Adorable Food Goddess

Ye Jiayao saw his face flush with annoyance and she immediately backpedaled, “What I mean is, third-in-charge, you are so handsome. You’re like a jade tree standing in the wind and you’re known as the top pretty boy in Hei Feng Gang. Even a woman would be ashamed to be compared to you. Besides, you are so well-versed in martial arts that the brothers in the stockade must be filled with envy and jealousy. As for the aunties, though they are of certain age and don’t really have any looks, that does not mean that they are not secretly in love with you. I think that I just became the target of their jealousy!”

Top pretty boy in Hei Feng Gang? When did he have such a nickname? However, that is a fact so Xia Chunyu felt a bit better.

Ye Jiayao continued kissing up to him, massaging his shoulders as she asked, “Do big brother and second brother have people serving them?”

Xia Chunyu replied defensively, “Why? Do you want to serve them?”

“No, no, it’s just that I noticed you do not have anyone waiting on you here. You are the third-in-charge, are you not? How can there be no one serving you?” Ye Jiayao asked.

“Don’t I have you serving me now?” Xia Chunyu closed his eyes as she kneaded his shoulders. She was exerting just the right amount of pressure, not too soft and not too hard, and it was doing wonders for his muscles. It has been a long time since he enjoyed such treatment.

Ye Jiayao was indignant but she did not protest. She knew protesting would lead her nowhere. She would just go along with whatever he was saying and silently do her scheming.

“Of course, I will take care of you, but you need to know that I am new to serving people. If there is something that I didn’t do well, don’t be angry and allow me to learn slowly,” Ye Jiayao implored even though she detested using the word ‘serve’. She just needed to warn him to lower his expectations of her.

Xia Chunyu asked, “You are from a wealthy family and after being kidnapped here, unable to marry the man of your dreams, unable to become a young mistress, don’t you feel sad? Don’t you hate me?”

Ye Jiayao resisted the urge to bash his head as she answered woefully, “Of course I feel upset, but what use is that? I have tried to kill myself and you stopped me. Do I just wash my face with tears every day and look for every available opportunity to try to hang myself? Besides, you’re not the one who kidnapped me, so why should I hate you? If I have to blame anything, it should be fate. Honestly, I didn’t have a good life. My mother passed away after giving birth to me and my father married his second wife not shortly after that. I had brothers and sisters and if it wasn’t for the power that my maternal family has, I would’ve definitely been cast aside. Everyone has their own misfortune but wallowing in self-pity is not going to solve anything. It’d be better to just accept it and move on.

Xia Chunyu was surprised by her wisdom. “It’s good that you are so adaptable and can think things through. If you do your role well, I will protect you. If you dare to play outward devotion but inner opposition with me, well, you already know the consequences.”

“Stop threatening me. I am a weak woman, no matter what I can come up with, how could I execute it?” Ye Jiayao protested.

Xia Chunyu scoffed, “You’re right. I doubt you are capable of anything.”

No matter what her past was, whether what she said was true or false, as long as she does not test his limits and does not foil his plans, he would not treat her badly.

“In the future, when I am not around, you can look for Song Qi and Peng Wu. Those are my trusted people,” Xia Chunyu said. Duan Wu was sent over by 1st-in-charge so he really does not trust him. Song Qi, on the other hand, was really his person who came up two months before him.

“Oh, okay,” Ye Jiayao replied absent-mindedly, thinking about how to make him grant her freedom since she would be unable to do a lot of things if he continued to ban her from going out.

“Third-in-charge!” Song Qi shouted from outside of the house.

Xia Chunyu called, “What is it?”

“First-in-charge is asking you over to discuss some matters.”

“Alright.”

Xia Chunyu rose, dispensing a warning to Ye Jiayao again, “Stay inside the house.”

Stay inside the house? What am I, a dog?  Ye Jiayao scowled at his back.

The only thing she could do inside was sleep and Ye Jiayao has had enough sleep already, so she got up and walked out to the courtyard to get some air.

Song Qi was sitting in the courtyard paring a wooden pole when Ye Jiayao walked over. “What is this for?”

Song Qi stood up to let Ye Jiayao sit but she just waved her hand at him. “Sit, sit, I’ll stand.” Before this, there was no one guarding the courtyard so Song Qi was just probably ordered by that filthy man to watch her.

“I’m preparing to dig a trap to catch a wild boar in the mountains,” Song Qi answered.

“There are wild boars in the mountains?” Growing up in the city, Ye Jiayao has always been curious about wild animals. Of course, the first thing she thought of was the stomach of the wild boar. That was some good stuff because, in the modern times, a wild boar belly was worth quite a lot.

“Not only wild boars but there are also wild rabbits, deer, snakes, and more.”

“There are snakes?” Ye Jiayao face grew pale. She hated creepy crawlies the most, especially those gaudy and slimy snakes. She glanced at the mountain behind the courtyard anxiously. “Do snakes come here?”

Song Qi pared the wooden pole depressingly. “Sometimes, there will be. A few days ago, I caught a cobra. I gave it to the kitchen to make snake soup, it tasted so fresh.”

