Opening the door into the kitchen, Huanan Jiyan was the first to shout out with surprise,

"Wow, it smells good! What kind of soup is it?"

Gu Yunxi was carrying a small pot with two ears from the stove, which contained some thick paste mixed with malt sugar, rock sugar, and brown sugar.

Beside her was a wooden case with a variety of washed seasonal fresh vegetables, sliced cold tofu that were frozen like honeycombs in the ice cellar, bean starch sheets, minced fish and shrimp, and other ingredients.

Seeing Huanan Jiyan come, Gu Yunxi smiled,

"You come when I'm thinking about you and Hua'er."

Today was the third day of Leng Qingtang and her marriage, so Lu Qiange and Huanan Jiyan came to visit them.

Huanan Jiyan observed the customs of the place. She wore her hair in braids and wore a rose-red pleated flared skirt.

Just looking at above the hundred kinds of the diamond-shaped curly sketches of exquisite embroidery on the soft silk, one could know how expensive this long skirt should be.

Gu Yunxi looked at the beautiful clothes of Huanan Jiyan up and down and fiddled with the silver-encrusted treasure tassels with colored gemstone featuring western tribes on her neck, wrists, and waist. She praised admiringly,

"It's completely different from the clothes of Da Yi. It looks good on you."

"Really?"

Huanan Jiyan was happy and smiled. She rolled one of her pigtails constantly with her slender finger and supported the shiny peach-shaped crown on her forehead with the other hand. She said proudly,

"Zhu gave it to me... Hey, what are you making?"

"Strong syrup. I'm going to make lustrous candy. I know that Eldest Sister also likes to eat sweets, so I make a few kinds of small snacks. When you go back to the Palace, bring some to her. These represent my and my darling's kindly feelings."

Huanan Jiyan raised her eyebrows and touched Gu Yunxi with her elbow. She bantered,

"Yo, in the past, you always called him 'Master'. Now you call him 'darling'. It's sweet! Tell me, is he good to you?"

"You're naughty." Gu Yunxi blushed and bowed her head with a shy smile,

"Anyway, next spring, you will marry Hua'er. Now I won't bicker with you. The syrup is warm enough and I'm going to make sugar."

Gu Yunxi washed her hands in the copper basin and put some vegetable oil on her ten fingers. From the small pot, she picked up some thick pulp and pulled it back and forth until the syrup became golden shiny like strands of fine silk. She made it like clouds and put it into the porcelain plate one by one. She then sprinkled with fried sesame seeds and minced green and red plums shreds.

"You're so skillful with your hands!"

Huanan Jiyan praised Gu Yunxi, and followed her to another stove front. She watched Gu Yunxi take away the stove on the steamer with white smoke.

In the upper steamer were a wax gourd soup pot and four sweet oranges stewed with pigeon eggs. In the down steamer were six Fugui steamed buns, each of which was white and big.

It was not hard to make them.

To make the wax gourd soup, a fresh small wax gourd was needed. The base was removed, and the green rind was carved in a unique pattern. Inside, the melon pulp was removed.

Stuffed with lard, rib meat paste, salted egg yolks, and eels, the soup was steamed in the top food steamer with the wax gourd base.

As for stewing orange pigeon eggs, four sweet oranges were hollowed out, and then the pigeon egg liquid, the right amount of milk, and icing were put in. Then it was steamed in the upper steamer.

Fugui steamed buns was a kind of snack that pickled plums, dried bamboo shoots, bacon, cooked vermicelli, fried egg, and sesame oil were put into leaven dough, which tasted salty.

Gu Yunxi put steamed food on the case in order. She blew her red fingers, and gently said with a smile to Huanan Jiyan who was stunned,

"I will make a bowl of rose sugar-sweet Tofu pudding later. With these, the two food boxes can be filled. Jiyan, please call my husband to come here. Ask him to take two pots with bone broth on the opposite stove into the hall..."

"Don't bother. I'm here."

There a handsome man whose face was glowing with good health came.

"I remember all that you tell me. Now it’s time."

Stretching his arms to hold Gu Yunxi, he looked at her with affection.

Seeing this, Huanan Jiyan laughed and said,

"Are you two flirting in front of me? To show off? I don't want to see that!"

Then she left.

Seeing the girl's back, Gu Yunxi reminded her with a smile,

"Go to wash hands and wait for the meal."

Two brass pots were burning with charcoal, and the sound indicated the soup in the pot was boiling.

The lid of the pot was opened, and a sweet smell greeted people's noses.

Lu Qiange couldn't help to straighten up and look at the soup.

There were two colors: red and white. Without a doubt, that white soup was naturally bone marrow soup, and that red soup was full of chili oil.

At this moment the soup was boiling with large and small bubbles crowding with each other. With smoke, every place was filled with fragrance, triggering people's appetite.

