the bed.

Shiliu wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and then calmly raised her beady eyes at Gu Yunxi, her face fraught with jealousy and displeasure.

"Huh! A brat like you can cook?"

"I used to learn from the chefs in the Garden for a few years. Nothing serious though..."

Gu Yunxi's reply was simple.

Shiliu was interested.

"What else can you cook? Tell me about it."

Gu Yunxi squinted and said with a smile.

"Let's put it this way. I master all the signature dishes of the two top restaurants in the capital, namely 'Baoyue Restaurant' and 'Zuike Eatery'."

"Bragging!"

Shiliu's face turned cold as her eyes scanned the calm and confident girl up and down,

"Your age is small but you talk big."

Gu Yunxi stopped wasting her breath on Shiliu. Looking out the window, she got out of bed and grinned.

"It's getting late. I'm going to prepare for dinner. I will cook the signature dish, 'Cherry Pork', from 'Zuike Eatery' today."

"Well, cook for me. Convince me with your action."

Cook for her? Gu Yunxi sneered secretly at her shamelessness.

The two came to the kitchen, where the maids were already busy with dinner.

Hearing that this troublesome girl was going to show her cooking skills, people were curious but maintained full vigilance.

Gu Yunxi found a chunk of top-quality marbled pork, cleaned it, and blanched it in hot water.

With the skin facing up, the meat was neatly cut into square pieces in the size of a cherry. The bottom layer of the pork remained connected.

The cut pieces were placed on a bamboo grate in a porcelain bowl, where water, rice wine, green onion, ginger, almond powder, red yeast, rock sugar, and salt were added. The bowl was then steamed with high heat.

As she waited for the meat to cook, Gu Yunxi juiced fresh spinach and then mixed the extraction with wheat flour, which was then rolled out into dough wrappings.

She mixed the minced meat with egg white, chopped green pepper, sesame oil, salt, and a pinch of sesame. The stuffing was then wrapped in the green dough as wontons.

Chicken stock was being simmered in a crock.

The chefs in Ming's mansion usually cooked chicken stock by stewing together duck bones, chicken bones, and three pigeons. The soup was white and delicious after oil was removed from its surface.

Gu Yunxi saw shark's fins and scallops on the side, so she took half a pot of chicken stock and stewed them in it.

After the soup was boiling, she threw in mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and lastly wontons after a while.

Soon the soup was done.

The milky white shark fin soup was embedded with green wontons and dotted with white mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

The emeralds floated in the misty waves of white jades, strung people's appetite.

It was also time for the pork in the steamer.

Gu Yunxi uncovered the basket, releasing a flavorful mist that was rolling out of the steamer.

The pork cubes were neatly arranged in the porcelain bowl, gleaming brightly and tastefully like red cherries.

The gravy around them was thick and sticky with a delicious smell.

Shiliu fastened her eyes upon the dish.

Her status and limited salary had denied her entry into the Zuike Eatery, let alone eating the Cherry Pork.

It mattered not if she could appreciate the dish. She immediately called the oldest chef in the mansion to judge Gu Yunxi's Cherry Pork.

After tasting a piece, the chef gave the thumbs up.

"The pork is crispy and tender, rich but not greasy, lean but not dry. The gravy looks good and tastes right. So authentic!"

Gu Yunxi pursed her lips in a slight smile as her eyes shone faintly and then turned proudly to speechless Shiliu.

"Shiliu, please bring the Cherry Pork and Shark Fin Wontons to my room."

With her homely face drooping in melancholy, Shiliu snapped back.

"Not your room. It's Master Ming's room!"

Gu Yunxi raised her eyebrows as if she could discern the implication from Shiliu's hateful words.

Curling her lips, she dusted herself and then left the kitchen.

...

A guard walked into the wing-room and knelt to Ming Lan at the table.

"Master, we have accurate information that Leng Qingtang will lead the team to leave the capital at midnight."