Ye Jiayao was even more worried now. What if a snake slithered onto the bed while she was sleeping at night? She shuddered at the mere thought of it.

After paring the wooden pole, Song Qi looked up and saw how pale Ye Jiayao had gotten. He realized that what he had said must have scared her; women are all timid. He laughed and reassured her, “Sister-in-law if you are afraid of snakes, I will go get some red orpiment powder to scatter around the courtyard. It would keep snakes away.”

Ye Jiayao was skeptical. “Is that useful?”

“Of course, it is useful. Snakes cannot stand the smell of red orpiment powder,” Song Qi assured her.

Ye Jiayao heaved a sigh of relief, turning around to take a look at the courtyard. Song Qi voluntarily introduced, “The east side is mine and Peng Wu’s room and the west side used to be a small kitchen, now it is a storage room.”

Small kitchen? Ye Jiayao’s eyes widened. “Can I have a look?”

“It is a little messy and dirty inside.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Ye Jiayao gladly pushed the door open and immediately, dust fell upon her entrance, nearly choking her. There was a bunch of random stuff in the room, all piled up and broken. It was so messy that there wasn’t even a space to set foot in.

“Are these things needed?”

Song Qi answered, “I don’t think so.”

“Alright then! Let’s clear these things up and chop them for firewood. Once this is clean, we could cook here, make whatever third-in-charge wants and we don’t even have to be watchful of others.” Ye Jia Yao was elated. This would be her territory, the place where she could begin to take that filthy man down.

Song Qi hesitated because the whole stockade of brothers ate at the same place. Would opening a kitchen stove on their own work?

Seeing Song Qi’s reluctance, Ye Jiayao attempted to entice him further. “In the future, I will make delicious food for all of you.”

Song Qi’s eyes brightened as he thought about the delicious egg fried rice she gave him last night. He immediately rolled his sleeves up and acquiesced, “Sure, I will clean this up right away.”

Xia Chunyu came back from 1st-in-charge’s place with Peng Wu and stepped into a courtyard filled with piles of trash.

“Song Qi!” Xia Chunyu called angrily.

Song Qi ran out of the storage room with face covered in dust. “Third-in-charge, you’re back!

“What are you doing?” Xia Chunyu demanded immediately, unable to stand dirt and mess.

Song Qi chuckled and answered, “Sister-in-law says that she wants to clear up the small kitchen.”

“Where is she?” Xia Chunyu’s anger subsided by half as he heard that they were cleaning up the kitchen. The girl’s cooking skills were not bad, though he was still unsure if she knew how to make anything else.

“She’s scrubbing the pot inside because it was all rusty,” Song Qi replied.

Peng Wu rolled his sleeves up and offered, “I’ll help.”

“Help me to chop these piles of stuff, sister-in-law wants to use them as firewood,” Song Qi said.

“Hurry up with the cleaning, this mess is outrageous.” Xia Chunyu said, casting a glance at the kitchen before going back to his room.

In the kitchen, Ye Jiayao was in full swing and with an extra helping hand, she was able to get everything done in no time. She felt happy just looking at how much the kitchen has changed.

“Song Qi, go to the kitchen and grab some ingredients. We’re going to open our kitchen stove tonight,” Ye Jiayao shouted from the kitchen.

“Aye!” Song Qi ran out happily.

“Hey, Song Qi, don’t forget to bring wine, salt, marinated soy paste, and vinegar, get a bit of whatever condiments there is.” Ye Jiayao ran out to catch up to him as she suddenly thought of it, however, Song Qi was long gone.

“Sister-in-law, I’ll make a trip down,” Peng Wu, who was chopping firewood, volunteered.

“Sure, I’ll trouble you and tonight, I’ll be sure to reward you guys,” Ye Jiayao replied gratefully.

Xia Chunyu, who was in the room reading, looked up upon hearing what she said. He frowned, wondering why did that sentence sound so uncomfortable?

Well, someone has unclean thoughts.

Ye Jiayao went back to the room to get a drink because she was just so parched. It has been a long time since she did such heavy workout, plus last night’s torment caused her to back to ache and she was wiped.

Ye Jiayao threw herself onto the table and drank three cups of water without even pausing to breathe. She then lied flat on the table, unmoving and totally oblivious to her husband’s judging look.

Xia Chunyu looked at Ye Jia Yao in disgust. Which dog hole did this woman crawl out of? Her hair was a mess with spider webs clinging on, her face was grey with dust, and the red garb on her was extremely filthy.

“Hey, go tidy yourself up. Looking at you kills my appetite,” Xia Chunyu said, repulsed with her appearance.

Ye Jiayao smoothed the lock of hair blocking her vision and turned her face over to roll her eyes. Can’t you see that I am about to die of exhaustion? You didn’t even help and yet here you are complaining. If you don’t like it then don’t look…

“Hey, did you hear me?” Xia Chunyu yelled at her.

Ye Jiayao answered lazily, “I’m out of strength. Also, don’t call me hey, I have a name. I am called Ye Jinxuan but you can call me Yaoyao.”

Xia Chunyu shuddered. Yaoyao?  There was no way would he call her such an affectionate name.