Lu Qiange was stunned.

He had been to many places. In western tribes and Da Yi, he had seen many kinds of hot pots, such as beef and mutton... He had also tasted many sorts of soup, like bone, fish, and crabs.

However, he had never smelled soup like this. The oil was fine and exotic odors assailed the nostrils.

Besides Lu Qiange, Huanan Jiyan was also surprised. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath with an enjoyable expression,

"Well, that's what I just smelled in the room! Auntie, what secret recipe did you use to make this soup?"

"I put ten spicy flavors into the pots. Tonight we'll have a try for the first time. You are free to make comments."

Gu Yunxi smiled modestly. She stood up and put a plate of fresh shrimp balls strung by toothpicks into two pots as well as some mutton and fish fillets.

To make the fresh shrimp balls, she shelled the shrimps and cut them up. She then mixed them with egg liquid and sweet potato noodles. She twisted the balls by hand and put toothpicks into two of them.

The egg liquid and sweet potato noodles not only made shrimps more delicate and easier to become balls but also made the cooked shrimp balls chewier.

Huanan Jiyan used a leaky spoon to ladle out a handful of mutton into the saucer. She slightly blew it and eagerly put it into her mouth. Then she immediately exhaled with a red face.

Lu Qiange felt both distressed and funny about her. He thoughtfully said to her,

"You can eat it slowly. No one grabs it. Don't burn yourself."

"Zhu, have a try! This is so delicious!"

Just swallowing the food in her mouth, Huanan Jiyan picked out the fresh shrimp balls from the oil soup and put them on Lu Qiange's plate.

She remembered that he liked spicy food.

Lu Qiange nodded constantly and praised in high spirit,

"Amazing! Great!"

Removing the toothpicks, he quickly swallowed the shrimp balls. When chewing slowly, he rolled his eyeballs, as if he would know all the ingredients in the food.

After eating two shrimp balls, Lu Qiange did not say anything but continued to take other foods in the chili soup.

Then he put other food into the pot.

Huanan Jiyan looked anxious on the side. She pushed him and pouted with a little unwillingness,

"Hey, don't just eat. How about its taste? Tell me!"

Lu Qiange's mouth was filled with delicious food, but he still reluctantly put down the chopsticks and glanced at the girl,

"Why are you anxious? I can't make a comment until I am full!"

Leng Qingtang smiled and clapped his hands,

"It's good. Hua'er is as picky as me. Now he can devour ravenously like this, proving that this soup pot is delicious."

Lu Qiange nodded,

"Uncle, you're right." Lu Qiange finally put down the chopsticks with satisfaction,

"Each of the two soup pots has its own merits. The white soup is sweet and fresh, while the red soup is spicy but not greasy, which is indeed delicious. Auntie, is this your new invention?"

Gu Yunxi shook her head and answered with a smile,

"Not exactly. My mother left a book entitled 'The Exquisite Collection of Delicacies' when she was alive. It records the receipt of 'ten spicy flavors'. The soup recipe she created was powder, a mixture of dozens of rare spices. Now in the white soup pot, I put the powder of ten spicy flavors my mother developed."

"As for this red soup pot, I just melted and heated the butter you brought. Then I put in the chive, peppers, icing sugar, Sichuanese peppercorn, dried tangerine peels, hawthorn, and other spices and fried them. I finally add the powder of ten spicy flavors."

"I think butter is easy to clot when it's cold. Combined with soup, it's easy to keep for a long time. It can be used as a hotpot condiment and cooking ingredients. Next time you come back, I will make Stir-fried Meal for you, which also tastes good."

Huanan Jiyan bit chopsticks head and listened with keen pleasure.

Hearing delicious food, she immediately became delighted and clapped her hands cheerfully,

"Okay, okay. Zhu and I can live here for a few more days. Auntie, you can make that dish tomorrow for us."

Gu Yunxi was hospitable. She agreed and said with a smile,

"Great. That's it."

On the other side, Lu Qiange looked sullen. He stomped Huanan Jiyan under the table and gave her a wink,

"Don't be naughty. After you're full, go back with me. Uncle and Aunt have been working hard these days. How can you ask them to make meals for you?"

He understood that Gu Yunxi and Leng Qingtang were newly married and should live a world of themselves. Others shouldn't disturb their lives at will as before.

Huanan Jiyan scratched her head and didn't refute. She just nodded to say "all right", and then continued eating the food in the white soup.

Gu Yunxi helped the two juniors with the food. White smoke of the boiling soup in the copper pot in front of her, she looked more beautiful and more bright.

When eating, Gu Yunxi stared at the copper pot and said,

"I give these two hot pots a name, 'Couple Hot Pot'. What do you think?"