Ming Lan dropped the book in his hands at his words. He glanced the kneeling man and muttered after a moment.

"You may leave."

The guard dismissed himself.

Frowning, Ming Lan pondered solemnly. After a while, he beckoned.

"Come."

Xiao Nianzi, who stood quietly by the table, hurried forward...

...

Shiliu almost ate up the whole bowl of Cherry Pork along with the Shark Fin Wontons.

She still had a stinky face after being fed up, quite upset to lay eyes upon.

However, Gu Yunxi had enough patience for her, only because she could tell the reason why she hated her.

If she wanted to escape, she must make good use of Shiliu!

Shiliu finished the last sip of the chicken soup. As soon as she put down the bowl, Gu Yunxi offered her a cup of tea.

The girl wore a bright smile that was as beautiful as flowers.

Shiliu had never been served so carefully and was thus stunned at her offer. She took the cup without drinking, but her gloomy expression eased.

"I see you are a caring one, so let me tell you the truth. It's useless to flatter me. It's your blessing to have the Master's favors, and you should turn your thoughts on me to him."

Gu Yunxi gazed at Shiliu relaxedly, her eyes glittering with brilliance and sharpness.

She deliberately twisted her body and squeezed out an expression of impatience. Pouting, she complained.

"I don't want to be with him! I'm a damsel, who can only get ahead by entering the Palace. How can I waste my youth with a eunuch...?"

"Hey! Watch your mouth or I'll slap you."

Before Gu Yunxi could finish, Shiliu suddenly turned on her. She slapped the table with her thick-fingered hand and then lifted it up in the air at Gu Yunxi.

Gu Yunxi was happy secretly but she put on a meek look, begging forgiveness with hands folded.

"Shiliu, don't be angry. The Master is kind. He is perfect?"

"Humph!"

Shiliu dropped her hand, stared at Gu Yunxi with her beady eyes, and snorted.

"Don't take it for granted. What if you are pretty?

Look at me. I look better than you in every way yet I still have to wash vegetables.

One must know his places and make the best of what he has. What's wrong with eunuchs? Aren't they people?

I'll tell you this. The Master may be a eunuch, but his words work better than any bearded ministers in the court!

You don't like him? Know that many girls long for his affection behind his back!"

Waving her handkerchief, Shiliu addressed her with extravagant gestures and spat all over.

Gu Yunxi moved her chair back a little, watching the slightest change of Shiliu's face.

She could discern the apparent jealousy in her impassioned statement.

Besides, Gu Yunxi kept laughing secretly.

Was Shiliu so poor that she could not afford a bronze mirror? She could still look at herself in the basin when she washed vegetables.

"Shiliu, could it be that you like Master Ming?"

Gu Yunxi approached her tentatively after she calmed down after her exciting speech.

Shiliu was honest and straightforward. Rolling her eyes at Gu Yunxi, she stroked her pockmarked face and then dropped her brows in narcissism.

"I'm not exaggerating. If it weren't for you, I would be the one who lived here now. Alas..."

Before her thoughts drifted far, she was interrupted by a burst of coughing.

Next to her, Gu Yunxi was so gasped by Shiliu's funny demeanor that she was choked by saliva.

After beating her chest and panting for a while, Gu Yunxi was back to normal.

Shiliu was so shameless!

However, this was how the world worked. One man's trash was another's treasure.

When Gu Yunxi looked at Ming Lan, she was only disgusted. Who would have thought that the treacherous man was a darling in the eyes of others?

"Shiliu, would you like Master Ming's attention?"

"..."

Shiliu cast a suspicious gaze at Gu Yunxi, whose eyebrows arched slightly in a shallow smile. A chilling light lingered in her serene eyes, seducing her with its glow.

"What do you want?"

Suspiciously, Shiliu fixed her eyes on the sly and unforeseeable face of the girl before her.

Gu Yunxi leaned closer and whispered in Shiliu's ear...

Outside the Eastern Depot, Yuan Qian, the tenth captain, spotted Qinger dressing up as a young man in a black tight suit and anxiously said to her.

"The fifth team has received the order. Xiaoshen will leave the capital with the Master."

Qinger was frozen at the site.

"Does the Master know that we have acted and is sabotaging our plan?"

The more she thought about it, the more startled she became. Qinger stomped her feet repeatedly and argued angrily.

"Has the Master abandoned my lady by leaving the capital now? She was trapped in Ming's mansion because of him."

"Qinger, don't fret. The Master must have his own plan..."

Yuan Qian was extremely loyal to Leng Qingtang and would not hear any blame on the Master.

He knew Qinger was behaving so for Yunxi's sake, so he did not fuss about it and only comforted her agreeably.

Unexpectedly, Qinger raised the eyebrows in displeasure. She grasped the sword hilt with her right hand and thundered.

"To hell with his plans, I'm afraid it would be too late when he returns! He knows what a sly bastard Ming Lan is."

Yuan Qian's pupils shrank suddenly, and his countenance was full of panic and nervousness.

He thought about it and said to Qinger.

"Don't worry. You and I shall act without Xiaoshen!"

...

"No. It won't work!"

At Ming's mansion, Shiliu's face paled in shock after hearing Gu Yunxi's plan. Her hideous features were more distorted.

Standing up from the chair, Shiliu deliberately distanced herself from Gu Yunxi and spoke in fears.

"Don't frame me. If I did as you told and were discovered by the Master afterward, he would fry me alive!"

Indifferently, Gu Yunxi sneering at Shiliu.

"You acted bravely when dealing with me. But now you are timid like a rabbit at the critical moment.

Dear Shiliu, you do not deserve my faith in you!"

"You... I..."

Shiliu did not know that Gu Yunxi was prodding her. Her pockmarked yellow face blushed at her frightening accusation.

Noting her reaction, Gu Yunxi continued to fan the flames, showing her disdain on her charming little face.

"As the saying goes, women's pursuit after men are ambiguous. Shiliu, you should know better than me who Master Ming is.

If you don’t take the initiative, do you expect him to show you favor in the same mansion? Isn't it embarrassing for him?

Besides, with your fairy look, the Master will spoil you when it's done. How can he bear to fry in a pan?"

"Then, why are you helping me?"

Shiliu was not so naive as to trust Gu Yunxi without doubts.

Gu Yunxi grinned quietly.

"I won't harm you. I'm only showing the shortcut because of your devotion. You have been here longer than me, and you should be ahead of me in terms of the Master's favor.

How long can a girl’s youth last? You are as beautiful as a flower. But delay further, a delicate flower such as you will wither sooner or later!"

When Gu Yunxi said the last sentence, her insides turned in revulsion and her throat was burnt by gastric juice.

She hurriedly took her sight back from Shiliu's appalling look.

For an instant, Shiliu seemed to be enlightened. She was dazed, hesitating at her next move.

A knock fell on the door.

"Lady Yun, I'm bringing you the soup."

It was a young girl's voice.

Shiliu got up to open the door.

A maid entered, put the tray on the table, and said obediently.

"The chef understands that you have taken the Cherry Pork for dinner, so he sends a bowl of homemade sweet-sour juice of osmanthus and plums.

It is the best after greasy food. Please drink it and take a rest."

"Well, thank you."

Gu Yunxi stared and nodded at the little maid's face with a shadow of a smile.

She then turned to Shiliu and said.

"Shiliu, please wait on the lady to drink up the juice. Only after that can you clean the dishes and retreat."

Shiliu nodded and sent the maid out of the room.

Sitting steadily at the table, Gu Yunxi looked at the lotus-patterned green cup with her gleaming eyes, where suspicions entangled in the depths.

It had been Xiao Nianzi who ran the errands for her during the past few days. Now he was suddenly replaced by a strange maid, who sent the juice by the name of the chef.

Was there anything eerie about the plum juice?