Leng Qingtang shook his head on the side,

"Not good enough. There is a dish called 'Pork Lungs in Chili Sauce'. 'Couple Hot Pot' sounds similar to it."

Gu Yunxi frowned and tilted her head. She had no idea for a while.

Leng Qingtang took a shrimp from the white soup. After blowing and peeling it, he fed it to her mouth and smiled softly,

"How about 'Two-flavor Hot Pot'?" With two colors and flavors, it also shows our love."

Gu Yunxi's eyes became bright. She looked at her husband with eyes full of worship,

"Two-flavor hot pot? Great! Darling, you're intelligent!"

Huanan Jiyan held her forehead and laughed,

"Why are you always deeply attached to each other? Do you want us to envy you?"

Lu Qiange put down the bamboo chopsticks and looked directly at the two steaming copper pots. Meditating for a moment, he proposed,

"Well, we have to think of a way to combine the two pots. One half is the bone soup and the other half is the red soup. In doing so, the two pots meet each other in perfect harmony and are more worthy of the name!"

Gu Yunxi gave a thumbs-up and agreed,

"No problem. I will draw a picture when I'm free. But then I'll have to trouble Hua'er to find a blacksmith's shop to make a pot as the picture shows."

Lu Qiange agreed readily,

"Just leave it to me."

Clinking glasses with Leng Qingtang, he swallowed a mouthful of wine and continued to say cheerfully,

"Two days later, the royal autumn hunt of Udan will be held. My Father knows that you now live in Udan, so he sincerely invites you to go there with Aunt. Will you honor me with a visit?"

Leng Qingtang elegantly smiled and euphemistically rejected,

"It's the royal event of Udan. Gu Yunxi and I come from Da Yi, so it's not appropriate."

"Uncle, do you regard yourself as an outsider? You're my uncle and my Mother comes from Da Yi. As the brother of the side imperial concubine of King Solo, it's reasonable, isn't it?"

For a while, he winked to Huanan Jiyan,

The girl understood and immediately put on a cute appearance to please him. she said in a sweet voice,

"Yes, Uncle, please do us the favor. King Solo in the distant western tribes has heard that you're good at martial arts and the ministers in the palace have admired you for a long time. They're eager to see you."

"This time King Solo commands Zhu to invite you. If you refuse, he will think that Zhu says something that offends you and will blame him. Besides, I will attend that day, and I would like to enjoy the autumn scenery of western tribes with Gu Yunxi."

Leng Qingtang finally moved and answered with a smile,

"Okay, let's go together."

―

It was in the Palace of Da Yi.

In the evening, a drizzle fell from the sky, but this did not seem to prevent the new emperor from summoning the newly promoted concubines.

The lights in Tailuan Palace were dim and psychedelic, like the ripples of the spring pool full of charm.

There was a tremor of bed boards in the magnificent hall. Yet within a moment, as what had been seen before, the emperor's fidgety voice roared out,

"Come on. This woman is not proper. Bring me another one―"

A beauty was tightly wrapped in the quilt, only a childish and shy face left outside. She was held by the eunuchs into the hall in exchange for the tear-stained woman inside.

The same thing happened quickly, and the emperor's loud voice came out of the hall again,

"Come on―"

Liang Zhen, the Eunuch Superintendent, crawled into the hall with a sullen face. He lay on his stomach in front of the bed and didn't dare to look up.

These concubines were all pretty and lovely. Some were gentle and others were sexy.

However, couldn't these beauties hold the emperor's heart, could they?

A young woman with hair disheveled was huddling herself up beside the bed on the ground in the bedroom. Seeing the eunuch, she was more ashamed. She covered her face and sobbed.

Just being put on the emperor's bed in the quilt, she was kicked down by the emperor. In the Palace, it was a shame and humiliation. It would be difficult for her to keep a foothold in the future.

How could an undisciplined girl bear such an absurdity like this when sleeping with an emperor for the first time?

Huanan Xin pulled back the bed curtain and got up. With the buttons on his chest undone, a delicate cold collarbone was vaguely exposed.

Liang Zhen hurriedly helped the emperor to put on the clothes but the emperor raised his hands to stop him.

He sneered at the woman on the ground and said coldly with slight panting,

"She's not good. Take her to leave. I need to be alone tonight."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Eunuch Superintendent nodded and answered submissively.

Huanan Xin tied the waistband by himself. He walked to the window and his sweat was a little shiny in the candlelight.

"Is there any news about Yue Xilou?"

"Your Majesty, not yet."

Outside the window, rain hit the banana leaves and rustled.

Huanan Xin suddenly became serious. He made a fist with sharp eyes,

"Leng Qingtang... Huanan He. He left here and dared to take away my woman! This time when I find him, I must tear him to pieces!"